Chapter 26 Dimitri #2
"Then what do you suggest?"
"I don't know." Petrov ran a hand through his thinning hair. "I'm just pointing out the problems with your proposed solution. There might not be a good answer here, Dimitri. There might only be bad answers and worse answers."
Petrov was right.
Every option Dimitri could think of led to disaster. Lie about the formula and get caught when he couldn't produce it. Tell the truth about his transition and get conscripted into the immortal army. Try to flee and get hunted down.
"There's another thing that's bothering me," Petrov said after a moment.
Dimitri chuckled. "Only one?"
Petrov ignored the sarcasm. "The four who attacked you and Mattie were the same four who were there the night Tarik bit you in the bar.
They pulled Tarik off you before he could finish the job because they were afraid of the repercussions.
They knew that Navuh would be furious if one of his scientists was senselessly killed over a woman. "
"So?"
"So, what has changed?" Petrov leaned forward. "What made them decide to attack you in broad daylight, with plenty of witnesses? They were afraid of consequences in the bar. Why weren't they afraid of consequences in the harbor?"
Dimitri frowned. It hadn't occurred to him before because he'd been too consumed by the crisis to step back and analyze the situation logically, but Petrov was right. It didn't make sense.
"Maybe they thought Navuh was gone," he said. "Maybe they heard rumors about his absence and decided they could get away with it."
"Maybe. But the rumors about Navuh's absence were present when they pulled Tarik off you in the bar. There was no reason for them to suddenly decide that you were fair game."
"Then why did they do it?"
"That's the question, isn't it?" Petrov's voice dropped. "Perhaps they didn't choose to cross the line."
A chill ran down Dimitri's spine. "What are you implying?"
"We know that Dave can compel immortals as well as humans. The Eight could have influenced the four's thought process."
"You think Dave made them attack us?"
"I think it's not only possible but probable." Petrov emptied what was left in his glass and immediately refilled it. "For reasons neither of us fully understands, the Eight have decided to make Mattie's safety a priority, and those four warriors were a threat to her."
"So, Dave wanted to eliminate the threat."
"Dave couldn't just kill them without justification.
That would have caused even more problems than the problems the Eight have already caused by killing Tarik.
But if the warriors attacked first, if they initiated violence against a protected asset, meaning you.
.." Petrov spread his hands. "Then Dave was just doing their job, defending the scientist who was crucial to their continued well-being.
I'm not exactly clear on how the law works in this place, but I would assume that their act was justifiable under these circumstances. "
If Petrov was right and Dave had compelled those warriors to attack so that the Eight would have an excuse to kill them, then the situation was far more complicated than Dimitri had realized.
"That's why Dave was close enough to respond so quickly," he said. "The Eight were either following us or following Tarik's friends. Waiting for the attack they knew was coming because they made it happen."
"It would explain a lot."
"But why?" Dimitri shook his head. "Why would Dave go to such lengths to protect Mattie? She's not critical to the enhancement project, and their explanation that she's important to me and therefore important to them doesn't really hold water."
Petrov grimaced. "Maybe Dave fell in love with her."
Dimitri shook his head. "Dave, in his transcended state, is not capable of love. The merging of the eight minds stripped away individual emotional responses. What Dave feels, if he feels anything at all, isn't love."
"Then what?" Petrov leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his large belly. "Why would Dave be so protective of a single human female?"
"I don't know." Dimitri stood and paced the narrow hallway, too agitated to sit still. "I'm not a psychologist. Maybe it's curiosity. Maybe it's some kind of imprinting. Maybe Dave sees Mattie as...I don't know, a project? Something interesting to observe and protect?"
"That's a lot of effort for mere curiosity."
"I didn't say that it made sense. Nothing about Dave makes sense.
He's a new entity." Dimitri stopped pacing and turned to face Petrov.
"But whatever the reason, the result is the same.
Dave has decided that Mattie is under his protection.
And apparently, the Eight are willing to manipulate and kill to maintain that protection. "
"Which is good for Mattie."
Dimitri wasn't so sure. "What happens when Dave's interests conflict with ours?
What happens when protecting Mattie means doing something we find unacceptable?
We've created something much more dangerous than Frankenstein, Konstantin.
A very effective, very dangerous monster.
And now that monster has decided to play protector. "
"We didn't create him," Petrov corrected. "Zhao did. And I don't think Dave is a monster."
Dimitri let out a breath and sat back down.
"When I was first introduced to the Eight, I thought that they were an uncontrollable monstrosity.
But Lord Navuh insisted we work on the drugs that maintained their enhancement and made their behavior more predictable.
They were already merging their consciousness back then, but they didn't develop their compulsion ability until recently, and that's on us. Our drugs did that."