"I've been looking for recipes that mask the fact that the protein comes from fungi. A blend of the right spices and herbs and the proper cooking technique cam work miracles," he says. "I could cook for you, if you don't mind test-tasting my latest discovery." There's not a lot of difference between working out a formula in the lab and cooking up a recipe in the kitchen. Cypher, in the meantime, starts to dig at one spot, very intent and not interposing for the moment.

He reaches inside his coat, taking a specimen jar from one of many pockets and carefully removing one of the blue mushrooms before dropping it into the jar. "It could involve choking, it could involve suffocation. For all we know, it could turn the pigment in one's blood blue and thus make one's skin turn blue." He looks up at her. "That happened to one family, with no other side effects."