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Where would they be, anyway? How s He had to destroy al of them, because the creatures were artificial, just like this world, and they could build more of their own kind But he didn’t kno much time he had For al he knew it could already be too late
How can I ask about the Huragok without arousing Magnusson’s suspicion?
The irukan was real y very good The hu it into gruel Each grain burst on his tongue just the way it was supposed to
They know they can’t beatto play on my isolation and convince ive the the activity outside More prefabricated buildings had sprung up in the last day This was hu pattern of behavior, to move into new territory that wasn’t theirs, to fil it to overfloith their buildings, and to strip whatever they could frook?
We used to have teams of them We never tookthey touched
Eventual y there was a knock at the door The daily ritual had begun
"May I conusson"
She entered with her guard and took a few cautious steps inside, clutching her cattle prod, clearly stil not convinced that he wouldn’t lash out at her He stayed at the , adopting the same casual stance that humans seelanced at the empty bowls on the table as she passed
"And hoas the "
Magnusson sing for the right price Let rain upsets your stomach"
"I’ve never had il effects from irukan" Jul carried on with the polite, less confrontational approach This ONI group believed they could break anyone and probably thought he was equal y susceptible So he would use that huhelios?"
"More fighting The revolution has begun Again"
"That’s what you wanted You wanted the Arbiter overthrown"
Magnusson raised her shoulders and dropped the, because it could ht ‘Telcam was more likely to stay away from humanity But now that’s irrelevant Capability ht have said that before"
"Is there word from my wife?"
"No Or at least not that I’m aware of I can inquire, but we have very liazed out of theas if she were searching for the sa that he was "We’ve just landed a special forces squad on Sanghelios so perhaps we’l be getting better intel igence fro This was very crude, a "You could never breach our defenses"
"I didn’t say we did The Arbiter gave permission, just as he did for Professor Phil ips"
Jul’s heart sank The Arbiter was even ined Why did he have this foolish tolerance for these creatures? "Why?"
"Because we asked nicely I around your world"
"Spartan "
"Naomi You’ve met I hear she knocked you down and throttled you"
Jul resisted the taunt Yes, the Spartan had captured hile-handed and unarmed The shaok"
"You’re a sore loser, Jul Yes, we enhanced humans to make Spartans But they’re stil huhelios"
"Ah, that’s your probleots You do, don’t you? You used the word nishuots ht be siven ti his were "Look, I’l ask the squad to see what they can find out about your wife Maybe the fighting hasn’t reached your home yet What’s her na Soreat deal of power that he now regretted
"We’re in touch with ‘Telcam, so perhaps he knows"
That scared Jul even more "‘Telcaods?"
"Because he believes in you"
"We’l see" She looked hiuard was stil in Jul’s peripheral vision "We’re generating our own crop of irukan, so that we don’t have to keep running to the Kig-Yar every tiroceries for you"
"That wil take a season"
"No, not at alWe clone plants and accelerate their growth to days We can engineer them to survive in any condition, to suppress weeds and pests, to produce specific corow soht enerate soesture "We even i, but at least you get fresh enerosity "Why go to al this trouble?"
"I’ environment, Jul You saw toothe Arbiter, but then eren’t sure what to do with you First you’re a potential source of intel igence--but then we find the Huragok more than answered al our questions Now you’re a potential prisoner exchange One day, we ht need to swap you for one of our people Or maybe the Arbiter wil fal sooner than we think, and ‘Telcao home So ould we kil you until we know for certain that you’re no use to us?"
"I could become a very eht regret it later And I real y don’t get any thril s fro prisoners I’et results Right now, understanding the Sangheili better is enough of a goal for me"