T-Minus

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

06/14/1999:

"Good morning, Moriya," I said, closing the door behind me
as I entered the Shipyard's front office.

She was standing just outside of her office, reading through
a stack of documents with two heads as she tried to balance
them in her arms. A third looked up to focus on me. "Good
morning, Fox."

A second head rose to look me over as I shrugged off my
coat. "I don't believe I have ever seen you female before,"
she commented.

I smiled, hanging my jacket on a hook, and adjusting my
shirt. "I never bother coming in before when I've been
female. It felt like too much of a hassle, but lately I've
started not to mind that much."

"I'm sorry I'm late," I continued. "I had to stop to pick up
my new glasses, and it turned into as a full-blown
appointment." I rubbed the side of my muzzle, thinking about
that for a moment, then shook my head.

I waited a moment for a reply, but she had turned most of
her attention to the documents in her arms. "What are you
reading, by the way?" I asked her, walking up to her side
and glancing over her shoulders.

"Employee reviews," she answered with one head, glancing at
me slightly with another.

I sighed softly. "I really should be doing those, not you."

"I know," she said, almost snapping it at me as she turned
back to her office.

I frowned, my tail sweeping low against the floor as I
pushed my paws into my pockets. I could feel the folded
envelope that had brought me here today.

"If you have a moment," I said, following her in, "I would
like to talk to you."

She dropped the stack onto her desk, and walked around it,
always keeping at least one of her six heads reading at all
times. "I have a spare head," she answered as she settled
down into chair. None of the six actually looked up at me.

I stood there for a moment, feeling awkward. I pulled my
paws from my pocket, and crossed them for a moment, before
letting them hang to my sides.

"You've done far more than we ever hired you to do," I
started, not quite sure why this was so difficult to say.

Moriya glanced up with a head, but didn't say anything.

"Not that it's been a bad thing," I continued. "Neither
Oriana nor I have had much time to keep our heads in this
business since I started it. Especially with the rush of
orders we got after announcing we had the power systems for
sale. If it wasn't for you, we would have never managed it."

By now I had garnered the attention of a second head, but
still she said nothing.

I returned my paws to my pockets, and fidgeted slightly.
"You've pretty much single-handedly kept this company
running since it started, which you were never hired to do.
Through it all, you have managed to do a fantastic job."

"And?" she asked in a soft voice, with almost every one of
her faces looking at me.

"Well, Oriana and I have been talking about this, and we've
decided that we don't nearly pay you enough. So this," I
pulled the envelope from my pocket, "is a raise that you've
earned since you first got here. It's retroactive back to
your first day, paying you what we should have for what
you've been doing for us."

I know had her full attention, every single one of her eyes
trained on me with an intent stare. "Really?" she asked, a
slight edge to her voice.

"Yes," I answered her, "and a share in the company as well.
You're doing so much work, we feel you should get some of
the profits."

Slowly she rose to her feet, glaring at me strongly enough
that I almost winced. She looked angry. I could see that
most of her muscles had tensed up slightly.

She walked around the desk to where I stood, and took the
envelope from me. Glancing down at it, she let out a short
laugh and reached back, dropping it on her desk.

"I can't believe you," she snapped, crossed her arms over
her chest. "I really can *not* believe you, trying to keep
me here like this! I'm insulted."

I blinked in surprise and took a step back, raising my
hands. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

She shook her heads. "You know exactly what I'm talking
about. This is pretty shallow Fox, and a sad attempt to keep
me from leaving."

"Leaving?" I asked stupidly.

"Yes, leaving. For the very same reasons you just feed me to
get me to stay." She sighed, "Couldn't you at least think of
something original?"

I frowned a bit, "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"Drop the act. I put my resignation on your desk two days
ago."

My frown deepened. "I didn't come in yesterday, I was taking
care of the kids because Oria had to go to some meetings," I
answered quietly. Actually she had spent most of the day
with Ken, trying to find the symbol from the golem she had
encountered the week before.

"Then who ran the office-- because I took the day off sick?"

I shrugged. "No one, by the sound of it."

She turned on her heel, and walked out of the door. I
followed her as she walked across the reception area, and
into my office. She went right to my desk, and picked up a
plain envelope that was sitting on top of the pile of papers
I had been working on.

Turning around, she walked back into the reception area, and
handed it to me. "Are you saying you haven't seen this
before?"

I took it from her, flipping it over in my paws. My name was
written across the front in her flowing handwriting. The
back was sealed tightly.

"Not until right now," I answered.

A frown passed over her faces, as she looked down at me.
"Seriously, you never read it?"

"Seriously," I replied. "Oriana and I have been talking
about the raise for a couple weeks now, and you deserve it,
you have for ages." I offered her the letter back.

"Please read it."

I nodded slowly, opening the envelope with a claw, and
sliding the letter free. I unfolded it, and looked it over.
After a moment I refolded it, and tucked it under my arm.
"If you would please give me a moment," I told Moriya before
she could react.

Digging into my pocket, I pulled out a slim glasses case.
Opening the top, I carefully slide out my brand new pair of
reading glasses. I hadn't even realized I needed them for
this form until my optometrist had pointed it out to me that
morning. I was far-sighted, and, it turned out, was holding
most everything I was reading at arm's length.

I hadn't even noticed, having normally been so near-sighted
I couldn't read a stop sign from five feet away. I just
assumed that in my female form my vision was normal.

I carefully placed them on my muzzle. It was an unfamiliar
action, the glasses being built differently from what a
human would wear.

Adjusting them slightly, I reopened the letter, and began to
read it. I was surprised by two things; the first being how
much easier it was to read with the glasses, the second was
the contents of the letter.

Moriya had quite a few grievances with Oriana and I, and the
way she had been treated by us in her position, including
the jobs we gave her the raise for. The list was long,
detailed, and made me frown as I read it.

In the end, she had given us a months notice before she was
going to leave.

I glanced up at her, over the top of the glasses. "You
really feel this way?"

She nodded all six heads in unison.

I sighed, "I'm sorry if it seemed like I was trying to bribe
you into staying. I really didn't know you felt this way. If
you wish to leave, that's understandable, and I won't get in
your way. You can still keep the raise, of course; we really
meant that for you."

She bent one head down to look me in the eyes for a few
seconds, then pulled back. "I'll have to think about it
again. I believe you when you say this is the first time you
read that, and I appreciate the motives behind the raise.
Still, I must consider this before I do anything else."

I nodded. "That's understandable. You can take the rest of
the day off if you want. I'll deal with the evaluations. I
need to get used to reading with these anyway," I said,
tapping the glasses.

She shook her heads. "No, I think I'll stay here, and keep
doing my job."

"Very well, but feel free to leave if you want. It's a free
day for you. I'll be here all day, I have a lot of work to
catch up on." I paused, trying to think of something else to
say. "I guess offering you part ownership seems kind of
desperate in light of this."

"A bit, yes," she replied.

"Well, the offer is still open, if you want it."

"Let's decide about the other things first.

I nodded. "I think that's a good idea," I replied.

"Yes. Now if you'll excuse me, I have quite a bit of work to
do today," she said, turning around and walking to her
office.

"Sure," I replied, "but if you need me to handle anything,
just call, OK? Don't feel overworked for my sake."

Moriya looked back at me with one head, and smiled just a
bit. "I may just take you up on that," she told me, as she
closed her office door.

I stood, looking at her closed door for a few moments. With
a slight shake of my head I turned around and entered my own
office. I had a lot to do.

* * *

"You're home late," Oria told me as I walked into the living
room. "I already put the kids to bed." She was settled on
the couch, her legs tucked underneath her, a book in her
lap. Rhea was resting a few feet away, her head settled on
her paws, apparently sound asleep.

Santhara was sitting in a chair on the other side of the
room, reading as well, but she gave us both some of her
attention.

I shrugged, "I had a lot to do at the office, and a
conversation with Moriya. Things are a little more
complicated than we first thought. How was your day?"

"Somewhat busy. Romana is not to happy about being weaned,
but it's time for the twins to start on solid foods.
Actually you're just in time to see Ken. He called about ten
minutes ago, he found something out about the golem I ran
into."

"That's good," I told her, as I bent down to pet Rhea for a
few moments, before I walked to the couch and settled down
next to my wife, draping my tail against hers.

"And," she said, leaning over for a moment to retrieve
something from the end table, "this came for you." She
handed me a large brown envelope with my name on it.

A smile spread over my face as soon as I saw it. I dropped a
claw as I took it from her, and sliced it open. "It's the
information on Samantha," I explained. "It should tell us
which Earth she is from," I removed the contents, a plain
folder, with some numbers on the tab. I set it on my lap ten
took out my reading glasses and placed them on my nose.

Oria looked at me for a moment, then reached up to take my
chin with her paw, and slowly turned my face so she could
look at me. "Oh my, those make your female form very
attractive."

I blushed a bit in my ears, then kissed her softly for a few
moments. "Thank you, love," I said with a slight purr.

She smiled in return, and stroked the back of her paw down
my muzzle before taking it away.

I returned to the matter at hand, and opened the folder in
my lap. Inside were only a few pages of tightly spaced text,
some charts, and graphs. I read through the text, skimming
most of it until I found the information I was looking for.

"Damn," I said. half under my breath. "This isn't any of the
universes that has an Earth."

"That's too bad," Oria said, leaning up against my shoulder.
"I know you wanted to surprise her with a way home when she
got out of the tank. Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Yes, when I first came to the multi-verse I
tracked down all the other known Earths. I memorized the
universe numbers of all of them. This isn't any of those."

She paused for a moment, "What about Little Fox?"

I let out a soft hum. I hadn't thought about my vulpine
double for a few months. He was from an Earth as well, not
mine, but not in any of the databases either.

After we had returned from the Keep, I ran some of his fur
to find out where he came from. It was just to satisfy my
own curiosity, as I wasn't planning to see him again. Still,
I had wanted to know, just for my own satisfaction.

"That's a very good idea," I said, as I gave her a quick
kiss, then stood up. "I'll be right back."

She smiled, and leaned back on the couch slightly. "Don't be
too long. Ken should be here at any time."

I nodded to her and slipped out of the room with Samantha's
file in paw. I was headed for my office, and was pretty sure
I still had the file some where in my desk, or one of the
piles of papers I keep around it. I just had to find it in
the clutter.

Much to my surprise, the file was exactly where I hoped it
would be, something that was rather rare in my experience. I
had a terrible tendency to misplace things I didn't think
were very important.

It took only a moment to compare the two files against each
other. Opened side by side, I easily saw that Oria's hunch
had been correct.

They matched.

Which was great; I now knew where Samantha was from. The
problem was, I didn't have the slightest clue how to get
there.

The only person who did was on the other side of a fold I
had told him how to block. If he had gone through with it,
which I had no reason to think he hadn't, there was no way I
was going to be able to ask him for help.

I gathered up the files, and with them in paw, headed back
for the living room. A few stray thoughts were going through
my mind as I walked down the hallway. I was partly wondering
if Jadith could use her Console to find another fold that
was close to the Keep.

If worse came to worse, I might have to take _The Falcon_ to
his world, but the idea didn't thrill me. Little Fox had
made it clear before I left him that he didn't want anything
very advanced coming through the fold. I doubted a space
ship would make him too happy with me.

As I stepped into the living room, I let slip a small smile.
Ken had arrived in the few minutes I had been gone. As had
Jadith, which was lucky for me, else I would have had to
track her down.

Both were seated, Ken close to Oria and me, and Jadith
sitting next to the fireplace. She smiled in return, her
hands folding in her lap.

I greeted them all as I settled back down next to Oria,
petting her leg gently.

"I like the glasses," Jadith commented. "They frame your
face nicely."

I blushed again, this time in a bit of embarrassment as I
removed them from my muzzle, and replaced them back in their
case. "I'm still getting used to them. They're reading
glasses."

Ken nodded, "Understandable. I agree with Jadith, they look
nice on you," he told me, as he adjusted himself in the
chair.

"Thank you, all of you." I flashed them all a quick smile,
and ran my fingers through the fur on Oria's leg. "Have you
found anything of interest, Ken?" I asked, putting the
conversation back on topic.

"A little," Oria replied, taking my paw in her own. "Would
you care to go on Ken?"

He nodded, adjusting himself again. "A little is about the
sum of it. From the residue left on the sample I got from
your bodyguard, I can confirm that it was a golem spell. One
that was created quite oddly. The symbol you saw is a lock
to the spell, it held the creature in the form it was given.
I've found some references to the symbol itself during my
research. What's strange is it seems to be connected to the
Council in some fashion. I just don't know the details."

I rubbed my muzzle gently as I digested this, putting my own
problems aside for the moment. "I could arrange for you to
have access to some of the old Council's Magic databases. I
should have enough clearance from the CSC for that. If it's
connected to the Council, you should find some kind of
reference to it there."

"Good," he replied with a slight smile. "I was hoping you'd
be able to arrange something like that. I've also found some
references to other deaths that seem to match your
description of Cain's death. I have nothing I'm sure of yet,
but I have some suspicions. I'll tell you more about it when
I've worked it out myself."

I nodded. "Thanks Ken, I've been worried about that."

He nodded back, folding his fore-claws into his lap. "How
are you feeling? Any problems with the form now that you are
split from Rhea?"

I shook my head. "Nothing at all, I feel fine."

"That's good."

I nodded, and turned my attention to the Elf "Now Jadith,
it's a bit of luck that you are here right now. I could use
your help."

"Oh really, in what way?" She asked, leaning forward
slightly in her chair.

I gave them all the lay of the situation with Samantha and
Little Fox. Jadith paused to think about it for the moment,
as a look of thought passed over Ken's face.

"I'm not sure I can find a local fold," Jadith said, pulling
out her console. "The mega-fold is more likely."

Ken had a curious look on his face. "How did you have your
double block the fold?"

I paused for a moment. "With magic," I answered, dredging
the memory of our conversation from the back of my mind. "A
teleport blocking spell, as powerful as he could make it,
placed over the fold."

He tapped his chin gently with the claw-tip of one finger.
"Yes, that would successfully cause the fold to feedback on
itself, but not perfectly."

"Oh?" Oria asked.

He nodded. "Depending on how it's made, you might be able to
open it a little bit before it's forced closed. Maybe a few
inches, but for just a few seconds."

"Really? That might be enough to get a message through." I
said half to myself. "Jadith, would you be up to an
experiment?" I asked, rising to my feet.

"Of course," she replied, slipping out her chair as well.

I started for the fold room, as Jadith came to my side.
Behind us I could hear Ken and Oriana getting up to follow
as well.

After unlocking the door, we all crowded inside. I read off
the fold number to Jadith from the file, and she punched it
into her console.

"Ready?" I asked.

She nodded.

"All right then, open it. Keep it slow and small."

She nodded again, and touched a few buttons. I could feel
the fold start to open in front of me. A moment later it
did, a tiny pinprick of blue light floating three feet above
the floor. It was no larger than a coin, and was quickly
expanding.

"It's starting to become unstable," Jadith said once it was
about two inches across. "If I make it any larger it will
collapse."

I nodded, bending down to get a closer look at it. Then with
a puff of air, it was gone.

"What happened?" I asked, turning back to look at her.

She closed her console. "It feedback on itself; it's pretty
well blocked. Looks to be an intermittent fold as well."

I nodded, "Yes it is, Ten days. Now we just have to get a
message through to Little Fox, so he can remove the block if
he's willing."

"Looks like the only thing that could get through the hole
would be an arrow," Oria commented.

I walked over to my wife, and took her paw. "We would need
someone who's a good shot."

"Ren," Jadith provided. "He's dead on with a crossbow; it
should be an easy shot for him."

"Ok, that should work. Ken," I said, turning to address my
friend, "I need you to make an arrow improbably lucky. I
want this to get to Little Fox as quickly as possible.
Arrange for the arrow to get to him as fast as it can
safely, even if it's a nearly impossible series of events."

He frowned slightly. "It won't be easy. I'm going to have to
get some help on that."

"That shouldn't be a problem. This isn't a secret, just
private, and if there are any extra expenses we'll cover
them for you."

"I'll get right on it."

I wrapped my arm around Oria's waist and pulled her to my
side. I had a plan now, I just hoped it would work,
otherwise I would never be able to get Samantha home.

-----

This story is copyright 2002 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.