When they'd discovered a lost whelp in Mireh, none of the Sea-Cucumbers Colony had ever raised a child before. Nobody knew how old Skritch was, or even if he was truly from this planet, while Sharkbait and Shenzi were both newly aged adults. Nevertheless, ever since they'd discovered Polly, the bright green parakeet tark'ee, it had been their duty to care for her–in many ways, bringing their fractured and distrusting colony together.

After their submarine crashed in Mireh, and their travel across the planes had lead them to L'Hatzif, the colonists had been forced to build a temporary base. The world outside smelled like rotting mushrooms and the gas that rose from below the swamp. But inside their giant mushroom base camp, they were safe from the roving predators and giant bugs. A hatch and a shoddy nailed on ladder separated them from the harsh jungle outside, and an open window allowed them to stare out at the tree caps and flowering vines.

Polly squinted, her head tilted to one side. She used her back leg with the skill of a trained surgeon, dislodging a piece of earwax from her right ear. "Alright, so that's where we go after we die. But what's our purpose in being alive?" She gazed up at Skritch, Sharkbait, and Shenzi, clearly expecting all of the answers from them. "Oh I know, it's to make cherry pies, and to sing!" She used.

Shenzi considered their great researcher–the long, serpentine being she'd seen only in the black waters of the deep. Zharynth'kai had never been heard by any of the colonists except her. "It's survival," she affirmed to the whelp, "The point of life is to make it the longest, to the very end." Their researcher was the very last of an ancient species, and had built the colony with her same value in mind.

Polly blinked. Skritch shook up the jar in his hands, causing the glowbugs to light up again. "Damn things!" He blurted, "What do I pay you for?" Sharkbait looked at him oddly. "You don't pay them at all!" He corrected. "Right… Well, it's because they're so awful!" Skritch threw the jar at the wall, which managed to be enough force that the bugs finally lit up brightly. Shenzi gathered the bottle and set it down by Polly's feet, so that it might act as a lantern to light the room as the second sun continued to set.

"Well, if you ask me–" Skritch protested, scratching the side of his head. "The whole point of being alive is to get all the money! You wanna be buried in a tomb of gold, gold, and more gold!" He raised his four sets of arms in a wide gesture. Shenzi gave him a smack on the upside of the head. "What for?" She frowned deeply, "All that money–just to die with it?" She glanced back painfully at Sharkbait's bandaged tail. All because Skritch refused to buy them a doctor.

Polly sat and listened–a rare feat for her. The tark'ee was almost always squeaking excitedly about something, so she must've really been taking in what the adults were telling her. She tucked her tail over her hind legs, though she really felt warm–not cold. "I say," Sharkbait put his best foot forwards and flashed the whelp with a sweet smile. "Life should be about taking care of the ones you love. I've built my life around it." Even with the cruelty shown to him by Skritch, he'd still patched up the Captain's wounds when he'd come under harm.

That answer–sent both Skritch and Shenzi laughing. It may have been the first time they'd both agreed on something. The noise was so sudden and loud that Polly frowned and jumped to cover her ears. "Wh-What's so funny?" She asked, her eyes lightly tearing in the corner. "I thought it was sweet!" Sharkbait, all too used to this, merely shrugged and sighed. "You win some, you lose some, kid," is all he had to say about his colony's reaction. The second sun had finally dipped below the horizon, and the room was now all dark all except for the flickering light.

"In the end, I guess it's up to you," Shenzi grinned, though she couldn't help but get a dig in. "If you want to be a real softie–" she pushed on Sharkbait's shoulder–"That's on you."

"And if you wanna make the big money!" Skritch grinned, his eyes glinting with the joys of gold coin, "We could be collaborators, you know. I'll even give you a piece of the honeypot. We're talking… 0.0056%, deal?"

Polly smiled, but shook her head against the idea. "I think…" Her deliberation earned the baited breath of the other colony members. Even Skritch shut his maw, if only for a moment to see how their newest member might define her purpose in life. "Well, I don't know what the purpose of life is, but I want to make my friends smile and laugh–with my singing, and my ukulele!"

She revealed, from behind her, the battered old instrument that she carried with her the day that the colony had discovered her in Mireh. Sharkbait gave a wholehearted smile, and even Shenzi, who would normally put down such foolishness, couldn't help but nod along. "And one day, we'll find you a better one than that broken thing!" She gestured towards a crack in the wood along the back panel where some pieces had fallen out, leaving an open hole in the instrument.