"You've never been to Confession in your life."

"No, but I've seen it in the movies. I was joking, though. It's not like anything at all."

She glanced at her watch, then kissed me on the cheek, leaving toast crumbs. "I have to run. Get some sleep, you idiot. You look terrible."

I sat and listened to her bustling around. She had a ninety-minute train journey every morning to the CSIRO's wind turbine research station, west of the Blue Mountains. I usually got up at the same time myself, though. It was better than waking alone.

I thought: I do love her. And if I concentrate, if I follow the rules, there's no reason why it can't last. My eighteen-month record was looming—but that was nothing to fear. We'd smash it, easily.

She reappeared in the doorway. "So, how long do you have to edit this one?"

"Ah. Three weeks exactly. Counting today." I hadn't really wanted to be reminded.

"Today doesn't count. Get some sleep."

We kissed. She left. I swung my chair around to face the blank console.

Nothing was over. I was going to have to watch Daniel Cavolini die a hundred more times, before I could finally disown him.

I limped into the bedroom and undressed. I hung my clothes on the cleaning rack, and switched on the power. The polymers in the various fabrics expelled all their moisture in a faint humid exhalation, then packed the remaining dirt and dried sweat into a fine, loose dust, and discarded it electrostatically. I watched it drift down into the receptacle; it was always the same disconcerting blue—something to do with the particle size. I had a quick shower, then climbed into bed.

I set the alarm clock for two in the afternoon. The pharm unit beside the clock said, "Shall I prepare a melatonin course to get you back in synch by tomorrow evening?"

"Yeah, okay." I stuck my thumb in the sampling tube; there was a barely perceptible sting as blood was taken. Non-invasive NMR models had been in the shops for a couple of years, but they were still too expensive.