“No, I think she’s an adorably sneaky lizard,” Amina said. “She did this on purpose.”
“You might be correct,” Myrum said, reassessing Ruby’s previous actions. “This is the second time she’s hidden herself to keep from being left behind. At least this time she didn’t end up half starved.”
Amina’s eyes went wide. “Half starved?”
“When I found her in my bedroll, she was barely alive. It took several rotations before she could eat without help.”
She started to nod then seemed to remember she had Ruby on her head and stopped. “That explains why you were so frantic to find bug-pucks on Polkor.”
Myrum sounded a rumble of agreement. “Yes. I’d found a keratin supplement made of bugs on the ship, but I didn’t have much left.”
Amina made anawwsound. “You look all big and tough, but you have a gooey-soft center.”
Myrum sounded a confused rumble. “Aren’t we all soft inside? That’s where our organs are located.”
For some reason, Amina found this funny. As she laughed, Ruby finished her frantic feeding and settled down, fat and relaxed on Amina’s head. When he reached up to pluck her off, the lizard clumsily moved away from his hand. She dropped onto Amina’s shoulder then crawled around to the front of Amina’s robe and disappeared back inside.
“Ah, okay. I know which pocket she’s in,” she said, tugging the lapel of the robe back in place from where Ruby had disturbed it.
Myrum looked at Gis. “We didn’t pack any food for her.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to bring plenty of bugs from here back up to the outpost,” Gis said, then looked worried. “You must promise me not to let any of them loose.”
“Never,” Myrum assured him as Amina giggled again. He was happy to see her in such a good mood after such an uncomfortable night.
Gis went still for a moment. “It seems that Lorse is struggling over what to say to his parent. He’s going to leave, but Myrum isn’t to worry because he promises to return promptly.”
No sooner did Gis say that than the sound of a shuttle launching hit Myrum’s earholes. They all looked up to see the shuttle disappear into the sky.
Amina’s mouth dropped open. “He left us down here? I mean, I understand that he doesn’t care about the two of us, but what about Myrum?”
“I’m something he wants to possess,” Myrum said. “He would discard me without a second thought.”
Amina rubbed a hand up and down his upper arm. “I guess that gives us plenty of time to catch bugs!”
He sounded an amused rumble. “Leave it to you to find something positive.”
“It’s not a big deal as long as he comes back for us,” Amina said.
Something occurred to Myrum. “Could Helmen pick us up from the planet? If we could find a sink hole or deep body of water, then we could leave remnants of clothes there and he would think we died.”
“That’s a great idea, but our ship isn’t made to enter an atmosphere this thick,” Amina said.
“You’ve given me an idea,” Gis said.
“Yeah?” Amina said. “Tell me!”
Gis and Amina went over various plans using the second shuttle on the outpost. They kept running into the same issue, getting Myrum away from Lorse and the guards.
Since Lorse had left the planet, Myrum thought it was safe to pull her into his arms.
“Ruby’s right here,” Amina said, pointing to a spot on the front of her robe.
“Noted,” he said, making sure not to accidentally crush Ruby. Amina relaxed into his embrace as she and Gis continued to talk.
He was amazed Ruby hadn’t been hurt before, but then again, the robe was well padded and Amina hadn’t done anything dangerous or strenuous.
He rubbed his scent glands into her hair as he listened to them come up with and discard plan after plan.
