My New Pet Robot 02

My father was right that there were some desperate men there but with a population of only seventy-odd I didn't consider them a big problem. The satellite cities circling Earth would be alright. They were the domain of the rich. They'd found a way to take it with them, but only into orbit.

Moon base would survive after a fashion. They had a population of over ten thousand and lots of modern industry sited there. They had the resources and space to expand. We would scrape by. There'd been debate about accepting the miners as refugees, the influx of all that many men would put women at an even higher premium.

She was amazed when she understood that it was floating on anti grav. She was doubly amazed by its telepathic abilities. We sat on the stools in the kitchen while I talked. When I finished I was sore from the hard seat, but Rose was all smiles.

Time had slipped by. Though her conduct had been business-like I'd enjoyed having her here. I doubt she said more than twenty or thirty words but she'd have a chance to say more tomorrow, and the tomorrows after.

"What time do you want to come by tomorrow?" I asked, standing.

"Nine 'o'clock, same as regular work," she replied, following me up. "I've got to get this lot back to the office and uploaded now."

I followed her back to the lounge, watching her slim hips waggle and catching the faintest trace of her scent, wondering if it was local or imported. I offered to help pack but she laughed that off. It was only a tripod and camera, barely a minute's worth in total.

I saw her out, watching her walk away and wishing the night away so I could see her sooner. I just listened to music till Sis came home; I couldn't concentrate on the book.

"Hi," Maggie said as she appeared behind me. "Had a relaxing day?"

"Ha," I snorted. "Do you know a girl called Rose? She was in your year."

"Rose...." she mused. "She's a blond, bit smaller than me?"

"Same size now, I think, but, yes, a blond."

"What of her?"

"She was here to record my first Q&A. What do you know of her?"

"She's a McTavish. Her father's on the council as well, why?"

"Nothing, really. She'll be around tomorrow for another session."

"She's a nice girl as far as I can remember. What's she doing now?"

"In an office somewhere, I think. She didn't say much."

"Aha. I'm going to get changed. Put some coffee on, will you?"

With that she turned and was out the door before I stood. I went and set the water warming and sat on a stool waiting. The talk of Rose had set my heart beating a little faster. She had something about her that had stirred my interest. Still, there was no point dreaming about her, she probably already in a relationship.

I was thinking about my leaving for university but there'd be none of that now. I couldn't see them letting me wander around Lunar One with Vincent trailing behind me. My reasoning depressed me, putting the biggest strike against Vincent yet.

I had another talk with Father when he came home. They'd opened the pod and found a desiccated body. It was furry, a dark fur, they thought, and the first x-rays showed a hundred and fifteen centimetre skeleton. It looked bipedal with three-fingered toes and hands.

He dialled up his secure channel and showed me some of the pictures; I was vaguely reminded of a kangaroo. They were processing the DNA now, little snips had been taken and these were being examined now. Some of the scientists wanted to send samples to Earth since they had better facilities and brains down there.

Security prevailed, of course, same with the pod itself. It wasn't a metal as we thought of metals. It had organic structures in it. They hadn't dared try to open the rest yet. The skin was impervious to our cutting lasers and they were resorting to ultrasonics to look for catches or something.

I spent a listless night, trying to read my book, waking up lying on top of it listening to the warning bleep of the low power alarm. It was early, only oh five forty nine, too early to get up yet sleep had left me, my meeting with Rose filling my thoughts.