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The wind between the buildings was relentless. It whipped at Stratt's oversized coat and stole the breath from Grace's lungs as he struggled to keep up with her brisk pace up the courthouse stairs. Carl lagged behind them, keeping an eye on the people passing on the street. It had been several months since the last…incident, but he clearly didn't want to experience that again any time soon. So that was why Carl was there, what Grace didn't know was why he had to be there as well.
When he voiced that—again—Stratt finally answered, her voice even tighter than normal. "Because, Dr. Grace, we have a meeting with some scientists to discuss potential ways to prevent muscle atrophy during the coma period."
"I thought Dr. Lamai had that covered already," Grace said, brow furrowed. "And I don't know why that means I have to come to the trial."
"The meeting is in," Stratt checked the time on her tablet, cradled in the crook of her elbow while she walked, "forty-five minutes."
Grace came to a halt in surprise and then jogged a couple of steps to catch back up with her. "Wait, doesn't the trial start in fifteen minutes?"
"It does," Stratt replied as she stepped aside to allow Carl to open the door. He glanced in first and then waved both of them through.
Grace thought it was a bit much, but sometimes he thought Carl sort of got a kick out of it. Then his brain caught up with Stratt's answer. "You know there's no way we're going to make that."
Stratt gave him a look over her shoulder. "Oh yes we will."
Grace choked out a laugh. "Where's the meeting? Here? What, are we going to meet them on a break or something?"
Stratt scoffed. "Of course not. We'll need about twenty minutes to get there."
Another, slightly more disbelieving laugh rose in Grace's throat but he did his best to quash it. "So you think the trial's going to be over in, what, ten minutes?"
There was no way he saw what he thought he saw because he could have sworn Stratt's lips turned up just slightly at the corners. For her, it was the equivalent of a grin. "Don't be ridiculous," she replied. Then, "I don't expect it to take that long at all. By my calculations, it will be over in five."
This time, Grace could not suppress his laugh soon enough and it escaped as a high pitched, choked sound. "Sure," he said. "Why not?"
Of all the times for Stratt to be right, this was the time he least expected it. Somehow though, she managed to pull it off. Again. He really had to stop questioning her, this had just seemed completely ridiculous.
Ten minutes after the start of the trial, not only was the trial over, but they were already in a car headed to the meeting. Stratt, coffee in hand, had her tablet resting on her lap so that she could swipe through her email with her free hand. She had obtained the coffee post trial—ordered ahead, of course. That was how much time they'd had.
"I cannot believe that just happened," Grace said, somewhat dazed. You and what army? was still ringing in his head along with the looping image of the US soldiers stepping up behind Stratt as she faced off with the bailiff.
"What's not to believe?" Carl asked from the front seat, laughter in his voice.
"Why even go at all?" Grace asked. "I know you said you wanted to nip it all in the bud, but surely you could have done that from the Va–" he cut himself off "–aircraft carrier?"
Stratt looked up at him and did not actually roll her eyes, but somehow gave the impression that she did so internally. "I know what you all call it. I'm not an idiot nor am I oblivious to what happens around me. You can just say Stratt's Vat."
Heat suffused Grace's cheeks. "Sorry."
Stratt shrugged and returned her attention to her emails. "It doesn't bother me. As for your question, I thought showing up in person would impress upon them the reality in which they now live and the seriousness of the project."
"So you wanted to intimidate the heck out of them," Grace said.
Again, the corner of Stratt's mouth twitched. "If that's how you prefer to put it."
"I think it's more accurate," Grace grumbled. "I mean, you called up the US Army. Did you know they were going to try to hold you longer?"
"No, but I wasn't going to take any chances about it," Stratt replied. "How do you Americans put it? I wanted all of my bases covered."
Grace snorted and leaned back into the comfortable leather seat of the car. "Yeah, that's right."
"I know," Stratt said, swiping her finger across the screen of her tablet. The backlight highlighted the bags under her eyes, emphasizing the aura of exhaustion that only Grace seemed to notice. She blinked wearily and he realized that the trial—short as it was—probably took more out of her than she'd ever admit.
Quiet music from the radio filled the silence as Carl turned smoothly through an intersection. The honking cars and snippets of street noise fell into the background as well. Grace shifted in his seat and narrowed his eyes as he took in the slight slump to Stratt's normally perfect posture and the way her eyelids were almost half-closed. After a moment, Stratt looked up, as though she felt his attention on her.
"You know, we have at least fifteen minutes of travel time still. Maybe you should try for a nap instead of answering emails," Grace suggested lightly.
Stratt blinked at him. "I don't have time for that," she said automatically.
Grace gestured to the car around them, tinted windows keeping the interior dark despite the sunlight outside. "I mean, you do though, actually. The world is not going to end because you took a fifteen minute nap on the way to a meeting." Stratt arched an eyebrow and Grace huffed out half of a laugh. "Okay, bad phrasing but my point stands."
"I am fine, Dr. Grace," Stratt said, looking down at her screen again.
"I could make it an order," Grace said, wheedling.
Stratt didn't even bother to look up. "No, you could not."
Grace sighed. Okay, that was fair. Clearly, no one could order around the defacto dictator of the world. "Well, when you fall asleep in the meeting, I'm not going to promise that I won't say I told you so."
"I assure you, that will not happen," Stratt said irritably. "Do you not have anything better to do on this ride than pester me about my sleeping habits?"
Or lack thereof, Grace thought but refrained from saying aloud. "Nope." He popped the 'p'.
"Then perhaps you should have brought something." Stratt fell silent and her prickly air suggested that he not disturb her.
Instead of pursuing what was sure to be a losing argument, Grace leaned his head against the cool window and did what he'd suggested she do. He took a nap.
Grace was falling.
A very undignified sound came from Grace's mouth as he realized that he wasn't dreaming. He flailed his arms to catch the side of the door just in time to stop himself from falling face-first out of the car. Above him, Carl was grinning but holding back a laugh, probably out of respect for their friendship.
"Was that really necessary?" Grace grumbled, untangling himself from his seatbelt and exiting the car.
"No," Carl said with a shrug. "But it was funny."
"Yeah, haha." Grace rolled his shoulders and caught sight of Stratt, standing just off to the side with an unamused expression. In the daylight, she looked even more tired than before.
"Are you two finished? Can we get to the meeting now?" she asked pointedly. At their somewhat sheepish nods, Stratt turned on her heel and headed into the building.
The meeting was on the twenty-fifth floor, which seemed excessive for one building, but Grace knew there were much taller buildings in the city. The elevator doors opened into a lobby and a receptionist brought them back to a meeting room. They passed by a couple of labs on the way, but Stratt was walking much too quickly for Grace to get a good look at what was going on in any of them. He frowned but refused to slow things down to satisfy his own curiosity.
He wasn't surprised when Stratt relinquished her normal spot at the head of the conference table, opting for a seat just off to the side, close to the center, instead. She wasn't the one running this meeting after all. Grace took the chair next to her, settling his notebook and pen on the table in front of him. Stratt glanced over at them for a moment and then turned her attention back to the front of the room. After the first meeting they'd attended together, Stratt had offered him a tablet for taking notes, but he'd made it clear that he liked the tactile sensation of the notebook, and she'd dropped the topic. By now, she was used to it.
Two scientists, a man and a woman, entered the room and settled at the head of the table. The woman started up a smart board and the man set up his computer, linking the two. They dimmed the lights, and then they launched into a presentation that was clearly meant for their peers and not, say, a woman who was pulling all the strings but had limited scientific knowledge. Grace followed. They were advocating for a kind of electrical stimulation for muscles, similar to what Lamai had suggested but their system seemed like it would be more efficient.
Fifteen minutes in, Grace froze. It probably wasn't noticeable in the lighting, but he did. Every muscle locked and his heart stopped. There it was again. Do not look over. Do not look over. It didn't seem like either of the scientists had heard it, they were caught up in their explanations, a mindset with which Grace was intimately familiar. Unfortunately, he was also intimately familiar with the sound that was coming from the seat beside him. Grace looked over.
Just for a second, but it was long enough to see that he was right. Stratt had slid down in her seat just enough that her chin could fall to her chest. He'd recognized her breathing. The deep, slow breaths that he'd come to associate with her falling asleep at her desk over a pile of reports, pen still in hand. Hopefully, the room was dim enough that the scientists wouldn't notice her impromptu nap—he did tell her to sleep in the car.
Unfortunately, he wasn't that lucky and it seemed that Stratt's luck had been used up at the trial. The room fell silent and Grace looked up to see the scientists staring at Stratt, wide-eyed. "Um," the woman said as she looked awkwardly from Stratt to Grace.
"Just continue," Grace said in a low voice. "Quietly." He gestured with his palms down.
Both scientists looked uncertain, but they nodded and launched back into their explanation at a lower volume. Grace interrupted a few times to ask for clarification or elaboration and once they all froze when Stratt shifted in her seat. When it became clear that she remained asleep, they continued on. Grace kept one eye on her the whole time, but she was out-out. It was like that when she fell asleep in her office as well. There could be an explosion one room over and she wouldn't budge. Grace really had to find some way to stop her from working herself until her body forcibly shut down. She was going to mess up or miss something one of these days and a real catastrophe could happen. Maybe he could tell her that.
The meeting ended and Grace assured the scientists that Stratt would get back to them once he filled her in. "I'd just have to interpret the science for her anyway, and she has to get the opinion of the doctor we have working on the project," Grace told them. "So this really isn't prolonging the process at all." He gestured to her. "Just, please don't spread this around. Rumors suck, and if anything this should show you just how hard she's working on all of this."
"I would never," the woman said with a nod. "That could be devastating for a woman in her position." There was a slight emphasis on the word woman when she said it, and Grace knew immediately what she meant.
The man nodded as well. "Not a word. Neither of us wants to do anything that would sabotage the project."
Relief flooded Grace's chest. They both seemed genuine enough. "Thanks." He glanced at Stratt and then around at the conference room. "Is this room going to be empty for a while?" he asked. "I'd like to let her take advantage of, well, sleeping."
"There was a meeting scheduled to take place here in about ten minutes, but I'll catch them and have them move it to one of the other conference rooms," the woman said.
Grace thanked her again and settled in to wait as the other scientists left the room. "We've got a long trip back to the Vat," Grace muttered. "Let's see you try to get work done without this." He slid the tablet out from under her limp hand and tucked it into his bag.
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Carl asked.
Grace jumped. He hadn't noticed the big man come into the room. "Probably not, but maybe if I have it, she'll sleep on the trip back instead of trying to work."
Carl shook his head. "I don't see you winning this one."
"Yeah, well, I have to try anyway," he said as Carl sat down in the chair beside him.
By the time Stratt woke up from her biologically mandated nap, Carl and Grace had played fifteen rounds of Tic-Tac-Toe and seven rounds of Hangman. They were just getting started on their eighth when the sound of rustling fabric caught their attention. Two sets of eyes landed on Eva Stratt as she blinked blearily and raised a hand to her head. She looked around the room. Dismay and embarrassment flashed across her face, rapid fire, gone almost as soon as they appeared. Then her eyes landed on Grace and Carl before focusing on Grace alone.
"Do not say it," she said, standing from her chair.
Grace raised his hands in surrender, standing as well. "Wasn't going to," he replied. Then he rushed to gather his things as Stratt walked to the door.
"By the way," she said in a casual voice. "Do not think I didn't notice. If you value your life, that tablet will be in my hand within the next five seconds."
Grace hesitated and Carl's eyes flicked between them. "I just really think–"
"Three." Stratt's voice did not change from its casual tone, and that made it all the more threatening somehow.
Grace reached into his bag and surrendered the tablet, which Stratt immediately brought to life. "I think you have an unhealthy attachment to that thing," Grace said as he followed her out.
"Nonsense," Stratt said dismissively. "I have a lot to keep track of and it's on here, that's all." She must have seen the time because she inhaled sharply before whipping around to look at Grace. "Why did you not wake me?"
They were stopped in the middle of the hallway, and Grace stepped to the side to allow a small group of employees to pass. He tugged Stratt along with him, but when they reached the wall, she shook off his hand. "I thought it was more important for you to sleep," he said firmly.
"Three hours," she hissed.
Anger flared in Grace. "You are working under such a sleep debt that you could have slept for thirty hours and it wouldn't have been enough," he snapped. "If you keep going like this you are going to make a mistake."
Stratt had opened her mouth to argue more, but she snapped it shut at that. At first she looked taken aback, and then she looked thoughtful. To Grace's surprise, she took one last look through her email and then locked the tablet and held it out to him. Grace searched her face and slowly took the offered tablet. He put it in his bag. "Are you sure?" he asked. "A minute ago you were threatening my life."
"Yes, well, you may have a point," she said and exhaustion crept back into her voice. "Right now, there is nothing pressing in my inbox and I cannot act further on the presentation I missed until I have your report for us to present to Lamai for her opinion." She took a deep breath and shot Grace a look. "I seem to have an opportunity for a brief rest until we get back to the Vat."
Grace almost choked on his own saliva at hearing her refer to the aircraft carrier by its unofficial name, but he recovered quickly. "Great!"
"And while I do that, I need you to complete the report—in layman's terms, please—so that I can read it before we arrive. I would prefer to, as you say, hit the ground running once we've landed."
Ah. It seemed Grace would not be getting his own rest while on the trip back, but it was fine. He wasn't the one falling asleep in meetings after all. Plus, if he worked quickly enough, he may still be able to catch a few hours toward the end of the trip.
The moment they were settled on the plane, Stratt reclined her seat and dropped back into the deep sleep of the truly exhausted. Grace sat across from her and opened the laptop that he used only when he needed to. He kept all of the lights dimmed. He didn't need them, and Stratt would sleep better without them—though light had never stopped her before when she was in this state.
It was quiet. The low thrum of the plane's engines filled the space and the soft, deep breathing of Stratt's peaceful sleep was calming. A few hours later, once Grace was done with his report, he closed his laptop and blinked away the spots in his vision. Across from him, Stratt was still sound asleep, strands of red hair fanned across her cheek where she'd turned onto her side. She sighed, but didn't wake up. Grace got up and pulled two blankets out of one of the compartments in the wall of the plane and draped one over her before curling up under one himself. He closed his eyes and drifted off.