Jackson opened the door to his hatchery and turned on the lights.
"Ah, I really hope the storm didn't mess anything up..."
Jackson placed his hand on one of the eggs in the incubator and his eyes opened wide.
"It's... cold."
He put his hand on another egg in a different incubator.
"No!"
Tears started to roll down Jackson's cheek as he fell to the floor.
"All my hard work, gone. Those poor little creatures. Abandoned in the war. Helpless. I could have saved them!"
Jackson then got up off the floor and walked over to his desk.
"I could have saved them if I got that stupid generator to work!"
Jackson threw a pen at the generator.
"I should've called Sal."
As Jackson was reaching for his phone, there was a knock at the door. Jackson walked over to the door and opened it. Outside, there was an old mole woman.
"Mrs. Reffella, what are you doing here?"
"I found this in my garden. No one was caring for it. It's cold," she said, revealing a small egg in her hand.
Jackson took the egg and said, "It's ok, Mrs. Reffella. I'll take good care of it."
"You're a good boy, Jackson."
Mrs. Reffella turned and walked off.
Jackson grabbed a small blanket, wrapped the egg in it, and held it in his arm. He then sat at his desk and called Sal.
"Pick up, pick up.."
Sal answered the phone.
"Yo."
"I need your help."
"What's up?"
"My incubators aren't working, I need your help."
"Repeat words much?"
"Not helpful."
"I'll be there in two."
"Hurry."
"Bye, Egg-Man," She said before hanging up.
Jackson cuddled the swaddled egg as he looked at the incubators. He felt the eggs, trying to see if any of them were still warm. If they weren't, Jackson would have to throw them out.
While feeling the eggs, he found one that was colder than the rest, but before he could realize what was happening, he heard someone knocking on the door.
Jackson opened the door and let Sal in.
"'Sup," said Sal.
"Just fix the generator."
"Fine."
Jackson walked back over to the incubator with the cold egg in it. "That's right!" Jackson grabbed a flashlight and shined it through the egg.
"What's going on?" asked Sal.
"This is an ice worm egg, and... yup! It's still alive!"
"So it doesn't need incubation?"
"It actually needs to be kept a bit colder than room temperature."
"Cool."
"I'm going to get rid of these dead eggs while you fix that," said Jackson, setting the egg from Mrs. Reffella down. He grabbed a bag and put app the dead eggs inside, then disposed of them. By the time he got back, Sal was almost finished fixing the generator.
"So, what is the egg you have in that blanket?" Sal asked.
"I'm actually not sure yet. Mrs. Reffella gave it to me."
"Oh, she did? I love her banana bread."
"Don't we all?"
With a chuckle, Sal screwed the last screw back into the generator. "There, good as new."
"Thanks, Sal."
"No problem. See you later," she said, getting ready to leave.
"Bye, Sal."
"See ya."
Jackson opened the book The Eggs of Reffe, Old and New. He looked for an egg that looked like the egg Mrs. Reffella gave him.
"Hmm, a common garden Ruckshaw lizard. Cool, it's named after the zoologist that discovered it. It needs 74 degree incubation."
Jackson put the egg into an incubator at 74 degrees. He then set the ice worm's incubator's temperature to 58 degrees and sat back in his chair.
