The black infinity of space illuminated with rare and distant reflections of stars and constellations seemed ready to arrive like that always. But here in one of its corners a bright flash flashed and in the place of the black nothing appeared a lonely ship. Small, with four engine nozzles and a narrow strip of metal glass that denoted the cockpit. Chains of lights were walking along the sides, the name of the ship Pegasus 1 was written on one side.

Nancy Joyce, 27 years old, lieutenant of the cosmopathral. After graduating from space academy, Nancy received a referral to the cosmopolitan. It was difficult to patrol large areas for this patrols were carried out by single ships with one pilot. Nancy sat in the pilot's seat and looked at the monitors of the instruments that supplied her with the necessary information. One of the monitors blinked red from time to time. Nancy looked at the sight of the cockpit, but could not see the source of the signal. A few days ago, the satellite spotted a signal of unknown destination and calculated its coordinates. For his intelligence and was sent to patrol. Nancy came out of hyperspace in a given sector. The sector was little studied, the automatic flying station brought basic data to astronomical and cosmological reference books. The solar system was with the old sun cooled down and several satellites, one of them, the largest one, even had a couple of satellites. The second planet was farther, it was smaller, it was the source of an unknown signal. Nancy reached the planet already on her engines without a hyper jump. Nancy has already skirted the planet from its shadow side to a lighter, stunted sun gave a faint light. And then a signal source, a spacecraft weighing in orbit on the planet appeared to her gaze. The ship, if it was a ship and not an orbital station, was an unfamiliar species Nancy and clearly belonged to an unfamiliar race. Outwardly, he looked like a kind of ancient extinct animal of gigantic proportions, which somehow got into space and there turned into a stone. The ship gave the impression that it was not made, namely, grown. Its smooth bends and deck settings, resembling growths, reinforced the impression. Nancy flew around the ship around, the ship showed no signs of life. There were no side lights, signals, nothing came into motion. The signal clearly came from the ship and Nancy tried to get in touch with the ship, will respond to the request. The direction finder passed through all frequencies, trying to find contact with the ship, but nothing but static interference was ever found. Nancy flew at a safe distance and fired from an onboard gun, the ship did not respond. It looks like the crew was long gone and the ship was abandoned. One of the niches suddenly opened and Nancy saw the light and the large room from the inside.

“This is very similar to the dock, I have to do reconnaissance

She thought of Nancy and sent her ship straight into the open dock gate, although outwardly they looked more like a monster's mouth, and the dock itself looked like the insides of an animal. The transverse beams looked like ribs and, moreover, the dock was empty. Nancy pressed a few buttons on the control panel. A gas analyzer device, which checked the air for the presence of harmful impurities and bacteria, moved out of the case. Surprisingly, the air was breathable and sterile. Whoever was the inhabitants of the ship, they also breathed air and the purifiers continued to work. Also on board there was no dangerous radiation, and for this Nancy decided to carry out reconnaissance already on the ship. She wore her jumpsuit with a lot of pockets in which various little things were laid out. She also wore a belt on which hung a blaster holster. Nancy left the ship and looked around. The extraordinary design and design of the ship was clearly unearthly. These smooth arches and incomprehensible pipes gave a resemblance to a living being.The lighting was not very bright but rather sufficient, the ceiling and walls seemed to glow. Nancy left the hangar and headed down a long, segmented corridor. Frequent segments also lent a corridor similarity to something like a bowel. From time to time on the sides came across rooms that were empty. Some were empty, others contained an unfamiliar kind of machinery or equipment.

The beast lay in a small niche, when suddenly its organs caught an unfamiliar smell. The smell clearly belonged to a living being and the beast was ready to head towards the source of food. And then his organs recognized in the smell the creature the most important smell, the smell of the female. It affected the monster like an electric current. The monster soon found itself on its two strong, slightly bent paws, and a long and agile tail with a sharp spike at the end shot up and a couple of times lashed the monster on its sides, as if spurring it. The monster jumped onto the wall, clinging to it with its clawed paws, and after a moment disappeared into the air duct.

Soon Nancy found the largest room. She went to a small pedestal, which stood opposite the wall with an extraordinary view of the instruments. Coming closer, the girl realized that this was not a pedestal, but a chair in which the pilot was sitting, or more precisely, what was once a pilot. The remains of a creature that looks a little like a human being by the presence of one pair of arms and legs, but with significant differences, the newcomer was larger and had an absolutely amazing structure of the skull. He wore the remains of silver clothes, and in his hand was an object similar to a rod.

“It looks like a pilot of a ship and he did not die yesterday. What happened to the other team members or he alone. It will be necessary to record all this in the protocol and transfer it to the Kosmopotrul Base, perhaps there will be those who wish to examine it. ”

The girl thought to herself. To her report, she decided to attach this strange wand to the stranger, and therefore, taking it, put it in a small backpack behind her back.

The monster looked down on this strange creature. Judging by the smell, it was a female and she was alone, there were no other aliens. The female left the big hall and went along the corridor further, the monster followed her. If it were a male, then it would have been predetermined to take it into account, but the smell of a female would wake up in the monster the breeding instinct.

Nancy left the control room and proceeded down the corridor. Sometimes she had a feeling that she was not alone, but the girl blamed everything on her imagination. What would switch a little Nancy decided to think what will happen next

“Surely scientists will be sent here with a bunch of equipment and they are all examining. They can find out who this alien is. I wonder how the administration will reward me. I hope to write out the award and send me on vacation. ”

Thought Nancy entering the next room. Delving deeper, Nancy heard a strange noise behind her.

The monster followed the female, who even looked back a couple of times. She could be dangerous if she had a powerful weapon. The monster waited until the female entered a small room where she might not use a powerful weapon, fearing damage to herself. In spite of its size, the monster deftly landed on its paws and headed for the passage after the female.

Nancy was the best student not only at school, but also in blaster shooting courses. Hearing the noise behind her, she abruptly turned and saw the monster in front of her abruptly pulled out a blaster and fired it. A low rumble was heard under the round arches and a bright beam escaped from the barrel of the blaster. The monster had a great flair and in the blink of an eye pulled to the side. The beam only touched one of the growths on the monster's back, burned the tip of one of the spikes protruding from the back, and after a moment the beam burned a hole in the membrane door. Nancy shot at the place where the monster had just been, but fell into the void. The monster jumped onto the rounded wall and for a moment ended up near Nancy. The monster waved its tail like a whip and a growth at the end of its tail knocked the blaster out of Nancy's hands.Nancy tried to jump out of the room in the hope that while the monster did not block her way, she could jump out and escape to her ship. She rushed out of all her strength, ran through the place where the monster was and ran into the corridor. But the monster turned out to be more agile, he caught up with Nancy in a couple of jumps and pushed her to the floor pressed ...