CASSIE AND FLORIAN were in the lab, though they hadn’t started work. Cassie was sitting on a stool and Florian was standing over her, showing her something on an interface. Cassie was laughing. She looked up as Cariad entered the room and Florian whipped the interface away guiltily.
“Hey,” Cariad said, “it’s fine. I’m not here to reprimand you. It isn’t even time to begin work yet. What were you looking at?”
“Oh, it’s kind of stupid,” said Florian. “I just put together a vid of animals for Cassie.”
“It’s so funny,” Cassie said. “He made subtitles for what they’re saying to each other. Do you want to see it?”
“Another time maybe,” said Cariad. “I’m here to tell you I have to go away again for a little while.”
“What?” said Florian. “You say that like you’ve actually spent some time here
