Page 30 of Alien's Heart
It wasn’t worth the effort to reply. Still, he waved a hand at his face and said, “Yes. This is my serious face.”
“Didn’t you see any of the notices all over town?”
He had, but he paid them no mind. They added another layer to the general shabbiness of the town and didn’t register that they were important.
“I cannot read Corravian. Translation chips do not work that way,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. Audio, yes. Visual, no.
“They’re printed with pictures and symbols. Anyone can read them.”
“Paper bulletins seem an inefficient method of spreading information.”
“Not arguing with you there, but storms are bad news.” Ruth pointed to the wall of clouds. A gust of wind lifted the strands of hair around her face. “That is going to dump freezing rain on us with hurricane-force winds and, just for funsies, it’ll kick up grit and gravel. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s pretty dusty around here. Oh, and it’s not a fast-moving storm. It’ll hang around for hours. That’s why we’ll be stuck until morning. Comms will be down. Shuttles are grounded since they get tossed around like toys. The best thing to do is hunker down and wait for it to pass. Besides, mornclaws come out after the rain. I’d rather be inside.”
Mornclaws. Those he had heard of.
“I believe the province is responsible for keeping their population under control,” he said.
She shook her head. “The local watchtower is understaffed. If there were more livestock to protect, maybe there’d be more people. Out here, though, it’s mostly crops. We’re basically on our own.”
“If it is that severe, are you not worried about the house?”
“The lab automatically locks down. It’ll be fine.”
“I meant our home? Where we sleep?”
“Oh.” She blushed. “That’s manual but I did it before we left.”
A thought disturbed him. “The wuap? Will Little Hunter be safe?”
“The wuap come and go from the barn. They’ll be fine. Unlike us. We need to get to shelter.”
With each word she spoke, his unease grew. He had been stranded in deep space on a junker, thrown in brigs, and faced opponents in a cage fight while bloodied and battered. None of that worried him as much as the grave expression on Ruth’s face.
An icy raindrop landed on the back of his neck.
Dark splotches appeared on the ground.
If he felt isolated by the size of the town, that was nothing compared to the unequal odds of him and Ruth versus a literal force of nature.
“What do you recommend?” he asked.
“We won’t make it home before the storm catches us,” she said, scanning the area like a solution lurked on the horizon.
Nox saw fields. Flat. Uninteresting. Remote. A few trees in the distance. Possibly enough shelter from a light rain but nothing more. Fencing along the roads to keep livestock from wandering.
He disliked this. They were exposed.
This fucking planet.
Ruth pointed to the direction they had been heading. “The Sarl place isn’t far. If we hustle, we can wait out the storm there.”
“Then let us stop wasting time.”
Ruth
What was his problem? The situation wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t her fault the car broke down.
Ruth grabbed the emergency pack from the back of the car and tore it open. She shoved a poncho at Nox.
