Terrance strolled towards one of the evac craft and peeked inside. He was not too surprised to see ten team members busily checking the medical log.

“How are you doing?”

“Okay sir. It’ll take a bit of time to train us up.”

“Don’t worry about that. We can cope at present. Just as long as we
leave the fish alone.”

Everyone smiled as he wandered off. He soon came across three men who were intent on foraging.

“Looking for anything in particular?”

“Eggs mainly. We can’t see any birds though.”

“I wish you luck,” the guard said as they trotted toward the woods.

“He’s quite a decent leader John said as they entered the forest.

“As long as he remains that way,” his colleague said.

Around them of course, small animals watched their every step.

“I wonder what that tastes like?”

As John looked, a small furry squirrel dashed up the nearest tree.

“I hope it tastes better than the snake.”

As everyone laughed, their trek continued.

After a couple of miles, they stopped in pure astonishment. Within the thicket, a large circular hole had been deliberately dug. The outer wall stood a foot above ground level.

“What’s a shell hole doing here?”

John shook his head.

“Perhaps we have found one of our elusive birds.”

As they reached the wall and peered inside, they smiled with pleasure.

“Would you believe it? A clutch of eggs.”

Within the nest, six oblongs lay in a neat pile.

“I wonder what kind of bird laid those?” Trevor asked.

“Must have been quite large to make this hole,” John commented.

“I strongly suggest that we grab them and head home.”

As the others checked around, John picked each egg up carefully. After scanning, he put them inside his satchel.

“Our folks are sure going to be pleased with us.”

They moved away toward camp as a rather large lizard approached.

“How long will these take to cook? Trevor asked.”

“I would give them twenty minutes,” John suggested. “Perhaps a
little longer.”

A roar from behind made them turn suddenly.

“What the hell was that?”

They peered through the trees but saw nothing.

“It must be pretty large to make that noise,” John suggested.

“Which means one thing,” Trevor said. “It’s a predator.”

They started back rather quickly as some of the foliage began to part suddenly. A large reptilian head broke through, its mouth covered in large red warts.

“We had better run for it,” John suggested.

As they broke into a sprint, the annoyed creature gave chase.

“Open the gate!” Trevor shouted as they sprinted toward the safety
of the stockade.

As it opened, they ran through at once.

“What’s the problem?” the guard asked.

“Some animal is after us,” Trevor panted.

The disbelieving guard shook his head.

“Probably a primate.”

A roar seemed to dispel that funny idea at once.

The guard climbed the short ladder and peered across the grassy
plain. Advancing steadily toward him was a lizard of huge proportions. From nose to tail, it measured twenty feet and the head was kept eight feet above the ground.

“We need help!” the guard shouted.

As Terrance ran up, the roar came again.

“We seem to have company sir.”

When Terrance saw it, his blood ran cold.

“We need a security team.”

He ran off and soon returned with twenty armed men. Twelve of these had the bows and arrows.

“If we can just keep it off it may go elsewhere,” Terrance suggested.

As he watched, the animal roared again and stopped ten feet from the gate.

“What do you want to do sir,” the posse asked.

“I’ll try the blaster at low strength first.”

When he fired, the animal simply ignored it and moved a foot closer.

“Well that was pretty useless. Something is wrong though.”

“Probably annoyed that it can’t tear us to pieces,” the guard suggested.

“I don’t think so. It keeps sniffing the air for some reason.”

He watched again as the animal’s sensitive nose sniffed the air once more before turning side on to the gate.

“I wonder what the hell it’s after,” Terrance asked.

Another roar floated across but this one sounded different. It had an almost plaintive quality that was usually associated with people.
As Terrance watched, Sammy ran up to the ladder.

“John got half a dozen eggs.”

That word clicked harshly within the guard’s brain. Turning slowly he hissed, “What eggs?”

“They found some kind of nest Terrance,” Sammy explained.

“Ruddy marvellous. Where is he?”

“Over at the communal fire of course.”

The leader ran over toward the community centre and saw the miscreants laughing as the cold water heated up.

“What the hell have you lot done?”

“What do you mean done mate,” John replied. “We found us some eggs.”

“In the pot are they?”

“Where else?” Trevor asked.

Terrance moved forward and removed the pot from the heat before carefully tipping the fluid out.

“What is that for?” John asked in confusion.

The leader pointed toward the closed gate and said, “The mother is outside bawling her eyes out.”

The penny dropped at last.

“So that was the thing chasing us.”

“I’ve a damn good mind to feed you to her!”

He stormed off carrying the now precious cargo, and ordered the gate to be opened.

“You are not going out there?” the stunned guard asked.

“She wants her eggs and I’m going to make damn sure that she gets
them. Now open it!”

As they swung open, Terrance crept out very gingerly and whispered, “Sorry for the distress mam, your offspring are safe and sound.”

The reptile seemed to understand, for it backed off and turned its beady eyes upon him.

“They are unharmed mam. Just a trifle wet that’s all.”

He carefully removed each one and stepped back. As he watched in fascination, the mother came forward and seemed to swallow each one in turn. Terrance did note the increasing bulge of the cheeks.

“She’s taking them home.”

When the last egg had been safely taken up, the grateful animal roared and turned back toward the forest, and the waiting nest.

Rightly smiling to himself, he returned to the compound and quickly called his people together.

Looking at the crowd, he coughed.

“I know that eggs have been missed but we just cannot go grabbing the first ones that we find. From now on, only those found in trees can be harvested. I certainly want to avoid a repeat of my little antic.”

“What if there are no tree nests though?” John asked.

Terrance gritted his teeth and replied, “In that case, eggs are off our menu.”

The crowd grumbled but understood. As they moved off, Trudy came forward.

“Grand speech again but you cannot really expect them to ignore a ready food source.”

"Mom is quite capable of smashing our stockade without any help from us. We really need to keep her on our side. I think we gained a rather unconventional ally today.”

Trudy smiled.

“I hope so Terrance.”
...
Later that night when Terrance returned to his crowded home a smiling Moira greeted him.

“What’s the smile for?”

She took him to one side.

“Trudy has the hots for you. She’s waiting by the communal fire.”

“Why me of all people?”

“Perhaps it’s the command thing? Who really knows?”

He was quite shocked by this news, and decided to do the right thing.
As he approached the roaring flame, Trudy glanced around.

“Evening again.”

“How are we?” he asked sitting down.

“Quite all right. Don’t you feel silly in that silver security guard outfit?”

Terrance grinned.

“You really don’t expect me to run around in my undies do you?”

She laughed.

“What we need is wool to create new garments, before these fall apart.”

“That will have to wait until we find a few sheep.”

“Or their equivalent,” she commented.

He stared at her and whispered.

“Moira thinks you eh...”

She smiled as he blushed.

“We need to start families Terrance. Otherwise our great settlement will be our last.”

“Why with me though?”

“You are our leader mate. Therefore the first kid should be yours.”

“I’m a rather reluctant leader at that.”

“Don’t run yourself down so much. You are the glue that pulls us all together.”

“You really think so?”

She grabbed his arm playfully.

“I’m damn sure.”

He glanced around at the log homes and sighed.

“We can’t really do the deed here.”

She gave him a rather strange look.

“Come with me.”

She led him to the gate where the guard had been tipped off. He
opened it and she pulled him through.

“Where are we off to?”

“The trees of course. Back to nature or what?”

They both giggled as they ran arm in arm toward the dark wood. As
they reached it, small hoots echoed through the branches.

“Take a look at the sky,” Terrance suggested.

She gazed up at the planets floating in the vast vacuum of eternity.

“Sure makes a change from the observation deck.”

He smiled at the blonde haired lass and kissed her cheek.

“This way,” she whispered.

They had gone quite a distance when a sudden roar shook them back to reality.

“Must be mom again,” Terrance whispered.

They gazed through the darkness, but only the hoots could be heard now.

“She’s probably thinking it over,” Trudy said pulling him down.

“What do you want? A boy or girl?”

He thought this over for a minute or two.

“Actually I don’t mind as long as the kid is fit and healthy.”

“My thoughts too.”

Their lips met as warm arms wrapped around the mating couple. The animals watched out of curiosity, hooting to each other like voyeurs.

Overhead, shooting stars rushed across the silent sky as the first child was conceived.