"Maybe." Alex doesn't know if she agrees with that, because while technology is good, she doesn't know if it's this good. She touches her ear again, trying to dig the golden sphere behind it out by searching for any sort of differentiation where it meets her skin. She doesn't find one, but that doesn't mean that Alex stops trying to create one with her fingernail and a wince.

"The Warren guy you were talking about before? Who is he anyway? I've never heard of him, and I'd done my research on you really thoroughly before you finally agreed to meet me after I'd called you eleven times and talk to your publisher."