Broken Mirror by Cody Sisco Page A

with broken mirror neurons in his brain.” The lunch tray seemed to weigh a ton.
    Wait, Victor thought. The guy had smiled, but not in a cruel way. “Broken Mirror face” was just something people said, wasn’t it?
    Victor lowered his head, letting his hair fall forward, smiling even though he felt like knocking the guy’s jaw loose. He laughed loudly and said in a false baritone, “Good one!”
    “That’s better.” The guy patted Victor’s rear end.
    Victor got his food and found a seat by himself in a seldom-frequented corner of the canteen. He picked through his food, a bland composition of farro, salmon, and avocado. Thinking about his granfa’s death, he knew he should let the matter drop. His suspicions were a manifestation of his condition, everyone said so, and probably the result of going off his medication. He’d take one more look at Jefferson’s medical records this evening, and then he would stop. He’d take his dose, and everything would go back to normal.
    An hour later, when he was between two batches of samples, his MeshBit chimed. It was time for his meeting with Karine.
    The tang of facial cream and floral perfume greeted him at the threshold to Karine’s office. She stood and waved him in. Taller than Victor by several centimeters, Karine had a moon face and a stiff and wispy corona of auburn hair. She lined her eyes with black pencil. The image of a frill-necked lizard popped into Victor’s mind.
    They sat down. “You probably heard that, as of today, I am second chief for the company,” Karine said. “We need to talk about your role.”
    Victor exhaled slowly, sure that she was about to fire him.
    “As BioScan, we’ve started thinking bigger and bolder. You’re going to work on a special project for me.”
    Victor sat up. She appeared to be serious. “What kind of project?”
    “A gene-to-pathology mapping program.” She threw the words at him, like tossing a treat to a dog — perhaps expecting some sort of excited response. Victor waited for her to explain in more detail.
    She rested her forearms on her farmed-crystal desk blotter. “We’re building a database that correlates clinical data with the genomes of our patients. That means we need new clinical procedures; better sequencers; enhanced data-management, storage, and analytical capabilities; and a new operations and marketing organization to sell the data to research groups. I’m putting a team in place to build this new business. You’d lead part of the team, and you’d report directly to me.”
    A promotion? That was the last thing he’d expected.
    Karine tilted her head in confusion. “Well, what do you say?”
    “I’m not qualified for it.” Why would she offer him such a significant position? More importantly, how did Karine already know so much about the future direction of the company?
    “I’ve known you a long time, Victor. I’ve seen your capabilities. We’re underutilizing your talents. And you are singularly suited for this role.”
    Victor didn’t like the sound of that. “How?” he asked.
    “The new initiative will have several focus clusters. The most important will be neurological disorders, including mirror resonance syndrome and addiction.”
    Victor’s mouth dropped open. “The two of those together? That’s ridiculous.”
    “Do you think so? Your first priority should be to get up to speed with our research.” Karine leaned forward with her palms up as if she were holding something in each one. “Both addiction and your condition have related neurological mechanisms: a heightened susceptibility to positive feedback loops and above-average cognitive inertia. Yours happens to have a genetic origin. What we’re finding is that addiction to certain types of drugs can change how genes are expressed in the brain, possibly due to prions that act like a cellular contagion and alter the shape of proteins throughout addicts’ neural networks. The resonance in addicts’ brains is similar