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Raw Materials introduced the idea. Research showed what happened when something went wrong. Human Assembly delivered the biggest visual payoff. Packaging and Shipping finished the joke by sending the newly manufactured people out into the world in crates.

It wasn’t the elaborate version I had imagined six weeks ago.

It was better.

This version belonged to the building we actually had, the time we actually had, and the people doing the work.

When Duncan returned, I heard Sienna before I saw her.

“Goldie!”

I turned from the schedule taped beside the prep-area doorway.

Her dark hair still held loose curls around the ends and through the front, softer now than they must have been that morning. A narrow purple clip-in ran through one side, and three tiny silver gems curved near the outer edge of one cheekbone.

She looked delighted.

“You found the purple.”

Sienna touched the colored section proudly. “It clips in. Dad checked it first.”

Behind her, Duncan carried her school backpack and a small paper bag.

“I was informed this was the low-commitment option.”

“It looks great. If you want, I can show you how to make the purple look like it runs through the curl instead of sitting on top of it.”

Sienna turned toward me at once. “Can you?”

I glanced at Duncan before touching her hair. He gave a small nod.

I unclipped the purple piece and handed it to Sienna, then separated a narrow section near her temple.

“Lift this little section first, then clip the purple underneath it.”

She followed my directions, concentrating hard enough to make me smile.

“Now let the curl fall back over it and twist the curl once around your finger. Gently.”

Sienna did, and the purple threaded through the softened curl instead of lying across the top.

“Oh, I like that.”

Duncan had gone still with her backpack in one hand, watching Sienna touch the curl. When he looked at me, the tension around his mouth had eased. “That I can probably manage next time.”

“You already survived the rollers,” I said. “This is easier.”

Sienna lifted one of the curls at her shoulder. “The rollers worked too. They were curlier this morning.”

“They’re still pretty.”

Duncan handed her the paper bag. “I told you all that suffering paid off.”

She gave him a look that was so perfectly unimpressed I had to bite the inside of my cheek. “You fell asleep on the couch while I was still putting them in. You were snoring.”

Duncan looked at me. “I was supervising. I have no witnesses.”

Sienna laughed and carried her snack to the folding table in the safe prep area.