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23- The Sting of the Jellyfish.
 
In the meanwhile, the Jellywhale swallows what remains of the Cycledwellers. Some of the needles fall off from the armours, others are deeply stuck inside. The Jellywhale gets close to one of its companions, and, protruding a sort of trunk, exposes the debris of the commando. 
 
After the exchange, the two Jellyfish separate, and the second one starts to emit a cloud of deadly needles. Proteena follows the procedure with great interest, and questions the Zymachi about it. The nano machines are learning Proteena's language very quikly, but give elusive responses: they know how things work, but don't know what they are. Under the skin of the Jellywhale, they restlessly spin segments of spaghetti, that layer by layer define complex structures. "The shapes help us to recall things", they answer to the curious scientist.
 
24- Kerenskij beyond Enemy Lines.
 
Back to the lab, we see Hu reporting to a disinterested professor: "I performed the Boot sequence again, in few minutes we shoud get their feedback..." but Kerenskij seems careless, some how distant. After a good minute of silence, he starts claiming that he is inhabited by the same beings that were sabotaging the Zymachi. He is pervaded by feelings that are not his own, anguish, fear, rage and desire, in a mix and intensity never felt before.
 
In his twenties, he had served under the Red Army during the Afghan Invasion. They were making first steps in genic warfare, and his duty was to vaccinate the soldiers in most remote outposts. His helicopter was shot down, and he, only survivor of the crew, had wandered beyond enemy lines for weeks, drinking from wells he had contributed to pollute. It had been an experience that signed him deeply, leading to the conversion from military to therapeutic research. But never, in those dramatic days, did he ever feel such anguish, sense of loss and homesickness.
 
 25- Doomsday for Cycledwellers.

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ZYMACHI
by andy.war (at) digitalkomix.com is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License.

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