Page 9 of Monstrous Baby
I stood in the middle of the busiest train station in the world, the hub of all metabolic activity in my body. There weren’t any actual trains or tracks or even a control panel but I could feel every system like delicate, invisible wires shooting through a vast universe. Tangled and crossed, braided and threaded, some connected without touching, each one pulsing a complicated message I could somehow understand.
Down to the tiniest, most insignificant cell growing my toenail and every strand of hair all over my body. Everything hummed and vibrated with energy, sparking higher with my focus. Millions of ants marched through the nest in perfect harmony with one another, until they all paused and lifted their antennae in my direction. They quivered with anticipation, shimmering with rising power, ready to explode into action at my command.
A literal army of sentient cells flowed through my body. My entire spinal column glowed with a soft, white light generated by their frenetic activity. They lined my vertebrae and bones, transferring more calcium and minerals to make them stronger while also acting as armor. My bones were heavier and more difficult to break.
A shimmering net laced through my brain, glittering like a million distant stars in spinning galaxies. A red sun twinkled, and I knew it was my squad’s grid, glowing with Kroktl’s Tri-Reyes. But what were the other stars? How close were they? There were trillions of them. It’d take eons for me to study each one…
The lacy web sparkled, a dizzying multi-color rainbow that felt like amusement.
It was laughing at me—and I understood it—because it was sentient and also a part of me.
“Ask them, Natalie.”Snryx’s comment made more sense now.
:What are those other stars?:I asked silently.
Images flickered through my head of different creatures, some like my dinosaur squad, while others had more alien anatomy I didn’t recognize from the little bit I knew of paleontology. Dyni squads. Kroktl said DSC had taken the universe’s most deadly predators to make Dynosauros, so it made sense some of them might be alien to Earth. Each light was a full squad of genetically engineered soldiers created by Draco Sirius Command.
So many. A sinking pit widened in my stomach. If they were all commanded by DSC, what chance did we have to stay alive?
Many of the twinkling lights shifted to a deep purple. Smaller, only specks against the shining stars, but there were many more of them, sprinkled like tiny grains of sand throughout the universe. One of them zoomed closer, filling my mind with soft white light, shining silver walls, and crystal rainbows overhead.
A scene played out in my head—one I’d lived.
Lying in the ginormous bed, watching the swaying ocean life of Gioiello outside the large window. The special cave Axxol had created for me to make up for the horrors he’d put me through after kidnapping me from the squad. A crackling sound like sticks clicking together drew my attention to a dark shape looming beside the bed. I’d been terrified then, but now I knew what this creature was. The Myrm drone had helped meunderstand enough to use Axxol’s blue ozone jump so I could free him before DSC completely decommissioned him.
The strong scent of vanilla and overripe fruit filled my nose. Black wings tucked close to its sides. It stretched out its long limb and I wrapped my fingers around it, connecting to all the surviving Myrm.
All the voices whispering in my head.We are one.
:The purple specks are Myrm?:
The spots blinked, dim and weak. Not complete. Alone. Hiding. Waiting for a Mother.
No. Waiting forTheMother.
Me.
5
KROKTL
Breathing in her scent, I held Natalie, though her mind felt far away. She wasn’t scared, exactly, but troubled. A great burden dragged at her mind like the weight of this rock of imbeciles she called Earth.
If I could cut her free of this weight I would do so in a heartbeat. Even if it killed me. Though that would give her a different burden of grief to bear, as well as complicate her survival. Even with the squad complete and her developing Myrm cells, we were extremely vulnerable to attack.
Wherever we went, DSC would continue to hunt us. She would never be safe. Which wasmyburden to bear.
I’d been unable to resist the siren call of her scent. For better or worse, we were mated. If she died, so would the rest of the squad. The monster inside me stretched, hungry and ready to kill. We’d take out as many as possible before the end. They wouldn’t find us an easy target.
The youngling stirred in her mother’s arms, making a soft little mewling sound that melted all the scales and teeth inside me. Her eyes popped open, and as soon as she saw us both close, she smiled and started babbling.
“Good morning, little angel baby.” Natalie shifted her around in her lap. The youngling gripped Natalie’s index fingers in fierce little fists. “Aw, look, she’s holding her head up already. I don’t think human babies can do that for months.”
The youngling made more happy sounds that were almost words.
“She’ll be talking soon,” Snryx said. “She’s functioning as a three-month-old human baby, even though she’s only been here for fifty-two hours.”
“Mama, Mama, Mama.” Natalie cooed to her, bouncing her gently on her lap. “Dada, Dada, Dada.”
