“You were always like this, Kierk. This is why you did not graduate. You could never complete work. You were a poor excuse for a graduate student.”

“You were a tyrant to me! A petty tyrant who tried to crush me at every chance. I didn’t do the work because, not only did I see the flaws, but also because of the way you treated me!”

“Dramatic accusations! You always had a flair for drama. You’ve warped everything through your own biased perception.”

“Then what about Daniel?”

“That . . . was unfortunate. He came to the lab just as he was developing schizophrenia.”

“I don’t think that’s what happened. He brought a fucking gun into lab. Remember when his wife called sobbing? And the police took him away? Now he’s in some sanatorium. Five months under you was all it took. I did five fucking years.”

“Mentally ill people crack under the intellectual pressure of working at the very cutting edge of science. I gave you an opportunity few people in history ever have! A chance to prove you’re a genius! And you threw it away!”

“You were afraid of me! Some part of you suspected that I wasn’t a convert. So you made my life a hell for years. I was a threat!”

“Will you continue to blame me for all of your failures your whole life, Kierk, or will you ever get tired of it?”

“You fucking son of a—”

“Kierk, what the hell is going on?!”

From where they’ve moved toward each other on the stage the two men spin to the door, where Karen is standing with a look of total outrage on her face.

The gala is being held in a great hall off Washington Square Park. The interior of the building is decked out with long tables, paintings on the walls, elegant chandeliers. Carmen notices that everyone has gotten surprisingly dressed up for an academic setting. She wanders around a bit in the little black dress she had thrown on, looking for Kierk. People are already sitting at tables, especially a lot of the higher-ups, all talking over wine that servers are bringing around. Others, like her, mill about between the tables, sipping glasses and pilfering hors d’oeuvres. Finally, she runs into Alex by the cheese platters.

“What’d you think of the talk?” she asks him.

“I really liked it. Antonio is just so ambitious, I love it. But I’ve also talked to Kierk a lot so I think I’ve become corrupted.”

“Have you seen him?” Carmen asks.

“Yeah, Dr. Moretti is over there at the table,” Alex points to where all the top researchers are sitting, laughing and talking, and Antonio Moretti is at the center.

“No. I meant Kierk. Have you seen Kierk?”

“Oh. No, no I haven’t seen him.”

“I just thought that, since he wasn’t at the talk . . .” Carmen trails off.