Netto didn’t care for it.
“Until next time, sweetie. We’ll send you an update tonight.”
“The two of you be careful out there,” Mia rushed to say.
The audio shut off. The ship lowered to the ground. “Always are,” Zeph muttered under his breath.
“Hmm.”
They landed with silken ease. For all of Zeph’s crassness, Netto always appreciated a good pilot.
They stood up in unison and judged their flight suits sufficient for the meeting. The EPED logo, Earthian Planetary Exploration Division, was branded over the right side of their chests. It wasn’t armor, it couldn’t stop a bullet or the sharp edge of a knife, but it was diplomatic and formal.
They passed the ship’s androids on their way through the empty menagerie and lab. Zeph had two that were of different models to maintain basic systems when he had no crew.
Their current mission wasn’t deemed crew-worthy for two reasons: it wasn’t a monster hunt, and because he, Netto, was onboard.
Netto lightened his steps, reconfiguring his internal mech to account for the shift in gravity and his size but it didn’t help...and never would. He was a noisy Cyborg, to the dismay of his brethren, but he still had his uses. He had advantages that many of the others did not.
“Get any atmospheric readings? I have to adjust my weight to balance and air intake,” Zeph asked over his shoulder. His partner strapped a single pistol to his hip before walking over to the gate panel. A holographic screen lit up before them. “Never been to Kepler.”
“I have. Once.”
Netto peered over the numbers on the screen. It relayed everything from the current temperature, weather patterns, percentage of oxygen and hydrogen in the air, and how many life forms were outside the ship. Eight humans, zero Trentians, and an array of creatures.
His eyes remained on the number of humans.Too many.Hundreds of stored images came to mind of all the human interactions he had, dating back through his monster hunting career, rebuilding after the war, and of the war itself.
There weren’t many pleasant memories and the long, awkward stares, quiet and judgmental, were the worst, right after the terrified children unlucky enough to encounter him, and the women who had flinched away.
Netto shut out the images. Zeph was typing in security codes when he looked up.
“I’ve been in Kepler’s oceans,” he added.
“When?”
“After the war.”
“Why?”
“To help set up the oceanic tech.”
The ship hummed and adjusted to the new protocols. “You should’ve told me before,” Zeph muttered with a twitch to his lip. “Happen to know the Montihans?”
“One. A man.”
“And? Netto, I swear to old-tech, stop making me ask a thousand questions. Fucking elaborate.”
Netto grunted. “He was young, Montihan, an ex-soldier who was done with war. He was one of several dozen men and women who chose to leave Earth and help colonize Kepler.”
“Got that all in the background check. Will he know who you are?”
“I don’t know,” Netto answered truthfully. It wasn’t his mission to know the settlers nor the settlers to know him.
Zeph pressed his hand to a screen next to the latch. “Let’s get this over with then.”
He concurred as the metal doors slid into the walls of the ship, revealing a world he thought he would never visit again. Several humans stood a distance away and came forward as he and Zeph descended the steps.
Netto scanned their faces as they approached; some tensed, others flinched, there was a slight gasp, and a myriad of hard swallows and gulps down uneasy throats.
