I guess you heard about the recent uptick in hostilities. Strange how dreams and memory patchwork themselves in your mind.
I could see you, but I couldn’t reach you. I thought it was frozen, but I fell through. If you looked long enough, you’d lose track of which way was up and which was down. Remember the time Dad took us fishing at Ten Peaks? The skyline reflected so perfectly on Moraine Lake. They seem to be thriving though, kinda cute. On the brighter side: my Kivrhak brood finally hatched! Kel7 said they would never survive, their shells were too thin and fragile from exposure, or maybe some genetic flaw. There’s even a song they sing, usually after they get ripped on Nsuarian ale, about some fabled ‘Mother Bird’ who will swoop from the heavens one day and gather all her children to live as one.ĭoesn’t look like that’s happening anytime soon. Kel7 said that despite the obvious differences, Zyarans and Kivrhaks descend from the same species. It really could have gone ugly if we hadn’t intervened. Out of nowhere we heard the high-pitched screeches and caws of indignation over the massive humiliation this caused. Apparently, displaying one’s cloaca is considered a major affront to Zyaran sensibilities. A Zyaran got quite upset when a Kivrhak bent down to seal his mag-boots. Well, we had an unfortunate misunderstanding between two patients today. Our holographic attending, Kel7, said Kivrhaks, like Earth’s cuckoos, evolved brood parasitism in response to environmental stressors. I found a brood of Kivrhak eggs this evening, just left abandoned between Pediatrics and NICU. Strange what people sacrifice themselves for in war. Reports are they formed a living shield around her until reinforcements arrived. And while the captain will live to fight another day, I can’t say the same for the soldiers under her command. It helps that Zyarans regenerate body parts faster than a Nipsican sea cucumber. Med school just was never in the cards for you, sis.
Just like whenever we’d sneak into Dad’s lab and ogle his jars of teaching specimens. I held a Zyaran heart in my hand today: five chambers of quivering, translucent jelly, embedded with shrapnel and fighting for every beat. I’m nowhere near the conflict zone, although we do get overflow cases from time to time. I’m in constant contact with every walk of life, organic and synthetic. Modesty aside, I’m mid-way through my exomedicine rotation and work in the Centauri sector is never dull. In case you don’t recognize my voice squeezed by gravity and skimmed across 4,000 light-years, it’s me, Joe, your affably winsome bro messaging you.