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I lower the orb in frustration and lean back Flakes of snow flutter down froather on my face I suck on the opened scabs on my hands and think What do I do? What can I do? There isn’t salvation in this orb Even if there was, Volga and Victra are already dead

I drop my hands to the orb and consider defeat

The pressure inbubble A low hureen light appearing underneath a faint blood smear my thumb left on the orb I sit up and wipe the soot froht ripples in the blacka swirl of tiny arcane mathematical symbols that coalesce into the shape of a woer than my thumb

DNA sament, a soft female voice says in ranted My heart thuds as the orb purrs and its surface begins to unscrew till a thousandin alternating clockwise and counterclockwise rotations They fold in on one another until the orb divides in two and folds over on itself, revealing an interior the color of baby teeth pulsing with soft light Built into the orb are several hundred small compartments marked with obscure symbols

A central device made from the same material as the inside of the orb is embedded in the bottolows inside it and I sense frequencies flowing between it and the parasite in my head the same way I found Victra in the woods

Cortical inostic complete

A long list of green characters appears in the air in front of me I reach out to touch them But they aren’t there I swipe at theoes on and on, none of itany sense to me

Figment functionality impaired Seek repairs at the Womb upon soonest convenience

Seek repairs? To a parasitic implant in my brain? Where the hell would I do that?

Geolocation function unavailable Mobile uplink unavailable

The parasite is reading my mind What is the implant?

A gift from Astarte

Who the hell is Astarte?

She was you

What does that et repairs? No response except a re controlled by it? Aet repairs, someone out there must know Does that someone control the parasite? Would they control me?