Shifter Planet: The Return

by Reynolds, D. B.

  Raising her tranq gun, she put a dart into him with no qualms at all. His only reaction was a quiet grunt when the dart hit his shoulder. She breathed a sigh of relief and went directly to the security station. The ramp code was changed automatically on a daily basis, and no one had left the ship today—not even her—which meant she didn’t have the latest code. So, she updated the ramp code manually and made note of both the new code and the emergency override, which would bypass any locked door on the ship, just in case. Unless someone bothered to check, it would seem as if the code had simply updated itself as part of its regular routine. White wouldn’t remember what had happened and wouldn’t want to admit that he’d been too busy sleeping to know. She was about to leave after that, when one of the displays caught her eye. It was a map showing much of the same detail on Harp as her own orbital maps, except while this one indicated their own ship’s location, it also showed the landing site of a second ship.

  A second ship? Was that where Wolfrum was? Damn. She couldn’t make a copy of the display. She didn’t know the bridge controls that well and didn’t have time to figure it out. The best she could do was fix the details in her head and then add the second location onto her own map once they were away and safe.

  With a final, concentrated look at the console and a glance at the sleeping crew member, she made her way back to the open door, where she paused to listen before stepping into the empty passageway.

  The next part of her plan all depended on the cat. If he understood that she was trying to help him escape, things would go smoothly. If not, if he decided to let loose one of his thundering roars, he could bring the entire crew down on their heads. And, of course, there was the possibility that he’d simply kill her on his way out the door.

  The holding pen hatch was closed, but not locked. Rachel was the only person they might have wanted to keep the area locked against, and that was only until they’d brought the first animal onboard. Now that she had a patient, she’d be expected to spend more of her time here doing her job, which apparently was to keep this cat, and any others that followed, in good health. Oddly enough, it was close to what she’d expected to be doing on this mission, but there was a huge, perverted gap between monitoring the health of animals being studied in the wild, and animals who’d been captured and caged for money. The idea that she might have been involved in something like that, even inadvertently, made her sick to her stomach.

  There was no time for weak stomachs or hesitation tonight, however. So far, she’d been lucky, finding empty passageways and a single, sleeping crewmember on the bridge. But her luck couldn’t last forever.

  The door to the holding pen opened smoothly as she stepped over the raised threshold and pulled the door nearly closed behind her, without latching it. It was almost perfectly dark as she groped for the pressure plate that controlled the light, with only the dim glow of the emergency panel…

  She froze, heart pounding, lungs suddenly refusing to work. A low, rumbling growl filled the air, the sound speaking to the animal part of her brain that said she was about to die. She turned slowly to find two gleaming, golden eyes studying her. Their glow was so bright in the unlit room that she could make out the dark silhouette of the giant beast she was here to save.

  She had a feeling her luck had just run out.

  Chapter Six

  Aidan blinked slowly as he studied his visitor. It was the woman. He didn’t need any lights for that. He could scent her, could see her slender form in the dim light. She sucked in a startled breath, and he blinked again, knowing the effect it would have in the blackened room. Oddly, she seemed more afraid with him in a cage than when she’d blundered blithely into his forest with him only a few feet away among the trees. Her heart had kicked up, her breathing had gone shallow and rapid, and this time, he could smell her fear. But as gratifying as it was to strike terror into someone from this damn ship, he suspected that this particular someone was here to help him. And she was going to hyperventilate if she didn’t calm down.

  He prowled deliberately to the farthest corner of the cage and lowered himself to the cold floor, putting his head down on his paws and trying to look less intimidating. He really wasn’t at his best, but he wasn’t harmless, either. His shifter metabolism was still working overtime to nullify the effects of all the fucking tranquilizers they’d pumped into him. But even worse had been the attempts by the man she’d called “White” to force him into a shift, using electrically charged rods, taunting him with threats of what they’d do to him once he was turned over to the “labs.” Whether he’d intended to or not, White’s hissed challenges had made it clear that the invaders not only knew about shifters, but had come to Harp for the sole purpose of capturing one and returning him to their “labs” for experimentation. That knowledge was a sharper goad that any electric prod. Aidan needed to escape and warn the others.

  Unfortunately, between the repeated electrical shocks and the tranqs the man had used afterward to knock him out, he wasn’t sure how long he’d been unconscious, or how long he’d been in this fucking cage. Even if he hadn’t been groggy, it was difficult for him to tell time in the sterile environment of the ship.

  The woman moved, reaching out a shaking hand to press a wall switch and bring up the lights. Aidan had to close his eyes against the sudden brightness. She seemed to recognize his discomfort and cursed under her breath as she dimmed the wattage way down to a more manageable level.

  “Sorry about that,” she muttered. She hurried over to the keypad which controlled the damn electrical charge on the cage, her fingers still shaking as they danced over the keypad in the wrong sequence. He rolled his eyes. He knew the code. Everything in him, every instinct, every hunger, wanted to shift to his human form and break out of this fucking place on his own. But he couldn’t risk letting anyone on this ship see him shift. It would endanger everyone he loved, everything he believed in. He’d die first.

  “Fuck.” She cursed loudly, then immediately looked around, as if expecting the others to come rushing through the door at the sound. He could have told her there was no one close enough to hear, but her fear of discovery served his interests better, anyway. The more worried she was, the more urgently she’d get them both off this cursed ship. Because what other reason would there be for her to show up, sneaking around in the middle of the night?

  “Yes,” she hissed triumphantly when the dim indicator light went green and the electrical field went down. She turned to face him, her eyes wary and more than a little fearful. “Okay, big guy,” she said nervously. “I don’t know if you can understand me, but here’s the deal. I’m here to get you out, and I’d really like for you not to kill me when I do. I know the people I work with are assholes, but I swear I didn’t know what they had planned.”

  For someone who didn’t think he understood her, she was sure talking a lot.

  “You’re going to need me to get off this ship, and there’s something I think you can help me with once we get outside.”

  Aidan’s gaze narrowed sharply. Was she planning on escaping into the Green, too? Was she out of her mind? She wouldn’t last a day out there.

  “I can’t stay here,” she explained. “There’s a person on this planet who organized the whole mission, including getting permission to land, and I need to find him.”

  Aidan had to fight back a growl. As he’d suspected all along, someone on Harp had brought these invaders to their door. His mind raced with possibilities. It couldn’t be a shifter. Not even the worst of them would condone capturing one of their own to be caged in a zoo, or even worse, cut up and studied. A norm might have done it, one of Harp’s non-shifter population. But he couldn’t see that happening. They’d have to know the Guild shifters would find out, and then their entire family would pay the price. Besides, the traitor had known how to evade the fleet’s electronic surveillance in order to sneak the ship on-planet. That meant someone with access to the fleet’s science center, which excluded all but a few Harp citize
ns, including several Guild shifters. Which took him back to all the reasons the traitor couldn’t be a shifter. No, it had to be one of the Earther techs responsible for enforcing Harp’s embargo. All they’d had to do was look the other way and let the invaders slip onto the planet.

  He frowned. Rhodry’s wife, Amanda, had full access to the center. She certainly wasn’t the traitor, but she’d know how to find him. He studied the woman outside his cage. She already knew the traitor’s name. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hang around waiting on the possibility she’d just happen to mention it. He had to meet up with Rhodry and the rest of his cousins, who’d be close by now. Together, they’d deal with the ship and everyone on it.

  What this woman needed to do for now was remain with the ship. She wouldn’t last a day out there without him, and dying would hardly be a fit reward for his rescue. Once he and his cousins came back to deal with the others, he’d take her anywhere she wanted to go. Not only because she’d helped him, but because he’d be hunting the traitor soon, and she had the name of his prey.

  Walking over to the passageway door, the woman opened it a crack and listened. He knew there was no one out there, but she seemed to gain reassurance from the act of checking, and anything that got this escape moving was fine with him.

  Apparently satisfied, she walked back, whispered, “Here we go,” and pressed the button. Aidan came to his feet the moment the cage door unlocked. He didn’t wait to see what the woman was going to do next. Head lowered, eyes watching her for any sign of betrayal, he prowled over to the unlatched door and butted it open with his head. She was staring at him, her heart pounding so loudly that it almost hurt his sensitive ears. And yet, she was still there, her face a mask of determination trying to conceal her fear. He didn’t know why she was helping him, but he remembered how she’d protested the outright slaughter in the forest. She had courage, he’d give her that. But until he truly understood her motivation, he’d reserve judgment.

  She turned her back on him, walked over to the open door, and stuck her head into the passageway again. He didn’t wait for the verdict this time. He knew there was no one out there, and besides, he wasn’t afraid of the Earthers. If anything, he’d welcome a chance to take out a few more of them. They wouldn’t catch him with their tranq guns this time, and he was no longer in a cage to be tormented with electrical prods.

  These Earthers meant him and his people harm. They had no idea the hell that was about to rain down on them, but he’d be happy to give them an early taste of it if they tried to stop him from getting off this fucking ship.

  He was across the holding pen in two long jumps, pushing past the woman and shoving the door wide open as he leaped out into the passageway. Ignoring her startled cry, he paused only long enough to sniff the air, and then he took off.

  “Hey!” she whispered a protest as her rapid footsteps followed him down the passageway to a ladder-like set of stairs. He took the stairs in a single, long leap and raced down another passage to a closed hatch at the end of it.

  The leftover scent of the forest he’d been following ended here. This had to be the belly hatch the Earthers had all used. He paced back and forth in a tight circle, while he waited for her to catch up so she could enter the code and open the damn door. He turned his head to follow her approach, growling when she didn’t move fast enough to suit him.

  “All right,” she muttered, as she stepped up to the keypad. “How the hell do you even know this is the right exit?”

  Aidan’s only response was another ill-tempered growl, as he watched her key in the correct sequence. The hatch cracked open. Aiden bounded out and down the ramp before it was fully deployed, jumping the last few feet, his paws hitting the soft loam of the forest floor. The scent of the Green surrounded him, and the trees sang their joy at his freedom. Aidan’s battle cry screamed into the night sky, echoed from far away by the answering howls of his cousins, as they raced to join him.

  Every instinct urged him to take to the treetops and meet them, but the warrior in him prevailed. He had one more duty. The woman. He owed her a debt of gratitude for his release, but he couldn’t let her follow him. She had no idea of the dangers in the Green.

  …

  Rachel paused long enough to close the hatch on the ship, then stepped into the darkness after the cat. And it was dark. There’d been a big moon in the sky earlier, but it had set before she’d tapped into the ship’s exterior cameras. The cat was bounding ahead of her, racing toward the trees. He could see just fine. She didn’t need any textbook to tell her that. His glowing eyes gave him away. Unfortunately, her ordinary human eyes couldn’t see her own feet. She stopped dead and dug into the smallest pocket on the front of her heavy trousers for the LED flashlight, which she’d modified with thick tape, so that it gave off only the tiniest strip of light. Even so…

  “Wait,” she called. She had to make him stop. He’d raced down the passage so fast that she hadn’t had time to stop and grab her pack. “I can’t see a damn thing out here. Watch your eyes.”

  The beast immediately turned his head toward the trees, and it struck her again how he seemed to understand every word she said. According to the reports she’d read about Harp, the locals—who were descendants of a human colony ship—spoke the trade common language, or at least close enough to it. There’d been some drift, of course, but not enough to cause a problem in communication. So maybe the big cats had enough exposure to the human population that they understood intent, if not all the spoken words.

  She frowned. That didn’t jive with the briefing that Guy Wolfrum had sent her. He indicated the cats were completely wild and lived only in the most remote parts of the Green, which was why their ship had landed so far from the city. She was beginning to suspect there was a more nefarious reason for their landing choice, however. The second ship—of which she’d had no knowledge before tonight—had been assigned an equally remote landing site. But Wolfrum’s report didn’t line up with what she’d observed so far. There was not only the cat’s response to what she said, but also his seeming ability to understand technology. He’d recognized the function of a keypad lock and had made no attempt to charge the bars of his cage, or even push against them, while they’d been actively electrified. He hadn’t had to learn by being shocked even once. It was as if he’d understood Frank White’s explanation of the system.

  Wolfrum had made no mention of the cats’ intellect, but that omission only fed her suspicions that there was a hidden agenda to this hunt. Maybe their unusual intelligence was the real reason he wanted them, and they weren’t headed for private zoos at all. The military arm of the fleet would pay a fortune for an animal that could be taught to perform dangerous tasks, especially an animal that came in such a ferocious package. Hell, even she could see the possibilities. The difference was she’d never act on them.

  Ahead of her, the cat abruptly turned and snarled a warning, the kind that spoke to the deepest, most primitive part of her genetic memory when men had huddled in caves while monsters prowled in the darkness. The hairs on the back on her neck stood up, and goose bumps shivered over her skin. She stared at the massive cat, his huge and very sharp teeth gleaming in the dim light, his eyes shining like golden lamps. He plainly didn’t want her to follow him. Without another sound, he spun and headed for the forest, disappearing into the darkness as fast as if he’d never been drugged. As if he’d never really been there at all.

  Rachel squinted after him, but her small light couldn’t penetrate the shadows, and he was gone. She hadn’t expected him to understand why she needed to leave the ship, much less to care, no matter how intelligent he was. But that didn’t change the fact that she needed to leave. She had no doubt that White and the others would kill her when they discovered what she’d done.

  Climbing back up the ramp and then the ladder, she went directly to her cabin to retrieve her backpack. A sigh escaped as the familiar weight settled on her shoulder. She understood why the cat had fled, but she’d hope
d it would stick around. Not only because she didn’t know where she was going, but because his presence would have driven away other wildlife in the area. It had been unreasonable for her to expect him to stay with her, however. He was a wild animal. Maybe someday their paths would cross again, and he’d remember her well enough to spare her life. But that was the most she could expect from him.

  Retracing her steps, she exited the ship, and using her flashlight, moving slowly, she made her way in among the trees. She wouldn’t go far tonight. Just enough to conceal her from the ship. It would have been easier if the cat had stuck close, but this wouldn’t be the first time she’d trekked into a dangerous location on her own, or with others dependent on her. Although this was the first time she’d had anyone trying to kill her. Angry animals, yes. Homicidal people, no.

  She could hear forest creatures moving about, some of them large enough that the sound of their passage made her heart skip a beat. But none of them came close. Granted, she couldn’t see much beyond the slice of light right in front of her. It was possible, however, that she still carried enough of the cat’s scent—the scent of an alpha predator—that it dissuaded the other animals from attacking her. It wouldn’t last, but she’d take it for now. At least through the night. In the morning, she could work out a plan for the rest of her journey to where Wolfrum and the second ship waited. Or failing that, the city.

  She walked for several hours, covering very little ground but moving steadily in the right direction. It would have been slow going even in daylight. There were no paths, not even an animal trail, that she could find. And the spaces between the trees were irregular and clogged with fallen logs and crisscrossed by vines. In the dark, it was nearly impossible. But her innate sense of direction kept her going, and she counted every step forward as adding to the buffer between her and her former crew.