—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