She took the Star Blaster from her minion. “Nah. I’m trying to kill it, not irreparably destroy my property.” Using as much strength as she could muster with her terribly average physique, she lifted the loaded weapon onto her shoulder, where it sat heavily, and peered down its length. She shifted her feet apart.
Her palms beaded with sweat.
Mother would be so disappointed, and so very proud.
Her glasses synchronized with the Star Blaster, and her vision morphed to include targeting and a scope; she quietly aimed at the largest heat-glowing mass she could find.
She licked her lips. “If this doesn’t work,” she muttered over her shoulder, “make sure I get out of this alive.” Without further delay, she released the missile and was thrust back into the steely hands of her minion.
The Blaster was taken from her the moment a horrible roar filled her ears. Water hit her face, bringing her back to the present, and she tore off her glasses.
“Oh my! Reload! Reload!” she screamed as a wall of grimy, slimy, green tentacles rose up to block out the sky, and its many daytime suns.
Her command went ignored as she was forcibly dragged back into her house, but she heard several more rockets being released. The foundation trembled.
Three hours later, the fighting had finally cooled down, and her stores of adrenaline had all but been depleted. Lucy watched the entire mess through blast shields on the main floor.What am I going to do?
Asking the estate would lose her credibility as an owner. She’d gotten the feeling the house wasput-outby her return. Larkswest had bombs in its arsenal but—even though she liked big bangs—Lucy didn’t want to completely destroy her pool.
Who could help me kill a monster?
If only there were such things as monster hunters…
She flicked on her wrist-con and sighed, typed ininterstellar exterminator services, and hoped for the best.
3
Mia looked up as her office door flew open and a man sauntered through. He grabbed a digital folder out of the inbox holoscreen on her desk.
“Moss! You can’t just barge in here and start rifling through my things!” she said to little avail, as he was already halfway through the file, reading at an inhuman rate. He sat down in the chair across from her desk, eyes never leaving it.
“Mark me down for this one. I’ve seen all I need to see. Some kind of water monster?”
“Are you really spending your vacation doing this? You just got back to Earth.”
Moss leaned back in his seat, interlocking his fingers behind his neck. “Have you seen the pay?”
Mia pulled the digital copy up on her holodisplay.
“Have you been hacking into my servers again? We don’t do personal favors, you know that,” Mia argued. She was the handler for the EPED, and like all Monster Hunters—or Retrievers—in the Earthian Planetary Exploration Division, she gave out the jobs. She was also their human resources representative and the closest thing to a manager any of them had—for as much as anyonecouldmanage them.
“But did you look at the number?” He was looking at it right now.
She glanced at it, and her eyes widened involuntarily. She’d never seen a more dizzying amount of zeros.
“Wow…” A moment passed before she regained thought. “I haven’t seen that amount of pay from a personal job, ever.” She could buy complete clearance to leave Earth with that amount of money. She could bypass so much documentation. She took the job with the EPED so she’d have better leverage to obtain relocation but then the laws kept changing every six months. Mia sobered.No wonder why Moss wants it…“But did it ever occur to you that you don’t need any more money?” she asked, slightly put-out.
“No. That did not occur to me. Watch it continue to not occur to me as I prep my ship to launch.” He smiled brightly at her.
“Moss, I haven’t even vetted this file yet. It came in overnight.”
“Bear don’t care, honey. Bear don’t care.” He rose from his seat.
I’m losing him.Mia shot to her feet.I just got this job. I can’t mess it up yet.“You do care. Just because—”
“Mia.” He turned to face her and blasted her with his most charmingly stubborn smile.Cocky ass undying tardigrade pain in my side.But she couldn’t help smiling back.
“You know this one is perfect for me,” he continued. “That number is perfect for me. And it’ll make me happy… Don’t you want to make me happy?”
