Sword of Minerva (The Guild Wars Book 10) by Mark Wandrey (good books to read for teens txt) 📗

a wash of strange colors flowed from roughly the center. They were both pleasing, and familiar. “Nemo?”

Rick used one of his low-power arm lasers as illumination, bathing the container interior with pure light. The creature looked just like Nemo, only about 1/8th the size. It was using multiple arms to take apart one of Sato’s apparatus, and a big blob of water undulated in the microgravity, leading to a now open case in the farthest corner of the module. One of its big blue eyes regarded him.

“You’re not Nemo,” Rick said. “Who are you?”

This time he was looking directly at the Wrogul as it flashed complicated patterns of light in its language. His pinplants’ translator rendered it into English.

“I was Nemo. I am Nemo’s bud. Hello, Rick, where is Sato?”

Rick sighed as the Wrogul let out a spurt of water and sailed across the module to land on his shoulder. Once there, it gave off gorgeous blueish-green scintillating light rays, which his translator said was ‘happy humming.’ Rick checked his database, and saw that the Wrogul reproduced via budding, and that the ‘new Wrogul’ was born with all the memories of those before them. Eventually the bud would generate its own name, and its personality would diverge.

Rick sighed. <Sato, sir, we have a…complication.>

* * * * *

Chapter Four

Stuffing the—what, baby?—Wrogul into a case big enough to both hold it and the water inside proved difficult. Sato was struck speechless by the development, something that seemed to be a rare occurrence with the scientist. So he was of no help. Rick insisted Sato stay put, and he’d handle the issue himself.

The baby was happy to hang onto Rick’s shoulder and watch as he gathered all the gear Sato had asked for. Naturally, one of the items, a complex and portable materials analyzer, had been disassembled by the baby. He left the remains. Once he had a duffel full of the remaining gear, he turned his full attention to the new member of their team.

“You need water to breathe, right?” A little section of his armor was capable of both thermal and optical emission, so he would be able to communicate with nearly every race in the Union. It was a good thing, too, or he’d only be able to listen to the baby Wrogul, and not reply.

“Yes,” was the simple reply.

“But you’re not in water now?”

“Correct.”

Rick sighed. Nemo was, if anything, garrulous compared to the new version. It reminded him of talking with a Jeha. “How are you breathing, and how long can you be out of water?”

“I hold highly oxygenated water in my mantle; it acts as a reserve for breathing. Depending on the type of water, an hour is possible. My skin can last longer if I am able to prepare. As I mature, the time will diminish due to the increased surface area of my skin.”

“Oh,” Rick said. There were painfully few details on the Wrogul in the GalNet. In fact, they seemed to have only one colony; Azure, which they shared with Humans, just as Sato had said. Interesting.

Rick examined the case the baby had traveled in. It was pretty simple, with its own power supply and everything. It appeared to be scratch built, and probably was. To think the little bugger had ridden with them all the way from New Warsaw, and they hadn’t even had a clue. Sato was a perfect example of the absent-minded professor. You’d think he’d spot something the size of a miniature refrigerator in the module, especially if he hadn’t put it in there himself!

“Does that still work?” he asked the baby, pointing at the module it had stowed away inside.

“Yes. As long as there is an atmosphere outside, it can operate for years. Though it will run out of power and food for me within six months.”

“Good enough, would you get back inside?”

“Why?”

Rick sighed again, a quickly developing habit. “Because we need to meet Sato, and having a Wrogul on my shoulder might draw unwanted attention.” It regarded him with big blue eyes. “Please get in?”

“Oh, sure.” With another phuuuut of expelled air, the baby flew over to and into the container. Then, amazingly, it seemed to vacuum up the water it had expelled back inside, then the door closed.

“Okay, then,” Rick said, and investigated how to release the container. It turned out to be held in place by a pair of plastic zip ties. He easily cut them and maneuvered the baby’s container out. It wasn’t very big, but with a huge duffel bag and shepherding a mini-fridge, he was considerably more out of place.

When he reached the exit, the Lumar who’d checked his counterfeit Yack looked up from his slate, then did a double take. “Hey, you authorized to take stuff?”

“Sure,” Rick said. “Just retrieving this for Wathayat.”

“Oh, you work Wathayat? They big money syndicate. You like?”

“Yeah, it’s a good job.”

“Maybe you mention me?” The Lumar took out his own Yack, touched it to his slate, and pointed the device at Rick.

Rick held out an armored hand, palm down, and it flashed green. The Lumar looked even more amazed.

“Built in slate? How that work?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Oh, sure. Kooba keep secrets real good.” He crossed all four arms and winked at Rick in the most over-exaggerated way possible. Rick couldn’t wink back, so he just nodded and pushed away down the hall. The Lumar watched him for a time, then went back to his slate.

“They just aren’t very smart,” he mumbled to himself.

Rick took the case and duffel to the ship they’d hired, then retrieved Sato, whom he found in the privacy chamber, floating in lotus position, eyes closed. “Mr. Sato?”

Sato’s eyes opened. They were so dilated it looked like he didn’t have irises. Rick moved back fractionally, completely caught