626 awoke to a sore cheek and an even sorer back. Somehow he'd wound up back in bed, although for the life of him he couldn't remember climbing back up, or really anything from the past few -

Oh. His brain re-engaging, 626 remembered: the feeling of them all crowding around him. The instinctive reaction when the Grand Councilwoman's secretary had grabbed his shoulder. The leap towards that rude soldier who'd reminded him so much of Gantu, the urge to rip them apart overpowering everything else.

And, finally, a brief explosion of warm, gelatinous heat against his back before he slammed into the floor. He'd been shot with a plasma cannon, he realized, and it had knocked him out for…how long? Looking at the shadows at his bedpost suggested it had been at least an hour, but he wasn't sure how fast Turo rotated around its sun.

"So you are finally awake, 626." Any further thoughts on the subject were driven from 626's mind. He looked over at the room's desk and saw the Councilwoman sitting there, hands folded, eying him. "How do you feel?"

"Naga bootifah." 626 shook his head. "Meega back hurts."

"Do remember why?"

"Ih." 626's ears drooped. "Meega remember. Meega acted bad."

"That may be an understatement." The Councilwoman continued to eye him, her expression cold. "It looked as though you were trying to kill Officer Higota. Frankly, it was almost like watching a wild animal."

"Soka."

"I appreciate the apology, 626, but do you mean it?"

"Gaba? Naga understand."

"You said just now that you knew you acted badly. But, do you understand why? Do you understand the morality of what just happened?" She looked him straight in the eye. "If Officer Higota were to walk back through the door, what would you do?"

"Meega would -"

The Grand Councilwoman held up a hand. "Before you answer, think carefully. I want your honest answer, not what you think I want to hear."

"Okie-taka." 626 tried to imagine Higota walking back through the door. Even through her visor he'd been able to feel the look of disgust on her face, a look his mind was all-to-ready to imagine would still be there. He pictured her in the room again, looking at him, judging him -

626 realized his paws were all balled up into fists, and his face was tight, as though he were about to start growling. Aggaba. "Meega think," he said slowly to the Councilwoman, "meega would want to hurt her again."

The Grand Councilwoman straightened up. For a second a shadow went over her face. "I see." Standing up, she crossed to the door of the room. "Forgive me, 626, but I must step out for a moment and confer. In the meantime Doctor Scheur wishes to speak with you. Do you understand."

"Ih." 626 looked at her, nodded, and looked away. "Soka for disappointing you. Meega mean it."

"Thank you, 626." She gave him a curt nod, and exited.

626 was alone just long enough to wash up and rub the soreness out of his cheek and back, and just as he was drying himself the door opened again. He caught a brief glimpse of Plasma Cannons being installed just outside the room as Doctor Scheur was stepping in, but then the door closed.

"Afternoon, 626!" In contrast to the frostiness of the Grand Councilwoman, Scheur was still all smiles. "How's your back doing?"

"Kinda pitu. Still hurts."

"Right, then we'll avoid doing anything real strenuous. Oh yeah, I forgot to ask - have you had anything to eat yet?"

"Ih." Early on in the morning he'd awoken to find some kind of energy bar had appeared on the room's desk, and he'd devoured it in one bite before going back to sleep. It tasted alright, but nothing special.

"That's good. Now, initially I was going to start by asking your likes and dislikes, but after the events of two hours ago I fear we may have to switch tracks a little." He smiled reassuringly. "Nothing major, and I promise you won't get in further trouble for whatever your answers will be."

So he was in trouble, then. 626 had figured as much, considering the way the Councilwoman had acted earlier, but it was still a little nerve-wracking to actually hear it out loud. "Yuuga wanna know things?"

"Correct. When you were talking to the Grand Councilwoman earlier, you mentioned that you would still attack Higota if she walked in the door. I'm curious as to why, so let's start there: why her?"

"She was mean to meega." 626 had to resist the urge to start growling again. "Called meega 'it', said meega was kapthong."

"And yet Oltz stuck you with a rather painful needle while imprisoning you, yet you do not wish to kill him, correct?"

"Naga. Oltz isa nice."

"I see. Nice to you , or nice in general? "

"Naga understand?" 626 tilted his head.

"Let's say you were walking down the hall and you saw Oltz calling somebody rude names, like what Higota called you. How would that make you feel?"

"Mad, meega think."

"Alright." Scheur nodded. "That's good! It shows that you can empathize with others."

626 had a feeling he was saying that more for the benefit of whoever was listening in, not to mention he wasn't really sure what the word 'empathy' meant, but it was still nice to hear something about him called 'good'.

"Oh, in case you were wondering, 'empathy' is the ability to share feelings with another person, or feel things on their behalf. So in this case, you know it is wrong to call anyone rude names, not just you . Next question: why did you rip that blanket of yours?"

"Meega wanted to. Thought it would be fun."

"And was it?"

"Ih." 626 frowned. "Wait, naga. Meega confused." He explained the conflicting feelings, how he'd gotten a rush from the very action of tearing for a few seconds only to be left with a great sense of nothing shortly afterwards.

When he was finished, Scheur leaned back, fingers gently intertwined on his lap. "I see. I will say, this conversation is interesting. Even with two questions, it's given me a lot to think about."

"Hmmm?"

"I think I'm understanding a little more about you and how you think." He smiled. "And what I'm learning is encouraging, in my opinion. But we're getting off the subject a little, so let me ask you one more question: do you understand why what you did earlier was not okay?"

626 shook his head. "Meega don't know. Isa wrong to hurt others?" It was his best guess.

"Well, think about it - how do you feel about getting shot in the back with a plasma cannon?"

"Naga bootifah. Hurt a lot."

"Exactly. And what you did would have hurt Higota."

"Pano -"

"But nothing. Say you'd made someone mad - would you have wanted them to hurt you?"

"Naga." 626 blinked. "Isa same as saying mean things?"

"Exactly." Scheur stood up. "And yes, I know that may ring a little hollow after what happened with the plasma cannon, but we can go into that more later. For now, I need to make a report on this to the Grand Councilwoman." He looked at the watch on his arm. "Hmm…it's getting near lunch. Is there anything in particular you'd like sent to you?"

"Naga think of anything." More to the point, 626 didn't exactly know of anything: Jumba hadn't had the time to make him any meals before they'd been arrested, and the entire time since then he'd been subsisting off energy bars or stimulants.

"Alright, I'll try and get you something nice." Walking to the door, Scheur waved back at 626. "See you later."

"Ih. Pasawa."

"What did you mean by 'the conversation is interesting'?" The Grand Councilwoman asked. "Was that genuine, or…"

"It was. I'm starting to think that we've been approaching 626 the wrong way."

"Wrong how?" Oltz asked. "Are you saying we shouldn't have been trying to be kind to him?"

"Oh, not at all. It's more like this: Grand Councilwoman, you've spoken with 626 the most. How do you normally treat him?"

She blinked. "I don't follow."

"Well, for example, do you treat him as a colleague? A subordinate? An adult? An animal?"

"I must confess, I've never really thought about it." The Councilwoman closed her eyes. "I suppose…I suppose I've been treating him like a teenager? Someone in need of guidance?"

"Alright. And after talking with 626, I feel like that may not be the best approach."

"Why not?"

"Because, frankly, I think that developmentally 626 is still a child." He looked at the image of 626's room currently being displayed on the monitor; the experiment was fidgeting, obviously bored. "I don't think he's mentally developed enough to understand why what he did is wrong."

"But didn't Dr. Jumba say he had the brain of a supercomputer?" Asked Ava.

"He did." The Grand Councilwoman placed a hand on her chin, still thinking. "But then, just because one has information doesn't mean one knows how to use it. And that's assuming Jumba even programmed 626 with knowledge of emotional development." She looked at Dr. Scheur, suddenly understanding. "Wait, if 626 is a child, then does that mean what we saw earlier was essentially a temper tantrum?"

"More or less. Think about it - when kids are mad, or scared, they tend to lash out with things like punches and bites until they know how to express what they're feeling. And, if my theory is correct, 626 isn't at the stage where he can verbally express feelings like 'I feel like I'm being crowded in'. In fact, when I asked him why he wanted to attack Higota, his answer was basically 'she called me names'."

"You were right, then - the conversation was interesting." The Councilwoman looked back at the screen, thoughtfully. Then, all of a sudden, she burst out laughing.

"M-ma'am?" Ava gave a start, shocked; she'd never heard the Councilwoman laugh before. "Is something the matter?"

"No, quite the opposite in fact." She slammed a palm against her forehead. "It's more that, well, we've all been idiots: now that I think about it, practically everything about 626 just screams out 'child'. How did we not think of this before?"

"To be fair, this is uncharted territory." Oltz replied. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I think that I shall go back in and talk with 626 some more. Perhaps over lunch we can get to know one another better."

"Oh, you're going to have lunch with him?" Said Scheur. "That saves me some trouble."

"Ah, yes. You promised you would send something to 626, didn't you? Well, last time I checked most beings still liked pizza, especially young ones. Ava, send an order to Flemorgan's. Ask for two of the usual, one medium and one large."

"Right away, ma'am."

The Councilwoman noticed the other two were staring at her. "What?" She asked defensively. "They make a good pie."

"Oh, I'm not doubting that." Said Oltz. "It's just, uh, well, you…you don't really give off a 'likes pizza' vibe."

"More of a 'likes austere food' vibe, in my opinion." Scheur added.

"Yes, well, not everyone is what they seem." She glanced back at the monitor, and at 626. "As we seem to be all discovering."