Chapter 13: Babies

~~ Delta - Jan/03 - (Earth - July/2095) ~~

I had to smile at my faerie.

Kale and I had developed an interesting relationship to my way of thinking. He had learnt that he wasn’t to wait on me hand and foot. But he was still very attentive to my needs. His relationship with Arnett hadn’t changed that.

He believed he owed me, and that me being safe and cared for was part of his duties. He and James had come to some unknown by me, arrangement, in sharing these duties. It was rare that one of them wasn’t with me when I was out and about, especially when we were out in the wilds. Yet this day, that was exactly what I was.

I’d been working in the camp, and James and the faeries were boxing up some specimens that we were taking back with us this afternoon. We had happily spent New Year’s out at our new camp, taking advantage of the long weekend and the fact that most of the office took the week off as holidays.

We would be taking everything back to the office today since we would be away for the next week. James and I had to go to Magician School. We were both looking forward to this event.

Kale and Arnett had become our stenographers. When we examined a specimen, they often sat on our shoulders or nearby and interpreted our mutterings, took pictures and wrote up our findings. Both James and I wondered how we had lived without them before. We just had to do an edit when they emailed it to us.

It was incredible just how well they had come to know us and what we considered important. It also meant for James in particular, a lot more of his findings got into the database a lot sooner, and this made everyone happy. Arnett had become his shoulder buddy, and all four of us were pleased with how our relationships were working.

I’d been heading back to the cavern we were in when a noise side-tracked me off the path. It sounded like a baby in distress. I moved very quietly and followed the ridge near the cave around to my right. The noise seemed to be coming from above me, and I carefully worked my way up the hill and further around an outcrop. To my surprise, I found the entrance to another cavern system.

I wondered if it linked down to the one, we were in, but I didn’t remember any passages that led this way. I examined the ground at the entrance to the cave as Snorre had taught me. He told me I would make an excellent tracker if I ever wanted a side job.

There was little evidence that I could see that anything large had been in this system for some time. We’d had our new camp down below for almost two weeks now, and it was possible that our shield extended this far. I did know the boys had planted a second ring, strung up just outside the first.

I pulled my wand and partly extended it. James and I had discovered that the crystal, in the end, made an excellent torch when activated. The entrance was more than large enough that I didn’t need to stoop, and I carefully entered the cavern.

I knew I should call for the Mac Batton boys to come to help me, as they were in camp waiting for us to pack up. But I didn’t feel any danger, and my medallion wasn’t even warm. I must have stood still long enough, and the plaintive cry echoed up into the cavern.

I turned to the right and followed the passage down. I noticed that it narrowed the further I went and was acting as a funnel and amplifying the cry when I heard it. I believed that the cries were getting weaker, and it was very distressing to me.

The passage seemed to go on for a long time and eventually, I had to bend over to continue. It had narrowed further, and I was on hands and knees going downhill when I spied a change in the tunnel’s dynamics. I was relieved when it opened back out again after I went through a narrow entrance.

I was able to crawl through and found myself in a small cavern about 4m cubed. The floor was littered with little bones; most of the larger ones were heaped to one side. Something had been living in here for a long time, at some stage.

There was a weak smell of sulphur leaking through the back wall. There was a faint smell of old rancid meat, but I didn’t think a kill had been brought in here for many weeks or even longer. The bones indicated the predator didn’t leave much on them either. They were all well chewed.

The room was also very warm, indicating there was a possible volcanic source nearby that heated the room. I must have stood there for at least five minutes examining my find. The baby must not have felt any fear of me as she cried again.

I saw over by the furthest wall a small pile of what looked like branches that had been stripped into lengths of string and different leaves. They had been built up to make the nest. Cautiously I approached and looked down on the little creature sitting in the nest.

I was lucky there were no flies on this planet else, I would have caught a big mouthful. She looked a lot like Drako, Lee’s baby dragon. But I immediately noticed the differences. For one, she was a lot smaller.

She was also a greyish colour like ash, darker on top with a lighter whiter belly. She also had a small bony crest similar to the rattas, but otherwise, she looked more like Drako. There was another egg still in the nest. I knew Lee’s dragons laid much bigger eggs, indicating that this species was possibly a smaller cousin.

I estimated that they would be lucky to grow to more than a 1.5m in height when they stood on their hind legs. They would possibly grow to about twice that long from snout to tail tip. I was fascinated. However, I didn’t approach any closer, as I knew touching a baby in a nest was a sure way to irritate its parents.

I carefully looked around the small cavern and noticed three old nests. They were empty and much older than the one the baby was in. I guessed that at one time, there had been a larger family of dragonets, as I decided to call them, living here. The pile of bones definitely supported this argument.

These nests, however, looked like they hadn’t been used for some time. Snorre had indicated that a large family of fangrinders had recently moved into this area. I wondered if they had decimated this family. The dragonets would have been in a lot of danger when entering and leaving this cavern, I surmised.

I looked at the structure of an old nest and determined they were designed to insulate the eggs. The hot wall was behind each nest, and I got the impression they were not sat on, but merely guarded. The eggs were possibly turned until the babies hatched. The fact I couldn’t see any evidence of occupancy for some time maybe even up to a month, suggested the eggs had been abandoned.

I approached the baby again and knelt down. She must have felt my presence as she lifted her head up and looked at me. “Oh dear, now I’ve gone and done it,” I said softly. I had felt this strange sensation and knew beyond a doubt that the baby had instantly bonded with me.

She waddled towards me and cried to be picked up. I had to pick her up. She wasn’t much bigger than a two-week-old kitten. In my hands, she barely weighed anything at all. She cried, plaintively at me, and I knew she was hungry. It almost felt as if she had told me.

As I went to stand, the other egg wiggled and cracked a little. I realised that the other baby was trying to hatch. I opened my jumpsuit and nestled my baby butt down in between my boobs. She settled down immediately to my surprise. I got the feeling she felt safe and happy to have such a big mummy to protect her. It was a little unsettling, but she was now my responsibility.