The ship was dark inside.

It wasn't that bad at the entrance - there was light coming from the shuttles, and that filtered in through the damaged airlock. But beyond that it was... nightmarish. There were emergency lights spaced out along the walls, all leading the way we came, and they meant that the only light inside was an angry red color.

The guards with us did something to their helmets as we went inside, and for a half second I was hopeful they would at least have flashlights... but whatever they had done had just been for their benefit. Probably some very useful bit of Kymari technology that would illuminate things on their helmet display.

After another second of walking through the dark corridors Minna flinched, as if remembering something she was embarrassed about, then made the same motion to her helmet. After that she began walking more confidently through the ship.

Great. Everybody can see in this but me.

The ship was also quiet. There was a bit of a distant hum of machinery - the kind of noises I would expect from refrigerators or air conditioning. Something was still trying to move air around somewhere. And occasionally I could hear the guards talking. But other than that it was quiet.

I really, really did not want to be there.

I focused on the smells again. Now that we were on the ship a lot of the distracting smells had been filtered out. I could still pick up the scent of fires and of the Kymari city, but they were muted and distant. Now the air had a recycled quality to it, a sterile feeling. The scent of metals was strongest. The scents of Kymari was the next thickest in the air.

There were also scents of common Kymari foods, but they were faint, as if wherever the food had usually been eaten was further inside the ship, or else the food hadn't been exposed for very long. No scents of lingering cooking, the way I noticed around Terron or Minna's kitchens.

The scent of stagnant water was also a little stronger. Was that maybe a side effect of Kymari technology? Something in their spaceships that made the air smell like... sewage? Stale water, decaying plants?

I couldn't imagine the Kymari wanting to put up with that smell for long, even as faint as it was, but... maybe they had grown used to it. Their noses didn't seem to be as strong as mine was; maybe they didn't even notice it.

The scent of blood was also stronger.

Minna kept a close eye on me as we walked through the ship. I could tell she was hoping I would start acting excited, and that she could use that to find the sicora, but... I just didn't know what I was looking for. I wasn't even smelling the strange ktari scent. Just... random scents. The only thing that really stood out was the cologne or aftershave or whatever it was that one of our guards was wearing way too much of, but other than that, it...

It smelled exactly like how I would expect a spaceship that had suddenly crashed to smell, which was to say, I had no idea which of these smells was out of place - if any of them actually were!

We walked slowly through the ship. The creepy, dark, empty ship. In which a nightmare creature lurked, one that - if the Blood Memories and Ivy's descriptions were accurate - wanted to kill all of us.

I jerked and hissed as one of our guards lifted his hand and stopped. Minna stopped after him and watched me, but I forced myself to calm down. The sudden motion of the Kymari had startled me; I didn't want her thinking that meant I had found something.

"Ketzel's reached the bridge. They found three survivors; they're bringing them out now. He wants us to hold here until they're out, and wait until we have the guards escorting them out back with us."

Minna nodded and slowly moved to lean against the wall of the corridor. The guards took up similar positions, and all four Kymari began glancing up and down the passage.

"Just three?" Minna's voice had an edge of worry to it. "A passenger liner this size would usually have a crew of twelve. How many were you able to rescue before we got here?"

"Four." Minna winced at the guard's answer. "The manifest says they were short handed though; two of them were flagged with an illness and had to stay in quarantine. They weren't able to get any alternates."

"So three unaccounted for."

"Just one. They've found the remains of two crewmembers."

Minna winced again. I thought back to the group of Kymari we had seen huddled by the shuttles. How many passengers would have been on this ship? It wouldn't have made much sense to have twelve crew and only a handful of passengers. A ship this size could easily hold fifty, sixty people, depending on how long the journey was and how cramped the rooms were.

And the guard had specified that the remains of two crewmembers had been found. Had they found remains of passengers? Were they just trying to spare Minna's feelings by holding back some of the details? I knew the Kymari tended to see her as a kid; were they just trying to shelter her?

How many people had already died here?

"Has he noticed anything?"

Minna shook her head. "Not that I can tell. He seems unusually alert and nervous, but I don't know how much of that is from being in a strange situation while I'm nervous, and how much of that is from smelling anything. The notes I've read from the other handlers suggests they get extremely agitated when a sicora is near, but... he wasn't raised along with the other wild fire lizards. That may have been a learned behavior he doesn't have yet."

No kidding.

"'Notes you've read?' You haven't done this before?"

"I've only been an official handler for a few days. I told Ketzel; I'm still in training. We weren't expecting to actually start on even light patrols for a few weeks."

One of the other guards muttered something under his breath. The guard that had been talking to Minna shot him a look and spoke sternly. "Understood. We're still grateful for your help. Having a civilian braving this danger along with us despite having none of our training is something we appreciate and will remember. We're grateful for your help, and will do our best to keep you safe." He turned back to Minna. "Is there anything we can do to help? Ketzel's asking how you'd like to proceed."

I felt Minna take a deep breath underneath me, and realized she was steeling herself before asking something unpleasant.

Oh, no...

"I've taught him how to track scents if he's exposed to one. We might be able to use that." She hesitated again.

No, no, no, no, no...

"Can you bring me to one of the bodies?"

I wanted to throw up.

I had lived on my own for eight years. I had caught fish and other small animals, and I had cut them to pieces small enough for Susie to eat. I had pulled bones from meat, so they wouldn't cut up her stomach, for nearly every day of my life for eight years.

I had developed a pretty strong stomach.

What the sicora had done to this person made me want to throw up.

I understood why the guard had used the term 'remains' instead of 'bodies'. This was not a body anymore. It was hard to tell this was even a Kymari anymore. This was... this was a collection of blood, and flesh, and gore, and viscera, all thrown around the small compartment.

Even in the faint emergency lights, I was seeing far, far more than I wanted to.

Some... pieces... had obviously been chewed on, but... this mess didn't look like any part of a strategy. The creature hadn't just been carving up a meal to get to parts it could eat. I could tell, I could feel it, just from looking at the blood-stained room.

The monster that had killed this person hadn't done it because it was hungry. It had ripped this person to shreds for fun.

A trail of bloody footprints led off down the passage. The steps didn't seem hurried. I doubted the attacker had been chased off - it sounded like the Kymari had been hunkering down and trying to survive, not trying to attack or threaten this thing. That would mean it hadn't been interrupted or chased away. It had just eaten what it wanted, and left the rest when... when it had gotten bored. Then it had gone off to find somebody else to kill.

This wasn't right.

I could tell Minna was doing her best not to look into the small room. I was pretty sure she just wanted to turn and leave - or maybe I was just projecting because I really, really wanted to turn and leave. The guards were all watching her, though. She took another deep breath and stepped closer to the remains.

"Okay, Nate." She held up her arm and I slowly hopped off her shoulder. She passed me over some of the bloody pieces. "Get a good sniff."

I so did not want to do that...

I leaned towards the mess and slowly inhaled.

The scent of blood was overwhelming.

There was a strong scent of fear. Sweat. I smelled the scent of Kymari, which I had expected. The same scents of metal and sterile air. The scent of death.

But that other scent was particularly strong here. The mildewy, stale water smell. The decaying plants. And mixed into that was the smell of excitement. Adrenaline.

The smell of a sicora.

I hissed and spread my wings with the realization. I had it. I knew what I was looking for now. I could feel the scent teasing my nostrils, and knew what direction the monster had gone in. Even past where the blood staining its feet had stopped leaving marks on the floor. Some instinct drove me to growl out a phrase. "Found it."

Minna inhaled sharply at my reaction. "He's got something. Let Ketzel know; I think it went that way." She stepped out of the small room and pointed in the direction I was staring. I fidgeted on her arm and hissed impatiently. I wanted to go. I wanted to find this thing. Now that I had made the connection between the scent and the image Ivy had sent me of a sicora, every part of my dragonet body burned with a need to track the scent to its source.

One of the guards turned away from us and spoke hurriedly. I hissed louder and moved down Minna's arm, going towards the scent, but Minna held onto the leash and waited. I growled and bent back to chew on the yellow leash. We needed to go. The sicora was going to get away!

Finally, finally the guard turned back to us and nodded. Minna held up her arm and unwound the leash. "Okay, Nate."

"Go seek."

I growled again and tore down the passage after the scent.