Last time on humans and the brainslugs who help them, police!

The red and blue lights swirled in time with the siren’s cry.
Before the souls had come to this place, these lights and sounds had had only one meaning. The law, the keepers of the peace, the punishers of offenders.
Now, again, the flashing colors and angry noise had only one meaning. A very similar meaning. Still the keepers of the peace. Still the punishers.
Seekers.

What? No. You have no concept of punishment. Even if we assume you’ve been Kevined to the point you’re thinking in terms of them attacking humans, that still can’t be stretched into punishment when the ones we see were primarily concerned with Melanie hurting herself. Should they feel they need to kill you, they’ll do so as humanely as possible and with the motivation of protecting others from being hurt.

It wasn’t as common a sight or sound as it had been before. The police force was only needed to help in cases of accidents or other emergencies, not to enforce laws

Which begs an important question – why do they have a police force?

The police force will presumably know the basics for handling an accident, but if their entire job is accidents, you’d pull them out of the workforce for EMT classes (not like it’d even take much time since apparently medicine is a matter of reading the label on a bottle, then applying it to the wound).

Police are an okay backup for accidents, but keep a job around when its primary purpose is obsolete? And while the book seems to think they’re the same thing as seekers, they’re not – seekers function like our police did, with the investigating and the shootouts and the danger, but only for a very narrow type of crime. You don’t need seekers to handle an accident.

Really, they shouldn’t even need all their existing doctors and paramedics. How are they handling stuff like that?

Most civil servants didn’t have vehicles with sirens, unless the vehicle was an ambulance or a fire truck.

But they shouldn’t need ambulances either! An ambulance is actually a really dangerous vehicle, and we only use them because we need to transport lots of medical equipment to a sick person, then transport them to a hospital for better treatment.

In fact – why don’t the brainslugs just carrying around a bag of medicine? None of them require education to use and heal/seal are things that could be the difference between life and death. I guess maybe they don’t care if a host gets torn in half because they can easily rescue the brainslug. The opening healer mentioned that any soul can perform an insertion in an emergency, and you wouldn’t expect emergencies to have piles of unbrainslugged humans around, so maybe they just stuff the brainslug into their own body and leave the damaged human to die. But that all seems like a lot of trouble when they could just fix it, plus they use the healing stuff to fix insertion wounds too.

Anyway, Jared is the one who fucked up here – he was speeding. How hard is it to remember not to speed? God, Jared. He gets ready for suicide, and at the last second, our brainslug protagonist decides to try lying instead. She climbs into the driver’s seat.

Lying with my body, that was the key. It was simply a matter of the right movements. Imitation. Like the actors on the TV program, only better. Like a human.
“Help me, Mel,” I murmured.
I can’t help you be a better soul, Wanda.

Christ, book, will you let Melanie do anything? Being a soul isn’t what she needs to be right now anyway – she’s already thought of the words, she needs human-style acting ability.

Did you know that humans are actually pretty bad at telling if another person is lying? This isn’t because we’re super trusting. It’s because humans are really, really good at lying as a consequence of people being really, really good at telling when people are lying. It’s like the whole thing about lions and antelopes where they both evolve to be faster. A brainslug should have all the host’s instinctive ability to recognize a lie.

Lying with my body was not the key. Telling the truth with it was enough. I had something in common with the human baby in the park: nothing like me had ever existed before.

This is just a bunch of nonsense, and indeed she goes on to lie and fake body language. Plus, plenty of things like her exist – presumably, if Melanie didn’t have a goal of finding her family, she’d just have beaten the parasite down until she got it to start blacking out periods, longer and longer until it’s gone. 80% of adult human hosts are known to subsume the brainslug. How many of that twenty percent were there who didn’t tip their hands by trying to stab open their neck?

“Having a problem, miss?” he said when he was a few feet away. “You were going much too fast for safety.”
His eyes were restless. They swiftly appraised my expression–which was, hopefully, sleepy–and then ran along the length of the van, darted into the darkness behind us, flashed forward to the stretch of highway ahead, lit by our headlights, and came back to my face. They repeated the course another time.
He was anxious. This knowledge made my palms sweaty, but I tried to keep the panic from my voice.
“I’m so sorry,” I apologized in a loud whisper. I glanced at Jared, as if checking to see whether our words had woken him. “I think… well, I think I might have fallen asleep. I didn’t realize I was so tired.”
I tried to smile remorsefully.

Okay, that’s a bit too human. You do have to act like a brainslug. Brainslugs are horrified by the idea of causing harm to others. Even just going a bit too fast because it’s hard to tell speed when you’re driving in a straight line on flat road should be deeply upsetting. Falling asleep while driving in a car with other people in it? That’s turn yourself in for jailtime level, like those poor brainslugs in the junkies and pedophiles.

But apparently all that isn’t a big deal. They chat nicely, without him being horrified by the fact she’s just a bit sorry about nearly killing people. She offers to take a nap, only for him to freak out and tell her there’s worries about humans being in the area, because someone’s disappeared.

“You should not use this often,” the Seeker went on, searching the other pocket now. “It’s not harmful, of course, or the Healers wouldn’t have us give it out. But if you use it frequently, it will alter your sleep cycles… Ah, here it is. Awake.”

Okay, same problem here as with the rest, this really should be something they have as their version of a first aid kit. Just make it a rule it should only be used in emergencies. It’s not like brainslugs break rules.

See, so much would be fixed if it was mentioned explicitly that the stuff could be addictive and also that the brainslugs have addiction problems that outweigh their natural love of rules, just like apparently their love of stories outweighs their lying issues. That could then be used to explain why the medicine in general is controlled – they don’t want the brainslugs mutilating themselves for an endorphin high or getting hopped up on painkiller or using the anti-fever stuff to hide a real problem (come to think of it, using the fever stuff might kill you if you’re hot because your body’s struggling to vent surplus heat).

Then oh no! The truck the other people are driving is coming behind them, and the seeker just waves them by and for a moment they don’t go but then they do go! How exciting!

“Thank you.”
The Seeker chuckled. “Thank you, Leaves Above. When we saw you racing down the road, we thought we might have humans on our hands. I was sweating, but not from the heat!”
I shuddered.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be perfectly fine. If you’d like, we can follow you to Phoenix.”
“I’m just fine. You don’t need to trouble yourself.”
“It was nice to meet you. I’ll be pleased when my shift is over, so that I can go home and tell my partner I met another green-first Flower. She’ll be so excited.”
“Um… tell her, ‘Brightest sun, longest day’ for me,” I said, giving him the Earthly translation of the common greeting and farewell on the Flower Planet.
“Certainly. Have a pleasant journey.”

I just realized the brainslug hasn’t gone on one rant about how seekers are a bunch of underevolved thugs with stupid faces. So it really, really is just that the female seeker is treated differently because the author says so.

“Seekers aren’t all that different from the rest of them,” I murmured to myself. “Nothing to be especially afraid of.”

Except for THAT BITCH.

Anyway, so that’s that and they head home.

I rolled my eyes as I thought of the way into and out of the caves. The big mystery I hadn’t been able to solve for myself. Jeb was so tricky.
Tricky–just like the directions he’d given Mel, the lines he’d carved onto the back of her photo album. They didn’t lead to his cave hideout at all. No, instead they made the person following them parade back and forth in front of his secret place, giving him ample opportunity to decide whether or not to extend an invitation inside.

Okay, so at least that’s confirmed. A pretty good idea, although in that case he could’ve stood to be a bit clearer since he doesn’t need to worry so much about the wrong person figuring it out. If it hadn’t been so obtuse, Melanie could have found him ages ago.

Jared, more on the ball, is concerned about the disappearance. A “recent” one must be someone other than Melanie, although personally, I wouldn’t be certain. Recent is a relative term. The fewer people disappear normally, the longer one seems recent.

She starts crying because she thinks they’re killing souls while she’s out. Since she’s been wrong about everything else on the subject, it’s hard to muster any tension this time. Also, whatever poor brainslugs they’ve been catching, it obviously hasn’t been nearby because her own disappearance into the desert was a huge deal, and this “recent” disappearance also seems to be a surprise.

I shuddered, and for a moment, it seemed like I could taste silver blood in the back of my throat.

Oh, don’t think I’ve mentioned this, but I don’t think silver blood would work. My only theory is that their “blood” is actually like our lymph and they’re absorbing oxygen directly from us, and I don’t think even that’s plausible – they’d need to be stretched extremely thin and they’d be fighting our brain for oxygen when we’re really not set up to have much surplus there. And if they’re running off something other than oxygen, then that just begs the question of what it could possibly be – any anerobic process would probably poison us in short order and would be horribly inefficient for them. And if they’re using some weird element that we don’t normally deal with, they’d need supplements of some kind to grow.

Possibly they have some sort of unknown, super efficient biological process – all life on earth loses most of the energy possible from respiration. But something like that using us as hosts? It’d be like driving around in cars made of tissue paper. They should have taken one look at our entire ecosystem and decided the only humane thing to do was raze it to the ground and start over – it wouldn’t even be hard, a single bacteria that escaped their ships that used the efficient process would quickly outcompete everything.

Anyway, then Jamie comes up:

“Oh, Wanda! Oh, Jared!” he sobbed. “Wes is dead! He’s dead! The Seeker killed him!”

I thought he was already dead?

No, that was Walter. Okay, somebody else died.

I killed Wes.

Yeah, the brainslug’s really upset about whatshisface.

Here’s the delicate balance you have with victims.

On the one hand, fridging the female cast is a tiresome and hateful trope. On the other, having a solidly male cast isn’t any better. I’m rolling my eyes at yet more guys being the center of everything here, but I wouldn’t be too pleased with a female character popping up to do something just long enough to get her head blown off despite the men being able to handle themselves. This is the point authors tend to get snippy about how it’s just that you people will complain about anything. In this as in so many things, it wouldn’t be such an issue if the cast wasn’t already totally imbalanced. Once the options are more of the same or a token character, you’ve failed.

I mean, what if Jamie was a girl? That’d have helped. Having the adults trust her with a gun and taking her out on raids would have shown this place is egalitarian. Similarly, having any of the women going out on raids would have helped a lot – instead, we’re explicitly told they never do and that’s why the raids never bother with shampoo or new clothes. If her aunt and cousin did anything but stay home and glare at her, this would all have been avoided. (And had she or the book given any fucks about the two of them, either one would make for a much better death here. I don’t even remember this guy.)

It had pierced his high olive-skinned forehead and blown out the back of his head.

And speaking about victim choices, it sure does seem weird to be going on about how olive colored he was when you’re talking about his death.

I’d like to mention here that headshots are comparatively difficult to pull off, and also are considerably more compassionate than shooting someone elsewhere and giving them a slower death. But it’s probably further proof the seeker is evil.

If I’d just gone straight to Tucson. If I had just stayed in San Diego. If I had just skipped this planet and gone somewhere entirely different. If I’d given myself as a Mother like anyone else would have after five or six planets.

And hm.

Because we know they don’t normally go to five or six planets. It normally tops out at three. Does she mean lives, and is just saying planets because she happened to be switching planets too? Because that’s horribly sloppy writing if so. Or is switching planets a sign of dissatisfaction, so if she’d settled in on one planet, no one would care how many lives she lived? Or is her planet-switching part of her being a potential mother? If their children inherit bits of their memories, maybe there’s more of a drive to get as many experiences as possible – but in that case, while mothers are extremely rare, among them she shouldn’t be that weird for going to a couple more planets than average. The difference between two and nine planets is big. The difference between six and nine, not so much.

She’d barreled through the desert in an all-terrain SUV, leaving bright new scars across the fragile desert landscape, each pass getting closer.

Since when do you give any fucks about the environment? Besides, I thought we’d established it’s full of hellflora that hate us.

They had to do something. They had to stop her.

So she managed to take out two of them after being ambushed! That’s pretty impressive.

Incidentally, they’re idiots. She surely left notes about what she was doing, and she was armed and in an SUV (with a smartphone to call in case she somehow ran out of gas), so you’re not going to be able to be able to brush this off as coyotes again.

Why did she have to follow me? I moaned to myself.I’m not hurting the other souls here, not really. I’m even saving some of their lives by being here, by keeping Doc from his doomed efforts. Why did she have to follow?

Concern for your wellbeing and a desire to stop the people killing her kind.

We learn they tried to hide it:

Her vehicle had been moved far away, left in the desert on the other side of Tucson. It looked as though she’d disappeared in the same way it was believed I had: pieces of her bag left torn nearby, the snacks she’d carried with her chewed open and scattered. Would the other souls accept such a coincidence?
We already knew they would not. Not entirely.

That’s because you’re idiots!

Your pet crazy brainslug has told you you can’t remove the brainslugs, and besides, you’re willing to kill to protect yourselves. Strangle her and leave her body and gun for the coyotes. Shoot one of them with her gun if it’s possible. Maybe fire off a couple other rounds but leave the gun with some bullets – what human would turn down the chance to get their hands on a gun, after all? Clearly, she was killed while shooting at coyotes.

I mean, let’s consider this.

Brainslug One, on her way to a healer to consult about getting out of a troublesome host, mysteriously buys some supplies, drives into the desert until her car runs out of gas, and disappears. Brainslug Two, closely following the case, identifies the surrounding as matching the “lines” Brainslug One had spoken of that lead somewhere important. She follows them and finds nothing, not even remains. Continuing to trace the steps of the missing brainslug, she disappears, similarly leaving no trace of remains. Oh, also the site is full of “chewed” snacks despite the fact they should have been busy with the corpse, and forensic analysis finds no trace of coyote DNA on the scene, just human. (Seriously, did they actually chew up the packages?)

Obviously, Brainslug One made her way to humans and they’ve also captured Brainslug Two. Quick, mobilize everyone!

Brainslug One, who’d expressed concerns with her trouble remembering information for the seeker, drives out into the desert in an area matching the lines she’d been trying to decipher. Brainslug Two retraces her steps for some time, similarly caught up in the way the area seems to match the lines, then is found half eaten by coyotes. She managed to shoot one, but must have died of her injuries or to another coyote that was also there.

Obviously, Brainslug One, upset by her failure to access the memories, wanted to check out the area for the seeker, only to be waylaid by coyotes while walking. Similarly entranced by the location, Brainslug Two remains in the area until the coyotes manage to attack her as well. Quick, put up signs saying there’s dangerous animals here and avoid the area!

Really, it’s like the humans want to go extinct.

And can it get dumber? Yes.

Only one thing had kept her alive until now, and it couldn’t save her for long.
Jeb had thought I might want to talk to her. That was all.
Now that I was back, she was condemned to die within hours whether I spoke to her or not.

So it’s not even that they’re struggling with the idea of intentionally killing an innocent person when they kill the brainslug. They’re endangering themselves because the author feels like it.

So why did I feel as though I was at the disadvantage?

Because you’re really whiny.

It was true she had killed Wes. He was so young and so loved. His death left a burning agony in its wake. I understood the claim of human justice that demanded her life in return.

She acted in self-defense though. I mean, you can make an argument that they were defending themselves when they attacked her, but she was the one getting attacked.

It was also true that I wanted her to die.

That’s because you’re a terrible person.

“She’s a complainer,” Jeb told me in a low voice as we walked back toward the hole. “Not quiet like you were. Always asking for more–food, water, pillows… She threatens a lot, too. ‘The Seekers will get you all!’ That kinda thing. It’s been hard on Brandt especially. She’s pushed his temper right to the edge.”

Aw, poor Brandt. Why can’t people you attacked and are planning to kill be all meek and nice about it?

Also, she explains that the way out is actually right near the prison, and it’s so clever because no one would look there! No, it’s idiotic. Someone who already knows the other routes wouldn’t think to check for another one, but a person with no awareness of the tunnels at all might easily stumble on it, because they wouldn’t necessarily been moving fast.

“I wonder how you’re still alive, eating like this. Ugh!”
Something plastic clattered against the rocks.
I could see the blue light as we rounded the last corner.
“I didn’t know humans had the patience to starve someone to death. That seems like too complex a plan for you shortsighted creatures to grasp.”
Jeb chuckled. “Gotta say, I’m impressed with those boys. Surprised they held up this long.”

God, everyone is such an asshole. That’s enough to shoot someone in the head over? You’re impressed they held their temper at the horror of being told your crappy food is crappy?

This explained the clatter I’d just heard–she’d thrown her food. It looked as though she’d eaten most of it first, though.

Yeah, the book keeps saying how she’s only talking big in case anyone got confused and doesn’t hate her enough yet.

“Did your little friends think I would talk to you? Spill all my secrets because you carry a gagged and lobotomized soul around in your head, reflecting through your eyes?” She laughed abrasively.

So even the seeker can’t believe a fellow brainslug would do this to them. Our wonderful brainslug protagonist has been hating her since day one, but she really was concerned for what would happen, really was trying to help, and, let’s not forget, really did not come here to personally persecute the brainslug – she thinks it’s too late for that.

Our traitor brainslug asks why the seeker’s come all this way instead of just giving it up? (Naturally, we don’t get any actual discussion of ethics, because that’ll never happen.)

She leaped up onto her toes, shoving her face toward mine. Someone moved behind me, but I couldn’t hear more than that–she was shouting in my face.
“Because I was right! ” she shrieked. “More than right! Look at them all! A vile nest of killers, lurking in wait! Just like I thought, only so much worse! I knew you were out here with them! One of them! I told them there was danger! I told them!”

Everything she says is true, which is why the book is trying to make it about how she says it. It also won’t shut up about her bulging eyes, because an ugly person is a bad person.

“But they didn’t listen to you. So you came for us alone.”
The Seeker didn’t answer. She took another step back from me, doubt twisting her expression. She looked oddly vulnerable for a second, as if my words had stripped away the shield she’d been hiding behind.
“They’ll look for you, but in the end, they never believed you at all, did they?” I said, watching as each word was confirmed in her desperate eyes.

You can’t plot for shit, can you book.

Like she said, she’s been proven right. Yes, they damn well will come for her. Not in time to save her life, obviously, you’re planning to kill her now, but likely in time to catch the rest of you – they’re watching for human movements now, and they’re probably closing in on the location as well.

Anyway, more going on about how she’s full of fear because it’s really important we know she’s not actually brave or anything, just pretending which is totally different.

I stared at her angry, fearful face, and I knew how deeply I hated her. How much I never wanted to see that face again for the rest of my lives.
The hate that made it impossible for me to allow her to die.

The brainslug explains that basically her wanting it means she feels like it’s her fault. Because otherwise, obviously murder would be okay.

A heavy wave of nausea rolled in my stomach as I saw the answer I’d been trying to believe didn’t exist.
The only wall I’d ever built between Melanie and me crumbled to dust.
No! Mel gasped. And then screamed, NO!
The answer I must have known I would find. The answer that explained my strange premonition.
Because I could save the Seeker. Of course I could. But it would cost me. A trade. What had Kyle said? A life for a life.

Something about motherhood-suicide?

Anyway, christ Melanie grow a spine she’s a brainslug enslaving you whose only issue with your lack of consent is that your yelling distracts her. Be glad she’s suiciding before Ian managed to rape you.