“Well, I’ll know better if I can get close to her, won’t I?” said Fareed gazing steadily at the woman’s face. It was not a cruel face. It was not a mean face. But it wasn’t generous and it wasn’t curious and it lacked some spark, some definable spark—.

“What, you believe in the human soul?” asked Gregory.

“No,” said Fareed, “but I do believe in the human spirit. How else would there be ghosts knocking on our doors now? I don’t say it’s a divine spark, I am thinking only that some human spark is not there.”

“Is there a spark of something else?”

“Good question. I don’t know.”

“Do you have time for this?” asked Gregory. “You haven’t completed your research on Mekare’s remains or Maharet’s remains. I thought this was of great importance to you and the remains were deteriorating. I thought you were inviting Gremt here so you could test the body he’d made for himself. I thought you wanted to expand the Paris laboratory—.”

“No, the remains are not deteriorating exactly anymore,” Fareed murmured. He couldn’t take his eyes off the woman. “And I am busy, that’s true, impossibly busy, and I need more help, but this can’t wait.” He brought up yet another photograph. Press conference to announce a new insulin pump for the treatment of diabetes, 2013. The usual dim lighting. Gregory in deep shadow, and the bank of reporters a little more fully illuminated. And there she was again, this time in softer more feminine attire. A silk blouse, a string of lustrous pearls, a loose cardigan jacket, and the iPhone with its visible photographic eye held close to her chest. Long tapering fingers, oval nails.

“Fareed, you aren’t seriously suggesting that she herself is some sort of clone, planted in my company to clone others—.”

“No, I have not used the word ‘clone,’ ” said Fareed.

“I think you’re mistaken if for no other reason than that she is singular.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Have you ever seen another one like her?”

“No,” Fareed conceded, “but that has no bearing. We might be observing the first to ever come to our attention. This does not mean she is the only one. In fact, I’d be willing to wager she’s not the only one.”