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  “Dr. Kliask, I will be leaving for a few days, so if you want to gather more artifacts today, it would be recommended.”

  He blinked at her, all four eyes moving independently. “Where are you going?”

  “Another assignment. I will return here when it is complete.”

  “Oh, good. As long as it is only a few days. You are most useful to have around.”

  She smirked. “I do strive to be useful.”

  The team was gathered, and they went in to take full scans of all objects before anything was removed from the great library. Statuary was collected, as were strangely constructed books that flexed out on endless sheets of folded paper.

  She didn’t tell them about the hidden room at the back of the library. It would be a surprise for them when she returned. She had no intention of letting them into that room without her. Something about that room had the potential to be wonderful or terrifying. The reading that her senses gave her was indicating that something in there could reflect her talent. That meant it was harmonized crystal or some sort of trap, possibly both.

  Her com link chirped and announced the arrival of her ride. “Take what you can; we are heading out now.”

  Dr. Kliask looked up. “We can leave here without you. It might take some time to work through the maze, but we will return to base camp without any issue. I promise.”

  She quickly drew up a waiver. “Sign this. It absolves me of responsibility in case you get lost down here.”

  He quickly pressed his thumb to her wrist, and it accepted his signature. Contract law was the first thing she had gotten when she took courses with the Citadel. They wanted their people to know that their services were valuable, and that meant teaching them to protect their work in the field.

  She confirmed his thumbprint and got one of the assistants to verify the signature.

  “Have a nice time. I will see you all when I get back.”

  It felt weird to be leaving the team she had been working with for just over two weeks, but she had the opportunity to do something more than babysit a gathering of academics. She had a high tolerance for those who pursued active lives in academia. All four of her older siblings had obtained high degrees in their area of interest, and as the youngest, Yllin had been their study partner for every exam and proofreader for each essay. In a weird way, she found being surrounded by academics safe and familiar.

  When she made it up the steps and into the light, she heard the arrival of the shuttle and gathered her travel bag to prepare herself for whatever she was getting into.

  She slipped her bag over her shoulder and went to meet her ride.

  Chapter Six

  Nearing smiled as she came onboard. “You appear to be thriving, Yllin.”

  She stowed her bag and settled into the second seat as he sealed the ship. “It has been an interesting two weeks.”

  “Well, we are about to go from interesting to terrifying, at least for the family. A child is lost in the hills of Vicorran, the primitive holiday world. You can bring your knives and will have to leave your com unit behind. Outside of the landing area, you are restricted to primitive technology. Well, we are restricted to technology. I will find the child and you will get us there.”

  “If it is an emergency, why can’t we just go in and fly over?”

  He sighed. “It is complicated, but Vicorran is a beautiful and lush world with a mind of its own. It will not suffer the face of its brothers and watch the crawling and destruction of so-called civilised societies on its surface. Folk can come and live in nature in a very restrictive manner and most consider time on Vicorran to be restorative. If you follow the rules, the world blesses you. If you break the rules, Vicorran seeks you out and you burn. Leave the blaster and the com unit here.”

  She nodded. “Right. Are there really living worlds?”

  He smiled. “There are more sentient worlds than we know. They just have no way of speaking to us under normal circumstances.”

  He took off, and they rose up and out of the atmosphere of the dead and abandoned world of Webar and all its hidden wonders.

  Yllin waited until they were out of the gravitational pull before she unbelted and headed for the galley. She summoned two cups of tea, and when she had them both, she brought them back to the cockpit.

  “Here. I have been dying for a decent up of tea, and if I can settle for dispenser tea, it shows you the depths of my desperation.”

  Nearing laughed and took the cup. “We have thirty minutes before the jump. Thanks for the tea.”

  The jump site was close to Webar, and it was due, mainly, to the fact that the world was dead. No harm could be done by the energy output because there was no working eco system in action.

  In retrospect, she couldn’t fault Vicorran for wanting to protect itself. Webar had a sad aura, and its people were all long gone. She didn’t wish that on any other world.

  “How are you enjoying your time on Webar, aside from the tea?”

  “It is a little boring but not too bad. It has a family vibe that I was not anticipating.”

  “A lot of long-term postings are like that. You feel like you belong until it is time to leave and then you have to go elsewhere, but you will always have the friendships forged while you are with them.”

  “It sounds like you have been on a few.”

  “I travelled with my mother when she was crossing our world as a matchmaker. Now, her position as dispatcher gets her matching the proper people with the correct assignment. It doesn’t always look that way, but it ends up that way when all is said and done.”

  “She was a matchmaker?”

  “She still is. Don’t worry. She only makes romantic matches on request.”

  A curl of relief ran through her. “Oh good.”

  He chuckled and sipped at his tea.

  “Are you an only child, Nearing?”

  “I am. My mother said that one of me was quite enough.”

  She swallowed her tea and then laughed. “I can see that. My family had the bad taste to continue having children until I arrived. Apparently, that scared my parents enough to stop. Something had gone wrong with their perfect child template. I was everything wrong and nothing correct for their political ambitions, social class and personal dignity.”

  “Oh dear. I am guessing you were a bit of a shock.”

  She shrugged. “I have a care for the people of my world, for those who cannot rise because the need for additional education stymies them. Even if you have an inclination for an occupation, you cannot just assume it; you need to work at it, to learn it.”

  “Just as you have done with the Citadel.”

  Yllin paused. “I suppose I have.”

  He paused and cocked his head. “Have you ever ridden a quadruped before?”

  “Yes. Once. Why?”

  Nearing grinned, “Because that is how we are going to conduct our search.”

  Yllin remembered the creature with the baleful eyes that had taken her on a terror-filled journey through the streams and trees. “Fine, but if it gives me any attitude, we are going to have a frank discussion, and I am going to win.”

  “I am going to enjoy watching the battle.” He had a sly look in his eyes as he finished his tea.

  She whisked the empty cup away with a scowl and returned it to the galley with her own. Yllin returned, belted in and waited for her first really active assignment to begin.

  The organiser of the campsite met them at the shuttle pad. They got a briefing of the situation and met their steeds.

  Yllin eyed the six-footed jehrkreez, and he stared her down as well. She felt the actual moment when they agreed he would take her on her mission and nothing else. They would not be friends; they were going to be comrades.

  Nearing didn’t have to negotiate with his beast. He simply introduced himself and the other beast fawned all over him.

  She hauled herself into the saddle and gripped the reins. With p
ressure from her legs, her beast lumbered forward, and they headed toward the place where the child had gone missing.

  Nearing pulled up next to her. “Are you ready?”

  “Do you have a direction?”

  He pointed. “Northwest of the main camp grounds. She was moving fast. The distance is far greater than I would have imagined.”

  She sent out a searching blast, and her beast raised its head, turning to look at her with surprise. “Sorry. I will try and keep it to a minimum.”

  He nodded and she felt a change under her limbs. Nearing’s beast was engaging in the same move, changing from rambling ruminant to creature designed for speed.

  Nearing told the organiser that they were on their way, and Yllin took the lead. She used her senses to give the beast beneath her little cues. They worked together well, and the occasional glance backward showed her that Nearing’s beast was keeping up.

  “This would be a lot easier if we could use coms.”

  Her beast snorted and kept moving at his blurring pace. She nudged him, turned him and guided him through the woods and rocks.

  She could see where they needed to go. When they had been riding for an hour and foam flecked the beast beneath her, she ran a quick check on her jehrkreez and was surprised to see that he was designed for this sort of thing.

  His clawed feet dug in and propelled him forward with a strange rocking motion that she found rather pleasant. It wasn’t a riot runner, but it was fun.

  Nearing let out a sharp whistle, and she sent out another signal; this time, there was a living being in it and the low body temperature made her worry. At a few hundred yards away, she slowed her beast and let Nearing take the lead.

  He passed her and zeroed in on the lost girl.

  She followed and her beast gave her another look. “What? I am just here to find a safe path. He is better with people, from what I have seen.”

  When the young girl screamed, Yllin cursed and urged her beast forward. She dismounted and landed on her ass, crawling over to where the girl huddled against a tree, shying away from Nearing.

  “Easy, lass. Take it easy. We are here to get you home or, at least, back with your own people.”

  The young girl ran for her and struck with enough force to send her backward.

  The high, soft voice started rambling, but Yllin could only make out one word. “Demon.”

  Nearing looked bashful.

  Yllin got to her feet and lifted the girl in her arms. “Don’t worry about him, love. He is perfectly harmless. He just looks a little creepy by your standards. He found you; I just showed him the path to get him here.”

  The girl was shaking, but Yllin got her up on the beast and swung up behind her. She pulled out a ration bar and broke off a small piece, fishing out a bottle of water to help her wash it down.

  “I wish there was a way to get a signal out that we found her.”

  The beast under her lifted his head and let out a long, low howl that Nearing’s beast took up. In the distance, they heard other animals howling, and it rippled through the valley until a bright light fired into the air.

  Yllin looked at that flare and plotted a course. “Let’s get you home.”

  The beast lumbered slowly with the child nibbling away at the food.

  Nearing came up next to them, and the little girl now had more curiosity in her eyes than fear.

  “What are you feeding her?”

  “Breakdown bars. A protein and enzyme cocktail that any species can eat for situations like this. The water is just hydrogen and oxygen.”

  She broke off another small piece and her passenger ate it, washing it down with another controlled swallow of water.

  The beast was moving steadily in the path she had chosen. She gave slight signals with her knees but kept her arms around the little girl.

  The pale green skin and deep green hair would have made it hard to spot her in the forest but that didn’t explain her location.

  “How did you get up so far?”

  She mumbled and Yllin had to lean in to hear her.

  “Your brother dared you to ride a jehrkreez? When you got on top of him he ran off?”

  The beast she was on snorted and shook his head.

  The little girl nodded.

  “Ah, what is your name, honey?”

  “Arbelika Yamra Twix. My brother calls me Licker.”

  Yllin grinned. “My brothers have names for me as well. They are all older than me, and I was always trying to impress them, which made me do stupid stuff and sometimes dangerous stuff.”

  They were moving at a steady pace that was taking them to the searchers, but they would still take hours to arrive.

  Arbelika ducked her head. Her solid black eyes were embarrassed. “I told my brother to watch me that I was going to ride one as fast as it would go. When it stopped, I got off and it ran away, leaving me lost and very far away from the camp ground.”

  Yllin’s beast nodded, and she knew that it was confirming the child’s story. There was more to her mount than fur, claws and attitude.

  “May I call you Arka?” She asked it politely.

  The girl looked up with gratitude. “That is a pretty short-name.”

  “I thought so. I am Specialist Yllin, and that is Specialist Nearing. He is the one who found you.”

  Arka nodded. “He looks like a demon.”

  Nearing tilted his head. “No horns.”

  “A lesser demon then.” She nodded with authority that only children could master.

  “Arka, I have met demons. Well, I have met Dhemons. They have horns and are very polite. It is just that the people they warred with were not very nice and liked to talk about them behind their backs. It got written into histories and literature as them being the bad guys, and I am here to tell you that Nearing is one of the good ones.”

  Arka nibbled at another piece of ration bar, and she sat up, extending her free hand to Nearing. “Thank you, Specialist Nearing.”

  Nearing came up next to them and took her small hand with his gloved one. “It was my honour, Arbelika Yamra Twix.”

  “I would not mind if you called me Arka as well.”

  Nearing smiled, and Yllin watched a crush forming.

  “It was my honour, Arka. Relax against Yllin. She will take good care of you.”

  Yllin gave her another sip of water and reached in her pack for a compressed blanket. She flicked it out and wrapped it around Arka. The moment the girl was warm and had some food in her belly, she fell asleep.

  They rode until the moons lit their path as they made their way through the forest. There were insects, animals but nothing larger than the two beasts they were riding.

  “I can take her for a while if you need a rest.” Nearing’s beast was next to hers.

  She altered their course to take them around a lake and shook her head. “This isn’t tiring. I won’t be able to walk straight for a week after this, but being up here is fine.”

  “Where did you get the breakdown bars?”

  “The archaeologists carry them. They prepare to be locked in their sites for up to a week, and they take all of their supplies in every time they enter. I have learned a lot in two weeks.” She winked.

  “What about the blanket?”

  “We were in search of a missing child. There was every reason to bring the blanket, and it meets with the planetary specs set out by Vicorran. I read the regulations while you were in the lav.”

  He smiled and shook his head. “I told you you would be good at this.”

  She looked down at the girl in her arms. “I am very glad that I am.”

  With smooth movements, her beast took off at a faster pace. Yllin held Arka in her arms and monitored her temperature with a hand to her forehead. It was an ancient way to check on someone, but it worked.

  Chapter Seven

  Six hours after arriving on Vicorran, they rode the beasts into the site from which
the search had been coordinated.

  Arka was sitting up with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and when her parents rushed to her, she slid into their arms with tears and hugs for all.

  Yllin fought the tears of sympathy as she watched the family reunite. She slid off the beast she had been riding and made sure that she had all of her supplies with the exception of the blanket.

  Nearing brought his beast next to her. “We are going to need a ride to the shuttle.”

  “I know, but I made a deal with my beast. One mission and I would get off.”

  Her beast turned to her and nudged her back to the stirrup. Apparently, he was granting her one more ride.

  Her body rebelled, but she hauled herself back into the saddle.

  Arka wiggled away from her family and grabbed Yllin’s boot. “Thank you for finding me.”

  “Make sure that you bring a pack on your next adventure. I am pretty sure that given the right supplies, you could have made your way home.” She leaned down and stroked Arka’s hair. “Be good but keep adventuring. The only person you need to impress is yourself.”

  Arka nodded and clutched at Yllin’s hand before letting it go. Arka nodded to Nearing and he nodded back.

  With their mission completed, they left the search centre and headed for the shuttle pad at full speed, their beast moving gracefully beneath them.

  Climbing down was a moment of pure relief. Yllin stretched and scratched the hide of her beast. “Should we take the saddles off?”

  As she said it, the beasts turned their heads and the harnesses slid off to dump the saddles on the ground.

  Her beast walked up to her, and to her surprise, he pressed his head against hers.

  You are going to go far, Yllin Gerocard. You have courage and compassion, two things that are needed in our universe. If you ever come here again, you may use what communications you will. You have my permission.

  You are…this world?

  I am. Jehrkreez are the most advanced life form here, but they have no memories. I would have found her myself, but my Avatar also has no sense of smell. I could not find her, and the one she rode could not remember where he had been.