"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!"

"I have noticed that. How much do I have to chase them before they'll talk to me?"

"They're purity-keepers and you're a filth creature. They won't talk to you. If you talk to them, they will kill everyone present and then themselves."

"So then all the wingless people left will be..." He gestures at this small terrified group. "You? Who don't want to try to kill anyone?"

"Well, then tell me how to get what I want without them dying."

"I don't know how to get what you want!"

"Then," says Cam, "we have a problem."