Page 196 of Light Leech

“Correct. The Journeyman Gui unbound to a human would be a catastrophe.”

An older man raised his hand as he spoke. “Then why not bind him to you or someone else who is already part of this project?”

She stared at me. “Because PetNab has already harnessed the Gui. And disruption to that would result in a disaster.”

“And how do you know this?” a man next to Don asked.

“Because I used to have a Gui.”

“Used to?” a younger girl asked.

Diama nodded. “The late Beacon Deleon convinced our Dear Leader to transfer it to one of his new imps.”

“Who?” I asked.

Some of the people murmured about my autonomy after hearing me talk, but Diama was unfazed.

“Who has the Yucatan jaguar?” I asked.

Oh. My. Zeg.

I held my mouth before I blurted out Akna’s name. “I didn’t know you could possess a Gui without a hypothalamic implant.”

“Who said I don’t have one?” She replied.

“But you just said you don’t have a Gui. Isn’t that the thing that powers–”

“Light Leeches.”

“Diama,“ Don said her name with tense camaraderie as he slung his arm around her shoulders. “Even if he is ours, I’m not sure just about how much we should talk about right now. I know you had me tell Kim that we needed to integrate him early, but–”

“He either works for us or he doesn’t.” She pushed his arm off her shoulder. “There is no sense in holding back if we want to go with him.”

“What are they?” I asked.

“Light Leeches?”

“The lesser forms of Gui. Gui are composed of pure light or what some call the anti-spectrum, while Light Leeches are the same thing that keep the bodies of Exos Sapines alive.”

“What about light souls?” I asked. “Deleon told us that those power those bodies.”

“Those souls, as he calls them, are what these leeches feed on, hence the name. Gui are complete beings, Light Leeches are husks of what could have been Gui that require a life to feed on. Once they have a soul, they can direct the host if it lacks autonomy, like the Exos Sapiens. I have the autonomy required to control mine. The combination of my light core–soul, whatever you want to call it–and adopted Light Leech is enough to power my hypothalamic implant or “Bite” as you call it. Oh yes, I’ve taken a lot of Deleon’s data on you since his passing.”

“But Gui are more powerful than Light Leeches,” an old man added.

Diama sighed, then nodded. “Correct. Gui are a complete being. Light Leeches are like the automated programs that power shacs. Without the light and programming, they are a husk of a synthetic human. Without the husk, they are but power and ideas.”

“And that is what powered the people you sent after us as assassins?”

She smiled. “That was Dear Leader Kim’s doing. He lent Light Leeches to prospective competitors, taking them from the storage that I manage.”

“Why did they mess with my head when they came for us? My Gui can’t do anything like that.”

“While your Gui isn’t incapable of such feats, they will never be as jarring as Light Leeches.”

“Why? Doesn’t that give the Light Leeches an advantage?”

“Not exactly. They are more unstable.”