“You get too many beings in one place, some of them are going to be bad ones. Out here, just a few animals to worry about, and mostly they mind their own business.”
“Just a few animals?” Brick stared out into the darkness. “Maybe. But if there’s just animals, why’s the major got us out on guard duty? There’s got to be something else out there-maybe those Hidden Ones the Zenobians are talking about.”
“If you ask me, I think the Hidden Ones will stay hidden,” said Garbo, scoffing. “They have no reason to bother us-“
There was a loud crack from somewhere in the dark outside the perimeter. “Ssst! What’s that?” Brick hissed suddenly. She turned and pointed into the darkness, crouching to present a smaller target.
“Something moving,” said Garbo, ducking down beside her partner. “Something big. Wind’s the wrong way to pick up scent.”
“There’s not supposed to be anything big out there,” said Brick, her voice a whisper. “What do we do?”
“Remember orders,” murmured Garbo. “First wait and see. It might not come any closer. If it does, we use stunners and call for backup.”
“Stunners, right,” said Brick nervously. She clicked off the safety on her stunner and peered over its sights toward where the sounds had come from. Not for the first time, she wished she had the Gambolt’s hypersensitive ears and nose. Even with the night vision goggles, it was hard to make out anything beyond the edge of the camp. The landscape appeared in false colors, according to temperature; in Earth-like ecologies, that meant that large lifeforms generally stood out in bright contrast to the cooler background. But here, with only a few warm-blooded native life-forms, the colors were uniformly muted. And despite the noise they’d heard, nothing seemed to be moving.