Jeremy cursed when he accidentally dropped a piece of the Drikenyl shield generator onto a pile of other pieces, triggering an avalanche of falling ceramics, metals, and shaped tubing onto his foot. “Dammit,” he fished out his leg from underneath the pile of materials and flailed about as he almost lost his balance, “I guess I should be more organized.”
Agreed. the Drikenyl technician sang, its scales shimmering white in boredom. It impatiently swam back and forth along the large viewport that was inset into the wall before ringing out a tone of exasperation and disappearing down into the exit port below.
“Well, I guess he got sick of supervising me.” Jeremy said to himself as he found a particularly smooth piece of ceramic and sat down on it. He surveyed the mess around him. The shield generator was big, but it seemed to get bigger and bigger as Jeremy slowly took it apart to examine it. Sections of his lab were piled knee-high with various trinkets and pieces, some softly glowing blue from an unknown energy source. The muted construction noises emanating from above continued to rattle quietly through Jeremy’s Pathfinder Physics lab as Jeremy stretched his arms and yawned, “I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
A small plopping noise sounded behind him as Jeremy stood up again to resume his work. The white Drikenyl technician had returned, with another Drikenyl that was missing a wingfin, as well as both of its front limbs.
“Oh, you brought a friend! Welcome to my lab.” Jeremy said as he noticed the injured Drikenyl was holding several ovoid, rock-like objects with its hind limbs, “What are you doing here? Have you come to help out as well?”
Curiosity, the injured Drikenyl sang. Jeremy wasn’t quite sure how he was able to discern which Drikenyl was ‘talking,’ but he somehow just knew.
“Just want to see what I’m up to, eh? Well, I’m sure that your friend can tell you all about my misadventures with this shield generator.” Jeremy said as he waded through the scattered shield parts towards the generator core that sat in the middle of the room.
Already done. Wanted to see for myself. It said coyly, while shimmering pink in supposed mirth.
The Drikenyl technician also shimmered its scales into a pink colour, wiggling around the injured Drikenyl as if sharing some sort of inside joke.
“Having some fun at my expense? Ah that’s ok, I have a tough skin.” Jeremy started wading towards the pair of Drikenyl, “What’s that you got there in your feet?”
Younglings-to-be.
“Drikenyl eggs? Cool!” Jeremy remarked as he peered closer at the ovoid objects. Grey and brown in colour, they were almost indistinguishable from any random rock that you would find on the ocean floor. The only telltale sign that it was anything more was the fact that it seemed to float in the water. “Are these yours?”
Negative. Caretaker.
“So you guard all of the eggs for the other Drikenyl?”
Correct. Broken body. Cannot build. Cannot hunt. It sang as its scales flickered from pink to blue.
Useful contributor! the Drikenyl technician encouraged, Body will heal.
“Yeah, hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure everyone will agree that these eggs need guarding! This is the first generation of Drikenyl to be hatched on your new homeworld. On our homeworld! It’s a very important job!” Jeremy replied.
Affirmative, the Drikenyl technician confirmed.
Gratitude. The injured Drikenyl shimmered orange as it passed the eggs from his limbs into his remaining wingfin, and used it to carefully float them in front of Jeremy. The brown and gray orbs seemed to twitch every now and then, as if the tiny lifeforms inside were eager to be released from their embryonic cages.
Soon.