I Heard Animals' Voices novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Credit

"Your protocol," said the board chair.

He had put his glasses back on.

He looked at Dr. Bramhall.

"My protocol," said Dr. Bramhall, "is a graduated exposure model. The stimulus tested his reactivity, and the supervised gate opening confirmed it."

"Your protocol kept those two apart for four months," said Derrick.

The cameras swung toward him.

He did not seem to notice.

He pulled a folded sheet from his coverall pocket and held it up.

It was a photo of the whiteboard, printed in color, with the green marker lines sharp and neat.

"Somebody picked ten minutes, and kept it for four months."

"Dr. Bramhall, why ten?"

"That schedule is standard," Dr. Bramhall said.

"For a pair that hates each other," said Derrick, "it is."

He lowered the sheet.

"They don't."

The woman with the microphone had stopped pretending to be neutral.

"Dr. Bramhall," she said, "did you predict this?"

"I predicted," Dr. Bramhall said, "an outcome consistent with controlled..."

"Did you predict that?" The woman pointed at the tigers.

Duke and Poppy were lying side by side now.

Duke was grooming a patch of fur behind her ear with great seriousness.

Dr. Bramhall's mouth opened, and nothing came out of it.

"Miss Ainslie predicted it," the board chair said. "On Monday. Out loud. In front of my director."

"The girl is eighteen," said Dr. Bramhall. "She has no credentials."

"Neither does the tiger," said the board chair, "and he's doing fine."

Somebody laughed.

It was the man with the pretzel, and he laughed so hard he dropped it.

"Dr. Bramhall," said the board chair, in a voice gone completely cold, "you will hand your gate keys to Dr. Hargrove."

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