Little Deadly Things

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Eva Rozen strode into the waiting room looking like a shrunken wraith—girlish, ghoulish.

The 29-year-old scientist and entrepreneur had pale skin that could be compared to alabaster, if one were to be charitable, like plaster if not. It was pulled taut against the uneven planes of her face to produce an impression of constant tension, of perpetual threat. To look at her for more than a few moments was to falter, to lose one’s balance.

This tidal wave in human form could move with great stealth but today Eva Rozen surged up to the receptionist’s station trailing disturbance like a gunboat’s wake. Sparks flew up from the clinic’s marble floor where her heels struck, and the air boiled around her. The office administrator looked up and froze. She’d been linked, but stopped speaking midsentence and tapped a small skin-toned communication patch just above her jaw to end the conversation.

Eva held out her hand to the attendant. The gesture was not an old-fashioned handshake. She dismissed ordinary social actions, and especially any that required physical contact. Rather, the act was part of a communications protocol. It signaled that Eva was using her datasleeve to gather the receptionist’s cloud data, her public information: Bethany Jamison, genetic female, age 41, no criminal record. Eva’s sleeve displayed all manner of private information as well. Jamison’s credit profile, medical history, sexual preferences, augmentations, and other private and presumably secure data were available to Eva at a glance.

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