Page 101 of Pets in Space 10

Almost reflexively, he looked up. Their ride wasn’t due back for a couple more days. And what about Lira? And her father? They could fly out of here, but they’d be flying out with the knowledge that aliens had been here, both below and above ground.

For just a moment, he toyed with the idea of just disappearing into Lira’s world. It didn’t last. There was Harold. Miles might be able to blend, but Harold wouldn’t.

“Three alien species,” Lira’s father murmured, as if he were just now fully realizing what it might mean.

“The Skaridrex were not a species,” Harold said. “They were a defensive device created to contain the Vorthari. They had been tasked to protect humanoids. According to the nanites,” he added.

“When I saw them up close, I wondered,” he said. “And they helped us in there.” He looked at Lira. “We were being pulled down and then we weren’t.”

She nodded. “I thought it was the end, but…”

Then it wasn’t.

And he still had a big problem to sort out. Don’t make contact had become how do I handle contact until someone who knows how to do this gets here?

“How are your people likely to deal with the knowledge they aren’t alone in the universe?” Miles really didn’t want to get dissected, or anything like it.

“It will be fine,” Lira’s father said, neither looking or sounding convinced that fine would happen.

“How did your world take it?” Lira asked.

Miles saw Harold shift its feet. It was such a human movement for a robot. Miles resisted the urge to follow its example. He probably shouldn’t mention the war that broke out almost immediately upon their arrival in the Garradian Galaxy. Or their mostly paranoid movies and television shows.

“It was great,” he said.

***

It hadn’t been hard to get Miles and Harold to her place without them being spotted as aliens.

Aliens.

Now that she was back in her own place, her own part of the world, she had time to wrap her brain around the whole alien thing and feel the shock of it to her toenails.

She’d felt herself starting to shut down when they’d successfully escaped the facility.

She’d caught Miles glancing at her from time to time, but to her relief he hadn’t said much.

She’d listened to him talking to her father about what could happen, if her people wanted off-world contact. And if they didn’t want it?

Then Miles would go away.

He’d been very clear that these Garradians weren’t into conquest. They liked meeting people and learning about them.

And they’d helped them eons ago when the Vorthari had first arrived.

Arrived?

Her suit had recorded a lot of the Vorthari story, and she’d had time to study it. Now she was sure that what they’d actually done was attack their planet. And they’d been trying to escape from the Skaridrex, which—aided by the nanites, had protected them.

But even her father admitted their story was going to be a hard sell to their leaders. Other than the video from her suit, she had no physical evidence. There was that abandoned dig. It might become important now.

But Miles might still go away.

She tried to ignore the twist of her heart at this thought. Of course, she liked him. He’d saved her life down there. If he’d let go of her, well, she couldn’t think about it without a shudder.

She gave herself a shake and tried to focus on her video. It was unsettling to watch it, to relive it all. But then her thoughts focused sharply on something she’d forgotten in the chaos of trying to escape.

There were others.

***

Miles’ ride had come, complained mightily, and left. It would be back, either with a delegation or some military police to arrest him.

He would have liked to stay if they sent a delegation. It was a nice planet for a geologist. It had a lot of rocks, and all that seismic activity? It was sweet.

Lira’s place, where he and Harold were temporarily guesting, was like her.

Practical, with touches of girly stuff. It was, she’d told him, unusual for a housing pad to be this isolated but she liked the seclusion when she was working.

It had been a huge bonus for them, since the level of nosy neighbors was almost zero.

He’d have liked to go out and explore a little, but every time he made a move for the door, he found Harold on his heels. It was, he supposed, classic sidekick behavior, or it had been ordered to keep him under wraps until the delegation could get here.

His glance strayed to Lira, working on her version of a computer.

She was as sweet as all the geology on her planet.

He knew some from the Expedition and some of the others had brought back aliens, but Lira, well, this was her home. She had family here, brothers in addition to her father. She had a life, a purpose, a career here.

And they’d known each other for about a week.

If he were honest with himself, he’d wondered if he’d ever find a girl that was more interesting than rocks. Apparently, he’d just been in the wrong galaxy for that.

He stopped glancing at her and just looked, noting all the things he liked about her.

Of course, she was nice to look at, great to kiss. But he’d been through the fire — or the raging water — with her. She’d gone down into that pit to find her father. She’d gone into the habitat to find the truth, to help. If she’d been half as scared as he’d have been?

She was definitely a keeper.

A keeper he wasn’t supposed to meet or keep.

He was in so much trouble.

Lira spun around in her seat, her eyes wide.

“We might still have a Vorthari problem,” she said.

He probably shouldn’t have found that kind of hopeful to hear. He rose from his seat and crossed to her.

She spun around, thinking maybe that he wanted to see what she’d found. He didn’t, but he looked anyway. He even kind of listened. But what he heard?

He might be able to stay long enough to…

“Lira,” he said.

Maybe something in his voice jerked her out of her Vorthari absorption. She looked up at him.

He held out his hand to her, holding his breath as he waited for her to take it. Or not. Probably not…

She took it, let him pull her up from her seat.

She let him slide his arms around her waist and pull her gently, carefully close. He inhaled the sweet, vaguely foreign scent of her.

“How does a guy from another planet court a girl from yours?”

She lifted her head, her eyes soft and glowing. “Court?”

“Spend time with intent to spend,” he swallowed as fear almost choked off the words, “the rest of his life with her.”

“Court.” This time she said the word with a different inflection. “Won’t they make you leave?”

“They aren’t like that,” he said. “We don’t make people do things, at least, I’m not military. I could stay.”

“For always?”

“If that’s what you want,” he said. The fear tried to choke him again. “If that’s what you want.” The words sounded stronger this time. How did he feel about living here forever? He wasn’t sure. He just knew he wanted to be with Lira.

“What if,” her gaze dropped now, “I wanted to see your world?”

“That,” he swallowed dryly, “could probably be arranged.”

Her lips curved up in a smile that stole his breath and his heart — okay, she’d already stolen that, but the smile solidified the deal.

He bent his head, his lips finding hers. And he knew that wherever they were, she was his world now.