The hover lifted up slowly, but in a straight line; it didn’t wobble, or drift. Tristan saw it shudder slightly as it leveled off, but there was only so much he and the boy could do when it came to fitting components not made for it. He smiled at Emil. “You did good work.” The boy beamed and headed for their eating area, where he proceeded to pick up the plates and washed them. Alex had eaten in a hurry because he had a meeting to solidify the existence of his mask. Tristan felt the human was trying too hard. A mask didn’t need all that work, just enough created in the databased to prove it existed. The rest was all in what Tristan did with it. “Hey Buddy, how do you feel about doing something special?” Emil stiffened for a moment. He was adaptable, but he wasn’t used to change. Tristan expected that until he and Alex had taken him out of the academy everything had been the same, or at least change came with plenty of warning. “Like what?” He continued washing the plate. “Seeing how you now know a bunch of stuff about living in the woods, I thought we could put them to the test and spend a few days just the two of us in the wild.” “What about Alex?” “I don’t think he could do it. He’s a city boy.” Emil smiled a little, before focusing on what he was doing. “Won’t he wonder where we are?” “He’s going to be gone for a few days. He wasn’t supposed to be back yesterday, but you saw the damage. Without us fixing it, he wouldn’t have been able to do much.” Emil glanced up at the woods before looking at the same plate he’d been scrubbing for a full minute now. “What if he needs us to fixed things again?” Tristan stepped closer and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Buddy, it’s okay if you don’t want to do it. The woods can be a scary place, there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that.” “I’m not scared.” Emil’s statement was made with so much strength Tristan almost smiled. “I just don’t want to leave Alex in trouble.” “He’s a full grown merc, he can handle himself. So, you want to do this?” “Y—yes.” Tristan gave him a warm smile. “Alright, then you finish cleaning, then we’re going to pack things away.” While the boy cleaned, Tristan went to the ship to get the things he’d need for his plan. Fortunately programmable medical injectors were small, he could carry both in his pockets, as well as the vials of sleep inducers and the stimulants. He took the strongest inducer drug he stocked. He would use the rate of injection to control how much went in. When he came back he and Emil folded up the table and chairs and stacked them next to the cooler. He carried the washing station there too, then they picked up anything that showed they’d been there. If he’d been alone and serious about hiding his presence, everything would have gone in the shuttle, and that would have been locked tight. He didn’t like leaving anything outside, but it was under the foliage, and other than the few powered components, everything was composite, which were difficult to detect against the earth. “You have your knife?” Emil showed him the sheath Tristan had made him, clipped to the top of his pants. “Aren’t you bringing a blanket?” he had his rolled under his arm. “My fur’s enough to keep me warm in this weather.” “Okay.” He didn’t sound convinced. They walked until the sun was high, only stopping when Emil pointed at plants they could collect for food. They hadn’t brought any bags, so he had to use his academy jacket to hold everything they collected. As they made the shelter, Tristan following Emil’s directions, the roar came a few times, still far, but closer than the previous day. The boy proved to be good at giving instructions, and in just over an hour the shelter was done, large enough for Emil. “Are we making one for you?” “I sleep in the trees.” Emil looked at the branches. “Is it comfortable?” “It’s comfortable enough.” “How are you going to get there?” Tristan showed him his retractable claws. “I’m going to climb. Just like I did by the ship.” “I thought you slept with Alex.” “Does that bother you?” He was curious as to what the Academy had taught him about human and alien relationships. “The tent is big enough, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t share it with you.” “He’d let me if I asked.” Emil nodded. “Start making the fire pit, then I’ll show you how to light it without a lighter.” Tristan went looking for the right kind of stone and a few small branches and bits of dried moss, then showed how striking the stone against the side of his knife made sparks. It took him a few tries before the moss caught, then he added small branches until he had a small fire. He smothered it and had Emil try. For half an hour the boy struck the stone against his knife. He’d mastered making it spark quickly, but aiming it was giving him problems. Unlike most people Tristan had worked with, Emil didn’t get frustrated as he failed time and time again to light the fire. He became more focused. He studied where the sparks flew to, adjusted and tried it again. When the moss finally caught, Emil accidentally smothered it by feeding it to many small branches. Without a word he cleared the space and tried again. “Are we eating now?” Emil asked, when he had a small fire going. “Are you hungry?” “Just a little, but we made the fire.” “You want to make your fire early, that way you’ll have a lot of coals under which you can bury tubers. And if you’re hungry, it’s easier to get frustrated when things don’t go well.” “So what do we do?” Tristan smiled. “You can relax, but you strike me as someone who likes to stay busy.” Emil nodded. “We can go find water.” “We didn’t bring any bottles.” “I’m going to show you how to make some with the bark of that tree over there.” Emil looked at the flaking barks and back at Tristan doubtfully. He cut a large patch of the flexible bark and showed the boy how to cut and roll it to make a deep container. When they were at the stream, Tristan make a thick mud and spread it on the outside, sealing it. To Emil’s amazement, when Tristan scooped out water with his hands and poured it in the container, it didn’t leak. “Of course, If I’d made two, I could fill one faster, but now you see how it works.” “Bottles are better.” Tristan grinned. “In that case, that’ll be my water, and when you find someone who sells bottles, you can use that. Deal?” Instead of saying anything, Emil found a tree, cut the bark off, and made his own container. “No one sells bottles in the woods,” he said when he was done filling it. Tristan liked how practical the boy was. On the walk back to their fire, Tristan gently asked questions about Emil’s father, and the boy happily answered with the lies as he had before. They cooked the tubers and ate them with a salad made of the greens they’d collected and berries for dessert. They collected more plants during the afternoon and evening, and when the sun went down they sat by the fire. “Do you miss your family?” Emil used a branch to poke at the fire. “I do, you?” Emil shrugged. “Do you see your father often?” He shook his head. “How about your mother?” “I don’t have one.” “Really?” He nodded. “My father said that she didn’t want me. She left when I was a baby.” Tristan spent a moment building the story he wanted to tell. He knew what it was like not to have a mother in his life, but it was because his father had taken him and his brother away. “I didn’t know my mother either.” “Really?” “She died when I was younger than you. I don’t remember anything about her.” “At least you have a family.” Tristan pulled him close. “He buddy, don’t be like that. You’ll be with your father soon, and eventually, you’ll have your own family. Maybe we should go to bed. The sun is going to be up faster then you realize.” Emil stood and entered his shelter. He looked back out. “Aren’t you going to sleep?” Tristan smiled. “I will in a bit, once the fire has died down a little.” “Should we put it out?” “No, the pit keeps it contained, and if your alone, you want to try to have it so you’ll still have ambers in the morning. That way you don’t have to get a new fire going.” Emil nodded. “Goodnight.” “Good night, Buddy.” Tristan listened to the boy settle in while he watched the flames. He hadn’t thought about his mother since… he couldn’t remember when he had thought about her before. She had never been a part of his life. Like anything that didn’t pose a threat to him, or was of benefit, she didn’t matter. Justin had been the one to ask about her constantly. He had been a baby when their father had taken them away from her, he had no memories of her, and yet he had been the one constantly curious about who she had been. It had taken years of beating from their father before he had finally understood not to bring her up around him. Knowing his brother, Justin had tried to find her the moment he’d found his way out of the forest. Emil’s breathing became even quickly, but Tristan still waited until the fire was down to ambers before getting up and heading in the direction he’d last heard the roaring. Within a few steps he was out of the amber’s light, and he had to wait for his eyes to adjust. The woods became a world of grays and black and he moved again. He didn’t know if his night vision was the result of growing up without lights at night, or his people all had it. He’d barely worked with other Samalians in his life, and it had always been on ships, where there was always light. Something moved at the edge of his vision and his head snapped in that direction. It was small and scurried away. Not his quarry. He came across more animals that fled from him, each one catching his attention as it bolted, until he began hearing the sounds of something large eating. Then he didn’t come across any animals. Bones broke under powerful jaws. Meat was ripped away. Something made what Tristan thought were contented sounds. He saw it move in the distance, the motion catching his eyes as it looked up, sniffed the air and then went back to eating. He approached until it growled without looking away from what it ate. He could make out its powerful shoulders, back and hunches. This was an animal that liked to pounced. It might lie in wait up a tree until its prey came close. It’s fur was short, except on its feet and lower part of its legs, where it looked like it wore boots. Tristan walked around it, watching it eat. It had a long, thin, tail that ended in a flat spade. It tapped the ground as it tore into the beast it had killed. Claws and fangs, as well as its strength were what Tristan would have to watch for. He couldn’t let it get on top of it or it would pin him down and rip him apart like that animal. His advantage was surprise. It knew he was here, but it didn’t know what he was. He was just another animal afraid of it. And it was distracted by it’s meal. Tristan took out an injector and loaded one of the sleep inducer vials in it. He adjusted the settings using himself as the base. He knew how much was needed to put himself out, and he increased that to take its extra mass into account. Then he increased it again to be certain it would go down. Finally he set it to inject the does the moment it was applied. With it in hand he made another circuit around the beast. The shoulder was the best place for the initial injection. Even if it didn’t stick on, it would quickly travel to the heart and brain, ensuring it went down quickly. He took position and waited for it to bit down. He ran, but it was even faster than he expected. It was on its legs, growling at him before he’d crossed half the distance. It wasn’t afraid of him. It was at the top of the food chain and it wouldn’t be the one backing down, not when it had to protect its food. It went on its back legs and swiped at him. He avoided the blow, but doing that forced him too far to slap the injector on. He readied himself for another try, but it was already facing him, back on all four. He didn’t want to get hurt. He couldn’t have any injuries the boy might question. He ran at it, and it went up on its back legs again. He expected the swipe, so went under it and tried to slap the injector on it’s shoulder, but it jumped to the side, landing on all four and then pouncing at him, forcing Tristan to throw himself away from the torn animal on the ground. He rolled, got back on his feet and faced it again. It was pacing back and forth, taking a few steps toward him, but then back to protect its meal. He backed away and watched as it began settling down, still pacing, but not chasing him. He ran at it again, watching how it moved and controlling the length of his strides. It didn’t have to be perfect, perfection was never required, but he couldn’t screw this up. He wouldn’t give the universe the satisfaction of engineering his own death. It reared and swiped. Tristan went under and then, as it began the jump away he threw himself at it, slapping the injector against its side. They rolled to the ground and its weight fell on his arm, wrenching it out of his shoulder. He bit back the pain and as soon as it was up, he was too, backing away. It wasn’t content with protecting it’s meal anymore. It followed him as he backed away. He wouldn’t turn his back to it. He’d learned that lesson in his youth, and had never figured out why his father had saved him, considering the way he treated him the rest of the time. With only one arm he couldn’t climb, not that he expected that to keep it away from him. So his only choice was to keep it at bay until the drug kicked in, only he had no idea how long that would take. He’d never tested reaction time in relation to the injection point. Something to do later, especially if Alex survived the job. He feinted a lunge at it and it backed away, staggering in the process. It righted itself, took a step forward and its leg folded. It lifted it, shook its head and let out a distressed mew before lying down. It panted heavily as Tristan moved close. It tried to growl, but it wasn’t more then a loud purr. He patted its shoulder and it closed its eyes. The universe had managed to get its lick in, but he’d survived again. He used a tree to force his shoulder back in place, then located the injector. He adjusted the settings so it would keep the beast sleeping until it got a dozed of stimulant, then added extra vials to make sure it wouldn’t run out. He secured it against its sides, adjusting the adhesive so it would fall off with any hard motion. Then he placed the other injector against it’s chest, as close to its heart as he could, set it so it wouldn’t fall off and programed it for remote activation before taking the control stick out. Now, all that was needed, was for a certain boy to come close for everything to be set.