Page 8 of Hunter’s Harvest

But before I could respond with more, the door swung open. Nellie stood there, rubbing her eyes, her hair tangled from sleep. She looked between us, her gaze lingering on Hess’n. My chest vibrated with a growl I couldn’t suppress.

“Oh good! Another hunter.” That was all I caught before she started speaking so fast and used so many words that there was no way for my faulty translators to pick it up.

Hess’n inclined his head, switching to broken English. “Understand… some. You… speak?”

Nellie’s smile widened, and I tightened my hands into fists at my side. She continued speaking, and I heard the words “not understand” and my name in quick succession. “I can understand you.”

Hess’n sent me a look, then dug into his belt pouch and produced one of our button translation devices. Nellie recognized it right away. It was meant to help humans—or whatever alien species in the worlds we landed on in our never-ending fight with the scourge—understand us.

Her eyes lit up, and she stepped forward toward Hess’n. I caught her with my arm, pulling her back against me. She turned her head and sent me an irritated look.

“I never thought to use those in reverse,” she said, and the translator echoed it back in a feminine but robotic voice. “That’s weird but okay. I need to find the ones who were with me on the shuttle. Or get to the front of the shuttle. Or find my lost laptop. It’s like your communicators but Earth-made, and much bigger, and it’s connected to the Xarc’n network.”

“You mean like this one?” Hess’n brought out his Earth-made communicator. It was how he monitored what was going on in the area.

“Almost, but bigger.” She held her hands up to show how big it was. I didn’t understand how she could carry something that size around with her. Wouldn’t it get in the way?

“Ah, your portable computers.”

“Yes! That’s it. We call them laptops.” She eyed Hess’n’s device. “Does yours connect to the Xarc’n network? If it does, I can send out a message to my people or to New Franklin, and let them know what happened.”

Hess’n frowned.

I answered instead. “It cannot send out messages. We only use it to monitor the hostile humans. They were the ones who shot down your shuttle.”

She nodded, not looking surprised. “I gather the two of you are from the third contingent. You know it’s okay to join a hunters’ group. They have several third-contingent warriors living with them in New Franklin. No one’s going to make you leave.”

Hess’n and I exchanged a look.

“If your shuttles haven’t talked to you about it yet, it must mean you both probably ditched your shuttles.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Because Pip would’ve talked to your shuttle’s artificial intelligence and convinced it to convince you it’s safe.”

“Pip?” This was a word I was not familiar with, yet she said it like I should be.

“Never mind. It’s a long story. You’ll figure it all out when you join civilization again.”

When, not if. She spoke like she already knew what I would do.

Hess’n’s face clouded up. “Those humans destroyed my shuttle. It no longer works.”

“At least you still have it,” I grumbled. “I only have pieces of mine.”

“They should be able to fix whatever is wrong at New Franklin.” She searched our faces. “I know you’re not sure what to believe, but I need help finding my friends. They could still be alive. And I have to notify my people. Or New Franklin. But they should know by now that something has happened. We should be there by now. You need to help me find them.” She looked from me to Hess’n.

“I guess I am not busy. I can take—”

“I will take you,” I said, loudly drowning out my fellow hunter. I did not want her to go with him. She was mine.

Hess’n looked amused but did not push. “I will search too. You said there is another female.”

“Yes, her name is Mari,” Nellie said.

“Mari.”

“Yes. She’s a little shorter than me. And has blonde hair. Wears it in a ponytail, or it was the last time I saw her.”