Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint One Romance) (3 page)

"CLEMENTINE, DON'T EVEN think about
it!"

Vallory glared through the cage clear sides.
She'd finally made it to the official Redpoint One Exotic Pet Show
grounds and transferred the daubpups into the larger show-provided
enclosure complete with plenty of climbing material inside. The
first hurdle, only to be presented with another.

The daubpup in question kept its back to her
but cast a glare of her own over a shoulder. The glare didn't have
a lot of power behind it, mostly because of their tufted ears,
striped thick tails, and colorful fur made the creatures look like
a huggable fantasy creature. She'd heard some of the other pet
owners remark how cute they would be to have as a pet. She kept
herself from replying that they weren't to be anyone's pet. The pet
show was merely the tool to get them where they needed to
go.

One of the other daubpups ran by, and then
leaped to dive into the pile of fine straw at the end. Another
rubbed against the side of the enclosure. Only two were on the
branches in the upper parts of the tall cage.

Uhoh. She knew what it meant when the entire
group started getting antsy. Moving to the edges of the cages. At a
certain point, no matter how she called to them, they would have
enough and that would be it.

"Please. We just got you here," she pleaded
under her breath even as another daubpup started moving towards the
back wall. If Clementine was wanting to leave, then she had a real
problem. Unlike Penny, Clementine was one of the calm ones of the
group.

Yep, this could be the start of a big
problem.

"Never fun getting them settled in," Ms.
Mishley said, pausing next to Vallory. The older gray-haired woman
tugged the strap of a big bag over her shoulder. Her own pets slept
peacefully in their own enclosure just down the wide aisle. She
smiled as she peered at the daubpups. "Fluffy little things. What
did you say they were?"

"They're called Etrucian Daubpups," Vallory
said, trying to smile naturally even while trying to keep an eye on
them at the same time. They were still moving towards the walls,
stopping to look back at her as if seeing if now was a good time to
escape unnoticed.

"Never heard of them, but then that's not
surprising. There are a great many animals and breeds here that
I've never heard of. Part of the joy of attending," Ms. Mishley
said.

"I agree. Animals from all over the Galactic
Commonwealth." And part of the reason Vallory had gathered every
bit of money she could lay her hands on to get the daubpups
here.

"Get a good night's sleep. The whole thing
starts in earnest tomorrow morning." With a friendly nod, Ms.
Mishley headed for one of the exits.

Right. Tomorrow. It would be nice to start off
the day with a full enclosure of daubpups.

"Can't you wait even a few minutes?" Vallory
demanded as Penny bounded for one of the back corners. "They said
help was coming."

Penny gave her a disgusted look and flicked
the end of her tail in her direction. Yep. She would disappear
soon, and she wouldn't care if anyone saw her.

"Enclosure 291. This is it," a deep modulated
voice said from so close that Vallory gave a little
jump.

To her right stood two men with a cart towed
by one of the rounded robots she'd seen around the station. Both
youngish men in great physical condition, especially the one who
had spoken. The man looked like he weight-lifted.

Not that the other was a light-weight. Compact
body, but balanced in his musculature. He wore a mask of cool
authority, even without speaking, telling her exactly who was in
charge of the two.

She found herself staring a little longer than
she should. Really, she should be staring at the cart filled with
repair tools and parts. Those were the most important things right
now. "Please tell me you are here to fix the
life-support?"

"Am I to understand this is your enclosure?"
the second man asked, regarding her with unusual green eyes. Spiked
short brown hair framed a thoroughly male face. One she found
herself drawn to despite the urgency of the moment. Really. What
was wrong with her?

A movement out of the corner of her eye
reminded her of just how urgent. "Yes, the daubpups are mine.
Vallory Schist, and we need to get the temperature lowered
fast."

"Shouldn't the normal controls handle that?"
the weightlifter asked.

"If it were that simple the show organizers
wouldn't have contacted maintenance." The second man turned to pull
a long black tube with controls on one end out of the
cart.

"Right. Daubpups don't like high temperatures.
Turning up the fans hasn't helped, either." Nor had opening the
front access door for a few minutes. Vallory tapped the front panel
lightly with a fingertip. Not loud, but it was enough to get Penny
to flinch and hop back towards the middle of the cage.

"Cute things," the weightlifter said. "Don't
worry, ma'am. Damien and I will get this fixed up. What first,
boss?"

"First we find out the problem."

"What is that wand-thing you have?"

The second man moved between the cages towards
the small aisle running between the cages of their aisle and the
cages lining the next one over. "Follow me and I will show
you."

Vallory watched them with big eyes, her heart
sinking. Show him?

Penny started heading towards the back of the
enclosure again. In fact, all of them were, and doing it fast.
They'd obviously lost patience with the entire too-hot
cage-thing.

And now this?

She started shaking her head even before she
could find her voice. When she did, it held a harsh edge as she
demanded, "Show him? You are training or practicing your jobs on my
daubpups?"

The second man straightened from where he'd
just bent over to grab something from a compartment on the side of
the cart, looking straight at her with those unusual eyes. He
leaned against the edge of the opaque sides of the cage that kept
the animals from seeing the ones next to them. "My name is Damien
Lysander, and I am senior life-support engineer on Redpoint One. I
am hardly a beginner."

"Senior?" Vallory repeated, latching on to the
word.

"Call him Damien," the weightlifter
said.

"I am," Damien said again before deliberately
breaking off eye contact to disappear around the back of the
enclosure. He didn't yell in surprise, so all the daubpups must
still be inside. A temporary relief.

"The pet show is important," the weightlifter
said. He leaned against the corner of the enclosure, giving her a
lazy smooth smile. "They wouldn't send just anyone. Shay Carlisle,
at your service. And where do you hail from?"

Vallory struggled not to wrinkle her nose in
disgust. Why ask such a thing at a time like this? "No place
special. Just a nomad."

It was true, to a certain point. Her need for
a job, and the jobs never seemed to last very long, meant she
constantly traveled. To a wilderness study, to associate university
projects, to consultation situations. From one place and world to
another. Not that she necessarily liked it that way, but full-time
jobs for a xenobiologist just getting going were hard to
find.

"I need a torque caliper," Damien called from
behind the enclosure.

Shay pushed off the enclosure to frown at the
cart. "Right. Caliper. What would it look like?"

But, the yellow and black robot was already
handing something up to him with a jointed arm and hand coming out
a small hatch on its back. Shay grabbed it and leaned down the back
of the enclosure to hand it back. "Is this it?"

"Thanks." A creak and a pop, and Damien said,
"What does the front temperature read?"

Vallory read off the temperature on the
control panel next to the front access door. No change from before,
and now two of her daubpups were fighting near the water bowl. They
rarely fought. Showed just how much stress they were feeling. If
they weren't on Redpoint One in front of other people, she would
allow them to escape to where they needed to go.

Just not right now. Not here.

"Wait, it just went down a degree," Vallory
said. The reading ticked one more down. "It's going down,
slowly."

Damien stepped out from behind the enclosure.
"But, not fast enough. It should have dropped fast. We need a new
sensor."

Shay followed him to the cart to peer down at
the contents as Damien started sorting through it. "Shouldn't the
little guys do that sort of thing?"

Vallory didn't know who the 'little guys'
were, but she wished they'd done their job better. "One more
degree. It's still not enough."

Damien paused on his way back behind the
enclosure. Still calm and steady, as he was from the start. "We'll
get the temperature down."

Simple words, but with a strength behind them.
And she believed it. He said it, and so it would happen.

With the words came something else. A tug of
something more primeval, something she'd not felt in a long time.
Not that she'd had much of a chance with being out in the wilds of
various worlds over the years.

"Thank you," Vallory found herself
whispering.

Damien gave a curt nod and disappeared behind
the enclosure.

Vallory watched him go, unable to take her
eyes off him. So unusual for her. Both men were completely not her
type. Too much a typical man, too much the masculine exterior. Yet,
she'd felt a pull.

Shay leaned back against the front corner of
the enclosure. He crossed his arms across his chest, causing his
muscles to flex. "Don't you worry. Damien knows what he's
doing."

Unlike with Shay. With him, she felt nothing.
Just saw the exterior. A man maybe trying to be too much of one.
Some women went for the bulked up muscles. Not her.

"Nice to know someone does." Vallory looked at
the temperature setting. "One more degree."

"Changing the part out now," Damien called
out. Not really a yell, either, but his voice carried. And, still
with that air of quiet authority.

She then realized some of the daubpups were no
longer at the back of the enclosure looking to make their escape
the moment her attention turned. Several were lined up at the front
of the enclosure with their small twitching noses pointed up in her
direction. Big oval eyes regarded her with curiosity, along with
something else…

"Stop thinking that way," Vallory whispered at
them. Was it her imagination that the twitching of their noses and
ears increased? As if they were laughing at her?

"So, Valerie, where did your little guys come
from? Have more of them home?"

The comment sounded so much like a come-on
line thrown her way at the port bars that she been forced to use
for a quick bite to eat on various journeys. Seriously, did they
all get the same lines from the same place? Was there a secret
pick-up line manual somewhere? If so, someone needed to hunt it
down and destroy it.

Vallory turned cold eyes to him. "They are
quite rare, hence my concern." She raised her voice to demand, "No
change in temperature. What are you doing back there?"

***

"Nearly finished," Damien said, keeping his voice calm. One
moment the woman was pleasant, the next sharp-tongued and blaming
him for not repairing the enclosure fast enough? All packaged in a
lithe body indicating an active lifestyle, with soft curls of
auburn hair that cried out to wrap itself around a
finger.

"By the way, my name isn't Valerie. It's
Vallory. Pronounce it like valor, as in, the better part of
valor…"

Sounded like Shay had pushed a little too far.
Yep, a sharp tongue. Shay best watch out. For all his muscles, he
was no match for a woman on a mission.

"Right. Vallory," Shay said, pronouncing it
slightly differently. With a calmer voice, too. He must have gotten
the hint. "Don't worry about your little guys. Damien will get it
done. He knows this place inside and out."

Yes, in another job that Shay didn't appear to
have any instinct for. And yet, the yellow and black bot remained
with him, which meant they continued to look for the right job.
Sometimes new recruits would find it right away, other times it
took a while. Looked like Shay was going to fall into the second
category.

As he worked the new sensor into place he lost
track of the conversation. A nose against the side of the enclosure
made him jerk back.

From the other side of the one-way wall, a
daubpup stared straight at him. It shouldn't be able to see him.
Everything but the front walls of the enclosure was opaque when
looking through from the daubpups direction. Even from Damien's
side, the view remained heavily tinted.

Yet, there it was. Right on the other side,
staring straight at him as if it could see. Another soon joined it,
both with twitching noses and tails.

"Great, an audience," he muttered as he went
back to work.

It wasn't his imagination. They followed his
every move. When he moved, they moved. When he went to pick up a
new tool, their eyes followed. As if watching a show.