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wasn’t strong enough to do anything about anything, so best to just do her job. Thinking got you arrested, and there was no coming back from that.  
         The woman in the doorway cleared her throat, and Viv sensed the heaviness of Mark's silence as he stood, waiting. Viv saw a thin, wiry woman with iron-gray hair, and a beak of a nose, tilting her head to peer around Mark at the lab. Mark held out his hand. The woman looked at it disdainfully and sniffed. Mark awkwardly put his hand down and stuffed it into his lab coat.
         “I am Margaret Watts,” the woman said in a voice that was used to giving orders. “I am the personal secretary of Ambrose Conrad. I am here to prepare you to meet him.” She pushed past Mark and entered the lab. Viv found she rather liked Margaret Watts.
         “His personal secretary?” said Mark, looking crestfallen. “He sent a secretary? This is a secure government facility.”
         “I realize it seems highly irregular,” said Margaret Watts, “but what isn't these days?” She pushed her glasses up her nose with a finger. Viv was pleased to see that Mark's face was reddening and a trickle of sweat was rolling down his temple. “Sir, are you having some sort of attack?” said Margaret Watts. She said it as though even the thought was completely offensive to her.
         “No,” Mark managed, and quickly recovered. “What should we do to prepare the facility for the president?”  
         Margaret was looking around the lab, her eyes first landing on Sonia standing behind the stainless steel table, her eyes as big as saucers. Margaret wrinkled her nose, and then her eyes slid over to Viv. “Ah!” said Margaret, jumping a little, then pushing past Mark in Viv's direction. “You'll do, what's your name?” She looked Viv up and down and seemed quite satisfied with what she saw.
         “I am Doctor Genevieve White,” said Viv, controlling the catch in her voice. Margaret looked at the latex gloves on Viv's hands, the microscope turned on and lightly humming, the vials of blood tidily sorted.
         “A doctor?” said Margaret, pleased, and writing on her clipboard. “You continued your work this morning even though you knew that you had to prepare for a visit from your president?” Margaret's beady eyes were magnified by her thick glasses.  
         “I told her to stop working,” said Mark, joining them. “I asked her to help me prepare, but she just kept on going.”
         “On the contrary, it's admirable,” said Margaret Watts. “A woman doesn't lose her head in these situations like a man. Commendable, Doctor. You will show the president around the facility.”
         “I'm sure that I am not the most qualified,” Viv started. She saw Mark's face turning purple again, but Margaret didn’t skip a beat.
         “I can't have this one speaking to the leader of our world,” she said nodding to Mark. “He's obviously a sycophant. The president likes real humans, you see. The voice of the people.”
         Viv was having a hard time breathing. “I'm sorry,” she said. “Forgive me for asking, Ms. Watts. But I'm just showing him around, right? He's not going to, you know –”
         “Eat you?” interrupted Margaret, with a small snort of a laugh. “No, of course not. Revenants no longer drink the blood. They have done away with that barbaric tradition. It's all very scientific these days, as you well know.” She leaned in closer to Viv. “I think you will do very well with the president. And if you do, I will make sure that you are transferred, Doctor. It cannot be easy to work with this horrible man.”
     “Actually, no, it's not,” said Viv, smiling slightly, looking at Mark.  
         “Well, then, that's settled,” said Margaret, ticking something off on her clipboard. “Now, about the president. He may seem strange at first. You have heard him speak on the radio before, haven't you?”
         “Of