Shay - Delphine AU | Part 26* (Rough Draft)
Could Shay and Delphine have been a thing in a different universe?
Prev: 1-5 (edited), 6-8, 9*, 10*, 11*, 12*, 13*, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18*, 19, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24*, 25*, 26*
"Delphine," Aldous named her in a tone shy of condemnatory and suspicious when she appeared in his office first thing in the morning without appointment or announcement. "I was in the process of sending you the details of the procedure. We'll proceed tomorrow."
"Good. Thank you," Delphine said curtly. "I'll review the information."
"But that's not why you're here," Aldous intoned without humor.
"I've been thinking about Jennifer," Delphine said.
Aldous held up a hand. "Our options and resources are limited at the moment. That's not to point out that we haven't undergone a trial yet."
Delphine took a seat, shaking her head. "I was thinking about how two more cases followed Jennifer's, Katja and Cosima."
Aldous watched her keenly.
"The interval between the occurrences Katja and Cosima was shorter than the one between Jennifer and Katja." Delphine leveled Aldous with a look. "Are there other cases, Aldous?"
His face retained a structured neutrality that betrayed the answer.
Delphine covered her eyes with a hand, then let her hand fall. "I want to see the cases."
"They're above your security clearance."
"So there is more than one. Is that why you didn't tell me?" Delphine demanded, just short of snapping. "What is the point of withholding that type of information from me?"
"They haven't contributed materially to what we already know," Aldous cautioned.
"Contributed--" Delphine shook her head. "What is being done for them? Are they being treated by our staff? Where?"
Aldous leaned forward, forearms on the desk. "At the moment, we are embarking on the most promising treatment. You need to focus on that."
Delphine stared at him until her respiration calmed. "Why did you choose me to be Cosima's monitor, Aldous? Why did you assign me to Jennifer?"
Aldous swiped at his mouth. "You wanted it, didn't you?"
They maintained locked eye contact. Delphine breathed out slowly. "Will you be attending tomorrow?"
"I think you should have everything well in hand," Aldous said.
Delphine pushed herself to her feet, avoiding his eyes. "I'll contact you if there are any questions or concerns."
She felt Aldous's eyes on her. "You do that."
*
Upon entering the lab, Cosima intuited Delphine's short, bitter mood with commendable speed and took a direct route to her desk in silence and a subdued air.
Delphine checked her ire. "The procedure has been scheduled for tomorrow, noon."
Cosima nodded hesitantly. "Okay."
"I'm meeting with the technicians later," Delphine added, "to brief and prepare. Would you like to join us?"
Cosima nodded.
The technicians were women sweeter, more attentive, and effortlessly reassuring to Cosima than Delphine was capable of or willing to exert herself to be in the meantime. The anesthesiologist, a pixie-haired platinum blonde named Dana Culvers, asked Cosima questions about her health and habits and no one raised an eyebrow when Cosima freely volunteered she smoked marijuana.
When they'd estimated a ballpark figure of how much Cosima consumed over a set period of time, Culvers cracked, "Please refrain from now until the procedure."
"I'll try my best," Cosima deadpanned.
"Another thing: You're going to be conscious," Culvers explained, "unless you'd rather not be?"
"And miss the Magic School Bus episode starring my body?" Cosima cracked. "Keep me conscious all the way."
The technicians relaxed under Cosima's cavalier display, though the briefing's beginning they sent frequent furtive glances in Delphine's direction to gauge the atmosphere. Delphine sat more stone-faced than their patient and soon the technicians stopped consulting her reactions.
"There may be discomfort following the procedure," the implantation tech, a frank-eyed young woman named Simi Srivas, warned.
"Not to mention that it will take time for the anesthesia to wear off," Culvers added.
Srivas nodded. "You may experience cramping or aches and soreness afterward. We don't know what to expect, exactly, but such side effects are typical in these types of procedures."
They looked to Delphine.
"Would you like to keep her overnight under observation?" Srivas asked.
Cosima raised a hand. "If I have a say, I'd rather not."
"We all agree that this is an outpatient procedure?" The team nodded. Delphine mirrored the gesture. "Then we'll gauge it one step at a time. If needed, we can arrange for a room afterward. I'll oversee any additional considerations, no need to worry."
The session left everyone feeling better informed and prepared. Afterward Cosima even swept the technicians away for a beverage run that Delphine declined.
Alone, Delphine deliberated and made a call.
"Hello? Is this the office of Marion Bowles? Ah. Yes. I understand. My name is Dr. Delphine Cormier and I'm calling to leave a message for Ms. Bowles. Ah, Dr. Bowles, yes. Please inform her that, if it is at all possible, there is a matter I wish to discuss with her."
*
The procedure transpired without incident or complication, but with none of the levity that had buoyed the briefing. The image of the polyps magnified upon the screen cast a heavy pall upon the room and Delphine suspected that the technicians felt the same gratitude for the surgical masks. Maybe for that reason Culvers and Srivas left with good will, goodbyes, and well wishes for their patient. Cosima thanked them and added, "And thanks for not sucking out all the pink of my insides, even though no one would notice."
"Maybe next time, Peebles," Srivas replied and everyone giggled except for Delphine.
With their departure Cosima lay in convalescence, her laptop balanced atop her lap. She interrupted her reading and browsing with pauses to rub her fingertips together and poke at her middle with the occasional mutter of, "That's so weird."
"Sensation will return," Delphine chided after a few rounds of this behavior.
"Have you experienced this before?" Cosima wondered aloud. "It's like a fullbody novocaine experience. I'm typing like a hundred typos. I can't even feel the heat of my laptop."
"I have not." Delphine frowned. "Should we put a pillow on your lap?"
Cosima ignored the question and fixated on the ceiling in thought, then glanced over. "What happened to bring you and Shay together? How did you get tangled up with a massage therapist?"
Delphine raised an eyebrow. She felt a small spike of humor to think that Jennifer had discerned the telltales of her injury without reason or motivation to look, but Cosima seemed none the wiser. Perhaps an athlete was more in tune with the body's capabilities, limits, and breakdowns. The passage of time--and what a length of time, Delphine realized upon reflection--may have also diminished the echoes of her injuries.
Delphine licked her lips. "I sustained an injury, my physical therapist recommended I supplement my recovery with massage, I went to Shay."
Cosima smirked. "How do you go from laying yourself out on a massage table to bringing wine to your massage therapist?"
Delphine shook her head, smothering a tight smile of exasperation.
"Does that mean you don't know how that happened or it's none of my business?" Cosima held up a hand to forestall the obvious objection. "Let me ask a different question: Was it Shay who first extended the branch of friendship or was it you?"
Delphine loosed the smile. "Did you ask Shay?"
"I'm asking you."
"What does it matter?"
"It doesn't," Cosima groused, "I'm just curious. It's not like you two make a lot of sense on the surface."
"I think Shay feels the same way about you and me."
"Yeah, but I can see how her thinking that we don't make sense makes sense. You and Shay--" Cosima shook her head. "You get what I'm saying, right?" She focused on the ceiling. "Shay's not my actual monitor, is she?"
"What?" Delphine gasped, blindsided by the feeling of offense that burst within her.
Cosima glanced over at her. "You said it yourself: potential bosom buddy prospects are paraded in front of a subject to see if she'll 'choose' them."
Delphine stared at her. "What?"
"Yeah, you know, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. If I had been, like, studying me and my behavior and my personality, and I wanted to spring the perfect trap . . ." Cosima cocked her head. "I mean, I guess a beautiful woman as my work companion and 'supervisor' wouldn't be a bad strategy, but coming off a bad experience with a pushy monitor like I did . . . someone like Shay is perfect fodder."
"That's . . ." Delphine shook her head. "No."
"You wouldn't have to know, you know," Cosima said. "A double blind."
Dread sank Delphine's heart. She shook her head against it.
Cosima smirked. "Are you shaking your head because you're thinking, 'No way, this is Shay we're talking about'? Because that doesn't mean anything. Beth didn't think her boyfriend was spying on her and I had no clue about my girlfriend. These were people we liked, people we trusted."
"I knew Shay before I met Jennifer."
Cosima shrugged. "She didn't have to be a plant from the beginning for her to be under DYAD's thumb now. You don't think DYAD could entice her to do their bidding? Everyone has a price, isn't that how they operate? Shay's no different from anyone else. I mean, her place is pretty nice. She wasn't wrong about the rent being pricey." Cosima pushed herself into a more upright sitting position. "She could be providing reports on you. Can't you see it? DYAD as its own surveillance state."
Delphine's gaze went flinty. "She doesn't even know where I work."
"She doesn't have to know to give DYAD what they want to know. That's the beauty of the monitor system. You get what you need and none of the participants and targets are any wiser."
Delphine considered.
Cosima cocked an eyebrow. "What, you don't want to think she's capable of doing what you're capable of doing?"
Features wrestled into neutral, Delphine maintained eye contact with Cosima. Then she smiled.
"What?" Cosima asked.
"I'm thinking about something Shay told me the other day."
"What?" Cosima prodded.
Delphine shook her head. "Let's just say that if she's a spy, she's doing a very poor job."
"Or maybe she's a master spy and she got you to let your guard down," Cosima argued.
Was worming behind her guard Shay's aim when she confessed to wanting to ask Delphine an endless assortment of questions?
If so, it worked.
And at the time, Delphine hadn't minded.
Delphine studied Cosima. "You don't believe in the likelihood of Shay being a DYAD agent."
"It's not about the likelihood, it's about the paranoia." Cosima smiled with facetious cheerfulness. "Welcome to the trip."
*
"You're sure you feel fine? You'll be okay alone tonight?" Delphine asked at Cosima's door.
"You offering to stay the night, Dr. Cormier?" Cosima quipped.
"If needed," Delphine said.
Cosima wagged her eyebrows. "That's a tantalizing offer."
"I'm serious."
"I'm all for serious women," Cosima needled, incorrigible. Delphine opened her mouth but Cosima forestalled her. "Complete sensation returned over an hour ago. I'm not feeling any discomfort, but Dana and Simi said I could take an aspirin or ibuprofen if I develop any pain--which you agreed with. Besides, if I need any tender loving care, Shay's right downstairs." At Delphine's admonishing look. Cosima added, "I'm kidding. Maybe."
Delphine shook her head. "If something happens, call me."
"Like if the electricity goes out and I'm plunged into darkness, alone and scared?"
Delphine suppressed a sigh. "I'll be on call. Goodnight."
"Hey, hypothetical question," Cosima called after her retreating back. "If Shay and I called at the same time, whose call would you answer?"
Delphine rolled her eyes and borrowed a page from Cosima's playbook, throwing a hand up in a gesture that was both farewell wave and dismissal.
*
Delphine stopped at Shay's door on her way out. When Shay answered, Delphine said, "Hey. I just wanted to say goodnight."
Shay smiled but it might have been subdued. "You're becoming like the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Spider-Woman."
At Delphine's look of confusion, Shay leaned against the door, smile widening with unvented laughter.
"I know the character," Delphine said defensively. "I don't see how he applies to me or this situation, however."
"You know, he drops in unexpectedly, saves the day, cracks a joke to lighten the mood."
Delphine favored Shay with a dry expression. "I see only one of the three points applying to our situation."
Shay grinned. "I'd say two out of three now. Do you want to come in?"
Delphine shook her head. "No, thank you. I should go get dinner."
"I made salmon," Shay said. "There's some leftover."
"Thank you, but no. I'll go now." She kissed Shay on both cheeks. "Ciao. Oh, if Cosima comes down and she looks unwell, can you let me know?"
"Let you know? Why, is she sick?"
Delphine nodded, the lie constructing itself rapidly. "She seemed to be feeling a little under the weather today. We're scheduled to start early tomorrow, but if we need to push back the start time, I could use the . . . heads up?"
Delphine saw the mistake of her ploy in the way Shay glanced in the direction of the elevator.
"She's probably resting now," Delphine said to ward off Shay. "No need to bother her. Plus, I would rather not have her think I'm talking about her without her knowing."
Shay shook her head. "You two. Alright. I'll let you know, but now that you put it that way, I'm not going to feel great about it."
"Sorry," Delphine said, wondering if an apology could cover unspecified, unexpressed transgressions. "I appreciate your help."
Shay loosed a skeptical hum, eyes both teasing and considering.
"I'll make it up to you," Delphine offered. "Another activity weekend."
Shay giggled. "That might be worth it. But not this weekend. A friend is visiting and I'm playing hostess and tour guide."
"Sounds fun," Delphine said. It seemed the thing to say.
"Hopefully," Shay chirped. "I'll do my best, anyway."
Delphine smiled. "You'll do fine."
"I shouldn't have to do fine," Shay groused. "If she's really my friend, she'll be happy and satisfied just to see me and spend time with me."
Delphine laughed. "Is that how friendship works?"
"That and complaining to one another, complimenting each other, sharing life hacks," Shay said, smile going crooked. "The usual stuff."
Delphine's eyes narrowed in thought. "Is our friendship lacking some of those elements?"
"Which ones?"
"I feel like I haven't received any life hacks," Delphine said with a studied air.
"You have: they're called yoga and meditation. But you keep ignoring me when I try to tell you."
Eyes narrowing, Delphine cocked her head. "Did you hear something just now?"
Shay moved forward as if to shove her, but gave Delphine a poke in the bicep instead. Well-insulated against the assault in her heavy coat, Delphine chuckled.
"Get going," Shay urged Delphine gently. "Unless you want to come inside and meditate with me."
"With an ultimatum like that . . ." Delphine teased. "Goodnight."
Shay gave her a tight-cornered smile. "Goodnight."
*
When Delphine pulled into her designated parking spot in her apartment building's underground garage, a black town car rolled up behind and boxed in her car. Delphine exited her vehicle slowly as the town car's driver, an imposing man barely contained in a black suit, stepped out. Delphine stood beside her car, within the open door, prepared to leap back in if need be. Thoughts of Greg and Cosima's previous monitor, of unknown surveillance and informants, flitted through her mind.
"Dr. Cormier?"
"Yes," Delphine confirmed hesitantly. Her phone was in her purse. She would have trouble retrieving it. Who would she call? The police? What was the emergency services number in Canada?
The man opened the back door of the town car. Delphine peered inside. The back seat was empty. "Dr. Bowles will see you. I'll take you to her." When Delphine remained rooted to the spot, he gestured to the door. "Please."
It was a jarringly humble request from the mouth of an intimidating man. Delphine stepped away reluctantly from the seeming safety of her car and locked the car. The man watched her with impassive patience. When she lowered herself into the car, he shut the door behind her and resumed his place behind the wheel. The sliver of his face Delphine glimpsed in the rearview mirror remained unreadable.
The drive was quiet. Delphine asked no questions, the man made no comments, and nothing emitted from the speakers. By the landscape rolling by, Delphine tracked their journey into downtown and ruminated on Marion Bowles. Not much information floated about cyberspace regarding the woman. Her name cropped up here and there in philanthropic fashion, but no network materialized to point to a place of origin, to a center of power and influence.
Invisibility could be a form of power. The problem was that Delphine couldn't gauge if Dr. Bowles was, in fact, powerful. An attitude and a kidnapping didn't prove anything.
The car stopped before a restaurant. The driver exited and opened the car door for her.
"Tell the maître d' you're with Marion Bowles," he informed her.
The name wreaked the magic implicitly promised in the instructions. Aldous's notoriety had a similar pull at certain venues.
Delphine was escorted past other diners in a lively and stately space with vaulted ceilings, where the light of small tea candles reflected off crisp white table linens, and shown to a private room outside which stood another suited sentry. Inside the lone occupant at the table was Dr. Bowles, a plate of what appeared to be grilled chicken before her, mostly intact. She smiled at Delphine and gestured to an empty seat across from her.
"Hello, Dr. Cormier. Come join me. Have you eaten yet?"
Delphine indicated she hadn't. Dr Bowles had a menu brought, which was delivered along with a place setting of glasses, plates, utensils, and a napkin.
"Apologies for the delay in getting back to you, but business called," Dr. Bowles said. She didn't continue and Delphine hesitated, unsure if the silence were an invitation to state her concerns. "The steak is an excellent choice if you're undecided. I can vouch for the seafood linguine as well. It's one of my favorites."
Delphine forewent both suggestions and ordered the gnocchi.
Dr. Bowles smiled as Delphine placed her order, but only went so far as to ask, "Would you like something to drink?"
"Water is fine, thank you."
Dr. Bowles nodded and returned to her meal in silence. The gnocchi appeared with incredible speed. Delphine, still uncertain of the protocol, tucked into the dish hesitantly. After a time, Dr. Bowles set her knife and fork upon the edge of the plate and watched her. Delphine soon followed her example.
Dr. Bowles beheld her with a sheen of amusement that Delphine would have categorized as the type reserved for pets. "You wanted to speak to me."
Delphine dabbed at her mouth and restored the napkin across her lap. "Yes."
"Our last conversation was cut short," Dr. Bowles remarked in idleness. "But last time I caught you unawares."
Delphine rolled in her lips to moisten them but kept all thoughts to herself.
Dr. Bowles tilted her head. "No comment on tonight's circumstances?"
"I'm not sure I'm entitled to comment when I asked to meet you."
Dr. Bowles smiled. Not nice, not hostile. Opaque. "Everyone has an opinion. I expect you have many opinions about many things, one of which you wanted to discuss with me."
Delphine nodded. "Yes."
Dr. Bowles inclined her head in permission.
"When we last spoke, you mentioned other cases of subjects being ill."
Dr. Bowles nodded.
"I was hoping you could provide me copies of those files."
Dr. Bowles interlaced her fingers and rested them against her middle. She gazed at Delphine long and silently. At last, she asked, "Where does Aldous stand on this?"
"He said it was above my security clearance," Delphine stated.
"And you argued . . . ?"
"I said it's relevant to the work Cosima and I are doing to know the status of the others and the care being provided for them," Delphine said.
Dr. Bowles gazed up at the light fixture, an elegant multi-planed piece. "We all consider our work important from our limited perspective. From yours, how would you rate Aldous's handling of Project Leda?"
It was not an answer to her request or a question for which Delphine was prepared. Delphine shook her head slowly. "I don't know the scope of his responsibilities. I couldn't say."
"From your experience as a monitor," Dr. Bowles amended casually, sending a chill across the back of Delphine's neck, "how would you evaluate the system?"
"The great and continual surprise is that the methodology is so simple and, as a result, able to adapt to many circumstances," Delphine said carefully. "However, I would consider my own experience unique rather than standard. I relate to Cosima much more as her physician and lab partner than I do as her monitor."
"Do you think the system has merit? If it were up to you, would you maintain it?"
Delphine sat speechless for a moment. "With the alternative being to dismantle it?"
"The possibility hasn't occurred to you?" Dr. Bowles asked lightly.
It hadn't. Whatever her thoughts and feelings on monitors and being one, Delphine hadn't considered the monitors not existing. How else would DYAD keep track of the clones? How else would they gather data?
"I don't understand," Delphine said slowly. "What would replace the monitor system?"
"If that were your responsibility, that would be up to you," Dr. Bowles said in the bored tone of stating the obvious.
Delphine brainstormed briefly. At the end she shook her head. "I'm not sure what would happen. If the monitors are eliminated, the clones might be . . . lost. Untrackable. Untraceable. Unreachable. Vulnerable. Though an option would be to elicit voluntary participation, perhaps through a front program or . . . by revealing the truth to each one. However, the latter scenario taints behavioral studies."
"Interesting," Dr. Bowles said. When Delphine caught her eyes when she raised hers in startlement, she got the impression that Dr. Bowles passed pronouncement on more than Delphine's projections. "Do you consider Cosima less notable as a subject of study due to her self-awareness?"
Delphine paused. "Her biology will always be of interest and relevant to study. She's also mature enough in years that questions of nature versus nurture may perhaps have largely been answered." Delphine weighed her next disclosure. "She and Jennifer are very different. But much of that may be attributable to Cosima's self-awareness and thus the difference in Cosima's behavior toward me. Which is not to say she isn't interesting."
"So if you were to inherit overseeing the program tomorrow, you would maintain it?"
"Wouldn't that be my mandate?" countered Delphine.
"If its fate were in your hands," Dr. Bowles amended, undeterred.
"I imagine that dismantling the monitor program would require thought and planning." Delphine tucked her hair behind her ear, an almost girlish gesture that wasn't typical for her. "There's also the question of whether or not we have any obligations to the subjects, regarding such things as their health or safety."
"Would you like to run the program?" Marion Bowles asked in plain language.
Delphine withstood Dr. Bowles's cool assessment. "Not at the moment."
"But you want the access conferred by the responsibility of running this portion of the Project," pointed out Dr. Bowles.
"I want to be able to do the job I've been assigned to do."
"According to Aldous's judgment, you are. You didn't have to come to me."
Delphine didn't break eye contact. "Will you help me?"
Dr. Bowles sat quiet a second, then she glanced at her plate, a small smile forming on her lips. "Thank you for joining me for dinner. Eric will drive you back."
"You didn't answer my question, Dr. Bowles."
"Patience, Dr. Cormier. Our work here is predicated on it. I know that can be hard to appreciate for one as young and accomplished as yourself."
"Tell that to the clones who are young and dying."
"Aren't we all dying?" Dr. Bowles replied archly.
*
From Shay [23:21]: Not a peep from Cosima.
To Shay [23:22]: You didn't need to keep me updated. But thank you.
From Shay [23:22]: Just in case you were worrying. I'm off to sleep. Goodnight.
To Shay [23:23]: Good night.
//
Prev: 1-5 (edited), 6-8, 9*, 10*, 11*, 12*, 13*, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18*, 19, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24*, 25*, 26*
"Delphine," Aldous named her in a tone shy of condemnatory and suspicious when she appeared in his office first thing in the morning without appointment or announcement. "I was in the process of sending you the details of the procedure. We'll proceed tomorrow."
"Good. Thank you," Delphine said curtly. "I'll review the information."
"But that's not why you're here," Aldous intoned without humor.
"I've been thinking about Jennifer," Delphine said.
Aldous held up a hand. "Our options and resources are limited at the moment. That's not to point out that we haven't undergone a trial yet."
Delphine took a seat, shaking her head. "I was thinking about how two more cases followed Jennifer's, Katja and Cosima."
Aldous watched her keenly.
"The interval between the occurrences Katja and Cosima was shorter than the one between Jennifer and Katja." Delphine leveled Aldous with a look. "Are there other cases, Aldous?"
His face retained a structured neutrality that betrayed the answer.
Delphine covered her eyes with a hand, then let her hand fall. "I want to see the cases."
"They're above your security clearance."
"So there is more than one. Is that why you didn't tell me?" Delphine demanded, just short of snapping. "What is the point of withholding that type of information from me?"
"They haven't contributed materially to what we already know," Aldous cautioned.
"Contributed--" Delphine shook her head. "What is being done for them? Are they being treated by our staff? Where?"
Aldous leaned forward, forearms on the desk. "At the moment, we are embarking on the most promising treatment. You need to focus on that."
Delphine stared at him until her respiration calmed. "Why did you choose me to be Cosima's monitor, Aldous? Why did you assign me to Jennifer?"
Aldous swiped at his mouth. "You wanted it, didn't you?"
They maintained locked eye contact. Delphine breathed out slowly. "Will you be attending tomorrow?"
"I think you should have everything well in hand," Aldous said.
Delphine pushed herself to her feet, avoiding his eyes. "I'll contact you if there are any questions or concerns."
She felt Aldous's eyes on her. "You do that."
*
Upon entering the lab, Cosima intuited Delphine's short, bitter mood with commendable speed and took a direct route to her desk in silence and a subdued air.
Delphine checked her ire. "The procedure has been scheduled for tomorrow, noon."
Cosima nodded hesitantly. "Okay."
"I'm meeting with the technicians later," Delphine added, "to brief and prepare. Would you like to join us?"
Cosima nodded.
The technicians were women sweeter, more attentive, and effortlessly reassuring to Cosima than Delphine was capable of or willing to exert herself to be in the meantime. The anesthesiologist, a pixie-haired platinum blonde named Dana Culvers, asked Cosima questions about her health and habits and no one raised an eyebrow when Cosima freely volunteered she smoked marijuana.
When they'd estimated a ballpark figure of how much Cosima consumed over a set period of time, Culvers cracked, "Please refrain from now until the procedure."
"I'll try my best," Cosima deadpanned.
"Another thing: You're going to be conscious," Culvers explained, "unless you'd rather not be?"
"And miss the Magic School Bus episode starring my body?" Cosima cracked. "Keep me conscious all the way."
The technicians relaxed under Cosima's cavalier display, though the briefing's beginning they sent frequent furtive glances in Delphine's direction to gauge the atmosphere. Delphine sat more stone-faced than their patient and soon the technicians stopped consulting her reactions.
"There may be discomfort following the procedure," the implantation tech, a frank-eyed young woman named Simi Srivas, warned.
"Not to mention that it will take time for the anesthesia to wear off," Culvers added.
Srivas nodded. "You may experience cramping or aches and soreness afterward. We don't know what to expect, exactly, but such side effects are typical in these types of procedures."
They looked to Delphine.
"Would you like to keep her overnight under observation?" Srivas asked.
Cosima raised a hand. "If I have a say, I'd rather not."
"We all agree that this is an outpatient procedure?" The team nodded. Delphine mirrored the gesture. "Then we'll gauge it one step at a time. If needed, we can arrange for a room afterward. I'll oversee any additional considerations, no need to worry."
The session left everyone feeling better informed and prepared. Afterward Cosima even swept the technicians away for a beverage run that Delphine declined.
Alone, Delphine deliberated and made a call.
"Hello? Is this the office of Marion Bowles? Ah. Yes. I understand. My name is Dr. Delphine Cormier and I'm calling to leave a message for Ms. Bowles. Ah, Dr. Bowles, yes. Please inform her that, if it is at all possible, there is a matter I wish to discuss with her."
*
The procedure transpired without incident or complication, but with none of the levity that had buoyed the briefing. The image of the polyps magnified upon the screen cast a heavy pall upon the room and Delphine suspected that the technicians felt the same gratitude for the surgical masks. Maybe for that reason Culvers and Srivas left with good will, goodbyes, and well wishes for their patient. Cosima thanked them and added, "And thanks for not sucking out all the pink of my insides, even though no one would notice."
"Maybe next time, Peebles," Srivas replied and everyone giggled except for Delphine.
With their departure Cosima lay in convalescence, her laptop balanced atop her lap. She interrupted her reading and browsing with pauses to rub her fingertips together and poke at her middle with the occasional mutter of, "That's so weird."
"Sensation will return," Delphine chided after a few rounds of this behavior.
"Have you experienced this before?" Cosima wondered aloud. "It's like a fullbody novocaine experience. I'm typing like a hundred typos. I can't even feel the heat of my laptop."
"I have not." Delphine frowned. "Should we put a pillow on your lap?"
Cosima ignored the question and fixated on the ceiling in thought, then glanced over. "What happened to bring you and Shay together? How did you get tangled up with a massage therapist?"
Delphine raised an eyebrow. She felt a small spike of humor to think that Jennifer had discerned the telltales of her injury without reason or motivation to look, but Cosima seemed none the wiser. Perhaps an athlete was more in tune with the body's capabilities, limits, and breakdowns. The passage of time--and what a length of time, Delphine realized upon reflection--may have also diminished the echoes of her injuries.
Delphine licked her lips. "I sustained an injury, my physical therapist recommended I supplement my recovery with massage, I went to Shay."
Cosima smirked. "How do you go from laying yourself out on a massage table to bringing wine to your massage therapist?"
Delphine shook her head, smothering a tight smile of exasperation.
"Does that mean you don't know how that happened or it's none of my business?" Cosima held up a hand to forestall the obvious objection. "Let me ask a different question: Was it Shay who first extended the branch of friendship or was it you?"
Delphine loosed the smile. "Did you ask Shay?"
"I'm asking you."
"What does it matter?"
"It doesn't," Cosima groused, "I'm just curious. It's not like you two make a lot of sense on the surface."
"I think Shay feels the same way about you and me."
"Yeah, but I can see how her thinking that we don't make sense makes sense. You and Shay--" Cosima shook her head. "You get what I'm saying, right?" She focused on the ceiling. "Shay's not my actual monitor, is she?"
"What?" Delphine gasped, blindsided by the feeling of offense that burst within her.
Cosima glanced over at her. "You said it yourself: potential bosom buddy prospects are paraded in front of a subject to see if she'll 'choose' them."
Delphine stared at her. "What?"
"Yeah, you know, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. If I had been, like, studying me and my behavior and my personality, and I wanted to spring the perfect trap . . ." Cosima cocked her head. "I mean, I guess a beautiful woman as my work companion and 'supervisor' wouldn't be a bad strategy, but coming off a bad experience with a pushy monitor like I did . . . someone like Shay is perfect fodder."
"That's . . ." Delphine shook her head. "No."
"You wouldn't have to know, you know," Cosima said. "A double blind."
Dread sank Delphine's heart. She shook her head against it.
Cosima smirked. "Are you shaking your head because you're thinking, 'No way, this is Shay we're talking about'? Because that doesn't mean anything. Beth didn't think her boyfriend was spying on her and I had no clue about my girlfriend. These were people we liked, people we trusted."
"I knew Shay before I met Jennifer."
Cosima shrugged. "She didn't have to be a plant from the beginning for her to be under DYAD's thumb now. You don't think DYAD could entice her to do their bidding? Everyone has a price, isn't that how they operate? Shay's no different from anyone else. I mean, her place is pretty nice. She wasn't wrong about the rent being pricey." Cosima pushed herself into a more upright sitting position. "She could be providing reports on you. Can't you see it? DYAD as its own surveillance state."
Delphine's gaze went flinty. "She doesn't even know where I work."
"She doesn't have to know to give DYAD what they want to know. That's the beauty of the monitor system. You get what you need and none of the participants and targets are any wiser."
Delphine considered.
Cosima cocked an eyebrow. "What, you don't want to think she's capable of doing what you're capable of doing?"
Features wrestled into neutral, Delphine maintained eye contact with Cosima. Then she smiled.
"What?" Cosima asked.
"I'm thinking about something Shay told me the other day."
"What?" Cosima prodded.
Delphine shook her head. "Let's just say that if she's a spy, she's doing a very poor job."
"Or maybe she's a master spy and she got you to let your guard down," Cosima argued.
Was worming behind her guard Shay's aim when she confessed to wanting to ask Delphine an endless assortment of questions?
If so, it worked.
And at the time, Delphine hadn't minded.
Delphine studied Cosima. "You don't believe in the likelihood of Shay being a DYAD agent."
"It's not about the likelihood, it's about the paranoia." Cosima smiled with facetious cheerfulness. "Welcome to the trip."
*
"You're sure you feel fine? You'll be okay alone tonight?" Delphine asked at Cosima's door.
"You offering to stay the night, Dr. Cormier?" Cosima quipped.
"If needed," Delphine said.
Cosima wagged her eyebrows. "That's a tantalizing offer."
"I'm serious."
"I'm all for serious women," Cosima needled, incorrigible. Delphine opened her mouth but Cosima forestalled her. "Complete sensation returned over an hour ago. I'm not feeling any discomfort, but Dana and Simi said I could take an aspirin or ibuprofen if I develop any pain--which you agreed with. Besides, if I need any tender loving care, Shay's right downstairs." At Delphine's admonishing look. Cosima added, "I'm kidding. Maybe."
Delphine shook her head. "If something happens, call me."
"Like if the electricity goes out and I'm plunged into darkness, alone and scared?"
Delphine suppressed a sigh. "I'll be on call. Goodnight."
"Hey, hypothetical question," Cosima called after her retreating back. "If Shay and I called at the same time, whose call would you answer?"
Delphine rolled her eyes and borrowed a page from Cosima's playbook, throwing a hand up in a gesture that was both farewell wave and dismissal.
*
Delphine stopped at Shay's door on her way out. When Shay answered, Delphine said, "Hey. I just wanted to say goodnight."
Shay smiled but it might have been subdued. "You're becoming like the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Spider-Woman."
At Delphine's look of confusion, Shay leaned against the door, smile widening with unvented laughter.
"I know the character," Delphine said defensively. "I don't see how he applies to me or this situation, however."
"You know, he drops in unexpectedly, saves the day, cracks a joke to lighten the mood."
Delphine favored Shay with a dry expression. "I see only one of the three points applying to our situation."
Shay grinned. "I'd say two out of three now. Do you want to come in?"
Delphine shook her head. "No, thank you. I should go get dinner."
"I made salmon," Shay said. "There's some leftover."
"Thank you, but no. I'll go now." She kissed Shay on both cheeks. "Ciao. Oh, if Cosima comes down and she looks unwell, can you let me know?"
"Let you know? Why, is she sick?"
Delphine nodded, the lie constructing itself rapidly. "She seemed to be feeling a little under the weather today. We're scheduled to start early tomorrow, but if we need to push back the start time, I could use the . . . heads up?"
Delphine saw the mistake of her ploy in the way Shay glanced in the direction of the elevator.
"She's probably resting now," Delphine said to ward off Shay. "No need to bother her. Plus, I would rather not have her think I'm talking about her without her knowing."
Shay shook her head. "You two. Alright. I'll let you know, but now that you put it that way, I'm not going to feel great about it."
"Sorry," Delphine said, wondering if an apology could cover unspecified, unexpressed transgressions. "I appreciate your help."
Shay loosed a skeptical hum, eyes both teasing and considering.
"I'll make it up to you," Delphine offered. "Another activity weekend."
Shay giggled. "That might be worth it. But not this weekend. A friend is visiting and I'm playing hostess and tour guide."
"Sounds fun," Delphine said. It seemed the thing to say.
"Hopefully," Shay chirped. "I'll do my best, anyway."
Delphine smiled. "You'll do fine."
"I shouldn't have to do fine," Shay groused. "If she's really my friend, she'll be happy and satisfied just to see me and spend time with me."
Delphine laughed. "Is that how friendship works?"
"That and complaining to one another, complimenting each other, sharing life hacks," Shay said, smile going crooked. "The usual stuff."
Delphine's eyes narrowed in thought. "Is our friendship lacking some of those elements?"
"Which ones?"
"I feel like I haven't received any life hacks," Delphine said with a studied air.
"You have: they're called yoga and meditation. But you keep ignoring me when I try to tell you."
Eyes narrowing, Delphine cocked her head. "Did you hear something just now?"
Shay moved forward as if to shove her, but gave Delphine a poke in the bicep instead. Well-insulated against the assault in her heavy coat, Delphine chuckled.
"Get going," Shay urged Delphine gently. "Unless you want to come inside and meditate with me."
"With an ultimatum like that . . ." Delphine teased. "Goodnight."
Shay gave her a tight-cornered smile. "Goodnight."
*
When Delphine pulled into her designated parking spot in her apartment building's underground garage, a black town car rolled up behind and boxed in her car. Delphine exited her vehicle slowly as the town car's driver, an imposing man barely contained in a black suit, stepped out. Delphine stood beside her car, within the open door, prepared to leap back in if need be. Thoughts of Greg and Cosima's previous monitor, of unknown surveillance and informants, flitted through her mind.
"Dr. Cormier?"
"Yes," Delphine confirmed hesitantly. Her phone was in her purse. She would have trouble retrieving it. Who would she call? The police? What was the emergency services number in Canada?
The man opened the back door of the town car. Delphine peered inside. The back seat was empty. "Dr. Bowles will see you. I'll take you to her." When Delphine remained rooted to the spot, he gestured to the door. "Please."
It was a jarringly humble request from the mouth of an intimidating man. Delphine stepped away reluctantly from the seeming safety of her car and locked the car. The man watched her with impassive patience. When she lowered herself into the car, he shut the door behind her and resumed his place behind the wheel. The sliver of his face Delphine glimpsed in the rearview mirror remained unreadable.
The drive was quiet. Delphine asked no questions, the man made no comments, and nothing emitted from the speakers. By the landscape rolling by, Delphine tracked their journey into downtown and ruminated on Marion Bowles. Not much information floated about cyberspace regarding the woman. Her name cropped up here and there in philanthropic fashion, but no network materialized to point to a place of origin, to a center of power and influence.
Invisibility could be a form of power. The problem was that Delphine couldn't gauge if Dr. Bowles was, in fact, powerful. An attitude and a kidnapping didn't prove anything.
The car stopped before a restaurant. The driver exited and opened the car door for her.
"Tell the maître d' you're with Marion Bowles," he informed her.
The name wreaked the magic implicitly promised in the instructions. Aldous's notoriety had a similar pull at certain venues.
Delphine was escorted past other diners in a lively and stately space with vaulted ceilings, where the light of small tea candles reflected off crisp white table linens, and shown to a private room outside which stood another suited sentry. Inside the lone occupant at the table was Dr. Bowles, a plate of what appeared to be grilled chicken before her, mostly intact. She smiled at Delphine and gestured to an empty seat across from her.
"Hello, Dr. Cormier. Come join me. Have you eaten yet?"
Delphine indicated she hadn't. Dr Bowles had a menu brought, which was delivered along with a place setting of glasses, plates, utensils, and a napkin.
"Apologies for the delay in getting back to you, but business called," Dr. Bowles said. She didn't continue and Delphine hesitated, unsure if the silence were an invitation to state her concerns. "The steak is an excellent choice if you're undecided. I can vouch for the seafood linguine as well. It's one of my favorites."
Delphine forewent both suggestions and ordered the gnocchi.
Dr. Bowles smiled as Delphine placed her order, but only went so far as to ask, "Would you like something to drink?"
"Water is fine, thank you."
Dr. Bowles nodded and returned to her meal in silence. The gnocchi appeared with incredible speed. Delphine, still uncertain of the protocol, tucked into the dish hesitantly. After a time, Dr. Bowles set her knife and fork upon the edge of the plate and watched her. Delphine soon followed her example.
Dr. Bowles beheld her with a sheen of amusement that Delphine would have categorized as the type reserved for pets. "You wanted to speak to me."
Delphine dabbed at her mouth and restored the napkin across her lap. "Yes."
"Our last conversation was cut short," Dr. Bowles remarked in idleness. "But last time I caught you unawares."
Delphine rolled in her lips to moisten them but kept all thoughts to herself.
Dr. Bowles tilted her head. "No comment on tonight's circumstances?"
"I'm not sure I'm entitled to comment when I asked to meet you."
Dr. Bowles smiled. Not nice, not hostile. Opaque. "Everyone has an opinion. I expect you have many opinions about many things, one of which you wanted to discuss with me."
Delphine nodded. "Yes."
Dr. Bowles inclined her head in permission.
"When we last spoke, you mentioned other cases of subjects being ill."
Dr. Bowles nodded.
"I was hoping you could provide me copies of those files."
Dr. Bowles interlaced her fingers and rested them against her middle. She gazed at Delphine long and silently. At last, she asked, "Where does Aldous stand on this?"
"He said it was above my security clearance," Delphine stated.
"And you argued . . . ?"
"I said it's relevant to the work Cosima and I are doing to know the status of the others and the care being provided for them," Delphine said.
Dr. Bowles gazed up at the light fixture, an elegant multi-planed piece. "We all consider our work important from our limited perspective. From yours, how would you rate Aldous's handling of Project Leda?"
It was not an answer to her request or a question for which Delphine was prepared. Delphine shook her head slowly. "I don't know the scope of his responsibilities. I couldn't say."
"From your experience as a monitor," Dr. Bowles amended casually, sending a chill across the back of Delphine's neck, "how would you evaluate the system?"
"The great and continual surprise is that the methodology is so simple and, as a result, able to adapt to many circumstances," Delphine said carefully. "However, I would consider my own experience unique rather than standard. I relate to Cosima much more as her physician and lab partner than I do as her monitor."
"Do you think the system has merit? If it were up to you, would you maintain it?"
Delphine sat speechless for a moment. "With the alternative being to dismantle it?"
"The possibility hasn't occurred to you?" Dr. Bowles asked lightly.
It hadn't. Whatever her thoughts and feelings on monitors and being one, Delphine hadn't considered the monitors not existing. How else would DYAD keep track of the clones? How else would they gather data?
"I don't understand," Delphine said slowly. "What would replace the monitor system?"
"If that were your responsibility, that would be up to you," Dr. Bowles said in the bored tone of stating the obvious.
Delphine brainstormed briefly. At the end she shook her head. "I'm not sure what would happen. If the monitors are eliminated, the clones might be . . . lost. Untrackable. Untraceable. Unreachable. Vulnerable. Though an option would be to elicit voluntary participation, perhaps through a front program or . . . by revealing the truth to each one. However, the latter scenario taints behavioral studies."
"Interesting," Dr. Bowles said. When Delphine caught her eyes when she raised hers in startlement, she got the impression that Dr. Bowles passed pronouncement on more than Delphine's projections. "Do you consider Cosima less notable as a subject of study due to her self-awareness?"
Delphine paused. "Her biology will always be of interest and relevant to study. She's also mature enough in years that questions of nature versus nurture may perhaps have largely been answered." Delphine weighed her next disclosure. "She and Jennifer are very different. But much of that may be attributable to Cosima's self-awareness and thus the difference in Cosima's behavior toward me. Which is not to say she isn't interesting."
"So if you were to inherit overseeing the program tomorrow, you would maintain it?"
"Wouldn't that be my mandate?" countered Delphine.
"If its fate were in your hands," Dr. Bowles amended, undeterred.
"I imagine that dismantling the monitor program would require thought and planning." Delphine tucked her hair behind her ear, an almost girlish gesture that wasn't typical for her. "There's also the question of whether or not we have any obligations to the subjects, regarding such things as their health or safety."
"Would you like to run the program?" Marion Bowles asked in plain language.
Delphine withstood Dr. Bowles's cool assessment. "Not at the moment."
"But you want the access conferred by the responsibility of running this portion of the Project," pointed out Dr. Bowles.
"I want to be able to do the job I've been assigned to do."
"According to Aldous's judgment, you are. You didn't have to come to me."
Delphine didn't break eye contact. "Will you help me?"
Dr. Bowles sat quiet a second, then she glanced at her plate, a small smile forming on her lips. "Thank you for joining me for dinner. Eric will drive you back."
"You didn't answer my question, Dr. Bowles."
"Patience, Dr. Cormier. Our work here is predicated on it. I know that can be hard to appreciate for one as young and accomplished as yourself."
"Tell that to the clones who are young and dying."
"Aren't we all dying?" Dr. Bowles replied archly.
*
From Shay [23:21]: Not a peep from Cosima.
To Shay [23:22]: You didn't need to keep me updated. But thank you.
From Shay [23:22]: Just in case you were worrying. I'm off to sleep. Goodnight.
To Shay [23:23]: Good night.
//