“Can’t say that I do.” George put his palm against his forehead. Its coolness felt good. He was beginning to get a headache.

“I’ve explained to you how the microbivores have specific binding sites for the bacteria they’re sent to deal with. My idea is to program the microbivores to roll the bacterium over and over a few times before bringing it into the digestion chamber. That way the flagellum would be wrapped around it and would get digested at the same time as the bacteria’s body. I think it is a masterful idea. My only worry is how much code it is going to take. What do you think?”

“Sounds good to me,” George said, but he was having trouble concentrating. What he really wanted to ask Pia was whether she’d had an affair with Berman, like Whitney suggested, but he didn’t dare.

“Berman seemed to think it was a good idea, but he’s not a scientist. His job is to get the funding, which he seems very capable of doing. I really don’t know how he does it. He hinted that he has found almost unlimited funding. It’s extraordinary.”

“You seemed to be getting on well with him.”

Pia glanced over at George, whose comment implied he was jealous.

“And you seemed to be getting on well with Ms. Jones. She’s very beautiful, isn’t she.”

“I guess so.”

“‘I guess so.’ George, she’s stunning! And you had her all to yourself.”

“I think Berman wanted her to sound me out,” said George, half to himself.

“What about?”

“About you and me. It would be unseemly for Berman to ask me directly. He strikes me as a guy who’s concerned about appearances, so he had his assistant ask me some questions.”

“It didn’t look like you minded being interrogated by her.”

“You’re right, I didn’t.” A thought passed through George’s mind. Was Pia even a tiny bit jealous?

“Did she ask you?”

“Not in so many words.”

“I hope you didn’t say very much, particularly anything personal.”

“Oh, no,” George lied. He was trying to remember what he did say, but it wasn’t easy. Whatever it was, he wished he hadn’t.

“He did apologize for that incident that I mentioned to you.”

“That’s nice. What did he say, exactly?”

“He said he was sorry. He said he’d been under a lot of pressure concluding the funding deal and had had way too much to drink. He said he wanted our relationship to start anew, since he appreciates my contribution to Nano.”

“Did you believe him?”

“So-so,” Pia said. “Not enough to see him socially without you around. But then he went on to say something I found really interesting, something I’d suspected.”

“Oh?” George questioned. He sat up straighter and struggled to clear his mind.

“He admitted that there’s a very specific personal reason he’s interested in medical nanotechnology in general, and microbivores in particular, and what’s driving him to raise the kind of money he has. He thinks that microbivores can possibly control or prevent or cure Alzheimer’s. His mother is struggling with the disease in a nearby assisted-living facility.”