CHAPTER 2


Sharin crept even more slowly and quietly now, watching the stranger
intently as she drew closer and closer to its golden home cave.  She had
studied him in detail during her slow cautious trek and she had come to
a number of conclusions about him as she observed him and his
behavior.  She decided the stranger was male, for although he hid much
of his fur beneath strange coverings there was a noticable absence of
the swell of breasts which would have been readily apparent under the
coverings if they existed.  She also notied that he was careless and
unobservant.  He didn't constantly scent and listen to his surroundings
to be sure that danger was not near; a trait that would surely see him
dead by nightfall.  And he was injured.  He reeked of old blood and she
noted the blotch of dark matted fur in stark contrast to the otherwise
snowy white fur under his chin.  She marveled that the tolroks in the
area weren't already amassing, but she remembered the sound of his home
cave as it descended and realized that he might remain unmolsted here
for quite some time, maybe even until nightfall.

After weighing these matters in her mind, she counted the stranger as
but a walking corpse and she decided that she would take his home cave
for herself and her clan and not leave it to the crag mites to inhabit.
She stepped closer, her paw not making a sound and she peered upwards
into the interior of the stranger's home cave and held her breath in
wonderment at the odd, yet beautiful sight which greeted her.  There
were lights everywhere of every color she could imagine.  A soft
humming emitted from somewhere inside the cave and she smelled strange
scents as they wafted out into the afternoon air.  She placed her
forepaw gently onto the bottom stair of the open mouth of the cave to
examine the interior more closely.

* * * *

Drell smacked his head on the bottom of the Tanarak as he scrambled to
his feet and reached for his blaster.  He had been working intently on a
set of leads and was pretty much oblivious to anything else at the
moment when the ships internal defense system powered up and fired off a
blast.  He ran around to the other side of the ship and pointed his
hand weapon at the dark form crumpled at the base of the steps leading
into the ship while he fumbled for his multisensor, wondering why the
infernal device hadn't warned him that he had company.  "Of all the...,"
Drell began, cursing briefly but colorfully at his own carlessness.  He
had been so absorbed in his work that he hadn't noticed that at some
point he had rolled over and accidentally bumped the power button.

He turned the multisensor back on and scanned the creature, verifying
that it was alive but badly injured and unconsious due to the high
voltage electrical discharge of the internal defense turrets located
just inside the door of the ship.  Drell holstered his blaster and
turned the beast over, blinking in surprise as a graceful vulpine muzzle
was revealed and programmed the multisensor to connect to the ship's
computer to check the information on Lysandia-4 again.  He didn't recall
the report mentioning any sentient species on the planet, yet here was a
creature that could easily be his cousin.  After a few seconds the
multisensor chirped and he shook his head.  There was nothing on the
Lysandia system that would indicate that the exploratory team had found
intelligent life.

He looked down at the.. vixen?  She wore no clothing of any kind and
there was no mistaking her gender.  He moved her arm to the side and
grimaced slightly, noting the charred and smoking fur and flesh where
her shoulder absorbed the brunt of the electrical discharge; even with
QuikHeal, her injuries were extensive enough to require several weeks
for full recovery.  She had apparently cut her chin as it smacked on the
steps to his ship after the beam hit her and there was a wide gash which
oozed blood steadily onto her fur.  Without really thinking about it he
picked up the vixen and carried her into the ship, heading for the
medical alcove in the cargo bay.


<<<<<< CLIP THIS >>>>>>>>

The Tanarak was technically a shuttle-class vessel designed to house two
people comfortably, three in a pinch and measured a mere 12 meters
from stem to stern and 8 across at it's widest point.  It's streamlined
design made it an efficient atmospheric craft doubling it's usefulness
and that was one of the reasons Drell had chosen the ship as his own.
Because of it's compact design the Tanarak boasted only three major
sections, the cockpit which  seated two, the crew quarters with its
three cots, and then the largest area was the cargo bay which accounted
for the entire aft section.  Most 'living' on the ship during extended
flights took place in the cargo bay and the medical alcove as well as
many other important items were kept there in overhead lockers.  The only
entrance to the ship was located on the starboard side just a little
forward of center and it opened to the front portion of the cargo bay.