17th MARCH 7081, OSA DROPSHIP ROOBARB, EN ROUTE TO INNER PLANET, CAROLYN SYSTEM

The inner planet of the Carolyn system, a white disk streaked with bluish grey, loomed large in the front viewport of the dropship. Sorcha felt cold just looking at it. What a horrible world.

This could be Summerkin, the dream taunted her. She swatted it away, but not before a thread of despair wound its way through her. She played with a lock of her red hair, grateful for a distraction. Any distraction.

"Join the OSA," a disconsolate voice said from behind her, tinged with sarcasm. "Join the OSA and make a difference." Sorcha didn't have to turn around to know it was Chesney. Maybe I shouldn't have wished so hard for a distraction.

"I knew they'd be a problem," Nia whispered wearily to Sorcha, her whiskers limp.

"Yeah," Boland chimed in. "Big difference we're making out here. Getting ourselves killed on some snowball a million miles from anywhere." Sorcha turned to see him stand up, his feline face etched with resentment. "We shouldn't be going."

Jillian regarded him fractionally from the co-pilot's station. "Boland, cool it back there. You're part of a team. If you don't like it, sugar pop, don't sign up."

"Wish we hadn't," Chesney mumbled sorely, fiddling moodily with one of her horns. "And we'd better be getting overtime for this!"

"Aye," Boland said. "What about overtime, eh? The crap you're pulling us through, for science no doubt, I think we deserve that at least."

"That moggy says one more thing," Nia breathed.

"Hey!" Boland snapped loudly at Nia. "Don't think I can't hear ye, lass. My ears got no problem picking up your yapping."

Nia twisted round to face him. "Yeah, well, my ears have a problem with your yowling."

"Aw, go back to Gilead, Martha," Chesney snarled.

Nia's fanged mouth opened wide and she let loose with an outraged scream, but before the situation could escalate, Sorcha took action. "Ni-ni, it's okay! Sit down." She tugged gently on Nia's frilly sleeve, and the little Arctic Fox regarded her with watery eyes. She nodded silently and faced forward, her breath shallow and frequent.

Sorcha smiled at her and stood up to face Boland and Chesney, but before she could say anything, Jillian intervened. "You two won't be getting any pay if you put one more foot out of line!" the mutt barked. "Trust me, you're lucky to be here, otherwise you'd be booted back up to the Oxen Free and stripped of your positions. Now either you shut your pie-holes and be part of this team, or you're canned. Take your pick. I got all day."

The drillers looked at each other, then at Jillian, and they acquiesced.

"I could kill that Goat," Nia sniffled.

Sorcha nodded. "It's okay, Ni-ni. I got your back, okay?"

Nia wiped her nose on her paw. "Mm. Thanks, Sor."

"Coming up on planet's gravity field," Sylvester announced, having remained silent and attentive on his flying throughout the unpleasant exchange. "Entry vector set, planetfall in ten."

"Ayy! We're a go," Jillian yipped. She hit the intercom for the hold. "Security, we're nearly there, so you'd better suit up. You'll be leading the way out and securing the place."

"Copy that," Palmer's voice replied. "We're getting ready now."

"Fantabulous," Jillian chirped. "Carry on."

"I hope the suits work," Nia muttered with trepidation. "I had to hack them together pretty fast."

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Sorcha assured her. Bloody hell, Nia's worried about them working. To say nothing about how worried I am.

"And the auto-mapper," Nia went on. "I reprogrammed the system in about twenty minutes. That's gotta mean I missed something out." She rubbed her muzzle with her paws.

"Just means you're awesome, Nia," Sorcha grinned.

Nia glanced at her and giggled. "Yeah. Maybe."

"No maybe about it," Sorcha woofed, ruffling Nia's hair. Nia squealed and batted her away, laughing. "Hey, cut it out!"

Sorcha chortled and faced front. The planet swelled as Sylvester pointed the ship toward it and began the dive. Sorcha felt the gravity swing as the atmosphere rushed up to engulf the tiny craft in flames, and then they were through to the other side, and there was nothing but white.

"Temperature reads... pretty damn far below zero," Jillian mused, poring over her instruments. Great time to not pack the thermals, huh?"

Sorcha stared into the icy abyss outside, barely able to make anything out. A ridge here, a canyon there... maybe a floe or two. Sorcha would have been surprised if there were any water on the surface. Maybe far down below the ice.

"No signs of life," Sylvester added, looking at his own screens. He brought the ship down lower, flying over a wide expanse of glittering snow, barely illuminated by the dying sun's feeble tinge. "No signs of habitation."

"What a wasteland," Nia said. "That thing making the disturbance is here? Not likely."

"Could be far under the surface," Sorcha remarked.

The ship's radio bleated for attention. Jillian punched the call button. "Roobarb."

The captain's voice filtered through. "Team Leader, this is Gallagher. How you holding up down there?"

"We're okay," Jillian replied. "We can still hear you. No interference as of yet."

"Good. It's unlikely that there will be, according to our sensors, but just to be safe, I'm thinking you should land a fair distance from the source of the anomaly," Gallagher said.

"We're within nine hundred klicks of it," Jillian replied. "So, shall we make it ten?"

"That's great, Team Leader. Give us a twinkle if you need anything else."

"You got it," Jillian enthused. "See ya." She signed off.

"Okay then, we're almost there," Sylvester reported. He began to dial down the engines and kill the dropship's velocity.

***

The Roobarb landed in a shallow valley approximately ten kilometers from whatever was causing the disturbance out near Carolyn M6.

In the shuttle's equipment storage, Sorcha was struggling into her suit, one of the last three to do so. The anti-incineration plating was gone, sure, but that didn't stop the suits from being heavy and clumsy. She heaved the thing over her shoulders and reached for her helmet. Down below, the ramp was opening to let the security guards out. She could already feel the cold.

Or maybe that was just the icy glances that Nia was trading with Chesney. The driller slipped her helmet over her horned head and brushed roughly past Nia, nearly knocking her over. Nia growled and fiddled with her own suit. "You're lucky I didn't sabotage yours," she whispered reproachfully to the Goat.

"What was that?" Chesney said pugnaciously, turning neatly on her heel and raising a fist. She began to advance on Nia.

"Don't you dare hit her!" Sorcha yelped, moving in front of Chesney. "How dare you? Leave her alone." Chesney tried to open her mouth, but Sorcha cut her off. "Go. Just go."

Chesney sneered. "Okay, you two have your little skulk. Think you're so important." She stalked off.

Sorcha grizzled. That wasn't going to make things any easier. "Need any help, Ni-ni?"

Nia shook her head. "I don't know what I'm going to do, Sor," she whimpered, her eyes teary. "She's going to make this so difficult." She put her helmet on.

Like it isn't difficult enough already, Sorcha thought. "Don't worry, Nia. She's just a mouthy cow who's pissed off. No threat there at all."

Nia nodded. "I guess. Thanks for sticking up for me, Sor."

Sorcha pulled her own fishbowl on. "Shall we?"