Bath was actually disappointed with the finds he'd made on the two new planets. He'd expected that the new alien lifeforms would be...well, more different than they actually were. Sure, they had distinct evolutionary characteristics that developed around native environmental phenomena, i.e. powerful magnetism and corrosive acid pools, but aside from that...Bath was shocked by the number of similarities between these alien animals and those of Earth.

Key differences that Bath noticed was the placement of organs, and the actual kinds of organs found within the lifeforms. But the similarities were altogether too glaring--the fact that these two alien planets' organism all even had organs, for one, and that both planets had organisms with endo and exoskeletons. All of the endoskeletal animals had heart-like pumps in their thoracic regions. Each planet had its own variety of evolved muscle, with some distinct operational differences from the muscle cells of Earth. However, despite structural differences, the actual operation of the disparate muscle cells was very similar.

Bath was perhaps most annoyed at the distinct similarities between all organisms with regards to sensory organs. Bath had thought that while Earth had many different varieties of sensory organs, all tailored to environmental conditions that favored some senses over others, such as touch or sight...well, he'd assumed that alien worlds would have incredible, novel forms of sensory organs that he'd never be able to imagine. Unfortunately, while the sensory organs present on each planet obviously evolved on their own over the course of millions of years, they had converged to be very similar to the sensory organs found on Earth.

Bath had holed himself up in a large, self-dug cave while he rapidly shifted from form to form to gain an improved understanding of each new creature he'd devoured. As he continued to change form, he began to realize an interesting fact: the variety of entities on Earth that he'd devoured over the course of 500 million years absolutely overshadowed the number of entities on these two planets, particularly Lime World. Magnet Planet had a decent number of interesting life forms, notably its many subterranean magnet-propelled worm species. Lime World, on the other hand, was fairly stark and free of most organisms. Bath supposed this was due to the planet's relative lack of water. Life would be hard to sustain in the corrosive green pools that covered the planet's surface, not to mention the rocky steppes that would inhibit the growth and development of vegetation.

Bath was curious as to why Lime World had a population of intelligent aliens on its surface. Having already devoured some of the entities that originally accosted him upon entering Lime World, Bath had already realized that the evolutionary history of creatures on Lime World had no similarity whatsoever with the gatekeepers.

Bath still hadn't gone out to explore the world--having only gone in a fairly straight line away from the entrance gate--though was convinced he would find no record of intelligent life organically developing on the planet. He had already concluded that the gatekeeper species came from some foreign world, perhaps one that had lots of water. The fact that they all had to wear heavy-duty suits just to move around was a dead give-away that they didn't belong naturally on Lime World.

Bath was fairly certain that Lepochim knew what the gatekeepers were and where they came from, not that he'd say anything. Bath was getting exceedingly annoyed with Lepochim: if Bath had another of Lepochim's species on hand that he could devour, Bath was certain that he would be able to use the subsequent knowledge he would gain to better control Lepochim.

As Bath continued to shift forms, he thought through why he even needed Lepochim. Perhaps he could just...devour him. The thought certainly sounded enticing.

But, Bath suspected there was a lot more to Lepochim than met the eye. His presence on Earth with Ritus was, in itself, a huge mystery, especially since Lepochim hadn't been a slave. The fact that he could pass for a human, was able to survive on completely different planets, and didn't seem to fear Bath like he rationally should...Well, Bath was reluctant to attack Lepochim without figuring out the entity's mystery.

Bath was also fairly convinced that Lepochim had a reason for becoming his companion. After all, when Lepochim had first agreed to become his companion a day or so ago, he'd been incredibly gracious and reverent in his manner of address. He'd seemed shocked by Bath's power and seemed almost, well, hopeful when Bath offered him the opportunity to venture through the universe.

Bath tried to think through what had changed. He didn't think Lepochim's behavior was because of the stupid little bet he'd made that he'd become Lepochim's servant if he didn't return to Earth within eight days. Lepochim had to know that Bath would rather devour Lepochim than be the alien's servant. The bet itself had no risks attached to it since the power differential between Bath and Lepochim was so impossibly large.

Aside from that, they'd only gone to Magnet Planet. Then, they went through the gate and reached Lime World...Bath was absolutely stumped. He couldn't fathom Lepochim's personality change.

Back in the cave, Lisa was getting more convinced by the minutes that Lepochim was just...well, stupid.

"Back home, our libraries are full of data chips. We haven't needed the paper books found on Earth for thousands, if not millions of years," Lepochim boasted.

"What kinds of books are there?" Lisa asked.

"Book on every kind of organism within Zder galaxy. Books on the arts, on history, warfare..."

Lisa hadn't been awake for Lepochim's quick backstory introduction, but had heard a bit from Bath about Lepochim's past and Zder. Apparently, the galaxy had been at peace for billions of years. To her, the number seemed almost impossibly large. But, after billions of years of peace...they had books on war? "What kinds of warfare do you have on record?"

"Generally, terrestrial, aerial, subterranean, and aquatic warfare. Though spatial warfare does occur, the gates make on-planet assaults expedient."

"I thought you said that Zder was a peaceful galaxy," Lisa pointed out.

Lepochim scoffed. "It's peaceful internally. That doesn't mean it refrains from interactions with other galaxies and galactic powers."

Lisa nodded. That did make sense.

"In fact, I'm actually a special forces operative from Sigenolf-74. How else would I survive on all these different worlds, after all?"

Lisa wondered why Lepochim seemed so...different than normal. Not that she had all that much to go by, but the way Lepochim was acting seemed odd.

"So you aren't from Tu-71?" Bath had told her that Lepochim was from the small planet.

Lepochim laughed, a painful, cringe-worthy cackle. Since Lepochim was a sealed kursi (whatever that meant, Lisa wasn't fully sure), Lisa couldn't sense his shell. However, just from her experience with humans, she was convinced that something was seriously wrong with Lepochim's behavior.

"I'm from Tu-71. Sigenolf-74 doesn't exist, it's a secret."

"Bath," Lisa said softly under her breath. Bath hadn't removed the tiny ears and mouth he'd planted under Lisa's ears. "I think Lepochim's going insane."

Bath continued to shift form while he pondered Lisa's words.

"Why?" Though Bath had stationed some of his essence to stand guard over the volatile Lepochim, he hadn't been actively listening to Lisa and Lepochim's conversation.

"He's clearly unable to reason correctly. He's also just told me that he's part of a special forces unit in Zder. He said something about Sigenolf-74."

"Have you started to use the data chip yet?" Bath asked.

"Um, a bit. I'm waiting for the translator to translate everything into English," Lisa explained.

"Oh? Your personal translator can do that?"

"No; the chip reader has its own built in translator. I'm letting it do all the work. Why?"

"Can you try to look up Zder? Maybe you can find some things out about Lepochim's past."

"Sure."

Lepochim was currently busy scratching pictures into the cave's rocky floor. Lisa shook her head at the scene: something was definitely wrong.

She held up the chip reader. Though the translation process was far from finished, she figured that she could selectively translate certain topics on demand. She spoke aloud, "Show information on Zder galaxy."

A second of silence. Then: "Showing records for Bright Galaxy, also known as Zder." Immediately, the space in front of Lisa was filled with a hulking menu. It appeared to be an index on different accessible topics.

"Bath, there's way too much information here to look at. I'm going to look up Tu-71." Instead of trying to navigate through the menu items by touch, Lisa instructed the chip reader to, "Find records on planet Tu-71."

Instantly: "Tu-71, a small planet near the center of Bright Galaxy." An image of the planet appeared, a bluish-white orb surrounded by black. "Age: 26 billion years. Primary economy: information technology, information brokerage."

There was another menu underneath the planet's image that Lisa started to manipulate. She tapped the holographic projection's menu items until she reached a menu item called Flora and Fauna. Lisa figured that this was some attempt to translate the menu item into her native English. After all, life on other planets wouldn't necessarily fall under plant and animals categories as was the case on Earth.

Lisa scrolled through a few thousand random animals that, while cool, could be observed at a later time. What she was looking for was...

Lisa grinned and glanced up at Lepochim as she pointed her index finger at an entry called, "Deepthink." Lisa thought the name a bit odd, and wondered what the untranslated name was. Nevermind; she figured that she'd find out how to see the actual name later, once she was more familiar with the chip reader.

An image of a creature with white hair, pale pink skin, and an ominously human appearance came up on the screen. The Deepthink was naked, though a few areas where Lisa figured sexual organs were present were smoothed out.

Why did it...look so human? Or, considering the age of Tu-71, why did humanity look so similar to the deepthink?

There were definite differences between deepthink and humans. The largest similarity was in facial structure, which really did appear almost identical, with eye, nose, and mouth placement closely aligned between the two species. Deepthink and humans both had hair, though humans appeared to have much more hair than the deepthink. Deepthink had thinner shoulders than humans, with longer arms and legs as well as longer torsos. The average height of the deepthink was around six foot. The species didn't appear to have a clear gender distinction between male and female, which Lisa found was interesting. She hadn't found the information in the record that explained how reproduction worked, and since the gonads of the deepthink were grayed out, she couldn't extrapolate from biological anatomy. The information was likely too specific to be included in the general species overview page she was currently observing.

The species was listed as kursi compatible. A rating of 7587/10000 was given next to the kursi designation, which Lisa interpreted as the index of kursi compatibility for the deepthink species.

There was nothing on the species page that indicated why deepthink would be able to survive on other worlds, nor was there anything that explained in detail the anatomy of the species or its social norms. The species was simply tagged intelligent and had checkmarks next to "Civilization" and "Space traveling" indicators at the upper-right corner of the information page. There were not checkmarks next to indicators for "Violent" and "Endangered."

"Bath," Lisa said suddenly. "I'm extremely confused about Lepochim's species after reading its entry in the encyclopedia. Lepochim is apparently something called a deepthink that's native to Tu-71."

"So he was being truthful with that," Bath mused. "Why are you confused?"

Lisa sighed. "The species itself very closely resembles humans, which is really weird," Lisa explained. "There are other things, but that's the one that most confused me. How is that even possible? Convergent evolution is definitely a thing, but...well, you know what Lepochim looks like."

Bath frowned and stopped shifting, having decided that he needed to pay full attention to Lisa's words. "I assumed that his species had some kind of rudimentary ability to change appearance. Otherwise, I wouldn't believe that his species and humanity could look so similar..."

"Lisa," Bath snapped, an idea flashing through his mind. "Can you query a search for me? I think you should be able to ask the chip reader to compile a list with pictures of all kursi compatible species. I wonder..."

Lisa nodded to herself, then made the search request. After a few seconds, the holographic screen in front of her showed a scrolling list of different organisms. She exhaled sharply as she realized fully half of all the species had a vaguely human appearance.

"Bath, this is so bizarre. How is this possible?" she exclaimed softly.

Bath immediately formed eyes out of essence and stared along with Lisa at the screen. "This is impossible by means of normal evolution," he concluded after a moment of silence. Lisa was flicking at the screen with one finger as she scrolled through more and more species.

"So what does this mean? Is something influencing evolution across the universe?"

"I'm not sure what it means," Bath admitted. "I'm sure the encyclopedia has some kind of explanation somewhere. We're surely not the first people to wonder how this is possible," Bath murmured.

He thought to Lepochim. He agreed with Lisa: something was definitely influencing the deepthink.

"Lisa, we can continue this later. I think something on this world is affecting Lepochim's mind."

"Fine," Lisa acknowledged. Bath quickly scooped both Lisa and Lepochim up into his body with essence, then began to traverse the world in search of a gate.

"I'm looking up the gate location on this planet now..." Lisa murmured. "The chip reader doesn't have internet access, or whatever the galactic, technologically-advanced internet equivalent is," Lisa noted. "However, I've narrowed down the planet by stating which gates we used to arrive and the physical features of the planet.

"The gate should be at the South pole of the planet," Lisa said slowly as she read an information article.

"Didn't the slug-men give us a map with gate information?" Bath inquired. "If so, can you try to bring that up?"

"Oh, true," Lisa exclaimed. "Uh, bring up gate location map," Lisa commanded. She didn't know what the maps were called or how to access them. Nothing came up.

Lepochim suddenly called out, "No no no, it's called a Traveler Map!" His voice was sing-songy and gave him the air of someone in an insane asylum.

Lisa shivered. "What the hell is wrong with him?"

"Just say what he told you to say," Bath rumbled as he started toward the South pole.

"Bring up Traveler Map," Lisa said, her voice unsure. Instantly, a map with lots of pinpoints and a series of planets appeared.

"What's the planet called again?" Bath asked. He rather liked the name Lime World, but recognized the utility of using the planet's official name.

"39981!" Lepochim intoned strangely, each number declared at a different pitch and volume.

"Uh, yeah, that," Lisa laughed nervously. "What the hell?" she said quietly. Shaking her head, she called out, "Find planet 39981 on map." Instantly, a little red circle appeared around a tiny gray planet to the right side of the map.

"Zoom to planet 39981." Now the screen was fully taken up by the planet's gray and green surface. "Find all gates on planet," Lisa instructed. Three different lights lit up on the planet's surface. "Show current location?" Lisa said on a whim. To her delight, a flashing blinker appeared on the map. The blinker, headed South, was fairly close to one of the gates. Lisa assumed that this was the gate that they had used to arrive on Lime World.

"Show gates leading off of 39981," Lisa said, narrowing the criteria. Now, only one light remained at the planet's southern pole. So: there was another gate that led to this planet. Lisa tucked away the information for now, focusing wholly on exiting Lime World.

"Okay, Bath, the gate really does seem to be at the South pole. You should probably be able to find it soon after reaching the bottom of the planet."

Bath sped toward the bottom of the planet. To his delight, the frigid South pole was devoid of intelligent life. There were a few cold-weather organisms, which he promptly devoured, but nothing of note.

Within an hour, Bath located the gate. With a sigh of relief, he stepped off Lime World and through the gate's black surface, only to be surrounded by magma.