Bellis stopped and gazed at the cliff wall. Was that a cave?
Beyond the narrow stretch of grey sand and above the boulders, on the side of the cliff between the high-water mark and the weedy overhang of the savanna above, was a rough black circle. A cave.
Bellis sagged. All caves must be investigated as a part of the survey. He frowned, trying to remember the proper procedures. He recalled the chapter, "Excavations, Natural Openings and Other Hidey-Holes." He even recalled the page, with a block of text interrupted by the steps and substeps of the procedure, and a pink diagram of a polar-bear den in cross-section. The author had a sense of humour; any student trying to conduct a biological census has to crawl into holes if they're big enough, and inevitably must be afraid of what's inside. The thought of the occupant being the size and temperament of a protective polar bear mother must give pause for thought. But there were no polar bears on this planet, and the hole wasn't big enough anyway. Maybe if he was lucky it would be too small for him as well.
He couldn't remember the procedure. He had to take measurements even if the cave was unoccupied. But of what? He decided to measure everything he could think of. He dropped his knapsack onto the sand and unzipped it to withdraw a telescoping pole and some canvas tape.
He measured the distance between the water's edge and the rocks. Might vary of course, as would be indicated by the high-water mark, but Bellis had been on the beach for six hours and had seen no evidence of a tide. The planet had no moon, so where would the water movement originate? Cyclical shifts in magnetic field? He had no idea.
There were ten meters of grey sand between the water's edge and the boulders, and then seven meters of boulders extending to the foot of the cliff. The hole was five meters above the sand and three meters below the cliff's edge. The opening was half a meter in diameter. Damn! He was going to fit. He scribbled the measurements on a notepad.
Bellis put the knapsack back on and began to climb. The boulders were yellow and had smaller yellow rocks piled in the cracks between them. They were weathered but not smooth. Tide makes surf, and surf tumbles rocks and smooths their surfaces. No tide.
The cliffside was chalky and a pale green. Why green cliffs with yellow rocks piled beneath them, on grey sand? Nothing but questions, and it might take centuries to learn the answers.
Standing on the highest boulder he could reach the cave with his hand but could not see inside. He climbed down a little way and began to pick up mid-sized rocks and stack them. Soon he was able to teeter on top of the pile and, craning his neck, could see into the cave. A tunnel the same size as the opening went three meters into the crumbly rock, angled a bit to the right and seemed to open up, but the angle prevented him from seeing further. He would have to go in.
Sighing, Bellis pushed the knapsack into the hole and scrambled up. Inside, he could not crawl on all fours. Instead he had to squirm and hunch forward with his elbows, dragging his legs behind.
The tunnel ended just beyond the curve. A roughly spherical chamber, three meters in diameter, with a sandy floor. At the deepest point, a clump of dried stalks, similar to the ground-hugging creepers that were common in the savannah scrub found up on top of the cliff. On top of the clump was a red boulder, about a third of a meter in diameter and oblong.
Bellis crawled into the chamber and rolled into a sitting position, then reached back into the tunnel for his knapsack. He would take samples of the stalks and measure the red boulder. There was nothing else in here.
A closer look at the stalks confirmed his suspicions. Their arrow-shaped leaves, emerging in alternate pattern from a hollow creeper, each leaf accompanied by a curling tendril, showed they were the same as those he had already sampled in the savannah. But their presence here, in a clump, might indicate presence of animal life. This could be some sort of seasonal den. He took a sample of stalk with a leaf and tendril attached, and stored it in a small plastic jar in his knapsack. Carefully, he labelled the jar.
Bellis then turned his attention to the small red boulder. Placing his hands flat against its surface he was surprised to feel that it was warm to the touch. He pushed it, and it rolled a few centimeters. The bottom of the rock had a slimy covering that made it seem a darker red. The stalks and leaves pressed flat underneath were crushed and decomposing. He touched some of these and noticed that they were hot.
Suddenly the boulder rocked against his hands. A bulge appeared on its surface, as if something was inside, trying to get out.
The next few minutes were a burst of excited activity for Bellis. He measured the egg, took its temperature on top and on the bottom, as well as that of the decomposed plant matter underneath. He frantically scribbled in his notebook. Eventually he went back to his sitting position and rested, elated. What a discovery!
But then the thought occurred to him; the egg must have a mother. Whatever laid an egg that size must be at least as formidable as a polar bear. He must have enough measurements. Nervous, he turned toward the tunnel and prepared to crawl outside.
"Stay with me!" came a scream; terror-filled, it haunted the air inside the cave; air that seemed cold now.
Bellis stifled a cry of fear and looked wildly about. Where had the voice come from? Or was it indeed a voice? Had he heard it with his ears, or was it only in his head, in his mind?
"Stay!" came the voice, less panicked now, and when Bellis turned and sat again in his previous position, the voice said again, "Stay. Please."
Bellis sat and waited. He asked himself why he was so ready to do what the voice requested of him, but had no answer. Still, he felt no urge to ignore it and take his leave.
"Who are you?" Bellis asked, aloud.
The answer came to his mind, and he was sure now that it was only in his mind. His ears seemed not to bring the words to him, in the way they brought him other sounds.
"I am one who needs you. Is that not enough?"
He tapped a pebble against the smooth cave floor, producing a hollow knocking sound. Yes, that was what it was like to hear with one's ears. The voice was different.
"It is enough," said Bellis, and waited. An hour went by and the light changed as the small white sun sank further in the sky outside. Bellis wondered if the voice might do more than simply ask him to stay. Was it making him want to stay? Did it reach into his mind and plant the decision, in the way it reached in to say it's words? He thought this might be, but was not disturbed at the idea. The voice might be doing his thinking for him. If so, it was also making him like the idea of having his thinking done for him.
"When I hatch I will be yours," said the voice, and it was only then that Bellis knew for sure that it came from the egg. He thought of creatures from Earth that laid eggs. If you are the first thing a chick sees after it hatches, it imprints on you. It follows you around as if you are it's mother. This makes for a loyal pet. Would Bellis be the first with a pet from this planet? That might be a good thing.
But a chick that imprints on a human cannot go on to breed with others of its own kind. And not all egg-laying animals have this imprinting behavior; a turtle never knows its mother. Bellis had mixed feelings, but he waited, and the evening turned into night. In the dark he had an idea, and turned it over in his mind, slowly, until dawn. When it was light enough outside, he pulled out his notebook and began to write down the idea.
"The egg is warm," he wrote, "with no mother sitting on it. This is just as well for me. The vegetation that forms the nest decomposes, and decomposition of plant matter forms heat as a by-product. Is the mother instinctively choosing plant matter to heat the egg sufficiently? Perhaps this stops the mother from entering and re-entering the nest site, as such activity would alert predators to the presence of the nest."
"You are correct," said the voice.
"I do not know how I know. I just know. You are correct." A crack appeared in the smooth red shell.
Bellis was excited. "What else can you tell me?"
"I do not know what I can tell you."
"What if I ask you a question?"
"I do not know. What is your mother?"
"Oh, okay. How about this. Why do you hatch at this time?"
"I know I was here, but I want to know why you hatch now." Bellis was growing frustrated. How to extract information from this egg? He tried again.
"Was it time because the incubation period was over?"
"I know I was here. Oh. Did you hatch because I was here?"
Bellis mulled this over. The egg was triggered to hatch by his own presence? Perhaps it could not live without imprinting on another organism. Perhaps he was its intended parent. Like a cuckoo? "Why do you need me? Do you need to imprint on me?"
"I do not know. Perhaps. What is imprint? I need you. I know I need you."
The egg was becoming verbose. Encouraging. But would it be as helpful after the hatching? Bellis tried another line of inquiry.
Bellis sighed. Not this again. "What makes the water move?"
"I bring the water to me when it is time."
An interesting answer, but not very informative. Another crack appeared on the surface of the egg. The egg began to gently rock, and now Bellis heard a faint humming noise. He felt compelled to lean forward.
He watched as the egg broke apart and something emerged. Something long and slim, covered in mucus, unrolled and tumbled from the nest. It was like a snake. Bellis saw small legs, disproportionately small like those of a salamander, unfold from the sides of the creature and take purchase on the floor of the cave. Not like a snake. More like a salamander. Large eyes opened at one end of the creature, and blinked away the mucus. A large red mouth opened, directly between the eyes, and the humming grew louder.
Not really much like a salamander. More like a fish. The back end had a tail like a fish. No, it was oriented differently, side to side rather than up and down. A whale's tail.
Bellis frowned. Why was he trying to compare this thing to an Earth creature? It was like nothing else. It was its own. It was also his; it belonged to Bellis. It had said so.
The middle of the creature was the thinnest part. Of course, it needed food. It was empty. Bellis looked for evidence of a yolk-sac, but all he saw were shell fragments and mucus.
The large eyes focussed on him, and the mouth remained open. The humming grew louder still.
Bellis crawled forward, the humming loud in his ears. The creature's mouth was very large and had no teeth. Bellis was not afraid as he put his head inside the red opening.
He pushed both head and shoulders inside the creature's mouth. The mouth closed, and Bellis felt a moist saliva press against his skin, and his hair. Warm flesh squeezed him from all sides. he was not afraid, but his air supply was now cut off. He gasped, and his arms and legs jerked in reflex panic.
"Be calm," said the voice, and Bellis relaxed. He felt his knees scrape against the floor of the cave as the creature gulped, drawing him further into its throat. He felt the saliva and the flesh, pressed against his arms. The creature gulped again, and now his hands were inside, and his hips.
Bellis felt sad. He felt a sense of loss.
"But I have so much I wanted to ask you."
"Later. I will wake you later, when it is time. Sleep now."
Bellis slept. The creature stayed in the same position, gulping occasionally, and more of Bellis' body disappeared into its mouth with each gulp until the creature had drawn him completely inside itself. It raised its head and, with a spasmodic swallow, forced him down its throat and into its stomach.
The mouth opened once more and gasped several times. Then the humming sound recommenced, louder now. The creature closed its eyes and continued to hum. The small white sun set outside, and the creature hummed throughout the night and through the next day. Gradually, the water moved closer to the cliff, covering the yellow rocks at the bottom. Another night passed and on the second day the water rose high enough to pour into the cave.
The creature closed its mouth and shuffled through the tunnel to the cave entrance. The cave was full of water now. The creature paused at the lip of the cave entrance and, at the end of its body an opening appeared, and gaped. From this opening extruded two large yellow rocks and several yellow pebbles which sank through the water to settle at the bottom of the cliff.
The creature swam away, sinking as it went, and disappeared into the depths of the sea. Soon the water began to recede down the cliff. As it poured from the cave entrance, the fragments of red shell and the stalks of rotted creeper came with it, and these floated away. The water lowered to the grey sand, then receded a further ten meters, and then stopped.
The small white sun slowly dried the wetness from the chalky green cliffside, from the yellow rocks, and from the grey sand. All was still.