Page 32 of Galactic Search and Rescue
“No. Naughty thoughts, though. And again, my timing is lousy. Would it scare you if I told you I love you?”
“No. Do you?”
“Yes. I fought it from practically the first day I met you, but your animal magnetism was just too much for me.” She lifted her head to give him an impish grin. “Field Co-Commander, sir.”
He palmed the side of her face. “I love you, too, Field Co-Commander. Shocking breach of protocol, I know.”
“Kiss me again, and I’ll forgive you.”
He did just that, with a hopeful promise of a lot more to come.
10
Paz de Lune Animal Sanctuary, Verderi Kashtar • GDAT 3243.094
“Valtrova, open front door.” Taz voiced the command so Shen, the shepherd at her side, would know her wish was being granted.
The Russian-named house computer opened the floral-decorated interleaved sections to reveal the wide entryway.
Shen bolted through them and launched from the front steps into the small expanse of green beyond, sliding a bit on the rain-slick grass. She danced in a circle, barking in excitement.
Taz followed more sedately, amused by the silly dog who loved to bite raindrops. She cradled a warm mug against her chest and savored the subtly fruity whiff of hot morning kaff that tickled her nose. Her loose, drapey tunic and pants fluttered a little in the chilly morning breeze. The cold textured plascrete under her feet made her wish she’d stopped to put on slippers and a scarf over her head. When she’d cut her hair asymmetrically short to change her look, she hadn’t anticipated that her ears and neck would miss the insulation.
The covered front porch bumped out into a shallow half-circle on this side of the house, with a blue-tinted glass railing. In the summer, she hoped it would be a nice place to sit with Rylando, soaking in the sunlight.
He called their sprawling home a modest ranch. Her childhood in a crowded city and career on military bases had never involved any living space so spacious and open. For just two humans and their pets, they had a dozen rooms with windows everywhere, even the roof.
Out in the grass, Shen crouched and barked twice, tail wagging.
Taz didn’t need to access the dog’s controller to know what she wanted. “No, it’s too wet for me to play right now.”
Contentment filled her as her gaze drifted to the low shrubs and narrow trees beyond the grass where Shen cavorted. The previous owner installed them as a living privacy screen between the neighboring houses in the enclave. Rylando liked the illusion of living in a wilderness clearing. She liked knowing they were still part of a community.
After the recall, their shorthand for the CPS’s precipitous dissolution of the Galactic Search and Rescue division, the journey from Perlarossa to Verderi Kashtar had been more stressful than a rescue. Hatya’s connections got them temporary travel identities, the kind celebrities used, and her Jumper credentials got them passage on a large, slow interstellar passenger liner.
But the “family stateroom” that she and Rylando shared with six “household pets” had been no bigger than their rescue airsled. And the trip itself had taken twenty-two long interstellar transit days to reach their destination.
On the ship, they kept to themselves. At first, they’d just needed the sleep. Then news of the recall exploded across the newstrends and that was all anyone wanted to talk about. Rylando had to maintain near-constant contact with the animals to keep them calm in their cages, meaning he overused his talent and paid for it with insomnia.
She fended off the hospitality stewards who wanted them out of the room and buying souvenirs. She also arranged room service for their prepaid meals and finagled items for the more exotic dietary needs of the animals.
Trending rumors said several thousand GSAR fugitives were on the run. Her and Rylando’s reported deaths should have kept them off the wanted list, but if the rescue business taught her nothing else, it was that mitigation measures worked better when taken before the potential disaster. After her own improvised haircut and makeover, she pried Rylando out of their stateroom long enough to visit the ship’s body parlor and change his look enough to fool casual AI surveillance.
When they finally arrived at the animal sanctuary, physically flatlined and emotionally exhausted, their new life truly began.
From Rylando’s descriptions, she’d imagined the sanctuary facility would be a frontier-style slab building with space for a small population of animals and volunteer keepers. To be fair, his memories were fifteen years old. His contribution to the organization at the time had been a large swathe of rural land on the nothing-special planet of Verderi Kashtar, acquired from a complicated, multi-property real estate swap of inherited family land on other planets.
The actual Paz de Lune Animal Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Research Center now occupied nearly ninety square kilometers of rural land, with five major buildings, a veterinary hospital that put big city human medical centers to shame, dozens of staff, hundreds of animals, and enough territory to create habitats for all. Most of the staff and residents were minders, and easily half were GSAR or Minder Corps veterans.
Rylando was in heaven. The sanctuary was more than an hour’s flitter flight to the nearest city. He was surrounded by nature and animals who loved him, had non-recycled air to breathe, and a lake big enough to swim in. And best of all, no disasters.
The no-disasters part suited her just fine, but she’d needed a few ten-days to appreciate the other aspects. She was still unaccustomed to sleeping in, though a nova-hot sexy lover in her bed gave her every incentive. In a way, she was like Shen, still needing things to do with her time, and having to learn how to play. It helped that Paz de Lune really did value her tech skills and welcomed her telekinetic talent. And that she’d fallen deeply in love with Rylando.
Shen shook herself like a wooly weasel, then trotted up onto the porch to sit in front of Taz, watching her expectantly.
“Yes, Captain Shen?” This time, she connected to the dog’s controller. Per Rylando, Shen had decided on her own that Taz was clearly in need of shepherding. Taz was enjoying learning to be a good partner.
See...Rylando.
