COWBOY ROMANCE: Devon (Western Contemporary Alpha Male Bride Romance) (The Steele Brothers Book 2)

by Amanda Boone

  “Careful, Greenham!” I called round the edge of a stainless steel case. “It’s not like they’re going to leave without me.”

  “I’ve got a schedule to keep, Vorhies,” he moaned at me like a teenager who has chores to do. “It’s going to double the cost of getting there if we miss the window to get to the moon and land. If it orbits the planet again, it’s going to be another week stuck aboard this dump. So let’s go!” His whine turned into a shout, and I shove the stack of packing boxes harder.

  As soon as we manage to struggle aboard, Trant gives the all clear, and the door starts to swing down into position. I hear it lock into place, and the atmospheric seals engage, making sure the oxygen inside stays there. A few seconds pass as I begin to rearrange and re-stack my gear. Then a deep thumping bellow echoes throughout the entire ship, and I watch as the spaceport gently floats away from me.

  “Hang tight,” comes over the intercom system so I jump over to a seat, strap myself in and glance nervously at my baggage. “Engines engage in three...two...one.”

  I hear and feel the ship’s powerful engines increase their output, making the superstructure vibrate. I feel inertia push me back into the cushioned seat, spreading my larger than life body out sideways a little. I can’t stand this feeling, being compressed, squeezed and having my internal organs moved about inside me. I endure this compression for about three and a half minutes, but it feels like a week or so. Eventually, I feel the pressure letting off and my form return to normal, but I give it a little while before I snap the belt off again.

  I make my way forward, past the cramped sleeping quarters, where we’ll all have to sleep in shifts as there are only four bunks, and arrive in the crew room. This is a small space too, and I’m glad there are only five of us traveling to the moon. The other five went ahead to settle the habitats, set up the power and water grids and begin preliminary scans of the moon.

  The crew room has three of the five of us, Neela Kowtoi, my assistant and friend, Bardrow Derenius who is unknown to me, apart from his name, and the not quite so angry Greenham Trant. Shari Tulox, the wannabe pilot is nowhere to be seen, and I assume she’s in the cockpit, picking the pilot’s brains and making a nuisance of herself. The room is plain, with bare metal walls and scarred old metallic tables bolted to the floor. Surrounded by benches and compounded by the severe décor, it looks like the inside of a prison. I slide in next to Neela after grabbing myself a self-heating coffee.

  “Hi, Neela.” She smiles at me.

  “Managed to get on board then?” I nod and make a face towards Trant. “Happiness over there gave me a bit of a hard time, but it’s hardly my fault the port crew lost the new equipment.” I sigh, “Looking forward to getting there?”

  “Course,” Neela tells me. “I can’t wait to get my hands on some water and soil samples, see what’s living in them.” Her grin speaks volumes to me.

  As exobiologists, we have to make sure any potential planets or moons have no active signs of life on them before Envirocorp begins to exploit any resources there. Ninety-nine percent of all surveys turn up nothing but barren rock and lifeless worlds. There have been a few isolated places filled with plants and one populated by thousands of species of microscopic worms, but most are just chunks of rock spinning through the depths of the Milky Way.

  I sip my coffee which tastes like boiling water with a heavy dose of rust and make a face.

  “How is it even possible they’ve managed to build ships, which can travel at half the speed of light, but this coffee tastes like hot water with a spoonful of brown grit in it?”

  Neela chuckles and shrugs her shoulders, nodding at the new man, Bardrow Derenius. “What do you think about him?” she whispers conspiratorially.

  I shrug. “Not bad looking, I suppose,” I admit, “if you like that kind of look.”

  Derenius is avidly reading some kind of technical manual. He’s quite skinny looking with pinched features and an angular nose. One foot bounces endlessly on the floor, making his whole body shake, as if he’s got a nervous complaint.

  “I like that kind of look,” she whispers again.

  “Go talk to him then,” I encourage her. Neela’s eyes go wide at the thought.

  “I can’t do that!” she hisses. “I’d look like an idiot.”

  I shake my head and turn to Derenius. “Excuse me.” His head snaps up to mine. “Hello, I’m Hetty, and this is Neela. Just thought we should introduce ourselves since we’ll be working in the same place.”

  He leans forward and offers his hand. “Bardrow,” his voice is far deeper than should be able to come from such a thin little man, and I’m surprised at the strength in his handshake. “Heard what you said about the coffee. I’ve got some freeze dried java in my pack. You’re both welcome to a cup when we get to base.” He takes Neela’s hand and holds it a little longer than mine. I wonder if his hearing is better than normal and smile to myself as Neela leans towards him.

  “What will you be doing on Erenius three?” she asks as I force myself to swallow some more of the mud they call coffee.

  “Mining surveys mainly, deep core drilling to assess what minerals are there and probably bringing in samples for you two to analyze.”

  So he knows who we are. Why don’t I know anything about him? Well, I’ve got three days stuck in this can to try and figure it out, or at least come up with some nice conspiracy theories.

  ***

  “Let our records show,” my voice rings out through the assembled Intrellians, “this crew and ship has now extended the boundary of Intrellian space and taken its rightful place at the forefront of exploration.” The rumble of my crew fills my thorax with tightness, and I feel lighter than usual as I make my way towards the command section.

  “Report!” I bark as I enter.

  “Course and speed remain constant, commander,” Talacrus, my younger brother, informs.

  “Acrulla’s systems are all fully operational,” Engineer Jonober states with his usual disrespect. I will have to make an example of him soon, or more crew might believe they can speak to me in such a manner.

  “All weapons systems are ready for deployment, Commander Talacanthus.” Shaktee lets me know. Her use of my name lets me know something else. She’s willing to offer herself to me.

  I have no interest in her at all and turn away. Leaning on the outer wall of Acrulla’s skin, I can feel the life pulsing through his immense body, and a section of his skin changes to become transparent enough to see through. I look out at the surrounding stars, witnessing an area of the galaxy no Intrellian in history has been to. I feel a jolt through my contact with Acrulla as Shaktee calls out from behind me.

  “Vessel detected on approach vector, commander.”

  “Can you identify?” I ask, a tremble of anticipation running through me. I watch Shaktee’s proboscis link to Acrulla pulse as she accesses his ancient memories.

  “No, commander,” she reports. “This is an entirely new species.”

  “Scan and assess,” I order and she does so quickly.

  “It is unlike anything we have previously encountered, commander. The craft itself appears to be constructed entirely of metal and other materials we cannot identify. It does not appear to be Sentient, commander. Acrulla reports all attempts to communicate ship to ship have failed.” Shaktee hesitates before adding, “We have identified several weapons platforms, all active at present time.”

  “Alter course. Head directly for the vessel,” I tell my brother, who follows my order immediately. “Scan for signs of them altering course.”

  “There are none, commander,” Shaktee lets me know.

  “Ready all weapons. Target their weapons and propulsion systems. Fire only on my command. Helm, ready for evasive maneuvers.” It is gratifying to watch the pulses traveling up and down the various probosces connecting my crew to my ship, all carrying out my every order without question. “Continue reports as necessary.” I turn my chair to stare through the transparent skin
to watch the other ship approaching.

  “We are within missile range, commander,” Shaktee calls over.

  “Hold!” I bark in reply. My eyes fix on the miniscule shape, which is growing by the second. Six flashes, as bright as solar flares, jump to life, birthing the missiles, which I cannot see heading for Acrulla.

  “Evasive on my command! Launch countermeasures! Fire all forward missiles!” I pause, estimating how fast the missiles might be approaching as bright lights flash away from Acrulla, my own missiles streaking away. “Evasive, now,” I call, and the universe spins and tips as my brother flips the massive form of Acrulla from the path of the six bolts of death. Even so, the vast explosions set of by my countermeasures can be felt throughout Acrulla.

  Jonober reports, “Skin breach, section three.”

  “Resume attack course!” I order, following our own missiles. “Fire forward cannons when in range. Engineering, decide if we need to find an atmosphere or if the breech is small enough to patch in space.”

  “Crew reports breech is massive, venting blood and oxygen into space.”

  “Seal off section three!” Jonober looks at me.

  “Thirty-six crew members are in there,” he states. “You cannot...”

  I leap over and grip his face in my talons, squeezing hard enough to crack some of his bones. “NEVER tell me what I cannot do!” I bellow into his ear. “Seal that section before we all die!” He nods as blood pours down his face, and I go to watch the destruction Acrulla has wrought on the alien ship.

  Vast explosions tear gaping holes across the bow of the enemy ship, ripping massive sections of their hull apart and sending debris spinning off in all directions.

  “Hold position,” I tell Talacrus as I watch more holes appear. Whatever they breathe aboard that vessel is pouring into space, dragging cargo, detritus and aliens with it. I am satisfied they are no longer a threat and will make sure Acrulla is repaired before we come back to finish them off. “Log position. Set course for nearest compatible atmosphere and land.” My orders are carried out as I stride from the room.

  ***

  Unloading and setting up the new equipment goes surprisingly well and after a couple of days, Neela and I’ve got a reasonable lab set up. I’m just sliding the test samples into the electron scanning microscope we put together, making sure nothing is damaged or out of calibration. Sitting at the display, I laugh as someone back at Envirocorp has managed to add a minute message to one of the samples, ‘Welcome to the edge of space.’

  “Neela, come look at this!” I call out, and she laughs too.

  “Who did that?” she asks, and I shake my head.

  “Not entirely sure, but it’s the sort of thing Calhoun would arrange.” As soon as I think of him, I can see his face, old and craggy, with laughter lines and crow’s feet but an intelligence and wit to match. He looked quite sad when he told me we were coming all the way out here, strange.

  Neela shakes her head and goes back over to the spectrometer positioned next to a pair of optical microscopes and the Varian. I look at the computer with a kind of loving awe. They’re supposed to be the next generation of machine, possessing an advanced AI and able to think. Varian, the company behind them, have a sales video, which shows one of the original models having an actual conversation with one of their tech guys. I wonder if this one can do that or if takes years of interaction before you get to that level of sophistication. We’ll know soon enough. The countdown timer reads another couple of hours until it’s acclimatized to the atmosphere here, and we can switch it on.

  “How did coffee go with Trant?” I ask and watch the red flush creep up Neela’s neck.

  “Good,” she says, shadily. “Nice.”

  I grin. “Him or the coffee?” I hear her snort a laugh, but she doesn’t turn or answer. “I think you’re lucky if you can find someone you connect with on a barren rock like this,” I tell her. Neela turns to stare at me. “Even if you’re just good friends, it’s a rare thing out here.”

  “You really mean that, don’t you?” she asks, and I nod. We’re interrupted by a crackle from the speaker in the middle of the ceiling,

  “Vorhies, get to ops immediately!” The voice is strained, tense, and I wonder what would make Trant sound that on edge. I lock eyes with Neela before springing up and heading for ops.

  It’s like madness has hit the operations center. People are shouting at each other, to each other and over each other, staring at readouts and displays.

  “Hetty!” Greenham Trant calls me over, more animated than I’ve ever seen him before. “Look at this!” They’ve put some drones out to monitor conditions on the moon’s surface, and one’s picked up some kind of heat source. I sit down and look at the object through the drone’s camera.

  “It’s huge!” I squeak.

  “I know.” Trant’s voice is actually trembling, “What is it?”

  I can feel the look of shock on my own face as I turn to stare at him. “How the hell should I know? I’ve never seen anything like this before, not on Earth or any other planet.” My mind starts working. “Let’s move the drone in closer so I can...” Trant shuts me down.

  “Can’t. It’s giving off some kind of interference. Take the drone in too close, and we lose all signals to and from the device.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to give me and Neela a while to analyze whatever this is before I even tell you if it’s alive.”

  “But it’s organic, right?” He’s looking at me like a child who’s just asked if they can have their own space-worthy craft. His enthusiasm is infectious, and I can feel the excitement threatening to well up in my own chest, but I can’t let it get the better of me. I have to make sure everything is carried out according to procedure or face disciplinary action and probably not be allowed to name it, whatever it turns out to be.

  I turn back to the data and look at the screen for any sign this thing is a living organism. I can feel Trant nearly dancing next to me and smile again. I look up into his eager eyes and solemnly say, “I’m really sorry, Trant.” His face falls. “But it is organic.” He shakes his head, and Neela hides her grin.

  “Not funny, Vorhies.” He points a finger at me. “Not funny at all. Get to work.”

  ***

  While repairs are being carried out, packing Acrulla’s skin breach with a temporary structure and diverting blood flow to the area so he can begin to grow the damaged sections back, I have decided to make a brief tour of this barren moon. The featureless landscape stretches as far as my eye can see, gray and black-jagged rock, which has been repeatedly pulverized by meteorites. Looking up, I can see the primary planet this moon belongs to, briefly wondering if this is the home planet of the species that attacked us.

  It does not matter. The ship and all aboard will soon be a memory, and we will return to Intrellia Prime to report our new found territories and the enemies which might be here.

  I had hoped to be able to hunt, but the need for a suitable atmosphere to repair Acrulla outweighs my wish to kill. I contemplate challenging Jonober but immediately dismiss the idea. He is weakened by the injuries I gave him earlier, and the crew would think it poor if I challenged an injured Intrellian.

  There is a clear view of the stars from this vantage point, even though the atmosphere makes it a little difficult to see. Yet, something is wrong. One of the stars is much larger than the rest, and as I strain to make out the thing, I notice it actually looks as if it is growing. I turn and bolt for Acrulla, cutting and scraping my hands and legs in the mad dash across this moon’s surface. I have to get back and get us all off this rock before the alien ship, which is on a direct collision course with this moon, hits and destroys the whole place.

  ***

  “Jesus, Hetty. You’re not thinking of going out there, are you?” Neela quizzes worriedly as I finish pulling the zipper closed over my ample chest. Having big boobs makes wearing these coveralls difficult, but they’re the best suits money can buy to deal with inhosp
itable environments.

  “I’ve got to,” I tell her. “None of the readings give any indication of anything dangerous. It’s not leaking radiation or poisonous gas, but we can’t even be sure what it is or if it’s alive. As lead exobiologist here, it’s my duty.” I glance at her skeptical look, “I want,” I add, “to go and see what it is.” I pack a few more things into a bag as I’m telling her all this.

  “But what if it’s a hostile alien creature?”

  I laugh. “Now you’re getting into the realms of science fiction.” I hold my finger up. “Look, I know it’s big, but honestly, what can it be? It’s not a creature because there’s nothing here for it to eat, so it must be some kind of fungus or lichen or moss-like organism.” Neela's face still looks concerned. “Think logically, Neela,” I tell her. “There’s no danger from this thing, and you know it. You’ve studied fungi, right?” She nods grudgingly. “So you know most of a fungus is hidden. We generally only see the reproductive parts.” She nods again. “That’s all this is going to be, or something like it.”

  “So why are Deakins and Sierx Nerravin being sent with you?”

  I look at her, exasperated with all her questions and worries. “Protocol, Neela. We’re always governed by protocol.” I watch as her mind works the problem over and feel a little sorry, as I know she’ll never become chief of her own expedition. She’s a genius biologist, analyst and scientist but hasn’t got the first clue about anything else.

  “So...” I cut her off.

  “Look, you’re the lucky one,” I tell her, pointing to the Varian. “Look at the timer. You’ve only got five minutes to wait till you can fire that thing up and see what it can actually do.” I smile. “I expect it to be running the place by the time I get back.” Neela gives me a wan smile, and I hoist my backpack. “See ya.”

  Trant, in ops, is a little more optimistic about us going to have a look. Deakins, our doctor and linguistics expert is there too, with a massive backpack full of God only knows what.

  “What have you got in there?” I ask as I slump in a chair next to them.