Nolan felt a hollow laugh whuffle through his cheeks. “That would be ironic,” he said. “No, I’m fine. Is there something on my desk for me to do? Or should I go back to old projects?”

Pakt was frowning, looking even less reassured as the conversation progressed. “Old projects for now, I guess,” he said. “I’ll let you know if something new comes in.”

Nolan nodded and left his office.

It was midmorning before anyone came in to check on him, although he knew the others were all aware of his return. He could catch their voices in the hallway: “Nolan’s back!” “Did you see? Nolan’s in his office.” “Where’s he been?” “What did Pakt say?” “Hey, was that Nolan?” It was standard lab procedure to try to determine what was happening through indirect methods (gossip) before proceeding to more direct approaches (interrogation), so Nolan was not surprised at the whispering. In fact, it comforted him a little. Made him feel at home.

When he had been working at his computer for a little more than two hours, there was a knock on his door, and Melina entered. “Hey, Nolan, good to see you,” she said with studied breeziness.

He swiveled in his chair to smile at her. She had been letting her hair grow, and now it stood up in tufted spikes all over head. There was nothing she could do to make herself look unattractive; in fact, the coiffure gave her a waifish charm that was quite appealing.

“Good to see you, too,” he replied, and meant it. “What’s been going on here?”

She leaned against the doorway. “Well, let’s see. Varella’s betrothed.”

“She is! To Roven?”

“No, it’s such a shock. Someone she met in the city. He’s a high-caste man, so no problem there, but not someone her mother approves of. It’s kind of been a scandal, and I think her grandmother’s threatening to divert her inheritance.”

“That would be pretty severe.”

“She says she doesn’t care. Says she’s going to live in the city the rest of her life, anyway. And her fiancée is a doctor over at the East Side hospital, so between them they ought to be fine in terms of income. But what a surprise, huh? Varella never seemed like much of a rebel to me.”

“You’re just jealous because you didn’t think of it first,” Nolan scoffed. “Refusing the man your family had picked out for you.”

She smiled and squirmed against the hard doorframe to achieve better comfort. “I did do it, but I was seventeen, and they’ve been afraid to matchmake for me ever since,” she retorted. “Now they’re waiting for me to get over my infatuation with Julitta before they introduce me to eligible men.”

“I think you should follow Varella’s lead and find your own man.”