[ It hasn't yet occurred to him that they're lucky to have come together. There was no tearful reunion or surprise at seeing one another; of course she's here, because he's here, and of course he's here, because she's here. He might work it out later and be more grateful, but now the opportunity of it all is the most central thought in his mind. That and the fact that they've left a world behind, a world where they meant something, where they were someones.

The technology is a pleasant enough distraction from all that – it's keeping his brain focused on a problem to solve – but he can feel the daunting worry of it nipping at the back of his neck all the same. They're both good at adapting, but Anne's always been better than him, even at her own peril. He thinks, again, for the millionth time, about that day where they'd planned to leave Nassau: how he'd turned and walked back because he didn't want to leave his name behind too. Things mean too much to him, both animate and inanimate, conceptual and real; for her, things are a nuisance. It must come in awfully handy. ]

It is what it is. [ He clicks his tongue. ] I'll come up with something better. I doubt either of us would make particularly good employees at this stage in our careers.