“Mi durah.”

Hayden’s dots flared a thousand degrees. He was ready to throw the radio if it didn’t break in his hand first. It took him everything to reply. “You have no right to call me that. After all you did…”

“I had to, you foolish boy.”

“Bullsh*t! You’re the most selfish thing--”

“Don’t you dare talk about something you do not understand. You know only half the story. Bring me those eggs, mi durah. And you will know the full picture and what I had to do for a brat like you.”

“Not before I strangle the colors out of you.”

“I would love to see you try.” With that, Morgan left the channel, leaving the poor radio in Hayden’s mercy.

“We have to give him these eggs, Hayden,” Glen tried, but Hayden wasn’t having it.

“I don’t care what he wants. These eggs can not be handed over to someone like him. Think Glen. Do you want them to have a life where they’re seen as nothing more than a tool that breeds?”

“Emols are much more than that! You are much more than that and your father--”

“He’s nothing to me!” Hayden hissed. “And what are you to me, huh? Why are you so determined for me to side with a monster like him?”

“Because…” Glen stepped back as if a force made him. His dots flickered rapidly, a hand over his heart. “Ever since I saw you hatch...you meant everything to us. To your fathers. To me. And watching you fall into a path a stranger coaxed you on…” he takes a breath, letting that hand fall to his side. “I was your protector, Hayden. I kept you safe.”

With our cover shot in every possible degree, Ren took a breath of his own, whistling for his two sons to enter the dome with their their blasters aimed at us, ready to shoot.

Ren drew his own, aimed directly at my head, making Hayden reach for his own. “What a touching revelation. But I agree with the Emol. These eggs are going nowhere with you.”

Glen clenched his jaw, pulling Hayden behind him. I had backed up against one of the pedestals, holding my wounded side.

“Can’t say that I didn’t see that one coming. With the ill fitted clothes.”

Ren shrugged, stepping closer to me.

“What I don’t understand is why your humans friends didn’t trust you with this place. Kind of mean to make you guard something without access.”

“Because it was sealed by the time my sons and I got here. I don’t know where the humans have gone.”

“So you’re going to shoot the next one you see?”

“If I must, to protect them and the Emol.”

I tripped on one of the vines when I tried to go back to the stairs, rolling down them instead and of course on the side that was already abused. I gasped in pain, seeing dark spots forming again. I managed to get out of the way before he could reach me, getting to my feet.

“Let’s just talk, alright?”

Hayden managed a scornful snort to remind me how much talking worked for us so far.

“There’s nothing to discuss,” Ren replied. I ignored him, sucking in a breath.

“I call a meeting with Ren!” My voice fizzled out when he continued his advancement. “Who’s trying to kill me…please, Ren. Hear me out.”

The old alien was in no mood to deal with me, clicking his tongue out of annoyance. He gave his sons a nod to guard Hayden and Glen as he dragged me by the arm to someplace more private. Hayden was ready to pounce to my aid, but Glen stopped him with a hand to his chest, whispering something in his ear. Hayden batted his hand away, staying there and watching me leave with Ren.

I winced when he pushed me against the dome’s wall, holding my wounded side even tighter as it flared.

He looked almost looked sympathetic, “You have five seconds. Start talking.”

“What if I told you that I can make both parties happy?”

“I’ll tell you that you’re idiotic and that I don’t trust you,” he crossed his arms, “nor the son of Morgan, my enemy.”

The fact that Hayden was Morgan’s son was hard to believe. They looked nothing alike beside the expression they shared to keep people in the dark. Maybe without the makeup I’ll believe it. Or perhaps Hayden took after his other father.

“The feeling is mutual,” I tell him. “But we’ll have to work together if we want this to work.”

Ren frowned, “And how are you going to make this...work?”

“Well, how heavy are those eggs?”

He scoffed.

Ren had ships because…

“They figured I would need a way out if trouble arises. Or a way for my sons to get a word out to the Mother-ship. Or, you know, the planet collapse.”

“Does it happen often?” I ask.

“It’s a hit or miss.”

“I guess they never miss--” I stopped when he shot me a look. “Right.”

Glen, Hayen, and I had followed Ren back to the bunker with one of his sons carrying the cargo behind us.

Ren pulled back one of the mats to reveal a large trap door underneath. He grabbed the latch and slid the door back with some effort on his end.

Cold air rushed in, smacking our faces like an angry ex. The creak of medal echoed from the shift.

Glen was ready to leave B.O.B behind, waiting for Ren’s promise of giving him the container of the eggs. The container was made to protect the eggs on their way into the wretched hands of the Captain. Ren’s description, not mine.

Fun fact, Madu eggs aren’t that heavy. Just under the weight of a bird egg they can be related to, they would need the touch of an emol to help hatch into the world once they’re ready. I always imagined a baby bird squawking instead of a newborn. Hayden wasn’t as amused as I thought he would be, declaring that eggs would never be part of his diet ever again.

“Because you’re afraid you’ll crack the wrong egg?”

“Think, Kohl,” he was serious, “What if someone cracked a human egg?”

I blinked, making sure I heard him right. “Hold on...you believe that I came from…” I couldn’t help but bellow out a laugh, losing the ability to breathe, “A human egg!”

“But--” Hayden looked confused, innocent on the idea.

“No, no...oh, gods, no.”

He thought I was dying.

I suppose that fact was more important than trees. “I’ll tell you later.”

Ren was the first to descend into the icy realm after we were all suited up to survive it. Glen was next after the son handed him the container. Hayden and I followed after.

The son stayed above to allow his father back inside later, closing the trap door in our wake.