1989

"Come down to C3911N, Mason."

"I've cleared off my desk and I'm ready to go home. Can this wait until tomorrow?"

Adam didn't have anywhere to go after work except back to his dark apartment still furnished with the student junk he'd brought from his Stanford apartment over a decade ago. Whatever Adam did with his money, he did not spend it on home décor.

He did not understand that most of us had homes and families to return to each evening. He did not even have a houseplant to keep from drying out. Adam's attitudes and expectations led me to remind myself that Adam was actually older than I was. Only with difficulty had I persuaded him last year to retire his fading Farrah Fawcett poster from the late 1970s from the wall of his main lab.

"It's important that you stop by this conference room before you go home."

"I'll be right down, Adam. Make it quick."

Sublevel C was three levels below the acknowledged basement of Genomex. Some of the work conducted there could be fairly described only as creepy. If my duties did not require me to spend time in the sublevels, I would never choose to spend time there.

Adam was seated alone in C3911N, a barren-looking conference room with beige carpeting, off-white walls, and dark walnut table and chairs. Sprawled on the carpeting was a huge English sheepdog.

"I want you to meet Sam."

The sheepdog stood up, trotted over to me, sat down, and offered me his right front paw, tail wagging.

"I'm Sam." The dog was smiling.

"Adam…"

"It's not a trick. Sam has been engineered to have the physical capacity for human speech and intelligence well above the human average."

I reached down and took Sam's paw in my right hand. He curled individual toes about my fingers in the closest approximation of a handshake a canine could manage.

"Mason Eckhart."

"Sam's very special, Mason."

"I can see that."

"Sam is part of a program with two different goals. Some of these subjects will become spies –who would suspect Rover or Mittens of espionage—and the others will serve as companions to some very special disabled people."

Sam was studying me carefully, and still wagging his tail.

"And you summoned me here because…?"

"Sam's been an outstanding student. However, his education is incomplete. He needs to spend time in the 'real world' with 'normal people' to deeply understand how things work. I'd like him to go home with you tonight."

"Jackie doesn't like dogs. She was bitten by one when she was twelve and required a lot of stitches. I want Grey to have a puppy when he's a little older, and she agreed to that only if the puppy was carefully, carefully selected for temperament."

"Relax. I've already spoken to her. She has agreed to having a 'houseguest'."

Sam's tail had stopped moving. "Mason, I would never hurt anyone in your family. Only two circumstances could lead me to harm a human: self-defense, or the defense of you and your family."

Truly, the eyes are the mirrors of the soul. Despite long hair in his face, what I could see of Sam's eyes revealed a deep soul indeed.

I sighed. Knowing Adam tended to add layers of complexity to one's life.

"Okay. I'll do it."

"I knew I could count on you to come through for Team Genomex." Adam smirked. He knew I loathed corporate sports metaphors.

Adam rose from his chair and extracted a stout leather collar loaded with metal tags from a pocket. "Come here, Sam. You can't leave without this."

Sam turned and padded slowly over to Adam. "Must I? These things are so degrading. Arooo…"

"Outside, if you become separated from Mason, some very bad things could happen to you if you're picked up as a stray by Animal Control." Adam buckled the collar in place.

Sam's face showed disgust. "Degrading…"

I decided that in my house, the collar would come off.

"Time to go home, Sam."

Crossing the parking lot to my car, Sam spoke again.

"Don't you like me?"

"Why, yes, I do. Why?"

"You don't seem pleased."

"I'm not happy with the way Adam presumes upon our friendship, and delivers last minutes surprises. You, on the other hand, seem like a decent guy."

"You think so? Really? Aroo?"

"Yes. Adam should not have put you in the middle of things. We both deserve better from him."

Sam was so relieved to be assured that I liked him that he loped around me in wide circles. "Aroo!"

"Do you like to go running?"

"Oh, I do, yes."

"Then you and I can go running together. I try to do several miles a day."

"That would be so wonderful."

"I'd enjoy the company."

"You're not going to regret this, Mason."

I unlocked the passenger side door for Sam, who entered carefully, first tapping free any gravel from each front paw, then shaking each hind foot.

"Thanks, Sam."

He held himself up straight and proud on the seat. "If you have any doubts remaining, be assured that I am no mere canine."

"That was obvious from the beginning."

"Not everybody notices."

I realized Adam had sent us off without any of the things that Sam would need. "What about food…dishes…?" I felt awkward asking, because of the implication that Sam would eat from and sleep upon the floor.

"Oh. That's right. Adam is not details-oriented."

"What if I stopped at one of those stores that allow 'pets' inside, and you picked out your own things?"

"There are such stores?"

"Yes."

"Wow. You realize, I have lived a sheltered life."

"Just stay close to me so no one hears you."

Sam was thrilled. He picked out exactly the kinds of foods he liked, and some stylish ceramic dishes. He chose a large doggie bed, selecting the fabric carefully, with the goal of "complementing my extraordinary fur," as he explained with a smile.

"Genomex is buying you some nice things."

"Aroo," Sam whispered conspiratorially.