| Experimental Object | Research Description |
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| 30 | Hephaesta's approach to the coin is physical: biting, bending, heating it in the fire. None of her attempts make a dent in its surface, though she does say it tastes like sparks.
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| 40 | Hephaesta is a great deal of help around the lab – not only with incisive observations on all she sees, but also in carrying the heavy equipment required to construct a locomotive engine.
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| 130 | She speaks with authority about the weapon's heft, its weight, the different balances required for throwing or impaling. But though experienced in a weapon's practical use, she knows very little about their manufacture.
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| 140 - 160 | Hephaesta knows something about binding obligations, and quite a bit about Parabola. This case challenges her anyway – the dissolution of such obligations is not something she can easily arrange. But she makes what suggestions she can.
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| 310 - 320, 350 - 360 | Hephaesta knows very little about machinery, but she is excellent at, without apparent effort, lifting heavy metal objects and slotting them in place for you.
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| 330 | […] "Sound workmanship […] she says, and smacks it solidly against the top of her workbench. The workbench gets the worst of it. "Surprised there isn't more of a maker's mark," […] "Something as expensive-looking as this, I'd expect a whole brass plaque. […]
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| 410, 430 - 470 | Hephaesta's interest in animals extends mostly to comments on which would offer the most protein per ounce and which would attract the most attention at a circus.
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| 420 | Very little in Parabola is capable of fazing Hephaesta since her exile, and she learns a great deal simply by sitting opposite the Warbler and interrogating it in the manner of a world-weary constable. After hours […] it simply begs to be left alone.
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| 480 | […] Hephaesta is usefully able to lift them, stack them, and juggle them; […] More
serious inquiries make her thoughtful. She doesn't know for certain what has happened […] but it reminds her of other small and helpless beings who were modified before birth.
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| 485 | […] rest her ear against the membrane, listening for the minute sounds of growth and gestation. She looks at you with a fierce certainty. "I don't know what's in here, but it is already dreaming of places beyond the bounds of any map we have."
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| 490 | […] is usefully able to lift them, stack them, and juggle them; […] More serious inquiries make her thoughtful. She doesn't know for certain what has happened to these eggs, but […] this particular one does look like it was left rather longer on the shelf.
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| 495 | Hephaesta's greatest contribution is being able to hold a creature down while you attempt to substitute its heart. And once, a lizard transforms halfway into a minor ziggurat before it dies. Hephaesta's assistance makes light work of cleaning away […]
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| 510-540, 610 | Hephaesta knows a thing or two about human anatomy, having sculpted her own body into such a magnificent shape. She speaks […] about the strength of bones, about hairline fractures, caries, rickets. She knows much less about inhuman anatomy, however.
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| 810, 830 | On the matter of rocks, Hephaesta is best-placed to help by carrying them around on your behalf or, occasionally, cracking them open with her bare hands so you can examine the insides.
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| 910-1040 | Hephaesta knows next to nothing about this subject, and is best-placed to help you by playing the role of a general assistant. She lifts things, she makes careful notes, she collates your findings.
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| 1045 | Hephaesta shudders, and asks if you might turn the bulb off. "Feels wrong," she says. "Restrictive. Like I wouldn't be able to dream properly."
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| 1050 | Hephaesta looks over the brick pattern for a long time, then shakes her head. "If it were a land mass, I might make something of it, but this is just decoration, as far as I can see."
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| 1210 | Hephaesta pores through botanical guides […]. Nostalgically, she ponders if there's any link between the hybrid fruit and the Hybrid she watched grow up […]. Of course, with the Hybrid long gone, this is not a particularly rewarding avenue of research.
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| 1320 | Hephaesta is very good with the dig site maps – the plotting of finds, the elevations that show where buildings might have run and at what depths the most significant pieces were found. She has less to say about the culture or history.
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| 1340 | Hephaesta purses her lips as she contemplates the ushabti. Some aspect of it troubles her – or else she doesn't quite know what to make of it.
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| 1350 | Hephaesta has a mighty go at the cuirass with a hammer. Then she takes it in tongs and holds it in the fire. Neither activity affects it […] "[…] decoration on the front […] looks like gold, but it isn't."
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