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A New Family Part 1

Dramatis Personae

Family of 5 from the Archives: (Descended from United Americas of Old Earth)

• Ataksak (Mother) 41

• Negafook (Father) 42

• Nanook (elder son) 22

• Pinga (daughter) 22

• Silla (younger son) 8

Other Cast

• Noctis (Geneticist, Colonist) 293

• Surya (Son of Noctis) 102

• Sylvia (Alpha den Technician, Colonist) 212

• Alessandra (Alpha den Healer, Colonist) 215

The remainder of that week passed in a flurry of activity. First we needed to get our genetic implants for an upgraded connection done. And the scant hours we had between the other briefings on the world and its one year old colony and titanic inhabitants were occupied by us settling all our affairs here at the Archive.

After we made the jump to the regional node we spent another week preparing for pod transit. Until we were placed into our g-pods and thermodynamic isolation. We were awoken two days before planet fall and at last touched down on solid ground.

As the pod slowly peeled its outer shell away for access we got our first look at our new home. Also in view were the colossal forms of Noctis and a figure a few meters shorter than her next to her who we had not been introduced to as yet. Upon seeing that we noticed them they both rose from their seated postures (sejant like a dog or a cat) and paced slowly forward to greet us.

Or maybe eat us, we'll have to see I suppose. But I'd like to point out that Noctis' snout is bigger than we are. In their favor they both kept their movements slow and deliberate so as not to further alarm the frightened sheep that we felt like in the presence of such size.

"Hello, family of Negafook, and welcome to your new home" Noctis said, then gave us a welcoming bow by kneeling on her front legs and dipping her snout to the ground. A graceful action that the other dragon attempted to replicate. Instead slamming its nose into the ground.

Bouncing back up the smaller but identical dragon exclaimed "Welcome, friends!" with childish exuberance. A little daunting, I felt, to be confronted by youthful enthusiasm in the form of a creature that is 10 meters tall and 40 long and also of some appreciable mass which was currently jumping up and down in wing flapping excitement.

"Allow me to introduce to you my son, the first hatchling of our new species, Surya."

Alarming us greatly he then bound forward to greet us. However, with a yelp of surprise he abruptly halted when Noctis trapped his tail with one great paw and drew him back.

"My dear little one. What did I warn you about when greeting our new family?" she asked her son.

"That they would break if I tried to play with them" he said dejectedly.

"Ah... yes, they will...break, if you try to play with them. Why don't you lie down and let them approach you to introduce themselves instead?"

"Ok!" rumbled out of the throat of a child whose neck was meters long. Surya then dropped himself to the ground with legs splayed to the cardinal directions and tail sweeping happily behind him, he looked at us with hope in his eyes.

Not willing to disappoint this earnest expression of youthful innocence Ataksak and I led our family forward to greet the dangerously eager child.

Before I began my salutations I asked Noctis with the newly developed connection. What is the customary greeting?

Introduce yourself, then hold your hand palm forward in front of his nose. She replied silently.

"Hello Surya, my name is Negafook or Neg to my friends." I then held my hand up and inhaling deeply he butted my hand with his snout then flicking his tongue out he replied.

"Hello Neg, friend of mine"

Ataksak then spoke up "Child, it is my pleasure to meet you. My name is Ataksak but please call me Ata."

"Ata, welcome, friend of mine" he said repeating his earlier actions.

Pinga next stepped up. But before she could say anything Surya stretched his neck out eagerly exclaiming "Oh! More play friends!" Hearing this, Noctis loomed over him in case restraint may be called for.

Resolutely, Pinga began; "Hello Surya, my name is Pinga or Ping, I would enjoy your company along with that of any of your other friends."

"Oh, oh! Wait until you meet Sekhmet, she and I are mates!"

The cracking noise of a tree falling in the forest followed this statement. Noctis craned her neck, slitted her eyes, and flicked her tongue several times suspiciously in the direction of the sound.

"We will be best of play friends!" He continued enthusiastically and nudged her with his muzzle then licked her face. "Friend" he cooed.

Moving on while Pinga wiped her face with her shirt Nanook said "Surya it is my pleasure to meet someone so genuine in their affections. My name is Nanook or Nan, I hope that you can show me around to all that is interesting."

Thumping his tail in his eagerness he enthused "Oh, will I! Hop on my back there's something you must see!"

Noctis interjected before his outstretched forepaw could swing Nanook from the ground to his back "But Surya you still have one last newcomer to meet. Surely you would not want someone to feel left out?"

"My name is Silla! I'm going to be a dinosaur like you Surya!"

"Oh, what fun! You all will be like me right? Then we can fly together!"

"Surya, I have to see that they get started on their true journey. Would you be a dear and direct the worker units in unloading the pod? Please send their personal effects to the new dome that Gregory built last week, and the rest to Storage 1."

As eager as in all other things Surya pranced off saying "Okay mother!"

"Now, to see you settled comfortably in the site of your initiation. In a few moments I will take you to your dome. It is a half shell open on one side with a large open area adjacent. We built a small wash closet for you as well with running water. But you must know that after the day following tomorrow you will be past the need for such things. When that time comes there is a deep and refreshing creek bordering one side of the field before it flows into a bathing pool we dug for you. About one hundred paces (or three hundred meters, our strides are enormous) away is an area designated as a latrine where work units will dig pits as needed."

"Given the expedited change schedule. Alessandra and I developed a number of nutrient rich cubes that you will need to eat several times a day in order to prevent the mistakes made during my own transition."

"What are in these cubes?" Ata asked.

A wide and bountiful array of vitamins and minerals to sustain your bodies as well as the work of the nanobots. And each cube will have somewhere around 50 000 kcals to ensure your growth is sufficient."

"Are you trying to fatten us as livestock? I knew it!"

"Far from it my dear. In point of fact you will be the first group to make it through this transition and not be in a state of emaciation. After day four we will supplement the cubes by making some kills for you. Once you fully grown you will only need to eat once every few days. But during your change the importance of kcals cannot be overstated. In the end your physiology will be sufficiently altered that you may surprise yourselves with your reaction to the aroma of flesh and blood."

"How much have you found that your behaviors have changed?" I asked.

"Hard to say objectively. But in the pursuit of your research all personal logs from the time of transition will be made available to you in our local planet side library. You will have to draw your own conclusions although Alessandra, myself, and the other healers will certainly do our best to be usefully informative."

"Now, for me it is a 10 minute walk from here to your new dome. And I'm sure Surya has already had your effects strewn around your new home in a haphazard pile. So hop on my back and I'll give you a tour of the commons. You will also meet the majority of the colony. Of whom some are also most likely skulking nearby eavesdropping."

So saying she idly picked up a small boulder and tossed it up and down a few times before heaving it into the tree line on her right. This was followed by an indignant shriek and a blinding conflagration as an innocent tree met a grisly end as fodder for the resulting bonfire. "Vous sale serpent! Tu es mort!" came from the woods.

"What in the worlds?" I managed to say.

"That would be Sylvia." Noctis said. "And until she's decided you are not a threat to her responsibilities as a Guardian you should only interact with her when Carol, Riku, or Mazu are present."

An outraged howl erupted from the forest. "You keep those water vomiting sea cucumbers the fuck away from me!"

Noctis rolled her eyes and huffed in amusement. "She wouldn't tell you so, but her daughter and Mazu are as close as nest mates. Personally I think their rivalry has something to do with their abilities, fire and water just aren't meant to be close friends I guess."

She then moved her head closer and whispered out of the side of her snout "Sylvia and Riku are just too much alike." Then in a normal voice continued "But I'm sure I don't know how their children or mates avoid that same conflict."

"I'll tell you why!" Blared from the woods followed by the emergence of a dragon equal in size to Noctis. With a black underbelly and bright red scales it was the one whose image we were shown back at the Archives. A new addition was a discolored region that resembled a bruise on her right forequarters. "Because they are smarter and therefor better than us!" She declared proudly.

"May I present to you, Sylvia."

"You fuck with my land and I fuck with you!" She bellowed, shooting steam from her nostrils.

Noctis buried her head in her paws. "Why?" she whined.

Pinga spoke up; "Didn't you just kill two trees?"

"They were long dead and in need of culling. That's what I was doing in the forest in the first place." She said, dismissing the issue with a snort and flick of her head.

"But where are my manners?" She asked. "I am Sylvia and I have looked forward to meeting you. I'm Alpha den's Technician."

Noctis muttered something under her breath while looking at the ground, causing Sylvia to glare. "What?"

"Oh nothing, we were just on our way to touring the commons in route to their dome for the process."

"Well, I might as well come along. I'll make sure that as many from Pri... the colony as possible are there."

Right before I could ask about her verbal slip. Sylvia turned and holding her claws out of the way slammed her paw into the same spot on Noctis where the bruise showed on her own shoulder. This action stunned me when it completely bowled the black scaled dragoness over. That's when I noticed just how much more pronounced the rippling muscles of Sylvia were than that of Noctis'.

_Sylvia must outweigh her by 1-2000 kilos._I thought to Ata.

She punched my stomach saying "You are surprisingly daft talking about a female's weight. I don't care what species!"

I turned back then, rubbing my gut, to Sylvia and the alarming situation at hand. I'll have to watch her carefully I thought. At least until she accepts us. Obviously she has set herself up as some type of sentinel, I concluded. And judging by Noctis' words I could expect the same behavior from this Riku as well.

Noctis righted herself by flinging her legs over in unison using her own momentum to reach her paws. She looked like she was going to snap her jaws at the fire breather with her head stretched out low and teeth displayed in anticipation. Instead she closed her eyes and breathing deeply became still while mumbling to herself. She must be using the link, talking unheard to Sylvia. After a moment she then continued on as if nothing had happened.

For Sylvia's part she appeared to listen, then rolled her eyes with an ominous crocodile smile and said "It was no more than you deserved, but as you wish. We'll meet you there" pacing off without another word.

"Well, hop on then. As amusing or unnerving as I'm sure our antics are to you, the change must be initiated today. I am no longer confident I know how long what was supposed to be a simple tour is going to take us."

Dropping to her stomach we still couldn't climb on top of her as her back was still five meters off the ground. So, helpfully, she spread her wing to act as great leathery ramp as we scrambled up to her broad back. Her torso alone was a good three meters across and 23 long. Truly immense. Climbing to her paws she ambled off towards a series of structures now visible from our elevated position. Broadcasting across the link she began to tell us about the function of each building and answered any question posed to her.

Tiny Silla asked if he could ride on top of her head. She told him he must hold on as he will be 13 meters above the ground and only after permission from Ata was given.

Ata, not looking pleased, only said "If you're careful".

Once hearing this, Noctis lowered her head making a gradual incline of her elongated neck and invited him up. Silla did not waste anytime sprinting up the expansive nape to the crown of her head. Throwing himself down he then clutched at her scales for purchase, and shrilly announced his joy when she raised her head (a little swiftly I might add) back to its normal lofty posture.

"I think you'll do splendidly here, little Silla" she chortled "We will be hard pressed to keep you and the other young apart for long".

Not so surprisingly we felt her amusement through our very soles. What a remarkable creature I thought. Are we truly meant to join them in this larger than life grandeur?

Coming around the final bend we at last came to the "Commons" as they called it. In the center I could see the communication array. All around it to the limit of the clearing were many hollows of up to 50m in length. Obviously such an astonishing array was meant to host a great many enormous beasts. At three points along the tree line there were large excavations for what had to be some kind construction operation. Then I noticed the scale imprints and talon gouges in them. My god! Were some of these creatures so large?

Noctis confirmed as much when asked. "Those are the resting places in the Commons for Riku, Carol, and Mazu. Guardians of the waters. They are each almost as big as any two dragons."

No sooner had we arrived than from all points of the compass we began to see movement on the ground and in the sky. Legions of dragons were approaching this communal ground. If I did not feel like a miniscule atom before, I certainly did now. How could we ever begin to approach the awesome force of nature we witnessed before us in the forms that these onetime humans inhabited.

Thumping down all over the clearing we saw gathered creatures straight out of mythology. The three colossal figures of the water dragons the largest. Even aside from them an enormous riot of colors was all the eye could behold. Every slit pupiled, scaled, winged, carnivorous, member of this colony fixed their unblinking attention on us.

I felt like evaporating like I had never even existed.

Out of this tremendous horde a dozen or so much smaller and much more dangerously energetic young came tumbling out around their parents.

Suddenly, they stopped. And then every blessed beast in sight all at once began to rumble a song of welcome. Oh! Such amazing new learned behavior. I'm glad that I can access this memory again later, what a treasure trove of new culture! My, how the ground shook.

Looking back with rabid eagerness I saw my wife holding Silla's hand while we stood upon our scaly guide.

She grinned at me "This will be the greatest thing you've ever learned".

Laughing, I couldn't agree more.

Pinga and Nanook couldn't help but watch with fascination as the greetings slowly tapered off.

Shortly afterwards Noctis began to introduce us all using the link.

Such curious choice in names! I should have figured that those selected for a frontier colony like this would be knowledgeable about a great many things. And such variety!

Before long, and after an eruption of steam occurred. Where, apparently, a fire dragon had become too snappish with one of the serpentine water dragons. Noctis called it all to order much like in some legendary assembly in Rome or some such place. More than half buried in the sands of time.

Once something that could only be described as the exact same chaos as before was instilled, we advanced to name ourselves.

Ataksak stepped forward "please call me Ata, I hope to arrive as a friend to all" after this, all her new friends beat their tails against the ground in what seemed an expression of approval. A true seismic event as I wondered what Richter measure it would equate to.

Silla stepped forward and loudly declared. "I'm here to make new friends and become a dinosaur!" The cataclysmic laughter that followed this literally made me bleed from the ears. Hopefully the nanobots can fix that, I thought, in a world grown muffled.

"Silence!" Noctis roared, not helping my ruptured ear drums at all. As they fell quiet she sedately continued "Please control yourselves, our new members have already suffered injury at our paws." She gestured at us with a flick of her nose.

With a general aura of dismay the great fair of dragons grew silent.

"Now, I apologize in cutting this short but we must proceed as night draws near. So, to culminate this joyful day, we have also gathered to give to you the new name of our new world. Prithvi. No one beyond this colony knows of this name as yet. We only wished to bestow it upon you first before it became general knowledge."

After this font of information ceased to flow unchecked. Noctis motioned with her tail for us to follow her to our shelter. As we arrived and fumbled our way over the mountain of our belongings strewn all about the place (good job Surya, I thought) we found a dark green dragoness awaiting us.

"Greetings" she said bobbing her front half and flaring her wings. (Will the wonders never cease?) "My name is Alessandra, the healer of Alpha den. And this will be your home until you desire to find a new one." The home, in which we stood, was more akin to an aircraft hangar than anything else. With a natural glade beyond the opening at least twice the size of the hangar.

"Now right next to me on this stand are the injection modules (IMS). These are what will initiate the process. Before you take them, I must have it officially for the record. Do you understand the nature of what you've been asked and agree to these irreversible modifications?

Silla crowed "Ok!"

Pinga agreed

Nanook followed.

Ata looked to me and we nodded while staring into each other's eyes.

"Very well. Please, take them at your leisure. For the next week your duties are to eat, sleep, observe, and change. We will be interacting with you regularly both for your comfort and to document the development in case of future need and for transmission to the Archives."

All five of us calmly walked to the pedestal and grabbed an IMS. Then, standing close, we gently stuck the injectors into each other's necks.

After we had discharged the contents of the micro dermal injectors Alessandra nudged over with a single claw on her forepaw a translucent box with five green tinted cubes inside.

"Please, eat these before you become overcome with fatigue. With the energy in these cubes your transmutations will continue apace through the night with no discomfort on your part. If you would use the wash closet to change into the adaptive outfits we've conjured in order to accommodate the changes. That is, at least until the desire for clothing is lost."

Noctis then spoke up. "Now that you've had your shots and eaten your cubes. I will add that you are being recorded on top of the journal sessions of your own. Mostly for my and Alessandra's edification only. Also you will sleep here." She said, pointing her left wing to a set of five large cots next to her with a domed bug net around it. "Bugs?" I asked.

"They can't bite through scale. But you all will present a most sumptuous meal. Our own initial time here was very uncomfortable."

Already feeling the growing fatigue we stumbled towards our residence for the night. As we all laid upon the canvas stretchers we rapidly drifted off. But before my eyes finally slid shut I heard Ata whisper "Dear, your pupil is changing."