She'd have to defend herself. Maybe they could be her new food source. Though cooking them might be a problem as the cave's climate was too damp to start a fire. Which meant she could get intestinal parasites from eating uncooked food.
What a way to go. As a cautionary tale of what happened when you got too curious for your own good.
She doubted she'd be found either. Her body would be left to lay where it fell. Fossilizing in place. All those lessons in badassery cut tragically short due to Elena's inability to navigate a cave system.
The thought was a chilling one that she shook off in favor of concentrating on finding a way out of this mess.
It felt like hours passed before Elena felt a spark of hope. A change in environment that brought a renewed sense of purpose.
"What's this?" Elena asked, stepping out of the cave and onto a walkway suspended over a glowing pool of water.
She looked through the metal grates, finding the milky looking water familiar.
"Yes!" Uncle Jin's crow of relief distracted her from her examination. "You just popped back on my scanners."
"That's great."
"Wait. No. It's not."
Elena found out the reason for his concern as she followed the walkway into a familiar looking room. The central platform waiting off to her left. The bank of cryopods that held her half siblings to her right along the edge of the room.
"How did I get back here?" Elena asked, her stomach sinking as the water below her rippled with movement.
She was sure to keep to the center of the suspended walkway as a vision of tentacles dragging her into the pool haunted her.
"The cavern must connect to several places in the ship," Uncle Jin said in explanation. "Let's not dawdle, Elena mine. I want you out of there as fast as possible."
Elena didn't have to be told twice as she hurried toward the stairs that would take her to the exit, passing the bank of cryopods in the process.
She slowed.
"Elena, you need to get moving," Uncle Jin warned.
"In a minute. This might be the only chance I have to meet them."
These individuals who'd inspired her egg donor to go to such lengths to protect them. Her siblings.
Elena didn't know what she was expecting to find as she stopped in front of them. Maybe a sense of connection. Some spark that would help explain why Elise couldn’t abandon them.
There were five in total. One full grown. Another close to it. The rest were Elena's age or a little younger. Not all of them looked Tuann or human.
The oldest looked most like Elise, scales running along the edge of her forehead and the side of her neck. Sharp claws tipped her fingers and there was a rather lethal looking tail floating in the tank with her.
Three of the children were curled into a fetal position. As if hoping to protect themselves from what awaited them outside the tanks.
"Some of them are older than me.”
"Are you sure?" Uncle Jin asked.
Elena nodded even though she knew he couldn't see. "How is this possible?"
The egg donor had only been missing for twelve years. According to Auntie, any children born of the forty three would grow as slowly as a Tuann. It should take them decades to fully mature.
Take Joule for example. He was older than Elena by nearly forty years, but physically looked her age.
From appearances though, it looked like two of her siblings broke that mold.
The bug set in Elena's ear canal started moving. "Excuse me, Elena. I need to see this for myself."
