easy, you know.’
‘So you tell me,’ Anderson said. ‘Go on, and stay out of the sun.’
‘Nag. I’m wearing the super sunblock, don’t you worry.’ Jesse stuck her tongue out, just like a three-year-old, and Claire had to laugh. There was something oddly childlike about her, considering she was also capable of turning cold at a moment’s notice, like any vampire. She was certainly old to be so nonchalant about roaming around during the day, and she wasn’t even wearing the thick layers of protective coats and hats that most vampires preferred. ‘You two don’t get up to anything funny around here. I’m done bailing people out of trouble for the next couple of days. It’s been busy.’
‘Yeah? Who’d you bail out today?’
For no apparent reason, Jesse smiled, and made a locking motion at her lips. ‘Can’t say,’ she said, ‘but he was real, real cute. Maybe I’ll tell you the story later.’
‘You’d better.’
Jesse waggled her fingertips and swiped her badge to get out of the lab, and it felt like half the light had left the room, somehow. She was … intense, Claire thought. And really, kind of cool.
Dr Anderson certainly thought so; she stared at the door for a full ten seconds after Jesse was gone, then snapped out of it and cleared her throat, put on her glasses, and walked back to stare down at VLAD. ‘Right,’ she said. ‘We have some work to do. First step is that we disassemble, label and scan every part of this so that we can make a virtual model. I want to be able to prototype this on the 3-D printer next time.’
‘The – what?’
‘3-D printer,’ the professor repeated, and pointed to a big, strange-looking thing in the far corner of the lab. ‘It takes a solid block of paper, plastic or metal and repeats a design. With good enough specs, you can print anything. The guys down the hall are working on 3-D printing of human organs. You remember the replicators on Star Trek that could make anything you wanted, from a roast beef sandwich to a phaser? We’re working on it. And actually, we’ve made a daunting amount of progress.’
That was … new. Claire thought about Myrnin, clinging to his antique microscopes and time-tested tools, and wondered what he’d think about all this. He’d probably feel it was too far from nature and the cycles of the moon and sun; that’s what he always said about things that he didn’t quite grasp. For all his brilliance, and he was brilliant, he just couldn’t shake off the bonds of his background in alchemy.
Maybe he’d change his mind if she brought back a new, shiny, 3-D printed, working copy of VLAD. It might solve the weight problems, too, if they could machine it out of some very lightweight materials. Maybe, with enough imagination, they’d even be able to model a vampire brain and print an artificial one to fit inside Myrnin’s computer, eliminating the need for anyone to die for science ever again in Morganville.
Well, she could dream, anyway.
Dr Anderson was putting out a wide selection of tools for the disassembly, and pointed Claire toward a rolling 3-D scanning device; her job, as each piece was disassembled from VLAD, was to tag it with a number and description, scan it individually, and put it in a bin. Dr Anderson was very careful; when she got to the little vials of bubbling liquid – Myrnin’s addition, along with all the whirling gears – she kept the liquid as well, though she siphoned off a bit for testing. Bit by bit, the device came apart into its component pieces, and the lab began to smell like hot solder and cooling metal.
By the time it was done, Claire yawned, stretched and glanced up at the clock. It was already five o’clock. She hadn’t intended to stay so long, but there was still more to be done; the scanner had to download into the mainframe, so that Dr Anderson could begin to work with the component pieces in wireframe form.
‘You should go,’ Dr Anderson said, and yawned. ‘Sorry. I got up early, and I know it’s been another long day for you. I can handle reassembly tonight.’
‘Want me to put the parts away?’ The bin was full now, and just as heavy as the whole device had been. Dr Anderson nodded, and Claire carried it back to the concealed panel, which was still open. She slid the bin inside and, on Anderson’s instruction, pressed her