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25- Doomsday for Cycledwellers
	Proteena and the Zymachi are constructing their own common language. The nano machine describe functions, she gives names and meanings. Suddenly, in a bend protected from river flow, they see a pile of Cycledwellers, dismembered, perforated by thousands of needles. Proteena wants to land and see if some of them can be saved, the Zymachi transform the transparent capsule into a sort of armour to protect her. Stumbling across the corpse field, she feels pity for her brothers, even if they had just tried to kill her. The convoy was probably a reproduction line, we recognize parts of the spiky Outer Fathers, Mermaids and other smaller skeletons.
26- The Thief.
	Suddenly, from what seemed to be the bottom of the river bed, slings out a claw that pins down the brave scientist. Zymachi rush to help her, but she shouts: "Don't hurt him, he's a friend, he's useful..." He's a Middle Father, something between a Spiky and a soldier, wrapped in a Jellyfish skin. She calls him "Thief", and he snarls and laughs: "Bet you never saw a thief before, you're more used to this!" and he points out a sort of pathetic skeleton, pincushioned by hundreds of needles.
	"You know, in this phase of the Cycle the soldiers of the reproduction lines are too busy to modify the all of us, so when the Jellyfish attacked I still had my legs on, and I could run!" Proteena is astonished by the fluent reasonings of the thief, more accustomed than a soldier or scientists to survive on his own. "Did the Jellyfish kill all the soldiers?" she asks. "Unfortunately not, they withdrawed into impervious regions, where Jellyfish are not allowed to go, and there they rebuild their army. They say that it's a scary place, where you can even hear the echo of the music of the Cycle, but it has changed, they say that it sounds like if it were played by a machine..."
27- The Egg again.
	Suddenly the thief turns into beast, rips Proteena's armour and grabs her at the neck: "You have something for me, isn't it..." he shouts, fierce and sweet at the same time. The scientist is terrorized, forced to stillness, then shook by spasms. Finally, an egg emerges from her mouth, quickly swallowed by the thief. As Proteena slumps to the ground, he rewraps in his Jellyfish tunic, and vanishes in the dark.
	Silently, Zymachi glide over Proteena, restoring her armour and assaulting her with questions about the thief, the stolen object, the scary music... "He didn't steal anything, I gave it to him,  as it was done in the early Cycles..." "Who are you?" ask the seven nano devices. Proteena smiles: "You are the real thieves, you steal my thoughts as soon as I think them!.."
28- Zymachi, lost for Ever?

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