The Cookie Monster

"Garcia," corrected NSA Ellen. "Yup. That’s me." She patted grader Ellen on the shoulder. "This is my sister, Sonya." She glanced at Dixie Mae. Play along, her eyes seemed to say. "Gerry sent us."

"He did?" The fellow by the computer display was gri

"Shut up, Da

"Gerry told you this will be a year-long project?"

The three of them nodded.

"We’ve got plenty of bunk rooms, and separate ... um, facilities." He sounded ... Lord, he sounded embarrassed. "What are your specialties?"

The token holder said, "Sonya and I are second-year grads, working on cognitive patterning."

Some of the hope drained from Rob’s expression. "I know that’s Gerry’s big thing, but we’re mostly doing hardware here." He looked at Dixie Mae.

"I’m into–" go for it "–Bose condensates." Well, she knew how to pronounce the words.

There were worried looks from the Ellens. But one of them piped up with, "She’s on Satya’s team at Georgia Tech."

It was wonderful what the smile did to Rob’s face. His angry expression of a minute before was transformed into the look of a happy little boy on his way to Disneyland. "Really? I can’t tell you what this means to us! I knew it had to be someone like Satya behind the new formulations.

Were you in on that?"

"Oh, yeah. Some of it, anyway." Dixie Mae figured that she couldn’t say more than twenty words without blowing it. But what the heck–how many more minutes did the masquerade have to last, anyway? Little Victor and his self-terminating thread ...

"That’s great. We don’t have budget for real equipment here, just simulators–"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Ellens exchange a fer sure look.

"–so anyone who can explain the theory to me will be so welcome. I can’t imagine how Satya managed to do so much, so fast, and without us knowing."

"Well, I’d be happy to explain everything I know about it."

Rob waved Da

Dixie Mae sauntered over to the desk and plunked herself down. For maybe thirty seconds, this guy would think she was brilliant.

The Ellens circled in to save her. "Actually, I’d like to know more about who we’re working with," one of them said.

Rob looked up, distracted, but Da

"Oh!" Dixie Mae had read about this guy in Newsweek. And it had nothing to do with chemistry. "But you’re–" Dead. Not a good sign at all, at all.

Da

You know it’s true."

Lusk waved him away. "Yes! So tell them how you’re an even bigger fool!" He really wanted to get back to grilling Dixie Mae.

Da

"No, can’t say as I’ve heard of that."

"Give thanks then, because since 2006, it’s been an unbendable rule at UCLA. So when Gerry told Rob about this secret hardware contract he’s got with LotsaTech–and promised that Ph.D. in return for some new results–Rob jumped right in."

"Yeah, Da

NSA Ellen gave a whistle of pretended surprise. "Wow. What use could you have for all that power?"

Da

Grader Ellen–Sonya, that is–puckered up a naive expression. "What more does Gerry want?"

Da

"And we’ve got just a year to improve on your results, Dixie Mae. But your solution is years ahead of the state of the art." Rob was pleading.

Da

"So, how long have you been here, Rob?" said Dixie Mae.

He looked up, maybe surprised by the tone of her voice.

"We just started. This is our first day."

Ah yes, that famous first day. In her twenty-four years, Dixie Mae had occasionally wondered whether there could be rage more intense than the red haze she saw when she started breaking things. Until today, she had never known. But yes, beyond the berserker-breaker there was something else. She did not sweep the display off the table, or bury her fist in anyone’s face.

She just sat there for a moment, feeling empty. She looked across at the twins. "I wanted some villains, but these guys are just victims. Worse, they’re totally clueless! We’re back where we started this morning." Where we’ll be again real soon now.

"Hmmm. Maybe not." Speaking together, the twins sounded like some kind of perfect chorus. They looked around the room, eyeing the decor. Then their gazes snapped back to Rob. "You’d think LotsaTech would do better than this for you, Rob."

Lusk was staring at Dixie Mae. He gave an angry shrug. "This is the old Homeland Security lab under Norman Hall. Don’t worry–we’re isolated, but we have good lab and computer services."

"I’ll bet. And what is your starting work date?"

"I just told you: today."

"No, I mean the calendar date."

Da

Nine months. Nine real months. And maybe there was a good reason why this was the first day. Dixie Mae reached out to touch Rob’s sleeve. "The Georgia Tech people didn’t invent the new hardware," she said softly.

"Then just who did make the breakthrough?"

She raised her hand ... and tapped Rob deliberately on the chest.

Rob just looked more angry, but Da