“Get all you need off base?” General Intoshkin’s tone was pleasant, but the glint in his eye was not. “Because we’re really going to need you and Jace to stay here.”
“I believe we have enough provisions, but Jace may want other things,” Khoth replied evenly.
“Provisions…” General Intoshkin’s expression flashed with confusion for a moment, then he said, “Any provisions Jace would like we will go get for him.”
“I believe Jace enjoys doing things for himself,” Khoth answered just as amenably.
Jace had been right to tell no one where he was going. Khoth rather wondered if they hadn’t better have stayed in the house.
In Thaf’ell, she asked Gehenna, “Is this the AI?”
In English, he answered, “One of them, yes. Gehenna, this is my mother, High Councillor Nova Voor. Mother, this is Gehenna.”
Khoth introduced them to one another. His mother’s gaze flowed over the squid-like head and many tentacles.
“That is not its programmed-for body, is it?” his mother asked.
Gehenna looked at Khoth and curled her tentacles around herself.
“She can speak so you should address her directly and, no, this was a convenient body for our current work,” Khoth said.
A bright smiley face appeared on his HUD.
His mother blinked, but then turned towards Gehenna. “Gehenna, were you made by the Altaeth?”
Yes, but that’s not important right now, Gehenna responded, the words running fast over his mother and his HUDs.
His mother’s right eyebrow lifted. “I believe that I determine what is important.”
Oh, dear, no, you don’t! Gehenna almost sounded apologetic while his mother’s eyebrows lifted again. You see the Pilot determines all of that and the Pilot was only ever going to be Jace. I tried to make another Pilot and it didn’t work. The Osiris had this all planned. So, you see, Khoth saved everybody by his actions.
His mother stared at Gehenna. Khoth resisted the urge to pinch the top of his nose.
“I see. What an interesting creation you are, Gehenna,” his mother said dryly.
“I wish I could be a part of this conversation,” General Intoshkin stated with a smile threatening to break out across his lips.
“No, I do not think you do,” Khoth answered with certainty. He turned back to his mother and spoke in Thaf’ell, “There is much I must tell you. Before you make any decisions.”
“Now my son tells me that I am not in control either. How very interesting everything is,” she murmured.
She did not sound angry per se. She would not allow such emotion to govern her actions. But he knew that he was on dangerous ground with her. He had done things that she did not approve of.
“General Intoshkin tells me that you were in the Hive,” his mother said as she looked him over carefully.
He knew that she was worried he was infected, but at the same time, she was undoubtedly aware that he would never have come close to anyone, let alone her, if there was a risk of that. The Thaf’ell warriors behind his mother stirred uneasily. He had been so focused on her that he didn’t even notice them. He was sure there were pilots among them that he knew.
“And, as you must have noticed, the Hive is no longer there,” he stated.
“You destroyed a Hive,” her voice was soft.
“No, Jace, Gehenna and I destroyed a Hive. Mostly, it was Jace,” he said.
“Are the Osiris’ weapons inoperable? Why did it risk sending the Pilot? Unless it lost control to the Khul?” she asked.
His lips pursed as he considered what language to speak to her in: English or Thaf’ell. He chose Thaf’ell for now.
“I believe it sent Jace because that was the best way to accomplish its mission,” he told her. “And like you, I believe it wanted Jace to be emotionally invested in that mission by seeing the destruction up close.”
