Hi, guys. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I may have mentioned a while ago that one of my cats was sick, and we recently had to have her put down. She had breast cancer for about a year, and it finally got to be so bad that she couldn't eat or breathe. So I haven't exactly been in the mood to sit down and write, especially since this chapter gets kind of silly. Anyway, hopefully I'll be feeling a little better soon, and I'll continue to update and be less depressed.

Wikus continued to rail and scream at the prone form on the table until one of the doctors – he wasn't even sure which one it was – touched his elbow and said quietly, "He's gone back under. I'm sorry. You tried. Sometimes it just doesn't—"

"Do it again," Wikus interrupted, jabbing a finger at the machine. "Zap him again, let me try one more time."

The doctor—it was the one that hadn't spoken much – shook his head sadly. "It won't do any good, human. To attempt a re-wake now would only be cruel. If it doesn't work the first attempt, it's not going to work."

"Not necessarily," the limping doctor spoke up. "If he were given some time, a few hours at most, to pull away from the pain, it could be tried a second time."

"That has never been proven to work," snapped the irascible one. "It could easily damage him as much as help him; it could send him too deep-"

"It's worth a try. Do you want to be the one to inform the Next-Queen that Christopher Johnson was lost and we didn't try more than once to save him?" The quiet Poleepkwa countered, taking Gregory's side. The argumentative physician looked less sure of himself.

"You… have a point. Fine. You try whatever you want; just don't try to blame me when it backfires."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," growled Gregory before turning back to Wikus. "We will wait two hours; that is the most time we can give his body to recover before his mind sinks too deep. I suggest you get some rest."

"No, I-I can't possibly rest right now." Wikus kneaded his brow and looked down at Christopher with concern and fear.

"In that case you ought to prepare yourself for what you will say to him, since obviously your first attempt didn't work." The doctor blinked thoughtfully. "I think you should pay a visit to the Next-Queen."

"Huh? The what?" Wikus glanced up listlessly.

"The Next-Queen. The daughter of the Queen, who will take over when her mother passes on."

"Oh. So, like, the… princess?"

Gregory twitched his antennae. "I am unfamiliar with your terminology, but probably. She and Christopher… they are old friends, like siblings. She may be able to help you." He pointed to the door. "Burreekibakk will show you to her quarters."

"Uh? Oh. Right. Brick-a-brack." Wikus trotted to the exit and spoke to the soldier, who was waiting patiently in the hall. The larger prawn led him up several levels and down a long corridor, offering quiet condolences before knocking on a tall, wide portal in the corridor's hull. After a moment, the door opened a sliver and Brick-a-brack spoke to the creature behind it, saluting with his antennae and secondary limbs.

"My Next-Queen, this is the human brother that Christopher told us of. He wishes to speak-"

He was cut off by a resonant voice like a drumroll.

"Wikus van der Merwe. Yes, Christopher spoke of you a great deal to me. You hit him over the head with a piece of wood, right?"

Wikus groaned. "Oh, fuck. Yes, okay, yeah, I did, but it was just a-a misunder—"

There was a booming, rattling sound that MNU had always told their operatives was precursor to an attack but Wikus had learned was actually prawn laughter. "Relax, human. I'm only teasing you. Come in." The door swung open and a giant Poleepkwa stood in its frame. She was easily twice the height of the lanky Brick-a-brack, with spines running from her brow down her shoulders, arms, and back. Instead of secondary arms, a pair of mantis-like claws were tucked discreetly under her thorax. Her mouthparts were wider than most, reaching back on her face to form a permanent, skeletal grin. She was also pure, semitransparent white, a startling appearance set off by her vibrant blue eyes and the scarlet garment she wore around her hips and legs, which ended in black-taloned velociraptor feet.

Wikus gaped at her a moment until she beckoned him into the room. "C'mon. I'm not gonna eat you. Christopher would never forgive me." She winked, a disconcertingly human motion, and backed up to let him pass. "Are you coming in, too, Burreek?"

Brick-a-brack saluted again. "Much as I enjoy your company, Next-Queen, I have my duties. Your mother has ordered another search of the MNU building."

"Get along, then." The princess frowned, which was an alarming sight. "And for the thousandth time, call me by my name, not my title."

Without the slightest change in expression, the soldier clicked, "Whatever you wish, Next-Queen."

"Oh, go away already," the colossal white Poleepkwa barked, a tinge of humor in her tone as she closed the door and turned to her guest.

Wikus glanced around the room; it was as distinctive as its occupant, painted in red, black, and white spiky patterns that probably meant something. A large window in one wall illuminated the chamber with filtered African sunlight. A table and cushions of varying sizes sat at the center of the room, a plate of some kind of meat on the former.

The Next-Queen coughed politely by drumming her maxillae against each other. When Wikus looked up at her, she extended an arm gracefully, offering him a seat. Wikus was in the mood to strangle something, not sit and make conversation, but he figured it was best not to piss off the future ruler of his current race, so he sat. The female prawn seated herself across from him, blinking her sapphire eyes. She was quiet for a while before speaking.

"So. From what I hear you're having a rather stressful day."

"Day? Try a stressful last three years," Wikus clicked snarkily. Surprisingly, she laughed again.

"I can imagine. And now, all this business with poor Christopher," Wikus looked away miserably, but she continued in an upbeat manner, "Still, I think it's good that you're going to try again."

"About that." Wikus shifted uneasily. "Couldn't – couldn't you try to get him to stay awake? I mean, the two of you are friends, right? You probably know him better than I do. So, why not just-?"

The Poleepkwa princess shook her head, looking at him questioningly. "Of all people, I think you're the most likely one to help him. Other than his son, maybe, but little Oliver's back on our planet."

"Why?!" Wikus shouted angrily. "People keep saying that I'm the one that ought to talk to him, but no one will fucking tell me why! They keep mentioning Chris asking me something, and, and talking about how I'm so fucking important to him and I don't know why!"

The white female looked shocked and angry, and for a second Wikus worried that he'd gone too far, but when she spoke it wasn't him she directed her anger at.

"You mean nobody explained it to you?!" She ground her mantis-arms together in exasperation. "Those morons. Of course you'd be confused. Okay, Wikus," she lowered her head to look directly at him with her piercing stare. "I'm going to tell you a few things. Judging by what Christopher told me about you, you might not like some of what I have to say. Some of it may offend or even disgust you; I don't know. Not that he said anything negative about you; far from it. I don't think he has the ability to say anything bad about you. He just pointed out that despite appearances, you are human, so he doubted you'd ever be, er, interested in our kind. Said you'd just want you cure and to see the Poleepkwa gone from your planet so you could get back to your wife. I told him he was being a self-deprecating twat and that he should at least try, so he promised me that when he came back early he'd make you… an offer." She looked closely at the ex-human. "Do you see what I'm getting at, Wikus?"

"Uhh…" Wikus thought that maybe he did understand, but he pushed the thought away. "Not… not really." His antennae twitched.

"Okay. I'll be blunt." She fixed him with that icy stare again, pale mandibles tapping. "When he returned with your cure, Christopher had planned to ask you to come with him, whether you decided to become human again or stay a Poleepkwa. To be with him."

"You mean like…" Wikus began to grasp the concept despite himself.

She nodded her formidable head. "He would have asked you to be his mate, Wikus."