Rebirth

Shards of eggshell dropped as a mass throbbed within.  A limb extended, tentatively stretching the membrane. 

We held our breaths and looked on through the scope.  

Nations obliterated, billions dead, the survivors left infecund. Test-tube babies?  Not when the ingredients were beyond repair, no. 

The membrane tore.

Jaws clenched around the room.  The last one hadn’t survived this point.

The creature - much more than the sum of its parts, much more than us – crawled out.  An infant, yet not, she wailed.

Mankind had been poised for the stars when the stars hit back.  We would get there yet.