"I.... I'm not sure." Illias responded.

"I keep... thinking I'm hearing something?" he said.

"Or... seeing something, maybe?" he said further.

"Just... I don't know, something seems... off. Like I'm missing something, or something's not right around here." he told her, before shaking his head.

"I know, that doesn't make sense." he sighed.

Illias just sighed, and shook his head.

"Wait." he said.

"Home?" he asked.

"Are you sure that's necessary?" he asked her further.

"I mean, yeah, it's a weird feeling, but... you really think that's cause for me to have to leave?" he inquired, before pausing for a moment.

"...maybe it is." he admitted.

"Something like this could ruin my concentration and cause me to make mistakes." he reasoned with a defeated sigh.

Again, Illias sighed.

"Right." he said.

He then finished the sentence he was working on, before saving his work.

"That should be an okay place to stop." he mumbled.

"I guess I should tell Sharp that I'm leaving early, and why." he told her.

"I don't need the stress that comes after not following protocol."

Illias just smiled softly.

"Heh. Maybe." he said.

"But all right, I'll go see Sharp." he told her, getting up from his desk.

"...sorry about this." he then apologized.

"I don't mean to continue to inconvenience you like this." he said.

Illias nodded.

"All right then." he replied.

"Sure thing." he told her.

Illias went to Sharp and told him everything, and Sharp let him take the night off... however, while he was in the office, he felt a strange stressful sensation come over him. Like something was in the office. Something he needed. Something he had to get.

That night, he had a nightmare... involving Sharp's office, and how what was in there, wherever it was and whatever it was, was needed to save him.

As such, he took a few more days off for 'stress-related issues' before he could no longer stand it. He was going to get into Sharp's office. But how? The security there was nearly air-tight... nearly. That's what gave him an idea.

He returned to work, and nodded to himself as he entered the lab area, making sure he looked pensive and like he was thinking hard about something.

Illias was silent for a moment, before swallowing hard.

'Right, time to do this.' he thought.

"Yeah." he replied.

"I feel just fine now." he told her.

"Guess there was more stress in me than first thought." he told her with a light laugh, as he scratched the back of his head.

"But I'm all right now." he assured her.

"I'm a bit worried about Sharp, though." he then said further.

"Oh, more that I'm concerned about something he's concerned with." Illias clarified.

"See, apparently he's been asked to look after something important. I don't know what, but that in and of itself isn't the important thing." he went on.

"But he's concerned about how absolute and reliable his security is." he told her.

"You know, worrying about potential holes and such." he continued.

"I'm just thinking it might be nice to give him a report or a map or whatever, detailing his security, and highlighting any potential problem areas for him to shore up." he explained further.

"If that makes sense." he added.

Illias nodded in response.

"That's a great idea." he said.

"But we'll need to... well... secretly test his office." he muttered.

"Which will be... difficult." he went on.

"If we can do that, odds are doing the actual analysis will be quick." he reasoned.

"Any ideas?" he asked her.

Illias nodded in response.

"Perfect." he said.

"I have no problems with doing it tonight." he told her.

He then looked around, before nodding again, though more slightly this time.

"But let's keep this hush-hush as to make it a surprise." he said further.

"All right?"

Illias bit his lip a little when Kiah mentioned how uneasy she was about that.

"...sorry." he apologized.

"And yeah, we do." he agreed.

-Later that day-

"...and it is stabilizing normally." Illias finished as he read the screens.

"Yep. No abnormalities, no residual particles, nothing." he confirmed.

"Congratulations, Dr. Remmington." he told Kiah, using her official title and name to stress how sincere he was. "It looks like you've proven what others could not." he said.

"This'll get your name in the journals." he chuckled, before looking at the clock on the wall.

"...and it looks like took us to the end of the workday." he commented, though he knew this worked perfectly with their plans for that evening.