“Yes, actually, I’m going to Italy. But it will all be work, unfortunately, so don’t be jealous. I must run. I’m very glad I saw you. Keep up the good work. Don’t worry about Mariel, she does what I say. And we’ll be sure to have dinner again when I return.”

“I’ll be here,” said Pia as Berman walked away. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Chapter 26

26.

PAUL CALDWELL’S APARTMENT, BOULDER, COLORADO

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2013, 9:45 P.M. (ONE WEEK LATER)

In the week since she had last seen Zach Berman, Pia worked harder than ever, pushing her new lab technicians and coming ever closer, she thought, to being able to declare that biocompatibility issues, at least with roundworms, had been solved by incorporating the polyethylene glycol into the microbivores’ skin. Prior to using the compound, the roundworms had shown a 30 to 40 percent immunologic response. Although weak, it had been significant. Afterward there had been none, even with a low level of the oligosaccharide polymer. The results had been so good that Pia began thinking about what animal subjects she should try next. She also continued to develop the spiraling technology for the anti-salmonella robots. That concept continued to be promising, although she was still not able to arrange time with the programmers.

Much of her downtime was spent with Paul Caldwell. They’d been on a few more hikes, including an all-afternoon, challenging affair on Sunday that left Pia tired and sore the following day, but still exhilarated by the views from the high Rockies route Paul had taken her on.

Her friendship with Paul was growing by leaps and bounds. It was such a relief to Pia to be around a man who liked her for herself. She was still reserved and knew she was aloof in other people’s eyes—maybe even his, to a degree—but it was easier to try to be involved in a relationship that wasn’t at all sexual. Paul insisted they drive into Denver on Tuesday night to go to a bar he knew. He claimed he wanted to show Pia off, so once more she got into her black dress.

Although reluctant to go at first, she ended up having a better time with Paul’s friends than she’d imagined. They were a mixed group in terms of their professions but shared a creative side that Pia appreciated. She didn’t feel creativity was her strongest suit, but she enjoyed it in others. Yet what she liked the best was that there had been no sexual pressure in the slightest, and hence no awakening of any atavistic fear in Pia’s psyche, a problem that Pia recognized in herself from her recurrent nightmares.