Mother fears I am growing distracted from my place in the hive - from my duties. I must agree. But, I an feeling a rather unfamiliar emotion, one that seems to make me light, and heavy at the same time.

Aviws, I feel your mind is wandering. Individual thought is dangerous to the hive. You must destroy these thoughts, before they become a disease upon your mind.

Mother is right. Individual thought is dangerous to our survival.

But, this new emotion tears away at me night and day. Even as I patrol the hatchery, watching the young emerge from their eggs, devouring their hosts, I imagine her, here again, successful in her mission. T-453 is gone, and Mother proudly bears her to the hatchery. Bound like others before her, the angel of cleansing planted in her womb, she stands with quiet dignity, ready to shed the cage that imprisons her. I see the beauty emerging from the beast, reborn again, and I watch her grow, no longer soft and vulnerable and ugly, but sleek and scaled like myself, and how my heart...

Heart? There it is. It puzzles me, and I hesitate in my patrol. All the others stop as well, sensing my falter.

What is it Aviws?

I shake my head free of such thoughts. Free of disturbance and continue my patrol. My duty above all.

******

" Interesting. Very interesting."

General Phineas Derricksonn smiled down at the Lieutenant. The officer had been posted for some time at a local hospital, as a means to report any suspicious activity. His diligence had been rewarded.

" And you say she broke the wall?"

" Ye'sir," The Lieutenant nodded," Crack the size of Montana from ceiling to floor."

The General turned around at his desk, his eyes glittering greedily. Those, snot-nosed top-brass in the Military were going to get a little surprise, once he got a hold of this. See how they liked having him thumb his nose at their humiliation for a change.

" Sir, do you think it's a return from the test run of '46?" The Lieutenant suddenly blurted.

Phineas blinked.

" Possibly." Was his delayed answer," Possibly. But, we have to be sure. No use exposing ourselves and taking chances."

" Yes, sir."

" Keep a steady eye on her development. Keep me informed."

A curt nod, then the officer left, swiveling on heels smartly. The General silently congratulated himself. This could be the opportunity the organization needed. This...superhuman, alien.

All the officers started as a soft chuckle rolled across the dark lab room. The General's chair shook.

****

I didn't sleep at all that night. I had made contact with one of the humans. Sufficed to say, it gave me more of an incentive to elliminate them from the planet. If such a race were allowed to leave, they would risk havoc!
There were no windows in the room - it was relatively empty, except for the bed and the soft leaping sphere they'd given me. There was a long panel of reflective metal, but I dared not look in it, for fear I would see the beast that I was. These beasts. I lay back on my pillow. I had to keep my priorities straight. I WOULD join my mother. I would be one of them. I would be just like Aviws. These...horrible bags of flesh would soon be discarded. Still, I felt a complete failure. How could I have let them take me captive, worse yet, imprison me? Aviws would be ashamed.
As I contemplated my failings, I made my decision. One night...very soon, I was going to attempt an escape. I would prove that this weak water-bag was only a temporary confinement, that within, I had the soul of my Mother's Race.

****

Harrey sat up in his bed only to slump back down again.

" 0300. And I still can't sleep. Why not?"

He felt a lot more disappointed then usual. It had been nearly two weeks since he'd first seen that girl, Sayakuri. Every day for a fortnight, he'd come in sat down, and talked. And every day, for that same fortnight, she'd sat there, throwing the ball and ignoring him. Where had he gone wrong?

His lungs had returned to normal, and he could breath again. Soon, they'd release him from the hospital. Soon, he'd rejoin his friends, only this time, he'd be able to do all the things that normal kids could do.

He'd been born with strong lungs. They'd lasted him through 5 years of his life, before he'd caught that strange disease brought back from Mars. They had never been the same after that. It wasn't too bad, asthma flared up every now and then, but nothing severe. But, it had kept him from playing all the games his friends enjoyed. His hope of a normal life had seemed fairly slim.

Then, his brother had told him about this surgery, said it was a newly developed procedure that would fix the airways in his lungs. Talen had warned it would mean a few weeks of horrible asthma as an aftereffect, but once that passed, he'd be able to breath like everyone else. He'd been so excited. It'd taken four shots of anesthetic before he'd finally collapsed at the operating table.

And now, here he was. Breathing like he was supposed to. So why didn't he want to leave?

CRASH!

Without much thought, he jumped out of bed, and ran out into the hallway to see what was going on. Sayakuri! Harrey ran to her, as she gasped softly. He blinked. She couldn't breath?

Her body was limp, but her eyes were open in a horrified expression of panic. He carefully picked her up, expecting to feel his head complaining with the strain. But, she was considerably lighter than he anticipated, and he had to look down to be sure he was actually carrying a person, and not some figment of his imagination. Everything about her was slim, and pale - even he, who was shorter than most of the people in his class, was taller than her by at least three inches. Cradling her tiny body to his chest, he ran as fast as he could back to the gas room.
The door had been busted wide open! A set of security doors had closed to keep the air from escaping, and a silent alarm flashed. He looked down in amazement. Had SHE done this? Grabbing his mask from a desk by the door, he slipped it on before calmly tapping the pass-code he'd seen Sarie use. Hopefully, the security doors used the same code as the regular ones. Sure enough they opened. Wonder whose bright idea that was...

As he sat down on the bed, she clung to him, coughing pathetically, and gasping for air. The purple gas was drawn into her lungs, and slowly, she was revitalized. She lay panting against his chest, oblivious to her surroundings. Harrey just sat patiently as she clutched his nightshirt, her own little hospital gown limp. Suddenly her body began to quiver again, and he looked down in alarm. She was crying.

" Are you alright?"

She wrenched herself free and ran to her corner. He sat on the bed, watching her sob silently. Finally, he saw her breathing even out. He waited patiently as she sat silently breathing, her eyes closed. She was actually sort of pretty. Her hair was the darkest black he'd ever seen, and her eyes - he couldn't tell what color they were, since it was so dark.

Her voice startled him back to reality.

" Why?"

This was the first word he'd heard her speak to him in two weeks, and it was a question that astonished him.

" Why, what?"

" Why did you save me?"

" I would have done it for any other person." He shrugged casually.

" But, I'm not a person. I'm not one of you. I said that already, didn't I?"

" Everyone's a person. You're just a little different, that's all."

" I'm more than different."

I looked around this room for the first time, looked at how bare it was, the only thing colorful being the ball, and the air...the air...

" Why do you need this? Is it some sort of medicine?"

*****

For some reason, I found it hard to keep information from this boy. Everything, from my mother, to her plan, spilled out over the past three hours. He just listened silently, correcting me when I stumbled over words. I tried to hate it...to despise the fact that I was willingly telling him everything he needed to know. But, for some reason, I felt it was needed. That I could trust him.

A part of me still screamed to stop. It called out to Aviws and Mother, and anyone among my brother's and sister's to save me. But, yet another part, seemed sadly homesick, and as I talked, it seemed a rather heavy burden that had looped around my neck, was falling away...I NEEDED TO STOP!

*****

As abruptly as she'd started, her voice died away like the echo of a harp. She seemed almost insane, murmuring something to herself beneath her breath, her hands clutched so tightly in fists that they were mottled with white and red.

Harrey didn't know why he'd believed everything she'd been telling him. Or why he wasn't surprised. Shouldn't he have been? And yet, he nodded as she'd spoken, as though being a spy sent by an Alien force was normal for children. Suddenly, she slumped over.

Cautiously, he walked over to her and picked her up. He watched her as she curled closer, clutching his shirt, murmuring something beneath her breath. And he smiled. She seemed so fragile. He sat watching her from the edge of her bed, her side moving up and down with each breath, as he pondered her question. Why had he saved her?

~

This adds for a nice twist, no? Aviws is daydreaming (whether he knows it or not), and now Harrey is drawn into this little triangle. Not to mention General Phineas Derricksonn, and his mysterious Lieutenant at the hospital...Interesting...