A balding producer who smelled heavily of cough syrup fastened a microphone to Jeremiah’s lapel and talked to him in clipped, hurried sentences.

“Let the anchors set it up. They know what to do. When you speak, look at them and not at the camera. Be yourself. You’ll do fine.” He stood up and moved quickly out of the frame. “In three. Two. One,” he said.

Charles Scott shot a severe glance at Jeremiah. There was no mistaking what he meant.

The lead anchor, an impeccably dressed and angular man, began by introducing the participants, ending with a direct question to Jeremiah.

“Are you nervous about taking the Meld today?”

Jeremiah stammered for a moment. “N-no, not really,” he said. He was momentarily distracted by the producer rolling his hand in the air in front of him, as though to encourage him to elaborate. “Meld is perfectly safe when used in a clinical setting. I’m sure I’m in very good hands with Dr. Young.”

“And even with all these suicides connected to the drug, that doesn’t worry you?” the anchor pushed.

“Well, as ViMed has always maintained, those deaths occurred while taking Meld in an unsafe manner, without medical supervision. And we also suspect the drug was adulterated once it hit the streets. I am not worried.”

“Why are you doing this, Mr. Adams?” the anchor asked. “Why you? Why now?”

He wanted to say he had absolutely no idea, that he’d been asking himself the same questions and couldn’t find an answer. To any of it. But he felt Scott’s eyes boring into him, so he said what he was supposed to say.

“I want to demonstrate that Meld is not only safe, but to remind people that this is a drug that saves lives,” he said. “Meld has already had tremendous impact on treating mental illness, Alzheimer’s disease and reaching the conscious minds of comatose patients. There is reason to believe that this drug might have other benefits we aren’t even aware of yet. Imagine the implications for people suffering from ALS—people who become trapped, essentially, in their own failing bodies, who’ve lost the ability to speak. Meld could help them, too.”

The last bit was entirely ad-lib and meant for Scott’s ears. But if Charles Scott was worried about it, he didn’t let on. Still, Jeremiah was pleased with himself that he’d found the nerve to throw it in.

At this point, the news anchors, spectators, film crew and producers began to file out of the room, along with Charles Scott and the man from the FDA. All of them would watch the actual Meld demonstration from the safety of a remote location to guard against any of their thoughts being accidentally picked up. While Jeremiah was relieved he wouldn’t have to risk getting an intimate view into the mind of Charles Scott, he couldn’t help wondering if it might have answered some questions and confirmed his suspicions.