Night of the Aurora (Salmon Run - Book 1)

Chapter 16

Sasha had seen a polar bear at the Alaska State Zoo in Anchorage. She'd seen plenty of black bears and grizzlies.

But never this close. And never with a tool belt around the middle.

A tool belt?

She looked down from the snout full of teeth and the claws smoothing out the vest over its upper body. Yep, it was a tool belt, complete with pouches, slots and loops to hang stuff, although she didn't recognize any of the tools. 

"Do be careful. Halls are not where we run," a gruff voice said.

Sasha could feel her eyes get even wider.

And then Zach yelled. A long wild yell, complete with wide and terrified eyes. She covered her ears, flinching away from him. It petered out into a pathetic whisper.

"What was that for?" the bear demanded, throwing its head back and blinking furiously.

"Neutralize all intruders," the robot hiccupped from behind them.

Sasha whirled, finding the glowing end of the weapon aimed straight at them. And the weapon was held much too steady. The robot might still be having trouble with its speech, but it no longer had the twitches in its motor control.

She didn't like that. She wanted it to have trouble walking.

"Deactivate your weapon! Do not point it at me," the bear said so sharply and loud that Sasha jumped.

"All primitive native life-form intruders will be neutralized," the robot said.

"I don't care what your orders are. Deactivate now!"

The robot took three paces backwards, lowering the tip of the weapon to the floor. The bright tip dimmed.

The movement didn't fool Sasha a bit. All it had to do was bring it up a little and fire.

The bear looked down at them, the dark eyes narrowing, "You shouldn't be in here. Go on, turn around and go out the way you came in."

The bear turned to go down one of the hallways, grumbling something under his breath that Sasha couldn't make out.

But she could make out the reaction of the departure of the bear on the robot. The weapon was rising. Zach saw it as well, taking a small step back.

Sasha had a better idea. She looked down the hall at the departing form of the bear. If it had meant them harm it could have killed them in one swipe of its massive paws. And compared to the other alien they saw, she liked the appearance of this one. Maybe it was the vest with the ornate ribbing around the edges.

Now, the robot, she knew what it wanted to do. And she didn't want any part of that.

Before the bear could get any further and the weapon any higher, Sasha jerked Zach down the hallway. She quickened her space, dragging him along behind her. "It won't fire at the bear!"

"What if the bear is dangerous?" he whispered back.

Sasha noted the robot was following them, but the closer they got to the bear the lower the weapon dropped towards the floor. "You mean after you screamed at it?"

"It's a bear!"

"Bears don't talk!"

They both went silent as they grew close, shadowing the bear as it ambled down the hallway. The part of her mind not worryed about how they were going to get out of the situation laughed at the sight they must present.

A polar bear walking on two legs with the long claw of one paw hooked into its tool belt, two human kids dressed in winter gear dwarfed by the size of the polar bear, and a robot pacing behind with its weapon moving up and down depending on how close the humans were to the polar bear.

What an odd parade.

The bear rested a stubby-fingered paw on one of the panels and a door slid open. That's when she saw a familiar object on the bear's wrist. A translator just like she and Zach now had.

Sasha slipped in after him before the door could close with Zach so close behind her that his feet hit the back of her boots.

The robot, she was pleased to note, stopped at the entrance of the door with its weapon lowered completely to the floor. But it also didn't move away as the door stopped just shy of closing fully.

Great, it was waiting for them to come out.

"We have company," a high-pitched voice said. "Why did you let them in?"

Sasha searched to identify where it came from. A dark brown furry little body rose up from the equipment covering a counter on the right side of the room, pouring a yellow liquid into a glass beaker. 

The body reminded her of a tail-less beaver. But, not the eyes. The small blue intelligent and shrewd eyes narrowed at them while two stubby paw-hands completed their task. "They should not be here."

The bear looked around. Spotting them, it huffed in a way that made the hair at the back of her neck stand up. It sounded much too similar to a bear when it was agitated. "I told you to go back the way you came."

"Go! Out with you," the smaller creature yelled out in a voice that only rose in pitch. He rose up on his haunches, waving them away with his long-fingered front paws. "Go back to your caves. Uppity creatures."

Zach didn't answer. He stood next to her, plastered against the wall and staring up at the bear with wide eyes. Had he even seen the annoying fur-ball on the counter?

Sasha pointed at the robot at the door, "We're not going anywhere right now. Not until someone does something about that thing."

The bear angled to one side to see past her. It huffed again. "Out with you, security-bot! Now!"

The robot didn't move. The bear stalked towards the door and Sasha and Zach moved out of its way.

It put a paw on the panel next to the door. When the door did nothing, he took his paw off and put it on again. The door inched open but refused to close further. "The door mechanism isn't working."

"Engineering needs to get this fixed," the creature on the counter muttered. It raised its voice, pointing straight at Sasha, "And get them out of here!"

The robot hesitated. Retracting the weapon as it took a step back. "Resuming security search pattern."

"You do that," the bear yelled after it as it disappeared down the  hall. 

Sasha let out a deep breath. It was nice not to have weapons aimed at her.

"Stupid things." The creature on the counter dropped down to all four paws to root around the bottles against the back wall of the counter.

"They have their uses," the bear said. It sat down on a big stool at another counter, turning to study Sasha and Zach. "Now, what to do with you? Any ideas, Yenni?" 

"You are the one fascinated by them, not me." Okay, a name for the fur-ball. "Can you get them out without the Admiral knowing? Or perhaps… hmm."

"Out with it," the bear said while Sasha eyed the door. The robot was gone, but if they left on their own would it be waiting for them down the hall?

"They are here, you need to advance your research. Use them as test subjects. You can't get much closer to them than you are now."