The Budding Metalinguist

XIII

Lillian wasn't exactly sure how to describe how she felt. "Trapped" was too strong a word, and "bored" wouldn't have captured the essence of what she was experiencing. In essence, she had nothing left to do in Eugene, and wished desperately that she was in Dorena with Kern, learning about metalanguage.

She had been practicing all morning, sequestered in her bathroom with several of her heavier belongings, lifting things into the air and moving them around in completely independent directions. She was getting good, she judged. But she still felt so completely lost. She wished she could know more, that she could learn more, that she could be learning all the time.

There had been nothing of interest in her baby journals. She had planned to investigate before she had found that she had a source of information. Kern knew everything. He would be able to tell her everything.

Lillian wondered if it would be better if she didn't know. Would she be happier now if she never learned anything from Kern? Would she be happier now if she didn't even know who she was? Was ignorance better than this continued hunger for knowledge?

Ignorance was bliss, but knowledge was power. She deserved to know everything Kern could teach her. Everything that she could learn.

☙❧

Dakota eased himself to the ground in front of the file cabinet and carefully flipped the switch in the very back. A drop of blue materialized in the center of the screen and spread in irregular swirling patterns to the very edge until the screen was suffused in deep blue. The color then faded and an image began to resolve. Lillian.

The expression on her face betrayed the exact same emotion that Dakota had been feeling. She missed him terribly. Or did she?

Dakota immediately felt guilty for assuming that she specifically missed him. He tried to read more into her expression. She definitely missed something, although he couldn't tell exactly what. He thought about what he knew about her, what she would be feeling while she was away. She was eternally curious, and she wished that she was able to continue learning metalanguage from Dakota while she was in Eugene.

Abruptly, Dakota's echo, as Rory had said, took notice. You think about her a lot.

Dakota's first reaction was to be annoyed, but he let it pass. Finally, he answered. "It's not what you think."

Why do you always assume that I think the worst of you? the echo replied coldly.

Dakota was silent, waiting for it to continue.

I know how you feel about her, and I know that it's not romantic.

"Thank you," Dakota acknowledged. He felt suddenly justified. The echo understood.

He reached back to flip off the switches and eased the cabinet closed.

☙❧

Galena entered Diane's office at a purposeful walk. Diane looked up from her computer and gave a friendly smile, beckoning her in. Galena made sure to close the door behind her.

"I wanted to talk to you," Galena began, "seeing as you're the only person at the DIAO who doesn't think I'm some kind of traitorous spy."

Diane snorted. "Couldn't think of anything further from the truth. I can't imagine what put the idea into Rolf's head."

Galena acknowledged this with a quick thank you and plunged somewhat obscurely into a discussion. "But what he's saying is a little bit justified, right? I mean, there must have been some way for Beanie to know the exact day that we were all leaving. And there must have been some way for Ashley to know that we were about to come to her place. Maybe what he's saying is right, and there is someone here who's telling them what we're doing." Galena took a quick breath before continuing. "Anyway, I was thinking over it, and I feel like the most likely person is Derek." She elaborated for several minutes about her mode of reasoning and what being a file specialist could even entail before stopping abruptly when she realized that Diane had a bizarre expression on her face.

Diane gave a dry, nervous-sounding laugh. "You sound like Rolf."

Galena wasn't sure exactly how to react to that.

"Derek is a file specialist. An archivist. He knows about everything we've found and keeps it all organized in the larger context of investigative work."

"Which would mean that he knows exactly what to tell Beanie and Ashley."

Diane laughed again. "Derek isn't the spy."

"Well then-" Galena stopped abruptly. "Who do you think is?"

"There's no spy," Diane explained, as if this should have been obvious.

Galena stared, waiting for the administrative assistant to elaborate.

"Which of these do you think is more likely?" Diane asked, leaning forward and lacing her fingers together. "First possibility: one of our coworkers is secretly working in tandem with Beanie and Ashley to achieve as yet unidentified goals for some as yet unidentified purpose? Or second possibility: the day that we went to Ashley's apartment, or the day before, Beanie is looking out a window in one of the UOD buildings and sees us leaving or coming back?"

Galena had to admit that both sounded far-fetched. "But what about the day that Beanie broke in?"

"Oh, come on," Diane groaned. "Don't tell me you actually think that someone from the DIAO was secretly passing information."

Once again, Galena waited for Diane to explain. "Any one of the incidents seems like chance. But if you look at both of them, it seems like we have an informant. I don't know how Ashley knew what day to leave, but I do know that the day we left for Eugene, you got out of the passenger's side of your car. Someone was dropping you off."

Galena leaned forward and rubbed her hand across her forehead. "Of course. Ashley dropped me off that day. She knew we were leaving. She told Beanie to break in."

"And even if she didn't?" Diane completed. "It was King Day. A federal holiday. Beanie wouldn't have expected us to be working anyway."

Galena sighed. Always a simpler explanation. She had been too suspicious.

"Like I said," Diane continued, "you sounded like Rolf."

☙❧

Rolf, indeed, was engaged in being too suspicious. Specifically, he was suspicious of Diane, who didn't agree with him in the hypothesis that Galena was the spy. Could Diane and Galena be working together?

Rolf tried to piece together what he knew about Diane. She had been the one to interview and hire him for the DIAO, which meant that she was possibly working in tandem with Beanie who seemingly wanted him to get hired. She had also hired Galena on the same day. She had blocked Ashley's number during his first day which led to convenient difficulties contacting her later. She agreed with Galena on almost everything and disagreed with Rolf on many things. She didn't believe in Fifth Wheel thaumaturgy. And she didn't believe that Galena was a spy.

It was too suspicious. Rolf knew his argument was sound. He knew there must be a reason Diane didn't believe him. It was just too convenient. Either Diane was a spy, or she was keeping something back. Some reason that she didn't want to tell Rolf.

Ashley. Galena. Diane. All with secrets. All working with Beanie.

"Beanie," Rolf said sharply. Making it a curse.