Page 60 of May the Stars Have Mercy
Grooug crouched beside Reevar. “Scans show life, minimal.”
Reevar continued, “Their civilization was primarily facing the sun as their planet spins slow. Those who survived are likely hiding underground and away from the crash. Council ships have already come to help with clean up, but their reports are not helpful.”
Aphrodite grimaced. “That’s ominous.”
“Ominous nominous.” Kiefgr grinned to himself.
Aphrodite groaned, hanging her head as both Grooug and Reevar ripped the young Vroz down to the floor and wrestled him into a head lock. Xexis put up a hand and the shenanigans stopped immediately. He exhaled heavily, “I’ve read the reports.”
“I haven’t!” Aphrodite squawked.
“They saying all the bodies were empty.” Xexis soothingly stroked his hand against her back. “They are not infected.”
Aphrodite furrowed her brows, staring at the floor. “Then where did the pests go?”
“Underground,” Grooug growled, touching the plate of his armor covering his bite scar. Aphrodite held still, watching the hunters as they all sat down around her, covered in plates as they were molded to fit around her back and ribs. Grooug spoke again, “The plan, Kannatch?”
“When we land, we’re going to do a scan of what is left of the crash site. We will look for any survivors, speak with the Orv, see if they’ve noticed anything. Gather intel. If they are underground, they had to do so out of sunlight. Once we know where to enter we will subdue one for study, the rest are to be dealt with.” Aphrodite returned to her stitching while Xexis went over the plan. At some he switched fully over to Vrozian when Grooug asked for specifics. She didn’t mind as she wasn’t able to contribute. Instead, she focused solely on stitching the magnetic thread into her suit.
If they weren’t in the bodies, then they were more vulnerable to light damage. However, being in the bodies made them obvious. She was glad she’d gotten the light impact upgrade installed on Buddy. Aphrodite glanced over at her drone who was scuttling across the floor after something. She furrowed her brows, watching him curiously. Unable to move, Xexis was already working on the piece at her shoulder blades, she followed his movements. He was chasing something. “Buddy?”
The scuttling grew faster, his metal tentacles tapping against the floor erratically. Then he pounced on something at the far end of the room. Aphrodite froze as her drone seemed to struggle with something in the shadows. Then, with a tentacle pressed into a shadowy lump, the light cannon went off.
“Buddy!” She dropped the pants to the floor as the whole group turned to the drone.
Text filled the screen of her data pad by Xexis. He slid it to her.
Just testing.
“Buddy, was that what I think it was?”
Not Brexzkit, it’s Zrexeit! Cousin. We look the same but needed to make sure.
She relaxed her head to the ground as Buddy came scuttling back to the group with a sludgy shadowy creature on his heels. Buddy tapped a tentacle to her head before swiveling to point at the blob of smoke and shadow. Grooug, Kiefgr, and Reevar eyed it with suspicion, tensed and hands at their sides where their weapons were attached. Aphrodite reached out and touched the blob. It wiggled but she couldn’t feel it.Like touching a gust of air.
“Well, do we have another drone?” Aphrodite peaked over her shoulder at Xexis before a loud gasp ripped through her. “Rexna!”
“What?”
“Merry Chrystler!” Aphrodite stood up, dislodging all the plates that had formed to her back. “Buddy, bring your cousin!”
She was already climbing up the ladder in only the unitard and a plate still stuck to the back of her calf when Buddy caught up. The blob sat on top of his octopus head as they climbed up into the ship. Rexna was in the command deck with the other scientists and a handful of holographic chips on a board filling up the floor between them. The engineer stopped mid-move as Aphrodite came barreling up to their side.
“Rexna! Do you have a drone?”
“Of course, for tech repairs.” Rexna blinked rapidly, setting their chips down. The engineer pulled out a silver orb with crab claw like pincers and little spider legs. It chirped much like Buddy as itturned on. It scuttled across Rexna’s palm before its massive camera lens of an eye blinked up at its owner.
“Merry Chrystler,” Aphrodite whispered as Buddy brought the blob to the drone. It was strange, watching a shadow slip through the cracks of the device. Crawling in through the metal, setting inside its body, Aphrodite watched in real time as the shadowy creature took over. The lens clicked open and shut then chirped, bouncing on its legs eagerly. Rexna’s data pad strapped to her forearm beeped. On the screen was a message.
Hello!
Rexna gasped, looking to Aphrodite. “What science is this?”
“Zrexeit, they feed over electrical outputs. Yours will learn from you.”
“Like your person drone!” Rexna beamed, pincers wiggling enthusiastically. “What a marvelous discovery!”
Buddy and the crab drone bobbed back and forth, moving to the ground. They scuttled in a circle almost as if they were dancing. Rexna and Aphrodite watched, enraptured with the drones wiggling their legs in tandem. Aphrodite giggled, “What will you name them? All partners need a name.”
