Lester shifted in his seat as the image on the screen changed: Trent and Dr. Newman were entering the orange-painted cage of a mine elevator. The conveyor cables emitted a low hum as it lowered the cage into the bowels of the mine. Trent’s face filled the screen. The sight of him dressed in a hardhat made Lester chuckle.

“Some of you might be wondering why physicists like Dr. Newman would go looking for Dark Matter some five hundred metres underground in this abandoned iron-ore mine here on Bell Island, Newfoundland, instead of looking up at the heavens. But in order to obtain a particle of Dark Matter that is untainted by cosmic rays and other contaminants, scientists have to go deep underground. It’s eerily appropriate that we’re going looking for the Dark within the dark…”

“This is where Newman describes trying to catch Dark Matter particles, yes?” Lester asked, his finger held on the remote control’s Advance button.

“Using frozen germanium plates, right,” replied Trent.

Lester nodded. He paused the video on a simulacrum of Dark Matter, which the show’s animators designed as swarms of bluish-purple specks that swaddled our galaxy.

“I like it,” Lester confessed. Perspiration caused his bare, pinkish scalp to glisten like a glazed ham.

“The script I gave you for my new epilogue, was it okay? I tried to sound more reassuring in this version.”

Lester dismissed Trent’s concerns with a sweep of his hand. “The closing speech works. I wouldn’t worry about viewers getting upset. This Dark Matter stuff might rattle their nerves until the next commercial break, but in the end Canadians are more concerned about brass tacks; government spending, gas prices, teachers’ strikes.”

“You’re probably right,” said Trent. The tension that had been mounting within him ever since he first began his investigation on Dark Matter then reached a breaking point. He sighed roughly, releasing a bit of the mounting pressure. “I have to admit, this story kind of got to me.”

Lester offered a wry smile. “Kid, what have I always said about you? That you’ve got a reporter’s nose but not his skin. Yours is too thin. This field will chew you up if you take every story inside of you. Reporters have to be objective for more than just ethical reasons. If you make every assignment personal, you’ll crack.”

Trent attempted a smile.

Perhaps sensing his tensions, Lester slapped his hand on his desk as a purging gesture (Bleakness be gone!). “You know what I think you need right about now? A vacation.”

“Well, as luck would have it…”

“This break will be good for you and the family. But isn’t it going to be kind of a whirlwind for you, just getting back from Newfoundland yesterday and heading up north tomorrow?”

“We’re actually leaving tonight. Melissa’s packing as we speak.”

“I bet the little one’s excited.”