I hoped I was reassuring enough. Maybe I should get Zaphire; she was so much better at this touchy feely stuff. She'd be able to support Eliza and I could focus on the practical side of things and the discipline to make it work. We always make a great team and I decided to text Markus for permission to ask her. He answered almost within minutes saying; if I really felt I needed her he would let her, but it would have to wait till the day after tomorrow. That wasn't too bad, probably just when it would be worst for Eliza. She hadn't taken any medication since her last dose the evening before we took her, and I could see little signs starting to appear in Eliza's body.
“Err, it says here that the effects of the drugs may not totally go for weeks and that I might not feel 'normal' again for months!”
Eliza glanced at me with a slightly panicked look in her eyes. The girl needed to fucking relax.
“You will be able to cope with it. You might not be able to use your gift to its full potential but it'll be good enough. There's so much to learn, but let's just get through the initial obstacle of getting the drugs out of your system. Then we'll deal with the next step.”
“Okay," she sighed.
“It's just... it's a big thing, you know."
She looked a bit lost.
I kept forgetting she was new to all of this. Her head must be spinning, besides the withdrawal symptoms. She isn't like us who have been living in this set up since we were little. It was time to take some control. It makes people feel safe.
“Right, enough of the reading now. You need to take a shower and go to bed. You must sleep whilst you still feel reasonably good. It will help you cope better.”
I gave her a towel and ushered her into the bathroom.
“You have 10 minutes. I'll come in if you're not out. There's a clock in the bathroom. Don't be late. No locking the door either.”
“Hang on a minute..." she started, but I cut her off.
“The ten minutes start now.”
I heard her mumbling under her breath that she hadn't been told to shower like this since she was little and we were definitely going to have words over it. She kept forgetting us Sensorians can hear far better than Dullards and mumbling and whispering will hold no secrets. It's quite funny really.
“Don't waste your breath Eliza, it's non-negotiable." I shouted through the door.
I could hear her grunt in frustration.
After ten minutes exactly, she poked her head around the corner of the door and asked sheepishly for her pyjamas. She nodded at the bed where she'd put them earlier and I obliged.
“Good time keeping." I said appreciatively.
She just snorted. I smiled a bit to myself, she has so much to learn, poor girl. She snuggled into her bed and was literally asleep within ten minutes. I took the opportunity to grab a shower myself, but not without locking the bedroom door first. She wouldn't like it if she found out, but I was under no circumstance going to have her wandering around on her own. Even if she was fast asleep now, you never know what would make her stir and wake up. I'd been admonished enough in the past days and wasn't going to risk another bollocking.
The hot water of the powerful shower felt good and I felt my muscles relax and realised how tense I'd felt. There was a lot riding on this mission and how well Eliza would do. Not everyone was backing Markus's actions, but I knew it was the only way. It wasn't just finding Rick, we could just about handle that ourselves. It was figuring out what Rick was up to that was going to be the part where Eliza would be important. We hadn't worked out yet whether Rick was taken against his will and hence vulnerable, or whether he'd disappeared by choice and was mixed up in something criminal. I wasn't quite sure how or when Markus was intending to make Eliza privy to these suspicions and that it will be her task to find out.
With any normal person it's fairly easy for us to work out whether someone is lying, or deceiving us, but Rick is a master at disguising his intentions. He would know exactly what we'd be looking for to catch him out. It would be much harder for him to do this with his daughter. Blood relations are extremely difficult to fool. However, a lot depends on how well I train Eliza and with that thought I could feel the tension creep back into my body. I told myself to keep focussing on one step at a time and not to ponder about what would happen next and what the implications would be. I really should listen to my own advice for once!
I put some clean clothes on and went back into the bedroom, where Eliza was still asleep, however, a bit fitful and she was mumbling in her sleep. She was talking about Kas, telling him not to come. As I thought, she was worried about him not listening to her request not to contact her. I noticed it during their FaceTime, though Eliza had done her best to hide her worry. I might have to take care of that, before he can jeopardise our mission. I didn't think I needed to do anything drastic. If he tried, we would intercept anyway, and just a stern warning that any contact might make her fail all her exams as it is our duty to report any breaches of her isolation, would probably be enough. Anyway, I was aware of the possibility he might try to contact her so that made the risk almost negligible. I
