Alison's boss, director Byron Palisades, has been out of town while his movie is in post production. Alison has gotten used to working in his empty house & is suprised when the man himself barges in on her as she's emailing the studio lawyers. He didn't tell anyone he was leaving, so no one knew when he'd be back.

(Computer by Sim Logical: it is 'assigned' to Alison & she can be forced to 'work on it. The Event Controller from same site summons her at an assigned time every day, or whenever I want.)

He just got back from Nepal. So that's where he's been, nice of him to tell everyone who's busy wrapping up his film for him. "I needed to find my spiritual center before we start our next project," he tells her. He goes on for it seems like hours about his trip: does he want his movie finished or what? Alison wonders. Why is he wasting her time with this crap, when he has analysts & gurus to listen to him prattle? Ah, well, he pays her, either way.

He just adopted some weird looking new dog, named Grok. 'What the hell kind of name is Grok?' Alison wonders, though she chooses better words to ask about the meaning of the dog's name. "You may not grok Grok, but Grok groks you," Byron answers with a laugh. 'Whatever,' Alison sighs to herself: he probably made up the name so he can give people that weird answer when they ask about it: Byron loves messing with people's heads, both in his movies & in real life, too. Now he needs someone to walk the dog everyday. Great, his dog needs a personal assistant & now it's Alison's job to hire him one. She came out here to make films, not to coddle to celebrity pets, Alison thinks with a sigh. "Oh," he adds, before letting her get back to dealing with the studio, "Now that I'm back in town, I need a new connection. Find me someone reliable!" He walks out of the office & Alison rolls her brilliant green eyes. He wants her to find him a personal assistant for his dog & a reliable drug dealer. Only in L.A.......

Alison works like a slave, so she doesn't have time to mess with drugs generally speaking. Luckily, she's able to get an address of 'someone reliable' from Luz. The dog's assistant will take more time: it's not the kind of job you can put in the paper. An Oscar winning director of scifi & comic book genre movies, Byron attracts throngs of worshipful fans who would do anything to get near him. Any whiff of the availability of this job could bring in an army of crazed supplicants, which Alison has no time for. Amidst all the crap of the business, sometimes even Alison forgets it's about making movies, but when she sits with Byron to screen their latest effort, Alison remembers. Byron really is a filmic genius, despite being the flakiest flake in a city of flakes. Alison hates L.A. & misses NY so much it makes her cry sometimes...but what she's learned about film making from working for Byron makes it worth it. When she finally gets to direct her own pic, it will blow the world away.

Alison finishes work before 9pm for once: this movie, Sirens of Titan, is almost wrapped up & Byron is already arguing with the studio about the budget & casting of the next project, an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics...it is like the eye of a storm, a brief moment between movies when Alison can actually have some kind of social life with real people. She calls Kelly before she takes off & luckily she is home & is up for meeting Alison for dinner at El Coyote.

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