A tiny black nose, or at least I think it’s a nose, pokes out through the fur. It snuffles at me before the entire creature vibrates like mad.
“Are you hungry?” I query.
“Hungry,” it replies in my voice.
“Put the horc down, my mate, and step away from it,” Driok growls from behind me.
I look over my shoulder at him. “It’s hungry.”
“Yes, hungry for you, Maggie. It’s a predator. It will eat you.”
DRIOK
My crew have been hunting the nevving horc ever since it got aboard on our last trip. It’s been chewing through the conduits and generally making a complete nuisance of itself.
And now it has my mate.
“What do you mean?” Maggie blinks at me. “It’s tiny. It won’t hurt me.”
“No hurt,” the horc says.
Nev the nevving thing. I take a step towards her, and it swarms up her arm and into her hair at the back of her neck. Maggie laughs.
My heart flips at the sound she makes. It’s as if she has somehow dialed into my soul. I want to hear it over and over again until she lulls me to sleep.
“Tickles!” she says. “Come here, you.” She reaches in and gets hold of the horc again, holding it at arms’ length as she strokes over its fur.
The warriors I have brought with me since I first heard her scream take a step back away from her and the horc.
“I mean it, Maggie. Put it down and let it go.”
“No.” She pulls it back to her and, unbelievably, puts it under her chin. “Horace is hungry. Take me to the dining room. I want to feed him.”
How did she even know it was a male?
“You…can’t.”
Maggie holds the horc against her chest.
“Unless you give me one really good reason why, I can and I will.”
“It’s a meat eater,” I rush out.
“So are you,” Maggie says and nods at the warriors behind me. “So are they. So what?”
“It also eats metal, vegetation, and in fact, anything it can get its teeth into,” I say spreading out my hands in exasperation. “Horcs are complete menaces, and we’ve been trying to find it for nova-weeks.”
“Doesn’t seem like a menace to me.” She delves her fingers into the horc’s fur, and it chitters. “And I know a menace when I see one.” She glares at me.
She is going to lose a limb at this rate.
“Anyway, I’m keeping him,” she adds, walking towards me.
My two warriors turn and flee like the cowards they are. Maggie is unconcerned as she passes me in the passageway.
“You can’t keep a horc loose on a spacecraft,” I exhort. “The damage it will do…”
“Horace isn’t dangerous, and he won’t cause damage if he’s with me.” She rolls her eyes. “He’s cute.”
