Page 1432

((Double Monday -- Page 2 of 2))
A terrible thought occurred to Hector. ‘You ARE okay, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, I am fine. Gohvis is not mistreating me, if that is what you are implying.’

‘You’re sure? You can tell me. I won’t...’ He won’t what? He won’t tell Zeff? Ugh. This whole situation was quickly becoming a conversational nightmare, Hector felt.

‘I am sure,’ said Emiliana. ‘Gohvis may not be... well, I do not know what to think of him. He has not harmed me nor Chergoa, however, nor do I get the impression that he intends to.’

Good news, certainly, but it still left Hector with the million troa question. ‘Why did he kidnap you, then? He even went against his own allies.’

‘He wants to study my mutation ability. Even I do not quite understand. He has yet to fully explain himself. I’m not sure he ever will, either.’

‘Huh...’

‘But none of this is why I wished to talk to you right now.’

He took a long breath, as if to prepare himself for whatever crazy new shit she was about to tell him. ‘O-okay. I’m listening.’

‘I want you to... ask me questions about various subjects.’

Not nearly as crazy as he’d been expecting. Way more confusing, though. ‘I don’t follow.’

‘Agh...’ She broke for another small sigh. ‘How do I explain without giving too much away...?’

Hector was lost as he waited in silence.

‘Let’s just say... that for the foreseeable future, it appears as though I will have considerable free time on my hands. Free time which I will be using... in order to conduct various types of research.’

‘Uh...?’

‘So... I was thinking that I would prefer to focus my research into things which might be beneficial to you and my father and everyone else.’

Hector’s brow lowered as he processed what she had told him.

‘Do you understand?’ she asked.

‘I... think so.’ So in other words, Hector gathered, wherever she was, she had easy access to a large amount of information. Like some kind of Abolish database? He supposed that would make a certain degree of sense, given Gohvis’ status.

‘So ask me something,’ she said. ‘It does not matter how old the information you’re looking for is. There is a good chance I’ll be able to find something about it.’

‘H-hold on,’ said Hector. ‘Isn’t this incredibly dangerous? What if someone catches you?’

‘Oh. No. It’s not like that. I do not have to hide my research. In fact, Gohvis is... encouraging me to pursue whatever interests me.’

What the hell? Hector would’ve liked to ask more about that, but he felt as though she would recoil from the conversation entirely if he started trying to figure out what she was clearly intending to keep secret from him and her father.

That didn’t mean he wouldn’t still try, though. It just meant that he didn’t want her to realize he was doing that.