Chapter 5
More Changes
Victoria thought her mate was underplaying his chances at ruling the moon.
Why did she even care? Part of the reason is that she wanted to have access to the family that she had come to this planet with.
She had already lost access to half her family because she left them behind on Jaded.
It was a hard thing for a mother to have to leave some of her children behind.
Having to do it again was even harder. At least she knew that she had given them the skills that they needed to survive and thrive.
Things were finally calming down, and the outbreak seemed to be under control.
All she could do was hope that the bad luck that had seemed to run rampant would end.
She was on her way to the cafeteria to meet Oret when he cut across her path, carrying a female.
Could it be another victim of the outbreak?
She followed him as he headed to medical and laid the lady on the table.
This woman looked more like a victim of an assault than a patient with an illness.
“She was attacked in her tent. I believe he was trying to sexually assault her. She said she bit him first, but that seemed to turn him on. It was only when she kicked him in the nuts that he got angry and threw her across the room and ran off. He spoke English, but she said it was more like the way a child might talk. I have my suspicions, and now we will have to safeguard all our females to be sure that they are not attacked. Ardeth thought that he was raiding their tent, looking for anything of value. My guess is that he was looking for food, and there was little to no food available because they had eaten at the cafeteria. When she came in and interrupted him, he decided to take advantage of her,” Oret explained.
Victoria remembered that her mate had mentioned his fear that a monster could get loose in the colony. She had no doubt that this was exactly what had happened. They had their first victim, but if they didn't find the creature, she would not be the last one attacked.
“Maybe we should bring everyone in closer to the center of camp? We could use some extra miners in pairs as added security.”
“That’s not a bad idea. The lady is married to one of your miners, and she works as a builder. A weaker person would have died when they were thrown across the room. They have three children.”
“That's not all,” Daisy added. “She’s pregnant right now, about three months. The baby seems fine. Her husband needs to be told.”
“What's his name?” Victoria asked.
“Drummond. Andy Drummond.” Daisy replied. “You might as well go because she's going to be out for hours. She's battered and in pain, so I gave her something.”
“I'll go let Andy know that he needs to come and sit with his wife.”
“I'll go with you.” Oret offered.
Victoria knew there was no way that he was going to let her walk up to the mine alone.
She couldn't even argue because he was right, and no one should be going anywhere alone.
The outbreak had been bad enough, but at least they knew what they were doing and had found a way to bring it under control.
A monster among them was a completely different situation, and while they could ease some of the possibilities, the creature would still be dangerous, and with so many people around, there would always be opportunities for it to attack.
They made it up to the mine, and she had her second get Andy. How would she tell him this? She'd better figure it out quickly because here came Andy, looking a little worried, like he thought he was in trouble.
“I'm sorry to tell you this, but something attacked your wife, and she is in medical. Just take off so that you can sit with her.” Victoria would let his wife tell him about the pregnancy because that was the way it should be.
Now, she and Oret needed to go and make some changes for better security.
As they approached the camp and she looked around, she knew it was going to be a long night.
She was giving the guards directions when she heard a scream cut off quickly, and she headed in the direction it had come from.
It was one of the tents that should have been empty but clearly wasn’t.
As she stepped into the tent, she saw the monster holding a teenage girl.
That wasn’t going to happen. Victoria had a special non-lethal gun, and she aimed it at the monster’s head.
“You won’t dare!” The monster said.
“Don’t be so sure,” Victoria replied.
As she pulled the trigger, the monster turned slightly, and it hit him in his back, which should have brought him down.
He dropped the girl and loped away, obviously hurting, but it hadn't injured him as much as it should have.
Those monsters were tough, and on the moon that might be a good thing, but down here in the colony it wasn't. She hurried to check on the young girl who was crying and screaming.
Victoria needed to get her to Doctor Daisy so she could calm down.
It was a lot for a young girl to go through.
By the time they got there, the girl was in a daze, and Daisy put her on a bed and gave her something.
“What happened to her?” Daisy asked.
“The monster attacked her and was going to carry her away. I hit him with my rubber bullet, and it didn't have much effect on him. I'm not saying it didn't hurt, but it should have knocked him out, and it didn't.”
“That isn't good. Perhaps we should work on a dart to throw at him. I can find something that will knock him out.”
“Do that so we'll have it if we need it,” Victoria directed.
They needed to find this monster and put him somewhere where he could do no harm.
She wasn't even sure that the monster moon would want him, but he was one of their kind, so they would have no choice.
From the report Radvar had received, their monster had not been on the ship legitimately.
He'd snuck aboard and entered their bay.
Normally, all the oxygen was sucked out before they took off, so they had no reason to be concerned about hitchhikers.
This time, the monster had broken the equipment, and the oxygen had stayed.
Just what they needed, a smart monster. Had he handled things differently, they might still not have known that he was there.
Ardeth had surprised him, and at that point, regardless of what he did, they would have known he was there.
The fact that he kept returning to their area to try to steal things and harm people was not a good decision, and eventually, he would pay for it.
Fenwik had opened a crate of non-lethal weapons, and almost everyone had one except the young children.
Rules were in place, and no one was to go anywhere alone or without a weapon.
The mine had security; two older people guarded the entrances for twelve-hour shifts.
They would find him, but in the meantime, they would limit the damage he could do.
Victoria had to get back to work, but she knew better than to go alone, so she needed to find someone to walk to the mine with her. It was a good surprise when Oret happened by.
“What are you doing here?” She asked.
“I came by to see what you were up to. I heard about another attack, and I wanted to ensure that you had someone with you to take you wherever you needed to go. Someone said you had been walking around alone.”
That was just her luck that someone had seen her and reported her, but at least she had her mate to take her where she needed to go.
“Who has been walking around with you?”
“Fenwik dropped me off here and headed to find his mate. I assume that you want to go to the mine?” Oret asked.
“I need to because all this nonsense has gotten me behind. If it continues, the Chief may lose his patience.”
“That is unlikely. He understands what is happening here, and the monster coming here was not our fault. You have extra miners right now that are training, which should make it less likely that you get behind anyway.”
They were headed up the mountain as he continued to try to calm her.
It wasn't helping because things weren't going the way that she wanted them to.
Nothing he said was going to make any difference unless she hit the levels she had planned.
Some would say she was a perfectionist, but she didn't agree with that.
She set high standards and wanted to ensure that she met them.
In a colony, it was even more important that the work be done, or the colony could fail.
Victoria refused to allow the area she oversaw to be the reason the colony failed.
The mines were what kept this colony going until the other necessary developments were properly established.
Eventually, she thought that farming and other activities, such as the industries that would eventually be developed, would play an equal part in the success of Mars 2.
Oret was too relaxed sometimes and not always as ambitious as she was.
In general, that was a good thing because he kept her calm and didn't add to her stress.
That wasn't working today because she was extremely stressed, and part of the problem was that she felt eyes on her.
Someone was watching, and for the life of her, she couldn't figure out where they were watching from.
Perhaps that was no surprise, given that they were heading up to the mines and surrounded by miles of countryside.
Victoria had the niggling feeling that it was the monster that was watching them, although she wasn't sure why.
Normally, that wouldn't have made her nervous, but she had never been watched and felt like prey.
That was the feeling she was getting right now, that she was being targeted for something.