"Down the hall. Towards Personnel."
"Towards the conference hall, you mean. He never even examined Harvey!"
"It wasn't necessary," she said uncomfortably. "Don just wanted to verify his stability index."
"Sure! So he stood outside the conference hall and put a whammy on me—"
Fern was smiling. I scowled. "It fits. It has to be him."
"Or Tichnat," she said. "Or Starza. Or me."
I stared at her. "You'd do." My voice shook. "You were gone three months. They could have got to you."
Her rich, warm laughter sifted through the twilight, and I wanted to hit her. "They did," she gurgled, "but I've decided to relent, Jake. I'll spare the plant on one condition—that you take me to the Term festival tomorrow night."
I grunted. "Carmody working overtime, I suppose?"
"If the plant's still standing."