· · · · · · ·
Eliath's instincts of duty and rhythm of survival were not wide enough for enigma.
The once-yautja returned the embrace absentmindedly, while his thoughts grappled with the reality of being part of a xenomorph hive.
Eliath knew things like forgiveness and regret existed, but they'd never concern him. They were relevant now, somehow. His Mother was asleep and gave no clear answer. Karga'te was part of the hive, but defective. Odygos was also defective, according to Eliath, but not in any way that hindered the execution of their duties. At least not so far. Karga'te did. Yet he was going to live. Kirindi decided to not respond to his murder attempt. It was against logic.
Odygos also responded wrong. He was pleased. Odygos claimed it wasn't about the events, but the resolution of Kirindi not dying. Well, that at least Eliath could agree with, even if he did not feel it himself. This situation was not optimal and he would rather not settle for less, but it was not his choice to make. Mother said he had to cooperate with the hunter. Something to do with psychological diversity, social relations and adaption powers. Especially the social relations part was important.
He dared argue. While Eliath understood that he failed the myriad of methods of interaction with other species, he didn't see why Karga'te was useful. Thinking before acting was not beneficent. Being able to ignore family ties was harmful. Mother's drowsy answer was that sometimes, kids should just shut up and observe to learn.
Odygos seemed eager for the understanding and knowledge of all those things. Why not alter Odygos to do the diverse mind thing?
Oh. Mother could not make new identities. Identities grew. It needed time.
Considering time had almost seen Kirindi killed by her 'father figure', Eliath thought it was a horrible ingredient.
Yet, Kirindi was happier than he had ever known her to be. It was senseless, but for her sake Eliath kept low on murderous thoughts towards the hunter. Not because he cared for how it was bad to hurt someone's feelings, but simply a logical pursuit of the order that he was to keep Kirindi in best of health. As elusive as the concept was, happiness was health and this at least was an order he wanted to carry out.
Next up was getting the Auton aboard. If they got hostile too, Eliath wasn't gonna hold back again.
The hovercraft was too small to transport everyone along, so Karga'te just got on the front seat,with Kirindi leaning on his shoulders as she stood behind him. Eliath was left to run along.
As Karga'te eased back into the shared mind, he became fully aware of the two additions and he had opinions. According to him, Eliath was a straight forward warrior with a healthy dislike of him that he'd gladly make mutual, while Odygos was an idiot with too much pointless thoughts.
Well, the first feeling was mutual and the latter was likely the only opinion they agreed upon.
· · · · · · ·
Jake here. He ebbed into everything. Strange thing. It was silent, he thought of everything as voices.
Old Mother. Ancient Mother. Always there. Had always been there. Aside of her. Asleep. Stagnant. Powerful. Jake didn't get it yet. She didn't get it yet. Sarah didn't get it yet. Didn't get it yet.
Androids. Gynoids. Get them.
They had to talk to an Auton. Autons did not like talking today. They shot today.
She liked Kirindi. Sarah helped. Odygos was a friend. Friends could betray. Karga'te betrayed too. Yet he was back now. Strange. Jonah had not come back. Karga'te was back. Why the difference?
They shot at Odygos. She did not like that. She tried spitting. She had seen it done. It melted the enemy.
"No, Tishaidi, you killed him," Sarah yelped. "Don't!"
"~ Ti'chai-di ~"
Sarah said it wrong. A click after ti, rolling chai, di in a lower tone.
Oh, killed it. That was a negative now. But it was enemy?
"We needed to talk to him," Jake explained. "Pretty sure that with the head burned, that ain't gonna happen."
Jake was good at explaining. He didn't lie, she could tell. Nice.
Another Auton was nearby. She would not spit this time.
Oh, Odygos would do it. That would work. She didn't have enough spit right now anyway.
Kirindi was approaching. She missed her. Not for long. Soon here.
Eliath was scary.
"Sarah, a word with you, ehm ..."
"~ Jake, you can talk telepathically with me. ~
"~ I'm picking up some strange things here ... I don't think I ever left the hivemind ... but I didn't feel the others and ... look, correct me if I'm wrong, but who is Syvé exactly? Ti'chai-di thinks of her as the Old Mother, some sort of super power that could control all xenomorph. Like the Queen Mother, but she's supposed to be dead. ~"
"~ Syvé is something greater. She reigned not because she was in a long war with ... how do I tell you this without sound crazy? The pantheon of the yautja. She's only recently been able to revive. ~"
"~ I think I will need more explanation about that yeah ... so, Syvé is going to replace the Queen Mother once she gets free, regenerates and is fully awake. Sarah, the Auton know the Queen Mother had the ability to influence the mentally weak to serve her. Barging in and saying hi, we want you to team up with her even more powerful replacement is probably not going to be very convincing in the ethical department. ~"
"~ We have a similar enemy, and I'm sure the Auton will understand if they know the full situation. Y-921 understood, didn't he? ~"
"~ Y-921 erased his memory to protect us. Sarah, look, the Auton are like, goodguys who want to save the world. We're just serving our own interests right now. No wait, skip that. We're serving the interests of a weapon of mindless mass destruction. ~"
"~ She is not a mindless weapon!~"
Jake didn't like that. Felt bad somehow. Couldn't tell the details.
Odygos got an android. Jake got robes. No, ropes. Ties. Sound language, that was such a weird thing. Got could mean totally different things. Probably why lying worked so well with it.
The android had expressions. Fake fear. Trepidation. Anger. Hesitation. None of them. But it looked like it. Their hive mind was different. She couldn't get it.
"Listen to me. We are here to negotiate, tell Anudja—" Sarah blurted out.
"We suspect what she is. Don't waste your time trying to win our trust, you are no longer yourself."
That was a funny thought. Was sharing minds making someone different? Into the hivemind here, was that changing? Not true anymore, once you were.
Sarah flinched. Stopped. Waited. Stored that thought. Weird. To Ti'chai-di, it was another question, just to ask Kirindi later, maybe. She tended to forget.
Ti'chai-di changed focus and tuned in to Karga'te. He would not like her eavesdropping, but he did not notice now, so no harm done.
The worm was amusing anyway. They always had been, with that game of theirs.
"~ Oh look, you're a little bit less of a bastard now. How did that happen? ~"
"~ Shut up, Hguthreeit. We're in trouble, help out already! ~"
"~ Oh yes, the Auton are really curious at the location of your girl ... and her company. ~"
"~ What? How much do you know? ~"
"~ Let's see, I know little Kirindi has been hiding two xenomorph drones from you for quite some time. Their mom sent a messenger for some reason. You're all in deep shit now. That's about it. ~"
"~ Then you know enough. So? ~"
"~ You know what's hilarious? That this is what it took for you to figure out you don't actually hate being glomped. ~"
"~ Oh, would you like to try? ~" He sent along a mental image of decapitated worm.
Hguthreeit thanked him by sending back an image of Karga'te's lunch turning sentient and making a move on him, and a sarcastic compliment on Karga'te's originality. Ti'chai-di didn't understand sarcasm well, but according to Odygos it was an insult. A hurt with communication.
Karga'te replied with the psychic equivalent of soaking the Auton base with gasoline and lighting a match, rather than his usual hurl-the-furniture-out-of-the-window method.
It actually worked a little, and the worm turned more serious now.
"~ So, what is the story anyway? ~" Hguthreeit asked.
"~ There is a human somewhere out there, from those Enigma stations. She's that queen's ambassador. Want answers, get her. ~"
"~ If those data obsessed idiots would have any common sense, they would contact me and ask what I can get to know about you. All they said so far is that you might be a traitor if you return, being brainwashed by something. ~"
"~ Looks like I'm really taking the match to the place. ~"
"~ Hmm, take over the android headquarters? Sure, why not? I'll just declare them troublesome renters. ~"
"~ Are you okay with getting involved? ~" Kirindi sent. First thing she'd said all along. Was she alright?
"~ Those Enigma machines were destroyed already, I'm pretty sure soon humans will come to figure out what screwed up their superweapons and how. I may own this planet, but there's a reason I'm not letting humans in the market. I'm evacuating the market if Enigma comes. Better make sure we have all forces here in tune with me, cause I can tell you an evacuation won't happen in time, ~" Hguthreeit said.
Ooh, they were going to play hostile take over! She knew that game, she had learned it from Jonah before he turned enemy! It was the very first thing they had played!
Sarah flinched again. Both humans turned their heads to Ti'chai-di, eyes wide open.
"Karga'te wants to do what now?" Jake said.
· · · · · · ·
Three xenomorphs with some a yautja, human and Deinonychus genes thrown headed to a gate in a far side of the plateau, albeit by two different routes. It was a tourist exit once, but now off access because the associated halls were used for organizing military effort.
Odygos caught Sarah up to what life here was like with more flourish than Kirindi's single sentence, "we have a job on the market but I'm not allowed to add people to the family." Odygos had opinions.
Karga'te and Kirindi's jobs handled wild beasts, illegal imports and criminal activity in general, anything that required brute force. Odygos wanted to be part of this because it seemed like a lot of fun to infiltrate things and then scare people.
Smaller disputes that required the tact Karga'te lacked so much was handled by Hguthreeit's people, who had a fighter class. They might not be as potent with the psychic power, but had enough strength to handle themselves. Odygos wanted to be part of this too because even if he just got to haul around some people, it'd still be fun. He wanted to know to what extent he could push minds.
He also introduced her to the supervisor of the market, Hguthreeit. This person was what humans called the sarsathrizmat species, or culture, or nation. They weren't sure yet. Hguthreeit had technically bought the planet from humankind, but had never disclosed the hosting of an interstellar market. The whole point was to have one that didn't involve humans, though they had allowed the Auton to take refuge here on a technicality. Similar technicalities were now letting xenomorph inside. Any potential evacuation of the market, should humans come, was to be kept a secret. So for now, the drones were friends of Kirindi who had bad blood with the Auton.
Sarah wondered how Hguthreeit felt about their enterprise being ruined by her presence, but got no word from it. Hguthreeit themself only chattered along with Odygos on how annoying Karga'te could be. It disappointed her a little she couldn't find out more with telepathic powers, but it made sense. It was natural to the sarsathrizmat, after all, and if Hguthreeit owned planets they were surely among the oldest.
Hguthreeit seemed to run the place with deft engineering. When Sarah concluded that the amount of Auton would be a certain kind of threat, Hguthreeit simply leeched some armed guards from traders who owed them favors. For them, the cover story was. Hguthreeit's weird hiring habits had already prepped them for whatever they could be asked.
Sarah didn't actually know so much about Auton, but she'd once studied historical reports of conflicts with them for a story she'd been writing. Hguthreeit was able to decide things from those memories Sarah never noticed. Odygos mentally was right on top of that the entire time, moreso than Sarah herself. He wanted to know so much, while Sarah just wanted to get to negotiations as soon as possible.
The market had somehow been carved under a massive plateau. She only saw a glimpse of the wide opening on one side, where massive enforced pillars stood. The technology used to keep this place standing had to be marvelous and advanced, yet the hall she entered looked like little more than a crude cave with the barest of needs. A few crates there, poorly secured weapons, a few supportive beams.
Sarsathrizmat of the fighter class were wormlike entities with many small eyes on either side, about two meters long. Blubbery as they were, Sarah had a hard time imagining how they fought. They held vaguely gun like things in their extensions, which they raised just slightly as she stepped into view. Their telepathy quickly linked with her and affirmed she was no threat. There was a vague sense of hello in there, but she had no idea how to communicate, or whether they already were communicating.
When Ti'chai-di stepped in they didn't react, but a group of other aliens further down the hall flinched. They knew her enough, but that didn't take away the fright so many held for the biomechanoid monsters. Ti'chai-di slipped her face from below her corona, which helped a little. The uncanny effect of her skull like face under the hood was lost of most alien species, who had little innate sense of what a human was supposed to look like. She had eyes, that mattered.
But with Eliath and Odygos gliding into the hall, all sleek sharp death on feet, the response was screams and a few bolting out of the hall. They'd expected more chimeras.
Jake hopped off Ti'chai'di and ran up ahead, making calming noises. He knew a few of them by name and spoke a language she didn't recognize, but she could follow along telepathically.
Hguthreeit joined in, and then she saw them. Much smaller than the fighter class, they sat atop an overlook on the other end of the hall and ... waved with a tiny chubby appendage. While the Jake spoke with some of the none worm aliens, Odygos trotted in Hguthreeit's direction.
· · · · · · ·
Karga'te watched from a perch on a stored spacecraft in a shadowy corner of the hall, its highest point. Kirindi hovered around the floor level somewhere, but he didn't keep close tabs on her. He didn't know what she'd expect from him now.
The hivemind was stronger now Kirindi added in two more to cycle thoughts through. Jake's even mind stayed similar, Shadhahvar's chaos was an ebb and tide, both like a background, or standing on the side. Kirindi remained the enhanced center with her sister as the power core. The drones were simpler yet so much more pronounced than any of them, though. To them it felt most natural to be in this formation; Eliath a sharp thoughtless knife and Odygos like water that might turn to ice.
Then there was Sarah. The moment they shared mental halls, she claimed space despite not even trying.
While Jake stepped off of Ti'chai-di soon, Sarah let Odygos carry her to the hall's center first. Something about her whole attitude, how she seemed to come down from a mount rather than an ally, the way she looked around to evaluate everything. She acted and thought like she was a key in grand events, not unlike Meidache when she was chosen to lead a hunt.
Sarah observed him, telepathically, or at least tried to. Kirindi enhanced a little what thoughts she strew around unguarded. At first Sarah thought he just wasn't skilled enough to consciously contact her, but now they met eye to eye, it did not take her long to realize he kept her at bay.
She saw him as arrogant for choosing that position. Ironic, considering she thought she knew so well. Sure, he sat here like he owned the place, but that was because he pretty much did. He was going to lead the battle with the Auton, after all, why have pretenses about it?
Sarah glared at him as she walked past. According to her, his earlier actions should mean he should torment himself and instantly become humble about everything, as if making a mistake — no matter how intense — condemned one to one mood for months. Alright, that was it. Roaring insults at her would make a bad impression on his little army, so he just did the silent variation of it : he bombarded Sarah with the psychedelic equivalent of a xenomorph choir, curtsy of Shadhahvar's mind.
Both her walk and her thought process stopped. She staggered on her legs for a moment.
"~ How I deal with my mistakes is none of your business. Learn your place, ~" he sent with a verbal rattle.
Sarah gave no outward sign of recognition, but mentally steeled herself. Amateurishly, at that. Karga'te hadn't realized before today how much of an advantage he had with just eight years of being linked to Kirindi. Oihana hadn't been kidding when she said spirit speech could be refined without noticing.
"There used to be a time when people greeted each other with things like handshakes, hello and exchanging names. I remember that, the long ages of an hour ago," Jake said with a sigh. Poorly receptive as he was, he had not realized Karga'te's greeting till he detected Sarah's somewhat pained expression and Shadhahvar's confusion.
"Apparently not here," Sarah grumbled. At that, Kirindi hopped up to her and hugged Sarah's right arm.
"It's okay now," she assured her. "Really. He won't fight us again. Don't be angry anymore?"
Everything about Sarah said it wasn't okay, to Kirindi's disappointment. Sarah just ignored Karga'te from then on and went to the nearest important looking person. Odygos and Eliath had next to no qualms about killing and were a little too agreeing with Karga'te on the Auton not counting as life, so she wanted to ensure that the survival of the Auton was understood as a necessity.
Her effort to telepathically speak were wasted, since Hguthreeit addressed her outright. After flatly stating she was not skilled enough to communicate with these people, he assured her the survival of the Auton was a priority. Then, much to Kirindi and Jake's pleasure, he did do a traditional hello. Traditional for his culture, anyway, which involved throwing coughed up hairballs at one another. He offered to do it with psychic simulation, but Sarah just shrugged and said she'd catch and throw back. She wasn't averse to icky things anymore. That done, Hguthreeit eased them into a more casual open range psychic conversation.
"~ So, miss Sarah, when can we expect your human keepers to show up here? ~" Hguthreeit asked.
"~ Utara will not let them come when there is a chance that the humans might discover what state I am in, because that will inevitably lead to them finding out that what it is up to. It will make certain they don't gain an interest in me along the way. ~"
"~ Why does it want to come here? ~"
"~ I think for Ti'chai-di. I'm speculating here, but Noasyvé agrees with me. Utara needs the chimera for something. Anyway, who are all these people here, can we really trust them? ~"
"~ As certain as the stock they hold in this city. Granted, I have had to tell them this is merely a clean up session, since Auton overstepped their bounds by threatening the city guards. If my marketeers find out anything beyond that, it's going to get as ugly as a sapient xenomorph queen taking over the world could inspire. ~"
"~ Alright. What exactly have you told them about the drones? Odygos informed me of a few things, but he's not got the best evaluation of what details are relevant. ~"
"~ That they obey the queen, which they is Ti'chai-di. I considered telling them Kirindi held the reigns, but she is too controlled and that may be an issue if something goes wrong. Am I correct in assuming unpredictable behavior by those two? ~"
Sarah smiled, casting a sideway glance at Odygos. "~ Perhaps. ~"
"~ Well then. One more thing. I would appreciate it if you tried cooperating with Karga'te. He knows his place already. ~"
"~ But he ... he tried to kill her. Just like that. Are you aware? ~"
Hguthreeit let an uncomfortable silence hang between them, with a narrow eye on Karga'te as he sat beyond Sarah.
"~ He did do that, yes. He stopped. Is your queen gambling planets for her nebulous goals going to stop any time soon? ~"
Sarah had nothing on that and quietly conceded. Karga'te would've enjoyed that if not for the sinking realization that his home was going to be ruined. Again.
"~ Then as he said, let him handle his things and you handle yours. Once this mess is over, preferably. ~"
"~ You are right, I will keep my mind focused on my task. ~"
"~ Excellent. Remind me later that I owe you to give some suggestions on how to get on Karga'te nerves. ~" With that, he sent her some quick information on the feud he held with Karga'te, because of course he would. Wonderful. Considering Sarah's grin, Hguthreeit just got himself an ally.
"~ Hey, Hguthreeit, while you're at offering her stuff, why not teach her how to keep her thoughts to herself? I'm still picking your chattering. ~" Karga'te threw in.
Sarah quietly reminded herself she had more dignity than to take bait.
· · · · · · ·
Odygos was content. The plan was back on track and he would be able to carry out his duty. Best yet, this was all so entertaining compared to the monotone time underwater.
Sarah was amazing. He had never really met her when she was not fully under his mother's guidance, let alone away from Enigma's oppression. She did intense emotions all the time. Especially hate. Personally he preferred the emotion of joy, but since Karga'te also did a lot of anger, it probably was going to be theme. Eliath was also contributing his touches of negativity and Ti'chai-di had this weird desire to kill something all the time because her own children died a lot. Oh, and Ti'chai-di liked Sarah, they both hated Jonah. Silly mind, they were so different.
Anger got old quickly, but now there were so many different variations of it. He anticipated seeing them all clash. It had already started with Karga'te and Sarah. Though, it made Kirindi sad. Sadness was something like the opposite of fun. He disliked it, unlike the potential consequences of anger.
In contrast, the imitation humans he was ripping apart right now didn't seem to do emotions at all. Really weird, they did have expressions. The flesh covered metal from before had not bothered with that at all, according to Eliath. Kirindi claimed these things here were alive but hidden, much like a different hive is telepathically somewhat sealed. Karga'te said they weren't alive, because they were just very advanced machinery.
Conflicting theories. Hmmm ... irritating.
Oh well. Overall, this hostile take over thing was delicious. Hguthreeit had made the plan and produced some technology that sent waves ahead, which would slow down the squishy machines and their cooperation. Something like that. Karga'te made some creative improvements on the actual invasion plan, and now they led the swarm of marketeers, armed to the teeth, into the halls of the Auton. Strategy was fascinating, now why couldn't he have an instinct for that?
It was too easy to make them stop, the fake humans. They shot at him, but he kept too much cover. There was pain when his back's tubes were hit, his head scraped, but that was trivial in face of the mixture of chaotic emotions and information he was now experiencing. Stimuli!
Oh look, that was the Auton who had helped them on the Enigma II station. 921-Y. Kirindi had said he had forgotten all to protect them. Especially don't hurt him, he will probably be an ally again.
Too bad this Y-921 was currently shooting at him, right from a hall where Odygos needed to go for the plan. See, there was one particular Auton he had to obtain while the others got to wreck a power source. Now why couldn't he do that? He'd done it before.
Irritated, he leaped out at Y-921 and tore off a leg.
Lots of white blood. Maybe went a little too far?
Reconsideration of past is pointless, Eliath randomly told him. Odygos wondered whether he had missed something, then remembered he should stop now. Don't destroy their cores. Future helpers.
As he passed an open space a little too late, he was hit. Screeching he fell to the ground, pain shooting up through his leg.
Now this was so not supposed to happen.
Distracted by his thoughts. Maybe Eliath had a point about contemplation being bad and duty the only duty they should focus on.
Enemy approached. Stupid.
He faked having trouble getting up, when they were close he rolled aside and slashed his injured leg, sending a spray of acid their way.
A moment's stopping, they had reflexes like a human. He snatched the nearest weapon he saw and threw back the ex-owner at the others with his tail. They stepped aside and aimed again. There were two more who opened fire right when disappearing into the next hall. It cost him a fair bit of his tail.
The weapon he'd taken lay clumsy in his hands and Sarah could tell him no more than that he was to aim and pull the trigger. Whether he had the necessary hand coordination —
Oh, look, more enemies. Hguthreeit, where is the life core located in the bodies? There? Right. Avoiding them, he fired.
— wouldn't be much of a problem with his rapid neurological processing. Sarah sent him that he must look silly, such a huge drone with a tiny humanoid weapon. She was starting to enjoy the game too, now that he was ensuring nobody would die. Did fake humans feel pain? Sarah said it depended on the model, but right now he should keep focus and find Anudjan.
Halls, walls, some allies appeared from a sideway, having claimed that section. Excellent.
Oh, crap no.
Note for the future : do not aim weapons in general direction of allies even in the simple act of turning. It makes them run away. Apparently, being on the same side was not sufficient conviction of reduced hostility.
So why did Karga'te get away with some much taunting towards double eye wormy? Hguthreeit let him know he would be willing to five a lengthy explanation on the facts of that, let it suffice for now that it was game that he was winning. Just so he knew. Now proceed, please?
Odygos complied and picked up a few more weapons once the first ran out of munition. Some had bullets, others were lasers. The latter has no backdraft when fired and so were a little easier to use. He could hit things, though not as perfect as Sarah wanted. Still, he roughly got it done.
This almost got boring.
Ah, there was his target, Anudjan.
Odygos took out the last few Autons in his way and leaped, throwing the target fake human to the ground. He set his weight on him to keep him down, but Sarah told him to have him stand; he was dripping acid on him. So Odygos pulled him up and positioned him before the nearest passageway, from which he knew Sarah would soon emerge.
"Soon" was about a quarter of an hour, considering she had been waiting outside till everything was secure. It was the other allies that arrived first. They cautiously lined around the chamber he and his captive were in and started dragging away the injured fake humans, all the while staying as far from Odygos as possible. He wondered why, he wasn't aiming a weapon at them.
Fear, Sarah explained shortly before her arrival. It'd be the thing that made living beings register as prey more easily. She herself had it too, but for reasons that were not him. She feared failure, for some reason.
When Sarah finally stepped into the now clean room, she took a deep breath, pulled some strands of hair out of her face and faced Anudjan. "I am here on behalf of Noasyvé, who wishes to ally herself with the Auton. She offers her service in overthrowing the Enigma faction. Anudjan, please hear us out."
He only nodded, since Odygos had bled away the chunk of his neck where his vocal simulator was.
· · · · · · ·
Persephone tapped her fingertips against each other to simulate a contemplative human. Sarah suspected she was one of the models meant to deceive; that they had called her in to speak on behalf of the somewhat damaged Anudjan was not encouraging. Anudjan himself sat aside of her, opposite of Sarah. A quick patch had been made to ensure he would not 'bleed' too much anymore, and a wire came out of his neck attaching to Persephone. In lieu of the wireless transmission, which someone had sabotaged shortly before the take over, it was the best they could do.
Sarah had told them everything she knew, as elaborately as possible. Now she waited.
"How am I supposed to tell this to the others?" Persephone started. "In a war with another superforce, a sapient xenomorph queen lost because none of her soldiers had free will, so once her telepathy was disturbed they ceased to be organized, while the enemy remained so. So this queen sought the chimera DNA to speed up an experiment in creating a human filter for mind control, one that would serve her voluntarily. How she intends to circumcise the problems of her own mindless drones is not yet resolved, I presume?"
"No, it is not. But I can assure you that even with lessened control by her, the drones will be able to listen to reason. Have Eliath and Odygos done anything to—"
"They were being controlled by the chimera sisters. Let me finish, miss Driscoll. This queen gets betrayed in the middle of her experiment by a forcefully controlled puppet, who rebelled against the mindcontrol. Somehow Karga'te survived and adopted Kirindi, which she somehow decided to roll with. That is what I would tell them. What do you think will happen next?"
Sarah looked at Anudjan, but he didn't respond in any way. He just looked at her with calm gray eyes.
"Questions would come, miss Driscoll. It is too coincidental that Karga'te and Kirindi run off and just happen to coincidentally cross out path in the vast emptiness of space, causing us to learn about Ti'chai-di, causing us to visit Enigma II, which just happens to be where your queen is. Once we send Kirindi there, she befriends the ex-friend of Jonah, who happens to be the bond master of Ti'chai-di. There are a lot of contrived coincidences there. Can you explain them in a way that doesn't reveal your mistress as a master manipulator?"
"Weren't you tailing the efforts of the rogue yautja already for those eggs? You being in the neighborhood to find those two wasn't that large a coincidence."
"True, but —" Anudjan had looked aside, it seemed to Sarah that Persephone had been going off track. Persephone sighed a little too humanlike, and continued, "Well then. Can you offer us any answers from your queen's point of view?"
"No, but I promise I will find out. Right now, Noasyvé is in an enforced sleep and has been unable to clearly communicate. The injuries she sustained in fighting her enemy have not healed and they hinder her. I trust she will explain everything once she is free."
"You trust her. We cannot. What is so special about the eggs that spawned the chimera sisters, where did they come from? Can you at least answer that?"
"I do not know that either. They are unique, but not that special. It's more that they have a rogue function, they're something that gives a short cut in manipulating a particular outcome. They are only useful to Noasyvé because she knows what to do with them," Sarah said, keeping her voice firm.
"Manipulating? Sarah. Don't you think it's all like a game, and we're the pawns?" Persephone made a convincing expression of concern, almost seemed empathetic, but Sarah didn't want to let that influence her.
"Noasyvé is not reasoning like humans, or Auton. You cannot comprehend her right and wrong."
"I don't think I want to. Your have not given us a lot of answers. Now, we may be quick thinkers, but we are individuals. Give us some time to consult with each other and analyze for what decision to reach," Persephone said. It was not a request.
· · · · · · ·
