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Sarah giggled, my ears cupping to catch the sweet sound. “Well, she’s still a kitten when compared to what I’ve been told she will be one day.”
We stood as Chompers rolled over, collected her ball, and trotted over to Lucy. The dark-maned female threw what was laid at her feet and the humans all cooed over how cute the patooga was as she raced after the ball and proudly dropped it at their feet to be thrown again.
“Walk with me?” I held my hand out for Sarah to take. “I have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise for me? What is it?”
“Something I hope you will like given your vocation.”
“My vocation.” Sarah side-eyed me. “Is it a pet of my own?”
“No,” I chuckled. “Until Chompers, Valosians never domesticated any creatures.”
“Well, Valosians have been missing out because pets are a wonderful thing to have.”
Sarah went on to explain about all the domesticated animals on her world, of how many provided comfort or assistance to those with special needs.
“You were a medic to these creatures?”
“I was in school to be a veterinarian, but yes, I was…am,”she clarified, “I am studying to be an animal medic. I love animals, well all things nature. I guess that’s why I don’t much like being trapped under a dome. I’m an outdoorsy gal.”
We walked past the hangar where the sleek, black spacecraft Sia Sakkar had taken off-world many times under the influence of the Gretolics was parked.
“When do you think Ruze and the others will be back?” The underlying sadness in her voice tore at my spirit.
“I don’t know,” I said as we rounded the hangar. “Depends on how long it takes for them to find everyone.”
“I hope they do find everyone,” she said, a hopeful tinge in her voice. “Marie showed us the storage room under the palace where we’d been caged for over a year. It’s hard to believe we were here all this time, just under the palace and no one had a clue we were there.”
“Not everyone was innocent,” I growled. “But the guilty males who collaborated with the Gretolics are being kept in the prison level under the palace.”
“Serving time behind bars is too good for them. Trafficking their own clansmen should be punishable by death.”
“My sentiments exactly, yet Sia Jakkar thinks they could still hold crucial information about our new enemy or the whereabouts of our people.” We walked on until I spotted the depression in the ground and the faintest wavy outline of the spherical craft where I had left it. “Draggar and Murrox have been interrogating them but not much has been learned.”
Sarah's eyes lit up when I smoothed my hand over the invisible hull until my palm made contact with the control panel. The hatch whispered open to reveal the inside of the spherical craft.
“Oh, wow!” she exclaimed. “They really are invisible. Lily told me about the bubble crafts. I just never figured they’d be completely undetectable.”
I offered her my hand and helped her across the raised threshold. She wandered around the small, circular space with wide, curious eyes.
“Want to go for a ride?”
Chapter Thirteen
SARAH
The horizon was about to swallow the twin suns of Valose, the last of their blue light filtering through the dense canopy in shafts of silver and cobalt. I sighed as I peered through the dome wishing to gaze upon the alien landscape minus the wavy obstruction.
So much beauty on this world, and yet my heart ached for the familiar. For rolling green hills and a yellow sun, for the laughter of friends and the embrace of family. I wondered how much longer I would be here waiting for the Nomadicans to take me home.
There were a few of us who had decided against staying on Valose. We knew we would face questions from authorities as well as our families about where we had been after all this time, but we didn’t care. We had plenty of time to make up a plausible story while waiting for the Nomadicans and the three Valosians to complete their rescue mission. There was no other ship except the Moktain craft that could cloak.
Marie’s blunt words came floating back when she had sat on the opposite side of the bed from Gunnox spooning chiksin broth into my mouth that first day. The woman was direct and got right to the point, no matter how hard the truth was to hear. Like pulling off a Band-Aid in one quick jerk.
“So, the Yulineons are these alien guys that patrol infant galaxies like our Milky Way to protect primitive people, us, from invaders that would do us harm.” Marie had flicked her hand in the air. “Sounds great and all, having our own guardians, but their protection goes both ways. They’re also supposed to kill all humans with knowledge of other worlds and species. It’s called enlightened or some shit. Anyway, if these patrollers catch us trying to return to Earth, they won’t hesitate to blow our heads off on sight. Sorry, going home isn’t an option.”
Our return home had become feasible with the advanced cloaking abilities of the Moktian ship. However, the looming possibility of being discovered still lingered. Ruze warned us the Yulineons had engaged a celestial aetherometer around the planet because of all of the Gretolic activity, which would detect any atmospheric disruptions caused by a landing spaceship. But the Nomadican said it might be possible to cause a distraction to divert their attention, and we might be able to pull it off.
