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“It was a last-minute thing,” said Nicholae, gently peeling his grandfather off of him. “I won’t be staying long.”

“Even so,” said Vasiliy, frowning, “it’s a dangerous time for a visit. There is fighting everywhere. You shouldn’t be roaming around without an escort.”

“I’ve seen worse,” said Nicholae with a dismissive shrug.

That information was not encouraging, Vasiliy thought. Nicholae had never been particularly talented in matters of warfare, and while the years traveling might’ve changed that to some extent, it would probably be many more yet before the lad would be able to come and go from active war zones without a care in the world.

Vasily held his tongue, though. He didn’t want to waste such a precious meeting on chastisement. “So what has brought you here?”

“I’m looking for a piece of technology,” said Nicholae. “I was hoping I might find it here.”

Technology? Well, that explained the strange choice of location, he supposed. But only partly. “This is a new facility,” said Vasiliy. “How did you know to come here and not one of the older buildings?”

“I still have some friends here,” said Nicholae.

Hmph. And they told him about the latest research going on? Or the location of it, at least? That was a security risk, if ever Vasiliy had heard one. The boy wasn’t going to give up any names, obviously, but Vasiliy would have to look into that on his own, later.

For the moment, it was better to just be as helpful to his grandson as possible. That way, if the boy ever tried this again, he would be incentivized to come to Vasiliy directly instead of sneaking around like a thief. “What are you looking for, specifically?”

Nicholae spared a glance around the laboratory. “A powerful seal.”

“How powerful?”

“Something that can withstand at least two hundred atm. Preferably more.”

“Two hundred? What are you planning to use that for?”

“Flood management project. Water rerouting.”

Vasiliy’s brow tilted. “That doesn’t sound like something that would require that much resilience to atmospheric pressure. I know the recent flooding has been unprecedented, but two hundred would still be quite the overkill, I think.”

Nicholae bobbed his head a little. “I... might also be working on a deep sea project.”

“Ah! Interesting! Who’s bankrolling it?”

“Grandfather...”

“What?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Why not?”

Nicholae made no response.

Government work, almost certainly. Vasiliy didn’t really need the confirmation, but it still bothered him a bit that the boy wasn’t being more forthcoming.