At the same time, I was worried. If something happened to me, folks were going to have a hard time helping anyone else who was stuck in here.
“I’ve got it,” Tens said. “You’ll be fine.”
Maybe there was something in having a party line in my head.
“Yeah, and I’ll remind you you said that,” Mack added, which was when I realized Delight had gone very, very quiet, and very, very still.
Maybe I should take a look at that. I chased down the door lock, and made sure it engaged, and then I turned around.
“What are those?” because I’d never seen a human so shaggy, before, nor one with a wolf’s head, or...
One of them snarled, and my legs went weak at the knees. I reached back for the door handle, but Delight grabbed my arm, and a chorus of moans sounded from the corridor. Using Delight as cover, I opened the pouch containing my Glazer.
A second snarl followed the first, and I froze, peering out from behind Delight to find that one of the creatures had moved closer. There were three in all, all bigger than either of us, and all as weaponized as a set of claws and teeth could make them.
“I thought you said we had to get out of the corridor,” I said, but Delight ignored me.
She was completely focused on the creatures in front of us.
“We could try talking,” I suggested, and the wolf-man-thing nearest curled its lip in what might have been amusement, so I added “or maybe feed them. They look hungry, and those claws would be no good for operating a replicator.”
I sidled out from behind Delight, and scanned the room. Of course, the replicator was on the other side. Of course, it was—but there was nothing else for me to do, except try, and see what happened.
“Don’t shoot,” I whispered, and stepped away from her side, dodging the hand she reached out to grab me with.
I didn’t dodge the sudden lunge the nearest wolf made, but no shot followed, and I tried to remember to breathe. If I’d had any doubts as to whether these creatures could understand Galbas, they were erased, as it dragged me over to the replicator, and set me down in front of it. I wanted to scream, but I bit down the urge.
Wolves, right? Hunters—and, if I remembered anything from the dogs in my old neighborhood, running and screaming only made them want to play... or eat you. One of the two, and I didn’t want to find out which one applied to these guys.
I stood in front of the replicator, breathing hard, as the monster stepped back, hearing Delight’s voice in my head.
“Are you fucking insane?
Not what I would call helpful. I looked over at the wolf... person, my fingers poised above the keypad.
“Just nod, when I say what you want created, got it?”
By now, I had the attention of all three of them, including the one that was giving Delight a hard-eyed stare. Lucky me. The wolf-critter nodded, and made a noise that sounded similar to a very short, gruff bark.
“Chicken... Fish... Steak...”
Three growfs on that last.
“Medium... Rare... Raw...”
Another three growfs on that last.
“And lots of it, right?” I asked, hitting buttons.
Three double-growfs answered that one, and they formed a semi-circle around me.
“You guys still want plates?” I asked. “Cos I feel kinda disrespectful putting this on the floor.”
This got me the wolfish equivalent of three glares, and I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat, trying to keep my fear at bay.
“Uh, you wanta tell me where?”
The wolf that had been giving Delight the eye, pointed to a cupboard above the replicator, so I opened the door, and pulled out the three largest plates I saw there. I set these on one of the lab benches, and then went back to get a fourth for the steak. The replicator pinged, so I loaded up the plate, guessed where the cutlery was, and stuck three forks in the three different steaks—and then I got the replicator to turn out another batch.
When it was done, I realized the wolves were looking at the steaks, and then back at Delight and me, and that the only word I could find for their expressions was embarrassment. I took the latest batch of steaks over to them, and then stepped back.
“You guys don’t want us watching while you eat?” I asked, and had their instant attention.
I held up my hands.
“Fine by us. We’re leaving.”
That received three instantaneous growls, and Delight’s Glazer snapped back up. She’d moved so that she had three lab benches between her and the closest wolf. I was still standing closest to the table.
I thought about pleading, or being reasonable, and discarded both ideas just as fast. Instead, I went for blunt and sassy, and made sure the safety was off on the Glazer, even if I didn’t pull it, yet.
“You kill us, and Odyssey won’t help you,” I said. “Lab accident like this? Your bosses are going to do everything they can to cover it up, and you are all screwed. You can’t hide what happened; it’s on camera,” and I patched into the nearest computer and connected the security feeds through.
And I didn’t stop talking.
“Also, what happened to you isn’t the biggest problem Corovan Chem has...” I let my voice trail off as the camera footage of the lab went live. “Well...”
I turned to look at the three wolves, not comforted when I found all but one of them had left their steaks on the table to come stand near me. That third one was holding the steak in one hand and taking casual bites out of it as he listened. I half-expected Delight to come join them, so she could see what was going on, but then I realized she
