The Colonel was watching us, smiling. “A lover’s telepathic quarrel? If only we humans could handle them the same way. One day, perhaps, assuming we can survive what lies ahead. And that, after all, is the point of this mission, is it not? To see what catastrophe lies in wait for us, the very survival of an entire species hanging in the balance.

“This exercise served its purpose, I believe, for it made you realize that our Nordic friend here can’t be trusted. And now I realize that if a come-to-Jesus moment arises in Lake Vostok that requires you to trust me to do the right thing, you no longer value Ms. McWhite’s life enough to persuade you. So then, we’ll need to up the ante. Question five: What do you value above even your own welfare?”

The Colonel signaled to the glass.

A moment later a hidden door pushed open along a sidewall, and another guard entered the room with a ten-year-old boy.

His hair was raven-dark like his mother’s, and when William saw me, he ran to me and hugged me, curling himself in my lap. “Da, I don’t like this place. Mum blames ye fer us bein’ here.”

I stared venom into Colonel Vacendak’s eyes. “Where’s the boy’s mother?”

“She’s safe. She’s a handful, that one. Your son and ex-wife will spend the next few weeks with us here at Dreamland. Once you complete the mission, they’ll be released unharmed.”

“Why should I believe you?”

The Colonel signaled for the guard to remove Willy from my lap. He waited until the two had left the room and the door clicked shut before nodding to the guard aiming the gun at Susan’s head.

“No!”

The muffled blast splattered a Rorschach pattern of blood, brain, and bone across the white tile.

I turned my head and puked up my breakfast.

“Trust is all we have, Dr. Wallace. Susan McWhite was a valued ally and friend. She was also my lover. If I was willing to sacrifice her life for the greater good, you have to trust that I won’t hesitate to kill you and your family should you attempt to deceive me in Lake Vostok.”

He turned to the guard who had shot Susan. “Have her remains taken to the seventeenth floor for dissection, then clean him up and get him aboard the transport.”

“Yes, sir.”