warm and cloudless. In spite of the lights along the commercial strip, stars shone. One of the two moons was rising, and the docking stations that ringed the planet formed a brilliant necklace. A street vendor was preparing a dish that smelled of curry for a wobbly-looking Scout. As the knee warmed up, my pain eased.
The railing by the dockâs reception area was filled with expectant Scouts waiting for visitors and new partners. Brushing the hair away from my artificial left eye, I zoomed in for a better view of the disembarking passengers. I had no idea what an A. Lester would look like. A short woman in her late twenties wearing a fresh Scout uniform came out first, long brown hair pulled back from a fine-featured face. Her body was full, lithe, muscular. She carried a large pack on her back.
âOh yes,â I said under my breath, âif there is a good deity, this will be the one. I deserve her after that last mush-for-brains.â The young woman spotted a middle-aged female Scout holding a sign with a name on it, approached, and shook hands. So I reverted to being an atheist.
The remaining passengers were all civilians. The railing cleared. My knee ached.
A female flight attendant with short red hair left the hatch, the kind of womanâtall, poised, gorgeousâwho managed to look great in the shapeless uniforms the spacelines pack their attendants into. She was laughing and talking to the person behind her.
A young man ducked out of the hatch. I zoomed in. The kid was nearly two meters tall, with short blond hair, strong features, and a body capable of towing a small excursion vehicle out of a swamp. He joked amiably with the flight attendant who didnât take her eyes off him. The man carried both of their bags effortlessly in one hand. Hell, he even had a cleft chin. I turned my eyes to heaven. âThere is a God: itâs Loki.â
I made my way to the gate. âYou must be my new partner.â
The young man dropped the bags and sprang to attention. âScout Private Lester reporting for duty.â
âYeah, yeah.â I turned to the flight attendant. âAnd you would be?â
âMarina.â She offered a flawlessly manicured hand.
I handed Marina her bag. âThanks for keeping the kid safe.â I turned to Lester. âCome on, kid.â
Lester shrugged and waved goodbye to the crestfallen woman. He fell in beside me. âItâs an honor to meet you, sir. Aidan Pastor is a legend in the Scouts.â
I flinched. âRight, kid.â
âWe study your tactics in Planetary Scout Academy.â
âI better check on my royalties.â
âI canât wait to take off on our first mission.â
I waved my credit chit at a ground car, and it opened. We climbed in, and the door swung shut. The seats were too small for Lester. âScout enlisted quarters building 42,â I said. The car moved out.
I looked at the eager face and pulled up my left shirt sleeve. âYou know what these are, kid?â
âBurns?â
I nodded. âMy last partner played by Academy rules. Thatâs why Iâve got these. Weâre going nowhere till Iâm sure youâve got my rules down to instinct. So what do you do when an unknown lifeform comes at you fast?â
âAttempt to determine if the lifeform is intelligent.â
âWrong. Rule one: if the local fauna or flora starts chasing you, shoot it. My last partner wouldnât shoot the natives because he thought they might be intelligent. They were intelligentâintelligent enough to have a catapult. The creatures he wouldnât shoot hit us with a boulder as we tried to get the hell out. It damaged the shipâcaught on fire, burned him to death and nearly killed me.â
âIt was bad for you, but it saved the beings.â
I stuck a scarred index finger into his oversized chest. âNope. When they hit the ship, there was a radiation leak. Killed