Tiki Gwana crept back towards them both, Varseech shot him a sharp look, but the young warrior signalled with a quick flick of his nictitating membrane and the older reptile relaxed. The proud Squamata warrior sized up Hilary who swallowed and steeled herself for the likely sequal to the last attempt to kill her. For the first time she noticed something about the other Squamati in the room. They were all in identical frozen postures standing impossibly still. "Why are they like statues?" she asked. As if to contradict her one of the reptiles blinked and yawned. Hilary froze, the lanky reptile- Tiki- was changing hue to a lighter shade of green. So it was amusing him- well that was a start... "They are resting," explained Tiki and Hilary remembered she was dealing with reptiles. "We do not waste our energy as you creatures do!" "I see, " said Hilary, as much surprised the giant squamata had not sunk its teeth into her neck as by the sight of reptilian life forms in standby mode. "One thing has been puzzling me- how come I can now understand you so well? I needed a machine to translate for me when we last met- I don't have that machine now." Tiki frowned deeply and looked towards his Dreamsayer-Varseech who fielded this answer; "You have connected with us in the Soul Scape, you have become part of our Gestalt- and as such our minds are now in concert," his rich voice soaked through her bones and Hilary wondered what the raw noises this creature made were really like. "H'mm a telepathic link then?" asked Hilary. "As you say- minds in concert," replied the Squamata. Voriston considered this as she watched the company's armed thugs guarding the corridor. They were on one of the colony ships no doubt. the same behemoths she had observed in orbit when she came back from Aroidax. "If we're going to make our move we need to do it soon," she said. The two reptiles looked at her and blinked confusion, Hilary sighed. "You do want to escape I take it?" Story (C) 2016 Andrew Panero