Hisclose-cropped blond hair shines in the cells' white light. On his cheeks are moist sensory glandsthatlook like glistening teardrops. Through them, Lot can perceive the cells' chemical language, and respond in kind, with moleculessynthesized in the tears' nanoscale factories. The philosopher cells are Lot's creation, and he is still the only one who can effectivelycommunicate with them. He mined their design from the living dust of Deception Well's nebula,storing the pattern in his fixed memory, a data vault contained within the filamentous strands ofthe Chenzeme neural organ that parasitizes his brain.
Nothing degrades in fixed memory.
Lotused the pattern to synthesize a seed population of philosopher cells within his neural tendrils,exuding them through the shimmery surfaces of his sensory tears. It's a neatly circular survivalstrategy in which the parasitic tendrils use their host to reproduce Chenzeme mind. Clearly thishas happened many times before in the thirty million year history of the Chenzeme, and it is thewarships that have survived it, while their challengers have all vanished. All except us, Nikko thinks. He is acutely aware that they play a dangerous game.