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There were two ambulances and a delivery van full of what turned out to be medical supplies waiting for us once we had trotted across the active airport runways. Looking overhead, I could see an airliner circling above in a holding pattern and waiting for us to clear the landing strips. Pressing my belly to the ground, I let my passengers off, and then immediately went to my husband to help him gingerly walk into what we thought was an empty hangar.

Not so, said my nose and eyes as we neared it. Instead there were eight children of the egg inside staring back at us.

As we have crossed the country, we have found those that have nowhere left to turn to and led them to places of safety. These children of the egg we found on our way here from Salt Lake City, the closest security zone is going to be your home for these ones.

Friends?A yellow eyed female my size asked.

Are you going to lead us somewhere safe?

Safe?

Where are we going?

Help my brother!

You hurt!

With egg?

Out of the huge pile of bodies, five of them ran forward with sinuous grace to greet us enthusiastically. Even if I was annoyed by the fact that all of them took alternating turns sniffing at my belly to make sure my children were okay. Well...maybe it was okay that they cared...Okay! Alright! It was comforting, even if it was weird to have my pregnant gut sniffed at.

Even more welcoming, were the teams of Air Force medics that swarmed over Tom and I to finalize what Alex had started. He told them what he found and directed them a little bit at first but stepped back when it became clear to him that they knew their work.

"It is a sad indication of these troubled times."

The female, Amanda, that had carried my husband in to this refuge offered that as an answer when Alex asked her where they had learned.

Tom ended up with a big bandage that took two of the medics to wrap around his neck. Tossing the meters long roll of gauze back and forth to each other over the girth of his neck like a volleyball before skidding it beneath and stretching it taut. Myself, they politely asked me if they could remove the shattered scales that had protected my shoulder, my side, and my tail. After telling them 'I don't give a fuck about some broken scale' they removed them with pliers, treated the sores that their removal left, and then smeared a topical numbing salve over the impact sites. I did notice that they carefully put the scales in some sterile bags and handed them to some people that had not been made known to me. I shrugged, I had told them I didn't give a shit, even while I watched the same treatment applied to Tom's scales. Which did piss me off, as he had not given his approval. I stopped them, and demanded they get his okay on the matter, which surprised them, but I didn't really give a fuck. Only after Tom had given a shaky bob of his head, did I lift the scaly wall of my tail away.

Amanda had a smile on her snout while watching that. "So, we are not the only ones? We all felt the same way when we had to provide our own samples. Although we jealously and miserly guard what is ours, much has been learned from the outer most layer of our skins."

Three of the medics arranged themselves next to Alex and the four of them issued a blistering warning to Tom not to talk for at least the next day. Making me gleeful at the thought of being able to tease him maliciously with no chance of retort. Alex, knowing me too damn well, saw my giddy fidgeting and told me that I better not do what he thought I was about to do.

I wanted to leave and find Ulysses so that we could plan our next actions. But that was not meant to be apparently, as the five that had swarmed around me were joined by three more children of the egg that came from fuck if I know where. All of the lost ones washed over me until I was stuck in the middle of a great scaly pile of overzealous protection. My nose twitched, and I was not terribly surprised to realize that Amanda's head was next to mine as we were blanketed.

"You too, huh?"

"Oh, it is not so bad. I am genuinely touched that the others feel so earnest in their desire to protect us in our time of need."

"Speak for yourself." I muttered dejectedly. "What's the point of growing spikes for protection when the natural instinct of everyone around you is to bury you alive? How did you get away to come save us earlier?"

"Conrad, Monica, Alice, Valentina, Tarik, Jason, Brandon, and Val ran distraction for me. It takes a lot to keep eight dormant children of the egg at bay from an expecting mother!" She rattled off their names like I knew them or something.

Disgruntled, I did the only thing I could do. Calling for Tom to come closer so that I could lay my head across his shoulders, I took a nap to rest my sorely abused and gunshot muscles.

Waking from a dream where I was carrying six eggs and not four, I let my tongue loll out to touch someone's forearm beneath my head and yawned tremendously before looking around.

None of the humans I expected to see where around. However, I was also perturbed to notice that somehow Amanda, right the fuck next to me, had squirmed free of the pile and disappeared. Tom was still asleep beneath me and as I fidgeted out from the heap of scale, I saw that the sun was well on its way to setting for the day.

With one last tug, I freed myself of my well-meaning but misguided captors and went looking for some intel on what the fuck was happening now. Two lost ones untangled themselves to follow me to my irritation. A small female with dark green eyes that had a string of indistinguishable tattoos, that were once no doubt beautiful, down her flank and wrapped up over her shoulder to trail down her arm. Alongside her, a slightly bigger male who looked back at me with sleepy red eyes the color of the evening sky.

I knew where my destination was when I spotted hindquarters and two tails with spikes attached to them extending from a long, low slung building further down the flight line where they were idly twitching and slapping the ground. As I came closer, I recognized the smell of all three of the Air Force officers, the weird neutral smell of Tomoko, and some number of humans that included Alex, Ulysses, Jack Rabbit, and the Perkins. Where Dan, First Light, Night Star, and Prometheus were, I had only a vague idea, as I could only get a catch a tiny trace of their scent somewhere nearby. Judging from what I could detect, First Light was still in a great deal of pain, and it made me somewhat distracted by the urge to go to her. Where the lost female that we had saved was, or Tyler for that matter, I did not even have that tiny clue.

Smelling me, the owner of one of the tails made a waving motion to entice me closer as the scales on it rattled open to release the scent of invitation. The large body the appendage grew from shuffled to the side to allow me to creep partially into the interior and nudged me with the folded knuckles of his wing companionably. Leading with my head into the low building with legs half bent, I noticed he and his wife had ditched the harnesses and suits.

"How are you doing?" The individual, who I could only guess was Conrad, asked me.

"Sore, and stiff. I'd like to get up and run around to loosen up, but..." I didn't have to explain further as my two tailgaters (Haha, tailgaters, get it? That takes on a whole new meaning doesn't it when you actually have a tail!) crowded close behind me. Facing away from me, they whistled in delight when my tail found theirs and wrapped around them both to show that I could at least try to appreciate what they were doing, even if being baby-sat annoyed me to no fucking end.

"You just have to know how to talk to them. You don't have much experience with those who have gone dormant do you?"

I grunted my agreement. "We always called them 'lost ones.'"

"Major McConnor-Schwarzkopf and Colonel Huygens stay on target." General Boyd scolded us. Long buried habits surfaced from the depths of my mind and I snapped to attention, caving in a section of the ceiling with my head. Laughter came from everyone assembled, including the General, while a Captain seated next to him at the far end of the gathering muttered discontentedly to himself about how much that was going to cost. Brushing the dust off my head that I had caused to fall with a wing I then sneezed and launched my forequarters off the ground.

"General Boyd, I appreciate the courtesy of calling me by my rank, but it's just Kim now. I didn't leave the military..."

"On the greatest of terms. Yes, I have been read in on what happened. Nasty business, nasty business. For what it's worth, I think you did what was right in upholding the morals of our Armed Forces even at the cost of your career. It is little wonder to me that you were one of the ones chosen for this...honor." He gestured at his chest scales from where he lay lounging in a half moon around a dozen or so Air Force officers that would have needed a forklift to look him in the eyes when he spoke.

Just like the two beside me, I noticed that his optic was gone. Also missing was the stealth fighter whateverthefuck that he had on his back earlier. Unlike them however, he was still wearing the harness and body suit and had someone scrambling around on his back with a computer and a set of cables checking things out. His eyes glazed briefly in thought while the tip of his tail, running along the long axis of the building, banged rhythmically against the wall.

I ducked my head briefly to point my snout at the ground and let the snuffling nostrils around the meeting interpret the message of my gratitude for his comment. The humans just took turns sneezing or coughing, looking back at how little I was able to smell before my change, I felt sorry for them. Being around us when we tried to express anything nowadays was probably like getting a face full of CS. It couldn't really be helped though. We only had two ways of moving our faces, mouth open or closed, and eyes wide or narrow. Most people have told me that every time I thought I had been expressing laughter, or love, or really anything positive they thought I was about to rip them in half. Except my kids. Because they are smart, and everyone else is fucking stupid.

Boyd collected himself, and a waved a talon at what I realized was the spread-out assemblage of the satellite photos that Jack Rabbit had made for his search.

"So, you have searched only one of these locations and found a deeply troubled female but have no signs of your family. Is that a fair assessment of where you stand?"

Peeling his terrified eyes away from me, he looked up at the ceiling scraping head of the General to give a timid squeak. "Uh, yes...yes sir."

Boyd's eyes swiveled to look from him to me and back again before he responded. "I'm sure what Kim Schwarzkopf did was frightening to behold Mr. Baker, but you have nothing to fear from her or any one of us. She was merely protecting herself, her children, and her husband. It is important for you to realize that we will not harm those who wish us none in turn."

What was happening in Turkey popped into my head. But to keep things simple for Jack Rabbit, I did not muddy the water by bringing it up. He didn't seem like the adventuring type to go piss off airborne bullet resistant predators by fucking with their unhatched children.

Nodding his head reluctantly, Jack Rabbit continued. "We found that dragon girl here." Using a red map marker, he drew an x over the barn we had found. Not noticing Boyd scar the concrete floor with a talon at the use of the word dragon.

"Captain Avery. Can we spare a Predator for a recon mission?"

"Sir, it'll be tight with 03-0138 being down for maintenance. But as long as we keep the two Reapers nearby, we'll be good to respond to any concentrated attack based on current opposition numbers in the area."

"Good. You know what to do."

"Sir."

"Lieutenant Carter. Have you arranged lodging for our new guests?"

"Almost sir. We are having a hard time finding some items needed for their toddler. They will be sharing the same quarters as Mr. Schwarzkopf, Mr. Baker, and Mr. Hopkins however. It's not the best sir, but my understanding is their stay here will be brief, if so, it should be enough."

"Um...if I may?" Patricia tentatively raised her hand, and then shrank as the room full of eyes, some larger than her torso, turned their attention on her. "If you could bring our belongings from the hotel, we won't need anything else special for our child."

"Lieutenant Carter?"

"On it, sir." She said, already grabbing two others and hustling from the large room with the Perkins in tow.

I tuned the rest out as it devolved into a long list of minutiae regarding cooperation with the local law enforcement. Hearing someone mention the words 'mall' and 'eggs' snapped me back from my considerations of what Tom and I had to work through now. Unfortunately, I was not the only keen pair of ears to hear the word 'eggs'.

Eggs? Where?

Yes, tell!

Must be warm, safe!

Tell Ink Stain or I bite! (I wondered what comedian made that joke about her tattoos.)

"Alright." General Boyd said, exasperated. "From now on the code phrase for eggs is...pine cone."

Not trick! Pine cone is egg!

Trick? No like trick!

Boyd had reached the end of his patience and lay his head on the ground to cover with his front paws. "Colonels, can you..." He pointed his wing thumb at the lost ones trying to shove their way into the structure. Spreading apart two claws, he looked at them with a striking pale blue eye "We'll brief you later."

They both bobbed their heads and, after much squawking and churling snarls, got the two 'dormant' to leave me and the meeting alone to follow them.

Raising his head again, he tried once more. "The code phrase is now...hickory nut. Now, what do we do with the children of the egg in the mall? I am open to suggestions from any corner."

Before we could even get one word in about any option we might have. Tomoko preempted everyone by appearing in front of a startled Boyd who snorted in alarm as his staff jumped or fell out of their chairs. Sitting on her hind legs and tail, she held out the mysterious flower pot containing the sunflower. "This is yours! Happiness awaits!"

I kept a wary eye on the byzantine computer and told Boyd my opinion on the matter. "That thing wouldn't insist on something like that sunflower unless it had some deeper meaning. We must figure out what it is. Hey! Tomoko! What the fuck?" I tried yelling at her. She just grinned at me, cheeky little shit.

One of Boyd's staff was sharp enough to try the obvious thing first. "What does the sunflower mean or represent?"

"Oh, no! I cannot tell you that silly! Anything that I do for you loses all meaning! It needs lots of love to set its roots down deep!"

"It's the eggs!" I blurted. "The damn thing is talking about the eggs!"

"Which eggs? Yours? Ama... Colonel Huygens'? Or the ones at the mall... Is that it? What about the eggs, creature?"

"Oh, Johnny! That is so mean! Creature? No, no, no. I am your friend! Don't you like the sunflower? How many times have you wished for your own? Soon you will have many sunflowers!"

A pinched wounded look entered Boyd's eyes before he took the flowerpot from Tomoko and set it aside carefully as tinges of sadness came from him. When he looked back at the computer the emotion was gone. "Stop speaking nonsense! Tell us what you mean!"

I couldn't help myself anymore and startled everyone when I started roaring laughter. "This is my hell every day. Do you know how maddening it is to listen to this all the time? To know that you have access to the greatest source of information that this world has ever known and have it refuse to tell you anything? Hahahaha! Welcome to my personal world of fuck!"

"Kimmy! I tell you lots of things!"

That was even more fucking hilarious.

"Putting aside the world-shattering mystery of sunflowers." Ulysses spoke up, having had enough of the tangent that the insanely opaque Tomoko seemed to be reveling in leading us down. "What do we do about the children of the egg at the mall?"

"They cannot remain there. They must be moved to a security zone. Get me Colonel Stout." Boyd ordered.

"Oh dear!" Tomoko exclaimed as an airman asked Alex for Stout's number to punch into a secure line. "I'm afraid for that to work you will have to convince the mother within the shopping center to move her eggs! The rest of the clan will never leave without her!"

Boyd looked me straight in the eyes, and I stiffened once again. "I had figured as much. Kim, you and Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Huygens will be leading this effort to convince this group to leave. Given the security of their position, it is entirely possible that you will fail. If so, we will have to proceed with the secondary plan of hardening the area.

"Where are we at on Plan B?"

"We can get two infantry companies from the 4th ID and a team each from the 71stEOD and 10th SFG. Transportation and supply are being coordinated as we speak." My buddy told him.

Boyd nodded, and addressed me once again. "I understand your attachment to the ones that you have brought with you, however we are already aware that the children of the egg in the mall will not tolerate unknown humans into their shelter. You, and the Huygens will be the only ones going on this. I would've extended the offer to your husband, given the nature of his training as a PJ he would have been a valuable asset, however that is not possible at the moment for obvious reasons. If you have any concerns for your safety or reservations, speak now."

Alex opened his mouth to protest, but I caught his eye, and he subsided to allow me to speak for him for now.

"Alex is a doctor with experience treating us and..." I trailed off, as Boyd was already swinging his head.

"We have tried already. We estimate that there are between one and two hundred humans in there. It is entirely possible that they already have their own medical staff. In any case, all human contact has been refused."

"But that doesn't make sense! If I or you or whatever child of the egg shows up vouching for a human, how can they turn us away? This has been bugging me ever since we met their night guards. When did they stop accepting human additions to their group? How many have been forced to go it alone just because they had friends or family with them? We have a problem if there are other groups out there on their own. Winter has set in, and they are being hunted!"

"Sharp questions, Kim, that deserve answers that we don't have. Many of them are questions we wish to see resolved ourselves. It is entirely possible that something happened to them before we became aware of their...colony that has made them suspicious of further additions."

My brother-in-law tried again himself. "It is still possible that I can be of some use. If I can arrange for another to take me, is there any indication they will allow me outside the building somewhere to treat those who wish it?"

"I do not want any untrained personnel on this assignment, if for no other reason than those with a background in military discipline would know enough to stay out of the way of a cohesive unit that has trained together."

That was the first real impression I had that the General and his two underlings were more than just superior and subordinate. On their own, they may have trained to operate with a level of unconditional trust that I hadn't yet with anyone other than Tom since the change. Alex didn't count due to the lack of wings, and my dear daughter Irma never got around to it because she was too busy impaling herself on Jessie's dick every waking god damn hour of the day. Yeah, I get it, our bodies felt in ways that we couldn't have dreamt of before...but holy shit, take it easy!

"What about Dan? Kim has told me that he is a Marine that served in Vietnam."

Boyd shuffled his paws and twitched his tail in thought. "Perhaps. There are a few reasons why he will do well in this capacity, however there are also many for why he will not." The General made a rumbling sound in his throat that shook the windows of the structure while watching the man scurrying around on his back with the computer before coming to a decision. "Request denied. Is there anything else?"

Disappointing, but only a little. Every battle I've been in so far, I've felt limited by the concern for those around me that didn't share my...durability. If something came up again I didn't want to be weighed down by anything other than my children who were already behind an armored wall of scale and muscle. Speaking of that, there wasn't a damn reason in the world why I couldn't enhance that protection.

"I want one of those suits that you're wearing. I'm pregnant!"

"Of course." His wings twitched open briefly, and the smell of his desire to protect me made me trill warmly and unexpectedly. Ashamed, I turned my head away. I am not an animal, to purr at the drop of a fucking hat! No one commented on it, of course. But when I looked back, Boyd's eyes had softened in understanding for the strange impulses that I, and no doubt he, warred against in the forms we had been twisted into. Certainly none that our human psyches could readily accept. Sometimes I envied the lost ones. They didn't have an endless conflict occurring in their minds as old patterns of thought clashed with the instincts of a body as large and as strange as our new ones. It was nature vs. nurture writ large.

"Is there anything else, Kim?"

"No, General."

"Captain Keating and Lieutenant Chester. One of Col. Amanda Huygens' spare suits should fit her well enough, they look of similar size. See to it. Now someone put Colonel Stout on the horn. I need to know if he can accommodate a new group of this size."

Alex followed me out of the door to head off to see to his brother, and I doubled my neck back to call out a parting instruction. "Tell Stout to have my children call their Uncle. I owe it to them to let them know their father has been shot!" No one replied, but I did see Boyd's tail wave to acknowledge what I'd said.

"We've already looked at your husband's neck scale under the microscope to see why it was so easily pierced and compared it to one from Amanda, Conrad, and John." The textile specialist I was speaking to told me. "Just like them, it is a millimeter thinner. What is more important, however, is the fact that the growth matrix of the scale is not interlaced like those covering his throat, or your torsos. You and Amanda stand out in particular, as your scales are in fact, on average, two to three millimeters thicker and have a substantial number more plies. It is my opinion that this is due to being...."

"Pregnant, yeah I figured." I told the man.

"We're just taking measurements on you right now. But you are close enough to Amanda that the suit should fit with only a few minor adjustments. She's a little taller, but you are longer, and not quite as..." He coughed and then pat his stomach.

"I, am carrying six eggs that each have enough volume to stuff your body into. Which I will be sure to do once they hatch if you keep talking about how large my abdomen is." The individual being talked about said, as she approached with her head lowered to look inside on us.

"Hahaha." The developer rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry Amanda, but the measurements don't lie. They are what they are."

"How far along are you?" I wanted to know.

"Maybe a week or so behind you. Will you please join me? I would like to speak with you about something dear to my heart. Six of them."

"The suit will be ready for you by the time you leave tonight." The textile designer told me.

"We're leaving tonight? What the fuck? No heads up? What kind of bullshit WARNO is that?" I demanded of Amanda.

"Yes. I apologize, I though you had been told." Her scales fluttered in her agitation with the accompanying smell of ozone as she turned a glittering eye on the researcher.

"Oh, that means you're angry, right? I'm sorry Kim, I forgot to pass the message along."

"You fucking suck." I told him.

"Yeah, I deserved that." He muttered as Amanda and I walked away with our tails lashing peaceably.

How are Dan, First Light, Night Star, and Tyler doing?

Dan, and his daughters are resting two hangars down to minimize the noise from the others. The surgery went well to remove the bullets and shrapnel from the two females.

That is good, that is good. Your medics, or surgeons I guess, sure seem to be up on things.

It is unfortunate that that is so. It has been a long and trying adventure as we flew across the nation. Four months crisscrossing the country setting up liaison cells to interact with children of the egg. All the while, I grew bigger and bigger. 7600 kilograms the last time I stepped on a truck scale.

I looked at her, taking in her entire frame. A large silver locket lay around the base of her neck on a thick chain that was silver as well. The smooth ivory of the projection on her neck and tail looked to be even longer than my own, with the neck spike currently lying flat against her spine. Pivotable, just like mine, by flexing the neck just right so that it locked outwards. The surest sign that you were about to be attacked, was seeing that deadly thorn standing up. As that man said earlier, she was indeed taller, making me wonder how big she was as a human, but I was a good couple of meters longer.

My attention focused on the bulk of her body, she carried the extra weight she had on me very well, no noticeable bulge although I could tell that her limbs and flanks carried a fair bit more muscle mass.

Do you think we'll stay this big once we give birth? I asked her.

We came across a female that had had two eggs in Tennessee and, while it is not a direct comparison, her hindquarters had noticeably retreated around and forward of her groin. The uterus had shrunk, but the musculature remained. She even let us scan her with our equipment.

Good! Might need it to protect the children and the eggs!

That is our prevailing theory as well. Although, it is strange for me to feel so much power held within my body. Well, beyond the obvious.

Skinny one before, were you?

I did Pilates all the time! She said, defensively. I snorted in disbelief. Pilates? What horseshit...I'll have one of my crew show you pictures of what I looked like when I was human. You will see that it was quite the adjustment for me.

How did you manage? I was definitely on the struggle bus for a while myself.

Not well. She frankly told me, and twisted her head to show me that some of the scales around the back of her jaws were irregularly shaped, like some of them were newer than the others. Thin white lines wove their way down her neck where her skin had been damaged leaving scars that discolored the scales that grew from it. I have done that to myself, in fear of what I am now. Sometimes I...I... get confused, and I attack myself. If it was not for Conrad and my children, I do not think I would still be alive. I... sometimes I do know who, what I am.

I snorted heavily through my nose and we finished one lap up and down the length of the runway before I spoke again.

Tom is my strength. Without him, I am nothing. My children give me purpose in life, but Tom, for me, is life itself. Sorry, I am no poet.

No, I understand. That is in line with what the psychiatrists have told me as well. Find an anchor, and never let go.

So, what is it like carrying six?

Like carrying four, plus two.

I twisted my snout and lifted the lip on one side to smirk at her response. Do you mind if I... I flared open my ears and looked back at her belly curiously. She bobbed her head.

Only if I can as well.

Clearing my mind to put myself at ease. I pushed my flank up against Amanda's and lowered my head to put my ear to Amanda's stomach as I felt the tickle of her ear membrane brushing my side before the warmth of her scales against mine. Six heavy drum beats rushed through me followed by whispers of curiosity and greeting. Reaching outward with my mind, I brushed the tenuous streams of the fledgling consciousnesses to say hello and blanket their tiny thoughts with the assurance that I would allow no harm to come to them.

Amanda gasped as I did this, like I had shocked her, and leapt away from me at least the full length of her body. Turning wide eyes on me, at first I thought she was going to attack me. But then she gasped again, and I felt the vague sense that her children were curious where my feeling had gone. Sitting back on her tail, she curled inward and placed a forepaw on her stomach. Looking up at me, I took a startled step back and flared my wings in surprise at the look on her face and her smell. She was crying, she was crying tears of joy.

My...my...babies. Oh, my children. I have never felt them this strongly before. It is...it is...Conrad...Where is Conrad?

Calling out her husband's name, she ran from me without another word as tears continued to stream from her eyes. Conrad, reacting to the loud cries for him from his mate, ran from the command center with panic shining in his eyes and leaking from his scales. Amanda ran to slide to a stop before him and scrambled to reach for one of his paws to press it against her belly.

Do you feel them? She gently chirped to him, almost like she was afraid to break the spell.

He must have, because he removed his paw to replace it with the side of his head and cooed in wonder.

Amanda? What is this? This is...I can feel them...they are greeting me!Tears sprung free from his eyes, as he dissolved into the wonder of feeling his children reacting to his presence. Amanda...our babies...they know me.

Silently, I sat with my tail curled around my feet to enjoy the touching scene. Reaching inside myself I felt out my own children and shared with them the feelings that I felt watching the couple before me. It was about five minutes later that Boyd sat down next to me to watch as the sobbing Amanda held Conrad tightly against her stomach and blanketed the both of them with her wings.

What have you done to my officers?

I...am not entirely sure. That alien did something to me and Tom earlier and called me a Matriarch. She said I am able to do something to others who are mated, to unlock something in their minds. I think I unintentionally boosted her ability to feel her children.

Come with me. Now.

I could already tell that he was furious, and it didn't take much imagination to come up with why. I had just messed with the minds of two individuals who he was responsible for the safety of, and by extension, the six other lives that one of them carried.

He led me into the command center, and barked orders for everyone to clear out. As the last staff member left their work station to mill around outside until we were done, his angrily lashing tail wrapped around the grab handle of the door and slammed it closed.

At first he didn't say anything. He just glared at me snorting heavily through his flaring nostrils as his fins opened and closed restlessly. Behind him, his tail snapped repeatedly as the tip broke the sound barrier and, every once in a while, he raised one of his forefeet with the talons opened wide before setting it down where it could score the floor instead. He was building himself up to attack me, I realized in astonishment. I had to defuse this before we ended up in a situation where neither one of us could win.

I did not do this intentionally. I do not even know anything about what happened to me! All I know is that earlier today my husband and I shared our own memories, and when I came out of it, Tomoko told me I am a Matriarch. Whatever that means.

What...is...this? He snarled from between clenched fangs. Flexing his fore paws, he cracked the concrete slab he was crouching on.

I do not know! I asked if I could listen to her children's heart beats, and she asked the same of me! I could feel them greeting me, and I reached out to them to reassure them. The next thing I knew, she jumped away from me, touched her belly, and ran for her husband crying in joy.

His tail slapped the flimsy wall of the building we were in. For some reason, I got the general feeling that he was still not happy with situation.

I do not like it either! I do not know what was done to me! Today I relived my husband's life as him! I was him, and he was me! Tomoko told me that I would be able to help others feel this if they choose to. That this was a vital role that certain females of our species filled. That it comes with a steep cost and should not be given lightly.

A steep cost? Not to be given lightly? AND YOU GAVE WHATEVER IT IS TO MY OFFICERS? DID YOU EVEN BOTHER TO FUCKING ASK?

I TOUCHED HER CHILDREN TO SAY HELLO NOTHING MORE!

At this point, we were literally butting heads and snarling, growling and chirping in a full-throated spat with our wings and scales opened wide in mutual fury. He was trying to ensure the wellbeing of his officers in the face of something unknown, and I was trying to explain that same unknown when I knew nothing about it. Even though we both knew that it was just a matter of frustration stemming from our ignorance, neither of us could or would back down to admit as much. I had to divide my attention between the General and calming my increasingly alarmed children while also focusing on keeping my body from lurching their precious eggs rearward to the exit. He pointed at me with the thumb of his wing and opened his mouth to continue when a quiet voice interrupted us from outside.

Sir...whatever gift she gave us...it is gone.

Spinning away from me, he swiped at the sliding door and flung it open so hard that it jumped off the end of its tracks and slammed into the wall. Just outside the door, the two Lt. Colonels sat there hanging on each other with bittersweet expressions scents on them. Human staff were clustered around their feet and didn't look like they knew whether to comfort the distraught couple or to give them their space. A few tried to reassure them while patting at what they could reach of their fore legs.

Abandoning the aloof manner of a General officer, he swept forward and embraced the married pair with a wing around the back of each of them.

"Colonels, I don't know what she did to do you, but I swear to you that I will find out what is..."

"Sir, it was...it was... I'd never felt my children like that...It was like I could communicate with my children...sir it was the most beautiful thing I've ever felt...their emotions...they told me they felt safe." Amanda started to cry again and leaned into her husband who was also shivering with the profound effects of touching his children's minds.

"Kim, was what you showed us a trick? Did we really feel their emotions? Do they really love us? Please! Tell us that was real!"

I bobbed my head. "I didn't know you couldn't feel your children that way. That is what I feel, what I am able to do, all the time."

"But how did you make it so that Conrad and I could feel that? Kim...can you do it again? Can you make it permanent? It was... it made me feel whole! Like I didn't know what it meant to be a mother before this! Please! I always want to be able to feel my babies! To reassure them, to calm them, to help them feel my love! So that Conrad can show them his love! Please!"

I swung my head, growing sadder by the minute from the couple's heartfelt pleas.

"That's not a good idea where we are. I still know nothing about this ability, beyond what I've been told and shown. I did not even intend to open it in you. I was shown what the cost of it is. It is more than just connecting to your babies, it is connecting to each other."

Boyd balled his paw and slammed it into the concrete. He seemed to want to know what 'it' was.

"I don't fully understand it myself. But the alien, Tomoko, unlocked it in me and Tom, and told us that as a mated pair and as I was a Matriarch, which I still don't know the meaning of, we would be able to open that path in others. But, now this is the part that you're going to find impossible to believe and why I didn't mention it before, but I have met myself from the future and know the curse that the gift can become. If one half of the mated pair dies, shortly afterwards the other dies as well.

"Do you see? The connection is so profound that you will be one person in some ways! If one of you dies, the other will be half an individual! They will be a shell! That is a fate worse than death, to have a part of your being torn away. Yes, you will know each other like you never did before, and know your children as I have always known mine. I think...I think I was one of these Matriarchs ever since my change. I've always been able to interact with my babies the way you just felt. But it wasn't until Tomoko intervened that I was able to share it with Tom. It's been half a day, and I still don't know where I end and Tom begins! You felt it earlier today when you, Amanda, had carried my mate on your back. He must have unknowingly boosted your thoughts to reach Conrad's when he was calling for me. How else was he able to know to come block me from returning? I felt your desire for him to return shoot through my head like a harpoon!"

She looked as startled as she had every right to be.

"It is too dangerous." At this point I was crying as well. Crying because I was denying them the ultimate expression of their love for each other and for their children. I was denying them the ability to soothe each other, comfort each other, help each other. Amanda had shown me her scars, this could help her center herself, heal herself. But the consequences were too great right now. God damnit, where the fuck was Tomoko to help me explain this? "The risk is too great. I don't know enough. It could make you loopy like I had slammed your heads together and concussed you both. I don't...I don't know how long it could take you to recover."

Boyd was adamantly in favor of my opinion. "I agree. After hearing your explanation, Kim, and knowing how the alien computers operate in ways that we cannot predict, I believe you when you say that you did not mean for this to happen. I did not at first, and I certainly do not know if I can ever believe that you met your future self, but your emotions do not lie. Either you are telling the truth, or you believe that you are telling the truth. In any case you did not act maliciously."

He nosed his aides back from the area in front of him, and then knelt on his front legs to press his snout against the ground. Quickly, I grazed his neck with my teeth to accept the apology.

Turning to his officers, he sighed through his nose. Amanda, Conrad, I cannot order you to not want to feel your children in the way that was described. But I beg you to give long hard thought to what Kim here has said. This does not by any stretch of the imagination sound like a choice that should be made lightly. We are effectively in a time of war. If what she has said is true, losing one of you means losing both of you. I...I have come to care for you two a great deal. I have come to care a great deal for all those under my command. Almost like...almost like you are my own children. I...do not know if I am an effective leader anymore when I care so much about the ones that serve at my command that I would not send them into a situation where their lives would be forfeit for a greater good. This is an all-volunteer unit, if any of you have lost confidence in my command knowing how I feel, I will harbor no ill-will against you if you were to speak out to seek my relief or request a transfer."

Whatever his thoughts might have been on the matter, he sounded and acted like one of the best damn commanders I'd ever met. Just a few minutes ago, he thought I'd harmed some of his children and had been frighteningly close to attacking me. Me! A pregnant female! Out of the concern that I had attacked what he saw as his children, he had been willing to go against all the instincts of his body! This was a commander that I wish I had met years ago.

No one stepped forward. Or, I should say, no one stepped forward to offer condemnation or a desire to leave his command. Instead, a line quickly formed as one after the other all the officers and enlisted in the command post walked by the General to reaffirm their commitment to him and what he and the Colonels were trying to achieve. How each of them would ask their own subordinate commands the same things that Boyd had just asked them.

Boyd flared his wings as wide as he could (which was no small distance) and curled them around all those gathered nearby to thank them. I stepped back to keep outside the circle, as it was not my place to claim a connection to the unit, and listened from the other side of the membrane as he addressed each and every one of the three dozen or so present by name in gratitude. With a final remark that he would have a memo from himself dictated to be read to each unit that he held command over, his wings lifted away and slowly accordioned into neat folds on his back once more.

That, was fucking leadership! He treated these people as his own children, but the look that I saw they were giving their commander. When I saw that I knew that any one of these individuals would jump on a grenade for General Boyd. I think he knew it too, as he looked back at them all with sadness in his eyes. Especially when he looked at the Huygens, who even then remained locked in a tightly held embrace that had them interwoven from their serpentine necks all the way to their prehensile tails. I saw something flicker in Boyd's eyes then. I saw him getting ready for the day that he would cut them loose so that they could see to their own children. He knew, as his eyes met mine, that it would be soon. I bobbed my head and fanned smells of encouragement and respect towards him.

Grunting hoarsely, Boyd barked at everyone to get back to work and followed them inside with one long last look at me, and the Huygens.

I approached them, and their hazy tear-filled eyes looked up to mine. Hesitating for a moment, I reached out with my neck and nuzzled them both on the sides of their snouts. "You will know when the time is right to ask for the bond that I have described. Please, if this is what you want, wait until I know more myself and you are sure you understand the costs of what it entails.

"Now, Conrad, get me up to speed on what we're doing tonight."

---

"So the goal is to convince them to leave for my home upstate is it? All of them?" I asked Conrad and Ulysses where we were huddled around my comatose husband who had apparently fell into the same kind of recuperative hibernation that I had previously. If he didn't wake up soon, he would have to be airlifted to our home. I wasn't laying my damned eggs here were there was nothing but concrete, corrugated metal, and the stench of oil and avgas.

"Tonight?"

"Of course not, Kim." Ulysses told me when Conrad deferred to him. "Stout needs a week to get more supplies for them. Given that we think it will take somewhere between two to four days for them to make the journey as a completely out of the blue guess. It will fit into our estimated time table nicely for them to leave in three days so that the General can arrange some aircover."

"Assuming of course" I reminded him "that they even want to come. Alex and I have told you already what kind of tit freezing welcome we got last time we talked to them."

"Tit freezing?" Conrad quietly asked his wife. "Is that a thing that your lovely, lovely, profoundly missed breasts ever had a problem with?"

She laughed and leaned against him "Just roll with it dear."

"The best option would be for us to lead them to your home in groups. Although we realize that will be unlikely due to how you guys act around children and eggs. Turkey has their work cut out for themselves if they think a mountain range's worth of dragons are going to go quietly after they turned it into a massive nest. Heat blooms from satellite imagery estimate that there are between three and four thousand dragons in the area that the Turkish military is probably assaulting even as I speak to you." Ulysses concluded.

Fuck, that was even worse than I thought. My heart ached at the thought of that bloodbath. Not to mention how many humans might be with them or supporting them.

"Don't worry Kimmy and Conrad!" Tomoko hopped through the watching circle of children of the egg surrounding our détente. "It looks hopeless now! But cooler heads will prevail! The dastardly scheme to collect and sell eggs through the town that was attacked is on the news right now! Casualties will be minimal! Only forty children of the egg and seven hundred humans! Once footage of the tragedy becomes known, the whole area will become a national reservation due to pressure from the population!"

The briefing took a pause as grief at the thought of those deaths overcame the children of the egg listening in and we fell into a session of rubbing each other's muzzles for comfort. Realization trickled into my mind, and I stopped what I was doing to stare around at the sulky pile of scale around me. Why was I acting this way? Why were the others? What the fuck! I...I needed a distraction. The more I was around others of my new kind, the more my behavior became less and less recognizable. Nuzzling, crooning, this constant need to touch the others for reassurance? Not me baby!

I looked at Ulysses madly scribbling all this unlooked-for intel down. Then looked at the computer and brought my axe back out to grind a new edge on it.

"Where the fuck where you an hour ago when I had to try to explain how I did something that I know nothing about? Fuck, Tomoko! If you say you're going to be useful, be fucking useful!"

"I am being helpful. Look at you, Kimmy! You stood on your own long before I came along. Do you want me to fight your fights for you? That doesn't fit the profile that we have generated of you!"

"No! I want you to fucking tell me about things that you do to me!"

"But you have already figured it out! The only thing left to show you is how to connect another loving pair of happy, happy children of the egg! The time is not now, but soon! Beyond that, it is yours and Tom's judgement in who is ready alone! There is no future where I advise on who and who not to give this gift to that ends well!"

I felt cold air rush over my teeth when I opened my mouth to snarl savagely at the suspect alien. She was undeterred.

"Would you like some ginger root? Happy feelings make happy babies!"

And that's where I lost interest in paying attention to what the omniscient computer had to say for the time being.

"So, Situation: Unknown quantity of friendly children of the egg and humans in a large mall structure converted for habitation with limited access points and a rotating guard of small teams of children of the egg. Current interior arrangement unknown. Presumable focus of interior occupants are one or more mothers and their lain children. Mission: KLE to convince the occupants of said mall structure to vacate and remove themselves to a safe area at my home approximately 454 kilometers distant at a date and time to be determined. Execution: Me, Amanda, and Conrad will engage members of this group at 2000. To be completed NLT 0000. Sustainment: One Predator drone, with a QRF of eight lost and eight recovered children of the egg to come by and just generally fuck things up in some manner. Command + Control: General Boyd will remain here at the Air National Guard and coordinate through communication via head mounted commo devices worn by both Huygens.

"Does that about sum it all up?"

"More or less, Kim. You could use a little practice on your OPORDs but good enough."

"Oh yeah! Where's my suit, and do I get a stealth fighter cockpit mounted on my back too? I've been cramming people on my back into a glorified tent!"

"We have spare suits, but no spare polygons. It wouldn't matter if we did or not, you haven't been fitted for one. Every dragon is different. Balance, dimensions, aerodynamics, all are different."

"Polygons? Broke your imagination farting that one up did you?"

Ulysses slugged my fore leg that he and Alex were sitting on but otherwise ignored me. "They were primarily designed for use in hostile environments. But we do have some transport capsules that will be perfect for shuttling people back and forth that we can fit you out with when the time comes. They have a ridiculous R-value to retain the high heat your asses generate on their own and even a pair of windows. Each one has two cots with straps and eight jump seats with five-point harnesses that all mount to the floor of the cab which is in turn mounted to the harness attached to the suits."

"Fuck! Eight seats and two cots in them? With space for cargo I'm guessing too, right? How fucking big are they?"

"Kim, you're over thirty-three meters long. With your body being sixty percent of that. The only trick about it is finding a way to route the straps around your wings since they run from your shoulders to part way down your tail."

"We are not able to move the base of our tails very much while wearing it." Amanda added.

"Sounds the same as the one that Tom and I had made. Any time we had to haul something heavy tied to the harness it made my ass bone sore."

"...That's one way to describe our tails I suppose."

"Alex. If Tom wakes up, please..."

"I will tell him where you are Kim, and I promise I won't let him go anywhere with his injury."

"Is there anything else we can do for the time being?"

"No."

"Good, then I'm going flying!"

"Stop by ops, they have an aerial map of where we can fly."

Alex, and Ulysses slid off my leg as I drew it and its three sisters beneath me to push myself up. On the way out, I stopped to rub my snout against Tom's and kissed him while sending thoughts of love that I could feel his unconscious mind latch on to. Amanda looked at her husband and they bobbed their heads to each other before she rose to follow me as well. Two watching males and a female ambled along as well and our squadron took to the skies just outside after Amanda quickly told me where not to fly.

Thought slipped from my head as I fell into a meditative trance while I flew slow laps around the line of hangars. Back, and forth. Wings up, push down. Back, and forth. Tension bled from me like water until I was nothing more than a large flying ball of peace and relaxation. I sighed and tipped onto one wing edge and spun in a tight circle, signaling my happiness at caressing the air for all to feel. Up here, I could escape the worries of the ground. Up here, I was alone with my children. The only thing that I had want of at the moment, was to feel Tom's wingtip brushing mine, and the smell of his self mingling with my own.

The other four flying with me heeded the request that I expressed through scent and gave me my space. After a half hour, or an hour, or a day, or whatever, I brought myself back to caring about the passage of time once more and opened my ear fins and scales to signal that to approach me would be okay.

I cavorted mid-air with Amanda, one of the males, and the other female. While free-wheeling across our narrow air corridor I spoke with the male and female as we flew intricate patterns with wings or tails touching while we danced. I learned the male's name was Jackson, and the unknown female who was with us called herself Big Bang and explained the source of her name by mimicking what sounded to me like a bomb going off. Mean people want hurt Big Bang! I throw things. Big Bang win!

I found her outside Provo living in a scrap yard barn laughing madly while she was ripping valves off propane tanks and throwing them at the group shooting at her when their attempt to burn her alive failed. Somehow, she was throwing balls of fire to set the tanks off, it was actually pretty scary. Jackson told me.

Not scary! Fun! Poke bright shiny fur with angry sparky spark and throw fiery fur! BOOM! Fur ball meet hissing bottle, Big Bang win!

Her language is a bit off, I think she was a dormant one for at least four or five months, but she knows enough to remember at least some of who she was. She says she likes Big Bang instead of her old name. Jackson told me while I worked to decode what I was hearing from her.

Old me boring! Marie was me and blech! The brown eyed child of the egg stuck her tongue out comically and sneezed in distaste at her old life. Sit in box, stare at glowy thing, clicky clacky all sunshine, every sunshine! Big Bang exciting! Big Bang free of box! Big Bang child of egg and sky now! Want play? I know tricks! Mix and match and see what hatch!

Amanda nudged me with her wing to get my attention away from Big Bang. We think she was a chemist of some kind before. She has already made herself some kind of work station out of rain gutters and ventilation equipment and has three different vats dissolving...I do not know...things...in solvent she found. Chemistry has never been my specialty." She added, with an apologetic smell to her.

Not know? You find out! Everyone excited! Big Bang win! Her ears flapped like her wings as she winked at me. Big Bang always win!

We spun around each other a little bit longer, before the thing that I had been putting off ate at me until I couldn't shelve it any longer. It was time to tell my kids that their father had a hole blown into the side of his neck.

Circling to the ground, Amanda followed me as Jackson and the other male watched Big Bang land and run with undulating bounds to look into the windows of a boarding plane at a civilian terminal on the far side of the hangars. Screams came from the plane, and a quick-thinking wing walker started juggling his batons to get her away from the aircraft she was nudging with her nose. Big Bang sat and clapped her paws enthusiastically chortling laughter until she caught sight of something that ended up in her claws as she flew away again.

Landing, I flared my wings all the way out, enjoying the feeling of well used muscles as they stretched. Bending my arms, the sound and feeling of my furling membranes comfortably coming to rest finished my flight routine. Amanda stopped me before I went inside.

I am going to give birth soon. Just as you are. Conrad and I will join you at your home if you will have us. General Boyd is a great leader, and my husband and I would follow him anywhere he asked us to do if it was just ourselves. However, he knows my time is coming, and that we must part ways for now. Kim, will you have us?

What kind of a fucking question is that? To deny a mother somewhere she will feel safe for herself and her children.

Then I have one more thing to ask of you. I want to touch my children as I bring them into the world. Please grant me that.

You know the risks, and so does your mate. Yet you still want this? You do not seem to want to understand, I saw myself from five hundred years in the future. I was almost insane with grief. It was killing me.

Please, you know the children you carry every day, at any time you wish. I know only their heartbeats. But for ten minutes today, I knew their thoughts, and they knew mine, and not only that, I was able to share that with my mate and he knew his children as they knew him.

I wasn't sure. This was all just too fucking tin foil hat strange for me. I needed to talk to someone that was smarter than I was. I needed to talk this over with Tom. If I was right in my off the wall guesses on this, I would need his help to make this work anyway.

"Once I talk to my mate, we will give you our answer."

Walking past Alex, who was sitting at a table nearby with an array of papers of some kind in front of him, I went to my Tom where his head and neck extended from the shelter of a triad of sleeping children of the egg. Nuzzling him, I projected the sense of serenity I had accumulated during my flying meditation into his mind. A calm buzz of white noise was my answer. He was under so deep that he wasn't even dreaming. I wondered if I would be able to wake him if need be.

"Alright, Alex. Let's get this over with."

It went about like I thought it would. Irma breaking into tears and great honking sobs and leading her younger siblings down the path of misery. My heart wailing in distress within my breast at not being there to comfort them. My unborn children, picking up on my misery, adding their own on top of their confused feedback that compounded the ache I felt in my chest. Tom began to fidget in his sleep, reacting to my emotions, and I had to fight tooth and claw to get a hold of my feelings that were disturbing him. But not only him, the four lost ones that orbited me and my husband and were taking turns nudging me asking 'Why sad?' and giving me not so very helpful advice such as 'Not good for eggs!'

"He is fine Irma. There are surgeons here where I am at and he is recovering just like I was when I was shot. Please, daughter, I need you to be strong for your brother and sister." I could hear a human voice that I did not recognize trying to comfort them some distance away from the phone.

"Irma, my brother has only lost a few liters of blood, but he is recovering fine. His respiration is deep and even, and his heart rate is steady. Kim can tell if he is in pain and she assures me he is not." Alex offered his reassurance as well. I agreed with him wholeheartedly, and eventually I was able to talk her into some kind of uneasy peace with the situation. I asked her to bring the other two back onto the phone call.

"Mommy loves you all three of you just like Daddy does. We will be with you again in just a few days. I am so proud of all of you for how brave you are being! Mommy has to go now to help some other dragons. Be safe, I love you all so, so much."

"Mommy, we don't want you hurt! We want to see Daddy! Please come home! We love you!" Luke shouted into the microphone at the same time I could hear Lucy's broken cries for her Mommy.

My eyes misted over, and I choked out my last goodbye for them. "We love you, promise you'll stay safe and listen to your big sis." I looked at Alex with an unspoken plea in my eyes, and he gave his own goodbyes before ending the call on Irma demanding more information about what else I was doing down there.

Scrubbing at my eyes with the back of a paw, I collected myself and gave one final sniff that sucked some of Alex's papers off his desk and into my nostril. We both laughed and the vise clamped around my heart eased enough that I was able to calm Tom's thought patterns once again.

"C'mon." Alex said to me once he had collected the paperwork into a folder that he brought with him. "It's time to get ready."

"I really should get a watch." I told him, he laughed.

"Do you feel comfortable?" Amanda asked me forty minutes later after the circus of putting the suit on had ended. I shrugged as Conrad nosed and pulled at the straps of my suit with his teeth. My scales fought to open unsuccessfully in an attempt to show their displeasure at being bound up like this. Instead, only the ones along the open back and uncovered on my head and neck were able to do so. At least my spinal crest was fine. Fuck is it annoying when something is sitting on it.

"After what happened to my mate, why aren't these things covering our necks?"

"I am humbled that you think we can do so much in so little time, Kim." Boyd sniped from where he was sitting, watching us check each other with an assessing look in his eyes.

"It took me and my team five months to get these made!" Conrad object. "The problem is how much our necks and tails are able to bend and twist. I need time!"

"Of course you do Conrad. It's okay. You're doing the best you can honey." Amanda mollified her husband and shot me a glare. Okay! Sheesh, I didn't know it was such a fucking touchy subject.

"Comm check. Amanda. Conrad. Kim. Sound off." Ulysses' voice came nearly inaudibly from the headsets that the two were wearing and the much simpler wire arrangement that I had. Instead of the elaborate data screen and laser designator/video recorder/god knows what else that theirs were. Mine was just a simple microphone and speaker with a wire bridge running across my head to the other side where it clamped. Strapped around the top of my neck was the transmitter/receiver box with its pair of stubby antennas.

"Ulysses, this is Kim, read you Lima Charlie."

"Good copy."

"Uh...I can hear you! This is Conrad!"

"Nice radio discipline Conrad. Good copy." Ulysses radioed sarcastically.

"Command, this is Amanda, I hear you just fine."

"Good copy Amanda."

"General?"

Boyd repeated the radio checks with all of us along with his command in case he was needed in the field and also to get the live feed that his two child of the egg officers were sending back.

"Is the aid package ready?"

"Got it right here." I nosed at it, smelling the food and various medical supplies that were inside the numerous duffel bags contained in the cargo webbing that I would paw carry as a peace offering.

"Remember the flight corridors that we can operate in, and the direct line to the Predator operator is channel two. Fly safe and come back in one piece."

With Boyd's last words, I waved farewell to Alex, grabbed the aid bundle in my hind paws, and launched after Conrad and Amanda to join them in our flight due west. Fourteen seconds into the mission the plan went to shit when I heard the incredible indignant squalling of eight lost children of the egg rising up to us. Flapping after us in our wake, the mass of scale and wing overtook us chirping and snarling that Amanda and I were not safe in the usual clipped linguistically jumbled words of the lost ones.

"Continue mission." Boyd said in our ear pieces. "They are not going to be stopped from following two pregnant children of the egg no matter how much we try to distract them."

So, what had started off as a quiet unobtrusive mission tuned into a flapping circus that drew the attention of everyone we passed overhead of. And all the while, Amanda and I had to ram our way through a never-ending series of attempts to corral us back to 'Safe!'.

Which of course ended up being a total cluster fuck when we finally arrived at the mall. As a fucking cloud, I shit you not, a fucking cloud of children of the egg erupted out some sky lights that had apparently been rigged to be hinged and openable in some fashion.

And, of course, the entire lost wing of children of the egg that rose to meet us knew that Amanda and I were pregnant and nearing our time to lay in about, oh...I'd say about 0.27 seconds. Now, I didn't have an inclination towards claustrophobia to begin with, and I had an even lower sense of it now that it was normal for me and others to sleep in giant pile. But, when you get swallowed by a fucking tornado of scales and wings that guide you to safety at the encouragement of the children of the egg that had already been tailing you, some consternation is understandable.

GET THE FUCK OFF ME. GO! AWAY! LEAVE! I BITE! Not wanting to be proven a liar, I bit the first leg that came within reach of my jaws.

The female owner of said leg squealed with hurt asking Why bite? I help! One day I will have eggs too! Will you bite Josephine then or help? Not nice! I hurriedly let go as shame came over me. Of course they were just trying to help. Just breathe Kim, I told myself. They mean no harm.

By the time the last wing had cleared my vision, and the last tail had let go of mine, Amanda and I had been gently guided to the floor of the central courtyard of the mall with Conrad just behind us. All around us, a wild garden of vegetation had sprung up to fill the air with the scent of life. Like great big birds, the children of the egg that had escorted us in climbed down with stretched legs and tails reaching for foot holds all around both on the ground level and perched on crosswalks and second tier levels. Sprinkled amongst all those large bodies that whispered and pointed at us, were humans standing up from where they had ducked to escape the partially furled wings everywhere. I saw groups, families, and friends, go to individual or small crews of children of the egg who lowered their heads and had hushed conversations with those seeking them out.

Between the rustling of scales, the shifting of wings, the clatter of talons, hushed conversations, and Boyd and Ulysses screaming in my ear. I couldn't make out a damn individual sound.

Before us, however, was the object of our mission laid out in the tiny forest that seemed to have taken root. Amongst the various growths, I wasn't particularly surprised to see a dozen sunflowers rising from the excavated soil. A female, and a male, lay curled around a small circular opening with both of their heads pointed back at ours in interest. While neither looked to be even Irma's size, both had spikes growing from their backs and tails. Another female off to the side was thick with eggs of her own and had spikes just beginning to emerge from her spine. There was no male with her, and as I glanced at her, she caught my eye before looking away towards her stomach and crooning sadly to herself.

"My name is Savannah." The female half of the pair in front of me identified herself to us.

"And I am Martin." The male next to her named himself.

Remembering Tomoko and what she had said about meeting this Savannah that lay before me, I took some deep breaths until my agitated scales drooped closed and my eyelids lowered languidly. Taking their cue from me, the Huygens did the same. A palpable sense of tension deflating was immediately apparent. Having unlaid eggs of our own in our wombs could only go so far it seems.

Conrad relayed what happened into his headpiece as some of the less...cough...enlightened watching us trilled in amazement when Boyd and Ulysses' voices came back from the commo gear acknowledging our situation before going silent to observe.

"Have you come for my children?"

Savannah was a blunt one, I admired that.

"My children are mine, as yours are your own. What kind of fucking Kelpie do you think I am?"

She roared laughter, and then said something in Spanish to her mate. I don't know how but, apparently, she knew that legend and was explaining it to her husband.

Amanda was a born communicator far beyond me and my ability to use 'fuck' every other word, and she swiftly took charge of the greetings by kneeling into a bow.

"We've come to try to convince you to leave this place for a Federally designated security area in Northern Idaho."

"Why?" A woman from the second floor asked. "Here we are near our homes, our jobs, our lives. We have a chance to continue living. Why would we give that up to go somewhere else?"

"The safety of those that reside here is compromised. Hostile forces in the area know that you are here and are gathering their forces for an attack. We have intelligence that the attack will include Army military equipment. Several tanks have been stolen in recent days."

Panicked conversation exploded all around us as Amanda dropped this bombshell. Which I didn't know either. Way to keep me in the loop you guys.

"Another consideration that you must face, is that you are entirely reliant on the supplies that you yourself can procure." Amanda raised her head and sniffed in the direction of the food court where I could smell roasting vegetables and meat. "How many people, how many children of the egg, are here? Can you supply yourselves? If you relocate to this security area until the restoration of civil society, food, security, basic services can be rendered to you all. You do not have to hide in this structure like homeless squatters. Tell me, what medical resources do you have? What educational services do you have for the children that I see everywhere?"

"She's right." A male child of the egg rumbled from where he had nestled himself in an empty store. "My children should be in school again. It has been so hard on my wife, what has happened to our family. I want my children to be able to attend school without being threatened, can you promise us that? Are there doctors, psychiatrists there? Can you help my wife?" Another snout appeared next to his, looked around, and then swiftly retreated once more without a sound.

"I don't wanna go to stupid school!" a little female called down from where she was perched up in the rafters. Another female next to her chirped her agreement. Several adults were murmuring among themselves and looking at children nearby. For their part, those same children were disappearing from sight in droves to avoid the dreaded mention of school.

"Even if we agree to go with you, what about Savannah and Martin? They have laid their eggs!"

"We can't leave them!"

Hearing that there was discussion about eggs afoot, the adamant refusal of leaving by a dozen lost children of the egg became overwhelmingly loud.

Savannah herself was looking worriedly down into the shelter between her flank and her mate's before she looked up to address Amanda.

"Even if I wanted to go, how would we move my children? Should they be moved? I don't know anything about this! 10 months ago, I was a woman expecting my first child! Now, I have five helpless eggs that I must protect! What do I do?"

Martin drew her head in under his chin with his wing and tried to comfort his worried spouse.

A heavy slam on the roof of the mall silenced everyone all at once. Dust fell from the ceiling accompanied by the heavy thuds of what must have been an enormous child of the egg.

"Nana is back!" A young boy cried out accompanied by many other children shouting happily before a massive shadow covered the main skylight and slunk inside.

"How are my favori..." the huge female trailed off and froze once she had spied and smelled us, the newcomers. "...I see we have guests. Are you alright my young ones?"

It wasn't until her front paws touched the floor of the structure that she released her tail's hold on something outside and let the rest of her leviathan length slip inside. I couldn't even guess at the wing span of the rusty eye colored female because she kept them folded tightly to her back and sides, however that was not what drew my eye on her remarkable frame. Looking at us, I could see the horrific burns that started at her snout and snaked most of the way down her neck and throat. Part of her lip had been eaten away as well, and I could see the movement of her thick tongue behind its cage of teeth. Strands of drool ran from the ruined corner of her mouth, causing the thick whitish scar tissue on her neck to bulge as she gave a heaving sigh.

"Oh, bother." Without looking, her tail reached behind her as a group of a dozen people jumped out of the way of the stack of moving blankets they were in front of. Clutching the heavy fabric, her long appendage passed the tissue to her front paw which then patted at the spit running from her damaged face.

"I can see the curiosity and smell the sympathy around you. But, I am afraid that it doesn't make for a very nice bed time story for the children, does it?" The titanic female said to us with a lopsided grin after she had set her 'napkin' off to the side.

"We don't want to go to sleep Nana!"

"No Big Grandma! We want to hear what the strangers say!"

"They say we are in danger! Isn't that exciting?"

She looked around the atrium with sadness clinging to her scales at the news "Danger can be very exciting it is true. But not the good kind of exciting like going down the slide or flying with your friends. What do we do when it is the bad kind of exciting like what these new ones are warning you about?"

"Go to the stinky basement!"

"But some of us can't fit down there! Ever since I've woken up and looked different, I haven't been able to hide! Am I going to be small again? I want to play with my doll house!" A small female that was about the size of a race horse cried despondently. A boy even younger than she was sensed her distress and tottered over to her with his hands raised to be picked up. The young one laid her head on the ground and the boy straddled her neck to bury his face against her scales as she cried to herself miserably.

The huge female wrapped herself protectively around the entirety of the indoor garden beneath the round sky light at the center of the mall and greeted each of the three smaller children of the egg with a nudge from her nose. Looking back to the distressed young one, she gave her an encouraging smile and the smell of her understanding. But did not, I noticed, give her false hope or sugary lies. The woman who's side the young boy had been clinging to walked over and sat with the little female's head in her lap and gently stroked the side of her neck to comfort her.

"Do you speak for this colony?" Amanda asked the massive and so far, unidentified female.

"Oh no, dear! I am just the oldest. Ninety-eight years young. If you are here to advise us to move, as I suppose you are, you must convince each of us individually. The only thing holding anyone here is their fear of violence. I am afraid that many of the others look to me to for guidance because of my age and size. I might be presuming too much, but I think children of the egg seek comfort in those larger than themselves instinctively. Those of us that remained human have made their own choices to follow us into this mall when we were driven from our homes."

"How did you survive the change?"

She shrugged. "Because it was not my time. The real danger I faced was afterwards." She pointed a claw upwards to her neck and stretched it out to show us the severity of the damage.

"Doesn't that hurt? If you come with us, we have surgeons and doctors familiar with our new anatomy at the airport."

"I may take you up on that. This is not comfortable, and it is dreadfully rude to always be leaking in front of others the way that I am." Reaching up with her paw she pat at the corner of her mouth again with the large blanket.

Amanda addressed the crowd around us in a general way to move the conversation forward. I kept looking at the monster in front of me who returned my interest by sniffing at me with her cavernous nostrils.

"Neither of you two are very far from delivering your families. Why have you put yourself in danger like this? You should be somewhere you feel at peace for what is about to come. Where is your husband dear? I can smell the one who has that special place at your side is not with you. What has happened?"

Against my will, I expressed my unhappiness at being away from Tom, and at the reminder of how little time I had left.

"You poor thing. You are here because of something that you felt bound to do are you not?"

"It's the right thing to do..." I told the old female and trailed off to get her name.

"My name is Virginia. Virginia Stephen."

I rose up to sit on my tail and slapped my chest with a paw. "I am Kim McConnor-Schwarzkopf. A pleasure to meet you."

We went silent so that Virginia could listen to Amanda's sales pitch. Which was aided by a large computer tablet that she asked a listening human to dig out of the duffel bag with the two black diamonds painted on it. The woman followed Conrad's instructions to start a power point slide of what was being done to my home as well as current pictures of its progress.

I was amazed to see that several neat rows of large tan tents with air conditioning equipment and lights had been set up. Gravel walkways led from each entrance to several larger communal structures. The drone taking the footage of the video zoomed higher and, through paths in the trees separating my home from the farms next to it, several more large tents could be seen. For those of us that couldn't fit in any conventional home, I could see more shelters at least passingly similar to the one Thumper had created that had attached living quarters of their own. Dozens of children of the egg flapped, and walked around in the camera's view, doing the majority of visible work instead of the usual array of heavy equipment. Which would certainly go a long way towards explaining how so much progress was made in only a few days.

Some other additions that caught my eye were several large towers that each had simple roofs topping them with a smaller enclosed station for one or more human watcher alongside the open area for a scaled observer. In the short video I saw, at least half of the towers had a long swaying tail dangling off the platforms. Lights were attached to each tower pointing outwards, and I could also see the muzzles of heavy machine guns aimed in the same directions away from the camp.

Lost amongst all this, in the very center, and apparently watching or directing, my daughter sat up erectly looking around with my twins perched on her head each proudly wearing yellow hard hats. Nearby, Angie appeared as she walked from the shelter, with her mother next to her lowered head guiding her towards one of the giant circus tents not far away. I could see that strapped to her sides were her art supplies and a stack of blank canvases.

Seeing all this drove a javelin of homesickness into my chest that was only worsened by the notable absence of the feeling and smell of my children. Rumbling sadly, I hung my head and looked away from the presentation as it continued. Virginia's scent grew until I felt the uneven shape of her muzzle caress my bowed neck as she comforted me.

"Is that your home?"

The gusty breeze of her words skittered across my scales as I bobbed my head in acknowledgement.

"I came down here to help find a lost mother and child. Now, my mate has a hole in his neck and is asleep while he heals, and I try to help one more group find some measure of security. And somehow, I need to get back to my home before I bring the four children that I carry into this world. Not to mention, the three other children of the egg that I found in my journey down here that I promised I could lead to safety only to have two of them wounded in a gun battle earlier today. Nor can I forget the teenage female we found that was chewing off pieces of her own body and needs more help than anyone I've met down here yet can provide. Or the..."

Virginia stopped me from rattling off the list of things that I had intended, things that I wanted to help with, things that had gone wrong, things that...

"Stop that." Her nose nudged me forcefully to break me out of my loop of concerns and fears. I looked up at her with one eye, even as my scales kept rippling with uneasiness and anxiety. "Right now, you should have one concern, and one concern alone young lady. And that is getting yourself, and your husband, home to your family where all of you can greet the children you carry with the love and support they need."

"But..."

"But, nothing!"

I gnashed my teeth and muttered a constant stream of curses about oversized nose poking mother figures. She outlasted me for enough time that I ran out of excuses and inventive uses for four letter words. Then my stubbornness shifted into high gear.

"I get what you are saying, and no one will agree with you more about where I belong. But I can help. And as long as I am able to keep my children calm and happy enough to remain where they are in my belly, then I will continue helping to get others to a place where they cannot only exist but live again."

Virginia withdrew her head to watch me calmly as I got up and started pacing around the open mall center. Humans and children of the egg who had their heads bent to look at the computer tablets being passed around switched their attention to me as I went on one of my rants.

"Since I have come to Boise just a day ago, I have seen children of the egg get shot, ran over, and pierced by shrapnel. My own husband is laying on the floor of a hangar at the Airport with a hole blown into the side of his neck. Greta, the old woman who first asked us to come here to help her find her lost daughter-in-law and grandchild is dead, killed by humans who shoot first ask questions never. Have any of you lost people? Have you had to watch as others turned on you for what you or others have become?"

I looked directly at each pair of eyes that met mine on the second floor, and then ducked my head to repeat it with the first floor.

"Is this the life that you want to lead? Chased from your homes, your lives, to hide in a f...ing mall? When's the last time some of you have left this mall? How long have the children among you been stopped from going outside? From going to school?"

"How is what you are asking us to do any different!" A man yelled. "We'll be trading one cage for another even further from our homes!"

"It is a good point, it is a good f...ing point." I admitted

"What's 'f...ing' mommy?" A young male pointed his snout up at his mother's to ask. She glared at me with her fins spread angrily. I hurried onwards and searched for something new that I could use that wouldn't leave so much to the imagination.

"Honestly, I liked my fishing home the way it was. It was my ranch, it was my husband's ranch. It was where we had hoped to raise the next generation of our family. Four of them I am carrying right now. That's right, for those of you who don't know what the signs are. I am pregnant right now. Just as Amanda who is here with me is as well. Look at those tablets in your hands, do you see the home lost in the middle of all that construction? That is my home. That is the home that my husband and I willingly allowed to become the center of a security zone for anyone that felt threatened by violence until security and safety could be reestablished.

"I have been here for two days, and all I have seen here in that time is a police force that is terrified to operate in the city that they swore to patrol. Last night, they were so afraid of what was uncovered after a child of the egg in my group was attacked, that they left a cargo container's worth of stolen military weapons on the street and asked us to guard them for them. You know what we did? We destroyed those weapons, because we, I, had no faith that those officers could keep them out of the hands of the very people who had stolen them.

"These are the types of people that may even now be coming for you. That are in fact aware that you and your families and friends are sheltering here.

"The simple fact of the matter is you can't stay here forever. Every day, every night, you must leave here for more supplies. More food, more medications, more fishing toilet paper. And every time you do, you are exposed. Maybe these appleholes won't attack you here. Maybe they know that with the army of children of the egg that you got, including this monster over here"

I jerked my wing to point at the mountainous Virginia, who sniffed distastefully at being called a monster. Trying not to cringe at the feeling of her immense disapproval burning a hole right between my wing arms, I kept going.

"that they can't attack you all at once. So, instead, maybe one or two of you go to a supermarket where the boy stocking shelves doesn't like you, and you don't come back. Maybe a child of the egg goes for a weekly hunt, finds a limping elk that is easy prey, and falls from the sky dead because of the poison they pumped into its stomach. You are in an isolated position, and right now given how scared people are of these gunmen running around I wouldn't count on any kind of protection to be extended to you with the cops running with their tails locked between their legs."

"How dare you come here and tell us these stories just to scare us! What proof do you have that any of that is actually happening!"

I snorted angrily. "Are you telling me that not a single fishing one of you saw that news broadcast last night? Not a single one of you heard that child of the egg scream for the children that she held in her womb, as she was lit up at point blank range? To listen to how fishing long it took her to die? How that man next to her never had a chance as he begged for his life before he was cut in half?"

Wordless moaning and distressed peeping echoed throughout the mall center. I can't say that I was particularly proud that I had made my point when I saw tails and necks reach out to gather children closely against scaled flanks. Or to see human parents turn away with their faces covered by their hands and sobs locked in their throats. That had been too close to home. Too close for them to dismiss it as someone else's problem. They needed to know how dangerous it was for them here. How they couldn't rely on maybe there being a plan days or weeks from now.

"Protect us then! Aren't you here representing the military?" A mother holding her infant in her arms called to us.

Conrad swung his head. "The best solution for you at this time would be to relocate to Northern Idaho. That is where all the regional assets are being directed. Neither the Governor of Idaho, nor the mayor of Boise have agreed to allow another security zone to be opened in this area. Children of the egg are not the only focus of hostile acts in the area and local law enforcement is overwhelmed at the moment and having difficulty establishing law and order with the help of county resources. The resources and the capability to establish a military installation around this shopping center do not exist at this time."

"How safe is this place upstate? Has it been attacked yet? Isn't this the same place that was attacked on zero day?"

Murmuring of discontent swept around the mall at the reminder that I and my family had been shot up not long after our last scales grew in.

"Uh...yes. It was attacked on or shortly after the events of zero day, and it was attacked once more yesterday as part of the recent wave of violence that has us concerned for you."

The murmuring became shouts of outrage, as they learned the safe area was under attack as well.

"Look, you might be overestimating what kind of resources we have available at this time here. The majority of forces in the area are focused on maintaining the security around the airport and Air National Guard base there. There is three uniformed children of the egg, and two combat capable drones. One of which is orbiting above us right now. That is it. If an attack comes before you leave, the primary response will have to come from the children of the egg and adults in this mall willing to fight back to allow the rest to escape. Local police will help if they can, but against a force willing to attack this location they will be ineffectual."

Several people who had their cell phones out discussed how that was consistent with the news that they had been getting from local broadcasters.

One shouted that their news feed from Palmfaceapp told them everything was fine and that he should go to some coordinates in the woods with as many people as he could. I snatched the cell phone out of his hand with two pinched claws and showed it to Amanda. She tapped the side of her optic and I watched, fascinated as her pupil danced back and forth to command the device to take a picture that she sent back to Boyd. He confirmed receipt of the message while I dropped the phone back to the teenager's clutching hands with the warning that 'whoever sent you that message is no friend of yours or anyone else here'.

"We can fight!" A military age male wearing a hunting vest yelled from the balcony where a female child of the egg was hovering her head just above his shoulder.

Fight for children! She squawked challengingly. Looking up at her, the man reached up and scratched her chin, making her eyes close as she thrummed happily.

"We have hundreds of weapons in lockers. Can you give us more ammunition?"

Virginia spoke up as more raised their voices itching for a fight.

"Before we decide to reenact the Siege of Bastogne let's please remember that there are dozens of children here and dozens more that have no business being involved in that kind of nonsense. I am putting my tail down on this matter" she raised the massive appendage and thumped it on the ground, causing a fair number of people to jump "if we have an option that does not involve a gunfight, I suggest that we take it. I do not want to see others afflicted by scars such as mine due to acts of hate."

She said she was no leader and had no voice disproportionate to others in the mall. But after she thumped her tail once again at the end of her comments it had all the weight of law. No one spoke about staying to fight any longer and instead moved on to discussing how it was even possible.

"We have four C-130s from...standby." Conrad started. I could hear Boyd speaking to him for a moment as his scales rose in agitation before he gave an acknowledgement and reported what he'd been told.

"I just want you to know some of the problems that we are dealing with here. We had arranged for four C-130s out of Cheyenne from the Wyoming Air National Guard to serve as your transports. I have just been told by my commander that they are now refusing to assist in this mission. You will now be receiving transport by two C-17s from McChord Air Field in Washington."

"Is that enough to bring all our stuff?"

"What about my eggs?" Savannah's forceful voice cut through the bedlam of all the questions about postage stamp collections or whatever other bullshit people wanted to lug along with themselves.

"I have been working on a transport system for my own. I hope to make it to the safe zone in time not to need the device, so it is available for your eggs." Amanda told her, and then looked around for the nearest tablet and asked for its holder to come towards Savannah. "Open slideshow two, please."

I was interested in that for my own obvious reasons. So, I stretched my head up and across the crowd so that I could lay one eye on the screen while the other eye looked blankly away at some juvenile children of the egg creeping through the rafters.

It looked like a giant six pack egg carton. Black in color to match our scales, the front of it had a large windscreen to keep air off the containers. From what I could see, it had been designed to be mounted between the wing arms judging by the wire frame model displayed. There was a short animation that showed a solar panel unlatching before the whole top half of the container clam shelled open to reveal a heavily padded interior for the six eggs.

"The pockets have been developed based on scans of my own eggs. I don't know if yours will be a different size or shape than my own, but the gel lining of the interior has a certain amount of variance to allow for a range of sizes. The solar panels are linked to a thermostatically controlled climate control system that replicates our core temperatures. Just below the outer shell of the crate there is 8cm of ceramic armor, 4cm of shock absorption material, and a 10mm weave of the...suit material that I'm wearing right now."

"But should my eggs even be moved? Won't that...scramble them?"

Her husband started to laugh at her concern, which she quickly put an end to by biting his neck.

"It is a reasonable concern because we know so little about the anatomies of ourselves and our children. But the thorough scanning that I have had done of my own eggs suggest that our children are structurally developed before their eggs even leave our bodies. So, no, our children cannot be 'scrambled'."

"Can I see them?" I asked Savannah with longing in my voice. I wanted to see. What mother could resist?

She hesitated but nodded her head with conviction. Martin got up and trod around her to sit alertly and supportively behind her. Her big tail uncurled until I could at last see what I had to expect in the near future. Amanda's breath left her with a cooing noise, and I found myself unconsciously rubbing my cheek against hers as a similar sound left my own throat.

There, nestled just forward of her hind legs against the hollow of her stomach were five large ovals. Each of them a little over a meter tall, they looked like closed pinecones with an outer layer of scales pointed towards the smaller tapered end. And they were the most precious things I'd seen since I held had my own children the first time.

She invited us to touch them, and I started to reach outward with the palm of a fore paw but stopped, unsure of what might happen. Even from the distance I was at, I could feel them reaching out to me curiously. The feeling was even stronger now that they were outside their mother. I realized they were listening to everything that was going on around them. Soaking it all in with voracious appetites. Retracting my foot, I set it down and moaned sadly instead.

"What? What's wrong?" Savannah asked with her proud happy smile fading from her snout.

"How much can you feel your children? How much did you feel them when you carried them?" Amanda asked Savannah.

"I felt their heartbeats. Isn't that enough? What more could I ask for?" she replied with the smell of her bewilderment growing stronger. Tilting her head back, she shared a look with her husband and the looming eyes of Virginia.

Shuffling my paws, I couldn't meet their eyes. Amanda tried to explain to them even though I wished she wouldn't.

"Kim has a gift. She can connect you to your children. She can enable you to feel them."

"What are you saying? Connect with them how?"

"It is easier to explain if I show you, but infinitely more dangerous, as well. I have been told I am a matriarch with the power to connect other's minds. I don't know what it is, I don't know how to control it, and I have seen enough of the long-term consequences of it to think that it is not the miraculous gift that some think it is. It is too risky, I'm sorry."

"You mean..." Savannah asked with dawning wonder in her eyes and scales, and completely disregarding every damn warning I had just given her. Which is precisely what I was worried would happen. "...I could talk with my babies?"

I wouldn't answer her though. Not willing to encourage the eagerness that I could see brewing in her. Lucky for me, Virginia came to my defense when she smelled how reluctant I was to speak about it further.

"Savannah, perhaps we can discuss this at another time. She seems to have a reason why she does not think this is a good idea for you. When the situation is calmer and more suitable to conversations involving your children, you can ask her about this strange 'ability'. You will have a great deal of time to come with your children, after all. Let's not rush into things neither we, nor her, know enough about."

"But!" She objected, god damnit! "But, if she has this ability, can she use it without passing it on? Can she tell me how my babies are doing? Are they happy? Can you tell me that much?"

Virginia's caring inhuman eyes swiveled from her young charge to me and I kneaded the soil under my claws. Motherfucker!

"It is not an unreasonable request."

"I don't know how you made the presumption that I know what's going on when I make the connection."

"You are not denying it dear. Also, I saw the way that your hand stopped when it neared the eggs and how your demeanor changed."

I snarled, and gave the ground a good thwack with my tail. Motherfucking god damn dick sucking godless flaming shit fuck son of an ass raping motherless goat fucking bimbo whore! Reacting to my wrathful exasperation, my children lurched in my belly and I was forced to clench my abdominal muscles to hold them in place where I could soothe them until they fell calm once more.

"Stand back. I don't want to accidentally touch you while I'm doing this."

Warily Savannah rose away from her eggs and stepped back with her entire body tensely watching for the least sign of something going wrong. Amanda, Virginia, Martin, Conrad, and I don't know how many humans and children of the egg watched breathlessly.

Just as my paw fell across the eggs, Savannah darted her head out to touch her snout to mine. MOTHERFUCKER!

Feelings of wonder skittered over my mind as the little ones reached out to say hello and ask who I was. But no sooner had I responded, that they became distracted by the warm glow of Savannah's mind and sent feelers of curiosity towards it. When her own tendrils of emotion reached out to grab onto theirs an explosion of mutual joy overwhelmed my thoughts. I was right, it was stronger after they had been laid. Blindly, I felt around for Savannah's head with my other paw and guided it down so that it could rest against her children's shells and removed myself from the connection.

Gasping, I opened my eyes, and reared away from her and her babies as she began to sob hysterically. Clutching at her eggs with her fore legs to draw them as tightly against her chin and throat as she could, her scales opened and expressed her bliss at feeling her children for the first time. My own children reached out to me, wondering where the others had gone, and I had to assure them that they were safe and sound nearby.

"What did you do?" Virginia asked worriedly as Martin shrieked in fear and was just generally beside himself as he nosed at his wife's unresponsive form again and again. Thankfully, the connection didn't spread this time. Even if it was cheating him of the experience, I was glad. Sinking down next to her, he pressed as much of himself against her as he could to provide support as she keened deliriously.

"Nothing I fishing intended to do! I told her to back away! I don't know how long this lasts! I told you, I warned you! There are consequences to this!"

The next few seconds were chaos as death threats, calls for dismemberment, shouts that 'I bite', and just general expressions of displeasure rained down on my head. Virginia put a stop to it all by extending her wing over me to show that I was under her protection. Children of the egg immediately fell quiet, and the humans among them took that as a hint for their own behavior not long afterwards.

Eventually, it occurred to everyone that she was not crying in pain or sadness, but happiness. Although I was motherfucking pissed that she had done what she had did, I could understand wanting to know her own children.

"Dios mio, Dios mio. Mis bebés. ¡Mis bebés me aman! ¡Me dijeron que me aman! Puedo sentir tus pensamientos!"

For ten minutes this went on, as I used the opportunity to give a fuller explanation of what happened to Martin and Virginia and the hundreds of ears that could hear me (which was everyone).

"But...that's beautiful! Why wouldn't you want to give that gift to others?" A woman asked me from where she was laying on the neck of a male, who I guessed was her husband but could have been her son for all I knew, and slowly caressing his spinal fin.

"That's not the damn point! Look at her! Every time I've so much as touched another while connecting to an egg this happens! I just got done telling you..."

"Look, it's a little bit much for us to believe something as farfetched as you meeting your future self, okay?" Another female child of the egg interrupted me. "What kind of science fiction bullshit do you expect us to believe?" The 27-meter-long transformed alien nee human asked me. I narrowed my eyes at her in disbelief, drawing a few laughs that may or may not have been the point of her outlandish comment.

"It is a bit much..." Virginia added, looking down at the moving blanket napkin she was fiddling with in her claws before dabbing at her mouth again. "It is also something that should not be distracting us from what is at foot here. We should vote on whether or not we are to leave our shelter here for the promise of a more suitable home during these trying times. Does anyone disagree on the question being considered? Or want more time to discuss the matter?"

No one raised their voice, hand, wing, paw, tail, the fuck ever, in disagreement.

"Now hold on..." Amanda tried to caution everyone. "...we're not here to force you into making decisions in haste. If you need until tomorrow to come to a consensus on your own..."

"I've heard enough! I don't want my children to spend years they'll never get back hiding!" A male rumbled from the lower level where he crouched with his family. With a start, I realized it was John, one of the sentries from the other night. The little firebrand that was his daughter was looking at me as well with noticeably less hostility than when we had first met. He bent his head to listen as she raised her snout to whisper in his frill.

Virginia took that as the signal to call for the vote now when again no one spoke up to ask for time.

"All in favor? Leave to be safe far elsewhere?

It was readily obvious we had our answer. The most important consideration being that Savannah came out of her euphoria to add her tally to moving, which was an event that every lost child of the egg seemed to be hinging their vote of going on. Just having a majority wasn't enough though. Not on this. Anyone left behind would be left without the safety that they now enjoyed with their numbers.

Conrad stepped forward to address the thirty or so children of the egg and humans who had not voted to leave.

"All those that did not vote to leave, you have to make your own choice. Will you leave with the rest? Or will you stay? Is there a reason why you are refusing to leave? Is there something that we can help you with?"

Twelve said right away that they would go with the main group. But the other eighteen were more problematic. The remainder were still on the lookout for lost loved ones that they believed were in the area.

After a conference with the listening and watching Boyd and Ulysses, Conrad was able to reassure them that if they wished, the air base would be able to support a much lower number such as theirs while they continued their search.

"What is next then, young ones?" Virginia asked us, as she picked up the ball to keep it moving forward.

"You pack. How long do you need to be ready? You can take whatever you think that you can carry. However, there will not be much room for anything other than passengers in the cargo transports. We would like to have a delegation accompany us to meet with our Commander General Boyd. No more than ten children of the egg and however many humans wish to come. More supplies will be given to you, including carrying harnesses and cargo nets. One of you will need to be fitted to carry the egg transport."

Amanda looked at Savannah and asked her who she trusted. "The transport will be fitted at the air base. Unless you want to leave your eggs so that you can carry them yourself you must pick someone who you trust with the lives that you gave birth to."

Without a word, she looked up at Virginia with that look of absolute trust in her eyes. That was all it took to push the elderly, not so elderly, female off the fence in her indecision of whether she should go or not.

"I would be honored to carry your children for you young Savannah. I would also like to meet this General Boyd and take his measure."

"I'm sure he'll enjoy sniffing you as well." I muttered with one of my patented flippant remarks.

Her fins flared in surprise as did her scent. "He's a child of the egg? How interesting..."

A short while later I sat watching as the details of who was going with us was hammered out.

"Are you sure you'll have more security while I'm gone? What young Kim here said earlier has been weighing on my mind." Virginia made her concerns known.

"As a show of force we have brought one of our UAVs down to two hundred meters so that it can be heard. At one thousand meters, one of our Predators is on station with four missiles. You will still have thirty-eight children of the egg here as well." Amanda tried to alleviate her concerns.

I was seated next to them deep in thought and absentmindedly paying attention to my tail sweeping back and forth across the cool linoleum flooring.

"Our group leaving tonight. Is this different from what your normal patterns of activity are?" I asked in a general manner to whoever could answer.

"This many? No. This many going in one direction? Yes." A man leaning on the railing above me answered.

I bobbed my head and snaked it upwards to look at him and the child of the egg who was resting her head on the railing next to his arm.

"It will probably be a good idea to beef up your own security from now until when you leave. Maybe add a dozen guards on the roof, and another family or group of children of the egg."

"Sounds like a solid idea. I'll lead. Want to go outside on the roof with me, Vicky?"

"Uh-huh..." She said shyly. I cooed at her and she looked at me with a warm smile on her snout. The man next to her (her older brother Sam I learned), rubbed her head affectionately. I remembered from earlier that they were some of the ones who didn't want to leave.

"Are you two staying to look for someone? Who is it?" I asked them.

"Our sister. She'd be 14 now. When I came home on zero day, I found Vicky hiding in her closet afraid of what was happening to her.

"Do you remember that Vicky? That was scary huh?"

"...yeah, I'm sorry I ripped my pjs, but my you know what was going twitch, twitch, and then riiiiiip! It wasn't so bad though, I had Piggy! Even though I hurt a lot, and my body was getting funny, I closed my eyes and held Piggy until I was like this!" She opened her wing a little bit and a stuffed pig fell from her side that she scooped up to hold in her fore paws. "Piggy! Sister was more scared than I was! She didn't have Piggy to help her! She was hurting herself!"

I was startled. What?

"I don't know what happened to Courtney other than what Vicky has told me." Looping his arm around as much of her neck as he could. He hugged her tightly as she whined at the painful memory and squeezed Piggy tightly against her chest scales. "But when I came home, the side door had been ripped off the house and there was this weird black fluid everywhere around the kitchen."

"It's blood." I said absently as thoughts whirled through my head. "That's what our blood looks like now."

Surely, this can't be a coincidence. But there wasn't so many of us that it could be dismissed out of paw either.

"Hey Sam, is there someone else you can pass off adding some more patrols to tonight? I'd like the two of you to come with me. Would that be okay with you two?"

"What do you think Victoria? Feel like giving big brother a ride tonight?"

"Okie!" She said brightly, her shyness vanishing under the force of the full eager smile. "As long as you promise not to drop Piggy! I always like flying! The wind makes me feel happy!"

Sam rested his hand on his sister's shoulder as they walked away to get ready to leave with us. I hoped for their sake, that I had guessed right. Their scent was familiar enough to make me think it was possible...

I passed along my suggestion to Virginia who immediately latched onto it and encouraged a rambunctious group of lost children of the egg to look for Sneaky danger.

Waiting for my turn to exit the mall I was stopped when there was tug on my tail. Looking back along my length I saw Savannah had reached out to me from where she remained coiled about her eggs.

"I am sorry that I made you do something that you feel so uncertain of. I want you to know that I will never forget what you allowed me to feel today. Today, because of you, I got to know my children's feelings. Thank you."

Torn between irritation and appreciation, I just bobbed my head and turned away to follow the tail of the one in front of me.

One by one, the group that was departing followed Conrad and Amanda out through the movable sky light that the lead Huygens nosed aside. Once we were all out, a ladder from below appeared at the edge of the hole and the humans that were going to accompany us scrambled upwards. I was wondering how in the world they were going to be transported until I saw a row of stretched out ropes of different sizes each with a piece of duct tape that had a name scribbled on it. Humans matched the ropes to each child of the egg. Running the rear loop of each t-shaped form from the tail forward between the wings where the other two loops were each stepped into and slipped up against the body. From a crate nearby, rock climbing harnesses were pulled out and put on over thick winter gear as each passenger clipped onto the ropes of their lifts for the night.

The more often that I saw this procedure, or something akin to it, the less I was comfortable with the idea that we were largely being reduced to nothing more than mounts by the operation. My indignation aside, there were a few humans left over looking to some of the larger children of the egg seeing if they would be willing to add a second passenger. Kneeling, I beckoned them onto my own back where they could clip onto the more elaborate harness that I wore.

The two Huygens went aloft first and scanned back and forth with their optics before signaling to the rest of us with a loud whistle. In a flurry of wings the ten that agreed to come with us leapt upwards accompanied by the eight lost ones that had come out here with us to begin with. I wanted to be last, but Virginia wasn't having anything to do with that. After she ran out of patience for my stubbornness, she snapped at my tail twice and forced me into the air, much to the amusement of the two on my back.

Circling upwards, I cocked my head to see the full width of her wings as she opened them. Arcing out and up from her back they curled over the edges of the roof of the mall to rest on the ground beneath, they were fucking huge! I thought that she would try to push herself off the roof like we had, but quickly realized with her mass and strength she might very well collapse all or part of the roof doing that. Instead, the slabs of muscles on her back bunched to lift her wing arms and membranes off the ground as she ran the length of the mall to dive off the end. With her wings spread straight outwards she had a cushion of twenty meters or so to the ground which she took to dive down and then swoop upwards to trade speed for the altitude she needed to begin to flap freely.

Screams of confusion and pain came immediately from the lost ones flapping with us. Flares shot from a tower off to our left and then concentrated gun fire. Weapons fire from the mall just behind us responded right away and the night sky was lit up by tracer fire, illumination flares, and green lasers. The heavier thud of larger caliber weapons started to come from both directions reached me as I realized that not every stolen weapon ended up in the hands of those who wished us harm.

Shouts of alarm came from the roof of the building that was directing fire of us, also making me realize that at least one of the scum suckers down there had some kind of NVG equipment, as Virginia peeled away with an outraged shout.

Gunfire from the mall ceased as I saw, in the grayish tones that my new and improved eyes rendered the night, tens of figures scrambling towards a staircase to escape the roof as the gargantuan female fell upon the roof. Windows below where her paws landed exploded in showers of glass as their frames warped and four gunmen who never made it to safety, in a last futile attempt to save their lives, turned and opened fire at Virginia perched near the edge. Their broken bodies were sent cartwheeling through the air and off the edge of the building to tumble into the night. To seal the access to the roof, she reared up on her hind paws and gave a roar that made me shiver while she brought a front paw down to collapse the shed housing the stair's roof exit.

Remind me never to make you angry.

She grunted at me with little energy or enthusiasm for what she had just done. I do not approve of this bloodshed. I would be perfectly willing to just speak with these people. I do not understand why they must be so violent...

Gaining a little altitude to prevent a repeat of that, we soon came into sight of the lights of the airport. Throwing their wings open, Amanda and Conrad blocked our way in a hover that sent us all into circling orbits of confusion to allow an airliner to land in front of us before relaying that the tower had cleared us to cross the runways.

Ulysses, Alex, Boyd, Dan, Tyler, and some number of children of the egg and airmen greeted us as the twenty-two of us thudded to the ground in front of the hangars to dismount our teeth chattering passengers. Medics ran forward to help two lost ones who stumbled on their paws squalling in pain as thick blood down their sides in rivulets that glistened in the cold artificial flood lamps. The long night was just getting started.

...