“She had just finished her doctorate in nanoscience from Drexel, holding a master’s in electrical engineering beneath it like a loaded chamber.”

The Hopi said this was the end of the Fourth World. The Maya said the Fifth had already begun. But to Janus, it all felt like the same moment—the spiral collapsing, turning over on itself. Not a beginning. Just the next breath. Janus Dalton-Avogadro, the brilliant Principal Investigator, was specially recruited for her extraordinary skills in nanoscience by an unnamed voice on the other end of the phone line. The mysterious caller provided cryptic directions and detailed instructions on how to enter the compound. She had just finished her doctorate in nanoscience from Drexel, holding a master’s in electrical engineering beneath it like a loaded chamber.