Free Broken Mirror by Cody Sisco Page A

don’t know, but he gave me this.” Victor held up the data egg.
    Her eyes widened and focused on the black round shape. “What on earth?”
    Victor smiled. That was Granma Cynthia’s phrase. “A data egg. It hasn’t opened.”
    “He gave this to you? When?”
    “The day he closed Oak Knoll.”
    She placed the mug on the counter. “Oak Knoll was a loss above all others. If only he’d consulted me.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Hold onto that, Victor. Keep it with you. Our mementos are precious, none so precious as those given by the departed.” She hugged him firmly, then walked away.
    Victor lingered in the kitchen after she left. A thought swam just outside the limits of his consciousness. He tried to reel it in, but couldn’t. He would take his dose of Personil as soon as he finished sleuthing, but he wasn’t looking forward to the dopey, gray, and lethargic feelings that accompanied the medication.
    Navigating back to the office upstairs was a tricky prospect with all the lights dimmed, but he couldn’t take the chance that his granma would catch him snooping. She would never forgive him for breaking in.
    Mounds of furniture blocked his path. Baroque legs of chairs and tables seemed to stretch out to trip him, and he nearly fell while climbing the padded stairs. He grit his teeth and tiptoed onward.
    In Granfa Jeff’s study, the medical records continued to whisper to him. There was something he wasn’t seeing — if he could just study the pages hard enough, if he could just clear his mind of its fog.
    The Personil.
    Rather than digging in his bag for one of the capsules, he lay down on the couch and settled his gaze on the herb book. He was tired of living his life in a daze. Maybe it was time to seek out an alternative.

Chapter 8
    Holistic Healing Network Buys Controlling Stake in Gene-Us Enterprises
    OAKLAND & BAYSHORE, 24 February 1991—The Holistic Healing Network (HHN), owned by the Eastmore family, will buy a controlling stake in Gene-Us Enterprises for $2.2 billion AUD, taking the gene-sequencing company private, according to a filing with the AU Corporate Registry. Circe Eastmore, daughter of HHN’s late founder Jefferson Eastmore, will serve as acting chair and chief of the merged concern, which will be renamed BioScan Inc.
    Ms. Eastmore is quoted by a local MeshNews agent as saying, “Together as BioScan Inc. we will make use of the latest genetic sequencing and medical treatment technologies. We will remain a health-focused enterprise while also exploring how these technologies can be used in the enhancement and addiction treatment markets. Our efforts fall under the umbrella of a new initiative we call ‘Evolving Together’ that will see us make a multibillion-AUD investment in new and promising research.”
    —MeshNews report
    Semiautonomous California
    24 February 1991

    The morning after the funeral Victor woke on the couch in his granfa’s office, tangled in a knitted blanket. Hieu had probably covered him and let him sleep. The man had worshiped Jefferson and must have absorbed some of his fondness for Victor over the years. There were three kinds of people in the world: those who hated Victor, those who put up with him — he included his parents in this set — and a small group who genuinely seemed to like him: Granfa Jeff, Auntie Circe, Hieu, and Elena.
    Victor paged through his granfa’s medical records again, some key insight still escaping him. To stop using Personil wasn’t enough. He needed something else to jolt his mind into action. A juice might help. Maybe —
    A shriek from the doorway set his skin tingling. Granma Cynthia stood there in a padded-silk robe, shivering.
    “What are you doing in there?” Her tone iced his skin.
    Victor hesitated. He could say he was there because he loved his granfa. But she’d heard his musings on murder and wouldn’t believe him.
    “Get out!” she commanded. “This instant! How dare you? Jefferson’s