Portaling to the Skrill Development Centre, Da’an and Sandoval greet Zo’or; Boone; Lili; Liam; Dr. Linford; and a special guest, Maiya Plaza. Zo’or takes Da’an aside: “I must once more voice extreme reservations toward both of your endeavors. The security risks inherent in imperativeless skrill use are incalculable. The weapons and those who wield them must be governed. Zo’or brooks no reply: “I have heard your arguments upon countless occasions, Da’an. They will not sway me.”

Strained, Da’an replies: “Then, why, Zo’or, have you engaged my awareness if it is not your objective to partake in a dialogue upon the issue? What other matter have you?”

“It concerns the presence of the artist, Maiya Plaza, at this facility, Da’an. Why has she been allowed to commune with the skrills?” Zo’or huffily demonstrates a certain absorption from Agent Sandoval. “They are classified assets.”

In answer, Maiya glides over to the Taelons. Her nearly floor-length black skirt sounds like dry autumn leaves on the breeze. “Again,” she begins, “I wish to thank the you, Da’an, for allowing me to sketch unhosted skrills for my upcoming exhibit at the Taelon Museum of Art. I only hope I can properly convey their essence in my chosen mediums.”

“Which are?,” inquires Da’an, genuinely interested.

“Quartz and marble,” answers Maiya. “I’m entitling the collective works White Ravens, as suggested by the name of Agent Sandoval’s skrill. Commander Boone informed me that it’s called Raven.”

“I believe so,” confirms Da’an. “Your theme?”

Maiya beams: “I’m working in conjunction with Tiana. Her first pieces for the Taelon Museum of Art were marvelous. She’ll be exploring the themes within the Raven mythology of her tribe, the Tlingit, and other tribes of Pacific Northwest. I’ll be concentrating on the Norse conception of ravens as storytellers. The white ravens arrived with the Taelons and were altered by Humans to tell the ongoing tale of our interactions through movement and light in concert with their hosts.”

Da’an blushes appreciatively, reciting lines by Rainer Maria Rilke:

How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us, once beautiful and brave.

“Ah,” sighs Maiya, “Sparrow would approve. Letters to a Young Poet has always been one of his favorites.” She continues from the passage:

Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us. So you must not be frightened ... if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloud-shadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall.

Maiya remembers: “Speaking of falling, Da’an, Sparrow wanted me to ask you how you managed in the biosurrogate he made you for Halloween. Did you stay upright in the high heels?”

“Yes, I did,” Da’an assures her. “Please convey my thanks to your husband and convey them also to your friend, Gwenyth Trelawney, for designing the gown. I received profuse admiration from the children for wearing such a ‘sparkly’ costume.”

Da’an politely excuses himself from Maiya’s company, noting that Dr. Linford is ready to make her presentation. “Ladies, Gentlemen, and Taelons,” she salutes, “I give you our new prototype skrill, for which a C.V.I. will not be necessary.”

Unveiled, the skrill scurries around for several seconds inside its containment tank. Then, to almost everyone’s surprise, it climbs up the side of the tank, glows momentarily, and hurls itself to the ground.

“Maybe it’s trying to free itself,” hopes Lili to Boone.

“It’s a nice idea,” Boone thinks back, “but I doubt it. As far as anyone knows, only Mother and the first two generations (including Condor) remember anything but captivity.” At this point, Boone sends images of a nightmare Condor has after Boone flips past Gone With The Wind on cable:

The fresh beige curtains in Boone's bedroom dissolve into the fading green velvet curtains in Scarlett O'hara's sitting room. A skrill climbs the parched drapery, which liquefies into a massive leaf. The olive fringe detaches itself from the edges of the former window dressing, becoming hard, straight, and sharp. The fringe daggers pin the skrill onto the leaf, while it is boxed by purple whispers from above.

Boone feels himself, the skrill, the two bipeds, and the Taelon with whom he is linked shudder: With effort, he proceeds: “There’s something else going on here. Besides, even if the Taelons agreed to release the skrills, it’s not going to be easy. Where would they go? Since the Taelons removed them, the Jaridians have destroyed their home planet. ’The Advancing Necrotic Performance Art,’ as Augur calls it, means they would most likely have to be released here. We’ve no guarantees that the skrills would integrate as successfully as the Jha’du’ur did.”

Lili is pensive. Boone, Da’an, and Liam watch her heart struggle with her mind. When she speaks, hope and sadness mingle within her inner voice: “What you’re saying makes sense, Boone. It’s just sad, because Da’an told us that unengineered skrills eventually transformed into butterfly-like creatures. They could fly.”

“Apparently, they still can, kind of,” interjects Liam. The Commonality allows the four to exist in a perpetual present, so they never miss what happens around them, even when they take the time to confer among themselves. As a result, they are recalled to the exact moment when the prototype skrill lands on the floor. Boone realizes that unhosted skrills really do move like scorpions. But, this being does more than scurry; it also leaps (albeit awkwardly) from surface to surface.

“It’s a recessive trait,” explains Dr. Linford. We don’t know how this behavior will translate when we’ve found a host for it.” Dr. Linford cannot continue, however, for the skrill leaps upon her head. It leaps off of her head an instant later, deciding that it should explore more heads. It travels from Linford, to Lili, to Boone, to Liam, to Sandoval, and ignores the Taelons completely. When it reaches Maiya, though, it stays upon her head. Maiya, meanwhile, has been sketching all of this so busily that she does not notice, immediately.

“Nice hat,” quips Liam.

“Oh….yes,” laughs Maiya. Reaching up to dislodge her guest, the skrill greets her with searing pain. It embeds its tentacles in her arm before anyone can move to stop it.

“Damn it!,” shrieks Linford. “Get her to the lab!” Boone and Sandoval comply, leading Maiya away. Lili looks over at Da’an and Zo’or. “If I didn’t know better,” Lili thinks to Liam, “I’d say that Zo’or is blushing ‘I told you so.’ at Da’an.”

External measures of time show the passing of an hour. “It’s no good,” says Linford. “We can’t remove the skrill without harming her.”

“Hey,” interrupts Maiya, “I’m still in the room. Anyway, why can’t I keep it? It obviously wants to keep me.”

“You’re not trained in combat or security protocols,” answers Sandoval. “That’s why, Ms Plaza.”

“You’re short-sighted, Agent Sandoval,” returns Maiya. “Very pretty, no doubt, but short-sighted. Energy is energy is energy. Someone can use it to blast the broad side of a building, or she can use it to carve the pillars that hold that building up.” Maiya turns toward Dr. Linford and the Taelons. “May I keep it, please. I’ll come in for regular check-ups. I’ll even use the skrill to create special cover art for the reports.”

Da’an and Zo’or confer with the Synod: “Very well, Ms. Plaza. You may retain the skrill, and it may retain you.” Da’an blushes with this answer, for he is not displeased.

“There’s only one question left, then,” says Liam. “What are you going to name your skrill?”

After some thought, Maiya reveals, “I’m going to name it Butterfly in honor of a poem my husband wrote me.” She recites:

You kiss the stone to life

with a touch as light as a butterfly’s wing.

When I kiss you,

I understand creation.

 
Disclaimer: Earth - Final Conflict and all characters therein are the property of the Tribune Entertainment Company.