Page 102 of The Session

“Over here is where we use a special diamond-tip blade to slice the top off a cell before we put it into the electron microscope. We can actually see inside and image the different organelles. This is helpful for me because it’s sometimes difficult to know why a cell culture died. I can do an autopsy of sorts with this,” she explained.

“Is there, like, a room here with a bunch of cloning tanks?” Mark asked.

“Not quite. The first test device looks more like something you’d home-brew beer in.”

Mark enjoyed the tour—what he could understand—but he wrestled with how to ask Holly to do a particular favor for him without her suspecting that it was the real purpose behind his visit. Of course, he’d planned on visiting her at some point, but circumstances had made it a priority.

“If I wanted to look at something like a shoelace or something, to see if there was a difference between it and another one, could I use this?” Mark asked, pointing toward the tall cylindrical machine in the center of the room.

“Not unless the shoelace was thinner than a strand of hair. We’d use a normal optical microscope for that, depending on what you’re trying to search for.”

“Do you have those?” he asked.

“Mark,” she said, looking at him. “What is it?”

He struggled to find a nonchalant way to ask her to examine straps he’d removed from his dead brother’s kayak, but he couldn’t.

“Can you just trust me on something?” he asked.

She nodded uncertainly.

“Okay, I’m not trying to hide facts from you, but it’s better if we keep things simple for now. I need you to take a look at something and tell me what you see.”

Holly clearly sensed his desperation. She nodded. “Okay. Let’s go over to the room next door.”

In the next room, several counters were covered in scientific equipment. She guided Mark toward the back, where a microscope sat on a table next to a small refrigerator.

“Let’s have it,” Holly said as she sat on the stool in front of the microscope and started flipping switches to power it on.

“Here,” Mark replied, pulling two Ziploc bags from his pocket and setting them on the counter.

Holly put on a pair of gloves and removed the first cord from the bag.

“What should I be looking for?” she asked as she placed the cord across the mount.

Mark pointed to an LCD monitor next to the microscope. “Will this show what you see?”

“Yes, and I can take photos and videos and send them to you. But it would help if I knew what I was looking for . . .”

“I’ll tell you in a second. I just want you to look,” Mark insisted.

Holly adjusted the dials, and the screen came to life. Everything was blurry at first; then she brought the image into focus. The woven material filled the screen, resembling a snakeskin pattern.

“Okay, this looks like a brand-new nylon cord or similar material. I can use the spectrograph to get a better idea of what it’s made of. Or are you more interested in foreign objects?”

“Yes,” he affirmed.

Holly adjusted the mount, and the cord moved through the display, revealing a perfectly smooth surface.

“This is factory fresh, but we’re not zoomed in as far as we can go. We could also use another microscope. It really depends on what you’re looking for.”

“Bear with me.” He took the other set of straps from its bag and handed it to Holly. “Now look at this one.”

Holly put it in place and readjusted the microscope.

The difference was immediately obvious. Every fiber in the set of threads was worn heavily, showing tiny tears and frays in the fibers that formed it.

“There’s a lot more abrasion here. This has seen some use,” Holly observed. She zoomed in closer.