"You didn't get a shock or a burn from touching affected objects with your hands, and when I touched them with this blade, there were no sparks, nothing like what you might expect if the glow had an electrical charge. However... I discovered by accident that I couldn't damage anything that was glowing with the blade itself. It should have been easy to destroy the surface of the desk or dresser in my room, but I wasn't even able to leave a scratch--and I was trying.
"The same thing might be true of the halls, but it's hard to say without knowing exactly how those killings were accomplished. Is it safe to assume that anything that caused biological material to burn would also burn the area around it?" The question was rhetorical. He paused again to catch his breath, without losing momentum.
"So what motivated it? This kind of emergency... Aguilar didn't choose to use the gas that has been used in the past, so it can't have been only a matter of ordinary rebellion among the patients. Gassing his staff wouldn't be a concern; they'd have the equipment to withstand it.
"No... if the Institute has to be protected from physical destruction, then there's a serious risk of it. That means either the rebels have more power than we've assumed... would they try to destroy the place with us in it, now that Aguilar is sending some of us on missions?... or that someone might have managed to destroy the device. The latter seems more likely, but there could be a third or fourth possibility.
"Another question: has Landel been using the same method to control patients, or does he have another way--another 'magical' ability? Aguilar doesn't seem to have access to all of Landel's resources."
Meanwhile, the squirrel bounded across the landscape, pausing occasionally to stand and sniff the air, making subtle alterations in its trajectory, and for a long time, L didn't notice it. It was still some distance away when his general discomfort made him glance over his shoulder, then stop in his tracks in response to what he saw.
"Wait, we're going to have to--"
He could tell that its size was unnatural, but he wasn't sure how much so, only that the difference skewed his visual perspective and made it hard to see how far away the squirrel might be. As it approached, its chittering became more audible, and L felt a surge of new dread in spite of himself. It was obvious that the animal was interested in him and in Lunge, not in avoiding them and running off into the forest.
They could keep walking, but the squirrel wouldn't take long to catch up to them, and when it did, it would be better to be ready for it than to be attacked from behind. L took hold of his blade with both hands, preparing to swing it... hoping that it wouldn't take much.
2/2
"The same thing might be true of the halls, but it's hard to say without knowing exactly how those killings were accomplished. Is it safe to assume that anything that caused biological material to burn would also burn the area around it?" The question was rhetorical. He paused again to catch his breath, without losing momentum.
"So what motivated it? This kind of emergency... Aguilar didn't choose to use the gas that has been used in the past, so it can't have been only a matter of ordinary rebellion among the patients. Gassing his staff wouldn't be a concern; they'd have the equipment to withstand it.
"No... if the Institute has to be protected from physical destruction, then there's a serious risk of it. That means either the rebels have more power than we've assumed... would they try to destroy the place with us in it, now that Aguilar is sending some of us on missions?... or that someone might have managed to destroy the device. The latter seems more likely, but there could be a third or fourth possibility.
"Another question: has Landel been using the same method to control patients, or does he have another way--another 'magical' ability? Aguilar doesn't seem to have access to all of Landel's resources."
Meanwhile, the squirrel bounded across the landscape, pausing occasionally to stand and sniff the air, making subtle alterations in its trajectory, and for a long time, L didn't notice it. It was still some distance away when his general discomfort made him glance over his shoulder, then stop in his tracks in response to what he saw.
"Wait, we're going to have to--"
He could tell that its size was unnatural, but he wasn't sure how much so, only that the difference skewed his visual perspective and made it hard to see how far away the squirrel might be. As it approached, its chittering became more audible, and L felt a surge of new dread in spite of himself. It was obvious that the animal was interested in him and in Lunge, not in avoiding them and running off into the forest.
They could keep walking, but the squirrel wouldn't take long to catch up to them, and when it did, it would be better to be ready for it than to be attacked from behind. L took hold of his blade with both hands, preparing to swing it... hoping that it wouldn't take much.