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Chapter 9

“Don’t shoot! It’s nothurting me.” Georgia gestured for Ash to lower his weapon. She looked down at the skinny, shaking animal that had thrown itself at her.

It blinked up at her with large pale blue eyes and whimpered.

Ash walked over, his weapon still out but lowered. “What is it?”

Georgia reached down to remove the animal from her thigh, but it shrank away and made another whimpering sound. “It could be a banty. It’s hard to tell because the fur is so matted.”

“Banty are harmless?”

“Completely. They’re like small Earth monkeys.”

He nodded. “I didn’t know they lived on Sysal.”

“They don’t.” Georgia looked at the shaking animal. “How have you managed to survive here on your own?” She looked up at Ash. “They prefer warm environments, not barren, boggy wastelands.”

“It could have been a ship’s stowaway?”

“Maybe.” She leaned closer, and the creature chittered. “This one looks different from other banty I’ve seen. It could be because it’s malnourished. This poor thing is skin and bones.”

“Could it be another experiment? Will it grow wings and shoot arrows out of its butt?”

“If it was an experiment, it should have gone into attack mode, just like the others we’ve met. This thing is cuddling me to keep warm. Hand me the medical pack from the kit bag.”

Ash passed her the pack.

Georgia pulled out a vitamin shot, a hydration pack, and a scanner. She ran a quick diagnostic on the animal. “There are no injuries, but it’s dehydrated. Do you want some water?” She didn’t go gooey over the fluffies like some of the crew, but never wanted an animal to suffer. And this poor thing had been through the wars. It had several patches of fur missing and an infection in one eye.

“We could take it out of here. Maybe it got trapped in the tunnel and can’t find its way out,” Ash said.

“We will. Hold it while I hook up the hydration. It won’t like needles.”

Ash wrapped a hand around the creature, locking it in place, while Georgia administered the injections and inserted the thin IV needle.

Although the creature whimpered and rolled its eyes, it didn’t try to get away.

“You look after it. I’ll go grab the data downloads and get the shots of those star charts,” she said.

Ash tried to remove the banty from her thigh. It growled at him.

“The little thing has courage.” He grinned. “I’ll grab the data and the photos. You keep playing nurse.”

Georgia risked a stroke of the banty, and it didn’t object. It was sweet, but it wasn’t staying with her.

Twenty minutes later, the data files were stored, Ash had moved the Draxian to the cave exit, and the banty looked much healthier.

Georgia packed away the medical equipment and stroked the banty again. “That’s all I can do for you. You can come with us to the surface if you like. Although I’m not sure what your chances are out there on your own.”

“Not great. But if it’s left down here, it’ll die,” Ash said.

Georgia unwrapped an energy bar and offered it to the creature.

It took a few tentative sniffs and then a bite but didn’t seem to like it much, spitting a chewed piece of bar onto the ground.

“That’s thanks for you,” Ash said. “I could have eaten that.”

“Banty prefer insects. Energy bars are clearly off the table.” She looked at the creature, who was still wrapped around her thigh. “That’s all I can do for you. And you need to get out of here before the aliens come back. If they haven’t experimented on you, they might try if they discover you hiding down here.”