Chapter 2

Renya couldn’t remember having fallen asleep the previous night, and the morning had come astonishingly quickly. She’d opened her eyes to a straining daylight, purple as an old bruise, and to a bleating alarm.

She filled her cup with the sludgy coffee from the decanter. The cups in the dining room were the tiny, hotel variety. She’d need a dozen refills. She considered just bringing one of the pots to a table with her to save time. She squeezed her notebooks under her armpit, and balanced her cup on her plate to see if she could carry the decanter too.

“You’re up early,” said a voice behind her. She wheeled around to find a sandy-haired man that she vaguely remembered from the orientation, and also from the gathering the night before. Had they spoken?

“I’m not surprised that you’re up too,” she ventured. Maybe if she threw him off balance, then they’d feel equally awkward.

“I was sure you’d be the sleeping-in type,” he countered.

“I was hoping to walk around the grounds.” And she was hoping not to run into anyone this morning before she went out, hence the early alarm. “Recon. You know.”

The man chuckled, not entirely pleasantly. Renya bristled, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. She was feeling that old red flag emotion, but she couldn’t explain it. This man looked a bit like Nick. Charlie, Physics, Radiation, read the name tag. Nick wouldn’t know this person, surely. People here were researching practical questions and applications. Nick was as theoretical as they came.

Renya looked down, hoping to find her own name tag dangling, but of course she’d forgotten to put it on. The pastry she’d been struggling to hold steady on her plate wobbled. She straightened to keep her notebook clinched under her arm.

“Don’t worry,” said Charlie. “Renya. I remember.”

“Oh.” Renya looked around. Men at a nearby table were watching her with guarded expressions. She surveyed the room. Tiv, the kind man with the big family that she’d met on the plane on the way here, was sitting by himself in a corner by the window. He was watching her too. He seemed to be holding his breath. Again, that unquantifiable danger signal sounded.

“I know your husband,” Charlie said suddenly.

Renya’s coffee sloshed in her mug. She put everything on the table. She just wanted to get outside.

“Women always forget the name tags. Usually sleep in a bit more too, don’t you? Need that beauty sleep?”

Keep your sense of humour, Renya thought bitterly. Can’t you take a joke? Well ha-fucking-ha. Beauty sleep. Priceless. This wasn’t how adults were supposed to talk to each other.

Nick might have met this man, but they couldn’t be close. Strange vibes aside, this was all tooapplied for Nick.

“Come, you can sit with us.” Charlie gestured to a table. “Regale us with your observations.