"Mr Hughes, am I understanding correctly?"

"Yes you are. Speak to Jessica on your way down, your flights to Kimberley have already been arranged." Thorsten sat back in his chair again, and pulled one of the sheets on his desk closer. He looked up at Tom, who looked slightly confused, but not enough to prevent him from exhibiting his usual confidence.

"Kimberley, the diamond town?"

Thorsten chuckled. "It's quite obvious that you haven't been there before. I believe your end destination is a little off the beaten track. 'Just about in the middle of nowhere' is the term that Jessica used."

"What if she's not interested?"

"Oh, she will be. Angus Cooper was recently hired as research head of the agency funding her work. I'm sure you know what that means."

Tom seemed to suddenly relax, putting a hand into his pocket. It looked as if a smile was almost forming at the corners of his mouth. He turned around to look at the receding light, then walked towards the glass door and extended his hand towards the handle. He hesitated for a moment, thoughtfully staring at the ground, then swung the door open on its frame.

The sun had now disappeared behind the Holsworth building, and Thorsten could look across the expanse of his headquarters without straining his eyes. Even though he'd been asked very politely by his operations director whether he didn't think that having electrochromics installed would be a good idea, he'd never been very enthusiastic about hiding the sun. There was something about the way it made the skyline look like it was radiating energy, that mesmerised him. It was almost as if there was some sort of life force behind the countless skyscrapers that lined the view from the top of the hill. A life force that made each building come alive, that drove each person who added to the building's capacity to be a part of the legs underneath the endless run of everyday life. The golden glow faded slowly as Thorsten leaned back in his chair and put his legs up on his desk. "What if?" he thought. "What if it didn't fade? What if there was no reason for it to fade, ever?"

He looked down at the diagrams on his desk, leaning his forehead on his hand. Even though they were as thin as the paper on which they were drawn, the curves formed by the blue lines made them look decidedly pronounced. He ran a finger along one of the curves, from it's base, up into a column, extending vertically until a juncture broke the flow. The next curve started a mere half a centimetre from the juncture, following the same line as the first, but extending further.

The sudden chime to his left startled Thorsten, his finger nearly missing the jump across the next juncture. He almost absentmindedly picked up the PDA and brought it closer. "Watch Channel 9."

He picked up the control panel and dabbed the TV button, then swiped across the screen to get to 9. The news anchor's voice sounded as mildly interested as always: "...with the only survivor being the department's research consultant, Dr Angus Cooper. Dr Cooper is currently in a stable condition. According to reports, the blast was so severe that several people walking along the opposite side of the street were flung through shop windows. Even the windows of buildings a block away were shattered by the force of the explosion. Police representatives have responded only by stating that an investigation is underway."

Thorsten muted the sound and stroked his stubble slowly. He picked up the phone on his desk. "Jessica. Please tell Tom to make absolutely sure he brings her back."

Thorsten Hughes looked up from his desk. His eyes slowly focused away from the thin lines of the diagrams onto the figure in front of him.

"Mr Hughes?"

"Yes." He glanced over the top his glasses at a tailored, pin-striped suit which looked like it belonged in a wood-panelled boardroom. With the sunset filtering into the office, the light behind the man created a sharp outline around his jacket which emphasized every little thread of the weave. There were no stray pieces of lint or even a hint of ruffle visible in the golden outline. It looked perfectly in place in the office, along with the two men occupying it.

"I'm afraid I have bad news."

Thorsten removed his glasses, pinching the bridge between his eyes while squeezing his eyelids lightly together. As he opened them again, he could see the faint trace of a floating speck of dust in the sharp light. "What is it Tom?"

"It's the latest reports. They don't look good."

"No change?"

"No change. Except for an increase in residual sodium chloride, there's no evidence to suggest that temperature levels are increasing any more. I've spoken to Linden and Denton, they don't sound too optimistic either."

The light fell squarely on Thorsten's face as Tom walked towards the glass wall. He looked up at the source, squinting into the gold as a frown formed on his forehead. Even though the glass panels that made up his office were as clean as anyone could expect them to be, the smudgy remnants of a fingerprint were visible just below where the sun was disappearing behind the Holsworth building. Tom turned around and stepped across the rays, casting a shadow onto the desk. "I know you've said this to me a thousand times. It's not that I don't believe it, because I know you wouldn't have said it and have kept on saying it if it there wasn't a way for..."

"It can be done, Tom."

"Yes, I know. But..."

"Do you really?"

Tom turned around to face the sunlight, squinting into the gold as he raised his hand to block it from his eyes. He sighed softly as he turned back, assuming he couldn't be heard. "It's just, the cost... Excuse my frankness sir, but are you aware of the totals for this quarter?"

Thorsten ran his hand across the stumble on his chin, stroking it slowly. "Whose money do you think it is, Tom?" He smiled. "In case you forgot, I don't sleep much. So yes, I'm aware of the totals, down to yesterday's payment for new spectrometers. It appears Linden has a knack for decreasing their useful lifespan significantly." Thorsten leaned back in his chair and wrapped his hands around the back of his head. "When I spoke to James Denton two days ago, he mentioned that Dr Linden had discovered an interesting trend. It sounded like his new extractions seemed to suggest that there might be a composite solution to the intake problem. Apparently, he had read a research article by a young British geologist who claimed that she had had the same results. Only, she claimed that her success ratio with the compound was 86 percent, as opposed to Linden's best-scenario predictions of 64 percent."

Tom was silent.

Thorsten sat up in his chair and leaned onto the desk with his elbows, putting his fingertips together and forming a triangle between his hands. "Tell me Tom, have you ever been to South Africa?"