Hibernation

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🌠🌲🎉 Happy holidays to all!! Another year has come and gone. Be blessed in whatever path of life you find yourself in..

I awoke abruptly from a particularly listless dream, that I could not remember, in a small dark unfamiliar sleeping chamber.

My brows crinkled in anger, as my brain began the process of decifering the few memories I could hazily remember.

N.I.C.K.A ought to have 'graciously' determined that I may reunite myself to this dimension of the living after my violent outburst. Her capability to further throw my life again into another recess of purgatory is ever present.

My consciousness had ebbed to and fro from unconsciousness as the poison coursed through my veins.

Frequently my memory fragmented into small snippets of moments around me.

In one brief moment of clear consciousness, my body shifted awkwardly into different changing angles and my vision rolled in different directions decidedly unfocused. The opaque film obscuring my eyes soon fell away as I spied a chirping miniature crebra on my shoulder that flicked its small pointed ears and lazily bit into one of its forelimbs in a display of artificial grooming.

The healing bay drone replicated many of the behavioral characteristics of the real animal as I fixated on it and I let amusement cloud my addled brain as the last thing to cross my sight was a passing door behind it.

Sifting through other rising memories, there were again, instances of tiny unfocused shapes and the semi conscious awareness of small touches maneuvering my physical being.

My temporal artery began to throb in beat with my pulse..pain radiating feverishly along my cranium as intense concentration proves to be too much for my newly weakened body.

N.I.C.K.A has, rightfully so, utilized the miniature work force of the healing bay to her behest.

My anger cooled swiftly with understanding.

They had diligently taken care of me in my vulnerable state cleaning, transporting, and repositioning me.

As the initial surge of poison gradually neutralized through
metabolizing cellular functions, the need for intervention from N.I.C.K.A was for naught.

She administered the long acting paralyzing agent on me, I hope, this singular time while in the troughs of my altered emotional state which I am grateful.

Leaving me in the care of the drones.

Though....

It has come to my utmost attention that I am now a fully fledged progenitor of a new budding genus. Although I grin ruefully about the method of such a conception. I am worried about the reaction that it will garner once she notices that she is swelling with a brood or mayhap multiple broods.

" High commander?" N.I.C.K.A hesitantly prodded.

" yessss?" Hissing my reply, annoyed at the incessant demand for the completion of relegated tasks.

Guilt flooded immediately afterwards for such an unprovoked foul mood. I greatly recognize my own personal failure to adhere to acceptable methods of conduct so I patiently wait for her to finish.

" At 00:01:35:56 planetary time movement was detected outside the ship. Reporting: minor damage to the Entrance. Assailant(s) have been identified through the acquisition of mucous and epidermal cells recovered"

I am perplexed at the sudden notification of others near the ship.

" Confirm current time" pressing N.I.C.K.A for more information while I slowly release myself from my frail and hastily patched cocoon.

"00:11:45:32 current planetary time. "

Disappointment clicked sharply within me.

There is nothing that may be done since it has been several hours after the incident. Too much time has passed and they have most probably already left the area completely.

Immediately turning around off the bed, I briskly left the chamber nursing a pounding head whilst balancing on unsteady legs, to examine the recording.(@minipurse)

*****************************

The cooling evening air ignited my senses once again after a long bout of sterile seclusion.

My stay has come to an end. I have concluded the many final preparations, personal and tasked, that needed to be done.

My freedom is proof of that......

The ship was insistent on the immediate bethrothal of my newborn(s) to the first future female broodling of the only noble queen in our hemisphere.
' To insure the continuity of the high born lineage' that we both possess as N.I.C.K.A has so delicately inferred.

Impossible, I will not standby and have my child(ren) taken from me... us so prematurely.

I have said nothing to N.I.C.K.A regarding the acceptance of this folly plan.

I must speak to my beloved with much haste, where ever she may be. It is undetermined whether or when the programing will implement nefarious ways to manipulate the threads of fate to weave a tapestry of its own making. Her processes may find that there are other more pressing issues unbeknownst to us.

Likewise for many years, N.I.C.K.A had been working on deciphering the many dialects of this planet. As well as documenting along the way various aspects of the alien culture that resides here. She has so far successfully translated over a thousand and analyzed the structures of everyday life for the most prominent species.

I, however, have very limited space for data in my bio receiver. So I had made due the decision to add five of the most common languages once dominant in this region to facilitate communication with my beloved- into a small hardy portable box device.

I have since brushed up on important courting rituals of her species according to the ship.

As follows.....

The presentation of oneself with pleasing visual markers, a humble greeting, an exchange for time with an opulent gift and the most worrying, the chaste performance she must giveth so that I may woo her with my skills?

Though I question the accuracy of this information profoundly, this must be the way to appeal to her in some familiar way.

How else would I be able to assure her of my sincerity and commitment if not to practice the pairing norms of her species?

I am unsure of how to court unrehearsed since most of the arrangements are made between the matriarch of each family in my home planet for a formal pairing, where males are matched to prospective eager queens who are hungry to devour whatever the latter may offer.

Thus only the most resourceful of broods and males normally survive such a hostile environment between such competitive nest members.

My palms twitch as I recall the only delicate clutch of the ill fated brood that I sired, my head drifting down as the pit of my heart sinks with sadness.

The pack nestled between my back skews to the left digging deep into my protective layer, denting my back painfully. It is heavier now that I must prepare for the birth of the hybrid brood, their gestational completion is a mystery that will be unknown until then. Estimates generating a possible, approximate, time scale differ erroneously each time the computer attempts to prognosticate.

Will they be a live birth or be further contained in a completely transparent clutch of eggs to hatch as I am accustomed?

Harken, that I will not be surprised and unprepared as in the past. Bringing an emergency healing pod and two healing drones should suffice for the task.

My fists clench as sadness transforms into anger. It is energy best spent on my new nest, I confer, straightening my effects.

The frozen water vapor that forms over the ground is fast approaching in this part of the planet and hunting will become a difficult task in the region in which my beloved prefers to reside.

Various prey species have begun to migrate, disappearing from the landscape for a cycle. Making choices quite limited.

Thickets of bushes brush up against my legs and tall trees with bare branches stretch out upward into the sky. Clouds thickening steadily across the once clear stratosphere, becoming an abundantly permanent fixture as of late.

There is a place where the briny waters of the extraterrestrial ocean and the sweet water of the continents rivers converge together.

An estuary, rich with diverse life. Ripe for hunting, a place that is a necessary stop.(@minipurse)

The rustling of leaves and the abrupt snapping of twigs, heighten my awareness of my surroundings, for I have been caught unawares pondering and forgot vigilance.

With deliberate caution my eyes sweep over the surroundings from front to back quickly.

Nothing stirred but my very nerves continued to tingle with alarm unconvinced...

A rush of cool air and a body colliding with mine, sent me skidding across the forest floor.

A loud guttural roar silenced the chirps of the avian species above. The warning caws of a deep onyx colored species ring out in the distance as they flee.

The air within my lungs rushed out forcefully, leaving me gasping on the ground.

Stunned, I lay recovering precious air for a moment.

Low unintelligible grumbling came from the creature behind me.

There are only a few indigenous alien species who we, nest members, would practice extreme caution.

And only one of them resides in this hemisphere on land, the one humans categorize as Ursus, more specifically the voracious hybrid of two of the largest of its genus.

It had evolved over a short period of time to be vastly larger than its two parent's original genus alone, somehow.

The ground gently thrums from its immense weight as I hear it silently encroaching.

I wait, readying my claws. It is surely equally as deadly as myself.

A predator will only confidently attack its prey when the probability of injury is low and the return is very high in snatching a meal. Many are adverse to injury especially when it could spell an uncertain gruesome death.

The shadow of the creature chills my supine figure and its breath mumbles out up above.

Turning swiftly off the ground crouching onto my feet. Claws out and teeth bared in anger, I snarl a low octave warning.

Its beady eyes stay unmoved on the wide moon face its snout protrudes from. Small round ears flick in a gesture of irritation.

It juts suddenly upwards onto its hind legs, its forelimbs swinging long black talons from its large paws.

Slashes swoosh around my body, I scurry backward dodging one after another blindly.

It lunges forward with long sharp canines, snapping its jaws near my quickly disappearing moving limbs.

Unquestionably two can play at this game, with a flick of my wrist a well placed blow slices through the bulbous nose of my adversary.

It roars out in pain and frustration, backing away startled. Unsure of what to do now that its meal is proving to be more trouble than its worth.

Blood drips down from its nose, matting its dirty cream colored fur.

Taking menacingly slow steps I press forward. The creature huffs out and blood starts dribbling faster from its wound.

It hasn't ran away.

Straightening to my full height, it does the same. We both step around each other, circling, waiting for either of us to begin.

Its ears flush backwards, close to its head, with its mouth opening wide baring its teeth at me roaring in short bursts.

The noise is deafening. It is clear the creature will not let me go. One of us will have to die, but it will not be me if it can be helped.

This time we switch places from assaulted to assailant. I am the one to swing first, predator against predator.

My claws dig deep into its arm, piercing through the thick hide down to the muscle as we both come together in a ferocious battle. Wrestling together for supreme dominance over the other.

We both growl, snarl, roar, and tussle into a heap of carnage.

Claws and teeth baring down into many blows.

In the amidst of action claws rake over some of the exposed flesh of my back and I return the favor by gouging the small hump on its own back. Tit for tat

Blood runs onto the ground from our wounds into small droplets of red and purple splashes of color onto pale gold and orange leaves.

The air cracks with the heavy blows we exchange.

Until we are both heaving together tired but unrelenting toward defeat.

We will continue until one of us concedes with death.

Ooohohohooo. 😉 Our high commander is alive! 🎊 Pregnancy confirmed! So many revelations over these last few pages! Don't you agree? Thank you for your support and interest. Please comment, like, and subscribe.

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