Baby

she and Brother need to survive as a by-product of its slow feeding on the organic material it rested on. It was an inexhaustible source of the energy she needed to feed on as long as she remained underground. Once above ground, she took all she needed from the sun. She could also use a human Brother or Sister but she strongly planned to stay far away for now. Besides, she much preferred the slower absorption from the sun. It reacted more efficiently with her metabolism. Taking nourishment from a human left her species confused and disoriented. Perhaps the very reason Brother left the Hive with the Sister. Maybe confusion reigned.
    The occasional animal that wandered near could obviously smell the membrane and knew the Womb lived. They usually entered out of curiosity and perhaps hunger, causing little damage. But she knew the Sister entered because of her own carelessness.
    Not only did she carry overwhelming guilt and barely tolerable loneliness but she knew her species probably did not know she existed. They monitor the energy outflow from the Womb membrane to determine if Brother still lived. The Womb could not make a distinction between its minions. They undoubtedly think she is Brother. The Womb never registered any simultaneous energy draws, cluing them in to her existence back home. Over the last century, they recorded her withdrawal, mistakenly believing it to be that of Brother’s. At some point Brother would have died. They would not know that he had an offspring or that he had become an Elder. They would expect the humans to carry out the mission of their own volition after her Brother’s death. Monitoring this planet would provide few answers. Only an Elder could communicate through the Womb to Oolah. But the Womb knew. That’s all that really mattered. Oh well, she could only do her best. When she thought the humans were ready, she would begin.
    Pushing all the unanswerable questions from her rambling mind, she stepped around the cairn of rocks that helped protect the Hive and stretched up to the sun. Sensing the life form she detected earlier, she peered around the rocks, unable to locate it. She decided she would scramble up her favorite rock to get closer to the sun where she would be unobserved. She loved to curl up in the depression at the top. It soaked up the sun and warmed her fat belly when she nestled in.
    Reaching out with her long slender fingers she touched the rock. Her suction-like pads helped pull up her body as she climbed, creeping up the side of the rock. Her head swiveled up and down as she gauged the distance from the top to the bottom. Pulling herself up and over the top, she made an unexpected discovery. There, in her depression, lay the life form; a small human Brother. He wore the coverings humans liked to swaddle themselves in, measuring almost twice her size yet appearing harmless enough as he slept. Quivering with anticipation, she decided to quietly sit and watch, wrapping her golden tail around herself.
    As she observed, she weighed the attraction her Birth Brother felt for his human Sister. She longed to reach out and touch the long fibers on the young Brother’s head; very different from the fuzz and fur on her body. She wondered if it felt softer. It certainly did not keep him warm like her pelt did. She guessed that explained the swaddling. They would not be so vulnerable to heat fluctuations if their metabolisms evolved closer to that of her species; so much simpler. She sniffed, knowing if she consulted on the design she certainly would make improvements. Her puzzled eyes drifted over the strange markings on his head and the scars on his skin, shaking her head at his obvious signs of disease; the poor human Brother.
    It is no wonder the Womb decided they must be revisited for intervention. Perhaps the time should have come much sooner, before they started to live inside caves and instead of the open like herds; before they learned to practice wanton bloodlust, employed so often for reasons other than survival. They were a lost cause. Banishing all her troubling thoughts, she concentrated on the little Brother. Without realizing what she was doing, she let her probing aura coalesce in his mind. And suddenly his eyes flew open.

Chapter 3
    What the …? Scrambling quickly up on his butt, Scotty scooted out of the depression, edging to the back of the rock. There he sat and stared at the funny looking creature, eh … no, elf. No, fairy. Yeah, he must be a fairy.