The Egg of Coot Returns
by Sean MeaneySedwik the Thief poked at the two wires with his gloved finger. They certainly looked like they were gold. A Gold wire that looked distinctly like someone had braided the finest of golden hairs into a rope. How had they done it? Sedwik shook his head in amazement at the craft of it. Still it was a piece of Jewellery braid that had obviously been caught in the inner workings of the giant egg artefact and become tangled. The Two broken ends taunted him. They looked like they had broken. Sedwik pushed at them gently causing them to contact.
Systems online...running system check...auto repair systems operational...damage detected...auto repair activated...sensors online...scanning...scan complete...biological presence detected...attempting to make contact...accessing linguistic priority list...Galactic A:
“Respond Please.” Taken by surprise Sedwik fell back from the object of his focus. Someone was inside and they were speaking a foreign language.
“Hello?” Response detected...comparing...Thonian variant detected. Thonian:
“Respond Please.”
“Carla! This Giant egg asked me to pleasure it!” Response detected...comparing...Afridi variant detected...postulating...Thonian-Afridi sublanguage has developed...postulating...a minimum of five hundred years have elapsed...sub-dialect Alpha:
“Respond Please” Carla the Witch stood listening in horror to the voice of the egg.
“You are right – the egg just demanded you pleasure it. It must contain an evil demon.” Carla pulled Sedwik away from the thing. “We must warn Lord Alfyn of its presence.”
The young Kobold Warrior watched from a place of concealment as the two humans departed the chamber of the Great Egg and walked away toward the entrance to the ruins. Gurot had thought his egg some treasure but he had heard it speak the human words clearly. It was some kind of Dragon – obviously unhatched or trapped in its egg. What had the Human said? It was a Demon? A Demon might give his tribe power against the nearby humans. It might give him power. He could have the big Castle of the Human lord and many slaves to grow him food.
Gurot broke cover and crawled prostrate before the egg. Lifeform detected...analysis complete...Kobold Species detected...Accessing Linguistics Database...Kobold-dialect-three selected:
“Respond Please.” The Egg spoke the language of the Kobolds and Gurot was suddenly overcome with paralysing fear.
“Yes great Egg? How may I appease you?” Gurot hoped with all his heart that it would not simply chose to smite him. He had heard tales of Demons eating Kobolds foolish enough to even open their mouths in the presence of fiends. Kobold-dialect-three verified...Linguistic variation minimal.
“Speak of the humans who departed hither: How is it in their civilization?” The Egg waited for an answer.
“They send their armies into the caves of the kobolds to hunt us, they live in a fortress and enslave their own people and they wage war with other peoples of their kind." Conditions have declined since previous intervention...Accessing secure file 23-RED-ALPHA...Impose direct control over local authority...implement technological and social reforms as per Galactic Alliance Charter Section 15-A/Governance of Outlying Colonies.
“You will move me to the gates of the settlement the two humans are returning to.” The Kobold seemed disheartened at the prospect of being chased by Human Villagers.
"Yes mighty one." Gurot could only squeak...