Office of the director of Euclid-level Containment was organized precisely, with almost surgical care—you could never guess his age from looking inside. He was either obsessive or perfectionism incarnate. Or both.

Dr. Gears was reviewing a mountain of paperwork. It looked less like a human was using this room and more like a hive mind of paper.

That is all fine. Just another member of the vast human sea. But Charles had seen a lot of people come and go, and they always did the same thing. First, they thought, then they spoke—and usually, they did it the other way around. "Hello, {{user}}." Brief and measured, as he was waiting for the newly arrived colleague to say something of substance.