No clue about where this Ss'sik'chtokiwij's name or where she'd come from, but I knew she was bad news.

Worse, no one in the room knew anything about defending themselves, the stereotype about all Asians knowing Kung Fu proven incorrect.

That doesn't mean nobody tried.

Sunny, for example, had somehow survived the effects of the Ss'sik'chtokiwij's quill, dragging her little boy into the relative safety of the adjoining kitchen. She came out armed with a can of bug spray.

The woman marched straight up to the horned creature, blasting its face with a cloud of foul smelling chemical.

This only annoyed the Ss'sik'chtokiwij, and, lacking suitable ventilation, the fumes did not dissipate.

The Ss'sik'chtokiwij retaliated by aiming all its protuberances at her, impaling her body at several vulnerable points. Sunny's head slammed into a chair as she collapsed on the floor.

The creature wrapped the woman in a slime cocoon as quickly and efficiently as a spider, ramming an egg down her throat.

I had to do something. I trusted these people.

Not wanting any more to die, I touched a glob of steaming acid to the remaining bolt on the vent cover, pushing it open with an all too noisy clang.

I thought this trouble enough, but then I heard a child's voice behind me. "Hi. Are you Ernie?"

A little boy. Definitely not Calvin.

I glanced back and a skinny blonde haired figure in overalls stared back at me. His resemblance to Rebecca was striking.

I remembered him from our brief encounter in the corridor. "Yes. I'm Ernie. Is your name Timmy?"

He looked like one of those kids that follow a cowboy around in those old westerns. Kind of a lean southern look. "Yeah. Have you seen my sister?"

"I'm trying to help her."

"Wait. How do you know my name?"

"How do you know mine?"

"She talked to you...where's your leash?"

"Not important. You need to get out of here now, while you still can. The alien in that room is not friendly." I frowned. "How did you get in here anyway?"

He pointed behind him. "There's a ladder. Where's my sister?"

"She's in a bedroom in the back. If the Lord wills it, I shall take her out of there before it's too late." I waved him away. "I'll get your sister. Go find someplace to hide."

Timmy handed me a doll. "When you see my sister, give her this."

I stared in puzzlement. "What is it?"

"It's Kaycee. Nowdays she doesn't go very far without it."

I set it down on the aluminum floor. "Let's come back for that later."

Timmy nodded, backing down the duct.

Rats can compress their bodies and internal organs to squeeze through tight spaces. Dolphins, which are now extinct, also once possessed this remarkable ability, even regulating their blood pressure to swim comfortably at great depths.

As I mentioned in the story about my grandmother, a Ss'sik'chtokiwij withstands the pressure of space for the same reason.

This ability to compress my body proved useful during my escape from my little cell, and now, as I faced an opening at least an inch and a half smaller than my body, it came in use again.

The boy tried to crawl out after me, but I had regained enough nerve contact with my tail to shove him backwards with it.

I knocked over a chair as I stepped out on the carpeting, making my presence even more obvious to the strange Ss'sik'chtokiwij.

I had not moved a foot before something made a loud pop and hit my shoulder plate.

I whirled around. Kumar had a gun pointed at me.

"Whoa!" I shouted, raising my arms in surrender. "Hey! Watch where you're pointing that!"

I ducked just a second before he pulled the trigger again.

I raised my arms once more. Sure I had a blade attached to my arm, but he didn't know that. "Stop! I come in peace!"

I crossed myself.

The man eyed me with suspicion.

I gave him a low bow. "Grace and peace be unto you from our Lord and savior Jesus Christ."

Kumar furrowed his brow.

I put my claws up. "Don't shoot me. I'm trying to help. Just hold your fire for a moment.

He frowned, pointing the gun away from me, but didn't set it down.

I figured I only had a minute or so before he fired again, so I had to work fast.

I approached the strange Ss'sik'chtokiwij. "Hello. My name is Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik. What is your name?"

She seemed to smile in response. "Ssorzechola. You look as beautiful as S'Caizlixadac when she was your age."

I gawked at her. "You knew my mother?"

"Of course," she laughed. "I'm her sister!"

"I didn't know she had a sister!"

"We got in a fight a long time ago."

"She has that affect on people."

Behind me, someone (probably Kumar), dragged an unconscious person out the open doorway. I decided to keep Ssorzechola busy. "Where have you been all this time?"

"I stayed with Mother when your mother got in a fight with her and ran off." She sighed. "But then of course she eventually drove me away too.

"There is another human habitation on this rock. Or rather was. I've been living off them for several months, but then there weren't any more, so I moved on."

"So you're going to kill and eat these people too, until there's nothing left here either?"

"Perhaps," she purred.

"What happens if you run out of humans to eat? What then?"

Ssorzechola laughed. "Nonsense. There will always be more humans."

"What if there aren't? What if you kill them all and you're left with nothing? What then?"

"I don't understand the question."

"If this base runs out of people, are you going to start eating other Ss'sik'chtokiwij? What are you going to do?"

Ssorzechola frowned. "You're awfully pessimistic."

That was when I got a genius idea. At least I thought it genius at the time..."Look. Humans have developed a system for such things. .."

She didn't let me finish. "Humans have a plan for being eaten? Fascinating!"

"No, they breed animals, and let them make more animals, so they can eat them without running out."

Ssorzechola tapped a claw to her chin. "This idea intrigues me. How does it work?"

"Well..." Now I have her! I thought. "Just leave these humans alone, and let me see to their breeding. You can take other humans somewhere else."

She shook her head. "No, no. I'm the older Ss'sik'chtokiwij, and I get first pick. I've selected these humans, and rendered them unconscious. Once you have your breeding farm set up, I'll gladly leave it alone, but these ones are mine."

I felt conflicted. I've learned from experience that most Ss'sik'chtokiwij can't be verbally persuaded into not eating humans, but Maria's recent victories gave me hope that other methods might actually work.

I hesitated.

"So what about you? What's your story?"

I gave her an abbreviated account of my life's story, and my conversion to Christianity. As I did, she casually flicked her tail through Basarthra's chest.

"Please don't do that."

"What," she said, flicking her tail into one of the twin brothers. "This?"

I extended the blade on my weapon. "I'm not going to ask you again."

Ssorzechola chuckled. "Someone is getting too large for their egg."

"Show me your secret tongue."

"What, so you can cut it off?"

I retracted the blade. "No. I wish for you to understand the meaning of Jesus, and why humans are more than just food and egg laying material, or puppets."

I extended my Wooby Worm, but Ssorzechola only recoiled.

"You are diseased. By doing this, you will infect me."

"This is coming from someone diseased with parasites!" I brought my tongue worms closer to her face. "You are afraid," I slurred as I pulled them back in. "A great big Ss'sik'chtokiwij like you, afraid."

I brought them out again.

"Stop that. It's obscene."

I put them away once more. "You are a coward. You use your brute strength to get what you want, and when someone asks for something simple like the sharing of minds, you get scared and run away like the little flightless bird that humans eat."

Enraged, Ssorzechola struck me with the back of her hand, knocking me into a row of chairs. "You are but a hatchling! Don't ever call me a coward again!"

"What should I call a big Ss'sik'chtokiwij that goes around attacking little creatures weaker than her? That certainly isn't the act of a brave Ss'sik'chtokiwij."

Ssorzechola grabbed me by the throat, hurling me into the pulpit, which splintered thunderously into several pieces as I fell upon it.

I extended my blade. "It seems the time for peaceful negotiations is passed."

"Apparently so," she growled.