Beyond the Gate

Chapter 22 I Spy with my little Eye...

Ascretta, Asscretta system

Pollicle Zone Shipyard City

Exactly one week later

Ten am

"You wanted to see me ?" Tanith asked as she stepped through the door into my bedroom. I had sent for her, and Tugger promptly got in touch with her. I was reading another datacrystal, the information from the stone floated in the air like a hologram in front of me, as Tanith stepped in.

"I did, I found something you might want to see" I showed her the map I had found, it showed the other two cities on the planet as it floated between us in full three dimenesions of pale blue and white. Both of which were in the Pollicle Zone, "Captain Artigas and Quaxo were on a scout mission, they saw a few things. Tharon and yourself have been caring for the boy, Agustus, with Tunia. But I think its time we see if we can try to find his mother." I said to Tanith as I explained and showed her the map I had recovered.

She looked at me in thought. "Let me guess, its because of the report we got while Munkus was with me and Tharon on Atlantis ?" She asked, she had her Sniper rifle slung across her back along with her swords. Seeing the rifle made me nervous, she had promised to only use it on Pollicles and not when hunting. But lately the hunting trips ended up being Pollicle stalking ventures.

Tanith smiled, "Walk with me" She said, I nodded to her and set the crystal in its place, picking up another crystal as I passed it. The two of us headed for the puddlejumper. I had never been in the vessel before. Once inside Tanith closed the rear hatch, the ramp folded in on itself and the door slid closed from both sides, sealing solidly, trapping me inside with her.

Going to the pilots seat, Tanith asked me as she sat down, she motioned to the seat beside her. "Where exactly does the map work ?" She brought the local area on the front window screen. "That is interesting, truth be told I didnt expect it to be so huge" Tanith mused seeing the full scale of the Shipyard city we called home now.

"You said that the other Furling you met, a woman named Dila, was from a similar Shipyard city ?" I asked as I took the offered copilots seat.

Tanith nodded. "Yeah, she's from a planet they called Flamelight Spire, or rather the shipyard city, like this one, that orbits the planet. I think that was the point of these three shipyards, at least until we here at Ascretta were whiped out and forced to go to Earth" Tanith mused. She lifted us from the ground in the jumper and we flew into the sky, disappearing as she engaged the cloak. The higher we got the better we could see around our city. I could see that Bens resource harvesting had cleared most if not all the old meadows and cleared areas, it revealed the structure of the massive shipyard city.

We saw seven outlaying settlements and the centeral section, none of them in the Pollicle Zone. So we flew higher into the sky, scanning below. Moving quickly enough at the speeds Tanith was fying us I didnt feel as if we were on a flying machine like a plane, there was no affects of gravity. "its weird" I said absently, "I know we're in a device able to fly, but I dont feel that affect"

"Relax" Tanith told me, I looked at her, she looked almnost bored, like a person driving to get a drink and some food really. "Without inertial dampers, at these speeds, we'd be dead" She went onto explain in gristly detail of the speeds, we were going of what would happen to us. Then she stopped the puddlejumper and made us hover about fifty five kilometers above ground. "OK," She said, bringing up the map, "That's our Shipyard city." A map was highlighted, "And this one..."

"Oh my" I said seeing the mass of red, but at one outlaying settlement the mass of red was scattered, and there was a single gold mark, another Furling. I pointed at it. "How close can you get to that point ?"

"Fairly close" Tanith replied as she took the jumper down towards the pollicle controlled Shipyard city. Of course the section of the shipyard in question was sparsley populated by Pollicles to begin with. Which meant that it was popssible we could gain a foothold in that shipyard city.

As we got closer, more of the pollicle controlled shipyard was seen, five thousand years of overgrowth had buried our city. But this one looked well kept. "This Dila, what is she like ?" I asked out of the blue as Tanith flew us closer to the other shipyard city. Somehow thankful that only ours had a stargate. Seeing the device was remarkable.

"She's apparently a diplomatic type, a council woman on the seated council or some such, sure didnt act like it though when she met my dad back on Earth" Tanith explained to me, "From what I was told and could understand was that she brought up the notion to visit Earth, and then there was a vote on who should go, and since she was the one who brought it up, everyone voted in favor of her visiting and seeing and experiencing our world." She snorted.

"I miss Miami, it was beautiful there." I said thoughtfully. I looked to Tanith, "Continue, please." I said, there was something in Taniths tone as she went onto explain.

"There were three goons there, they wanted to catnap Dila, and her bodyguard," Tanith smirked then "and me. They werent expecting me to be ready for them, nor were they expecting me to fight back." Tanith said, she had a smile on her face. "Dila unfortunately was knocked out, a tranquilzer dart nailed her in the neck. Saca, her bodyguard she chose to accompany her to Earth, protected her while I took down the attempted catnappers." Tanith went onto explain that the three of them, Aleg, Dylma and Nibo, had been tasked by a power group working behind the scenes called the Trust. Their job was to kidnap Dila and Saca, and also try and take Tanith along to try and get some answers, or start a war with the Furlings.

In other words, they impersonated a powerful group of people called the IOA, otherwise known as the International Oversight Advisory. Sadly it was Dilas first taste of Earth stupidity in which Tanith rescued the whole visit by taking Dila and Saca with her to see her father in Long Beach. Which Dila found incredibly refreshing and reminded her of her homeworld due to its beauty.

We flew closer to the Pollicle occupied Shipyard city. It was going to be a while before the dead retook it. And I could tell that Tanith was already making plans on how to do so as she was recording everything she could of the layout of the city as we neared the massive structure. I stared in awe at it. We were unseen and in the five thousand years of the Pollicles controlling the shipyard city, they did little if any, to take it over and learn its technologies.

Trust their benefactor to abandon them entirely when the planets original inhabatants disappeared somewhere else. The conquest of the world was ended, and those who were unable to flee the planet remained and made families. And so the Pollicles grew and fermented, spreading in their zones of control like weeds.

Tanith kept the gold mark of the Furling, the lone furling that thanks to Ben, was able to be recognised as a female Furling. On the screen and we neared the tower and landed silently on it. She powered down the Jumper slightly, leaving the cloak active. "Alright, according to this the target area is twenty seven levels down. And from what I am picking up, there are other puddlejumpers here. More then likely sealed away, or damaged, or something." Tanith said, she brought up a floor by floor map of the tower we had parked on, the two levels directly below us were packed with puddlejumpers, I counted an easy two dozen, possibly more.

"That's a lot of puddlejumpers" Tanith mused, she had a power reading from each one and smiled. Her puddlejumper,. The one we were in, conne3cted with the centeral control network and sealed the massive room, I just nodded. Four levels below them were sealed, not even the Pollicles could access the rooms on those four levels, and finally the fifth level down had a huge atrium type space that we lowered into.

Tanith pointed at a space. "There, we can go in cloaked and park there." She powered up the jumper and lifted us off the building. The open air atrium was huge and allowed us to settle on a large beam, designed strictly to hold our weight perfectly. Tanith handed me a pair of binoculars as she made sure her rifle was ready. "Shall we see what our hosts are up to ?" She asked me. I nodded and she hit the controls, the cloaked jumper's rear hatch slid open and the ramp extended.

We stepped out of the jumper onto the beamway, Tanith held onto her Ori Staff I could see, using it as a weapon in the case it was needed to defend us both, I had nothing. Not even a shield. We moved along the hidden passages and came to a overlook and looked down on the centeral courtyard the atrium possessed, and spotted an overgrown park. The verdant trees and grasses and overtaken parts of the atrium and the overgrown vinery gave us the perfect cover as we got closer.

Tanith had a life signs detecter, as she called it in hand. We came to a balcony thatr overlooked the courtyard in greater detail and spotted our targets, a single Furling woman laid on a bed, she looked feverish. A Golden type Pollicle tended to her, with the Golden was another, both female, working to keep the Furling healthy. There was a dozen other Pollicles, I counted two bulldogs, a pair of rottwilers, and the rest were either beagle or dobermans

I growled softly." What is it ?" Tanith asked me

"I count at least four Dobermans" I pointed out the ugliest of the group. "Two rottwilers, two bulls, and two goldens." I said, I sighed, " I cant make out the last two though"

"Same here, I think those last two are Beagles ? Either way the Goldens look like they're trying to care for the Furling." Tanith said as she handed me a pistol. "Take this, and stay here, if anything comes for you that does not smell like me, dont call out to it, shoot it." She told me as she then turned and snuck away.

I swallowed and looked at the gun in my hand, freaked out to use such a thing I prayed that I would not have need of it. Truth be told I hated guns, the only thing I used when hunting in the fall was a crossbow, they were quieter. Tanith quickly disappeared into the foliage and became entirely unseen even to me. Her fur did that. I hoped my own fur was enough.

I went back to watching the group below me. I had no idea Tanith was getting another vantage point that would also cover the entirety of the overgrown atrium. At least until I spotted movement across from me. It was Tanith setting up her sniper rifle.

Below us the Pollicles had no idea they only had minutes left to live. Tanith had something like fifty shots of her sniper rifle before having to reload. She zoned in. I saw her body jerk slightly, she had no spotter as she called it, working alone as she took out one of the bulldogs, the mutts brains splattered on the wall he stood next to. The bullet blasting into the wall as well with a loud pop.

"Ouy! What are you doing laying down on the job!" Called one of the Dobermans going to the downed bulldog. "Come on Ouy, get up!" Reaching down the mutt pulled the other dog to his feet, and tried to stand him up, but the other dog, the Bulldog was dead. Another jerk of Taniths rifle silently sent the doberman to hades with a pop of his heart. The bullet passing through the doberman and through the bulldog. Both fell over dead.

Two down. Tanith barely moved from her location, Another silent pop and the two rottwilers were down, their bodies blown clean apart where they were struck by the leathal shots from Tanith. The two Goldens started to panic. Looking around madly, scared for their lives.

Tanith took out another Doberman before targeting the last remaining Pollicle that was not caring for or helping the goldens, the last bulldog was bored out of his mind. I watched Tantih for a long moment, she didnt fire. Not yet. I saw her take down her sniper rifle and sling it onto her back.

Looking back at the Pollicles, the two goldens were still scared, but the Bulldog was upset. The remaining two Doberman breeds split up to try and figure out who was shooting them. "My squad is dead, and you two are still alive ?!" He hollered at the two females. "Leave the Furling bitch if you know what good for you!" he thundered

"We wont leave her with the likes of you, Seargent Bander" One of the two females said in reply, "If anything the person that was justs shooting at us wanted us alive to make sure she is alright like the last one did!" The Goldens name was Laime

The Bulldog, named Bander, pointed at her with an engry look. "I still think thats a lie, the council might have believed you, but I do not." The bulldog replied with a unhappy grunt, he wanted to screw something, anything. And the Furling was right there.

"Its not a lie, he let me live because I cared for the Furling child!" The Golden retorted. The bulldog slugged her. She hit the ground in a heap. The Golden with her and both Beagles remained quiet, both of the rotties, two of the dobermans and one of the two bulldogs were dead. The Beagles were only the guard for the Goldens.

I spotted one of the dobermans sneaking up on Tanith, but it didnt work. Silently she reacted as if someone stepped on her tail. Twirling around she flicked a nife perfectly, nailing the mutt in the face, the doberman sank to the floor dead. I saw her roll back over and take a peek through her scope. The rifle jerked once more. But I never saw the last doberman die below me.

A few moments of the two dogs, bulldog and golden, yelling at each other retook my attention as Tanith had quickly disaembled her rifle and disappeared from her perch.

WHOCK! "YIPE!" Laime hit the ground in a heap, blood pouring from her nose.

"You lying bitch!" Bander shrieked as he towered over the downed Golden. He drew a wicked looking blade. "Maybe I should kill you for making me wait longer than I should!"

"Oh I wouldnt do that" It was Tanith's voice the bulldog twirled around to look at her. He was so focused on the Golden that Tanith was able to cleanly sneak right up behind him. And as he turned around he slit his own arm off on her knife. The bulldog howled as his arm became a stump. Tanith looked confused as she looked at the knife. "Hmm. Not high enough" She said as she cleaned it off on the dead rottwiler at her feet.

The bulldog popinted at her. "GET HER! He screamed at the two Beagles, both dogs were nervous and did not want to lay their lives on the line as they had seen what just happened to the bulldog Tanith had sniped.

"No, you dumb bitchfucker" Tanith said to the pollicle. "This is between you and me, I win, you die, you win, you flee with your life. Understand ?" Tanith had an ace up her sleeve as the pollicle grabbed up his fallen knife and ran at her screaming like a banshee.

Tanith easily blocked his strikes and parried a few others, scoring a few marks on the mutts body. It had to have been hours of the two of them fighting. I was scared someone was coming. And felt I should move. But it was just the wind in the atrium.

On the forest floor of the atrium, Tanith stood with her sword in her hand ready to go before she smirked and put the blade away. "Disarming yourself ?" The bulldog, Bander, asked her

"Nope, Just keeping your attention on me so she can get behind you" Tanith had seen how the two goldens cared for the sickly Furling, and knew the golden who had gotten beaten down by the bulldog was going to want to retaliate.

"She ?" Bander asked, the bulldog turned around and got clobbered across the face. He stumbled into Tanith, who dodged out of his reach easily. "YOU! BITCH!" Bander shrieked at the golden. Whose name was Laime. He ran at her, only to get beaten in the face again, loosing most of his teeth.

Laime finally clouted him solidly enough that he stumbled away. Tanith stepped up. "Allow me" She said simply before turning to Bander on his knees.

"Who are you ?" He asked Tanith

"I am three things, mutt. I am your judge, your jury,..." She whispered something to him before he keeled over dead. I never heard what she said but I had an idea. Tanith stood back up and looked at me, giving me a thumbs up as she did so. It was the all clear signal.

As I joined them and handed the pistol over. I heard Tanith asking "How many more Pollicles are in this area ?" She then pointed to the Furling "She alright ?"

"She was like this when we found her, feverish, broken leg, we tried our best but there is only so much we can do." The Golden, Laime said in reply.

"You mentioned a Furling Child ?" I asked as I stepped into view. Laime and her fellow Golden, and both Beagles took us both in, me just showing up must have scared them something bad.

Laime nodded. "Yes, I was with a patrol even though I did not want them there, the bulldogs will mate with anything and everyone knows it. How they can survive is beyond me." She said to us. "A male Furling killed that bulldog, and told me to to tell the others what he did, and then he knocked me out. Saying that my caring for the child saved my life. When I came to it was dark and nobody was around execept for the dead."

"He was right, you cared for the boy, And that saved your life, you cared for this one, all four of you did," I said meaning both Goldens and their beagle guards. Truth be told I could remember my cat side, Tantomile, the housecat, sharing a home with a pair of Beagles, they were sweet things, Harmless really.

"If you ask me, your actions prove that there is some good among Pollicles." Tanith said as I went and checked the other Golden, the woman was still scared. Tanith turned to Laime. "Can you help us move her or at least keep the other Pollicles busy while we take her home ?" Tanith and Laime shared a few more words

Laime nodded and we had a straight shot back to the jumper. Moving quickly as we could to get the Furling woman to the jumper safely. Tanith and I got the furling woman to the Jumper and settled inside, Laime had done her part perfectly.

"What else did you tell her ?" I asked as we set off from the shipyard city back to our own, the jumper perfectly cloaked to be unseen or unheard.

"I asked Laime to tell her leaders what I did, we can kill them now. We're much smarter and much better armed than we were long ago, and each Furling that awakens in the Pollicle Zone is to be cared for, not treated like a prisoner, because my sniping those pollicles is what will happen to any guards." Tanith explained as she first flew us deeper towards Pollicle territory before heading us into space still cloaked.

Within a moment or so we turned and headed in the other direction in a long roundabout way before heading directly back to our little slice of heaven. "Laime ?" I asked.

"The name of the Golden" Tanith replied to me. I looked at her confused at what she meant briefly before realising.

"I see, you think she'll do as you advised ?" I asked as I stood near the furling woman.

"I hope so" Tanith replied truthfully, she sighed "She was caring for Agustus after she found him. She said she put him in the fence box or cage or whatever to keep him safe from the bulldog. So when my husdband, Tharon rescued him he spared her life because she wanted to help the boy and protect him from the bulldog. So that meant she can be trusted. Because my husband let her live." Tanith said as she flew us back towards our home. Now that I could see our shipyard city it started to make sense. If we were a very samurai like culture it was in how we carried ourselves and how we dressed, not how we lived or where we lived.

"You trust his judgement ?" I asked, it was a stupid thing to ask. But I couldnt help it.

"Tharon is my husband," Tanith replied calmly as she flew us back towards the courtyard we were to expect to land in. "I trust him with my life." she looked at me, her expression was one of neutral boredom. "You should too" Those words scared me. But I said nothing in reply as Tanith brought us in to land. "Tharon, we're coming in, we have a bit of of an issue with a passenger so we'll need the healers on standby."

Ascretta Shipyard City

Moments later

Tanith landed the jumper, as we came into land and decloaked, I saw that Jellylorum was waiting for us to open the back door. "When the two of you left I knew you were going somewhere to bring home someone." Jelly said when she saw us. "Oh my" she had spotted our pateint. We hustled her to the infirmary.

I waited as Tanith took care of our new member. There was something scary of how she took down those Pollicles, it was like she had trained heavily for it, she had. And yet, she was so calm, as if it were second nature. She even easily beat back the bulldog in a swordfight. Once the new Furling was safe with Jelly and the others I took a walk and found a courtyard of green grass cared for by one of Bens replicated drones.

Tharon found me in the courtyard staring at the sky in thought some moments later. "So you found another" He said as he stepped up next to me. "And by the look of things, From what Tanith told me, the same Golden that cared for the boy was caring for our new guest. Which mewans leaving her alive was my best choice."

"That's right" I replied, "The Golden, her name is Laime, she had said that another Furling had knocked her out while she was caring for the Child Furling, so I can only guess that could only be you." I turned to him She said she had put the child into that cage, she called it a fence box or some such, to keep the bulldog from him, she didnt want the bulldog near him. You did good when you saved that boy, and spared her life." I told Tharon, I turned to him, never expecting to see Puss in Boots in all his glory right here, hat, shirt, boots, the works. Even a pair of swords were on him along with a pair of pistols

Tharon though didnt look happy. He looked down at the grass breiefly, pursing his lips before sighing. "Not my finest hour" He admitted, it was clear he didnt want to talk about it, it was a secret he'd take to his grave if he could. He then smirked and tilted his head towards me. "But then it wasnt my worst hour either."

I laughed. That was all I needed to hear, everyone had started pairing off, finding a husband or a wife, I still had yet to do so, even with our new arrivals, Jochen looked like a possible husband, but then there was Cori, and though it was obvious I mostly saw him as a brother than my husband. But then my human side remembered that Munkus and I were engaged before we woke up here.

Tharon took a seat. "Tanith said you watched her do sniper duty, its normally not an easy thing to watch" he said, he barely could stomach the idea of shooting a guy from a quarter mile away. He liked a straight up fight, close and personal.

"Yeah, it was scary truth be told" I a grown Furling, admitting I was scared by Tantihs sheer skill at dealing out death. She was incredibly deadly, Ascretta was an entirely new world, with dangers at every turn, and Tanith proved to me who was on top, Tanith was ready for it. And so was Tharon, and Cayran, though I remembered Cayran closely, the girl was a southern belle, so that made her military family background a big deal and also aided in her survival.

I also learned that I had some special abilities, magics one might say, Tantomile was after all the Wtichcat I had to remember. In the poems and the show, Tantomile and Cori, me and Cori really, were considered the Dark Twins for some reason and it felt weird truth be told. But that wasnt a bad thing, it was fun to try and figure thing out in this new world.

But to find perfectly designed housing, perferctly set up rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, working plumbing, you name it. Ascretta had it. The Pollicles however didnt really think to care much if at all of the technologies their shipyard cities possessed. They had taken over them both.

But Tanith was a smart woman and I knew I could trust her. I headed for the library building and began searching up things in the crystals there. The transporter allowed us to go to various areas of the shipyard city in the blink of an eye. So where I found myself was a place I didnt really expect and yet somehow felt right at home there.

At random I clicked a space on the transporters wall. And the door closed with me in it. It reopened at the top of a tower on the oppisite side of our shipyard city. The balcony was a massive beautiful structure and it was a clear day. A gentle breeze blew by me and kept things moving and carefully airy.

I found that I wasnt alone. "I had a feeling someone would join me here" It was Munkus, our leader so to speak, in terms of the political thing, he was our leader, Old D as we called him was his advisor, and so was myself.

"You are alone and without your mate ?" I asked him seeing it was just Munkus, he'd found himself a pair of breeches to put on while remaining shirtless, he had no weapons on him at that moment aside from a simple dagger at his side on the balcony floor.

"Demeter is with Jelly and Jenny, helping with the newcomer, hopefully we'll know something soon of others out there." Munkus had been told entirely by Tanith what had happened and why she let the two Golden pollicles survive with their Beagle guards. They were caring for the Furling, no doubt the Goldens wouldnt be where the next Furling would be.

"And she lets you be alone with me, she trusts you that much, I like that" I said in reply. Demeter was a good match for Munkus, and everyone knew it, Bomba, now that was a interesting combination.

Munkus smirked and chuckled while he relaxed on the chair he'd found. "Demeter trusts me to keep my hands to herself." He said in reply. I had to smile, he had a point. A good point. I took a seat on the nearby bench. We sat in silence for a while before Munkus spoke up.

"So, what brings you to this neck of the woods ?" he asked me, he had a impish look in his eyes. "Its not every day one can easily just up and go into a room and appear somewhere else entirely now is it ?" he had a point, the way the technology worked was similar to an elevator but also similar to a teleporting device.

"How did you find this balcony ?" I asked him, I simply wanted time with my thoughts, I never expected to talk with our own leader one on one. But Munkus was the kind of guy that you could sit down for a poker game and end up having a really civil debate about the views of the civil war or the american revolution, or even the Boxer rebellion or whatever. And in the process find a newfound respect for the guy.

In short, Munkus was the kind of guy you could lay into and rant at, and he'd offer words of encuragement, advice, good thought and also some humor. At this moment I was in a dark place, I kept seeing the bulldog and doberman dying in a pop of blood and a pockmark in the wall.

"I found it some time ago while exploring, Tanith told me how the transporters worked, so I explored, this place is absolutely huge." Munkus said to me. I had to smile, he was right, the place was gigantic. We looked out from the balcony and saw some of Bens replicated drones harvesting resources down below us. Revealing a dull gunmetal gray coloration of the structures lowest floor "I felt a place to sit outside would be nice, this has shade most of the day and its got a gentle breeze, so it ended up being perfect for what I wanted." He said, He looked over at me. "What about you ?"

"I wanted to wander, to think." I replied truthfully.

"Whats eating you ?" Munkus asked me, I looked at him, "Normally people go to you for mystical advice, you and Cori, or your son Nightchaser." I sighed, I remebmered Nightchaser dearly. A good son, a smart son. A powerful mystic too. "Ah yeah, you still havent picked anyone have you ?" I shook my head. Of everyone, I saw Cori as my brother, and I think he saw me as his sister. He had his eyes on the other Queens, I still hadnt thought of anyone... yet. But I couldnt shake the feeling Munkus and I should be together.

"I havent picked anyone yet, no" I said in reply to his question. He nodded in thought. "Cori might go after one of the Queens in the tribe, which is fine. I dont see anything wrong with that. I feel like he's my brother after all." I said in thought.

"Cori is a smart man... cat... whatever we are now." Munkus mused in thought. "Give it time, who knows, you might find someone, even where you least expect it." He said to me. I had to agree with him, how he found Bomba and the two hit it off I will never know. And yet somehow they were close friends, not mates. Right then it was simply just Munkus and Demeter. Bomba was torn between Munkus and Tugger.

Though somehow I saw Tugger and Cassie together instead. "How is our guest ?" Munkus then asked me

I didnt answer right away, that was what I was mostly thinking on earlier. Tanith had rescued the Furling from the Pollicles, and elt the two Goldens live. After a few minutes I said "Still asleep last I heard. Do you think Tanith did the right thing ? Letting those two Goldens go, with both of their Beagle guards ?" I asked, I know I would have let them go, knocked them out sure, but let them live. All four of them had seen us.

In a way I was glad we didnt end up fighting them, the two Beagles, just seeing their fellow Pollicles slain without a sound from afar thanks to Taniths skills as a sniper only made them more scared of her. It was like, seeing their boss with a missing hand made them too scared to fight. So they never got involved. And I had to agree with them both, Tanith was terrifying in battle, a dwervish of death in a fight was she. And it made me scared.

"I was told Tharon did the same thing, though he knocked the Golden senseless, and befor doing so, told her what to tell the others. Fortunately, by letting those two Goldens go, I think we won some allies in the Pollicles." Munkus said as he relaxed on the bench on that balcony.

I didnt think to look at it in that way. Winning allies and friends by sparing their lives for helping those of us yet to waken ? I was confused by Munkus words and yet somehow they made sense. Even though I did not want to admit it just yet, his words made sense. We could win allies in this new war to learn about our new home.

Munkus looked to me. "How are you settling in ? Finally find a place to call home ?" He asked me. I nodded, I had found a nice apartment like set up. It was single floored and laid out similar to my old home in Winter Haven, three bedrooms, a large gathering space, two bathrooms, and a nice large kitchen and dining room.

"Yeah, actually I found a place, reminded me of home back in Florida" I said to him as I described the apartment condo I had picked for myelf. Munkus whistled in awe at what I described for the evening views I had from the back wall, all windows.

"Sounds beautiful." Munkus said.

The day soon became evening and I parted ways with Munkus to return to my condo I guess it was. I was alone when I entered. I didnt expect any company other then Tanith that morning, by time it was night I was ready for sleep, but it was hard for me to focus because when I entered my condo, Tanith was seated in one of the low chairs in the living space.

I spotted her and came to a fast halt. "Tanith ? Is something wrong ?" I didnt even bother to ask how she had gotten in.

She held something out to me. "Jenny said to give this to you, it'll help you sleep tonight, I'm sorry I scared you." It seemed Tantih knew that she had scared me with the skills she had possessed with the sniper rifle. I took the bundle, it was a few herbs that jenny had found that she somehow knew could be medicinal enough to help me sleep.

"Is this it ?" I asked her, for her to be in my condo, alone. Something had to be going on.

Tanith nodded. "Yeah" She said, "The Furlnig we rescued from the Pollickles, Tharon and I dont have any space, and the Infirmary is still full with Fiddlestix and Benoi, Would it be alright if she stayed with you ? I told Jenny I'd ask, its just for tonight." Tanith explained to me how full the infirmary was, Jenny and Jelly were swamped, and Tunia was surprised when Agustus recognised the Furling we brought back with us. Calling her Aunt Maggie

I looked at her, "Sure, was that it ? Just wanting to know if she could stay here with me ?" I asked her however. Confusion in my tone.

"The boy recognised her, he called her Aunt Maggie." Tanith told me, so that means we're getting somelace with these rescues. "I'm going to go back to the Pollicle Zone and zero in on another Furling tomorrow, there were two other golden dots on the map when we did our fly over. One of them might be the boys own mother Marcia" Tanith explained.

"Do you want me to come with you ?" I asked her, Jenny was apparently waiting because Tanith went to the door and opened it, allowing Jenny to bring Maggie in. the light calico Furling was still very weak and sleepy I helped Tanith take her to a bedroom and laid her down.

Tanith shook her head. "Given that where those two dots were, with my Asgard shield and Ori staff, I should be able to rescue the Furlings we found, hopefully one of them will be Agustus mother." Tanith told me. She looked towards Maggie as she slept on the bed. "When she woke up she said she had been in the Pollicles area for three days, but she was starving and weak, the Goldens found her first. And the Bulldogs and their mutts showed up this morning just before we did."

I looked from Tanith to Maggie and back. "So we saved her in the nick of time ?" I said in thought

"We did" Tanith nodded, "And now I am going to go do some scouting, and see if I can find Marcia, after I get some sleep. Tharon has Agustus at my place, along with Tunia and Cayran, amazing really, Cayran is such a good sitter for him, almost like a playmate on some levels too"

I smiled, when Cayran had first met me and Cori back in New York as I could recall such memories, she was a playful kitten, really sweet and kind too. But it was only a matter of time before she'd grow up. And now she was a woman similar to Tanith, armed with technology beyond evne my own mystical cat abilities! And yet somehow Tanith and Cayran were naturals with it, and Zane and Quaxo too. Sgt White as he liked to be called felt more comfortable around Old D. and we still hadnt found Bustopher Jones yet either.

With that thought in mind I said to Tanith. "While you are out there, see if you can find a Furling named Bustopher Jones, he'd be a big black and white cat similar to Agustus, only much fatter." I said to her

Tanith snickered. "Bustopher Jones in white spats..." She said softly, I smiled and nodded, it was hard to forget those songs.

"The one and the same" I said in reply. She looked at me

"Dont worry, if anything I can try to find him, would have guessed he woke up among you guys already." She said

"He was not originally part of the tribe, more then likely he was a outcast, similar to Grizabella and Griddlebone." I replied. Tanith did not tell me what was on her mind right then, but she smiled again.

"I wont be too long, dont wait up. When Maggie wants to see her nephew, let him know." Tanith told me, she gripped my shoulder briefly in her fingerless gloved hand and then went out of my condo, Jenny made sure Maggie was sleeping soundly and peacefully.

I closed the condo door and made sure it was locked for the remainder of the night. I went to my bedroom, at least the room I had chosen to be my room. I laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Lost in my thoughts

Somehow I had managed to witness a blossoming frienship, if anything the Golden Retrievers and Beagles were good dogs when I was a cat with the humans back on Earth. I got along very well with them. And I hated bulldogs.

Pugs were cute dumbdumbs as my human always called their nieghbors pug, the bloodhounds were nice too, a bit privacy invasive but otherwise really nice for the most part.

I sighed as I thought over what I had witnessed that day, we had never planned to rescue a Furling, much less find more of Agustus family! We found his aunt, and not his mother. So that meant more of us were showing up on the planet, getting returned here.

I sat up in bed in shock as I realised my own thought. I had mentioned Grizabella, and Griddlebone! Was it possible either of them were on this world too ? And if they were, where were they ?

I laid back down after writing up a note to talk to Tanith upon her return about my concerns, if Griddlebone had arrived on this planet, could we find them ? How big was our world ? And where was the other Shipyard City ? I wanted to learn as much as I could about this world as soon as I was able, so I drifted off to sleep with that thought in my head. It was a dreamless sleep.