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Zeela ushered the dogs down the corridor, carrying Angel.
As soon as they had left the office, the Station Terrier had run away, clearly terrified. Zeela had found her hiding under a desk, so far back that she’d had to lay down on the floor to pull her out.
That the little dog hadn’t bit her was a minor miracle, and spoke to how sweet she truly was. She was still trembling in her arms. She stroked the dog’s head, trying to calm her, when Dr. Y appeared in front of her suddenly.
She jumped. “Doctor! You startled me. What are you here for? I was going to bring them-“
“One moment, please,” Y said. His hand was some kind of needle tool, and he quickly went to each dog, drawing a blood sample, even from tiny Angel. She could hear a slight ka-chunk between each dog as the needle tip was cycled out and replaced by a fresh one.
As he finished, he came back over, somehow seeming harmless despite the way he loomed over them all.
Zeela had never been comfortable around some of the stranger things they’d encountered in the universe. Shoggoths chief among them. But Dr. Y, at least, had her trust.
“My apologies Administrator,” he said. “But time is of the essence. May I have some of your blood as well?”
“What?” Zeela asked, eyes widening, regretting even thinking he’d been harmless. “Why? And are the dogs all right? They all went crazy-“
“They had a powerful fear reaction. But may I take some of your blood as well?”
“Why?”
“For science,” Dr. Y replied. “Please.”
Zeela took a deep breath and held out her arm. “Fine. Take what you need, you vampire.”
She hated needles. The phobia wasn’t intense enough that she’d considered treatments to rewrite bits of her brain and erase such fears, but she still hated them.
“You know, I considered Lugosi for my name,” Y said, pressing his blood-taking device to her arm. She felt nothing, but saw the deep red liquid fill a vial.
“Lugosi? Why?” she asked.
“That is what I said to myself,” the Doctor replied. “And so I became Y instead.”
She snorted. “Your jokes get more obscure all the time.”
“It would have worked better with an early 20th-century audience, I admit,” Y replied.
“But since you’ve got it – why did you need my blood?”
“Curiosity – very little research has been done on the blood of non-human animals that have just had close contact with a Shoggoth. Odd that it would be overlooked, wouldn’t it? So I have decided to be the first.”
As Y spoke, a drone came, which he put the vials of blood into. It zoomed away.
“Now, I can’t imagine the results will be that interesting, but you will have contributed perhaps even a tiny bit to the further understanding of the mysteries of our universe! That is quite good, isn’t it?”
“I suppose,” Zeela said neutrally, rubbing her arm.
Angel’s shivering had stopped, but she was still panting.
“When will you determine if the dogs are okay?”
“I feel quite confident they are fine – the bloodwork is not necessary for it. Their adrenaline is decreasing rapidly, and while I believe they will not be eager to meet Kell again-“
The dogs spoke again through their collar speakers; “Bad,” two said. “Danger” the rest said, overlapping each other.
“-I see no sign that they will have any lasting harm. It was only a startlement!”
His robotic eyes moved slightly, focusing on Angel. “Amazing how selective breeding allowed humans to change animals so much. Still, by many standards she is very adorable!”
He offered a robot digit to Angel, who sniffed it, licked it once, then looked at him as if to ask if that was all he wanted.
“I did not imagine you’d be a large fan of the Space Hounds, honestly,” Zeela said.
“So long as they do not shed on me, I have no problem with them! Their presence brings many health benefits, and that helps me to keep you all healthy.”
“That’s true,” she said. “You should see how excited people have been.”
“Oh, yes. The biometrics have fluctuated quite high,” Y commented. “But, while I do not wish to be rude, I am needed elsewhere. Thank you again, Commander.”
Other Terrestrial 
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