"Yeah, she gets upset by the conversation but if I back off it for a bit will go back to it, I definitely think she could keep this up for a week and I also don't think I'd get much more than I have. The world doesn't seem to be ending, so I guess it's not a big problem that she can't leave. 

...maybe if we had things more injurable than Elves and daeva?"

"Bar says she is in fact really good at healing and could handle most of the not-ridiculously-exotic things that come up, but sometimes someone else comes to sit double duty with her if there is in fact about to be something ridiculously exotic."

"By 'about to be' - are we monitored, do they have precognition -"

"Bar is unclear on that but says her observations are consistent with the door picking up people from exotic-medical-condition locales when and only when the infirmary is equipped to handle them, sort of like the door will only pick up daeva when Security can take us."

"And you can only make chippable people, probably none of whom have exotic medical conditions. I did ask if she could take my chip out, she was confused."

"Healer not a surgeon," Cam says. "Bar says her caretaker was not very explanatory about the nature of the looking-after she needs but it's something to do with losing the concept of mental states."

"...huh. And she's been here how long with no one doing it, whatever it is?"

"Well, Bar tries. Counter over there is an extension of Bar." Point. "But she's been living here for fifteen years her-subjective."

"That's horrible and maybe we should just stay well clear of that world."

"Maybe, yeah. Bar doesn't know much about it except, like, what they eat. Delicious riceflour dumplings, apparently, among other things."

"We could probably walk with her to the door but absent more to go on - absent, in particular, information about how people suffer ....that..."

"Yep."

"Thanks for your time, Nimia," he says, and they head back out.

"I do somewhat hesitate to assume that a severely impaired woman from a world with negligible published work and delicious riceflour dumplings has been living here for fifteen years specifically to fuck with us, but it's awfully... inconvenient."

"We should probably just stop poking things and be patient but my impulse is to do the opposite."

"Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Maybe we can have a flurry of poking things when the research end is closer to done."

"Sounds good. Still leaves us with decades to kill, probably, but -

game of Governor? unless we want to try forking people from Milliways sooner rather than later..."

"We'd want that why?"

"Prompts changes in Security, apparently, means we could respond faster to opportunities we do get, plausibly better saved for the fit of poking things near the end."

"Yeah, I'd save it. I would be delighted to play Governor. Also you have to try the dumplings they're really good." Cam hands him a dumpling on a fork.

They're really good. He has high praise for the dumplings. They set up another game. They kill time. 

Cam is sort of intellectually curious how impressive his Governor stunts have to get before Maitimo-now-given-permission-to-kiss-him is inspired to pounce.

Pretty impressive. But Cam is pretty impressive. 

(He doesn't kiss Cam as a distraction tactic; that might fall under being manipulative and he has been told not to be manipulative.)

(He definitely kisses Cam.)

Yay.

(Wag.)

(Ridiculous tactical shenanigans.)

At least if they have to wait decades they will be enjoyable decades. Kisses for ridiculous tactical shenanigans. No hair-petting. Cam needs time to put himself back together.