Now, to my mind there were two Death Stars, but I knew that wasn’t what Eyes was asking. “Like, a floating city. Hollow in the middle.”

Eyes’ posture changed. Back straight. Shoulders back. Hollow city. Name the hollow city, Ben.

“There are more than one?” I asked.

Hollow cities. Thousands.

“Thousands?” I was sobering right up and starting to tweak.

Thousands.

It was all too much. I started yelling. “Tell me what the Chime does! What is the Bloom of God?” I’d asked these questions a billion times already with no answer. But then,

To carry us home. Save us.

That was something new. “Get you home?” I said, settling down with this offering of new information. “Okay, look, just, ah, let’s get some more nectar in here and I’ll get back to work.”

Save us and you will absorb nectar.

“No, no, no,” I said, wagging my finger at the creature that could crush me in a millisecond. “It doesn’t work that way. You got me addicted to that stuff. You can’t just take it away cold turkey!”

Save us. Absorb nectar.

I started to shake, or maybe I’d already been shaking. “You listen here, Jezzer–” Wait, I thought, who the fuck is Jezzer?

Suddenly, the Scythin morphed their body, allowing their back and shoulders to splay out like a fan in the same way the tropical bird Lophorina supurba shapes its wings to turn itself into a big black crescent for the purpose of attracting females.100 Only, I don’t think Eyes was trying to get me into bed. This was an intimidation display. Or maybe not, because then the Scythin turned neon red and exploded. Literally exploded apart into all their individual boids.

I watched, dumfounded, as they spread evenly into a line that ran across the floor, up the walls and over the ceiling, then just as quickly, sprang back together. Shock and awe stuff. It was impressive, and probably would have intimidated someone less focused on getting their fix.

Eyes returned to their normal, dusky shade of black. You are remembering.

“Jezzer? Is that your name?”

The reflections told you.

“They must have... I guess?”

Jezzer, said Jezzer, tapping their chest. We are hunger. Save us. Home.

Behind Jezzer, the door’s sinuous strands stretched apart. Another Scythin stomped in. Pushed ahead of it was Patton. Maybe it was the room, or the sobering news that my nectar connection had dried up, but I saw him clearly for the first time since I’d started this thing.