"Zhi Learde," Omet chastised softly. "Perhaps now is not the time to..." His eyes met Lilliana's. An awkward smile twisted his lips.

"I want to hear what he has to say," Lilliana said softly. "I'm familiar with all my father's work except..." She searched the bevy of equations, rising, creeping closer for a better look. "That one." She tapped it, removing it from the data mass. "And that one." When she tapped the second, the remaining computations vanished, leaving his two most recent mathematical theories illuminated in the pale light of the classroom.

"Because of the uncharted area of your father's most recent work, he required new symbols to represent..."

"These aren't mathematical symbols." She walked a circle around the hologram. "They're a combination of musical notes and..." Cocking her head, she studied the unfamiliar representations. Tapping three, she said, "I haven't figured these out. I thought they might be Nualan, like the others, but instead..." She looked up, meeting the teacher's eyes. "I think they might be Ori'ni."

"Is that possible?" Elam asked, his own eyes darting Omet's direction.

"Your father was not versed in either language, Zhia."

"No, but he'd seen the symbols. All over the tablet he found in the ruins outside Althier. I'm not surprised he chose to include them in his formulas. The tablet was the source of the regenerating energy field he found."