He’d ran into Jolane on one of his first cases ever. Then she’d adopted a line of clothing and weapons like his dawning a trench coat and fedora with a standard energy blaster. Afterwards he’d seen her a few other times, but she’d never mentioned encountering the mechs. How had she gotten here and how was he going to free her? Like all the other displays in the zoo, there were no obvious constraints or reasons why she might be immobilized or held off the ground. In many ways each exhibit was like a painting. The whole zoo looked more like a display of art. He reached out towards her; a sensation of static electricity rose in intensity. His hair stood on end, hers as well. He pulled away, fearful of shocking her. Some sort of energy field had her in stasis.

  A droid was rolling by scanning the exhibits. Shilo turned towards it, walking in a similar manner and moving past the mech. It stopped to look at Jolane before continuing its journey.

  Shilo looked at his tracker. The key was nearby. Not here. It was a few stories above and in a different section of the building layout. Save the galaxy or save Jolane? He took one step towards the beacon and turned around to face the Jolangus display again.

  Here goes nothing. He knew a few things about stasis and force fields. One was they reacted to incoming energy, resisting the forces, but they could also carry lethal charges. Considering the mechs liked their zoos and he’d felt the charge on his skin, he could assume grabbing Jolane directly would be lethal to both of them. Time to test out the Sowbu’s tech. A second button which Shilo had hoped not to use was hidden inside his coat lining. He had to scrub the nanite paint from his finger as the button needed to scan his fingerprint.

  Nanites on his coat dropped away. Not all of them. Random amounts from various patches fell to the ground. They grouped up into a blob of wiggling metal that settled into the form of a blaster. A small one with a few charges. The Sowbu had warned him that additional charges, beyond the first couple shots, would deplete the nanites of his disguise. The more he fired the more interesting he would be to the locals, and he didn’t want that dance. Hopefully, one shot would be enough to the side as the emitters should be there.

  Shilo fired at the edge of the display, and sparks scattered across the path. Jolane’s display lights dropped away, and she squirmed on the surface. Shilo reached in and touched Jolane and his arm twitched and flailed as the shock went up his arm. He grabbed her hand, and she squeezed back and he pulled away from the display, leaning his full weight away from it.

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  The force holding Jolane there gave way, and they crashed to the floor. Shilo wrapped his arms around Jolane and held her. She landed up on him.

  Jolane pulled free and stepped away from him. “Why would you save me? Or are you trying to take me? Leave me alone.” She looked ready to jump over the wall and could potentially jump that high.

  Shilo stood up and pointed to his face. “It’s me. It’s Shilo Zander. Detective and most of the time, good guy. Jolane, relax. You’re safe.”

  The alarms triggered in the building and lights near the edges of the wall, presumably were exit’s were flashed red.

  “Well. Mostly safe, but we should go now.”

  “I’m not Jolane!” The Jolangus puffed up and twitched their ears.

  “What. Oh. You look very much like her. Um, if you want to go back on display at the local zoo, be my guest, sorry about.”

  “No. Not a chance. That was torture. I don’t know why they keep a zoo. Let alone one like this.”

  “Good. Then I suggest we make a hasty retreat. I don’t like the sound of those alarms, and I need to get something from the next level.” Shilo ran back down along the wall. “Well, are you coming?”

  The not Jolane Jolangus hopped after him then quickly took the lead. She bounced high in the air and grabbed a flying mech, smashing it to the floor. Shilo hadn’t even seen the flying drone. They made it to the elevator, but it wouldn’t open, and more alarms started sounding. Shilo took his trench coat off and wrapped it around, not Jolane. “Hopefully, this hides you enough. The elevator becomes more cooperative.”

  The elevator agreed and opened up. As it was rising to the fourth floor, Shilo asked, “Handgun or tommy?”

  “Tommy.”

  “Are you sure you’re not Jolane?” Shilo pulled the Jolangus closer to him and opened the trench coat and long pressed the button. Nanites from it dropped away into a larger blob. Most of the nanites on the coat dropped away.

  “I’m sure. She’s my sister. She’s mentioned a strange human before. What are the galactic odds you would find me here?”

  “Sister! I didn’t know she has a sister.”

  “She has five and three brothers.”

  “Oh. I didn’t know her family was so big. I’m here to get a key. It’s right around the corner. Um, after that I’m winging it. If we can get to a teleportation pad, it should lift us to orbit where my ship is.” Shilo picked up the tommy gun from the floor of the elevator. “I’m afraid this will only have one good burst in it.” He handed it to her. “So, what do I call you?”

  “Jill. That works for me. I don’t like your plan or our odds.”

  “I don’t either. This was supposed to be a stealth mission. I couldn’t leave you there.”

  “Because you thought I was Jolane.”

  He thought of the other sentient aliens he’d left hanging on the display wall and didn’t like Jill’s reasoning. It was sound. He couldn’t have left Jolane on the wall. Would he have left Jill there? Should he have?