Simon paused, staring into the middle distance. The memories of that day, even decades hence, were still fresh. The moment when Interplanetary Trader Ship #4 inexplicably refused to transport... and then the hideous giant monkey ripping its way out of the hull. He had seen ten of his friends die before he could even move, devoured by the beast. Later, there had been the terrible panic, as the Yssildrons swarmed toward their only lifeboats - the Interplanetary Trader Ships. He had stood behind the barriers and watched the military gun them down in wave after wave. He remembered the noise of the crowd: a thing so loud, fierce and bellowing it seemed to belong to a new kind of creature altogether.
He never did find out what had happened to his parents. No reliable news, at any rate.
Simon shook his head, and tried to continue the tale. His throat hitched.
He swallowed. Just dispense the facts. Stay calm and composed.
"They were eggs," he repeated. "And when they hatched, they gave birth to something like a giant monkey."
Elaine stifled a laugh. "What?"
"Yes," he snapped. "They were impervious to all energy blasts: as with the portal stones. They could teleport anywhere: just like the portal stones, only they had conscious control. And they were not partial to us. In less than a month, they destroyed all intelligent life on Yssildron. Everyone I knew and cared about." He flung his hands up helplessly.
An uncomfortable silence lapsed between them. Elaine wasn't sure how to break it, but she had to know more. "How many eggs were there?" she finally asked.
"We found twelve portal stones," said Simon. He closed his eyes. "At the time of... at that time, we had six. Four were in transit to somewhere else, two were on loan to other civilisations. And after the first monkey appeared, the second and third soon birthed themselves. We'd never known it, but each burst of energy delivered to those eggs brought them a step closer to hatching. You'd fire a blast into them and they'd explode in front of your eyes."
Elaine brought a hand to her mouth as she thought of the portal stones on Boss Hog. How close were they to hatching? How many journeys through space? "You mean our portal stones might hatch into these... monkeys?" she said.
Simon opened his eyes and glared at her. "You just don't get it, do you, Elaine? Don't you see the implications? Our solar system wasn't the only one to be seeded with portal stones. Yours has been. Others have too. In fact, I'm willing to bet that somewhere in every inhabited solar system you'll be able to find a clutch of a dozen portal stones. And we're not the only ones to have found out how they work. You don't know it, but the galaxy is dying around us, even as we speak."
This was all going by too fast for Elaine. "Wait, seeded? Are you saying some kind of higher intelligence planted these things throughout the galaxy?"
Simon nodded. "Yes. And when I escaped from Yssildron, I found out who she was."