Page 5 of Rescued By the Alien Bull Rider

“I’m not going out there!” I tossed my bag down and then plopped myself heavily on top of it. To indicate just how very much I did not plan to walk out alone into some empty alien field.

“You paid me to get you to a planet with no civilian landing access,” Bones said slowly. As if I were very, very stupid. Which I was starting to feel like I was. “It’s risky enough to drop you here. I’m not getting arrested or having my ship locked down just so I can bring you to the authorities’ door.”

“What if I paid you more?” I asked, sweat beginning to dampen my pits. I didn’t really have that much more to offer, to be honest. Pa did pay me for working the ranch with him, but it wasn’t much. Besides, a good portion of that income had gone into Sal’s coffers before the pregnancy, and then into slowly stocking up on baby supplies afterwards.

“Can’t pay me enough to risk my ship getting confiscated,” Bones said. “Sorry, lady.”

“You don’t sound sorry!”

I got to my feet, then looked out the shuttle’s door again. Bones had already informed me of his “no refunds under any circumstances” policy. I doubted I even had enough money left to hire him to take me somewhere like Elora Station, or back home to Terratribe II.

Home.

That isn’t home for you, I reminded myself bitterly.Not anymore.

Bones sighed impatiently. “Look, there are animal life signs a couple kilometres from here. Lots of them. And one that seems humanoid.”

“Like… Like a herd? Or a ranch?” I asked, my dread swooping, turning to hope and making me dizzy in the process. I ripped my bag open, surveying the contents. I could make it a couple of kilometres, right? Even though I was pregnant as fuck, I’d stayed active outside of riding horses. I had decent footwear on – my own Terratribe II leather boots, so old and worn that they miraculously still fit my swollen ankles. I had some water, protein bars, and pre-natal vitamins.

Only one humanoid life sign…

So not one of the married ranchers. That might not bode well. A human woman would be really nice to see right now in this unfamiliar place. I’d probably receive a warmer welcome from someone like Magnolia than I would an unknown alien male who had no idea I was coming and who would now have to get me oriented and set-up with the bride program. He might not be very excited about taking me into town, wherever town was here.

But what choice did I have?

And who knew! Maybe I’d luck out and end up knocking on the door of a nice, friendly cowboy!

Energized by that possibility, and by the future I’d already started building for myself in my head the entire trip here, I zipped up my bag, gave Bones a salute-like wave goodbye, then stepped out the shuttle door.

“The life signs are to the north,” he called to me.

“Great! Thanks,” I said, hiking the strap of my bag up higher on my shoulder and clomping forward through the grass.

By the time it occurred to me to ask which way was north on this planet, the shuttle had already lifted off.

Damn.

Only a couple of kilometres…

But a couple of kilometres in the wrong direction would be a big fucking problem, to say the least.

You never fucking think-

No. I couldn’t let that become the voice in my head right now. For better or worse, I was here. And as the Zabrian Prinar One sun set, turning the sky to flame, I had to move, had to dosomething, or else risk spending the night alone in the alien darkness.

I should have asked for Magnolia’s comms tablet info.According to Sal, communication to and from this planet could be very spotty. But being actually on the planet should have left me able to contact her. She could have at least directed me which way to walk.

I took a deep breath, spinning in a slow circle, thinking like a rancher. I may not have been a Zabrian, but I still knew some shit and figured it had to transfer over, at least a little. Behind me, thick trees formed a wide knot of rapidly darkening forest. Beyond them lay mountains that, in other circumstances, I would have stood there gaping at in admiration. They looked like they’d been carved from copper, the reddish sunset turning them to rich, burnished metal.

But in these circumstances, I didn’t have time to gawk and whistle at the untamed beauty of the Zabria Prinar One landscape. I had a ranch to find.

I doubted the ranch would be in or beyond the trees. Bones had said the life signs were only a couple of kilometres away, and that forest looked more than a few kilometres deep. Plus, it made a lot more sense to have your herd out here on the more level plains where they could roam and graze. Assuming that’s what alien herds did, anyway.

A niggling worry told me that I might not be quite as prepared for this planet as I’d hoped I was. But I punched itdown. Even if the alien cattle here floated through the air and munched on clouds like cotton candy instead of grass, I’d figure it out. I’d always been a quick study, especially when it came to animals.

Some alien cowboy would want me, damn it.

Resolute – optimistic, even – at my chances against the falling night, I raised my chin and began walking out into the plains. If worse came to worse, I could use my comms tablet’s emergency settings. It could send up a bright red beam, like a flare, and emit an SOS signal that nearby devices could pick up on.

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