Camp Alien by Pamela F. Service

peach, Muskrat, our counselor, came up to me.
    â€œDon’t get on the bus, Zack. We just got a call from your mother that your aunt is picking you up later.”
    That snapped me awake. My aunt? She wouldn’t … Oh, my
Aunt Sorn
. She could probably imitate my mom if she needed to.
    Then came the hauling of luggage and the tearful farewells. I’d actually miss some of those kids. Even Scott and Melanie had kindof grown on me. Opal gave me the secret dinosaur-claw sign before clambering onto the bus with her new friends. She wasn’t the same Bashful the Dwarf who’d come here just a few days ago.
    Finally, the last bus rumbled off in a smelly, dusty cloud. The camp was suddenly empty and quiet. While the remaining counselors bustled about, I sat at a dining-hall table, feeling alone and tired. My hand ached only a little. Not enough to keep me from resting my head on the table and almost drifting to sleep.
    Someone sat down across from me. I jerked myself upright.
    A handsome, white-haired lady smiled at me, my so-called Aunt Sorn. “Feeling all right? Ready to go?”
    I nodded. “Just tired.”
    â€œI should think so after what our Cadet told me. That was a good job you did last night.”
    â€œYeah, but it would have been better if the Duthwi hadn’t all been shot or burned up.”
    â€œCome on.” She stood up and walkedpurposefully away from the dining hall. I sighed and followed.
    Instead of the parking lot, we headed toward the campfire area. In the bright morning light, it felt cold and deserted. No—down by the fire circle, something was moving, digging like a dog, sending up plumes of ash. Vraj.
    I hurried to her between rows of log seats. Scrabbling among ashes and charred wood, she was pulling out what looked like lumpy potatoes. Duthwi eggs.
    I stared, confused. “But how?”
    Sorn came up behind me. “Duthwi are attracted to heat and light. That must be how the Gnairt lured them into their trap.”
    I suddenly remembered what I’d taken to be northern lights across the lake. What a dummy! The lake was west, not north. I frowned. “But Duthwi are smart. Light is one thing, but why would they fly right into a fire?”
    â€œDefense,” Sorn answered. “When Duthwi are frightened, as they surely were by the Flaaa hunter last night, they try to escape. The mostsecure thing they can think of is being eggs again, and a really hot fire can turn a young Duthwi back into an egg. They saw this campfire and headed for it.”
    â€œOh.” I looked down at Vraj. “Why didn’t you tell me Duthwi could do that?”
    She snorted. “Hey, I’m new at this. I didn’t know till she told me this morning. Now help me dig these things out.”
    The three of us raked through the ashes, pulling out sooty eggs and putting them in a shimmering metallic sack. I hoped that Starry was one of them and not one that the disgusting Flaaa had shot down.
    As I put one more egg into the sack, the word “Mama” echoed with a familiar tingle in my mind. Smiling with relief, I held the egg in both hands.
    â€œIt’s OK,” I whispered to it. “You’re going to a nicer place. Mama says so.” I didn’t know what the Duthwi home world was like, but I hoped it was wall-to-wall with fast-growing trees.
    Sorn stood up, brushing herself off. “That’s the lot. Now, Cadet, let’s get them to your ship, and you can complete your mission by taking them home.”
    I offered to help, but Vraj stubbornly threw the sack over her shoulder like she’d done with me.
    â€œYou’re strong,” I said, “for an overgrown lizard.”
    She swatted me with her tail. A good-natured slap, I think.
    Vraj’s little ship was hidden among rocks and fallen branches on the hillside with the lone pine. From there, we could just see the roofs of the camp and glints of Lake Takhamasak beyond. Not a