Seeking out new worlds | Glowfic Constellation

The secrets of Delver technology could not resist decryption forever. While the tools they wielded are deeply weird, jealously guarded, and immensely complicated, living beings built the tools that brought aliens to the dragons' first world. The great calamity left ruins aplenty behind, and once grown the Seeker gathered these old tools as their very favorite sort of treasure. Dragons are not intelligent in quite the same way as a No-Tail, but they are far from stupid. They live forever and can be very determined if they set their mind to it.

The Seeker brought all its tools and treasure along with it when the world was evacuated ahead of the Tailless's relentless growth and hunger for resources. It studied under the great elder Darktooth on the new world, studied together with Darktooth (an arrangement not very common with dragons, as they are not particularly social), for a very long time. And eventually, by application of the hard claws of experiment and calculation and theorizing, the universe revealed its workings, cold and precise and mathematical. Creating more and more tools of the highest sophistication, and teaching others of its kind in exchange for wealth, and even spawning offspring and guiding them to adulthood, was all satisfying for a long while, but eventually... He got bored.

And so, the Seeker wondered if the long sleep for the journey between stars was really necessary, and got to work seeing about making it not. He managed it eventually, and built a starship, and went exploring. Stars come in a beautiful variety of kinds, and the worlds around them do too, but very, very few bear any sign of life. They are mostly barren and empty.

...Oh, this one is emitting curious amounts of low-frequency light. Worth investigating. Pushing a starship faster than light requires a touch of magic (at least for now), which he provides.

In the outer solar system of a certain star, well above the plane of the ecliptic, a black sphere the size of a city block appears and has a look around with powerful telescopes.

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"Sounds good!"

The other egg is still very sleepy, though he drinks up an hour or two of tutoring a day and will talk with his hosts about how the world works too... But he shows no signs of hatching even after the 90-day window they were given.

"Do you feel okay in there? You're supposed to hatch pretty soon. Your sister has."

He is getting a little uncomfortable... But it's so warm in here. It feels safe.

Would it be easier if they got a heater and put it by the egg so it would also be warm out here?

Not really. Being warm is just an excuse. He's afraid to hatch really, because everything sounds so big and important, and he's always so sleepy.

He can come out and take a nap right away if he likes! There's no rush!

He will try to hatch soon.

They are so excited to meet him.

He's been here the whole time! But everything will be different when he's hatched.

...He'll never get this peaceful quiet safety of the egg back again. Egg time is irreplaceable. So. Maybe a little longer.

They're not sure that's even safe. They could ask, maybe?

If he gets too uncomfortable he'll try to hatch. It's only a little bit uncomfortable right now.

Sometimes things that are only a little uncomfortable turn out to be really dangerous!

It doesn't feel dangerous. But he wouldn't know. Ahhh, something new to be scared about!

They're going to keep him safe! He'll be okay! They just don't know if he's going to run out of something he needs in there or wind up with a spinal deformation if he doesn't uncurl or something.

...If he comes out deformed because he waited too long that would be bad.

They agree.

(He stews in indecision for a while, then falls asleep.)

They email the conference to ask if delayed hatching is risky.

The Seeker

newtruth

...Delayed hatching will eventually lead to death in the shell, and can also mean the hatchling comes out very hungry and weak, which meant death in the ancestral environment but presumably would not in this case. It is not clear if there is a risk of it causing deformities but the Seeker's educated guess is anything short of death will heal in time.

Having your egg broken open for you will cause stigma. Traditional Draak will question whether the hatchling is worthy to live. Being raised by Amentans is likely to make them a bit of an outsider already; Not hatching himself would be much worse. If possible the hatchling should hatch themselves.

When Katmem wakes up the blues inform him of this.

That makes him angry. No. Of course he is worthy to live. Who do these other-Draak think they are? And he'll prove it!

Egg wobbles. And radiates irritation. And wobbles. And cracks slightly.

Oh good. (They film the hatching.)

It takes a while. No sudden bursting of the side of the egg. Bit by bit the top cracks apart, and eventually he levers himself out, covered in goo.

I did it. See? I'm not weak! I will live!

(The shell is largely intact, and the inside of Draak eggshell is pretty - speckled with white dots on a background sheen of dark pinks and purples, almost reminiscent of nebulae in space.)