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answer properly, no speaking.” \n\nDikidiki in Shona. I vockel in Albanian. Nho Be in Vietnamese. Kixhkina in Uzbek. Miniatur in Azerbaijani. Maneheyki in Belarusian. Sicusan in Bosnian. Minuscul in Catalan. Tingonotingono in Chichewa. Kpnxithnn in Ukrainian. Minik in Turkish. Manaark in Tajik. Mycket liten in Swedish. Leutik pisan in Sundanese. Minusculo in Spanish. Malicky in Slovak. \n\nI tapped twice. \n\nPetricaghju in Corsican. Sicusan in Croatian. Drobny in Czech. Lille Bitte in Danish. Klein in Dutch. Eta in Esperanto. Pisieke in Estonian. Maliit na maliit in Filipino. Pikkuruinen in Finnish. Sehr Klein in German. Mikpookottikos in Greek. Laitiiti lava in Samoan. Malutki in Polish. \n\nTiny …\n\nWhy were these creatures so tiny. The fact my hands alone become a weapon on this planet was distressing enough, even worse that there were Gesshru who had no qualms against using humanity against their enemies. If they were just a bit bigger I wouldn’t have to worry about stepping on them, it would take more than a clench of my fist to end them, and it would … \n\n“If I escape this room then can I run directly to freedom?” \n\nMy fingers over the tile floor, a quick two taps for no. It would be a bit less important to resist being annoyed at them when they treated me like an animal. I could tell he was still not pleased with the fact I personally destroyed his city, but that didn’t make tone any better. This guy was like talking to an internet troll, hard to tell what he was serious about and what was just false bravado. \n\n“Can’t just rush free. Outside the door is it just one layer of defense?” he looks more questioning than frustrated. \n\nI tap twice. \n\n“Ugh, is it two layers of defense then?” \n\nI tap once with a single eyebrow raised. \n\n“Perfect, so it’s probably another door and a wall then. I need to make sure that whatever plan I end up with accounts for that.” \n\nI tap once. \n\n“Rusted core you really do understand every word I’m saying, don’t you.” \n\nI tap once, cheeks puffing out in annoyance. \n\n“How about we test this then, you remember me don’t you?”\n\nI tap twice. There was a guess based on the fact he said roof, and a bit from his age, but I didn’t recognize him at all.\n\n“Of course you recog- … HEY! We’ve gone over this you rust spot, from the roof remember. You were there!” \n\nThe response I offered was no taps at all, my finger poised and ready but not actually pressing down. This was like playing with a touch screen computer, a slightly more advanced game of twenty questions than what Orchi had come up with. Interesting that it was the survivors of a town I destroyed who seemed to devise simple communications so quickly. The child I can understand, but what’s his motivation?\n\n“Standing on the spire. I shot you right in the face and waved you up to me. That was ME, got it? Big dumb idiot that you are walked right where you were supposed to and got pasted by a siege cannon because of it.” The little guy actually sounded angry. \n\n“It was Tasgal who fell for your traps, he’s not hard to fool.” So this was a man whom I almost split in half, a man willing to use himself as bait to try and protect others. For a noble cause perhaps, or maybe he was just too arrogant to realize what danger he was in. \n\n“NO! Bad, use the code. Stop with that howling screech you worthless moron, we’ve been over this and I know you can figure this out.” \n\nA roll of my eyes. I tap once. When I last saw him this man was a red smear in the dirt, Tasgal used my arms to throw him at their siege weapon. Slingshot of course. Far cry from the ‘cannon’ his vernacular described it as. He must have lived through it, I know Gesshru heal faster than humans, even modified ones, but he must have been down for a while. Interesting. \n\nThat must also explain why he was captured, too injured to run away and then contained within a wrapper for the duration of his rest. Either that or he was just durable enough to walk it off, tiny things don’t have to fear falling from great heights as much as larger things. And to be fair the mechanical awkwardness of Tasgal swinging my arm might have lessened the blow somewhat. \n\n“Pfteh.” He clicks his teeth in the rough equivalent of a snort. “I don’t know what that kid saw in you, but she was right about one thing. Without the pilot inside you’re as docile as a seed.” \n\nAn eyebrow raised at that. \n\nMy first reaction would normally have been to cup my palm over him and establish, if not dominance, at least respect. Perhaps a healthy dose of fear. But then I realized this man wasn’t afraid of me. \n\nThis man fought me, head on, almost died and yet was still willing to call out a re-match. If getting tossed across the city wasn’t enough to make him afraid then simply petting him wasn’t going to either. \n\nI didn’t want him to be afraid. \n\nNervous terrified little rodent things were annoying and painful, it always hurt to see the terror in their eyes and know it was justified. Loren’s advice. Let them think you are calm, allow the captors to assume you are no threat. If he thinks I’m docile then the plan is working. After a long few moments to think and a nervous gulp at the implications …\n\nI tap once.\n\n“Must be really well trained then.” \n\nI tap twice with no hesitation. \n\n“Oh really now, so if I were to open that door up you’d go on a neat little rampage?” \n\nI tap once. \n\nIt was a lie perhaps, my goal would have been to escape and come back later with an actual plan, not take on an entire army specifically trained to restrain humans with weapons designed to remove a human from combat in non-lethal ways. I’d just be taken down and captured again if I didn’t have some way to counter their expectations. But if he could open those doors and I allowed him to think that doing so was a good idea, all the better. It’s not like I’d just leave him behind if he was in trouble. \n\n“Then that’s our first order of business. Max unit! Take me to the door control panel, I’ve got some hacking to do.” \n\nIncredulous disbelieve was palpable on my face. Rising to my feet and allowing the shadow of my bulk to overtake his miniscule form. The man really was over twice the size of that child, he’d struggle to fit inside my mouth if things came down to that. I couldn’t help but imagine trying to smuggle him out of this room the same way, and hope he could open the doors from outside. \n\nA step. Careful and planned, making sure to grant this bold rodent a wide birth lest he surprise me with some foolhardy movement. Another few steps, leaving him at my back as I go toward the doorway. There were still the faint outline of a dent where my fists have collided, not from any one solid blow but rather the repeated smashing I delivered over the years. \n\n“H-hey, wai … WAIT you overgrown cupcake, I can’t move that fast!” Jace shouts upon realizing I wasn’t going to carry him. \n\nI wait patiently until he’s back up to my feet, sitting down into a cross-legged stance and tapping my finger against the off-white block of squares set at Gesshru height. It was designed, to their best efforts, to be camouflaged to human senses. Didn’t work quite as intended, but they did know to make the buttons smaller than my fingernails, and set into the wall so that I would require a needle or other long device to get through. \n\n“Huh, so just press these and the door opens?” \n\nI tap twice. \n\n“Well then what, it’s a button. If you don’t press a button then what do you do with it.” \n\nAnother roll of my eyes, I stagger up to my feet and scamper away. Not to avoid him, as the annoyed cries of the rodent indicate he might have assumed, but to grab my food bowl. Easy to pluck it off the ground and carry it over to the door. A pointed glare is offered to Jace, to which he responds by lashing his tail back and forth and folding his arms together. Horns pointed directly at me in a show of aggression. \n\n“No I don’t want your stupid food. If you aren’t going to help then just get back to bed.” \n\nA loud clatter as I place the food down, dip my finger into the grey nutriment paste, and then start to smear it along the tile floor. These were clean tiles after all, clear and white and easy to leave a mark in. My finger swiping across in deft strokes as I draw out the outline of that control panel as best as I could see it. \n\nA rectangle. Multiple circles inside. A few square blocks. \n\n“Rusted core!” he shouts upon catching on. “Okay-okay I want the stupid food, I take it all back. You’re trying to show me the buttons to press, right?” \n\nI tap once. \n\n“Good, now do you know what order I’m supposed to press them in? If you have the code we can press it right now.” \n\nI tap twice.\n \n“Core … then forget the rusted panel, draw me a layout of this military base. As best as you can, try to make the image smaller so I can see it from ground level while I work on trying to hack.” \n\nI tap once, using the hand that wasn’t coated in mushy food grime. But while I set about drawing the square within a square of the base he was trying to gnaw his way through the ceramic outer covering to tear at the wires inside. Not having the best of luck, after all this room was designed to hold in naked Gesshru as well as unbound humans. And none of the other prisoners managed to escape that way. \n\nThere was one short-lived attempt to get through by chewing off toenail clippings and inserting them into those deep recesses to press the buttons, but that only worked once and I didn’t get even as far as the end of the hallway before a panicking soldier put me in lockdown. Ever since they’ve not only changed the code, but keep changing it. Making sure to not give me enough time to memorize.\n\nIf poor Jace had arrived earlier I might have just opened the door right up for him, but three years of failure is hard to live down. \n\n“Hrm, this isn’t working.” He said after the longest time, at one point literally bashing his head against the walls. He was perfectly interested in my own artistic endeavors, but floor planning and fine art in the medium of finger-painting with space food wasn’t exactly my area of expertise. \n\nI tapped once. \n\n“You really aren’t good with a quill, even Orchi was a better artist than this. Chrrr, guess it’s to be expected when dealing with animals. Let’s see what we have here, first the open hallway and then into a large room. Anything important in that room?” \n\nI tap once. There was the control tower, various office buildings, the loading docks, the mechanic’s workshop, it’s where they worked with plastic molding and where our armored suits were fitted on. And of course it lead right to the main door. Jace seemed to be hopping his way over the smeared lines of food trying to take in where every wall and door was. \n\n“Long hallway, the actual Gashn are outside the huge building here. Secondary wall surrounding the whole compound with only one gate. Can you jump the second one?” \n\nI tap twice, then once. Jace frowns. \n\n“Is it yes, or is it a no? I need a straight answer here.” \n\nI tap once, then tap twice. The truth was that I couldn’t jump the fence, certainly not easily, but I could climb over it. There was barbed wire and live soldiers, I’d have to deal with needle throwers and jabbing spears and whatever else they could throw. A small chance of electrified fencing exists, but I can’t remember if that was still operational or not. They’ve discontinued electrical weapons testing as ineffective in the past, and it’s been ages since I managed to reach the fence itself.\n\n“Guh, leave it to an animal to fail at a basic question. Ignoring the outer wall then I’ll find a way around myself. Hrmm …” \n\nA roll of my eyes at Jace’s assertion, pulling my stained finger up to lick away the food. He really didn’t like me talking, but then he did have a better alternative from the perspective of his tiny little ears. And he was among the first two who recognized I was talking at all. \n\n“These smaller doors in the hallway here, those are to … more holding cells. That’s where all the other Max units are kept, right?” annoying, but astute. \n\nI tapped once. A bit curious to whether or not he’d have the capacity to handle what he was obviously about to suggest. Open the cages of all the other humans and try to sneak them out, you’d just make it easier for the Gashn to set them in lockdown and someone or other climb into the cockpit. Then suddenly you are fighting a human, perhaps multiple humans, all while struggling to escape the army of angry mice and their tiny plastic needles. \n\nDo so while naked and it might actually hurt, even without their siege weapons throwing rocks at my face. \n\n“If I tried to free them, would they side with the Gashn?” \n\nEyes flared, my nose wrinkled. There were so many curse words I could have shouted in so very many different languages to affirm the raw strength of my negative assertation to the very idea of his question. With the fury and energy of an enraged berserker …\n\nI tapped twice. \n\nJust didn’t have the same level of urgency or emotion behind it, even if I could tell his knees shook and his horns were aching just from the impact of my finger on this tile floor. \n\n“That is worth remembering, you Max units aren’t loyal to your pilots?” \n\nI tap twice. \n\nTechnically this wasn’t true, there are good pilots. They exist, they keep popping up, and I’m certain a number of my crew has at least one Gesshru they’d try to save for personal reasons. But the good pilots keep dying to be replaced by increasingly terrible ones, both those who are bad people in general and those who are utter failures at piloting our bodies. \n\n“What would happen if say, all of you were freed? Would you Max units be willing to join the Cavni Federation?” \n\nThat gave me pause. We didn’t know much about the Cavni before we set down, they were a competing band of tribes united only in their combined defense against the Gashn, with nothing else in common. A loose band of what were once primitive communities all scrambling to catch up with the technological might of the most powerful empire on this planet. We didn’t ignore them, Earth would have gone and greeted each tribe as merit required just in the sake of study.\n\nBut we never got the chance to. Meeting with the Gashn leadership was our first and last foray into Gesshru politics, and now it’s been generations since the Cavni we once studied. Cut off from any notable changes and only catching onto the snippets we hear from soldiers or pilots, how would the Federation treat us? Would we just be changing one side of brutality for another, and continue in a bloodsoaked war? \n\nI tap once. Then I tap twice. \n\nThis question was too nuanced and too difficult, with the answer being maybe. \n\n“Again with the three taps, argh! Why do you do this! It’s a simple question with a simple answer, are you going to side with the evil Gashn or the good Cavni. The terrible tyrant murderers who eat babies and feed on souls, or the band of freedom fighters serving as the last bastion against an oppressive military doctrine.” \n\nThere was no possible way a simple yes or no answer could account for that, he didn’t even phrase it the right way. \n\nI tapped once, then I tapped twice, a bit faster than I normally do and waving my other hand at him like I expected something. \n\n“Fine, be that way. I’ll torch that leaf when we get to it.” Some rough equivalent of a colloquial saying. “How about this, if you Max units are broken out of these cages, will you attack the Cavni at all?” \n\nWith a resounding yes I tapped twice. It was all I could do to keep from slapping the floor, I wanted out of this fight and away from the conflict. As much as I wish it didn’t happen at all, at this point I was more than willing to settle for just being free of it, to not let the blood be on my very own hands. To eat something other than rat corpses and day old slime. \n\n“Great relief then, makes at least one decision easier.” \n\nI found it weird that he somehow believed he was in any position to make profound decisions of any sort. But he was fully aware that under no circumstances would I simply end him here, and he believed he was going to escape somehow. Interesting. \n\nHe breathed deeply, a longing glance at the door controls before he takes off and scampers along the walls. Naked form just as lithe and supple and fuzzy as one might expect of a fit soldier, if not nearly as effeminate as that one leader. He put his ear to the walls and tried to listen to what was going on outside. No, more than that. He was looking at the floor for cracks. \n\nI stood up, put my food bowl back within range of the feeding tube, and laid back down. If that tube couldn’t reach then they’d paralyze me again and hook in a pilot just to put the food back in place. An annoying habit I’ve had to deal with. \n\n“Heh, wonder what the guys back at Scando would say if they saw me here.” He muses, running along the corners and feeling over the walls.\n\nI tap once. It was a worthy consideration. \n\n“That wasn’t a question dummy, but I mean here and with this chance. Orchi’s the first one who ever got to see how you things think, and here I am discovering they’re so poorly trained they don’t want to fight anything.” \n\nThat sentiment garnered a frown. I started to speak in English with a bit of an annoyed huff, but he cuts me off. \n\n“Fine, fine! Don’t screech at me, how about I say moral instead. Its not that the idiots couldn’t train you properly, its because you are far too morally upstanding to ever consider working for the Gashn. Even animals know how evil they are.” \n\nUgh … \n\nWas he trying to get on my nerves or is that what he actually thought? I wrap the edges of my blanket over my shoulders and stare at him. To answer him I take my palm and hold it up, all five fingers extended and waving at him. He pauses to look at it, his horns pulling back when each of my digits curl one by one into a tighly clenched fist. \n\nSlam. \n\nFist into the tile, the loud smack reverberating through my room. But I’d only tapped once. This was just a very threatening yes from my part.\n\nJace seems to be trying to ignore this now. \n\n“Hrmm, now this is interesting. Why is this room so clean?” \n\nYep, he was most certainly ignoring me, a palm around his chin and whiskers to the walls. He didn’t find a single useful crack save the feeding tubes, and unlike countless other people didn’t assume the tubes would somehow be his salvation. As if crawling up into a food container was preferable to being in the open blank room. The rodent was thinking of something though. \n\n“Okay, asking again. Do you know why the room is so clean?” \n\nI tap once. \n\n“Is it because of cleaning crew coming in?”\n\nAnother single tap, I cock my head to one side a bit suspicious of his plan. Make a mess and hope people crawl in, sure that could work. Except I’d be paralyzed for the duration and he’d just be killed on sight if he made too much trouble. Needle throwers on an unarmored Gesshru were like rifle shots, that rubber band flinging a sharp plastic stick were slightly more lethal than being shot by an arrow. At least to the standards of these indigenous life forms. \n\nHe’d be torn apart if he tried to take on this entire base while naked, nor would he be the first to have attempted such. \n\n“So that means when people see your little layout of the base they’re going to start cleaning it up. More than that, this crew is going to recognize it’s blueprints for the base and start to be a bit more cautious about you and your little snackfood. Might even take me out prematurely so I can’t help you break free and go rampage around at them.” \n\nShit … \n\nI didn’t even think of the blueprint idea. Immediately I was up on my feet and scrambling over to where I’d drawn out this little map in finger painting. Using the nutriment paste like a half dried smear, I wiped my open palm over the center and edges. Smudging it away until the map was little more than a disjointed strain on the ground with no real resemblance to anything in the lines. \n\n“Haha, wow you are smarter than you look I guess. I think we can use this, next time someone com- …” \n\nThe walls start to click. My body stiffens. Even with that greasy smear in my palm there wasn’t much I could do. \n\n“J-ggnh aah! Hiding. Rusted core are they coming in now? Nnrgh …” he runs bolt-right toward my food bowl. \n\nI was already in this involuntary process of folding my knees into my chest. Planting my head down on the floor in a prostrate kneel, the smeared and stained hand extending out to form that ramp. Facedown in the stain of my own food, breathing heavily while right next to the door itself. I could see a crack opening up. \n\nThis was sloppy … \n\n“Coooooore!” the little Jace whispers when scrambling behind the rounded corner of that literal doggybowl style dish, making sure the food was between him and the door. I couldn’t see him either, but his muttered cursing made it easy to tell where he went. This left me a bit glad he didn’t opt to dive right in under the hopes no one would look for a live Gesshru there, because despite being much taller than Orchi there was still no possible way for him to climb out on his own once he’s fallen in. \n\nNormally they paralyze me for a lot longer than this, this door shouldn’t be opening until long after I was on the ground. Some emergency perhaps? Or maybe they really did just want to clean up the mess before anything dried on and was hard to scrape off. Tiny little mouse hands don’t make for the most effective cleaning tools after all, and they did enjoy keeping the room spotless.\n\n “Sir, I’m telling you it’s nothing to worry about.” A nervous little voice clicked and chiped, followed by a very familiar one. \n\n“A full battalion of Cavni? Nothing to worry about?” Tasgal Flits, his voice and one other just on the opposite side of this door. Whirs and grinding when the mechanical gears start to pull it up, sliding into the roof. \n\nI was right in the way of course. \n\n“ Sir, I must reiterate that you are on probation until the injuries to your Max are fully healed. There is no need to deploy a Max so far south, especially during this time of year, and if we did send a Max it would not be you.” \n\nThey were right next to me, right there … in the doorway. Just in front of my hand, Tasgal was already starting to climb on. I couldn’t tell what expression his face might have offered, but the feel of his feet squishing into the paste on my palm wasn’t pleasant for either of us. Couldn’t turn my head, impossible to see who was doing what. Eyes locked strait down as usual.\n\n“Did you see my schedule?” \n\n“Well, yes. And you are very specifically slotted for other non-combat duties, there are free Max units who can fill the role of a battlefield spearhead or siege unit. \n\n“Look closer rust spot, maneater here is slotted for a full lobotomy.” Tasgal talking as if he were the smartest person in the room and having to explain simple concepts to an infant. \n\n“Because you demanded it!” the other voice fumed. \n\n“And every single one of you wimpy science types keeps telling me there’s a chance this Max dies, got that? Huge army coming along, this Max is free until next week, and if we don’t use it for something we might never get the chance to use it at all.” \n\n“Sir, as the assistant floor manage to Ontal base- …” \n\n“You will stow whatever dumb whining you have to offer and hold that door for me.” \n\nThe sensation of Tasgal on my arm, crawling up the length of my shoulder. His wet, sticky feet tracking paste all the way up my arm. But then an odd sensation, something I hadn’t really felt before. \n\nClinging, crawling, the pull of tiny claws scrambling to find purchase over the thin hairs on my shoulder. A foot tickling into the crook of my other arm, a second Gesshru making his way up the opposite side. \n\n“I am going to handle this door with open objections, sir.” The nervous little mouse padding away and starting into working those tiny little controls from the outside. \n\nJace …\n\nHe was racing Tasgal up the far side of my arm, trying to leap and claw his way up while my pilot simply had to walk a slight ramp. The competing sensations of a nude body rubbing over bare skin, warm fur against the exposed arms and his miniscule weight bracing against my elbow. The squish and plop of Tasgal approaching my shoulders, reaching up to my neck. \n\n“Ugh, again failing to turn the helmet on. I can’t believe how lax you guys are being.” The click. The whir and snaps as my collar expands, long sheets of plastic once more wrapping around my head. \n\nJace was climbing, racing. I was in just the right position to hide him from view, no one else was looking and my pilot was too distracted to notice. The prisoner getting into position to do … what … what was his plan? Oh please if nothing else let him kill Tasgal. \n\n“We haven’t repaired the helmet yet, you’ve snapped it since the last time and there are still holes in the control panel!” \n\n“Shoddy work from you engineer bunch, why haven’t you been written up then.” Tasgal waiting patiently. Unaware of the naked soldier sneaking up behind him, crawling onto my shoulders himself. \n\nBy the time my helmet had unfolded completely and half my vision was the shattered points of a visor around my face, Tasgal works the correct sequence of buttons to open my panel up. Exposed, ready to crawl in. \n\n“We got those rusted spears out, what more do you want!” I heard the shout from behind the corner, with some mumbled angry growling that would reasonably have been too low for another Gesshru to hear at this distance. Human senses outpaced them so completely in every regard. And the nervous little mouse wasn’t as nervous after all of these insults. \n\nThis was the moment Jace struck. \n\nI could feel the leap, feel the run-up, and feel as each tiny form embraces into the other with the dance of combat. Only able to tell when feet were pressing on my shoulders and making intuitive guesses as to what was actually happening. Dead silence from either combatant. \n\nStill paralyzed …\n\nStill helpless …\n\nStill … \n\nAnd all of my hopes in this moment rested on that annoying little soldier who flicked me in the face with a needle. While the only assistance I could offer him were dreams and wishes. \n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "
My name is Freya Savitri, and I am finally able to play twenty questions with someone tiny enough to fit in my palm.

“Max unit, have you eaten any souls.” It wasn’t a question. “And answer properly, no speaking.”

Dikidiki in Shona. I vockel in Albanian. Nho Be in Vietnamese. Kixhkina in Uzbek. Miniatur in Azerbaijani. Maneheyki in Belarusian. Sicusan in Bosnian. Minuscul in Catalan. Tingonotingono in Chichewa. Kpnxithnn in Ukrainian. Minik in Turkish. Manaark in Tajik. Mycket liten in Swedish. Leutik pisan in Sundanese. Minusculo in Spanish. Malicky in Slovak.

I tapped twice.

Petricaghju in Corsican. Sicusan in Croatian. Drobny in Czech. Lille Bitte in Danish. Klein in Dutch. Eta in Esperanto. Pisieke in Estonian. Maliit na maliit in Filipino. Pikkuruinen in Finnish. Sehr Klein in German. Mikpookottikos in Greek. Laitiiti lava in Samoan. Malutki in Polish.

Tiny …

Why were these creatures so tiny. The fact my hands alone become a weapon on this planet was distressing enough, even worse that there were Gesshru who had no qualms against using humanity against their enemies. If they were just a bit bigger I wouldn’t have to worry about stepping on them, it would take more than a clench of my fist to end them, and it would …

“If I escape this room then can I run directly to freedom?”

My fingers over the tile floor, a quick two taps for no. It would be a bit less important to resist being annoyed at them when they treated me like an animal. I could tell he was still not pleased with the fact I personally destroyed his city, but that didn’t make tone any better. This guy was like talking to an internet troll, hard to tell what he was serious about and what was just false bravado.

“Can’t just rush free. Outside the door is it just one layer of defense?” he looks more questioning than frustrated.

I tap twice.

“Ugh, is it two layers of defense then?”

I tap once with a single eyebrow raised.

“Perfect, so it’s probably another door and a wall then. I need to make sure that whatever plan I end up with accounts for that.”

I tap once.

“Rusted core you really do understand every word I’m saying, don’t you.”

I tap once, cheeks puffing out in annoyance.

“How about we test this then, you remember me don’t you?”

I tap twice. There was a guess based on the fact he said roof, and a bit from his age, but I didn’t recognize him at all.

“Of course you recog- … HEY! We’ve gone over this you rust spot, from the roof remember. You were there!”

The response I offered was no taps at all, my finger poised and ready but not actually pressing down. This was like playing with a touch screen computer, a slightly more advanced game of twenty questions than what Orchi had come up with. Interesting that it was the survivors of a town I destroyed who seemed to devise simple communications so quickly. The child I can understand, but what’s his motivation?

“Standing on the spire. I shot you right in the face and waved you up to me. That was ME, got it? Big dumb idiot that you are walked right where you were supposed to and got pasted by a siege cannon because of it.” The little guy actually sounded angry.

“It was Tasgal who fell for your traps, he’s not hard to fool.” So this was a man whom I almost split in half, a man willing to use himself as bait to try and protect others. For a noble cause perhaps, or maybe he was just too arrogant to realize what danger he was in.

“NO! Bad, use the code. Stop with that howling screech you worthless moron, we’ve been over this and I know you can figure this out.”

A roll of my eyes. I tap once. When I last saw him this man was a red smear in the dirt, Tasgal used my arms to throw him at their siege weapon. Slingshot of course. Far cry from the ‘cannon’ his vernacular described it as. He must have lived through it, I know Gesshru heal faster than humans, even modified ones, but he must have been down for a while. Interesting.

That must also explain why he was captured, too injured to run away and then contained within a wrapper for the duration of his rest. Either that or he was just durable enough to walk it off, tiny things don’t have to fear falling from great heights as much as larger things. And to be fair the mechanical awkwardness of Tasgal swinging my arm might have lessened the blow somewhat.

“Pfteh.” He clicks his teeth in the rough equivalent of a snort. “I don’t know what that kid saw in you, but she was right about one thing. Without the pilot inside you’re as docile as a seed.”

An eyebrow raised at that.

My first reaction would normally have been to cup my palm over him and establish, if not dominance, at least respect. Perhaps a healthy dose of fear. But then I realized this man wasn’t afraid of me.

This man fought me, head on, almost died and yet was still willing to call out a re-match. If getting tossed across the city wasn’t enough to make him afraid then simply petting him wasn’t going to either.

I didn’t want him to be afraid.

Nervous terrified little rodent things were annoying and painful, it always hurt to see the terror in their eyes and know it was justified. Loren’s advice. Let them think you are calm, allow the captors to assume you are no threat. If he thinks I’m docile then the plan is working. After a long few moments to think and a nervous gulp at the implications …

I tap once.

“Must be really well trained then.”

I tap twice with no hesitation.

“Oh really now, so if I were to open that door up you’d go on a neat little rampage?”

I tap once.

It was a lie perhaps, my goal would have been to escape and come back later with an actual plan, not take on an entire army specifically trained to restrain humans with weapons designed to remove a human from combat in non-lethal ways. I’d just be taken down and captured again if I didn’t have some way to counter their expectations. But if he could open those doors and I allowed him to think that doing so was a good idea, all the better. It’s not like I’d just leave him behind if he was in trouble.

“Then that’s our first order of business. Max unit! Take me to the door control panel, I’ve got some hacking to do.”

Incredulous disbelieve was palpable on my face. Rising to my feet and allowing the shadow of my bulk to overtake his miniscule form. The man really was over twice the size of that child, he’d struggle to fit inside my mouth if things came down to that. I couldn’t help but imagine trying to smuggle him out of this room the same way, and hope he could open the doors from outside.

A step. Careful and planned, making sure to grant this bold rodent a wide birth lest he surprise me with some foolhardy movement. Another few steps, leaving him at my back as I go toward the doorway. There were still the faint outline of a dent where my fists have collided, not from any one solid blow but rather the repeated smashing I delivered over the years.

“H-hey, wai … WAIT you overgrown cupcake, I can’t move that fast!” Jace shouts upon realizing I wasn’t going to carry him.

I wait patiently until he’s back up to my feet, sitting down into a cross-legged stance and tapping my finger against the off-white block of squares set at Gesshru height. It was designed, to their best efforts, to be camouflaged to human senses. Didn’t work quite as intended, but they did know to make the buttons smaller than my fingernails, and set into the wall so that I would require a needle or other long device to get through.

“Huh, so just press these and the door opens?”

I tap twice.

“Well then what, it’s a button. If you don’t press a button then what do you do with it.”

Another roll of my eyes, I stagger up to my feet and scamper away. Not to avoid him, as the annoyed cries of the rodent indicate he might have assumed, but to grab my food bowl. Easy to pluck it off the ground and carry it over to the door. A pointed glare is offered to Jace, to which he responds by lashing his tail back and forth and folding his arms together. Horns pointed directly at me in a show of aggression.

“No I don’t want your stupid food. If you aren’t going to help then just get back to bed.”

A loud clatter as I place the food down, dip my finger into the grey nutriment paste, and then start to smear it along the tile floor. These were clean tiles after all, clear and white and easy to leave a mark in. My finger swiping across in deft strokes as I draw out the outline of that control panel as best as I could see it.

A rectangle. Multiple circles inside. A few square blocks.

“Rusted core!” he shouts upon catching on. “Okay-okay I want the stupid food, I take it all back. You’re trying to show me the buttons to press, right?”

I tap once.

“Good, now do you know what order I’m supposed to press them in? If you have the code we can press it right now.”

I tap twice.
 
“Core … then forget the rusted panel, draw me a layout of this military base. As best as you can, try to make the image smaller so I can see it from ground level while I work on trying to hack.”

I tap once, using the hand that wasn’t coated in mushy food grime. But while I set about drawing the square within a square of the base he was trying to gnaw his way through the ceramic outer covering to tear at the wires inside. Not having the best of luck, after all this room was designed to hold in naked Gesshru as well as unbound humans. And none of the other prisoners managed to escape that way.

There was one short-lived attempt to get through by chewing off toenail clippings and inserting them into those deep recesses to press the buttons, but that only worked once and I didn’t get even as far as the end of the hallway before a panicking soldier put me in lockdown. Ever since they’ve not only changed the code, but keep changing it. Making sure to not give me enough time to memorize.

If poor Jace had arrived earlier I might have just opened the door right up for him, but three years of failure is hard to live down.

“Hrm, this isn’t working.” He said after the longest time, at one point literally bashing his head against the walls. He was perfectly interested in my own artistic endeavors, but floor planning and fine art in the medium of finger-painting with space food wasn’t exactly my area of expertise.

I tapped once.

“You really aren’t good with a quill, even Orchi was a better artist than this. Chrrr, guess it’s to be expected when dealing with animals. Let’s see what we have here, first the open hallway and then into a large room. Anything important in that room?”

I tap once. There was the control tower, various office buildings, the loading docks, the mechanic’s workshop, it’s where they worked with plastic molding and where our armored suits were fitted on. And of course it lead right to the main door. Jace seemed to be hopping his way over the smeared lines of food trying to take in where every wall and door was.

“Long hallway, the actual Gashn are outside the huge building here. Secondary wall surrounding the whole compound with only one gate. Can you jump the second one?”

I tap twice, then once. Jace frowns.

“Is it yes, or is it a no? I need a straight answer here.”

I tap once, then tap twice. The truth was that I couldn’t jump the fence, certainly not easily, but I could climb over it. There was barbed wire and live soldiers, I’d have to deal with needle throwers and jabbing spears and whatever else they could throw. A small chance of electrified fencing exists, but I can’t remember if that was still operational or not. They’ve discontinued electrical weapons testing as ineffective in the past, and it’s been ages since I managed to reach the fence itself.

“Guh, leave it to an animal to fail at a basic question. Ignoring the outer wall then I’ll find a way around myself. Hrmm …”

A roll of my eyes at Jace’s assertion, pulling my stained finger up to lick away the food. He really didn’t like me talking, but then he did have a better alternative from the perspective of his tiny little ears. And he was among the first two who recognized I was talking at all.

“These smaller doors in the hallway here, those are to … more holding cells. That’s where all the other Max units are kept, right?” annoying, but astute.

I tapped once. A bit curious to whether or not he’d have the capacity to handle what he was obviously about to suggest. Open the cages of all the other humans and try to sneak them out, you’d just make it easier for the Gashn to set them in lockdown and someone or other climb into the cockpit. Then suddenly you are fighting a human, perhaps multiple humans, all while struggling to escape the army of angry mice and their tiny plastic needles.

Do so while naked and it might actually hurt, even without their siege weapons throwing rocks at my face.  

“If I tried to free them, would they side with the Gashn?”

Eyes flared, my nose wrinkled. There were so many curse words I could have shouted in so very many different languages to affirm the raw strength of my negative assertation to the very idea of his question. With the fury and energy of an enraged berserker …

I tapped twice.

Just didn’t have the same level of urgency or emotion behind it, even if I could tell his knees shook and his horns were aching just from the impact of my finger on this tile floor.

“That is worth remembering, you Max units aren’t loyal to your pilots?”

I tap twice.

Technically this wasn’t true, there are good pilots. They exist, they keep popping up, and I’m certain a number of my crew has at least one Gesshru they’d try to save for personal reasons. But the good pilots keep dying to be replaced by increasingly terrible ones, both those who are bad people in general and those who are utter failures at piloting our bodies.

“What would happen if say, all of you were freed? Would you Max units be willing to join the Cavni Federation?”

That gave me pause. We didn’t know much about the Cavni before we set down, they were a competing band of tribes united only in their combined defense against the Gashn, with nothing else in common. A loose band of what were once primitive communities all scrambling to catch up with the technological might of the most powerful empire on this planet. We didn’t ignore them, Earth would have gone and greeted each tribe as merit required just in the sake of study.

But we never got the chance to. Meeting with the Gashn leadership was our first and last foray into Gesshru politics, and now it’s been generations since the Cavni we once studied. Cut off from any notable changes and only catching onto the snippets we hear from soldiers or pilots, how would the Federation treat us? Would we just be changing one side of brutality for another, and continue in a bloodsoaked war?

I tap once. Then I tap twice.

This question was too nuanced and too difficult, with the answer being maybe.

“Again with the three taps, argh! Why do you do this! It’s a simple question with a simple answer, are you going to side with the evil Gashn or the good Cavni. The terrible tyrant murderers who eat babies and feed on souls, or the band of freedom fighters serving as the last bastion against an oppressive military doctrine.”

There was no possible way a simple yes or no answer could account for that, he didn’t even phrase it the right way.

I tapped once, then I tapped twice, a bit faster than I normally do and waving my other hand at him like I expected something.

“Fine, be that way. I’ll torch that leaf when we get to it.” Some rough equivalent of a colloquial saying. “How about this, if you Max units are broken out of these cages, will you attack the Cavni at all?”

With a resounding yes I tapped twice. It was all I could do to keep from slapping the floor, I wanted out of this fight and away from the conflict. As much as I wish it didn’t happen at all, at this point I was more than willing to settle for just being free of it, to not let the blood be on my very own hands. To eat something other than rat corpses and day old slime.

“Great relief then, makes at least one decision easier.”

I found it weird that he somehow believed he was in any position to make profound decisions of any sort. But he was fully aware that under no circumstances would I simply end him here, and he believed he was going to escape somehow. Interesting.

He breathed deeply, a longing glance at the door controls before he takes off and scampers along the walls. Naked form just as lithe and supple and fuzzy as one might expect of a fit soldier, if not nearly as effeminate as that one leader. He put his ear to the walls and tried to listen to what was going on outside. No, more than that. He was looking at the floor for cracks.

I stood up, put my food bowl back within range of the feeding tube, and laid back down. If that tube couldn’t reach then they’d paralyze me again and hook in a pilot just to put the food back in place. An annoying habit I’ve had to deal with.

“Heh, wonder what the guys back at Scando would say if they saw me here.” He muses, running along the corners and feeling over the walls.

I tap once. It was a worthy consideration.

“That wasn’t a question dummy, but I mean here and with this chance. Orchi’s the first one who ever got to see how you things think, and here I am discovering they’re so poorly trained they don’t want to fight anything.”

That sentiment garnered a frown. I started to speak in English with a bit of an annoyed huff, but he cuts me off.

“Fine, fine! Don’t screech at me, how about I say moral instead. Its not that the idiots couldn’t train you properly, its because you are far too morally upstanding to ever consider working for the Gashn. Even animals know how evil they are.”

Ugh …

Was he trying to get on my nerves or is that what he actually thought? I wrap the edges of my blanket over my shoulders and stare at him. To answer him I take my palm and hold it up, all five fingers extended and waving at him. He pauses to look at it, his horns pulling back when each of my digits curl one by one into a tighly clenched fist.

Slam.

Fist into the tile, the loud smack reverberating through my room. But I’d only tapped once. This was just a very threatening yes from my part.

Jace seems to be trying to ignore this now.

“Hrmm, now this is interesting. Why is this room so clean?”

Yep, he was most certainly ignoring me, a palm around his chin and whiskers to the walls. He didn’t find a single useful crack save the feeding tubes, and unlike countless other people didn’t assume the tubes would somehow be his salvation. As if crawling up into a food container was preferable to being in the open blank room. The rodent was thinking of something though.

“Okay, asking again. Do you know why the room is so clean?”

I tap once.

“Is it because of cleaning crew coming in?”

Another single tap, I cock my head to one side a bit suspicious of his plan. Make a mess and hope people crawl in, sure that could work. Except I’d be paralyzed for the duration and he’d just be killed on sight if he made too much trouble. Needle throwers on an unarmored Gesshru were like rifle shots, that rubber band flinging a sharp plastic stick were slightly more lethal than being shot by an arrow. At least to the standards of these indigenous life forms.

He’d be torn apart if he tried to take on this entire base while naked, nor would he be the first to have attempted such.

“So that means when people see your little layout of the base they’re going to start cleaning it up. More than that, this crew is going to recognize it’s blueprints for the base and start to be a bit more cautious about you and your little snackfood. Might even take me out prematurely so I can’t help you break free and go rampage around at them.”

Shit …

I didn’t even think of the blueprint idea. Immediately I was up on my feet and scrambling over to where I’d drawn out this little map in finger painting. Using the nutriment paste like a half dried smear, I wiped my open palm over the center and edges. Smudging it away until the map was little more than a disjointed strain on the ground with no real resemblance to anything in the lines.

“Haha, wow you are smarter than you look I guess. I think we can use this, next time someone com- …”

The walls start to click. My body stiffens. Even with that greasy smear in my palm there wasn’t much I could do.

“J-ggnh aah! Hiding. Rusted core are they coming in now? Nnrgh …” he runs bolt-right toward my food bowl.

I was already in this involuntary process of folding my knees into my chest. Planting my head down on the floor in a prostrate kneel, the smeared and stained hand extending out to form that ramp. Facedown in the stain of my own food, breathing heavily while right next to the door itself. I could see a crack opening up.

This was sloppy …

“Coooooore!” the little Jace whispers when scrambling behind the rounded corner of that literal doggybowl style dish, making sure the food was between him and the door. I couldn’t see him either, but his muttered cursing made it easy to tell where he went. This left me a bit glad he didn’t opt to dive right in under the hopes no one would look for a live Gesshru there, because despite being much taller than Orchi there was still no possible way for him to climb out on his own once he’s fallen in.

Normally they paralyze me for a lot longer than this, this door shouldn’t be opening until long after I was on the ground. Some emergency perhaps? Or maybe they really did just want to clean up the mess before anything dried on and was hard to scrape off. Tiny little mouse hands don’t make for the most effective cleaning tools after all, and they did enjoy keeping the room spotless.

 “Sir, I’m telling you it’s nothing to worry about.” A nervous little voice clicked and chiped, followed by a very familiar one.

“A full battalion of Cavni? Nothing to worry about?” Tasgal Flits, his voice and one other just on the opposite side of this door. Whirs and grinding when the mechanical gears start to pull it up, sliding into the roof.

I was right in the way of course.

“ Sir, I must reiterate that you are on probation until the injuries to your Max are fully healed. There is no need to deploy a Max so far south, especially during this time of year, and if we did send a Max it would not be you.”

They were right next to me, right there … in the doorway. Just in front of my hand, Tasgal was already starting to climb on. I couldn’t tell what expression his face might have offered, but the feel of his feet squishing into the paste on my palm wasn’t pleasant for either of us. Couldn’t turn my head, impossible to see who was doing what. Eyes locked strait down as usual.

“Did you see my schedule?”

“Well, yes. And you are very specifically slotted for other non-combat duties, there are free Max units who can fill the role of a battlefield spearhead or siege unit.

“Look closer rust spot, maneater here is slotted for a full lobotomy.” Tasgal talking as if he were the smartest person in the room and having to explain simple concepts to an infant.

“Because you demanded it!” the other voice fumed.

“And every single one of you wimpy science types keeps telling me there’s a chance this Max dies, got that? Huge army coming along, this Max is free until next week, and if we don’t use it for something we might never get the chance to use it at all.”

“Sir, as the assistant floor manage to Ontal base- …”

“You will stow whatever dumb whining you have to offer and hold that door for me.”

The sensation of Tasgal on my arm, crawling up the length of my shoulder. His wet, sticky feet tracking paste all the way up my arm. But then an odd sensation, something I hadn’t really felt before.

Clinging, crawling, the pull of tiny claws scrambling to find purchase over the thin hairs on my shoulder. A foot tickling into the crook of my other arm, a second Gesshru making his way up the opposite side.

“I am going to handle this door with open objections, sir.” The nervous little mouse padding away and starting into working those tiny little controls from the outside.

Jace …

He was racing Tasgal up the far side of my arm, trying to leap and claw his way up while my pilot simply had to walk a slight ramp. The competing sensations of a nude body rubbing over bare skin, warm fur against the exposed arms and his miniscule weight bracing against my elbow. The squish and plop of Tasgal approaching my shoulders, reaching up to my neck.

“Ugh, again failing to turn the helmet on. I can’t believe how lax you guys are being.” The click. The whir and snaps as my collar expands, long sheets of plastic once more wrapping around my head.

Jace was climbing, racing. I was in just the right position to hide him from view, no one else was looking and my pilot was too distracted to notice. The prisoner getting into position to do … what … what was his plan? Oh please if nothing else let him kill Tasgal.

“We haven’t repaired the helmet yet, you’ve snapped it since the last time and there are still holes in the control panel!”

“Shoddy work from you engineer bunch, why haven’t you been written up then.” Tasgal waiting patiently. Unaware of the naked soldier sneaking up behind him, crawling onto my shoulders himself.

By the time my helmet had unfolded completely and half my vision was the shattered points of a visor around my face, Tasgal works the correct sequence of buttons to open my panel up. Exposed, ready to crawl in.

“We got those rusted spears out, what more do you want!” I heard the shout from behind the corner, with some mumbled angry growling that would reasonably have been too low for another Gesshru to hear at this distance. Human senses outpaced them so completely in every regard. And the nervous little mouse wasn’t as nervous after all of these insults.

This was the moment Jace struck.

I could feel the leap, feel the run-up, and feel as each tiny form embraces into the other with the dance of combat. Only able to tell when feet were pressing on my shoulders and making intuitive guesses as to what was actually happening. Dead silence from either combatant.

Still paralyzed …

Still helpless …

Still …

And all of my hopes in this moment rested on that annoying little soldier who flicked me in the face with a needle. While the only assistance I could offer him were dreams and wishes.

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