He was still in the hallway at ten thirty when Gareth came up from the floor below.
He came up the stairwell and into the sixth floor hallway and stopped when he saw Michael on the floor and looked at him for a moment and then came and sat down against the opposite wall with the particular lack of performance that Michael had seen from him twice now, the version without the easy look, the one that showed up late at night apparently.
They looked at each other.
"The variant," Gareth said.
"Yes," Michael said.
"It got away from us," Gareth said. "The second one. Fetch went for it and it was out of range before he closed half the distance." He paused. "I've been thinking about it since we came back."
"So has Dr. Kang," Michael said.
Gareth looked at the wall across from him. "She thinks it's something new."
"She thinks it might be," Michael said. "She's not certain."
