MuArae-Beta is a gas giant planet orbiting the star Cervantes. It's too huge to support life, but its moon, Mu-Beta-Prime, was determined to have enough water to warrant terraforming. Just barely enough water—it's still so dry that even spit gets recycled. But its weather magnets are top-notch, and they keep the wind down and the dust on the ground.

That is, until Maybell's red RynoCycle roars across the landscape with a bull-rex on its tail.

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[https://i.imgur.com/vcquFkz.jpg]

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Maybell throttled back a bit, giving the bull-rex some hope of catching her. Just to be sure it kept trying, she taunted it as well.

"Hey, Jackrabbit! What are ya? Blind? I'm right over here!"

The bull-rex huffed on a snarl. Maybell popped the clutch while hitting the throttle, throwing dirt and gravel into the beast's primary and secondary eyes. This blinded it for a moment, and as it slowed, so did she.

Maybell laughed. "Come on, Stupid! Come and get me!"

Snorting dust from its sinuses, the bull-rex charged, strong as an ox. It head-butted the RynoCycle with two pairs of horns set wide like a Texas Longhorn. Maybell got serious in a hurry, facing forward in order to steer the one-wheeled vehicle with both her hands. As the bull-rex tested the cycle's gyro-stabilizers with another head-butt, Maybell began paying more attention to what lay in front of her than to what trailed behind.

She was running out of road. About two kilometers ahead, a sharp curve lay along the edge of a cliff. Before she could slow down enough to make the turn safely, the bull-rex would be sure to shove her off the cliff.

Rather than gearing down, Maybell bore into her machine, putting distance between it and the beast chasing her. At a point less than one kilometer from the turn, a buzzer and light on her console signaled she was near the kill zone. Giving herself barely ten meters clearance for safety, she activated the laser-wire.

A beam of light seared across the path between the monocycle and the bull-rex, stretching out just below its haunches. As the beast thundered through the beam, it found itself without its legs, and crumpled to the ground.

Maybell popped the clutch while downshifting. This lifted the RynoCycle's giant tire off the ground, forcing the stabilizers to recalibrate. Before they did, Maybell cranked the steering hard to the left, performing a complete one-eighty by leaning into the turn. Then, using both the throttle and the brake, she came to an abrupt stop.

So abrupt that her swag broke free of its harness and flew off the back of the saddle. It struck Maybell in the head, taking her pinch-front cowboy hat to the ground, along with everything else she owned.

"Aw crap," she said, dismounting as she turned off the laser-wire. "Why does this stuff always have to happen to me?"

She kicked the bull-rex for good measure, as if her lack of discretion was somehow its fault. Since its legs had been seared off by laser wire, it wasn't bleeding out much, though it was in an obvious amount of pain. At least, in as much pain as a genetically engineered water buffalo with spider and tyrannosaurus rex DNA in it could feel pain. And a whole host of other creatures, as bioengineering had made great strides alongside terraforming.

Stolen story; please report.

"You stupid jackass," Maybell said to the beast as it writhed while she gathered her belongings. "Look what you made me do."

She plucked her hat from the dust, avoiding getting scratched by the twitching claws of one of the severed legs.

"Crap," she said again, forlornly. "Why does this mudball moon have to be so dusty?"

The bull-rex snorted, almost as if answering. In response, Maybell retrieved her rifle from the dust, killing the beast by putting a sonic-slug between its primary eyes. Then, switching her rifle to Bowie mode, she gutted it on the spot.

Gathering up its two legs, she put them and the carcass into a bundle, wrapping that with micro-canvas in order to drag it without damaging the meat.

"You're gonna buy me a perfume bath," Maybell said to the carcass as she tied it to her RynoCycle. "With real water, and a tub and everything.

"And bubbles!" she hollered at the load while gunning towards town.

"Geez, these critters get bigger every cycle," the storeroom clerk said as he weighed Maybell's bundle. "Do you want the horns from this one?"

"Nah," Maybell said, still trying to get the dust off her hat. "Just sell'em to the tourists."

The clerk snorted, reminding Maybell of the dead bull-rex in the bundle. "What tourists? Who comes to Mu-Beta-Prime on holiday?"

Now Maybell snorted. "Then grind them up and sell'em to the Chinese, or something. Just lemme know what it's worth."

"You're lucky summer cycle is coming. Stockpiles are a little low below ground, so this'll come in handy."

Maybell kicked at the ground with her boots. "I wanna bath, Gavin. In a tub with real water. Not reclamated. And some bourbon."

"Kentucky bourbon?" Gavin asked.

Maybell smiled, stepping a little closer. "Yeah. A perfume bath with bubbles."

"How long do you want the room for?"

"Two days?" Maybell replied, instantly regretting that she made it sound like she asked a question.

"Hmm. You know, Bobcat saves that suite atop the saloon just for you."

Maybell smiled. Bobcat was a great roll in the hay, making love with the ferocity of a mountain lion.

"But two days up there, with a bubble bath in real water, and real Kentucky bourbon—that's asking an awful lot for a sack of untrimmed bull-rex meat."

Maybell sidled up to Gavin. "You know, Hon," she offered, "you deserve a visit to that suite yourself."

"I do?"

This time, Gavin regretted making his statement sound like asking a question. Maybell opened up her vest, pressing her breasts against Gavin's girth.

"You get me what I'm asking for, and day two belongs to you."

Gavin didn't pause to contemplate Maybell's offer. He did so only to figure out how to make it happen.

"Hmm. A bath, a room, a bourbon." He smiled down at Maybell, still pressed against his gut. "You deserve that much, I figger. No one else brings in such clean-killed bull-rex meat."

Maybell hopped in place, letting her bosom bounce with joy. "Yay!" she cheered as Gavin smiled.

"About two, or three fingers? Neat?"

Maybell slumped and frowned, looking absolutely sexy. "Aw, come on, Gav. Gimme a whole glassful, hey?"

Gavin's smiled never wavered. "You're one sweet piece of work, aren't you?"

"Yup!" Maybell said, taking to bouncing again.

"A glass of bourbon and a bubble bath. Get your ass over to Bobcat's, and tell him the room's on me."

"Oh! You're such a peach!"

Maybell threw herself at Gavin, hopping on her toes so she could peck kisses at his cheeks. Gavin assisted her in doing so by hoisting up her ass.

"Get Bobcat to draw that bath for you right away," he said as they smiled nose to nose. "You stink like a polecat."

Gavin turned to the task of processing the meat from the bull-rex. As Maybell skipped away, she cried out over her shoulder. "Make sure that bourbon isn't stepped on!"

"Aw, now you come on, Maybell! You know that's just not possible!"

Maybell turned to slump and frown and look sexy again.

"I can't get any bourbon out to this God-forsaken mudball that hasn't been cut with something. Sedge-whiskey at best, but still…"

Maybell looked at Gavin through her long eyelashes and sadly came to the same conclusion. "Just make sure it tastes real good, okay?"

"I will." Gavin promised. "I will."

Still, Maybell pouted. "Can I have some fruit, too, maybe? Please?"

"Sure. I can do something like that. What kind of fruit are you looking for?"

Maybell sashayed up to Gavin, causing him to back away because his hands were full of bull-rex blood. "Well, Hon," she said with passion. "That depends on how hard you want me to screw you."

"I'm gonna find you some real good fruit then," Gavin said after a laugh.

"Oh, you are a peach!" Maybell exclaimed again, this time carefully rising to her toes so as to give Gavin a kiss without getting bull-rex blood on her.