Gods and Royals! You have no idea how good it feels to get out of there, find some real people to talk to! I only just got Igess to stop complaining and go to sleep, and stop waking up Nekeress-- and had to keep Nekeress from eating poor Igess. --Say, I remember you, you're that same girl I talked to last week, aren't you? The one who was so disappointed I wasn't a man. Heh, don't look at me like that, you were.

A drink? Sure, much obliged! I need one after dealing with those little monsters-- thank the gods and Royals that they're asleep and Nekeress can't hear me calling her that. Anything you care to buy me if fine, I just need alcohol.

Who's Nekeress? Hadn't you heard? I'd have thought the whole station would know by now about the xeno-dragon... well, I guess you can call it a hatching, since Nekeress and one other did actually hatch, though the other four all exploded from some cow-like things' chests. You had heard? Well, I was there. Remember when I told you that Kalaia was insisting we both get dragons? Well, that's the "hatching" she insisted I stand at, even though neither of us could've known what it was beforehand, since the whole bay was closed off to everyone except the xeno-dragons and their bonds.

It was exciting, I'll give you that. If you call escaped felons, exploding animals, and violent hatchlings "exciting". Want the whole story? I'll try to be brief, so you don't, like, bring up all that Ercatian wine you just downed. It was kind of disgusting, to put it mildly. Lots of blood, people dying, creatures exploding-- still wanna hear it? All right, all right, if you're sure. I'm just glad my sister Kalaia wasn't there to see it all, myself.

So we all show up when we're supposed to at Hatching Bay 5, right? Only it doesn't look much like a hatching bay anymore, it looks like some big, black, alien-looking hive or something, with big herding animals stuck to the walls. Definitely creepy. I'm the only honest-to-gods human there, I've found out since, which is actually kind of freaky itself, and most of the other candidates don't seem to be the kind and gentle sort. I'd be willing to bet that most of them were criminals who just hadn't gotten caught yet. We have to give our names, but only just as we finish we're interrupted by these loud, painful-sounding squeals. Coming from those animals in the wall, no less. We all figured they were for food, right? Wrong-- xenomorphs, the aliens these dragons are descended from, naturally are born as a parasite that kills the host. Like, explodes right out of the host's chest.

See? I warned you it was bad. Be grateful I'm not explaining it in more detail.

So we're all hustled over to where the animals are, not like most of us want to be anywhere near them, but just before the first xeno... thing bursts out of its host animal, I hear this loud shout from back by the stands, some man yelling "Stop him!" Honestly, it's a welcome distraction. At that point, I couldn't imagine why Kalaia had insisted I go to that one-- though I can certainly imagine why she told me she didn't have to be there-- I was so disgusted by the whole method of "hatching" these dragons had.

So I turn, even as I recognize the voice-- gods, the Minister of Security, himself; yes, I know who he is, who doesn't? Well, who doesn't who has any interest in the law around here, anyway. So I turn, and see this six-limbed monster barreling towards the wall with the beasts on it. I'm not about to disobey a direct order from the Minister himself, now, am I? I may not be on any force here, but I know a good commander when I see one, and if he thinks this alien shouldn't reach the hatchlings-- or whatever they are-- I figure he's got a good reason.

So, me being the person I am, I don't just grab or trip or hit, I take a big step and get right in the alien's way. At least I thought enough to bring out my fire wings-- yeah, fire wings. What? They're exactly what they sound like, big wings made of fire. I've got a little magic-- just a little, mind-- and it's pretty much all fire-based.

So anyway, I figured, only a maniac would try to run through big spurts of flame. Turns out te alien might not have been a maniac, but it was sure damned focused. It didn't even really see me, wings and all, just kept running, and hit me going full-tilt. You'd better bet it noticed me then, cuz it went down on top of me. Wings went out, of course, but I did manage to hang onto one of its limbs-- up until it started beating on me with the rest of them.

Luckily for me, the guards and the Minister caught up with the alien about then, tackled it, and knocked it off me. I was gonna sit there and catch my breath, but who comes to offer me a hand but the royals-blessed Minster himself! I'm not about to refuse an honor like that, so I let him help me up. That's when things really started to get weird. I know, as if it wasn't weird enough, already, right? But trust me, this is weirder.

Ready for it? Right-- so we're standing there, the Minister still has my hand, when we're both struck completely and totally dumb by this sudden... invasion, is all I can think of to call it. A succession of feelings and images so strong that I couldn't even think of anything else for a minute: mostly hunger, too, and so strong it made my stomach growl at me. It was only when it took a break from that that I even realized what had happened, that the first xeno-thing had exploded itself free and decided to focus on me of all people-- and then it got weirder. Because it was throwing me thoughts and images that obviously didn't belong to it-- xeno-things don't see like we do, and the exploding kind don't have actual thoughts, per se. No, those thoughts and images were coming from the Minister, sent at me kind of randomly by the snakey, foot-long xeno-baby.

Aha, you heard that part. Pretty strange, huh? Double-bonding, like that, and one of those primitive xeno-things, too. So it bonded us both, and even now we've got this weird... almost-link thing. Me and the Minister. Really weirds me out, taking a breather or letting my thoughts wander and suddenly knowing what he's doing. Mostly in shock or dealing with his own three, but still, it's weird! --Yeah, he got three. You heard that, too? Figured you had.

So now we're both stunned, but I'm free to actually do what the little guy wants-- what it's screeching at us to do, now, in fact; as if having our minds bruised by it latching onto us, it had to make a big, loud fuss to give us real headaches. But I'm free, and the Minister still has a job to do. That alien. So I picked the thing up-- no, I'm not calling it an it because it disgusts me, though at that point it still did, since it was covered in blood and gore. I'm calling it an it because... it is an it. Not male, not female... just it.

Anyway, I pick it up, and it makes this... purring sound. Lashes its tail around, making more of a gods-awful mess-- the poor Minister got blood all over his nice suit, and, of course, I got blood all over me. Through it creeling at me-- us, really, but mostly at me, since I was the one paying it attention-- I just barely can hear him, the Minister, asking me if I'm all right. Of course I am, so he sends me off to the meat to get Igess to shut up while he works on getting the whole alien-thing taken care of. I don't know whether he actually said anything, but that weird mirror-link thing made it clear what he'd been after, so I went.

Oh, Igess, that's the xeno-thing that bonded us. Sorry, forgot I hadn't actually made introductions.

So yeah, I dump Igess on top of the nearest bucket of meat, and figure it's done. There'll be the rest of the bonding, then I can go home, get cleaned up, and figure out what to do about being linked to the royals-blessed Minster of Security. Simple enough, right? Dead wrong.

Minister of Security gets himself three more xeno-things, all three of the rest of the exploding ones, in fact-- Igess was so focused on eating that it didn't relay to me how he reacted to that one, thank the gods-- and in the distraction, the alien who clobbered me gets loose and starts screaming. One of the other candidates, this big, black-skinned guy-- no, not dark-skinned, black skinned. Like, dead black, no color at all. I never did like the look of him, too smug and... evil-looking. But he stops the alien, gets scratched up, and throws him down for more guards to take care of, then goes and gets himself linked to an actual xeno-dragon. Not a burster, like Igess, but this real, honest-to-gods hatched little xeno-dragon. Made a right confrontation of it, as I hear-- I hadn't actually seen it. At that point, I was feeling a little distracted. Igess eating was almost as distracting as Igess hungry-- the little things take so much pleasure out of gorging themselves, you know. It almost feels sinful. Not to mention he almost made a fuss about the Minister's other three, but the Minister and I managed to keep him restrained to just hissing and growling at them.

So then the four bursted xeno-things are stuffing themselves, and it's me and the Minister, standing there feeling awkward. I'm gonna say something-- something dumb like "hi, sorry about all this, I'm Keren, yes, I know I look like a guy, yadda yadda"-- but before I can, or he can, this black and gold thing comes barreling through, trying to get at the food bucket my xeno-thing was eating at. Well, I wasn't about to stand for that, even if I did find the little thing kind of disgusting, at the time. I've gotten used to it now, helps that I got it all cleaned up. 

Anyway. Me being the stupid person I am, the kind of person who just doesn't learn, I stepped in front of the xeno-dragon. Just like I had the alien. And got myself in trouble because of it. Again. The xeno-dragon obviously doesn't like being blocked, cuz she shrieks at me and takes a good bite out of my arm. --Yeah, I know it only happened this morning. Afternoon. Night. Whatever it is in this damn night-less place. --No, I'm fine, really. Kalaia's got this handy little healing spell, you know. Took care of it just fine.

How'd I escape, you ask? Well, if you remember, I was complaining about two xeno-creatures when I came in here. Igess and Nekeress. Nekeress is the gold and black one. I gave her a good cuff on the side of the head, she let go, and apparently decided then that she liked me, and bonded with me. Much less painful than how Igess had, too, which was something of a relief. She actually had thoughts to shout at me, in fact. --No, I'm not going to tell you what they were. They're kind of-- embarrassing. So stop looking at me all sweetly, I'm not going to tell you. 

What'm I gonna do now? See if the law-force here will take us, probably. Continue to make sure nobody tries to eat anybody else-- it was damn hard convincing Igess, particularly, that my sister is part of the "hive" and to be protected, not attacked. I'm supposed to meet with the Minister tomorrow, early, after we've both gotten some sleep, to talk out how we're gonna share Igess. It'll be weird. 

Tenat! Keren Tenat! What the fuck do you think you're doing down there! You're supposed to be here! So GET YOUR SKINNY ASS UP HERE!

Oh shit... she's awake.

foodfoodfood--anxietyfearlonelyfear--food!

Double shit, so's it. I'm sorry... I've gotta go, before they make a scene trying to get here, instead of waiting for me there. Hey, thanks for listening, hope it didn't gross you out too badly. No? Good. Hey, here's hoping we'll run into each other again, unless you find me completely boring, or something. --Aw, thanks.

WHERE ARE YOU!!

I gotta go-- see ya!

Chapter Three

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