Later on, the group, with the addition of the Tygrin female, was sitting in the shadow of MEGAS. The Tygrin was in the process of eating the cheese-steak Coop had given her.
"Umm," The Tygrin commented with a smile as she finished it. "Not bad. Tastes like the liver of a Goraxoain, lightly basted with the gastric juice of an Arotar."
"Liver and gastric juice?" Jamie blinked in shock.
"Do you see these teeth, James?" The Tygrin female pointed to the sharp fangs in her mouth. "We Tygrins are not exactly vegetarians, you know."
"You still haven't explained," Kiva prompted. "What's your name, and how did you get here?" The Tygrin paused, wrinkling her nose in disgust, as if remembering something unpleasant.
"The Glorft referred to me as Number 47418. But, long ago, I was called Kitagana."
"Did you just say the Glorft?" Coop stared in surprise.
"I was very young when it happened," Kitagana began. "I once lived on my home planet, known as Shegrath. My people and I lived in peace, as free as the wind. But then, the Glorft invaded Shegrath. They massacred my people, plundered our homes, and took a great deal of Tygrins prisoner, myself included. We were forced into slavery on the Glorft's planet, where we couldn't see the sun, or feel the wind in our hair. As slaves, we lived in a world in which the weak were all thrown in with the strong. We were given little food, less water. Every day, you had to watch as your friends and loved ones fell under the lash, never to get up again. I lived this life of death for longer then I care to remember. But recently, I somehow managed to escape the Glorft's chains of slavery. I've been on the run ever since."
"So, that Mech… was after you!" Kiva realized.
"Yes. That Mech has been after me since I escaped. I suppose the Glorft can't stand to let one of their slaves escape and live."
"Well, why didn't you just pull that trick with the ball of light?" Coop asked. "That rocked!"
"I couldn't. That restraint that was on my arm; it was put there by the Glorft when I was still a slave. As long as it was on, I couldn't use my Tygrin powers, such as 'the ball of light', without receiving a painful electrical shock. I'd receive an even more painful shock if I tried to remove it. But once your friend, James, destroyed it with that rock, my powers returned."
"I have another question." Jamie added. "How were you suddenly able to speak English? When we first met, the language you were speaking was definitely not anything from this planet."
"I can speak English because of you, James. When I touched your forehead during our first meeting, I was accessing your thoughts to learn your language. It's one of the few Tygrin powers that the restraint band didn't inhibit."
"Cool! What else can you do?" Coop asked eagerly.
"Well, I can fly using my dreadlocks to catch the wind shears, and, as you've seen, I can convert the energy around me into a ball of heat and light to be used as a weapon."
"Anything else?" In response, Kitagana stood up and looked at MEGAS. After a moment, she extended her hands so that her palms faced the robot. Suddenly, MEGAS was lifted off the ground and hovered ten feet above everyone's head.
"Oh!" Kiva stared. "She's has psychokinesis! She can move things with her mind." As soon as this was said, MEGAS started to fall toward them. However, seconds before everyone was crushed, Kitagana caught the robot by its metal foot and held the 80-foot robot up with a single hand.
"Wow! Super strength, too!" Coop cheered, as Kitagana carefully returned MEGAS to the ground.
"It sure feels good to be able to use my powers again," she smiled, stretching out her arms. Suddenly, the watch on Coop's wrist went off.
"Oh, I told my mom that we'd be back by now! We better head back."
"Well, then. I guess we say goodbye, don't we?" Kitagana stepped back into the woods.
"Where are you going? You're coming back with us." Coop said.
"I am?"
"Well, where else are you supposed to go? You can't possibly live out here."
"Actually, the vegetation here is not that different from Shegrath," Kitagana replied. "It's almost like I'm back home."
"Maybe you should come with us anyway." Kiva stepped in. "There might be more Mechs coming after you."
"Well, all right. I guess I could come, for a few days." As the group went off into MEGAS, Jamie turned to Kitagana.
"What did you say your name was, again?"
"I am called Kitagana."
"Kitagar…Kitaganag… hey, why don't we just call you Kit? It's easier."
"Kit? Kit. I like that."
While Coop piloted MEGAS back to Jersey, Kiva glanced over at Kit, who was looking out the window in wonder at the city.
This Kit, she thought. There's just something about her that reminds me of my old friend, Will. Is it possible that Kit is Will's…?
A teenaged Kiva was bent over a damaged control module, working on the repairs, trying to ignore the swishing sounds behind her, but in vain.
"Will, would you please stop that?" Kiva turned to her companion, who was tossing a sword into the air and catching it repeatedly. "It's very annoying, and distracting, not to mention dangerous." A Tygrin cyborg glanced over at Kiva. All four of her limbs were robotic, and the left half of her face had been completely replaced by steel and circuits. In addition, her right dreadlock was only a stump, while the left was coated in tribal markings.
"You don't have faith in my hand-eye coordination, Kiva?" The cyborg smiled mischievously.
"You know that's not what I meant Will."
"Okay, then. Since it's you, I'll humor you." Will caught the sword in mid-throw and hung it up on the wall.
"Thank you."
"So, you need help with that, partner?" Will asked, joining Kiva at the control module.
"Kiva?" Coop's voice brought Kiva out of her memories. "We're back." Looking out, she saw that they were indeed back at Coop's house. As MEGAS was placed back to it's place below Coop's garage, Kit looked at the house with an appraising eye.
"You Earth-folk build your residences on the ground? How do you protect yourself from ground-dwelling carnivorous creatures? Shouldn't you build your domicile in the trees, so you'd be out of reach?"
"What are you talking about?" Coop turned to his new friend.
"Well, that's what we did on Shegrath." Kit looked away in embarrassment. "But I suppose this planet doesn't have the same type of creatures as my planet did."
"Don't worry too much about that now, Kit," Kiva began gently. "We understand that there must be quite a lot of differences between Earth and Shegrath. It's only natural that you'll need time to get used to things around here. The first thing to do, however, is get you cleaned up a bit." Kit looked down at herself, taking in the fact that she was still covered with dried, caked-on mud and muck.
"I guess I do need a bath." Kit chuckled. "It's been so long since I've had one. The Glorft don't exactly worry too much about their slaves."
