text: I was never the marrying type. I had plenty of men but I just didn't see myself settling down or having kids. It all seemed so uninteresting. My sister would ask, "Don't you want to have a little person like you?" I couldn't even take care of my dog let alone a tiny, needy human being. I was/ am an alien anthropologist. When I first entered the field it was all about new bacteria, plants, and molecules on other planets; until the trip to Norizon. It was the first planet identified to have signs of intelligent life. Satellites showed that there were massive stone structures, roads, and what seemed to be a large number of buried temples. Upon arrival there were no signs of intelligent life until they awoke. The next 6 years was a blur. We met the Vansh; a welcoming communal tribal people with advanced stone work and developed writing and culture. I learned their language, loved the culture and became one of them. This was the life I longed for. To others it was an escape; to me it was home. I began living with a clan positioned at the center of the city. While others questioned my motives, the females took me in and taught me their ways. I became a midwife to them and a healer. The men shied away except one; Tival, the chief's son. Quickly our love grew from walks along the Vantze River to secret smoke sessions from the herb harvest. Our secret forbidden love would end with the next hibernation, only months away. I awoke to the sounds of the forest. The last thing I remember was that there was a stampede at the Great Feast. The Vansh were celebrating the day before their hibernation with a festival that lasted into the late hours of the night. I remember being carried away from the fray in Tival’s massive hairy arms. His eyes were wide in the moonlight, calming me as he gently carried me through the frenetic crowd. My head was throbbing. I lay near the river in the place we used to share our hopes and dreams t. Tival was gone, I must have slept for two maybe three weeks as I noted as many of the plants had regrown around me. My head was throbbing with pain and my abdomen was smeared with a sticky residue. There was dried blood on the stone near me and as I tried to sit up I noticed an 8 inch scar across my belly. My pain turned to excitement. I was chosen. Tival mated with me on the eve of his hibernation, the most fertile time of the year. I was carrying his heir. I had four months until the arrival of my child. I limped back to the city and found the remains of my crew. They didn’t survive the Great Feast. Shreds of their bodies were strewn about the square, artifacts of their brief time here. Their flesh was necessary fuel to stave off the hunger pangs of the 6 year slumber. Amidst the bodies and rubble I imagined what my child would be like. I would teach him the Vansh ways and train him as a Chief’s son. Tival will be so proud of him.