Pia could only guess at an Anglicized spelling of the name, but after she made a stab of it, the operator said there was no record of anyone with “Yao” or “Hong” in their name. Still connected with the operator and with a piece of paper and a pen in hand, Pia wrote out the name. She gave the operator several different possible spellings, certain only of the first couple of letters. When the operator still could find nothing, Pia persisted by asking if there was a number for any Chinese group or office. When she got another no, she switched tactics and asked to be connected with the Nano infirmary.

“Infirmary?” the operator questioned. “What’s an infirmary?”

Pia defined the term as she had with the guard downstairs, sensing irritably that it must be an East Coast term that hadn’t made its way across the Mississippi River.

“There’s no infirmary at Nano,” the operator declared with certainty.

“How about hospital or medical facility?” Pia suggested. She was feeling discouraged but kept trying.

“Sorry! There’s nothing like that. How about the nurse’s office? I have a number for that.”

Pia hung up the phone. It was frustrating. She tried to think of what else to do, but nothing immediately came to mind. Instead her eyes wandered over to the LCD display of the readouts coming from all the biocompatibility experiments she currently had running. One of the many figures on the screen was blinking, suggesting there had been a change in a parameter being monitored.

Pia walked over to the experiment in question. Almost immediately she could tell that the suggested change was mere artifact, indicating that a slight recalibration was called for. It took Pia only a few moments to accomplish the recalibration, and the blinking disappeared.

The heavy click of the door to the main corridor opening was the next thing to catch her attention. A moment later Mariel Spallek appeared in the open doorway, clutching a folder to her chest. Her face reflected her usual disdainful imperiousness.

“A sight for sore eyes,” Pia murmured to herself. Yet for the first time since she had been at Nano, she was glad to see her immediate boss.

Chapter 16

16.

NANO, LLC, BOULDER, COLORADO

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013, 3:45 P.M.

“Pia, I’m glad you are here,” Mariel began. She strode directly over to Pia, crowding her space with the help of her four inches of extra height.

“Mariel.”

Pia stood her ground, gazing up into Mariel’s arctic blue eyes.

“I got your paperwork from accounting,” Mariel said. “I’m pleased you are pushing ahead with this work. The more corroboration we can get of immune compatibility of the microbivores, the better off we will be. I’ve already green-lighted everything you have asked for.”

Pia found herself nodding as Mariel kept speaking and waited her turn.