16. “Did we forget to feed her?”

SIXTEEN

“Did we forget to feed her?”

On the third day of the voyage to where Waldren had been born, something clicked in my head, and I understood what the Veloc were trying to teach me. As understanding settled in, a burning need to plaster both of the giant predators took hold.

Fogali faced the brunt of my assault, and I had him on the floor before he realized I’d snapped something in my head after being tossed around and tenderized since boarding Viva’s ship. I got on his back and went for the nearest shiny object, snarling and hissing at him. Yulgali attempted to pull me off his brother, but I secured my hold on a handful feathers and a bauble.

Vain Veloc hated losing feathers unnecessarily, and I meant to take advantage of that weakness.

The Veloc hooted, chirped, and discussed among each other while I struggled to keep a hold on my target, growling all the while.

Delta came to intervene, attempting to pry my fingers open. Snapping my teeth at him won me nothing, although my fellow homo sapiens was forced to dodge else he be bitten. “I think you’ve found her threshold for being pummeled and bruised. Come on, Camellia, let him go. You can’t pluck him. If you pluck him, he’ll resemble a giant molty space chicken. We can’t have that. There’s no higher shame in this universe than being a molting Veloc. They hide when they molt. They cannot bear the thought of anyone witnessing their plight.”

“Molting,” Yulgali spat in open disgust. “It is one of the worst trials of our lives. To lose even one feather is a crime, but to lose them all? We cannot wear baubles when we molt.”

Fogali tapped his capped claws on the padded floor. “I am not due to molt for a while.”

As attempting to bite kept the homo sapiens at bay, I kept one eye on Delta while I worked to extract my prize from Fogali’s crest. Once successful, I released him, allowing his brother to pull me away while I clutched my prize close to my chest.

“You have been robbed,” Yulgali announced.

“I noticed that. Did we forget to feed her?”

“We did not miss her feeding schedule. She is part cat now. Perhaps the feline side of her needed a new toy? I’m afraid that is hers now.” Yulgali set me in the corner, shook his head, and took care to keep his crest out of my reach. “Beyond your pride, did she injure you?”

“My pride has been critically struck. She went after me like I go after my dinner, without remorse or hesitation. Did she pluck any of my feathers?”

“You have not been plucked, but you have been robbed of a crimson shiftgem.”

“Did you record it, Delta?” Fogali asked before getting up and shaking his feathers out.

“I’ve been recording our sessions,” he confirmed.

“We should use it to instigate.” Yulgali released me, and he ruffled my hair, something the Veloc did as a form of praise when the target of their affection was not decked out in baubles. “Take your prize to your quarters, Camellia. If he had wanted to keep his bauble, he would have better defended it. I will help you put it into your hair in a place of honor after we are in quarantine. That will be our time of rest.”

As I wanted to keep my prize, I held it close, purred, and did as told. Once I had it secured in my desk, I returned to the fitness room to discover Viva and Delta sparring with each other, using their feet as their weapon of choice. While Delta managed to fend her off, she took her job as the aggressor seriously. The Veloc observed, their crests lifted. Only when Viva managed to hook her foot around her husband’s knee and knock him over did the pair intervene. Fogali took care of restraining Viva while Yulgali checked Delta over for any signs of injury.

“My pride will never recover,” Delta reported.

That I could believe. If Viva could secure victory, she did—and she had no scruples when it came to crushing her foe. I’d learned early on, however, that Delta had no need for his pride when it came to bouts with his fox.

He used his defeat as a way of luring her off to their chambers, where the wise went to the other side of the craft for a few hours.

Someone other than me needed to suggest they soundproof their quarters.

“Don’t be a baby,” Viva replied, helping him to his feet. “I’ve come to interrupt your play as we’re approaching the planet. I’ve already reviewed the known planetary hazards. Us homo sapiens will need to stay near the feathered murder machines. There are a few dangerous predators on the planet. The odds of us running into them are slim, but they are still present.”

“What kind of predators?” Fogali asked, his crest rising. “Are they edible?”

“Yes, they’re edible. The most dangerous of them is a species of carnivorous stag. They’re supposedly immune to the fungus, although we’ll have to purify their coats. The pelts are worth a fortune, the meat is considered a delicacy, and the species is only found on this planet. We can take ten each, but the meat of five of them has to go into our personal food supply, although we can sell the pelts and bones from those. The bones are liked by artisans, so if we are careful, we can make some good profit off our allotment of carcasses.” The fox hybrid rubbed her hands together. “I have my portable stasis unit on board for the meat.”

“Of course you do,” Delta muttered. “Which means we have two of them on board. I snitched one of your cargo units off your main ship.”

Viva rolled her eyes. “As if I would forget something as important as my stasis unit.”

“You do not have a stasis unit specifically for this ship yet.”

“I do not have the money for that,” she replied, lifting her chin and sniffing. “Nobody does. We can move the stasis unit from ship to ship.”

“Can we at least discuss when the stasis unit is being moved?”

I recognized an old argument when I heard one, and rather than listen to the pair bicker, I said, “What safety gear do we need to wear? Are we doing atmospheric condition checks before disembarking?”

Delta shook his head. “We don’t need safety gear for this venture. We will do an atmospheric check to confirm that nothing has changed, but this ship can handle the work in an hour. I made her install a new system on all our ships, especially after your incident on Melody.”

I could work with that. “And I can do botany work?”

Both Veloc cooed at me, and Fogali scratched behind my ear before saying, “You will get to work in a way that allows you to shine, never fear. And we have brought a present that you should love. It is a fully contained terrarium, and you will be able to conduct a botany experiment with plants and mosses you would like.”

“That sounds like an excellent way to transfer the fungus to other worlds,” I replied, turning to glare at the Veloc. “You do not take contaminated soil from a hazardous world and just put it in a terrarium to see what happens!”

“We can kill the fungus and leave everything else alive.”

“We will make a terrarium from a habitable world. No terrariums containing potentially lethal botany!” Well aware the Veloc enjoyed when homo sapiens got uppity with them, I placed my finger on the end of his nose and pushed. “You will behave. Your brother will behave. We will not be traumatizing Waldren or his sister with native plants from their failed colony.”

The Veloc refused to meet my gaze, and I narrowed my eyes. “You two are up to something. What are you planning?”

“Why do you think we’re up to something?” Yulgali asked.

“You’re breathing. You’re also a Veloc. Either one is all the reason I need to think you’re up to something.” I gave Fogali’s nose another push. “You are just as bad as Yulgali, possibly even worse. We will go onto this planet in questionable safety and do everything we need to purge the fungus upon our departure. There will be no traumatizing of homo sapiens , myself included. We certainly won’t be traumatizing Waldren and his sister. Frankly, if I have my way, neither will learn we’ve made this expedition.”

Viva snickered. “It didn’t take you long to figure them out.”

“Are these Crimson Feet as bad? If so, I’ll end up having to take them over to teach them some manners!”

The Veloc snorted, their crests snapped up, and their eyes widened. Then both gave Viva their undivided attention.

“I am not getting involved,” she informed them. “If you can convince the Crimson Feet to take her, understanding they’re welcoming a tyrant into their midst, so be it. But having actually met Waldren, I understand he’d absolutely stage an invasion trying to lure her back onto his ship with no intention of giving her back. I’ve already had to suggest to him, several times, that he needs to give her a chance to finish her schooling. It’s not like we’ll be able to keep her beyond the semester as it is.” Viva shrugged, glanced my way, and sighed. “Are you aware that you’ve essentially crammed an entirety of four years of education into a single semester?”

“It’s not my fault they wanted to teach me what I already knew. Sure, I had to adjust some things, but it’s not that much different from what they were teaching me on Schwana Major. And I like the engine work.”

“Yes, your aptitude with space mechanics and engineering has been noticed. You have Delta’s enthusiasm but my natural inclinations, which means you’re better at engines than both of us at this stage. My inclinations are all about survival. Yours is founded on a love of the machinery, determination to survive, and natural talent. Frankly, I’m jealous.”

“You have two ships. I have zero ships,” I reminded her. I waggled my finger at my fellow hybrid. “You also have a piloting license!”

“We’ll work on getting you a piloting license,” Viva promised. “I’ll help slip your starter lessons on piloting into your classwork after we get back to Cremora Delta. You’ll have to knock off one of your classes, though.”

I could think of at least two classes I could eliminate with extreme prejudice through taking an early test. “I’m sure my teachers will love that.”

Delta snickered. “I’ll make the alterations to her schedule—or have Dad do it. The school will rightfully accuse you both of causing trouble. If we’re doing it, there’s a good reason for it, and that’ll help contain those convinced of upcoming calamity. Camellia, at least try to pretend you aren’t actively trying to escape the planet.”

Had my forays to the spaceport been that obvious? I scowled, turned my ears back, and lashed my tail. “But I am actively trying to escape the planet, Delta.”

Viva snickered, shook her head, and left the fitness room. “I’m going to start getting the ship ready for landing after I get the coordinates of the failed colony. I expect you’ll have thirty minutes before everyone needs to be at landing stations. Camellia, come to the bridge. Delta, sulk in our quarters. You can’t betray what you don’t know.”

“That’s fair. All I will ask is that one of you attempt to make use of common sense.”

“I’ll try, but I’m not making any promises,” she replied in a solemn tone. “After dealing with half a semester at that prison, Camellia needs fun. Common sense impedes fun.”

“Common sense keeps us alive,” Delta replied, engaging his wife in a staring contest.

“That’s why I said I’ll try. I’m only going to apply common sense as much as survivability demands.”

After bowing his head and sighing, the man headed off, muttering curses beneath his breath.

“I don’t think he likes your plan, Viva.”

“When I’m in this mood, nobody likes my plans. Why? Because I don’t have a plan. Everything tends to go just fine when I bother with a plan. We don’t need a plan for this. We’re going to a planet devoid of humanity. We have two Veloc with us. We’ll be fine.”

“Those are famous last words,” I warned her.

“We’ll be fine.”

“Famous last words,” I repeated, shaking my head and deciding Delta had the right idea. Maybe by the time we reached the bridge, the woman would be in a more sensible mood.

Waldren’s home world hung in the darkness, a deep blue pearl flecked with dark green and brown masses of land. Unlike Melody, which had boasted significant continents, the planet before us had clusters of islands, most barely visible from the comfort of space. I stared with wide eyes, wondering why anyone had attempted to found a colony there. “There are no major continents?”

“There are no major continents on this world,” Viva confirmed. “It’s over ninety percent water, and it boasts the most diverse oceanic ecosystems in the charted universe. It’s larger than most other habitable worlds, too.” After a moment, one of the displays changed, showing a picture of the planet below. A red circle marked one of the larger islands. “This is where the colony had been founded, and it is the largest island on the planet. It is three hundred miles wide and six hundred miles long.”

No wonder it was barely a speck from space. “And that’s the largest?”

“It is, yes. This world would not be able to sustain large populations of human life, and it was being evaluated as a place for ocean sports and holidays. A vacation world. Such a plan could happen still, but the fungus would need to be better studied. We’re to bring back a sample.”

I eyed the woman. “The terrariums are legitimate studies, then?”

“Yes. Cremora Delta has offered to handle studying the fungus to see if there is a way to permanently adapt homo-sapiens to them. At a very minimum, treatments will be improved. Waldren’s sister has told us of a small, furry animal reminiscent of a cat, easily domesticated. Waldren kept company with a colony of them while wild. It is the only thing he actually misses from here.” Viva grimaced and glanced at me with a rather apologetic expression. “He adores Palta, but the reason he has Palta is because of the animals from this world. If the cats can be domesticated and trained for space, we have been given permission to catch some for him. Survivors of failed colonies are given… certain privileges beyond what is normal. And unlike his sister, Waldren just isn’t adapting well.”

“Does his sister happen to have a name?”

“She does, but she has her quirks, and she prefers if we don’t use her name unless she tells it to you. So, she’s Waldren’s sister to just about everybody. It grounds Waldren.”

Oh. My eyes widened at the thought of Waldren being so unstable that his sister had let go of her name just so he had some association with the world outside of his failed colony. “By reminding him he has a sister, he’s forced to stick around?”

Viva nodded. “And her name is precious to her. It was the only thing she took from her failed colony. The fungus had infected everything, and they even got new clothes. We now know how to purify clothing contaminated with the fungus, but that was not the case then. Everything they had was left behind. We may bring back any surviving items that might have belonged to them as part of our expedition.”

While the journey was for my sake, I got the feeling Waldren and his sister were the true benefactors of our venture. “All right. We need to look for cat-like creatures and catch them, search the ruins for anything that might be salvageable, and earn money hunting these carnivorous stags.”

“Correct. And if a carnivorous stag or two find their way onto the ship, still living and in stasis, and can be domesticated, well, who is going to tell the Veloc they can’t have new pets?”

“We are not domesticating deer that want to eat us,” I informed her.

She pouted. “But they’re pretty.”

“You deal with Veloc. You do not need more beings that might eat you if annoyed.”

“While you make a good point, I don’t see why you want to ruin my fun.”

“Waldren deals with Veloc daily. I’m going to end up chasing him down, stealing his ship, and dealing with Veloc, too. If these deer are domesticated, I’m going to have Veloc and these deer to worry about. I have sufficient worries.”

She snickered. “Already worked your way up to stealing his ship, have you?”

I nodded. “I suspect that plays a part in why I haven’t been given any piloting courses. I’ve thought about stowing away and escaping Cremora Delta that way. I don’t need to pilot the ship that way.”

“This is why most worlds don’t let their younglings out into space early. Some are like you, and once you’ve gotten a taste of the great unknown, the drive to explore is relentless. I’m the same way. Delta wasn’t expecting that, but he’s a good sport about it. He’s gotten good at telling when I need to go to space. The rest of the time, I do my best to tolerate being stuck on a planet.” Viva glanced at the screen, and a red dot appeared. “According to the charts I have, that’s the location of the failed colony. Waldren’s sister stayed at the site. Waldren… did not.”

“He was a bit feral, wasn’t he?”

“That’s an understatement. His sister did what she could for him, but he’d snapped following the deaths of their parents. It was a few years after the Veloc caught him that they were able to domesticate him.” Viva snickered and shook her head. “His sister, the entire time, was enjoying a life of luxury and pampering while her husband courted her. Waldren’s as stubborn as they come, but all things considered, he’s done well. He might never be fully tamed and socialized, though.”

“He’s just a bit grouchy.”

“Ah, he’s just a bit grouchy while around you . Waldren is a jackass with most homo-sapiens , and his general response to most Veloc involves attempted murder. Because the Veloc aren’t in their right mind, they find the murder attempts to be charming. He’s learned to accept the Veloc in his sister’s clan, but everyone else is fair game for some wholesome violence. The Veloc don’t mind. Waldren doesn’t know how to really express himself any other way. Therapists have a devil of a time working with him because of his circumstances. Don’t be surprised if you get recruited to be part of his therapy plan. His sister, for the record, is much better off than he is, and she’s settled well. However, at this stage, she’s culturally a Veloc far more than she is homo-sapiens. I met her on one of my jaunts out while you were schooling. I also met Waldren. We did not kill each other. I even let him pet my ears because he was curious. Apparently, I also like having behind my ears scratched. My pride is permanently damaged.”

“I’m sure Delta won’t mind scratching behind your ears.”

“He really doesn’t. However, you can purr. I can’t.”

I laughed. “I’m grateful for my restored hearing, but I am forced to admit that my favorite perk of hybridization is my ability to purr.”

“I can’t blame you.” Viva pressed a button on her armrest and said, “Everyone get into landing positions. I will be taking us to the failed colony now. I’ll begin the atmospheric tests upon landing.”

She brought up a status display, and once all the lights turned green, she dropped her racer into the planet’s atmosphere, zipping along until she drew close to the largest island. Pristine golden beaches surrounded dense forests and a tall mountain in the middle.

“Volcanic?” I asked.

“Dormant. It was a hotspot once upon a time, but the spot closed. All the islands are hotspot islands, and we’re not sure why the hotspots close. We suspect that the planet has an unusual plate system, which doesn’t subduct or thrust upwards like on most planets. Subduction faults tend to be deep oceanic, and the thrust faults tend to be what create continents.”

“Convergent boundaries,” I murmured, eyeballing the mountain. “And since there are no thrust faults, there are no mass mountain ranges, so no real opportunities for continents to properly form?”

“That is the current theory. And without the typical fault lines, various boundaries, or continental plates, we’re left with a water world reliant on deep volcanic activity to create small sections of land.”

“And likely volatile sections of land.” Viva drew the ship closer to the island, and I spotted where something had torn through the forest relatively recently, tearing down branches, scattering leaves, and even uprooting some trees. “A major storm system?” I guessed.

“Either that or a massive wave. Either is possible. The failed colony is far enough up the mountain’s slopes to survive through anything other than monstrous wave conditions.”

I eyed the beach, which had gentle waves lapping at the shore. “Truth be told, I’m a little worried about the ocean now.”

“I’m less worried about the ocean than I am worried about what lives in the ocean,” she admitted, and she flew the ship in the direction of the mountain.

I spotted the ruins of the failed colony solely due to the ship. Somehow, the silvery surface repelled the foliage, which waged a fierce battle to overtake the site. “Why aren’t the plants growing on the ship?”

“Colony ships, like this one, are coated in a substance that is rather toxic to most plant and animal life. Homo-sapiens need to wear protective gear to handle the exterior panels. Ships treated this way are considered to be dead vessels on their final voyage, designed to land and become the equivalent of a bunker. The colonists would have known to avoid touching it.” Viva wrinkled her nose. “Fortunately, that practice has been abandoned. I, among many rescue rigs, filed countless complaints about how the coating made it impossible to rescue such vessels in space. Those derelicts are dangerous , and we have to destroy the coatings before we can board. And the process of destroying the coating usually results in all life on board being lost.”

“What a shortsighted decision,” I muttered.

“It really is. So, avoid the ship and anywhere where there are dead zones. The coating may have leached into the ground around the ship. When we enter the ship, we’ll do so wearing safety gear, and we’ll detox the gear. That coating won’t kill us, but it’ll make us miserable. It will kill plant life rather effectively.”

I stared at the vessel, nodding my agreement with her statement. “That coating contains an herbicide among other things?”

“If it can kill someone or something, the coating has it. That shit is toxic. I hate working with ships that have been coated. With luck, the entry is open and we can access the interior without much worry. I’m not expecting much. It’s been over a decade since Waldren and his sister were rescued. But that said, there’s little as lethal as a surprise when exploring a failed colony, so let’s avoid surprises.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

After a few minutes, Delta and the Veloc joined us on the bridge, and everyone stared at the shining ship. Delta sighed and shook his head. “Remind me to make certain Waldren and his sister are tested for residual toxicity. That could account for some of their behavior problems.”

“They have been tested,” Fogali said, and he flattened his crest. “Waldren had irreparable damage, and his sister wasn’t much better. Fortunately, the issues can be controlled with medications. His sister has hormone production issues, but she’s medically regulated, which restored her fertility. Veloc genetics in her offspring help counter any remnant issues. Waldren’s issues are in his emotional regulation, which is obvious enough.”

I frowned. “His grumpiness is due to brain damage from the ship’s coating?”

“In part,” the Veloc admitted.

Like his brother, Yulgali flattened his crest, and he bobbed his head. After a moment, I realized there was something different about the way he moved, and I guessed the conversation distressed him.

“Was anyone at all able to help him?”

“He’s improved a great deal over the years,” Viva informed me. “But half of his problems are psychological, half of them are due to that damned coating. We will evaluate the ship from a safe distance, wear safety gear beyond the leach zone, and gather knowledge. But it’s important you understand precisely what you’re getting into. Science can’t cure everything, as you well know.”

“But I was cured,” I replied, gesturing to my ears. “I can hear now.”

“Ah, but you still have that shiftgem embedded in your brain. That, for the record, is going to make piloting fun for you. And I don’t mean the good sort of fun. I know what I had to do to make my ship safe for you; you’re uncharted waters, and science simply doesn’t know what some ship systems will do to someone with a shiftgem shard embedded in their brain. I had to make certain every system on the ship had a tolerable resonance level before bringing you aboard. Waldren had to do the same. He defined what it means to be a grump doing those overhauls to his ship. Of course, I don’t blame him for that. He had to do the overhauls while in space.”

“He left for Schwana Major before knowing the shard couldn’t be removed?”

“Precisely so.”

Interesting. “But we figured out the shard goes inert at the first sign of resonance.”

“He didn’t know that when he did the overhauls. But that’s Waldren for you. He cares, and he hides that he cares through being a grump. I haven’t worked with him much,” the hybrid confessed. “But I do like him, even when he’s at his grumpiest. But I’m xenodiverse, and Delta’s convinced I can’t actually dislike anyone who isn’t a trafficker.”

Delta smiled at his wife. “It’s true. She more than makes up for her compassion when a trafficker crosses her path. She’s developed a reputation.”

“Shoot a trafficker out of a tree once,” she muttered.

“She finds new and interesting ways to kill traffickers, pretending all the while she is doing so ‘out of mercy’ rather than wanting to steal kills from the Veloc.”

“She is a notorious thief of kills,” Fogali muttered.

Then, after a few more shakes and mutters, the pair of predators relaxed.

I wondered about that, but rather than prod, I asked, “How long does it take for your system to run the atmospheric tests?”

“It’ll be about five more minutes. If it wasn’t for that damned coating, it would be done by now, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

“I like being safe rather than sorry. That’s smart. Being sorry is not an enjoyable time.”

“As you would know better than most.” Viva engaged one of the displays in a staring contest, and after a moment, several pictures of the surrounding area appeared on the screens. She pointed at a clearing. “Assuming the coating hasn’t contaminated the air itself, I’ll park there. We can evaluate the landscape from there.”

I examined the clearing, nodding at the mossy ground, which would make an excellent staging ground—and spot for fungus to grow. “That’s a good way to get fungus exposure.”

Viva shrugged. “Oh, we’ll get plenty of that. The spores are in the air. There’s no way to avoid infection. What nobody understands is where the fungus is proliferating from, especially considering the limited size of the landmass.”

Ah. “The water. Fungus can be found in water, too. Fish can get fungal infections, and aquatic plants can carry them as well. Aquatic fungus doesn’t show up as mushrooms , but there are spore producing fungi of other types that can live in watery environments. If the ocean has the fungus, and it can transfer into the air, there’s your contagion point. Chytrid fungi can live in both land and water environments, and those are your top suspect. We didn’t go into much depth on chytrid fungi, if a variant of it has become airborne, it’s certainly capable of having lethal strains. In school, we studied a strain that likes to kill frogs. Our job was to evaluate current medications to determine what would help the frog populations. We found two treatments that gave frogs resilience against the fungus, but all frogs had to be treated, and only seventy-five percent of treated frogs survived. This was better than guaranteed death, but it wasn’t ideal.”

I hadn’t liked those experiments, as it ultimately resulted in all of the test frogs being sacrificed to science. However, we’d spent the following year writing up the required proposal to protect the frog populations from chytrid fungi.

Several planets had accepted and deployed our proposed treatment plans, sparing several delicate species from extinction.

That had been the work that had fully convinced me I’d wanted to work in biology and botany. The stars themselves held full responsibility for my need to explore.

“Interesting. Can these chytrid fungi be airborne?”

“If you have the microscope and gear, and we can figure out a way to capture an air sample with the fungi, that can be checked.” I thought about how we could get the samples, and after some consideration, I said, “If we can purify some equipment and water, we can spray water through the air, catch it, and evaluate the water. As long as the water only comes in contact with the fungi in the air, it can be examined in a dish. We can also use sterilized containers to capture air, insert a sterile strip, and evaluate for fungi. I’ve done both experiment types. It would be good to see if we can identify the differences between the fungi in all survivable environments.”

“We have a bunch of science stuff on board, but I have no idea what it does or how it works. I just confirmed it’s compatible with the ship and that you should be able to use it. Have yourself a ball, just don’t knock yourself out, please.” Viva glared at Delta.

He sighed. “I knocked myself out once, it was an accident, and I was fine.”

“After a week whining in bed,” she grumbled. “You delayed us going to space for a week.”

“Whining in bed got me the attention of you and your foxes. I regret the headache, but I do not regret the week well spent.”

Of the two Veloc, Yulgali was most likely to give me a sensible answer. “Is this my fate should I decide to pursue Waldren seriously?”

“Very possibly.”

“Well, I guess there are worse fates. Just try to prevent me from knocking myself out, please.”

“I will,” the Veloc promised. “Unless Waldren is present to coddle you for a week, in which case, I will allow nature to run its course.”

“As long as you’re not the reason I’m getting knocked out, that’s fair. I mean, you’re a feathered murder machine. It’s important to accept reality.”

Fogali eyed me before considering Viva with narrowed eyes. “Are you sure we can’t keep her?”

“I’m sure. Let the other clans compete for her. It’ll be good for her and for him. And it’s extra good for me, who won’t have to deal with that drama for a while.”

“They’re still going to fight over me until I am safely adopted, Viva. Just accept it,” Delta advised. “How are the atmospheric tests looking?”

Viva heaved a sigh. “In good news, the coating is not being detected in the air. In bad news, there is a storm brewing. I don’t know when it’ll hit, but we’ll need to be ready to bail at a moment’s warning. If my sensors are right, it’s going to be a doozy.”