Calistra: Thank you so much for encouraging me again! I'm really happy to hear you like my ideas! And I guess the whole writing thing will get better with some practice. (grins) I've just begun reading your story it's great and I'm really looking forward to read more as soon as I've got some free time.

Maria 656: You really saved my day when I saw that I had a new reader! Thanks for reviewing! Well I didn't think too much about the shipping in this story for now, but it definitely won't be M/W ! (grins) I couldn't even imagine this! And I'd love to get an email from you!

Chapter 3 - BAD AWAKENING

An annoying noise slowly but relentlessly brought Max from a deep sleep back to reality. Reluctant she opened one eye to see who or what was disturbing her sleep. It was still dark in her room, but thanks to her cat genes Max could nevertheless recognize her mobile phone lying exactly beneath her face and ringing as hell. Had that damn ringing always been that loud? And what the devil did this silly thing do on her bed at all? But right now there was only one thing that mattered: The noise had to stop! Clumsy she fished for the gadget with one hand and without moving more than absolutely necessary. Whoever woke her up right in the middle of the night would immediately experience an X5 giving him hell, if he didn't call to tell her the world was coming to an end in a few minutes. Because everything else could have waited until the next morning.

"Yes?" she growled into the phone morosely, when she had finally reached it.

The answer was barely understandable between the rush "I hope you're ready!"

"What!"

No answer.

"Hello?"

Max stared distracted at her mobil phone. The strange caller had already hung up. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Outside Terminal City there were only a handful of people, which had this phone number and of those surely no one was crazy enough to pester her with such a feebleminded call; especially not at such a time.

Little by little memories of a worrying dream, which had faded during the sudden awaking, came up again. The dream had had something to do with the snake breed. A dark and sinister dream. Something had been said – something important. Strained she tried to remember the words, but they seemed to faint farther every second.

"Tonight we'll bring Sandeman's work to an end!" the words then suddenly appeared in her memory as a neon sign.

With one leap Max was out of her bed and fully awake. But only a few seconds later the first shock gave place to earnest doubts. What was that supposed to mean eventually? A strange dream, which she couldn't even remember properly and a mysterious caller, whose confused talk seemed to fit exactly into this dream …. Had she really dreamed of the snake breed? Or did she just imagine having dreamt this after that tremendous call? Or was the call possibly also part of her dream?

Probably she was still dreaming now! The whole situation was just to crazy to be true! How the hell should this strange caller – just in case he actually existed – know about her dream?

Apart from all that she hadn't sleep for far too much time as if any crap like this could prevent her from sleeping now. Exhausted Max dropped back on her bed and cuddled up into the blanket again. She tried to relax.

It remained an attempt.

Of course it was nonsense, but the dream and the ominous caller had worried her more than she wanted to admit to herself. And the thought of all the unpleasant things that may happen just didn't leave Max alone.

Perhaps she should just stand up and convince herself everything was okay. Then she would at least be able to sleep peacefully again!

Angry at the fool who made her doing this, Max struggled to get out of her bed again. Right now she really felt like cursing aloud, but at least the other inhabitants of Terminal City should get their sleep. For a moment she considered dressing up, but finally decided against. After all she just wanted to take a look on the monitoring systems and crawl back below her blanket as fast as she could.

Carefully she shoved the door open and crept along the corridor barefooted. Possibly she would even though wake up a few people – at least the sensitive hearing of the transhumans wouldn't elude the sound of her footsteps. Though even them slowly got used to not further bothering about such things.

A restrained sound came through from far off the corridor.

Startled Max paused in her pace and listened. Perhaps her uneasy sensation actually wasn't as unwarranted as she had thought. In Terminal City it was an unwritten law, that everybody had to pay attention to not making any unnecessary noise during the night. After all transgenics weren't known for their deep sleep.

Max closed her eyes and breathed flatly so she could fully concentrate on the sounds of her surroundings. But even with her enhanced hearing she couldn't make out anything – there was perfect silence again.

Puzzled she opened her eyes and frowned. Had she eventual only been wrong?

There was only one way to experience that: Without further ado Max turned and sneaked carefully trying not to make any noise, but as speedy as possible back in the direction the sound had come from.

As she passed an open door, Max saw a rapidly movement from the corner of her eye. Like lightning she stepped backwards and pressed herself against the wall to remain unseen for her part. Then she eavesdropped attentively and with her breath kept.

Did she just imagine it or was there a quiet regular sound coming from the room? Perhaps wary steps? Something was there in the dark room. It could simply be a rat, but as well a dangerous intruder. Automatically her hand placed itself on the light switch. Should she switch it on? As an X5 she received much more in the dark than any other, which though didn't help her feeling much more comfortable with some light. On the other hand whoever was in there knew exactly where she stood while she didn't have a clue where he was.

Fast deciding Max switched on the light and stepped into the door prepared to reject any possible attacker immediately. But there was no one. Quickly Max searched the room with glances. It stayed that way: nothing. And then she discovered the real source of the strange sounds she had heard from outside: an old rusted water tap peacefully dripped in one corner.

Max heaved a sigh of relief. Almost she had just laughed about her completely groundless panicking, when she suddenly had an intensive feeling of being watched. Hurriedly she turned around and scrutinized the corridor right and left. But there was also nothing to be seen. No mysterious persecutor who would attack her from the ambush every moment.

Max shook her head about her behaviour. She actually seemed to slowly become paranoid and her silly panicking was beginning to annoy her. After all she was a genetically enhanced soldier not an anxious child!

But on her further way through the nocturnal Terminal City she still felt watched the whole time. She also constantly thought that she was hearing something, in which her in turmoil gotten fantasy interpreted the strangest things. Suspicious sounds can be found always and everywhere and if you just once make the mistake to start paying attention to them, you won't be able to overhear them anymore.

Involuntary her steps got faster and faster. And in turn it's in every time shorter intervals reflected echoes let her become more and more nervous. Max felt like running, but she laboriously controlled herself in order to prevent from loosing her head definitely.

Anyway something was wrong. Max by no means was the kind of person who'd feel uncomfortable at night or even fear it. Contrary she was often on the way at night and often even in not too secure districts. And during none of those excursions she'd ever felt fear – indeed the feeling of not knowing what may await her hidden in the shadows attracted her. In comparison a nocturnal walk through Terminal City shouldn't be worth mentioning.

Though that wasn't what disquieted her that much ... Something was fishy here; tremendously fishy. She just felt it was that way and exactly this strange feeling or knowledge or whatever it was, was what frightened her.

Finally she got to an old storeroom, which they didn't use and so was full of all sorts of junk of the former inhabitants of Terminal City. That was about where the sounds probably had come from. Suspicious Max squinted her eyes and surveyed every corner of the small chamber.

But the only source of light was a tiny window. And with tonight of all nights being new moon even with her cat genes Max couldn't make out anything but a wild chaos of shadows and vague silhouettes.

A small shelve emphasized dark from the shadows. A black mark on the floor. It had been knocked over; the inside it stored things were spread all over the concrete ground.

Max frowned concerned. She hadn't ever been to this chamber before. She didn't knew when and by whom the shelve had been knocked over.

I could have been years ago.

But it wasn't … it had been tonight.

Again Max had the strange feeling of being watched. She knew, that she was the only person in this small store-room – there was no doubt about this. But someone had been here and now this uninvited guest crept through the sleeping Terminal City ….

It wasn't only a guess. Max formally saw the intruder in front of her mind's eye. She just knew someone was sneaking around in this building – someone who didn't belong here; and he hadn't come alone.

The feeling was very similar to what she had felt when she knew White and his phalanx were coming during the Jam Pony siege. There was absolutely no occasion for such a theory; not the slightest evidence, that it could be true. And though Max didn't question the substance of this feeling for one second.

No, there was no doubt ... Familiars had forced their way into Terminal City ….

TBC

Note:

Well I got two rewiews for chapter 2 so I'd like to get at least three for this one. (grins)

The next chapter is one of my favorite ones. There'll be a lot action and tense which you really can look forward to. I guess I'll be able to update it about next weekend.