The First Step, Complete

Thor's answer seemed to say something, yet also seemed to say nothing at all.

Alfonso opened his mouth, but in the end, didn't press further.

He knew Thor wouldn't tell him anything more if he asked.

If Alfonso discovered that Thor had done something, Thor would admit it. But if he hadn't noticed, Thor wouldn't explain.

And right now, he genuinely couldn't tell whether Thor had done anything to Pearl.

After a moment of silence, Alfonso said quietly, "I just wanted to remind you that Pearl is a rare Mermaid. You can't just use her up."

This time, even the usually indifferent Thor couldn't help glancing up at Alfonso.

Alfonso really cares about the Mermaid Princess. Could Pearl have some value I haven't discovered?

Alfonso stood there, momentarily at a loss for what to do next, then simply asked Thor, "How are your preparations coming along? Can we begin the treatment?"

Thor didn't answer right away. The crucible in his hands had already been scorched black, giving off a pungent smell, and a clump of black matter clung to the center of its bottom.

Thor carefully scraped the black matter from the bottom of the crucible and into a clean Culture Dish.

Only after sealing the Culture Dish and cleaning the crucible did Thor straighten up and say, "We can begin the first experiment. In fact, I've been waiting for you to show up."

Alfonso understood why Thor had been waiting for them.

It was an unspoken agreement between both sides.

"Come on. Let's go to Coral." Alfonso turned to Thor. "Bring whatever materials you need. Just let me know."

Thor gathered the results of his research from the past few days into a Storage Device, then brought Kate along in her mermaid form.

Alfonso looked at the mermaid Thor