Orion was on a coffee break a few days later when Dr. P approached him again. He was with one of the Eta subjects, a small girl who was probably a preteen at most. Based on her uniform she was an Alpha-Eta subject, an empath like Imani.

The girl had what was obviously the same color eyes as Dr. P and dark black hair. Orion originally pegged Dr. P as being at BioPort due to financial difficulties based on their previous conversation, but it was far more likely he came to protect this child, a relative or perhaps even his own. Not to say financial difficulties weren't also a factor but it was clear from the worry in his eyes when he looked at her that things had been quite difficult for them.

She eyed Orion carefully before whispering something into Dr. P’s ear and returning back to the subject quarters on her own. Clearly she had only been brought along to analyze Orion.

Orion just finished his last bit of coffee as Dr. P came and sat across from him.

“I think I’ve confirmed my suspicions about you…” Dr. P said.

“What do you mean?” Orion asked as if it hadn't been blatantly obvious what he'd done.

“The kids seems to think you’re trustworthy. I’m inclined to believe them…” Dr. P didn’t look at Orion directly, “Well at the very least you agree with us.”

“That’s… I’m not at liberty to discuss that sort of thing.” Orion said looking away.

They sat in silence for a while, Dr. P seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

“Hey, me and some of the other Eta scientists are planning to discuss some things tomorrow.” Dr. P said. “I know you’re still new and all but… It is you of all people… Did you want to join us?”

“I’ll think about it, I need to go finish up in the lab and we can talk about it more.” Orion said.

“At the very least, in case something happens, can you please take care of them?” Dr. P asked.

 “You already know the kind of person I am...” Orion got up and went into the hallway. He could hear something from his ear piece but couldn’t process it. A bit of static flickered before it became clear again.

“Oh there we go. Orion, I’m still not sure if Dr. P can be trusted.” Ricky said. “Even if he is trustworthy I don't think it's safe.”

“Regardless I think that information should prove useful. If there's any other dissenters among the volunteers that might give us more useful information.” Claire insisted. “Orion is currently in the safest position to assess that.”

“I’ll be careful, as far as the book says Dr. P is trustworthy enough. To what extent I’m not entirely certain, but gathering this much data is important.” Orion explained. “It might make it easier to find our target this way.”

“Please be careful Orion.” Ricky said. “These are probably the people Phalaris is going after.”

“That's what I'm worried about the most, I have to find them before he does.” Orion said, “I’ll be careful.”

He went back into the lab and started setting up his station again. If Phalaris were to kill the target it would be very detrimental to the Lucidians in the future.

---

There was a sudden cut in time, that Orion couldn't remember anything.

The only sensation he had was a bit of pain and unease.

“Orion? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Claire was speaking with a sense of urgency.

“Who? What?” Orion said, realizing he had just woken up on the floor.

“The live feed connection lapsed for about an hour, we still don’t have visual, what happened?” She asked.

“What happened with what?” He groaned; his body felt heavy, and his glasses were completely destroyed.

“Phalaris. You met with Phalaris just now, what did he do?” She tried to jog his memory.

“I don't… I don’t remember.” Orion said shocked. “I entered the room and started working… I’m drawing a blank after that.”

“Imani-” Ricky said.

“I’m already trying to recover the footage. Whatever it was distorted the data as well.” Imani explained.

“Alright keep at it, we still don’t have video feed, Orion where are you now?” Claire continued.

“My glasses broke, I am… On the floor, I’m still in the same room. It looks like some sort of explosion happened.” Orion explained brushing his hands through his hair. He tried to shake out the… ashes? Debris? Orion couldn't quite figure out what it was but he managed to get most of it out of his hair without much trouble.

He sat in that spot for a moment trying to collect himself.

“Dr. Zeta? You're still alive! Thank goodness.” Dr. P came up and helped him to his feet. “Sorry I didn't come sooner, I had to make sure the room stopped exploding first.”

“What happened?” Orion asked.

“Well, the good news is, you almost blew Phalaris up, so he'll probably stop messing around in the Eta lab for a while.” Dr. P said with a rather vigorous excitement. “Unfortunately, he didn't even catch on fire. What’s with that?”

“Oh?” Orion replied.

“I don’t think it means you're safe though. He seemed pretty pissed.” Dr. P pat Orion on the shoulder. “You should be careful.”

Orion sighed, following Dr. P to find a new pair of glasses. The replacement was not exactly the same sort, not having video feed would be a bit of a loss but at least he could see properly.

“That- Er… Meeting was put on hold for now.” Dr. P informed him, “You should try to get some rest, alright?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Orion said. There was something a bit off about the way Dr. P left the room, but Orion couldn't place it. He was afraid of something.

Phalaris had already been singling Orion out ever since he arrived but perhaps it seemed like more of a threat now for some reason. Perhaps Dr. P had seen something worth fearing around that time he couldn't remember. Or maybe Phalaris had gotten wise to Dr. P’s distaste for violence and labeled him a potential traitor.

Aside from those few conversations, Dr. P never did anything to warrant Phalaris’s attention. Except maybe just being near Orion, which might have been why he quickly became distant after this incident.

'It's not like the target on my back can get any bigger.’ He thought. ‘But it's a bit strange I don't remember anything at all. I don’t like this.’

"Were you able to salvage anything?" Orion asked once he was alone again.

"Imani?" Ricky called out to her.

"It's complicated. The explosion destroyed your glasses before it could send enough data out. I think the lag time for the feed was too long for us to obtain any useful information." She explained.

"That's not-" Claire stopped her sentence before she started. "We had audio feed at some time before the explosion must have happened. So, we can deduce what happened and go over the rest of this when we have time to review it. Orion, please proceed cautiously from here on out."

"I will. His actions are hard to predict even with my foresight, but avoiding him entirely is still possible." Orion said.

"We'll continue to update you on his location from the other units whenever we can. Remain vigilant." She ordered.

"Yes ma'am." He replied.