Story Seed - Eggs

Image Source: http://boxtail.deviantart.com/art/Galactic-Empire-2560x1600-511007971

"Janir, come look at these, what do you suppose they are?" Halfir called out. They were looking for the entry of a mostly buried facility from some long past age, possibly as old as the third based on the wear and damage.

The nano came to look, "Eggs?" The nano seemed less than impressed.

"No look more closely, they are strange," the jack insisted, "looks like there is some kind of pattern.

Peering at the small clump of silvery material with the aid of a view enhancer Janir nodded, "Remarkable! They appear to be subdivided, and in turn further subdivided, a fractal down to the smallest cell I can make out. I wonder what such complex containment holds within."

"Dunno," Halfir replied looking around, "I haven't seen any animals or sign of them. You wanna grab a sample I assume?"

"Indeed I do." Janir had placed the viewer aside and removed a narrow scalpel of syth that never grew dull from use; as far as Janir knew the thing was indestructible, which made it rather handy for all sorts of tasks. "You have the specimen jar ready?"

"Yeah, here," Halfnir answered, offering the open jar as he crowded in next to his brother. "I got the spatula and the tweezers here too."

"Good," his brother said absentmindedly as he studied the mass of bubble like structures, the scalpel hanging above them like an executioner's axe. "Here we go, I think this will make a perfect sample." Janir stabbed the blade down into the mass and started cutting around on of the larger eggs, "What the -" he withdrew the blade from the cut, a silvery fluid was clinging to the object and apparently melting it like acid eating simple iron. Without hesitation he brought the dripping blade to the viewer and tried to examine the change.

Halfnir meanwhile was stepping back from the mass, "Brother ..." The bubble-like eggs were rupturing, a chain reaction starting from the site of the incision. More alarming the silvery fluid was not only spreading over the ground, but boiling into the air in a cloud of metallic mist. "Brother!" Halfnir dropped the tools and fled the cloud, "It's the Iron Wind brother, run!"