Chapter 34 Hesitate

Describing the lab as an unmitigated disaster was an insult to actual disasters everywhere. The mess was contained to one small corner of a vast laboratory and was constrained to a black smudge against one wall and a pile of ashes that were scattered across the floor. “It doesn’t look like much,” Justin shrugged, “but I assure you, your knock probably saved my life. If I had been standing there, there wouldn’t be much of me left to have a conversation.” “See?” Eliza jiggled the auspiciometer at the end of its chain. “I’m quite timely.” “As usual,” Justin nodded. “My father mentioned you had a knack for being in the right place at the right time.” “The auspiciometer was a gift from my father. He invented it. I could use it to help you with—what were you doing before it exploded?” Eliza was intensely curious. “I’ve never had an experiment fail—” “Quite so dramatically?” Justin interrupted. He scrubbed one hand across his chin, leaving a charcoal smear. “At all.” “Never?” Eliza nodded absently. “Is it terribly depressing for you?” Of course she’d never failed, not with the auspiciometer directing her decisions. “Why should it be? Even a spectacular failure is an opportunity to learn. Some of the greatest inventions in history were accidental.” “And what have you learned from this?” Eliza swept a hand derisively over the dust heap. “Nothing, yet. That’s the beauty of it. I get to reconstruct my experiment, and my notes, and discover exactly what occurred. And thanks to you, I’m alive to do it.” “Well, let us get to it, then,” she said. Eliza pulled out the auspiciometer and was stopped suddenly by a warm hand on her wrist. “Why not try it the ordinary way?” Justin shrugged. “I’m not in a hurry.” “Why would you want to do that? Do you like failure?” Eliza was astounded. Who would deliberately throw away an opportunity to get something exactly perfect? “Did you have something better to do?” Justin smiled at her, his intense eyes melting her resistance. Truth be told, she didn’t have anything particular planned. And there was something appealing about spending time with him. “Your father said you didn’t deal with failure well,” Eliza hesitated. “He asked me to bring some letters to you, and his journals. It was his dying request.” She reached into her satchel to fetch them out.