While Yair was helping the women in the kitchen cook, Nikodemus was seeking out Ellia. I must convince her to let me do something or I’ll go mad.

Nikodemus asked the Nymphs where Ellia was, and they informed him that she was in the middle of an important war meeting. Upon asking if he could sit in, he was immediately rejected. “Has Ellia given you permission?”

“No—” Nikodemus began.

“Then of course you may not.” The women guarding the strategy room informed him.

Nikodemus glowered petulantly. “Be that way. When will Ellia be out?”

“In about an hour.” The woman replied.

Nikodemus nodded with a sigh. “Fine. I guess I’ll be on my way then.”

Nikodemus strode down the bright hallway despondently until he came to the end of it. Because he had so little to do, he decided to go peek in on Hilargi to see what she was doing. He traveled to the basement level of the facility and strode down the long, blindingly white tunnel that led to Hilargi's little lab.

Hilargi saw him coming and waved to him.

Today, she was working in a team of eight other scientists. Nikodemus sped up his pace, curious as to why Hilargi looked so excited, but then, he did have a little bit of an idea as to why. I’m sure she has a crush on me. Limited dating options and all that.

When he was close enough, Hilargi betrayed her excitement (and her possible crush) by saying a little bit too loudly, “Hello, Nikodemus! What brings you down to this troglodyte’s humble cave?”

Nikodemus smiled at the giddy young woman; despite her ugliness, he couldn’t help but be charmed by her sweet youthfulness. “Oh, this old man is bored and wants to see what you’re working on.”

Hilargi grinned. “Let me show you! Come over here!” Hilargi grabbed his hand and dragged him over to her work desk. She tapped her blueprint for what she was working. “These are the blueprints for—”

“A turret?” Nikodemus interrupted, looking at the blueprints curiously.

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“Yes, how did you know?” Hilargi was surprised.

“Well, my brain isn’t this big for nothing.” Nikodemus answered.

“Alright, well, this is how I’m going to make it. We have just enough materials for it. First—” Hilargi began again.

Nikodemus whistled. “This is impressive. You’ve designed it so that it looks like it’s apart of the building. Your enemies will be in for a mean surprise. It’s small, but it’s going to pack quite a punch, too.”

Hilargi pursed her lips. “Yes… maybe you should let me explain how I’m going to build it?”

Nikodemus already knew from his brief glance at the blueprints, but he decided he should probably let her explain, or else she might have his head. “I’m very curious! Go ahead, elucidate.”

Hilargi gladly obliged.

Throughout her explanation, Nikodemus pretended to be appropriately enamored and surprised by her genius, even though he already knew how much of a genius she was, and how smartly her turret had been crafted.

Hilargi was nearly jumping up and down in excitement by how well Nikodemus understood it would be crafted. “Maybe you can help us out? I’m sure you have some ideas about how to make it even better!”

Nikodemus smiled at her giddiness. In fact, he did have a few ideas, but he knew Ellia wouldn’t like him helping her. “Sorry, Hilargi. I’m afraid your boss wouldn’t like it. But, I would love to watch you and your scientist friends work on it for awhile.”

Hilargi frowned, disappointed. “Oh… well, okay. It won’t be as interesting as actually helping though…”

“No worries. Just watching how your eyes light up when you talk about it is excitement enough for me.” Nikodemus said with a wink.

Hilargi blushed. “Very well…”

“Hilargi, quit chatting with your boyfriend. We’ve got work to do.” One of the older mutant women said, shaking her head.

Hilargi went beet red. “Yep, on it.” Hilargi turned to Nikodemus, looking like she wanted to say something. She swallowed instead and conversed with her team for a little while before they started constructing the turret.

Nikodemus watched in fascination for a bit—seeing a few areas where the team could make construction faster and more efficient—but stayed silent. As he watched construction, his mind drifted to his childhood, and how he had helped his father construct a turret once. He began to feel sleepy, but his head snapped to attention at the sound of a loud clanging noise. Nikodemus snapped to attention.

Hilargi laughed. “And I was hoping you would find it entertaining enough to stay awake.”

“Oh it’s not you.” Nikodemus told her sincerely. “This old man just gets sleepy sometimes.”

Hilargi smiled brightly. “Well, I’m about to connect the motherboard, so this old man better pay attention!”

“Yes ma’am.” Nikodemus replied.

But the loud clanging noise had drawn him into a different childhood memory. The very same one he had been dreaming of the previous night. The one with the odd noise.