Suri smiled as she heard her mother's voice calling. The asari carefully set her new daughter into the hamper her closet. It wasn't much of a bed, but it would have to do for now... At least until she could convince her mother to let the little serpent stay. "Stay here. I'll be right back, I just have to talk to my mom for a while... Are you afraid of the dark?" the tween whispered.
'I don't have any eyes Mother. Darkness means something completely different to my species...'
Suri gave the tiny form an incredulous look before responding "I'll take that as a no... See you soon." And with that she shut the closet door.
"Amelia!"
Doctor Miribet turned her head to look at her wife. "Hey Josie..." she sighed as she hung up her parka.
"What's the matter?" the asari asked as she shared a quick embrace with her lover. The blonde stood in silence awhile, unsure of how to break all this bad news to her partner, before she finally spoke. "We found Jude in the caves... He's dead."
"Oh no..."
The human doctor sighed again before stating "And that's not even the bad part..."
"What could be worse?" Josie asked, dumbfounded by what her wife was saying.
"Honestly... I have no idea. When we found Jude he looked like he was mauled by an Ice Hyena, but whatever killed him only tore a hole in his chest, left all the organs, and ran further into the caves..."
"That's terrible!"
"What's worse is where it went... When we followed the trail it led to the cave right outside the colony!"
The asari paled "The entrance to the east?" she blurted. The doctor's nod only solidified her fears.
"I think we should keep Suri home for a few days. The school is right by that area, and with that monster around I don't think any children should be going near that side of the colony." The blonde nodded in agreement. "I'll have Jeremy tell everyone tommorrow... Do you think I should tell Suri what's going on?"
The women shook their heads in unison "No need to scare her."
Unknown to them their daughter had heard the whole conversation. At first the asari girl didn't know what to think of the news, but after a few minutes to let it sink in she smiled again. 'Tundra isn't a monster, and she certainly isn't a mindless killer like an Ice Hyena. Maybe this is just a big misunderstanding...' she thought to herself. She decided to ask the xenomorph about that later, right now she had to spend some time with her parents.
"Mom, you're back!" the tweenager blurted as she came out from around the corner. The girl laughed as her 'father' pulled her into a bear hug.
"Guess what Suri." the blonde said as her daughter sat comfortably on her lap.
"What?"
"School's gonna be closed for a little while, so you can spend as much time with us as you want."
The girl's violet eyes shone as she lulled that fact in her head. "Yes!" She said as she fist pumped excitedly, her smile almost splitting her face.
Today was really turning around.
The asari girl continued to smile as she entered her room, to excited by the good news to care about anything else.
"Tundra, you awake?" she asked as she moved to open her closet "You would not believe-" Suri's train of thought derailed as she looked at the figure currently sleeping in her hamper. It was obviously Tundra, her eyeless domed head and segmented serpentine tail remained practically unchanged except for the dramatic increase in size. Her exoskeletal body was curled like a cat's on top of the tiny bin which previously dwarfed her, and her once pure white skin now had a faint winter camo pattern to it. "Tundra?!" said creature looked up at her name.
"Hello Mother, is something wrong?" she asked out loud, her inner mouth causing her to speak in a dual voice.
The asari girl gaped and looked over her daughter in shock. "You. What? How?! I mean-" the praetorian sat up, placing a finger to the girl's sputtering mouth calmly. "Relax. Breathe. Now tell me what's going on." After a deep breath the tween calmly replied "I'm a little surprised... I didn't expect you to grow up so fast. How did you grow that fast anyways?"
The snow colored xenomorph giggled before answering "My species reaches physical maturity within a day of our birth. Most reach it within a few hours."
"Cool... My species aren't usually considered adults until our 100th birthday." Suri said with a weak smile, it faded as her parents' conversation flooded to her mind. "Tundra. Did you... kill someone?"
The xenomorph replied "Only my host. Why, is that strange to your species?"
"Yes Tundra, killing people is wrong! You should never EVER kill another creature!... Well, unless they're trying to kill you first. If an Ice Hyena attacks you, you should defend yourself. Why did you kill him?!"
"I didn't have a choice... My species reproduces parasitically. An egg hatches a stage 1, which latches onto a host organism and implants an embryo before dieing and letting go. The host creature leaves, unknowingly carrying an infant of my species. Once the infant, or stage 2, reaches maturity it leaves the host by bursting from it's rib cage. After escape the stage 2 sheds it's skin and becomes an adult, or stage 3... Do you understand?"
The tween nodded, an emotionless expression on her face. "I think so... Just promise me one thing."
"Anything."
"Please don't kill anyone... for me."
The praetorian smiled and pulled her mother into a hug. "I promise."
