Mail Order Mom

Chapter 23

SUSANNA

Listening to the storm raging above us, I curled against Xavran’s wide chest and must’ve dozed off.

The quiet woke me up. And the heat. My dress was drenched in sweat where my body was pressed to Xavran’s. He appeared to be asleep. Quietly, trying not to disturb him, I crawled off him.

It was still dark, but the storm had finally died out. One side of our shelter had collapsed, ripping my shawl. Sand piled up against the dead pheiza, spilling inside. My mouth was so dry, drinking the bug’s blood no longer seemed impossible.

I climbed up the pile of sand and out of the shelter. There was no trace of the crozan. It had moved ahead and out of sight.

Aldrai had no moons. It was pitch dark out here. Only the crests of the sand dunes glowed faintly. Some of the lights moved, proving they belonged to the desert creatures that scurried around.

Without the moonlight, many species on this planet had developed the ability to illuminate their own way at night by emitting a glow similar to the deep-water fish back on Earth.

If I remembered correctly, night was also the busiest time in the desert—the time to hunt. I was not looking forward to any more encounters with the local predators. The memories of the last two still made me shudder.

“Susanna,” Xavran called softly, climbing up the sand pile next to me. “Be careful, my heart.”

“Have you ever been alone in the desert at night?” I asked.

He nodded. “A few times.”

“Why?”

“Some of it was part of my survival training before I even took this job. A few times happened later. The last time I ended up stranded overnight, I had to follow one of my crew members. He fell through a dispenser chute and was hurt. I had to jump off the crozan and stay with him until help arrived.”

“Did anything attack you while you waited for the rescue?”

“Once.” He didn’t elaborate, and I decided against asking for details. It was spooky enough out here without scary stories.

A light separated from the glow in the distance, moving in our direction.

“What is that?” I grabbed Xavran’s arm. “A giant spider? A killer firefly? What glows like that and can kill us?”

“A lot of things.” He raised his other arm, getting ready to strike the approaching menace.

Never before had I wished so much to have something hard and sharp growing from my body, too, to have a built-it weapon for protection. Honestly, why was the human body so soft and exposed? We had no sharp fangs, no long claws, not even a nice hard shell to hide in.

I really, really could use a shell to hide in right now.

The light smoothly moved closer. It wasn’t just a glow, but a ray, directed at the ground. It moved in a zig-zag pattern, side to side.

“Captain Xavran Rax. Madam Susanna Riley,”a mechanical voice said, repeating our names over and over.

“That’s a search and rescue drone.” Xavran exhaled with relief. “Here!” He stood taller, waving both arms in the air.

The ray jerked our way, shining straight at us. Momentarily blinded by it, I shielded my eyes with my arm.

“It’s us.” Closing his eyes from the light, Xavran lifted his face into the ray for identification. “Send the signal. We’ve been found.”

“Signal sent,”the device droned. “It will take approximately twenty-two minutes for the rescue aircraft to arrive. Are you injured? Do you require any first-aid items or medicine? Do you need sustenance?”

Xavran glanced at me. I shook my head, only asking, “Water?”

A compartment opened on the side of the disc-shaped drone. “Two bottles of water.”

I grabbed one, nearly emptying it all in a few hungry, hurried gulps. Cool water sliding down my throat was the best thing I’d ever tasted in my entire life.

“Feeling better?” Xavran asked, watching me with a smile.

I moaned, finally taking the bottle away from my mouth.

“You have no idea how glad I am that I don’t have to drink the dead bug’s blood, after all.”

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