Sunny opened the door quietly peering into the darkness. The pale illumination of Jupiter's spiraling storms casting the room into a dim luminance. Leave it to Adam to make space his nightlight. She stepped quietly through the door listening as it whispered shut behind her. The room darkened sharpening the illuminated contours in her vision.

The man slept curled up on his side, the blankets had been kicked down below his feet, and his knees had been drawn halfway to his chest. One arm supported his sleeping head and the other rested at a 45 degree angle atop the cheap army-issued sheets. Lines of white light reflected from Jupiter's stormy surface traced the outline of his exposed shoulders, arms and collarbones through a patch of darkness obscured his chest.

Despite her size, Sunny moved silently across the room making it to the side of the bed and peering over into the darkness.

Two tiny orbs of reflected light flashed into existence between the man's body and his arm.

The air filled with a high pitched growl, more like a whine or a whistle than anything else. Still sleeping, the human's hand slid over the fabric and gently patted the patch of darkness before returning to its original position. The growling stopped, but the two pinpoints of light still stared at Sunny.

She moved around the other side of the bed a bit tentatively, and reached out a hand. Something flashed form the darkness skittering onto the man's shoulder and snapping at her fingers.

Sunny pulled away with a curse.

Overhead the lights adjusted to a dim luminance giving Sunny a very clear view of the thing snarling at her. It was larger than it had been when it hatched, about the size of a kitten but with less fur, and debatably less cute. It's K-9 like lips were pulled back over a range of gums. Tiny white bumps pressed against the soft pink skin hinting at teeth that were soon to come. Its eyes were manic and green, unnervingly human. Tiny ears flopped at the side of it's head like a dog.. Six spidery legs held up it's its back thorax, and, at this moment, the front two arms braced against the man's shoulder.

A hand came over the side of his shoulder and gently wrapped around the creature sliding under its belly and avoiding the many legs, "What have I told you Glados" Said a somewhat groggy voice, "no growling at people It's not polite."

Adam sat up still holding the tiny creature, cupping it in both hands and looking it in the face. Its eyes grew bigger almost.... Caring, but when it turned back to sunny, it's eyes narrowed and it growled.

He poked it, "Ah, none of that."

Him sitting up had caused an eruption of the tiny creatures which began crawling onto him as he began to move.

Sunny found it all quite..... disconcerting .

Adam turned to look at her smiling, but then his smile fell..... "It's.... That day isn't it."

She nodded her head.

His shoulders sagged, 'Ah... yes.... Of course." Still sulking a bit, he sat up, "Did you get the marines ready?"

"Yes, all present and accounted for. No one overly hungover."

"Good."

On one of his shoulders, two of the tiny.... Spider... lings began snapping at each other fighting over the prime position, on the shoulder right next to the neck. They liked to be close to Adam, as close as possible.

Adam frowned at the two of them, "Vicky, Hal, knock it off, and don't make me separate you two." The one he called, Glados had already claimed the other shoulder guarding it jealously over, Data who sat patiently on the man's bicep waiting for an opening. Sunny watched in sort of horrified fascination as another one crawled up his neck and onto the top of his head.

He tilted his head upwards, "Really, Eeve?" She didn't seem to care what he thought hunkering down in his hair like a predator would on grass. He sighed and walked towards the bathroom. The last creature had curled clinging to one of his sides forcing him to hold his arm away from his body, "Thank you for making my life easy, Cortana." He muttered forced to peel them off one by one and place them in a basket by the door. As soon as he let go of them, they attempted to crawl out and come after him.

Two were already halfway down the nightstand when he darted into the bathroom and allowed the door to shut.

They did not like that one bit. Together they ran up to the door and began ramming into it or whimpering pitifully. A couple of them began prodding at their door with their spidery legs. Sunny watched in somewhat disgusted fascination. Sunny was..... Not exactly used to Adam's children just yet..... They were..... Something short of an abomination, she was sure she would get used to them in the coming days, but..... She needed that time to adjust.

Plus, they didn't seem to like her much.

Especially Glados..... And speak of the Devil, the little demon was looking at her with it's narrowed eyes as if it was her fault Adam had left. It watched her for a long moment before it began crawling across the floor after her.

Sunny backed away, and the thing came faster.

Sunny danced backwards, stepping upwards onto a chair. Glados narrowed her eyes, and began scaling the chair leg.

Sunny frantically stepped onto the table and watched as the creature glowered at her. After a moment, there was a slight grumble and Glados disappeared below the chair. Sunny listened intently, heart pounding for some strange reason. A scuttling, scampering, and Glados's head appeared over the edge of the table hissing.

Sunny yelped and leaped from the table sailing over onto the floor with a thud to go scrambling up against the window.

Glados snarled.

The rest of the spiderlings kept their attention on the door occasionally glancing back at their sibling who stood on the table bristling. And bristling was an accurate statement, Sunny knew that humans had little muscles below the hair on their body that would raise when angry or scared, a remnant of days long past, but on this creature, it was much more obvious bristling and rumbling.

The room was quiet except for the pitiful whimpering. The shower cut off, and the spiderlings began to whimper even more loudly, "I'm coming I'm coming..... Just hang in there." Adam's voice was somewhat muffled from behind the door, but she could hear him scrambling madly to dress himself.

Eventually the door was opened, and the spiderlings rushed forward in a mad dash.

Ever since they had been born, Adam had taken to wearing clothing with lots of pockets. Cargo pants, and a similarly designed jacket. He couldn't wear his uniform with them around, it just wasn't an option.

One of them scrambled into a pocket halfway up his leg. Two secured themselves in his front jacket pockets, and one even crawled towards the interior pocket of his jacket. The last one made its way up onto his shoulder rubbing it's slightly furry head against his jaw affectionately with a sort of high grumble.

He smiled and then paused as he saw Sunny pressed up against the window, "What are you-" He paused as he saw his last fluffy monster standing on the table bristling, "Glados! What did I say." His voice was surprisingly firm, like the commander rather than Adam. Upon hearing his voice the little creature wilted hair falling flat.

Sunny would have sworn it looked at him almost guiltily. He picket it up cupped in both hands and let it crawl onto his opposite shoulder, "Alright, let's head out."

The humans at least waited until the ship had taken flight to finally stand from their seats and crane their necks towards the Commander, where he sat in the captain's chair. Before this calamity, he had taken to wearing the more informal version of his uniform, assuming they were likely to run into situations where he might need it. But now the man looked either homeless or a hipster. As they watched, one of the creatures resting on his shoulder crawled around the back of his neck.

He didn't even flinch.

A few of the crewmembers scooted away fearfully. Some were curious enough to approach . One of the braver humans even reached out a hand, he even succeeded in patting one for a second, running his finger down its slightly furry back, which it seemed to like. Then Glados decided he was to close, and rushed down Adam's arm to snap at the guy who jerked back in surprise.

That thing was seriously going to be a menace if it stayed on the shp much longer. At least Sunny thought so.

She had to give it to the marines that they were a little braver. One even managed to touch Glados leaning away with a giddy laugh as she tried to snap at them. The marines had outfitted themselves in the latest infrared-blocking body suits. Body heat was trapped on the inner layer and allowed to cool as it exited through the structure leaving their body heat almost nonexistent. The suit came with gloves and a helmet, none of them were willing to allow a repeat of last time.

The only one who didn't have a suit was the Commander, much to his chagrin. There wasn't really any place for the tiny creatures if he were to do that, and they seemed to prefer his body heat anyway. While the rest of them were safe and protected inside their suits, the commander was forced into light ACU's, and instead of ammunition in the ammo pouches, he was carrying alien hatchlings.

The marines thought it was hilarious.

Tacti-dad.

He flipped them off from the front seat of the shuttle as they descended towards the distant trees. A low lying mist, one that always seemed to cover the strange planet, made the approaching forest look eerie despite the intense light of the nearby main-sequence star.

They dropped through an opening in the trees maybe two or three kicks from the "nest" and landed on a small swampy, hill. They waited for the weight of the shuttle to settle against the wet earth before debarking. Two marines were left behind to guard the shuttle while the rest accompanied the Commander into a loose arrow formation through the bog.

As they stepped out into the moist air, one of the spiderlings poked its head from a pocket and began sniffing at the air. Sunny fell to the forward right position of the group. She had since become sufficient in human weaponry since joining the crew, and had adapted to moving in human formations.

Their path through the trees was easier since their last visit, the water level had gone down leaving more dry ground for them to walk on. Commander Vir ducked under a branch. He was at the middle back of the group this time unable to carry a larger weapon than a pistol for fear of somehow injuring or crushing the spiderlings. Not to mention that he didn't exactly have many places to secret magazines with them appropriating the mag-pouches.

He stepped over a puddle feeling as two more of the little creatures poked their heads out of his pocket. They sniffed at the air with wide green eyes. Vir couldn't help himself and did the same, he had found that, while his sense of smell had somewhat dulled after the creatures hatched, it hadn't quite gone away. What he smelled was mostly stagnant water, but underneath all that...... it was strange.... Maybe the smell of wet fur or.... Or animal musk. He couldn't have said.

A soft ticking from their GPS let them know they were getting close. A few of the marines at the head of the column stopped allowing the Commander to move forward and take his position. He holstered his weapon relying on the marines to protect him if something went wrong. He didn't foresee that happening, but it paid to be paranoid.

Sunny recognized the clearing ahead as if came into view. The island was larger than before considering the drop in water levels, but the same twisted trees were still there.

All six of the tiny spiderlings had their noses to the air now chirping and meowing.

Commander Vir raised a hand to halt the marines and then continued forward, cautiously alone under the canopy of trees

. His boots thudded softy against the ground. The only sound was the quiet chirping of the spiderlings calling upwards into the threes. They waited there for what seemed like half an hour nervously glancing into the darkness above.

"Maybe they moved." One of the marines whispered form the darkness.

The Commander raised a hand and sniffed at the air around him "No.... they're here." The marines stared at him in confusion, but said nothing. Watching as the man inched forward onto the very apex of the island.

Distant rumblings broke through the trees.

The man took a step back, and the marines hunkered down in the water. The rumbling turned into a sharp skittering and then a clattering, and commander Vir was forced to leap back as a large shape came dropping out of the darkness. The spiderlings squealed in shock,and Commander Vir nearly fell over backwards as the Queen of the adaptids jutted here horrific head forward from the darkness. Her skinless muzzle was wet with mist, and the two lines of sharp teeth ran up the side of her head perpetually exposed. They could see what appeared to be sinew stretching and fibrous contractions as she opened her mouth.

Commander Vir stood steady though his feet were turned back towards the marines, "You remember me.... Don't you?" his voice echoed through the trees, but it took the creature a bit longer to decode the translation into its primitive language.

She sniffed at him, large noseless pit at the front of her muzzle flexing and contracting with the air movement. As soon as she did, her hostility faded away. She lifted her head stepping back on the moss with her spidery legs circling the human with a head that was cocked curiously to the side.

"I did as you requested.... The offspring are safe."

With one hand out as if to block her from making any wrong moves, the man reached into his pocket cupping one of the tiny creatures in the palm of his hand. The queen skittered on her many legs back and forth for a moment before lowering her head towards his hand. The spiderling lifted it's tiny head, now far more pleasant when compared to its mother.

Glados chirped at the horrifying figure.

The queen let off a soft bellow nudging the hatchling with the side of her muzzle. This exchange done, the spiderling crawled from the Commander's hands and up onto the face of the queen hunkering down against her scaled body. More chirping followed, and one by one the tiny creatures crawled form pouches in his clothing.

He stood very still watching them go.

All around, the forest shifted, and other adaptids began to appear.crawling down the trunks of trees and across massive branches and jutting roots. The host gender kept higher than their counterparts, but even from this distance the Commander though he could spot bundles of tiny bodies crawling across their skin. He turned back to the queen, watching as the strange hybrids nuzzled against their, more important, DNA donors. He tried to ignore the slight pit in his stomach.

"I fulfilled my end of the bargain." He began, "Will you fulfill your end?"

She lifted her head to look at him, eyes a milky white in color.

"Traits..... Important.....we..... Trade..... adaptation .... Hatchlings.... Trade ... friends .... Communication."

Commander Vir paused, "Wait.... Are you saying that you did what you did to give your species language?"

"Must.... Adapt."

He glanced towards the small figures hunkered at her sides.... It made sense. He looked up, "Consider this proof of our friendship than. The Adaptids will formally be known as allies of the galactic alliance and are worthy of our aid in whatever circumstances may permit."

There was a soft rattling around the clearing as the adaptids thundered their legs against the trees, it seemed like a good sign.

Commander Vir nodded his head low, glanced at the spiderlings one last time. His expression was.... Surprisingly sad though even he wasn't entirely sure why. He hadn't exactly gone into this wanting them, he didn't, in fact, feel like they were his at all. DNA tests had proven they only incorporated about 20% of his DNA, but..... There was just.... something .... Missing?

He turned his back trying very hard not to feel anything, and trudged over the wet ground towards the waiting marines. He was just nearing the edge of the water when he heard a soft "Skreeeeee." behind him. He turned and had to stop as he nearly stepped on Glados who was crawling furiously after him seeming quite peeved that she was being left behind.

He sighed in frustration and knelt on the ground picking her up and pushing her back towards her mother, "You have to go, you'll be safe here. This is where you belong."

She grumbled, turned around and crawled into his sleeve definitely lodging herself just past the bend of his elbow where he couldn't reach her. Two more chirps followed, and he looked up to find Cortana and Hal scuttling across the wet earth towards him.

He sighed in frustration, picked them up and walked them back towards the queen.

It was strange, the skinless creatures seemed almost amused though her milky white eyes were hard to read.

He reached out hesitantly setting them down on one of her legs, "Stay." He ordered.

The Commander backed away then, sighing in frustration when the three spiderlings doggedly chased after him.

This time though, the queen followed, and before he knew it, she was standing over him and they were muzzle to nose, "Keep.... Learn..... Language."

Commander Vir paused, "But I.... Look, not to be rude but I.... I have responsibilities, The GA has tasked me with protecting the ENTIRE galaxy. I never agreed to parenthood, and it will be difficult enough keeping my job together much less taking care of them. I... I mean don't get me wrong, I am fond of them, but I was under the impression that you would take them when....." The adaptid trust her head forward at him, and he had to take a step back.

"Language." She demanded.

He raised his hands, "Now hold on, I get where you're coming from, but let's not forget that you didn't exactly give me forewarning before all this happened, and I....." She didn't wait for him to finish, and before he had even gotten the ball rolling she had scrambled up the nearest tree and into the darkness leaving him holding three chirping spiderlings.

He sighed in frustration doing his best to ignore the part of him that was relieved and the other part that was kind of hurt, "See you, Vicky, Data, Eeve."

His shoulders slumped, and in defeat he allowed them to crawl back into place. Cortana yawned.

The marines snickered as he walked up, "Custody battle going poorly, Commander."

The man grunted, "Arguing with her is like beating my head against a brick wall."

"To be fair." One of the marines began, "It's pretty much impossible to argue with something that can barely speak."

"You sure can pick them, Commander." Sunny added.

He gave her a rather meaningful look before motioning for his arines to pack up and head out. Inside the Commander was beginning to wonder how he was going to make this work... how would his mother react when he had to bring them home.... How would his brothers react.

He glanced down spotting a tiny body curled up, fast asleep against his chest. With the way it was curled up, it looked more like a sleeping puppy than anything. It was the legs that threw it off.

How was he going to handle this?"