Samus arrived at Minah's study later than usual, digging one fist into the sleepy eye that had not been damaged by the ceramic ball. "Good morning, Samus," Minah greeted her. "Did you not sleep well?"

"I had a nightmare," she said drowsily, climbing up into the chair as if it comforted her.

"Oh?" Minah examined the bruised eye, noting that the girl's white blood cells had already eaten away at quite a bit of the black-and-blue coloring. "Which nightmare was that?"

The girl yawned, but squirmed restlessly. "The one with the dragon."

"I see. Did you try what I told you?"

"I can't, yet. I don't know I'm dreaming till I wake up." She made a motion with her hand as if aiming the blaster she used for training. "Maybe next time I'll blow him up."

Minah examined the pupil of Samus's injured eye. "You know the dragon won't come here, right?"

"Uh huh."

"And why is that?"

"Because there's nothing here it wants," she replied automatically, as she had many times before.

"Very good."

Samus wriggled out of the chair. "Minah, can I go see Old Bird now?"

Minah frowned. "I don't know, your eye is healing quickly, but if you were to get another injury…"

Samus stared up at her, eyes pleading. "Pleeeaase, Minah?"

Minah shook her head. "I don't think it's a good idea. It should be all right by tomorrow, though." When the little girl's face fell, Minah said, "Oh, I nearly forgot…Bamy said the lab would be open today. Why don't you go pay him a visit?"

Samus immediately brightened. "It is? Okay! See you later, Minah."

She trotted out the door and down the pathway, dodging into the shadows as the powerful sun beat down with great force. The more delicate plants had folded up to preserve water, the smaller insects and reptiles hid in their holes under the earth. The Chozo themselves mostly stayed indoors.

She stopped at the foot of a very large, very thick-walled building that had faded metal interspersed with the diamond-hard rock foundation. The door, nearly thick as she was tall, stood open. Samus paid little attention to the notes posted on the walls, heading for a particular room with a particular person within it.

Bamy, a male Chozo, stood in front of a lab table with a list of measurements in his hands. His eyes, which had not dulled over yet from complacency like the rest of the Chozo, brightened further when he saw the small girl enter. "Hello, Samus! You got here pretty quickly - did you hear me open the main door?"

"Minah told me." She scrambled up onto one of the chairs. "Did you find anything new, Bamy?"

Bamy lifted her up and set her down near a set of cages along one wall, keeping his hand on her shoulder so she would not move too close. "This one's a chameleon of some kind…hasn't changed color since I brought it in, though. I think its new environment has shocked it a bit."

Samus peered into the glass cage at the lizard-like creature with a long tail, horned head, and brilliant colors zigzagging up and down its body. "It's pretty."

"It is, isn't it? Not safe to touch, though…venomous teeth in the back of its mouth."

Samus didn't shy away. Most of the animals on Zebes had one trait or another that made it perilous to ordinary humans. She, like the Chozo, had learned how to live around them without provoking them. In fact, she felt immediately drawn to the most dangerous specimens, the thicker, shaded cages offering tantalizing promises of the wonders locked inside.

"What's this one?" she asked, pointing to a floating, jellyfish-like blob.

Bamy frowned. "That's an invader from one of the local planets. It shouldn't be here, and I can't figure out how it got off its home planet. It's not supposed to be able to survive here."

"Have you seen it before?"

"Yes, I'm quite familiar with it." He took Samus's hand. "Come on, there's lots of other things to look at that aren't dangerous. Here, I found some leaper chicks. Do you want to hold one?"

Samus eagerly held out her hands. Bamy placed one of the chicks, a small, fuzzy creature, into the palm of her hand. She giggled. "It's soft!"

Bamy smiled. "Here, do you want to feed it? They hatch all ready to go…here's some nakka seeds, it should take them right out of your hands."

Samus gingerly handed the creature the seeds, and it took them one by one, its beady eyes blinking at her as it snuffled into her palm. In the background they heard a loud banging as one of the creatures apparently did not like being confined. Bamy stepped over to the reinforced cages to investigate, when suddenly the sound of shattering glass rent the air, accompanied by a shrill shriek.

Before she could even react, Samus felt herself being yanked off the floor by Bamy and thrown into a small, windowless chamber not much bigger than she was. Panicked, she banged on the door with her small fists. "Bamy, Bamy! Let me out, Bamy!"

Despite the thick walls of the chamber, she could hear yelling, animal shrieks, and the sound of glass and furniture breaking. She beat her hands against the door, hitting harder and harder as her panic grew. Soon she started to throw her whole body against the walls, as if sheer force of will could be enough to escape. Her voice went hoarse as she yelled Bamy's name.

Finally, with no way of knowing how much time had passed, the door opened. Samus rushed out and stopped dead as she came face to face with some gigantic metallic creature. The creature quickly pulled at the top of its head; the outer shell came off and Bamy's head appeared. "Sorry, Samus. Didn't mean to scare you."

"Bamy!" she reached for him and he picked her up. Suddenly she realized there were several other Chozo in the room, Old Bird and Minah included. Minah gently took one of Samus's hands in hers, turning the girl's wrist slightly so they could see the redness and bruising there.

"Bamy, look what you've done," she said with a gentle reprimand. "Of course she's going to panic if something like this happens with no explanation."

He shot her an irritated look. "What was I supposed to do, keep her out here while I fought that thing?"

"You shouldn't let Samus in here," Old Bird scolded. "She's not strong enough yet to deal with the creatures you keep in this place."

"I'm fine now," Samus insisted, more interested in the metal armor Bamy was wearing. "What's this?"

He smiled. "Just some old safety equipment I had lying around."

"It looks good on you!"

With a laugh, he replied, "Why, thank you!"

"Bamy, why do you insist on keeping these things?" Old Bird demanded. "We've no use for this kind of research now. All that was needed is over and done. There's no point to attempting to bring back the glory days of our civilization."

Bamy scowled at him. "Listen, Armenius, just because the rest of you are happy with slowly fading out of existence, doesn't mean I'm just going to sit around and rot until it's my turn."

"You're supposed to be helping us with Samus, not getting her killed!" Minah snapped.

He scowled at her. "If you really want Samus to be safe, you should send her back to the humans. I thought you wanted more for her than that."

"And just how does this contribute to her upbringing?" Old Bird demanded.

"She has to learn how to deal with the creatures of other worlds at some point," Bamy replied.

"Best when she is still young, before she lets fear take root in her heart."

"Oh? What about the bruising on her hands?" Old Bird snapped. "Do you think she would have reacted that way if she knew you were keeping her safe?"

"Why bother giving her fighting training at all if you expect her to shy away from everything?" Bamy countered.

"I want to get down," Samus said, trying to wriggle out of Bamy's arms. The other three stopped talking and watched as Bamy set her on the floor. She glanced up at Old Bird. "Don't be mad at Bamy. I didn't know he had a suit of armor."

Old Bird sighed. "Well, it's not Bamy I was angry with, Samus. Bamy knows how to use that armor. I was more worried about you."

"I'm okay now." She glanced up at Bamy. "Can I have an armor suit, too?"

Bamy smiled. "Sorry, they only come in one size."

"I suppose if she had the proper equipment, this wouldn't be an issue," said Minah. "But she's not ready for that sort of thing yet. We're still monitoring the effects of the Long Sleep."

"How about this," Bamy suggested. "We'll keep her studies to the more harmless creatures for now. The others I'll store in a separate room."

"A fair compromise, I suppose," Old Bird agreed. "All right. But we're taking Samus now, and she's not allowed back in here until you finish the modifications."

Bamy agreed. "Come along," Minah said as she took Samus's hand. "You can visit with Bamy when he's finished."

Samus nodded, and let Minah lead her out. On the way she stretched out her hand to pick up what she thought was the flyer chick she had been holding earlier.

But it couldn't have been, she thought to herself, for when she touched it, it crumbled into dust.