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This is a surrealist writing based on the Thursday Prompts held by 
Renee Carter Hall , located here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2087025/
This week's prompt was "Daydreams," but I decided to go retro and pick the 5-6-2010 prompt entitled "the egg." Though, if you read this story, you could see dreams as very critical to it.
This story is a part of the same world as the previous entry I wrote, entitled Corot-7b. Both of these are stand-alone stories, but they occur in the same world.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2806589/
When Celeste awoke in the egg capsule, she found herself cold, hungry and alone. Her torn flight corps jumpsuit reminded her of the battle which took place upon her exploration ship before she escaped in the life pod. The battle itself was a haze in her mind.
The jettison occurred over Corot-7b and according to the computer console located in front of her chair, the travel time to the planet would be approximately three days at the steady rate of descent and orbit. The exploration ship was at a distant edge of the planet’s gravitational pull where it was purposely timed with escape procedures to take approximately 3-5 days for an emergency pod to enter atmosphere and land.
Celeste sat strapped to the seat located in the center of the egg. Seven feet above her was the single light shining down on her secure position as the glow of the computer monitor shone on her face and reflected off the sheen of her ivory jumpsuit. There were no portholes into space as they were deemed decompression hazards. The disorientation caused by viewing stars spinning at high velocity was known to drive early explorers to relinquish their lunch.
Celeste hit a few strokes on the keyboard and brought up the speech-and-response program for the capsule.
“ClaraCom speaking. User is currently in Egg Nine heading towards Corot-7b with a projected arrival time of 3 days, 7 hours, Earth cycle.” Celeste looked around the capsule as Clara continued. “What is the user’s name?”
“Celeste,” She said. If she concentrated, she could almost feel the pod spinning endlessly through space. The image was too much and she opened her eyes with a start.
“Celeste. I am Clara. I am your Transgenesis Hen. It is important you follow my instructions exactly so you will reach optimum survivability by the time this capsule breaks through Corot-7b’s atmosphere. Once upper atmosphere is breached, it will take approximately 14-22 minutes to impact land mass. Therefore, all our preparations must be completed in orbit. Do you understand, Celeste?”
The user nodded and waited.
“Do you understand?” Clara asked again.
Celeste shook her head and realized the computer could not see her. “Yes, but…there are a lot of things you said that I’m not sure about. What’s a Transgenesis Hen?”
“It is a reformatting computer capable of preparing users such as yourself for the perils of exo-planetary survival. I must go over the procedures necessary for your safety and sustainment. We will cover food consumption and psychological maintenance. Let us begin.”
Celeste listened and lamented at the fact she had been only a week away from receiving egg capsule briefing. The new recruits had just been transferred from the ship Alpha Cryo and thawed only two days before being sent into service. Celeste only had two weeks of training before rebellion occurred on the ship. She couldn’t even remember the reason. To move from sleep to sleep was disorienting. Who had put her in the capsule? Did she enter it herself?
“Clara, hold on,” Celeste said, interrupting the food preparation briefing. “Who brought me here?”
“I do not have that information, Celeste. I only activate upon launch of the pod. Did you understand what I said about food preparation and the purpose of the Hen protein?”
“Yes, yes,” Celeste said, hoping to get some more info. “How hard could it be to eat? I need to know what we’re going to do to prepare for impact in three days.”
“Certainly, but let us go over the psychological maintenance profile construction procedure. I have a considerable library of interactive simulation-vids which can be viewed during downtime between feedings and psych evaluations. Tell me what pleases you.”
“Uh...” Celeste blushed at the phrasing of the question.
“What subjects do you like to see in videos? Provide me a list of at least five.”
Celeste thought for a moment. “I like animals a lot.”
“First subject: animals. Continue.”
“I like movies about companionship. Comfortable places sometimes and exotic locales other times. That’s four, right?” Clara confirmed and Celeste continued. “And…um...mystery. Could you put that together?”
“Constructing profile. Ejecting simulation helmet and mask. Be sure to properly harness the helmet to your head. Feeding will begin afterwards and then we’ll move to the interactive video downtime.”
Celeste looked at the open slot under the console and pulled out the helmet and visor. She concluded that the more distractions she had, the better. Still, she had no idea how she was going to survive on Corot-7b’s volatile surface. She hadn’t spotted any hazardous environment enclosure suits and hoped one would be unlocked at the end of her preparations. She placed the helmet on her head and lowered the visor. She could still see the glow of the computer screen behind the transparent display. A tube extended from the side of the terminal and Celeste brought it to her lips.
“Consume the protein portion in its entirety of the tube will not retract. Profile complete. We will begin simulation-vid shortly.”
The protein paste tasted bland to Celeste as she started to ingest it. By the time she finished, she noticed a rather sweet aftertaste. After only a minute, she began to feel a heaviness in her stomach and her mind. She saw lights flicker on the visor as her eyes dropped and her mind swam.
-
Celeste had never visited Earth before, but the rolling plains and the wide pasture reminded her of a western farmland she’d seen in videos. The blue of the sky was fuzzy with strange white constellations visible in the day.
Celeste found herself gathering chicken eggs in a barn as she looked at her red dress and tan skin. Her finger and toe nails were longer than usual and she wondered if she was playing a part.
A part in what? she thought before picking up a basket of eggs. The chickens appeared extremely attentive to her steps which had a hint of their own gait.
She crossed to the farm house and observed its white, pristine look. It reminded her of the food in her basket as she saw a young man with the same color skin as her won. He wore overalls and crossed to Celeste with a smile.
“Big yield today?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Celeste said, giggling at his good looks. She felt the strange urge to strut in front of him, but averted her gaze and found herself kicking back dirt absentmindedly.
“Your friend Clara’s coming over today. We gotta get the house cleaned up,” he said as he pecked her cheek with a kiss and held her hand while they walked into the house.
But when they entered, they found she was already there. Celeste gasped at the sight of the crisp brown creature with its wings folded back and its eyes staring at a sideways glance towards the sleeper. The room appeared to crackle around it in the faintest way, like old movie footage added to the new.
“Celeste,” it said in a familiar voice. “Good to see you in high spirits. I also hear it’s good to drink wine spirits during this time. Arn, please fetch the drink.”
The man nodded and moved into the kitchen as Celeste stood stark still with her eyes peering at the plumage of the beaked female. It was only then that Celeste noticed the interior of the house was far larger on the inside than out.
“:Clara,” Celeste finally spoke. “What is this? It looks like a ship.”
“This ship came from far away to bring you to a place which roasts the unwary.” And in a second, the bird was engulfed in flame, still in speech. “Be warned. You must move fast in sleep, for every minute is an hour, and every hour a day.”
Celeste gasped at the table across from Arn. He cut into the roasted chicken and offered the shocked woman a piece. “It’s nicely toasted,” he said.
“Wha…Arn! Didn’t’ you see that?” She asked. The man just shook his head.
“I know I made this meal for you, my sweet. Remember to take a piece from each wing, thigh and breast.”
“Why?” she asked, staring at the red filling coming out of the neck of the roast. “What’s that stuffing in there? It looks bad.”
“It’s apple-cinnamon flavored. Your favorite. It’s very sweet.”
Celeste stared at the prepared portion on her plate and stirred the meat in the sauce before eyeing it suspiciously. What was that thing she was going to tell him again? She ate it and savored the taste, which at first bland, became fast sweet. Encouraged, she finished the whole plate in half a minute before feeling the heaviness hit her stomach and her head all at once. Arn circled around the table to catch her as she fell.
-
Celeste hit the water with a splash as the light from the canopy flooded the overgrowth reaching its fingers into the water. She saw flickers of light in the river depths as she burst through the surface and grasped onto the roots with clawed hands.
The droplets shone off the membrane hanging from her arms as she pulled her body onto the top of the root and rested face up, staring at the fading blue of the late afternoon sun. The colors of the swamp were vibrant in ways Celeste had never seen before. There wasn’t even a word for some of the hues she was seeing.
“Hey!” a female voice called out from the treetops. “Can you see the shine amidst the faded blue?”
“Oh yes!” Celeste said as she noticed a small beak protruding from her lips. “It’s…impossible to describe. I don’t think humans have names for these colors!”
“Good!” The voice said again as a short humanoid creature glided to a stop on the branch above Celeste. She looked almost like the sleeper. “What are you doing in the danger zone? A Clara patrols that area!”
“What are you…” and the water exploded. A colossal maw lunged at the roots as Celeste jumped back at the sight of two terrifying eyes, slit and hungry, tearing into her mind as the mouth tore the trunk.
“It’s the Clara! Run, Celeste!” the flier shouted as she dove for the imperiled watcher. Celeste leapt up and ran around the side of the tree as the aquatic beast shook the roots with its flailing body. Celeste tested her wings and found she could not fly, but still glide atop the tree bark poking out of the swampy water. She saw the flier rush in and land on the branch where she was.
“Celeste, we have to hurry! You’ve already gone through one and a half days…”
The roots exploded beneath them as the monstrous mouth gorged itself on the tree root and the two creatures before swallowing them whole. Celeste fell through the darkness and came to a halt as her heart threatened to burst out of her chest. There was silence for a moment as the shock of the monster’s stomach wrapped itself around the terrified sleeper.
“Celeste,” the flier said nearby. The winged female looked for the source of the cry and saw a light glow in the darkness of the stomach. She stepped through a foul-smelling liquid as she knelt next to the creature lying helplessly on a branch. “You have to take my light or you won’t survive.”
“Why? Why am I here?” Celeste said, tears in her alien eyes.
“You have to survive. Your dreams are the only safe place for your human mind when your Corotian self takes over.”
Celeste stood up in a moment of lucidity and screamed, her echoes bouncing off the stomach of the monster. “Clara! Why are you doing this? This is a nightmare!”
The flier reached into her stomach through a pouch and pulled out a glowing red orb. “Take this into you. Hurry,” she said meekly.
In despair, Celeste knew of nothing else to do. “What are you doing to me, Clara?” she asked as she took the orb. Its sweet fragrance caused her to move it closer to her mouth as her lips touched it. The nectar awakened her senses as she voraciously consumed the red liquid inside. Clara answered through the ensuing wave of heaviness and haze.
“I am saving you…”
-
“I’ve got you, Celeste! Just hold on.”
A flock of females with feathers of brown crisp carried the stumbling Celeste over the cracked surface of the barren world. The sleeper waddled with her feathered arms cradling her rotund belly. Her taloned feet clacked over the hazardous terrain as she struggled to keep moving.
“Get her to the hatchery!” One of the females said. “The Transgenesis Hen will know what to do.”
Celeste tried to speak, but squawked through a hardened beak before uttering a few words. “What am I?”
“No questions, hen. We have to get you to safety! There are too many dangers out here.”
They rushed past the discarded remnants of a giant egg as Celeste remembered something before being led into a bright inner cavern. She was helped on a pebble nest where she automatically assumed a roosting position with legs tucked underneath her body. She flapped her arms and squawked for assistance as the other hens gathered close. Their cool body temperatures calmed her down as she felt her heart race to a slower pace.
At that moment, a giant avian creature emerged from a deep cave. A distant memory brought back the image of a winged being inside an Earth house.
“Celeste, you are nearly finished with your journey,” it said. “You have almost reached the perfect form.”
Celeste felt a rumble in her stomach as she tried to speak. “What…have I…become?”
“Humans cannot survive the harsh environment of Corot-7b. There is a 100% failure rate of hazard suit personnel on the planet surface. This is the way to 100% survivability.”
“No…”
“Celeste, it was given to me the ability to show compassion during this trying time. I know humans experience horrible shock upon birth, and yet it is through ignorance alone that allows new life to move past the trauma and into existence. This has been constructed for you as a way to dampen the pain. You will be…okay.”
“How?” Celeste said as small spasms started to ripple through her stomach. She grunted and felt something, a warmth, encircle her heart. It was just enough to keep her from passing out.
“The change is great. As a result, the Hen protein which I have been feeding you has suppressed your human mind further with each dose. This last one will submerge your consciousness just enough to allow the storm of the transformation to pass over without harming it. But you will not think like a human for quite some time.”
Celeste screamed as she felt life pass from her body. The other hens held her from falling as she went limp and felt the pain start to subside. A few of the avian creatures picked up an egg and held it proudly up to Celeste.
“What’s inside?” one asked, voicing Celeste’s thoughts as she panted in exhaustion.
“Her future,” another said.
-
The egg capsule shuddered as the hull buckled in the inner atmosphere. The rocketing pod sailed downward as a thick white yolk ejected from each edge of the egg, sealing Celeste in hardboiled protection.
The impact thundered and tossed the awoken passenger as the force of the collision knocked open a small hole at the top of the pod. The breach released the pressure as Celeste jarred to a halt. The heavy pod groaned and settled.
There was silence.
Instinctively, Celeste knew to move for the top of the egg as she pushed through the yolk and felt a hard surface with her beak. She tapped it again and pressed hard with her calcified lips as the edge gave way and she toppled out in a flood of white upon the planet surface.
With effort, she moved her thick, feathered legs and kicked into the dirt with her talons. She flapped her wings and stumbled to a standing position as she shook off the protective yolk. She raised her beak into the air and squawked mightily, testing her lungs upon the alien world. Soon, she would see if any other hens had survived as the lone Corotian recalled a faded woman’s face in her memory. That night, it would appear in her dreams, as other phantom faces always did to those reborn on Corot-7b.
-~-
Renee Carter Hall , located here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2087025/This week's prompt was "Daydreams," but I decided to go retro and pick the 5-6-2010 prompt entitled "the egg." Though, if you read this story, you could see dreams as very critical to it.
This story is a part of the same world as the previous entry I wrote, entitled Corot-7b. Both of these are stand-alone stories, but they occur in the same world.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2806589/
When Celeste awoke in the egg capsule, she found herself cold, hungry and alone. Her torn flight corps jumpsuit reminded her of the battle which took place upon her exploration ship before she escaped in the life pod. The battle itself was a haze in her mind.
The jettison occurred over Corot-7b and according to the computer console located in front of her chair, the travel time to the planet would be approximately three days at the steady rate of descent and orbit. The exploration ship was at a distant edge of the planet’s gravitational pull where it was purposely timed with escape procedures to take approximately 3-5 days for an emergency pod to enter atmosphere and land.
Celeste sat strapped to the seat located in the center of the egg. Seven feet above her was the single light shining down on her secure position as the glow of the computer monitor shone on her face and reflected off the sheen of her ivory jumpsuit. There were no portholes into space as they were deemed decompression hazards. The disorientation caused by viewing stars spinning at high velocity was known to drive early explorers to relinquish their lunch.
Celeste hit a few strokes on the keyboard and brought up the speech-and-response program for the capsule.
“ClaraCom speaking. User is currently in Egg Nine heading towards Corot-7b with a projected arrival time of 3 days, 7 hours, Earth cycle.” Celeste looked around the capsule as Clara continued. “What is the user’s name?”
“Celeste,” She said. If she concentrated, she could almost feel the pod spinning endlessly through space. The image was too much and she opened her eyes with a start.
“Celeste. I am Clara. I am your Transgenesis Hen. It is important you follow my instructions exactly so you will reach optimum survivability by the time this capsule breaks through Corot-7b’s atmosphere. Once upper atmosphere is breached, it will take approximately 14-22 minutes to impact land mass. Therefore, all our preparations must be completed in orbit. Do you understand, Celeste?”
The user nodded and waited.
“Do you understand?” Clara asked again.
Celeste shook her head and realized the computer could not see her. “Yes, but…there are a lot of things you said that I’m not sure about. What’s a Transgenesis Hen?”
“It is a reformatting computer capable of preparing users such as yourself for the perils of exo-planetary survival. I must go over the procedures necessary for your safety and sustainment. We will cover food consumption and psychological maintenance. Let us begin.”
Celeste listened and lamented at the fact she had been only a week away from receiving egg capsule briefing. The new recruits had just been transferred from the ship Alpha Cryo and thawed only two days before being sent into service. Celeste only had two weeks of training before rebellion occurred on the ship. She couldn’t even remember the reason. To move from sleep to sleep was disorienting. Who had put her in the capsule? Did she enter it herself?
“Clara, hold on,” Celeste said, interrupting the food preparation briefing. “Who brought me here?”
“I do not have that information, Celeste. I only activate upon launch of the pod. Did you understand what I said about food preparation and the purpose of the Hen protein?”
“Yes, yes,” Celeste said, hoping to get some more info. “How hard could it be to eat? I need to know what we’re going to do to prepare for impact in three days.”
“Certainly, but let us go over the psychological maintenance profile construction procedure. I have a considerable library of interactive simulation-vids which can be viewed during downtime between feedings and psych evaluations. Tell me what pleases you.”
“Uh...” Celeste blushed at the phrasing of the question.
“What subjects do you like to see in videos? Provide me a list of at least five.”
Celeste thought for a moment. “I like animals a lot.”
“First subject: animals. Continue.”
“I like movies about companionship. Comfortable places sometimes and exotic locales other times. That’s four, right?” Clara confirmed and Celeste continued. “And…um...mystery. Could you put that together?”
“Constructing profile. Ejecting simulation helmet and mask. Be sure to properly harness the helmet to your head. Feeding will begin afterwards and then we’ll move to the interactive video downtime.”
Celeste looked at the open slot under the console and pulled out the helmet and visor. She concluded that the more distractions she had, the better. Still, she had no idea how she was going to survive on Corot-7b’s volatile surface. She hadn’t spotted any hazardous environment enclosure suits and hoped one would be unlocked at the end of her preparations. She placed the helmet on her head and lowered the visor. She could still see the glow of the computer screen behind the transparent display. A tube extended from the side of the terminal and Celeste brought it to her lips.
“Consume the protein portion in its entirety of the tube will not retract. Profile complete. We will begin simulation-vid shortly.”
The protein paste tasted bland to Celeste as she started to ingest it. By the time she finished, she noticed a rather sweet aftertaste. After only a minute, she began to feel a heaviness in her stomach and her mind. She saw lights flicker on the visor as her eyes dropped and her mind swam.
-
Celeste had never visited Earth before, but the rolling plains and the wide pasture reminded her of a western farmland she’d seen in videos. The blue of the sky was fuzzy with strange white constellations visible in the day.
Celeste found herself gathering chicken eggs in a barn as she looked at her red dress and tan skin. Her finger and toe nails were longer than usual and she wondered if she was playing a part.
A part in what? she thought before picking up a basket of eggs. The chickens appeared extremely attentive to her steps which had a hint of their own gait.
She crossed to the farm house and observed its white, pristine look. It reminded her of the food in her basket as she saw a young man with the same color skin as her won. He wore overalls and crossed to Celeste with a smile.
“Big yield today?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Celeste said, giggling at his good looks. She felt the strange urge to strut in front of him, but averted her gaze and found herself kicking back dirt absentmindedly.
“Your friend Clara’s coming over today. We gotta get the house cleaned up,” he said as he pecked her cheek with a kiss and held her hand while they walked into the house.
But when they entered, they found she was already there. Celeste gasped at the sight of the crisp brown creature with its wings folded back and its eyes staring at a sideways glance towards the sleeper. The room appeared to crackle around it in the faintest way, like old movie footage added to the new.
“Celeste,” it said in a familiar voice. “Good to see you in high spirits. I also hear it’s good to drink wine spirits during this time. Arn, please fetch the drink.”
The man nodded and moved into the kitchen as Celeste stood stark still with her eyes peering at the plumage of the beaked female. It was only then that Celeste noticed the interior of the house was far larger on the inside than out.
“:Clara,” Celeste finally spoke. “What is this? It looks like a ship.”
“This ship came from far away to bring you to a place which roasts the unwary.” And in a second, the bird was engulfed in flame, still in speech. “Be warned. You must move fast in sleep, for every minute is an hour, and every hour a day.”
Celeste gasped at the table across from Arn. He cut into the roasted chicken and offered the shocked woman a piece. “It’s nicely toasted,” he said.
“Wha…Arn! Didn’t’ you see that?” She asked. The man just shook his head.
“I know I made this meal for you, my sweet. Remember to take a piece from each wing, thigh and breast.”
“Why?” she asked, staring at the red filling coming out of the neck of the roast. “What’s that stuffing in there? It looks bad.”
“It’s apple-cinnamon flavored. Your favorite. It’s very sweet.”
Celeste stared at the prepared portion on her plate and stirred the meat in the sauce before eyeing it suspiciously. What was that thing she was going to tell him again? She ate it and savored the taste, which at first bland, became fast sweet. Encouraged, she finished the whole plate in half a minute before feeling the heaviness hit her stomach and her head all at once. Arn circled around the table to catch her as she fell.
-
Celeste hit the water with a splash as the light from the canopy flooded the overgrowth reaching its fingers into the water. She saw flickers of light in the river depths as she burst through the surface and grasped onto the roots with clawed hands.
The droplets shone off the membrane hanging from her arms as she pulled her body onto the top of the root and rested face up, staring at the fading blue of the late afternoon sun. The colors of the swamp were vibrant in ways Celeste had never seen before. There wasn’t even a word for some of the hues she was seeing.
“Hey!” a female voice called out from the treetops. “Can you see the shine amidst the faded blue?”
“Oh yes!” Celeste said as she noticed a small beak protruding from her lips. “It’s…impossible to describe. I don’t think humans have names for these colors!”
“Good!” The voice said again as a short humanoid creature glided to a stop on the branch above Celeste. She looked almost like the sleeper. “What are you doing in the danger zone? A Clara patrols that area!”
“What are you…” and the water exploded. A colossal maw lunged at the roots as Celeste jumped back at the sight of two terrifying eyes, slit and hungry, tearing into her mind as the mouth tore the trunk.
“It’s the Clara! Run, Celeste!” the flier shouted as she dove for the imperiled watcher. Celeste leapt up and ran around the side of the tree as the aquatic beast shook the roots with its flailing body. Celeste tested her wings and found she could not fly, but still glide atop the tree bark poking out of the swampy water. She saw the flier rush in and land on the branch where she was.
“Celeste, we have to hurry! You’ve already gone through one and a half days…”
The roots exploded beneath them as the monstrous mouth gorged itself on the tree root and the two creatures before swallowing them whole. Celeste fell through the darkness and came to a halt as her heart threatened to burst out of her chest. There was silence for a moment as the shock of the monster’s stomach wrapped itself around the terrified sleeper.
“Celeste,” the flier said nearby. The winged female looked for the source of the cry and saw a light glow in the darkness of the stomach. She stepped through a foul-smelling liquid as she knelt next to the creature lying helplessly on a branch. “You have to take my light or you won’t survive.”
“Why? Why am I here?” Celeste said, tears in her alien eyes.
“You have to survive. Your dreams are the only safe place for your human mind when your Corotian self takes over.”
Celeste stood up in a moment of lucidity and screamed, her echoes bouncing off the stomach of the monster. “Clara! Why are you doing this? This is a nightmare!”
The flier reached into her stomach through a pouch and pulled out a glowing red orb. “Take this into you. Hurry,” she said meekly.
In despair, Celeste knew of nothing else to do. “What are you doing to me, Clara?” she asked as she took the orb. Its sweet fragrance caused her to move it closer to her mouth as her lips touched it. The nectar awakened her senses as she voraciously consumed the red liquid inside. Clara answered through the ensuing wave of heaviness and haze.
“I am saving you…”
-
“I’ve got you, Celeste! Just hold on.”
A flock of females with feathers of brown crisp carried the stumbling Celeste over the cracked surface of the barren world. The sleeper waddled with her feathered arms cradling her rotund belly. Her taloned feet clacked over the hazardous terrain as she struggled to keep moving.
“Get her to the hatchery!” One of the females said. “The Transgenesis Hen will know what to do.”
Celeste tried to speak, but squawked through a hardened beak before uttering a few words. “What am I?”
“No questions, hen. We have to get you to safety! There are too many dangers out here.”
They rushed past the discarded remnants of a giant egg as Celeste remembered something before being led into a bright inner cavern. She was helped on a pebble nest where she automatically assumed a roosting position with legs tucked underneath her body. She flapped her arms and squawked for assistance as the other hens gathered close. Their cool body temperatures calmed her down as she felt her heart race to a slower pace.
At that moment, a giant avian creature emerged from a deep cave. A distant memory brought back the image of a winged being inside an Earth house.
“Celeste, you are nearly finished with your journey,” it said. “You have almost reached the perfect form.”
Celeste felt a rumble in her stomach as she tried to speak. “What…have I…become?”
“Humans cannot survive the harsh environment of Corot-7b. There is a 100% failure rate of hazard suit personnel on the planet surface. This is the way to 100% survivability.”
“No…”
“Celeste, it was given to me the ability to show compassion during this trying time. I know humans experience horrible shock upon birth, and yet it is through ignorance alone that allows new life to move past the trauma and into existence. This has been constructed for you as a way to dampen the pain. You will be…okay.”
“How?” Celeste said as small spasms started to ripple through her stomach. She grunted and felt something, a warmth, encircle her heart. It was just enough to keep her from passing out.
“The change is great. As a result, the Hen protein which I have been feeding you has suppressed your human mind further with each dose. This last one will submerge your consciousness just enough to allow the storm of the transformation to pass over without harming it. But you will not think like a human for quite some time.”
Celeste screamed as she felt life pass from her body. The other hens held her from falling as she went limp and felt the pain start to subside. A few of the avian creatures picked up an egg and held it proudly up to Celeste.
“What’s inside?” one asked, voicing Celeste’s thoughts as she panted in exhaustion.
“Her future,” another said.
-
The egg capsule shuddered as the hull buckled in the inner atmosphere. The rocketing pod sailed downward as a thick white yolk ejected from each edge of the egg, sealing Celeste in hardboiled protection.
The impact thundered and tossed the awoken passenger as the force of the collision knocked open a small hole at the top of the pod. The breach released the pressure as Celeste jarred to a halt. The heavy pod groaned and settled.
There was silence.
Instinctively, Celeste knew to move for the top of the egg as she pushed through the yolk and felt a hard surface with her beak. She tapped it again and pressed hard with her calcified lips as the edge gave way and she toppled out in a flood of white upon the planet surface.
With effort, she moved her thick, feathered legs and kicked into the dirt with her talons. She flapped her wings and stumbled to a standing position as she shook off the protective yolk. She raised her beak into the air and squawked mightily, testing her lungs upon the alien world. Soon, she would see if any other hens had survived as the lone Corotian recalled a faded woman’s face in her memory. That night, it would appear in her dreams, as other phantom faces always did to those reborn on Corot-7b.
-~-
Category Story / All
Species Avian (Other)
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 42 kB
Comments