Chapter 2

And the poachers. Cassandra was right; a single person really couldn’t handle an entire team bent on nabbing half a dozen leopards. Eryx knew he should turn back. It was pointless. Even if he found them he doubted he’d be able to shoot. Trained though he was, he knew he couldn’t kill anyone. Before he’d returned to Earth he would have had a different answer, but not now, not after seeing AJ.

His mind wandered to his brother, how he’d said he forgave Eryx on transmission. AJ had been sick for years and Eryx had gotten used to blowing all his time off visiting family because family could never visit him, could never meet him halfway, hop a space flight to some destination planet halfway between Earth and out here. Eryx was the one who’d moved so far away, after all. Who’d taken a job working for some rich bastard on a privately owned planet in an obscure system with a forgettable name. Who regularly missed holidays and never had much to send back on video transmissions.

He knew it was the grief, but recently the walls at base seemed to press in on him, blame him for living out here, immersed in work. He also knew he should take Cassandra up on her offer. Eryx figured his parents could use a visitor, even if he didn’t think he was ready to go back to Earth yet. Even if he couldn’t stand Cassandra’s caring and didn’t want to feel he owed her anything.

Eryx stopped, pulled out his transmitter, and checked the GPS. The poachers’ ship was halfway around a foothill a good mile and a quarter off this path. He blinked snowflakes off his eyelashes and considered. In normal weather, the trek would be easy. But with the snow piling up and the flakes increasing, it was dangerous. Of course, if he injured himself he could always message home base for Tina to send people to get him. She’d be pissed and he’d get written up. Again, probably, if Cassandra had done her duty and reported him.

Eryx knew he should turn back. Instead, he adjusted his gun and stepped off the path.

Over halfway toward where he wanted to be, the transmitter started getting buggy. Eryx adjusted and adjusted again, but the GPS couldn’t get a fix on the poachers’ ship. Once it dropped off completely, he set the guides to last known position and continued on, until he realized the GPS wasn’t reading him either.

“Shit,” he muttered to the storm swirling around him, flakes thicker and heavier now. The equipment was supposed to handle this sort of interference. Supposed to never lose operator coordinates. He’d run the checks on it before leaving, but it was just his luck it would choose now to break, when he was halfway to where he wanted to be.

The bright white and darker grey flecks of snow against the dull grey background of storm hurt his eyes, made them water. He blinked hard, determined not to let himself get emotional. But the situation had turned so fast, and Eryx was still dealing with the last time that had happened to him, and finally he admitted to himself he’d gone too far.

If the GPS wasn’t working, the poachers could be anywhere, even surround him, and he wouldn’t know. If it couldn’t locate his signal, he had no way to navigate back to home base. The snowstorm had intensified in the past ten minutes, and the cold had chilled the heat of Eryx’s frustration and helplessness. He felt ridiculous, standing alone in the middle of the wilds, and so very tired. He wanted to get somewhere warm and sleep.

“Base Home, come in,” he said to his transmitter, not proud he had to ask for a rescue but not foolish enough to try to haul his ass back without some way of knowing where he was going.

“Eryx?” The response sounded grainy, and he couldn’t identify the speaker’s voice. “Where are—your transmit—”

“Yeah, it’s not working too well. You’re breaking up.”

“I said—r transmitter.”

Eryx adjusted the device again, swallowing back building panic. Home base wasn’t reading him either. Cassandra was probably telling everyone how she’d tried to stop Eryx from leaving; Tina would be ordering her to shut up. But if they couldn’t locate him, Eryx was still stuck. In the middle of a snowstorm projected to last at least two days. No water, no food, just a gun and a group of armed poachers out there who would definitely kill him if they could.

“—and we will guide you. Respond affirmative, please.”

Eryx breathed out as the transmission cleared, almost to the point where he could guess who might be on the other end. It sounded like Mandy. Maybe.