"Logic!" Arnek thought softly, and there was wonder at a mind like Ptarra's that could achieve such understanding of even alien mechanisms. Yet under it there was still a cold knot of fear along his nerves.
Ptarra's thoughts had begun to fade from the strain and the long interruption to her hibernation. But now she caught momentary control again. There was appreciation in them for his praise. And then there was amusement. "Logic," she agreed. "But perhaps intuition isn't too bad for a male. You've been right twice."
"Twice?" Arnek asked. He'd been somehow right that the silths controlled their own ships, of course. But....
"Twice," Ptarra said. "I've just realized my silth is a male, as you suggested it might be. Amusing, reversing the sexes, isn't it?"
She tried to say something else, but the strain was too much, and full hibernation swept her mind away from that of Arnek.
Arnek sat frozen for a time in his silth, knowing that it was also male.
Then he turned it somehow to face the lost galaxy where his race had known its day and now entered its eternal night.