Her eyes didn't move, but they suddenly gleamed as though with tears.

"I can't tell those stories alone," she said. "I can't - connect to anyone, not without him to help me." Him being Horanckk, of course. Always Horanckk.

"Who wants to hear this story?" she snapped, waving her hand at the tentacled walls with eyes staring out here and there. And beyond it Stacy, the endless cycle of podpods and battles and Punishments. "Trapped, lost, hurt, no end to this war - it's not worth telling!"