Eleven

In the commissary, Tonner discusses with Jellit the Soft Lothark greeting where newcomers take quick bites from each other. Brun calls it vestigial grooming, but both men doubt it. Jellit recalls the guards eating a dead Soft Lothark during transport and wonders if oral processing and cannibalism reflect significant biology rather than mere grooming.

The talk turns personal: Jellit, rattled by a failed romantic approach, asks how Tonner copes with Else choosing Alkhor. Tonner offers little comfort, admitting lingering ambivalence. Tonner reflects on their precarious community and the demographic need the artificial gestation program aims to address.

Returning to the labs, Tonner inspects the “lamb sacks,” noting 118 developing embryos and 32 failures—acceptable biologically but unacceptable to him. Haunted by trauma and by memories of Else, he walks to the older lab, recalling the Night Drinkers’ extermination and Irinna’s death.

There, with Sommerson working and a new technician sterilizing plates, a Soft Lothark guard loiters. Tonner attempts a light touch, is shoved back, and is warned via the half-mind translator not to make physical contact. Seizing the moment, Tonner collects shed oils and fur from where the guard stood, loads the sample into the resonance imager, and begins a quiet analysis to probe the species’ biology.