“They have comms?” Jace sounded genuinely surprised by this.
Khoth found himself looking back at the long, segmented bodies as thick as he was around. He saw no sign of technology on them, at least nothing recognizable.
They communicate in many ways, she explained. Through body language and also through pheromones. But there is some kind of organ inside of them that… Well, that vibrates. So it's like an internal, organic comm!
“Eh, well, I see,” Jace said. “No wonder it’s hard to understand!”
Well, yes, because it’s really monitoring each and every Khul to see if there are vibrations that–
“Not now, Gehenna. Another time, we’ve got to concentrate here and you’ve got to get that door locked, not to mention keep out of the Omulls’ sight,” Jace interrupted her as he ducked his head down into the opening in the floor and looked right then left.
Oh! I could do all of this in my sleep! She protested.
With genuine amusement in his voice, Jace drawled, “Don’t get cocky, kid!”
Ah, am I Luke Skywalker to your Han Solo? Gehenna asked, which sounded completely inexplicable to Khoth.
“I am always Luke Skywalker,” Jace informed her archly.
But–oh, well, nevermind, I’d like to be Vader! Do you think I could play Vader? She asked, this conversation veering into the even more obscure.
Jace chuckled as he lowered himself into the ducts with Khoth’s help. “You’ve got the helmet for it, Gehenna.”
“I believe we should focus on the mission,” Khoth said. “You two should have your conversation… later.”
“I think we’ve just been scolded,” Jace said to Gehenna.
He’s just upset that he can’t be Vader, Gehenna said and put plenty of smiley faces after that statement.
Khoth shook his head. He would never understand this secret language of theirs or the joy they took in it. He jumped into the ducts and landed lightly on his feet.
“I thought these would be smaller and we’d have to squirm on our bellies, but it's not too bad. Just got to hunch over a bit,” Jace said as he surveyed the passage ahead of them.
While Jace just had to lean forward a bit, Khoth was practically bent almost in half. His head would bump the ceiling of the curved duct if he was not careful. Unlike the corridors that had been flooded with amber light. These were dark, except for light that seeped through slit-like openings on the walls, ceiling and, occasionally, the floor. He HUD adjusted so that night vision was enabled. Also on the HUD, the route to the core of the ship was illuminated. A dot streaked forward to show them the twists and turns ahead.
“This way,” Jace whispered.
They were both careful as they walked on the thinner metallic-like duct material. It gave slightly under Khoth’s weight and if he released his weight from a panel too quickly, the material sprang up, making a metallic thunk-thunk sound. Khoth hoped it was his nerves making the sound louder than it actually was. This slowed their progress down.
He found himself looking out the slits to see where they were. Amber light played over Jace’s helmet as he, too, turned his head to look out of the duct. They saw more pools, more Cetixes, and more humans.
The first time they saw another set of pools, Jace’s hand went to the hilt of his rahir. Khoth had gripped his shoulder.
“Remember, when we destroy the core, we destroy the Hive, we destroy all of this,” he whispered.
Only then did Jace release his hold on the hilt and they crept on in this interminable darkness until the next flash of light and next horror of more pools.
Though they should have kept silent, Jace whispered, “Do the Thaf’ell believe in an afterlife?”
Khoth frowned. “After–after life?”
“Life after death. Like do you think that we go on? Our consciousness? Even after our body dies?” Jace asked.
“The Thaf’ell believe that all return to oneness after death. We are made of stars and to the stars we return,” Khoth answered when he realized what Jace was asking.
“But do individuals go on? I mean… not just turn into compost and feed the soil, which feeds the flowers, which feeds the animals… you know, like we, us, ourselves?” Jace pressed.
They were passing by another set of pools. For a moment, Khoth caught sight of one of the human’s silently screaming as larvae flowed into and out of his open mouth. Bright, cherry red blood poured out as well as his tongue was stripped off by the hungry larvae.
