Blue Defender by Sean Monaghan

Author:Sean Monaghan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: robots, aliens, deep space, adventure, action, female character
Publisher: Triple V Publishing
Published: 2018-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty Six

From out over the ocean thunder rumbled. The waves were growing higher. Whitecaps.

Gray virga hung over the water. In patches there were patterned ripples where the rain fell. Coming in closer.

Which was all Matti-Jay needed. A drenching, cold, stormy rain to go with the eager pack of cute predators hunting her down. And whatever it was prowling around her ship.

That big animal moved oddly. As if its joints were old and worn and arthritic.

Matti-Jay’s grandfather had been an athlete when he’d been in his twenties. He’d played for the 49ers as a blocker. Bragged that they’d almost made it to the superbowl. By the time Matti-Jay was born he would have been in his late fifties. By the time she was aware of such things–probably five or six years back–he’d been in his late sixties, and he walked half bent over, and slowly. He wore all kinds of robotic joint strengtheners to keep himself mobile. He was always on calls with insurance companies and team owners trying to get his policies honored to get replacement joints.

The way this animal walked reminded Matti-Jay of that. Not the calls, but the way the old man had moved. He’d been kind and generous and loving, but it was sad how much difficulty he’d had getting around.

Less than five hundred meters now, to the Blue Defender.

The little vessel looked sad lying there. There was a berm of sand at the stern, pushed up when she’d crashed and slid along. Gouges on the other side.

Matti-Jay kept running. A glance back.

The cats were keeping pace, but staying in the dune grasses. Mostly. A few of them skittered out onto the beach. Momentary. They quickly darted back to the dunes.

Matti-Jay focused on the way forward. Less than four hundred meters.

She was breathing hard. The salty tang of the air burned a little. They knew that the atmosphere was safe to breathe. More oxygen than Earth, and less nitrogen but more argon.

They’d checked for pathogens of course. And the whole crew had received general inoculations Not full protection, but better than nothing. There was still a whole lot they didn’t know about the place.

Three hundred meters.

Matti-Jay’s pace was slackening. She was tired. But also, the cats seemed less threatening. They were paralleling her now, not coming right behind. They continued to whistle and peep. Some of them were drawing ahead.

Two hundred and fifty meters.

The big animal sniffing at the Blue Defender had moved back. It walked in a circle.

Instead of running straight at the hatch, Matti-Jay was going to have to come in from the bow. That meant running across the sand into the water. The beach here had a long, low slope. The water was shallow.

The water splashed around Matti-Jay’s boots as she ran on. The beads blew back against her. It was actually refreshing. The sand underneath was uneven. Rippled. With some holes. It made the running even harder.

Tiny fish darted around.

Soon Matti-Jay was directly in front of the Blue Defender.

The cats stared at her from the edge of the dunes.

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