Enter the Dawn

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

03/25/96:

Sitting at my kitchen table, I flipped through some printed
documentation, muttering to myself under my breath.

"Something wrong?" Oria asked, sitting down across from me.

I shook my head, sipping at my tea a bit, "Not really, just
getting a handle on this stuff for my new job." I waved the
printouts at her as I said it.

Picking up one of the stacks she pawed through it, then
looked up at me, "I can't read this."

"Naturally. my written language isn't in the translator
database, because the various Earths are locked, or limited
contact universes."

She nodded a bit, "Can you read my writing?"

I cocked an eyebrow, "I don't know. Being in a limited
universe it's probably not in the database."

"Ah," she said, sighing.

I set my work down, "What's wrong?"

"I was hoping... Have you had any luck yet, you know, with
getting me away from the HammerHeads?"

I shook my head, "Not a thing, and I've been searching for
precedents as far back as three-hundred years ago."

She sighed again, her ears drooping a bit.

I bent over and touched her lightly on the forehead, right
between her eyes. "Don't worry, Oria, I'll take care of it,
even if I have to break into the HQ of the HammerHeads, and
hack their system. I don't want to lose another friend."

She looked up at me, her ears still drooping, and grinned
weakly. "Thank you, Foxeris."

I blinked a bit at this use of my full name; Oria never used
it. I was about to comment, when I was brought up short by a
knocking on the front door.

Glancing at her, I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not expecting anyone," she said, shrugging.

Getting up and heading downstairs, I popped open the door.
On the far side, highlighted a bit by the teleport curtain
was Rathal.

I opened the door wide, "Thal! What are you doing here?"

The Elf motioned for me to keep it down, "Listen," he said,
"the Council Head has been having a hell of a time getting
all this, and staying under the radar."

He handed me a small data cube, "This has what you asked
for. I was never here."

After pressing the cube into my hand, he went back through
the curtain.

I looked at the crystalline cube, its many facets inside
reflecting the light of the setting suns. Closing the door,
I turned, and looked up at Oria, "This is it."

She tipped her head a bit, as she came down the steps, "What
is on that?"

I moved over the computer, and slipped the cube into the
reader, "It's all the records, the reports, the interviews,
the files, _everything_!"

She looked at me, "Of what?"

I grinned, as the files started to scroll down the screen,
"Catarn."

She blinked, and put a paw to her mouth as she "oohed." It
was exactly what I had requested, everything about how I was
exiled.

It was time to bust some heads....

-----

This story is copyright 1996-2003 by Fox Cutter. Hardcopy
reprints limited to one per 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.