"You really know what you are doing sweety?" Asked Peg as she looked half confused half amazed at her son who was installing a little device, which looked like a fist sized black diamond, into the speaker in Keswick´s lab.
Dudley just gave her a tired smiled and said. "Mom, this isn´t very complicated."
"I don´t know, sweety, this looks like the stuff Keswick usually does."
"Well…" mumbled Keswick who stood on the other side and looked astonished at Dudley´s eagerly working hands. "I have no c..c..clue what he´s doing. That thing goes a..a..above my head..."
"It really isn´t." Sighed Dudley and put the last wires onto the device. He turned around and gave a little nod to Powers who held a microphone in his hand and eyed it confusedly.
"Uhm…" He said and tapped the mouthpiece what was amplified by the speakers. "Aha!" Said the captain and meant without speaking into the microphone. "Okay… I got it. Let me guess, an amplifier and membrane that converts my words into an electrical signal?"
Dudley nodded again. "Yes, but you still have to speak into it."
"Oh, of course." Powers put the microphone in front of his mouth. "Okay everyone, may I have your attention?" His words echoed clear and in Dudley´s mother´s tongue through the room. The group of people that was already just eying the little group of humans around Powers became quiet and stopped whispering.
"Thank you." Powers smiled friendly at the group. "First of all, to all who might not know it, my name is Sly Powers and I am the captain of the Leviathan, that´s a ship of the Alliance fleet. The people here next to me…" He pointed at the Tick, Meternagel and the meanwhile returned Isaac. "Are parts of my crew. For example Meternagel here…"
He walked next to the pilot. "Is my pilot and Isaac…" the captain pointed at the scientist. "Is my scientific advisor. And last but not least the woman here is actually not my crew member… let´s say she´s an espionage consultant." Powers nodded and the walked to René and Dudley and placed himself between them. "Okay, the left one here is an engineer and his name is René so if anything´s broken, ask him."
"Hey wait, I´m not a fucking mechanic!" protested René angrily.
"Oh, of course." Powers smiled. "He wants you to keep in mind that he´s not a simple mechanic. Anyway, the last one, here to my right, is captain Dudley Puppy… I think he wants also to say a few words."
Powers handed Dudley the microphone and the dog couldn´t remember when it was the last time he was that much out of words. He held the micro in front of his mouth and looked at the crowd of people in front of him.
They looked so expectantly at him. Keswick grinned widely and looked like he waited for him to say something funny that would light up the situation. The chief looked proud at him, like his mom next to the flea. They would be proud no matter what he said.
Kitty was in the crowd too. She looked with a soft smile at him. Dudley wondered how she felt about the whole situation. Especially about this thing with him and the other guy. And the most important question he had was, how were her feelings towards him? Was she still in love or did she carried a hidden anger in her because he left them?
Or was she free of all these feelings and just in love with this Rob. Speaking about him, he stood next to Kitty and glared at him in a way like he would wish him to die in every possible way. Just Nick was nowhere to see, it seemed that he didn´t want to listen to anything the newcomers, especially him, had to say.
"I could maybe start doing the same Powers did but…" meant Dudley after taking a deep breath. "But I´m lacking the words for a big speech right now… damn I still need time to digest that all. I mean I thought for a while that you all were dead and then I thought that you were just a product of my imagination…" Dudley laughed a bit and shook his head. "No, I want to give a speech so why don´t we do it the other way around, you can ask questions and I answer."
Dudley looked around in the crowd and waited for a hand that would raise. "Come on, please, you must have question."
"I have one, 'captain' Puppy. How that you are still alive?" The question came from no one else than the tall wolf next to Kitty. Dudley almost had to restrain himself from answering in the same aggressive tone Rob asked his question.
"Well, that is actually a god question." He meant and crossed his arms. "To be honest, I currently was dead. But I´d have to make a little excursus to explain. First question, who knows the black hole information paradox?" Only Keswick and Kitty who knew it from Keswick who tried to raise her hope and lower her pains after Dudley´s death. And the chief nodded to, Keswick also told it to him but then said that it was just a theory.
"Okay." Nodded Dudley. "For the others, try to imagine the black hole like a hard drive. I died, was saved on it and this nice asshole over here…" He pointed grinning at Isaac. "Recovered me."
"Well…" Isaac stepped next to Dudley and said speaking to him and the crowd. "I take that as a compliment."
"I think that answers why I´m alive again." Meant Dudley and grinned at Rob. It was a triumphing grin which he tried to cover with faked friendliness. "Any other questions?"
"I have one." This time Kitty made her friendly and clear voice audible. "How was it working with those… uhm..."
"I swear if she says 'things' I will scream." Whispered Isaac to himself.
"…people" Kitty finished her sentence after a short moment of thinking.
"It was hard but… funny." He smiled and hopped that Kitty wouldn´t interpret it the wrong way.
He was afraid that she would be angry that while he was gone and had 'fun' she had to stay back and suffer. But Dudley couldn´t read any signs in the cat´s face as he spoke out the words.
"Especially the learning was terrible…" sighed the dog grinning what made Kitty giggle a little. This giggle made amends for all the time he suffered under Isaac´s exercise books.
"It was not fun for me either." Isaac huffed. "I had to drug you to squeeze knowledge into this little pea sized sphere you call brain."
"Very nice of you, like always." Grumbled Dudley under the loud laughter of Keswick.
"Take it as a compliment." Isaac tilted his head and smiled excessively friendly.
"Any other… questions." Dudley rolled his eyes while he averted his gaze from Isaac and towards the audience.
"Yes, sweety…" Peg raised her hand and jumped a little so he would see her.
"Yeah… mom…" Dudley had to sigh because in the background he heard the whole crew giggle quietly.
"Sweety, did they took good care of you?" she asked worriedly.
"Yes…" Dudley meant while he still wondered why she asked that. After all he was here and he looked, without being to narcissistic, pretty good. "They took really good care of me. I was not lacking anything. Food, medical attention, body parts…"
"Body parts?!" Peg asked shocked. Dudley facepalmed himself angrily. He forgot, here it was something unusually to lose parts of your body. Of course, if your life span is just 80 years it´s not too hard to keep your extremities, but if can live 10,000 years it´s nothing special that to lose one or two limbs.
"Yes, but don´t worry." Dudley said to calm her. Peg looked like she was about to collapse. "I am fine and every part is working properly."
In the background Meternagel started snickering. Annoyed Dudley turned around and hissed. "I didn´t mean it like that!"
"Sure…" Meternagel meant who couldn´t stop chuckling.
Dudley sighed and turned back to the crowd. "Okay if that´s all I…"
"What body parts did you lose?" it was Rob who asked that question and Dudley couldn´t evaluate if his question was asked maliciously or because of honest interest.
"Oh… that´s a good question." Dudley scratched the back of his head and looked to the ceiling.
"Let me help you." Grinned Isaac and fished a little sphere out of his pocket. He dropped the sphere onto the ground in front of Dudley and immediately it emitted a hologram of the dog. The crowd gasped and stepped from the clone made from photons and force fields.
"Black magic." Roared Isaac provokingly towards the crowd.
"Oh my god, how old are you?" Dudley asked sighing loudly.
"3825 years… you should know that." Isaac meant smiling and then walked in front of the Dudley hologram.
"Dudley lost…" He meant and cleared his throat. "A heart." Isaac reached into the chest of the hologram and got a heart out which then disappeared in his hand. "A spine…" Isaac was about to reach into the hologram again but Powers was there and hold him back.
With a stern look he pointed at Peg who went pale. "You stop, got it?" Powers said.
Isaac just nodded. He didn´t even say 'But' he just accepted the captain´s order.
Powers showed Isaac with a gesture to go back to the other crew members.
With a remorseful expression he built himself up next to Dudley. "I have to apologize for Isaac. I think it is pretty much for him... after all this is our first contact." Powers bend down and picked the little spherical device up. "Please excuse, his behavior."
"I think we can excuse him." The chief meant sternly nodding.
"Thank you." Nodded Powers smiling and quickly changed the subject by clapping his hands together, making a loud sound. "Okay everyone, we got some work to do. A lot of work. But I think your chief will explain to you what I mean." Powers stepped to the side and made space between him and Dudley.
The chief hopped from his pedestal over a few heads onto Kitty´s head. Kitty walked straight to the empty space between Dudley and Powers, who looked a bit confused at the cat.
"I told you I have a right hand, didn´t I?" the chief commented on Powers gaze.
"You did, I´m just a bit surprised. But okay, Dudley can brief her later."
Dudley didn´t look at Rob at this moment but he could feel how he hated Powers suggestion.
"Okay everyone." Thought the chief was just a small flea his loud and vigorous voice filled the whole room. "As captain Powers said, we have to roll up our sleeves if we want to get this rebellion big."
He emphasized his words by rolling up his own sleeves. "After a examining our situation completely and from every point of view we now have a figured out a plan that can work. The central element of this is getting the orbital sovereignty. And to achieve that, we first had to help our new friends to help us."
The chief hopped from Kitty´s head onto Power´s shoulder. The captain seemed a little confused first and for a second one of his hands twitched, trying to perform the old reflex to kill a bug that lands on your skin. But he knew that it would be a bad idea to kill the leader of an allied fraction… even by accident.
So he stood still and played a pedestal. Dudley meanwhile moved closer to Kitty´s ear and whispered. "I think we can go."
"Shouldn´t we…"
"No, I have to brief you." He interrupted her quickly. "I think it´s important to do that as soon as possible."
Kitty wanted to object something but then she looked at the chief, he was in the middle of a speech right now and it could be take him a while to finish it. It really was the best to skip the rest of it, mostly because it would be consisting of motivating phrases she already knew. So she nodded and walked with Dudley out of the lab.
Dudley snickered triumphantly imagining Rob´s angry glare as they walked away.
"Why are you giggling?" Asked Kitty smiling.
"Just something funny came into my mind." He meant and beamed happily towards her. "Anyway, let´s go to the shuttle and brief you."
"The shuttle?" Asked Kitty surprised.
"Oh, you´ll see." Dudley said and together they walked through the base towards the mining tunnel that led towards the bigger mining tunnel that leads to the outside.
With delight he heard Kitty´s gasp as they entered the part of the tunnel in which the shuttle was parked.
"Oh my…"
"Yep." Dudley nodded and swaggered nonchalantly to the shuttle. "Mine." He leaned against it and winked like a young guy that who wants to impress the ladies with his new cool car. The shuttle exactly had the effect on her that most young guys wished their cars had.
Of course not the real effect young guys wanted, no, she didn´t get naked in front of him. But she stood there in awestruck and gazed at the shuttle.
"This is so awesome!" She said and ran to him with her eyes fixed to the little ship.
"Yep." Said Dudley again and tried to stay as cool as he could next to her.
Kitty started walking in a circle around the shuttle eying every little detail on the flawless white surface.
"Can we go inside?" She asked as she had arrived back next to him again.
"Sure." He laughed and then said in human language. "Open!"
The ship obeyed. A ramp moved down from the shuttle and a hatch in the hull opened. This time, without the bright light.
Kitty looked alternatively from Dudley to the opening in the hull. She wanted to go inside but she obviously didn´t want to go alone. Dudley laughed even more and then walked up the ramp. Kitty followed him so close that he could feel her breath on his neck. Dudley entered the shuttle with her and again she was standing and looked at everything in awe.
"You look like me when I saw these things for the first time." He chuckled and then pointed at a seat that was facing another seat. "Take a seat, honey… want something to drink or to eat?" While asking he took place in front of the little opening in the wall.
"This is just so overwhelming… I mean this looks so advanced. Like from a sci-fi movie" She sat down into her seat and her eyes grew wide. "This isn´t sci-fi, this is fantasy. These chairs are so comfortable… that has nothing to do with science anymore, that´s witchcraft."
"Well, if you think that´s witchcraft…" Dudley smirked and looked to her. "Look at this." He cleared his throat and then said in human language. "Computer, a glass of water." In the little opening in front of Dudley a glass of water manifested. Kitty´s mouth fall agape. That must have been really something like magic for her.
"How is that…"
"Molecular readjusting." Dudley answered before she could ask the full question. "I could explain it to you later, if you want."
"I´d really like to know…" She mumbled and tried to get the surprised expression of her face.
"Okay." He giggled. "So, want to drink something, too?"
"Just water." She replied and Dudley said the word for water again. He sat, carrying both glasses, into the seat and then handed her one.
"Okay, Kitty, let´s get to work." He meant and started fishing for something in his pockets. Kitty eyed him interestedly as he pulled out the small, fist sized device. He looked around confusedly for a second then he grinned and said "Table". A table extended from the white, seamless inner hull of the ship.
He place the device on the table and in the next second it started projecting the 3D-Modell of a sun. "Oh my god!" exclaimed Kitty who covered her mouth with her hands. She looked even more excited than a child that unwraps his presents at Christmas morning.
"Sweet, isn´t it?" He asked and stick his hand into the sun. "I really love this holo-technology. Anyway, let´s start before I start playing with the holograms again." Dudley moved his hand out of the sun and just swiped to the right side. The projector showed nothing than just empty space.
"As far as I understood that this plan Powers and the chief talked about is more a basic concept. The core idea is that we reload the Leviathan´s energy cells so they can come and help us…"
"Uhm… I have a question." Kitty interjected quickly before he could go into detail. "The Leviathan, what is that?"
"Oh…" Dudley started grinning. He waited for the question. Nonchalantly he swiped through the air over the projector. The long cuboid ship with all of its red shimmering turrets, blue gleaming deflectors and the big thruster, that shined so bright that it looked like the ship was dragging its own white sun after it, didn´t have the same effect on Kitty as seeing the shuttle in real life.
But she was nevertheless so amazed that she stood up from her seat to get closer to the hologram.
"That is the Leviathan." Dudley said and looked smiling into Kitty´s amazed face.
"This is… I´m running out of words…" She meant and flopped back into the seat.
"Well, this gives me the chance to continue my briefing." He laughed and continued by swiping over the hologram again. This time a more damaged Leviathan appeared. The red gleam was completely gone and the four deflectors, the upper, the lower, the starboard and the port, just shined in a weak blue.
The sun like light emission of the main thrusters in the back of the ship was gone completely. "This is the current state of the old lady. As you see… the ship is damaged and almost defenseless. And even if the repair crew was able to glue everything back together it´s still not sure if we can get air sovereignty through it…"
"So you think that won´t work?" Kitty suddenly sounded worriedly and also gave Dudley a look like he never saw it. At least he couldn´t remember when her eyes looked so afraid. He felt bad for speaking out his doubts. Why couldn´t he just shut up sometimes? Powers seemed right.
"No, see." He looked up at the ceiling and mumbled something so that his seat moved like office chair that was pushed by someone. Dudley now sat so close to Kitty that he could smell her sweet scent.
He turned a bit in his seat that he was facing her and could look better into these two flawless emeralds that still fixated him with a fear that became almost tangible the longer he looked into them.
"I don´t say that it won´t work, it´s just a lot of work. First we have to get contact to the Leviathan, then we need a whole lot of energy for the ship and last but not least we have to fight for orbital sovereignty. For the contact we can repair the shuttle. About the energy… Well, I think Isaac has to do some science magic there. And the fight… let´s talk about the fight when the time comes."
"So you think it will work?" Kitty still sounded worriedly but instead of fear she had this spark in her eyes. Dudley sighed, he didn´t want to give her false hopes either.
"That is a question I can´t answer yet." He admitted. "Let´s just take this plan, it´s the only one we have after all, and see how it works out. How those this sound?"
"Uncertain…" Kitty whispered and buried her face behind her hands. She sighed loudly and leaned back in her chair. "I just can´t stand this uncertainty anymore."
Dudley smiled softly, took her hands and removed them gently of her face. "It was a long day for you, so just relax a little."
"It sounds so simple when you say it." She huffed. "But I can´t simply relax. I have a son whose pubertal attitude drives me crazy, the chief wants me to manage the whole tactical branch of the resistance all alone, Keswick wants me to acquire more and more materials so he can tinker with them, Rob wants…"
Dudley pushed his lips in this moment onto hers. Not only because this was an compulsive urge since the first time he had seen her again, but also because wanted to hear under no circumstances what Rob wanted from her.
Kitty seemed more than surprised by the kiss. Dudley could judge that from her wide open and almost shocked appearing eyes. But nevertheless she didn´t seem to resist against the kiss. As he slowly moved his lips away from hers she was still having this shocked look on her face.
"Well, this doesn´t work as well as expected." Dudley giggled a bit helplessly as he looked into her frozen face. Maybe this was too much for her after this today. After all she was a prisoner a few hours ago on her way to a certain death.
Dudley started to stop smiling and sighed. "Kitty, I am sorry, I shouldn´t have…" In the middle of his apology Kitty broke out of her paralysis and jumped at Dudley pressing her lips almost desperately at his. Dudley had no idea what happened to him.
In this moment he felt like he was intoxicated by her hug, by her lips, by her tongue. The cat and the dog rolled around and fell to the floor. But both didn´t care. The moment´s ecstasy had them in its tight hand and wouldn´t let them go so easy. But a loud metallic knocking should bring an end to this blissful moment.
"Do you hear that?" Panted Dudley.
"Who cares…" meant Kitty while she was kissing her neck.
"I´d really like to…" He said and Kitty moaned like she knew what would come next. "Computer, what´s going on?"
Instead of answering the computer made the ceiling to a display that was showing an angry young dog that knocked on, or actually beat on, the ship´s hull.
Kitty winced as she looked towards the ceiling and in a split second she stood on her feet and fixed her clothes.
She even buttoned her blouse again. Dudley did not even realize that she had opened it. He could have screamed after seeing how close he was to get lucky on the floor of the shuttle. Mumbling curses to himself he got up but immediately sat down as he saw that the little make out session had still quite an impact on his body.
"Behave casually." Kitty, who looked neat again, meant as she sat down. Surprised she now looked at Dudley´s groin. "Hide it!"
"Uhm… yes." The dog gazed around and then just pulled the levitating tabletop to him.
"Good." Nodded Kitty nervously and then looked up again where her son was.
"Computer, open." Dudley meant and the hull revealed its entrance. It didn´t take long for Nick to storm inside.
"I knew you´d be here." He hissed looking at his mother.
"Of course I am here, Nick. I am working with your dad on…" Kitty couldn´t have said anything worse to her son in this moment. Nick´s eyes flared and with a thundering noise he screamed.
"DON´T CALL HIM LIKE THAT! HE´S NOT MY DAD!"
"Nick, don´t take this tone with me." Kitty said determined and severly.
Nick stared furiously at his mother just trying to wear her down by his malicious glare. Kitty on the other hand ignored his stare and said calmly. "Nick, we work here. Go back home."
"No." Nick meant. "I´ll stay here."
Dudley didn´t know if he maybe knew what just happened and wanted to prevent them from going any further, or if he was just playing the angry teenager again. Whatever it was he did a good job. Dudley was no longer in the mood for anything.
"Nick, go!" Kitty meant sounding slightly angry in her sobriety and stood up.
Dudley sighed and demanded both of them with a nonchalant gesture of his hand to calm down. "Nick." He meant and tried to sound not too stern. "This is a tactical discussion of the next steps. As long as you don´t have the permission, I have to ask you to leave."
"You can´t tell me what to do!" Nick barked at him.
"Oh, you think so?" Dudley jumped up, luckily his lower limb allowed him to stand up without any embarrassment again, and stepped close to his son who was with his 16 years as tall as he was.
"Right now you are aboard of my ship trying to tell me I can´t give you orders. So if you don´t want me to kick you out of this ship you better tell if there´s a legit reason for you to be here."
"Oh of course, here´s my reason." Nick flipped off Dudley and grinned.
"Okay, enough." Meant the dog and grabbed his son by the collar. He dragged him into the cave and there he let go of him again. Wordlessly he turned around and walked back up the ramp.
"Computer. Close." He ordered and the hull followed his command.
"I´m sorry." Meant Kitty and sighed heavily. "Since he is in puberty he always behaves like that…"
"It´s okay…" Dudley said and walked to the molecular readjuster. "Gin." He meant and a glass full of a clear fluid appeared.
"No, it´s not, I mean, he´s treating everybody shitty… although…"
"He treats me worse than anyone else, huh?" Dudley had to smiled weakly as he sat down. "I can´t say I don´t understand him… I mean I was never there during his entire life. During all this time he could have needed me, I wasn´t there…" Dudley took a big sip from his glass. "I wish I was there… tell me, Kitty, how was he as a kid."
"Like you during your first years at T.U.F.F." she smirked. "Like a bag full of fleas."
"What have I done to you?" He laughed and leaned back in his seat. "It must have been a full time job watching over him."
"We all helped together." Smiled Kitty and her face showed that she was just recalling some of the happy memories of her life. "I have to admit, without Keswick and the chief I had probably never made it. They really had my back."
"I have to thank them for being there for you." Meant Dudley.
"Indeed." Meant Kitty and sighed heavily. "I think I should go, Dudley. It´s time." She stood, took her glass which was still full of water and emptied it. "Rob should be home now too… it´s dinner time. The last piece of normality we have in this nightmare down here."
Dudley nodded and walked to her. He gave her a hug and also wanted to kiss her but this time she avoided his kiss. As Kitty left Dudley was completely unsure what was going on. Just an insecurity and a lot of fear stayed behind.
