Snowflake sat in a walk-in freezer as her memories played back of that awful day. HE watched in silence. She watched HIM carefully. Snowflake met again with Kael Oran and Dokka Tkarro after her pit-fight to clear her from the suspicions of the Blue Gorge residents. News of murders had reached them from the edge of Blue Gorge. They had listened, since the sensors in the town couldn't detect anyone doing anything in that area. Dokka had recognized the voice of the Scourge. Dokka had dressed in all the armor that Kael had and offered himself as bait to lure the Scourge into a trap. They just weren't sure of what kind would work. Dokka described the Scourge as best as he could from the only meeting he had with it. Kael said, "Wide set eyes, carnivorous teeth, and a bony plate on it's head....got it! It'll rush head long into a fake prey trap. Sort of like a combination of a cat and a ram in attitude. Must knock heads with other males in heat for females and the claws and teeth go to a pouncer of some kind. The binocular vision is a dead give away. Must leap like a kangaroo, or something." Snowflake had beamed at him. "Damn, you're awful smart! Vision might be it's weakness. It might have trouble with bright, flashing lights. Doesn't have have external ears? Doesn't help us..." Kael snapped his fingers. "Ultrasonic drills! The mines used high-frequency drills to powder the silica for processing. He might not hear them turned on. Nasty surprise?" Kael and Snowflake starting spouting ideas in a rush of formulating a plan to lure it into the mines and attacking it when it was disoriented by lights with the drills. Dokka said with a smile, "You know...you two make a really cute couple! You're all ready finishing each others sentences!" Snowflake and Kael stared at each other and blushed. Snowflake had felt her heart flutter, looking at this tall, gangly human. ["wow...he's cute..."] Suddenly Snowflake realized it had come from HIM. She focused on HIM and raged, "ARE YOU BEING FUNNY? You said your species has no sense of humor! Doing women's voices now?" HE regarded her coldly. "No. I said nothing. The Scourge has no ability to lie like humans do always. You are malfunctioning." Snowflake said, "You are lying. DON'T FUCK WITH ME,I'M AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER! I KNOW lying when I see it! You're twisted up with something trying to get out! If it wasn't YOU who said it, and I didn't say it, WHO did? We're alone in my head... Aren't we?" [Communication terminated at source.] He was gone. almost gone, but held up until he was completely silent. She blinked. She continued looking her memory. HE returned in a moment. She said to HIM, "You've never seen these before. How we set up the ambush that killed you. I absorbed your mind. I didn't know the 'Sister of Ice' or 'Fifth of the Four Sisters' could do that OR borrow another Sister's power with her permission." "I never considered what I learned about forerunner species had in technology. You are some kind of 'Driftware' infecting my physical body, aren't you? I never considered one possibility...that you might not have been alone in YOUR head when I absorbed YOU?" For the first time, ever, she felt fear from HIM. He gave the equivalence of an expression of disgust and trying to not be engaged with her probing. She was just entertaining passing thoughts, not a real theory. When he reacted, she was shocked. HIS mind had become opaque as a mirror as she kept probing. The 'language' of his 'animus' or 'spirit' eluded her. As a Naturally Intelligent machine-life Cyclops, this really frustrated her. HE was a virus, that kept trying to take her over, but she couldn't get rid of HIM. He said, "You have no more time. Recovery units are in route to this place. You will die, and my mind will be reembodied in a new body." She felt the truth of this statement and felt her own fear swell in herself. --TO BE CONTINUED!--