"Whatever you are comfortable with." If Huey decides that Erika is a specimen, Erika's comfort will be totally irrelevant. But for the moment, she is an innocent, and Huey keeps his promise. "There is not a phenomenon in any universe that is not worth study."

He wants to know the limits of mortal and immortal, of his mind, of humanity. He wants to know how to make a true homunculus, a thing that knows all and is capable of anything. He wants to turn back time. So he wants to know.