Page 145 of Pets in Space 10

Hazel

We sat side by side on a large rock until the shadows grew longer and Ruby chirped once from the edge of the outcrop, where she’d curled up like a cat. The warmth began to fade, and I shivered slightly.

“We should probably get back,” I said with a sigh. “We’ve been away for too long.”

Fallin caressed my cheek, the tiny scales on his fingers tickling my skin. “We needed this. The claiming made us stronger. We need to be as strong as possible for the upcoming war.”

I shivered again, this time not from the cold.

We’d had a moment of escape, a few hours to breathe and recover. Now we had to return to reality.

I looked down at the stunning landscape below, the endless forest, the stone pillars rising in the distance. All of this could be our home, one day. If we managed to defeat the game makers.

And then I saw it.

A flicker on the horizon. Not a drone like before – this one was smaller, slower.

“Fallin-“

“I see it.” He jumped to his feet.

“What is it?”

“It’s an old model. They don’t have the defensive capabilities the new drones have. This one can only watch.”

“Maybe there’s a reason they sent this one,” I mused. “Maybe it’s a message?”

We stood frozen, watching the drone draw closer – a slow, deliberate approach, not the erratic hover of a scout, not the aggressive spin of an attack unit. It moved like it had purpose. Like it wanted us to see it.

Fallin stepped in front of me, wings flaring slightly, shielding me. “It could still be a trap.”

I touched his arm. “Let’s wait. Just a moment.”

The drone paused about twenty feet away, its metal casing glinting softly in the late sunlight. Then it dipped slightly, as if bowing.

A panel on its front clicked open, and a small projection blinked to life – just light, no sound at first. Then static, followed by a distorted voice.

“Hazel? Hazel Morris?”

The voice was female. And it was probably wishful thinking, but it sounded human.

“This is Fay MacLean from the Bloodstar. We’ve been searching for you. Please – if you can hear this – ”

Fallin stiffened beside me. “Bloodstar,” he murmured. “Do you know them?”

I shook my head, slowly. “No. But they clearly know me.”

Another crackle.

“We’ve been trying to locate the last human survivor from the Trials. You’re not alone anymore. The game makers have been neutralised. We’re here to help.”

The last human survivor. That had to mean me.

I stared at the drone, heart pounding. Was this real? Was help finally here?

The drone hovered, silent and still, like it was waiting. Not threatening – just watching.

Fallin moved a little closer to me, shielding without smothering. “It could be a trap. How can they have defeated the game makers? It’s impossible.”

“Or it could be the truth.” My voice trembled, but I didn’t care. “They knew I was out here. They knew my name.”

The next crackle no longer made me shrink back. “We are about to land on Kalumbu. Venom says the coordinates should show up in just a second.”

“What’s a second?” Fallin whispered.

“More proof that she is human. In my language, it’s the shortest unit of time. It’s about as long as it takes to say twenty-one.”

The drone’s light shimmered and turned into the projection of a simple map. Two dots blinked rapidly.

Fallin pointed at the one on the left. “That’s us. I recognise the mountains over there. I think I know where they are.”

The probe stuttered, then the map disappeared. It remained hovering in place, blinking gently.

I turned to him. “What do we do? Fly there?”

His wings flexed once, a sharp movement of tension. “We don’t trust them. Not yet.”

“But maybe,” I said slowly, “we listen.”

His tail looped around my ankle. Protective. Uncertain.

“If this is a trick,” he said, “I’ll burn the sky itself.”

I reached out and took his hand. “And if it’s not?”

“Then we may have a future.”

***

The flight took about half an hour. Fallin had commanded Ruby to return to the other tyvarin in order to keep her safe. She’d protested but eventually bent to his will.

The last sunlight was almost gone by the time we reached the edge of the forest. A wide river would have blocked our way if we’d been on foot, but Fallin’s wings safely carried us across and to the grassland on the other side.

A space shuttle was parked in the centre of the bright pink grass.

So this is how crop circles were made. On its ramp, two human women were standing, shielding their eyes against the setting sun.

I realised how cleverly Fallin had planned our approach, giving us an advantage.

We could observe them easily, while they had to look right into the sunlight.

Fallin landed at a safe distance, steadying me as he set me on the ground. The grass reached almost to my shoulder. Insects buzzed. Hopefully none that would bite. But knowing what this planet was like, most of them were probably deadly.

“Let’s have them come to us,” he said. His wings were still open, ready to jump into the air at the slightest threat. He really didn’t trust them.

And maybe nor should I. What were the chances of two human women coming to our rescue? It was ridiculous. But so was me being on an alien planet in the company of a dragon shifter.

The women stepped down the ramp with caution, but no visible fear.

The taller one had auburn hair and a wary, assessing gaze that reminded me of a predator watching for movement.

The other was shorter, her light brown curls tied back in a messy bun.

She looked exhausted but determined, her posture tense, like she was holding something fragile inside her and refused to let it crack.

Realising that we weren’t going to come any closer, they made their way through the sea of pink grass.

“Any sign of trouble, we’re gone,” Fallin whispered, tension radiating off him in waves.

For some reason, I was less worried. These two women did not look threatening at all. And they were humans!

“Could they be… I don’t know, holograms? Somehow presenting themselves as looking like humans, but they aren’t actually?”

Fallin snarled softly. “With the game makers, you never know. They excel at deception. And this would be great entertainment: we hope for allies, only to be attacked and defeated. Stay wary. I don’t trust them.”

When they got close enough for our voices to carry, the taller one raised her hand in a small wave. Next to me, Fallin stiffened.

“I’m Fay. This is Clare. We come in peace.” To my surprise, she chuckled. “Never thought I’d ever use that sentence. I’m feeling very Star Trek just now.”

I couldn’t help but grin. Fallin clearly didn’t get the reference, but he stayed silent.

The other woman, Clare, also gave us a wave. “We’d almost given up hope. Those dragons kept destroying the drones we sent to get in touch with you. In the end, we decided coming in person was a better option.”

I realised she didn’t know that Fallin was one of the dragons. Yes, he looked like a lizardman with his scales and wings, but he was nowhere near as scary as when I’d first met him as Tyvaron.

I took a deep breath. “I’m Hazel, but you seem to already know that. How do you know me? And who are you, exactly?”

Fay laughed again, a sound that reminded me of tiny bells.

“It’s a very long story. The short version is that both of us, along with other women, were kidnapped from Earth and brought here to take part in something called the Trials of Kalumbu.

The game makers didn’t expect us to survive for long, but somehow, all of us not only survived, but we met our mates and made it off the planet.

As I said, it’s a long story. And I see you have also met another contestant… ”

I realised she wanted me to introduce Fallin.

“This is Fallin.” I didn’t correct her assumption that he was a contestant, nor did I give them any other information. I sensed Fallin appreciated my decision to hold back for now.

“Great to meet you,” Clare said with another wave.

“Anyway, after eight of us had managed to gather on a spaceship, the Bloodstar, we had to decide whether to flee or to fight the game makers.

We knew there was one more woman in the Trials and others on the space station orbiting the planet, so it was an easy decision.

We had help, though. The Intergalactic Authority-“

“That’s the space police,” Fay added.

“-they helped. To be fair, they did most of the work. Took over the space station, captured the game makers, freed the captives, including the remaining human women. It’s all been quite chaotic, but Venom, my mate, realised he could use the game makers’ drones to search for you.

He’s a hacker and… Anyway. We found you. You are safe now.”

“She is already safe,” Fallin growled.

Fay raised an eyebrow. “You managed to get a possessive one. Wait until he meets Vruhag. My orc.”

“Orc?” I echoed, speechless. I felt like I’d been transported into a different reality. Just when I’d got used to an alien world filled with dragons and monsters, everything had shifted yet again.

"Shall we go somewhere more comfortable? The sound of all these insects is giving me the creeps. I've spent enough time on Kalumbu to know that most things here bite. Trust me, it wasn't easy to come back."

Trust. Could I. Could we?

I exchanged a look with Fallin. He didn't look convinced, but he'd lost some of his earlier wariness.

"I won't enter your shuttle," he said finally, the first words he'd exchanged with the women. "But we can go closer to the riverbank. It's safer there."

He wrapped me in his arms and flew me the twenty metres or so to the edge of the river, where large smooth boulders offered seating opportunities.

We could have walked, but I knew that this was a symbolic move.

He wanted to show them that we did not trust them - yet.

And that he was powerful. He could fly. He had been on this planet for much longer than all of them combined.

If he wanted to, he could defeat them without breaking a sweat.

When we were all seated on rocks – Fallin stayed standing by my side, wings half-extended – Clare took a slow breath.

“I wasn’t sure we’d find you,” she said, voice quieter now. “This place is deadly. It’s a miracle you survived for this many days. Honestly, some days I can barely believe Venom and I made it out.”

She glanced at Fay, then back to me. “Venom and I were holed up in a mountain cave, hiding from the game makers’ drones. We were surrounded. It was looking bad. But we had managed to contact the Bloodstar.”

She hesitated, eyes flicking to Fallin. “Then the dragon came. Huge. Shimmering scales, eyes like molten gold. It attacked the cave from the outside. I thought that was it – we were done for.”

Next to me, Fallin shifted his weight.

“But when we ran out to board the shuttle, he didn’t attack,” Clare continued. “He hesitated. Watched us. I could feel how strong he was – one swipe and we’d have been gone. But something made him stop. He looked right at me… and he let us live.”

She smiled faintly. “That dragon saved our lives. I didn’t understand it then. I still don’t. But I’ve never forgotten it.”

Fallin stepped forward slowly. “I remember,” he said, voice low. “I was still under the masters’ influence. Partially. But something about you…” He glanced briefly at me. “And about Venom. I saw a bond between you. It reminded me of something I’d lost.”

Clare’s eyes widened. “I don’t understand.”

Fallin squeezed my shoulder, then he stepped back into the open grass and shifted – scales, wings, light. Tyvaron emerged once more.

Clare stared up at him, awe and recognition dawning in her face. “You… It is you! You spared us.”

Tyvaron dipped his head, his voice booming. “And I would again.”