[michime]

"I am," a voice that could only come from the mantis answered.  "I passed my eggs to you. They will grow inside you, protected instead of exposed."  

The mantis made a grunting sound then his stringer detached from his abdomen.  He used his bottom legs to slowly push the entire length into this incubator.  "Nutrition for the eggs," again the words seemed to come from nowhere at all.  Once the mantis embedded the stringer into Khell he wrapped the bottom two sets of his legs around the alien as he spread his wings.  The roots released their hold just as he lifted off.