Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10
”We don’t need any royalty. We managed fine without him. And now, now that we’re getting somewhere, he chooses to reveal itself? Is that a joke?” Aplex, a member of the Ceph council, turned so dark blue that he appeared almost black when he looked at Nora-Ceph, who shook her head.
”I’m afraid not.” It was now only a few hours since she had left Pekok’s home. The car she had stolen was stowed away in an abandoned lot so that hopefully, nobody would find it. Not like she expected Felix to not be able to find her if he was really looking. He had already found her once and probably knew where she was 
But it had been of utmost importance to inform the other Cephs, that there was a new player who could potentially cause a lot of trouble.
”If he wants to reinstate himself as our leader”, Aplex continued, highly agitated, ”we might be facing a potential split of loyalties. You know just as well as I do, that there are still those who hope for the Royals to return and show the way. They’d follow him blindly.”
Nora-Ceph looked around the small circle of Cephs. There were only real Cephs, not a single one occupying a human host like she did. For a moment she wondered how Quelz was doing. How all the hosts, that now housed his parts, were doing.
”So, you think we should keep him a secret from everyone else?” She asked. The Cephs started whispering to each other. Their rapidly changing colors made it clear that nobody was absolutely sure what should be done.
”We can’t have them just abduct our agents whenever they feel like it”, Keyisz said, forcing the others to interrupt their heated discussions and focusing their attention on her. ”Who guarantees that this human, Felix, won’t betray Pekok at one point? Who guarantees, that they won’t reveal our operation to the humans on Luna 3? We need to get them here, get them under our control.”
”And how are we supposed to do that?” Aplex asked, his arms spread out wide, which made him appear a lot bigger than he actually was.
”Well, they did offer to help, didn’t they? Nora-Ceph should go back and invite them to come here. And then we can take care of them.”
”And what would that look like?”
”We keep them unconscious. Magnesium chloride for our royal Ceph, whatever our storage supply contains for the human.”
”We could use ethanol for both”, Aplex pointed out. ”Alcohol is widely available.”
”Knocking out a human with alcohol? That would take ages”, Nora-Ceph chuckled. ”I have memories of this host drinking bottle after bottle of that stuff, and still being able to walk home. We’ll need something else.”
”If you say so.” Keyisz was visibly displeased. ”But can I take this as you agreeing to the plan? You will pick up Pekok and the human?”
”There’s not much of a choice here, is it?” Nora-Ceph asked with a raised eyebrow. ”They’re a total wildcard, we can’t possibly anticipate their future actions. If they expose our agents to the public …”
Of course, she was mostly thinking about herself. Nora-Ceph didn’t want to admit it, but lately, she had felt more and more disconnected from the other Cephs, whatever the reason. The possibility of her being discovered by the humans … she didn’t want to think about it. It had been bad enough when Felix had revealed that he knew her secret when they had encountered each other at the museum.
”I will take the care and pick them up right now.”
It was already late at night when Nora-Ceph arrived back at the house. One of the windows, the one that led to the room where Pekok had been reading in earlier, was illuminated. The rest of the house was dark.
Nora-Ceph turned off the engine, got out of the car and walked to the door to ring the bell. For several seconds, nothing happened, but then she could hear footsteps and Felix opened the door.
”You came back!” He exclaimed, glee in his voice. ”I didn’t think I’d see you this soon again! What made you change your mind?”
Nora-Ceph forced a smile.
”The council is interested in Pekok’s offer”, she lied. ”I’ve been tasked with picking you two up. Is that alright?”
”I will have to talk to Pekok, but I’m sure he’ll be thrilled. Please, come in, come in!” Felix stepped aside to make room for Nora-Ceph. She stepped inside the house, for the second time this day. The painting from earlier was still on the floor.
”Pekok! Nora is back!” How disrespectful of him, she thought, dropping the Ceph part of her name. Humans. ”The Ceph’s council invited us to pay them a visit”, Felix explained, as he entered the room. Pekok was reading again, but Nora-Ceph noticed, that he was holding a different book this time. He was either a fast reader or only pretending to read. She chose to believe the second version.
”Now, that’s exciting to hear”, Pekok said and turned yellow. ”Did you come to pick us up?” He asked Nora-Ceph. She nodded.
”The car is outside.”
”My car?” Felix asked.
”It’s mine now.” She could see that Felix wanted to reply something, but Pekok stopped him from reaching out and putting an arm over his mouth. The human clearly didn’t like that.
”Then let’s not waste any more time”, Pekok said. ”I’m sure our fellow Cephs are already anxiously waiting for us.”
The drive was uneventful. Pekok asked a lot of question, which Nora-Ceph answered as vaguely as possible. She didn’t want to make conversation with him. She didn’t want to develop a connection of any kind. It would only make things harder.
When they approached the Ceph’s district, the road became bumpier and more broken down by the minute. Surrounding buildings were in no better shape.
”I’m so sorry that this is how my people have to live”, Pekok murmured, turning ash-grey. ”This should have never happened. There was such potential …”
They arrived. Felix opened the door for Pekok and the moment they got out, they were surrounded by Cephs.
”I greet you, my brothers and sisters”, Pekok began, ”It’s a great honor …” The needle that was suddenly sticking inside one of his arms interrupted what might have become a great speech. He stared at it. Then his eyes wandered over to Felix, who was slowly collapsing, a similar needle in his neck.
”Why …” Pekok didn’t get to finish his sentence before his muscles gave in too.
”Now, that was surprisingly fast”, Keyisz said. ”I was afraid they might lash out.” She moved closer to Pekok to check his vitals. ”He appears stable. Move him to the cell. And someone needs to take care of the human too.”
Four of the surrounding Cephs hurried to follow her orders.
Pekok was dragged past Nora-Ceph and she couldn’t avoid looking him in the eyes one more time. It felt like he was looking back at her, like he was still fully conscious, although unable to move.
Then, the realization hit Nora-Ceph hard. He was still conscious. The magnesium chloride they had injected him took about 15 minutes until it completely did its job. Pekok was aware of what was happening.
And she was probably the last thing he would remember - if he was ever allowed to wake up.
Reference:
How to put an octopus to sleep—and make cephalopod research more humane
and 
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