Technomancer (Unspeakable Things: Book One)

to a billing record. I tapped at that, but was blocked by another password.
    “Sign me in so I can read my billing records, please,” I said.
    Miranda shook her head. “Sorry. I don’t have the password for that.”
    I believed her, and since it was almost time for the infamous Dr. Meng to make her entrance, I figured it didn’t matter much anyway.
    “What’s Dr. Meng like?” I asked.
    Miranda smiled prettily, but I thought I saw something mean behind that smile. “She’s tough,” she said.
    I frowned at her, not liking the way she looked at me. It was as if she thought revenge was near, and it was going to be sweet.

Dr. Meng arrived in a whirlwind of energy at precisely 6:03 a.m. She was a small Asian woman with short black hair and flashing eyes. She appeared much younger than I had expected for a doctor in a management position at an institution like this one. Late thirties, if I had to guess. She wore the traditional white lab coat over professional-looking clothing. She didn’t seem to notice me at first, despite the fact I still had an injured leg thrown over her desk and a pistol in my hand.
    “There you are, nurse,” Dr. Meng said in irritation. “Why are you in my office and away from your station?”
    Miranda made a silent sweep of her hand, indicating me. Dr. Meng followed her gesture and curled her lip upon seeing me. She walked quickly into the room and began picking up the objects I’d knocked onto the floor. She moved with rapid, irritable motions.
    “You’ve made quite a mess,” she said.
    “I have a few questions for you, Doctor.”
    Meng straightened and looked at me with her head cocked to one side. “I’m not really surprised to find you out of your room and pestering my staff. You always were a rude guest, Draith.”
    It was my turn to frown. “Have I been here before?” I asked, reluctantly giving away that I had amnesia. I figured it was a secret I couldn’t keep forever anyway. If she knew me and I didn’t remember her, faking it was going to be quite hard. I had the faint hope she was a friend of some kind, but I didn’t get the feeling that our prior relationship was cordial. There was no warmth in her toward me, no friendly greeting.
    She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head farther. Then, she slowly nodded. “If you are who you appear to be, then it must have been the accident.”
    If you are who you appear to be…
I wondered about that statement, but I decided to file it away until later.
    “I want to ask you about the medication I’ve been receiving,” I said. “Did you prescribe it?”
    “Of course. But I hadn’t intended you to lose more than the unpleasant memory of your recent trauma.”
    “You might have overdone it, in that case. What were you covering up?”
    “Did you really wish to remember a car accident? Aren’t such unpleasant, frightening events best deleted?”
    I glared at her. “I certainly don’t think that was your decision to make.”
    Meng chuckled. “Who else then? This is my domain, after all, Draith.”
    There was something in her face, something predatory. It was as if
she
held the gun and not I. She didn’t seem perturbed by the fact I was armed. I wasn’t pointing the gunat her, but a normal person would have been eyeing the weapon with concern. Instead, she had the attitude of a principal sternly rebuking an errant student.
    “I’ll be getting back to my station, Dr. Meng,” Miranda said quietly.
    Dr. Meng nodded. She still wore that confident, bemused expression and continued to gaze at me. I thought about waving my gun around and ordering Miranda to stay put, but somehow, it didn’t seem worth it. No one appeared interested in calling the cops. They didn’t seem to know quite what to do with me, but they didn’t actually fear me. It was disturbing.
    “Could you take your foot off my desk, Draith?” Dr. Meng asked. “I believe you’ve leaked some lymph fluids on my blotter.”
    With a sigh, I eased my foot off the desk and put it down beside its twin. In a way, it was a relief. They both ached, but the one on the desk had begun to throb.
    “Why don’t you just tell me what all this is about?” I asked. “Start with the beginning. How did I get here and why have you been holding me?”
    Meng stared at me for a moment, then laughed loudly. She shook her head. “I’m not here to help you nose around, Draith! Have you forgotten
everything
?”
    I leaned back and tried to look confident. I had a