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“Why don’t you play with the others?”
“All played out. Want fight bad aliens.”Anger washed through my mind, for once, not my own.“Want fight ones take me from home.”
“I’m so sorry, Max.”I leaned over to scratch under his chin. We’d passed by the kreecat home world over a day ago, but at a distance, the planet little more than a tiny dot of reflected sunshine against the black. Hearing that we’d been near his home had been hard for Max.
The door slid open, and Wrin backed in, carrying a large screen, Sul holding up the other end. They walked over to lean it up against a clear wall, and Wrin turned and announced, “We’ve got footage of the kreecat home world.”
Kirel and Tark had prepared a special drone, and we’d sent it off to try to spot any potential Grug activity. We hadn’t run across any of the gray aliens yet, and the anticipation was making everyone antsy. Where were all the warships they were supposed to have?
All four of the kreecats leaped to their feet and rushed for him.
“Me want close! Me want close!”Max cried out as they jostled each other in front of the screen.
“It’s a big freaking screen,” Frankie said. “You’re all gonna be able to see.”
I smothered a laugh, and Cara and Sofie did the same. Clearly, all of the cats had enough ego to make the same demand.
“I want to see, too!” Vree ran over. “I’m the oldest pet. I need to know things.”
I bit down on a knuckle to muffle my laugh. The robot pup had almost as much ego as a cat.
Instead of jockeying for space on the floor, Neenee stepped into her drone harness and rose into the air. “I’m going to see because my Ella made me the best thing ever. I can fly. I can flygood.” She made a pass over Vree’s head to make her point.
Vree snorted and turned back to the screen. He had a set of drone wings too but wasn’t nearly as proficient with them.
Glitter launched off Mollie’s shoulder to hover beside Neenee, keeping her squirrel form. Lila meowed up at her, and Glitter said,“Yes, I can do that!”
The purple kreecat walked in high, prancing steps, each one carrying her up into the air until she came to a halt, hovering beside Glitter and Neenee. She looked down at the other animals with a self-satisfied twitch of her tail, and she must have said something to them, because all three of the other cats yowled.
“No fair!”Max said.
I couldn’t hold it in this time and burst out laughing, the other women joining me.
“What’s up with that?” I asked Mollie.
“Glitter flew Lila between spaceships while we were on a mission. They’ve been close ever since.”
“If everyone’s ready,” Wrin said, his tone dry.
He tapped at his phone, and a video began to play. The dot in the middle of the screen grew as the drone flew closer. It brightened into a swirl of chaotic color. Aqua seas bordered continents covered in large swatches of the bright-pink of Space Kitty’s fur and the brilliant purple of Lila’s.
“It’s even more colorful than Zaar,” I murmured. “Just like Max said.”
Wrin nodded.
The drone got closer and closer, making a wide loop around the planet, which rolled underneath, flashing from day to night as the sped-up video played.
“No Grug ships,” Gravin said.
Wrin said, “And no structures detected on the surface.”
“So it can’t be the Grug home world, right?” I said.
“Bad solids not from there,”Glitter answered.
We all gaped at her.
“Frek, Glitter,” Sul said. “Why didn’t you tell us that before?”
