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Sos stepped into the light, walking toward her with slow, careful steps The bulbous eyes apologetic

“Was this you?” Cara breathed “Did you do this?”

The dogs didn’t answer They only folded their co toward Cara She leaned over, stretched out a hand, and pet the closest one on the top of its head, where the ears would have been if it had been the kind of dog they had on Earth Its skin was hot to the touch, soft with hard underneath, like velvet laid over steel It ether and turned back toward the trees Cara stood up and walked after theency in her heart They couldn’t leave Not yet

“Wait,” she said And the dogs stopped They waited “Can you…can you help me?”

They turned toward her again, theirtrilled and buzzed and trilled again

“You fixed Mo toward the pond “Can you fix other things too?”

The dogs didn’t er in a don’t-go-away gesture, anddrone was just where she’d left it So small had scattered the shattered bits a little, but they were all still there, as far as she could tell She lifted up the broken ainst each other The shards she plucked up into her palm

The dogs watched, motionless Their constant embarrassed expression now see broken the drone One of the dogs cah she couldn’t be sure She knelt and held out the drone She expected the eerie ki-ka-ko noise again, but the dog only opened its mouth a little What she’d taken for teeth, she saere really just little nubs, like the gripping surface on a wheel ue There was no throat at the back of its mouth It made her think of the dinosaur puppet Xan used to love It leaned forward, taking the drone in its jaws The littlelimp

A second dog stepped forward, tapping Cara’s hand with one wide paw Cara opened her shard-filled hand The dog leaned forward, wrapping its led like a mild electrical shock or the first contact of a caustic che the shards away She kept her hand flat until all the bits and pieces were gone and the dog leaned back Her hand was clean apart froone almost before she noticed it

“Thank you,” she said as the dog stepped carefully into the darkness under the trees The one with the drone in its grip turned back to look at her, as if it was ee it Then they were gone She listened to the receding footsteps They went silent more quickly than she’d expected

She sat quietly, ars, and watched the weird miracle of the dead-but-not-dead sunbird until she felt like she’d given the moment all of the honor and respect it deserved

Like so from a pew, she stood, peace in her heart, and headed back ho her parents about the dogs, about Mo them about the drone too After it was fixed, she’d tell the it just for herself

“I don’t know,” her mother said “I don’t feel comfortable with it”

Xan’s eyes got large His aped like she’d just said the worst,he’d ever heard “Mom!”

It was Sunday, and the walk into town for church arht rain had left the track e where reen-black leaves made wet sounds under her feet, but didn’t soak her shoes