He shushed Lizzy’s endless chatter. She wasn’t clueless, exchanging a glance with Remy.
“It takes a lot out of me to integrate.” It was the best explanation I had.
We reached Lizzy’s new quarters, only a few doors down from mine… ours, I grabbed her arm. “Seriously, Lizzy, as much fun as it is, Schaeffer can be a real ass if you get on his bad side. Don’t get too carried away harassing him. That goes especially true for the crew.”
There went her ‘I know’ eye roll. “I’ll go easy on the boys, but Dick was daring me back there, and you know I can’t walk away from a dare.” I contemplated giving her the mom stare, but I was simply too wiped out to pull it off.
She snickered as Remy led me to bed.
CHAPTER EIGHT
For almost a whole cycle I barely woke long enough to eat. Half-asleep, I heard Remy and Lizzy whispering, her giggling, probably telling him more escapades. When I finally regained consciousness, I let my Kazan side launch into briefings from my team.
I’d been gone less than a month, but they’d been in total shutdown. I’d hoped that in my absence the LR would redirect to another Xenologist, but leaving had the opposite effect.
I studied all the reports, trying to figure out what went wrong. Procedures were followed. We didn’t trespass into the forest, but the LR were agitated and even claimed our meeting place, a rock about fifty yards from the forest edge.
I’d originally picked the rock for a place to sit. Day after day, month after month, nothing happened, except I got better at drawing landscapes. Then shortly after arriving on my last stint, I saw movement in the heavy brush between me and the forest edge. I felt their eyes and let them watch me draw. When I finished, I propped the picture on the rock and left.
The next morning I found a leaf full of berries in its place. I started a new picture and before I finished a rough outline, two LR appeared on the edge of my grass clearing, directly in the line of sight I’d selected. It was that day I knew they were sentient. They’d completed a trade and possessed enough self-awareness to want their picture drawn.
Each drawing, no matter how bad, drew them closer, and I talked. Not knowing what to say, I told Lizzy stories. I knew them well enough and drew pictures, naming everything in them, and my audience silently paid attention. I tried to encourage pictures from them, bringing out supplies of paper and charcoal. They took the supplies, but I never received a picture back, just lots more berries.
On the day I left, they gave no indication they understood I was leaving, even though I drew it out for them. But when I didn’t show up, neither did the LR. For the first week they circled the edges of the forest, ignoring the Xeno who took my place. Then they aggressively drove him off the rock, repeatedly.
Not understanding this shift to aggression, our people were ordered to keep to the camp and lakeside. The LR keening from the forest haunted the little valley. Thermals showed LR sitting, watching the encampment. Waiting.
Now, as we approached LR-442, we’d find out if they were really waiting for me. I brought Remy and Lizzy to the bridge and they stood on either side of me, wide-eyed, jaws agape as we fell into orbit over the planet.
“There she is. LR-442.” I held my hand out to the image filling our screens.
“Or Hippotigris, as some of us call her.”
“LR-442!” I gave Schaeffer a glare.
He ignored me. “She’s very near Earth standards. The differences are minute, except showing high levels of the resources we’re looking for. So far we haven’t detected any elements dangerous to human DNA.”
“Except it’s already inhabited.” Remy leaned on the railing, his eyes fixed on the planet.
“And we get to live here for a while, get to meet the aliens?” Lizzy chirped at me, giving Schaeffer a sweet innocent smile that was anything but innocent. “When do we land this baby?”
“We don’t. The shuttle leaves in two hours. You have the allowed property list. Be packed and ready. No exceptions or delays.” Schaeffer turned to go, but stopped as he brushed against Lizzy’s shoulder. “It would be a shame to miss your company because you were too busy catting around with the crew.”
“Not a problem Cap…” She stopped herself. “…Commander Dick. You going to strip-search me for contraband, before I go down... with you?” She knew how to deliver her words, all sultry teasing.
I wanted to clamp my hand over her mouth, but it was too late. Remy did a throat-clearing to hide a laugh or groan.
A tick appeared in Schaeffer’s eyelid. “Two hours!” His voice came out lower and huskier.
He stomped out and the captain turned her chair around. “Ms. Salazar! If your antics get you sent back up here, I’ll confine you to quarters. Is that understood, Ms. Salazar, Col. Kazan?”
The captain’s ‘mom look’ made Lizzy drop her head, though she still grinned. “Yes, ma’am. My apologies.”
“And mine, Captain.” I grabbed Lizzy by the back of her collar, dragging her with me. I continued the ‘what have you been up to’ stare we always got from her mom just before the shit hit the fan. “Is there anything I need to know?”
“Nope!”
Remy gave her the look too. He didn’t believe her any more than I did.
“I promise. You can back off the Kazan.” She wriggled out of my grip. “I’ll watch my tongue when we get to the ground.”
“Yeah, I’m sure half the crew would volunteer to watch it too.” Remy couldn’t help himself. “Can you at least try to keep it inside your own lips for a few hours?”
Lizzy opened her mouth again, mimicking what she could still do with his suggestion. I covered my eyes. “LIZZY, ENOUGH!”
All I got was her deep snickering. She loved
