[Dark Nest] - 1(124)
Thinking of the Will that Formbi had described, Luke reached out to Gorog in the Force and felt only the vague sense of uneasiness that-after the battle in the Skywalkers’ cottage-he had come to associate with the blue Killiks that had been attacking them. But the data bars matched to Gorog’s hypothalamic and limbic systems brightened to orange and started rising. So did Alema’s.
“Interesting,” Luke said. “This Killik is Force-sensitive.”
“After a fashion,” Cilghal said. “I believe she and other Gorog can use the Force to hide their presence-not only from us, but from other Killiks as well. What I need to find out is whether they can also use the Force to pass neural impulses to other members of the Colony-even those outside their own nest.”
“And that’s why you need to inflict the pain?” Luke asked.
Cilghal nodded. “I’ll neutralize the numbing agent, but leave Gorog and Alema unable to move. If the pain is severe enough, Gorog will be motivated to reach out to the others, and we’ll see the results on their graphs.”
“And this will tell us…?”
“Whether Gorog is also able to influence the others,” Cilghal said. “We need to know that before we can begin thinking about countermeasures.”
Luke’s heart sank at the word begin. If Cilghal had not yet started to think about countermeasures, it seemed unlikely she would have any ready before the Falcon was repaired. And if Luke asked her to find some other way to test her hypothesis, unlikely became almost impossible.
Feeling just a little more lost inside, Luke nodded. “If there’s no other way…”
“There isn’t.” Cilghal’s sad eyes grew even sadder. “Not in the time we have.”
She activated the electromagnetic shielding between the cells, and all the sensory cortex readings returned to independent levels. Alema’s hypothalamic and limbic systems remained the same color and brightness as Gorog’s, however.
Cilghal entered another command. A hypo dropped down from the ceiling panel and injected the neutralizing agent into a soft spot just below the Killik’s mouthparts. A few seconds later, the insect’s cortex activity began to fluctuate as its physical sensations returned. The hypo ascended back into the ceiling, and a flat-tipped probe took its place. Gorog’s hypothalamic bar turned brilliant white, shooting to the top of the data-holo and staying there. So did Alema’s.
“Gorog is angry with us,” Cilghal observed.
“I don’t blame her,” Luke said.
He wanted to look away, but forced himself not to. If he was willing to sanction torture, then he had to make certain it never became easy.
Cilghal brought the probe down to where one of Gorog’s upper arms joined the thorax, then sent an electrical charge through it. All six limbs-even the two casted legs-extended straight out and began to quiver. All of the insect’s data bars brightened to white and rose to the top of the holo. Alema’s limbic system continued to mirror the Killik’s, but her sensory cortices remained quiet.
When the other subjects did not show a similar rise in the activity of their hypothalamic or limbic systems, Luke asked, “Is that enough?”
“Not yet. She must believe it will never end.”
The Killik’s mandibles clacked close, and its antennae began to whip madly back and forth. Luke reminded himself that this was the insect that had tried to turn his son against his wife, but that did not make torture feel right. Mara was spending every waking minute with Ben, trying to make him understand how the things that Gorog had said could be true and still not mean she was an evil person, and Luke knew that even she would not have approved of the insect’s suffering.
Mara reached out to him in the Force, worried about Ben and curious about what was happening to Gorog.
Luke’s stomach grew hollow with fear. Ben and Gorog were clearly joined-perhaps not as completely as Alema, but too much. A part of Luke wanted to kill the Killik right now, to punish it for trying to use his son against him, to sever the connection before it grew any stronger.
But a bigger part of Luke wanted to protect Ben, to spare him the anguish of knowing that his friend was in pain. He started to tell Cilghal to turn off the probe-then Tesar’s hypothalamic bar began to rise. Tahiti’s limbic system also began to show more activity, and Tekli exhibited steep rises in both.
A moment later, the trio’s data bars vanished as they pushed off their scanning helmets and began to peel electrodes off their bodies. Unlike Alema and Gorog, they were not restrained.
“Okay, turn it off,” Luke said. He could feel Mara growing more concerned about Ben. “There’s no sense-“