Angel Baby

Angel Baby was surveying the neighborhood from the front window of the apartment. Since coming to this place, life had become much more interesting. True, the old abode had been larger, and that was better for her humans, but Angel Baby preferred this little one, even though it made her female human unhappy. And if she hadn't come here, there wouldn't have been anyone to protect the kittens. No one else seemed to know about them, living in the basement of the building all alone, scavenging for scraps. Angel Baby shook her head, wishing she could communicate better with her humans -- surely she had been able to speak their language, once? Was that only a dream? She knew what had happened to the kittens' mother, the brindle shorthair. It was those boys...she shivered, her long, silky white fur bristling. They weren't human boys -- they couldn't be! She had never imagined humans could be so cruel, could do such things. Now she was the only one to protect the kittens, for there were no other cats in this building.

That was strange, she thought, washing her face. Suddenly she saw one of the kittens dart out of some bushes and rush across the street. With a screech, Angel Baby squeezed out the narrow window and dashed down the fire escape. What was he doing? Where was he going? Didn't he know about cars? Then she saw them...the boys. Those boys. They were after one of her kittens!

When she reached the other side of the street, nearly causing an accident (for you should know that Angel Baby was no insignificant cat, and at sixteen pounds of muscle she was a Persian to deal with, even for motorists, who swerved at the sight of what appeared to be an enormous streak of white carpet in front of them), they had caught her. One of the boys viciously jerked her little back leg, and she was piteously trying to crawl away. Angel Baby took a deep breath and gave her most intimidating yowl, launching herself at the tallest boy's head. She hit him full in the face with a swipe that nearly took out his eye, bit his nose so he could've worn a stud in it, and leapt down to the pavement. Before the rest had recovered, she picked up the kitten in her mouth and took off down the pavement as quickly as she could.

Their thoughts reached her, black with hate and something she couldn't identify. Why couldn't she remember what that was? Had she known these boys somewhere else? That was impossible, and she tried to shake the feeling away. She wasn't as fast carrying the kitten as she normally would have been, and they were nearly on top of her when she heard the thought waves coming from the alley to her right. "Verunna...in here...you will be safe, I promise you. Bring the little one in here."

Without thinking, she veered into the alley just as one of the boys dived for her. Up ahead, she saw the bluest pair of eyes she'd ever encountered, dark blue like the night sky. Her own eyes were light blue, but this one...when her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she gasped. He was the most magnificent male she had ever encountered; larger than she by far, with the perfect markings and arrogant bearing of the purebred Sealpoint Siamese.

"Get behind me, Verunna...see what you can do for the little one. I will handle these."

Wondering who Verunna was, Angel Baby skittered into the far corner of the blind alley with the kitten, who was whimpering. "Hush, little one," she comforted him; "I will try to heal you. If I cannot not, I will go to my female human. She will take us to the healing place." She gently probed his leg, and realized it was out of joint. "You must be strong, while I fix the leg."

Her attention was somewhat divided, and she knew it must be on the kitten and his leg, if the job was to be done properly. But something strange was going on. The boys had skidded into the alley after her, confronted by the sight of the Siamese male. Then they had stopped, staring in what seemed to be disbelief. One of them howled like a banshee from a bog, and threw his arm up over his face as if the cat's eyes had burned him.

"You will not attempt to escape," Angel Baby heard the cat say.

"There are three of us and only one of you, Dinn!" One of the boys yelled, as he whirled and bolted out of the alley. But the other two remained where they stood, as if mesmerized by the cat's gaze. Dinn, the escaped one had called him. Was that his name, and how would they know it?

"Listen to me closely, Verunna." Angel Baby realized he was addressing her, and that for some reason he thought she was this Verunna. "I must go, to return the escapees. I will find you again. If you locate the other one, don't try to apprehend him on your own. Precede me," he instructed the two boys left in the alley.

"We'll get back here somehow," one of them growled. "We like this place."

"Of course you do. Because you look like one of them, and they have no conception what you are. Precede me now, or it will go worse for you."

"Couldn't be much worse, could it?" The second muttered, but he started to walk toward the back of the alley. The cat followed them, and Angel Baby realized he was wearing a jewelled collar, and in the middle of the collar was one large, unfaceted gem. The gem emitted some kind of a beam at the back wall of the blind alley, and a door appeared in the stone. The two boys walked through it reluctantly, followed by the male Siamese.

"He told us to wait, little one. Now let me see if I can fix that leg." The kitten screamed, and Angel Baby wasn't sure if it was actually going to be all right. The Siamese had told her to wait, but the kitten came first. And where had he gone, with the two children? What strange power did he have over them, and where was the third one? Was he lurking somewhere nearby, hoping to ambush her? She had to take a chance, and get the kitten home. Beth would help her.

***

Beth was watching anxiously out the window for Angel Baby. How did she always get out of such a small opening in the window? The streets of Chicago were too dangerous for her to be wandering around, but there was no air conditioning in the apartment, and it was just too hot in June to have all the windows closed. She cursed the day and circumstances that had brought to this miserable place, and mostly she cursed Ben and his need to go off and play around with teenaged girls. If it hadn't been for him abandoning her and the mortgage, they'd still have that nice house near the lake.

Finally, she spotted the white fluff coming down the sidewalk as if there were no dangers in urban Chicago. Angel Baby was the most beautiful cat Beth had ever seen; the first time she spotted her in the animal shelter, she was drawn to her and no other. Ben had thought her the silliest-looking cat, doubting there was anything under all that fur, but Angel Baby was also the most intelligent cat they'd encountered. Which meant if she was out on the streets, she had a good reason for it.

Beth ran to the window and opened it wider. Angel was making her way up the fire escape, a little more slowly than usual. She was carrying something in her mouth. Beth leaned out the window, and Angel deposited a little kitten into her hands.

"Why Angel, I see you've found yourself a kitty toy. Do you really think there's room in here for all of us? Not to mention the landlord having a fit."

Angel slipped in the window, giving her that look that meant humans were very stupid sometimes. The kitten mewed piteously, and when Beth started to pet it, it shrank from her touch. She carried it to the couch and sat down. "Are you hurt, little one? Oh, your leg! Oh, dear...I can't fix this myself. And it's after hours for the vet. I wonder if there's an emergency clinic close by..."

If people on the train thought it strange to see a woman with a large basket containing a white Persian cat and a calico kitten, neither of which moved or attempted to run away, they were pretty much accustomed to strange sights. They got to the emergency veterinary clinic in time, and were on their way home with a sleeping, exhausted kitten an hour later. That was when the boy entered the train.

Beth was alerted to his presence by Angel, who began to growl deep in her throat the way cats do when they're about to attack. She sat up in the basket and started to howl, to Beth's embarrassment and the entertainment of her fellow passengers. "Probably spotted a rat," one of the women commented. "Maybe they should hire some 'train cats' to get rid of 'em."

"Don't laugh," a man said. "My cousin was bitten by a rat on a midnight train when he fell asleep."

"Serves 'im right for falling asleep on a train!"

They all laughed except the boy, who looked to be about twelve. He was staring at Angel Baby with feverish, mad eyes, and Beth wondered if he was some kind of drug. They started so young, now. "Are you all right?" She asked him. "You don't look very well. Can we help you?"

To her horror, he whipped out a switchblade. "Your cat -- it's one o' them. Give 'er to me, and I'll leave ya alone."

"Get away from me, child. Go home to your family, I'm sure they're wondering where you are. My cat won't harm you, and neither will I."

The train pulled up to a station, and the rest of the passengers exited the train as quickly as they could. The boy remained, however, menacing Beth with the knife but not coming any closer. "You don't understand, lady! I can't go home 'cause it's far away from here, and it's nothin' like this place. I like it here, and I'm gonna stay. He got my friends an' took 'em back, but he ain't gonna get me! She's of 'em, I tell ya! She's not really a cat!"

Beth blinked. Glancing down at Angel Baby, she realized the cat was staring at her with a somewhat disconcerting gaze. "Not a cat? You're a little young to be taking so many drugs, aren't you? PCP can be very dangerous, especially to the very young..."

"I ain't takin' no drugs! Gimme the damned cat!" He lunged at her with the knife, and Angel Baby launched herself out of the basket, directly onto his face. With a shriek he fell back, and the knife clattered to the floor of the train. "Get 'er offa me!"

The train pulled into another station, and two guards were waiting there. They dragged the boy off the train, wondering what he was screaming. His face was running with blood from the scratches Angel Baby had inflicted. "Some attack cat you've got there, lady. She doesn't look like one, though." Angel Baby was sitting on one of the train seats, washing her foot as though nothing untoward had occurred. "You wanna press charges?"

"No thank you, officer. My kitten is sick, and I need to get home."

"Right, ma'am. But we'll be takin' 'im with us, anyway. Carrying a knife on a train is a misdemeanor. Keep 'im in jail overnight, anyway."

"No!" The boy screamed, trying to wrest himself away from the man. "If I'm there all night, he'll find me! He'll take me back! Let go!"

When the train doors closed again, Beth breathed a sigh of relief. Angel Baby climbed back into the basket beside the kitten, who was still half-drugged and slept through the entire incident. They reached home without further interruptions, but when Beth turned on the light in the living room of the apartment, she was stunned to see a large Siamese cat sitting on her couch.

Angel Baby leapt down from the basket and ran toward the couch. The Siamese (the largest Beth had ever seen) unwound himself and stretched. As he stretched, he seemed to shimmer, and before she realized it had happened, there was a man standing before her. A very tall, thin, handsome man with straight dark hair and blue eyes. He leaned down and placed one hand on Angel Baby's head, and she started to shimmer as well. If Beth had imagined her cat as a woman, it would be a tiny beauty with the amber eyes and platinum blond, fluffy hair. The woman who stood there was tall and willowy, with straight hair the color of wheat and large, slanted eyes.

"Finally!" Angel Baby shook herself, glancing down at the white robe she wore. "Not a bad choice, Shenar, but what took you so long?"

"We were waiting to hear from you, beloved. No one knew until recently that your mental equalizer had been damaged in that accident when you were a baby."

"It took you twenty years to discover that?" She asked irritably. "I can't believe I've been going from family to family until I found Beth, the one human fit for the companionship of a Dinarii." Suddenly it was as if she realized Beth was sitting in shock, clutching the kitten in her lap. "My dearest friend! What would I ever have done without you?" She went toward Beth but the young woman cringed away from her, and squeezed the kitten so tightly it let out a protesting squeak.

"Angel Baby?" She said weakly. "Is it really you?"

Shenar snorted, and deposited his long, exotic length into a shabby armchair. "Hardly, my dear human female. The one you call Angel Baby, a revolting moniker surely, is in reality Verunna, one of our most revered agents. Unfortunately, she was lost on your planet during her maiden voyage, and due to a malfunction in her mental cortex circuit, we were unable to locate her."

"Humph." Verunna sat on the couch beside Beth and gently removed the kitten from her grasp. "You didn't look very hard, did you? Was that because I turned down Kentor's proposal? I was too young to mate, you know."

"Of course I know it -- we all did. That was what came of your being the most beautiful in our graduating class. But no, it wasn't Kentor...in fact, Kentor is dead. I don't know how to tell you this, but twenty years is a long time, even in our life span of hundreds. And Denarus has been at war for half that time...in fact, there are no agents left on earth except the two of us, and we must depart as well. The gate will close in three days time."

Verunna sat silent, stroking the now-sleeping kitten. Beth was looking from one of them to the other, trying to comprehend what they were saying but feeling as if she was part of a Twilight Zone episode and no one had bothered to give her a script. "War...with the Colusians, I presume?"

"Of course. The boys I fetched back were two of the escapees. But one is still here, and we have three days to find him."

"What...what's going on?" Beth asked weakly. "I never knew cats were shape-shifters."

"Actually," Shenar said, "These are our true forms. Denarii and humans come from the same root stock. You lot aren't advanced enough to have discovered this, but many of the planets in this galaxy were colonized by the Atlanteans."

"Atlanteans? You mean people from Atlantis? I thought that was just a myth."

"Most myths have some basis in truth. Rather than being an island in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantis was a planet that was destroyed a hundred thousand years ago when its' sun went nova. By then the Atlanteans had deposited colonists on half a dozen planets. Perhaps more; our own space travel is limited by some constraints still, so there could be some planets we haven't yet discovered."

"If your people -- Dinarii? And humans come from the same root stock, how is it that you can change your shape, travel between planets without a spaceship and speak our language?"

"We are able to speak your language because we learn the language of the host city before we embark. Usually we don't stay as long as Verunna has with you, Beth. As for the other; we believe humans also had the ability to shape-shift, but lost it at least ten thousand years ago. The Atlanteans colonized our planet first; our records are better than yours and we know it was approximately a million years ago. We're not so sure about earth, but it was much later.

As far as the shape-shifting ability goes, it's something that's taught from one generation to the next. As closely as we can tell, it was lost due to the rise of a religion on your planet -- a religion that believed all supernatural powers were the work of an entity called Satan. That religion is the one you follow, Beth -- Judaism."

Beth blinked. Though she was by birth a Jew, she couldn't say she had really followed any religion for at least ten years. "Why would a religion be the cause of us losing such a wonderful gift?"

"Because it was governed by men, and shape-shifting can only be taught by women. Men have the power equally, as you can see from me, but only women can teach it to their children. For some strange reason these men believed women to be inferior to men, though how that would be possible when it's women who perpetuate the species, I'm not sure."

Verunna (Beth couldn't possibly think of this woman as Angel Baby) said, "Twenty years have given me ample opportunity to study the culture of your people, Beth. Trapped in my cat body for so long, I had forgotten how to become a woman again without Shenar's assistance -- I had even forgotten my real name. But what I have learned of your culture remains with me. The beliefs of the ancients who robbed you of your birthright are deeply ingrained in you, and all the people of this planet. You will never retrieve the abilities you have lost."

Beth felt the loss of powers she had never possessed. "But why do your people come here? Just to study us?"

"As much as I learned to love you as Angel Baby, I must tell you we would never live among you willingly. Your minds are too undisciplined, and you rely too heavily on the outward trappings of life while ignoring the inner workings of your minds. But there are people from my world who prefer to live here -- about a hundred are born in every generation, and while we were able to contain them in the past and relegate them to life under the constant care and watch of keepers, about fifty years ago one of their number, a brilliant scientist, devised the gate that enabled them to come into your world."

"But how do you know which ones are the mutants? Do they look different?"

"They don't have the ability to shape-shift, but they can alter their age at will. Grow older, or younger."

"Younger...that's why they appear here as adolescents. Adolescents are rarely noticed much by adults, but they're old enough that no one is concerned about them being alone."

"They look like adolescents but believe me, Beth, they're criminals and of the most deadly. The mutancy gene carries psychopathic tendencies. Only one of them is left in this world. I must return to Denarus, so Verunna will remain until he has been caught."

"What are we supposed to do when we've caught him?" Beth asked. "Two women -- one who masquerades as a cat -- against a mutant psychopath? I feel like I'm in a Sly Stallone movie only there's no Stallone."

Shenar frowned. "What is that?"

"A movie star, She," Verunna replied. "You wouldn't understand -- I'll explain later. You'd better explain what's going on back home, but I have another small job to do first."

"What's that?"

"There are three more kittens in the cellar, and while they're not yet as rambunctious as little Rambo here, I'd better rescue them before our mutant psycho finds them. For some reason, they don't like cats..." She and Shenar smiled conspiratorially.

Beth developed the habit of talking to Verunna whether she was in her human or cat persona. The latter was easier in tracking their prey, who was proving particularly difficult to pin down. Apparently he couldn't leave the vicinity of the portal and still survive, so he must still be in Chicago. Unfortunately, Chicago was a city of very high density, and Verunna as Angel Baby spent the days and nights prowling the neighborhoods. The replacement of her mind-link with Shenar had restored her powers, and she no longer had to fear being hurt by anyone. Not even the dog catcher.

She was sitting on the sidewalk in front of one of the enormous tower blocks they called 'tenements', watching people come and go from within. Most ignored her, a few children came to pet her and speak to her, and some boys attempted to harass her. Their minds were so easily swayed that she dispatched them in a matter of minutes, and planted the idea of doing homework. This was so unknown to them that they wandered into the building, bewildered.

She didn't hear the truck pull up behind her until the net descended. The man smelled funny and cackled when he shoved her into a small cage in the back of the enclosed van. "You're a beauty, ain't ye? Fetch a nice price fer you, I will. Not much point taking you to the shelter...somebody'd just adopt you. Can't have that, can we?" He laughed again. She realized he was young, but hardened, with very short hair and beady eyes. The back of the van was filled with other animals, and Angel Baby knew she didn't have time to go wherever he planned on taking her.

Then again...what had he meant? Perhaps it would be best to wait and see just what awaited the others at the end of the journey. She opened the door of the cage (paws were so difficult to manipulate, she thought with some irritation) and then shifted to Verunna, sitting crosslegged on the floor of the van. It was only about fifteen minutes before the van stopped, and the rear door opened. The man blinked to see the woman sitting there, clad in shimmering white draperies.

"Who the hell are you? How'd ya get into the back o' my van?"

"I am Verunna. You're fucked." Verunna had been watching Arnold Shwarzenagger films, and now knew how heroes talked on this world. Her kick took him by surprise and he flew backwards, grunting, to land in a scraggly bush. He didn't move again, she thought with satisfaction. She hadn't killed him, though. Arnold might think that was all right, but Verunna knew it had to be saved for the direst of conditions.

"I'd better set you guys free first," she told the animals in the van. "I'm sorry I can't take you home, but I don't know where all of you live, and there's no telling what might be inside this ugly building. Good luck."

They all scattered save for one enormous Great Dane with a scar across his flank. He had been crowded into a too-small cage, and Verunna had to lift him out onto the drive. Other than that and the fact that he was far too thin, he seemed all right. But when she turned toward the building, he trotted behind him. "Go home! You're free now!" He just stared back at her, sitting when she stopped, walking when she did. "I see. You've decided you'd be the perfect assistant for a superhero, have you? Well, I warn you, my friend, I'm new to this game." He just put his head to the side and gazed at her as if to tell her to hurry up and get about it, then.

The building was square and made of some kind of constructed stone. Painted a sickly pale pink, it had windows too high up in the walls for Verunna to see in. She could feel pain, and suffering, and a wave of despair that hit her like a kick to her own gut. "Not a good place, Friend. I guess that's what I'll call you. There must be a door somewhere."

She avoided the front entrance, with its' cheesy glass doors and dying plants, and made her way around to the back. Even in human form she moved as silently as Angel Baby, and Friend seemed to have the knack as well. There was a smaller door, and the lock mechanism was simple to uncoil with her mindsense. Now she had it back, she wondered how she had survived so long without it, so long as just Angel Baby.

The place was lit with florescent lamps that gave off an ugly glare. Painted pale beige, it was uniformly depressing throughout. Corridors and small offices, these weren't what she was looking for...suddenly she knew he had reached her destination when faced with double swinging doors. In them were leaded glass, and when she glanced inside, she could see rows of cages, each containing an animal. Each suffering. It hit her with a wave of nausea, and she stumbled backwards. There were two men inside there as well, doing something she rejected thinking about. But she had to go in. She wished she had Shenar with her, now.

They didn't bother to look up, at first, and what they were doing to a rabbit made her stomach roil. Forcing the bile back into her throat she stood, staring around her, until Friend growled beside her. "That you, Louie? Got any good specimens tonight?" One of the men glanced up and frowned. "Hey, lady -- who're you? That dog's loose!" This last was said with terror and ended in a squeak as Friend leaped forward.

The other man cursed and fell against the table as Friend bowled into him from the back. It was the sight of the knife that galvanized Verunna into action. What appeared to be a laser beam shot from her eyes and burned the knife right out of the man's hand. Now he shrieked in earnest as his partner wrestled with the dog, who was attempting to get at his throat.

"Come on, Frank! Don't stand about like an old lady -- damned mutt's tryin' ta kill me!"

"My hand!" Frank was staring down at what had been his hand, now a charred stump. Then he fainted right on top of Friend, who had the good sense to wriggle out of the way. Not so man number two, who was now pinned beneath the unconscious form of Frank.

"Friend, you're terrific!" Verunna dashed to the first of the cages and peered inside. A cat, whole. These must be the newest arrivals. A tiny arc of laser burned out the lock and the cat stretched lazily, leaping to the linoleum floor. Ten cages held other small animals similarly unhurt, before Verunna reached the ones that were suffering. This too began in a small way, and by lifting them down and performing a small healing, she was able to set them free also.

"There must be a back door to this place," she muttered. "Can't stay in here all night, can we?" Man number two had managed to lever himself out from beneath Frank's body by now, and was attempting to crawl past Friend to the table. Friend growled a warning and Verunna glanced over at him. "I wouldn't try that if I were you," she warned him. "Your partner will never be whole again. Not even a healing could restore his hand. I over-reacted, I'm afraid -- the shock of all the suffering in this place. I'm not quite recovered and the animals still to be freed are in the worst shape. Take my warning."

"Who...what...are you?" The man croaked. He glanced down at Frank's hand and promptly threw up all over him.

Verunna shook her head. "Your partner won't thank you for that, on top of his other pain. When I'm gone I suggest you call an ambulance -- we don't want him to develop gangrene. As to who and what I am, you don't need to know. And if you attempt to tell anyone they won't believe you."

"An alien..." the man's voice was flat, but with an undertone of excitement and disbelief. "You're an alien."

"Why do you torture these creatures?" Satisfied that he would remain where he was, guarded by Friend, Verunna proceeded to the next bank of cages.

"They're experimental; used for testing drugs, medicines...very necessary work, I assure you."

"On my planet we don't allow the torture of other life forms. It would be punishable by death."

"For killing a cat? What do you eat?"

"As a shapechanger, I must eat meat. The kill is required to be swift and painless. You can't say the same, and you don't even use the animals for food." She frowned at the next cage. This poor cat was beyond even her help, she thought. Something was attached to its' head -- its' brain was exposed! She choked back bile. Opening the cage she disconnected the wires and lifted the little animal out. It was only about nine months old. It stared up at her with agony in its' blue eyes -- it reminded her of Shenar.

"Friend, if he moves, tear his throat out." She carried the cat to the laboratory table. This would take most of her healing skills, if she could do it at all. Shenar! She screamed silently. Where are you, beloved! Come and help me -- these are atrocities such as I have never seen. She turned her thoughts to the little cat, and poured her energy into its' being. It was so damaged...so ill...it wanted only to die. But Beth would need help caring for the kittens, after she and Shenar went back home.

The man watched her sullenly, waiting for his chance. Frank hadn't regained consciousness, and even if he did, he would be in such agony he wouldn't be much help. He had to do something himself, but the huge dog was watching him like he was dinner. How he'd love to get that one under the knife. The woman appeared to be in a trance, and he wondered what she was doing. She couldn't save that cat; it had been with them most of its' life, and used for experimentation for over six months. He was just about ready to leap past the dog and knock her to the floor when the entire side of the building seemed to explode.

He fell back with a curse, throwing his arm over his face at the blinding light. Strangely enough, the dog didn't seem disturbed by whatever was out there, but stood up and wagged his tale. A man walked through the wall -- well, what had been the wall and was now a gaping hole -- and looked around at the laboratory.

"I heard your cry for help, Verunna...what is this place?"

The woman shook her head as if emerging from the trance, and smiled at the man. "You heard me, Shenar -- I wondered if you would. I require your assistance. Some of these animals are suffering horribly. I'm glad you've provided an escape route for the rest -- I haven't had a chance, yet."

Shenar watched as the animals streamed out the hole in the building, all except the enormous dog that sat beside Verunna. She stopped her ministrations on the little cat and gently removed the apparatus from the top of its' head. Although it still had no fur in that area, the wounds from the wires and metal cap were healed. Shenar put his arms around Verunna and held her against him. "Quite a feat from what I can determine. You're trembling."

"There are more, Shenar. Can we help them?"

"We'll try. If we can't, we can at least put them out of their misery. Whatever is this place? The suffering pours off it like heated butter."

She shuddered. "Some kind of experimental laboratory, where they do the experiments on animals. I was captured by a man in a truck, and brought here. Well, Angel Baby was, along with some other animals and Friend over there."

Shenar chuckled. "I guess they had no idea who they were dealing with."

"Maybe you'd like ta tell me about that, bud. Your ol' lady there like ta broke my neck." They whirled around to see the van driver standing in the doorway, holding a sawed-off shotgun. "An' don' move too quickly, 'cause I still ain't in the best of shape, an' I'd really like ta kill the bitch. Still might."

The man on the floor scrambled up, despite Friend's lunge for him. "No, Sam! Get out of the building! They're aliens!"

Sam stared at him in patent disbelief, and turned the gun on Friend. A blue beam shot from Shenar's eyes and Sam crumbled to the ground, a smoking ruin. The gun bounced off the linoleum and wound up against the wall. "Ooooh, damn!" The experimenter moaned. "I warned 'im!"

"I should've told you, Shenar -- hold back on the power a little. I only burned off the other one's hand."

"I think you're correct, dearest. Let's get to work, here -- it could take all night, and we don't want to be here when the day shift arrives."

It made the news, of course. The strange circumstances of the liberation of the animals from the Harbor View Experimental Laboratory were analyzed in detail and gone over more than once, but nobody suggested it could have been aliens. The last intact experimenter set off for parts unknown when Verunna and Shenar released him, and he was unlikely to go to the authorities after seeing Sam burned up to a cinder.

Beth was thrilled that Shenar had murdered Sam, but realized he hadn't meant to, and she'd never had much of a soft spot for people who tortured animals anyway. Verunna prepared for their departure, eager to see her home planet once again. But Shenar's reports of a civil war between the gifted and nulls wasn't too encouraging; she wondered if she would arrive home just in time to go to war and kill a lot of her countrymen.

The bad news came the day before their scheduled departure. Shenar had been keeping up with the news at home through his communicator, a sort of long-range radio that broadcast on a particle beam. He'd just caught the last escapee when the radio went out. The planet of Denarus was in the midst of a planetary civil war between the shape-changers, or Dinns, as they called themselves, and the nulls, or Colusians. They were unable to return and aid their fellow countrymen.

They were seated in Beth's little living room, drinking Earl Grey tea. The kittens from the basement had been found homes amongst Beth's friends, but Beth had decided to keep two of the animals from what they had dubbed 'the daring animal rescue and human terrorization' campaign. One was Friend, the Great Dane, though she knew it would be cramped for him in the little apartment and wondered what would happen if her landlady found out she had a dog in there. The other was Patches, the little cat who had been so injured by brain transplants. Despite Verunna's healing skills and Shenar's subsequent treatments, Patches would always be somewhat neurotic and never fully functional as far as brain activity went. The little calico refused to leave the apartment even when the window was raised and Verunna and Shenar ventured forth as Angel Baby and Emperor Ming. Shenar had chosen that for his cat name after seeing the original 'Buck Rogers' on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Friend had taken on unofficial nursing duty for Patches, who whimpered and cried when the dog left his side to go for a walk. Beth hoped the little cat would eventually realize Friend was going to be returning soon. She'd have to think about getting them shots, though, and wondered what Patches would do once exposed to the vet's office.

"We can't go back, at least not for now." Shenar nursed his cup of tea between his hands. "The war will end, eventually, and hopefully the portals will be restored."

"Unless the other side wins," Verunna pointed out.

"That's not possible and you know it -- they don't have our powers."

"When I left they had managed to develop some pretty formidable weapons."

Beth nodded. "That happens frequently, you know -- they've compensated for their lack of powers by studying technology. Do you think it's possible you didn't treat them as equals, and that's what caused the war?"

Shenar stared at her. "They're not our equals."

"Am I not?"

"Of course you are, but...oh. I have to admit I never looked at it that way before. I guess my planet could've used an ambassador from Earth."

"If the position ever comes open, I'll take it!"

They laughed, and Verunna said, "You know, Shenar, I'm not so sad about staying here. There's so much for us to do, and we've just found our mission. Our quest, if you will. I learned about quests on a movie I was watching on The American Movie Channel. It's where knights -- those are men who for some reason dressed up in tin suits -- go around righting wrongs and doing good, so they can win the hand of a fair maiden. And they were looking for some gold cup, I think...well, we don't need one of those."

Shenar stared at her for a moment. "Gold cup?"

Beth started to laugh. "Never mind -- I think she's trying to tell you that she wants to stay here and liberate animals. A worthy cause, but where will you live? And what will you live on? My circumstances are, unfortunately, so reduced I am unable to help even myself, or I wouldn't be living here."

Shenar blinked. "You mean it's because you lack money?"

"Why else?"

"I thought it would be impolite to ask. Perhaps we could all live together, in a much larger abode. I've seen them about."

"And I'd be in one of them if I could -- so would everyone else. Just how are we to obtain the funds for this marvelous move? Rob banks?"

He seemed puzzled. "Why would we need to do that?" He waved his hand over her lap, and a pile of gold coins appeared there. "I think these are best -- if we reproduce your paper money, it could be construed as counterfeiting."

Beth picked up one of the coins. "Are these gold?"

"Of course. That is the metal that draws the highest price on the planet, isn't it?"

"Beaten out by platinum and titanium, but those aren't made into coins. How did you do it?"

Verunna shook her head, smiling. "Not even Shenar can produce gold out of the air. He probably had a small object in his hand, and used that as the raw material."

"Sure, give away all my secrets," Shenar complained. "Anyway, we can sell these coins, can we not?"

"Oh, sure. And as many as you can conjure. Then all we have to worry about is telling the I.R.S. where we got them, and why you two have no passports or I.D."

"Why do we need them?" He grinned at her. "After all, we're only cats..."