Vincent and Jessica walked out of the room and back into the main hall.
“All set?” said Derek.
Neither of them spoke. Vincent was too busy trying to keep the blood in the corners of his eyes from leaking onto his jacket. The shaking made it impossible.
“I’ve already called a transport,” said Derek. He looked away from them as he talked. He kept a good distance ahead of them, too. “It should meet us at the gate.”
The walk was a silent one. Vincent was bent a few degrees forward as they went, focused on his own, trembling hands in front of his face and the quickly widening puddle of blood forming in his palms. Jessica’s gaze was downcast as well. Her bleeding wasn’t as severe as Vincent’s, but her shaking was far worse.
“Here we are,” said Derek.
They had reached the opening in the halo they had come through the first time.
“I actually have some work to do here with Newsight to set up your investigation,” continued Derek. He still hadn’t looked at them. “I’ll just catch the next one.” He crossed over to the transport, only a meter or so away from the strong winds outside. They were still a few dozen stories up.
Derek pressed a button on the pod’s side. “Whenever you’re ready,” he said. “It will take you to your dormitories, and a different transport will take you to school. You don’t have to worry about a thing.” He smiled at them, and he forced himself to make eye contact. When he did, his smile disappeared. He looked away again.
“On second thought,” he said, “I’m sure I can arrange for you to skip the rest of the day’s classes. You must be tired.” He paused here, glancing back down the hall the way they had just come. “They gave you free access to a newsim, didn’t they?”
Slowly, as if hearing the words at a slight delay, Vincent nodded.
“Then I would enter that,” said Derek. “It will help you relax.” He glanced down the hall again, then lowered his voice. “Besides,” he said, “it looks bad if you don’t.”
Vincent nodded again, then started up the ramp to the pod. Jessica started up as well, but she swayed dangerously from the shaking as she went. Out of his periphery – he still wouldn’t look at them – Derek saw. Something seemed to soften in him.
“You’re all right,” he said. He stepped forward, forcing himself to look at her, and took her by the hand. “It’ll get better.” He helped her up the ramp into the pod, not letting go of her until she was seated inside. He took a step back so his feet were on level ground, back in the hall. He looked at them both.
“Stay safe,” he said. Vincent nodded, and the ramp folded back up into the door. Derek watched them as the transport lifted off the ground and backed out the way it had come. Vincent didn’t return the man’s gaze. He looked straight down instead, so the blood from his tear ducts dripped between his shoes.