Page 2 of Alien Mine

The message light blinked. The ‘path faded off the viewscreen and dozens of messages popped open one after another, so rapidly, Dyuvad couldn’t process them all. “Wait, slow down.”

The streaming messages flickered to a halt. He tapped into one containing sparse details of the girl’s life and pinned it into the upper left-hand corner of the viewscreen. Another message was from his bank on Abyw, alerting him to an unexpected deposit. He checked it and whistled his astonishment into the ship’s recycled air. Apparently, protecting the little girl was worth a couple hundred thousand credits, judging by the jump in his net worth. It was enough to bribe his way into another raid and then some. Maybe that would appease his parents.

He continued reading messages, pinned the important ones below the girl’s data, and finally hit on one from Benar flagged “Security Clearance Q.” After scanning it, Dyuvad sat back in his chair. He was to meet his brother in three Standard days, where he’d pick up new identification documents, enough currency to allow him to live independently on the girl’s planet, and clothing and other items he’d need while there. Benar’s six-man dal would escort Dyuvad and his ship to the outer reaches of the frontier. From there, he’d travel on his own into Origin Space to the girl’splanet, where he would jump planetside and go about protecting her from dangers unspecified.

He brought the planet’s image up again and studied it, eyes narrowed. Earth, also known as Terra. He arched an eyebrow. At least one among the Pruxnæ had visited the remote planet in the unknown past and returned to Abyw with enough bovi to start a breeding herd. Other than that, Dyuvad knew nothing, not surprising considering how far the planet was from civilized space. If he was lucky, the inhabitants would be relatively peaceful and would have some kind of rudimentary technology. If he wasn’t? Chaos, anarchy, primitive conditions.

After losing the red-headed beauty to Ryn, Dyuvad wasn’t feeling particularly lucky.

The last message was from an unknown sender and held a single line repeated over and over again.She is important to us.

Dyuvad grunted. Well, that wasn’t obvious at all, was it?

He input coordinates for the initial meeting spot into his ship’s nav systems and readied himself for an unplanned mission into one of the galaxy’s most uncivilized regions.

Earth, the Present

It was the crash that woke Rachel Hunter, not her children’s excited screams or their frantic scramble out of their respective beds or her brother’s dogs barking up a storm next door. A goat bleated outside, way too close to her bedroom window, and she sighed. If those dadgum dogs had gotten out and pulled the fence down again, Fate was going to pay for it, favorite little brother or not.

And he’d do the work repairing the fence, too, by golly.

Maybe it was just the metal goat falling off the roof of her van. Jazz had sworn it was permanent when he’d welded it up there. Then again, he was first and foremost an artist, not exactly the most stable or reliable calling in the world. And he did like his ‘shrooms an awful lot.

Rachel flipped the covers off her legs and groped for her flip flops. The digital clock on her nightstand read 4:58 in obnoxious, bright red numerals. She flicked off the alarm. No more sleep for her. At least the sun was close to rising, unlike the last time Fate’s dogs had gotten out.

She shrugged on a ratty robe over the equally ratty Great Smoky Mountains t-shirt she’d worn to bed. Tiny’s shrieking laughter rang through the early morning air into the house. Ten to one, the girls were already out there tangled up in whatever ruckus had caused the crash. They’d need another bath before breakfast could be cooked and eaten. God forbid either one of them avoid the chance to get dirty.

Kelly’s excited chatter filtered to Rachel. She yawned and forced her tired body to move. Raising two daughters without their father’s help on top of managing a thriving business plum wore her out sometimes, but it was worth it. Every day, she thanked God for the blessings He’d given her, two healthy little girls, a knack for working with plants and animals, and a sound head for business. Sometimes, she and the girls struggled to make ends meet, but it was better than the way they’d lived while her ex-husband Juan had flitted in and out of their lives.

Rachel shuffled down the narrow hallway of her home, bought and paid for through the sweat of her own brow, thank you very much, and bounced against the doorframe leading into the kitchen.

Sleep. Just one more hour of sleep would’ve been fine and dandy.

Kelly burst through the backdoor, her shiny, black-brown hair a rumpled tangle around her sun-kissed face. “Mama, you havegotto come see this! There’s amanon the fence and the goats areeverywhere. Billy’s eating the guy’sbackpackand Nanny’s chewing on hisclothesand…”

Rachel held her hand up, forestalling her nine-year-old’s detailed explanation of what each and every one of their goats was up to. “Is the man hurt?”

Some of the excitement bled out of Kelly’s expression. Sheshifted from one dirty, bare foot to the other and focused her chocolate eyes on the floor. “Well, I don’t think so. He’s not really moving or nothing, but he groaned and stuff. That means he’s ok, right?”

“Not necessarily. Go grab his backpack before Billy eats all of it.” Kelly spun and smacked the backdoor open on her way outside. Rachel raised her voice and added, “Get your sister inside, too.”

Heaven forbid the goats got tired of chewing on strangers and snacked on Tiny instead.

“Yes’m,” Kelly hollered over the slap of her feet against the porch.

Rachel backtracked to her bedroom and tugged on shorts, a bra, and her work boots, then trudged back through the house into the pre-dawn morning. The air was cool and humid and delicious. Honeysuckle bloomed along the wild edges of her yard. Its sweet fragrance competed with the subtle scent of tea roses and jasmine planted around the house.

Speaking of.

She clomped around the side of her house, and sure enough, there was Georgette gnawing on the tough brambles of Rachel’s great-grandmother’s beloved First Love tea rose. If Granny could see that, she’d have a fit. As it was, she’d probably turn over in her grave, and wouldn’t that be a sight.

Rachel snagged Georgette’s collar and heaved, dragging the reluctant goat away from an activity that’d raise hairs on a haint. In spite of the shadows surrounding her home, it wasn’t hard to spot the other goats as they hopped the downed fence, or the gap in the fence itself, or the man lying crosswise over slack barbed wire.

He was a big’un, he was, an easy enough judgment to make from where she was standing, even with only the light of the half moon illuminating him. Looked like he’d staggered into one of the posts and broken it under his weight, taking down the two posts on either side. Thank goodness the wire had slackened instead of breaking. Otherwise, he could’ve been seriously injured, and she’d be spending the day at the hospital instead ofreplacing posts.

Kelly was standing next to him shooing the goats away with one hand. A backpack was slung over one, thin shoulder and her hip was cocked, the perfect perch for her two-year-old sister. “I don’t know, Mama,” she said. “He looks kinda funny to me, like he might really be hurt.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, honey. Here. Round up the loose goats and pen them in the corral.” Rachel handed her hold on Georgette’s collar over to Kelly as she knelt beside the man. “Go on, now. We’ll have to patch this section before we can eat. If we get it done in time, I’ll make waffles.”

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