In the Blood by Jackie French

details on the vid.’
    ‘No. They never do. Just that such and such modification has been Proclaimed, an interview or two, and then that’s all.’
    ‘What happened?’ asked Theo quietly.
    ‘There were twelve of us. Standard experimental test group. Three agreed to the mind slice with tissue replacement from unmodified clones. Michael was one of the three. The rest of us…’ I forced myself to speak calmly. ‘We refused to give a decision. We decided to fight the Proclamation. We would have won too, if it had got to the courts. We’re…people with our ability can bepersuasive. There’s no legal precedent a good Forest can’t dig up, no trick of persuasion we can’t access and, when we work together, it’s a million times as effective…’
    I stopped and steadied my voice. ‘But it didn’t come to that. The day after the Proclamation they put a brain-wipe on the Net while we were having a conference on tactics. Three seconds of unpleasant electric tingle if you were a Tree. But if you were enhanced…’
    ‘Death?’ Theo said gently
    ‘If you were lucky. Brainless if you weren’t.’
    Theo was silent for a moment. ‘It didn’t affect you?’
    ‘I was lucky. I was in the kitchen, making a cup of tea. I called to Melanie that it was ready. Voice mode, not Link.’
    ‘Melanie?’
    ‘A friend. We shared an apartment. We had since we left creche. Friends as well as Forest. Another two minutes and I’d have been wiped too.’
    I shrugged. ‘I was lucky. I just heard a scream and there she was. White face, a trickle of blood where she’d bit her lip. But then the trickle stopped. I…I guessed what had happened then. Had known it was possible, of course, but I just hadn’t thought they would. There is a great difference sometimes between having knowledge and knowing when it’s needed. So I didn’t…I didn’t Link for help. I went out into the corridor and I screamed…two days later I was here.’
    ‘I gather this Michael wasn’t affected either?’
    ‘No. He was the only other one of us who hadn’t joined the conference.’
    ‘So,’ said Theo flatly. ‘And was the timing accidental? Did they know you would all be Linked?’
    ‘They must have. It’s not hard to monitor who is on the Net. But if you mean was it an accident that Michaelwasn’t affected?’ I looked out the window at the dapples of the trees. Real trees. ‘I don’t know,’ I said at last. ‘I never asked him. I wouldn’t even know how to ask him. How can you say, “Hey, Michael, did you betray us all to show that you were loyal?”’
    ‘You just take a breath and let the words flow out,’ said Theo.
    ‘Would you do that? Could you do that?’
    ‘Could I ask a friend—someone whose loyalty I’d taken for granted—if they’d betrayed me? Oh, yes,’ said Theo.
    I suddenly felt very cold. Even the Cat would have been welcome to join me on the sofa now, for its warmth. ‘Maybe I will one day,’ I said tiredly. ‘But not now.’
    ‘And this is the man you want to see? You still trust him?’
    ‘I trust him with this. He’s no fool. If it’s as real a problem as I think it is, then he’ll be even more eager than I am to see action taken.’
    We sat in silence for a while, with only the faint squish below us to break the quiet. Finally he said, ‘Melanie died?’
    ‘No. I gave her mouth to mouth, heart massage.’ I grimaced. ‘A little first-aid data I’d scrolled sometime and it had stuck. She revived. Mostly.’
    ‘Where is she now?’
    ‘Michael promised she’d be looked after.’
    ‘That wasn’t what I…’ began Theo, when the ding of the Terminal interrupted him.
    He pulsed it on. The amplifier was still on high. Michael’s face flooded the screen. He didn’t even glance at Theo.
    ‘Tomorrow,’ he said. ‘A floater will arrive at nine o’clock. I’ve arranged a temporary City pass. You’ll have two hours exactly.’
    ‘And the lab facilities?’
    ‘There’ll be people on standby.