> Iridescence
>  by Serpent_Underscore
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Divergent paths
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 18th, 1995

It’d been winter here for too long. Maybe that’s why I jumped at the chance to attend a friend’s wedding in sunny California. Maybe it was the fact I needed something to distract me from the mounting piles of bills and the long nights spent at work, fighting them back. Or maybe it was just fate.

Whatever the reason, I found myself driving through a striking desert panorama just northwest of Las Vegas, on a lonely little stretch of road. Dense black clouds filled the air, and thunder had been echoing across the valley floor for the past few minutes. The scent of ozone hung heavy on the air. A particularly loud crack accompanied a flash of brilliant green lightning that struck a spot near the road up ahead. Then a second bolt of lightning struck the same spot, and a third, and a fourth.

The color alone would have been enough to catch my attention, but even a meteorologically and electrically illiterate guy like me knew that lightning doesn’t normally strike the same spot more than once unless it happens to be a good conductor, in an elevated location, or both, and the stretch of road ahead was neither. Yet emerald lightning flashed angrily time and time again, bombarding the same spot repeatedly for nearly half a minute.

I slowed the car to crawl, then stopped a good fifty feet away from the shallow crater in the asphalt. The windshield wipers swept back and forth as I waited several minutes, then got out of the car and cautiously approached on foot.

A few lazy tendrils of steam and acrid smoke made my eyes smart as I crouched over the side of the depression. Rainwater was pooling there, already a few inches deep. In the center was an oblong greenish orb splotched with sickly yellow-green patches, lying perfectly upright. It was about the size of a large grapefruit and seemed to glow with a faint internal light. It looked for all the world like some movie alien egg- and for all I knew it could actually be alien in origin.

Hesitantly I reached out to touch it. In hindsight it was probably a stupid move, but I was burning with curiosity. The surface was warm and slick, with a soft leathery texture to it. I could feel something moving beneath the surface. Without warning, the shell began to split cleanly from where I’d touched it. I scrambled back, landing on my rear and backpedalling a good three feet away. Something small and black was emerging from the egg, a little horn on its oversized head helping it to cut open the leathery shell. Almost unconsciously, I found myself edging back toward the crater for a better look.

Soon, two enormous blue eyes stared out at me. They were pale and milky, completely featureless except for the glossy reflections around their rims. Although there was no way of telling exactly where it was looking, I could feel its gaze settle squarely on me. I leaned in a little closer and its two spiny ears folded back, its little muzzle opening wide as it hissed defensively. I caught a glimpse of a mouthful of sharp little fangs. A predator of some sort? The creature struggled to extricate itself the rest of the way from its shell, squeaking fiercely at me. It almost reminded me of a kitten, if it was crossed with a puppy, a big black insect, and something else I couldn’t quite place. It wasn’t the greatest analogy, but it was all my distracted mind could come up with on short notice.

One short foreleg poked out of the shell, and then the other. They looked like they were riddled with holes, or rather, like a framework of chitin and flesh woven loosely around the empty outline of a leg.

Twisting its body trying to climb out of the lower half of the shell, the creature paused for a moment before looking at me and making a feeble lunge at my fingers. Its mouth snapped comically on empty air, but the attempt left it unbalanced and it toppled face-first into the pool of water where it began to flounder frantically. With its hindquarters still stuck inside the shell, there was no way it’d be able to get out of the water before it drowned.

I quickly removed my jacket and wrapped it around my hands. I had no clue if the thing was poisonous or not, but either way I didn’t feel like getting bitten by those sharp teeth. Carefully I scooped the struggling creature out of the water and secured it, keeping a firm but gentle grip to prevent it from escaping. It thrashed at first and tried biting the jacket, making panicked mewling noises, but eventually settled down.

I stood up carefully, cradling the wet bundle as best I could. The creature stared up at me intently, apparently having decided that I wasn’t an immediate threat anymore. I tried speaking to it reassuringly as I made my way back to the car, and its ears twitched up in response.

The cold rain was soaking us both, and the breeze that had begun to pick up. I could feel the little creature start to shiver in the 45-degree weather. I ducked inside the car and tentatively eased my grip on the bundle so that I could turn the keys in the ignition and crank up the heat.

The creature shrank back and hissed at the sound of the car starting up, but its aggression was reserved for the dashboard. It pressed itself closer against me and looked up with what I could only describe as an imploring expression, as though it wanted me to make the scary thing go away.

I spoke calmingly to it and smiled despite myself as it hissed a final time at the dashboard and then twisted around so it was facing me, burying its head against the wet folds of my jacket and closing its eyes with a soft chirring sound. Funny, two minutes ago I was public enemy number one, and now here it seemed to consider me to be some sort of protector. Gradually I could feel it stop shivering and its breathing slow down and deepen. I drove carefully, wondering what on earth I was going to do next.

Attending the wedding was suddenly no longer at the top of my list of priorities. I’d still go if I found some way to do it responsibly, but the immediate future was looking uncomfortably complicated. Should I call the police? Animal control? NASA? Just what kind of media frenzy would be kicked up by all this if I did go to the authorities with my find? My mouth went dry as I considered another possibility. What if a government coverup was launched and I was made to 'disappear'?

Area 51 was less than 20 miles from here. I remembered seeing it on the map while looking up directions to Ridgecrest earlier today. I'd never been one to lend much credence to the conspiracy theories before, but this was just too much of a coincidence to just be chance. And if the tinfoil hat brigade was right about Area 51, then it seemed disturbingly likely that various underhanded coverup stories might have something to them as well.

I pressed my foot a little harder on the gas pedal. No, I had no inclination to be buried in an unmarked grave while experiments were performed on the baby alien. But that still left me with the question of what I'd do with the creature now. I had next to no experience with caring for animals, and I had a funny feeling I wasn't going to find any helpful online guides to hand raising aliens from birth either.

I might be able to look up information on caring for orphaned baby animals and try applying it to the creature, but there seemed like way too many ways that things could go badly if I made the wrong assumptions. With my mind occupied with concocting a plan, I drove into the darkness opposite the setting sun. Occasional flashes of light still split the sky, illuminating the undersides of the clouds.

As the minutes passed quietly, I found myself unconsciously stroking the back of the creature's head with my fingers. Its outer shell was smooth to the touch, with a surprisingly soft exterior sheathing a harder and unyielding layer underneath. It shifted position slightly as I touched it, but it had fallen asleep on my lap and otherwise took no notice of me.

I'd work something out. Whatever the difficulties that came our way, I'd face them one step at a time.


> First steps
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a few hours later, at a hotel in a town called Bishop. I’d snuck the creature inside by hiding it in my backpack, still wrapped in my wet jacket. It didn’t like the unexpected darkness and squeaked plaintively at me until I undid the zipper an inch or two. Not enough for it to get out or be seen easily, but enough to still let some light in and allow it to peek outside.

It quieted down and I was able to check in at the front desk without raising any suspicions. I was able to explain my hurry by saying that I got caught out in the rain and needed to change into something dry, which wasn’t exactly untrue. I had some spare clothes in my duffel bag, along with my wedding attire.

Once I had gotten inside my room and locked the door, I changed quickly and returned to unzip my backpack and let the creature out. I set it carefully on the bedside table and unwrapped it from the wet jacket. It sneezed once and looked up at me curiously. Half its shell was still sticking to its hindquarters and I laughed as it flopped on one side and began furiously kicking against it. I ended up having to help remove the offending membrane. It was plastered against its carapace and I had to carefully peel it away, steadying the creature with one hand to keep it still.

The internal light I had noticed earlier was gone, which I counted as a good thing. Back when I had first grabbed it with my jacket I had half-expected the weakly glowing amniotic fluids to start sizzling and eating away at the fibers like acid. Nothing untoward had happened when I had unconsciously started to pet it during the car ride, so the thin green stuff probably wasn’t harmful to the touch. Probably. I intended to thoroughly wash my hands after this, and to give the little creature a bath to clean off the residue sticking to it. No point in taking chances.

Once the shell was fully removed, the creature unsteadily tried getting to its feet, but flopped onto its belly instead. Now that the shell was gone I could see the iridescent blue segments on its back, like a vibrantly colored beetle’s wing case. Speaking of wings, there were two small nubs on its back that looked suspiciously like they might develop into something more with time. The tail was a bit of a surprise. I had been expecting something like a lizard’s tail or a scorpion stinger, but the only thing there was a short ragged plume of grey hair sticking together damply.

The creature tried standing on all fours again, only to collapse once more with an undignified squeak of frustration. Not to be deterred, it carefully placed both forelegs on the tabletop and levered itself into an upright sitting position. With a determined look down at its misbehaving limbs, it tried straightening its hindquarters awkwardly. This time it managed to stay on its feet for an entire six seconds before losing its balance and almost collapsing again. Its shaky legs caught it just in time though and it looked up at me with unmistakable excitement sparkling in its milky blue eyes.

Of course, the act of turning its oversized head set it off-balance again and it toppled over once more. “I don’t know if you’re supposed to be on your feet just yet.” I said with a laugh. The creature shot me a dirty look and squeaked fiercely. “Just give it some time, I’m sure you’ll be able to do it when you’re a little older.”

The creature pointedly ignored me and went right back to trying to stand. "Or you could just keep on practicing, that's good too." A tiny snort was my only reply. For a hatchling only a few hours old, I was honestly impressed by its responsiveness and seeming awareness of what I was saying, or at least what the tone meant. I was definitely leaning toward the idea it was an intelligent alien rather than just a dumb animal that happened to be from another planet. I could always be wrong, but I thought it best to treat it as if it were intelligent until I knew for certain.

There was no foreseeable harm in doing so even if I turned out to be wrong, and plenty of reasons to start out by treating it like a person rather than a pet. I smiled as the creature managed to get to its feet again and spoke encouragingly to it. This time it kept its head very still as it tried taking its first wobbly steps. All four legs were splayed out trying to stay balanced, and it swayed to the side unsteadily. I had to reach out and steady it before it strayed to the edge of the table.

The creature looked up at me gratefully and gave a spirited chirp before nestling against my hand. As a result, I was given an object reminder of the fact it was still wet and covered in alien amniotic fluid.

“You’re doing great, but I think that’s enough for now.” I said warmly. “Let’s get you washed up before this gunk dries off.” The creature protested slightly as I scooped it up, but didn’t struggle as I carried it to the bathtub. It proved to be fascinated by warm water, but was much less enthusiastic about the concept of soap. After the obligatory hissing fit at the unfamiliar scent, it warily allowed me to start scrubbing away at its carapace with a damp cloth. I gently removed the sticky residue as best I could, trying to cover all major areas. In the end, I had to sacrifice my toothbrush in order to clean out the holes in its legs.

In the process of getting it cleaned off, I discovered that it was female. Or at least, that's what I assumed it was if its anatomy was anything like that of most earth creatures. Of course, it might be like birds or reptiles and nearly impossible to determine its sex unless you knew just what you were looking for, or it might even be aesexual. Who knew when it came to aliens. Lacking anything more definitive, I decided to just refer to it as female and hoped I was right in my guess.

Now that bath time was over, the creature was enthusiastically splashing around in the shallow water. She seemed to love making bubbles by churning her hole-filled legs through the soapy water, gasping and chirping with delight at the novel experience. Soon, she discovered the joys of biting bubbles as well as making them and began stalking the rainbow orbs around the tub. She was still quite unsteady on her feet and fell down frequently, but seemed to be having the time of her life anyways. I supervised her for maybe ten to twelve minutes before she finally started getting tired, then took her out of the tub and dried her off with a towel.

As the tiny black thing slumbered on the bed, I considered what I’d do about feeding her. I had a fair guess she was at least partially carnivorous- the sharp teeth and the way she hunted bubbles seemed like a dead giveaway- but were there other dietary considerations as well? Was it like a dog that could live on both meat and vegetarian diets, or a cat that could only subsist on meat? Was it an insectivore or fish-eater, did the young of the species drink milk or partially pre-digested meat given by a parent? With a sigh, I rummaged through my backpack for my laptop, a Powerbook 150 I’d gotten last year to help with my studies.

Threading the phone cord to the jack in the wall and updating the settings for the connection, I winced as the characteristic digital screeching of a modem connecting to the internet threatened to wake up the young alien. It merely shifted position and yawned though.

The next hour or so was filled with AOL searches for how to care for orphaned baby animals. I took notes on everything from lizards to canaries, puppies to raccoons, big cats to baby horses. I found a few good emergency milk formulas for orphaned animals, as well as a wealth of advice.

I’d have to make a trip to the store for ingredients and a baby bottle, but I couldn’t leave the alien alone in the hotel where it might wake up and cause a racket, only to be discovered by room service. I carefully picked up the sleeping creature and tucked it into my backpack again, trying to disturb it as little as possible.

There was a K-mart not too far away that probably had everything I needed. The rain had mostly died down and I caught a glimpse of the moon behind the cloud cover. Destination in mind, I drove off into the night.
> The care and feeding of aliens
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The trip to K-mart and back was uneventful. I had to leave the creature out in the car to avoid waking it and having it freak out over all the unfamiliar sights, scents, and sounds in a large store. I tried to hurry so it wouldn't have to be by itself for any longer than it needed to be. Evaporated milk, eggs, corn syrup, bannana baby food and liquid baby vitamins, those were the ingredients I needed to make a generic formula for orphaned animals.

A baby bottle and a replacement toothbrush were next, along with a small blanket, a package of diapers, and some baby wipes. The cribs available were too large to easily use this far from home, so I settled for a cushioned dog basket and a plastic laundry bin with plenty of holes to place over the top.

On a whim, I grabbed a few baby toys. I also got some meat, fish, a cheap blender, and some assorted greens. I also stopped by the pet section to see if they had any insects, but no such luck.

With everything I needed in tow, I made my way to the checkout counter to pay for it all and was soon back in the car. I was greeted by the sound of an infant wailing in distress and confusion, and had to spend a couple minutes comforting the little thing and assuring her that I was really back before she calmed down enough that I could start driving. I unzipped the backpack and let her curl up on my lap where she nuzzled her head against me and made a sad chirping noise in the back of her throat.

The soft rhythmic noise of the car engine and gentle rumble of the drive back helped calm her down further, and by the time we had reached the hotel again I was able to sneak her inside without any trouble. The first thing I did was to prepare the formula and warm it in the microwave.

The alien sat upright on the bed, watching with curiosity. Testing the warmth of the liquid by squirting a little of it onto my hand, I knelt by the side of the bed and tentatively offered her the nipple. She sniffed it cautiously at first, then gave it an experimental lick. Shuddering, she made a face and drew back. I was about to take away the bottle and try the next option when she latched onto the nipple and began suckling greedily, both forelegs wrapped around the bottle.

It might not have been what she was expecting at first, but it seemed like the formula was more than acceptable to her. Time would tell if it agreed with her afterward, or if I'd need to alter the recipe to better suit her needs. I'd still offer her the other foods I'd gotten for her during her next feeding session, but it looked like I was set for the time being.

The minutes passed in relative silence, the soft sucking noises the only sound to be heard. I affectionately stroked the back of her head as she drank, a tiny dribble of formula trickling out the side of her mouth. Despite the short amount of time I'd known the little creature, I was already becoming attached to it.

When she finally decided she had had enough, I discovered with wry amusement that her sharp little teeth had ravaged the nipple and poked numerous small holes in it. Apparently I'd be needing to replace them frequently. With a contented yawn, the creature flopped onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. I smiled and wiped away the dribble of formula still running across her muzzle. Now for the next phase of operations.

I opened the package of diapers and began a little creative modification to account for her tail. Of all the aspects of taking care of the alien, this was the one that I looked forward to the least. Still, it needed to be done. I won't say that it was a perfect fit or that it was applied with the most skill, but in the end at least I'd gotten it to stay on her securely. For her part, the baby alien seemed to find my efforts hilarious. It was the first time I'd heard her giggle, and the distinctly human like sound startled me at first.

It was quite different from the other sounds she'd made so far, and my unconscious estimation of her intelligence rose considerably. It would be hard to entertain any notions that she was just an animal after this, not that I had been leaning toward that conclusion before.

With everything taken care of for now, I turned on the tv and settled down on the bed to unwind. It'd been a long day. The creature snuggled next to my legs while I closed my eyes and just listened to the background drone of the tv, not really caring what channel was on. It was all white noise to me.

Not five minutes later a pungent scent interrupted my reverie and I found myself having to change her diaper for the first time. I was glad I'd gotten it on her before she soiled herself, but was it too much to ask for it to stay clean until the morning?

Sighing, I got up again and attended to the little alien's needs. I'll admit, I had no idea what I was doing at first and ended up wasting a quarter of the baby wipes in the process. While I was busy securing the adhesive tabs on the new diaper, a single sentence from the television set forced its way out of the background and made my heart skip a beat.

Green lightning had been reported in multiple locations on the outskirts of Las Vegas. The forgotten news program that had been playing suddenly had my undivided attention. Well, almost undivided. I quickly threw away the dirty diaper and carried the baby alien back to the bed.

It was a recap of the local news of the day. Several hours ago, at about the same time I'd found the alien, people all over the northwest fringe of Las Vegas had seen streaks of green lightning flashing repeatedly. At least sixteen seperate sightings had been confirmed so far, each leaving behind a sizable crater in the ground. Authorities were puzzled over the occurrence, but relieved that there were no injuries.

Most eyewitnesses had only seen the event from a distance, but one Hispanic man had been close enough to reach the crater only seconds after the eerie green bolts stopped striking the ground. He hadn't been able to make out much in the rain, but his laughing description of seeing a big black dog fleeing down an alleyway sent a chill down my spine. He simply thought it was a mutt that had been spooked by the blast, but I couldn't help but wonder if it might have been something more.

One crater had been found with a bowl of petunias in the center, but that was probably just the work of some joker. Other than that, there were no mentions of anything out of the ordinary having been seen. The news anchor brought on an expert that had no idea what happened, but had a few theories for the public, each more improbable than the last. They chatted back and forth for a bit, then eventually moved onto other topics. I reached over to the remote and turned off the television.

The little alien looked up at me and chirped uncertainly, as if she could sense that something wasn't quite right. I smiled reassuringly and stroked the back of her head again. "It's okay, everything's going to be fine. Was that your family out there? Do you think they're looking for you?" I sighed. "I wish I knew what was going on."

I wasn't too worried about the idea of an alien invasion. The numbers were just too few for that. They could be the advance scouts for a larger force, but who heard of taking infants along on a scouting expedition behind enemy lines? That only made sense if they were like Xenomorphs or Chryssalids and could rapidly increase their numbers by infesting the natives and having the newly-spawned brood repeat the process ad infinitum.

While the little alien might one day grow up into a dangerous predator, currently it showed all the threat of a day-old lion cub. So much for the notion of facehugging infant shock troops. I grinned a little at the mental image conjured up by that. What would they do, lull you into a false sense of security by gaining your affection and then drain you dry while you slept?

The moment of mirth passed quickly. Even if they probably weren’t the vanguard of an invasion, that didn’t mean their intentions were necessarily benign. On the other hand, If they were the little creature’s family or relatives and they were some sort of alien refugees, they must be worried sick about their scattered and missing companions.

All this speculation wasn’t getting me anywhere. It was getting late and I still had plans to attend a wedding tomorrow. I felt I had the situation well enough in hand now to justify going, I’d just need to keep the alien in the car and check up on her frequently, bringing formula and spare diapers.

Setting both plans and speculation aside, I gently set the little creature down onto the dog bed I’d gotten earlier, draped the baby blanket on top of her to keep her warm, and flipped the laundry basket over the top, making a little cage. It was a poor substitute for a crib, but it’d have to do for now. I stacked a couple pieces of luggage on top so that she wouldn’t be able to escape during the night and turned off the lights.

It only took a few minutes before the flaw in my arrangements presented itself. The alien started becoming increasingly agitated that I wasn’t there with her and began calling out to me with a series of plaintive squeaks. I felt bad for leaving her there, but entirely apart from the fact that she needed to learn to accept that I sometimes had to go away and wouldn't always be right there for her, I was concerned that having her sleep next to me wasn't the safest idea. I was terrified of the idea I might accidentally roll over onto her during the night and smother her- I'd read one horror story too many while researching the leading causes of human and animal infant mortality, and didn't want to take the risk.

Still, it was hard to ignore her. Eventually she gave up on calling to me and I could hear her circling her improvised pen a couple times before curling up and going to sleep, making one last sad warbling noise in the back of her throat. I wanted so much to just reach out and hold her right then, but I had to put her safety above her comfort. Gradually I lost track of my surroundings as sleep began to beckon me as well. Tomorrow was coming soon, with its own challenges to face.





Elsewhere...

A brown pickup truck left the road and began to trek into the desert, headlights revealing nothing but rocks and the occasional shrubbery. Soon, its solitude was broken as it came upon a group of vehicles clustered around a central hive of activity. Spotlights illuminated a plastic enclosure being hastily erected, people swarming around it like ants. Some had equipment in hand, others carried additional supplies to help set up the enclosure.

Two military police stopped the pickup well short of its destination. Its occupant flashed an ID card and after a short confirmation was allowed to pass. Two men were unloading a portable generator from a black van as the pickup came to a halt. The occupant, a middle-aged man sporting a salt and pepper mustache, opened the door and got out. He surveyed the scene momentarily, as though looking for someone. Walking over to a worker carrying a bundle of thin metal supports, he stopped him and asked a question. "Do you know where I can find Susan Barkes?"

The worker jerked his head toward the plastic enclosure. "Last I saw she was in there, getting the portable x-ray machine set up. You'll need at least Level B protection if you're planning on going near the body though."

The man thanked him briefly before heading to a supply van and requisitioning a hazmat suit. Soon he was inside, navigating an airtight plastic tunnel. Droplets of rain still clung to the exterior of the barrier, though the downpour had long since subsided.

At the end of the junction was a field decontamination station. He didn’t quite see the point of decon before coming into proximity of the corpse- It wasn’t as if it would be able to catch any earth diseases in its current state after all- but there were regulations to follow. Once the sprayers and air drying system had finished, he stepped through into the heart of the plastic hive. Over a dozen people were there and equipment littered the floor, but it was the crater at the center that commanded his immediate attention. Over two meters across and half a meter deep, it was in the process of having the accumulated rainwater drained with a vacuum pump.

Inside was a dark mass lying arched in a paroxysm of agony. Its outer carapace had partially melted, and he could see the edges of white ribs poking out of the wreckage. The corpse looked like it was fused to the stone below it. Its mouth was wide in a silent scream, head twisted so far above its body that it looked like the spine should have snapped backwards. One enormous eye socket held the blackened and congealed remnants of what must have once been an incredible visual organ. The other lay buried against the wet stone and was probably in similar condition.

Pity. Such a shame that they didn’t have a more intact specimen to examine, or better yet- a living example. Still, there was so much knowledge that could be gleaned from even this sad specimen. Something must have gone spectacularly wrong with its arrival, since none of the other impact sites so far had left behind anything like this.

“Fascinating, right?” said a slightly muffled voice from behind him.

Turning, he saw a woman in a bulky blue hazmat suit. Though the respirator she wore obscured most of her face, he didn’t even need to read her nametag to know who it was. “Susan. It’s good to see you again.”

“Likewise Robert. What brings you here? I thought you were supposed to be heading up the Charlatan Project.”

A faint look of amusement passed Robert’s face. “Apparently the lab boys think this might have something to do with Charlatan. There was a test underneath Groom Lake today with some rather... interesting results.”

Susan arched an eyebrow at Robert. “You think this is a paranormal incursion rather than an extraterrestrial one?”

“From what I’ve heard, it certainly doesn’t fit with any known methodology the Greys have demonstrated before, and the corpse doesn’t even begin to resemble the ones we’ve recovered from the Roswell crash.”

Susan scoffed. “I’m going to need to see a lot more evidence before I start assuming this is magic Robert, you know that.”

“I prefer the term ‘alternate physics’.” Robert said, his smile hidden underneath the respirator. “But yes, I agree that more evidence is required before we make any definite conclusions.”

Turning back to face the wet corpse, Robert asked; “So tell me, what have you found out so far?”


> Commitment
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Commitment

"Let's try another approach. You say you do not know how many guards, how many 'policemen' as you call them, protect this city." A thickset man paced slowly in front of a woman. "Tell me," he said "are there any races in your world capable of changing their appearance at will? Would someone displaying aberrant behavior be suspected of being an imposter, or would it be attributed to other causes?" The room was dim, lit only by the glow of streetlights outside the window. 

"No. That sort of thing isn't possible." the woman replied after a moment, her eyes flashing green for the briefest of instants. "There are stories about people or creatures that have that ability, but they're all make-believe. If someone was acting strange no one would think they were really a monster pretending to be a human." The woman's voice was flat, devoid of inflection or emotion of any sort.

The man sighed as he circled behind the woman. "We prefer the term 'changeling' ourselves. Regardless, that is a good piece of news. The first I've heard since coming here in fact. I take it that since there are no shapeshifters in this world your policemen have no charms for revealing the true form of a suspect?" 

A look of confusion flickered across the woman's face. "Charms? You mean like magic? That stuff isn't real. Everybody knows that."

The man arched an eyebrow. "Surely you jest. Magic is the lifeblood of the universe, how could you possibly exist in a world devoid of it? How would the seasons turn, who would raise the sun each day? Your weather would be chaotic and unpredictable with no way to manage it. You recognized the term readily enough. How do you know of it if there is no such thing here?"

"The weather and seasons take care of themselves. So does the sun. Magic is just another story for us. It's a fantasy, something that's impossible." The woman shrugged before adding "We seem to get along well enough without it." 

"How very... peculiar. This wasn't part of the plan you know. But then, neither was losing control of the transportation spell and waking up to find that all four of my legs had become live snakes." The man shuddered visibly. "The effects of a backfiring spell can be unpredictable indeed, particularly for one of such magnitude. I told Chrysalis we didn't have enough power to cast the spell successfully, but she ignored my counsel." The man snorted softly and stared at the floor. "I don't blame her. It's not like we had very many options at the time.”

Several moments passed in silence before the man shook himself and turned back to face the woman. “This may play to our advantage. Our own ability to use magic is unimpaired, and if you are correct in your belief that there is no magical ability among your kind- something I still find most difficult to believe- then we may act with far more boldness than we are wont. Still, until we are certain we must continue to exercise caution. Twice over now have rash actions snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. It would be folly of the highest order to let it prove our downfall a third time. I have so many questions for you my dear, and so little time.”

Frowning, the man bent over to caress her auburn hair. “A pity you have so little love for the man whose form I wear. Because of that it will be far too much trouble to keep you enthralled for long, and I lack the magical reserves to simply repeat the process on a more suitable target so soon."

A low groan came from somewhere in the darkness. The doppelganger spared a look behind him to make sure the original hadn't regained consciousness yet. 

Little enough chance of that- He would be surprised if the original awoke before daybreak. If he still remembered anything of their encounter after having his short-term memory erased, he'd be astonished at the human's mental tenacity. Once he was done here, the woman would share the same treatment and the two would be moved to a more believable sleeping location. If everything went according to plan, no one would suspect a thing.

A green aura surrounded the man's fingers as he made a brief gesture. From somewhere near the door, a chair glowed in response, revealing the crumpled form it had lain next to. The chair floated across the darkened room, the light of its passage casting erratic shadows on the walls. Sitting down on it once it had come to rest, the man smiled lazily and spoke. "Now then my dear, where were we?"





I frowned as I made the final adjustments to my bowtie. Devilish things I tell you, impossible to tie correctly. My eternal ire to the French madman who first thought them up. A madman with an eye for style admittedly, but undoubtedly a madman. Okay, perhaps I was being unkind, but after half a dozen unsuccessful previous attempts I was getting frustrated. 

While I critically eyed my handiwork in the mirror, I was greeted to an amused chirp from the bedside. The little creature was out and roaming the small hotel room spiritedly. I'd already seen to her needs earlier, and tried showing her the other food options along the way. She hadn't shown any interest in anything but formula yet, but I'd still give her the chance to try them every few days until she developed an appetite for solid foods.

Her steps were much more confident now, only tripping or stumbling occasionally. Everything around her seemed to attract her curiosity, though she could only investigate what was closest to the ground. Right now she was standing upright and peering into my duffel bag, both forelimbs hooked over the edge to keep her balanced. Chirping again, she pedaled her rear legs against the bag in an attempt to climb into it. She made it almost halfway, then slowly began sliding back onto the floor. With a squeak of displeasure, she made a spasmodic lunge forward and bit onto a piece of clothing.

Fabric anchored firmly between her teeth, she scrabbled over the side and ended up somersaulting onto her back as she fell into the duffel bag. I leaned over to get a better look and heard her giggle as she stared up at me. Smiling back at her, I knelt down and tickled her exposed belly, eliciting a shriek of laughter as she squirmed to get away. 

Having performed my dastardly deed for the day, I slipped on my suit jacket and buttoned it. This day was going to be perfect. I had planned everything out for the wedding and now it was time to put those plans in motion. Timing was critical. I finished packing the supplies I’d need, everything from baby toys to formula to the wedding gift. 

Consulting a map and making some quick mental estimates, I glanced at my watch. Just ten to fifteen minutes left before I had to leave. The plan was simple enough in theory- show up a few minutes before the guests were to be seated for the ceremony, taking advantage of the fact that the parking lot should be mostly deserted when I arrived. If possible, park in a corner where there would be even less chance of a random guest noticing an alien through the windows of my car. Slip away during the opening dance at the reception and check on her, then head back for the speech, toast, and cake-cutting. Slip away again during the second dance session to check on the alien and take care of her needs before returning for the final segment of the wedding reception, then leave a little early to avoid the crowds.

It was something of a calculated risk to leave her out in the open like that, but I couldn't keep her trapped away from view in my backpack the whole time, and of course bringing her out to the wedding itself was out of the question, backpack or no. With luck, any passerby that happened to see her from a distance would just think she was a small dog and not pay any further notice. If everything went according to schedule there shouldn't be many people in the parking lot while we were there, if any at all. 

I figured the odds of someone seeing her were negligible at best. So long as I didn’t make a habit of this it seemed like a fairly safe endeavor. 

Picking the little alien up and placing her in my backpack, I turned to head out the door. It’d take a little over two hours to drive from my hotel in Bishop to Ridgecrest, and wanted to get started a little early. I didn’t need traffic problems or trouble with unfamiliar directions getting in the way of my timetable. Once I was actually in Ridgecrest I’d just drive in loops around Freedom Park to burn away any excess time before going to the adjacent community center the wedding was being held at. 

We left the hotel and got in the car. I let the little alien out of the backpack to do as she pleased, then started to drive. Before long we had left the city limits and were on the endless stretch of road leading south to Ridgecrest. 

During the long drive my attention was frequently attracted to the alien's antics. At first she stood upright with both legs against the window, watching the desert landscape pass by in rapt fascination. Eventually she tired of that and curled up on my lap to take a nap. Over an hour passed in silence before she woke up again.

This time she took the opportunity to explore the car itself, wandering to the back and climbing all over the seats. It wasn't long before she realized that she could squeeze underneath them as well, and began crawling along the floor. I lost track of her for a bit since I still needed to pay a modicum of attention to the monotonously straight and empty road stretching off into the horizon, but soon caught sight of her again when a black foreleg unexpectedly shot out from underneath my seat. It tried to bop my foot before jerking back into the darkness, waiting a beat before striking again. And again. And again.

Without warning the alien lunged forward on her belly, mouth agape as she tried gnawing on my heel. Her forelegs clasped my foot as she dragged herself closer, hindlegs kicking like mad as she curled around it. I reached down to pick her up, only to have her turn her attention to my hand as she rolled onto her back. There was a mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she chomped down on my hand playfully, refusing to let go as I lifted her up onto my lap. For the next few minutes I absently tussled with her, keeping an eye on the road. It wouldn't be much longer before I reached the city limits and would have to start paying attention to where I was going again. 

Signs of civilization started becoming more and more frequent. I passed a small town before reaching Ridgecrest itself. Finding the park wasn't hard and I made a discreet pit stop to change the alien's diaper and feed her before starting my loops around the block. The minutes ticked down in nervous anticipation. I could see the last few stragglers pulling into the community center’s parking lot.

Showtime. I chose a free spot bordering the park, near the middle of the lot. I was about to grab the wedding gift and leave, but hesitated as the little alien darted over to the window and started making odd sounds. I followed her gaze to the next car over, where a terrier had begun barking excitedly at her. It took me a moment to realize that she was trying to imitate it, and my eyebrow rose as the sounds she made quickly went from a raspy coughing noise to a passable rendition of the small dog's sharp yipping. Soon she was tilting her head to match the terrier's and synchronizing her barking with its own, putting one foreleg to the glass in a mirror image of the dog.

At any other time I would have loved to stay behind and see how this new development played out, but I really had to go now. Interesting as this was, it could wait for later. I headed out to the community center, gift and invitation in hand. Just as planned, there wasn’t anyone in sight as I crossed the parking lot.

I was able to be seated just a few minutes before the wedding ceremony started. I hadn't seen Kim or Andrew in years, and it was nice to get a chance to see them again. Ever since they moved to California we'd been in contact less and less frequently. I recognized a few other familiar faces in the congregation as well, including my best friend Nicole Salvan.

After the couple had finished exchanging vows the first dance began. I waited a couple minutes for things to gain momentum, then surreptitiously slipped out the back. When I got back to the car the little black alien was still engaged in barking at the terrier, but stopped when she noticed me coming and started pawing at the window. I only stayed long enough to make sure that she wasn't hungry or needed to have her diaper changed before slipping back inside the building. She didn't like the fact that I was leaving her alone again, but it couldn't be helped. 

Once I was back inside I bumped into Nicole. "There you are Shaun, I've been looking all over for you. Where have you been this whole time?"

"I uh, got lost looking for the restroom." I lied clumsily. 

Nicole arched a dark eyebrow. "Uh huh... Well anyway, how have you been? Hope the drive over wasn't too hard on your old clunker or anything."

"I may have had one or two complications on the way over, but none to do with the car thankfully." I replied truthfully. "Kim and Andrew look good together. I can't believe they've put this off for so long."

Nicole's chocolate face broke into a smirk. "It might not have taken so long if they'd taken my advice before moving up here. I do cost estimation for big companies as a living, you'd think they might have listened when I told them they were going to overextend their finances."

"Yeah, but the job offer Andrew got was hard to pass up." I said. "They might have had a rockier start with things here, but I think that they'll do better in the long run this way." In the middle of the room, the dance was slowing, coming to an end. "Come on, let's grab a seat."

The two of us sat down at one of the tables near the wall and chatted for a bit before the speech and cake cutting began. I was listening to the father of the bride speak when I heard a faint giggle from overhead. My blood turned to ice as I glanced up and saw the alien hanging upside-down from the ceiling in defiance of gravity. How- the car was locked, I was sure of it! How did she get loose? How was she suddenly able to cling to walls like Spider-Man? I-

Okay, don't panic. I forced my gaze back onto the father of the bride. There were a number of panels coming out of the ceiling in a rectangular grid pattern, creating a checkerboard of recessed boxes. No one could see her unless they were almost directly beneath her. Maybe if she just stayed quietly out of sight nobody would notice and I could wait until everyone left, then stand a chair on the table and grab her, right?

"Shaun, are you okay?" Nicole whispered. 

I flashed her a slightly frantic grin in return. "Me? Just fine, never better!" Don't look up, don't look up. "I ah, just remembered something really important I need to do after this is over." I whispered back.

Nicole looked unconvinced, but soon turned her attention back to the speakers. The seconds ticked by with agonizing slowness as I snuck a glance up at the ceiling. The little alien was on the move again, circling the area above our table slowly. With the speech over, the wedding toast was about to begin. I could see her stop suddenly and look down at me before inhaling deeply and opening her mouth wide. In a moment of horrified realization I knew what she was about to do, but was powerless to stop her.

Several loud barks rang out across the room just as everyone raised their glasses. Heads turned to look for the source of the unexpected noise, but from where she was still hiding nobody could see her yet. Nobody except the two people directly beneath her that is. Nicole's gaze turned upward, and I could see her chocolate-brown skin pale slightly as she stared right into the alien's enormous blue eyes. 

"Shaun-" She started pointing at the alien but I stopped her mid-motion.

"Don't make a sound, it's okay." I tried reassuring her quietly, but then without warning the alien caught fire. With a faint 'whoosh' she was suddenly enveloped in emerald flames which then vanished almost as quickly as they had formed. Now it was my turn to be shocked. The familiar buglike alien I'd taken care of these past two days was gone, and in its place was a black-furred terrier. I had only an instant to gawk at her transformation before gravity belatedly reasserted its influence on her and she fell from the ceiling.

I managed to catch her, but only barely. Panicked by her sudden fall, the alien began barking frantically as she slipped out of my grasp and tumbled to the floor. Nicole screamed, and the alien darted around her legs to escape into the crowd. A couple of people got up to see what the commotion was about as I gave chase. 

Weaving around tables and briefly apologizing to people as I shouldered past them, I tried to keep the alien in sight. She raced right into the thick of the congregation and more than one person had to step out of the way hastily to avoid colliding with either her or myself. As she neared the bride and groom Kim made a grab for her and managed to halt her in her tracks. Not by catching her though- the grab missed and ended up sending Andrew off-balance. He reached out to grab something to keep himself from falling, but only succeeded in yanking the tablecloth off of the table and sending the uncut cake tumbling down onto his face. The alien hid herself under the cake table, and then began cautiously licking the icing off of Andrew's face.

I skidded to a halt in front of them as Andrew picked himself up. "Would this happen to be your dog?" He asked calmly, holding the disguised alien at arms length. She was still licking frosting off his hands and sleeve, getting her black fur all messy while her tail wagged furiously.

"I'm so sorry about this Andrew, I thought I'd left her in the car. I have no idea how she got out." I said, taking the alien from him.

Andrew took a long look at the audience, his wife who was visibly trying to keep from laughing, the cake on the floor, and finally himself, then with a twinkle in his eye and a completely deadpan voice loudly announced: "Let us never speak of this again."

I spent the rest of the wedding apologizing profusely and hoping against hope that the little alien didn't pull her transformation trick again until I could get her safely out of sight. Kim and Andrew seemed to be taking it rather well all things considered, though their parents and several of the guests were understandably upset about what had happened.

Jittery from the after effects of my adrenaline rush and feeling acutely embarrassed over wrecking my friend's wedding, I excused myself for a moment to put my 'dog' back in the car where she belonged. As I reached the parking lot, I found myself confronted by Nicole.

"Shaun, what is that... that thing?" she demanded in low tones. Her lips were pressed in a tight line and despite her confident posture, I could see the worry in her eyes as she looked at the creature I was holding in my arms. "I saw what it was before it fell from the ceiling. Last I checked, dogs don't have giant blue bug eyes, hang from walls or burst into green flame. You want to tell me what's going on?"

I glanced around quickly to make sure no one else was nearby. "Short version? I found an egg on the drive over here, not twenty miles from where Area 51 is. It just hatched yesterday evening and I've been trying to take care of it ever since. I think it might be an alien."

Nicole looked like she was about to say something, but I cut her off. "I know you must have a lot of questions right now, but this isn't the time or place for long discussions. I promise I'll tell you everything once we get back home, okay?"

There was a long moment of silence as Nicole's gaze shifted from the alien to myself and then back again. "I hope you know what you're doing." She said with a sigh. "Are you sure that thing's safe?"

"As sure as I can be under the circumstances." I replied. As if to accentuate my point, the alien yawned and tucked her head into my arms. Of course, it might have had more impact if she didn't burst into flame again as she fell asleep, returning to her original form. I almost dropped her in shock, but managed to keep my grip on her. The alien looked up in alarm, but then settled back down when she didn't notice anything unusual. A wisp of smoke curled up from my suit jacket, now mildly singed. "Um, make that moderately sure." I amended with a wince. "Hang on, I need to put her in the car. Would you mind watching her for a bit to make sure she doesn't get loose again while I go back inside to run some cold water over my hands and help clean up the mess she made in there?"

Nicole reluctantly agreed and soon I was back inside, letting cool water wash over my hands. I hadn't really been burned that badly. The fire only lasted a couple moments and hadn't seemed as hot as regular flame either. My palms would certainly be a little tender for the next day or so, but that was all. As I left the restroom to go help with the cleanup, my brain was working a million miles an hour trying to process the string of new developments. So, the alien was a potential fire hazard. Would the flames get hotter or last longer as she got older? How much control did she have over the process? On a related note, she was most definitely a shapeshifter and not just some sort of psychic illusionist. I had felt her body change shape under the fire. Nicole knew about the alien now. This could either make things easier or much, much harder. 

I was distracted throughout most of the cleanup process. I’d removed my black suit jacket, partly to keep cake from getting on it while I worked, but mostly to conceal the scorch marks. I hoped I’d be able to salvage the suit jacket later on- they weren’t cheap to replace after all.

Kim and a few of the guests helped with the cleaning, while Andrew got himself washed up elsewhere. I offered my apologies again, but Kim told me not to worry about it. According to her I’d helped make their wedding ‘memorable’. That certainly wouldn’t be the word I’d use to describe it, but then Kim and Andrew’s personalities were very different from my own. If I were in their place I’d probably be highly displeased with what happened, a sentiment most of the other guests around me seemed to share judging by the many harsh looks I was receiving. 

Eventually we finished cleaning the cake off of the floor and we said our farewells. When I got outside I could see Nicole making faces at my car’s window while the alien tried to copy them. Apparently she’d lost some of her initial trepidation about the alien.

“There’s going to be a lot of people coming through here soon, so I’ve got to leave before this place gets too crowded.” I told her. “I’ll fill you in on all the details once we’re home, just like I said I would. Until then, don’t tell anyone about this or anything, okay?”

“I guess I can live with that. Just be careful until then, you hear me? Don’t go burning to death in your sleep or anything like that.” Nicole replied.

“Don’t worry, I think I know how to deal with that.” I said as I got in the car. “It’s more like an alcohol flame than anything else- I don’t think it’d ignite anything very easily without prolonged contact, and you saw how quickly the flames disappeared both times. If I just keep her away from anything really flammable I should be fine.”

“Take care of yourself Shaun.”

“You too Nicole. See you tomorrow.”

The drive back to the hotel was very quiet. The alien fell asleep again soon after I started driving and didn’t wake up until we reached the hotel and I softly picked her up. The sun had started to set, casting long shadows as I ferried her to our hotel room in my backpack. Letting her out, I began to assess the room for danger spots. The curtains would need to be rolled up out of her reach and I'd have to keep my clothing away from where she could get at it, but otherwise the sparse room looked safe enough. There wasn't anything I could do about the carpet, but it had short thick fibers that seemed unlikely to combust easily. I made sure that the smoke alarm was working properly, and placed the room's fire extinguisher on the nightstand where it'd be ready at a moment's notice. After a moment of thought, I filled the tub too for quick access to water in case of an emergency.

With my preparations complete, I settled down to feed and change her. As she sat in my lap suckling on her bottle contentedly I sighed and said in a mock-serious tone; "Young lady, what am I going to do with you?" Her face was the picture of innocence as she looked up at me. I touched her nose with the tip of my finger and flopped backwards onto the bed, still holding the bottle in place for her. "I wonder what other surprises you have in store."

A dainty burp let me know that she was done eating. I got up and set her down on the dog bed on floor. With a frown, I realized I couldn't use the fluffy baby blanket I'd bought for her anymore. I'd need something to keep her warm at night, but what could I use that wouldn't catch fire readily if she burst into flames again? The solution came in the form of the jacket I had first picked her up with. It was dry now, and the heavy flame-resistant fabric should prevent any midnight conflagrations. 

The alien seemed content at first, until she realized I had put the laundry bin over the dog bed and was going to leave her alone for the night. I caught a glimpse of her giant eyes pleading with me through the holes of the bin before she started whining softly.

Hopefully she'd become accustomed to being left on her own at night soon. I put my bag on top of the bin to hold it down and got into bed. After a few minutes the quiet whining subsided. I was about to drift off to sleep when a vivid green light illuminated the room. I leaned up to see what was going on and saw a ring of green flames outline itself against the laundry bin. To my astonishment, the alien then walked through the bin and out onto the carpet. There was no hole to mark her escape. It was like she had somehow become temporarily incorporeal and passed through the solid barrier like it was made of air. The ring of green flame died out without leaving a single mark on the bin.

The alien gave a happy chirp and began to walk up the vertical surface of the bedside like a spider or fly before reaching the top and crawling over to snuggle up to sleep against me. I was stunned speechless. Flames, wall-crawling, and shapeshifting were one thing, but this was something else entirely. At least I now knew how she had managed to escape from a locked car on her own. 

Suddenly, the task of caring for her seemed like it was going to be much more complicated in the future.

> The importance of first impressions (Rewritten April 2015)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

To the outside world, Groom Lake was simply a salt flat used as a runway for the Nellis Bombing Range Test Site airport at Area 51. A secretive, but ultimately mundane location for testing new military aircraft designs. While that was true to an extent, the activities at Groom Lake extended far beyond the straightforward facade presented to the public. 

A series of cavernous underground facilities lay beneath the dry lakebed, home to several Unacknowledged Special Access Programs, or black projects as they were more commonly known as. Project Charlatan occupied one minor section of the underground complex, having only recently begun to claw its way to credibility with the agency sponsoring it. Robert stood with his hands behind his back, observing a tasteful arrangement of petunias growing in a ceramic bowl.

It lay behind a thick pane of glass, on a simple pedestal in a cleanroom environment. Two fully suited lab techs ran tests on it while three others did the same for the corpse that had been retrieved last night, seated on a nearby table in the same room.

Taken from one of the Las Vegas impact sites, the flowers had almost been dismissed out of hand, but preliminary tests found that they were radiating the same kind of magical energy as the corpse, or the Kenfield array for that matter.

So far the magic radiating from the two was believed to be a short-lived aftereffect, a residue of their passage through the rift, but there were intriguing hints of a second magical field emanating from the flowers, subtle and difficult to detect. 

In contrast, the rift’s magical residue was relatively easy to detect and trace. It was practically a beacon shining in the night for anyone with the proper equipment. Twelve teams had been assembled to track down as many sources of the rift's magic as possible, each armed with a single hastily cobbled together detector.

It would take a little under a week to acquire the parts needed to build another batch of detectors, but by then they'd be useless. At its current rate of decay, the magical residue would fade completely in as little as three days time. Each hour that passed would make it harder and harder to detect them from a distance. Robert knew that they had just one chance to get it right before this golden opportunity slipped from their grasp.

Ideally, first contact would be made peacefully and the scattered visitors would be gathered and kept out of the public’s eye until society was ready to accept their existence. Ideally. The lines around Robert’s eyes deepened. If they turned out to be hostile, then he'd do anything it took to protect the civilian population. The Kenfield array had been activated under his direction. Whatever happened as a result of that test would be his responsibility.

A crisp tone from a device in his pocket signaled an incoming call. With a sigh, Robert removed a flowing metal disc, the size of a matchbook. Embedded in the center was a polished red crystal, with three smaller crystals positioned beneath it. Though he couldn't see it, he knew that one of the crystals was insistently blinking in ultraviolet. One of these days we'll have to get around to adapting that bit for human vision. he thought to himself.

"Accept call," he stated, watching impassively as a volumetric display blossomed into being in front of him. Lines of solid light wove through the air, painting detailed data about the caller. At the center of the web lay a full-color video feed showing a man in black SWAT gear.

"Sir, Lambda team reporting in. We've located one of the signatures." Though the device was still in his hand, Robert could hear the soldier's voice coming from the same location as the floating screen. Glancing at the positional marker on a map hovering to his left, Robert could see that the call was coming from a spot in the desert about forty kilometers northwest of the Las Vegas city limits.

"Excellent." He replied. "Was there any difficulty in making contact with it?"

The man looked uncomfortable. "Actually I think you'll want to see this for yourself." The view rotated and Robert's eyebrow rose at the sight. There, standing upright in the middle of a familiar rainwater-filled crater was a blue door, slightly ajar in its frame. "This isn't one of the impact sites we were already aware of. It's a safe bet that there are more of these out there than we were expecting."

"All the more reason to move quickly while we can still find them." Robert said. "Secure the door and move on to the next target. Remember your orders. Follow the first contact protocols and don't shoot unless you have no other choice. Good luck and Godspeed."

The floating displays vanished into nothingness as Robert deactivated the device. It really wasn't unexpected for there to be more impact sites than the sixteen reported by the public and the four additional ones the government knew of so far, but he had to admit that the door was an unexpected development. Had random objects been summoned through the rift as well, or was something else going on? Did it have something to do with the reason that they had materialized way out in the desert rather than within the boundaries of the Kenfield array as had been expected?

Robert shook his head. Too many questions. All he could do right now was settle down and wait until another team reported in. Turning back to face the bowl of petunias behind the glass, Robert clasped his hands behind his back.





I was tired. Rearranging my sleeping habits for a daytime event and taking a cross-country roadtrip were draining enough, and with the events of the past two days added to the mix it was a recipe for exhaustion. 

I had only been able to get a few hours of sleep before my body insisted that I should actually be awake, fatigue notwithstanding. I was glad to see that nothing had caught fire while I'd been asleep and decided to use the time while I was up to get an early start- very early by most people's standards. 

It was still very dark out when we started driving. Business as usual for me. It'd probably take a couple days to properly readjust back to a nocturnal lifestyle once I got back home.

After driving for several hours I stopped to get another hotel room because I was too tired to stay awake at the wheel. Taking the same fire precautions as I had with the previous hotel room, I fell asleep. When I woke up again it was around four pm, which is about when I normally get up. Staring up from the bed I could see the alien curiously examining her new surroundings as she surveyed the room from her vantage point on the ceiling above me. She gave a happy chirp when she saw me moving and jumped down to land on my chest. 

The impact almost knocked the breath out of me for a moment. As soon as I recovered I quickly checked to make sure she hadn't hurt herself. If the prancing and tiny laughter were any indication, she was just fine. I groaned and closed my eyes. "I hope that's not going to become a habit with you." I said.

A tiny nose pressed itself against my side in reply. With a sigh I got out of bed and started getting ready for the rest of the drive home. After feeding and changing the alien I packed my stuff and headed out into the crisp afternoon air with the alien hidden in my backpack. The weather was getting noticeably colder as I traveled away from California and back to Nebraska.

For the first hour or so the alien kept trying to get my attention and play with her, but unlike the empty desert road from before, the busy freeway I was currently traveling required me to pay much closer attention to what I was doing. 

Eventually she gave up and curled up on the passenger seat, bursting into flame and becoming a terrier again before laying her head down on her paws and yawning. 

The sun gradually descended, marking the close of another day. I drove on through the night, stopping only once or twice to make pit stops and grab some food. The alien was back in her normal form and staring out the window at the piles of dirty white snow melting along the road, visible in my headlights. The myriad red and white lights from the other cars moving in the darkness also seemed to capture her interest. Far in the distance I could see the glow of the city beckoning me home, and the first rays of sunrise peeking out from beyond it.

Before long I was pulling into the driveway of my modest home. I could see Nicole's car parked there already, and smiled when I saw her dozing at the wheel. The alien was asleep too at the moment. A quick glance at my dashboard told me it was 7:18 am, just an hour or two before I usually went to bed.

I got out and tapped on Nicole's window. She gave a start and looked around before unlocking the door and getting out. "So, ready to tell me what's going on now Shaun?" She said.

"Sure, as soon as I get inside and lie down for a bit." I said, going back to my car to retrieve the sleeping alien. I held her inside my jacket as I walked to the front steps of my house. "I'm pretty wiped out from the trip and all."

"I'm not. But then, I got here before you and had a full night's sleep." Nicole said. "Also, I'm dying to know what the story behind all this is."

I smiled at her. "Really? I couldn't tell. The fact that you're here waiting outside my house didn't clue me in at all." I unlocked the front door and went in.

The inside was fairly minimalist. I didn't own a lot of furniture or decorations, and preferred a clean, open aesthetic. Also, I didn't have much extra money to buy anything to spruce the place up. In light of the alien's incendiary properties, that was probably for the best.

One exception was the large bookcase along the wall. It contained row after row of books, dog-eared classics I'd read as a kid, new textbooks for the courses I was studying, books I'd gotten from library sales or thrift stores, a set of encyclopedias, and much more.

There was a tv and VCR propped up on a coffee table, but I didn't watch movies that often. 

I sat down on the couch and leaned back, closing my eyes. "Okay, so what do you want to know first?"

"How about some more details on how you found this thing. The other day I believe you mentioned something about Area 51?"

"Yeah, I was driving along U.S. Route 95 not too far from where Area 51 is, and there was this really weird green lightning that hit the road in front of me. When I pulled up to where it had hit, there was a crater with this egg inside it. The thing splits open as I come near it and next thing you know, a baby alien pops out." I told Nicole the story of how I saved it from drowning and gained its trust. She listened intently as I told her the details of its first feeding session and how I had to help remove the rest of its shell.

When I told her about what I'd heard on the news about the other lightning strikes Nicole interrupted me. "Wait, so are you telling me there are more of these things running around loose out there?"

"It seems like it. One guy saw something he thought was a large dog running away from one of the craters, but I think it might have been an adult of whatever alien species they belong to." I said.

"Shaun, we should really tell someone about this." Nicole said. "This is really too big to handle on your own. What if they try attacking, or you mess up with taking care of this one and accidentally kill it because you don't know what you're doing?"

"I've already thought about that. I don't think the others are here as an attack force or anything- it simply doesn't make any sense to take helpless infants along on operations like that. If she starts getting sick and I can't do anything to help her, then I'll take her to the authorities and try to get her the help she needs. But unless that happens, I'm not going to reveal their existence on my own." I said. "If the rest of their kind step forward, then by all means I'll do the same. But if not, then they probably have a good reason for it and I won't throw them to the sharks without any proof of wrongdoing on their part. If it turns out that they didn't reveal themselves because of some government coverup for example, then it'd be better for all of us if we just keep quiet."

Nicole sighed. "I think you're taking an awfully large risk here Shaun, but if I can't convince you otherwise then I'll go along with it. But only if you mean what you said about getting her professional care if her health starts going downhill." She gave me a stern look. "I won't stand by and let one of the first representatives of a new intelligent species die because you were too busy wearing a tinfoil hat and looking over your shoulder for black helicopters."

"Don't worry, I won't let that happen." I said.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Nicole asked; "Have you thought about what you're going to call her yet?"

I looked over to where the alien was pouncing an invisible foe on the carpet. "Not yet. I'm open for suggestions though. Maybe something like Chitter or Ripley.”

Nicole looked thoughtful. "How about Kerrigan?"

"Any particular reason?" I asked.

"There's this guy I know that works at Blizzard Entertainment, met him while doing some cost estimation work for them a little while back. He was telling me about a new game they're working on, and that was the name of one of the characters. She's supposed to be a former human that becomes some sort of alien bug queen. The little alien there reminds me a bit of some of the artwork I saw of Kerrigan and her swarm. A lot cuter perhaps, but definitely a resemblance to something I might expect to see there."

"Kerrigan... Kerri... I like it." I got up and picked up the alien. "Kerrigan. I think that's what I'll call you." A playful growl and an attempt to gnaw on my hand was my only reply. Turning to face Nicole I said "It's not long before you need to leave for work and I need to go to bed. Mind telling me anything else you know about that game they're working on in the meantime?"





Nerium was still reeling from the revelations he had come across in the home he had infiltrated earlier. Not so much from the woman herself- she had been singularly unhelpful in answering most of the questions he had posed to her- but from the 1992 Almanac she had suggested he look at for further information. 

As of the time of the book’s printing, almost five and a half billion humans dwelt on this planet. Over two hundred and fifty million humans lived in this nation alone. He found that his mouth had gone somewhat dry. Equestria’s pony population was only barely above the three million mark, and even if you included the non-Equestrian ponies and the various other sentient races that inhabited their world it would only come up to about a hundred million individuals. 

Even with the full might of the swarm at its peak they would have no chance of fighting them on equal terms, magical advantages or no magical advantages. The humans had fought world-spanning wars against their own kind that had left sixty million dead. How much more fiercely would they fight against an army of changelings?

Nerium didn’t know how many others had made it to the other side of the unstable rift, but he was willing to bet it was less than a fraction of their already depleted forces.

The changeling disguised as a man sighed. At least one advantage of having a small force among a massive populace would be greater ease in slipping among them and vanishing from sight. Stealth, the old fallback of their empire would be the tactic of choice.

The real difficulty would lie in actually finding the others. Unlike the attack on Canterlot when the swarm had been similarly scattered, here there were no familiar landmarks to guide them, no pre-determined fallback points or known safe havens to congregate at. 

True, the rest probably hadn't been scattered too widely, and the senses of an attentive changeling could pick out one of their disguised kin in a crowd, but with the sheer size and scope of the city it could be several months before he stumbled across another of his kind by chance. Years even.

Nerium ground his teeth in frustration. This was the sort of undertaking Harvesters were needed for, not Warriors like himself. His chosen skillset wouldn't be of any use in finding the others, nor would it be of much help in sustaining himself while he searched.

At least the Warrior caste had experience in moving undetected amongst an unsuspecting populace. He shuddered to think of how a Shaper or Keeper would react to being thrust outside of the hive and left to fend for themselves alone, particularly in such an unfamiliar and chaotic environment.

Machines positively littered the roads here. Internal combustion engines were far from unheard of in Equestria, but they were considered little more than a novelty. Earth ponies were both stronger and faster than any engine that had been devised to date, and provided the bulk of Equestria's shipping and transportation needs. Watching the busy street, it was obvious that humans had taken a different path, one of innovation and steel.

Nerium smiled thinly despite himself. Intelligence and ingenuity were traits he respected, no matter where they were found. In an ally they were valuable commodities, while in an adversary they were obstacles not to be taken lightly. All this, without magic... A thought occurred to him. The people of this world had no prior knowledge of their kind, no legends to hint at dark designs or predatory intent. How much might the swarm gain by working with them openly? This was a clean slate, a chance to escape the snares and pitfalls of the past. 

To live like the shortsighted desolo, but without even the pretense of disguising themselves as the locals as they did... Even ignoring the other fundamental problems it brought, in Equestria it was a dangerous and hopelessly naive course of action that was doomed to failure at the slightest misstep. But with some modifications, perhaps the desolo's lifestyle could be made to work here. Nerium made a mental note to avoid doing anything that would jeopardize future relations with the humans. Or at least, to avoid doing anything further to jeopardize the possibility of friendly relations between their two races. No need for them to learn about his earlier intelligence-gathering methods.

A new thought made his heart quicken. If friendly relations were established with the humans early on, then it raised the possibility of using their media services to send a public message to the scattered members of the swarm, telling them where to go, what to do in order to meet each other again and start a new life, rather than wandering aimlessly on their own for however long it would take to find each other the hard way.

For the first time in ages Nerium dared to feel a shred of hope for the fate of his people. Not since he had first joined the fledgeling queen Chrysalis with her seductive plans to bring the swarm to power and revitalize their dying race had he felt this way. Moments afterward, the taste of bile rose in his throat as the memory reminded him of how hopes could turn to ash and nightmares in an instant. Not this time. he promised himself. 

This time he would plan and prepare for all eventualities, observing and researching the situation before blindly committing himself to a single course of action. This time he would not fail the swarm, would not fail the ones counting on him most.

Lingering too long in indecision would be just as counterproductive as rushing in unprepared, but a day or two spent in observation and planning hopefully wouldn't be long enough for the other members of the swarm to get into any serious trouble alone.

With that in mind, Nerium turned an appraising eye to the buildings around him, trying to determine which, if any, would be suitable as a temporary shelter and base of operations while he searched for answers. 

Eventually a church caught his attention after wandering into a residential area. The religious practices of these humans had little interest to him, but judging by the ‘empty’ feel of the building this was not one of their days of worship. 

Perfect. Nerium wandered to the rear of the building and glanced around to ensure that he was alone and unwatched. A ring of green flames outlined itself against the wall and a shimmering emerald sphere enveloped him as he stepped through the solid barrier and into the unlit interior of the church. 

Quiet footfalls whispered down the deserted hallway as he walked by. Sunlight streamed through cracks in the window shutters. Near the end of the hall he could see a painting hanging on the wall. Half-shrouded in shadows, he could make out a human pinned by his ankles and hands to a wooden frame, bleeding out while a crowd of mournful onlookers surrounded him. 

Intriguing he had to admit. Was it a depiction of some sort of ritual sacrifice? The death of a martyr? An enemy or troublemaker suffering the judgement of the gods? 

Nerium wondered if the answer would provide some insight into the psychology of the humans, but set it aside for the time being as he explored the building further.

The large decorated room where he assumed their main worship ceremonies took place was far too open for his tastes, providing little in the way of quick escapes or concealment in case the humans decided to come at the same time he was there. The numerous smaller side rooms on the other hand were perfect for his purposes.

Nerium began settling in for the evening, reverting to his natural form and pulling a pair of chairs together to act as a makeshift bed. The stolen almanac continued to provide him with insights into the human world as the hours passed in silence. 

Tomorrow he would have to find directions to the nearest library and find a more comprehensive source on world history, as well as look up popular interpretations of what the humans imagined first contact scenarios would be like so that he would have a better idea of what he was walking into.

A twitch of his ears was the first sign that something was wrong, a barely perceptible sound of distant doors opening that was more felt than heard. Shortly afterward he could sense the emotional signatures of several living things entering his presence and making a beeline for his location.

Caution and apprehension blended with anticipation were the dominant feelings he sensed. Unless he was very much mistaken, these humans weren't here for the purposes of worship. 

Neither wanting to encounter them nor find out what they were up to, Nerium got off the chairs he was resting on and assumed his human disguise once more before phasing through the wall to the outside. The sun hadn't begun to set just yet, but the sky was already starting to take on a richer hue. 

Taking another look around to verify that there had been no one present to observe his means of egress, Nerium began walking down the street nonchalantly. He hadn't even made it a block away before the group of emotional signatures intruded on the periphery of his senses, headed straight for him once again. 

An ugly cloud of suspicion began to prick at Nerium. He quickened his pace and changed direction, stopping only briefly by a sparse clump of bushes to crouch down and surreptitiously change disguises.

Suspicion turned to cold certainty as the flavor of the emotional signatures shifted subtly, becoming stronger, more eager, like hunters that had finally found their quarry. Despite not even being within view yet, they once more altered their course to match Nerium's own change in direction.

Deciding to figure out how and why they were tracking him later, Nerium turned his attention toward looking for an avenue of escape. A long bare strip sandwiched between the rows of houses caught his attention, wooden fences blocking the view to either side and offering a measure of privacy, a chainlink fence on either end facing the road to keep people out. 

Vaulting over the chainlink fence easily, Nerium broke into a run down the long stretch of dry gravel, dotted by a chain of utility poles. Passing by one wooden pole after the other, Nerium turned his head momentarily to finally see who was pursuing him.

Eight humans with identical sets of helmets and protective black uniforms with the word 'police' emblazoned over the chest, all carrying visible weaponry except for the one in the lead, who carried a clear shield and a boxy contraption of some kind.

Nerium's mind worked feverishly to find a way out of his predicament without revealing himself. Killing them all would certainly solve the immediate problem of being chased, but it would draw far too much attention and crush any chances of peaceful interaction later. It would also be a drain on his dwindling magical reserves that he couldn't afford right now, not without a support network of dedicated Harvesters to help replenish those reserves.

His thoughts kept coming back to the question of why the humans were chasing him. No matter what angle he came at it from, it didn't make any sense. How were they tracking him? How did they even know he existed in the first place? Did they know about his true nature, or were they after him for some other reason?

The fact that he hadn't been shot at yet was encouraging, as was the lack of killer intent in the emotions of his pursuers. Nerium found himself slowing down and coming to a stop with a growl of frustration. It was clear that he wouldn't be able to outrun his pursuers, and he couldn't make use of his magic to escape without revealing himself either. Until he knew for sure that they knew his secret, there was nothing he could do.

Raising his hands into the air slowly and turning around, Nerium decided it was time to try something new. The men behind him came to a stop as well and fanned out in a semicircle, their weapons readied but not pointed at him just yet. 

Both groups stared at each other for several tense moments before Nerium finally broke the silence. "Is there some reason you're here chasing me?" He said, injecting a trace of subtle accusation and innocent confusion to his voice.

The man with the shield glanced down at the boxy contraption he held, as though confirming something. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to come with us. You're not in trouble, we just want to ask you a few questions. Have you come across any unusual craters in the last 72 hours?"

Even without the insight offered by his emotional senses, it was obvious to Nerium that there was much being left unspoken, including the question of whether he himself was connected to the appearance of said craters.

The automatic lie was about to leave his lips, but then Nerium stopped to consider. The humans already suspected him. Magical or otherwise, there must have been something that had led them from the crater he had woken up in to his present location. A clumsy lie now would only serve to deepen whatever suspicions they might be harboring about him. His earlier train of thought regarding the establishment of positive relations with the humans came back to him with full force.

If he was to present his race in a positive light, he couldn't afford to have his first impression be one of obvious deception. 

"Yes." Nerium answered, taking a leap of faith. His voice was level and calm, but internally he was more nervous and uncertain than he had ever been in his life. With practically no chance to study up on human culture he would have to play this by ear and rely on nothing but his own instincts. "Not only have I come across an unusual crater in the last few days, but I know what caused it, and suspect that you might have an idea as well." As an afterthought he added "I come in peace."

After a moments hesitation, the man with the boxy device set it down and stepped forward, offering a hand in greeting. "Jeremiah Adkins. Although this isn't quite how I pictured it, I think it's safe to say welcome to earth."

"A pleasure." Nerium replied, then took a breath and dispelled his disguise. Ignoring the way the tension ratcheted up several notches at his unexpected self-immolation, Nerium buzzed up to chest height and extended his own hoof in return. "I am Nerium Thevetia, one of six exemplars serving her highness Queen Chrysalis of the United Hives. I would be grateful if you could help me locate the rest of my kind."


> My Little Kerri (April Fools Day chapter)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several years later...

Shaun, Kerrigan and Nicole were sitting at the table for game night, trying to decide what they would play. The time-honored choosing method of Rock Paper Scissors quickly left Kerrigan out in the cold as her hooves could only form rock, and her bout of psionic training earlier in the day had left her too exhausted to feel up to the task of shapeshifting into something with hands.

This suited Shaun and Nicole just fine, since Kerri always seemed to win whenever she got the chance to play Risk.

Kerri watched in mild fascination as the two adults matched each other's moves in an unprecedented streak of ties. Rock vs rock, paper vs paper, and so on. This was almost more entertaining than whatever game they ended up playing would be, particularly since she had the opportunity to sense their mounting feelings of incredulity firsthand.

"Ha! Scissors beats paper!" Nicole eventually called out in triumph. Just as she was about to declare what her choice would be, there was a knock at the door. Kerrigan sighed and started heading upstairs where she could stay out of sight while Shaun got up and answered the door.

Standing there were two strangers, both in immaculate black suits and sunglasses. "Mr. Carver. It's taken us quite some time to track you down." The one to the left said, flashing an identification for Shaun to see.

"We have reason to believe that you're harboring an extradimensional entity. Cooperation is in both of your interests right now." The one to the right said.

Kerrigan froze by the stairwell as she listened to what was being said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Shaun bluffed. "If you don't have anything better to do than to pull pranks I suggest you find a more productive way to occupy your time." His voice was confident, but Kerri could sense the unease and panic below the surface.

"Mr. Carver, there's no point in denying it." The man to the left said. "We've been monitoring your house for the last week and the... unique surveillance methods available to us have confirmed that she's here."

Seeing that Shaun wasn't becoming more cooperative, the man on the right sighed and burst into emerald flame. "Look, you don't need to be so afraid. We're not your enemies." Where the man had been just seconds ago stood an eerily familiar black form.

Shaun turned to look at Kerri as she came out of hiding, but she was just as shocked as he was. Bursting out of hiding into direct view of the doorway, Kerrigan skidded to a stop in front of the visitors. "Another alien like me!" she exclaimed in excitement. "Huh, you're a little shorter than I expected." She added.

The changeling snorted. "And you're a little younger than I was expecting. What, did you come here as a hatchling or something? And what's up with calling us aliens? We're Changelings for Chrysalis' sake."

A third voice from above the doorway called out. "Hey Gimmick, we should probably go inside if you want to get chatty."

The first changeling chuckled. "Right you are. Shaun, do you mind if we all come inside and discuss things where there aren't so many prying eyes?"

Shaun exchanged a glance with Kerrigan and Nicole. "Uh, sure. How many of you are there?"

"Just five of us." The changeling said as his companions buzzed down beside him. "Okay, technically six, but Andrew here is just as human as he looks."

A few minutes later, the five changelings and one agent were all seated inside the house. "So let me get this straight." Shaun said. "15 years ago there was an accident with a weather spell that sent Kerrigan here and de-aged her to an egg, and now you're here to take her back to your homeland to live among her own kind?"

"That's right." Nerium said. "We're also going to erase her memories and re-write them with her old memories and personality, then we're going to wipe away any trace that she once lived here. You won't remember a thing."

Nicole looked like she was about to say something furious, but Shaun spoke first. "No wait, please." He started. Nicole took his hand supportively. "Just, give me a moment with her please. All I ask, since...since this is the last time we'll see each other." Nicole looked at Shaun in shock.

Nerium looked at the human and nodded reluctantly.

"Kerri, my little Kerri. I love you with all my heart. You have done wonders to open me up from the man I once was. You..." Shaun had to pause a moment, to settle down, "... you have brought me so much joy in my life that I can't possibly ever thank you for."

At this point, Kerri too had begun to cry. That only made it worse for Shaun.

"These fifteen years we have had together, talking, playing, flying; all those have been so special to me. I just want you to know, that I will forever love you. It doesn't matter if we aren't biologically related, or of different worlds. I don't care what you may ever think of me, or if you ever even remember me, but right now, you being my Kerri, I want you," Shaun poked her on the chest, to physically show he was talking to her, "to know that fact. If there is ever a problem that happens, and you need me, don't hesitate to find a way to get me, okay?"

Nicole sat with her mouth open as she observed the proceedings, too dumbfounded for words.

"D-d-do I have t-t-to go d-d-daddy?" Kerrigan said.

Shaun simply nodded his head, as he stood up. Before he could fully gain his balance, Kerrigan jumped up onto him and hugged him tight. He could feel her tears on the back of his neck, and he returned the embrace.

"It's your actual home, Kerri. You don't belong here. You need to go back to where you belong."

"I belong here, with you!"

"No, you don't. You are limited here, only able to fly around the house. You have no friends, or other aliens, changelings, to relate to. I was only taking care of you until this time would come, but I never thought it would be this painful."

Nicole tried speaking up. "Uh Shaun, in case you haven't noticed, she does have friends. They were over just last Wednesday? She's not really into flying either." The others ignored her.

"I love you daddy..."

"And I love you too, my little Kerri."

They separated, as she lowered herself to the ground.

At this point all the other changelings had tears flowing, even the stone cold changeling commander himself.

"I'm so sorry Kerrigan." Gimmick started. "I...I honestly wish there was another way to do this. I wish I didn't have to do this. But..."

Nicole stood, unable to take any more of the weirdness going on around her. "Has everyone lost their minds?" She muttered to herself. Unable to get any of the others to even acknowledge her presence, she began pacing around the room agitatedly. In a distant part of her awareness, she could hear the changeling commander droning on about love, and about how well Shaun had raised Kerri.

It was surreal. All the changelings began thanking Shaun at once, and then one of them pressed its horn against Kerri's head while another did the same to Shaun. Once more, her presence was completely ignored.

There was a bright light, and when Nicole could see again all of the visitors were gone, including Kerrigan. All she could see was Shaun sitting in a corner and crying while looking at a photograph they had taken with Kerrigan a few years back.

"Okay, I'm ready to wake up now!" Nicole called to the heavens, then sighed and walked out the door to see if anyone else had gone insane.

Shaun sat by himself for several minutes, so absorbed in clutching the tear-streaked photograph that he didn't notice the gigantic black hoof reaching down toward him from the ceiling...





It was a beautiful day in Ponyville. A Draconequus sat facing a group of giggling foals and hatchlings, a dollhouse resembling Kerrigan's old home lying on the grass between them. Kerrigan examined the figurine of her father closely, turning it around in her hooves before putting it back in its place.

"Funny, I don't quite remember it like that." She noted in amusement. "The dolls are pretty nice though."

"Oh Kerrigan, it's just no fun sticking to the facts!" Discord beamed at her. "Besides, it's rude to interrupt. I was just about to show them the grand finale, chocolate fireworks and everything!"

Kerrigan giggled and stuck her tongue out at the Draconequus. "Your interpretation sucks. Mine is a lot better. It's more plausible too, even with flaming wasp incident."

Discord smiled widely. "What? It could have turned out my way. Plenty of worlds in the multiverse you know."

"Riiiiiight..." Kerrigan laughed, rearranging the dolls with her magic. "Okay kids, just to set the record straight, here's what actually happened on my 15th birthday..."



> Settling in, part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Omaha Nebraska: Sunday January 22, 1995.

For the fifth time since I had started on my breakfast, my hand dashed out to prevent the milk carton from being tipped over. An entirely too mischievous chirp was the only response as a pair of almost disconcertingly large blue eyes peeked out over the rim of the carton then dashed back down again.

I firmly moved the carton of milk to the other side of the table, eliciting a squeak as I revealed her hiding spot. Her chitinous legs scrabbled against the hard surface of the table as she ducked behind a box of cereal, nearly tripping as she went.

The seconds passed in silence, and then the cereal box began to tip forward ever so slowly, accompanied by a giggle. I stuck one finger out to keep it in place as I ate, smiling at the frustrated noise that followed and the sudden increase in resistance as she tried putting all of her miniscule weight into trying to topple it. 

The pressure eased and I thought she had temporarily given up, until a green aura unexpectedly enveloped the box. I withdrew my finger in shock as the box began to shake, then ducked in order to avoid it as it flew past my head and smashed into the wall behind me. It hung suspended against the wall until the green aura vanished a few moments later, then fell to the floor in a flattened heap.

When I turned back to look at Kerrigan her face was scrunched up in an expression of childish indignation, cheeks puffed out and eyes narrowed as she glared sullenly. With a swish of her tail and a flip of her head she turned her back on me and began to daintily walk away.

"Telekinesis?" I wondered aloud. Kerrigan paused and half-tilted her head back in my direction with a curt chirp, as though asking if I was apologizing for ruining her fun. "Oh come on, don't be that way." I said as I reached across the table to stroke her head. Her carapace was harder now than when she had first hatched, but still retained much of the softness and pliancy in its outer layers. "So you're a psychic shapeshifting alien then. I guess being able to move things with your mind would come in handy when you don't have hands or anything."

Kerrigan's head twisted as she pushed herself into my fingers, with her front half following suite. Her rear quarters valiantly struggled to keep her upright, then gave up as she flopped on her side with a pleased sound. As I scratched the back of her neck I felt a curious rough area across her otherwise smooth chitin, running in a line from the nape of her neck to her shoulders, with hard little bumps interspersed underneath the surface. 

While I stroked her head with one hand, I went back to eating my cereal with the other before it got soggy. Kerrigan looked up from where she lay and gave an exasperated snort when she noticed I wasn't giving her my full and undivided attention. 

Still on her side, she grasped her forelegs around my wrist and began pulling herself toward me. Shimmying and wriggling like a beached fish, she inched forward until she poked her nose against my bowl and made a chirping noise.

I couldn’t help but laugh at her antics, shaking my head slowly. When I finished eating my breakfast I scooped Kerrigan up and took her to the kitchen for her own feeding session. As I whisked the ingredients to her formula in the blender, I idly wondered how long the mixture would keep for, and if I could make up a large batch for future use rather than having to mix and measure everything each time. Maybe I could freeze it.

By now I was getting the hang of feeding her, slowly settling into a routine. Every few hours she'd loudly remind me of her needs, even when I was fast asleep. I had a funny feeling that for the next few months my sleep schedule would be even more messed up than normal.

After her feeding I changed her again and let her play with her toys on the floor while I threw away the ravaged nipple from her formula bottle. Walking over to the television, I shifted my attention to the 5:00 evening news, eyes peeled for any mention of aliens revealing themselves in Nevada. It was a faint chance, but one I'd have to keep an eye on for the foreseeable future. When the program ended, predictably with no mention of extraterrestrials, I turned to my laptop to surf the local news in the cities and towns closest to Area 51, looking for any kind of clue as to the activities of Kerrigan's traveling companions.

Somewhat surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of follow-up reporting on the green lightning storm and craters, nor was there anything in the local news that I could credibly pin on alien activities. No reports of strange black dog-like creatures, no large-scale manhunts from the authorities, no green fires or mysterious goings-on, nothing.

Just in case, I checked the local obituaries and missing persons reports for anything suspicious, but had a similar lack of progress there as well. Probably just as well. I thought with a sigh.

I started to stand up, but looked down and realized that sometime during my lengthy search Kerrigan had curled up on top of my feet and fallen asleep. I smiled and stooped down to scoop her up. She stirred as I touched her, but stayed fast asleep as I deposited her on the couch.

There was still a while before I needed to leave for work, so I turned on the tv, putting on a movie and going back to the couch to sit down next to her. 

Not even halfway through the movie, Kerrigan lifted her head and trilled expectantly, ears flicking as she looked toward the window. A moment later I heard the sound of a car pulling up to the driveway.

Peering past the glare of the headlights in the darkening gloom, I could see that it was Nicole's car. That in itself wasn't entirely unexpected. The mattress lashed to the top of the car was however.  

I went to unlock the door and let her in. Knowing Nicole, she was probably going to try and use the baby alien as an excuse to clutter up my place a bit. A longstanding debate between us centered around whether my lack of stuff was a valid minimalist decor choice, or whether my place looked creepy and empty because there was nothing at all visible except for in the sparsely-furnished kitchen and living room.

Truth be told, I probably would need to shift gears now that I was taking care of a child, but that didn't mean I had to change my lifestyle all at once, did it? Oh who was I kidding. With a look of pained resignation on my face, I went out to greet Nicole. 

Her usual smile widened into a Cheshire Cat grin when she saw my expression. "I think you can guess why I'm here Shaun. I was thinking about our discussion yesterday, and I realized that if left to your own devices you probably wouldn't ever get more than the bare essentials. I thought I'd do my part to help you raise Kerrigan properly and help you furnish a room for her."

My response was deadpan. "It's only been a day since we got back. How do you know I wasn't planning on doing that myself once we had the chance to get settled in a bit?"

"Because I've known you since we were both just kids." Nicole said with a smirk. "If it were left up to you, I know you'd do your best to treat her well, but you'd just end up turning her into some kind of monk that spurns worldly possessions. Either that or she'll end up as a packrat later on in life to compensate for her early years."

Somewhat defensively I responded "It's not like I'm planning on depriving her of anything. If you haven't noticed, I've already gotten some toys for her to play with."

"It's a nice start and I know you must think it's a bit lavish, but three squeaky toys, a stuffed animal and a rattle just aren't going to cut it. Neither is that dog basket you got for her. Speaking of which-" Nicole twisted her head around to glance at the mattress on top of her car. "-want to help me get this inside?"

"Fine." I responded "But I'll have you know that I was planning on getting her everything she needed to be happy. It's just not necessary to rush out and get everything she'll eventually require right off the bat. You really didn't need to go out of your way to do this for me."

"Hey, this is something groundbreaking you're doing here. I wanted to help out too, and this seemed like the most logical place to start. Besides, I thought it would be easiest to push for this at the beginning and help overcome your inertia. Strike while the iron's hot and all that."

I snorted. "Speaking of hot irons, you should keep in mind that Kerri's a bit of a fire hazard currently. One reason I wanted to delay furnishing a room for her is because I'm a little worried about her setting the place ablaze if there's a lot of flammable stuff within easy reach."

Nicole's step faltered for a moment, but she recovered quickly. "Oh, right. Well, that just means we'll need to alter our choices accordingly. Fire-resistant bed covers, no more stuffed animals until she's a little older, blinds instead of fabric curtains, that sort of thing."

Together we got the bed inside. Kerrigan was now fully awake and watching us with interest, perched on the armrest of the couch. The spare bedroom was just as bare as the rest of the house, but the small stack of cardboard boxes sitting forlornly in the center of the room somehow made it feel even more empty. We set the bed down and started clearing my storage boxes to another room.

I heard the creak of the door behind me and turned to see Kerri pushing it open with her nose. She gave a happy trill to see me and clambered up on top of one of the remaining boxes. I gently set her down on the floor again and picked up the box. This particular one was filled with mementos of days gone by, things that I didn't have any immediate use for but couldn't bring myself to get rid of. 

After we had cleared out the room and set up the bed we went back out to the car to collect the other things Nicole had brought. 

There were an excessive amount of child-friendly decorations and knick knacks to place on the walls and surfaces of the room, a night light and several packs of plastic wall socket protectors, a few more baby toys, a collar and leash to be used when Kerri was in disguise outside, some curtains and a few stuffed animals that needed to be left in the car, a cheap dresser and shelves that we needed to assemble, and a few other things as well.

Setting everything up took over an hour and a half. By the time we were done, the whole room looked completely different. I still thought it all seemed a little much, but Kerrigan seemed to like her new surroundings.

There was still a little time before I needed to start getting ready for the night shift at work, so Nicole and I started exchanging ideas and plans for the future. We agreed that it would be best to lay the groundwork for Kerrigan's childhood early on and try to account for as many eventualities as possible before they became a problem.

I mentioned her display of telekinesis earlier, which Nicole found interesting. It was clear at this point that there were probably a number of other unconventional surprises waiting for us as she developed.

As I started to prepare for work, Nicole brought up a point that I hadn't considered yet. "Hey Shaun, while you're off at work, what's your plan for Kerri? I mean, you can't really leave her at home by herself, particularly with the way she can phase through solid objects. If she went looking for you she could easily get lost or hurt."

I sighed as I ran my hand through my hair. "I hadn't actually thought of that. Argh, I can't take her to work with me very easily either, since she'll be spotted before long. I can't rely on her to stay in her dog form either, and I can't bring pets even if she did."

Nicole looked thoughtful. "Maybe I could take her to my house for the night, and bring her back in the morning once you get back."

"That could work for now I guess. I'd like to come up with something better later on though, since ferrying her back and forth between our houses every day would open up a lot of opportunities for someone to spot her in her real form."

"Okay, just for now then. I'll be careful to keep her out of sight." Nicole said.

I paused as I remembered something. "Be sure to remember to move flammable things away from where Kerrigan's going to be."

"Right. See you later then." 

Nicole took Kerrigan out to her car while I locked up the house. As I got in my own car and watched Nicole drive away into the night, I wondered just how long we'd be able to keep Kerrigan's existence a secret from the world.

> Settling in, part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

16 miles southeast of Indian Springs, Nevada: Sunday January 22nd, 1995

Nerium sat undisguised in the moving vehicle, his expression vacant as he watched the endless desert landscape pass by outside. Beside him sat several of the humans he had now been working with through the night and into the morning.

They had left the roads some time ago and were now driving deep into the trackless wastes in search of one of his comrades. In a way, the desolate surroundings reminded him of the Badlands back home. It wasn't the most pleasant recollection, and only served to increase his deepening sense of unease as they traveled farther and farther from civilization.

Four days alone in the desert with no shelter and nothing to drink was far from a death sentence for one of his kind, but it wasn't something they could shrug off without problems either. And if that changeling was injured to begin with...

Nerium could still recall his own first moments in this world, with the spell's backlash having transformed his limbs into live snakes. According to the humans, they had found one changeling burnt to a crisp inside its crater, and several inexplicably-placed objects in other craters. 

He strongly suspected that the objects were changelings that had been transfigured to the extent that they couldn't reverse the changes on their own, but he hadn't encountered any examples yet to confirm that suspicion, and there was still far too much searching left to be done before he could accompany the humans back to the place where the recovered objects were being kept.

Most of the changelings they had found so far had suffered either partial transfiguration, which was easily fixed, magical burns of varying severity, which were less easily treated, or in one case, an inability to speak in anything but Breezy so long as all four hooves were touching the ground. That last one was downright baffling, but fairly inconsequential and probably something the Healer caste could correct in time.

He could feel one of the humans- no, Adkins' emotions shift a few moments before he looked up from the tracking device and spoke. "We're getting close. Harris, slow down a little and keep an eye out."

"Roger that."

Stifling a yawn, Adkins turned to Nerium. "Ready to do your thing ambassador?"

"At this point I'm starting to think that I sound a bit like I'm reading from a script, but yes." Nerium admitted with a faint smile. It felt... unusual to say the least to interact with another race without a disguise, or to find that he actually meant it when he expressed himself in front of them.

There was still an element of wariness between them, but that was to be expected. For his part, Nerium found their emotional state of mind more compelling evidence of their goodwill than any amount of words or promises on their part. 

A convincing actor could mask the outer signs of betrayal under a pretense of friendship and trustworthiness, but they could do nothing to mask their inner emotional state- probably the reason why changelings tended to be brutally honest amongst themselves, despite the front they presented to the outside world. There was simply no point in trying to lie or obfuscate the truth when the one you were speaking with could read your intentions like a book.

The humans he was with had a great deal of curiosity blended with caution, even suspicion in more than a few cases, but no overt hostility or duplicitous thinking. In fact, many of them had slowly been having their suspicions eroded by a sense of guarded optimism as they spent more time working alongside Nerium to find his people.

Of course, there was the possibility that their far-distant commander had hidden ill intent toward the changelings and could order his reluctant men to imprison them or worse once they had all been gathered in one spot and accounted for, or that the human's friendly stance could sour as they learned more about them, but he'd cross that bridge once he came to it. 

For now, cooperating and finding his comrades was the only viable option he had, regardless of whether the humans turned out to be friendly or treacherous.

Nerium felt the van slow to a stop and he shifted in his seat to see what was in front of them. Harris motioned toward a small dark shape in the distance. "Over there. I don't see it moving, but I also don't see a crater nearby, which means it must have wandered over here under its own power before collapsing. Not the most encouraging sign, but at least we know it wasn't dead on arrival like some of our others."

"I'll go take a look." Nerium said, opening the sliding door. "When I give the signal, bring the van to us." And with that the changeling took off into the air. It was still chilly outside, the cold of the night having not yet been driven away by the inferno of the desert sun. Sparse shrubs and rock passed below Nerium in silence as he made his way toward the unmoving changeling. 

He landed a few paces away from the other changeling's unmoving form and approached warily. With a small start, Nerium realized he knew this particular changeling. She was one of the Warrior caste working under him, Lavender Daze if he recalled correctly. He could see her chitinous barrel rise and fall steadily and he let out a sigh of relief. She was alive.

Nerium shook her gently to rouse her. As her startled eyes snapped open he backed away a pace to give her room. "Settle down soldier, you're safe here. Are you hurt?"

"Thirsty." Lavender Daze rasped, then added, "Can't transform. Woke up in a crater a few days ago and found that my entire barrel decided it wanted to be a mouth, sapped most of my magic reserves trying to convince it otherwise." She shuddered, "Ribcages should not open up like toothy flower petals or try to bite your hooves off. Can't fly either- crushed my wings against a boulder by accident while trying to avoid getting eaten by myself. Been wandering on hoof since then trying to find any signs of water or civilization."

"Can you stand?" Nerium asked, "I came here with some locals from this world who can help us. You don't need to worry about a disguise, they already know what we both are. Try to conserve your magic for now."

Lavender raised an eyebrow at that as she lifted her head to try and see who he was talking about, and her eyes settled on the van in the distance. "Locals huh? I take it they're not changelings?" When Nerium nodded, she gave a tired sigh. "Risky if you ask me. Can't really bring myself to care at the moment so long as they have water though. Besides, I trust you."

The changeling staggered to her feet. Nerium moved alongside her and tried to help support her weight as she tried to stand unsteadily. A burst of green sparks flew from his horn into the air, signaling the van to approach. As it drew closer, Nerium spoke quietly. "Their knowledge of us is limited. Try to avoid divulging any information that would be seen in a negative light."

The van came to a stop in front of them and sat idling. One of the humans opened the door for the pair and offered to help Lavender up into the van. She hesitated as she craned her head to look up at the man's face, but agreed.

Once inside, she collapsed on one of the seats. "Water?" she asked hopefully.

"Here you go," one of the men said, handing over a bottle of water which he opened for her. "I've gotta say that I'm impressed that you managed to hold out for four days in the desert without any water or shelter."

Nerium barked a short, bitter laugh, "We're hardy creatures. We've had to be in order to survive."

"Can't say that I disagree there," the man replied, watching Lavender Daze greedily downing the contents of the bottle with a look of rapture on her face. "Careful, you should try to pace yourself rather than drink too much at once."

Lavender fixed the man with a flat stare.

"When treating dehydration in humans at least, it's not a good idea to just let them gorge themselves on too much water all at one time or they might get sick and vomit," he said.

"I know." Lavender sighed, "The same goes for changelings too. It's just a little hard to stop yourself when you're as parched as I am."

"At least we got to you before your condition got worse. My name's Mitchell Kinnison by the way."

"Lavender Daze. Thank you for your help Kinnison," she said, before stopping and giving him an odd look. "What?"

"Nothing," Kinnison said. "It's just that you seem to be taking this a lot better than some of the other changelings we've located so far. They tend to be a lot more agitated, even after Nerium has a talk with them."

Lavender chuckled weakly. "Oh believe me, I'd normally be more than a little freaked out right now. It's just that I'm too exhausted at the moment to care. Commander Nerium vouched for you, that's all I need to know for now. That and the fact that I'm not sensing any immediate ill-intent from you guys."

Harris spoke up as he started turning the van around. "We're going to be tracking another changeling now, so get settled in for the next hour or two. It doesn't look like you're in need of emergency medical care, so we don't need to head back to base right away."

"We still have a few search teams that haven't been paired up with a changeling partner yet," he said, "but since you're not in any condition to act as an ambassador between us and the other changelings that have no clue what's going on yet, we won't be needing to meet up with one of the other teams to transfer you."

Nerium explained, "We've been having a changeling go ahead of the search teams to give the others forewarning so they don't panic at being pursued by a mysterious group of humans and do anything... rash. Once they've been appraised of the situation and have had their questions answered, we've been pairing the changelings off with a different search group in order to try and find everyling that made it through the rift as quickly as possible."

Lavender Daze took another sip of water. "Okay. Speaking of answering questions, mind telling me why exactly these 'humans' are looking for us and why we're working alongside them?" she paused as she glanced around at her present company. "No offense or anything. We just tend to be cautious and secretive, especially when dealing with new things."

Adkins spoke up, "It's best if we started from the beginning. Four days ago we were supervising the first activation of the Kenfield Array. It's an experimental device that was meant to try and tap into the latent magical field of the planet and open a portal to another world. As far as we've been able to piece together, at around the same time that we were doing our test, Queen Chrysalis was creating her own unstable transdimensional portal."

"After talking to some of your spellcrafters, our current theory was that neither one would have actually worked on their own, but the activation of the Kenfield Array at that exact instant provided an 'anchor' that your portal spell was able to latch on to in order to complete its transfer." Adkins said, "The odds of your spell and our device latching onto each other at the same moment in time are astronomically low, but when you're dealing with an infinite multiverse..."

Nerium tuned out the conversation as he tried to get a small amount of sleep before they reached their next location. 'How many more of us are left?' he wondered to himself before drifting off.





Omaha Nebraska: Sunday January 23, 1995.

One of the downsides to being a night watchman is that you have entirely too much time to think by yourself. While boring at the best of times, tonight my shift seemed to stretch on for weeks on end as I worried about the potential problems that could arise back home.

What if Kerri set Nicole's place on fire during the night despite her precautions? What if Nicole's presence wasn't enough to satisfy her and she left the house anyways while Nicole was asleep? Had anyone seen Kerri on the way to Nicole's house?

I also found time to worry about the future, how I'd raise Kerrigan, what I'd do if she turned out to have a completely alien mentality from humanity, what would happen if she was similar to humans in her thoughts and needs, and ended up stunted socially because she wasn't able to interact with kids her own age, what challenges I might face as she grew up.

My footsteps were soft as I patrolled the darkened and empty high school. Worrying about things I couldn't control was pointless. In the end, all I could do was take things one step at a time, use my best judgement, and hope I was making the right decisions. Knowing that still didn't make my shift pass any faster however, and I found myself counting the minutes until 8:00 AM when I'd be able to check out and go home.

After I was done with work, the first thing I did was head directly to Nicole's house. My anxiety lessened when I saw that it was still all in one piece. I parked the car outside and knocked on the door.

After a few moments Nicole opened it and let me in. The first thing I noticed was the tired and slightly bloodshot look in her eyes, and the second was Kerri gleefully running up to my feet and trilling. "Rough night?" I asked tentatively as I reached down to pick Kerrigan up.

"You know your theory that her species might be ambush predators? I think she's definitely convinced me that that's the case." Nicole's expression was tired, but there was a certain wry amusement in her tone. "After I put everything away, she decided to take a nap. Just as I was starting to get settled in, I glanced over to where she was and noticed that she wasn't there anymore. I got up to look for her, but at that very moment she dropped down from the ceiling onto my head and scared me half to death."

Nicole smiled. "For the rest of the night she played that game with me. Stay in one spot until I was convinced she was asleep, then vanish and stalk me as soon as I took my eyes off of her. Sometimes she'd jump out from a hiding spot to bat at my ankles, other times she'd drop down from the ceiling on me. One time I managed to catch her in the act as she was sneaking up on me, and she fell all over herself trying to turn around and run to a new hiding spot."

"That sounds... eventful," I said. "What happened when you had to go to sleep?"

Nicole laughed. "Sleep is for the weak. Sleep makes you an easy target. It was only after she tired herself out and curled up next to me that I got any rest at all. And then of course I needed to wake up to feed her in the middle of the night. I'm telling you Shaun, I think I finally understand what new parents mean when they say that they miss being able to sleep all night." Her smile turned mischievous. "And now that you're here, you can be the one to change her diaper. I need to get ready for work now."

> Settling in, part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Area 51, Nevada: Monday January 23rd, 1995

Simona Ion rested her head back against the wall, listening to the regular tapping noises of hooves against cement as one of their more recent arrivals paced the barren room.

She couldn't blame the changeling. If she were in its place, she'd be more than a little anxious herself. Thrust into an unfamiliar environment and waiting anxiously to see if anyone they knew had made it to the new world alongside them, with no way to know what state their friends and family were in, or even if they were still alive, wondering what the intentions of their hosts were and if they were really as friendly as they appeared, or what the future would hold.

That didn't make the incessant tapping any less annoying, especially after three hours had passed. Simona shifted in her seat and groaned slightly as she lifted her head up from the wall. Might as well try to take its mind off of things. "So, what's your name?" she asked.

The changeling jumped a little as if startled, then hesitantly answered, "Prosody Perception, but most people just call me Proper for short."

Simona nodded thoughtfully, "Gimmick, Mirror Breaker, Winning Prize, Prosody Perception, from what I've heard so far I think it's safe to say that you guys have some very different naming conventions than we do. My name's Simona by the way."

"Does it mean anything?" Proper asked curiously.

Simona smiled, "I'm sure it does, but I don't think I've ever taken the time to look up its origins. How about you? What does prosody mean?"

"It has to do with the stress, intonation, rhythm, and tone of speech. Basically, I was named that because I'm really good at sounding like somepony else. I mean, any changeling can copy somepony's voice, but I'm good at picking up on the subtle cues that make it sound authentic, like it actually belongs to the original rather than sounding like there's something subtly wrong about it that you can't quite put your hoof on."

Simona arched an eyebrow at the unfamiliar term. "Somepony?"

"Sorry, 'someone.'" Proper said. "I don't know if you have them here or not, but where we come from, ponies are a race that bear something of a passing resemblance to us and that rule over the majority of Equestria. Until pretty recently, we've had to hide our existence from them, and after a while it starts becoming second nature to use their equinocentric speech patterns." Proper paused and gave a short laugh, "At least it becomes second nature for us Harvesters that have to interact with them on a regular basis while disguised that is."

Simona cast a questioning look in Proper's direction. "Okay, now I have another question. What are harvesters? And why have you guys needed to stay hidden from these ponies?"

The changeling looked awkwardly at one of the other changelings in the room, an older-looking female who sighed and got up from her spot on one of the chairs. "Our society is divided into seven distinct callings," she began, her voice buzzing slightly, "Warrior, Keeper, Shaper, Worker, Coordinator, Healer, Harvester. Every changeling must choose one of these paths to tread when they come of age."

The old changeling's face was neutral as she continued. "A Warrior's role is to protect the hive from threats, whether they be wild monsters, rival hives, or hostile races. They also help to keep the peace within the hive itself should altercations arise.

Keepers are our link to the past and the guardians of our future. They are charged with preserving the knowledge and wisdom of the hive and passing it down to future generations. Scholars, historians, mages, recordkeepers, teachers, caretakers of the young, all of these things fall under their domain. They are also entrusted with storing and safeguarding the magic of the hive during times of plenty, to be distributed during times of need.

Shapers are the artisans, crafters, and engineers of the hive. Creation is their domain. Unlike the Worker class, Shapers are a skilled labor force often specialized in a single area of expertise.

Workers are jacks of all trades and masters of none. They fulfill a catch-all role for any day to day needs not covered by the other callings and make up the bulk of our society. Like the Shapers they are often employed in tasks involving creation or mending, but in an assistive capacity requiring little specialized skill. Flexibility and adaptability are key traits for their class.

Coordinators ensure that the different roles work together optimally, and help oversee many aspects of hive life. They are the leaders and visionaries, ever focused on the larger picture while at the same time also remaining aware of the needs and problems of those they are assigned to and balancing their actions accordingly.

Healers are charged with maintaining the health and well-being of the hive. As might be expected from their title, they are responsible for treating wounds and tending to the sick, but their duties also extend to the mental well-being of the hive. 

Our empathic senses help knit the hive together and strengthen our sense of community, but they also leave us more vulnerable to negative feedback loops. When many changelings feel despair or depression at once, their ability to sense emotions becomes a curse, and their negative feelings can be magnified. Worse, they can potentially spread their malaise to unaffected changelings around them, creating a downward spiral of negativity that can tear entire hives apart from within if left unchecked.

Those in the Healer class provide counseling for troubled or distraught changelings, organize parties and other communal events to keep up morale, try to cheer up any unhappy changelings they come across, and generally spread positivity throughout the hive. They are one of the bright spots in our lives that we treasure.

Finally, Harvesters procure resources for the hive. Food, magic, building materials, knowledge of current events, anything the hive requires but cannot supply from within. Along with warriors, they are the only class that are ever expected to come into contact with the outside world. Some might be farmers tending fields, others might be miners or fishers. Regardless of their particular specialty, all Harvesters are expected to be adept at disguising themselves and blending into pony society unnoticed."

The older changeling paused for a moment, considering her words. "As to why disguise is necessary, the ponies have treated us with hatred and distrust since ancient times. In their eyes we are nothing but monsters to be driven out or contained. Our ancestors were the ones to earn this reputation, and to be fair it was an accurate one at the time. It is the way of civilization to begin in savagery and gradually progress toward enlightenment, and our race was no exception.

It took us longer than most races to settle down and learn how to be civilized, and by that time we were trapped by our reputation. We were forced into living in secret and doing unscrupulous things to survive, which only perpetuated the image of us as monsters skulking in the dark and fueled the same sentiments that drove us to resort to such measures in the first place. It was a vicious cycle, one that we hope to break now that we've been given a fresh start in a new world."

Simona looked thoughtful as she considered the answer she'd been given. She was sure that the old changeling had omitted more than a little unflattering information about her kind during her explanation and had deliberately tried to put a positive spin on things, but she didn't get the impression that the old changeling was lying to her. 

For one thing, the changelings hadn't been given enough time alone yet to coordinate any big lies about their background. If they had something to hide, then they'd probably either avoid the subject and stay silent on it, or twist the truth until it was palatable enough to reveal, but not to the extent that another changeling would contradict what they said if questioned separately.

If she were in their place, she supposed she would probably do the same. There were plenty of unpleasant things about humanity and its history that she wouldn't want to reveal right off the bat, especially if she was a refugee at the mercy of a complete unknown and trying to convince them to take her in.

Well, one way or another it wasn't her job to pry secrets from their visitors. All she needed to do was keep an eye on them here while the search teams looked for the others. She'd let the specialists worry about piecing together what their goals and motivations really were.

"If that's the case, then I wish you luck," Simona said. "It can be hard adapting to a new way of living, but at least here you can have the chance to be judged on your own actions." It was both encouragement and subtle warning, and she was sure both changelings had gotten her subtext. The older changeling nodded and turned away to sit back down where she had been before.

Simona brushed her blonde hair away from her face with one hand as she looked back at Proper. "So, you guys are divided into a bunch of different roles huh? That sounds a little restrictive."

"Not really," Proper said, "It's a lot more flexible than the ponies' way of determining how they'll live their entire life based on what cutie mark they get, and each of us gets to choose for ourselves what we think will best benefit the hive." 

Simona's face lapsed into a barely contained expression of incredulous amusement. "Cutie marks? Care to run that by me again?"

Proper smiled back, her own amusement clearly visible on her face as well. "Hey, I didn't name them. They're basically a magic flank picture that appears when a pony foal discovers what they're good at, and it pretty much determines their entire destiny from that point on. You'll never see a pony with a scroll and quill cutie mark working as a plumber, or a pony that has a loaf of bread for a cutie mark becoming an artist." Simona motioned for Proper to go on. "Here, why don't I just show you what they look like, it's easier than describing them."

With a burst of green flame, Proper vanished and in her place stood a creature that Simona could only assume was a pony. Except it was like no pony Simona had ever seen in her life. For one thing its proportions were very different from normal ponies. For another thing, its fur was the most shocking shade of blue she could imagine and its mane was an equally bright shade of pink. 

Although the eyes were the same size as those of the changelings, their more familiar features made them seem that much more striking. It featured a stylized tornado on its rump, looking for all the world as though it were a natural part of the fur. 

Oh, and the pair of birdlike wings at its sides were another subtle indicator that it was unlike any terrestrial equine Simona had ever seen. It looked almost as if evolution had decided one day that cuteness was as good a criteria for fitness as any, and spent the next few eons creating a creature that exemplified the concept to an almost dangerous degree.

Simona broke out laughing, "Okay, I refuse to believe that's an actual creature and that you didn't just make it up on the spot."

"No such luck I'm afraid," Proper answered with a smile, "I take it you've never seen one of these before?"

"It looks like something that could have inspired the legends of the pegasus in ancient mythology, but no. That's certainly no earth pony," Simona said.

"Well of course not," Proper replied, "This is what an earth pony looks like-" Another burst of green flame consumed Proper, revealing an identical blue equine, only without wings. "-see? This is an earth pony, the one I just did was a pegasus pony- and by the way, it's odd that you have myths about a similar creature that has the same name- and finally, this is a unicorn pony."

A third burst of emerald flame revealed the same blue pony, only now with a spiraling horn jutting from its forehead. "I kept them all the same color to better illustrate the differences between the three pony tribes, but they come in every shade of the rainbow," Proper said.

"Hold on a moment," Simona interrupted, "When I said 'earth pony', I meant a pony from earth, not an 'earth pony' like the ones you're familiar with. I can safely say that there's nothing like any of those three here. Outside of mythology, the closest things we have to your ponies are farm animals that share the same name, but which are non-sentient and have very different physiologies."

"Dumb farm animals," Proper gave Simona a flat look, before bursting out laughing. "Okay, whatever else happens, now I know we ended up in the right dimension. Just wait until Golden Mask hears about..." Proper trailed off and seemed to visibly deflate, her good mood vanishing as quickly as it had come.

"What's wrong?" Simona asked.

"It's my brother," Proper answered quietly. "I don't know if he's one of the ones that made it out of the rift or if he's stuck between like they're telling us everypony else must be."

"Oh," Simona said after a moment, not sure how to respond. "Don't give up hope yet. There are still several teams out searching for you guys, there could still be a chance that he's out there somewhere." Simona tried sounding positive, but privately she had a much more pessimistic view. The reports of the search teams finding new changelings were coming in with less and less frequency.

She suspected that they were starting to run out of new ones to find altogether, and that by the end of the day there would be no trails in range that didn't lead back to Area 51.

"You and I both know that's not very likely," Proper said, "So far, I've noticed a common pattern among the changelings here. We... we were all standing near where Chrysalis was when she started casting the spell. My brother was in a different part of the cavern." Proper scrubbed at her eyes with one hoof, the fur of her disguise coming back damp.

Simona reached out and placed a hand on Proper's back in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. "Hey, listen to me. Even if we don't find him here, that doesn't mean he's gone forever." Simona's voice was confident as she looked directly into Proper's enormous eyes. A faint part of her noted that unicorn ponies had incredibly soft fur. 

"I know that if he's not on earth, then that means he has to be trapped between universes with the rest of your people," Simona said, "We still have the Kenfield Array. Between our eggheads and yours, I'm sure that we'll be able to work out a way to recover them eventually. You have to believe that once we do, they'll all still be alive and in good health." Simona gave Proper's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Hopefully time doesn't have any meaning in the gap between universes and they'll be kept in a kind of stasis until then."

"Do you really think so?" Proper asked.

"You'd have to ask someone more knowledgeable on the subject than me," Simona admitted, but then smiled. "I saw it in a movie once though, so it has to be true."

Proper snorted and shook her head, the faintest hints of a smile starting to tug at her cheeks. "In that case there's nothing to worry about then," she said wryly, and looked around the room as if seeing it with new eyes. "Funny, when I first came here I was so wrapped up in worrying about what you guys might be planning and what this whole thing might mean for me that I didn't stop to think of anypony else. But if all humans are like you, then I think a lot of those fears might have been misplaced."

Proper pulled Simona into a hug. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up Simona. I just hope that Golden really will be okay."

Simona hugged her back, knowing what it was like to worry about family. Privately, the little girl inside her squeed at being able to hug a real live unicorn, even if she knew it was really just a changeling in disguise. 

Glancing up at the dispassionate security camera in the corner of the room, Simona just hoped that the changeling's trust wasn't being misplaced.





Omaha Nebraska: Tuesday, January 24, 1995.

As I gradually drifted towards consciousness, the first thing I noticed was Kerrigan sleeping against my back, her front legs draped across my neck. The second thing I noticed was that those legs were smeared with something wet and sticky, which greatly hastened my return to full awareness.

I carefully got up and cracked open the blinds, letting the afternoon sun seep into the room. Kerrigan lay on the bed where she had been before, but I could see a suspicious trail of hoofprints leading out of the room. As I followed the trail, I absently rubbed at the encrusted substance Kerri had gotten behind my neck, wondering what it was and hoping it wasn't anything too vile.

The trail led to the kitchen, and I had a sinking feeling as I rounded the corner. The fridge door was wide open, and a carton of eggs lay smashed against the floor. By the look of it, Kerri had taken great pains to scramble the eggs with the eggshells and spread them as far across the floor as she could. There was also a carton of milk lying sideways on the floor, with milk slowly trickling out of a pair of neat puncture marks.

I took a deep breath and counted to ten. Getting upset wouldn't be of any use. It wasn't like Kerri was old enough yet to understand what she should and shouldn't do, and messes were a normal part of growing up. 

That didn't make it any less aggravating as I started cleaning up the mess, and I found myself wondering how long the fridge had been open and if any of the perishables had gone bad from being left out in the warmth. 

After the main mess in the kitchen had been cleaned up more or less, I took a sponge and knelt down to start methodically scrubbing at the spots on the hallway floor where she had left a trail. 

While I was doing that, I felt a weight settle on my shoulders as Kerri ran up the ramp my sloped back offered and chirped at me enthusiastically. "Well hello to you too," I said, "You've caused quite a mess, do you know that?" Her only response was to try and chew on my ear.

I sighed. "We're both going to need to get washed up after this." I continued cleaning her trail, careful not to dislodge Kerrigan when I changed locations.

As I was nearing the end of getting the mess cleaned up, I could hear a car pulling into the driveway. Given the time, it was probably Nicole having just gotten off from work, so I went to check it out. A surreptitious glance out the front window confirmed that it was her car, and I went to unlock the door for her.

"Hi Shaun, how's our little monster doing today?" she asked.

I grimaced. "Monstrously. I just got done cleaning up a big mess she made in the kitchen while I was asleep. Somehow she managed to get the fridge open and spread raw eggs and milk everywhere, before dragging it into the bedroom. I still need to change the bedsheets and get the two of us washed up.

"Now you feel my pain when I looked after her yesterday," Nicole smirked as she reached over my shoulder to tickle Kerrigan's chin. "Anyways, I had an idea about how we could avoid having to move her between our houses twice a day and risk discovery, but I wanted to run it past you first."

I removed Kerri from her perch on my shoulders and held her in my arms. "Okay, I'm listening."

Nicole brushed a strand of dark hair out of her face before continuing. "What if I moved in temporarily as a roommate to keep an eye on Kerri while you're off at work? Just as a roommate mind you, and only until she's a little older."

Okay, I hadn't been expecting that. Thinking on it though, I realized that it would help solve a number of our problems. Of course, that wouldn't help all that much if it introduced new ones in the process. "Wouldn't it be really awkward to have the two of us living together?" I said.

"Tell me about it," Nicole said, "I mean, we've always been best friends since we were kids, but we're just friends. Also, my mom would totally lose it if I ever told her I was living with a guy, and no one would believe us if we said there was nothing happening between us."

Nicole seemed to reconsider. "In fact, just forget I said anything at all. It was a stupid idea to begin with." 

"Not really," I said thoughtfully, "It just needs some more polish. Now, I'm not saying yes just yet, and if you want to back out that's fine, but we could probably find a way to make it work if we wanted to. You're right, not having to transfer Kerri back and forth between our houses every day would help to cut down on the chances of her being spotted by someone."

"Our work and sleep schedules also don't really overlap that much, so there should be less opportunity for awkwardness, and one of us will be present at all times to take care of Kerrigan," Nicole said, seeming to rally a little at not having her idea shot down right off the bat.

"I'll have to think about it, but it does seem like it could be a possibility," I said, "We'd have to lay down some ground rules and boundaries, as well as plan out in advance what to tell anyone else if they ask about us, but it might work."

The two of us stood awkwardly for a few moments until Kerrigan started squirming in my arms. "Right. First thing's first though. Kerri and I both need to get washed up." 

I turned to head for the bathroom. This was all getting a little more complicated than I had anticipated.
> Public Service Announcement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Area 51, Nevada: Wednesday January 25th, 1995

Simona quickly found herself becoming one of the changelings favorite humans to interact with after her heart to heart with Proper. In contrast, most of the other guards were still aloof and distant toward their charges and had been more or less left alone in return, resulting in her being assigned to the role of temporary liaison with them.

As she regarded the small crowd of changelings that had gathered around her and were looking expectantly for an answer, she decided that maybe the other guards were the smart ones.

"I'm sorry, but the rumors you heard are true. The search teams are all being recalled," she said with a sigh. Seeing the expressions on their faces she explained, "Their sweeps haven't been able to pick up any other magical signatures within a hundred mile radius. At the rate the rift's energy is fading from you guys, there's just no practical way for us to continue the search at this point."

One of the changelings spoke up, her two-toned voice cracking a little. "So you're saying that's it? We're the only ones there are?" 

"It's possible that a changeling could have traveled out of the area before we started searching in earnest,' Simona said, "but it seems unlikely that they would have done so. All of the craters we've discovered so far were within a thirty-mile radius of the Kenfield Array."

Another one of the changelings responded. "One of us could have flown much farther than that in the time between now and when we first arrived," he growled in frustration. "You can't give up so soon, not without making sure that none of our hivemates are out there on their own."

Simona tried to keep her face neutral, knowing it was a futile gesture when her audience could simply sense her own frustration and pity. "And if one of you went by air, you would have noticed one of the population centers nearby. Las Vegas is a veritable beacon at night, and there are several smaller towns in the area. With no supplies to survive in the desert and with no information about where you ended up, it's a natural assumption that any of you would make your way to some patch of civilization where you could get both. So far we did end up finding almost all of you guys hiding among us, with only a couple that were out in the desert."

Her face softened. "And then there's the fact that the number of arrival craters we've been able to identify so far seems to match closely with how many of you we've found. We're going to cross-reference your accounts of where you ended up to make sure that they all match and that there are no extra craters, but my superiors are fairly confident that we managed to find all of you. I'm sorry."

The room lapsed into silence for a moment as the changelings processed the news. Simona felt a pang of sympathy for them. It had to be hard knowing that there were likely only 24 members of your entire race in the entire world, 28 including the ones transfigured into inanimate objects and awaiting disjunction. She had no idea how she'd handle it if their positions were reversed.

Steeling herself for the next part, she continued, "Once the search teams and the changelings with them return to base, we're going to go into a two-month lockdown for quarantine purposes. Nobody gets in or out of the designated areas until it's over." As Simona expected, her statement wasn't received well by her audience. Muscles tensed, postures became more wary, wings began to twitch at their sides, and uneasy glances and murmurs were exchanged. The undercurrent of suspicion was plainly evident even for someone that couldn't read emotions. 

Simona held up a hand to forestall their comments. "It's not just you who'll be confined during the quarantine. Everyone who we can confirm has had direct contact with you will also be quarantined right alongside you, including me. You are not prisoners, and as I'm sure you can sense, we don't have any ill will towards you. We just need to be cautious when dealing with a complete unknown such as yourselves, and the safety of millions could be at stake if we let you wander free before first ensuring that you aren't carrying any pathogens harmful to us, or that some unexpected component of your biology or magic turns out to have harmful effects on humans that only become apparent with time and exposure."

One of the changelings she recognized from an earlier conversation as Card Trick said, "What happens if the quarantine does reveal something dangerous about us? Or if it goes the other way and one of your own harmless diseases happens to be lethal to us?"

"We're hoping that nothing comes of it, but we can't afford to take chances," Simona said, "In the event something is discovered during the quarantine, our exact course of action will depend on its severity. Rest assured, we have no intentions of simply giving up on you if you get sick from one of our diseases, and unless you're carrying something potentially world-ending, we'll do our best to see to it that you get to live an isolated but semi-normal life while our scientists try to find a cure."

Simona made a wry face. "Of course, if you are carrying something dangerous, me and the other humans that are going to be in quarantine alongside you are going to be the first to discover it. I think I'm speaking for everyone when I say that I'm hoping this will be an uneventful two months, and that we'll all be able to move on to the next phase smoothly once this is over."

"And what would that be?" Card Trick asked. The changelings seemed thoughtful now, with a few looking concerned. Simona noted that most of their earlier suspicion seemed to have dissipated.

"From what I've heard, the higher-ups are still debating that. At the moment there are two main camps, one that wants to keep your existence a permanent secret, isolating you from the outside world in much the same way as if the quarantine turned up something dangerous, and another that would like to try and gradually integrate you into society. I'm guessing that the final arrangement will end up being a compromise of some kind, but I can't say for sure."

Simona shrugged helplessly. "Nerium and the other high-ranking changelings have been informed about the debate, and as soon as they're back with the search teams they'll be adding their own input to the discussion. For now though, all we can do is wait." 

Proper spoke up from the rear of the crowd. "Will you be trying to help the others who might still be trapped between dimensions, like my brother?"

"Unless something comes up during the quarantine, most likely," Simona said, "There's still a lot we don't know about how the Kenfield Array works, and pooling your knowledge of magic with ours to try and rescue the trapped changelings is a logical starting point. If nothing else, the attempt would give our scientists some much-needed experimental data, as well as valuable insights into the field of magic. It would also go a long way toward cementing friendly relations with your people and helping to secure their cooperation."

Seeing the look of desperate hope in Proper's eyes, Simona had to repress the urge to walk over to her and give her a hug on the spot. Shaking her head slightly to get her mind back on track, she continued. "Moving on, I'd like to go over the living arrangements during the quarantine..."