Lost

Confrontation

"Hey, little guy, come over here!"

"Can I pet it?"

"He's cute!"

The hatchling merely looked around at the other, smaller green creatures that looked similar to the big one.

"All of you back off!" Purple snapped. "You're scaring Donut!"

Echo muttered from her corner. "What a dumb name."

Purple glared at her. "Hey, that's my line!" He snapped.

Much like he imagined, there was a ruckus when the kryvtors saw the empty incubator and the indokuro hatchling. They tried to take him, but the hatchling would squirm and wiggle out of their grasp, sometimes biting their hands in the process, and scurry back to Purple's side to hide under his robes. Then they realized there was nothing to do: he had imprinted on Purple, much like Dib said.

The Irkens were thrilled to have an indokuro on their side, even if it was an infant and only let Tallest Purple touch it. Larb got a nasty bite when he tried to grab its tail; then Foxtrot pointed out no Sobr creature liked people touching its tail.

"So when can we teach him to do cool stuff?" Stink inquired. "Like open doors, use escape pods and all that?"

"Explaining it to you would require more patience than we can muster," Echo muttered bitterly.

"Please ignore Echo; she was hoping to hatch the egg herself to become an Indokani*."

"Indokani?" Tenn raised an antenna.

"Whoever works with an indokuro is called an indokani. It's a branch of our military-Ouch!" Masouri yelped in pain when Foxtrot's tail came into contact with his snout, only to realize he was about to reveal information about the Sobrekt ranks. "Anyway, it means 'indokuro tamer.'" They wouldn't get mad if he said the meaning of the word, would they?

"So that makes me an indokani?"

Echo scoffed. "As if. You were just lucky to have had the hatchling imprint on you. Otherwise, you must take an exam, and the higher-ups would never accept an Irken."

Skoodge held up another doughnut just over Donut's maw, which he snatched and ate ravenously. The little one didn't respond to it's given name, though. "Why doesn't it answer to its name?" He casually asked Masouri.

"They're picky with names. Be expected to try at least twenty before it answers to one."

"Aren't we supposed to sex it first? How do we see if it's a boy or a girl?"

"You can't. The only way to see is either through DNA samples or..." Foxtrot's crest bristled. "Well, I'm not sure you want to hear the other one."

Purple had an idea as to what that entailed, though. "You're right; I don't."

Dib quickly raised his hand. "I do!"

Out of the blue, a dozen Hothian soldiers entered the Ibris's lounge. The hatchling scurried away from Purple's lap and slid underneath the couch. The hothians threw Electrical webbing nets and pointed their spears at the prisoners.

"You three are coming with us." One said in her native tongue, pointing at Purple, Echo, and Dib. They didn't understand what she had said but had a clear idea as to what she wanted.

"The hell we will, Alien-scum!" Dib snapped. He quickly regretted it when a nearby Hothian dug the tip of his electrified spear into his side; he fell to the ground, almost convulsing from the jolts running through his body. Others did the same to Purple and Echo.