New nests?

Alarm threaded through him. "Of course they wouldn't leave it to chance..." he mused aloud. In fact, he was surprised he hadn't thought of it sooner. Of course there'd be multiple nests. Why weren't there already..?

Ruby eyes fixed again on the little rat. "They will wish they had stepped out, with you. You are the only one out of its control, now; they are doomed. If you find sign of them, you will find me. Astraea," he added; perhaps the rat would locate him again, or perhaps not.

"Stay out of trouble," he added, and there was cold threat in the seemingly-casual warning. Without further word or regard toward Archimedes, he turned and strode out.

Further nests.

It seemed that he had work to do.

The rat remained silent, sitting up and watching him go.

He didn't scurry off afterward, either; for where was there to go? Instead he sat, quiet, thinking.

He'd been part of this... hive-mind for cycles, now. He'd felt no other purpose, no drive, other than to keep himself and his family alive, healthy, and fed. Without Mother to feed, without siblings to tend to, what was he to do-? His mind was oddly empty, blank but for his own thoughts.

I'll find somewhere, he decided, and rest. Clear my head a little.

He could decide what to do from there--and decide, too, if there was some way he could benefit from this whole 'hive' situation.

If not, he never wanted to hear of it again. The realization of how close he'd come to "mindless drone" made him shudder.

Decision made--if tentatively--the little rat made his way from Pisces--slowly, at first, as if in a daze; and then in a rush, as if fleeing from his near-fate.

exit Archimedes