Mike shook Rachel’s hand firmly as she came to him, but his expression was filled with confusion.<em>Katy was leaving? Now?</em>It might Mike wonder if he and Katy had been seen in the kitchen together, and someone had found what had happened so unwholesome that it required a personnel change. But then it wouldn’t have made more sense for<em>him</em>to leave? He had been the aggressor after all. The whole sequence of events was so coincidental that it made Mike feel guilty.<br/><br/>He tried to talk to both Rachel and the University Official, but the roar of the helicopter was too loud for anything to be heard. He only caught that Katy knew from the beginning she would be leaving today, and was asked not to say anything to the others. Mike was most irritated at the fact that she wasn’t even allowed to say goodbye.<br/><br/>Mike did his best to shield Rachel from the sweeping air of the rising helicopter by leading her into the palm gardens that surrounded the outskirts of the helipad, then through the subway into the bottom of the house, and then into the main level of the house where he found Sean and Beth eating breakfast.<br/><br/>“Katy! They took Katy!” Mike exclaimed. “They didn’t even let us say goodbye!” It was clear that agitated by the turn of events. “Where are my manners?” he asked. “Sean and Beth, this is Rachel Phillips, Rachel, this is Beth Sorensen, and Sean Kelly. It looks as though you two were just sitting down to breakfast, may we join you?”<br/><br/>As the other two welcomed Rachel to the house, Mike opened the folder that he had been given and started reading it. “Apparently this switch was planned from the beginning,” he said once there was a moment when he wouldn’t interrupt. “Katy was here as a test subject to see how we would react to an initial change in personnel.” He lowered the folder. “It makes you wonder what else they have in mind for us, ja?” he asked the group. “There isn’t much more than that, just Rachel’s questionnaire.” Mike gave up the folder and put it in the middle of the table.<br/><br/>“I’m sorry I seem so upset,” he said to Rachel. “It is nothing personal, I assure you. It was just the shock of Katy leaving so quickly, and not even being allowed to say goodbye. I guess that was against the parameters of the experiment, ja? Anyway, welcome to the house. I guess you’re staying in Katy’s old room now. We didn’t have much of a chance to unpack anything yet. This morning is our first here.”