Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint One Romance) by J.A. Marlow Page A

the time she reached a few enclosures
down.
    "Missing one?" Mr. Pyman asked as he came out
from behind his enclosure. "We had another incident."
    Vallory froze, glancing quick back. Still
children and adults in front of it, enjoying the antics of her
daubpups. She forced herself to relax. "Oh no. They're all there.
One was in the grass. All accounted for."
    "Hmm." The sound told her that he didn't
believe her.
    Vallory headed away, feeling her face
flush.
    Penny. Why did she have to be herself right
now?

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE

    VALLORY REACHED THE back inside corner of the
building, her arm feeling like it was going to pop out of its
socket. Yes, do this earlier and grab one of those utility carts
the show provided in the utility rooms. She used her exhibitor
badge to get through the gate into the utility room.
    Signs warned people away from everything on
the right. Another warning sign marked a portion of the floor that
would drop down into the station as a freight elevator. To the left
lay the big door to the incinerator.
    She pushed the bag into the opening and
started the sequence as soon as the door closed. No organic
contamination allowed to linger in this place. The biologist side
of her approved, even while she worried about a different
biological contamination.
    She had an alien animal roaming around, and if
she knew Penny, the little annoying creature wouldn't settle for
exploring the busy local area.
    No, she would head out to do some intense
exploring of quiet remote areas.
    A click and a brief beeping alarm signaled the
freight elevator in use. Vallory stepped away from the floor now
flashing in alternating red and white. The floor receded, then slid
to the side somewhere under the building. A new 'floor' appeared to
take up the space, several new canvas bags on it labeled as various
sorts of cage lining.
    "So, station, anticipating our need? Do you
know where Penny is?" Vallory said to the floor. No one answered,
but she didn't expect one. This was her problem, with her own
little trouble-maker. Nothing to do but start the hunt.
    Pulling out a pocket computer from the purse
hanging angled across her torso, she found the guess correct. The
tracking signal coming from Penny's collar indicated a good
distance from the pet show.
    Vallory hurried out of the building, using the
signal to determine a direction. It led her right out of the
grounds and down a level into the metal halls of the station, and
still she wasn't close. Down another level and she came to an
industrial area,with high ceilings and businesses and warehouses
lining each side of the roads. At least, the wide space between
felt like a road. There were even sidewalks running along both
sides. How odd to be in a place where all the 'buildings' went all
the way up to the tall ceilings.
    No one on the busy sidewalks paid her any
attention as she continued to follow the signal. She stopped at a
dead-end side road where a large space allowed freight containers
to turn around.
    Vallory scowled at part of the wall. No
freight containers there now, and no doors or passages to allow her
to continue the race. Even if she could find a way to the other
side, if she continued to delve further into the station she could
also end up getting good and lost.
    She put that out of her mind. She would deal
with it when the time came. Right now, she needed to find
Penny.
    With regret, she pushed away from the wall to
head away. She would need to find a different way to follow the
signal. Maybe descend another level of the ring and then try to
follow the signal again. Or, maybe she could find a corridor in the
right direction by going onwards to the next ring
section?
    A small bot skimmed the ground past her,
towing a miniature trailer with a pile of matte-white and shiny
metal parts in the back of it. Such cute little things, with the
bigger round shell and then a smaller front rounded shape out of
which sprung the eyestalks. Half the size of Damien's, with a