Page 38 of Pets in Space 10

Zach kept his senses on alert throughout the journey back to Border Town.

Every shadow on the horizon, every unusual rock formation, caught his attention and he found himself listening for the scrape of a claw against rock.

The creature they’d encountered might have been a solitary anomaly — or the first of many.

Either way, he wasn’t taking chances, not while Cass was with him.

He didn’t like the fact that she was tucked away inside the rover, even though she was safe there. He’d rather the two of them were together so he could watch over her.

“We need to take her for a ride,” he told Phantom, and the horse tossed his head in agreement.

He didn’t relax until the settlement’s dome finally appeared.

Border Town was built around a tall rock formation in the center of a huge valley, surrounded by homestead claims. Everything was covered in dust from the storm but he could see settlers already hard at work clearing it away from their homes.

They passed through the small airlock close to the lab area and he dismounted as she parked the rover.

“Ready for this?” he asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” She couldn’t quite hide her nerves as she gave him a quick smile. “I feel like our secret is tattooed on my forehead.”

He smiled and ran his thumb across her smooth forehead.

“It’s perfectly clear.”

She rolled her eyes, but he saw some of the tension leave her shoulders. He lifted Roland down from the rover, then the three of them walked towards the research complex with Phantom trailing behind.

“I’ll stable Phantom and report in,” he told her when they reached the entrance to the labs. “Then I’ll meet you in your lab.”

“All right. I’ll start telling Alina.”

Most people were busy with their duties at this time of day but the street wasn’t deserted and he hesitated for a moment, not quite sure what to do.

Human-cyborg relationships were not unknown, but they were relatively rare and some of the colonists still believed the original government propaganda that the cyborgs no longer deserved to be treated as human.

As much as he wanted the whole world to know that Cass was his, he didn’t want her subjected to any unwelcome attention.

She seemed to understand his hesitation because she placed Roland on the ground, then stepped towards him and slid her arms around his neck.

“Don’t I get a kiss goodbye?” she asked teasingly, her eyes sparkling.

“You get whatever you want, sweetheart.”

He bent his head and captured her mouth in a searing kiss that left no doubt of their relationship. He heard a few distant murmurs, but he ignored them, his attention focused on her.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised when he finally released her.

“I’ll be waiting.” She smiled up at him, then went into the lab complex with Roland, leaving him standing outside.

Phantom huffed, and he nodded in agreement.

“I don’t like leaving her either. Let’s get you stabled so I can make my report.”

Despite his eagerness to return, he wiped down the horse and made sure he was comfortable before going to the ranger station.

B-194, a grizzled cyborg with one of the original cybernetic arms took his report.

He kept it deliberately vague — routine patrol, storm shelter at Station 12, nothing unusual to report.

He’d learned long ago how to speak truthfully while omitting critical details.

B-194 recorded it without comment, his face expressionless.

He turned to leave, then paused. “Any unusual reports come in during the storm? Increased seismic activity, unexplained readings?”

B-194 shook his head. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Why?”

“Just checking that all systems are normal after the storm.”

Hoping the lack of activity was a good sign, he hurried back to the lab complex.

The familiar sterile corridors felt different somehow — colder and emptier, and when he arrived at the lab Cass shared with Alina, it was empty.

Neither woman was present and his heart skipped a beat. Was she having second thoughts already?

But then Roland scamped out from beneath a workbench, chirping urgently. The little armadillo circled his feet before heading towards Cass’s workstation.

“Where is she, Roland?”

The cybernetic creature led him to a display screen where a note was pulled up:

Cass —

Had an unexpected breakthrough with those samples from western quadrant. Gone to check personally. Back before dark. Data on server under “Project Bloom.” Don’t tell Reece.

— A

Beneath the note was a diagram of molecular structures that meant nothing to him. He was frowning at it when the door opened and Cass hurried in, her face pale.

“Alina’s gone!” she said frantically. “I just checked her room and she’s not there. She never goes into the field alone. Never.”

“It’s not dark yet,” he said soothingly, but she shook her head.

“You don’t understand. That note is dated the same day I left — the day the storm began. She signed out a single-person rover only a few hours after I left.”

Fuck. That meant the other scientist had been missing for at least five days. His heart sank, but he kept his face calm as he started a search of the station’s files.

“What are you looking for?”

“A map. There must be some way to pinpoint her location.”

“I’m pretty sure I know where the samples came from. There’s a mining claim on the edge of the quadrant and they provide us with samples each time they dig deeper.” Her face went even paler. “A mining claim. You don’t think she ran into another one of those creatures, do you?”

“It’s highly unlikely,” he said with a confidence he didn’t entirely feel. “It’s more likely she took refuge with the owner of the claim. Is the molecular structure on the screen the same as what we found?”

“No.” Some of the color returned to her face as she shook her head. “It’s a different structure entirely, but equally impossible for Mars. I don’t understand what’s happening, but we have to go after her.”

“Of course. We’ll take the rover.” He reached for her hand, squeezing it gently. “We’ll find her.”

She gave a sigh of relief. “Thank you. Let me gather some additional equipment. Five minutes.”

As she moved around the lab, he studied the map coordinates of the western quadrant. Other than a few isolated mining claims, the area was largely unexplored — rough terrain with deep canyons and unstable ground. Not a place anyone should venture alone.

“Ready,” she announced, slinging a pack over her shoulder before Roland climbed up her arm to his customary perch.

Before he could join her, the door slid open and Alina rushed in, her cheeks flushed with color and her eyes bright with excitement.

“Cass! I’m so sorry I was gone so long. I hope you weren’t too worried. I have so much to tell you-” The rush of words died as she noticed him. “Oh! Z-542. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Alina!” Cass rushed forward, relief and frustration warring in her voice. “Where have you been? We were about to come looking for you!”

“It’s… complicated.”

An almost feverish energy radiated from the other scientist as she took the sample case she was carrying to her workstation. Excitement? Fear? He couldn’t be sure.

“I know I was an idiot,” Alina said as she unloaded the sample case. “After warning you about going out with a storm coming, I did exactly the same thing — and without a cyborg ranger at my side.”

Alina was clearly trying to lighten the mood, but Cass wasn’t so easily deterred.

“But why?” she asked. “You never go into the field alone. What was so important, and where have you been all this time?”

“Did you look at the diagram I left? That’s an organic structure. Do you realize what that means?”

“Indigenous organic material,” Cass said slowly, looking over at him. Maybe their secret wasn’t going to remain a secret much longer. “Does anyone else know?”

“Not yet. I didn’t want to tell anyone until I’d confirmed my findings and made sure the sample hadn’t just been corrupted somehow.

That’s why I left — I only intended to make a quick trip and collect a sample myself, but I underestimated how quickly the storm would arrive.

” Alina hesitated. “And even now that I’ve confirmed it… This could change everything.”

He joined Cass and she took his hand, a gesture that didn’t escape Alina’s notice. The other scientist’s eyes widened, darting between them, and then she smiled.

“I see things have changed while I was away.”

“I was away too. We were trapped at Station 12 by the storm.” She looked up at him and he nodded. They might as well pool their knowledge. “We found something at Station 12,” she continued. “Something alive.”

Alina’s expression shifted from curiosity to shock. “You too? More plant life?”

“Yes, although it’s not the same kind of plant,” she said carefully. “But we also discovered something else entirely. Something alive.”

Alina went white, grabbing hold of her desk as if for support.

“Alive and not… not a plant? What happened to him — it?”

“It’s dead,” he said, and Alina gave a shocked cry, collapsing down into her chair.

“We didn’t kill it,” Cass said quickly, releasing his hand and hurrying over to her friend. “Not on purpose anyway. We were trying to contain it after it attacked us and it just… exploded.”

A muffled sob came from Alina and Cass put her arm around her.

“We didn’t want to harm it, but we had to do something. Zach barely managed to defeat it the first time it attacked, and it tore his side open with its claws.”

“Claws?” Alina repeated, an odd note in her voice, and Cass shuddered.

“Horrible claws. Like a crab’s claws but much larger, and we think they were capable of digging through rock.”

“What else did it look like?” Alina demanded. Cass gave her a puzzled look but obediently described the creature.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any record of it,” she concluded. “When it blew itself up, the energy pulse wiped out all our records.”

Alina’s original excitement seemed to have returned.

“That’s incredible. All these life forms emerging at the same time.”

“All?” he asked, and Alina blushed before looking away from him.

“As I said, the storm came on faster than I expected. I had to take refuge in an underground cave, and there were plants growing there as well.”

Something about her voice was a little too casual, and he was sure she wasn’t telling them everything. But that would have to wait.

“We need to secure this lab,” he said firmly. “Lock down the samples and data. Then we talk — all of us — and figure out next steps.”

“We need to compare notes,” Cass agreed. “This information can’t become public knowledge yet. Not until we understand what we’re dealing with.”

Alina nodded immediately. “There are too many people who would try and exploit it. I can initiate quarantine protocols. It’s standard procedure for potentially hazardous materials, and it will give us twenty-four hours before we’re required to file a formal report.”

Cass rejoined him as Alina started the process.

“Do you mind waiting a little longer to tell the Judge?”

“No,” he said, watching Alina. “I want to hear what Alina has to say first. Then we can decide.”

He wasn’t quite sure what he expected to learn, but when they gathered around the lab table, Alina seemed strangely reluctant to share her information.

“Can you show us where the samples came from?” he asked.

She hesitated, then brought up the coordinates. “This is the mining claim.”

“And the cave you discovered?”

“It’s in the same vicinity,” she said vaguely.

“Did you find anything else?”

“Nothing exciting.”

Although she tried to sound confident, she was clearly lying and he frowned at Cass.

“We could go back and take more samples,” she suggested.

“No!” Alina immediately blushed and waved her hand. “I mean I have plenty of samples for now.”

“But — ”

“Please, Cass. I just need a little more time.”

Cass studied her friend, then looked over at him. He shrugged, silently agreeing not to press the issue for now.

“All right,” she agreed.

Alina gave a relieved sigh, then smiled at them.

“Now,” she said, “tell me everything that happened while you were at Station 12.”

He let Cass tell the story, watching her as Roland climbed up onto his lap.

The two women were soon exchanging theories, both faces alight with the excitement of new discoveries — discoveries and mysteries still to be solved.

He still had a feeling that Alina was concealing something important, but he decided it didn’t matter.

Whatever it was, he would be at Cass’s side to love her and protect her.

Always.