Contact

"It was leathery and brown and splotchy, but it was definitely an egg. I began crying, but Aguuuu pulled me tightly to him and covered both me and the egg with his wings. He tucked me in very tightly with the egg between our bodies and held me close all night. The next morning he got up only to bring me fruits and nuts. After I had eaten, he again covered me and the egg with his wings. Every so often, he would allow me to leave the nest to use the toilet facilities. Their unique operation is explained in a separate log file.

"Aguuuu spent hours holding me and slowly stroking my body. It wasn't enough to bring me to climax, but I was in a constant high state of sexual arousal. This continued for another twenty-seven days. As the shell dried out, the egg became harder and harder until it was a very solid sphere lodged between us in the nest.

"On the twenty-eighth day, I felt the shell moving and heard soft tapping noises. At one point, Aguuuu leaned forward and pecked the shell smartly with his beak so that it clearly cracked. After that, he stepped out of the nest and stood alongside it watching as Contact pushed his way out of the shell.

"As soon as my son was clear of his shell, his father put him in my arms and guided his baby beak to my breasts. I cringed as he latched onto my breast, expecting pain, but instead his soft beak formed itself over my nipple and he began to suckle.

"He grew rapidly and in a few weeks was weaned. Aguuuu showed me how to cut up the fruit into very small pieces which he, and then I, dropped into Contact's open mouth. When he was four months old, he began screeching back and forth with his father. A few weeks later, he said his first words to me. He said, 'I love you.'

"I hadn't realized that I was constantly saying that to him until he repeated it. I hadn't expected him to be able to speak. After that, I worked at teaching him English and began showing him the history and science videos from the ship. I called him, 'My Little One,' but at about age two, he told me, 'Mother, my name is Contact.' He also began to explain his world to me.

"That is when I learned that my husband's name was Aguuuu and that the people were called Bluuuur. Contact also explained that the Bluuuur were unable to comprehend any of my speech or video images because their brains processed sight and sound so differently from ours. He told me that to Aguuuu, my videos were just scrambled colors and shapes, just as his videos were to me. And my drawings of shapes and images were just meaningless scribbles to Aguuuu's eyes. Contact, because he was from both of us and had been raised by both of us, understands the sights and sounds of both cultures.

"One day, when Contact was about ten years old, he and Aguuuu came to me. Contact said, 'Father has asked that I translate what he has to say.' Aguuuu then screeched and trilled and Contact translated. 'I am sorry for what was necessary,' he began. 'There was no other way to bridge the difference between our cultures. While you were unconscious that first day, our scientists removed your genetic materials and spliced them together with mine. The result was then implanted within you. The procedure can be done only once, and unfortunately, it also prevents you from having more offspring of your own genetic line. It was thought best that we mate normally so that you might understand that I was the offspring's father.'

"Aguuuu's trilling became almost unmusical. I had learned to recognize that meant that he was very uncomfortable, almost embarrassed. Contact continued, 'Father says that he is sorry for any pain which he has caused you. He is also sorry that your artificial feathers were destroyed. Had they realized that it was clothing rather than some sort of snare or control web, they would have allowed you to retain them. If you desire, he will have the artisans try to recreate them for you.'

"I had become so used to being naked, that I laughed and told him not to bother. I also told Contact to tell him that I forgave him. Aguuuu trilled softly to me and I replied, 'I love you, too.'

"Contact said, 'He knows mother. It is one of the few words you speak that he can understand.'

"Contact then went on to explain that the Bluuuur were building a contact ship of their own to return to earth. As the only being capable of communication between our species, Contact would be its commander. Part of the purpose of that mission would be to return to Bluuuur with ten volunteers who would be willing to breed new contacts. These would be raised by the volunteers and their husbands, who would be scientists and educators. In that way, it would be possible for the scientists of both planets to communicate and eventually develop the necessary translation programs and devices."

Commander Amanda coughed slightly and glanced at something- possibly notes- on the counter in front of her. She then continued, "The Bluuuur have combined our stasis technology with their own to solve our delayed aging problem as well as certain other problems within their units. It will be possible for the ten volunteers to live normal life spans once they reach Bluuuur."

Commander Sills paused to wipe tears from her eyes and then sighed deeply. "I am growing tired. I have very little time left."

She held up the blue urn which Contact had brought from the ship. "I have shown Contact what to do when I die. He will bring me home. I ask that I be buried in the Space Pioneers Cemetery. I think I deserve that. On my tombstone, please put this inscription, 'Mission Accomplished. Contact Created.'"

She once again wiped her face with her fingertips and said softly, "Log completed." A brightly colored, feathered arm reached into the image and pulled her beneath a wing. A soft, mournful trilling sound could be heard as the screen went blank.

***

Contact stood to address the assembled crowd. He spoke softly. "My mother died in my father's arms shortly after completing her mission log."

He took a deep breath as if to clear his thoughts and said, "You have heard her report." He paused to look around the room and then continued in a slightly louder, and much clearer voice, "The question is, are there ten young women on this planet who are willing to help create the second level of contact between Bluuur and Earth?"

***

Are there?

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