Chapter 11: Eggs

Alayna squirmed in her cot. She looked over the edge. The floor was a foot or so below her, and evidently they had something against the legs that would normally connect the bed with the floor.

She sat up with a sudden movement, shaking the bed. She gripped the edges as something rattled beneath her. She peered down as three eggs the length of her arm rattled. Cracks formed veins and made a final split from top to bottom.

Three tiny girls kicked their way out. Their skin was medium brown, and their almond-shaped eyes met Alayna’s. Alayna cocked her head and smiled down the hatchlings.

“Dr. Moses,” she said into her wrist communicator. “I need you to come to my room. Bring some newborn diapers and clothes.”

The door unsealed, and Dr. Moses rushed in.

“Is Austyn here already?”

“No,” Alayna said, taking the new hatchlings in her arms. “These babies hatched in here. How’d they get here? Whose are they?”

Dr. Moses took the babies from her, and said, “When I told you not to tell anyone about the life here, this is why. The girls are mine. Left to right, this is Ainsley, Asia, and Anya. I married an elder race named Skyla. She was a politician, and was assassinated a few days after laying the eggs.”

He diapered and dressed them, and set them, and laid them in Alayna’s arms. He yelled into the hallway, “Kyler Jacobson, get in here!”

When Scion materialized in a teleport tractor beam, Dr. Moses pointed at Alayna and his girls.

“I told you to put them in a room we’re NOT using,” he scolded.