Dave's hive mind was unlike anything he'd previously encountered. It was logical, measured, and therefore easier for him to talk to than the other immortals, who were more suspicious and more predatory. On the flip side, though, it meant that it was impossible to trick Dave into talking by appealing to his ego or trying to trick him with clever wording.
Still, he couldn't just let it go.
"Are you sure that nothing in the debris is dangerous? I would hate for you to get hurt."
The Eight didn't answer immediately. They shifted slightly, a subtle movement that Dimitri had learned to recognize as Dave weighing options and deciding what to say.
"Thank you for your concern, Dimitri," Number One said. "The basement contained many valuable items, like the furniture and artwork I mentioned to you before. Those items weren't properly secured, and many things were damaged in the collapse. There isa large pile of debris outside the mansion now. Workers and staff have been sorting through it, looking for anything salvageable."
That wasn't really an answer, and they both knew it. But Dimitri also knew when to retreat. Pushing Dave too hard would only make him suspicious, and suspicion was the last thing Dimitri needed right now.
Especially with Mattie to protect.
Her safety was paramount. Every decision he made, every word he spoke, was filtered through the lens of how it might affect her. It was obsessive, which made it exhausting, but it was also exhilarating. It was what he was meant to do, and it filled him with a sense of purpose more than his scientific work had ever done.
He suspected that it all had to do with his transformation.
Dimitri was beginning to realize that the changes weren't strictly physical, which shouldn't really surprise him. So much of what determined behavior was hormone-based, and the biological processes that determined hormonal levels must have been affected by the transition. He felt everything more acutely, was more aggressive, more impulsive, and more protective as well. It took more effort to keep himself in check and appear as measured and calm as he used to be as a human.
That was why he wasn't asking Dave the question that had been burning in his mind more and more as time went by.
What had happened to Lord Navuh? Where was he?
He had no doubt that Dave knew or even had been responsible for Navuh's disappearance, but asking might get him in trouble,and by association, it might get Mattie in trouble as well, so he swallowed the question and asked a safer one instead.
"What kind of things are people finding in the debris pile? Anything useful?"
"Furniture, mostly," Number One said. "Artwork. Decorative pieces. The items are damaged, but with some work, they can still be functional or even decorative. You might want to take a look."
Dimitri blinked, surprised by the suggestion. He glanced at Mattie, who was watching the exchange with wide eyes, her earlier concerns about stealing clearly warring with curiosity.
"Is the debris pile open to everyone?" Dimitri asked.
Number One nodded. "If it is in the pile, it means that it was deemed beyond salvage. It's free for the taking."
Dimitri glanced at Mattie. "Do you want to check it out?"
She shook her head, her eyes full of fear. "You can go if you want. I prefer to stay here." Where it was safe.
The eight enhanced soldiers watched the exchange with curiosity as if they were observing an exhibit in the zoo. Even before becoming one unit, these soldiers had no concept of normal relations between men and women. According to their god's vile teachings, women were to be owned, used for men's pleasure and breeding. An exchange like the one they were witnessing must be completely foreign to them.
"We could accompany you, if you wish," Number One said. "The competition for quality items can get fierce, but no one would dare do anything with us around." All eight looked at Mattie. "You will be safe with us there."
The offer hung in the air, unexpected and strangely touching. Dave, the collective consciousness of eight enhanced soldiers who were the most powerful beings on the island after Lord Navuh himself, was offering to help Mattie and Dimitri pick out furniture.
It was surreal, especially given what these soldiers had been like when Dimitri had first interacted with them. But a lot had happened since then, and the improved drug protocol was doing wonders for them. They were becoming an entirely different entity, and Dimitri realized that he was seeing something he'd never seen in Dave before.
The entity was lonely.
The revelation was earth-shattering. Of course, Dave was lonely. The eight bodies shared a single mind, which meant they couldn't provide stimulation or companionship to each other. There was no each other. There was just the one consciousness spread across multiple forms, and everyone else on the island feared them.
Dimitri was probably the only one who treated Dave as a person.
He thought back to the conversations they'd had and the many questions that Dave had answered for him. He hadn't needed to tell him about the transformation, or about what he had found in the mansion's basement. Dave was hungry for interaction, for connection.
Perhaps that was something Dimitri could use to his advantage.
The thought was calculating, manipulative, and he wasn't proud of himself for thinking it, but he couldn't afford to take the higher moral ground when survival was on the line.
