liam

ead that way, and because I have found that darkness is

of the ordinary, but I prefer to watch the unflagged recordings myself. The ordinary is where people tell the t

r plants. One man in the toxicology wing sang every aria from an opera, badly, for eleve

watching the

wrote about her, which I read twice before approving her transfer to the Californian division and a third time when she was rea

line of handwriting with the tip of a pen. She works like someone defusing something. Her shoulders are still. Her breathing is

coat pocket and takes ou

n for

ing fork. Steel. Nothing remarkable. She sets it beside her keyboard and does not touch it again, but her whole face changes. The focus l

ck of her wrist. Then she squares her shoulders and goes back to the page, and the

move for

know that I have seen this particular expression before, in a different house, a dif

voice will be steady,

d, as she always does, and as she has fo

means, and what I am afraid it might. I say a few other

ine. Then she says somethin

ue. I never

via

n a Thursday, and i

ike something sent by lawyers. I read it standing in the break room with my coffee ha

ave been reviewed by "a member of the executive evaluation staff." It says I am requested to atte

asks, passing behind me w

I'm being

and clicks her tongue. "Thirty first floor. That's where th

review my work?

gh it were obvious. "Good work gets notic

not comf

rm with a hand that smells faintly of lavender and ethanol. "Wear

the gre

meeting. She looks up from a stack of grant forms with the stricken expr

ecords," she says. "I assumed it was one of the senior reviewe

t unu

discrepancy in under two months. I'd call that unusual." Her mouth

supposed

s until I look at her. "Answer what they ask. Don't vo

wallow sound whole. The door is open. A woman is already inside, sitting at the l

to understand why m

illness, as if she has set aside part of herself to be absolutely certain she doesn't fidget. Her face is lovely in an unhurried way, with

come in. And please sit. You

say, which is a ridiculou

small and rueful. "I'm sorry. That was rude. It's an old habit. My name is E

ore I can stop myself. "On

es

re watc

hard to introduce myself to people I haven't yet understood, s

g." I pause, consider

s. "Would it help to have tea? I find

o do. She pours. The steam smells of bergamot and something sweeter underneath. It's an oddly domestic

to ask you about a few things, if you don't mind. This isn't a disciplinary conv

urio

lder. "Let's begin with the passage nu

d tracing every sample to its source. She listens without interrupting, her chin resting lightly on her folded

ata," I say. "Late passage cells cha

there

s unverifiable and recommen

hat c

But I'd rather it cost us m

a margin note in your batch three review. 'If the effect disappears with healthy cells, the compound

. "Because it

in your departmen

sure it

it's right. I'm asking

on the cells, and wondered whether the cells were acting on the compound. If something

nt. "Yes," she says softly. "

. She asks what I think happens to a cell when it stops repairing itself, and whether I believe repair is a signal or a decision. She asks me about growth factors, and whic

eady and every question seems to open another, like rooms in a house I'd forgotten was mine. Somewhere a

m are about

k somethi

eas

king me about g

d, only attentive, like a person who has been waiting at

cussion, where nobody reads. You said regenerative signaling and neuroprotection might be tw

't say

took the liberty of translating." Her eyes crink

isor thought it

colleagu

working on. They don

rk? Your friend

g." I try a smile. "I don't talk about the resear

long, quiet moment, and I get the odd, unmistakable sense

ays gently.

ems louder, and the afternoon light has slid across the table until it catches

t ten minutes ago. I know it now with a ce

arefully. "What exactl

mething under it that I can only call relief, the way you might look at som

ays, "the founder has as