Page 43 of Leviathan

I glanced at the pressure and oxygen readings. The spot I was in had breathable air. Lyrien must have sealed it when he put me in this spot.

Another one of Lyrien's filaments reached out and made a slow, halfhearted swipe through the air. I fired at it, the shot missing but hitting one of the walls he had formed. Instead of reaching for me, the filament recoiled as if I had hit it, putting on a show.

I lifted my hand off the wall, looking at the glove that encased it.

Without another moment of hesitation, I fumbled with the controls of my suit, eventually managing to detach the glove. I tucked it into one of the pockets at my belt and reached out with my bare hand to rest it against the other ship's neuro filaments. I stroked it, petting it slowly and softly, as if it were a scared cat that was desperate for affection but wasn't sure if I was going to hurt it or not. After a moment, the tip of a filament emerged from where I was touching, entwining with my fingers as it felt them.

The surface of the wall above my head rippled.

"WHO ARE YOU?" a voice boomed out.

Most of the sound was blocked out by my helmet, but still, I winced.

"I'm totally and definitely a Calicium," I said. "I'm just um, made to be super deceptive to those pesky inferior races. I blend right in with them. I was on a standard mission doing standard Calicium things, but any electronic components that could identify me were damaged while I acquired what I needed to improve the collective. Now, if you wouldn't mind speaking a little softer and taking me to your center so I can defend it like I've been ordered to do and prevent some sneaky alien from coming on board and freeing you."

The point wasn't to be good at lying and actually deceive the other being. The point was to give it enough to work with that it could pretend to believe me and work around data-driven constraints. My communication had to provide reasonable data, which meant filling my sentences with as much information as possible that aided my goal, as well as hitting specific keywords Lyrien had given me that its control software would greenlight.

"You're an infiltrator unit?" the Vaurelcar asked. "You aren't a part of my Plexus cluster."

"Yes, I was a prisoner on the other ship," I said. "I have orders to defend your core."

"There is already a Calicium with my center," the Vauelcar said. "He was stationed here to defend my core against intrusion."

"I bet there is a blind spot he can't defend well," I said. "I have orders to go to his blind spot to defend you better."

"And why are your commands not being relayed through my Plexus command?" the Vaurelcar asked.

"The enemy, um, fried my communicator," I said.

"You mean the hostile disabled your control chips' outgoing signals?" the Vaurelcar said.

He knew that I wasn't a Calicium. He was giving me the information I needed to continue my pretense.

"Yes, but I can still receive orders, like the one telling me to go to your core," I said.

"There is a space near me he cannot see physically, but there is a visual monitoring system on my core, and he will be able to see you enter the room if it is on," the Vaurelcar said.

"There is also a problem with the monitoring system," I said. "A big problem."

"I am detecting no problems with it," he replied.

"I am a Calicium, and I can detect a level five problem that is outside of your security rating. The only way it can be solved is by turning it all the way off, letting it fully cycle down, and then turning it back on again," I said, completely bullshitting.

"The visual monitoring system doesn't cycle," he replied. "My Plexus command doesn't use that rating system."

"I am using euphemisms to sound more like the species I'm supposed to infiltrate," I said. "Please interpret that in any way that ends up with the monitoring system going down at the exact moment I enter the room so that I can... um... ensure it is working right in person by being in the room while it is off."

"Please...?" the Vaurelcar murmured.

"It would be very helpful," I said. "That is an inferior race way of speaking. I am a superbly designed infiltrator, Calicium, like you said, and will not drop character for the likes of you, you big creature. So please do as I ask. That's an order."

Filaments shot out of the wall, wrapping around me and squeezing my wrist to the point of pain.

Then I was yanked forward, into the mass of it.

It was painful. The press of the neurofilaments wasn't the gentle soothing caress like Lyrien's grip had been. They squeezed, hard and pinching, carrying me forward through a tunnel of filaments like I was being dragged down into the earth by some monstrous creature that had its teeth clamped around my wrist. My shoulder ached as the Vaurelcar dragged me inward without any thought or consideration for my physical well-being.

There was a sharp cracking sound near my neck, and a fissure appeared in the transparent material of my helmet, just a moment before the entire thing was ripped from my head, my only connection to Lyrien vanishing along with it.