6Samantha had hoped that Helga would take the hint that Ben was hers when Gretchen told her that Ben and Samantha were living together for the duration of the hibernation. However, this fact seemed to make Helga more determined than ever to get to spend time with Ben.
Truthfully, it drove Samantha nuts. But she felt that there was little that she could do without jeopardizing her research. She needed to gain the trust of the traditionalists—not put them on edge because she was attacking one of their own. That wouldn’t lead them to open up to her about their traditions.
There had to be some way to stop Helga from behaving like that. At every meal, she tried to get Ben alone. It was making it impossible for Samantha to do any research. Jealousy wasn’t helpful when she was trying to wrangle
