The brothel that hid Thoth’s lair was now in sight, and To Vo quickened her pace. Or tried to. As time went on and they grew closer to their destination, focusing on her stride got harder and harder. She tried to suppress a cough and failed.

“Is something the matter, To Vo? Are you affected by a biological agent?”

Farsus had seen nothing suspicious, nor did he feel any negative effects, but his constitution was much hardier than To Vo’s. She would be affected by any aerosolized poisons first.

“No,” To Vo coughed. “No, I don’t think so. It just- it stinks.”

Farsus glanced at the brothel in which Thoth made his lair. The myriad perfumes used by the staff were nigh impossible to miss even from this distance. Farsus did not mind the thick aroma, but To Vo provably had a stronger sense of smell than him.

“There is no sign of danger,” Farsus said. “We may hold our ground a moment, or you can return to the ship.”

“No, no, I’ll be fine,” To Vo insisted. She kept moving forward even as tears started to well up in her eyes. The stench was overwhelming, but it was ultimately just a bad smell. To Vo would live. She continued to cough and gag as Farsus talked his way past the brothel’s proprietor and into the subterranean halls where Thoth made its lair. The smell of perfume began to dissipate as they proceeded deeper, but never quite vanished. In the depths it was even joined by a new, equally unpleasant smell. To Vo found it disturbing -and disturbingly familiar.

“I’ve smelled this before,” To Vo said. “Somewhere. I need to be here, I nee-”

To Vo paused for a short but intense fit of gagging. Farsus waited a moment to hear what she “needed” so badly, but To Vo La Su kept gagging beyond even the limits of his patience.

“Far be it from me to stop you if you are determined. Come then. The worm is waiting.”

To Vo followed along, but found it hard to focus on anything while being choked by the overpowering miasma. She didn’t even hear the first few questions Farsus asked. It was difficult to distract a creature with nigh-infinite sensory capacity, but To Vo’s condition managed to put Thoth off balance.

“My desire to see new species is not entirely overpowering,” Thoth noted. “The female’s presence is not necessary.”

“She claims she has some need to be here,” Farsus said. He took a quick look at To Vo doubled over, struggling to stay on her feet. “Though admittedly she is not following through on that determination.”

“Wait. I can-”

The sensory blossoms lining the walls tried to turn away from To Vo’s ensuing coughing fit, but they could only go so far.

“I apologize on her behalf,” Farsus said. “As I was saying: Do you know the location of Morrakesh’s center of operations?”

“No. The Morrakesh Collective is composed of thirteen subordinate galaxies. It is assumed, but not known, that Morrakesh originates from the Harapsis Spiral galaxy, but this does not imply his base of operations is located there.”

Farsus nodded along. Given what they had been through, it seemed more likely that Morrakesh conducted most of his business out of his ship anyway. Farsus only wanted to see if there was some other target they might focus on, or possibly even attack.

“Do you know if he has an immediate second-in-command?”

“Morrakesh often passes on orders through his majordomo, but all orders originate from him.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The Worm of Paga For was turning out to be remarkably unhelpful. Morrakesh, whoever he was, had hidden his tracks incredibly well. Even the expansive web of Thoth’s information network had managed to snare only the scantest details.

“Does he have a primary agent he trust to enact his orders?”

“No. One of our few intercepted communications shows a stated commitment to ‘diversification of resources’,” Thoth said. “Tactically, Morrakesh prefers to employ a variety of mercenaries. Or even manipulate others into doing his will unknowingly. A tactic you are well aware of.”

Farsus cringed. Oftentimes it felt like the entire universe was trying to kill the crew of the Hermit. They needed no reminders about Morrakesh’s powers of manipulation.

“Do you even have an inclination of what species Morrakesh is?”

“Statistically, it is likely he is Gentanian.”

A correct statement, by virtue of Gentanians being the most common species in the known universe. Other people might have gotten stabbed for that comment, but Farsus knew Thoth was sincere in his appraisal. He wasn’t sure the Worms were capable of sarcasm. To Vo, on the other hand, seemed far more incensed, as her coughing redouble, and she pointed at the core of Thoth’s branching body.

“Is something the matter, To Vo La Su?”

To Vo shook her head and pointed at Thoth’s core once again.

“Your companion has experienced a revelation,” Thoth said. Even amid the gagging fit and her sensory overload, Thoth could sense To Vo’s heightened brain activity. She had come to an important realization, though what exactly she had realized, not even Thoth could tell.

“It’s you,” To Vo coughed. “He’s you-”

She could not finish her sentence before another coughing fit wracked her body. Farsus did a quick double take between To Vo and Thoth. The sensory blossoms coating the walls recoiled on themselves.

“This is a bold and incorrect accusation,” Thoth protested. Its mechanical voice was impassive as ever, but Farsus noted hints of genuine offense in the way its sensory organs twitched and swayed.

“Not ‘you’,” To Vo said. “Like you.”

To Vo coughed one final time and stood up. Now that the sensory nodes were recoiling into the Worm’s root-like body, the overpowering stench was clearing, only furthering To Vo’s theory. She finally recognized that ungodly stench, and knew where she had last smelled it.

“Morrakesh is a Worm.”

In seconds, the pieces fell into place for Farsus as well. Morrakesh’s intellectual capabilities, its ability to evade Thoth’s attention, and even their ability to take thoughts from the minds of others. Morrakesh’s desire to maintain a diverse menagerie of slaves even overlapped with Thoth’s desire to catalog knowledge of every species.

“What do you know of this?”

“Nothing,” Thoth said. “Can you account for all members of your own species?”

“No, but do not act as if there is no distinction between our kinds,” Farsus said. “Worms are few, and even fewer have traveled off their homeworld. Do you truly know nothing?”

Thoth’s blossoms slowly unwound, prompting a new round of gagging from To Vo.

“Several traveling worms are unaccounted for,” Thoth admitted. “This theory is...plausible.”

Farsus gave To Vo a firm and congratulatory pat on the back, an act which nearly knocked one of her aching lungs right out of her chest.

“I would have thought it beyond even your capabilities to learn entire languages in the span of a swap,” Farsus said to the Worm. Thoth curiously extended his sensory flowers in Farsus’s direction.

“Such a thing is beyond my capabilities,” Thoth said. “I can ascertain names, phrases, anything with strongly associated muscle memory, but an entire language would be beyond even me.”

Farsus pondered the dilemma for a moment, but chalked it up to incomplete information.

“Perhaps there is some other means by which he seizes the knowledge,” Farsus said. “Or he has learned of something you have not. Either way, the theory remains sound, does it not?”

“It is possible,” Thoth said. “And...concerning.”

The momentary pause was a sign of intense concentration, coming from an entity with a mind as vast as the Hakkidian Worm’s.

“If true, Morrakesh is an aberration,” Thoth said. “One that must be culled.”

“I see value in outliers,” Farsus said. The entire crew were outliers in one way or another. “But in this instance, I agree. Can you help us?”

“I have provided you with all relevant information I can at this time,” Thoth said. “But I shall pursue new leads more aggressively.”

“It may be difficult for us to return,” Farsus said. “But I trust you will find a way to contact us.”

“I have my ways,” Thoth said. “At this current time, I have only one piece of information that may be relevant to you. Your crewmate Corey Vash is known as a ‘human’, yes?”

To Vo stopped gagging long enough to exchange a look of intense concern with Farsus.

“Yes. Why?”

“Because there is another human on Paga For.”