@ScienceFiction, Contests and Challenges II, October 2023: Write a short story about a space traveler and their pet.

Word count = 998

*** Contest Second Place Winner ***

Why were teenage daughters so disobedient? Especially mine. I told her in no uncertain words to stay on the ship for her own good.

But parental anger gave way to a deep fear for her safety. This was a dangerous place.

Far out in the lawless fringes of the outer colonies, the Tyrene Moon Exchange held great profit potential for a trader like me, but also substantial risk. Deadly risk.

Despite my command, Aurora ventured out toward the Fairs, a colorful and vibrant place filled with small vendors hawking all sorts of wares along the cobbled streets — someplace irresistible to her. She never made it there.

I bent down along a gutter near the Warehouse District edge and gathered up pieces from her com, which I had tracked. From here, narrow dusty streets led one way to the Fairs, and another to a vast jungle of rusty metal buildings. A brown-stained tooth with fresh blood laid nearby — Aurora must have fought back.

Of all the shady characters found here, the worst were the Slavers. And a lone sixteen-year-old girl with long blonde hair like Aurora was a prime target.

But they did not consider that Aurora had a fiercely protective, ex-military special forces father.

I had to act fast before they took her off-world. I didn't want to think about what might happen to her if so.

How would I find her? As an idea came to me, hope stirred.

Flip and Flop were two little white weasels, and Aurora's constant companions, although they only tolerated me. They were always good for spirited entertainment, but historically, weasels were highly prized in humanity's early space exploration years and selectively bred for space travel, but also for rambunctious cuteness. They had important functions, such as detecting small leaks and controlling the inevitable vermin. A mouse on my cargo ship would not survive long.

During spaceflight, we had a game called 'find Aurora', where she would hide somewhere on the ship and I would send out the mischievous critters to find her. Sniffing along as if on a hunt, it rarely took them over ten minutes to discover Aurora and do their signature happy dance.

Four concerned little eyes met me at my boxy ship's boarding hatch. When I asked, "Want to help me find Aurora?" they practically leaped into my arms.

I gathered weapons and raced back to the market while Flip and Flop peeked out of my shirt pocket.

At the place I found Aurora's com-viewer, I set the weasels down and initiated the game. "Find Aurora!"

At first sniffing the air, they quickly locked on to her scent and bounded off. The yellow sun hung low in the sky and long shadows darkened the streets between warehouses — perfect for a rescue mission.

Flip and Flop were surprisingly swift, and I struggled to keep up. Fortunately, they each had a tiny imbedded tracking chip I could follow with my com-viewer. Periodically, the hunters would stop to sniff, then dart off again in a different direction.

We weaved through the buildings, many empty and derelict, fortunately encountering no one on the dusty streets.

The critters abruptly stopped at one particular single-level building and sniffed along the rusty, corrugated metal wall. Then, upon finding a corner gap, slipped inside.

*****

Dad was going to be so angry with me. Then, despair flooded my heart and a tear traced my cheek — I might not see him ever again.

How could I have been so stupid?

But I did what Dad taught me when this smelly man grabbed me. I spun in his grasp and drove my elbow into his face, knocking out a tooth. That was enough to break free and run. But he had equally stinky friends, and one of them had a stun-stick. Those things really hurt.

So here I was sitting on the dirty floor in a holding cell with a dozen others, mostly younger. Some openly sobbed. The bad men discouraged talking, sometimes painfully enforced.

A little dark-haired girl, only nine-years-old, leaned against me, and I tried to offer what assurance I could. "Be strong, Nina," I whispered. "My dad will find us. I know it."

I wished I was actually that certain.

A rustling in the shadows caught my ear. As if an answer to prayers, Flip and Flop squeezed through the rusty bars and pounced me, hopping on my lap and twisting about in chaotic dances.

My heart rose from the abyss, and even Nina smiled. This meant Dad was near. "Chill, you two," I whispered to my squirming rescuers, one in each hand.

Then I noticed the ear-piece attached to Flip's collar and pushed it into my left ear. "Dad, are you there?"

"Are you okay, Aurora?" said the most welcomed voice in the universe.

"I'm okay for now."

"Tactical?" he said.

I knew what info he needed. "I and twelve others are held in a cage along the back wall. There are at least six hostiles armed with side-arms and stun-sticks. Two are near me, four by the front door. Be careful, Dad."

"Okay, get down. Front explosive breech in thirty seconds. I love you."

I stood and motioned while speaking in a loud whisper, "Everyone. Lie down on the floor and cover your ears. Help is coming." Eventually, they all complied.

A scruffy man near the cell door rose from his chair, narrowing eyes while lifting a stun stick. "What are--" The ear-splitting percussive explosion took away his words. I sheltered Flip, Flop, and Nina in my arms as grit pelted us and dust clouds billowed up.

"Everyone, stay down!" I shouted as short bursts from a projectile rifle echoed through the building.

Then silence.

When the cage door creaked open, I ran into my father's arms. "Love you too, Dad." After Flip and Flop squirmed around our shoulders in repetitive victory laps, I cuddled them. "You two are also my heroes."

"Aurora," Dad whispered, kissing my forehead. "You're grounded. Like forever."