Saturnus Concern and Development was founded on a single operating principle; to know. Their mission was to seek out, uncover, and amass knowledge and safeguard it against the slow but inevitable degradation of time. It was for this reason, and for her own aligning hunger for progress, that Doctor Nora Gaul found herself on a transport shuttle two kilometres out and en route to Belltower Station.

  Situated on the nexus of space that divided three neighbouring powers – The Greater House of Vass, The Terran Sovereignty, and The Quisabar Dominion – Belltower Station had greatly benefited from its position on the outskirts of any one jurisdiction. The station had been established nearly three hundred years prior on the Lagrange point between the Veka, Pedi Mond, and Asintorr star systems and accessible by the only known natural-born rift outside of any star system. This made it the perfect place for Saturnus and its scrupulous need for secrecy.

  Having spent her childhood and education on the Sovereignty planet of Pedi Mond, Nora was always attracted to aspects of science that seemed to be outside of the Sovereignty’s typical sphere. She craved to know things, and not just because she was clever. Nora had always felt an innate need to delve into the impossible. As such, she was seen as a shoo-in for work outside of the Sovereignty.

  Fresh off the production line of one of Pedi Mond’s shipyards, the Yotaro shuttle Nora found herself in was top of the line. It had been sent for her at the request of Hamsen Smythe himself, The Director and chief researcher of Saturnus. Everything around her in the cabin was emblazoned with the Saturnus Concern and Development name.

  “How far are we?” Nora asked Jan the pilot, her head reclined and face covered with a sleep mask, not bothering to lift it and check the wallscreen in front of her.

  “Just shy of an hour, Doctor,” Jan answered, not seeming to mind the distraction.

  She was in one seat of fourteen, the sole passenger on the chartered transit. Regular transfers between The Sovereignty did happen and happened often but lacked the glamour afforded by her new position. The Director had summoned Nora to fill a crucial research role, though for some undisclosed project wrapped in the usual Belltower secrecy. Normally not a woman of complex tastes, Nora was starting to enjoy this.

  “Just twenty more minutes,” she appealed to herself. She pulled out the tie that had bound her chin-length ochre hair throughout her nap, letting it flow over the back of the chair as she turned over onto her side. She had anticipated the usual null-gravity conditions that could be expected on every shuttle she had ever been on until now. Instead, the Yotaro was outfitted with a suite of gravity generators, further cementing the absurdity of her new reality.

  Fifty-seven minutes later, the Yotaro docked with Belltower, unceremoniously shaking her from her nap like a sleeping babe.

  “Easy does it,” Jan said, “these docking ports on the Station ain’t what they used to be.”

  “Thanks for the warning,” Nora said, unstrapping herself and moving to gather her things.

  “I’ve got that,” Jan said, raising a hand, already retrieving the few bits of luggage containing everything she owned.

  “Careful with that; my entire life is in there,” she said. Though perhaps not, she thought, maybe there was more waiting for her just outside the airlock.

  “Not to worry, I’ll have them moved to your new residences personally.”

  As if on cue, the Yotaro’s airlock opened with an equalising hiss to reveal a curt man in a Saturnus uniform.

  “Doctor Nora Gaul,” the man said, “I am Tim Dienain, assistant to Director Smythe.”

  “Well, hello Tim Dienain!” Nora said, stepping forward and stretching. “I take it I have you to thank for this fine flight.”

  “At the Director’s request, I did arrange it,” Tim admitted. “Now, if you’ll please follow me–”

  Tim turned and began down the corridor leaving Nora momentarily confused.

  “Should I follow him?” she turned and asked Jan.

  “I would,” he said. “Good luck, by the way.”

  “That’s kind of you, thanks,” she said before nodding. “Well. Bye.”

  Nora walked after Tim, who was already past the next set of docking airlocks. Tying her hair into a chignon as she walked, Nora didn’t increase her pace. Instead, she made her own way, on her own time, toward the disappearing back of Tim’s head as he rounded the next corner only to pop his head back impatiently into view. She waved a dismissive ‘I’m coming’ hand only to see the assistant roll his eyes.

  “Am I to chase you all day, or did we have a destination in mind?” she asked.

  “The lift is just up ahead, Doctor.”

  When Nora finally caught up to Tim at the lift, the doors opened as if to greet her.

  “Perfect timing,” she said, stepping inside. Tim let out a huff.

  The lift was long, and Nora’s mind started to skip ahead to her oncoming future. She could imagine herself in her new offices, surrounded by equally brilliant minds, all investigating and collaborating on cutting-edge advances.

  Stepping off the lift ahead of her, she could hear Tim announce her arrival with a knock on the Director’s office door.

  “You chose this posting; why?” asked Director Hamsen Smythe as Nora walked into his office. He was seated behind his desk, his head down, reading over some report on his terminal.

  “You chose me,” she stated, caught off guard. Hamsen didn’t react and instead placed the terminal on his desk. His eyes slowly tracked up her as if to examine her in some analytical way. “Didn’t you?”

  “Oh yes, yes, of course,” said Hamsen, “I forget myself.”

  She wasn’t sure how sincere that statement was. Did he mistake her for someone else, she thought, or maybe he was attempting to cast her off balance? Either way, she hated this game.

  “Mister Smythe–” she started.

  “Director Smythe,” corrected a corner-bound Tim.

  “Right. Director Smythe,” she corrected before continuing, “I was under the impression that you had a research position waiting for me?”

  “I was just going over your service sheet, Dr. Gaul, and I must say I find it impressive,” said Hamsen.

  “Thank you, but I–”

  “To have risen so far in your short career,” he said, cutting her off, “I must admit it is a feat unto itself.”

  “I was also thankful to have served under some of the greatest minds The Sovereignty has to offer. And if I may run the risk of gloating, my work on the thermovid strain was vital in stemming the spread throughout the island nations of Pedi Mond.”

  “There’s no need to sell yourself, Doctor. This isn’t an interview,” Hamsen said. “Well, perhaps it is.”

  “I’m not sure I understand,” she said, confused.

  “You see, a job is yours. The case now is to be made whether you are suited for the position I had in mind.”

  “Sir, when I agreed to come here, your staff assured me I had the job.”

  “Your work is vital; we are in agreement. But now at Saturnus, we may have come upon a new avenue in which to apply your specialised skill set.”

  Nora didn’t respond. She could see the conversation going in circles and wished the man, her new boss, would get to the point.

  “Silence?” he said, misreading her disdain. “You study me. You wish to know my intentions. And I see now that I have made the right decision. You see, Dr. Gaul, I mean to make you the new Head of our Xenobiology Division.”

  Nora had been expecting a mid-level researcher role and to work towards a lead role within her five-year plan, but nothing even close to shooting straight to the top like this.

  “I accept,” she said without a moment’s hesitation.

  “As I suspected you would,” he said. “Tim, get the new Head of Xenobiology set up in the labs and introduce her to her new team of researchers.”

  “I’m sorry, did you say team?” she asked, astonished.

  “Indeed, Dr. Gaul. I will give you a few days to get to know your team, to have them wrap any of their ongoing research. And when it’s time to start, you will be hearing from me,” Hamsen Smythe finished, picking up and becoming reabsorbed with his terminal.

  “Thank you,” Nora said in as grateful a tone she could manage, though somehow it still felt like it came out insincere.

  “No need to thank me, Doctor,” he said, waving Tim over to her, “I will expect results.”

  Leaving Hamsen’s office, Nora didn’t know what she should be feeling. Excitement about her new position? Or was it anxiety about the functional ambiguity she now found herself mayor of? Maybe she wouldn’t get full disclosure from the Director. That was fine. For the meantime, what she wanted to do was work.

  In the past, Nora had opted to remain close to what was familiar. Some of her classmates had gone on to serve the Sovereignty military in one capacity or another, whether by contract or through commissions, but not her. Nora had wished to buckle down, to work on her research on Pedi Mond, and maybe one day she would be given a chance to make something of herself.

  And she had been given a chance, one that now stood before her. It took everything from her, took her away from everyone she had known and any familiar place out into the black of space on the fringes of society. She had to let go of her own comfort; she had to learn to get out of her own way. For out here, there was only the work.

  “So, where are we off to next?” Nora asked Tim as they returned to the lift.

  “Alpha level,” he said, not elaborating.

  “Alpha level? But won’t that take us outside the Saturnus campus on the station?” asked Nora.

  “It will. You see, some of the research we do here is sensitive. So sensitive, in fact, that Director Smythe and Saturnus would much prefer it not be traced back to the company under any circumstance.”

  “I see,” Nora understood.

  “And it is for that reason that you will not be receiving a uniform. Also, I must ask you not to disclose the nature of your employer, not to station hands, not to your friends, not even to your subordinates. For all intents and purposes, you and the company have no affiliation whatsoever.”

  “I get it, Tim, it’s a black-site. I was never here. We never spoke,” she said, “Now when does the real work start?”

  “As the Director said when the time comes. For now, do as he says and mop up any loose ends.”

  Nora nodded. The lift slowed, and the doors opened into a wide laboratory level, rows and rows of benches stocked with top-of-the-line equipment, some of which Nora had only read about.

  “This is it,” Tim said, gesturing to her to step out, “I will return later to show you to your quarters across the station. For now, get settled and mingle.”

  “Thank you, Tim,” she said, stepping out to take in the lab. She took in a deep breath of sterile air, letting it out slowly. “Oh and, should you come across your predecessor, not to worry, he will be gone shortly.”

  “My predecessor?” Nora said, turning to Tim. “Are you telling me I’m someone’s replacement?”

  “You might say something like that. Dr. Samuel Bowen; a sour man, you would do best to steer clear of him.”

  “Right…” Nora said. “And the team? Won’t they be a little upset that I’m coming in to replace their old boss?”

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  Tim declined to answer, instead waving as the lift doors closed between them.

  Nora sighed and turned, pacing through the aisles of benches with no one in sight.

  “If I were a disgruntled ex-employee, where might I be?” she asked no one, only to be interrupted by a muffled smash from one of the back rooms.

  Through the double doors, a dishevelled man stormed, his lab coat hanging from his shoulders and his black hair contorted with stress. He was carrying a crate of what Nora assumed were personal items, only to stop dead when he noticed her from across the wide lab.

  “You,” the man spat, pointing an indignant finger at her. Nora, refusing to let this sour her first day, stood her ground as he shuffled himself and his belongings over to her.

  “Dr. Nora Gaul,” she said, extending a hand. “Dr. Sam Bowen, I take it?”

  “I don’t care who you are,” he said in a somewhat pompous tone, “Smythe thinks you will be able to do better than I can do here, the ignorant old fool.”

  “Careful who you mention that name around, wouldn’t want to break that secrecy,” she warned.

  “Please. I’m smart enough not to tell someone about this place, or I would have done it already. I can’t say the same about you.”

  “Ouch,” Nora said, thinking even less of the man.

  “Don’t. Just don’t. Good luck running this place. I was the only thing holding it all together,” said Dr. Bowen.

  “You don’t know me at all, Samuel. I’m sure we’ll do just fine,” she said, “I’m sorry you were fired.”

  “Fired? No,” he corrected, “They’ve transferred me to another black site. Some outer colony running ‘fieldwork.’ It’s punishment for not meeting the Director’s deranged targets.”

  “Should you be telling me all this?” she asked, unsure.

  Dr. Bowen rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he said, pushing past her and boarding the lift.

  Nora waved after him, echoing the same dismissive wave Tim had just given her minutes before. Instead of a curt nod or a wave back, Dr. Samuel Bowen raised his middle finger and kept it raised until the doors closed on one of the most awkward encounters of Nora’s life. It wasn’t until she turned back to the double doors that she noticed a crowd had gathered to watch her and their old boss’ exchange.

  “Hi,” Nora said from across the lab.

  The unsettled gathering of seven researchers and engineers replied back with a smattering of low hi’s, hello’s, and modest waves. As small as they seemed against the backdrop of the large laboratory, the team was promised to double by The Director should her work begin to show promise.

  “Well, that was something,” Nora said, attempting to shift the atmosphere.

  The people said nothing as if expecting her to break the awkward silence. She hadn’t known what to expect on her first day, but it so far wasn’t going well. Fearing that the silence was drawing out, Nora decided to make the first move.

  “I believe introductions are a thing people do in a situation like this,” she said, “I’m Nora, or Dr. Gaul if you’re a fan of protocol. It looks like I’m going to be your new department head.”

  “What’s happened to Dr. Bowen – was he sacked?” asked one of the researchers, a thin woman with short, pin-straight, blonde hair and a raised eyebrow. Out of any of her colleagues, this woman seemed to be the only one showing genuine concern rather than just surprise at the recent excitement.

  “Dr. Bowen, who I’ve only just met, mind you, has been reassigned,” said Nora, echoing what the man had just told her.

  “He didn’t look happy to be reassigned,” drawled a balding man standing behind the blonde woman.

  “That is true,” she admitted, “but that’s not really for us to speculate on. His boss, and I’m sure you all know who that is, decided he had to go. To be particularly honest, I’m not sure why or why not.”

  It wasn’t until confusion donned on her employees’ faces that she realised what she’d said. Not five minutes with these people, and she’d nearly spilled the beans.

  “I mean–” she interjected, “I’m not sure who his boss was.”

  “Then who hired you?” the balding engineer shouted from the back.

  “I– well…” Nora began.

  “Stop it, Harold,” interrupted the blonde woman, “You and I both know she can’t say. Stop pestering the woman.”

  The blonde woman stepped forward, moving with a smile that had materialised to mask her own distress.

  “I’m Doctor Corine Lan,” she said, offering her hand, “I’m happy to see a woman running things for once.”

  “Glad to know you, Doctor Lan,” Nora said, accepting her hand.

  “Now,” Nora said, turning to the others, “I’m sure you would all like a speech.”

  “Don’t be silly, Doctor,” said Corine, “As excited as some of us are to see a change in leadership, that can wait another day. You must be tired from your trip.”

  “I–” Nora paused before feigning reluctance and saying, “Thanks.”

  “Come now. Let me introduce you to our procurement officer. The rest of you; back to work,” said Corine as she directed Nora through a double set of security doors and out of the lab into a wide concourse.

  “This is Belltower’s main concourse,” explained Corine as they walked, “this area is open to the public, and it’s a good place to get out and stretch your legs. Or, if you’re looking for something to eat, there are several curry carts over there.”

  Corine pointed, and a rush of fragrant air instantly greeted Nora as it made its way past her in a current produced by a large air recycler intake. The room was huge, half a kilometre huge, across and secured by dozens of outgrav generators that hung from the ceiling above them like butterfly cocoons.

  They walked past the carts and past families enjoying the central recreational garden, verdant and green. There was happiness here; entire lives lived within the breadth of the station. Children were born, raised, and willfully spent their days working and creating bonds that would last until their final days.

  Nora had felt a similar pull back when she was on Pedi Mond. She had felt a yearning to settle down, to build a life there for herself. And she had, for a time. Though, those days seemed too far distant, almost unreachable. Now, as she walked through the concourse with Corine, she knew this felt familiar yet new. Nora knew she could feel at home here, and who knows, maybe have a family like the happy ones in the park someday.

  “And here we are,” said Corine, stopping in front of a kiosk on the opposite side of the park from the curry carts. The kiosk bore no sigil nor corporate insignia. It looked to Nora to be just another storefront.

  “Welcome, dear Dr. Lan,” said a creature as it emerged from behind a display stand at the back of the kiosk’s backroom. Its crackling voice sputtered as it talked, but Nora could see no mouth, nor eyes, just facial fronds that dipped, weaved and rustled together as it spoke. “I am heartened to see you once again.”

  Nora did her best to contain her surprise.

  “I’m sorry, I hadn’t expected to see a vass here today,” Nora admitted.

  “We are numerous on this Belltower Station, dear?–” said the vass, pausing as if waiting for her to introduce herself.

  “Nora,” she held a hand outstretched, then shyly retracted it, “Doctor Nora Gaul.”

  She had nearly lowered her arm before a collection of brambles from under the vass’ cloak sprung out and grasped her hand back, shaking it vigorously.

  “This is Oseto Oteso,” said Corine, “our procurement officer for the lab.”

  “Among other things,” Oseto rattled, “Many greetings, Doctor Nora Gaul, anything you need, you can come to me for.”

  “The pleasure is mine, Oseto. Sorry if I offended you,” said Nora, this being her first in-person exposure to a member of the vass race. She had met a quisabar as it and its soulpair once when they had been on Pedi Mond as a guest lecturer for her class in xenobiotics, but that was years ago.

  “Nonsense!” Oseto hissed. “You are new here, yes? Well, tell me, what brings you here to this desolate region of the void?”

  “Oseto,” Corine chided, “You’re not going to bring up the pool being out of commission again, are you?”

  “You know me well, Dr. Lan,” Oseto said, “I only miss feeling the waters rushing through me. It’s near torture that it has been so long.”

  “Excuse Oseto, Dr. Gaul. He has been complaining like this about the pool ever since the pool’s purpose-built downgrav generator went down,” Corine explained, “and I will tell him again what I told him then, he is the procurement officer, it’s his job to order a replacement.”

  “Have you, Oseto – ordered a replacement?” asked Nora.

  “Alas, I have. That part is made back on your Sovereignty world of Dromunsk. If it were vass made, it simply would not have broken.”

  Maybe she was eager to prove herself in front of her new subordinate, or she was just tired of waiting to get started with the work, saying, “I’ll see what I can do about getting a replacement in.”

  “No, I cannot ask you to–” started Oseto, waiting to be cut off.

  “She will try, but no promises, Oseto,” said Corine.

  “If I may, Dr. Lan, what happened to your friend, Dr. Bowen?” asked Oseto.

  Corine stalled at this. From the expression on her face during the altercation with her old boss, Nora had gathered there was a connection there. It was obvious then to Nora that she wasn’t ready to divulge any allegiances. But to sit back and watch a friend being forced out, Nora thought, that must’ve stung.

  “He was–” Corine started to explain.

  “–he was sent on to better and brighter things,” finished Nora.

  “Thank you,” Corine said after they left Oseto’s stall.

  “No need. I get it,” said Nora.

  Corine sighed, priming to speak.

  “It’s just– I had come into work today hoping for something different.”

  “I hear you. I hadn’t been thinking on my flight over that I would be yelled at first thing,” she said, “No offence.”

  Corine nodded, “Sam… he was brash and quick to anger, even controlling at times. But he had a bright side, you know? And he was brilliant.”

  “I meant it when I said he was reassigned,” Nora said as comforting as possible, “at least that’s what they told me.”

  “I know you can’t say who we work for, but did they say where Sam was being sent?” asked Corine, taking a seat at one of the park tables.

  Nora shook her head, sitting down beside her. “Sam said it was another black-site.”

  “Don’t suppose I’ll be hearing from him then.”

  “I’m sure you will,” she said, “once he gets his lab set up.”

  “No, that’s not how things work around here,” said Corine, “I’ve been here a while, far too long, and everyone that has walked out those doors has never reached back, not some much as a bit of text.”

  “That doesn’t seem right,” Nora supposed, though maybe that’s just how they did things here, total secrecy and all.

  Corine shrugged.

  “Well, what's next on this fine tour?” Nora asked, standing and hoping to pull Corine’s attention along with her.

  “That’s it, Doctor. I’m afraid it’s a small station here.”

  “What about a drink?”

  “A drink I can do,” said Corine, parting a smile.

  Nora spent the next few days of work, clocking in early and walking about the lab. She took a mental inventory of the various equipment littering the benches, taking note of any missing instruments that she could place on order with Oseto. Of the equipment that was there, some were new, top-of-the-line, and some of the mechanisms had seen what looked like years of use and abuse. It was apparent someone around the lab was maintaining it all, and from what Nora could see, they were doing a decent job at it. It was nice not to arrive to a pigsty, and she could instead dive straight into the work. She would have to find out who it was and commend them, she thought.

  Each day she passed through the several levels of security doors, biometric scans, and passkey hallway gate-checks before reaching the lab and each day that passed, she felt herself get more and more over it.

  She still wasn’t confident what that work was. Nora’s punctuality hadn’t materialised any sort of directives passed down from Saturnus. The week had started off at a high note lasting the first few days, and then soon, it took a turn towards monotony. She would arrive early still, yet later and later each day, until one day when she arrived, she found Corine waiting for her with a steaming hot coffee for her standing over a nondescript packing crate that measured up to her waist.

  “This is– what?” Nora asked, taking the cup and burning her tongue after the first sip.

  “God, if I know. It’s addressed to you,”

  Nora picked the manifest off the side of the crate. Looking at the delivery instructions, it read:

  For Dr. Nora Gaul’s Eyes Only

  “That’s weird. No delivery address,” Nora remarked, “Who brought this in?”

  “Was here when I arrived. Whoever dropped it has security clearance to be here,” Corine said as she took a sip from her own mug.

  “You think it’s from them?” asked Nora, implying The Director’s office.

  “Would probably have to be.”

  With a whistle, Harold Teth, the engineer, entered through the double doors with his lunch bag slamming into one of the doors behind him, forcing Nora to turn to look at him.

  “What’s this then?” he asked, after a drawling whistle.

  “Seems we finally have some work,” said Corine.

  “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” said Nora. The crate had a terminal mounted at its centre; a biometric scanner queued up on-screen. If she was meant to unlock it, how would they have gotten her biodata? Nora couldn’t recall ever submitting herself to any sort of bio collection.

  She placed her hand on the terminal’s surface, and immediately the terminal chimed and shut off as the crate hissed. A small stream of white condensation leaked out from the top of the container as it unlocked, and all panels slid outward.

  Nora, Corine and Harold peered inside. The crate had just been a shell masking the structure within. In a rigid steel framework, a central plastic cube was housed in a harness secured to all sides with a series of seismically rated elastic cords. It was evident to Nora that whatever was at this crate's centre was of profound importance to whoever shipped it. Secured to the top of the plastic cube, another terminal woke from standby.

  Nora directed Harold to extract the cube, and its accompanying terminal, which he did, handing the terminal to her and setting the cube down cautiously on the nearest bench. As he did, the packing crate resealed itself and hoisted itself up off the floor using a concealed upgrav generator then, without any further ceremony, bustled itself off back toward and boarded the lab’s lift. As Nora watched, the terminal’s screen woke and displayed a message.

  For Dr. Nora Gaul’s Eyes Only.

  Confirm? [yes/no]

  Nora took the terminal and turned away from Corine and Harold, not wanting to upset the careful secrecy of the packing crate. She tapped yes, and the terminal’s screen shifted to show a recording of Director Smythe.

  “Greetings, Dr. Gaul,” he said, somewhat lacklusterly. “I trust you have settled into your new position.”

  His face on the screen was as dispassionate as ever as if delivering the message was just another task to tick off in the day.

  “Now,” he continued, “Assuming you are ready to begin, I have entrusted you with a truly sensitive matter as you may discern from the caution exhibited in its transfer over to you. Within the environmentally sealed cradle shipped with this terminal are samples that we need analysed. Though I cannot divulge their explicit origin, these samples have come to us through an intermediary. They exhibit some extraordinary properties which we would like separately corroborated. You have seven vials of the sample on which I expect you to run the battery. However, it is your show. It goes without saying that all precautions need to be taken to ensure containment of the samples. I wish you and your team luck, Doctor. This has been Director Smythe.”

  The message ended, and the terminal’s screen flickered, going dark. Nora tapped the terminal attempting to restart it to no avail. In true secrecy, the clandestine terminal had self-annihilated.

  “Well, that was…,” Nora said, caught off guard by the suicidal terminal. Only now realising Corine and Harold had been watching her the entire time, she handed the broken terminal over to Harold.

  “Destroy this,” she ordered. Harold nodded before walking off to the backroom incinerator.

  “Well?” Corine asked after Harold had left.

  “You were right. There’s work to be done.”

  “Oh yeah– what did we get?” Corine asked.

  “Let me ask, Dr. Lan, what have you and your colleagues been working on until now? If you could summarise it, that is,” Nora asked, feeling for an answer she knew was there.

  “Well,” Corine said, “Up until now, we’ve been relegated to testing various flora and fauna for their regenerative properties.”

  “You were looking for a cure-all?” Nora asked.

  “In simple terms, it looks that way, boiling it down.”

  Nora considered this. The manner in which she had been invited to Belltower — to Saturnus — only to be thrust into this position blanketed by an unprecedented level of secrecy, she knew had to be for a line of research that was either highly controversial or highly illegal. Nora was willing to bet it straddled the line of both.

  Nora pulled on a pair of medical gloves and hoisted the plastic cradle containing the samples, studying it. Through the translucent shell, she could make out seven vials just as the Director had promised. Each of the vials held a viscus silverish-black fluid, stagnant until she disturbed them, then shifting as if fighting the tilt of gravity.

  “Interesting…” Nora mused, angling the samples back and forth and watching the fluid climb the sides of the vials in the opposite direction of her tilt.

  “What is?” Corine asked.

  “They’re reacting to my influence. See how they move away from the direction of travel.”

  “Are you implying the samples are intelligent?” asked Corine.

  “Situationally intelligent, maybe. Let’s get these into the lab. I want to crack this case open and see what we’re dealing with,” Nora said, just as the rest of the research team began arriving for their shift, each increasingly aware of what she was holding and what that meant for the day’s work.