Far be it for this big nerd to contradict her approach, though inwardly Jess disagrees. The larger puzzle at work isn't one he's able to turn away from; until he can figure it out, no clue is too frivolous.

Them. This place. The scrubs, the boxes... It's all too well-planned. Until he understands the game in motion, he'll keep asking questions. If his friends were here, Jess thinks--no, he knows--they'd help tackle the issue as they'd been doing with the matter of Thomas, and a pang of homesickness constricts his chest at the thought. He'd take their help right about now. Even Dario's. Even Glain's, if just to see her smash a crate and yell at everyone to get back to the matter at hand.

But they're not here. He is. And Raven's right about one thing--the debates raging about the scrub colors and what to do with the weapons are leading them around in circles.

"For now we'll have to wait and see," he says. "Eventually they'll make a move. Then we'll have our chance to learn more."

But he hopes they can make their own move before that happens.