Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint One Romance) (9 page)

A small soft paw reached out to rest on her
arm. Then another. Yes, the baby was getting braver, especially
with several pounds of it's mother cradled to Vallory's
chest.

A clang, one that set all three of them
jumping, preceded the door starting to close. The baby squeaked in
protest as Vallory picked it up and set it on the back of
Penny.

"Sorry, time to run!" And that she did. Not
easy to run fast with her arms full, but at least they were all
together.

The solid bulk of the door grew, blocking off
the width of the corridor. Barely enough to get by now, if she
could reach it in time.

With a shriek of metal, and other undefined
noises, the door slammed shot with one violent jerk.

Vallory came to a stop only a few steps
away.

It had been moving so slowly before, and only
now it decided to close fast? Did the station want to trap her in
this area for some reason?

"Anyone there?" Vallory asked, her voice
breaking. Silly. If she really wanted to know, she should
yell.

As she drew breath into her lungs to let out a
suitable yell, the other lights in the corridor turned off in
unison. In the pitch black that surrounded her, she lost the air in
her lungs. No lights no matter how she turned. The lights in the
side corridors must have turned off, as well. Nowhere was there
even a glimmer. No side glow. Nothing.

She hugged Penny closer, focusing on the feel
of the soft fur brushing against her skin.

She felt a paw at the base of her throat. A
tiny paw, soon followed by another higher up. Vallory smiled
despite herself. The baby. It was using her to climb. Just like the
adults, they loved to climb. All daubpups loved to climb. The
instinct must start from birth.

"Okay, we have a problem," Vallory whispered,
trying to control her shivers. Hard to, considering how heavy the
darkness weighed, pushing in from all directions. So heavy, so
cold.

What direction should she go? She briefly
considered setting Penny on a shoulder so she could use her hands
to feel her way along the wall. Maybe find another way out, such as
a door.

She dismissed that idea. Penny was much too
big to properly perch on her shoulder. Besides, the baby was now
there, snuggling her neck with its tail trying to curl around the
back of her neck. A baby that was humming to itself with happy
little squeaks interrupting the humming.

"At least one of us is happy."

Penny gave a shake and let out a small yip.
Still staying there, though. That was a good sign. Maybe Penny was
done getting into trouble today.

Vallory inched to the side, trying to find the
wall with her elbow. It shouldn't be too far…

And froze again.

A new light source glowed among the inky
blackness, blue and soft. The color shifted, turning to a deep red.
All of it coming from the bundle in her arms.

Penny craned her head to look up at Vallory,
her eyes glowing copper.

Vallory let out another breath. "Right. The
notes mentioned sometimes glowing."

As in, observed only once during a moonless
night by one of the first biologists to describe the daubpups. No
wonder she didn't think of it.

Penny pushed at her arms, and with one quick
movement, jumped to the ground. The baby continued to nuzzle
Vallory's neck right under her ear, apparently in no hurry to
follow Mom.

Penny shook herself, the glow following the
movement of fur. With a pleased yip, she started trotting down the
corridor.

Vallory followed, putting both hands out in
front of her. Her eyes adjusted, allowing her to see the reflection
of Penny's glow on the nearest pipes and conduits. Barely, but it
was enough to keep from running into anything.

"Don't get too far ahead," Vallory whispered.
Both Penny and the baby gave a short hum in response.

Penny's glow disappeared as suddenly as it had
appeared. A second later, Vallory's hand touched a wall.

"Penny, get back here. I can't go through
walls," Vallory said out loud.

In the absence of Penny's glow, the baby's
glow started to show. A soft pink, barely lighting the top of
Vallory's shirt. Vallory lifted her hand to stroke its soft fur.
"Mom should be back soon."

At least, she hoped so. How long would it take
Penny to realize they weren't behind her?

Her. Now that was an interesting thought. She
now had evidence of a gender for one of the daubpups. That was, if
genders among the species could be described in a known
manner.

As if in response, Penny reappeared, her deep
red glow bright in the pitch black. Penny looked up at her, setting
a paw on the wall.

"Penny, you know I can't go through a wall.
Find a door," Vallory said.

Penny disappeared again. Vallory blew at the
hair falling into her face. It really was hard to tell how
intelligent they were. Sometimes it seemed they understood what she
said to them. She really hoped this time was one of
those.

"Please, Penny. I can't go through walls,"
Vallory said when Penny reappeared. To which, Penny gave a
frustrated squeal. Not a good sound, and if she decided to head off
with her baby, Vallory might be in a lot of trouble.

Penny headed back through the wall. With only
her glowing tail still in sight, a new light appeared to the side
and towards the bottom of the wall. A bright brilliant white light
that made her eyes water.

It grew in size and intensity. She squinted at
a form appearing in the middle of the light. A familiar oblong
rounded shape with two lines standing straight up at one end. The
shape whistled at her, the two lines bobbing.

A bot. One of the station bots.

"Damien?" Vallory asked, her voice cracking.
Please, let it be him. Let him have found her. She edged along the
wall towards the light, her eyes slowly adjusting.

The bot whistled at her urgently, backing back
into the light. Vallory moved faster, dropping to her knees in
front of the opening.

The red bot waited for her on the other side,
along with its small hovering trailer. The same one she'd followed
into the corridors in the first place. It came back for
her!

With a lifted heart, she dropped to her hands
and knees and started crawling through the hatch. The baby clung to
her shoulder all through it, humming and squealing so much like her
mother liked to do, that it made Vallory want to laugh.

She pulled her legs through the hatch, back
into a bright corridor. Penny appeared out from the wall and
bounded over to them. With a paw on Vallory's folded legs, she
reached up to rub noses with the baby. Vallory scratched Penny
along the back, eliciting more happy noises.

To the bot, she said, "Thank you for coming
back to me. I don't know what happened in there. I didn't touch
anything."

But, maybe Penny and her baby did as they
walked back and forth through walls? Could they have triggered
something?

The sound of a deep horn sounded through the
corridor. So low that she felt it more than heard it. The small bot
looked up at the ceiling at the same time as the rest of them. The
sound faded away to be replaced by harsh slams and clangs.
Including one directly next to them.

Vallory stared at the hatch she'd just climbed
through. A solid piece of metal blocked the way. A bulkhead?
Whatever it was, somehow she knew it wasn't going to open now. Not
even for the bot. She also knew, as if from instinct, that the
other side still lay in silent darkness.

This part of the station felt normal. They
were safe here, she reminded herself.

And yet, she still shivered.

CHAPTER SIX

ANOTHER ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL down.

Not a good time for a failure to happen.
During the Pet Show? No, it should be when they tested all the
equipment before putting it all in storage, or when pulling it out
to set up the show.

Damien stood. The service aisle between two
rows of enclosures was already small, but the boxes and bags of
supplies the exhibitors stored there made it even
smaller.

His bot reached up with a robotic arm,
offering to take the defective controller. Damien handed it over.
"And which one is next?"

The bot zipped between his legs and headed in
the opposite direction with a fading whistle.

"Right, the glowing cats." Glowing cats that
apparently liked things nice and hot, in contrast to Vallory's
daubpups who apparently hated high heat.

Just the thought of her brought up her face in
his mind. A very nice face, and the rest of her was fine, as well.
Including a sharp mind.

He found himself frowning as he moved to the
next problem enclosure. Yes, a sharp mind, and sometimes sharp
tongue, but there was something else going on there. While she was
obviously devoted to the needs of her pets, she wasn't so much to
the pet show.

He automatically went through the motions of
finding the problem and starting to fix it, allowing his years of
working with the station to guide his way. Ah, the connection to
the station facilities had degraded. How odd. Testing should have
spotted the problem before pets were even put in the
enclosure.

One part of his mind continued the repair,
while the other side mulled the problem of Vallory Schist. The
repair was more straight forward. The issue of Vallory proved more
challenging. The pets belonged here at the show. Cute, lovable, a
little mischievous. The attendees would love them.

Was Vallory here out of a sense of duty?
Because breeders tended to do shows like this to show off new pets
or breeds, whether or not they were for sale? If so, there were
other avenues to get word out. She didn't have to come here.
Considering the expense of attending, even doing smaller shows on
whatever her home planet was would have worked better.

Which brought to mind something else. Did she
even have a home planet?

"I have a home. It's here," Damien murmured.
His bot gave him a firm bloop of agreement. He grinned. "Glad you
agree."

He didn't even try more names with his bot.
He'd tried all morning to no avail. How embarrassing to be reduced
to looking up baby names in an effort to find a name. Why did it
bother him, anyway? He'd gone how many years without his bot having
a name, and now he was looking up lists of baby names to try out?
If he were looking through those types of lists, it should be to
look up baby names for a coming baby.

He clamped that thought down so hard that his
hand flexed on a circle of metal. The sharp edge cut into his
hand.

He took a deep breath and forced his hand to
open. A trickle of blood came from the fleshy part of the palm
under the thumb. His bot moved in close, erupting with worrying
noises.

"It's fine," he automatically told it. One day
it would happen. One day he would find someone to share that life
with him. To set up a home and start a family.

One thing he knew for certain, it would not be
with Vallory Schist, the self-proclaimed nomad.

Her voice came drifting over the sound of the
crowds. Vibrant and clear. And angry?

Damien finished reattaching the environmental
controls, pleased to find his scanner showing it working. The
temperature ticked upwards a fraction of a degree.

He stood, trying to determine the direction of
her voice. Why angry? Other than in a hurry, she'd been in a good
humor this morning. Perhaps someone was messing with her pets? They
weren't far from her enclosure. Just down the service aisle a
bit.

His bot tapped his hand with a metal hand.
Damien glanced down, realizing he still held the defective part. He
let his bot take it. It headed off down the aisle towards their
waiting cart.

More raised voices, of which one was Vallory.
Despite himself, he found himself heading towards her enclosure. If
someone were giving her grief or bothering her daubpups, they would
find that both of them had another protector.