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"Afternoon, gentlemen," he said "As you can see, we have your fearless leader captive You want to go ahead and buzz us in?"

"Sir?" asked one of theutterly baffled as he peered past Fishy to the handcuffed form of Dr Banks Confusion was an understandable senti when you weren’t prepared for hielse "Go ahead and let us in"

The man--Kirk--blinked "Do you want ht here, renored him "It won’t be necessary," said Dr Banks "I’oes against the protocols that you established--"

"I know full ho established the protocols, Kirk," said Dr Banks A hint of steel had crept back into his tone, stiffening and sharpening it This was so he kne to deal with: a disobedient subordinate was easy pickings "Now let us in, or you’ll have your termination slip by the end of the day And you knohat that means"

Kirk went pale "Yes, sir," he said, and retreated to the booth with his coate rolled slowly open

"Man was pretty terrified of being fired," observed Fishy, as he restarted the engine and rolled forward through the opening

"Any staff whose family was able to survive the initial outbreak and survive the trip to SymboGen has been allowed to have that fa space is tighter than ould prefer, but sheltering those people was the only hu to do"

"I bet it also ood as it should have People kept getting distracted by the chaos on the streets" Dr Banks sounded disgusted How dare people die when he was trying to capitalize on showing some basic human decency? "Anyway, everyone orks here knows that space is li serious research to try to resolve the proble to the official govern turned out onto the street to do as they will It’s remarkable howspace near the building and twisted to stare, openmouthed, at Dr Banks Nathan and I did the same in the backseat, neither of us quite able to process what the ed, "Youthem out to die just because they don’t work for you anymore?"

"Resources are limited," said Dr Banks coolly "Can you really tell me your precious Dr Cale would do any differently?"

Fishy shook his head "You are a piece of work Let’s get you back into your ivory tower so that I can go back to where theout of a vehicle in the Syed; like the world was still the way that it had always been before The doors would open autoust of perfume, while tinny elevator music played in the distance And Chave would be there, ht-laced, by-the-book handler in her impeccable business attire, ready to take me off to whatever tests and appointments they had scheduled for ent for Dr Cale, and her implant had eventually decided to take her over I’d never known her well enough to really rieve for her That would have to be enough

Nathan took the hand that wasn’t holding Beverly’s leash and squeezed it firether, the four of us started toward the doors to Syot, the more apparent it became that the illusion of norflowers had been replaced It was late November; the flower beds should have been a riot of poinsettias, and every hedge should have been dripping with tinsel and no-break glass balls Instead, the early fall plants were still in place, being coaxed along to keep things looking as functional as possible

I wasn’t the only one who noticed "Who are you keeping up appearances for?" asked Nathan "Who could possibly be looking at your hedges right now?"

"It’s been i this crisis," said Dr Banks "The people we’re working ant to look at us and think that we’re weathering the stor wet It builds their confidence You understand"

"I with you people," said Nathan He sounded disgusted I was just glad he was the one doing the talking I wasn’t sure I would have been able to shape the words

"Son, i with everyone, nointo the lobby slid smoothly open as we approached The cool air that drifted out to greet us was perfue blossoary chaos of Captain Candy’s--but theThat was al to tell irl whose hand you’re holding if we took her pretty chassis away and handed her to you in a jar? You love the woman, but you love the look, too Don’t think you’re any different from me"