Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 92

When I met Dr. Mills later that afternoon, I did it at the hospital, in his office. He was a medium sort of guy - medium tall, medium age, medium coloring. He had a nice smile, which seemed to promise that everything would be okay, and despite the fact that I knew it was total fiction, I smiled back.

"Have a seat, Ana," he said, and indicated one of the blue club chairs in front of his desk. Behind him were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves - medical references in matching bindings, with some newer off-brand volumes thrown in for variety. Dr. Mills had stacks of magazines and photocopied articles on one corner of the desk, and a teetering set of patient files on the other. A framed photo faced away from me, so I couldn't see if he had a family. He had a wedding ring, though.

Mills didn't speak immediately; he leaned back in his leather chair, steepled his fingers, and looked at me for a while. I fought against the urge to squirm, but couldn't keep my fingers from restlessly picking at the fabric of my jeans.

"I knew you were young," he said finally, "but I admit, I'm even more surprised now. You're seventeen?"

"Eighteen in a few weeks," I said. I was getting resigned to having this conversation with every single adult in Morganville. I ought to just record it and play it back every time I met somebody new.

"Well, from the notes that Amelie has provided to me, you have a very solid grasp of what you're doing. I don't think I'll be so much directing your research as helping you execute your experiments. Where I see opportunities to add some value, I will. Obviously, the labs here at the hospital have much more sophisticated equipment than I imagine you have - wherever you developed your initial crystals." He flipped through the large folder open in the center of his desk, and I saw photocopies of my own neat handwriting. My notes, which I'd provided to Amelie. "I took the liberty of making up a set of crystals based on your formula, using the facilities in our labs. I found that if you accelerate the drying process with heat, you can increase the strength of the dosage by about twenty percent. And I also created a stronger liquid version that can be delivered directly into the body by injection."

I blinked. "Injection." I tried to imagine getting close enough to Myrnin to stick a needle in his arm, especially when he was in one of his bad swings.

"It can be delivered through a dart," he said. "Like an animal tranquilizer, although I wouldn't use that analogy to anyone else. Wouldn't be respectful."

I managed a smile. "That'd be - very helpful. I didn't try the heating process for drying the crystals. That's interesting."

"No reason you should have. I tried it because I didn't have an unlimited time to dry them - our lab's busy, and I didn't want anyone questioning what I was doing. I've asked Amelie to provide us with some secured laboratory space at the university. More convenient for you, and safer for me. I can have equipment moved there as we need it, or requisition it through the Council." Dr. Mills cocked his head and looked at me again, brown eyes bright and challenging. Like Myrnin's, only not half as crazy. "About my request to tour the lab where you made the crystals . . ."

"Sorry, I can't."

"Perhaps if you checked with Amelie - "

"I did."

He sighed. "Then when can I examine our patient?"

"You don't."

"Ana, this will not work if I can't take baseline readings on the patient and determine what the measurable improvements are as we change the formula!"

I did see that, actually, but the thought of putting nice Dr. Mills in grabbing distance of Myrnin made me shiver. "I'll check," I promised, and got to my feet. "I'm sorry, it's getting late. I need to - "