Carlton … Carlton … Someone called his name sweetly, and he looked. One thing in the room was still: an enormous pair of eyes, staring at him as the room rocked sickeningly. He tried to stand, but as soon as he moved, dizziness and nausea overwhelmed him. He pressed his cheek to the cool floor, desperate for relief, but it only made the room spin faster.

“Carlton?”

The room snapped back into focus; everything stopped moving. Carlton didn’t move, afraid of setting it all off again. “Carlton, are you okay?” said a familiar voice, and he looked up to see Charlie, bent over him anxiously.

“Charlie?” he said weakly. “What are you doing here?”

“John sent me to help. What were you doing with all this stuff?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t break anything,” he said, sitting up carefully. The nausea still lingered, but it was easing as he began to trust that the room had steadied itself. He glanced at Charlie, his vision still a little fuzzy.

“I don’t mind, it’s all junk anyway. But the way you were rolling around on the floor, you must have activated something, or electrocuted yourself, one or the other. Are you okay?”

“I think so,” he said. He slumped back against the bed.

“Nausea? Room spinning?” she asked sympathetically.

“Terrible,” he said.

She put a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, we need to get out of here.” She stood and held out a hand to help him up; he took it, standing gingerly, the effects of whatever it had been were almost completely gone. He looked around the room, his vision clear.

“What exactly were you doing?” Charlie asked, and Carlton froze. Her voice was too hard, too … polished. He turned to her, keeping his face neutral.

“He didn’t say? John thought you might want to have it, your old experiment. I think he wanted to surprise you with it,” he said. He grinned. “Surprise!”

Charlie smiled.

“You know, your old experiment?” Carlton’s mind raced. “The one with the robotic hand that could play the piano?” he added. “You remember?”

“Right. How sweet of you to come get it,” she said, a flirtatious note in her voice, and Carlton’s blood went cold. He nodded carefully.

“You know me. Always thinking of others,” he said, glancing over Charlie’s shoulder at the bedroom door behind her. It was closed. She took a step closer to him, and he stepped back instinctively. She looked surprised for a moment, then grinned, looking down and seeing the two faces in the box. He moved back again, startling when he hit the wall behind him.