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they’re
not leaving anything to chance,” Evan said.
    There was a double
layer of fabric swathing on top of the pads to mute any extraneous
sound, a nice touch that Chal appreciated although she hadn’t
asked for it. Evan wasn’t just a bumbling lab assistant, after
all.
    “This is
good,” Chal said. She noticed that Evan’s face lit up at
the weak praise.
    Dr. Fielding was
standing next to Lieutenant Johnner on the other side of the room,
both looking intensely displeased. When Lieutenant Johnner saw her,
though, his face brightened just as Evan’s had. It was a look
Chal was accustomed to, and whether it was because she was going to
question the prototype or because of another, more unprofessional
reason, she declined to return his gaze. There was already too much
confusion around the lab for her to create any more problems.
    Chal didn’t
wait for anyone to brief her. After double checking the equipment,
she walked across the room toward the men.
    “I’m
going to be the one in the room with the prototype?” Chal said.
Her question was directed toward Lieutenant Johnner. Now that she
knew he was the real one in charge, it didn’t matter what Dr.
Fielding thought. If she never talked with him again, it would be too
soon.
    “I must
disagree with Lieutenant Johnner’s decision,” Dr.
Fielding said, before Johnner could answer.
    “It was not my
decision,” Johnner said coldly. “It was part of the
protocol associated with Project Paragon.”
    “When did we
start following this protocol?” Fielding asked, sarcastic. His
voice was too loud, and two technicians looked over at them.
    “After the
first two prototypes were needlessly destroyed.” Johnner looked
pissed, and Fielding was silent for a moment. Chal saw a look of pure
hatred cross his face and disappear into cold nothingness.
    “We’ll
debrief after the awakening,” Chal said, hoping to defuse the
argument. “This shouldn’t be interesting at all, anyway,
if we do it right. It’s just getting him acclimated to his
surroundings. I’ll just be watching to make sure nothing goes
wrong.”
    “And what
about the questioning?” Fielding said pointedly.
    “We’ll
talk about it later,” Chal said. “Right now I need to get
ready.”
    “Fine,”
Fielding said, and went over to the table where the assistants were
messing around with the recording equipment. It didn’t matter
whether or not he thought it was fine, Chal thought. She wanted to
get started. It would have been better if they had let her prepare,
if they had given her time.
    “How long do
we have before we need to start?” she asked.
    “Ten, fifteen
minutes,” Johnner said. “We could wait longer if you
absolutely have to, but the sooner the better, of course.” He
was confident in his decisions, and Chal wondered again whether he
knew more than he let on about the experiment. He didn’t seem
nervous about wresting control away from Fielding, and she felt that
someone who was just a military man wouldn’t want to be held
responsible for scientific work.
    “Of course,”
Chal said. “I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.” Her
heart was beating faster, now that she realized that it was actually
happening. This was it.
    “Let me know
if you need anything beforehand,” Johnner said. Chal nodded,
her mind already racing ahead to what she was going to have to do.
She had done this experiment hundreds of times before, but of course
those were animals. This was a human.
    “Does he have
a name?” Chal asked.
    Evan spoke up. “We
call him Alan.”
    “Alan?”
Chal asked.
    “It’s
short for aluminium artificial neuronetwork,” he said. “Because
of the aluminum core, that’s the new part of this prototype.
Al-AN.”
    “ Alan,”
Chal repeated. “I like the sound of that.”
    “Better than
the last prototype core, anyway,” Evan said. “You can’t
make a name out of Ytterbium.” He chuckled, his cheeks rounded
in laughter, and Chal chuckled with him.
    She turned