Cam does not have the word for 'circular argument'. He makes a butterfly. "Is this a filth creature, too?"

"I don't know what that is!"

"It lived here when filth creatures did. It has wings." The butterfly bats them.

"I don't know what you mean," says the spokesalien.

Did they just kill all the butterflies? He didn't get a really close look at the vegetation, maybe it's all alien stuff, maybe they killed the whole biosphere. He flicks the butterfly away. It flies.

The spokesalien tries again: "It's filthy to have wings because wings are a sign of the contagion. People never had wings until they went near the filth creatures of this planet. People only grow wings because of the filth contagion."

Cam says into his comm, "Any input on that assertion?"

"I've never seen an Enemy get their wings. I didn't know it was possible," says Azair.

"Well, apparently they avoid it literally like the plague. Is there any known wing-related contagion effect among you lot, though?"

"It is more likely to get your wings if you know someone who already has... I've never heard anyone speculate that it was literally contagious. Anyone can get their wings."

The voice of a triplet puts in, "If I heard them right earlier, they said they can get the contagion from entering the Spheres. Suranse is a Sphere. If there is a contagion, we all have it."

"Hmm." Cam translates this as best he can for the spokesalien.

"I don't understand," says the spokesalien. "Of course the filth contagion comes from the filth creatures. If it didn't, it would not be filth."

"But not all filth creatures have wings," Cam says.

"That is known! Wings are not what make filth creatures filthy! Being filth creatures is!"

"Could a filth creature stop being a filth creature?" Cam wonders.

"No!"

"Why?"

"Because they are filth creatures!"

"Is there someone smarter I can talk to?"

"I don't want to kill you. I don't like killing people. But..." The aliens just call themselves "people", fucking typical. "...wingless people killed a lot of filth creatures - filth creatures," he adds, "are 'humans', and the humans don't want to die. If the humans don't want to die, and they can't stop being filth creatures, they have to kill the wingless people. Wingless people should stop trying to kill humans."

"I'm not a purity-keeper! I'm a communications equipment repair technician!" says the spokesalien. "I don't have anything to do with whether anyone tries to kill anyone!"

"Maybe you should repair some communications equipment and find me someone to talk to who does."

"All the communications equipment here is working, but if you communicate directly with an evacuation ship, the purity-keepers will destroy it to prevent the spread of your filth!"