Fifteen

Dafyd dreams he is a Carryx navigating endless halls and, for the first time, speaks in their trilled tongue, breaking the nightmare. He wakes exhausted and isolated under Rak-hund guard, reflecting on duties, the hidden spy, looming nurseries, and the loss of ordinary human comforts.

In the commissary, Uuya Tomos brings Ver Cannedan with a proposal: send Ver, equipped with a translating half-mind, to observe Carryx nonverbal communication and translate it into human-readable signals and postures. Ver argues his movement expertise; Uuya frames it as essential to fill language’s gaps. Dafyd, recalling Ver’s past outburst that triggered stricter alien policing, doubts Ver’s reliability but agrees to consider it.

After Ver leaves, Uuya presses Dafyd, asserting that imperfect tools are all they have. She pointedly invokes Jellit, forcing Dafyd to confront his pattern of trust and conspiracy. Dafyd maintains that Ver is a dangerous risk but ultimately tells Uuya to use her judgment.

Instead of meeting a Sinen overseer, Dafyd visits the visualization lab, where Jellit and the team progress toward a device prototype. In a tense private exchange, Dafyd asks the Jellit-swarm if the work will aid the Carryx and, confessing his limits, requests its help in understanding what he cannot learn alone. The swarm agrees.

From the swarm’s POV, relief replaces fear; it had worried Dafyd discovered its secret transmissions. Voices within—Jellit, Else, Ameer—debate how to guide or “seduce” Dafyd back to collaboration. As work resumes, Else nurtures hope that this fragile rapprochement could restore their former closeness and possibly love.