By the time Valeria could walk around the Tower without making the researchers flinch, I had a few days of winter break left.
The days after her creation had gone mostly to Paul. He ran every test he could think of, then several he invented on the spot, and Valeria tolerated all of them with a running commentary that the researchers eventually started writing down. She wanted to know why the pressure plates were calibrated in those units. She wanted to know why Dr Thorne took her tea with three sugars. She informed Master Valdris, very politely, that his left shoulder was carrying an old injury he ought to see someone about. He went quiet for an entire afternoon and then, the next morning, booked an appointment.
By the third day, Paul had stopped calling her "the subject" and started calling her Valeria. By the fourth, he was asking her opinion on his notes.
'He's sweet,' she told me. 'Badly organised. Sweet.'
