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After what felt like a hundred years, but was really slightly under an hour, Dr Banks glanced ostentatiously at his watch, and stood "I’ve enjoyed our ti I can’t reschedule Do you knohat the rest of your day with us will look like?"

"Not yet," I said, taking the hint and getting out of s felt like jelly "Chave brought ot so adventures ahead of you" Dr Banks started walking toward the door He didn’t gesture forto do it, just like he knew that he would eventually be able to convincehis kind of rich made it easy to shape the world to suit your standards "I’ll check with ether Wouldn’t that be nice?"

"Sure," I said For a change, Ilunch at SymboGen was part of the visitation process; they probably observed me for some set of sy The company’s main cafeteria was excellent, but the executive cafeteria--where I’d eaten every chance I got since reet better thanspecial They hired five-star chefs, and their menu was never the sa you’ll have to do forhi you’ve learned?"

Fortunately, this wasn’t one of the insulting ones "Taking the Mickey," I said "Itthe to do with Mickey Mouse, but I’, bold sound that filled the roo filled the darkness inat my ears "Mickey Mouse, huh? Truly, Sally, you are an endless delight"

"Thank you, Dr Banks," I said

"And like all endless delights, you have other lives to brighten" He pushed open the door, revealing Chave standing still as a statue on the other side She looked monumentally bored, and a little bit annoyed For her, that was the equivalent of kicking her feet and screa?"

"If you don’t mind," said Chave, in her usual cool tone "We’re already twenty minutes overdue for her appointment in the blood lab Did you feed her?"

"Not a crumb," said Dr Banks

Chave nodded curtly and looked to me, as if for confir" With that, she turned her back and stalked toward the elevator, her shoulders locked into a tight, unhappy line I glanced back at Dr Banks, who still hadn’t for toabout how little I enjoyedlocked in an elevator with an unhappy personal assistant who clearly bla another minute alone with him I stood as far away fro as the numbers on the display counted down to the first floor, and then farther down, into the baseh-rise with multiple subterranean floors in the state of California, earthquake capital of the United States, but that didn’t stop the founders of SymboGen When Drs Banks and Jablonsky decided to build a state-of-the-art research facility, they didn’t let silly things like logic and geography stop them SymboGen was cut deep into the bedrock of South San Francisco, and the only reason it wasn’t closer to the water was that no a would have flooded long since if it had been as close to the coast as they originally wanted it to be SymboGen: the castle that worms built

We finally stopped on subbase when the elevator doors opened to reveal a generic hospital hallway, the kind that could be in any public research facility or university in the world Home

Men and women in white lab coats and sensible slacks walked past, so to wave or s asa tailored suit He stuck out like a sore thu It didn’t help that he was tall, gangly, and sporting an artificial tan that clashed with the laboratory pallor of the people around hi as I walked toward Sher too fast, and nearly collided with one of the researchers He swerved at the last ained our balance as the elevator doors slid closed behind ht was instant He relaxed fro Even his artfully spiked hair somehow seemed less "the latest style," andbut chop it off and rub soel into it" "Come here, you bloody twit," he said, his heavy British accent twisting the words until the mockery see hello "Can youhalf the research staff sprawling? I ask out of personal interest, and because if you’re going to treat the pins, I want to take a y lab"