Descending Road - INTERLUDE by Dana W. Paxson

INTERLUDE

6163 CE

We tumble wet and stiffening out of the chute and follow the voice to where we see Mother. She smiles at us and we laugh. Her face is big and smooth and pale, not all little spotted wrinkles like us. But she doesn’t have hands.

“It’s time to work now, my babies,” she says. “Come and I will kiss you so you can work and laugh.”

We line up together, all fifty of us, with Minnie and Moe the first and the smallest, as it should be.

“Show me your tools, babies,” she sings, and we unfold our piston-limbs into bristles of finger-equipment: torches, grippers, twisters, coolers, smoothers, membrane makers. Mother says to Minnie, “Hurry up, now,” and Minnie jockeys to her face and Mother kisses her with those long lips.

Minnie chitters and accelerates out of the chamber, and then Moe goes to Mother, and then the rest of us. When it’s my turn, Mother kisses me so hard I think she might eat my little face, so I membrane over my eyes and nose. Her tongue pours a sweet syrup into me, and now I know what I was made for. “Go to work, Niggle,” she says. I shoot out and down the corridor, and we explode into space, and Mother seals her Mother behind us, and we see the burning ship with the big hole.

“It’s as big as Mother’s Mother’s Mother!” says Moe, and we laugh and shoot over to it, and start to close its holes and cool its fires. It takes a long time.

“I found a Mother!” shouts Iggy in my head. We swarm to it and there is a Mother floating by the big Mother.

“Let’s find a place for her,” says Hiri, so we haul the mother into the big ship and fix up a nest for her, where she belongs.

“We’re done, so it’s time to die,” says Midge. We wave to our own Mother’s Mother, and shoot away into the dark hanging onto each other: a big lump of babies. We all wrestle into a knot and give each other the great big final kiss. I get to kiss Iggy last, and his tongue tickles mine, and then I die.

Story List	SURPRISE ME	Author Page
USER SURVEY	PUZZLE ME	MAKE ELM MARK

HOVER Lucida Bright BARE	HOVER Lucida Bright FULL	HOVER Palatino Linotype BARE
HOVER Palatino Linotype FULL	HOVER Times New Roman BARE	HOVER Times New Roman FULL
PAD Arial BARE	PAD Arial FULL	PAD Lucida Bright BARE
PAD Lucida Bright FULL	PAD Times New Roman BARE	PAD Times New Roman FULL


	INTERLUDE 6163 CE We tumble wet and stiffening out of the chute and follow the voice to where we see Mother. She smiles at us and we laugh. Her face is big and smooth and pale, not all little spotted wrinkles like us. But she doesn’t have hands. “It’s time to work now, my babies,” she says. “Come and I will kiss you so you can work and laugh.” We line up together, all fifty of us, with Minnie and Moe the first and the smallest, as it should be. “Show me your tools, babies,” she sings, and we unfold our piston-limbs into bristles of finger-equipment: torches, grippers, twisters, coolers, smoothers, membrane makers. Mother says to Minnie, “Hurry up, now,” and Minnie jockeys to her face and Mother kisses her with those long lips. Minnie chitters and accelerates out of the chamber, and then Moe goes to Mother, and then the rest of us. When it’s my turn, Mother kisses me so hard I think she might eat my little face, so I membrane over my eyes and nose. Her tongue pours a sweet syrup into me, and now I know what I was made for. “Go to work, Niggle,” she says. I shoot out and down the corridor, and we explode into space, and Mother seals her Mother behind us, and we see the burning ship with the big hole. “It’s as big as Mother’s Mother’s Mother!” says Moe, and we laugh and shoot over to it, and start to close its holes and cool its fires. It takes a long time. “I found a Mother!” shouts Iggy in my head. We swarm to it and there is a Mother floating by the big Mother. “Let’s find a place for her,” says Hiri, so we haul the mother into the big ship and fix up a nest for her, where she belongs. “We’re done, so it’s time to die,” says Midge. We wave to our own Mother’s Mother, and shoot away into the dark hanging onto each other: a big lump of babies. We all wrestle into a knot and give each other the great big final kiss. I get to kiss Iggy last, and his tongue tickles mine, and then I die.