The Coralhound Queens

Ava limped toward the wreckage of two Fleabites.

Her chrome leg hissed as she knelt before the wreckage. She dug through the remains fast. Not much to be found from one-man ships. There hadn't been a decent haul for weeks.

A howl tore through the air.

Ava cursed.

She fastened the latch of her pack and looped it over her shoulder.

Her eardrums nearly ruptured from the second howl. Through the wreckage stalked a tall reptilian beast with clawed arms and smouldering luminescent scales. A Radspine. The earth beneath its feet turned to ash, and Ava could feel that heat on her skin.

She ran.

The Radspine dropped onto all fours and raced after them.

Ava twisted, her chrome leg threatening to buckle, and drew the Atomcutter at her hip. The pistol hissed as two red beams slammed into the Radspine. One clipped its leg, the other went through its eye and a spray of green slime exploded out the back of its head. But the Radspine kept chasing her.

It was catching up.

Ava holstered the Atomcutter, and dropped to one knee. She pulled the Starsplitter from her back and set it on her shoulder.

She took a deep breath, staring the Radspine head on, and waited for it to get closer.

The Radspine leaped.

Ava pulled the trigger. The force sent her stumbling backward. Something in her chrome leg snapped, and she fell to the ground. She propped herself on an elbow in time to see the remains of the Radspine rain down on the sand. It sizzled where the green ichor touched.

Ava staggered to her feet, the knee joint of her robotic leg broken, and began the long walk back to her ship.

Something howled in the distance.

"Maybe I won't come back to Arax for a while."

***

The Coralhound was an orange and purple spacetruck that was too small to be a cargo vessel and too big to be a Fleabite.

Ava slumped into the seat and hit the automated orbital reentry. Coralhound lurched to life, thrusters taking her off the ground until they were among the clouds, then the big 'uns kicked in. Ava was rattled around in her seat as the ship broke through the atmosphere.

Moments later she was looking down on the dead world of Arax from the stars.

She started to fiddle with her robotic leg. She had a spare knee joint, but it didn't match the chrome. More and more her leg was turning into a patchwork of metals. Ava sighed as she set to repairing it.

The comm unit buzzed to life. An incoming call. The name read Endolina. She ignored it. A message popped up on screen, seven missed calls and five messages.

Ava reached out to the retro polaroid on her dashboard. She was kissing the cheek of a raven haired woman. Endolina loved all that old world crap. Ava turned it over, reading the back for the hundredth time, To Endo, love Ava. And written under that in a different hand, Sorry Ava, but I had to go. Love, Endo.

Ava tossed the polaroid back onto the dashboard.

"You still ignoring her?" Kegi, a short stumpy robot with a dome head, asked.

"She's the one that left."

"Maybe she wants to come back?"

Ava hunched over her leg, worrying the knee joint.