—How romantic. You didn’t want to call it the Themis Consortium? It’s got a good ring to it.

—I have not shared information pertaining to her history or identity with anyone else at this time.

—Why?

—I have my reasons. However, I do admit that a numbered company is less than ideal from a motivational point of view. Perhaps you can suggest a good name for our group. I would like our personnel to feel a certain sense of belonging. Given the security restrictions and personal life limitations that come with working in our facility, strengthening morale will be of the essence.

—Well, if you don’t want to use Themis…She’s a daughter of Gaia and Uranus. You’re not dealing with teenagers, but I would still avoid having Uranus in the name. Gaia’s not bad. The Gaia Consortium.

—I will suggest it to the board of directors.

—There’s a board?

—It is a corporation.

—I guess so. Anyway, I’m not gonna complain. Buying this place must have cost a fortune. Who was here before us?

—I do not understand.

—I mean, what was this place before we came in? Was it a mine?

—There was nothing here. We are below a national park. We had to excavate from the sea.

—You’re kidding. There’s absolutely no way you can build something this size in just a few months. It would take years to dig this much, this deep.

—It took approximately two years.

—Did you just say two years?

—Yes, we built this facility in less than two years. The costs were, unfortunately, inversely proportional to the speed.

—That makes no sense. Two years ago, we hadn’t even put all the pieces together. We didn’t even have a head.

—I rarely do anything without planning for contingencies.

—Aren’t you a little worried about how the US government’s going to react to all this? They weren’t on that list of countries you mentioned.

—Indeed, they are not. They are, however, immune to any attack since one of our members is an American company.

—I’m sure that’ll be a great comfort to them…I must be missing something. The US paid for all the research. We retrieved all the pieces with their Army, and now you’re giving it to Russia? I don’t know about you, but I’d be a little ticked off.

—You are correct in assuming there will be some fences to mend at some point.

—OK then. Who am I to complain anyway? I’m from Canada. When do you think we’ll be able to start training again?

—If Ms. Papantoniou is correct, we should have retrieved all the pieces within a month.

—We’re also missing a pilot. I thought Kara would be here by now.

—She should be here soon. She may have been involved in an accident.

—What happened? Is she OK?

—She is fine. She may not have had the accident yet. You may have forgotten that she is US Army personnel. Without direct involvement from the United States, I cannot simply ask the government for her services. There is nothing I am officially, or unofficially, involved with at this point that would require a helicopter pilot.

—So?

—So sometime soon, if it has not happened already, she will be involved in a routine traffic accident. She will suffer a concussion, whiplash. Her physician will diagnose her with postconcussive syndrome and cervical radiculopathy and declare her unfit for duty. He will recommend that she be placed on medical leave for at least six months.

When she arrives, you will have some fences of your own to mend. She was deeply hurt by your disappearing act. While I sincerely hope that your relationship can be restored to its former status, I will gladly settle for peaceful coexistence at this point. It is imperative that the two of you learn to work together again and communicate in the most efficient manner, just as you did in the past. Furthermore, you must learn to do this very quickly. Recent events have forced me to increase the number of players involved. There are now too many people, with too much vested in this project, to see it set back because of personal issues, even if it is only by a few days.

—I don’t think you need to worry about Kara. She may hate my guts now, but she’ll do her job.

—You are absolutely correct. Ms. Resnik is a professional, and she will perform her duties to the best of her abilities, despite whatever feelings she may have. It is you I am worried about.

—I’ve never…

—There is no need to be on the defensive. I have no doubts about your determination to perform your duties well, but you lack the military experience Ms. Resnik possesses. You have mentioned several times, and so has Ms. Resnik, that working in the sphere has a unique psychological effect on people. I am concerned that, should one of you not find his or her feelings reciprocated, the sphere will quickly become a toxic environment. I do not believe you could cope with this much added stress and be efficient.

—We’ll be fine.

—You need to be more than fine. You need to be in sync. Your minds need to work in unison.

—Kara and I had absolutely no business being together in the first place. She has more issues than the New York Times, and I’m about as charming as a root canal, and yet, we found each other. It took about—what? twenty minutes?—after I kissed her the first time for some yahoo to run me into a cement wall with a pickup truck. We stuck together through that. We destroyed an airport together, killed our best friend, and brought the world to the brink of World War III, all in a day’s work.

Don’t you see? The two of us ending up together is either the biggest cosmic joke ever, or it was somehow meant to be. The real funny thing is, I don’t believe in fate. Like I said, Kara and I will be fine. If I were you, I’d be more worried about the next mess we’re gonna make.

FILE NO. 250

INTERVIEW WITH CW4 KARA RESNIK, UNITED STATES ARMY

Location: Undisclosed location, near San Juan, Puerto Rico

—Mr. Couture has been through a lot.

—You think it’s been a walk in the park for me? I was there too, remember! He abandoned me! Didn’t call, didn’t write. It’s not like I have really high standards for relationships. If you need some time alone, fine, but if you’re gonna just bail on me, at least let me know that you’re OK, and—I don’t know—maybe tell me if you’re coming back or not. Is that too much to ask?

—I am increasingly uncomfortable with the direction in which this conversation is heading.

—Just tell me! Am I being unreasonable?

—A modicum of communication would seem like a sensible requisite.

—Thank you!

—Your sudden gratitude worries me, deeply. Please do not take anything I have said to mean that I am taking “your side.”

—What would you have done?

—I will pretend you did not just ask me that. The truth is: Neither you nor I can understand what went through the mind of Mr. Couture, as he bears the better part of the responsibility for the death of Dr. Franklin.

—That’s a horrible thing to say. I’m just as responsible as he is for what happened.

—That is very generous of you. However, both of us know it to be inaccurate. The hands that pressed the buttons that caused the energy burst belonged to Mr. Couture, not to you.

—That’s not fair! The robot tripped!