Day One Hundred and Eleven

Day 111: 20 Nov 2010

We ride on his back, all 25 of us. He could carry legions more. And soon, he will.

The crossing is quick. It is only the first of three -- the land is what slows us down. We must walk across it, stomp through the snow and ice on foot. There are no roads this far north, and the terrain is rough. We move faster than humans could, but walking over 100 miles takes time. Add the mountains and large glaciers, and it can take days.

Normal humans would complain, but my soldiers do not. No one speaks. We are silent as we move, quickly and carefully, every step planned by us, Jared. The steps transmit to the minds of our soldiers. They are a different kind of slug -- workers, not thinkers. They do as we say, no more, no less. Theoretically, they can speak. None of them has, though, not in the entire history of our kind.

They have no need of speech -- our communications are mental. Even now, as we walk, I know the status of each of them, know that they are all performing as expected despite the cold, the terrain. I communicate back to them, let them know the answer to the question on all of their minds.

We reach Thule in two days.