The Taru-Growler had seemed gigantic to his young self. Low to the ground, almost as long as Tristan had been tall. He’d been scared of it, but after half the day trekking in the forest, his stomach was growling, and his father had said he wouldn’t eat until he’d caught it. Tristan had learned by then never to question his father when he gave such an order. 

He did his best to avoid its claws and fangs. He jumped on it, only to be thrown off and clawed. He didn’t cry out. He didn’t scream. Either of those would mean more time in the box, and Tristan hated the box. His father was teaching him to be a survivor, and survivalists didn’t cry, didn’t complain. They stared at the universe and told it to go fuck itself.

With a yell he’d jumped on its back, wrapped his legs around its lower torso and arms around its neck. It bucked, ran, screeched and tried to dislodge him, but Tristan held on, and after a few minutes it slowed, and then was still.

Still holding it Tristan had rolled on his back. It gave a weak attempt at getting out of his hold but now its legs were in the air and all it did was wave them about. Tristan had smiled triumphantly at his father.

The adult, in his various shades of gray fur, hadn’t looked impressed. His father was never impressed by anything, Tristan had learned. Tristan continued holding on to it, waiting for his father to tell him to let it go so they could start gathering ingredients for the meal, but he didn’t say anything for a long time.

Eventually he sighed. “Well, what are you waiting for? Aren’t you hungry?”

Tristan hadn’t immediately understood what his father had meant, and when he did, he’d felt sick, but he didn’t show it. He also didn’t disobey his father. To disobey him would lead to a punishment worse than the box. He’d get a beating.

Tristan had fought the bile that was rising in his stomach, sunk his teeth in the Growler’s tough hide and held onto its trashing form as he pulled back, tasting the blood in his mouth.

* * * * *

Tristan shook himself. He hadn’t thought about those days in a long time. It was watching the boy in these woods. And having Alex close to him. The human unsettled more than his loins.

“I’d be trying to catch my next meal.”

Alex blinked a few times. “You mean you had to hunt your own food at his age? What about your parents? Didn’t they—”

“Drop it.” Tristan rebuilt his mask and gave Alex a beaming smile. “It’s all fine.” He began standing, but stopped as Alex reached for him. The human didn’t touch him, thankfully.

“Tristan, you can’t just smile something like that aside. You need to—” He recoiled as Tristan leaned in, still smiling, but letting his anger show in his eyes.

“I said, it’s fine.” He stood and headed toward the boy. Alex needed to learn to remember who Tristan was. This bad habit he had of caring more for others than himself could get him killed before this job was over.

Emil took a picture of a green and purple plant amidst the grass with his datapad, then sat back, and focused on it, swiping, then reading, before swiping again.

“Hey buddy, what are you doing?”

“Trying to identify this plant.”

“I saw you did that with a lot of them. You enjoy it?”

Emil nodded. “I like knowing things.”

Tristan smiled. “That’s always good. Knowledge will never let you down. Your father must be really proud of how much you like learning.”

“He approves of the results I’ve gotten on my tests.”

“Did the academy bring you to many places like this to test your knowledge?”

“No, all my tests have been over the net.”

Tristan nodded. So the Orwell Academy was no better at preparing humans for life than any other of the human’s learning institutions. No wonder this boy had come with them so easily. Tristan had learned enough about people from his father by that age to know that if they looked like they wanted to help you, he was actually trying to force you to do something you didn’t want.

“Your name isn’t Brian, is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Aaron didn’t seem to know who that was when I asked where you were.”

Another thing he’d have to train Alex on. He crouched down, considering how to respond. He could easily give him another name, but would Alex forget about that one too? What were the risks in giving Emil his real name? He couldn’t see any serious ones, but it would ensure Alex didn’t screw that up.

“No, in this job We don’t use our real names, to protect our families.”

“You have a family?” the thought seemed to surprise Emil.

“Of course. Everyone does. Mine’s on Samalia. I even have a daughter, a little older than you. She lives with her mother.” He changed the fictitious child to a girl because he felt Emil was perceptive enough to sense it was a rather big coincidence that Tristan had a boy close to his age.

He extended his hand to the boy. “My name is Tristan.”

Emil looked at the hand then Tristan’s face. “Is that your real name?”

“It is. I think I can trust you with it.”

“It’s a human name.”

Tristan smiled. “As was Brian. My father gave me a human name because there’s a lot more of you than there are of me. He felt I’d have an easier time interacting with humans if my name was like theirs.”

It was the story he’d told from the first time he’d had to explain his name, but in truth he had no idea why his father had given him and his brother human names. It couldn’t be the reason he gave, since his father had been against Tristan leaving.

Emil took the hand and shook it. “I’m Emil Rithal.” There was no hesitation when he said it. He either believed it was, or had spent a long time practicing giving it. Normally with a child Tristan would think the former, but Emil was smarter than any child he’d met, so he could have trained himself to protect his father. That was fine. What name he used wouldn’t have any bearing on the end of this job.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Emil. Are you going to be okay on your own for a while? I need to go back in the shuttle to make sure we have everything we need for our stay here.”

The boy nodded and went back to his datapad.

Back inside the shuttle Tristan watched Alex work for a time, with that silly looking earpiece in his ear. He’d speak in low a voice while typing, then he might be silent for a while. At one point he took out he earpiece and worked without it, rubbing his ear occasionally.

He stepped closer and made it so that he could touch him, while keeping his reflection off the screens, and Alex still hadn’t noticed him. Tristan knew this was because of how focused the human was on his work. Alex normally did stay aware of his surroundings. 

He couldn’t tell if it was because of how difficult this work was, or this was simply his usual state while he worked. So long as he did it in a protected environment it would be fine, but outside, this could get him killed.

He leaned in. “How is it going?”

Alex tensed. And Tristan saw in the screen’s reflection the anger in the human’s eyes. He hadn’t liked that. Good. This would act as a gentle reminder of the dangers he was in.

Instead of lashing out, Alex forced his anger under control. Even better.

“It’s going. I have enough of an identity created for Orville Pantor, movie producer, to reserve a small cargo hover that should be able to fit everything you want. I’ll be using that to come and go once I’ve picked it up. The shuttle has some sort of grabbing capability on the underside, right? Unless you can remote pilot it back, I’m going to need that to bring the hover here.”

“It does.” Tristan reached over and entered a command, which changed the readings on the screen. “I have a gravitic set and a magnetic one. Get the shuttle as close to the hover as you’re comfortable, then turn it on and raise the power until the hover jumps the distance. After that set it to the max so you won’t lose it on the way back.”

Alex nodded. Tristan could sense the tension in him. He hadn’t relaxed at all while they talked. The mask persona would tell him to relax, that everything was fine, he had nothing to worry about, but Alex already knew he had things to worry about. 

Tristan still patted his shoulder as he moved to one of the cabinets and looked through them for something he’d be able to feed to the boy.

“The boy worked out Brian and Aaron aren’t our real names. I gave him my real one. Feel free to give him yours. I told him we used false names to protect our family. I have a daughter and her mother on Samalia.”

Alex opened his mouth, then closed it, shaking his head. “Why did you give him your real name?”

Tristan smiled. “Because I trust him.”

Alex made a face. “I shouldn’t be gone more than a few hours.” He said instead of commenting on that. “I’ve already ordered everything. Once I have the hover I’ll get them. I’m going to leave that in it for the trip back.”

“By everything, I’m guessing you mean the supplies for our stay.” All he had were compressed nutrient bars and a few emergency rations that had come with the shuttle when he’d acquired it. The boy would have to be okay with that.

“Yes. The equipment you need requires that Orville’s company be more real before I can order it.”

Tristan didn’t comment. The universe had forced his hand and he had to let Alex run this part of the operation on his skill set.

He took out the portable cooker as well as an empty water container, which he filled. That should last them until Alex returned with the supplies. He brought everything out and set it by a tree. He took a nutrient bar to Emil.

“Here, you must be hungry.”

Emil looked at it, before taking the wrapper off. He took a small bite and made a face.

“I’m sorry, this is all I have for now.” Tristan unwrapped his and bit a chunk out. “The plan was to deliver you to your father as soon as came on board, so I hadn’t planned for actual food.”

“It’s okay.” Emil continued eating it, small bites after small bites.

“You’ll have better food tomorrow. Aaron is going to get us supplies.”

“This is fine.”

Tristan laughed. “You won’t be saying this after a few days. This is going to keep you alive, but it’s the most boring thing to eat.” He finished his bar.

Emil shrugged.

“How is the cataloging of the clearing coming along?”

“Slowly, there are a lot more plants than I thought.”

“You want me to help?”

Emil shook his head. “I can do it.”

Tristan smiled. “I’m sure you can.” He got up and let the boy return to his work. 

For the rest of the day Tristan discretely hid weapons in the tree branches, too high for the boy to accidentally get to them, but low enough Tristan or Alex could get them in an emergency.

As the sun set, Tristan gave Emil another nutrient bar and the three of them ate while watching the sun vanish behind the trees. Alex Introduced himself to Emil during that time, then set a few lanterns down for light when it got too dark.

Once they were done eating, Alex went in the shuttle and came back out with a blanket for the boy. “Just in case it gets cold before I get back.” Then he was back in the shuttle and gently took it to the center of the clearing before going straight up. The shuttle’s lights turned off before it was higher than the trees and Tristan lost track of it.

“Why didn’t you go with him?”

“We can’t leave you here alone.”

“I could have gone too.”

Tristan ruffled Emil’s hair. “Our job is to keep you safe, buddy. This is a safer place right now. The people who kept your father from making the meeting might have tracked us here.”

“Couldn’t Alex get hurt then?”

“Yes, but he can handle it. You’re the only one here who can’t get hurt.”

Emil shrugged and took out his datapad to read.

Tristan vanished in the darkness and when he returned he sat down only close enough to the lights Emil could see where he was, but anyone not expecting him would miss seeing him in the darkness. On the ground next to him, he had his trusty Azeru ready to shoot down anyone who showed up unexpectedly.

* * * * *

Three hours later, Tristan heard the rustling of the leaves as something large approached over the trees. He stood and stepped completely outside the lights. Emil didn’t stir. He’d curled up against a tree sometime before and gone to sleep.

The vehicle stopped moving. No, Tristan could just make out the engines. It was drifting slowly, trying to avoid announcing its presence. A light came on, shining in the clearing, moving about, searching. Tristan pickup up his Azeru and turned it on.

The light settled on the far side of the clearing, away from where he and the boy were. The vehicle moved down. 

At first the only thing Tristan could make out other than the light was a large box, only a shadow in front of the light, which was still pointed at the ground. Then, as his eyes adjusted, smaller lights above the box delineated a shuttle. The combination of the two told him who this was—should be—but he didn’t let his guard down.

When the box was almost touching the ground it detached and hit it with the sound of someone being punched in the stomach.

Emil jerked up and Tristan put the gun away.

“You okay, buddy?” He crouched next to him. “It’s Alex, back with the supplies.”

Emil nodded, but he pulled his knees to himself and held them.

The shuttle moved toward them, then dropped until it was also almost to the ground before proceeding forward. Tristan kept his hand close to the Azeru while it parked and went through its shutdown cycle. Even as the ramp opened and Alex stepped out Tristan remained ready.

“Sorry I woke you,” Alex told Emil.

“It’s okay.”

Alex indicated the open ramp with a thumb. “I’ve turned off the shuttle, but you said you wanted to do a complete shutdown. I don’t know how to initiate that.”

Tristan searched Alex’s face for any signs of his intentions. He’d been alone for hours, the first time recently he’d been out of Tristan’s supervision. He could have done a lot of things in that time. Some of which were stupid.

Other than his caring streak, Alex had never acted in what Tristan considered stupid ways, but he was human. And as Alex had pointed out, the amount of the bounty would lead humans to do a lot of stupid things.

The thing that annoyed Tristan the most was that he couldn’t tell what he wanted to read on Alex’s face. Did he want to see that Alex trusted him? Or that he’d betrayed him, that he’d put his wellbeing before Tristan’s? While something deep inside him wanted to see the former, Tristan only understood the later. In the end he saw neither. Alex didn’t trust him, but he didn’t show signs he’d betrayed him either.

“I’ll shut it down.” Tristan stepped up the ramp, and immediately looked around for anything out of place as he moved toward the cockpit. He didn’t think Alex was good enough to fool him, but he couldn’t stop himself from looking for any indication the humans had done something to his ship.

He quickly realized he was looking for an excuse to get rid of Alex, if not now, once the job was over. He wanted to regain control of his life and on some level he didn’t think he could achieve that while the human was in it. 

It didn’t matter to him that he didn’t need an excuse. He didn’t have to tolerate Alex’s presence. He still wanted a reason to get rid of him.

Then, why was it that he felt relief when he sat in his chair and hadn’t found anything? He looked at his reflection on the screen. What was it about the human that caused him to be so conflicted? His hand went to his breastbone and he caressed the metal diamond there.

Before Alex reentered his life, it had just been there.  He’d take it off when he washed, put it back when he was done, but otherwise he wouldn’t think about it. He’d even managed to forget where he’d gotten it.

Or at least he’d thought he had. As soon as Alex had appeared before him in the tavern, the memory of the human putting it there had come back, and now he often found himself thinking about that moment.

He forced those thoughts aside and focused on shutting down almost every system on the shuttle. It wasn’t a difficult process, but it was involved, starting with deactivating the programs, anything that controlled the shuttle was deactivated, then manually turning off the various physical controls, and altering the setting to the power generator so it only generated enough to keep the computer going so Alex could work on his plan. Normally he’d disconnect the fuel lines completely before closing up the ramp, then set his security measures in place, but Alex would have to work here so none of those could happen.

The one good thing about doing this was that it gave him something to focus on other than Alex. By the time it was all done he’d made his decision. When the job was done, Alex went. He couldn’t keep him around, no matter how useful his skills with computers were. He was too much of a distraction.

Satisfied with his work and his decision, Tristan stepped outside the shuttle, only to stop. 

Just inside the tree line was a small building. It couldn’t be a building. How had Alex set one up so quickly? And how was it generating light?

He noticed the packaging among the lantern and went and picked it up. “Wilderness Habitation,” it said, “Temperature Controlled,” “Self Inflating and Anchoring,” “Fits two adults or four children under ten.” All he had to provide was power.

It didn’t take him long to find the portable generator, the dim lights on it cycling to show it was running.

Alex backed out of the habitat. “The controls are by your bed, all you have to do is set it so you’re comfortable. Have a good night.”

Tristan didn’t hear the boy’s response. When Alex turned toward him Tristan glared at him. The human looked at the packaging he was holding and sighed.

Before Tristan could ask anything Alex indicated the shuttle.

“Can we have this argument in there? Emil needs to sleep.”

Tristan almost hit him. His fist was closed and he’d been about the pull his arm back, but he had his plan for Emil. An act of violence here, where the boy could hear it would overly complicate things.

He was getting rid of Alex when this was all over.

Because he didn’t want to have to deal with Alex pointing out they needed to be as far as possible so the boy wouldn’t overhear them, Tristan went to the cockpit.

He shoved the packaging in Alex’s face. “What is this? You said you’d get camping equipment, not whatever this is.”

“He’s a kid, he shouldn’t have to endure the harshness of the wilderness.”

“The universe his harsh, he might as well start learning about that now and prepare himself.” Tristan threw the packaging at Alex’s feet. “What about yours? Did you get one with a shower? Or maybe a food printer?”

“Of course not. Mine just protects me from the elements. What’s you’re problem anyway? Why does it matter if he has it easy for a while?”

“Life isn’t easy,” Tristan growled. “What do you think he’s going to learn from all this?”

Alex stared at him. “Learn? What the fuck do you care if he learns anything out of this? When this is all over you’re going to kill him, right? That’s what you do, isn’t it?”

Tristan shoves his face against Alex’s. “And if I do, will you try to stop me? Are you going to try to protect him from me?”

Alex tried to glare back at him, but he looked away. “No. Damn me, I won’t.” He looked Tristan in the eyes again. “I said I was yours. That was the price the last time you gave me the option to leave. Well, unlike you I keep my word. I am yours. I don’t know what’s going to happen to my soul, but I’m going to stand by you when you kill him.” Alex spun and stormed out of the shuttle.

Tristan gritted his teeth. He hadn’t meant to lose his temper like this. All he’d meant to do was point out that the boy needed to learn the reality of the universe, not be cuddled, but Alex had robbed him of his control again.

Now Emil was going to pick up on their tensions even more. How would that affect creating a friendship with the boy? It wasn’t like he could go apologize, Alex would see it for the act it was. The human did know Tristan at least that much.

He left the shuttle. Alex was at the hover with a lantern, taking out another package, his habitat, Tristan thought. He found a large enough tree and climbed it until he found a branch large enough to support his weight, and which let him watch Alex as he took the package off the habitat.

As he’d said, this one only provided protection from the elements, it wasn’t even self-building. Alex had to assemble the poles that would hold it in place.

If only Alex could be less…himself. Tristan could deal with that, he thought as he watched the human work. He didn’t want to hate him so much. His skill sets complemented Tristan’s well. The two of them could make most jobs much easier. If only he wasn’t so…so…. Tristan couldn’t think of the word for it, but Alex knew just how to get under his fur, make him itch in places he never had, make him want.

Tristan closed his eyes. The only thing Tristan wanted was to survive. Alex wasn’t helping him accomplish that.

* * * * *

The next few days weren’t as bad as Tristan had expected. Alex spent his time in the shuttle, talking to other computers so he’d be able to order the equipment for the showdown. Emil stayed in his habitat reading his tablet. He answered Tristan, when asked a question, but only the minimum. He’d clearly felt the tension between Tristan and Alex and had retreated to his datapad.

While he considered how best to crack the boy’s self-imposed distance, Tristan took their supplies out of the hover and placed it well within the tree line. When that was done he decided to take some time to himself, grabbed the analyzer and after telling Emil not to wander off, he walked off in the woods.

He walked for a while before remembering he had the analyzer, just enjoying the sounds and scents. As he traveled deeper he heard larger animals, but they kept their distances.

This wasn’t as dense, but it reminded him of the forest where he’d grown up. After his father had forced him to learn how to hunt and kill the animals to feed himself, hunting had become his favorite thing to do, because it meant he didn’t have to deal with his father. So long as he brought back enough meat for the three of them his father wouldn’t care where he was.

Of course, the times he didn’t leave early enough usually meant time in the cage. His father claimed it was an exercise to help Tristan learn how to get out of tough situations, and while Tristan had learned to open locks that way using only his claws and very few other things, he could have done without the other thing he’d gotten out of it. A strong dislike for small enclosed spaces.

He scanned the plants. He did that for the humans, he could simply taste them and tell if they were poisonous to him. Overall humans could eat most of what a Samalian could, Tristan had discovered in his years of interacting with them, but their systems weren’t quite as robust. What might upset Tristan, could kill a human.

He found herbs that would enhance the taste of food and when he came back he added them to the meal he prepared. Alex commented on it, saying he enjoyed the difference, but Emil just ate silently.

The next day he brought a few kills, which he’d prepared in the wood, so the boy wouldn’t have to see it, he’d also gathered more herbs, some tubers he found and using some of the vegetables Alex had bought he made a stew.

Emil devoured it, but Alex barely touched it. He gave Tristan an angry look, and after that was just morose.

The next day Tristan noticed a pattern. He or Alex would prepare a meal and then tell Emil it was ready. When lunchtime came, Tristan stopped Alex from preparing the meal. Alex didn’t question it, he grabbed a few fruits and went back inside the shuttle.

Tristan waited two more hours, watching Emil’s habitat. The boy never came out, not even for a snack. After that time he went to the habitat and looked inside.

“Hey Buddy, you hungry?”

Emil shook his head, as his stomach growled. “I can wait until it’s ready.”

Tristan watched him for a moment, before going to prepared a meal. Orwell Academy had trained the boy to only do what he was told so well that he’d let himself die of hunger before acting on it.

Tristan shook his head. That wasn’t going to help the boy survive what the universe would throw at him. The boy needed more fire in him. Or at least a few basic skills that would give him a chance at survival.

Tristan smiled. Now, there was a thought.

When they were done eating, Emil went back to his habitat, and Alex didn’t go back to the shuttle.

“I need to go to the city. Something I need to prepare the hover finally came in.”

“Perfect timing. I need you to get me a few things.”

* * * * *

The next morning Tristan waited until Emil was moving before poking his head in. “Hey buddy. I need your help with something.”

The boy set his datapad aside and joined him. Tristan escorted him to the two cookers, each with a pan on it and cooking tools next to them.

Emil looked at them as Tristan sat cross-legged in front of one.

“What is this?”

“They’re cookers, you know that, you’ve seen me use one before.”

“Why do you have two?”

Tristan smiled. “I don’t. This one is for you.”

“Why?”

“You don’t want to always depend on me or Alex for your food, do you?”

“You cook good food.”

“Yeah, but don’t you want to know how to do it?”

Emil looked uncertain.

“You said you liked to learn things. This is something new you can learn. And cooking is fun. Think of it as a puzzle, but one without a fixed answer. How you mix the ingredients will determine the answer. Some will work, some won't, but you can have fun figuring it out.”

Emil didn’t look convinced, but he sat in front of the other cooker. “Okay, what are we going to do?”

Tristan beamed. “I’m going to show you how to make breakfast.”