“No. So you’d better make this year worth my while, Meyer.”
What could possibly make this collaboration worth its cost? Dr. Kramer had assigned the work, though, so he’d have to find its benefit—to himself and to his supervisor.
If he didn’t?
“If—if—we can reconcile quantum mechanics with relativistic mechanics, solve the quantum gravity problem, eliminate the need for singularity theorems, have papers published inReviews of Modern PhysicsorReports on Progress in Physics—”
“—thatmightbe worth it,” she cut him off. “Might.”
Not a promising start, when Dr. Kramer would expect genius. And with Erin across the table, willful and difficult, flushed with irritation—
No.
Knees stiff, arms still crossed, since he didn’t trust his hands not to shake if he extracted them from their tight balls under his elbows, barely avoiding tripping over the wheels of his chair and his discarded pen, he shouldered out of the conference room, back to his office. When he locked the door behind him, his fingers instantly curled into his palms again with tremors.
So he fumbled for a new pen and his phone, sketching one-handed while he typed.
Ethan
10 a.m., and this is already the worst Monday.
Ping.
Forster
10 a.m., and damn, can I ever sympathize! Who am I kneecapping for you?
Erin Monaghan, he almost answered.
But if he brought Erin into their conversation, Forster might research her name, might find her SVLAC staff photo, might recognize her from Friday night at the Wine Room—and then she’d put together the shameful pieces to identify the man with whom Erin had been arguing.
Ethan
No one. But it isn’t the way I’d planned to start my week.
Forster
I still have my bat on standby for you.
Ethan
Thanks.
Then he pushed a slow exhale through his teeth, put away his inky sticky notes and his phone, and returned to his inbox. This wasn’t how he’d intended to start his week, and a quantum gravity project wasn’t how he’d meant to spend his next year of research time, either.A year of Erin Monaghan.But a government directive was just that:a directive. He could execute his work with her—and do itnow—or quit. Or be fired and blacklisted from his field.
He opened a follow-up email from his supervisor.
Meyer:
Monaghan and Sec. McCandless’s political idiocy salvaged your mess. But if you fuck up this opportunity for my department like you fucked up Friday’s talk and theNature Physicsarticle, you’re done.
—K
No pulled punches. Just bald facts, except:Monaghan salvaged your mess.Like hell she had. Maybe their argument had impressed Secretary McCandless, and yes, his one dig from the podium had been good, but now—this.Thiswas a mess. He wasn’t a complete idiot, though, so he typed out his response without contesting his manager’s assertion.
Dr. Kramer:
Thank you for this opportunity.
