The Bureau of Rescissions
Orderly Charlie Dollar rubbed his temples. The r-KIV implant’s probing of his hippocampus was intense at the best of times, but this last disjunction had been a real cluster frak, and he was quickly developing a throbbing headache as his memories were sorted and catalogued for the Judge Advocate’s Exterms. He dabbed at a smear of blood on his collar with a wet wipe. He knew precisely whose blood it was, though he didn’t know her name. Her pleading eyes still filled his brain, even without the r-KIV replaying their encounter in slow motion in his mind. Ident scans on her came back negative. No fingerprint, dental record, retinal pattern or facial recog existed for the woman. In thirty years as an Orderly, Dollar had never before encountered any person who didn’t exist. His hands shook from the frustration, the gall. Did a life even matter if it was unrecognized by the system? Dollar was the system’s answer to that question.
