After spending so long rubbing shoulders with the Star Gate Council, I could finally see the Worm Queen. Though Murich had made the suggestion, Thor didn't refuse.
To his surprise, the Worm Queen wasn't in the hidden World Side controlled by the Star Gate. She was in the Underground Base Thor and Agu had visited before.
But after a moment's thought, Thor understood. They couldn't keep the living Red Worms too close to the Worm Queen; otherwise, they would lose control of them. And if the Worm Queen was intelligent enough to see so many Red Worms become inactive, she probably wouldn't obediently let the Star Gate Council control her as she had before.
Thor and the others were transferred from the Laboratory to the Underground Base.
The person who came to greet him was another familiar face he hadn't expected.
"Keri?" Thor glanced back at the Star Gate Wizard who had come with him. Alik, of course, hadn't come along.
"Thor." Keri usually wore no expression, but now she gave him a somewhat bitter smile. "I never thought I'd see you here."
"Have you recovered your consciousness?" From Keri's appearance, Thor could tell she had escaped the abnormal state she'd been in back in Port City.
"Yes. After I met you, I wanted to pass the news about the Red Worms on to you, but someone took me away halfway there." Keri led Thor farther into the base. "It wasn't until I was brought here that I realized the Star Gate Council had been watching me the whole time. I was an observation subject for several years."
Keri had originally kept trying to send word to the Radiance Family, but she only later learned that the ones controlling her were the very people in the Star Gate Council, where