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“Bye, guys.” And she left.
    Ten minutes later, Dylan and Abbie left, too. Ben sat down on the floor, his back against the wall, legs outstretched. Peter sat against the wall opposite him, his legs crossed. He kept looking at his watch, and Ben figured he probably wanted to leave, but he wasn’t going to if Ben was staying. And Ben planned to wait. It was either here for Dr. Hughes, or somewhere else for his mom.
    A short while later, Dr. Hughes strode down the hallway, pumping the water off a blue umbrella, a slim package tucked under her arm.
    “Ben! Peter! Sorry I’m late. Did the others leave?”
    “Yes,” Peter said.
    “That’s too bad. I have exciting news.”
    “What is it?” Ben asked.
    She pulled out her keys and unlocked the classroom door. “Let’s talk about it inside.”
    The fluorescent lights flickered on down the length of the room with a buzzing sound. The gun range he’d used the day before was gone. Dr. Hughes went to her desk and set the package down, while Ben and Peter took two chairs nearby.
    “I apologize for my tardiness,” she said. “But I think you’ll find your patience rewarded.”
    Ben and Peter waited.
    Dr. Hughes came over and sat down near them in one of the other chairs. “I am not the first to have explored and experimented with actuation. There are others, though I don’t know their real names, but I doubt any have come as far as I have.”
    “What others?” Ben asked. “And why don’t you know their names?”
    “They’re physicists like myself. Professors. Government researchers. People whose professional reputations could suffer if our interests in quantum actuation were made public. We’ve formed a loose network, using pseudonyms. Well, after yesterday’s” — Dr. Hughes looked at Ben, and then seemed to remember that Peter was sitting there — “unpredicted results, I contacted a man I’ve been in touch with for several months to get his input on portable augmentation.”
    “Portable?” Peter looked back and forth between Ben and Dr. Hughes. “What do you mean, portable?”
    “In a moment, Peter.” Dr. Hughes straightened in her chair. “This man … oh, what name did he go by? That’s funny, I’m normally good with names.” She tapped her lips with her index finger. “Richter! That was it. At any rate, this man got back to me, and it turns out he’s been interested in portable augmentation as well. We agreed to share some results, and he overnighted me a package with copies of his work. I’ve been glancing through it, and I believe he’ll be a useful research ally going forward.”
    An ally. What had she said his name was? Ben had already forgotten. Something … Richter? Yes, Richter. That was it.
    “So what did you mean by portable augmentation?” Peter asked.
    Dr. Hughes folded her hands in her lap. “Well, it’s something I’ve been working on from the beginning, the end goal, actually. Yesterday, I asked Ben to stay and help me with it. But we did not get the results I was expecting, and that caused me a bit of alarm. We must make certain that at each step we take every precaution.”
    Ben wondered if Peter would be bothered, knowing Dr. Hughes had picked Ben instead of him.
    Peter said, “And this man who sent you the package … what was his name?”
    Dr. Hughes blinked. “Um.”
    “Richter,” Ben said. Richter .Something about the name felt slippery in his mind.
    “Yes,” Dr. Hughes said. “Richter.”
    “Right,” Peter said. “So this man might be able to help you with portable augmentation?”
    “That is my hope,” Dr. Hughes said.
    “Can I try it?” Peter asked.
    Dr. Hughes sighed. “I don’t think so. Not yet, anyway. I have to make sure it’s working as predicted by the math.”
    Peter hitched his frown to one side. “Okay.”
    “So that was the exciting news?” Ben asked.
    “Yes!” she said. “Don’t you find it exciting?”
    “Yeah. Sure.” But the gun still didn’t quite work yet.

    They