By Pamela Love
“All this trouble just so you can cuddle some alien vultures.” My sister landed our gyro-flyer near one of my video recorders, which was showing a lone adorb. Usually they were in herds of a dozen or so. “A year with four of these things in our cabin, just to prove to the Colonial Board they’ll adjust to being pets? And we’ll all be on video? It’s like a gross reality show, Maureen.”
“We’re going to ‘all this trouble’ so that lots of people can cuddle them. Which will also make us a fortune, Becca. And don’t call them vultures. We’ll market them as adorbs, short for adorable.” I scooped the legless, lavender, comma-shaped creature into my arms, careful to hold it so that none of its mouths could bite, just in case. Perfect size, about half a meter long. Just an armful. “I like your idea of a reality show, though. Fourteen Earth months is enough for two seasons.”
I ran my fingers through its deep, silky coat. Not quite fur but close. It hummed. Not quite a purr but close. Mentally, I doubled the price we’d charge for one when we had official approval. Wish they came in different colors, though, so they’d be easier to tell apart. Bet people would buy more than one, then.
Becca unloaded the crates for the four adorbs we were planning to catch and transport to our cabin. “Adorable or not, they’re still scavengers. Doesn’t it creep you out seeing them swarm over carrion?” She wrinkled her nose.
“Once they’re domesticated, they can eat human food. That’s why I paid to have sensor drones scan them before making contact ourselves. Well, that and making sure they don’t carry dangerous germs.” I scratched behind the adorb’s fourth ear’s tuft. “You don’t like eating roadkill anyway, do you, honey?” It squirmed against my hand and hummed louder.
Becca frowned. “Domesticating wild animals feels wrong, somehow.”
“Don’t be silly. They’ll be much better off in colonists’ homes, safe from predators. Those constrictors, ugh!” I shuddered at the thought of Proxima’s land octopods, which strangled prey with their tentacles. Good thing they’re too small to threaten humans. I hugged my adorb tightly, silently vowing to protect it from those monsters. Its hum grew shrill. Kind of annoying—almost like it’s screaming. Yes, they are scary, aren’t they sweetie? “Besides, people need pets, and they’re not allowed to bring any from Earth. Invasive species are forbidden here.”
Becca snorted. “As if humans aren’t the biggest invasive species ever. Let’s crate this one and—look, there’s a herd.” She pointed over my shoulder.
I turned around. “Guess this one wandered—oof!” Something crushed my torso. A massive Heimlich Maneuver, except that I wasn’t choking—and whatever was squashing me didn’t let go. I collapsed, face down.
“Maureen!” I couldn’t answer Becca. I was struggling to pull a single string of oxygen molecules through the gap between my two front teeth. I failed.
My rib cage lurched as if somebody had driven me over a speed bump. Must be the adorb getting away. I hoped I didn’t hurt it when I fell.
“What’s wrong?” Becca put an arm around my back and sat me up. My gut felt flattened against my spine. My windpipe was closing.
Grabbing the first aid kit from her backpack, my sister yanked out a respirator mask and fit it over my mouth and nose. “Breathe, breathe, breathe. Come on, you can do it!”
No, I really can’t. That precious air had nowhere to go. My trachea was almost shut, and my lungs weren’t working.
The respirator squealed. “Treatment ineffective. Emergency Services en route.”
“Hang on, Sis!”
I couldn’t do that either. My eyes started to close. The adorbs were the last thing I saw. They weren’t fleeing, despite Becca’s shouting. They were… waiting.
Oh.
Talking was impossible. Focusing the last of my energy into my right hand, I squeezed my sister’s left one three times. Hope she remembers…
She did. Moments later, my boot heels were scraping across the moss as Becca dragged me back to the gyro-flyer. Once I was dumped in my seat, the engines roared to life while mine seemed to be ending.
***
My sides heaved as the air flooded back into me. I opened my eyes. “Not… alien… vultures.”
“Oh, yes they are,” Becca snapped. “You were about to be brunch for those foul beasts. I couldn’t have kept them all away. Once you get checked out at the hospital, we’re going straight to a lawyer so we can sue the sensor drone manufacturer. They guaranteed those fluffy fiends were germ free.”
I shuddered, my eyes glued to the gyro-flyer’s viewscreen. “I just meant they aren’t scavengers. They’re predators. After they gave up on me, they lured a constrictor. Now they’ve surrounded it. Just like constrictors, they asphyxiate their prey. But instead of tentacles, they kill with telekinesis.”
Becca’s face paled. “Is that sound… chewing?”
“Yeah.” Not wanting to see what might have happened to me without my sister, I switched off the feed. Then I sucked in my breath, grateful that I could again. “Maybe they thought I was some kind of constrictor. I did hug it.” That shrill humming… maybe it was a scream.
I forced myself to laugh. “I should hug you instead, Becca. You saved me. If we’d waited till help arrived, I wouldn’t have made it. I guessed that the adorbs can’t kill over long distances. Luckily, I was right. Good thing you still remember what those three squeezes meant from when we were in college.”
She nodded. “Sure. Whenever we went to a party where you thought the guys there were all losers, that was your signal for Let’s go now.”
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