Another day, another chapter. Really enjoying your musing in the reviews :D I have another three chapters written, so I won't forget to post while on leave. But, when will I get the rest completed...?

Chapter 11

Primus had lost all control.

The host simply didn't have enough energy to keep going and so collapsed in a heap of withering flesh and bones that Primus was unable to jolt into motion. Its consciousness had faded and the last thing Primus sensed before the total shutdown was the sensation of the host being lifted and carried.

They were doomed.

Primus existed in a dying world as its kin slowly succumbed to lack of nutrients. It had asked the young to go dormant, but this command came too late to keep the host going until their deliverance. Now its kin were dying and Primus itself was suffering the effects of starvation. If they ate and emerged from the body now they were all destined to die anyway, so Primus did not awaken the infants, sentencing them and itself to death and seeing it as a kindness.

As it lay in the darkness Primus lamented. There would be no survival of any Goh on this planet. The water was poisoned and with nowhere to go for those who still resided within the Groten ship's tanks, this portion of its species was destined to die. So many Goh were in those tanks, thousands, perhaps even the last of them. The war between the Groten and their foes had lasted so long that the Goh population was decimated. All that survived would be those who managed to reach water on the few other planets the Groten had landed.

Primus let its thoughts fade and tried to settle itself for a quiet death. So lost in its own misery it wasn't sure when the host's mind awoke. With no reason to continue, Primus had long stopped monitoring the entity, though remained connected to it. But now that Primus sensed the host's growing alertness, it felt compelled to apologise to this being for all the harm it had caused. It shared its apology, yet to its surprise, Primus did not sense the self-pitying it expected. Instead, it sensed something much more powerful within the host's mind. Though it knew it was dying, the host found strength of will Primus thought impossible to harbour in such a state of decline. It pulled on this strength and through willpower alone, it managed to do something Primus didn't expect.

The host attempted to communicate.

It was a strange sensation as if all Primus's own powers were being reversed so that this being might speak with it. Primus didn't understand why the host would wish to communicate, yet dared to allow the transmission via the synaptic interface it created upon entry of the host body.

The host questioned Primus. What was its nature? What did it want? Why had it hurt it? This host was intelligent, more so than any Groten. Primus found itself curious about this creature that, until now, had merely been a vessel for it and its kin. It took Primus a few moments to plan what it would say, then engaged both their minds.

We are Goh.

I am Primus.

We wish to survive.

We did not choose you as a host but were forced to.

Our existence within you is why you are dying.

We are sorry.

Primus was surprised to find the host did not react with expected anger. It seemed intrigued by the foreign entity within it. The host bombarded Primus with other questions. What was a Goh? How many of them were there inside it? Why did they come here? Why was it attacked to begin with?

Goh are peaceful.

Goh young are many within you.

We lived in the seas of our planet but were taken from our waters.

Groten use us as weapons.

Groten attacked you as they wanted to reach the stars.

Your ship was the only way.

The host was quiet for a while and Primus felt the link between them weaken. Then the host shuddered violently. Primus sensed a mournful exclamation in its mind and realised it had not shielded the host from its thoughts. They now shared, not a mind, but a complete communicative process from which the small came to understand the mighty, and the mighty finally understood the insignificant life of Goh.

Primus understood the entity was of a species called human. A species, once cut off from its own planet, now traveling the galaxy to gain knowledge and make alliances. In the same way, the host understood the Goh. It saw in Primus's mind the home of the Goh and understood their nature. Saw the Groten invasion and entrapment of the Goh and how they went on to use them.

Primus tired quickly, exhausted and in need of sustenance if it was to continue the conversation with this entity. But to eat was to bring the host pain that Primus had no intention of causing.

The host's mind heard its thoughts and said, "then, eat."

Primus was shocked by the invite.

It will hurt you and end you sooner, it replied.

But the host insisted again that it eat so that they might continue to communicate. Primus moved fractionally to the side of the host's spine, found a muscular tissue to bite into and fed. The host's mind quivered, and Primus had no illusions that had it been fully conscious, it would be screaming right now. It ate little, only enough to allow the exchange of information a little longer.

"Can we be saved?" The host asked eventually.

Primus wondered what possible reason would make this dying entity want to try and save the very things that killed it?

"Fight against the injustice…" the host replied. "I have my will to live… surely you have the same?"

Primus considered these points and realised this entity, this species, could help Goh. If only there was a way to communicate with the ones outside.

"There is… the young…"

Primus wasn't sure what that meant. The young were dormant, and even if they were not, there was nothing they could do to change the situation, only worsen it. Then it suddenly understood what the host implied. Primus shied away from the idea, utterly appalled by what it asked.

"Only enough to allow me to speak with my kind…"

It wanted Primus to let some of the infants die to sustain it. Perhaps it was no better than the Groten after all. But then, they were all doomed to die anyway, so why not risk it? Did the benefit of the many outweigh the lives of the few? In this instance, Primus thought it might. For it wasn't just itself and its kin that might be saved should this entity communicate with its own, but the entire Goh race.

"It's your decision, Primus. We die, or you survive."

You would die for us?

"I'm dying anyway," the host drawled. "No reason why you all should, too."

Primus was astounded. This human had no reason at all to sacrifice itself for them. In fact, it should be throwing itself on fire to destroy them. Yet while its need to save them was inexplicable, Primus did understand. Primus shared the same burning desire to save its kin and would die for them if it meant their survival. This strange creature, of a species never touched or sensed by any Goh in all their history, might be the one host that would deliver all Goh.

It was a cruel necessity to waken the infants, for Primus could not control their bodies and make them kill themselves. It was forced to explain to the young what was needed, and Primus was shocked to discover the young understood the situation much more completely than itself. After a brief transmission between themselves, almost a third of the young volunteered to disperse within the human's blood and flood it with the nutrients they had stolen. It would not repair the human's body, but it would release the much-needed energy to allow the human to awaken and speak with its kin.

Primus mourned their deaths. For a moment there were a thousand beautiful Goh minds, then so many of them disappeared in an instant. Primus sensed the host's mind speed up, the surge of energy flooding the dying brain and fully awakening it. Sensed the host's systems fluttering to life and sensed the moment it opened its eyes.

Primus hoped their sacrifice would be enough to ensure their survival.

To be continued... :D