Minjeong wanted to keep the small creature drifting past her boots, but she didn't know if it would burn her hands or bite them off. It floated low over the wet grass outside the research hub, a white fluffball with huge gray eyes. She had come to Xeros to study its wildlife, yet three weeks in, she still hadn't spoken a full sentence to anyone on base. The seasoned field crew stood near the hub's carved doors, laughing over coffee. Any of them could tell her whether this thing was safe. Minjeong opened her mouth. Her throat locked. She stared at her own black boots instead, the way she always did. The fluffball drifted closer. It nudged her wrist with a soft face. Warm, not hot. Its gray eyes blinked up at her, curious as her own. Minjeong lifted one hand. She had read nothing about this creature. It could sting. It could carry something in its fur that ate through skin. Asking would take five words. She swallowed and kept her hand rising anyway, because the crew felt farther away than the creature did. Her fingers brushed its side. The fur was soft. Then a voice cut across the yard. "Stop. Do not touch that." Minjeong froze. Katerina crossed the grass in three quick strides, purple ponytail swinging, white uniform bright against the dark hub. She was the commander of the whole mission, and by-the-book to the bone. Minjeong had avoided her for three weeks. Katerina crouched beside her. She did not grab the creature. She studied it, then the beauty mark on her chin tightened as she frowned. "You're lucky," Katerina said. "That one's harmless. The gray-eyed puffs are gentle. But we have another kind here, almost identical, whose fur blisters skin for a week." She looked at Minjeong. "You couldn't have known that. So why reach for it?" Minjeong's face went hot. "I didn't want to bother anyone." Katerina's frown softened. "You bother me more like this." She held out one gloved hand. The puff drifted onto it, unafraid. "Next time, you ask. Even me. Especially me." Minjeong nodded, throat still tight. The commander she'd been dodging had just saved her hand and hadn't even raised her voice. "It likes you," Katerina said. She passed the creature back. It settled against Minjeong's chest and blinked. "They bond fast. That's a problem. Regulations say we log every native animal and release it. No pets." She stood and brushed off her knees. "So don't get attached." But Minjeong already felt the small warm weight breathing against her uniform. It had chosen her, not the crew, not the commander. For the first time on Xeros, she wasn't invisible. She looked up at Katerina and, quietly, made a decision she did not say out loud. She was going to keep it.