Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint One Romance) (4 page)

"No change in temperature," Vallory's voice
nearly shouted. One of the daubpups looked over a shoulder in her
direction. "How long is this going to take? Do I need to move
them?"

So much for Shay distracting her. He gave one
more twist to the coupling and slipped the rest of the system into
place. "Finished. Turning it on."

"What does the temperature say?" Shay
asked.

"I'm watching. What do you think I've been
doing?" Vallory paused. "Down a degree. Wait."

Damien scanned the modules while waiting for
an updated response. A daubpup shook, fluffed its fur, then resumed
its watch. Another put a paw on the wall and sniffed in his
direction.

"Two degrees. And another. The temperature is
dropping." Pure relief filled her voice.

"See. Told you my man would get it done," Shay
said.

The comment rubbed Damien the wrong way. Of
course he would get it fixed. No question. Shay should be
concentrating on learning the jobs. Sometimes it took a few tries
before they started to understand an area. Life-support could still
be his Redpoint One calling.

"Thank you, thank you. It's dropping back to
normal," Vallory said. "Oh, hello Ms. Mishley. You're
back?"

Damien gathered his tools, chiding himself at
his annoyance at the department's new recruit. Shay had distracted
a worried and cranky pet owner. In this situation, that was worth
something.

"Why would they want to speak to me today?"
Vallory was saying as Damien emerged out from behind the enclosure
with his tools in hand.

The new gray-haired woman on the other side
nodded at him politely before returning her attention to Vallory. A
spiderweb of fine face wrinkles told him she'd not yet used any of
the common rejuvenation processes available. "Most likely a cursory
check-up, but you never know with judges. I'm off to mine, just in
case!"

Damien made a point of handing a few of the
tools to Shay. "We pack carts a certain way."

"Right. Time to learn the process," Shay said,
still in his easy-going manner as he grabbed a few more tools from
Damien.

Why did that irk him, as well? After all, Shay
was open to learning anything needed. A quality they liked to see
in any new hire.

"Good luck with the judging. I'm sure your
little guys will place in one of the slots," Shay said with a grin
in Vallory's direction.

"They aren't guys or gals. No one has figured
that out yet," Vallory said, an acidic edge still to her voice as
she knelt in front of the enclosure and opened the small feeding
door at the bottom of the larger access door. "How are you doing,
Clementine?"

Shay dropped the scanner into the right pouch
without needing to be shown where. "Clementine is a girl's
name."

"Don't antagonize the visitors," Damien said,
pointing to a slot on the inside of the cart. "Calipers
there."

"Right. Don't antagonize. Does Clementine feel
better?" The tone of Vallory's voice changed to that of a woman
talking to a baby. Glancing back, Damien noticed that the daubpup
was eating it up, leaning into the behind-the-ear scratches she
gave it.

A man and woman, both well-dressed in tailored
suits stopped next to Vallory. The man said, "Good morning, Ms.
Schist. Is your enclosure repaired? We heard there was a
problem."

"The temperature controls appear to be
repaired now," Vallory said without standing. She smiled down at
the daubpup. "Loving the scratches?"

By its appearance, the daubpup indeed loved
it. So much so that two others bounced over and tried to push it
out of the way in an effort to get under Vallory's hand.

"It's lovely to see new animals at the show,"
one of the judges was saying. "It's not often we see creatures so
different from what we've seen before."

"We look forward to seeing your display over
the next few days," the man said.

"Hm, yes. They will be here for the entire
show," Vallory said, her tone indicated she wasn't quite paying
attention.

The judges noticed. Damien watched them glance
at each other with one of them shrugging their shoulders, all while
other attendees started surrounding them, including Ms.
Mishley.

The contrast was striking. The other
exhibitors all introducing themselves to the judges, inviting them
over to nearby enclosures. Then there was Vallory. Kneeling at the
floor, scratching one daubpup after another with no attempt to
engage the judges.

Didn't she realize she was missing a prime
opportunity to impress two of the main judges of the show? As the
pet show became more busy, it may be her only chance to do
so.

"Cute little things. If one likes that sort of
pet," Shay said as they left the area to head back down into the
midst of the station.

Damien glanced back. Vallory was half inside
the enclosure doing something with her animals, while the judges
had already moved on to inspect and look over other enclosures.
Vallory lost her chance. Didn't she want to win one of the prizes?
The top three awards this year had increased, raising an already
considerable sum.

He shook his head as they left the building.
How strange.

"Everyone has different taste. I don't need
any pet, personally. The bots are enough." Damien's bot twittered
at him in response from where it followed and towed the
cart.

"As pets go, they are amazing. Bandit can
outwit any of the animals in this place," Shay said with a hearty
deep laugh, one that caught the pleasing attention of several women
around them. "I'm looking forward to when my little guy and I are
out on our own."

"Need to find where you belong first." The
sooner the better.

Bandit whistled in agreement. The bot still
followed Shay around like a little puppy.

The next job proved beyond a shadow of a doubt
about the plumbing department. Shay accidentally opened a valve
wider instead of shutting it down. No instincts there at
all.

Another repair of life-support proved to
Damien he did not have a new apprentice. Also no instincts, no
matter what he put Shay to. Oh, Shay was willing to do anything
asked, but that didn't help if he couldn't understand how the
station worked in those particular areas. And he would, if they
could just put Shay in the right place. The station would allow him
to understand.

Shay picked up on it, commenting on the way
back to the maintenance platform, "So, maybe I can try something
else next? What about weapon systems?"

"We have someone there, although we can use
more people in just about any of the departments," Damien said.
More to say something than anything else. Just because Damien
didn't find where the man needed to go, didn't mean he didn't
belong. He didn't want to discourage Shay the first day
out.

"Right. Or engines? I like engines.
Navigation?"

"The station doesn't move," Damien said
automatically as a travel pod drove them down the tubes
crisscrossing Redpoint One in all directions.

"Right. I knew that." Shay blew at his short
bangs. "So, are we going to try again after our break?"

The pod came to a stop outside the maintenance
platform doors. Damien helped his bot pull the cart out of the
back. "Not with me. I think it's obvious you are not destined for
either plumbing or life-support. You'll head out with one of the
others."

"Too bad. I liked working with you." Shay hit
him on the shoulder with a fist. "Okay, point me in the right
direction."

"That will be up to Arthur to decide. Get
yourself a bite to eat first."

"Right. The boss-man. Come on,
Bandit."

Damien shook his head as the black and yellow
bot took off after Shay, looking up at him adoringly. Well, as much
as a bot could. A newbie and his bot. Yep, the guy belonged, just
not in his department.

At Damien's bot's whistling query, Damien
answered, "We need an apprentice in our section."

His bot chirped in agreement, and then surged
ahead into the maintenance platform. It bypassed the central raised
area and headed straight for the rear rooms. Most likely to get rid
of the old broken parts and restock some of the cart.

Damien knew he should follow to help out, but
first he had a newbie to take care of. Which meant handing him off
to someone in a new department. He headed for the break room and
found Arthur standing over the coffee maker as it brewed another
batch.

Damien leaned against the doorjamb, hearing
Shay and his bot in the room next door going through his locker.
"Hard morning?"

Arthur looked up, a scowl still on his face.
"Sometimes I swear this place is falling apart."

"I have good and bad news for you."

Arthur gave a little groan as he pushed away
from the counter. "Give it to me."

"Good news is that the bot stuck to him all
morning and they appear to understand each other."

"Which means the station isn't rejecting him."
Arthur glanced at Damien side-ways. "And the bad news?"

"Shay doesn't belong in either plumbing or
life-support. At all." At the sound of other arrivals in the
maintenance platform for lunch, Damien pushed off the doorjamb and
moved out of the doorway. "No point hanging around with me this
afternoon. He needs to try a different department."

With the coffee finished brewing, Arthur
poured himself a cup. He lifted the pot towards Damien, who shook
his head. No need for coffee this late in the day. Not with so many
repairs still needing to be done. The Station would keep him awake
for the rest of the day without the need for more
caffeine.

"Not such bad news. Remember how long it took
you to find your department?" Arthur sipped as his cup and headed
for the central room. Damien sidestepped out of the way.

"I hate to suggest it as it would egg them on,
but maybe we should see if the Naughty Knitter's Club has any other
prospects. Both Rachel and my department need more people," Damien
said.

"Good lord, bite your tongue," Arthur said,
trying to smother a laugh.

"The gals still up to no good?" a new voice
asked from the far side of the maintenance department.

A new voice and yet an old one. Damien
swiveled, as did everyone else in the room, including all the
bots.

At the door stood a tall lean man with dark
brown hair and a streak of gray at the left temple. The streak was
larger than Damien remembered, but the rest was pretty much the
same, right down to the close-fitting dark gray slacks tucked into
the top of black boots.

"It's about time you arrived," Arthur said,
striding forward while stealing another gulp of coffee.

"Hey, who's the new arrival. Another newbie?"
Shay asked as he and his bot rejoined the main room.

"Zane Bristol, the former maintenance
Supervisor. I didn't expect him to arrive so fast," Damien said,
leaning against part of the railing surrounding the raised central
platform. "We're hoping he has a few ideas on the recent station
problems."

As if on cue, a smell wafted past Damien's
nose. One he'd smelled often in the past few weeks, but that
familiarity didn't help him become accustomed to it. It stank as
much as it did the first time. A nearby bot raised both eyes, the
eyestalks wobbling, as if using its eyes to smell the air. It gave
a disgusted whistle before zipping off to one of the back
rooms.

"None too soon," Shay said, putting a hand
over his nose. He demanded, "What is that smell?"

CHAPTER THREE

THE HANDSHAKE BETWEEN Arthur and Zane came to an abrupt end
when Zane glared up at the ceiling.

"What is that?" Zane demanded.

Damien silently sighed. Zane didn't know? They
might really be doomed now.

"We were hoping you would know," Arthur
said.

"I've never smelled this before, in all my
years here." He stopped, staring down at an orange and white bot
that had come to a stop at his feet. The two stared at each other
for a few moments in silence. No one in the room interrupted the
silence. No one dared, not even the other bots.