Page 9 of A Mate For Matrix
He also liked the fact that she was very affectionate. She was always cuddling him and the other three creatures. His gaze turned to the fluffy balls of fur. Kittens. She called them kittens.
He’d learned—often painfully—that they loved ambushing his paws, tail, and ears whenever he rested. Actually, they attacked just about anything that moved and were surprisingly pretty good at the stalking part. They just needed instruction on their execution.
K-Nine settled down near the long, brightly patterned piece of furniture where Jana sat. She was lifting clothing items out of the pre-formed material used to house them. The kittens were halfway through tugging a sock through a hole in the basket when they spotted him.
The moment he lay down, he saw them coming. A soft bark had two of the kittens darting under the low wooden table while the third, Honeybun, plopped down in front of him and looked up.
A long sigh escaped him, and he lowered his head. Once again, a tiny, sandpaper tongue swept over the sensor embedded in the tip of his nose. Honeybun, the golden one. The information flashed through his sensors and into the database in his brain.
Within seconds, he could feel one of the other kittens trying to climb on him. Biscuit, the climber. The little gray kitten enjoyed climbing on everything and was much better at it than his siblings.
K-Nine’s head jerked around when he felt a tug on his tail. Butter, the cream-colored one. She had grown very attached to his tail and even slept with it tucked around her little body. K-Nine marveled at how different they were—and how much he already recognized them.
They were as fascinating to observe as Jana was, K-Nine thought with a wince when Biscuit dug his sharp claws into his side. A moment later, Biscuit was passed out, sprawled across him.
He lifted his tail—still trailing Butter—and gently placed her beside her brother. Honeybun had pushed up under his front leg and was softly purring as she settled down to sleep. It wouldn’t last long, but it would give Jana time to finish her chores and perhaps feed herself.
With a sigh, K-Nine lowered his head beside Honeybun and listened as Jana talked about the vet she worked for. His eyelids drooped as her soothing voice washed over him.
He absentmindedly tried to connect with Matrix. He could feel the emergency locator beacon pulsing in the tip of his ear. A vague urgency buzzed at the edge of his consciousness—he was supposed to be doing something important.
He knew he was here on Earth with Matrix. They’d been searching for something, but he couldn’t remember what. His memory files were still partially offline while the repair bots continued working on the damage to his communications system and memory storage, but K-Nine knew there was something important that he needed to remember.
The trio piled on top of him like fuzzy little invaders, purring, snuffling, and kneading his side with needle-claws. He adjusted and maneuvered, tucking tails and toes into a pile. He hadn’t known what bonding felt like before—but this… this had to be it.
K-Nine moved his chin when the kitten stretched, pushing closer to him. The soft purr came again, warming him. This was a different feeling from what he had ever had with Matrix.
This felt—good.
Not that what he felt for Matrix felt bad, but this was—warmer, more comforting.
“You guys… you’re all I’ve got,” Jana whispered, reaching over and carefully lowering the two kittens sprawled on his side so that they were next to Honeybun. “It’s nice.”
K-Nine released a soft rumble of satisfaction. Yes, it is nice, he thought as he lowered his head.
His thoughts buzzed—Matrix, mission, malfunction—but they were quieted by the warmth of the golden fur ball snoring under his chin. He decided right then and there that Jana and the furballs were now his family—along with Matrix.
There is room on our ship for them all.
K-Nine’s eyes fluttered shut. They were a pack now. Matrix would surely understand.
Chapter Five
Matrix narrowed his eyes at the small building below. The structure looked innocent enough—white paint, drooping porch, flowerpots overflowing with vibrant blooms. Too innocent. The type of place a predator might build to lure in prey.
A scan showed the area was still clear of the Crawler, but it might have gone underground. He leaned forward and switched to the infrared scanner.
On the screen, he picked up five heat signatures. Three of them were so small that he had almost overlooked them. They appeared to be clustered around the fourth signature.
He tapped out a command to zoom in on the emergency beacon. The three small dots were positioned almost on top of K-Nine. He turned his attention to the last heat signature. It was in a separate room, which could benefit him.
Turning the transport away from the building, his lips tightened into a grim line. Whatever had captured K-Nine must be very advanced, otherwise K-Nine would have taken them out.
He lowered the transport onto the ground a short distance from the structure. He would go in, eliminate the threat to his partner, and finish their original mission—destroy the Crawler before she had time to lay her eggs.
Matrix shut down the transport system and waited until the automatic seat harness retracted. He exchanged the energy charge in his gun for a nine round low impact energy magazine and carefully stored the charge on his person in case of emergency, then twisted and stood up.
He rolled his shoulders to release the tension that was fatiguing him. He would have plenty of time to rest and relax once they were headed back to base. Until then, he needed to stay alert.
