Waves whispered against the sand, a warm wash over Steg’s feet as he pelted down the beach at top speed. A fresh wave foamed around his knees, and he fell, giggling, into the surf. He spat out a mouthful of brine, licking the salt from his lips. Thirst burned on his tongue, a thirst that could never be quenched. Because…
“Arrival at destination. Slowing into a stable orbit. Stealth shield engaged. Autopilot awaiting further instructions.”
The emotionless voice of his ship AI was enough to jar Steg out of his worst nightmare, but he wished he could live just a few moments longer in the childhood memory of the beach he’d loved so much. A beach that probably still existed, but he’d never see again unless this mission was successful.
Which meant he had to succeed. Succeed where no one else had, so his prince would reward him with the chance to walk those shores once more, instead of spending his life in space as a scout.
A man could wish…
“Awaiting further instructions,” the AI repeated. Steg knew he only imagined the annoyance in her tone, but it still grated. Oh, for the chance to live planetside, and never have to hear that snippy voice again.
Steg sighed. “Maintain a stable orbit and scan the planet for life signs. Identify three most likely landing sites for finding the prince’s bride.”
The prince was a lucky man. He had scouts out all over the galaxy, looking for the perfect queen to take home to the Jura System, where he’d be crowned king. No matter how backward a planet she’d come from, she’d want for nothing, living a life of luxury in the prince’s palace, with no other duty than bearing the prince a few heirs to ensure his line would rule for another generation.
No woman would want to share Steg’s life. Exiled to a scout ship, never to set foot on a planet except in search of another man’s bride…not to mention the short life span. There was a reason they sent scouts ahead…scouts were expendable. If a planetary defence system shot down a scout, the mothership knew to avoid that planet, or at least negotiate before they could land. Whereas if they shot down a ship carrying the prince…well, that would be a declaration of war. And if there was one thing the Sauria were good at, it was making war.
This planet wouldn’t survive a Sauria attack. Its primitive defences hadn’t detected his arrival, or they didn’t have the power to blow him out of the sky, if they had.
Steg wondered what sort of bride they might provide for the prince. He couldn’t imagine the prince wanting to train her in basic hygiene and technology, but it would be funny to watch. It would serve the pampered royal right.
But a displeased prince might not be as grateful to the scout who’d found him a primitive bride instead of a perfect queen, so Steg offered a prayer to the stars that there was a queen waiting for him down on that blue-green surface.
At least he got to step out onto the surface to search for her. That’s why he’d signed up as a scout. If he couldn’t go home, at least he could breathe air and feel real gravity again, if just for a little while.
He checked the ship’s computer. The scan was taking some time.
So he opened a communications channel to the mothership.
“Scout Steg to Mothership Rex. Have arrived at target planet. Currently scanning life forms to identify optimal landing site.”
“Acknowledged, Scout Steg. Proceed to planet surface and commence your mission. If you are successful, remember that the prince will reward you.” Raptor sounded as if he’d said that line too many times to care about it any more.
Steg bowed. “I live to serve the crown to the best of my ability.”
Raptor didn’t look impressed. “Good hunting, Scout Steg.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Steg said, as the computer announced that it had identified three possible landing sites. “Headed down to the surface momentarily. Will contact when bride has been located. Scout Steg out.”
***
Steg had needed to check the computer readout twice before he was sure he’d read it right, and he made it scan the planet again before he believed it. A planet where the dominant species was mammalian? He’d never heard of such a thing.
Everyone knew reptilian species evolved into superior humanoids. On occasion, the conditions on some planets had favoured the evolution of avians into the dominant species, but the people of those backward planets were the butt of every joke Steg had ever heard. Now he’d found a planet ruled by soft, stupid mammals…no one back home would believe him.
Unless he found the prince a bride here…a queen who could corroborate his story.
All the more reason to do his duty to the crown.
Steg pulled up the three likely landing locations. All showed therapod footprints, which was interesting. Mammals might be the dominant species on the planet, but some reptilians remained, likely hiding from the stupid, squishy lords of the land. He was willing to bet every credit he owned that his new queen couldn’t wait to leave this primitive planet, to take up residence in a more civilised part of the galaxy. A sentiment he certainly shared.
Well, when he found her, they could fly away to the mothership, so she could claim her crown and he could have his boon from the prince.
And every day for the rest of his life, he’d walk on the beach. Because he could.
Steg drew in a deep breath and took another look at the footprints. Two of the pictures were in dry desert locations, while the third appeared to be on a beach, with water lapping at the sand, not far from the footprints. Whoever had made those footprints had likely run through the waves, just as he used to do as a child. A queen after his own heart.
He checked the odds on each of the sites. Even the ship’s computer rated that beach as the best place to search for a bride.
The water might be blue instead of the green of home, and the red rock looked nothing like the pristine white beaches in his memories, but a beach was a beach, and this one called to him just as clearly as the one in his dreams.
On that beach, his luck would change. That’s what the universe was telling him, and Steg intended to listen.
“Chart a course for that beach,” he told the computer, as he strapped into his seat. “That’s where I’ll find her. I have a good feeling about this.”
***
Candace checked her phone. She had an hour until low tide, which was probably just enough time to call her family before she could head out to document that new footprint find. Right now, the waves were still lapping at those rocks, and they’d photograph better when they weren’t full of water.
The lady at the museum had said these were probably Megalosauropus broomensis, which made them effectively as common as muck along this coastline, but Candace intended to document them and check. This could be a new species they hadn’t seen before, either in this region or anywhere. That was the stuff of dreams…or plenty of peer reviewed papers that would make her parents proud.
Which was why she should call them now, before they went to bed or started watching whatever TV program they wouldn’t want interrupted.
Candace hit her parents’ home number on her mobile, before she could second guess herself.
It rang a few times, before someone answered. “Hello?”
“Justin, it’s me. Candace,” she said. “Are Mum and Dad home?”
“Of course not. It’s Mr Wang’s birthday, so they’ve all gone out for dinner. Usually we get invited, too, but now his daughter’s engaged, me and John aren’t wanted any more. He’s gone to get pizza.”
“Ah.” If anyone could truly be the perfect daughter, that would be Jasmine Wang. Candace’s parents had invoked Jasmine’s name any time Candace’s grades slipped, or she considered doing anything that didn’t fit with her parents’ plans for her. They’d made it very clear that Jasmine Wang definitely wouldn’t have refused a perfectly good job offer to take a year off, living out of a van, digging up dinosaur footprints in a town so far from civilisation, you had to check for crocodiles before you could go swimming. Then again, Jasmine Wang had studied accounting and cybersecurity, so her first job in her father’s company involved doing a complete audit of the staff, to see where there might be financial discrepancies. To hear Justin and John tell it, Jasmine had been the proverbial crocodile in her dad’s financial waters, dressed impeccably in a suit and heels. If she and Candace had been the same age, they might have been friends…but she was the same age as Justin and John, so Jasmine had dismissed her as the annoying kid sister, and Candace was doomed to follow in Jasmine’s increasingly glowing footsteps.
Candace snorted. She’d bet every cent she had that Mum would be asking about her marriage prospects next, if Jasmine was actually engaged.
“You were invited, though. Because Eric’s still single.” Justin sounded accusing, like that was her fault.
Eric was single because he had all the personality of a wet cardboard box. He’d studied business and programming, and the only time Candace had ever heard him sound even the slightest bit excited was when he was talking about the financial forecasting programs he was working on for his father’s company. She’d started off trying not to yawn, and by the time someone had rescued her from the man’s monologue, she suspected she’d been seconds away from dozing off entirely. Candace would like to meet the woman (or man) who Eric could love more than he did computer code, because she suspected they’d be remarkable, but that person would never be her. As for her own preferences…well, let’s just say she’d prefer sleeping with the fossilised remains of the creature who’d made the footprints she was waiting to visit, than Eric himself.
“When are you going to grow up, Candy? I remember when you declared yourself the queen of the dinosaurs and me and John pretended to be dinosaurs from your book, but that was years ago, when we were kids. Dinosaurs are extinct and we’re adults now. You should act like one, and come home.”
Justin cared about her, Candace reminded herself. He was perfectly happy living at home with their parents and going to work every day as one of Mr Wang’s accountants. So was John. Neither of them could understand her need for this little bit of freedom. It wasn’t like she’d taken a gap year to backpack through South America. She’d stayed in the same state of the same country where she’d grown up, doing a research project for the university where she’d completed her undergraduate degree, adding to the body of human knowledge of the planet they all shared.
“I’m not on holiday, Justin. I’m in Broome for my honours research project. If I quit halfway through, I’ll fail, and I’d never hear the end of it from Mum and Dad. A Start-Ling does not fail!” She deepened her voice, like it was Dad talking, but she knew the worst lecture she’d get would be from Mum, because Mum would keep going over and over and over it until Candace gave in and did whatever Mum wanted. Like always. But not this time. “I’m finishing my honours degree, and I won’t be home until my research is complete, and I know I’ll get first class honours for it. Professor Rigel hasn’t even arrived yet. I’m doing all the preliminary work, so that when she does come up, we can get right into the most important part of the project.” Whatever that might be. Professor Rigel hadn’t told her yet, and she was fast running out of sites to survey. But her family didn’t need to know that.
“Digging up dinosaurs isn’t really a job, though, is it? The only reason Mum tolerates it is because she thinks you sold your car to pay for a deposit on an investment property up there, so you can rent out the rooms to pay for it. If she knew you were living out of a van like some gypsy…” He trailed off, almost like it was a threat.
This time, Candace lost patience with her brother. “Is that a threat? Because you know what’ll happen if you do tell her. She’ll send you and John up here to come and get me. To a crocodile infested town in the middle of nowhere, where the dust turns everything bright red and you can’t wash it out, even in the wet season, when everything floods. You two wouldn’t last five minutes up here, while I’ve been living here for months. I haven’t seen a single crocodile, outside of the wildlife park, but I swear there’s a frog in every toilet. You get up to go in the middle of the night, and when you sit down, this cold, little hand comes out and…”
She could almost hear her brother shudder. “All right, all right! I won’t tell her. But you’d better get first class honours, Candy. And definitely don’t get eaten by a crocodile.”
“Of course I won’t. I told you, I’ve never seen one in the wild. Getting felt up by frogs, though…” Candace blinked. “What the hell? I’ve got to go, Justin. Tell everyone I said hi.” She ended the call and rose from her perch on the steps of her van. The tide was definitely out now, leaving nothing but mudflats for miles, which was why she couldn’t help but see…
“Holy shit,” she breathed.
***
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