Julia Ecklar - The Human Animal

“And sarcastic.” She turned half away from the comlink to check on the passenger tucked comfortably under her bed. He’d taken the blankets and all the extra pillows, and now all she could see of him was one elbow and the top of his shaven head from somewhere inside the fluffy bundle. Even Toad had been chased out of the boy’s makeshift habitat when she’d tried to cuddle up with him for softness. “At least I’m not coming back empty-handed. Tell Saiah I’m bringing home an animal more valuable than anything we ever thought he sent me for.”

“A Terran animal? Really?” Paval sat up attentively from more than a hundred light-years away. “How many? What kind?”

“One. The most successful, complicated, and misunderstood animal on Interface station. And a kind Noah’s Ark has never really worked with before.” Rahel watched the boy roll over in his sleep, hugging himself into a ball as small as a baby and as complicated as the world. “I just hope we’re up to the challenge.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of the author’s “Noah’s Ark” series, which also includes “Blood Relations” (June 1992), “Ice Nights” (October 1992), and “Tide of Stars” (January 1995).