Pets in Space: Cats, Dogs, and Other Worldly Creatures Read online

  The Cyborg program did bring about the friendship between Matrix and the unusual Despairing Wolfhound, but it was the program’s state of the art technology that Sennara was thankful for. It had saved Matrix’s life after he was severely wounded during a mission. Elaine Brim might be a criminal, but Sennara owed the woman a debt that only a parent could understand.

  “How are you doing?” Terrex asked, coming to a stop beside her.

  Sennara glanced up and smiled. “Better,” she promised with a sigh. “K-Nine said he is going to find Matrix a life mate.”

  “Have you been sending K-Nine images of eligible females again?” Terrex asked.

  Sennara turned, wishing she could lean into her life mate for strength when a wave of weakness washed through her. She drew in a deep breath and forced her failing body to remain strong. Releasing the breath, she smiled up at her mate.

  “Maybe just a few. I would love to see my grandchild before…,” she whispered, her voice fading when Terrex gently laid his fingers against her lips.

  “You will,” he vowed. “You will.”

  “This is CPU-07051, requesting permission for departure,” Matrix stated into the mic.

  “CPU-07051, clearance is granted,” the voice from the large warship replied.

  Matrix eased their assigned starship out of the massive Zion warship. K-Nine was linked to the warship’s computer system. His dark gray eyes glowed as he collected and processed the information.

  “I have a particle signature for the pod we were assigned to intercept,” K-Nine stated.

  “Lock onto coordinates,” Matrix ordered, reaching forward and setting the computer guidance system.

  “It leads to an abandoned jump gate,” K-Nine responded, tilting his head.

  “I guess we’ll be seeing where it goes,” Matrix replied grimly. “I’m diverting energy to the front shields. Prepare for the jump.”

  This gate had been abandoned after it had proven to be unreliable. New technology and more advanced jump gates were now being used. On their return trip, they would need to lock on to these coordinates as they went through if they ever hoped to return to their own star system.

  Everything appeared to slow down around them as they entered the jump gate. Suddenly they were being propelled forward. Matrix’s teeth clenched as the starship shuddered. This was going to be one mission he wasn’t ever likely to forget.

  Two

  Matrix checked the charges in his weapon before he stepped cautiously out of the woods and looked both ways along the hard, dark surface of the alien road that curved at opposite ends of the long narrow stretch. As part of a new, elite section of the Zion military, they were often called the Shadow Warriors. They worked under the radar of the Confederation council to resolve problems no one else wanted to deal with. In this case, the problem was the mess Elaine Brim and her team of scientists had created. Their directive was to remain invisible to the local inhabitants, if at all possible.

  Thanks to K-Nine’s advanced cybernetic programming, they were able to track the particle field emitted by the pod’s unusual design. That trail had veered away from any of the known planets and lead to a distant star system.

  It had not taken them long to locate the Crawler’s abandoned pod when they’d arrived on the planet. They would retrieve the pod after they killed the creature. Their main focus was finding and eliminating the Crawler as soon as possible.

  Now, Matrix stepped forward, studying the ground intently as he searched for evidence of what could have happened to his partner. He stopped and knelt next to the road. A dark frown creased his brow. After several minutes, he rose back to his feet. His gaze followed the long dark marks on the hard surface.

  His mind raced as he tried to piece together what could have happened. He had not been too concerned at first when K-Nine and he had separated. The Crawler they were hunting was a crafty one and it had been necessary to split up in order to cover more ground. They had been on its trail, moving to box it in when Matrix had lost communication with K-Nine. That had been three days ago. Since then, he had focused on locating K-Nine’s last known whereabouts.

  Matrix glanced down at the scanner in his hand and drew in a deep breath as he pulled his thoughts back to the present. He seriously doubted there was an issue with K-Nine’s cybernetics. They had been in regular contact via the special communicator designed specifically for their team.

  At first, he had thought the unusually long silence was due to K-Nine’s intense focus. It wouldn’t have been the first time that K-Nine had wandered beyond the range of their communication devices, but it had never been for this long before. After several failures to check in, Matrix knew it was something more serious must have happened. The coordinates of K-Nine’s location during his last check-in had turned out to be a wooded area not far from a road. It had taken perseverance, but he had finally discovered a tuft of K-Nine’s blue fur along the edge of the road.

  “Initiate transport pickup. Lock on location.” Matrix growled into the communication device attached to his ear.

  A few minutes later, a sleek vessel appeared over the tall trees bordering the west side of the road. It landed a short distance away, and Matrix strode over to it and climbed in. He didn’t bother waiting for the automatic straps to engage before he took the controls and the vessel surged forward.

  “K-Nine, location,” Matrix demanded. His frown deepened when there was no response. “Cyborg Unit K, Production Nine, report.”

  Again, no response. Matrix couldn’t put it off any longer. There was no alternative. He entered the command to activate the emergency locator embedded in K-Nine. It took several long minutes for the tracking device to lock onto K-Nine’s location. It was as he had feared when Matrix had seen the dark marks on the road’s hard surface. K-Nine had been captured, possibly moments after his last transmission.

  Matrix immediately dismissed the idea that the Crawler was responsible for K-Nine’s disappearance. If K-Nine had encountered the creature and lost, there would have been bloody body parts lying on the ground, not just a tuft of fur. No, his friend and partner must have been captured by a local inhabitant. While their directive was to remain invisible to the local inhabitants if at all possible, Matrix’s main concern was that K-Nine was in trouble. He would do everything he could to free him regardless of what it took.

  “This is turning out to be a more complicated mission than expected,” Matrix muttered, locking the location of the signal into the computer. “Stealth mode. Analyze the track residue and calculate possible routes.”

  “Natural and synthetic rubber, carbon elements, metal fibers, each composed of elements…,” the computer began.

  Matrix scowled as he listened to the long list of materials before the computer finally informed him that the width and the number of marks made it probable they’d been created by a large transport. The computer had also picked up traces of K-Nine’s fur, concluding K-Nine and the transport must have collided.

  “How long until we reach the emergency beacon’s location?” Matrix demanded.

  “One planetary hour,” the computer responded.

  Matrix grunted and reached into a compartment between the seat and the hull of the vessel. Pulling out a fresh energy cartridge, he inserted it into his weapon. He was about to close the small compartment when a second signal appeared on the screen in front of him. It was heading toward K-Nine too. A soft curse escaped him and he shook his head. It hadn’t taken the creature long to intercept the signal from the emergency beacon in K-Nine.

  “Damn Crawler,” he muttered, pulling out two more energy cartridges. “This could get very messy.”

  Three days earlier:

  Jana Dixon jumped back from the door of the vet’s office in surprise when the large truck driver pushed past her. In his arms, he held an animal wrapped in a blanket. From the sweat glistening on the man’s brow and red coloring his cheeks, the dog, at least that was what she assumed from the paw sticking out from under the blan
ket, must have been pretty heavy. For the second time in as many minutes, she regretted answering the impatient banging on the door to the vet’s office where she worked.

  “I hit a wolf with my rig. I don’t want no trouble from the animal rights people or local government,” the man told her in a gruff voice. “With the release of those wolves back into the area, I can just see it splattered all over the news. My bosses would fire me if it got out that I just left it lying in the road. Where can I put it down?”

  “I… In the back, but…,” Jana replied in frustration, impatiently pushing back a lock of dark brown hair that fell along her cheek as the man headed toward the back. “You can’t leave it here. The Doc isn’t in. The office is closed for the next two months!”

  “Not my problem anymore,” the man replied, practically dropping the blanket-covered creature on the exam table. “That damn thing weighs a ton. Good luck.”

  “But… You can’t just leave! What am I supposed to do with it? The only animals here are mine. You need to take it to a different vet. Doc Wilson left this morning for his vacation and we’re closed!” Jana growled in exasperation, following the man as he quickly headed back the way he’d come. “You’ll have to take it to Fairview.”

  “Like I said, not my problem anymore,” the man replied with a wave of his hand. “I’m behind schedule as it is and Fairview is in the opposite direction.”

  “Argh!” Jana snarled as the man hurried out the door without a backwards glance. “Jerk! If it dies, how am I supposed to take care of it? If you can barely carry the poor thing, how am I supposed to be able to lift it?”

  With a deep sigh, Jana returned to the exam room. She paused in the doorway and stared at the still figure. It always broke her heart when an animal got hit. With a sigh, Jana walked over to the table and pulled back the blanket. She tenderly stroked the thick fur of the dog. A confused frown creased her brow as she studied it.

  “You know, for something that has been run over by an eighteen wheeler, you sure look like you’re in pretty good shape to me,” Jana murmured with a shake of her head. “I’m sure the doc would’ve ordered some x-rays though, just to make sure you don’t have any broken bones. I’m really amazed that you aren’t covered in blood.”

  Jana rested her hand on the side of the poor animal. The dog did resemble a wolf, but must be mixed with another breed because its coloring differed from a wolf’s. The fur seemed almost blue instead of black and the muzzle had silver in it.

  “I guess I could call Doc Evans to come out and pick you up,” she murmured, still stroking the soft fur. “I wish there was more I could do. Except for the kittens, it’s just me here. Old Doc Wilson won’t be back for a while.”

  A startled squeak escaped Jana when the dog’s eyes suddenly opened and it lifted its head to stare directly into Jana’s eyes. Unsure of whether it would attack her or not, Jana slowly pulled her hand away from its side. When the dog’s head turned, following her movements, she froze. From the intense look in the dog’s eyes, she decided it wouldn’t matter if she could pick it up or not, because it might be her bloody corpse the doc found when he returned.

  “Bad thoughts, Jana. Bad, bad thoughts. Uh, not you. You aren’t bad. Good boy, or girl, or whatever you are,” she whispered, stepping backwards. Her hand fumbled for the pocket door to the room. Another soft groan escaped her when she realized that this was the room with the sticky door. “I won’t hurt you. I…,” she continued to whisper as she fumbled for the small latch. “Darn it!” She snapped under her breath when it refused to move.

  Jana froze again when the dog slowly pushed up to a sitting position. Her head began shaking back and forth in denial. This was not good, not good at all. Jana didn’t think the situation could get any worse until a flash of fur swept past her.

  “Meow… Meow….”

  A choked cry of horror escaped Jana when she heard the soft meows of the three mischievous kittens. She’d forgotten she had let them out to play earlier. Her head turned at the same time as the wolf-dog’s massive head did. They both stared at the tiny golden body that rubbed along the door frame leading to the hallway where the lab station, surgical unit, and the empty kennels were located. Less than a second later, another tumbling ball of gray fur bounced into the room, oblivious to the danger.

  The kittens were Jana’s pride and joy. She had syringe-fed them after they were abandoned in a pillowcase on the doorstep of the office when they were barely a day old. That had been over six weeks ago. Originally, there had been seven kittens, but four of them hadn’t made it. These three were Jana’s babies.

  “No!” Jana cried out when the massive canine stood up and jumped off the table.

  She scrambled forward, trying to catch the two kittens. Honeybun and Biscuit immediately took off in opposite directions inside the room. Jana lost her balance when she tried to grab them and ended up doing a faceplant on the slippery floor.

  She muttered a curse and her head jerked up just in time to come nose to nose with Butter. The blue-eyed, cream-colored kitten stared at her for a moment before raising one tiny paw and swiping at the stubborn lock of Jana’s hair that kept coming loose.

  At the sound of nails on the tile, Jana frantically glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes widened when she saw that the massive dog was now standing just a foot from where she was lying. The wolf-dog watched her with intense, gray eyes filled with curiosity. Rolling over and sitting up, she scooped Butter into her arms and scooted back along the shiny floor. She stopped when she felt her back hit the door frame behind her. Her gaze remained focused on the unusual dark gray eyes of the dog.

  “Good… Good boy,” Jana whispered. She’d leaned just far enough to the side to confirm the sex of the dog before straightening. “Please… Please don’t eat us.”

  Jana jumped when the dog sneezed and shook his head. He glanced over his shoulder toward the cabinet. Her gaze followed his and she released a silent prayer for Honeybun and Biscuit to remain under it. That thought died when the dog – wolf – whatever it was, turned his attention back to her. Jana smothered a cry when he stepped closer and pressed his nose to her cheek.

  “Please… Good boy,” she choked out in a trembling voice, her eyes closing as she turned her head away. “Don’t eat us. We would taste really, really bad.”

  “Meow,” Butter agreed.

  K-Nine studied the creatures sitting against the wall. He sneezed and shook his head in an effort to test his communications system. The impact with the strange metal transport must have damaged it. There had been some difficulty rebooting his system at first, but his internal repair bots were now working to correct the damage.

  He quickly scanned the two life forms sitting in front of him. Neither form activated his internal warning system. Leaning forward, he stretched so he could touch his nose to the soft skin of the female. Data poured into his system, but he was unable to process all of it at the moment.

  Taking a step back, he sat down and drew in a deep breath. This time, he accessed his natural sense of smell instead of his enhanced processors. Massive amounts of information flooded him. The scents in the room struck his senses. The smells of antiseptic cleansers, the faint traces of a variety of different species, and the heavy smell of the male who had carried him in swept through him.

  K-Nine tilted his head and studied the figures in front of him once again. His ears twitched, following sounds from the other two life forms now hidden under the cabinet. They posed no threat to him. His gaze moved over to the small ball of fur struggling to get free from the larger life form. Curious, he lowered his head and pushed his nose toward it. The small life form stretched forward and pressed a miniscule nose to his, then ran a tiny, sandpaper tongue across the sensor embedded in the tip. K-Nine released a surprised sneeze.

  Jerking back, he blinked at the ball of fur before transferring his attention to the other life form. A surprising feeling of warmth coursed through him. The only other times K-Nine felt this sense of comfort
were with his partner, Matrix.

  “You… You’re not going to hurt us, are you? You’re such a beautiful dog,” the creature murmured in a soothing voice.

  K-Nine’s gaze followed the female when she carefully lowered the bundle in her arms. His head turned to follow the tiny form when it took off at a clumsy run before disappearing under the cabinet with the other two. The low hissing from the creatures as they played made him want to see what they were doing. He was about to rise when pleasure swept through him. The female was stroking his side.

  His head turned back and a pleased rumble escaped him. When she started scratching under his right shoulder, his body melted down to the floor and he rolled onto his side, lifting his front paw. The low rumble of pleasure escaped him again, and his back leg started twitching when she scratched a little harder.

  Pure bliss engulfed him and his eyes closed. Good, yes, more, he thought blissfully. I will keep this creature. It will make a good pet.

  K-Nine didn’t pay much attention to the vague thought that this was against his programming. It was likely a minor defect due to his injuries. His communications system was still down, but Matrix would find him soon enough. Matrix would probably be mad at him for chasing that small, gray creature with the long fluffy tail. He would have caught it too, if it hadn’t taken to the trees – and if he hadn’t been hit by the large transport when he’d darted across the road. The collision had definitely taken him by surprise.

  “You’re just a big baby, aren’t you, boy?” The female crooned in a husky voice that caused K-Nine’s ears to twitch in pleasure.

  Another low groan escaped him. His eyes started to close again until he felt something crawling on him – correction... several somethings. Forcing his head up, he blinked sleepily at the gray body struggling to climb up onto his side. The fingers scratching him moved to scratch behind his ear.