Ong’s excitement is clearly visible on his face. The deep lines that usually divide the prominent ridges above his eyes are almost invisible, and his large ivory-colored teeth show through a wide grin.

Tonight, both moons will be full, and he can choose a mate. He doesn’t have to choose; this choice was made a handful of double full moons ago.

***

He still remembers when he first saw Isk. She stood off to the side with the other young women on the firelight’s edge. Ong was right across from her with the young men of the tribe. She caught his eye immediately.

All the young women were parodying the pairing dance, laughing and joking as they watched the older woman perform. Isk was not dancing. She looked at the young men as if deciding which one she wanted. When her eyes reached Ong, her gaze stopped. Ong bared his teeth so she could see he still had them all, then flexed his biceps like he had seen the older men do when trying to impress. Isk laughed, then mimicked the older woman by shaking her shoulders at him, showing him her still flat chest. This made Ong laugh, and their friendship was made.

***

As time passed, they matured and knew they would be a pair when their time came. They spent as much time together as possible, but each was assigned more responsibilities as they grew, making it harder to meet. Everyone’s hands are needed to keep the tribe alive.

Isk worked the plantations and cooked. Ong hunted, gathered firewood, and fished. Like every other young man, he hopes to become one of the tribe’s Protectors. The Protectors do not hunt, gather wood, or catch and clean fish. Their task is to protect the tribe against danger.

The land is big, and there are large lakes and many days of woodland between the various tribes, making contact and possible conflict rare. The big meat eaters are the primary concern. The smaller ones prey on small game, but once they grow to size, they see the tribe as food. The Protectors are good at killing the meat eaters, so there are few around. Even the small ones are put down before they become big ones.

Protectors have it easy. They act as lookouts from the many platforms installed in the tallest trees, patrol the surrounding area and only occasionally have to fight a meat-eater. They do not even build the platforms themselves!

Lately, they have mostly watched the sky for glimpses of a strange new bird. It is slightly bigger than the winged meat-eaters that keep to the mountains. It shines bright during the day and flashes strange colors at night. The first few times it was seen, the Protectors would sound the alarm, and the tribe would hide until it passed. Since it always passed over their little village without paying them any attention, they stopped hiding and watched it with interest every time it flew by.

There is much speculation about what it could be. Isk had the most peculiar theory. She doubts that it is a bird or a thing that is alive. She compared it to a basket, like the ones they used on the plantations to carry produce. Something is using it to move something else. It must be because it travels the same path, visiting the same places on both ends of its path. This will only happen when there is something useful on one end and a need for this useful thing on the other end.

She pointed to the many footpaths that lead from the village to the river and plantations, and the paths to where they leave their waste. ‘When there is a need and a place to meet that need, the path is clear, ‘ she said. To her, it was obvious that something had a need, and it found a way to satisfy that need using the shiny flying basket. She had no explanation for how the basket flies.

Ong pondered this theory and could not argue against it. The strange bird has a need and a place to meet that need.

Isk has many ideas about many things, and so does Ong. This is one of the things that binds them together.

***

When a fight starts, Ong is brought back to the present. He rushes forward to get a good look. Sometimes, when a woman picks a man, another man might challenge him and fight until only one is standing. The fight is without weapons, and biting is not allowed. It is still early. The pairing started just a while ago. Usually, fights happen much later when it becomes clear that one might not get a mate.

This pairing promises to be interesting. There might even be fighting among the women. It is rare because they seem to agree in advance on who each favors. The men whisper that the women arrange it amongst themselves. They whisper because such a thing is not allowed, and they all secretly agree that what is not allowed is usually good.

The fighters sized each other up. They could have been brothers, and it would not matter. They will fight with every ounce of strength. Before they could engage, the Protectors to the east sounded the alarm.

The tribe ran for cover. A meat-eater is a fierce foe, but the ones that hunt at night are absolute terrors. It has been many double full moons since one attacked at night.

The monster burst forth from the brush into the clearing where the tribe had gathered earlier. It reared on its hind legs at the sight of the fire. Although they are terrified of fire, this one seemed more afraid of something else. It defecated on the smooth ground where the two men were about to try and kill each other moments before. It then rushed around the fire and out of the clearing.

Almost immediately, the east alarm sounded again, and the shiny bird came skimming just above the treetops. It had a row of dark eyes above a long, flat nose. Its wings were stiff, and things that looked like eggs hung underneath. It must have been angry because it flashed many different lights, just like the fish they sometimes pull up from the depths of the lakes.

It made no sound and pursued the meat-eater across the clearing, dropping one of those egg-like things from under a wing before disappearing into the night. As it tracked its prey, its flashing lights became dimmer. The tribe waited to be sure nothing else was approaching before emerging from their hiding places.

***

The egg had the same shiny skin as the shiny bird. It did not break when it fell. It made a deep dent in the ground where it landed. The tribe watched it from a distance. It did nothing. A rock bounced off it, creating an extraordinary sound. A sound never before heard, one that nobody could describe later.

Isk threw the rock. When nothing continued to happen, she walked up to the egg for a closer look. Some of the tribe turned their heads away, others shrank back, expecting the worst. Nothing happened. Again.

Isk took a stick and poked the egg. There was no reaction. She struck it with the stick, and it produced that same indescribable sound. Not the dull sound made when you strike one rock with another, or the meaty thud when you strike someone’s head with a rock, but a sharper sound that enters your skull and sets your teeth on edge.

Everyone was still processing this sound when Isk struck it again, much harder. Lightning reached out from the egg and knocked her down. It was not the kind of lightning that kills, because she immediately scrambled away, her hair on end.

The pairing ceremony was forgotten. The tribe kept their distance from the egg but watched it and discussed its possible purpose. Someone did everyone a favor by covering the meat-eaters’ foul-smelling shit with dirt. The eastern sky turned crimson as the sun rose. The egg looked like a smooth, shiny rock in the light of day. Except for using lightning on Isk the one time, it did nothing.

***

‘It can defend itself!’ Isk said to Ong. They sat on a large rock, looking down at the circle of people watching the egg. ‘Eggs don’t do that.’ Her hair was still in disarray. ‘It struck me as a warning. Wanting me to stop. To leave it alone. How can it do that if it is not alive?’

Ong contemplated this question. Isk waited. The answer will be thoughtful.

‘When lightning strikes a tree, you cannot touch it for many days as it burns inside. This egg may be the same, but it gives out lightning, not heat.’ Isk smiled. A good answer, like always, that makes Isk ask more questions. She looked silly with her wild hair and her toothy grin, making Ong smile back.

‘Yes, something put that lightning in the egg. But how did it decide to strike me, and how did it see me?’. Ong’s smile widened, ‘It struck you because you were the only one standing close, tall like the tall trees that get the lightning.’ He frowned deeply, ‘If it decided to strike you, I cannot say. Eggs know when to hatch, but they do not defend. Your strike was powerful; it could have moved something inside that released the captured lightning.’ Isk nodded. This was as good an explanation as they might get.

‘Come!’ she stood up. ‘ We must learn more about this egg before the bird returns for it.’ Ong looked up, concerned. This thought had not occurred to him. Maybe it fell off by accident. He followed her down the path to the clearing, curious about what she wanted to learn.

***

During the day, the pairings happened quietly. It had to. It would be a year before the next double full moon, and there must be babies before the cold arrives.

Isk and Ong forgot about the ritual. Everyone knew they were a pair, so the custom was unnecessary. They sat a respectful distance from the egg. It had not moved. It was not making any sound. ‘Is it dead?’ Isk wonders aloud. ‘Hit it with a stick and find out!’ Ong jokes and hands the stick she used last night to her. It was lying where she dropped it.

The egg shifted, and it emitted an angry hum, like the bees that live under riverbanks among tree roots.

Ong drops the stick and the humming stops.

‘It knows the stick, ‘ he says softly. ‘Looks like it,’ Isk replies, then she bends to pick up the stick.

The egg shifts again, and the humming starts when she grabs the stick and stops when she throws it. ‘It can see us. It can tell what we are doing, it knows the stick can be used to strike it, and it understands the throwing of the stick removes the stick, and the chance of striking.’

‘This is not an egg,’ Ong remarks. ‘No, it is not,’ Isk replies, ‘it is something we do not know, and has a purpose we cannot see. That is not good.’

***

The egg stirred. Isk noticed and instinctively looked over her shoulder. Two boys were standing next to the pile of meat-eater shit. They had a big basket with them and disgusted expressions on their unlined faces. They were on shit duty.

The dung must be removed and buried elsewhere. It reeks and attracts insects and other meat-eaters. The youngsters set to the task.

A loud crack accompanied another lightning bolt, and both boys were struck down. The egg hummed furiously, and its top glowed like the morning sun, red and yellow, producing heat that could be felt.

Ong and Isk rushed to aid the boys, and Ong yanked his hand away when he touched the shoulder of the nearest one. The boy’s body was burning hot. Smoke rose from empty eye sockets, their lipless mouths and where their noses used to be.

They were dead.

Death is a common occurrence. There are many ways this planet can kill you. Both Ong and Isk have seen many corpses, but the blackened and hollowed-out skulls of these boys were something they had never before seen. They were frozen in place by shock and disbelief.

The egg stopped humming and started producing a series of loud clicks. It sounded like the large bats that come out after sunset, just sharper, with the same strange quality of sound produced when Isk used the stick on the egg.

‘Time to go,’ Ong said, and he grabbed the loin straps of both boys, one in each hand, and ran out of the clearing with the dead. He could feel their heat on his fingers. Isk followed.

***

The elders were stunned at the sight of the boys. They were burning from the inside, and they could not extinguish the fire. One’s chest had already collapsed. Soon, they will be reduced to nothing.

‘The egg was defending the shit! The pile the meat-eater left,’ Isk was sure of this. ‘It did not kill me when I struck it, but it killed the boys when they wanted to take the pile away.’ Ong nods agreement, ‘The bird dropped the egg to guard the pile.’ He looks at the sorrowful chief. The two boys were his grandchildren. ‘This means the bird will come back. And it has many more eggs! It is being summoned by the egg. That is why it is making the bat sound!’

Some elders murmur in agreement, while others struggle to make sense of the events. What kind of thing can keep lightning in an egg? What sort of thing has intelligent eggs that can follow instructions? What kind of monster likes meat-eater shit?

They had no answers. They understand their world and way of life, and their place in this world. The bird and its eggs are new. Not from this world! Even this concept was hard to visualize because they had never before considered the possibility of other worlds.

They never had reason to. Until now.

***

The decision was made to leave the village and camp on a nearby hill, from where they could observe the egg. If Isk and Ong are speaking true, the bird will return to reclaim the egg and remove the shit. This will be a good thing. They can then return to their homes.

Their lives will forever be changed.

The knowledge that the bird with its strange eggs is here raises many questions. Questions that must be answered to ensure the tribes future survival.

They will have to stop killing the young meat-eaters. If the bird harvests their shit, then there need to be something to make the shit. More meat-eaters also mean more Protectors are required.

That night, on top of the nearby hill, around a large fire, the Chief announced a new class of tribesmen: Seekers. They would follow the bird, accompanied by a handful of Protectors. Their mission will be to gain knowledge about the bird and report to the Chief and elders.

They also want to know if there are any more of these birds, and where they made their paths.

Word must be brought to nearby tribes about the danger posed by the bird and its eggs, and the connection with the meat-eaters.

The only way to survive is to know your enemy. You may not be able to defeat them, but you can always use the knowledge to avoid or appease them.

Isk and Ong are made the first Seekers. They accepted the task with joy. There is still much to learn about their world.

And they have many questions.