Sava Domeria sighed as she looked at the various holographic screens where media presenters and Network influencers were gesticulating.

  Her gaze wandered over the vast garden of the master geneticist. He had allowed them to remain on his land until a favorable outcome could be found. He had indicated that his plants would not be a danger to them, even if they would continue to keep them away from certain areas of his domain.

  Sitting on top of a small wooded hill, on the edge of a steep slope, the Ham observed the thousand strange nuances of the flora and the curious animals that sometimes appeared in sight. Further away, she saw the “Lost Truth” placed on a landing platform. The two Xerineans and the captain of the ship were busy improving the machine. It was as if the cunning Lhom smelled an imminent end to their partnership and sought to exploit their help while there was still time. However, the Network information seemed to indicate a total defeat of their plans.

  Once again, Sava sighed.

  The administrative media boasted of the great successes of the new fleet, which was slaughtering entire galaxies of Zcarbbs aplenty. The hostile medias were more reserved, suggesting that this fleet might well turn against them after the war, or complaining about the massive counterattacks launched by the Zcarbbs all over the border.

  Here, only a communication between Sava and Queen Ilena-tar-Yana had prevented their galaxy from also sinking into an all-out war. Although terrified by the new threat, the queen had managed to calm her sisters and maintain the truce with the Orange Empire. Of course, their armies had still deployed in neighboring galaxies, the solidarity of the Zcarbbs being more stimulated than ever in the face of the threat...

  “Yeah, what did you think? That you'd come back with evidence and the police would arrest the bad guys? And then what? A nice ceremony where you'd get a medal, and then the end credits would roll?”

  Sava jumped and glared at the newcomer. She didn’t know how she had managed to turn her head in the right direction when his voice was only in her head and the creature was moving silently.

  Coal, the Chaotiun who served the old Orange Emperor, was there. Able to teleport effortlessly between planets and having been granted permission to enter this domain without being killed, he served as a liaison with the old Hom.

  “What do you want? Does Orange have something to tell me in secret?”

  The creature sneered.

  “Not at all. I come here simply for my pleasure. Did you know that Chaotiuns can feed on emotions?”

  “Ah, I see. Are you coming to feed on my doubts and fears?”

  “No, no… Not only for that. I have half… well, probably a quarter, of a galaxy to feed me: you can’t imagine how interesting the position of subordinate to a guy as sneaky as Orange is for someone of my people. I have a real all-you-can-eat buffet of emotions and intrigues… More seriously…”

  The Chaotiun fell silent for a moment and sat down beside her, casting a hateful glance at the aberrant vegetation below. He then gave Sava a kind smile, and for once, he didn't seem particularly sly.

  “To be honest, I like you. Your thoughts are quite honest, which is nice to hear, and I would like to help you ease some of those burdens that are suffocating you… Yes, I know, you don’t believe me. Yes, I can read your thoughts… No: your psychic barrier is not sufficient. Of course, I can’t dive into your thoughts because of that, but your superficial thoughts are still accessible and, frankly, we can see that you haven’t received very advanced training to control them… It wasn’t an insult.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Conversing with a creature that could read minds was unsettling. Sava didn’t like it that much, but it seemed that the chaos beast either had no ill intentions, or that it was hiding its own thoughts quite well. Of course, Sava wasn’t telepathic, but she could sense traces of Coal’s intentions in his own messages. It was hard to describe, but she felt that he was interested in her in the same way that a reasonably benevolent person would be interested in a wounded bird. Of course, it was just a comparison: if she really was a wounded bird, the Chaotiun would devour her without mercy.

  Coal snickered at this thought, then licked his lips.

  “Please,” he thought, “don't make me hungry... Oh, don't worry: I couldn't report your words to my boss, even if I wanted to... In any case, if you strongly refuse to let me broadcast them, I would be unable to do so... Yes, the chaotic rules are a little hard to understand...”

  She considered the creature for a moment. Barely bigger than a cat, Coal was a fearsome thing that the Administration itself refused to list as an intelligent species and considered a kind of dangerous parasite. Sure, they were still people, but unpredictable and with aberrant abilities: the Chaotiuns were one of the great dangers that threatened the universe.

  Yet, as individuals, they didn’t seem so bad. She knew he was telling the truth about his inability to report her words, because she had already taken the basic training for administrative agents, concerning anti-Chaotiun prevention.

  “Okay,” she agreed, “I suppose it will do me a little good to talk about all this…”

  So, giving some freedom to her superficial thoughts, but also forming the words expressing her doubts, she spoke. She spoke of her feeling of being useless, of having done all this for nothing. She expressed her fear about the terrifying events that had taken her, and those she had just triggered without having any control over them. She spoke of her suffering, separated from her past by a leap of half a century, separated from her loved ones… She also cried sometimes.

  Coal let her speak without interrupting her, then he let a long silence pass.

  “Yeah,” he said, “it’s pretty hard. You feel like you’re the plaything of all these events, and just when everything seems to be getting better, the enemy is getting stronger… You even feel like it’s your fault, this new outbreak of violence…”

  Deep down, she could tell, the Chaotiun had no idea what to say, but nevertheless hoped to reassure her. A new voice startled them both, a dry, monotonous voice:

  “He would have launched his fleet sooner or later anyway. This is not something you should feel guilty about.”

  Without a sound, a hooded figure had arrived on the other side of Sava and was standing, arms crossed, contemplating the landscape below without the slightest trace of interest in it. The Chaotiun was as surprised as the Ham and looked at the newcomer with hatred: he was unable to detect his thoughts and only understood his words by reading Domeria’s thoughts.

  “Vector,” she said, “I don’t think I have anything to discuss with a criminal.”

  The cyborg sneered, coldly and methodically. He didn’t seem offended.

  “Criminal? If I were still in power, I couldn’t be, since it would have been me, the law. However, I admit that I went way over the top at the time…”

  Although darkened by his hood, his face expressed regret and melancholy. Sava didn’t like this man very much, but she had to admit that he was very different from the legends… or maybe he had simply changed. Contrary to what she had said, she asked him a question:

  “What are you going to do now?”

  “I must say that until now, I didn’t have a plan… But I think I’m going to come back to my people…”

  The Vermilion Hom was silent for a moment. He then turned his gaze towards the young Ham and gave a standard smile that would probably be reassuring without the clear impression of artificiality:

  “I think my people will need me, soon. I ran some simulations with the help of the improvements the Xerineans installed for me… I think you’ll be able to make yourself useful too… Otherwise, it could well be that the Zcarbbs aren’t the only civilization wiped out: according to my calculations, their response will begin soon.”

  Sava gave him a worried look. The war already seemed total and he was announcing that it was only the beginning?

  A few days later, she picked up a message broadcast throughout the Network, despite the security. It was a Zcarbb message that must have been circulating for a few days already. A furious queen spoke in both administrative language and in Zcarbb, wishing to both rally her species and threaten her enemies.