On the other hand, Melodic was an incorrigible optimist, and she felt, deep down, that she was destined for something greater, and so she continued to send out C.V.s by the hundreds and continued to apply for any and all positions that came up. In the meantime, the present was tolerable: the lab was quiet, she was in charge, and all she had to do to
escape was close her eyes and step into the future, that vast and wonderful country where she could have adventures, make wonderful discoveries, accept accolades, and have tenure.
Melodic opened her eyes once again to the mundane presence of the cinder block-walled lab, with its faint hum of fluorescent lighting and steady hiss of the forced-air system, the shelves loaded with reference books, the cabinets packed with mineral samples.
Even the million-dollar equipment that had once thrilled her had long grown stale. Her eyes roved restlessly over the monster JEOL JXA-733 Superprobe Electron Probe X-ray Microanalyzer, the Epsilon 5 X-ray Analysis System with three-dimensional, polarizing optical geometry, together with a 600W Gd-anode X-ray tube and lOOkV generator, the Watson 55 transmission electron microscope, the Power Mac G5 with the dual 2.5
gigahertz water-cooled CPUs, two Petrographic research microscopes, a Meiji polarizing microscope, digital camera setups, a complete sample preparation facility including diamond wafering blades, lap-wheel units, automatic polishers, carbon coaters-What good was it if all they gave you was boring crap to analyze?
Melodie's reverie was interrupted by a low buzz, which indicated someone had entered her empty laboratory. No doubt another curatorial assistant with a request to analyze some gray rock for a research paper that no one would read. She waited, feet on the desk, Coke in hand, for the intruder to come around the corner.
Soon she heard the confident click of wing tips on the linoleum floor, and a slender, elegant man appeared, rustling along in a snazzy blue suit-Dr. Iain Corvus.
She swiftly removed her feet from the table, accidentally allowing her chair to come down with a loud clunk. She brushed her hair out of her reddening face. Curators almost never came to the lab, preferring not to lower their dignity by associating with the technical staff. But here, against all probability, was Corvus himself, who cut quite a figure in his Savile Row suits and handmade Williams and Croft shoes-handsome too, in a creepy kind of Jeremy Irons way.
"Melodie Crookshank?"
She was amazed he even knew her name. She looked into his lean, smiling face, beautiful teeth, hair black as night. His suit rustled lightly as he moved.
"Right," she finally said, trying to keep her voice easy. "That's me, Melodie Crookshank."
"I'm so glad I found you, Melodie. Am I disturbing you?"
"No, no, not at all. Just sitting here." She collected herself, blushing and feeling like an idiot.
"I wonder if I could interrupt your busy day with a sample that needs anaiy/-ing." He held a Ziploc bag up and let it swing back and forth, his teeth dazzling.
"Of course."
"I have a little, ah, challenge for you. Are you game?"
"Well, sure," Corvus had a reputation for aloofness, even arrogance, but now he seemed almost playful.
"Something just between us."
Melodie paused, then said carefully, "What do you mean?"
He handed her the sample and she looked at it. There was a label slid into the bag, handwritten, which said: New Mexico, specimen #1.
"I'd like you to analyze the sample in here without any preconceived notions about where it came from or what it might be. A complete mineralogical, crystal-lographical, chemical, and structural analysis."
"No problem."
"Here's the rub. I'd like to keep this secret. Don't write anything down or store anything on a hard drive. When you run tests on it, download the data onto CDs and hard-delete the data from the system. Keep the CDs locked up in your specimen cabinet at all times.
Don't tell anyone what you're doing or discuss your findings with anyone. Report to me directly." He gave her another brilliant smile. "Are you game?"
Crookshank felt a tingle of excitement at the intrigue of it and the fact that Corvus had chosen to take her into his confidence. "I don't know. Why so hush-hush?"
Corvus leaned forward. She caught the faint scent of cigars and tweed. "That, my dear Melodie, you shall know- after you've done your analysis. As I said, I don't want to give you any preconceived notions."
The idea intrigued her-thrilled her, even. Corvus was one of those men who radiated power, who looked like he could have anything he wanted just by taking it. At the same time, he was a little feared and disliked in the museum by many of the other curators, and all this false friendliness only confirmed in her own mind that he was a bit of a
rogue-albeit a handsome, charming one.
He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "What do you say, Melodie? Shall we conspire together?"
"All right." Why the hell not? She knew what she was getting into, at least. "Any particular time frame on this?"
"As soon as possible. But don't cut any corners. Do it right."
She nodded.
"Good. I can't tell you how important that is." He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head, grinned again as he noticed her eyeing the specimen. "Go ahead. Take a closer look."
She turned her attention to the specimen more closely, her interest aroused. It was a three-, four-hundred-gram chunk of brown rock. Right away she could see what it was, at least in general terms. There was some really unusual structure in there. She felt her pulse quicken, her heart speed up. New Mexico, specimen #1. This was going to be fun.
She lowered the baggie and her eyes met his. He was looking at her intently, his pale gray eyes almost colorless in the fluorescent glow of the lab.
"This is amazing," she said. "If I'm not mistaken this is-"
"Ah!" He placed a finger gently against her lips, and winked. "Our little secret." He removed his hand, rose as if to go, then turned back as if on an afterthought. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a long velvet box. He held it out to her. "A little thank you."
Crookshank took it, TIFFANY was written on the front.
Yeah right, she thought, taking the box. She snapped it open and was dazzled by the sight of gemstones, blue stars. She blinked, hardly able to see. Star sapphires. A bracelet of star sapphires set in platinum. She peered closely and recognized immediately they were real, not synthetics. Each one was different, each one slightly flawed, each one with its very own nuance of color and hue and personality. She turned the box in the light, seeing the stars on each stone move, the light reflecting off their rutilated depths.
She swallowed, feeling a sudden lump in her throat. No one had given her anything like this, ever. Ever. She felt a hot tickling in her eyes, which she instantly blinked away, horrified to discover herself so vulnerable.
She said in an offhand way, "Nice collection of aluminum oxide you got here."
"I was hoping you would like star sapphires, Melodic."
Crookshank swallowed again, keeping her face turned to the bracelet so he couldn't see her eyes. She didn't think she had ever loved anything so much as this bracelet. Sri Lankan star sapphires, her favorite, each one unique, forged in the depths of the earth by immense heat and pressure-mineralogy incarnate. She knew she was being shamelessly and openly manipulated, but at the same time she thought: Why not? Why shouldn't she take it? Wasn't that the way the world worked?