‘If we don’t let you come with us to Mars,’ Maureen said, filling the gap in the conversation, ‘then you intend to head north and get out of London anyway?’
‘I do,’ February replied. Yes, she liked Stanley. She wasn’t sure about Maureen, though. There was something untrustworthy about Maureen, possibly because her scent was filled with a mixture of fear and worry. Maureen obviously wasn’t willing to trust her either. ‘I want to get out of London until all this hassle is over.’
‘I’m not sure I want you along. Other than the fact that your presence could be awkward at the best of times, what about your eating habits? I’m not going to travel with anyone who might be looking at me as if I’m a hors d’oeuvres,’ Maureen insisted.
‘That’s a fair thought,’ Stanley put in, ‘and how do we know that the second we reach Mars you aren’t going to munch your way through half the population?’
‘We welcome Kitty with us,’ Maureen added, ‘but I’m really doubtful about the wisdom of including you.’
‘I understand your concerns,’ February told them. ‘I can promise you that I won’t eat anything human while I’m living as your guest. Of course that means I will have to find my own place or return to earth after a month or so, but with any luck everything will be sorted out by then and I can move back to the city anyway.’
‘Can’t say fairer than that,’ Stanley offered. He seemed to be trying to act as an adjudicator.
‘Perhaps we should ask Kitty what she thinks,’ George offered. ‘Kitty, if we were to tell your new friend February to go, what would you do? Would you be willing to come with us or would you leave with her?’
Kitty seemed to hesitate before answering. She seemed somehow a lot more humble than she had of late, as if being back in the presence of her old master somehow made her feel like a pet again. ‘I love you all. I have lived most of my life under George’s roof, and I would hate to leave him again after the last few days without him. However, February is my friend. She’s the only real friend I have of my own race, and I won’t betray her. If you aren’t willing to take her along, then I will head to the north with her instead.’
‘Well, good-bye then,’ Maureen said gruffly.
Kitty seemed a little upset by Maureen’s attitude. She turned her head away as if to hide her face from them.
‘No,’ Stanley put in, ‘Kitty is coming with us, and as she wants to stay with her friend February, then February is coming with us also. If she still wishes.’
‘And when February has to leave?’ Maureen asked angrily. ‘When she gets hungry and has to return to Earth to eat? To eat human, what’s more, and then what? Do we allow her to just leave us and go commit a murder? They eat human, in case you missed it. What of Kitty then; will she accompany her new friend or stay with us?’
‘Perhaps we can sort something out when the time comes,’ Stanley suggested calmly. ‘However, I would suggest that we allow February to visit us whenever she wishes with no fear of us handing her over to the authorities. That way Kitty will still get to see her and everyone will be happy.’
‘You’re missing my point,’ Maureen hissed. ‘She eats humans.’
‘And there’s nothing we can do about that at the moment,’ Stanley replied calmly. ‘If we let her go north she’ll still be killing at the rate of at least one a month, possibly more. At least while she’s with us, we can be sure no one will be getting hurt.’
‘It’ll give me a chance to look into the discrepancy between the numbers of wild cats and the numbers of cat-related deaths. If I can find some correlation, if I can work out how these numbers work, perhaps she won’t have to eat human flesh again,’ George offered.
‘I like the taste of human meat, professor,’ February commented offhandedly, ‘but I’d willingly give it up if it meant I could live in peace. But I won’t live off those pills. I won’t allow myself to succumb to any sort of drug. If you find something else, though, maybe another animal that contains whatever it is that I have to eat to stay alive, I’ll be more than willing to move to it.’
‘That’s settled, then,’ George said. ‘February is with us, for a while, anyway.’
Maureen huffed noisily.
‘We need to work out a plan of action. London is under threat from February’s people, and if what I’m hearing is right the whole of the city is likely to be shut down very shortly. The authorities will want to stop her people from being able to spread too easily. The most likely result is that they’ll close down the spaceports around here and put roadblocks on all the major roads to the north and west. I expect rails will also be closed down for the duration, and any other way out of the city will be closed or carefully watched,’ George added.
Stanley looked at the two sitting at the bar. To February he said, ‘Your disguise is very good, but I’ve heard the Elite can tell your true race no matter how good your disguise is. But what about Kitty; what’s she like with disguising herself?’
February smiled. ‘For a start, just because the Elite claim they can spot any Herbaht in disguise doesn’t necessarily make it true. It is true that they are very good and you have to be very careful around them, but I don’t think they’re infallible. After all, if they miss someone, that someone is hardly likely to point it out to them, are they? As for Kitty, I’ve taught her the fundamentals of makeup, and she’s getting quite good. She still has a little trouble with allowing the contact lenses anywhere near her eyes. She’ll learn. She has to. Why?’
‘I was just thinking how hard this is going to be,’ Stanley said calmly. ‘I had thought that it would be a simple deed to go the spaceport and leave for Mars. The thought didn’t occur to me until George mentioned it that the spaceports might be watched, even closed. And even if they are open, they might well have Elite or even sniffer dogs there. The Elite might miss you, but the sniffer dogs won’t.’
‘I can deal with sniffer dogs,’ February replied after a moment’s contemplation. ‘I can confuse their nasal passages long enough to get us past them. I’m not sure I want to tangle with the Elite, though. I’m not that confident about my disguise, and if it came to a shoot-out, I’d lose. Besides, I don’t actually have a weapon.’
‘So we head north,’ Kitty commented after a moment.
‘I guess so,’ February agreed reluctantly. ‘We’ll go north and leave you to get to Mars.’
‘Good.’ This came from Maureen.
‘That’s not what I meant,’ Kitty put in. ‘I meant we all go north and catch a shuttle from one of the spaceports up there. The humans won’t think to guard those spaceports as well as the ones in London because the bulk of the cat army will be in London.’
Stanley looked towards George and they nodded.
‘Okay,’ said George, ‘what do we need to decide next?’
‘Well,’ Maureen offered, ‘I’m not happy that we have a man-eating cat with us, but if I’m outvoted then I’d suggest we need to work out what we’re taking and how. If we’re catching a shuttle from a spaceport in the north, then obviously we have to go to a city with a spaceport.’
‘My chit will work from any of them, and it’s good for four people. We’ll still have to pay for one fare, though,’ Stanley replied. ‘Let’s just go north until we’re clear of the city and then find a spaceport as soon as we can. No mucking about.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ February commented.
‘Now whose car or cars do we take?’ Stanley asked. ‘Mine is only a hire car, and I should take it back, so that leaves it to you and February.’
‘A hire car?’ George seemed a little surprised.
‘Yes,’ offered Maureen, ‘you’d be surprised how little you need a car when you live on the moon.’
‘I thought you had kept your car in storage for when you visited earth,’ This was from George again.
‘We did at first,’ Stanley agreed, ‘but after three years I realized that we needed a car so little. And the cost of keeping it in storage as well as the fees for keepin
g it running was so much more than the price of just hiring a car occasionally that I sold it.’
‘I’m afraid it means we take your car, professor,’ February then put in.
‘Why my car?’ George asked. ‘What’s wrong with your car?’
‘I called my brother the other day to warn him of the impending attack on Sou’nd. This was just before Kitty told me her theory as to why the assault was being advertised in the first place. Presumably the authorities know where I live now, assuming they didn’t before. As soon as they realize I’m not there anymore, they’ll probably try to track me down by my vehicle. I shall have to dump it, because if they see it parked outside your house they might well assume that I’ve gone with you, and that’ll put everyone in danger,’ she explained.
‘Okay,’ George replied. It was apparent they didn’t really have a lot of choice. ‘I guess you’d better unpack everything you brought with you and we’ll try to find room for it. We might have to leave a few things behind. What else needs doing?’
‘Well,’ February said, ‘we’ll need passports to get onto Mars. I have one—all my race tend to get them in case we have to leave suddenly—and I’ve no doubt Maureen and Stanley have theirs, since they live there. What about you, George?’
‘I have one,’ George commented; ‘that’s no problem.’
‘That only leaves Kitty,’ February said then. ‘I’ll take her out after I’ve brought everything in from the car and find her one. I can dump the car while we’re out and get a taxi back.’
‘Kitty has one,’ George said. ‘She went on holiday with me earlier this year.’
‘That’s true.’ Kitty faced February as she spoke. ‘It’s not a great picture of me, but it’s a real passport.’
‘But it’d be a standard pet passport, though, wouldn’t it? Complete with her picture in pet rags and her skin covered in stripes!’ February suggested, ‘I don’t think we’d get very far on that.’
‘Oh, yes,’ George offered, crestfallen, ‘it is.’
‘I’ll get her a more human-looking one; at least, if I can find the right source I will. So much happens in the city, especially among the members of my race, that saying something and actually managing to do it are two totally different things. Still, we’ll sort something out if I don’t find a forger.’ February chose this moment to consider the bottles of fruit juice on display at the bar, and a moment later she was pouring herself a glass of orange juice, finishing off the bottle.
‘And you’d trust us alone while you’re doing this?’ Maureen seemed more than a little surprised.
‘The only one I feel worried about now is you,’ February commented. ‘There is no deceit in either your husband’s or his brother’s scent. It’s true that that could change as soon as I leave, but I’ll be taking Kitty with me. I need her if I’m going to be getting a passport for her. Betray me, and you betray her.’
Maureen turned to her husband and chastised him, ‘Life was a lot simpler before we came to visit your brother.’
Stanley nodded meekly to his wife.
‘Well,’ February said, getting up, ‘we should make a start. I’ll go get the stuff in from my car. Kitty, you should go upstairs and get a disguise on. We have to go in a short while. I’ll leave you three to decide what you intend to do today.’
‘Well,’ George replied quietly, ‘I’m expecting a food delivery sometime today. I was stocking up for the week because of my brother’s visit. I might try and see if I can leave the sale of the house in the hands of an agent. And I’ll need to contact a storage facility for my things.’
‘If you call them today, I doubt they’ll be here until tomorrow at the very earliest. We might miss our early start.’ February seemed a little disappointed.
‘I’m not going to sell the house fully furnished if I can help it,’ George replied, keeping his voice at a fairly low volume. ‘Stanley only arrived yesterday and outside of business hours, so I couldn’t call before today. I’m sorry if you had your heart set on leaving tomorrow morning, but it’ll have to be later in the day, maybe even the following day.’
‘And we will make a move that day, regardless,’ Maureen insisted.
‘Oh?’ February sat down again for a moment. ‘Why’s that?’
‘That day is the last day in which owners can hand over their pets without penalty. If they don’t have Kitty by then they’ll probably send someone to look for her. I’d rather we weren’t here when they come,’ George told her.
‘Good thought,’ February answered. ‘Having no such pet of my own, I hadn’t realized when the grace period would be over. Ok, if we can fix everything today, we can leave tomorrow. Otherwise we leave the day after, regardless of what might still need to be done.’
‘Agreed,’ said George. ‘Well, I guess we’d better get on with it.’ Then, without further ado, he rose from his chair and headed out of the room, followed shortly afterward by both February and Kitty. February went out to her car to bring in the few things she had brought with her, while Kitty headed up the stairs to apply some makeup and to disguise herself.
February wished she’d thought of putting her stuff into storage. Chances were it’d all be confiscated, though, when the soldiers came looking for her. They might even be there waiting for her when the time came to collect her stuff. It was a nice idea, but it was too dangerous. All she had left was what she had brought with her in the car, and soon even the car would have to be dumped.
As she finished unloading the car, putting the contents in Kitty’s room for convenience, she headed back into the living room to the newspaper to catch up with where the convoy had gotten to. She was alone in the room now and grateful for it. The sound of laser fire and the sight of smoke from the camera’s vantage point on the tank were unmistakable. The convoy had been ambushed, and by the sound of it they were suffering heavy casualties. The unit the feed was coming from was hurtling through the streets of Benfleet at what seemed a very dangerous speed. She wished the unit was closer to the action so she could see exactly what was happening there.
She clapped her hands together in delight at the thought of her people destroying the convoy. But then she decided that she couldn’t risk the chance that one of the humans in the household might catch a glimpse of this and seek some sort of retribution, especially Maureen. There was no doubt they would find out in time, but she hoped it would have a lesser effect if they didn’t actually see it happen. She turned the newspaper off and then sat back on the stall, sipping the glass of orange juice she had poured for herself earlier, and waited for Kitty to finish applying her makeup.
Two hours later they were walking down the paved ramp towards the holotheater that housed the headquarters of February’s region. The theater seemed as busy as it ever was; there were large queues in front of the main doors as people waited to get in for a matinee showing of some holomovie that had only been released a day or two ago.
On this occasion, as they headed around the side of the building to the small service door that actually led into the regional headquarters, they were followed by a group of herd that had just come out of the holomovie and happened to be heading that way themselves. February led Kitty past the door towards a small overflow car park just beyond. She watched the group climb into their vehicle and waited for them to leave the area under the semblance of trying to look as if she was lost and trying to find her bearings.
Once the herd’s vehicle was no longer in sight she led Kitty back to the door and gave it a knock. Stepping back, she then smiled at the small area in the door where she knew a camera was hidden. She had the unmistakable feeling that she was being watched, but she put that down to simple paranoia caused by the current climate: the assault on Sou’nd, the arresting of all domesticated Herbaht, and the assumption that a raid on the regional headquarters themselves couldn’t be too far off.
‘Maureen doesn’t like you,’ Kitty commented as they waited.
‘I noticed,’ February replied simply. ‘We’l
l have to keep an eye on that one. I might have to leave sooner than expected, and you might have to come with me.’
They seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of time to open the door today. February waved at the little camera and continued to wait. If she had to wait much longer, someone else might head down the alleyway beside the holotheater and they might have to move again.
Then the door opened and they entered. They closed the door behind them and then heard the door at the other end of the corridor click as if that too had been unlocked.
‘No escort?’ Kitty commented. She seemed to be as nervous as she had been last time.
‘No,’ agreed February. That minor fact was worrying in and of itself.
They entered the security room at the end of the corridor only to find it empty. The partition wall was still there, but the door that separated the security room from the converted theater had been left open.
February braced herself for the worst when they entered the large meeting hall. It was nearly empty.
By a pair of tables that had been erected near the stage sat Stenhas, busy playing with a pack of cards. A heap of papers had been dumped on the end of the same table. February didn’t recognize the game he was playing, but it was clearly some form of solitaire. The main doors that led out into the rest of the holotheater were still locked and barred, but now they only had one guard watching them. Other than that, there were two others in the room. One was watching a small newspaper monitor, following the now well under way battle of Sou’nd. The other seemed to have just called in on her way somewhere, a convenient place to stop and have lunch.
‘Febby, it’s good to see you again. Twice in one week? You spoil me,’ Stenhas called. He put the cards down so he could beckon her and Kitty over with his one good hand. ‘Come on over.’
February hated being called Febby, and as usual it almost made her wince. Fortunately it seemed only her brother and Stenhas liked to contract her name like that, but this was at least the third time one of them had done so with Kitty present, and February was getting a nasty feeling that Kitty might soon get into the habit. She walked over to the table where Stenhas sat and made herself comfortable in a nearby vacant chair. Kitty did likewise, and she eyed the cards with a wanton sparkle in her eye.
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