Baby Sitting:
Part 1: It all started out so well…

It started simple enough; a pair of girls that belonged to a science fiction club in Lexington Kentucky finally managed to get their own place. A pair of roommates free of their parents for the first time in their lives. A very typical pair of young women, Pearl, the older or the two and Nichole, the younger, relishing what the world had to offer now that they had autonomy.

Their friends all were more than a little enthusiastic because of this and made a great show of getting them in and getting the pair settled into their new home. A typical lay out that soon became covered with the belongings of the pair and began to feel more and more like a home to them with each passing hour. Eventually they got to the point where they were ready to show it off to everyone and announced that they were having a celebration there. It was when the two of them were in the process of getting the things they needed for the party that the whole mess got started.

"Well," Pearl slammed the trunk on her contour shut and looked up, "I think that's all we are going to need for to night. Any thing else you want to do before we head back?"

Nichole placed her helmet on her own ride, an attractive motor bike and pointed, "as a matter of fact there is."

The older girl followed the line of her friend's indication and grimaced, "Oh you are not thinking about getting what I THINK your thinking about getting are you?"

"Are you kidding?" Nicky grinned back, "Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to get my paws on one?"

"Okay, okay fine!" Pearl tossed her hands up, "Just one thing…"

"What?"
"I find some odd thing in there that I like; you won't say one word okay?"

Nicky grinned at her, "As long as you don't buy some thing that will eat mine you have a deal."

Pearl grinned and picked up her bag following her friend into the pet store that was the subject of all of this debate. Nicky promptly headed up to the counter to talk with the owner and ask for something specific while she wondered off into the depths of the store. It might have been some great cosmic twist, it might have been fate, or perhaps it was merely the almighty having some fun at the expense of this girl. What ever it was she poked her head into the reptile room and spotted it.

IT turned out to be a small thing that resembled a lizard snuggled into the branch of a strange looking tree. She walked closer to the thing and started petting it, as it purred and rubbed its self up against her hand.

"Hey there lil' fella," the thing purred more and she kept on petting it, "and what are you any how?"

"Those are called Yaslamiri," A soft voice told her, "They are quite rare."

Pearl proceeded to jump about three feet in the air and then spin around to look at who had snuck up on her. It turned out to be a friendly looking elderly man, with thinning white hair and bright blue eyes.

"You like them?" he asked her.

"I think it's adorable," She bent down to take a closer look, "Is there more than one?"

"Yes," The man nodded and walked over to where she was, "I do believe that this is a breeding pair."

"Oh yeah I see the other one," Pearl took an even closer look, "are they stuck to the branch?"

"Yes," The man nodded to her, "They sink their claws in and drink the sap, and most people don't find them very appealing when they find out that they cannot move much."

"Well I think they are precious, are these two yours are or are you selling them?"

"Well they aren't really for sale miss," The man smiled at her softly, "But I am willing to GIVE them away to a good home."

"What do I need to do to take care of them?" Pearl asked.

"All you have to do is really to make certain that the plant stays alive and use their abilities to protect your self from what's coming."

She looked up from the animals, "Abilities? Sir?"

The old man smiled at her again, "You will need these creatures soon my dear, trust me."

"If you say so sir," Now she was starting to get freaked out slightly, "So are you sure that you're just going to give them to me."

"Of course miss," He smiled at her again, "Just mention it to the person up front as you go out. I've already made all of the arrangements with him."

She turned around for another look at the animals and smiled, "Thank you soo…"

Pearl stopped dead as she looked back to the man. The person who had given her the animals, who had informed her that she would need them in the days to come, was now no where to be seen.

She was on the verge of going to ask where the man had gone when Nicky proceeded to come into the reptile room carrying her own new pet in his cage.

"I got him!" She told her friend as she proudly displayed the pink toed tarantula for Pearl to see, "Isn't he just so sweet!"

Pearl had to grin, "Yah, actually it is kinda cute."

She stopped and retrieved her own new pets and the plant they were attached to. The first lizard she had petted made a show of rubbing against her hand again as she got ready to make her way up to the counter.

"OH," Nicky grinned, "So you found some too?"

"Yah Cute lil buggers aren't they?" She held them out for her friend to see.

"They are actually, fuzzy lizards."

"Yah," Pearl grinned, "What will they think of next, come on."

They carried the new animals up to the counter where Pearl was indeed informed that the lizards were free to a good home and that the shop owner was more than happy to let her have them if only to get rid of the creepy old man who had shown up and given him the things in the first place.

And so it was that the two girls took these strange animals into their home, several hours before they had the whole club there showing off everything. All of the members of the club showed up and the party proceeded to get into full swing.

"So what are these things?" Another female member of the club named heather proceeded to ask.

"Some kind of lizards," I found them at the pet shop over in Tates creek center. "I think they are soo cute!"

"Well they are cute, its just I've never seen any thing at all like them."

"Well," Pearl shrugged, "The old guy told me that they were very rare, maybe that's why?"

"Yah I guess so…" the other girl shrugged, "So any how? What are you guys showing tonight?"

"We made the mistake of letting Nathan pick the flicks…" Nicky called.

"Five bucks says Star Wars?" Heather told Pearl.

"Oh heck no," She held up her hands, "That's a bet I KNOW Id loose. Thanks but I need my money."

That got a round of laughter from the whole group, as the blond member in mention popped out from behind the TV set and beamed.

"Okay then! I think I got the thing going now! Ready to try the sensurround?"

"Well we might as well," Nicky called, "You've been playing with that thing all day. Every other electronic thing in the house is probably wired into it now."

"Least it works!" Nathan called back.

"Okay Blondy," Pearl called from where she and her friend were looking at the animals. "Just don't blow us to kingdom come!"

Now they all should have known better, considering the ac, the microwave, the speakers, the computer and the TV were all hooked into one circuit, than to go on and turn the things on. They should have realized that some where in there, was a disaster waiting to happen, a disaster that would put the two girls who owned the apartment, not to mention the whole Sci Fi club in a huge fix. Some thing that would take both a great deal of effort and a lot of time to get rid of completely, Still either it didn't occur to them or they were to happy at that point to realize they were poised on the edge of some thing unbelievable.

"OKAY people!" Nathan crowed, "ONE, TWO, THREE!"

Afterward No one could say if the explosion happened before or after the little blond snot flipped the switch, but the next thing they all knew there was one and a large puff of something billowed into the room. Lots of hacking and wheezing took place and all of them too a few seconds to get their breath back. When that was all over every one in the club realized two things, first, they were no longer alone in the girl's apartment. Second, some one or some thing was still making that weird wheezing, raspy breathing noise.

Pearl looked at what, or rather who was standing in her living room and wanted to scream bloody murder. All four of the new comers looked at this strange place and wondered also what the heck was going on. It was finally Nathan that managed to break the Silence and get some thing out.

He took one look at the imposing black armored form glaring at them all, bounced up, grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper and promptly demanded to know the following.

"Can I have your autograph SIR?"