Taking several of the largest pairs we could find with us, we headed off to find all the equipment and materials we needed to fix them up. I shoved our haul into my new backpack. Anything we didn’t use would no doubt be snatched up back at settlement.
The wind slapped us in the face the moment we stepped out of the shop. The incoming storm clouds had darkened the sky considerably, and the flyers had thinned out. Even they knew not to challenge Mother Nature. It was a lot colder too, and I was glad I’d opted for the warmer option with the fleecy layer.
“The storm is coming fast,” he said, scanning the sky.
No shit, Sherlock. I tugged my new jacket tighter around me.
But as I stepped toward the shuttle, something flickered at the edge of my vision. I froze, my brain immediately screamingscourge!I whirled around, cursing the fact that I didn’t have anything to use as a weapon.
As if reacting solely to my actions, Ror’k jumped in front of me, ready to fight whatever lurked around the corner.
Chapter 18: Ror’k
I did not know what had Dottie’s fear spiking so violently, but I hated the way her shoulders tightened. I was ready to defend her against anything the universe dared throw at us. My body tensed, ready to fight, even though I sensed no immediate danger.
Then I saw it. A small flick of fur behind a broken crate. It was the pointy ears that gave it away.
Earth’s felines were small but vicious, and extremely proficient at keeping our living environments free of natural pests. Pests were a fact of life on every planet, and I didn’t just mean the scourge. When we first set up the food production islands, we quickly found ourselves overrun by tiny rodents, especially as we started growing and storing calorie-rich grains that humans often consumed.
Dottie relaxed, and so did I.
“Oh! It’s a cat!” She knelt and reached out to it. “Pspspspspsp, come’re kitty, kitty.”
Would that actually work? The cat did not, in fact, come here.
Dottie turned to me, her eyes lighting up. “We need that cat! The community center is at a breaking point with mice. We’re onKurt’s waiting list, but there’s one right here. We have to catch it.”
I knew Kurt. He worked on the island I’d spent time on. The male stuck to himself and spent most of his time with his felines. “You wish to capture it and relocate it to New Franklin.”
“Yes. I know it’d probably never be super friendly, but that’s okay as long as it keeps the rodents down.”
Another flash of gray appeared and then disappeared around the corner.
“I believe it wishes to get by,” I said.
I had scented the tiny predator in the area before, but hadn’t mentioned it since the scent was weak and they were harmless. Dottie stepped away from the door, pressing herself back against the shuttle. I opened the door, and we stepped through, waiting just inside my shuttle for the creature to move. Sure enough, it came around the corner and then dashed across the front of the building. It entered the shop two doors down.
“Did you see that?” Dottie whispered. “I think it’s pregnant. Look at its belly.”
That was very likely. It was the right time of year.
We followed it into the building, moving slowly so we didn’t startle it. The shop was brightly colored, with hand-painted signs and a mural on the wall. While I was certain it had once served something edible, I couldn’t figure out what. Strange metal cylinders lined the counter.
“This was the ice cream parlor. They did some fancy flavors back in the day.”
“Cold cream?” I hadn’t known what cream was until Earth. We haven’t sought to consume the lactation of other animals,but I’d tried cheese and milk and found them rather palatable. I hadn’t tried this iced-cream.
“It’s frozen sweetened cream. It’s good in the summer. If you stay around New Franklin during the swarms, you’ll get to try some. We even make some hunter-specific flavors that are less sweet. And more meaty.” The look on Dottie’s face straddled the border between amusement and mild disgust. “Frozen meaty paste doesn’t exactly sound palatable, and I’m sure I’m not selling it well, but the hunters like it. Kaj’k inhaled a whole tub of pâté-flavored one in one sitting.”
They must’ve enjoyed it a lot since none of it ever made it up to the mothership. I’d long suspected we didn’t always get the best picks, but it was still better than a steady diet of food bars.
We followed the creature up the squeaky stairs, past a door that had been left ajar, and into a domicile. The moment we stepped into the room with the sleeping platform, we immediately noticed movement from inside an open drawer of a dresser. The cat was not pregnant. It was already a mother.
Dottie’s barely contained squeal of excitement startled the cat, and it arched its back, hissing.
“Sorry, sweetie. I didn’t mean to scare you.” She went on her tiptoes so she could peer into the drawer from afar. “Oh my, look at those kittens.” Her excitement was contagious.
Kittens. Humans were strange. I did not understand the need for different names for the young of animals unless they went through some sort of metamorphosis. All scourge started life as an egg, then became larvae, and after that, scuttlers. Then some pupated again, turning into one of the more specialized phenotypes. But cats and kittens looked the same. Just differently sized.
