‘I’ve nowhere to put equipment. Or staff,’ declared Parnell.

Newton gave an uncertain laugh. ‘You’ve got your own internal laboratories! What… two separate working spaces, offices, secretarial space? Everything you could want…?’

‘In the wrong place. I’ve been appointed Dubette’s professor of pharmacogenomics, applying what I did in England to drug development here. To do that, I need to be alongside the laboratories and the people developing those drugs. Not isolated as I have been.’

Newton frowned. ‘Everything radiates out from what has to be the most tightly and securely controlled working area.’

‘I didn’t accept the offer here in order to be a totem, just a recognizable name on a staff list,’ said Parnell. ‘If I’m going to make any contribution to Dubette’s research and development, I need to be at the centre of things. If I’m not, it makes quite pointless my being here, as part of the Dubette empire.’

Pinpricks of anger began colouring Newton’s face. ‘I don’t believe Archimedes’ principle came to him when he overflowed the bath water. Research here is programmed, according to a strict schedule of antibiotic exploration. Which is the business we’re in.’

‘I don’t believe the Archimedes legend either. Nor see how it’s supposed to fit what we’re talking about,’ rejected Parnell. ‘It’s now been recognized that the majority of what pharmaceutical industries produce does nothing to alleviate, help or – by the very worst analysis – save the lives of people they’re supposed to help with the drugs they’re offering. If I can create the proper research team, working in proper, liaising research with medical expertise, Dubette could revolutionize diagnostic approach. It’s an approach already being tried in Europe, and one upon which I’m well advanced, from my work on the genome project.’ Parnell, resigned to the thought that his job was over before it had begun, supposed he could always stay in Washington for an extended holiday, to minimize the loss on the apartment lease, and whatever else was non-refundable, before moving on. He was probably still within his relocation budget in any case.