FERAL THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Chapter 12: Little Child Lost

Feral moved swiftly through the forest barely making any noise. The rest were hard put to keep up with him. Before Carter could ask him to slow down, Feral suddenly stopped in his tracks nearly causing the others to run into him

He stood rigid, his head turning from side to side. Taggart realized Feral might be scenting something else besides Mandy by his rather tense demeanor. Looking down at the ground quickly, he couldn't see any tracks of other large predators.

"Something catlike is stalking the kitten." Feral finally said.

"Why do you think cat?" Taggart asked quickly before Carter could speak.

"It has some of the same scent markers as me." Feral told him tersely. "I'm going to have to leave you behind. Give me a radio or phone so that I can contact you."

"Wait just a minute, Commander. Why leave us? We'll move faster and keep up with you." Carter objected.

"There's no time. The predator is stalking her and is getting closer. I'm the only one capable of moving faster and taking the cat out." Feral hissed. "Now give me a radio."

Jo quickly gave him her special ear piece. He nodded and took it from her and clipped it to his ear then took off at a run. Very quickly he vanished from view, making no sound.

"Damn, he wasn't kidding when he said he could move fast." Carter muttered. "Now what do we do?"

"We follow him of course." Taggart said beginning to track the fast moving cat.

"Of course." Carter muttered as they followed behind.

Much further ahead of them, Feral ran as fast as he could. The scent of the predator was getting stronger. Suddenly he reached a small clearing where a huge fallen log lay across another. From between the logs he heard small cries of fear and the chuff of a large animal. Cautiously he moved around the logs until he came to the far side.

There he found a large tawny cat. It's nose was in the end of one of the logs and it was snuffling at the creature it had trapped within. It reached a paw in and the creature gave a wail of fear. He had found Mandy. He gave a warning growl.

The cat spun around and hunched in fear at the much larger biped before it. The cougar caught the scent of something like a cat and it sort of spoke like one as well. It was very strange.

Feral spoke to it, "Back off that is not prey!" He warned it.

Shaking it's head in surprise, the cat rumbled at Feral, "What you...not two legs...but not us...what are you..."

Was the gist Feral was able to understand. He was surprised. The humans thought they were the only intelligent species on the planet. He wondered how many more creatures here simply didn't let the humans know they could understand.

He shook his head, that was a problem for another time. "Not from here, visitor ...what you have trapped is kitten of two legs...they will kill you if you hurt it..." He warned it.

"Hungry...kittens...need food...two legs take away food...hard to find..." The cougar said angrily.

So it was a female. Feral sighed, nothing was stronger than a mother's need to care for her kittens. He understood but he couldn't let her have Mandy. "Understand...will get you food...promise...come to the fence where kitten came through...will leave you plenty food for your kittens." Feral promised.

The mother cougar eyed him warily but sensed the strange upright cat would keep his word. "Agreed...by nightfall..."

"Agreed!" Feral said respectfully. The cougar stared at him a moment longer than turned tail and disappeared. Sighing in relief, Feral went to where the cougar had been pawing.

"Mandy! It's safe to come out now!" He called soothingly down the log but keeping his face out of view. He didn't want to scare her further.

He moved back a bit and waited. Moments later a dirty tear-streaked little kitten crawled out of the log. She stopped when she saw him, her eyes getting wide.

"Hello Mandy, I'm called Ulysses Feral. I'm a visitor to Eureka. I am part of a group that have been searching for you. Your mommy and daddy are coming." He said gently. He moved carefully and sat down on the log so that he wouldn't tower over her and let her decide to come near him. Meanwhile he reached up and flicked on the radio.

"I've found her, just come ahead about a mile. You'll find a small clearing." Feral told the listeners. He heard Taggart say they were nearly there.

Mandy continued to stare at him then cautiously moved to his side. He didn't move. She finally got close enough to touch his paw laying on his knee.

"You are a big kitty." She said in wonder.

"Yeah, I'm a big kitty." He agreed warmly. He looked her over and she seemed okay except for some scratches and bruises.

"Other kitty was bad...chased me..." Mandy said unhappily.

"I'm sorry, she didn't mean to do that but she has kittens to feed and thought you could help her." Feral said quietly.

"Oh...she is a mommy?" Mandy said in surprise, her eyes wide.

"Yes she is a mommy and her babies are hiding in a cave somewhere close by," he told her.

Suddenly there was a commotion and Taggart popped through the trees followed by the others. When Mandy's parents spotted her they ran past the others and swept her up into their arms.

"Where's the predator, Commander?" Taggart asked looking around cautiously.

"I spoke with her and convinced her that the kitten wouldn't be good food and I promised her I would provide her with the proper kind of food by tonight. She has kittens hidden somewhere close." Feral told him.

"Ah, a cougar. Thought I saw the prints of one some time back. But what did you mean by you 'spoke' to her?" Taggart stared at him in surprise.

Feral shrugged, "I don't know if it was the translator or my native tongue that understood her but she wasn't stupid. She understood what I was saying."

"That's amazing! I wonder if all the larger animals are intelligent as well. Now that's a sobering thought." Taggart said thoughtfully.

"That's even weirder than some of the Eureka stuff." Carter said shaking his head. "How did you plan to give her food?"

Feral cocked his head at Taggart, "I thought Jim could help me hunt down some prey for her."

"Sure, could do that. Where and when did you promise dinner?" He asked in amusement.

"I told her I'd leave it outside the fence where Mandy had gone through by this evening." Feral told him.

"Okay, guess we're going hunting tonight. I take it you wish to join me?" Taggart smirked.

"Sure, probably could even find it for you." Feral smirked back.

Mandy's parents came over to them. "Thank you. Were so grateful you were able to find her so quickly and save her from the cougar." Mandy's father said.

"You're welcome. I think you better escape proof your home from now on. Apparently, Mandy is very good at thinking of ways to escape the house." Feral warned them.

"We will, thank you again." The father said warmly and shook Feral's paw.

Mandy's mother gave her daughter to her father and gave Feral a hug. "Thank you so very much." She whispered. Feral just nodded.

"Okay guys, want to lead us out of here now." Carter said as he rounded everyone up and they began to return to the housing area with Feral and Taggart in the lead.

In very little time they were back at Mandy's home. Their family and friends circled around the happy parents.

Unnoticed, Taggart, Feral, Jo and Carter slipped away.

"Now that's the kind of ending I like." Carter said with a sigh. "Thank you Ulysses."

"You're very welcome. Glad I was of use for something," the cat said.

Taggart waved at them and got into his truck and left as did Jo. Carter and Feral climbed in his car.

"It's about time for your session with Beverly. Want me to drop you off now?" Carter asked as he got on the main road for town.

"Oh, it's that late already? Yeah, take me there now." Feral said sighing.

Minutes later he dropped Ulysses off at the Inn. He walked up the walk to the beautiful porch and stepped into the lobby. He didn't see Beverly so went back toward her office. She was just coming out to see who had arrived when they met in the hallway.

"Good afternoon, Ulysses." She greeted him warmly and turned back to her office.

Feral followed and dropped into a chair.

"So how are things with you?" Her typical question when they started these sessions.

"Actually, much better than when I saw you last." He said with a faint smile.

Her brows lifted and she rested her head on her palm and leaned forward. "Oh?"

"I've just come from rescuing a little lost kitten in the woods. She'd escaped from her bedroom window and followed a rabbit. I met a cougar who was trying to catch little Mandy to feed her kittens. I spoke with her and offered to bring her food this evening." Feral said briefly and watched Beverly's eyes widened.

"You spoke to a cougar?" She asked in shock, "and it understood you?"

"Yes. We don't know if it was the translator or my own language she understood but yes. She was intelligent enough to understand certain things. She calls you two legs and knows your species is responsible for the lack of food," he said faintly accusing.

Beverly blushed a little, "Uh...that's a little disturbing to know that our animals may be more intelligent than we thought. You're right, mankind has been pushing the animal population further and further into areas with very little food and roaming space. Our encroachment has disrupted or caused the extinction of many kinds of species. It's not a very nice thing we do and too many don't care."

"Humph...well it's your planet and Jim said the same thing when he realized your so called 'animals' aren't animals at all." He said with a grunt of mild amusement at what chaos this little piece of information would cause humanity.

"Well, it sounds like you had an exciting morning?" Beverly said trying to smooth past the difficult moment.

Feral snorted, "I only used my natural talents to find a lost kitten. On my world our kittens can find their way anywhere easily. Besides that wasn't the most exciting thing that happened this morning or last night." He said with a small smirk of pleasure on his face.

"Oh? Something good happen to you?" She asked with interest.

"You could say that. It began as a polite offer to groom my back and ended up being an experiment that was successful." He said being deliberately vague knowing it would drive Beverly nuts.

She eyed him with a touch of annoyance. He was getting back at her for making him spill his feelings. She sighed and sat back in her chair.

"I'm assuming you want me to guess what went on rather than being forthcoming?" She half asked, half asserted.

"Perhaps or perhaps I'd just like to keep it too myself for a while. I'm truly tired of everyone knowing everything about my doings. This is a private triumph between myself and my lover. No one else needs to be aware of it right now." He said more seriously.

"Fair enough. I can hardly fault you for that. Will you tell me if its male or female at least?" She asked quietly.

"No!" He said bluntly.

"Okay, would you mind telling me if there was any awkwardness due to your different species and if there was how you solved it?" She said seriously.

"The only problem was my own. I had a strong urge to use my claws and at one point to need to grab the neck which would be the scruff of another kat. Apparently, it's instinctual but I was able to resist the urge and still enjoy myself." He answered that much.

"That's good. Your partner did nothing to you that disturbed you in any way?" She asked.

"No."

"Good. It sounds like your first experience was a very good one and that you had a very understanding lover. I've seen rutting behavior between our earth cats and they do grab the female by the scruff to hold her in place. It seems your species has the same response but you realized your partner was to fragile and was able to restrain your need and that is excellent for a first time. I commend you on your strength of will. It serves you well and congratulations on your first sexual encounter." Beverly said smiling warmly.

He blushed at the compliment a little. "Thank you. It was really fantastic and I'm very grateful to the doctors for giving me back such a precious gift." He said solemnly.

"You are very welcome, Ulysses. I'm sure Drs. Gilsmith and Milney would be glad to hear it as well. Will you allow me to tell them about your success?" She asked.

"Sure, that will be alright." Ulysses said after a moments thought.

"Well on that good note, I think we'll end this session. Have a wonderful afternoon and possibly an even better evening?" She questioned with a small smile.

"Maybe." He said noncommitally, a faint smile on his lips. He took out the cell phone he'd been given by Stark and called a number.

"Hello, Spencer? Listen, do you have time to pick me up from Dr. Barlowe's and stop by Vincent's to get lunch before taking me to Steven's lab?" He asked. He smiled when the young male gave a positive answer then hung up.

Beverly stood up and walked the cat to her front door. "You like Spencer don't you?"

"He's a bright and genuinely sweet kitten, what's not to like." Feral said smiling at the thought.

"Yes he is. Have a good day, Ulysses," she said again, closing the door behind him.