Page 4088

'Well, now what?' said Voreese after they'd all regathered.

A part of Hector was still unsatisfied. He wanted to find a second hospital to check, because there was a strong chance that this one had received preferential treatment by the manipulators due to its close proximity to Livingston. Everyone might've just been sent right on over to the castle, assuming there was enough room.

But he supposed he'd already gotten his answer, regardless. An evacuation had clearly been conducted here. That was all he needed to know at the moment; and moreover, there was still the more pressing question of why.

Hector had a responsibility here. Sure, their little group here might've been composed entirely of reapers and undead, but that didn't make them invincible. If some powerful Intarian was going to such lengths in order to evacuate civilians like this, then it was a fair bet that something dangerous was on the way.

Sticking around, therefore, would be playing with fire.

"Let's head over to the Cathedral District," said Hector.

And rather than exiting through the front entrance, they decided to head to the roof so that Hector could carry everyone but Roman up into the sky again. He wanted to get another good view of the city as they moved along, in part because Hector was now curious about what might be going on in the direction opposite of the Cathedral District.

If the manipulators hadn't been lying, then that particular district was probably pretty safe, which meant that the danger was expected to arrive from the other direction. Northwest of Livingston.

Hector asked for Loren's help along the way. He had the guy staring off into the distance like a hawk as they flew. But Loren was being very quiet, so Hector felt the further need to push a bit.

"Anything?" he asked after a while of hovering flight.

"No, sir," said Loren, sounding as calm and collected as could be.

Hmm. Hector had also been trying to pay special attention to this Lighteyes fellow the whole time they'd been here. The guy's aura seemed like it had quite a bit to say, though none of it was terribly clear. Hector was getting the impression that this dude was actually quite conflicted inside, despite how silent and professional he acted.

But one thing about him was obvious. He wasn't secretly hostile. Unless Hector was reading something wrong--which was always a possibility, of course--this man actually seemed to be quite curious about Hector.