AllFreeNovel
Share Us
***
VARUS
My blood ran hot asI flew through the barren crop fields with Harper in my arms. Where were the scientists and workers I appointed to test the moon soil? I worried for their safety. With each building we passed, I detected no signs of life.
The settlement was a ghost town. Windows were cracked and doors were left to swing wide open. The rich soil, once thought suitable for farming and supplying Racopia with additional food supply, now blew through the settlement, dry and useless.
The roads were overgrown with weeds and moondust that clotted the cracks in the pavement. "I remember walking these same roads on the day the scientists arrived."
I felt Harper shiver in my arms. I needed to find someplace where she could be out of the cold. As the wind blew east, I went with the current, gliding towards the settlement’s main facility.
The door was closed here but opened with a good shove. I was foolish to hope to see a Racopian alive in the building. Instead, we were greeted by broken equipment and empty crates that had fallen from the shelves.
Harper turned on her flashlight and went to one of the boxes once I set her down. "There’s fuel cartridges here. We can use them."
I walked to the wall and tried one of the generator panels. I flipped a series of switches until I got the generator to chug to life. The lights flickered on in the dim space. While Harper loaded fuel cartridges into a crate, I went into the next room.
The communications station was in a worse state than the first room. Monitors lay broken on the floor. Frayed cords stuck out from a layer of moondust on the floor like desiccated snakes. Harper’s quick footsteps sounded behind me.
"You found a com link station."
"I wouldn’t get excited." I picked up the front of a shattered monitor and tossed it on the table. "I doubt any of this equipment still works."
"Let me try." She set the crate of fuel cartridges down and went to work on the least damaged of the equipment.
I had to hand it to her. She was persistent. I watched her work. Her cheeks and tip of her nose were splotched with a deep burgundy from the cold.
My cock twitched. I could think of a few ways to keep her warm. None of them were practical. I headed for the door before she could notice the change occurring in the way my pants hung on me. “I’m checking to see what else we can use out here."
I rummaged through the overturned boxes. I found the uniform clothing worn by the scientists. One of the long sleeve lab coats looked small enough for Harper to wear. I carted the box back into the com link station.
"I found a lab coat if you want an extra layer. And finally." I lifted a shirt from the box. "A shirt with room for wings."
Harper was too busy tinkering with the wires on one of the monitors to act impressed with my finds. "I think I got a connection. I sent a message to HQ."
I put on the shirt and then approached her with the lab coat. "First you invent a serum. You pilot an escape pod. Now you fix a broken com link. Is there anything you can’t do?"
She pressed buttons on the keyboard. I heard clicks before the monitor gave out with a loud snap. She jumped back as smoke curled from the monitor. "You can add ‘fixing a com link’ to my list of shortcomings."
"You tried, at least."
She put the lab coat on over her own uniform jacket. "I sent my coordinates and said I was headed to Racopia. I doubt HQ will be able to intercept the message. That’s if it even got through the first frequency."
I didn’t like seeing her frustrated. "When we reach my planet, I’ll make sure your needs are met."
She frowned at me. "I still need to report to HQ to let them know I'm alive. They’d want to know about you, too."
"They don’t need to. You completed your mission when we left the Quarek camp."
"You still need to complete the serum doses. I don‘t have anymore on me. Plus, I want somebody to come pick me up and take me back to Xaxos."
My bonding instinct balked at the suggestion of her leaving. I developed a pit in my stomach. Then I heard the light clink of a metallic ring near my ear. I touched the collar on my neck. "This isn’t holding up."
Harper came up to me and inspected the collar. Her fingers were light on my skin. "The magnetic polarity is weakening. Probably because of the atmosphere change and the damage you put it through."
"Can you see what you can do to fix it again?"
I stood there, patiently waiting to be restrained. I felt the tips of her nails as she snatched the collar off and flung it across the room. It landed on the floor in the corner.
