Pia glanced up from her reading to see that it was almost six-thirty, and she wondered how long she was going to have to wait. She was sitting in the deserted lab outside her office, which continued to be off-limits. She was waiting for Rothman, who was still in the biosafety unit trying to finish up the data for the Lancet article. Yamamoto had told her to wait because Rothman wanted to speak with her. What about, she had no idea. Whatever it was, it made her feel uneasy.

The day had been interesting in some regards although it had not been one of her best. She had spent the morning doing the lab equivalent of KP duty, washing and rewashing glassware. For the second day in a row Pia had been actually late, not just late by the secretary Marsha Langman’s standards. For the second day in a row George had failed to appear at her door, and she wondered why. It irked her to a degree because she’d come to count on it, even though she was the first to agree that he wasn’t obliged to come and wake her. She’d slept badly again, as she’d been doing for a week or more. As per usual it was nightmares involving childhood memories she’d battled to suppress and which surprised her in their lucidity. Even after years, they still possessed ample power to shock and disturb her.

The head technician, Arthur Spaulding, had seemed amused by Pia’s punishment. He had made a point of detouring when in the lab to pass by Pia, saying nothing. He didn’t have to, his smirk was enough. Spaulding had been at the research center for years, and he liked things done just so. He’d started working for Rothman only in the last eighteen months, and Spaulding got on with him about as well as his predecessor had before he was fired. Spaulding seemed to take exception to any irregular request from Rothman, and Rothman being Rothman, most of his requests were irregular.

“Do you need something, Mr. Spaulding?” Pia said finally on about his fifth pass. “You seem to go out of your way to come over here.”

Spaulding said nothing and left, as Yamamoto had suddenly appeared and come over.

“Miss Grazdani, we would like to see you in the organ bath lab.”

Dr. Yamamoto hadn’t directly said anything about Pia being late, and he didn’t need to; Pia had gotten the message. She suited up quickly and went in the lab to join Lesley and Will, who had been in there all morning. They were standing in a side room with Rothman, who was holding a thick paperback book in one hand and pressing impatiently at the display of a newly installed machine that looked like a large inkjet printer.

“Dr. Yamamoto, it appears we have bought a lemon,” Rothman said.