Distant Fire

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

12/26/97:

    Chapter 1

I awoke with a sudden jerk, kicking the covers off my legs
and over the side of the bed. Taking a series of quick,
short breaths I tried to take my bearings. I had been
dreaming, far stronger then any before, yet still the same
dream as always.

It was the same dream of a fight between me and a wolf, it
was clearly a wolf this time. We were viciously in our
attacks against the other. I was choking him, crushing his
windpipe under my thumbs. He was digging at my face with
bloody fingers, his claws gone, ripped away just minutes
before.

I still didn't know who he was, or why we were trying to
kill each other, but each time I dreamed it became a little
bit sharper in my mind's eye. Past the blur of images it
started as and closer to something real.

I couldn't help wondering if this was the hole in my mind I
had told myself about, or not. There was so much about all
of this I didn't understand.

Sighing I pulled myself into a sitting position on the bed.
"Zen, what time is it?"

There was a slight pause, for effect only. "It's six fifteen
in the morning," the computer chirped back.

Far to early to get up, but I doubted that I would be able
to go back to sleep. That left me the option of laying
around in bed for a few hours, or getting up and doing some
make-work until there was something real for me to do.

I could think of a lot of little things that could be done.

Swinging out of the bed I ordered Zen to turn on the lights.
The computer brought them up slowly as I wondered around the
room. It would take almost ten minutes before they where at
there normal strength.

I prepared a small breakfast, using some fruit I had brought
up from the ships garden the night before. I also took the
pill that Oria had told me I needed to take every day.
Apparently she had some kind of hormone imbalance that she
had inherited from her grandmother. The pill was needed to
correct it. I wasn't told what the problem was, in fact I
only was told because I needed to take the pills.

Picking up one of the PADDs that seemed to lay around
anyplace I lived I called up the schedule for the day,
mulling over it as I ate. There was very little in it that
was hard and fast. The main points were that Page and
Terminus would be meting us in a touch over three hours,
soon after we would cross through the Mega-fold and start
are way towards Earth.

Which left a bit of a blank spot in my plans. We had taken a
later start then I had hopped, being delayed about eight
hours before we could finally break orbit around the Krein
base. An extra day though didn't matter by very much.
Grasion was still letting one hostage leave every other day,
he would still be there when we returned.

During the past few days both Oria and I have grown a little
more familiar with are changed selves. Oria was spending a
lot of time reading, or talking to Ken. She wasn't as shaken
as before, now she seemed more relaxed, willing to just wait
it out until Ken could find a way to switch us back.

I, on the other paw, had been doing some experimentation
with Oria's body. It's been interesting to say the least,
not as of what I had expected, but nothing that's really
been a surprise to me. The most enjoyable part was last
night. I had (with Oria's more then willing permission)
spent a few hours with Ken.

Past that though, there hasn't been too many changes in how
I've thought of myself. The mental change of sex has come
quite easily to me. Easier then it had for Oria, who had
admitted to me that she was still dealing with it.

My main worry of late though was the hole I had informed
myself about. I had searched my mind over the past few days
trying to find any clue as to what, and where, the hole was.
So far though, all my memories have been as I had expected.

As per my advice, I had turned to Ken for help, telling him
all about the flash forward. He had nodded, his eyes looking
stern and rubbing the underside of his muzzle with his
claw-fingers, but informed me that he didn't wish to delve
into my head.

Finally, after much verbal ping-pong he relented and agree
to look into it. Though admitting that he wasn't to sure how
a person could have a 'hole' in there mind.

Still though, something seemed wrong somehow, and the longer
I though about it the strong that wrongness grew. I had the
feeling that Ken knew exactly what I was looking for, that
he knew and wasn't going to tell me about it. I was starting
to wonder if he had something to do with it in the first
place, but that also didn't seem to be very accurate.

I really was a confusing mess. One which I wasn't sure how
to handle. So much right now was riding on Ken's shoulders
that I didn't want to tell him my worries. That was for
later, after Oria and I were set to rights. Then I could
really drill him about what I was looking for.

The room buzzed softly to get my attention. Looking up from
my breakfast I asked, "What is it Zen?"

"Sense you're up," he chirped, "Ken would like to see you
about the spell."

I smiled softly, Ken was never one to waste his own time.
"Where at?"

"In the ship's gym."

Ken had been doing some tests to see how much of our skills
had changed with our minds. He explained that he was 'trying
to get a barring on how much has actually been transposed'.

Standing up, I stretched my arms. "Tell him I'll be there in
ten minutes."

"Happy to oblige," Zen replied, then clicked off as he went
to relay the message to Ken.

With a slight smile, I dressed.

* * *

Fox has said his keep on his views of how well I had been
adapting to being in his body. Now I feel up to saying
exactly how I felt about the switch.

It was a great way to screw with someone's mind.

Sense I had woke up I had to deal with the fact that
everything I had gotten used to about myself was suddenly
wrong. My height, weight, muscle tone, the lack of a tail,
claws and all of the rest.

It has taken a great force of will not to run scream around
the ship, though it's less of a force with each passing
hour. I fear though that I may become to used to his body,
to willing to have it be mine, that my own shape feels
foreign.

A place at which Fox seems to already be. He has found it
very easily, at least publicly, to adapt to the new form. He
actually seems more willing to wear a bra then I ever had
been in my life. A fact which I think has escaped him thus
far.

He seems so comfortable with my body that he asked me if he
could have sex with Ken. Actually, he asked me directly
first, but I am not ready to experience that side of being a
man. I really was more then happy to let him do what he
wanted, though his asking me wasn't necessary (though I did
appreciate it).

I, on the other hand, had found hard to adapt to some of the
subtleties of the form. I've ended up spending to much of my
time in the morning trying to find something to wear. Fox's
taste in clothing has always been a little shallow, but I
never realized by how much until I saw what he had brought
with him.

Much to my own surprise I've found that I can look rather
good in this body, even better then Fox does normally. Kind
of a strange thought to think of, but even Fox admitted it!

One important thing though, all of what has been going on
has distracted me from the what happened before, and the man
I had assassinated back on the moon base. Even if the
reasons for his death were sound, the action of killing him
left my soul heavy.

Strange though, I had not thought of his death as murder,
and every time I tried to call it that I knew that it
wasn't. Somewhere in my mind a difference between murder and
assassination had been formed. It was an unpleasant gap in
my reasoning, and one that left me open to admitting it was
something allowable.

I couldn't wait to return to my body and go to my Temple, I
was going to need another Expulsion for my sins.

For now though, I've talked to much about what has happened
before, for now I should focus on what happened the day we
crossed the Mega-fold and started for Earth, and how it
shattered Fox.

It was about seven in the morning, ships time (which was
Earth time as well). The hallway lights had just brightened
from the end of the ship's night cycle. I was up, and had
been up, for the past few hours. I had sleep soundly but
earlier in the night then anyone else. Leaving me awake for
the early morning hours.

"Oriana!" Ken called, walking up next to me as I went down
the hall.

I smiled at him, "Any progress on the spell?"

He nodded, flexing his wings slightly. "Yes, a lot in fact.
I want to test some of your reflexes though. After that I
should had it isolated enough to start some serious work
into the perimeters of the spell."

I nodded, not really understand exactly what he was planing,
but knowing that it was a step closer to getting Fox and
myself back to normal.

"What kind of tests?" I asked, working to keep pace with his
longer stride.

He smiled. "Reflexes, as I said. I'm going to be throwing
things at you and Fox for about an hour."

I couldn't help but laugh. "When do you want to do this?"

"Right now. Both you and Fox are up and she's already on her
way to meet us in the gym. I was about to have Zen summon
you, but that seems to be less of an issue now."

I rolled my eyes. Ken would want to do the strange things at
the strangest times. He assumed if both Fox and I were free
it would be the perfect time to get us together for some
thing or another. It was annoying, but hasn't being to much
of a inconvenience.

"Ok, I'm not planing to do anything that can't be put off
for an hour or so." I said, turing down an intersecting
hallway that lead closer to the gym.

Ken smiled and walked next to me for the few minutes it took
to reach the gym. Fox was already there waiting for us. She
was sitting on a bench in the side of the room, though
sitting the long way on the bench, taking all of it up.

Some how, she had found a pair of pants that hung lose on
her hips, the shirt she had on was the same way. Her hair
pulled back in a lose ponytail. Frankly looked like she
always did, weather a man or women.

As we entered, she hopped off the bench and walked towards
us. "How ya doing Oria?" She asked, holding her paws behind
her back.

I nodded. "As well as I can all things considered."

She nodded, then turned to Ken. "So, what type of test are
you planning for today?"

"Reflexes." He responded.

"He's going to be throwing things at us." I added, smiling.

She smiled back, shaking her head. "Nothing to painful I
hope."

Ken returned the smile, spreading his wings slightly. "When
have I ever let you down."

Fox's face suddenly faded, the expression vanishing as her
eyes became unfocused. She stood there for a few seconds,
swaying gently, before starting to fall forward.

Both Ken and I jumped for her, but she caught herself,
slamming one leg forward as her eyes refocused.

"Fox?" Ken asked, reaching towards him.

She raised a paw, closing her eyes, the look on her face
still neutral. After a few seconds she opened her eyes
again, looking at me, then to Ken. Turning, she quickly
walked over the weight bench in the corner. Picking up the
barbell, she walked back over to us.

"Fox?" Ken asked again, looking very concerned.

She smiled at him, a smile which grew wider, showing all of
her teeth. A smile that could only be described as pure
hatred. A growl was growing in the back of her throat as her
ears laid flat in her hair.

With a twist, and a lunge forward, she brought the end of
the barbell up, connected it with a loud crack on the
underside of the Ken's muzzles. Snapping his mouth closed
and sending him sprawling on his tail.

Fox was crying now, tears matting down her cheeks. Again she
swing her weapon, smashing it with an crunch against Ken's
ribs. Then dropped it at his side.

"How dare you," she hissed. I could hear how much she was
controlling her voice, her words almost a scream. "What ever
gave you the right to do that to me you son of a bitch! All
this time, you lied to me, you fucked with my head! You
fucking bastard!" With that said she kicked him on the ribs,
the same place as before, then ran out of the gym.

I stood in shock for a few seconds before telling Zen to get
Jadith as fast as he could.

I wanted to know what had really just happened.

    Chapter 2

Sitting down next to Ken I gave him a once over. The only
real clear damage was his broken rips, you could see that
from how his skin was laid over them. The underside of his
muzzles was already starting to bruise heavily though, but
didn't look broken.

"What," I asked, leaning forward a bit, "was all that
about?"

He looked up at me, one claw was holding his side the other
was rubbing his chin. "Oriana," he whimpered softly.

I tried to growl, but couldn't get more then a strained
grumble. "You had better tell me Ken, or else Jadith is
going to have a lot more to heal."

He glared at me for a few seconds, his eyes looking over my
face. Finally they seemed to soften. "You won't like it."

I had already gathered that fact, so I just responded with a
quick nod.

He sighed, winching as his ribs caused him some pain. "He
murdered someone."

"Oh, you mean--" I started to respond, knowing about the
time Fox was forced to kill someone.

"No, before that, back when it was just him, Kalie and I."
He winched again, the scales under his muzzles had all
turned into an ugly shade of black.

I leaned forward. "Explain, please."

He closed his eyes, speaking very slowly. "It was the first
time we were on Draz's world. We had been talked into a
fight to de-thrown the current ruler of the land."

I nodded, already being told this when we had went back.

"Near the end of the fight, Fox discovered we had been
betrayed, all of us were fighting for the wrong person. If
not even the wrong side. He was mad, very mad. When he found
the man, already badly tortured by the ones we're fighting
against..."

He sighed softly, looking back at me. "Fox was mad, mad at
being used, and for fighting when it was the lest pleasant
solution. For being blinded by his own naivete. He really
lost it there, they attacked each other. It lasted only a
few minutes, Fox wasn't very badly hurt, physically.
Mentally though... he had choked the wolf to death, crushing
his windpipe."

"He turned to me, a look of horror in his eyes... and... I
did the only thing I could do. I grabbed him, forced him
into a magical sleep and started in on his memories."

I nodded, "The hole he was talking about."

Ken nodded, winching as he did so. "Yes, the hole... I
couldn't actually change what he remembered, it's not
something magic can do. I could though hide things. The
memory of what he had done I hide from him, locking it away
behind a wall of magic. Then waking him back up I lied to
him, telling him that we had found his body, one of the
guards having killed him."

"Fox accepted it with out much of a struggle, and was the
story he told everyone else. I confirmed it and no one
doubted it."

He sighed softly, "last year, when we went back to help
Draz, I went back into his head to check the spell. I
recasted part of it, trying to clean it up."

"Didn't work very well," I said, "he's been dreaming about
it sense we came back, and much more as he's now in my
body."

"Yes," He responded, reaching one claw-hand out to me,
grabbing my leg. I felt a light jolt of electricity which
faded quickly.

"The spell is gone now," he said, "it will no longer harm
either of you."

I took a slow breath, standing up. "Ken, if we didn't need
you so much I would make you walk home." Then turning walked
out of the gym.

Passing Jadith just outside the door I didn't reply to her
greetings. I wanted to find Fox before anything else. She
was going to need someone to talk to before all of what had
happened sunk in.

And really, who other then me understood what murder felt
like?

I just needed to find him first. She wasn't in her room,
where I had expected to find her, nor was she in mine room.
I puzzled this over for a few seconds before realizing what
I should have done in the first place.

"Zen, where is Fox?"

"He's on Deck eight, section twelve, room ten." Was the
response

I did some mental placement, that was near the back of the
ship. "What is in that room?"

"The ship's bar," he chirped back.

That came as a small surprise, I didn't even know the ship
had a bar, or why Fox would ever put one in. Now though
wasn't the time to wonder about it though, I needed to find
her before she did anything to drastic.

I took one of the grav-tubes down the length of the ship,
pulling myself out when I got the the propped section. Then
down three levels and a quick search for the room. The
finding didn't take very long, the doors where twice the
size of any others on the ship and adorned with a small set
of round windows.

The door opened almost silently as I touched the control
pad. Inside was dark, the only light coming in through one
wall that was lined with windows, the distant stars
twinkling silently through them. Fox's shape was silhouetted
against them, her back to me, hunched over a small table in
the center of the room.

I walked over to her, pulling out a chair from the table and
sitting down. She barely noticed my presents, she just
started out the windows. Her cheeks matted down with tears.
On the table in front of her was a nearly full bottle of
some drink, the rest of it sat in a small glass in front of
her.

"Fox?" I asked, my voice just over a whisper.

She finally noticed me, turning her head just slightly to
see me better, her eyes blurred from the tears.

"Ken told me what he did," I said, placing one of my hands
on her paw.

"He's a bastard."

I nodded, "that's what I though as well. I told him I would
make him walk home if we didn't need him so much."

She let out a soft gasp of a laugh. "I see, right out the
airlock, yes." Looking back down at her drink, she frowned.
"Would you like to drink with me?"

I shook my head. "It only makes the pain worse."

She pulled her frown of slightly. "That's good, I can't make
myself drink it anyway."

I scooted over a bit, putting my arm over her shoulders.

She looked to me, "what can I do?"

I sighed. "Realize that you did it, understand that, deal
with it. Maybe when this is over you can come back home with
me, to the Temple. We both could use it."

Fox looked back out the window, her eyes unfocused. She
stayed like that for a almost a minute, her ears twitching
as she thought. Finally she broke away, looking back at me.
"Yes... I would like to do that. In fact, I really would
like to learn more about your world."

"Really?" I was amazed, Fox had really shown very little
interest in my word other then what I told him.

She nodded, "Yes... I've though about it a time or two,
mostly getting a written language patch for the translator.
I know so little about you're people, everything. You're the
best friend that I have, I think I need to learn more about
what makes you, you."

I nodded, leaning close to her. "Are you felling any
better?"

"No," she said, pushing some hair out of her eyes. I noticed
she had stopped crying. "But, I've stopped feeling worse."

I nodded again. "That's a good first step, took me a month
to stop feeling worse."

Very carefully Fox picked her drink up and poured it back
into the bottle, then replaced the seal.

Standing up, she took the bottle by it's neck, then walked
over and put it back behind the bar. Turning around she
leaned up against the bar's railing, looking at me. A
puzzled look crossed her face. "Oria, come over here."

I quickly walked over. "What?"

She pointed at the windows, "Take a look, what do you see."

I followed her finger, I saw stars out side the window,
slowly drifting past as we moved. There was nothing out of
place, everything looked normal. After a few more seconds I
realized what she was actually pointing at. The windows were
acting as a faded mirror, showing our reflections.

"I see a pair of friends, trying to live with each other,
and with themselves."

She hummed. "Yes, but look at the pair of us as ourselves.
Take a close look."

I looked harder, there was the two of us, I was standing,
Fox was leaning against the bar. Fox, for her part looked
like she always did. I on the other hand looked different, I
was standing differently, straiter then I remembered.

"What are you seeing Fox?" I asked, not sure what she expect
me to find.

She sighed. "I see two people, a man who looks handsome,
confident, and a women who looks scruffy."

"I don't understand." "I know, but look at us Oria. Look at
you, you've started acting in concert with my body. You've
made it look better then I ever did. You've been adapting
very well to being in it."

"I don't want to stay in it."

She nodded. "I know, but compare that to me. I look like I
always did, not male, or female, but scruffy."

"You have a point."

"Can you do me a favor then?" She asked, looking back
towards me.

"What?"

She coughed, starting to blush. "Help me to at least act
female."

"Are you sure Fox?"

"Yes, very sure. I need to learn start acting differently.
Actually like a real person and no someone faking all of
this."

I smiled, then hugged her. "Leave it to me then, come on!"
Then pulled him out of the bar.

    Chapter 3

I sighed, turing the air recycles up a bit higher, creating
a noticeable draft through the compartment of the small
shuttle.

My companion looked up from the plans he had been studying,
which where now flipping in the artificial wind. Chomping on
the end of his cigar, he glared at me. "Could you turn that
down, it's becoming an annoyance."

I snorted, leaning back in my seat. "When you put out that
vile smelling thing?" I said, motioning to the smoke
floating around the cabin.

He took it out of his mouth, looking at the end, then
smiled. "It's not vile, more of pleasant." He said, placing
it back into his mouth. Then, picking up a few small things
that where sitting around the cabin, weight down the edge of
his documents.

Stalemate, again. I had been putting up with his damn cigars
for over a day now. He always seemed to be smoking one
except for when he was sleeping, which was about half the
time.

He was one of Fox's friends though, so I was going to put up
with him and his smell until we docked with the _Phoenix_.
Which, as I check the small navigation computer, was in
about ten minutes.

Shaking the ashes into a small jar he had brought along,
Terminus looked up at me. "How much time is left?"

"About nine minutes now."

He smiled, running his finger over one of the plans. "Good,
I have some ideas I want to run past Fox after we board."

I couldn't help to have some interest, I was going to be
involved in this as well at the end. Sliding closer I looked
over the plans. "What?"

"These rooms are where the hostages are being keep," he
said, tapping on the page. "If we can drop these pressure
doors here," he pointed to each one, "we can cut of any
guards around it from getting inside. They will stay safe as
we go through through and clean up."

I squinted, looking closer at the plans for the moon base.
"You can learn all of that from just looking at those?"

He smiled. "Partly, one of the memo's we got suggested doing
something like that. I just had to find out which series of
doors."

I looked back down at the tan and black plans, looking
closer. He had marked down where all the guards where with
small red 'X's, each of the doors he had pointed to had been
highlight in blue as well.

This was all assume the reports we had gotten back from the
released hostages where all accurate. A dozen guards and
Grasion holding them all in the base. Not much to over come
if first we could get past the guards. Or at least keep them
out of the way.

"How do you make sure all the hostages are in that area
still?" I asked, pointing.

He shrugged. "Not sure yet. We still have a week yet, we can
think of something by then."

I leaned back in my seat, nodding to myself. Assume all went
as planed it would actually be a day over an Earth week.
Then a few more days back if what we had been told was true.

Terminus smiled, looking past me. "There she is."

Turing, I looked out the large window I had been sitting
behind. Hanging outside, a dozen kilometers away, was _The
Golden Phoenix_. As I watcher her come closer the shuttle's
navigation computer beeped, notifying me that it had hooked
up with the _Phoenix's_ computer, and was starting us in.

The communication system beeped a few seconds later. "Hey
guys, enjoy the trip?" Fox, no, I correct myself, Oriana,
asked.

"Not as pleasant as I would like," I responded. Behind me
Terminus scoffed. "How about you two, how are things going
with you?"

There was a pause, "good, mostly. Fox and I are both dealing
with this as best as we can." The pacing of the words was
defiantly Oriana's, even if the voice was Fox's. Something
though rang hollow, I wasn't being told something.

I looked out the window, watching as we grew closer to the
_Phoenix_, the docking bay we were heading towards growing
bright and better defined each second.

"I'll see you in a minute," I said then switched off the
com-system. Turing back around to look at my companion, I
found he had already packed up all the plans and documents
he had been reading. He was now leaning back in the seat,
looking towards me.

"What are we not being told?" He asked me as he pinched out
the end of his cigar and tucked it into his pocket.

I nodded, "you heard that too then?"

"Of course, I've know the pair of them for a long time. That
was definitely Oriana, and she was more the certainly hiding
something from us. The question is what?"

I shrugged. "Maybe we should ask them?"

He bounced a bit as we touched down inside of the _Phoenix_.
"I don't think that would be a good idea for now. We will be
told when they feel we should be told."

There a quick series of clanks as the shuttle settled and
the hatch opened. It slid back a few inches into the cabin,
then hit it self in the wall. Terminus was first out, his
paws full with the assorted papers. I got out right after
him.

Fox and Oriana were both waiting for us. Oriana, in Fox's
body was dressed in a shirt and pants, but neatly. The shirt
was tucked in, the hair bushed and his beard trimmed.

Fox was next to him, dressed as I would never have expected.
Pants that where decently tight, with a shirt tucked into
them, and pulled over her chest. Her hair was tied back,
leaving a set of bangs to hang over her eyes.

They both smiled at us as we started walking towards them.
Something was wrong with Fox though, she was smiling wide,
quite happy to see us, but her eyes...

"I'm glad to see you two," Fox said, hugging Terminus, then
me. "We're going to need all the power we can muster, mind
and muscle, to finish this."

My companion smiled. "I've got the plans for the base, as
well as the most current reports from the released
hostages."

She smiled, "Great! We'll have to stick you with Aster, he's
the resented knowledge pool on the base."

This was all being forced from her, I could see it. Oriana
was acting strange as well. Watching Fox from the corner of
his eyes, working very hard not to look concerned, and
slowly starting to fail.

"Page," Fox said, turning to me, "I'm going to need you to
find out which Shuttle we're going to nab, and where it's
located at on planet. You'll have full access to ever
resource we can provide."

I nodded, having already been told this before I ever left.

"Also, it's important that all records referee to the
Shuttle as _Infinity_."

"Why?" Oriana asked, seemed a bit surprised.

Fox smiled, "when Earth is no longer listed as a forbidden
verse I'm going to make sure it joins the Council. So I
don't want anything they saying where we got this ship, and
giving it's name will be a good way for them to find out."
She crossed her arms over her chest, "so we'll rename it,
and not recorded where we got it from."

Oriana nodded, happy with this.

I spoke up again. "Fox, I have a question for you."

Terminus was suddenly far more tense, his back staffing like
a board.

Fox nodded, allowing me to ask.

I though carefully of how to phrase this. "My Father--"

She cut me off. "Father? I though you never knew your
father."

I nodded,"Actually, I mean my Grandfather. I grew up
referring to him and Grandmother as such. I only started
calling them my grandparents once I came to Prid. When I was
with Mil, sie told me to speak of them in what ever way felt
the most natural for me. I was quite happy to revert back."

"Ah, ok then, keep going."

I cleared my throat, "as I was saying, my Father had these
beautiful eyes, almost like crystals. He could stare right
in your soul. They seemed to be so deep that when you looked
into then you could drown. Your's though, there not deep,
there almost infinite, pulling all around them inside. Dead.
My god Fox, what happened to you?"

She looked to me, closing her eyes and sighing. Then turing,
walking out of the docking bay, her tail tip touching the
floor.

There was dead silence for a few seconds, then Oriana turned
and followed, Terminus right after him. I stood alone,
looking at the door Fox had gone through.

This was far worse then just a body swap.

* * *

12/28/97:

"Have you seen Fox?" I asked, leaning into the door of
Page's room. She didn't seem to notice, busy reading through
a stack of computer printouts. Evenly she seemed to notice I
was there, and looked up at me.

"Hello Oriana," she said with a smile. "Anything I can do
for you?"

I nodded, "Have you seen Fox?" I asked again, adjusting my
glasses back up on my nose. I had no idea how Fox could deal
with there weight all day, every day. Personally I found it
annoying and a hindrance.

"A few hours ago, she was heading down to look over the
_Falcon_." She responded, picking up another page from of
the printout.

"Looked there already."

She hummed softly. "She might be with Naomi. Fox mentioned
that she wasn't really doing enough with her lately."

I shook my head. "Newt is in a lesion with Ken."

Page shrugged. "Speaking of Ken, what is going on with that
pair? They seem to be avoiding each other like the plague."

I didn't respond. Fox had asked me not to tell anyone what
had happened, and what she had discovered. I was willing to
comply for right now, though it was getting harder.

She frowned. "Fine then, don't tell me. Why don't you just
ask Zen where she is?"

"I tried, he tells me Fox asked him not to tell anyone where
she was." I responded.

"I can't help then," Page told me, then quickly went back to
her printouts.

I sighed to myself, walking away from her room and down the
hallway. I hadn't seen Fox sense early this morning, and was
getting worried. We were due to enter her solar system in an
hour and she was no where to be found. It didn't seem like
her.

"Oriana?" Zen said, breaking into my train of though. I
stopped walking and looked up to the ceiling. "Yes Zen?"

The computer gave a artificial sigh. "I'm about to break my
orders. Fox is in her room, in the shower to be precise."

I frowned, this was not like the computer. "Why are you
telling me?"

"Because," He reply, pausing for a second, "She's been in
there for almost an hour, with out turning the water in the
shower on."

I turned on my heal, and started walking towards Fox's room.
"Can you tell me anything else?"

There was a soft click as he changed speaks to address me
through. "From the analyses of the audio in the room, it
appears that she is crying."

"Thank you Zen," I said, turing a corner. "I won't mention
to Fox that you told me."

"Much appreciated," the computer chirped, then became silent
again. I keep walking towards Fox's current room, reach it
in a matter of minutes.

The door wasn't locked, opening as soon as I hit the switch
for it. Inside I could hear Fox's sobbing coming from the
direction of the bathroom. Walking quietly I moved to stand
just inside the door, looking in.

Fox sat, dressed, in the bottom of the shower stall. She had
pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her
legs, holding them close to her body. Her face was pressed
against the top of her knees, her hair spilling over her
head and down past her legs.

Walking closer, I bent down, reaching out to touch her on
the shoulder. I froze though, my eyes locking on a small
knife that was sitting in the stall next to Fox. I must have
made some noise, causing Fox to look up me through her hair.

I looked back to her, trying to find her eyes, then I looked
back down to the knife. Following my gaze, Fox whimpered
softly. Reaching up she lifted the hair from in front of her
eyes. "I didn't even know I was doing it," she whispered,
her voice catching in her throat ever few words. "I was
working on something in the _Falcon_, trying to get a grip
on what had happened. Before I really knew it I was in here,
holding that against my wrist."

She looked up at me, the fur around her eyes, and her cheeks
matted down from her tears. "I was barely able to stop
myself."

I nodded, sitting down next to her, not saying a word.

Looking back down at the floor, she keep sobbing. "What's
happening to me Oria? Why do I feel like I'm so off balance
now?"

"Maybe you need to face what you've been through in the past
week. First you where almost killed, then switched with me
and topped with finding out that you killed a man."

She let out a choked laughed. "Killed? I murdered him! I
murdered him with my own hands in cold blood."

"So have I," I responded, taking one of her paws in my hand,
squeezing it gently. "You just can't push that aside like
you the others, live every other pain in your life. I think
you should face this, face the pain it's caused. Understand
that it's never going away, and try to live with it."

She looked away from me, crying even harder then before.

I reached out, grabbing her chin, and forcing her to look me
in the eyes. "You keep running Fox. Away from everything
that hurts you, and you're not getting anywhere."

I could see the pain in her eyes as she looked back at me.
Like a shadow on her soul. "Maybe," she whispered.

"A lot more the maybe. You've got so much pain hiding inside
of you that it's starting to overflow out. This last week as
been the final thinks to fill it past it's holding point.
There's only so much that can be keep in one soul."

Fox seemed to pull tighter to herself. I sighed to myself,
decided to try a different track to the conversation.
Setting one hand on the floor, I wrapped the other over her
shoulders. "Tell me about you're gods."

That jolted her slightly as she looked up towards me,
sniffling softly and blinking back so tears. "My god?"

I nodded, "Yes, you seem to mention them so much when you're
angry, I want to know more about them."

She frowned, looking sad. "I don't believe in any of my own
gods, and worship none that I do know of."

I let a slight sound of astonishment slip away. "You can't
be serious Fox, how do you atone yourself for what you've
done. How do you face you're sins, and cleanse them from
your soul?"

She shrugged against my arm. "Never had to worry about any
of that. I just keep going on as I always have. Plodding
away at my life, atoning myself as I see fit. I do not
believe in a soul, the hear-after, or anything else that you
see fit to mention. So many gods are out there, most are
imaged, and the real ones either are insane, or work very
hard to keep the people who follow them believing that there
is something to strive for in life."

I wasn't sure if that was meant as an insult against Thryn,
or what Fox believed was truth. I felt though, that Fox at
least respected my God enough not to so casually insult him.

"Then what do you believe in?" I asked, looking at her
closely.

She looked back at me. "Friends Oria, I believe in the
strength of my friends to help me through the trials of pain
of life. For without friends to share life with you have
nothing to live for."

I nodded, understand how much that explained about Fox. How
much she would fight for her friends, to help them, to
prefect them, to avenge them. I also suddenly understood how
much Ken's betrayal must have hurt her, on many more levels
they I understood. Ken was one of his closest friends, as
well as a lover. This had to be deviating for her.

I touched her ears, smoothing the fur on them flat. Fox
yawned softly in response. She was still crying, but not so
painfully as before. "How long have you been awake?"

"A day, maybe more."

"Well then, we're going to be at you're system soon and to
you're base there in a few hours. Maybe you should sleep
until then?"

She yawned again, and worked herself into a standing
position. I stood with her, offering my arm for support. She
took it willingly and I helped her to the bed. Laying down
she started to drift to sleep immediately. Her tears
slowing.

Bending down I kissed her on the head. Then I unburied some
of my own pain, the one that I've been trying to keep hidden
for to long, even over a short time. "I love you," I
whispered into her ear.

Half conscious, and almost into dreams, Fox still heard me,
and and she responded. "Thank you," she whispered. Then
quickly drifted off into a weak slumber.

* * *

Hours later I waited impatiently for Fox to return. She had
left a couple hours ago for Earth, with Terminus, Page and
Milgrove. It was made quite clear that I wasn't going to be
going along. Being in Fox's made it a bad idea to running
around on his world stealing things. They could trace it
back to her in some fashion, and they she would really be
screwed.

So I waited, trying to relax. Wondering around the base Fox
had created inside the asteroid belt of the system after the
HammerHeads. Though I don't think he ever planed on using it
in this such of a fashion.

I tried to sleep a time or two, but with out to much
success, and the company I was keeping wasn't much of a help
to keep me distracted. The others that had been left behind
was Naomi, for clear reasons, Ken, and Aster.

Ken was out of the question entirely, I didn't even want to
share a room with him, but I did what I must so he could
find a way to remove this spell and get us back to normal.
Naomi was sleeping in her room on board the _Phoenix_,
unaware of the events that where unfolding around her, or so
I hoped.

Which left Aster, who was buried inside of the plans for the
base. He was working out where to land the _Infinity_ as
soon we got back to his system. He needed to find a place
that would be safe to land at, yet get us to the defense
system to shut it down, and away from Grasion and his
guards.

Not exactly on easy task.

As for me, I worried about Fox. She had only gotten a few
hours of sleep, then was right back up and awake, hyper,
happy and ready to take on the world. It was a front, and
she and I both knew it. Her eyes where still, as Page had
noticed, dead. Maybe not as much as before, but still empty
none the less.

I felt trapped by her pain myself, there was nothing I could
really do to help her. I could speak to her soothing words,
but they did very little. She needed to help herself here.

More then that though, she was so clear on what her friends
meet to her, but she wouldn't tell them what had happened.
She said that she didn't want to burden them with her
problems, they already had enough of there own to begin
with.

That argument didn't hold much water with me. Much of my
religion was based on the idea that shared pain is lessened.
That is why we can share sin with others when we go into
Expulsion. It brings us closer to those we care about, and
lessen the pain the one of us feels. Making it less then
half of what it was.

Which is why Fox need her friends, she needed us! I could
not help her alone, nor could I bare the weight of trying.
She needed the others, so much so that it was starting to
kill her not too.

Fox once saved my from the death of my soul, the time has
come for me to do the same for her.

"Rejoice," Zen declared, his voice echoing around the rock
walls of the hallway. "for the mighty hunters have returned
with there pray!"

I couldn't help but laugh. Starting myself in motion for the
base's hanger. "Where did you get that at?" I asked the
computer.

Zen clicked softly, his version of a smile. "Page suggested
it."

"It does sound like her." I commented, turning a corner and
stepping into the bay. I drew a sharp breath when I saw what
we had go to all this trouble to steal. I couldn't help but
to laugh. Long and loud.

The ship was an ugly white thing with a black belly. More
then a four-hundred feet long, with a pair of squat little
wings and a tail fin. It was sitting on a three of wheels
and looked out of place sitting as it was, next to the now
landed _Falcon_.

Fox steeped out of the _Falcon_ and gave me a stern look.
"Don't laugh, this is what's getting us to Grasion."

I nod, walking over to him, and restraining my laughter. "I
know, but it looks so silly!"

"I'll agree," Aster said, walking in from the docking tunnel
to the _Phoenix_, "can that thing actually fly?"

"Yes," Fox said, "though it's more of a glide."

The wolf nodded, walking closer to it, and running his paws
over the ship's belly. "What are these tiles for?" He asked,
tapping it with his finger.

She had to think for a few seconds. "Ah, there made to
absorb the heat from re-entry."

He began a nod, but stopped, turning slowly to face Fox,
then walking over to her. "This thing uses friction to slow
down it's re-entry?"

"Yes."

Aster seemed to grow red through his fur. "You idiot! This
whole thing is useless! How in the greater hells where you
expecting to land this on a moon with no atmosphere?"

She slowly closed her eyes, her tail dropping in sync until
it brushed the floor. "Maybe canalize some parts from the
_Falcon_. A gravity system or something, we could use it to
slow us by pushing against the ground as we descend."

"Which brings us right back to why we need this monster in
the first place. Even that type of system will be detected
and you would be shot down." He responded with a sneer. He
seemed to be quite proud of himself for finding such a
deadly flaw in Fox's plan.

"Do you have a better idea?" Fox snapped back at him.

He smiled. "As a matter of fact, I do."

Ten minutes later we where back in the _Phoenix_, inside the
small room Aster had taken for studying the plans for the
base. As he entered the room he walked to the stack of plans
and pulled one out. Moving towards the table in the center
of the room, he stood over it, unrolling the plan.

Setting some weights on the corners, to keep it from curling
back up, he pointing down at a section of the plan. The plan
it self was of the general surface construction of the base,
the spot he pointed to was a touch over three miles from the
base. A strip of land marked with a line of rings, going for
almost a mile.

"That is where we land," Aster announced, smiling with some
glee.

Fox looked up from the plans, giving Aster an icy stare.
"What exactly is it?"

He seemed to freeze for a movement, his eyes locked with
hers. Shaking it off with a small shutter, he ran his finger
down the line. "This is a Gravitational Slingshot."

Huh?

He continued, "it's not fully operational yet, but the
system system's gravitational rings are installed. If we can
navigate your ship inside them I can program the system to
slow us down, dropping us at the loading dock."

Fox shook her head. "Wouldn't Grasion notice that? I'm sure
the main computer would light of bright red if something
like that happened."

"That's the beauty of this," he said with a smile. "The
computers aren't connected. The two systems don't like
talking to each other, so we can accesses to control the
system safely, and before you say it, it's on a different
power system as well."

"You're sure we can use it?"

Aster nodded. "If Grasion hasn't already gone there and
disable the system, but unless he knew how far behind it
was, that's unlikely?"

"Find out will you?" Fox requested.

He nodded. "I'll squirt a request back home, they'll tell
me. Then I'll get right on a program to have it glide us
in." He though for a second, "oh! There is also an advantage
to this as well. There's already a tunnel to the base from
the loading dock. It comes out only a building away from the
defense system's control room."

"Great!" She said with a large smile.

I took a step forward, sense this to be a good time to
interrupt. "Um, not to be rude, but what exactly is a
Gravitational Slingshot?"

"It's a line of a ring shaped gravity inductors. The idea is
that as you go through each one it throws you harder and
faster into the next. When you exit the last ring your going
at a much faster rate then you could get from just lifting
off." He shrugged, "we're planing on using it to shoot of
some early supplies for the outer colonizes over the next
ten years."

That explained it some, but I still was confused by it. Oh
well though, if it worked, we had are ticket back into the
base. If not we where in a lot of trouble.

Lets hope that it worked.

    Chapter 4

01/03/98:

Fox was standing in the dark of the _Phoniex_'s observation
bay, staring out into the stars, her paws clasped behind her
back. Her tail was slowly sweeping across the floor behind
her, showing her to be deep in though, or meditation.

I walked up closer her, stopping about a foot behind. She
still noticed me, turning her head slightly and glancing at
me out the corner of her eye.

"Hello Oria," she said, turning back to look out at the
distant stars, twinkling softly through the glass.

I nodded, trying to follow her gaze. "What are you looking
for?"

"Something, anything really. I'm so far from home, from
Earth, from anything."

I stepped forward, to stand even with her. "Are you afraid?"

She let out a barley audible sigh. "Of what we're about to
do, or of Grasion?"

"Both."

She paused, her tail draping behind her, it's motion lost.
"I'm worried about what we are going to do. Very worried,
there are to many things that can go wrong."

I umm-hummed, "and of Grasion?"

"I fear him, with every part of my body, every part of my
soul." she slumped slightly, "He scares me Oriana. Like
nothing ever has before. His soul, if he even has one, is
like a cloud over the whole of the multi-verse. He is the
only person I know of who would destroy it all, if he though
it would be fun."

I stepped closer to her, offering an arm, she leaning back
into it, resting her head on my shoulder. "Every time I face
him I pray it will be the last. Quite frankly, his touch
changes my life."

I nodded, "And mine as well this time."

Fox sighed. "Yes, he manipulates those around him to do the
work he wants done and plays with his enemies. The first
time I had encounter him, he had nearly managed to make the
head of the local law enforcement insane. The man didn't
even pose a threat to him, Grasion was doing his job so well
that no one even knew about it. All it ever was to him was a
game, some entertainment while things went along."

"I fear him too, I have sense we first meet back on Prid."

She nodded, pushing away from me and running her paws
through her hair. "We have very little time," she said,
chancing the topic. "We had better join the others."

I sighed, I had touched on a nerve there, but wasn't sure on
what. Maybe she just didn't want to talk any more, I wasn't
sure and I knew Fox well enough that asked would not give me
any answer at all.

Adjusting the band holding her hair back, Fox opened the
door of the room, and steeped out into the hallway. I winced
from the change of light as it flooded into the near
darkness I was in. Covering my eyes, I started after her,
not rushing, but just following, we both had the same
destination.

Watching Fox from behind, I was starting to find myself
amazed at how much more female she had become, every day
more about her match the sex of her body. She still had
miles to go before she looked natural, but still.

It left me wondering how well she will adjust once we get
back to our own bodies. Has she gotten to comfortable with
being me? Or will she just slip back into her old self... or
a thousand other things I couldn't think of yet.

She would be changed though, we both would. But her more so
then me. I've found that most of us on the ship think of me
as a female still, even if I'm in Fox's body, but everyone,
even I, think of Fox as a women. I wonder if she understands
that?

Or if she cares?

My thoughts came to an end as we both stepped into the
docking bay. the _Falcon_ was hosted above the floor, the
stolen shuttle being strapped to the underside of it, upside
down.

Both Page and Aster were standing below it, going over a
series of data padds, even few seconds trading with the
other. Terminus was waiting by the lift and was engrossed
with polishing the sword he had brought with him.

Milgrove appeared to be inside the _Falcon_'s upper-cockpit,
hir silhouette showing through the glass. Ken was not going
be with us on this trip, he would not fit inside of the
shuttle and Jadith had left us when we had reached Earth.
Fox had given us all a chance to not be a part of this, and
Jadith had taken it.

I would have as well, if it was not for this faith be dammed
spell.

Mil was not actually part of are little invasion, sie had to
fly the _Falcon_ and to launch us in the proper direction
and speed.

So it left the five of us against a dozen guards and one
mad-man.

Though, if the plan of attack Aster and Terminus had created
worked, the guards would be a moot point. They would all be
dealt with remotely, locking them into area's where they
could not leave from.

I rubbed my forehead, over my eyes. I understood that was
planed, but I didn't want go back down there again. It may
sound silly, and I'm pretty sure it us, but I just didn't
want to make this trip.

Fox waved over to me as she walked towards the lift that
would raise us up to the docking hatch on the shuttle. I
walked over quickly stepping inside the metal basket. The
others crammed in as well, filling the small thing to it's
capacity.

There was a lurch as someone started the lift rising
upwards. A series of hydrologic pumps raising us high and
high until we stood just even with the round hatch, already
open and waiting for us.

"Ok," Fox said, "this is going to be disconcerting. There is
a minimal gravity system install on the ship, just enough to
hold you onto the floor. But only where the floor is painted
red, every place else you'll end up walking on the ceiling."

There was general mumble of nonsense from everyone, this we
understood already, and were prepared for it. In theory at
least.

Fox hunched down and slid her legs under the railing of the
lift and inside of shuttle. Her legs stuck to the apparent
ceiling of the ship, the actually floor. She worked her way
backwards, until she was crawling, then back far enough to
stand upside down.

Being next to her, I was the next person to go in. I
repeated the same maneuver, getting my legs back far enough
until what little gravity there was inside took effect. It
was a strange felling, having one side of my body being
pulled downwards, and the other side being pulled up.

I just pushed back though, and got myself inside. My sense
of directing quickly reorienting so that I was upright and
the others outside where upside down.

Standing upright though, I had to catch my glasses as they
tried to fly up to the ceiling. Pushing them back down on my
nose, I held them there and looked at Fox.

She looked slightly annoyed, her hair was standing upwards
and reaching towards the ceiling. "Go up front, I'll catch
up as soon as everyone's inside."

I nodded, carefully working my way through the small ship
until I was in the cockpit area. Through the main window I
could see the docking bay, upside down... I was starting to
feel a bit nauseas.

Closing my eyes I sat down in one of the two front seats in
the ship. To the right of pilot's seat, where Fox was going
to be sitting. Feeling around the edge of the seat, I found
the ends of the four point seat belt, and strapped myself in
as tight as I could.

A minute later Fox sat down next to me letting out a slight
yelp as she did so. Opening one eye, I glanced in her
direction. She was adjusting the seat around her self, from
the look on her face I guessed that she pinched her tail.

Suppressing a slight chuckle I closed my eye again, relaxing
my head against the well padded seat.

A few second later Fox called back. "You three strapped in
back there?"

Everyone grumbled a 'yes'.

"Right then, Aster, you set up?"

"Yes," the wolf called back. "I'm ready when you are."

There was a beep from in front of us. "Milgrove, you ready
up there?"

"She's going to a pig to fly like this," her reply came over
the communications systems. "But yes, everything is ready."

"Right then, I'm going to shut the gravity off in half a
minute so make sure you're in tight." Fox announced as the
who ship lurched downwards.

I hazarded a look, opening my eyes part way and looking out
the window. What appeared to be above us was open space, the
moon we where going to be landing on half light from the
light of there sun. We where rising slowly up into it, the
_Phoinex's_ docking bay vanishing below us.

After a dozen seconds there was a slight kick as the ship
above us start to accelerate, moving us into position to
launch. At the same time the small amount of internal
gravity turned of, leaving us floating in zero-g before the
force from the _Falcon's_ thrust pushed us back into the
seats.

"I wish there was a better way to do this," Aster said from
behind us. "Not that I don't trust you're ability to keep us
on target, but dropping us like this. Really?"

Fox chuckled. A strange sound to here from her. "Well, if we
could have waited a week or more longer we could have gone
up the way this was built for."

I knew that smirk on her face. She was being this vague to
have a joke at his expense.

"Ah, I see." He responded, clearly not what Fox had been
expecting, her face falling slightly.

The small room became silent from then on, the only sound
coming from the different systems inside of the small ship
as the shook and hummed. Eventually it was broken as a small
light on the patched together consul in front of Fox lit up.

Fox flipped the small switch under the light. "Go ahead
Mil."

"I'm ready to cut you loose in one minute." Sie replied
back.

Reaching up, Fox started a small countdown timer in front of
her. "Thank you."

There was a slightly pause. "Try to come back in once piece
ok? I don't want any of you getting to badly hurt."

She smiled. "Thank you again, we'll do our best."

The light went out as Fox closed the channel. "Everyone
ready?"

Everyone assured her that yes, they where still ready.

"Then hang on," she told us, watching the small clock as the
timer ticked down to zero.

There was a series of loud bangs in a series down both sides
of the hull. Each one was the explosive bolt on the straps
letting go, freeing us from the _Falcon_.

Out the window I watched as Milgrove pulled the ship away
from us, sweeping down towards the floating lights of the
_Phoniex_.

Reaching forward Fox open the cover on a switch, then turned
the switch blow it on. That ignited the ships main engine,
kicking us forward to the proper speed. Watching the timer
in front of her, Fox closed the switches cover after only a
few seconds, at the same time turning the switch below it
off.

Turning on a few more switches Fox took the control stick in
front of her in paw. Very carefully rolling the ship so the
underside was facing the ground. She made a few more
adjustments after that, then closer all but two of the
switches.

Leaning back she took in a deep breath. "Ok, we'll be at the
surface in five minutes." She turned to look behind us,
"Aster?"

The wolf looked up from the small computer before him.
"Everything is set up and ready to transmit."

She nodded. "Ok, I leave that in your paws then," she
responded, then sat back in her seat, looking back out the
window. Letting out the breath she had take she seemed to
slump back in the chair.

I leaned over to her. "Are you ok?" I whispered.

"'ie, just a wee bit nervous." She responded with a nod,
faking an accent I had never head before.

"Not a good time for it." I commented.

She nodded again, her ears swiveling a bit. "I know, it's
not, at least not as of yet... soon though I would expect."

I nodded myself, sitting back in my seat, watching as the
ground below us steadily grew closer.

"Are we inside the defense systems yet?" I asked.

Aster replied. "For almost a three minutes." He sounded
relieved. "You should be able to see the Slingshot's rings
by now."

I squinted. "I can't."

"Nor can I." Fox replied.

Aster let out an annoyed sound, taping at his computer. "The
rings should be light up."

"We have a little over a minute before we hit the ground.
We're are they?"

"I'm checking."

By this time the ground below us was taking up most of the
view. Then, with a sudden flash, a string a bright lights
lit up in front of us, extending towards the horizon. I
could see that they where rings, massive ones maybe a
thousand feet wide. One going under us every few seconds.

Fox swore. "We've overshot them." She squinted, looking
closer. "Hold on."

She gabbed the control stick, pulling it back towards her.
We started to descend inside the rings. Each one getting
closer as it skimmed below us. Suddenly there came a loud
screeching sound and the ship jerked, first up, then back
down. After that we were flying inside of the rings.

"System activated," Aster announced, "we're slowing down."

Fox sighed, leaning back in her seat. "Good... very good."
she checked the small timer. "We'll be landing in about
ninety seconds. We hope you have had a pleasant flight, and
would fly with us again soon. Welcome to Krein moon."

It was such an unexpected statement for right that we all
let out a small chuckle. It helped to relive the tension
that had been growing inside the cabin with us.

    Chapter 5

The shuttle bounced as it finally touched down at the
loading platform that was at the end of the Slingshot. We
rolled for about a second before coming to a complete stop.
The system having drained off the rest of the speed.

The loading dock was smaller there I would have expected,
barely long enough to hold the shuttle. The only light came
from the rings outside, but even that was fading as the
doors behind us closed.

"They dock will be pressurized in about three minutes."
Aster said from his place behind Oria and I. Nodding to her,
I pushed some hair out of my eyes, and started shutting down
the systems on the shuttle.

It had been modified more then I had let on, replacing a
large portion of the basic systems with small ones, that
where considerably faster and far more evident. The power
system hadn't been changed though, to much still relied on
it. I wasn't sure how much of a drain it could take, so I
felt it was better to shut everything down then risk
damaging anything important.

Sitting back in my seat I adjusted my hair a bit, some of it
had come lose during the trip and was getting in my eyes.
Oria chuckled softly as he watched me. "You don't even have
to think about that anymore, do you?" The question was
sincerer, but the look in his eyes was one of worry. The
same look I saw every time he talked to me about how I was
acting.

I nodded, happy with how I had it pulled back, and dropped
it against my neck. "Yes, it's become more of a reaction
then a thought."

His look of worry seemed to less, but only slightly so.

"Everything is finished," Aster announced, it's safe to go
outside now.

I smiled, slipping out of my seat and past the others and to
the airlock. Opening it just a crack a breeze of cold air
blew accost my face. Taking a deep breath I opened it the
rest of the way, at the same time hitting the control to
lower a ladder down to the floor. The drop being something
like thirty feet.

Terminus was right behind, looking out over my shoulder into
the darkness. "Everything looks all right." He comment,
though from the tone of his voice I could tell he didn't
believe that for a second.

"Aster," I called back, "can you get some lights in here?"

As a response the lights in the dock started to brighten,
providing enough light for me to see by. There wasn't much
in the room to hide behind or under, the only way out was a
steal door that looked to be tightly closed.

Sliding out of the small airlock I padded carefully down the
ladder, the sound of my passage almost none existent.
Stepping onto the floor I felt myself shiver, the cement
under my feet was almost ice cold, chilling the rest of my
body.

I hadn't been able to where shoes sense the change, Oria's
race never had the need for them except under extreme
conditions. Oria as well had not taken to the idea of shoes,
instead walking around barefoot in my body.

Shaking the chill off a bit I looked back up the ladder.
Terminus was already half down with Page right behind him.
Oria had his head stuck out the airlock, watching the others
decent before he to started down to the floor.

Once on the floor Terminus walked over to me, taking one of
the plasma riffles he had on his back off and handing it
over to me. Giving it a quick once over I found it to be in
working condition and swung it over my own shoulder.

He handed one to Page as she reached the floor. She refused
though, not giving a reason, but just shaking her head and
started walking towards the door.

Oria took the one offer to him though, holding it gently,
almost as if he was frightened by it. After a second though
that seamed to fade, and he tucked it under his arm.

Aster came last, caring his equipment with him. Ignoring the
rest of us and going over to Page to open the door.

Terminus shrugged, setting the two extra riffles on the
ladder. He didn't need them, having come prepared with his
sword, the only weapon he's ever needed. If the plan we had
worked, no one would need to fire at all, and everything
would be wrapped up nice and neat.

Assuming of course that we've out thought Grasion. The odds
of which I really gave us a fifty percent chance. He may not
have expected us to come in this way, but it wouldn't
surprise me if he had considered it.

My biggest hope was that my being alive would throw him off
a bit.

With a loud thump, and a series of hisses, the steal door
opened. It was almost two feet thick and opened in four
sections, each one sliding back inside of the wall.

Quickly I walked over to the pair, Terminus and Oria at my
side. On the other side of the door was a pair of motorized
carts. There to help cover the three miles of tunnel that
separated us from the actual base. One was enough for all
five of us to fit inside.

Aster took the controls, starting up the cart as Page closed
the door. We all got inside and Aster gunned it, sending us
very quickly down the tunnel.

It took only five minutes of travel to reach the other end
where we were greeted by another large door. That one seemed
to be easier to open. Page handling it in a few seconds this
time.

Of all of these type of things, this is the part that I
hated. the lull before everything is about to start. The
long it is the worse it becomes. Where you think over all
your plans over and over, starting to become convinced that
they are all flawed, that they could never work.

I hated it, the feeling always seem to make me ill as it
went along. During things like this, where there was so much
of a delay between one thing and another I was fighting the
urge to throw up.

Oria fell in step with me as we walking through the door.
"Fox, are you ok, you look a bit pail."

I shrugged. "Just seeing how absurd this plan seems."

Aster scoffed. "Glad your finally seeing things my way."

"You would just shut up." I snapped towards him, feeling my
ears twisting back a bit.

He rolled his eyes and keep walking. He and Terminus lead
us, the knight just a bit ahead of the wolf. Page was behind
them, then Oriana and I.

Oria sighed. "I think it's too late now to make a new plan."

"I know," I said with a nod, relaxing my ears. "I always
feel like this, usury there just isn't so much time to hash
it over in my head."

"We don't exactly have much time," He said, adjusting his
glasses. "We only landed about ten minutes ago. Usually
there is far more time to wait."

I flicked my tail as we turned a corner. "Not with Grasion,
never with him. I barely have time to plan anything when he
is involved."

"What did he do to you Fox?"

I grimaced. "Not something I want to talk about. Or is safe
to talk about."

"That bad?" He asked, stepping a bit closer.

Shaking my head I smiled at him, "oh no, far worse."

Oriana gulped slightly. I could see in his eyes that he
wanted to know more about what had happened, I could also
see that he knew not to ask.

After another minute we entered into the tunnel connecting
this building to the next, the one with the control room for
the bases defense system. The first target of this
adventure.

The control room was easy to find, not being hidden in any
way. The door was marked 'Defense System Control' in the
local language. It wasn't even locked, Aster tried the
handle and it opened right up for him.

A fact that suddenly had me very worried. Grasion had been
hear before, or at least one of his guards, he would not
have done something as stupid as leaving the door unlocked.
He would never assume that no one could get in this way, he
would lock it so no one could do what we where planing to
do.

As the others entered the room I stopped to cheek the door.
Moving my fingers around the door frame and poke and prodded
a bit, pushing what I could, to see if anything move. On the
bottom edge something gave. Tucked into a hole cut into the
frame was a small transmitter, set to go off when anyone
opened the door.

"Hell," I said standing up.

Terminus turned as did Oriana, "What?" They asked in time.

I shook my head. "Grasion knows we're hear. I want the
guards locked down now, don't worry about the defense system
until then."

Aster turned to look at me. "How could he know we're here,
he couldn't know."

I let a low growl slip from my lips. "That thinking will get
you killed. Lock the guards down now, before they can get
here."

Grabbing Aster, Page turned him back to the computers in
front of them and telling him to do the same things I just
did. This time he listed, bending over the controls and
starting to bang on the keyboard.

Terminus was down by the door, looking at the transmitter.
"I see, very clever. Even if we had checked the door from
the outside we would not have found it. I ask though, why?
Was he so sure someone would come in the way we did?"

I bent back down next to him. "No... I don't think so. It
may have been an option, but I'm not sure he would have
given it much credence. He left the door unlocked, I'm
betting this was to catch any of the hostages who got away
and tried to shut the system down."

"The guards are confined." Page said with some frustration
in her voice.

"And Grasion?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Once we got the doors down around the
guards the whole monitoring system went down. We can't track
him."

I nodded, "well, there goes having this be easy. Are you
sure the guards are locked down?"

Aster nodded himself, bending over the computer. "Yes, I'm
sure."

Oriana started to speak up, but I waved him down. "Right
then, how long do you think it will take to get the password
for the defense system?"

He snorted. "Nothing, I know the password already. It's just
a simple matter of logging in and..." he trailed off,
looking down at the screen. "He changed the password!"

"Yep, he made it easy to get in here, so he would make it
hard to shut the system down. I'm sure you can get around
the password."

He shrugged, "if that's all he changed, it would take about
ten minutes to get through the system."

"Which would have been long enough for the guards to come
get out," Oria said with a smug grin.

"Right then, Aster get around that password, I need the
system down ASAP. Page, do you know enough about the systems
to open any doors we may run into?"

She looked at me, "yes, none of the security outside of the
labs are very tight."

"Ok then, Oriana, I want you to stay here and stand guard."

He blanched, very obviously not liking the idea. "Ok," he
still said. Understand... mostly, what I wanted him to do
here and why.

I nodded to him, then left with Terminus and Page. Walking
down the corridor to the next building I looked over at
Page. "I don't suppose you have any idea where to start
looking for him at?"

She snickered. "I though you where suppose to be the expert
on Grasion?"

I shrugged. "I am, but I always feel five steps behind when
I deal with him. It helps to have someone else input so I
don't look over something obvious."

She sighed, taping the tip of her nose with one finger.
"There is his office?"

"He has an office?"

Giving a quick node she continued. "According to the ones
that have been released. He's talked to most of them there.
I know where it is already."

Brushing some hair out of my eyes I looked at her. "Why
didn't I know about this already?"

"I was told about it right before we left," she explained,
"there was no time to pass it on."

"All right then," I said as we entered the main building of
the base, "care to lead us to it?"

She gave me a smile and started down one of the smaller side
corridors. Watching her tail swing as she went down the
hallway, I started to wonder when she had found out. There
had been plenty of time to tell me, from before we left the
ship until just now.

There was also the nagging fact that if everyone Grasion had
let go had been inside of his office, why had it not been in
any of the reports or statements we had gotten. I was once
told to take a closer look at Page, now I was starting to
wonder if I really should.

I glanced over to Terminus, walking at my side. He looked
back at and made a motion with his free paw. He knew nothing
about this office either. Which made me start to worry about
how safe this information was.

"Here we are," Page said, stopping in front of a door
halfway down the hall. It was unmarked except for an office
number. I was unimpressed.

Lifting the riffle to my shoulder, I primed it. Holding it
gently I took a deep breath. I didn't really like using
riffles, to bulky for my tastes, but I had never stocked the
_Phoenix_ with anything else.

Terminus smiled towards me, walking up and slamming open the
door. He dove to the side and I started to tense up, but the
room was empty of people.

I relaxed a bit, lowering the rifle from my shoulder. Page
slipped past and into the office, going to the one desk
inside of it and started to dig through the papers that
covered the top.

"What are you doing?" I asked her as I walked into the room.
She didn't answer, just keep digging through the desk. I
gave the room a once over, to see if there was anything that
could be of use in tracking Grasion. The room was pretty
much empty, the only thing in it that wasn't on the desk was
a rolled up bunch of papers throw in the corner of the room.

Walking over to the papers I picked them up from the floor.
It was actually a binder of some sort, about two dozen
papers bound on the short edge. Unrolling them I look at the
top sheet and felt my spine grow cold.

"Page," I said, walking over to the desk, "tell me I'm not
seeing what I think I'm seeing." I told her, showing her
what I had found.

She whistled, setting them onto the desk. "How the hell did
he get these?"

"What are they?" Terminus asked from the position he had
taken up by the doorway.

"Plans for the Council's ship power system." She responded,
flipping through the other pages. "This is amazing, he's
worked out how to build around some of the block boxes in
the system." She looked back up at me, "from what he has
asked for, and received, he has enough to build this right
here."

I took a deep breath, "I though this felt to easy. We're not
in the middle of this but already at the end. You say he has
enough equipment to build this already?"

Page nodded.

"Why build it though, if he's planning on selling it, the
plans are enough. Why make a working modal?"

"Maybe," Terminus said, "he plans to use it to get away?"

Page shook her head, "not entirely, he wanted this before we
destroyed the folds on the base. So he was more then likely
planing on building it already. Though getting away now my
be an option."

I frowned. "I think he wanted a prototype to prove that his
version actually worked. He used the hostages to provide the
materials to build it."

"He could never have taking it through the fold. He must
have always planed to take it out on a ship."

"Will that work though?" I asked, rubbing my head. "He would
know we would be watching for him."

"A Hyper-bubble then," Page said, walking around the desk.
"You need a small ship to use it, a two man craft would be
perfect. He probably used it to get here in the first
place." She looked back down at the plans, "If you hooked a
hyper-bubble up to this power system you would almost skip
over real space, and," she looked back up to me, staring me
in the eyes, "You can use it inside of an atmosphere, he
would only need to go up a few miles before turning it on."

I sighed, "anything fast enough to catch it?"

"Oh yes, the Council ship would have no problem, it just has
to get far enough out from the star to turn there Hyperdrive
on."

"So no then," I said.

Page nodded to me.

I chewed my lip. "He's already gone then."

"What? And miss all the fun?" Grasion's voice asked, echoing
through the room.

I turned in a full circle, seeing no signs of him in the
room. Looking up a found a speaking on the wall. "Damn it
you bastard, where are you?"

"Have some patients my lady Fox," he said with a chuckle.
"Tell me, did you enjoy watching yourself die? Hum?"

Grabbing Page I whispered to her to try and contact to
others back at the control room. She nodded and went out
into the hall.

"Come now Fox, stop whispering." He snicker, "though should
I call you Vixen now?"

"Fox will do. Now, where the hell are you?"

He laughed. "Don't worry you're pretty little head Fox, I'm
not leaving with out you. That wouldn't be very much fun now
would it? So, I'm in bay fifteen, come quickly or I may get
mad."

There came a short laugh over the speaker which cut off
after a second. With I sigh I stepped out of the room and
into the hallway. Page was already there, adjusting a small
phone-like radio that we all of us carried with us.

"You got that working?" I asked her.

She nodding, handing it over to me. "I couldn't get the
radio portion working, but I was able to patch it into the
local communications relay system. If the others haven't
fiddled with there's it should lock onto the first signal."

I smiled, taking it from her and giving her my own. "Do mine
and Terminus' as well." Then activating the radio I lifted
it to my face. "Oriana, you there?"

There was a few seconds pause before I got a response. "I'm
here Fox." His voice echoed over the small speaker.

"Good, how's Aster doing with the password?" I asked,
watching Page as she adjusted my radio.

"He's through it, the defense system is down, and there is a
small squad of ships heading down to the base now."

I smiled, "Great, how long until they get here?"

There came some slight conversation in the background.
"Aster says about ten minuets until they land."

I did some mental calculations, then covering the microphone
I leaned towards Terminus. "Do you remember where Bay
fifteen is from this building?"

He though for a few seconds, closing his eyes as he sifted
through what he remembered. "It's the next building to the
west, on the far side, I think."

I nodded, making some of my own calculations. Uncovering the
microphone I started to speak again. "Ok Oria, this is what
I need you to do. Get to there ship as fast as you can and
meet what ever troops come down. Then get your self and them
to bay fifteen. You must be in the lead and the first one
into the bay."

"Why?" He asked.

"Don't worry about it yet, just do it please. It maybe our
last chance to stop Grasion." With that final request I
snapped the radio off, handing it to Page.

She shook her head with a smile and traded mine for
Terminus', to which she started to work on.

I took a deep breath. "Terminus, I want you and Page to stay
here. I don't truly trust Grasion, and he may come back for
the plans."

It was a weak excuse and I knew it, Terminus knew it as
well. He pulled me to a side and looked at me. "You're
planing to go meet Grasion alone?"

"Yes."

He frowned, "And you know it's a trap."

I nodded slowly. "Of course it's a trap, he wouldn't invite
me in if it wasn't, but, he's not planing on me walking in
alone. I've never done that before, it should throw him off.
At least a bit. If I can distract him long enough for help
to arrive, we can get out of this with out having to fire a
shot. Which, frankly, is the best end to all of this that I
can see."

With that said I turned and started down the hallway, no
calls came for me to stop, nor did anyone try and grab me. I
was truly on my own for this. I hoped I wouldn't regret it.

I dallied as long as I could, though once inside the same
building as the bay the directions where posted on the walls
around me. Still though I managed to stretch it to eight
minutes before I reached the door.

Taking a deep breath I tried to relax, then keyed the door
open and stepped inside. The bay it self was not overly
large, but still big. The whole room was three stories tall
and maybe a fifty feet long. The far wall was dominated by a
set of massive pressure doors, sitting in front them was a
small space ship, twenty feet long and half that wide. Squat
and ugly, made for just one person, and not in very much
comfort. The rest of the room was covered in a dozen shelf
like racks that reached up nearly to the ceiling.

Stepping to the side of the door I closed it.

"Hello Fox," Grasion said, walking around from the front of
his ship. "Nice tits."

I huffed and started walking towards him.

He chuckled, leaning against the side of his ship. "You came
alone, I'm impressed, you normally don't go against me
alone."

I stopped about half way accost the room, my tail swishing
slowly behind me. "I impressed you, that's a laugh."

"Oh no, do you know shocked I was to check my alarm to see
you and your friends? You're method of entry was so useless
I never planed for it. You may have the potential I first
saw in you."

"Right," I snorted.

He nodded, starting to walk closer to me. "Oh yes, it's
still there. You're mind is sharp, you just need the proper
training. I'm willing to give you that."

"I don't want it," I replied, moving to one side, keeping
away from him.

He moved sideways well, keep the same distance between us.
"Why not child, you have nothing else to go to. You're body
is *dead*, you can't go back to your home, your life. The
people who once trusted you don't know you anymore. You have
nothing left, so why not come with me, it will be an,
adventure." He said the last word with a smile.

I stopped walking and crossed my arms. "And that is suppose
to change my mind."

He laughed. "No, it's an ultimatum. You can take it, and we
go off and rule a few solar systems, or you don't, I drug
you, blow away your mind, and we go back to the first
option." He smirked, "I much rather you come with me, it
would be far more entertaining."

Shaking my head I smiled. "You make an interesting offer."

He started to walk towards me, slowly. This time I didn't
move. "You seem far more confident then I've ever seen you.
You're humoring me, you would never go willingly."

Turning my back to him, I patted his ship. "How much are you
being paid for the power system?"

He chuckled. "The plans are worth a dozen fortunes, the ship
is my toy. What ever your planing, it's not going to work."

I turned back around, he was standing a dozen feet away from
me. "What, I can't turn suddenly evil?" I asked with a
smile.

"No... It's not your style. You would never just chose to
work with me, you would have to be forced. What are you
planing?" He was starting to look concerned.

Smiling at him, I took two paces closer. Meanwhile the door
to the bay, to which his back was to, opened. Oriana walking
inside, being followed by a dozen guards, another dozen
outside the door.

"You see," I explained with a smile. "There is one, slight
problem. I think you should turn around."

His face started to fall, slowly he turned his head, letting
out a low yelping type sound. "How could you be alive!" he
cried, seeing Oriana in my body.

I chuckled. "The elf from my ship, the one you threw in with
the rest of us, was a healer."

He turned back around, starting at me. "Where are my
solders? Did you kill them?"

"No, we just dropped some doors around them."

His glare became stronger. "You out thought me. You've never
done that before."

I nodded, "Luck was all it was."

He gave me a very disturbing smile. "Oh not, not luck,
prophecy." Then turning back around he looked to the solders
with Oriana. "I am ours, take me, I shall go willingly."

Five ran up to him, searching him as one bounding his arms.
He never even put up a fight. In only a couple minutes he
was placed under arrest and escorted out of the bay.

Oriana walked up to me, "do you know what he was talking
about?"

I shook my head, "no, I don't. I'm afraid to ask about it."

He nodded.

I pulled the radio from where I had put it. "Page," I said
into it.

There was a slightly pause. "Did we win?" She asked.

"Yes, we won," I said. "Listen, you stay put but send
Terminus to the shuttle, Oriana and I will be there as soon
as we can."

"Got it," she replied. "What should I do?"

"Stay there." I answered, then shut the radio off.

    Epilogue

01/19/98:

It had been a week and two days sense Grasion was arrested.
Arrested, handed over to the Council, pleaded guilty to all
charges and is now serving a six-hundred year sentence on
the maxim security prison in Prid.

The amazing part of all this is that he's *actually* serving
it! The man even refused to leave when one of his associates
broke him out of a holding cell ten minutes after he got to
Prid.

His reason for this miracle? "Prophecy," he believes that
his being arrested _this_ time fits in with the foretelling
of the future and will lead to some kind of partnership.

I think he's batty, but if it keeps him in his cell I'm all
for him believing it.

That was the simplest part of what had happened sense then.
First and foremost was the shuttle. We couldn't allow anyone
related to the Council to know we had it, and sense the
power system was involved, they where soon to be on the
base.

I did the simplest thing that I could. I called for help. I
had Milgrove bring the _Falcon_ down, strap the shuttle back
to it's underside and return to the _Phoenix_. Taking
Terminus with her so no one would ask questions about his
presence.

What followed that was a series of debriefings. A lot of
powerful people wanted to know what had gone on inside of
the base once we got back down. Most of them where content
with accepting that we found a way down, and didn't presses
for the how.

The three that decided they just had to know now believe
that transporters existed, and could be used with out an end
terminal. You never know, they may actually get the system
to work.

After that was all over we started back to my base in
Earth's asteroid belt. It was the only safe place to put the
shuttle at where I was sure no one would find it
accidentally.

Which still left the big problem of all of this, Oriana and
I where still switched. We had decided to stay at the base
until such time as Ken found a way to reverse the spell. It
had already been a month sense the switch started and both I
and Oria where wondering if there even was a way to undo it.

For me it wasn't very much of a loss if we it was never
undone. All that I would lose was my infrequent returns to
Earth. For Oria though the price would be for more
extensive. She would lose her world, the job she loves and
even her God. On top of that, it wouldn't get her out of the
Guild.

Also I had, at present, toned down on acting female. Oria
had confronted me about it after we had gotten to my base.
She had been right in saying I was 'shattered' by what Ken
did to me. It's hard to find any other way to describe it.

Honestly, I still didn't want to go back being who I was.
Oria was even able to guess that fact, I didn't like what I
had done and hated myself for doing it. The easiest thing
for me to do at the time was immerse myself into being a
female.

It was easy, so very easy, for me to do. I was always gender
neural in most ways, from my actions to how I dressed. From
that lack of a basic image about myself it was easy to shift
into a different role.

Oria made it clear to me that I had made the wrong choice,
and that she had been wrong to help me with it. That in the
long haul it would harm me to a greater extent then it would
help me. She told me that everyone around us though of me as
female now, where as she was still though of as a women,
even if her body was mine.

This was a revelation to me, I though I was still play
acting! That people where just humoring me about it. I never
knew it I had so changed myself in such a short time. It was
slightly frightening.

We both agreed that the best thing for me to do was to pull
back on trying to be female, not worry about more then I
needed, but also not to ignore it as I had done when we
first switched. In the end the simplest thing to do was just
be myself.

Which I found not as easy to do as I though, I had started
to mold my personally to match my new form. Now I had to
ignore that.

So went are time as we waited for Ken. Oriana had taken to
reading the Book of Thryn to pass the time, studying it's
passages, searching for a deeper meaning to all that has
happened to us.

I, on the other paw, was refitting the shuttle. I was
originally planing on giving it back, but I wasn't sure how
to do it in a fashion they would not be to dangerous.

One idea that had crossed my mind was asking Burke for his
help. Take the shuttle back about five-hundred years and
burying it under the Gobie Desert and send NASA a note about
it via SETI.

The idea though needed Burke's help and I really didn't want
to ask for it. He reminded me of Mr. Morden a bit to much to
trust him.

So, currently, I was sitting in the shuttle's wing working
one of the new jet mounting assembles. I thought sense I was
planing on using it myself I wasn't going to have the extra
stages needed to lift-off. So I was adding on a pair of high
gain jet engines and replace the tiles of the hull with
something more adequate for mach-5 speeds.

I was dressed in a type of small shirt and bra thing that
Oria told me to where and some shorts. Anything more would
have caused me to overheat from what was coming off the
engine as it shut down. I wasn't close to it though, I was
waste deep, head first, inside the wing checking the wiring
to see why it was running so hot.

It was only when something bounced off my back that I
realized that I was wanted. Extracting myself from the wing
I brushed away the hair from my eyes. "Yes?" I asked,
looking over the wing.

Standing below was Oria and just a few feet behind was Ken.

"Find something?" I asked, walking over to the ladder and
starting down to the floor.

"Yes," Ken said to my back as I settled onto the floor. "I
think I can switch you back."

Turning to face him I was frowning. "You think?"

I must have been putting more emotion in my face then I
intended, because Ken lowered his head a bit. "I'm not
intently sure it will work, there might be problems if
there's anything left of the original spell."

"How likely is this?" Oria asked, moving to stand next to
me.

Ken frowned. "I say about one in four."

"But you can undo the spell?" I asked.

A ripple ran over his wings, a nervous twitch he had. "Not
precisely, it will take close to a year to find a way to
truly reverse the spell. Right now I just plan to preform it
again so as to switch you back."

"And if it doesn't work?" I prompted.

"You'll have to wait till I can reverse it." He said with a
sigh.

Oria shook his head. "If we have to wait a year, by the time
we could get back to normal we would have come to think of
these bodies as ours. The change back would be as bad of a
shock as the original change was."

I turned to look at him, frowning slightly. "So if this
doesn't work, should we just give up going back?"

"Of course not," he responded, surprised that I had even
suggested it. "but I do think we should stop trying to stay
ourselves."

I shook my head. "How about we don't worry about that unless
we have too."

"Lets hope we don't need to then."

I turned back to Ken, "Well then, let's get this over with."

He nodded, producing a small pill and holding it out to me.
"Take this, it's the basic components of the spell."

Taking the pill from him I swallowed it dry. "Better then
being shot with it." I comment as it worked its way down.

"Now, you need to be touching each other when I activate
this." He said, motioning with his foreclaws for us to do
something together.

"Will we pass out again?" Oriana asked, taking the paw I was
offering to him.

"Not this time," Ken answered. "The black out was from the
sudden and total change of bodies. Going back to your normal
form, it should be far less uncomfortable."

I nodded. "Well then, are you ready Oriana?"

He smiled. "Yes Fox."

Ken started to chant softly his eyes glazing over. Suddenly
Oria let go of my paw and grabbed my head, pulling me down
into a kiss. A second after are lips came in contact a sound
like a thunderclap echoed in my ears and through my skull. A
wave of blackness descended over my vision at the same time.

I winched, blinking my eyes, trying to clear them, which
they did in a just one blink. Feeling suddenly rushed back
into my mind and I found myself looking into a pair of green
slitted eyes. Oriana's eyes. Who I was currently kissing!

I broke off taking in a short gasp of air. Oriana smirked.
"I knew I would find a way to get you to kiss me."

Letting out a laugh I smiled at her. "So this whole thing
was just a plan to finally get me to kiss you?"

She nodded, grinning like, well, a cat.

"It worked then," Ken stated.

I looked at my former friend. "Yes it did. Thank you." I
meant it too.

He bowed his head, then, maybe sensing that he wasn't
wanted, turned and left us.

Oria let out a small 'yelp'. "I'm a mess!" she cried,
looking at all the dirt and grime in her fur.

It was my turn to smirk, "you expected less?"

She sighed and shook her head. "No, not really."

I nodded, running my hands over my hair, surprised to find
it short. "Listen, are we still friends after this?"

She gave me a look of utter surprise. "Fox! Of course we
are. Though I think it's a little bit more then that now. I
think we're past friends but not so much as to be lovers."

"Where does that leave us then?" I asked.

She blushed a bit in her ears, twitching them a bit. "Bonded
in some fashion I think. Maybe this is what the high priest
meant about how are souls are laid. Maybe he saw that
something like this was to happen. I think we now have a bit
of each other in our souls."

"I think you're right." I responded.

She broke into a small smile. "I better go get cleaned up,
my fur's starting to itch." Then with a larger smile she
turned and left me, heading for home I would suppose.

I smiled as I watched her go. I was glade to be back as
myself, but I did suspect I would miss being a women. At
least at times, it was quite interesting.

Slowly I walked after her, getting a feel for my body again.
Bouncing in my stride a bit, then something caught my eye.

Hanging on a hook at the entrance to the docking bay was my
jacket, the old green army jacket that I had been wearing
for years. I had grabbed it to wear when we stole the
shuttle, but left it behind for reasons I couldn't quite
remember.

Taking it from the hook I felt it's weight in my hands,
running my fingers over the collar. It was the symbol of me
actually, many people saw me wear it in my different
adventures. Honestly it was quite ugly, olive-drab green,
worn, burt, ripped, patched and singed.

I wasn't this person any more, not now, not after seeing
myself like I have. Balling it up I pulled my arm back and
threw it as far as I could into an empty corner of the bay.
It unfolded in flight, catching the air and landed with a
flump half way to where I was aiming.

I shrugged, It wasn't important to me anymore. So left it
there and went home.

-----

This story is (c) 1998 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.
'Milgrove' is (C) 1998 by J. 'Packrat' McCoy, and is used
with permission.