It is possible he'll spend the rest of his life comparing certain kinds of women to Talia, if only in a fleeting way. First it was the woman on the network with her studied candor. Here and now, it's the deliberate way she moves and speaks, the sense that she is immovable by outside forces. Possibly it was the perfume as well, because the comparison rises and fades like a sense memory, Talia disappearing from his thoughts as easily as she had from his life.

"A network. They're all out there, waiting to be connected. Waiting for support, to pool resources and information. To coordinate." Jason pauses to consider his pitch. "We can't destroy them. Five hundred years of growth and integration? That's too much to take down." He has no idea what five hundred years means to her. "But we could cripple them, if we learn enough, if we're fast enough, if we can time it right..."

His gaze abruptly refocuses on her, aware he's dreaming big before they've taken a single step. Pragmatic goals reassert themselves. "Or we can just do whatever we can about the worst of them."