He urged Maya back one step, and the creature stood down.
Ranek was surprised that he hadn’t noticed or scented this creature. But then again, he was focused on the much stronger scent of predator drifting in from down the tunnel.
“First pterodactyls? And now a six-legged electric lizard? This planet’s got it all,” Maya mused. She tried unsuccessfully to peer through the darkness into the room beyond. “Gimme the work lamp.”
Ranek swung the makeshift pack he’d made with a sheet and some webbing over to the front to untie the light before handing it to her. He shone the powerful beam of light into the room.
Hundreds of pairs of shiny eyes met them, confused and shocked by the sudden brightness. Each pair of eyes was attached to a slim, long, legless body.
“Look! Babies! And they don’t have legs yet.”
Maya was probably right; these had to be the juvenile form of the creature that had hissed and sparked at them. If there was any doubt about their identity, it was quickly dispelled when the entire room of legless lizards hissed in unison and lit up like hundreds of teeny tiny lights for a split second, their tiny forms unable to generate as much electrical energy as their mother. Or was that their sire?
The parent in question hissed and sizzled again, the electricity strong enough this time to make the fine hairs on his arms stand at attention.
Maya stepped back, one hand still touching the back of his arm, then let out a chuckle. “It’s protecting its babies. Let’s leave them alone. I don’t think Commander Chaos is in there. If he tried, he probably got a shock and left. Come on, let’s leave mama alone before we stress them all out.” She took one last look into the room. “Bye, little danger noodles.”
Danger noodles? Humans had strange terms.
“I guess we keep going?” she asked, handing back the light.
Ranek bent to get closer to the ground where Commander Chaos’s scent was the strongest. It was pretty strong here, meaning the dragus pup must’ve met this curious nest of electric reptiles before they had, and then continued down the tunnel. He wrinkled his nose, certain now that the dragus pup wasn’t the only thing down that way.
“Yes. He went this way. But stay behind me.”
And together, they continued down the tunnel and toward the worrying scent of a predator.
Maya
As they continued down the tunnel, Ranek’s body language changed, getting tighter and tighter. Maya squeezed Ranek’s arm, partly hoping her touch would relax him a bit, and partly because she was nervous as fuck and contact with him made her feel better.
She might have just met him earlier today, but down here in these abandoned tunnels that nature had reclaimed, he was the only thing she could trust. Hell, she didn’t even trust her own senses.
She surprised herself by the way she’d reacted to an entire room filled with hundreds of legless electric lizards. If one of the babies showed up inside her apartment at Reka 5, she’d probably yelp at it at first, then feel silly because it was teeny tiny and couldn’t really hurt her if she kept her distance. She blamed her almost unreal calmness on the fact that she’d been through too much today and had lost all ability to react to anything.
All she wanted was to find Commander Chaos, get back to safety, drop the dragus pup off at New Rhea with Ranek, and then go home.
She thought of her craptastic place back home. Maya had made the mistake of moving in with a few people she didn’t really know to save some credits. The guy living there was a total slob who drank too much.
It wasn’t just the booze spilled all over their couch and floor either. Eddie would hit on her every time he was drunk, and that was often. And because of him and his habit of shoving dirtytrays and plates under the freaking couch, out of sight and out of mind, they were constantly fighting pests.
Her other roommate was no better. Vi kept stealing Maya’s shit. Nothing was safe from her kleptomania. Any food Maya bought for herself? Eaten. Leave soap or shampoo in the facilities? Gone. That one time she forgot to lock her door? The bitch went into her room and stole the charger for her comm unit. And when Maya confronted her, she claimed it was a communal charger and that Maya was the one being cheap and unreasonable for hoarding it.
Then there was the way Vi had rolled her eyes at Maya’s job. She made it plenty clear that she thought breeding and taming dragus was a stupid idea. Eddie thought so too, but at least he didn’t make jokes about how the dragus were probably the only things that enjoyed spending time with Maya. Sometimes, she wondered if Vi was trying to drive her away on purpose.
Maya had been saving up to get out of there. But she was stuck there until the end of the rental season. They were smack dab in the middle of one now, and that meant she still had way too long to go. And with the way Reka 5 had been growing, a good place to live was hard to find, especially on her budget.
Until they actually had a consistent flow of reliable, trainable litters, she, Faith, and Grant would have to pinch their credits. Paying for the kennel and feeding the pups and their parents came first.
The lantern in her hand made a sharp sound, jarring her out of her thoughts.
Ranek took it from her and looked at the small display at the side of the device. “That one has little charge left, but it should last long enough. The dragus pup can’t be far now. We are getting close. His scent is fresher here.”
The idea of trying to survive in these pitch-black tunnels without light was terrifying. Sure, Ranek was Tallean, and they had amazing night vision, but she was pretty sure they needed at least some light to see. She’d been under the impression that the dragus were the same way, but the pup seemed to have no trouble forging ahead of them.
“I’m surprised Commander Chaos made it so far on his own,” she said. “I thought they needed a bit of light to see, like Talleans do.”
“There is light here,” Ranek said as he turned off his lantern. “Turn off your lantern.”
