Chapter 5

A standard mission for a Quatyl patrol was 5,000 chronon in duration. This is approximately seven years. Because the length of time in space was longer than the breeding cycle of the Quatyl, a form of birth control was used to keep the females of the species from entering her breeding cycle. This was delivered into their system by a light spray over the food consumed while in the space ship. Being away from the ship had the unexpected consequence that the substance was not being administered.

The Quatyl assumed that this had invoked the mating behavior they had demonstrated outside the door of the beast's room. While the reason for their behavior was wrong, it did raise interesting concerns. In particular, the Quatyl began to get worried about the possibility of producing children.

Raising children would make their situation very dire indeed. This was because of some very unusual characteristics of the Quatyl. One of the complicating things was that while the Quatyl looked like Earth mammals, they were not. Their biology, particularly their reproduction biology, was quite different. They did not give birth to live young in the manner of most mammals; they laid eggs. An adult Quatyl would remain with the egg until it hatched. The parents would take turns staying with the egg. It took almost three months for an egg to hatch.

Despite being a space faring race, the Quatyl had never developed the concept of a school. While curled around the egg, the adults would imprint essential knowledge on the embryo while it was developing. Imprinting was enough to instill language, history, mathematics, and scientific knowledge but not skills. Once hatched, the young Quatyl would have to learn through experience since the brain was developed to the point where it resisted further imprinting.

After hatching, a young Quatyl would live for three days in the mother's pouch where it would grow to twice the birth size. In the pouch, the immature Quatyl would drink a rich milk-like substance. This was similar to nursing, but there weren't teats as would be found in the pouch of a marsupial. The entire pouch would sweat the liquid and it would form a small pool at the bottom of the pouch much as occurred in monotremes.

The Quatyl were right in having their concerns about the consequences of their actions, but for the wrong reasons. They did not recall that Quatyl females were always fertile. The five year cycle was actually nature's way of forcing copulation before the egg became too damaged to be viable. Not that there were any problems about the eggs being viable. A female Quatyl could go several cycles without having an egg get fertilized without a problem.

Atar was the first of the females to realize that something unusual was happening. She had just finished eating when the contractions necessary to lay her egg started. Looking around wildly, she was terrified that she had eaten something poisonous and was going to die. Even worse, there was no way to communicate her condition to any of the other Quatyl.

When Star, Cear, and Lear started acting strange, the males became concerned. Atar dashed off to the den she and her mate had selected. She made it just in time to lay her egg. Throughout the process, she couldn't comprehend what was happening to her. Atac arrived just in time to see the egg appear. Stunned, he stared at the sight. He was no less surprised than Atac. The other three couples were going through their own version of the crisis.

The odd behavior of the Quatyl had not gone unnoticed. Nancy had seen the females run off to various hiding places. Her curiosity drove her to look under one of the chairs to see what was happening. When she spotted the egg, she exclaimed, "They are Duck-billed Platypuses."

Hearing her exclamation, James came out to investigate. Nancy was dancing around the room thinking about baby platypuses running around the house. She really thought the little animals were the cutest things she had ever seen and just couldn't imagine how cute their babies would be. James asked, "What's up?"

"They are Platypuses."

James shook his head. He might not recognize a platypus if he were to see one, but he knew when an animal wasn't one. He said, "No they aren't."

"Yes, they are!"

"They don't have duck-bills."

"So they are bill-less duck-billed platypuses," she replied.

He asked, "Why do you think that?"

"They laid eggs," she answered pointing to the chair under which a pair of Quatyl had retreated.

"You're kidding," James said. He didn't know of any egg-laying mammals in the New World. He was convinced that she had mistaken what she had seen. The only explanation that made sense was that one of them had been playing with a ping pong ball and she had thought it was an egg. The only flaw in that logic was that he had no idea where they would have found a ping pong ball.

"Look for yourself," Nancy said pointing to the chair. She was getting a little tired of being questioned.

James squatted by the chair and looked under the skirt. He spotted Atar curled around a pale tan sphere that looked a lot like an egg. He looked a second and a third time at the egg before he said, "It sure does look like an egg."

"I told you so," Nancy said.

"I don't think there is anything called a bill-less duck-billed platypus, though," James said while sitting up. He decided that it was time to look up egg-laying mammals on the web.

"There has to be one because that is what we have under the chairs," Nancy said with a smile.

James spent five hours investigating the animals on the web. He found that there were five species of mammals that laid eggs. There was the platypus and four species of echidna. All of the echidna had beaks, which his animals did not possess. Not finding any information about living species that described his animals, he had spent almost five hours researching the extinct variants of the monotreme order. There was nothing that matched.

Giving up, he made his way to the living room. Sitting down on one of the few chairs under which there wasn't a Quatyl living under it, he said, "The best that I can say is that they are a new family."

"What? Of course they are a new family. They just laid eggs. They are going to be mommas and papas," Nancy said.

James laughed and said, "I didn't mean it that way. They are of class Mammalia, subclass Austrilo-something or other, Order Monotremata, and a new Family according to the scientific classification."

"You said they weren't from Australia," she said.

"I know. I'm not sure that the sub-class really means that they have to be from Australia," he said. He scratched his head and asked, "Do you think we should tell someone?"

"No way! They'll take them away and study them in some cold laboratory," Nancy said.

"We don't really know what they need to eat," James said. He wondered about their diets and if the food they were getting was sufficient to keep them in good health.

"So get a little of everything and see what they eat," Nancy said planning a trip to the grocery store.

"I guess," James said.

"I'll go up to the grocery store and load up on all kinds of foods," Nancy said.

The suggestion of going out reminded James of something. Sitting up, he said, "I forgot about my manuscript!"

Nancy looked over at the clock and said, "You've got about two hours before the overnight service closes."

James jumped up and ran into the study. He had to print out a copy of the entire manuscript and send it off. Nancy looked in the study and said, "I'm going to the grocery store. I'll be back in an hour."

"I should be done about then," James answered watching the computer slowly boot up. He growled in frustration as the machine displayed the startup screen. He swore, "Damn this computer. It's too damned slow."

Smiling at the often voiced complaint, Nancy said, "Calm down. Don't you know there is a rush sensor in all computers? The greater rush you're in, the slower it goes."

"You can say that again," James said frowning when it appeared that the computer wasn't going to start. He breathed a sigh of relief when the login screen appeared.

Atar, curled around her precious egg, was worried. The new beast kept looking into their den and it was making her nervous. The idea of having a large untamed uncontrolled beast so interested in her egg was terrifying. She knew that she was going to have to do something about the situation. Atac's solution of turning the first beast into a pet came to mind. She wondered if she should try to make a pet of the new beast.

Hunger finally drove her from her spot under the chair. She left the den with Atac curled around the egg. It was his turn to proceed with the imprinting process. She made her way to where the first beast left out food for them. She was surprised to find the new beast setting out all kinds of bowls with different foods. She sampled a few of them before selecting some pureed peas.

Nancy watched the little animal eat thinking that it was the cutest thing she had ever seen. The animal ate with such a dainty manner that all she wanted to do was to pick it up and hug it. The idea that they were having babies had kicked her mothering instinct into high drive. She sat down at the kitchen table to watch Cubby eat.

Atar finished eating and decided that it was time to put Atac's plan into operation with respect to the new beast. If Atac could have the first beast as a pet, she could have the new beast as a pet. Summoning the courage that only motherhood could provide, she approached the new beast and rubbed against its leg.

Nancy gave a little scream of happiness that Cubby had finally approached her. She leaned over and picked up the little animal. Setting it on her lap, she started to pet it. Nancy cooed and made other friendly noises while running her hand through the soft fur.

Atar could not believe the sensation of being petted. It was the warmest, nicest, and most pleasing experience of her life. Unbidden, she started purring while thinking that having a pet was much nicer than she had thought it would be. It amazed her that such a huge untamed beast could be so gentle.

Nancy said, "You're such a cutie. Your fur is so soft. I've never felt fur this soft before except on a kitten."

Atar had been learning the language used by the beast. She understood enough to know that the new beast was saying nice things about her fur, but didn't understand what a kitten was. She purred and then felt guilty about how she had treated Atac for purring when the beast had petted him. She sighed at the thought that she wouldn't be able to tell him that she was sorry.

James entered the kitchen disturbing the moment. Atar wiggled a little at being surprised. Recognizing that the little animal wanted down, Nancy set her on the floor and watched her run off to her den. She grinned at the funny way that the animal ran. James sat down and said, "I got there in time to send in the manuscript."