Sussi was polite. No, she urged herself to act polite with three abrai - with three disgusting abrai - who had requested to do an awful crime. They requested to defile the sacred hill – the place where their beloved creator lived - by digging (!!!); as if HIS home was some kind of pile of dirt that could be dug! Of course, all mouchi had prohibited this act of vandalism. It couldn't be ever allowed!

Frankly, Sussi was angry now. She couldn't forgive that to the abrai. It was difficult for her to speak politely with these humanoids. But, as a kind person, the female mouchi should tell her creator's greatness to the abrai.

That's my duty! Sussi believed in that.

+++

The archaeologists stood and listened to a female mouchi's rant. The abrai knew that religion plays a great role in primitive societies. As it turned out the mouchi wasn't an exception. For the hamsters that hill was a holy place where their father/god/creator lives; and that information was interesting because the abrai knew that in the galaxy not a small number of races were created artificially.

Perhaps, the mouchi race is one of them? the professor thought.

The chance wasn't low. Several days back the archaeologists had acquired the hamsters' DNA. It looked suspicious. Their DNA was too pure without any mutations, as if the mouchi race existed for a short period of time. It gave the abrai a theory that the mouchi were artificially created, but they weren't sure yet.

Frankly, the creation of a new race wasn't a great achievement in the eyes of the abrai. In the past the abrai had created some races themselves. One of those created races was a vassal of the Abrai Hegemony now.

Meanwhile, the abrai recorded a female mouchi's speech for anthropologists who would come to K-5135343435 soon - those guys like to listen to such kinds of rants – and guided a bunch of drones in a stealthy mode with the help of their implants. One of the machines was drilling a way in the hill now, to the nearest tunnel of the Seed's base. The abrai respected other beliefs but getting new knowledge was above everything else.

Recently – when the expedition members were in the mouchi's town – they detected a strange activity inside the hill, as if there were some living beings. It piqued the abrai's interest. They scanned the hill to no avail. Something inside had disturbed a proper scanner's work. As the true representatives of their curious race, the archaeologists concluded that they needed to get in. Solving a mystery was what excited their blood.

As the hill was in the center of settlement, the abrai decided to ask for a permission from the mouchi to begin an excavation process. It was their land. Unexpectedly it caused a big commotion. The hamsters were against this idea. They wanted to protect their “father's home”. The most active and devoted among them was a female mouchi, named “Sussi”.

This Sussi had been continuing her ranting for a long time. Sometimes one of the abrai nodded (or asked a question) as the rest of them studied information coming from the drones which were inside the hill now.

It turned out that the hill was an interesting place. At first it looked like an insect colony, because the abrai could see an organic mass all over the walls and a small number of crawling insects; unintelligent ones by the way. Later – when the drones had found some mouchi's embryos as well as a few complicated living organs which were able to create those embryos, give birth to babies, and feed newborns – the abrai realized that it wasn't a colony. The archaeologists believed that it was likely a small research base of unknown race that used sole organic components for constructing its devices. It was an interesting discovery, but it wasn't anything remarkable. The abrai knew some races who had chosen a sole organic way of development. A majority of those races had failed as the rest didn't achieve anything worse to mention.

The level of biology of this unknown race also didn't impress the abrai. Of course, it was good for a young race, even remarkable, but for the elder race that level of biology was too low.

It didn't take long for the drones to finish their work inside the hill. Soon the abrai bid farewell to the hamsters and flew back to their base by an aircraft.

Not far from the mouchi's settlement the aircraft halted, hovering above the jungle. A small number of drones flew upward with a paralyzed insect and a few alive organs in their manipulators. They were from the Seed's base.

Soon the aircraft resumed its movement.

+++

As Seed was eating a small animal somewhere in the jungle, he thought. The abrai were indeed a bunch of... ahem... curious guys.

Seed had escaped barely. He managed to do it thanks to a biomass on the walls which had a lot of nerves. Hence, a disturbing signal came to Seed instantly when the drones came in. He hadn't time to destroy anything. The base was left intact.

Now Seed was alone in the jungle. No, he still could connect his mind to any mouchi on the planet, but there was no one who would bring him free food anymore. That was a tragedy. Months of hard work were ruined in a moment.

A little later Seed had eaten the small animal and rolled forward through the jungle. What should I do now?

Returning back was out of the picture. The abrai's technology was superb. Without a doubt that one day they would detect him somehow.

The possibility of living alone in the jungle was lame. Um... Perhaps, I will create another base in the mountain range with new servants?

Seed liked this idea. The ball realized that he could govern the mouchi tribe from afar as having a peaceful and safe life under the mountain rage.

Seed began rolling faster towards his goal.

+++

A month had passed. Seed had built his new base under the mountain range. It was deep enough to remain undetected for any scanner.

Seed had created a race of insects as his new servants. Their prototype was a local centipede, quite a strong and fast predator. They brought food to Seed daily and guarded the base. As well, they served as scouts. The ball was curious about his new surroundings. Seed – from the memory of the Great Devourer – knew that a planet was huge.

Sadly, the centipedes weren't good subordinates. They were quite stupid. Simple organisms. They lived by their instincts. It was difficult to control them. Seed could manage only a few, otherwise his brain would be burdened too much. Currently he had only four centipedes under his command. It was an acceptable number for a comfortable and carefree life.

In the new underground base Seed – with centipedes help - had created a lab. It was large and cozy. Also, the new base had some secret emergency tunnels.

On the surface of the planet – as usual - life flourished. The local live forms continued to devour each other mercilessly.

Seed knew that the archaeologists resumed their work in the ancient city. They had even killed that predator which had destroyed their drones. Yes, that's true. Earlier Seed had created a simple stupid but very strong and fast life form and commanded it to ambush the abrai's drones. The predator had even managed to destroy a few before the archaeologists found him. At first they tried to capture the predator but... not in Seed's charge! As a result, the abrai got their dead trophy.

Unexpectedly for the ball a new batch of abrai had come to the planet. They were those anthropologists who were curious about the new race. For some time those newcomers even lived among the hamsters. They were curious about everything that was happening in the tribe. These abrai studied a new race thoroughly and taught the primitives in return.

As a gift the newcomers gave the mouchi some fine crops. The harvest should be plentiful, the abrai promised.

The field area was cleared from the jungle recently, and the new crops were planted there immediately.

As well, the newcomers had helped to build a small stone pier and a stone building in the center of the settlement. The building served as a town hall. There some female mouchi served as administrators and some male mouchi served as elder hunters. The first ones organized life in the settlement, the second ones organized all activities outside; also the elders managed the work of the settlement's guards.

The mouchi's population grew quickly. The female hamsters – as a rule – gave birth to many babies. Currently the settlement had over one thousand inhabitants out of which seven hundred were children. The consumption of food was tremendous. Daily hunters and fishers brought as much as possible food to the town; even the abrai donated some food to the young race.