He nodded but didn’t appear to be listening, no matter how informed I proved myself to be. Unlike the Professor or my Banker before him, my interest in the discipline did not inspire him to energetic conversation. Standing in my dormitory, waiting to see whether his attention would return, I was trapped not just by the Vault but by the constant reminders that it was far better to be a real person. If I were a real girl, I’d know whether this discomfort I felt meant I wanted him to go or to stay.

“How old are you?”

He drew in a breath to answer. “Twenty-five.”

“Isn’t that funny? That I’m nineteen but so much older than you.”

“But you shouldn’t be.” Now he seemed to come out of his thoughts and face me, his curiosity evident in the tone of his voice. “You weren’t extracted until ought-six. You shouldn’t recall anything before then, not even what the real Dolores knows. You shouldn’t retain anything that happened after.”

“But I do.”

For a moment there was nothing beyond us, me smiling through my discomfort. His pale eyes glimmered so that I thought there might be a smile inside them. And then he broke the spell.

“I’m going to tell you, now, why you were recalled. I’ve never had to before, but then there was never a Mem who worried over her own test results.”

“You’re making me nervous, Harvey.”

“Don’t say that,” and as he turned it away, his face was stern again.

“Don’t say what?”

“My name.”

My heart played a game of leapfrog inside my chest, an almost audible pulse hopping at the back of my throat. Harvey looked at me, the pained expression gone, and whatever he’d been ready to say, I could tell he’d changed his mind.

“The staff will think it strange if you do.”

In my life outside the Vault, I’d learned the many reasons real people laugh and in how many ways a laugh can result. Just this moment, I laughed because my fear over my test results was followed and outdone by Harvey’s own cowardice. And while I’d been brave and candid with him, I knew he had not been. Whyever he didn’t want me calling him by his given name, it wasn’t on behalf of the staff.

“Does the staff not think me ridiculous as it is? But what would you prefer? Banker?” I made the word intentionally ridiculous. “What could be more sober?”

“No.” It almost seemed he recognized the line I’d quoted. “No, I suppose the staff will grow accustomed to whatever you call me.”

The pleasant irregularity in my pulse returned.

“I suppose they will.” I smiled. “But what does my Source call you, anyway? Doctor? Perhaps I’ll call you that.”

He snorted.