While hot, the air wasn't yet fit for humans to breathe. The process to liberate the carbon dioxide and oxygen trapped in the rocks on the surface was slow. Right on schedule despite the rapid advancement of the heat. They already had the mag ring, which was a magnetic barrier that acted as an artificial planetary barrier to protect them from the sun’s radiation. This made it much safer for personnel who had the clearance to walk safely on the surface without fear of spontaneous cancer.
As long as they were within the safe zone.
Which was what Beth planned to do.
She cursed as she yanked on her suit and nearly tripped over the unwelcome egg. Beth then double and triple checked her seals before clicking the button to close the inner door to the airlock.
Nothing happened.
She pressed it again.
“Going somewhere?”
She glared at the captain and continued to press the button, “Go to hell.”
He chuckled, “Already there. And you voluntarily joined my little circle of it.”
“I joined to be out there,” she said tersely.
“And I happen to not like the person who is tied to the answer of many questions walking out of my domain against orders.”
Two more commandos showed up, and she glowered at them too. “Then just command me to go out.”
He gave her a calculated look, then nodded at the pair that had shown up. “Escort her out, then back. And Lieutenant Kane?
“Yes?”
“Don’t do this again, or I will have you peeling potatoes til you get sick of them.”
Since potatoes were their only majorly successful crop, and in almost every meal, this was threat enough.
…
Stupid.
Dumb.
Idiot.
Bethany skulked about the humid wasteland with the conspicuously upright egg under one arm.
The gall of that man.
More importantly, her horrendous memory.
He had been blonde, hadn’t he?
Though maybe even then, it had been much darker than it had been in middle school. And if it could shift from straw yellow to a dirty blonde in six years, why not dirty blonde to light brown in another six?
Beth was glad that she never took the ring from its necklace hidden underneath her shirt. This whole event was mortifying enough.
And it was all the fault of this egg.
She hadn’t even been able to… do whatever she had thought to do once outside. On a whim, Beth hefted the cursed egg and threw it for all she was worth. Which was approximately six feet.
Her escort looked at her like she was crazy. She just turned to walk back, her emotions spent. The egg would follow on its own anyway.
Then a gunshot rang out.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
All of them flinched and threw their hands over their ears.
Beth turned back and saw to her horror that the egg had split. It was sheared perfectly from top to bottom in a straight line. Inside was a black lizard with an opalescent tail. It blinked filmy, iridescent eyes and licked at the goop stuck to it.
Mark's supposition was correct, it seemed. It did hatch a lizard.
Beth's thoughts spun hazily as she staggered back.
The creature proceeded to eat the obsidian egg like it was a rice crispy treat. However, Beth would do the same to many rocks if she had the mouth and stomach for it.
Was it wrong to be jealous of an overgrown gecko?
As if the thought reminded it of her, it snapped its gaze to her, mouth full of egg.
Decisiveness in plan execution was a skill she had honed over many years. And this was no different. She turned and ran back to the hab as fast as her clunky suit would carry her. The sudden increase in humidity caused her faceplate to fog up before the dehumidifier could register the change.
Then she tripped over a moving black object.
She cursed vociferously at the thing, but managed to keep her footing and continue on.
Until it bit her calf.
Beth gasped and fell to the rusty soil this time. Red lights rang an alarm, and sounds flashed horribly across her senses.
She hissed with teeth clenched tight. A sound not unique to her as the numerous holes in her suit continued in a lifeless exhale.
Oxygen.
She was losing oxygen.
Beth fumbled for the patch kit on her right thigh and grabbed it.
And ultimately halted.
It was still chewing on her leg.
And it was… not painless.
Waves of hot and cold shuddered through her body.
She needed to remove it before she could patch the damage.
The white of her suit began to resemble the ground in color as blood seeped out to stain it along with the dirt.
That stain would never come out.
It was due to the high concentration of iron oxide in the dirt.
Beth fell back.
Tonight the stars were so, so… so dim…
…
Dr. June was on the older side of astronauts by being in her late forties, and was on the first mission to mars. A willowly woman with pale coloring and dusty brown hair. She ran her tests and told Beth not to walk for the next week so that the shredded muscles could heal. At this, the woman had glared at the cause of the problem, who sat on a table nearby, unrepentant.
She left with an admonition to come to physical therapy in a week to build back the muscle mass lost while she had been convalescent and left.
Mark had been waiting in the doorway, making goo-goo eyes at the creature. Then turned those eyes on her. Asking to let him examine it.
Beth was too wimp to say no.
The lizard clung to her arm, which was covered in padded insulation they had set aside for emergencies.
Mark settled down to take measurements, but it hissed at him.
Beth petted the immovable object, and that seemed to quiet it down.
The silence between them stretched on.
Only the sound of hisses and tablet clicks filled the dead air of the environmentally controlled bedroom.
Beth cleared her throat, “I’m getting tired.”
Mark nodded and stood to leave, but halted at the door. “Sorry about the awkwardness earlier. I… thought you knew. You could be so serious. I thought you were just ignoring me to be professional.”
She shook her head, “You wear goggles half the time, your hair is brown, and you have a new nickname. I’m not good at identifying people at the best of times. You know?”
“Sure. I think it would be best if we pretended it never happened. I have to write reports on the creature, and perforce, must be here with you to do it. Especially since you can’t be separated, and I am the most knowledgeable person alive on the anomaly.” he gave it a skeptical glance. “The higher ups don’t want any avoidable delays.”
She sighed, “Sounds reasonable.”
With a truce established, they continued their work in relative peace.
…
The dragon grew exponentially.
And even though it was watched twenty-four seven, it would still give its minders the slip. Presumably, it went to eat, for mass could not appear from nowhere. Or it could, considering its teleporting ability. But even then, it came and went from point A to point B. So, even then, the mass was from somewhere. It was just... Unexpected.
The captain was initially concerned about the potential breach in security, but let it go when nothing bad happened. But more importantly, nothing could be done to prevent it from happening.
It was one of these times when Beth was blessedly left alone, if monitored, that a voice woke her up.
