The Intruder by Greg Krehbiel Page B

next to the pool and tried to calm himself and gather his thoughts.
    First things first. I don't want to be late.
    He sent himself a delayed message to remind him to leave for the Powell Building on time. With that out of the way, he began to concentrate on figuring out what in the world he had just seen, and why.
    He first suspected, and hoped, that seeing strange images was another common problem for newbies, like the floaters he had seen before. But Dr. Berry 's warnings about implant psychosis were still ringing in his ears: one of the symptoms was seeing strange images. Jeremy refused to believe there was anything wrong with him, so he had to try to figure it out for himself first. If he couldn't solve it on his own, maybe he'd talk to Dr. Berry , but the risk was that she'd say he was sick and start "treatment."
    After a few minutes searching the hole, he found a database of research articles on the experiences of newbies with the implants. He scanned the headers and noticed that one name occurred again and again in the studies: Dr. Anne Berry. She was clearly the expert in this field, just as the Advocate had said. She also had Jeremy under supervision.
    A disquieting thought occurred to him. What privileges did "diagnostic mode" give Dr. Berry ? Could she know that he had seen those images? Would she know that he was looking into implant psychosis? Would that make her suspicious of him?
    Jeremy disliked going to doctors in the first instance, and he really didn't want her to put him through all kinds of fool tests. He decided to keep things to himself until he was fairly certain that he really had a problem, so he ratcheted up the security on his link to Dr. Berry , cutting her off from everything except mail and chat. The trouble was that if she tried to access his account while the security was up, she might wonder what he was up to.
    Let her wonder, it's my business, he decided after changing the link status. She couldn't get any information on his account without his approval.
    He tried to calm down, but he couldn't shake a sense of urgency. He couldn't risk locking her out for too long, but he had to make some progress. As he struggled to find the right information on the hole, he noticed that his hands were shaking.
    After a half-hour's reading, aided by sophisticated search engines, Jeremy found that several other young newbies had reported "seeing things," and had been subsequently diagnosed as suffering from implant psychosis: each time by the same physician, Dr. Anne Berry. The reports never recorded what they had seen, only that they became obsessed with certain illusions, presumably generated by neurological rejection of the implant.
    They also became paranoid, unable to trust anyone, especially their doctor. Dr. Berry 's thesis that such paranoia was the major indicator of the advent of implant psychosis had been universally accepted in the scientific community: mistrust of the supervising physician was the first sign of trouble and called for more careful supervision and testing.
    For the second time that morning Jeremy felt his adrenaline rush. This woman had too much control over his life. The supervisory link with Dr. Berry was still secured, but now he had to decide which course had the most risk. What would make her more likely to suspect that he was becoming psychotic, that he was reviewing the literature on imaginary images, or that he had shut down his link to her? His mind raced for a solution, and then his pre-programmed message came.
    It's time to go.
    He quickly shut down his search and accessed the university's map site, then he re-established his link with Dr. Berry . 
    He gazed across the pond and watched the ducks for a minute, breathing deeply. As he felt the jitters fade, he got up and followed the map to the Powell building. He walked through the campus, his mind engaged in that non-verbal thought that sometimes seems like no thought at all. 
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