Chapter 9

Later that day we were all in the living room and were watching a movie. Then the incubator started making the same sounds it made last night.

“What’s that? It sounds funny,” Lynn asked.

“It’s an incubator for my child’s egg,” answered Annie.

“Egg,” asked Lynn.

Annie opened the box and held up the egg, “My baby. I’m going to be a mother. And Leo is going to be a daddy again.”

“Baby? Like Mommy’s egg,” asked a fascinated Lynn.

“I thought you said the baby’s egg didn’t need the incubator after we merged it with my egg’s shell,” I said.

“Oh, it doesn’t. I use the incubator to monitor growth and movement inside the egg. That sound lets me know the baby is moving. Now the growth and movement may be different than in eggs of other species from this planet, but it still grows. By the time the women lay an egg the baby is mostly formed already. The rest of the time it grows and develops even more. Did you know that in the pure aliens that were our ancestors after they laid the eggs it only took about a week and a half before the babies hatched?” Annie informed us.

“Is it a boy or girl,?” asked Lynn.

“Lynn there’s no way to tell the gender of the baby yet,” answered May.

“Actually, there is, and it’s going to be a girl,” corrected Annie.

“What? That can’t be. The doctors told me there was no way to tell.” May replied.

Annie rolled her eyes, “The Doctors may believe they know everything about the human-alien hybrids called Hatchlings, but they don’t. If the mother is a Hatchling herself, it’s fairly easy to tell the gender. If the baby is a female, the color of its shell will be the color of its mother’s shell. If it’s a boy the shell will look almost the same as the father’s. Unless the two parents have similarly colored eggs. Then we go with, how should I put this. You place one hand on the egg like this, and the other over your heart like this. We then rely on a kind of instinct or something. However, if the mother is human it’ll be harder but still possible.”

“So could you tell me the gender of my next baby?” pleaded May.

“I’m no expert but I can try,” answered Annie.

May ran off and quickly returned with her egg. Annie examined it for a few minutes.

“Is this the same color as Lynn’s egg,” Annie asked.

“Not exactly, but it’s really close. I brought a piece of her egg. You can take a look at it.”

Annie compared the whole egg with the piece, “Hmm. They sure are beautiful. You’re right they do look close to each other.

May was very eager as she asked, “Does that mean it’s a boy,” said May.

“No, not exactly. With humans being the mother, a slight change of color or shade could have several different meanings. Some of which I’ll not go into in front of little Lynn, but as I said I’m no expert in telling these things. Either my mother or Leo’s could probably do better with this. There are signs saying it could be either a boy or a girl. If I didn’t know better I’d say it was twins in there. But there have never been any twins in the history of our kind.”

We had to wait two days to get an answer to the question of the baby’s gender. We were busy playing a game of hide and seek with Lynn when a knock came at the door.

“Rikku? What brings you here so early? The wedding’s not for another week,” said May.

“I heard that you had some questions about the gender of your baby. I thought you could use some help. So I brought Max.” Stated Rikku.

“Who’s Max? Did you bring a friend? Or even a Boyfriend,” asked May.

I finally made it to the door and hugged my mom.

Rikku laughed, “No. Max is,” she looked around, “Where is Max? Oh, there she is.” Max had been back at Rikku’s car. When she finally made it to the door Rikku added, “Her name is Maxine. Or Max for short. Max, this is your older brother Leo.”

Rikku stepped aside and Max pulled down her hood and I got a good view of my half-sister for the first time. Whoa. She was pretty. She was about a head shorter than me. And she had stunning light silvery blue eyes. She had her jacket tied over her belly button. And from what I could see she looked like she did a lot of work to keep herself in shape. Not super heavy bodybuilder shape, but just enough that I knew it would be a bad idea to get on her bad side. With all that in mind, she was still very beautiful.

She looked very happy, “Sorry I left something in the car.” She looked me over and stared at my chest as she said, “Hi. It’s nice to meet you. Mom told me a lot about you on the ride over from the airport.”

“So which do you prefer to be called, Max or Maxine?” I asked.

With that, she finally looked me in the eyes, smiled, and said, “I prefer to be called Bill.” She laughed and added, “I’m kidding. I don’t go by that name.” She brushed her hair behind her ear. “It depends on the occasion really. Casually I go by Max. On formal occasions like for dances or even weddings, I go by Maxine. So is Leo your full first name?”

“It is. My adoptive parents were really into three-letter first names. Please why don’t you both come in?” I said.

I was about to go back to where I was before I came to greet my Mom and sister when Rikku grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to her.

She said, “Where’s my hug?”

Our hug was feeling so nice but was interrupted by a squeal from the other side of the room.

Max said, “Nobody told me that there were two Hatchling eggs here. They’re so adorable.”

Rikku rolled her eyes and said, “I knew there was something I forgot to tell her. She’s a bit egg crazy. She just loves Hatchling eggs.”

As I watched Max adoring the two Hatchling eggs I stood there mystified.

May asked, “Would you like to hold an egg?”

“Are you serious? Wow, I’d love to. First I’d like to take my jacket off. It’s made from a material that Hatchling eggs love to be next to,” Max answered.

When she took off her jacket it was revealed that Max had a crop top on. It wrapped around her neck and was sleeveless. I then noticed something. She had what looked like scales on her back. In the same spots that I had rough skin on my back.

“I did tell you about your half-sister, didn’t I? I’m sure I did.”

“You did. But the way you talked about her, I was expecting more of a...” I was saying.

“A nerd or someone who kept their nose in a book all day?” Max finished. “Mom describes me like that to everyone who hasn’t met me.” Max started laughing.

Max went back to the eggs and I looked at her back then I looked at Rikku. She nodded, “Yeah, some of our kind do have scales. And those spots on your back are partially formed scales.” She then took a look at Max’s scales, “Maxine why didn’t you tell me you were at this time of the year.

I was wondering what Rikku was talking about when Max paused in place and looked up.

“You have a form of scales? I’ve never met a male Hatchling with any. I’ve heard of them though. It’s said that the males with any form of scales are supposed to be the strongest and most...” Max looked back at Lynn then walked over to me and whispered in my ear, “the most virile.”

As she walked over to me I was surprised to see something else she had hidden under her jacket. She had huge breasts. Even bigger than our Mother’s.

Annie got back from the kitchen and asked, “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

When Max saw Annie, she ran over to her and gave her a hug.

“We met once before. We were supposed to do a nude photoshoot together. But the day before we were scheduled to shoot you canceled and left for here with my brother. And I was so looking forward to doing the shoot with you. You and your body are so beautiful,” said Max.

“Nude photoshoot? You told me you were busy studying for exams. You have some explaining to do young lady,” demanded Rikku.

Max cringed, “Oops. Well, I did have exams, and I was actually studying for them. And I was just taking that day off to do the shoot as a favor for my friend who was the photographer. Lotta good that did me. When Annie left she ended up replacing me too and started dating one of the models. Which is fine with me. I’m not really into working for someone who only wants to get into my pants.”

“You know how I feel about you modeling nude. I told you, you could model but only with your clothes on.” Rikku was turning a bright red.

Max looked ashamed, “I know. I’m sorry mom. I was only doing it for my friend. However, as soon as that new girl walked in, Shasta fired me so she could do the photoshoot with some hot woman who was half Chinese half white with smaller boobs named Kim Potter. I made a promise to myself I’d never be talked into doing nude modeling after that.”

“Wait, did you say Kim Potter?” I asked.

“Yes? Why,” replied Max.

“Was she a couple of inches shorter than me, and did she have a tattoo of a dragon on the...” I was saying.

“Side of her left breast starting just about here?” Max asked as she lifted her shirt and pointed to the spot on her own boob that Kim had hers. “And does it wrap around her breast until it looks like it’s about to devour her areola?”

Max had stopped lifting her shirt to the point where it was just showing us the side of her boob. Part of me was a little disappointed at the fact she did that. But I was also grateful.

“Exactly. This couldn’t be happening.” I said. “Kim Potter was my ex-girlfriend, and the one that got me fired from the job I had before I met Annie.”

“You’re much better without that girl. She said that the two guys she was seeing fired her after she ended up pregnant by one of them. The stupid girl shouldn’t have been sleeping with a father and son when they owned the company. And from the stories I’ve heard those weren’t the only two guys she was sleeping with.” said Max.

“Enough of this talk. I’m sorry for this mess. Max usually doesn’t act like this.” Rikku told us. We then heard little feet running down the hall. And soon Lynn appeared looking excited. She looked around and then jumped into Rikku’s arms, Grandma?”

The way Rikku held onto Lynn, she looked so natural and so happy. She turned to Max, “What are you doing up so late my darling?” “I couldn’t sleep,” Lynn said to everyone in the room.

“Would you like Grandma to stay in your room with you until you’re able to fall asleep?” Rikku asked.

I spoke up, “Actually Mom, Lynn has a condition that sometimes she’s hit with bursts of energy and won’t be able to sleep for at least two hours. The doctors can’t really explain it.”

Rikku looked serious, “I can. She is a Hatchling. 5 out of every 150 of us have this same condition. When it happens at this age it means she’s going into early puberty.”

Lynn had a confused look on her face and asked, “What’s puuber ... uh. puber ... uh what’s the word?”

May grimaced but Rikku chuckled and said, “I think I’ll let one of your parents fill you in on that little detail. It is more their duty than it is mine.”