Aberrant

Chapter 38

A female voice pierced the fog inside Jinx's brain. "I—I don't understand, L'senuri. I'm so sorry. You should have observed a decrease in psionic noise and a strengthening of signals from the memory centres. I'll check Ms Koel's pre-test workup, see if there's an obvious reason for the lack of effect."

Jinx fought to open her eyes. Her head pounded. Her ears rung—like a motherfucker. The taste in her mouth was worse than the aftermath of any drinking session. What the hell had—?

Memory returned in a flood. The bearded guy—a med-tech. He'd laid her out cold with some kind of gas, the frigging wacko.

She forced open her eyes. A blur of grey. Winking lights. Something curved over her face.

The head niche of a medical diagnostic bed.

Fear sliced through her. Fighting the sudden need to hyperventilate, she looked down her body to see past the tech.

Dark unblinking eyes—locked on her. A lethal-looking male in an elegant grey suit leaned over her, his hands planted either side of her body.

She flinched—and found she was strapped down. Panic surged up, bringing back her nightmares: bodies, naked and exposed, hooked up to machines—

"I'm so sorry, L'senuri." Channing's voice broke through the memory. "I seem to have misplaced Ms Koel's medical history. While I can speculate in general terms about the therapy's failure, I won't be able to posit an explanation specific to Ms Koel's unique biology until the records are located or the relevant tests redone. Once again, I am so, so sorry. I don't know what happened."

The stranger held Jinx's gaze, had no reaction as her respiration kicked up. His eyes mirrored the void. Her senses scrambled: white noise, dizziness, a stab of pain.

The man pushed upright, sending his shoulder-length black hair swinging back—to reveal a micro headset by one ear.

Jinx's breath died. Channing's earlier words rushed back. Genetic alteration. Mind readers.

The stranger smoothly aligned the sleeves of his double-breasted jacket then turned on heel and strode out of the diagnostic bay.

Channing's face suddenly blocked out the world beyond the head niche. "Ms Koel? Oh, you are awake. You must metabolise sedatives quickly." She straightened, frowned at her data pad. "That's probably mentioned in your med files, but whoever did your prelim assessment misfiled it. I'm afraid we're going to have to redo—"

"Get me the hell off this thing!" Jinx yanked against the bed's restraints.

Channing jerked her head back down into view. "Ms Koel, are you—? Oh—oh, you don't suffer from claustrophobia, do you?" She hurriedly snapped back the head niche cover. "I'm so sorry. These beds can be quite confronting for some people. Is that why you asked to be sedated for the procedure? I didn't realise." With a press of a button, she released the arm and leg restraints.

Jinx sat up, fresh adrenaline hitting her system. "What goddamn procedure?"

"You don't remember?" Channing paused, frowning. "Your short-term memory may have been affected. It's a known adverse effect. But don't be concerned. Your bioreadings are perfectly fine. You shouldn't suffer any permanent—"

"Channing, what procedure!"

"PDT—psionic drug therapy. It's designed to depress certain neurochemicals and elevate others to facilitate a read in resistant brains. This would have been explained to you prior to providing consent." Channing clutched her data pad to her chest. "You don't remember that?"