Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12
Nora-Ceph looked down onto the unconscious Pekok. He looked incredibly calm and by far not as old as he claimed to be. Over 500 years! Just slightly over 200 when the planet of the royals had been incinerated …
She wondered what this kind of experience does with a person, including the centuries he spent hidden. There was so much change that had happened in the meanwhile, nothing was like it had been when he was born.
What would she be like, if she was alive 100 years from now? So far, she had only lived for 25 years. She was young, even from the view of a human.
Her eyes wandered over to Felix. How old was he? Older than her? Younger? And how old in comparison to her host? Nora had been 31 when the Ceph’s arm had been implanted in place of her brain. Still not old. Nora-Ceph reached out and lightly touched Felix’ face. The skin was soft, but there were tiny lines around the eyes. 26? 27? She tried to guess his age, but it wasn’t easy.
”Hey, are you alright?” Nora-Ceph turned around to find herself facing one of the other hosts that had a part of Quelz inside of them. Simon-Ceph, if she wasn’t mistaken. One of the medical team. She knew that the rest of them was in the next room, preparing the procedure.
”Yes, yes. I’m alright. It’s just …” Her eyes wandered back to Felix and she felt a weird sting in her heart. ”Something doesn’t feel right. In fact, it feels incredibly wrong. Are you sure we should do this?” Simon-Ceph came closer and lightly placed a hand on her shoulder.
”I think I know what you mean. I also have this … let’s call it gut-feeling, that something is off. But I can’t put my finger on it. It’s probably based on some irrational human response caused by hormones. Maybe you have a crush on him?” Simon-Ceph chuckled, but Nora-Ceph only rolled her eyes. 
”I highly doubt that. And wouldn’t that mean you have a crush too if you also feel like something is wrong?” Simon-Ceph shrugged.
”Maybe we still have some kind of telepathic connection which lets us share certain emotions. There haven’t been many instances of hosts for the same Ceph interacting with each other. There are many things that aren’t known yet.”
”Still doubt it.” She punched him in the arm, hard enough to make him yelp and take a step back. ”See?” She said with a grin. ”I certainly didn’t feel that, although I might need to repeat it at least two times, statistical significance and all, right? We don’t want to be unscientific.”
”Screw you”, Simon-Ceph said, laughing. ”I got the point.” He kept rubbing the spot where Nora-Ceph punched him. That might turn into a bruise, but Nora-Ceph didn’t feel that guilty about it. Her thoughts had wandered back to Felix.
They wanted to use him as a host for Pekok. But the plan wasn’t to just take off one of the Ceph’s arms and let the rest live on. It was not even to split Pekok between several hosts like it had been done with Quelz. No, only Pekok’s main brain would be transferred into Felix’ body, letting his eight arms die.
The point of this procedure was to minimize the threat Pekok could pose to their cause, while still keeping him around for possible advice. It wasn’t the most ethical thing to do, she knew that but what were their other choices? The council had discussed it for days, but they hadn’t been able to come up with something less extreme.
And so, Felix, Pekok’s loyal servant, would serve him one last, final time – by hosting him with his body.
”Do you ever think about the implications?” Simon-Ceph asked, suddenly a lot more seriously.
”What implications?” Nora-Ceph asked, an eyebrow raised. ”Of forcing someone into a host body?”
”Oh, no. Not that. No, I mean the fact that we’re using his main brain, not one of these arms.”
”Well, we both know, that the process is more efficient with the main brain, compared to using an arm.”
”But he will get to keep his name. He won’t be Felix-Ceph, he’ll be Pekok. Just as the host with Quelz’ main brain is still called Quelz, not whatever his host was originally called.”
Nora-Ceph knew where this discussion was headed, she had been involved in it too many times before she even knew she would be placed in a human host. The old question: Was a host controlled by an arm worth less than a host controlled by a main brain? Were the arms worth less? Were they not a full person, even if they had full autonomy after being severed from the Ceph body and placed inside a human skull?
She didn’t like this discussion. Quelz had always insisted that each host-Ceph combination was worth the same, but there were enough who didn’t share this view. The majority, actually. That’s why, in the rare event that a Ceph’s main brain was transferred, the host was named after the Ceph, not after the human.
”You know I don’t like this topic”, she told Simon-Ceph. ”It’s pointless to argue about and will only create problems. We can’t risk a separation inside our own ranks. That would only help the humans.”
”Right now, maybe. But you should really think about how you’ll side in the future when all of this will be over.” Simon-Ceph left the room to join the others. The conversation had left a bitter taste in Nora-Cephs mouth, which lessened the bad feeling about the procedure Felix was about to go through.
Only moments later, the medical team entered the room, to bring Pekok and Felix in for surgery. Quelz approached Nora-Ceph.
”Do you want to participate?” He asked her, which caused her to smile widely and washed away most of her concerns.
”I can?”
”Of course. You have the same medical knowledge as the others. Just because your current mission isn’t related to the medical field doesn’t mean you can’t assist now and then. I’m sure that being part of this is important for you.”
Nora-Ceph hugged him.
”Thank you. I’ll gladly help.”
The procedure progressed as expected. The whole team worked as one, they didn’t need to communicate verbally. They knew what was expected of them. It was almost like they were back to being a single organism. The effect this had on Nora-Ceph was barely describable, she was as calm as she hadn’t been in weeks. Just being close to those who meant something to her significantly decreased her stress levels.
After a few hours, everything was done and all that was left to wait for was for the connections between Ceph brain and human nervous system to heal. It wouldn’t take long and they weren’t expecting any complications.
Just like before, Nora-Ceph felt drawn to Felix, now Pekok, and couldn’t resist the urge to touch his face.
”What’s up with you?” She whispered. ”There is something special, but I can’t explain what it is.”
Felix opened up his eyes, blinked and sat up straight.
”You’re correct”, he said. ”Felix is indeed special.”
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