Despite their searching, they found no traces of the slime elsewhere or anything to indicate how it might have gotten here.

“Couldn’t this just be from one of the infected ghouls who was on this level?” Kano asked, exasperated with their fruitless search. “Or more than one, even.” That seemed like the most obvious explanation from what Werisah had explained about how it was transported.

“I can see why you might think that,” Werisah said in the most condescending of tones. It made Kano want to hit him, but she restrained herself. “But,” he continued, “we conducted a thorough search of this level earlier, and there wasn’t a single ghoul present. Nor any trace of slime.”

“Maybe you missed one.”

“I’m quite sure we did not. It wouldn’t make much sense either. As far as we can tell, all the surviving ghouls congregated on the lower levels and took the bodies of their fellows with them.”

“Wait,” Kano said, stopping midstride as a realization struck her. “How did that happen? Did you order them to clean up the bodies?”

“No, as a matter of fact, I didn’t order them to do any of this. They were supposed to infect all the ghouls so I could take over the citadel peacefully, not slaughter each other.”

“But if they weren’t doing what you told them to do, why did they do it?” Had the slime been acting on its own to this extent? Was that even possible? Navigating its way around a building was one thing, but making a concentrated, organized effort to take over the citadel was quite another. “Is the slime actually a lot more intelligent than you thought?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then how did it accomplish all this?” It must have required some level of conscious thought, far beyond what he seemed to think it was capable of.

“Because it didn’t,” Werisah said, his brow creasing in concentration.

“What’re you talking about? It must have.”

“I’ll admit that it may be possible. It’s hard to say for sure. But there’s a far simpler explanation. What if it’s not that the slime is no longer responding to commands, but rather that it’s no longer responding to my commands.”

“You think someone else is controlling them instead?”

“Precisely.”

“But how is that possible? I thought you and Eomonsa were the only ones who could control them.”

“I thought so too. Are you certain he’s dead?”

Kano shrugged. “Yeah, pretty sure. Those brown-armored guys you sent killed him pretty thoroughly.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“Y’know, the people in the weird suits of brown armor like you had when I tried to kill you earlier.”

“That fucking idiot,” Werisah said under his breath.

“Eomonsa, you mean?” Kano was pretty sure he wasn’t talking about her. Even he wouldn’t be that stupid.

“I never should have agreed to work with him. It’s been far more trouble than it’s worth. The man is practically a walking catastrophe.”

“What’d he do this time?”

“He stole a highly unstable, largely untested prototype of mine. Quite frankly, I’m amazed he didn’t get himself killed sooner. I have no idea what else he’s done, but I’m willing to bet what’s happening with the slime is due to deliberate tampering on his part rather than an accident.”

“But he’s dead.”

“He may very well be, but the mess he’s created only seems to be growing. Though if he is dead, I have no idea who else might be controlling the slime. But it doesn’t matter who’s responsible. Either way, they need to be eliminated.” He stopped to look Kano in the eye, the dark, shifting color of his so unlike her bright blue. “Whoever’s behind this has to be nearby. The effective command range is quite short. Perhaps a hundred meters or so. Find them and either convince them to cease their interference, or kill them.”

Kano wasn’t much for being ordered around, especially by a necromancer, but she’d made a deal with An, and she intended to honor it. For now. Which meant hunting down the slime’s controller.

“Fine.” At least she wouldn’t have to look at his smug face for a while. “Where should I look for this person? I assume you’ve already searched most of the citadel while you were dealing with the slime.”

“I suggest you check the surrounding area. That’s most likely where they’ll be. Once they’re dealt with, come find me again. I’ll probably still be on the lower levels trying to stop the slime from spreading.”

They went their separate ways, with Kano going back up toward the lab. If she was going outside, she may as well use the elevator in Blob Kano’s room. No sense walking through the whole citadel. She passed by An, who was so intent on her work that she barely seemed to notice Kano’s presence, and went into her other self’s room.

While she was there, she figured she may as well let her know An was working on getting her out. Tapping the glass was all it took to get the blob’s attention, and she formed a new replica of Kano.

“Hey,” the newly formed body said. “Have you come to talk?”

The excitement with which she asked made Kano feel a little guilty for not being able to stay for very long. “No, I’ve got some important stuff to do outside. I just thought I’d let you know that An is trying to come up with a way to make it so you can live outside your tank.”

“That’s great, but wasn’t she already working on that?”

“She was, but she got a bit distracted with other things, so I reminded her of how important your condition was.” And agreed to help her with whatever new disaster she was about to cause, but there was no need to let the blob know that. No sense tainting her freedom with the knowledge of what it had taken to buy it.

“Oh, okay. Thanks a lot.”

“No problem. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.”

The multicolored version of herself waved goodbye as Kano made her way to the elevator. Though she had far more important things to worry about, somehow the trip down felt a little lonely. Maybe later, if everything went as planned, they could take ride the elevator together next time.

Kano wasn’t sure why, but the thought was pleasing to her. Maybe it was just because she’d have some company that wasn’t braindead, or well on their way to becoming it. That alone was worth doing the necromancers’ bidding for a while, not to mention that she’d gotten the use of her body back. All in all, it had been an excellent deal for her.

Now she just needed to survive without the necromancers destroying the world, or at least this small part of it, and she’d be home free. It was only to be expected of her, but she’d managed quite the stunning reversal of fortunes. Even if she wasn’t too happy about certain elements of the current situation, it would make for quite a story later. Like how she’d caught the person behind the citadel’s near destruction. She hadn’t actually done that yet, but if there was someone nearby to be caught, she was going to catch them.

Maybe that would be enough for the necromancers to consider her part of the agreement fulfilled. She doubted it, but there was a chance she’d be able to talk An into it. It really just depended on how much they needed her for their future work. Once they were able to replicate the results, she’d be old news. Not that she was very new in the first place, other than her body.

As she stepped out onto the streets of Shorinstown again, she wondered how long she’d been living here. It felt like she’d been here forever, at least for her entire life. How long was that again, anyway? Trying to suppress her distracting, irrelevant thoughts, Kano focused on finding the slime’s controller.