No Snack After Midnight

The two oak trees that towered in front of the Robinsons' house appeared in the chariot's headlights like two silent guardians in the night.

"You have arrived home. " The navigation computer's voice announced as the vehicle automatically came to a halt.

John pressed the shutdown button on the central screen and leaned back in the driver's seat with a groan.

Maureen moved her hand from his thigh to his hand. "Too much to eat?"

"Too much to drink. That Nuovo Chianti was nice."

His admission was met with a chuckle of amusement. His wife too had drunk a little more than she was used to.

"I can't believe it took us eight months to find the time to go to this Italian restaurant," she said, her hand moving back to his thigh. Goosebumps covered his skin. Maybe the evening wasn't over yet.

"Hey, Maureen, why don't we go for a midnight swim?"

"In the natural pools up the trail?" Maureen nibbled his ear. "You and me, naked under the no-moonlight?"

John felt a tension growing further in his belly as she kissed him. "We could use the chariot's headlamps instead. And the flashlights. I can make you as many moons as you want."

"It's off road. The autopilot won't drive. And you're drunk."

"Slightly and I don't need the autopilot because I already scouted the area. I can get us there in under thirty minutes."

Maureen chuckled as she slipped out of his arms, opened her door, and stepped into the fresh night air. "I don't want to wait thirty minutes. Are you coming?"

John smirked. "Yes, ma'am."

Kissing and weaving, they hurried up the short path to the front door and stumbled inside the half-lit entrance, undressing each other, when a shadow zoomed by John's head with a "ticketee" cry.

"Watch out!" Penny shouted.

John instinctively shielded his wife. There was a loud clash as the family picture in the entry fell to the floor. The chittering shadow squealed above the diner table and toppled over a vase. Flowers and water spilled on the chairs and floor.

Maureen poked her head out of his arms. "Was that a monkey?!"

"I wished." John cursed. A monkey would be less trouble. Where was it now?

John scanned the suddenly quiet house for the furry intruder, pretty sure that it was the same species of feline that had torn apart one of Hiroki's students' tents on their last trip to the wilderness after smelling food that a student had forgotten in their pocket.

"I got her! Everything's fine." From the corridor to John's left, Penny returned to the living room with the culprit on her shoulder and a big smile on her face. The creature was a weird looking tabby squirrel with the ears like a bobcat's and the tail of a lemur. The girl winced. "Now, look what you did, you little trouble maker," she said, scratching the beast's head and feeding it a piece of fruit.

"What are you doing? Don't feed it!" Maureen exclaimed while John, containing his irritation, walked out of the house and back to the chariot, determined to resolve the situation as fast as possible and salvage his evening with his wife.

He returned quickly with a cage reserved for Hiroki's next wilderness trip and looked at his wife. Her expression was not encouraging.

"Did it scratch you? Spit on you?"

"No, she didn't," Penny replied to her mother, gazing anxiously at the cage as he put it down at her feet. "What are you doing with that?"

"Give me that snack," he said.

His daughter took a step back, shaking her head vigorously. "She's calm now. There's no need to put her in there."

"Penny!" Maureen insisted.

The firm sound of her mother's voice added to his serious stare convinced the teenager to obey.

"That's not fair," Penny said while he hid a tiny sleeping pill inside the food and put it at the back of the cage.

"Safety protocols are here for a reason," John explained while the animal, snout on the floor, crept inside the cage.

The door fell with a clang. John was locking it when the scared animal lunged toward him, all claws and teeth out. He pulled his hand away fast, threw the cover above the cage, and groaned when he stood up.

Maureen frowned while the animal rattled against the wire netting. "Did it scratch you?"

"Nah."

"Is it your knee again?"

"It's fine," he lied, to no avail. His wife was pissed at their daughter and now she was worried about him. He could forget about his plans for tonight. That ship hadn't sailed, it had sunk. He might as well remind Penny of a few things, like rules and discipline, he thought just as his daughter turned away.

"Hey, stay here with us for a minute. Safety protocols are meant to protect you, us, and everybody else in the colony from getting sick from a disease–"

"Zoonose," Penny interrupted to correct.

John glared back at her. "So you broke the rules knowing the risks you were making everybody take."

"Hiroki's students have been in contact with them for the last six months and none of them caught rabies. I'm sure you've been with them too and you're totally fine," Penny exclaimed as the animal, which had calmed down a little, suddenly screeched and banged itself against the cage. "Can't you just free it outside the house before she hurts herself?"

"No. Now that you fed it, that's not an option anymore. We'll have to take it miles from the colony. Where did you find it by the way?" John asked as his wife's gaze turned suspicious.

"You had a field trip today with your biology class," Maureen said.

Penny's shoulders sagged. "I swear, we didn't mean to take her back with us."

"We?" Maureen asked.

"Me and Vijay. But we didn't do anything to attract her. She was following us on the trails all day and she's so cute. It's like a squirrel and a cat. I've always wanted a cat. And now that Judy's moved downtown, and Will is away again with his eight-foot tall pet, why can't I have a small one for me? No offense but I kind of feel lonely here with you guys. Of all the houses, you had to choose the one the furthest from downtown for god's–" Penny bit her lips to keep the rest of the curse silent.

"As long as the protocols are in place, there's nothing we can do," John said, glancing furtively at his wife in anticipation of what he was going to add. "Besides, this animal, as cute as it is, would never make a good pet, believe me."

"John?" Maureen growled.

"I'm just talking hypothetically."

"We are not taking a pet. This is not open for discussion."

At her mother's words, Penny looked at him with puppy eyes. "You both grew up surrounded by animals. Why can't I?"

Feeling his wife's patience wearing thin, and not wanting to spend the whole night on this, John picked up the cage. "We'll bring it back to its natural habitat tomorrow morning, you and me."

"But tomorrow I'm supposed to go to Aiko's to work on a project all day," the girl protested.

"At what time?" John asked.

"Nine."

"We'll leave at four and drop you off at Aiko's on our way back ," he said on the front door.

"What? You mean four AM?!"

Ignoring the outrage, John carried the cage out of the house while Maureen and Penny kept on arguing. That should have been a great evening.

The first rays of the sun were tinting the sky in shades of gold and blue when Penny's father stopped the chariot at the end of a rough forest trail, on the edge of a small but impassable river.

"You coming to free it?" he asked.

Her. Keeping silent, the girl crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"All right," her dad muttered while he moved to the back and hopped out the chariot with the cage.

"It's not going to work," Penny muttered through clenched teeth, furtively glancing at him crossing the stream using rocks and boulders a bit awkwardly as he carried the cage. Disappointed that he reached the opposite bank, she looked away.

A big splash drew her attention back to her dad. Penny giggled as the current carried him away while her furry friend jumped on rocks and dashed toward her.

"Hey, little rascal, how are you doing this morning?" she said as it licked her face. "Yeah, I'm glad to see you too."

Penny gently pushed it down on her lap while her father swam out of the river.

"Mimi one, Bad Human zero," she said as, soaked from head to toe, he strode back toward the chariot, murder in his eyes. Quickly, she put her pet on the floor between her feet. "Come on, hide under my seat."

"Did you call it back to you?"

"No, I swear. I didn't make any noise," she replied as her dad moved in to grab her little companion.

"Dammit!" he yelled as he jerked his hand away.

Mimi two - Bad Human zero.

"You really think this is funny?" he growled as he removed his glove and– Penny felt herself go pale. Blood was trickling between his fingers.

"No, of course," she blurted, opening the glovebox to retrieve the first aid kit. "Here."

The scratch was deep and gushing. Penny winced as she helped him wrap a bandage around his hand. "I thought leather gloves were puncture resistant?"

A silent, dark glance was her only answer.

"Look, I'm sorry. I don't know why she is so much attached to me. It's almost disturbing, you know," she said, taping the bandage tight and causing a grunt. "You good?"

"I will be when we are on our way back. Now, please get out of the chariot and walk toward the river. With a little hope, it will–" Her dad turned away and sneezed.

"Follow me, right," she muttered. "Come on, Mimi. Let's get you back where you belong."

"Mimi?"

Penny shrugged. "It means ears in Japanese and cute in French. And she has such cute big ears."

"Move away and call her."

Expiring loudly to make sure the whole forest could hear that she didn't agree, Penny walked toward a large tree next to the river. But regardless of her calls, the animal didn't budge. So she came back and crouched to look under the passenger seat. Two green-glowing balls stared back at her. "Come on, you can get out of hiding. It's safe now."

When the creature didn't react to her calls, Penny extended her arm under the seat.

Her father grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. "Hey, be careful!"

"Dad, I'm not you. She likes me." With her finger, Penny scratched the beast's belly and after a few minutes, she got up with the animal climbing on her arm all the way to her shoulder.

"I'll be damned." Her father raked his uninjured hand in his wet hair.

"Do we really have to abandon her here?" she pleaded. "I'll take good care of her, I promise."

"First, we're not abandoning her. This is her natural environment. And second-" Her dad sneezed again.

"Bless you."

"Thanks. Please, Penny, can you just put it down near that tree? I'll maneuver the chariot so you can jump back in fast."

Penny stared into her friend's big eyes. "I want you to know that I'm doing this against my will. It's the bad guy next to me that forces me to do this to you."

"Penny."

"All right, all right."

While her father positioned their vehicle, she gave the animal a last hug and put it down on a big root. "Off you go. Go find your family now," she said before getting into the chariot. A jolt made her fall backward in her seat. "Hey!" she protested as her father, not waiting for her to buckle up or close the door, took off right away. A shadow zoomed by the windshield.

"Dad, stop!" she yelled.

"What?"

Penny threw her arms in front of her to avoid hitting the windshield as they stopped abruptly.

"I saw it jump in front of us. Please, I beg you. Don't drive over it!"

Her dad slammed his fist on the wheel. "I swear I'm gonna shoot this thing."

Penny's stomach churned. Coming from anyone else's mouth, those words would have felt like an empty threat, but the man next to her had certainly killed plenty of enemy soldiers. Besides, she didn't like his look at all. It said don't mess with me because I know a hundred ways to kill you slowly and painfully.

Slouching on her seat, Penny desperately wished for her little friend to take cover, thinking that she might be wise to do the same. Heck no! She wasn't going to do that. If her dad was an ex-special forces soldier, she was his daughter.

Calmly and carefully, Penny said: "I will remind you that, as a vegan, if you put your threat to execution, I swear that no amount of therapy will help me forgive you for such cruelty."

Her father bent forward and thumped his head on the wheel with a deep sigh. Then, without a word and much to her surprise, he opened his door and, hands shoved in his pockets, walked out in the forest.

As he disappeared from her view, the little fury creature poked her head by the open door. Penny stared at the animal. Mimi three - Bad Human zero.

However, her cheeky attitude didn't feel right this time. Her father's unexpected reaction was unsettling. Inside her was growing a weird feeling of… was this fear? Fear of what?

As the animal slipped back under her seat, Penny decided to go after her father.

"Is this what you do when you're upset?" she asked when she found him sitting on a large boulder about a hundred and fifty feet away downstream.

"What do you mean?"

"Leave."

Penny felt her throat go dry as emotions rose within her and a million questions buzzed into her mind.

"Is this why you left us? Back on Earth, for those three years? Because you were upset about something? About us?"

A long silence stretched as Penny sat next to him and pressed her head against his shoulder to show him her affection.

"I wasn't upset with you, peanut," he finally said, wrapping his arm around her.

Penny chortled and nudged him in the ribs. "You haven't called me like that in ages."

"Yeah, I know. It seems like it was yesterday though, that you were little, babbling to anyone who would listen or not."

Penny nudged him again a bit harder. "I wasn't babbling," she muttered. And he wasn't going to escape her line of questioning by taking them down memory lane. "If not with me, or Judy or Will, were you upset with mom, then?"

Her question caused another deep sigh followed by another silence, shorter though.

"I wasn't upset with your mom either. Although she was upset with me."

Well, she had every right to, don't you think? Penny thought. "With whom then?"

Sigh and silence number three fell, but the pain in them was louder, and his gaze… feeling like she'd touched something that was difficult for her father, Penny swallowed hard and said:

"You don't want to talk about it."

"Not really, peanut."

This time, it was Penny's turn to fall silent as a memory of the conversation she had with her siblings the night of their dad's unexpected return, one month before the Resolute was scheduled to leave, resurfaced. No matter how much time had passed, she could still see all three of them, sitting cross-legged on her bedroom's pink and gray carpet, their back to her bed or her desk, conferring about the reasons that had kept him away for so long.

Will didn't dare to question him, wishing only to be glad that he was there again; Judy didn't care about asking him, wanting only to stay pissed. She was the only one who wanted something more than an apology. Three years later, she was no closer to understanding what had happened to their family. However, if living in close contact with Harris all that time had taught her anything, it was that there was much more about people than met the eye. People were complicated beings, with secret identities sometimes, full of contradictions and incoherencies. For one, her father, who was the most solid man on Earth, a highly trained, super soldier, preferred to fly rather than fight when confronted about certain, upsetting things. Will was like that, or had been until he'd met his robotic friend anyway. Nowadays, he was more like Judy, the kind to fight tooth and nail. And herself, what was she like? Was acting out the same as fighting? Or was it just a tortuous way to fly? Did she have a flight or a fight personality? If anything, today showed that she was more like fight, fail, and bow. Maybe her dad was more like that too? Counting more failures than successes? What were his failures like? The opposite of fun for sure, but unlike hers, they had to be much more painful.

Looking up at him, she said: "Down the corridor, second door on the left."

His brow furrowed.

"Just to let you know where to find me if you change your mind and want to talk," she explained.

His jaw became a little less tense. And that was almost a smile, Penny noticed as he padded her knee and got up with a grunt.

"Let's go home, peanut."

Penny rolled her eyes, smiling as she followed him back to the chariot. "I still hate that nickname, you know?"

"I know."

As they reached their vehicle, her father stopped, crossed his arms over his chest, and shook his head. The reason they had woken up early and came all the way here was comfortably taking a nap in the driver's seat.

"Mom said she didn't want us to have pets because she was alone with us most of the time. But you're back with us now, and it's just me at home with you."

"I sincerely do hear your argument, but you're forgetting protocols."

"Oh, there's that. You're right. But it's far less serious than mutiny if you think about it."

Fourth sigh.

"You sigh a lot today, just to let you know."

"You are just as stubborn as your mom, you know?" he chuckled.

"I know, and I won't tell her that you said that. It's between you and me."

"Oh. You're blackmailing me now?"

Penny shook her head vigorously. "No, I'm just saying that I have your back."

Her dad raised his eyes to the sky. "Both of you will be the death of me," he said as he stepped forward. The animal immediately screeched. "Unless this one kills me first of course."

"So, we're keeping her, right?"

"As long as you don't feed it after midnight. And that's an unbreakable rule."

"Ok, but why?"

"I'll show you tonight. Come on, get it out of my seat," he said, turning his head to sneeze again loudly.

"You better put on dry clothes before catching a cold."

"I've been submerged in cold water my whole life. I saw a plant next to the river. Some of Hiroki's students reacted to it too."

Another sneeze. From Penny's lap, Mimi straightened, claws out. "Wow!" Penny said, grabbing her pet and putting it down gently on the floor as another sneeze caused another jolt.

"Give me the wheel."

"Nope. I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Your eyes are red and puffy, and you're driving with one hand. It's unsafe."

"I've done worse in worse conditions. It's totally safe."

"Anyway, do you know that you taught Will to drive before me? That's so totally unfair. Please, just let me drive."

"Don't push your luck, peanut."

"Penny. My name is Penny."

"Is it? Things tend to slip off your mind when you get too many concussions you know."

"Well, I never got knocked out so I can't really relate. Although I might soon, if you sneeze and drive us into a tree."

"I won't."

Penny chuckled as she caught him glancing at her pet. "You're just scared of Mimi, aren't you? You don't want to sit in the passenger seat with her under your ass."

"Language," he warned.

"Totally so," Penny laughed before cringing as they brushed a tree. She didn't remember the trail being that steep. Letting her dad focus on his driving, she took out a piece of protein bar and fed her new pet. This was the start of a beautiful, and possibly chaotic, friendship.