Chapter Text
The door opened like a mouth unclenching teeth, and Swarin floated into the caging pod room with more than a little eagerness in his pace. Not long after, he found his goal. Exxus was in stasis in the holding pod, an Ulitharid like himself, the only other in the colony, almost identical but with purple skin that tended toward bluer tones.
With a simple interface with Swarin's tentacle, the unconsciousness faded, and a sharp gaze accompanied a mental wave of awareness.
“Swarin. I’m not surprised. Are you here to enjoy my suffering?” - Accusatory tones came in the mental question toward the mindflayer.
“Don’t be so dramatic. If you truly did something dire, you would have to be terminated already. This is barely a slap on the wrist.” - Swarin was diplomatic but did not disguise the joyful tones in his mental message.
“Still, it will ruin my experiments! I have goals to accomplish, and losing time in petty punishments will ruin my efforts!” - Urgency was clearly reinforced by the captive mindflayer.
“Maybe it's better this way.” - Swarin shot back.
“What!” - Exxus's exclamation held enough psychic energy to harm a weaker mindflayer.
“You see, now you can focus on the colony instead of going around chasing selfish goals.”
Exxus was appalled, wordless. The message from Swarin was crystal clear: bitter, mean, yet holding relief. Deeply angering, but somehow, a sliver of endearment gripped the captive’s mind much more than the bubbling anger.
“What’s on your mind, Exxus? Don’t I deserve a snarky comeback?”
Exxus exited the depths of his mind to look at Swarin, but movement at the border of his vision caught his attention.
“Look out!” - Urged the captive.
A fast reaction saved Swarin, who evaded a blue eel-like creature that lunged at him. As it missed, the creature, around the size of a large dog, glued itself to the organic wall with mucus and hissed back with a mouth built to devour brains.
“It’s a young neothelid. It resists psychic attacks. Release me!”
Exxus's demand was paired with a colony alert: images of a swarm of the worms attacking all over the base.
Swarin and Exxus's minds filled with anguish, both from the colony's shared mind and their own.
Swarin baited the creature and used telekinesis to fling it hard against the wall. It then fell motionless. Without commotion, he traded a gaze and mental ping with Exxus and released the pod.
“We have to rush to the elder—”
Swarin's thought was rudely interrupted by a violent telekinetic force, and before he found awareness, the pod locked him in.
Exxus was assaulted not by inquiries but by confused, angry mind sludge.
“You’re safer there. I will be back soon.” - Dry and honestly answered his betrayed equal.
Exxus, in the middle of angered assaults dampened by the pod, grabbed back his seized equipment set to save his colony.