'59 A Space Exploration Adventure: PT40

Megan rushed to the JetQuad, glanced at her father for approval, and was away before he barely had time to nod.
Cindy knelt down, patted Pegasus’s shoulder and said. “my needle won’t even pierce his skin. That’s assuming -”

© A Sunderland 2011


“Inject him in the eyeball then. Or find a vein inside his ear.” Janine yelled. “Stop making lame excuses.”
Cindy clenched her fists and the veins in her neck stood out. Crimson with rage and shaking, she glared at Janine. “I am not going to let you subject this horse to unnecessary suffering.” She jabbed at finger at her daughter’s face. “I haven’t got enough drugs to make him unconscious until help arrives.”
“You can lessen the pain for ten or twelve minutes.”
“Possibly, but the vet won’t be here by -”
“You haven’t even called him yet.”
“I’ll do that now.” George tapped his WristFone.
Cindy shrugged. “Don’t even try to do this to the poor creature. We have to -”
“I’m going to get my kit from college.” Janine dashed towards Blaze. “Call Mrs. White and tell her to have it ready for me.” She leapt on his back, slapped his flank, and cried, “Yee Haa.”
Blaze hurtled away.
George yelled out. “Janine, the gate’s locked!”
Cindy leapt to her feet. “How high is that fence?”
“Seven feet six.”
Cindy gasped as Blaze lifted his front legs. She shut her eyes tight, winced, and vowed, “I’ll kill her if she injures that horse as well.”
“She’s clear,” George said.
Cindy opened her eyes in time to see Janine disappear into the distance. She turned to George and said, “Megan’s taking her time.”
“Give her another couple of minutes.”
Cindy looked down pitifully at Pegasus. “He doesn’t have a couple of minutes,” she said as she held out her hand and said, “You better give me that gun.”
Chapter 14
Proxima
[Day 186]
Cindy visited the veterinary college on her way home from work. She walked nervously across to the stables, a bag of apples in her right hand, and two tubes of Polos in her purse.
She stepped into the adapted stable where Pegasus was been treated. The horse was supported in a large harness, with his three good legs bearing most of his weight on a raised section of floor. His broken leg, in a cast, was an inch clear of the ground.
He appeared forlorn and uncomfortable. Cindy shuddered at his downcast demeanor. When she walked in he barely raised his head.
Janine was behind him, mucking out the stable, with her back to the door.
Cindy walked over to Pegasus and stroked his dejected looking face. She felt a lump well up in her throat and her words came him as a strangled whisper. “Oh, you poor boy.”
Janine turned round, startled, and uttered, “Hello, Mum. I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Well didn’t you think I would want to come in and check up on him?”
Janine put the brush and shovel against a wall, looked slightly flustered, and said, “of course. I was going to invite you down when -”
“When you had him on some happy pills instead of drugged up?” Cindy pressed both hands against the side of her head and slid them to the back of her skull, pressing her hair back. She bottled up her anger. “He’s trussed up like a turkey. There’s no guarantee that this treatment is even going -”
“It works. Vets have saved the lives of eleven horses with this pioneering treatment. We’ve got new techniques to aid his recovery.”
“I’ve studied the figures. Eight of those poor animals have since been put down.”
“I won’t let it happen to Peg.” She patted his left shoulder. “He’ll be fully fit before Dad gets home.”
“No he won’t. He’ll never gallop again.”