Jared surveyed the area where he was dropped off at.  It
was a wooded area, with a grassy knoll behind him.  Farther
off, there was a steep cliff, with what looked like caves in
them.  And he guessed it was sometime in the afternoon.
     As he studied the woods, a voice behind him said, "Uh,
like, hello or something like that."
     Jared jumped at hearing a human voice on this planet.  A
person wearing a grayish fur outfit and holding a staff was
standing behind him.  The guy was average height, and had
long dirty hair.  Jared started to turn toward him before
Jared remembered he was naked, so he stayed where he was and
covered up.
     "You don't happen to have any other clothes, do you?"
Jared asked hopefully.
     "Sure do, man.  Wait here."  He started off towards the
cliffs, and soon disappeared to Jared's sight.
     Jared sat down then, wondering who that man was.  And
how did he get that fur cloak?  As far as Jared knew, it
would be very tough to kill one without a gun.  He decided to
ask the strange man when he returned.
     Jared sat down, listening for anything big, and had
waited for about ten minutes.  Soon, the other person walked
up, toting a bundle of clothes.
     "These're a little junky, but they will have ta do for a
while."  He held up a tattered cloth shirt and pants.  "I've
been here for like, fifteen years now I guess."
     Jared looked at him in amazement as he accepted the
clothes.
     "Yeah, I've been here ever since those damn animal
freaks overran the place.  Found a nice cave back there to
live in, and managed to get along.  I'm just surprised more
of them hadn't found me yet."
     Jared slipped on the pants.  They were a little baggy,
but they fit.  "They've been taking prisoners and dropping
them all around here.  I just got on this place."
     "Well, come on.  I haven't seen a living person in quite
a while.  Here, I'll show you my home."
     They started off over the rough ground.  As they crested
a hill, Jared asked, "How did you get that fur coat?  I mean,
I know how big those animals are.  How can you kill them
without a gun?  And what kind of fur is that?"
     The person looked at Jared.  "I think it's wolf or
something.  I was out one day, and I found this creature on
the ground.  I think it was really sick or somethin'.  I
managed to kill it, and it took me a while, but I made this!"
He swirled the fur tunic around.  He seemed very proud of it.
     "Oh."  Jared decided he had to find one of those things
sick, just so that he could take the pleasure of beating in
it's skull.  "What's your name?"
     The person glanced at Jared.  "Um, you can call me,
like, uh, Hus.  Yeah, that'll do.  What about you?"
     "Call me Jared."
     "Okay Jared.  I think you'll do pretty good out in this
place, just from a guess of mine."

               *         *         *         *

     Foxy slowly awoke from the tranquilizers to find that he
was firmly strapped into a chair, and had a metal collar on
him, and a wire muzzle around his face.
     He didn't give any outward signs that he had awoken,
however.  He kept his eyes closed to slits, and let his nose
inform him that he had company: 3 or 4 humans at least, and
two more in combat uniform.
     "He's awake, sir," said a human.  So much for waiting.
     "Good, good."  Foxy heard foot steps coming towards him.
"We know you can hear us," he said in a commanding tone.
"You might as well open your eyes and listen."
     When Foxy didn't move, the person asked, "Are you sure
he can understand English?"
     "Reasonably sure, sir.  After all, we did create them."
     The human then reached out and lifted Foxy's chin, and
looked straight at his eyes.  "Hey, you."
     Foxy remained limp.
     "Fine then.  He'll wake up sooner or later.  Is the
transport here?"
     "Yessir, it is.  Just arrived five minutes ago," said a
different voice.
     "Good.  Put him on.  I think he'll just need hand and
feet restraints in addition to those muzzles and collars.
Put Major Brimson in charge of him; I don't think he will
have any trouble with this."
     The two combat people released Foxy for a moment, before
stuncuffs were locked around his wrists.  However, his thin
feet and ankles posed a problem.  The AFF walked on their
toes, or at least it looked like they did, like regular dogs
and cats.  Being so thin, the stuncuffs just slipped off.
     "Uh, sir, the cuffs won't fit his feet."
     "Then forget about them, just put him in a cell."
     "Yes sir."
     The combat humans lifted Foxy up, none too gently, and
carried him out of the room.  He was so short, that his feet
didn't touch the ground when they carried him.
     Soon they boarded an elevator, with their escort that
had appeared as soon as they had left the room, and were
taken up to the roof.
     There was a big prisoner transport waiting for them.
The back hatch was open, and Foxy was taken into it.  Inside
was a large, roomy compartment with a number of cells with
thick plastic walls with a lot of quarter-sized holes for air
and a small door in the middle front, along with a main door
for entering and exiting the cells..  The walls separating
the cells were painted over, so the prisoners couldn't see
each other.
     Forward was a thick metal partition with a lockable door
going to the pilot's compartment.  Next to the door was the
guard's station, where he could get stuff to eat or something
to read to pass the time.
     Foxy was dumped in one of the cells near the guard's
station, and locked in, after the cuffs were removed.  The
muzzle and collar stayed on, however.
     As the combat guards left, the rear hatch closed, and
the transports engines warmed up.  The door opened, and
Foxy's guard walked in.
     The guard was a tall human, black slightly curly hair,
with light brownish skin.  He was smiling, and walked up to
Foxy's cell.
     Foxy had abandoned his act as soon as the others had
left, and had started to pry off the collar, and didn't pay
any attention to the guard, until he spoke.
     "Hey, I wouldn't mess with that collar," the guard said.
"It's made so that if you tamper with it, it blows up.  Not a
pretty way to die."
     Foxy glanced at the human, but didn't say anything.  The
human sat down at the station, and fiddled with the food
machine for a moment, then looked at Foxy.  "You hungry?  I
can have it make ya something."
     Foxy just stared back.
     "Well, then.  Here, you can call me Richard, Richy,
Major, Rich, whatever you want, okay?  What should I call
you?"
     After a moment of silence, Richard asked, "Do you even
understand English?"
     Foxy understood perfectly well, but didn't say anything.
Richard shrugged, and turned to the TDTV (three dimension
TV).  Foxy ignored the human for now, and, actually, was more
concerned if there was somewhere he could relieve himself.
He hadn't gone in quite a while now.  He could have gone in
his cell, but he didn't know how long the trip would last,
and he didn't relish the idea of staying in a soiled cell.
     As he scrabbled around, he alighted on a small button.
He hit it, and a door hissed open in the back.  He jumped in,
and discovered that this was the bathroom.  As the door
closed gently behind him, he desperately tried to figure out
how to use the toilet.  The nature of his anatomy made it
very difficult to use human bathrooms, if you understand.

               *         *         *         *

     The President of the United Planets, the most powerful
man in the galaxy, leaned back in his chair, and inspected
the piles of reports lying on his desk.
     "What a mess, what a mess," he breathed out softly.  The
reports were all the same.  So-and-so battle group on patrol
in so-and-so sector.  Destroyed.  One or two surviving ships.
Attacked by unidentified ships.  All in the farthest sectors
from Earth, and the center of his military might.  It was
getting monotonously boring, even though there were major
life loses in each battle.  And they couldn't even figure out
who was attacking them, besides that message capsule that was
found, talking about the AFF.
     But the President was going to change that.  He had just
been informed of the strange creatures infiltrating the base,
and how one of them was captured.  It was identified as one
of the things that the crazy scientist made, and was being
sent off to the Prison Planet, called Alcatraz, after the
famous 20th century jail.  Numerous amounts of those
creatures were being held there for trying to escape, fifteen
years ago.
     And the person who had shot the animal was summoned to
the White House, and should be arriving any moment.
     The main door to the President's chambers opened, and
Hunter walked in, escorted by two Secret Service people.
The Secret Service guards stood by the door, and Hunter
walked to the President's desk.
     "Well, Thompson," said the President.  "Looks like you
found out who those AFF were."
     Hunter winced slightly at being called by his last name.
"Yes sir, I did.  At the cost of every single one of my team
members."
     "What?  All of them?  Are you sure?"  The President was
flabbergasted.  A top of the line group of men destroyed by
four bad guys with no weapons?
     "Well, I know one or two of them are dead, at least.  I
sent six of my team to tell you what was going on, and the
other three are still in the Park...  Hey!  I think they
still might be alive.  Can you send a search and rescue team
out there?  My team's homing beacons are dead, but you should
be able to find them at least."  Hunter mumbled on for a few
more moments before re-composing himself.
     He rubbed his forearm, and looked at the President.
"Well, sir, anything else I can do for you?"
     "What's wrong with your arm?"
     Hunter hesitated a moment.  "It got bitten by that thing
when I was capturing it.  It's okay, I already got it checked
out."
     "That's good.  Hope it doesn't get any worse.  That's
all.  Good job."

               *         *         *         *

     The transport gently touched down just as Foxy was going
to attempt to get some sleep.  He looked out of his cell
irritably as the back hatch opened again, and three humans
marched in, wearing riot armor.  One of them was carrying a
clump of clothing.  They stopped in front of Foxy's cell, and
pushed the clothes into the cell through the little door.
     "Put those on," ordered the human that was carrying the
clothes.
     Foxy looked back defiantly.
     "You had better put that on," warned the human,
activating the charge on his taser gun.
      Foxy yawned, and acted like he was going to fall
asleep.
     The human opened the cell door, and stormed in, and
pointed the gun at Foxy's head.  The two sharp, wicked
looking prongs on the end of the gun gleamed in the light.
The two other guards walked in, guns at the full safe
charge for something Foxy's size.
     "Are you going to put those on?"
     Yawn.
     The guard lightly pulled the trigger, and the taser gun
hummed with pent-up power.  When Foxy didn't do anything, the
guard pulled the trigger all the way.
     The power surged out, zapping Foxy in the head.  It was
a good thing the guard didn't have his gun set all the way,
or Foxy's head might have exploded.  As it was, the gun was
set for one of the lowest charges, and it just gave Foxy a
very unpleasant feeling, and a slight headache.
     Foxy jerked away, softly growling.
     "Do I have to up the charge?  Or will you put those
pants on?"  The guard clicked up the power setting.
     Foxy hesitated one second.  He didn't really want to
wear pants.  But he really hated getting shocked like that.
And he couldn't fight with that muzzle on.  So. with infinite
reluctance, he got up, and picked up the bundle of clothing.
     It was just a baggy pair of pants, made out of some soft
stuff.  The waistband seemed a little stiff, but the pants
fit when Foxy put them on.  There was a hole on the back for
his tail, and it took him a minute to make it feel right.
     "Good.  Now, see, that wasn't too hard, was it?"  The
guard prodded Foxy with the taser.  "Now, get moving."
     Foxy was led out of the transport, with Richard, the
guard on the trip, behind him, now with a gun.  The planet
he was on was a very desolate one.  They were on top of a
tall mesa-like thing, almost five hundred feet tall.  The top
was covered in short grass, and the edge had a series of
razor wire fences.  And taser cannons mounted on the
fences, with motion sensors, to zap any wannabe escapees.
Farther down, was the cliff edge.  Then, as far as he could
tell, was a huge ocean.  It stretched out as far as he could
see, without any bumps of land on it.  It would be quite a
swim for any escapees.
     Foxy was roughly led into a building standing separate
from the rest of the cell bases.  He didn't put up too much
of a resistance, but meekly allowed himself to be dragged
into a room.
     Inside the dimly lit room was a big chair, with some
fasteners to hold prisoners down.  Along the walls of the
room were lots of strange and painful looking instruments,
mostly interrogation devices.
     As Foxy was locked into the chair, he noticed that the
hand locks were wide, wide enough to cover up the little
access panels where he hid his lock picks.  But the position
he was sitting is was uncomfortable.  His tail was stuck
between his legs, draping out down towards his feet.  That
was the most uncomfortable part.  But the hand and feet
fasteners were tight, and seemed to tingle with electricity.
     "Now you wait here, okay?" said the guard.  "Don't go
no where."  He laughed, and strode out of the room.  The
two other guards stayed, and so did Richard.
     Foxy looked back and forth nervously at the guards,
wondering what was going to happen.  The guards stood
stone still, obviously well trained for prison duty.  Or was
he a P.O.W.?
     In a few minutes, the guard came back, escorting
another human with lots of shiny buttons on his tunic, and
some decorations that Foxy didn't recognize.  Also,
another AFF fox came in behind them, wearing only the
collar and the pants.
     The new fox was male, about the same size as Foxy.
He had fur a shade darker than Foxy's and it was a little bit
thicker than Foxy's.
     "Okay," said the new human.  "We got a new prisoner.
And he won't talk to us."  The sentence was more of a
statement than a question.
     "Yessir," replied the head guard.
     "Does he understand English, or is he just being
stubborn?"
     "We do not know, sir."
     The human with all of the buttons and such turned
towards the other fox.  "Ask him if he knows English, or just
your language.  Warn him that we will be running a 'test' to
make sure he is telling the truth."
     "Yes, sir." The other fox spoke in a slow and rough
voice.  Stepping closer to Foxy, he said in Traditional,
"Hey.  Can you understand me?"
   Foxy just looked flatly at him.
      "I'm going to tell them that I don't understand you,
and you don't understand me, okay?  Just because I am here
doesn't make me like them.  We all want to escape from here.
But I won't tell them anything that might hurt you, okay?"
     Foxy hesitated a moment.  The AFF generally had a
tough time hiding a lie in their voices when talking in
Traditional, and Foxy felt like he could trust this other
fox.
      "Fine then.  What should I do?"
     The other fox put on a puzzled look, then asked, "Say,
what's your name?  And make it sound like you don't
understand me.  Maybe that will buy us some time."
     "I'm called Foxy, from the StarLion. What about you?"
     But the other fox turned back towards the humans.  "I
don't understand his way of saying things," he said in
English.  "I think they have been away from humans from
so long, they have changed their speech.  Given more time
with him alone, I think I can figure it out."
     The human scowled.  "Very well then."  He motioned to
the guards.  "Take him to the hospital, and have a doctor
take a look at those wounds.  Then scan him and put him in
the security sector.  Take him," he said, pointing at the
other fox, "with you. Brimson, come with me."  The human
strode out of the room.  Rich glanced at Foxy, then
followed.  The guards unstraped Foxy, letting him up.
     "Time for a visit to the doctor," sneered one of the
guards.

               *         *         *         *

     Jared and Hus climbed over the last hill, Hus chatting
away about everything possible.  "And didja know dat you
can eat these little suckers?"  He held out a handful of
little red berries.  "Kinda sour, but good.  I like 'em."
Then he seemingly noticed where they were.  "Ah, here we
are!"
     The view from the hill was a pretty damn beautiful one.
Stretching away into the distance was a massive mountain
range, with white snow capping the rugged peaks.  Closer
was a large cave set into the ground at an odd angle, with a
heavy wooden door over the opening.
     "See dat?  That's my home right there.  The cave is
roomy and warm-there's like a fire place in the back,
y'know. And it be a pretty nice place to live, ya know?  Cuz
I lived here like 8 years, the first two on this planet I
spent wandering around, then I found this place, and I said
to myself, 'Self, this is a nice place, with a really nice
view, you oughta live here!'  So's I start lookin' around and
I find that cave, and I spend the time making it better."
     "Really?" said Jared.
     "Yeah, man.  It kinda sucks sometimes, like when one of
those animals comes snooping around, but it's okay most
of the time."
     "They come around here?  What do you do?"  Jared tried
to picture what he would do if that happened to him as he
picked his way over the slippery grass.
     "Hide," said Hus with a grin.  "But I do have some
weapons, only I don't like to waste them.  Sure would be
cool if I had a control pad for my life, and I could just re-
load myself with anything I want!  Yeah, that would be cool,
man."
     "Yeah."  Jared gave a half-hearted smile as they came
closer to the cave.  Abruptly, Hus stopped.
     "What's wrong?" asked Jared.
     "I dunno.  Look at the door, it doesn't look right."
     "What?"  Jared looked at the door, but he didn't know
how it was supposed to look like, other than what it did: a
number of medium-sized branches lashed together.
     Hus slowly and quietly tip-toed towards the door.
Around the opening, there was a smear of dirt.  "Footsteps!"
Hus hoarsely whispered.  Jared came closer, and saw that the
wide foot-prints went into the cave.  Actually, they looked
more like paw-prints.  As they crouched near the door, Jared
could hear some noises coming from inside.
     "Oh, man!" Hus groaned softly.  "Whatever it is, I think
it got my food."  There was a sound of something wooden
falling to the floor.  "Come on, we had better move off."
     Jared and Hus crawled back behind a big boulder near by,
and sat down behind it.
     "What is going on?" asked Jared.
     "Some animal got into my food that I keep in there,
again.  Damn things are always looking for some easy grub
to steal."
     As Hus spoke, a young looking wolf creature staggered
out, obviously stuffed.  He trotted away from the cave, the
opposite way from where Hus and Jared where hiding.
     "Why that bastard, I know him!" muttered Hus.  "He
came around here before.  I wish I had a gun, I'd blow his
brains out right now."
     "I know how you feel," said Jared, sitting up.  "I was
on a ship full of them.  Come on, let's go see how your
home is, and maybe we can think up of some sort of a surprise
for the next intruder."

               *         *         *         *

     Vix awoke in the electric maintenance room with a start,
for an instant wondering where Foxy was, why he wasn't
lying next to her.  Then she remembered, how he was
caught.  She felt a strange feeling, like a hollow stone in
her stomach.  It must have felt strange because that was
the first time she had ever felt that.  Vix was always
unsentimental, always.  It just got in the way of things if
you had strong feelings of sadness or grief.  Besides, she
knew how high the mortality rate was among AFF.  On The
Planet, 90% of AFF didn't live to die of old age.  What a
thing to die of, Vix mused.  Old age.  It was hard for her to
grasp that thought.  How could you die of being too old?  It
was beyond her grasp.
     Dismissing it from her mind, Vix inspected Inferno and
Tigress, both asleep.  If Vix remembered correctly, the tiger
hybrids liked to sleep about 15 hours a day.  That was also
beyond Vix's grasp.  How could you spend half your life
sleeping?
     A mischievous thought entered her mind.  Most canid
hybrids also loved to play practical 'jokes', particularly
the coyotes and foxes, although it wasn't thought of being a
joke.  More like play.  Even more so if it was played with
one of the big cats, who generally stayed away from too
much play.
     Now, what to play?  Vix quickly pondered this.  It
shouldn't hurt the tigers, as they were liable to hurt her
back in revenge, in the form of several nasty bites to the
neck or perhaps, the spinal cord.  Couldn't be noisy, or it
might attract unwanted human attention.
     She drew a blank on ideas.  She had one that might
work if they could make a lot of noise, but the current
situation ruled that out.  She would have to remember it
until they got back to the StarLion.
     So, with that assured, Vix stood up and stretched
luxuriously.  She felt much better now.  After she finished
that, the tigers were still snoozing.  Throwing an annoyed
glance at them, Vix dug around in her knapsack, and
discovered a tough piece of meat still there.  She hungrily
gnawed on it, and soon finished it.
     By this time, Vix was getting bored, restless, and a
little angry at the tigers.  She got up, and prowled around
the room once or twice, then opened the door, and looked out.
It was almost dark, but a large bright bill board flashed on
and off, on and off.
     Vix was entranced by the flashing lights, but snapped
herself out of it.  She went back into the room, and resumed
pacing back and forth for a while.
     Soon, she grew too impatient, and stalked over to where
Inferno and Tigress were sleeping.  "Wake up!" she said
loudly in Tigress' ear.
     "Mmm?  What?"  Tigress lifted her head up and shook it,
then yawned.  It is an unpleasant experience to see a tiger
yawn, because they have very big, long, sharp teeth.
Actually, they were called canine teeth, even though they
were bigger in the cat family.  Something else that Vix
didn't understand.
     "How long are you two gonna sleep?  It's dark out again,
and I want to get off this planet.  Those humans can't be too
happy, and they might still be looking for us."
     "Yeah, right," said Tigress, "They would have found us
already."
     "But how long until we leave?" pestered Vix.
     Tigress made a low grumbling noise that directly
translated into, Don't push your luck, the kind of warning
growl that even humans could understand.  But humans also had
a tendency to pull out a gun and blow out the brains of
whatever animal was making that growl.
     "What do you mean by that?" asked Vix indignantly.
Tigress looked at Vix sleepily, then rolled back over for
more sleep.
     "Come on!  We had better hurry if we want to live!
Besides, we still have to deliver the stuff in the computer."
+     Inferno was slightly awake by this time.  "Then if you
are in such a hurry, why don't you go ahead and get our ships
ready?"
     "But you are supposed to be with me at all times to
protect me," replied Vix.  "You have to agree that I would be
no match for an armed group of ten humans."
     "Yeah, because you're a little fuzzball," muttered
Inferno under his breath, but he didn't show any intention of
moving.
     Vix sighed, then got ready to leave.

               *         *         *         *

     Scott Bruce, A.K.A. JediMaster in the cockpit, wandered
despondently down the halls of the Shieldor Station #1.  He
had managed to bring his heavily damaged ship back to the
Shieldor, and landed it despite the fact that his landing
gear had been unable to move into the correct position for
landing.
     Following the extensive debriefing, he went to go relax
in his cabin.  It was hard for him to forget about Jared, and
Scott wondered how Jared was doing.
     The next day, he was called into the Commander-in-Chief
of the Earth Defense Forces.
     "Captain Bruce, have a seat."  The CEDF motioned to a
chair, and Scott sat down.  The room was large and
comfortable, with a small panel of screens displaying data
about the ship.
     "How do you feel about the loss of Commander Jared
Smith?" asked CEDF in his suave voice.
     "Well sir, ah.."  Scott took a deep breath, then hurried
on.  "He was my best friend, and a great pilot.  I just feel-
empty, I guess.  It's just a weird feeling, I can't describe
it."
     "Do you still feel combat-ready?"
     "Yes sir, I do."
     "Good!"  CEDF leaned back in his chair, and pressed a
button on the arm of his chair.  "Send him in, please," he
said.
     In a moment, a side door hissed open, and a young man
walked in, wearing a flight-suit.  He was tall, had wavy
blondish hair, and was grinning.  He saluted to both CEDF and
Scott.
     "This is Second Lieutenant David Polites.  He had a very
promising record in the academy, and we want you to prepare
him for the real thing.  If you want, he can even be your
wingman, in the future."
     Scott was surprised to say the least.  "Yes, sir," he
said.  "When am I supposed to do this?"
     "Well, we were planning on sending you right now, if you
are feeling up to it," responded CEDF.
     "Thank you sir, I will.  Give me a few minutes to get my
stuff ready and my flight suit on, and I will get out there."
     "Very well.  You are both dismissed."

               *         *         *         *

     Vix carefully poked around in the forest, around where
Foxy had marked the location of their ships.  The only
problem was, she couldn't find them.
     She had a lot of problems.  Almost as soon as she had
left the room, she had noticed that there were a lot of
humans patrolling the streets now.  She had been forced to go
very slowly and quietly, until she got to the forest.  Once
nearing the location of the ships, she had noticed that there
were still humans here, poking around and investigating the
deaths of those three human cubs they had killed.  Still
looking at the scene and bodies.  Come on, she had wanted to
yell at them, Get a life!  They are dead, so who cares?  Get
outta here!  But that was not an option if she wanted to get
back to the StarLion.  Now here she was, still searching and
staying inconspicuous since those humans were still here.
     What if those humans had found the ships?

               *         *         *         *

     Scott walked down the long halls of the Shieldor
station, Second Lieutenant Polites trailing after him,
talking about how he eager he was to actually get some real
flight time, how it was like living on his home-planet of
Neptune.
     "You see, on Neptune, since it is covered in a big ocean
of liquid methane, the cites are really huge ships that float
in it.  The outer hull is incredibly thick, and they heat it
or something-I don't know-so it doesn't get damaged by the
cold."
     "Really."  Scott stopped in front of an elevator and
waited for the doors to open.  When they did, he stepped in,
and hit the button for the hangar.
     "Yeah, you oughta see the hull.  It is something.  Say,
have you ever been to a planet called Shark?  At least that's
what the locals call it."
     "No, I can't say I have," said Scott, shifting from foot
to foot.
     "Ah, well.  You see, the entire planet is like an ocean.
The water is a little different from Earth's oceans, but they
have life in them.  The sharks-or at least they look like
sharks, I didn't ask-they are huge.  Really mean too.
Attacked our ship that we were on when we were fishing."
     "I see."  The elevator dinged, and the doors hissed
open.  Scott walked out, and took a deep breath of the
slightly oily smell of the hangar.  He loved the smell, even
though he couldn't describe it.  Looking around, he could see
where the mechanics were repairing his Striker.
     Scott strode over to the head hangar manager, David
Polites in tow.  "Excuse me, I have some orders to take him
out on some flight testing," Scott told the manager.  "What
ships should we take?"
     "Ah, JediMaster, it's good to see you again.  Well, you
can't take your fighter out, because it still needs a lot of
work.  What are you going to be doing out there?"
     "I'm supposed to get him some real flight time, training
him."
     "Well, do you want a single trainer Striker, with two
seats, or two single man Strikers?"
     "I'll take the two single man."
     "Very well, I'll have them get two trainers in tubes one
and two."
     "Ok, thank you."  Scott walked away from the man, easing
his way through a bunch of other pilots and technicians and
ordinance experts and whoever else was out there.
     Polites hustled up next to Scott.  "So your callsign is
JediMaster?"
     Scott glanced at Polites for a moment before answering.
"Yes, it is."
     "Yeah, that's ok.  Back at the academy, they always
called me Excalibur."
     "What the hell is that?" asked Scott.
     "A Japanese battleship that was sunk during World War
Two, I think.  It might be a carrier."
     "So why they call you that?"
     "I dunno."
     They stopped at the launch tubes, and stood by the
ladders going up to the cockpit.  "You know how to get your
ship all ready for launch, right?"
     "Yes, I do," replied Polites.  "They taught us some
stuff at the academy, you know."
     "Alright, I'll get the clearance, and you just stick
close to me, capice?"
     "Uh, yeah, okay."

               *         *         *         *

     Foxy was taken down to the prison hospital.  Foxy
started hating hospitals as soon as he was dragged through
the front door.  It smelled funny, and made him sick.  And he
had heard about some of the things humans did to heal
themselves.  Foxy didn't want a big needle sticking him.
     The guards took him to the front desk, where they talked
to the nurse who was there.  The other fox, the translator
one, or whatever, stood a few steps away, looking at Foxy.
Foxy stared back.  After a few minutes of senseless talking
between the humans that Foxy didn't pay any attention to, he
was taken down a long hall, up a flight of stairs, then down
another hall, and finally into a small room.  Foxy noticed
how clean the halls were.  Very much cleaner than anything he
had seen on the StarLion.  Which didn't mean that he liked
the clean.  In fact, he liked it when there was dirt and
grass and some mess, not when you could see your reflection
in every single object around.
     The humans told Foxy to sit on a table that was in the
middle of the room.  The other fox said, "You understand
them?  Don't act like you do."  Foxy followed the
instructions, and just stood there.
     "Well?" snapped one of the guards.  "Didn't he
understand you?"
     "No, sir.  If you would remember, he didn't understand
me in the interrogation office."  The other fox spoke in a
polite manner that almost made Foxy throw up.
     "I know.  Then why did you come along?" asked the guard
gruffly.
     The other fox just said, "That was the warden's wish,"
in a too respectful tone for a human.  Then, with the human
not answering, he slinked over to a corner.
     Foxy looked around for a chance of escape.  Not too
good, since the only way in or out was the door, and the two
humans stood by that.  There was a counter on one side of the
room with a lot of medical stuff on it, and some devices
hanging on the wall.  Foxy couldn't identify most of the
things.
     The door opened, and a doctor walked in, followed by a
medical droid that simply held medical advice and some
procedures in its databanks.  It could make a prognosis if
need be.  The doctor was a middle-aged human with a receeding
hairline, flabby jowls, and a mildly plump belly.  He was
wearing a white coat, and a little device hung out of his
pocket.  The doctor was smiling in a way that looked like he
always did.
     "So we have a new one, eh?" asked the doctor as he
walked in.  "Otay, what are the orders for this one?"
     "Check those wounds on him first, then a full scan.
After that, send him down to the showers, with an escort.
We'll get the escort up here in a minute.  This one-" the
guard said, pointing towards the other fox, "-is supposed to
stay with the new one."
     "Otay, I will do that."  The doctor nodded, and turned
to Foxy as the guards marched out.  In ten seconds, before
Foxy had dared to think about escaping, the new guards were
at the door.
     "Now, let's take a look at you," said the doctor.  He
took a slender metal tube with a flat screen on the end from
the counter, and activated it.  It made a barely audiable,
but very annoying, whiz sound.  Foxy tensed up as the doctor
said, "This won't hurt a bit," and came closer.
     Foxy growled softly, but menacingly as the device came
closer.  Finally it was just about to do whatever it did, and
Foxy quickly scooted to the other side of the table, snapping
at the doctor's arm.  Or at least he tried to, with the
muzzle on.  The doctor flinched back as the guards snapped
the guns to a ready position.  Foxy had nearly memorized how
the end of the guns looked like by now; he had seen it enough
times.  These humans were trigger happy if anything.
     The doctor recovered decently, not acting too scared or
anything.  He straightened his coat, and said, "It just
sprays a disinfectant on your cuts.  You don't want them to
get infected, do you?"
     "He doesn't understand English, sir," said the other fox
quietly.
     "Oh," said the doctor, taken aback.  "Can you translate
for me then?"
     "No, sir, I am afraid I cannot, as I don't understand
his dialect."
     "Otay, then, could you at least try to convey to him the
idea that this won't hurt him, and if he doesn't co-operate,
those guards will have to help me?"
     The other fox turned to Foxy, and said, "I would listen
to him.  It isn't pleasant when those guards have to pin you
down.  I know."
     Foxy glared back at him, but didn't reply.
     "Well?" asked the doctor.
     "I don't know sir.  Here, let me try to put it on him,
maybe then he will trust me."
     The doctor nodded, and handed over the disinfectant
spray.  "You know how to use it?"
     "Yes, sir, I do."  The fox took it, and faced Foxy.
"Come on, you should let me do this..." he said softly.  "If
I don't, they will, and it isn't fun..."
     Foxy didn't reply, just edged back from the device,
staring at the thing as if it was some death ray emitter that
could fry every single cell in his body in less than a
second.  He believed that humans really had these things, in
the back of his mind, and he wasn't going to find out that he
was correct.  The other fox stopped moving.
     "It won't hurt," he said in a voice just above a
whisper.  "Trust me."
     Foxy glared at him, and growled warningly, then moved
away from the device another little bit.  He wanted to but as
much distance as was possible between him and the thing, even
if it wasn't moving.
     Inevitably, if he kept on scooting away from the
disinfecter, he would run out of table.  Foxy realized that
his last scoot had brought him to the end of the table, but
that was after he had unceremoniously fell off, with a loud
yelp.  Foxy tried to grab for something to steady himself,
knocking over many of the things on the counter and making a
mess.  He jumped up instantaneously, snarling at the humans
and the other fox as if it was their fault for the
unimpressive display of agility and balance.  "If you wanted
to impress these humans, you sure are going about it the
wrong way," grumbled the other fox.

               *         *         *         *

     Inferno and Tigress sauntered up to Vix stealthily, as
though Vix couldn't sense them.  She still was searching for
the Spectres, keeping a low profile from the humans wandering
around a few hundred yards off.
     "Where are the ships?" asked Inferno casually as he
crouched down next to Vix.  He was still almost as tall as
Vix, even sitting.
     "Beats me, I can't find them," replied Vix, a hint of
fear in her voice.  "Let me see your backpacks"
     "Why?" asked Tigress, shrugging out of the shoulder
straps, and dropping the bag on the ground.
     "I wonder if there is something inside, like a remote
control for the ships.  I just hope that if there is one, it
isn't in, ah, Foxy's bag."  Her voice quavered just a little
bit as she said his name.
     "Oh."  The two Siberian tigers watched as Vix unzipped
the bags, searching through the dark insides.  Vix took out
some stuff, dropped it on the ground, took out some more,
dropped it, and in a minute, everything that was in Inferno's
bag was strewn about in a messy pile.
     "Not in there.  Inferno, clean that up, will ya?" said
Vix absently as she opened Tigress' bag.  Inferno grumbled
something about "Stupid sloppy puny little foxes can't clean
up after themselves" but he complied.
     Vix was throwing things out of Tigress' bag now,
muttering, "No, no, no, hmm, what's this?"  She sat up,
holding a little shiny thing.
     "What's that?" asked Inferno.
     "A battery," said Vix.  "But isn't it shiny?"  she put
it down carefully next to her, then started digging through
the backpack again.  Inferno glanced at Tigress, and rolled
his eyes.
     "Ah-ha!" said Vix, dragging out a little, shiny, thin
box.
     "You are supposed to be looking for the remote, not
shiny things," admonished Inferno.
     "I think this is the remote."  Vix opened the cover, and
peered at the buttons in the dim light.  "Well, at least I
think this is it.  As soon as the ships uncloak, we have to
run into them, and take off.  Those humans are nearby, and I
think we are lucky they haven't noticed us yet."
     "Okay, where are the ships in relation to us, then?"
asked Tigress.
     "They are-uh, well, that is a good question.  I'm not
sure," Vix confessed.  "Just run for the ships if you see
them, okay?  Good."  She pressed a button on the remote, and
in the distance, they heard a shout from the humans.
     "I think it worked," remarked Vix, looking over in the
direction of the shouts.  "There they are."
     She shoved the remote and battery into her bag, and
started running after Inferno and Tigress.
     The ships looked alright, Vix decided as she got closer.
She jumped up onto the wing, and scrambled up the fuselage to
the cockpit.  It was open, and Vix jumped in.
     She heard a number of shouts from outside.  Flashing a
look out the cockpit, she saw the humans running up.  One
pulled out a hand gun, and fired at Vix's craft.  The bullet
ricochet off the cockpit, not even leaving a crater.  Well, a
little one that shouldn't do any harm.  Good thing that was
about the biggest gun they had here.
     Vix pushed the startup button, and tried to remember
what else to do.  The navigation.  Engine.  Flight computer.
Once the computer was on, everything else seemed to work
automatically.  Vix saw a glow from one of the other Spectres
engines.  Abruptly, her ship started lifting off.  Inferno's
and Tigress' ship soon followed.  Another bullet glanced off
of the bottom of the ship.
     Looking down, Vix realized that one Spectre was still on
the ground.  They forgot about Foxy's.
     Inferno hadn't forgot, apparently.  His Spectre stopped
moving upwards, and hovered.  Then it pointed down.  Twin
lines of fire erupted from the wingtips, lancing through
Foxy's ship.  It soon fireballed, sending fragments of metal
and plastic everywhere.  A few humans fell heavily, and a few
didn't get up.
     "Inferno, did you do that one purpose?" Vix called into
the radio thingie.
     "No."  Inferno's rich voice betrayed a tinge of fear.
"It just went by itself.  I didn't push anything."
     Vix frowned, then looked out the window.  The ground was
farther away now, and suddenly a loud roar came from the back
of the craft.  It arrowed up violently, going for the stars.
Vix felt a press of the G-forces, and also a case of motion
sickness.  The built in accelerator absorbers took care of
most of the G-forces nicely however, and Vix could see the
sky getting blacker and blacker.  In just a few seconds it
seemed, the stars were blazing in the pitch black sky
brighter than ever.  Even if they didn't look exactly like
pinpoints of light, thanks to her sight.
     "You all right?"  Tigress' voice came through loud in
Vix's cockpit.
     "Yeah," replied Vix.  "Where is the StarLion?"
     "It isn't here," interjected Inferno.  "But there is a
flight of human fighters about eleven thousand miles away.
Near the edge of Earth."
     "Do they know we're here?" asked Vix.

               *         *         *         *

     "Shieldor 1, this is Red 1.  Over."  JediMaster checked
his CMD (Combat Multi-view Display, a modified HUD of sorts)
again.
     "This is Shieldor 1, what is it Red 1?  Over."
     "I pick up some very very faint ships about eleven
thousand miles away.  Over."
     "So what?" snorted the comm officer, forgetting where he
was.
     "Well, last time I picked up unidentifed bogies, they
nearly blew me outta the sky, and they got Vader."
JediMaster tried hard to keep his anger in check.
     "That distance is in Shieldor 2's territory.  We'll
alert them.  You go about your business.  Over." The comm
clicked off.
     JediMaster swore, and contacted Excalibur, that rookie
he was supposed to be training.
     They had been out, targeting each other with the low
power lasers that were good only for illuminating a target,
in a mock dogfight for a while, then JediMaster had called
Shieldor 1 for a few target drones to practice missile
tactics on.  It had been a pretty boring flight, since
JediMaster was much better than Excalibur.  But Excalibur had
tried his best, and had taken all the advice JediMaster
offered.
     "Excalibur, are you picking up those guys way over
there, at point four one?"
     "No-wait, yes, I got one.  Almost too faint.  I had to
do a tight beam search."
     "Yeah, I know.  I wonder how I picked it up."  As
JediMaster stared at the little dots, two faded out.  "Well,
two of them are gone."  The third soon followed.  "That's all
of them.  I wonder what they were?"
     "Beats me, maybe the equipment was malfunctioning.  I
have never seen something like that," put in Excalibur.
     "Well, you aren't experienced enough."  JediMaster
looked out the cockpit at Earth, with all of the swirling
clouds.  "Let's get back to work."
               *         *         *         *

     Foxy eventually got sprayed with the disinfectant, and
it stung, contrary to what that grrhirr doctor said.
     The guards had trapped him in the corner.  Foxy couldn't
fight back as the barrel of one of the guard's guns had been
jammed up into Foxy's throat, and the muzzle took away his
main fighting weapons.  He had tried to struggle, but the
guards had lifted him onto the table, and pinned him down.
Foxy thrashed about as well as he could, but it was more like
a twitch due to the guards.  The doctor had applied the
medicine, which, like was aforementioned, burned like fire.
     After that, the doctor had taken out a scanner, and
scanned Foxy.  Apparently the doctor had found nothing wrong
with him, so the guards picked Foxy up, and with the doctor's
say-so, dragged him off to the showers, the other fox
trailing behind.
     The showers were a big building that Foxy was taken into
after a short walk outside on a small road.  The road
traveled near the back of the prision, giving Foxy a nice
view of a thick forest.  If I could get in there, I bet I
could- Foxy thought before he realized that he was on an
island and had no where to run to.  Well then, I bet I could
hide out for a long time he thought, defiant in the face of
reality.
     There was a smallish entry room that the humans took
Foxy in next.  It was humid and warm.  They passed through a
set of swinging doors, into the main shower room.  It was a
gymnasium sized room with a lot of stalls about 5 feet wide
and eight feet tall with opaque sides.  The floor was tiled,
and seemed to slant slightly.  At the moment, it was empty.
     "Alright, tell him to take off his pants so that we can
get him cleaned," ordered one of the guards.
     The fox nodded slowly.  "I will try my best," he said in
a very sincere voice.
     He walked over to a shower stall, and opened it.  Then
he motioned for Foxy to come closer.  Foxy very warily
stepped near to the door.  The fox gestured for Foxy to take
off his pants, which Foxy gladly did.  He hated wearing them;
it was too hot.  The other fox indicated Foxy to step in the
stall.  Foxy glanced at the other fox, then at the guards,
then stepped in.  The other fox pulled the door shut.
     The shower head automatically turned on.  The fox and
guards heard a loud yelp and a thud, and something scrabbling
on the floor.
     The water was laced with something like a shampoo,
designed to automatically clean the person showering, then it
switched to regular water to rinse.  In five minutes the
shower shut off, and the door opened a crack.
     Foxy staggered out, very wet and miserable.  One guard
snickered, and the other one grinned.  "Man, I've been doing
this for three years now, and I still can't get over how
stupid you things look like after you get showered," he
laughed.
     Foxy indeed looked stupid, and very skinny now that his
fur wasn't fluffed up and was instead plastered to his body.
He shook himself, sending water flying everywhere.  He still
looked bedraggled.
     The other fox took Foxy's arm, and led him over to
another room, this one hot and dry inside.  The humans stood
by the shower, still laughing.  "Here, this room is for you
to dry off in," the other fox whispered, then shoved Foxy in.
     Inside, Foxy jumped about nervously as the air dryers
kicked in, eliciting the laughter of the human guards again.
In a short period of time, he was reasonably dry (with his
fur fluffed up again), cleaner, and much more distrustful of
human devices.
     After that, the humans had Foxy put on the pants again,
and took him back to the main human's office.

               *         *         *         *

     The StarLion dropped out of hyperspace again, near
Earth.  Commander yawned, stood up, and sauntered over to the
viewports.  They were about 90 degrees from the line between
day and night on Earth.  "Ah, Earth.  If they have been
sucessful, soon you shall be rid of those humans," he said.
Commander was in a very good mood.  A messenger ran up to
him.
     "We have detected the Spectres, Commander, but it seems
some humans have detected them too," the messenger panted.
     "What do you mean?" Commander asked,
     "Well, we count only three of the Spectres, although it
may be because they are very well stealthed.  Or one might
have been destroyed or something.  Also, there is a flight of
human Kalidor-class fighters coming after the Spectres."
     "Move our ship closer to the Spectres, and get a flight
of Falcons out there to escort them in," Commander rumbled.
     The messenger nodded, and hastened off.  Commander
looked out the viewports again.  Indeed, Earth was beautiful.
He studied the sweeping curve of Earth, the swirls of the
clouds.  Most of the land masses were dark colored.  Cities.
     Four silver specks caught Commander's eye.  The Falcons
steadily grew smaller, although the silvery coating of the
fighters made it possible for Commander to still see them.
They broke formation, then vanished into the night.

               *         *         *         *

     Vix took a look back at Earth.  She couldn't see the
human fighters that the sensors said were there, but she
could see Inferno's and Tigress', a little bit away.
     She sighed, and turned around.  The StarLion was there
now, and a flight of their fighters coming towards them.  In
a few moments, they had soared past, the sunlight glinting
off the glossy hull.  Twisting around in her seat again, Vix
watched them as they vanished into the night shadows of
Earth.  Three minutes and twenty four seconds later, by the
cockpit clock, Vix saw a lot of flashes of light, and a brief
flare of an explosion as a fighter's emergency oxygen backup
supply caught fire.  Two more flickers of light followed soon
after.
     Vix turned around, and swatted the backpack down.  She
hadn't secured it properly, and was floating around in the
cockpit.
     The comm crackled for a moment, then Commander's deep
voice came through.  "Did you get the info?"
     "Yes, we did," said Vix, pushing the backpack down under
the seat.
     "How many of you are still left?  We only pick up
three," said Commander.
     "Foxy, he got-" Vix paused, "-captured."
     "What happened to his Spectre?"
     Inferno's voice cut in.  "It was destroyed."
     "Good.  The landing crew will be taking in your ships
for the landing soon, keep on your present course.  Good
job."  The comm clicked off.
     Vix felt the Spectre jerk as the landing crew gained
control of the ship, then sat back as the spacecraft turned
smoothly towards a brightly lit point on the StarLion.  She
looked out the top of the cockpit at the stars and saw the
fiercely buring pinpricks of light before the imposing mass
of the StarLion blotted it out.  The Spectre creaked as it
glided into the landing bay.  It gently settled down on a
landing rack, next to Inferno's and Tigress'.  The racks
started moving towards the hangars rapidly, through an
airlock, then it finally stopped.  A hawk was moving a ladder
up to Vix's cockpit, and Vix slid the cockpit open, and
grabbed the backpack.  She jumped out, and scrambled down the
ladder.
     Commander and S.C. were waiting for them, along with a
few other AFF.  Vix waited for Inferno and Tigress to clamber
out of the Spectres.  When they had caught up with Vix, they
proceeded to walk to Commander.
     "Here it is," said Vix, taking out the laptop, and
handing it to Commander.
     "Yes...  Good work Vix, very good work."  Commander
handed the computer to one of the others standing near him.
"All of you.  I know it must have been tough.  When we return
to The Planet, would you like to stay there awhile?  You've
earned it."
     Inferno and Tigress looked at each other.  "Well, it
depends when we are going to get to get some real fighting
time," said Inferno.
     "As soon as we can," replied Commander.
     "Then, I might be staying onboard.  You have no idea how
much I would like to sink my claws into human flesh."
Inferno already had his claws unsheathed.
     "I will take a stay on The Planet," said Tigress.  "I
haven't been on there for such a long time."
     Vix hesitated.  "Well, I uh...  I think I might stay
here, on the StarLion."
     "Alright.  Come on, we'll get right to work on your
data.  Why don't you three go relax?  We'll be jumping out as
soon as we get our fighters back." Commander turned, and
walked out of the hangar, followed by S.C. and the group.
     Vix watched them leave, then slowly wandered over to the
elevators, and keyed it for The Deck, then changed her mind
and pressed the co-ordinates for her den area.  She wanted to
rest now.  For some reason, she felt very tired, very loney,
and slightly sick.  She had almost always been in perfect
health, and it made her upset to be sick.  It was a sign of
weakness; that you were easier to kill for food.  She
shivered.  Although the AFF didn't go purposely hunting each
other down on the ships, there had been deaths onboard from a
big predator getting frustrated, and killing a smaller AFF on
accident.  But those happenings were very rare.
     Inferno and Tigress went to the Deck.  They were hungry.

               *         *         *         *

     Foxy was dragged to a cell after he was finished drying,
and the guards had recovered from their laughing fit.  The
other fox had been summoned somewhere, and led off by another
human guard.  The two guards that were escorting Foxy were
making insulting remarks that Foxy didn't really understand,
but even so, it still made him angry, even if he didn't show
it.
     The cells were all together in another long, big
building.  There were sections, each sealed off from each
other by thick metal and plastic doors.  Each section had
about fifteen cells in it, and each cell had two prisioners
in them.  The guards handed Foxy over to one of the
jailkeepers.  This particular one was a big guy, heavily
built.  For a human.  He consulted a computer, and said,
"Okay, here's one that's open."  He did something under the
desk he was sitting at, and a safe in the wall behind him
opened.  He punched in another code on a little door inside
the safe that was nearly identical to a lot of others that
were also inside the safe, except that each had a different
number engraved on the front.
     "Alright, follow me," said the human, motioning to the
guards.
     Foxy was taken to an empty third level cell, meaning
that he was in the third row of cells from the outside.
Meaning that he had to go through at least three other
sectors to escape.
     The jailkeeper locked him in a cell, and fiddled with
something right outside the door that Foxy couldn't see.
With that done, all three humans walked away.
     The cell was like the one on the transport.  The side
walls were made of something hard and opaque, but the front
was made of clear solid plastic.  In the back of the cell was
a toilet, this one more suited for his needs, and a sink.
Whatever those did.  There was a hard bunk as well, but it
seemed to have been designed for a tiger, for it was
luxuriously big for Foxy.  But he couldn't smell any scent on
the bed, meaning that the humans had cleaned the bed, or it
had never been used.  There was a pillow on the head of the
bed, and a blanket neatly folded up on it as well.  But there
wasn't much else in the cell.
     With his own cell providing no more interest, Foxy moved
to the front of his cell, and called out, "Hey, is anyone
else here?" in Traditional.  No one answered, even though it
smelled like a couple of AFF had been in here recently.
      Feeling confused now, Foxy sat back down on his bed,
thinking.  He decided that sooner or later, someone would
come to see him, human or AFF.  He also felt a little tired,
so he curled up on the bed, and dozed off.

               *         *         *         *

     Jared and Hus had figured out that Hus had lost about
half of all the food he had stored half an hour after the
young wolf had ransacked Hus' home.  They set about cleaning
up the mess, and by the time they were done, it was already
dark.  Hus finished fixing the door, and called to Jared,
"Hey man, you ready for dinner?"
     "Sure," replied Jared.  He wiped a bead of sweat from
his forehead.  It was hot inside the cave.  "What's left to
eat?"
     "Fruit, and I have a little bit of meat left.  Might as
well cook it now."
     "That sounds good.  I am starving."  Jared climbed out
of the cave, and sat down on the cool grass.  Hus was
gathering up his tools: a sharpened rock (it was very sharp),
a hammer of sorts that Hus had made, and some rope.  "Alright
then, I'll get started on it.  Over that way is a river.  Can
ya go get some water to drink?"
     "With what?" asked Jared.
     "There's a waterproof sack hanging on the wall in there.
It works, but the water ends up tasting a little leathery."
     Jared went into the cave, and emerged carrying the bag.
The thing was made out of animal skin or leather, and Jared
estimated it could hold a gallon.  The hole for filling the
bag was held shut with some really sticky sap or resin.  Once
you pressed the edges together, it would stay shut.  There
was a strap for carrying it attached to the top.  "Now,
where's the river again?" Jared inquired of Hus.
     "That way about a mile."  Hus pointed.  "See that really
bright star?  Follow that, and when you want to come back,
just turn around.  I'll have a fire going so you can see
where I am."
     "Okay..."  Jared hesitated.  "What if I run into one of
those animals?"
     "There aren't all that many around here for some reason.
There's that wolf pack, and a lot of native animals, but they
won't bother you.  Still, be careful."  Hus yawned.  "Hurry
up or I'll be asleep though, okay?"
     "Yeah, sure."  Jared set off, careful not to twist his
ankle on the rough ground.
     It was easy going, despite the rough ground.  The
hillside was littered with rocks and little depressions, like
someone had been practicing their shot put technique on the
hill.  Jared stubbed his toes on rocks numerous times, and
his feet were sore by the time he had reached the bottom, but
he felt pretty good.  Even though this planet was infested
with huge, intelligent creatures that would love to rip him
apart and eat him, it was still beautiful, and the air was
fresh.  The air was very much better than what he got in the
fighter cockpit, and aboard a capital ship, the air tasted
like it did in a hospital or something: very artificially
clean.  The air here was pure, cool and refreshing, like it
was when he was on a mountain on Earth, one of the higher
ones.
     As Jared walked along, he looked up at the stars.  This
planet had two moons.  One was visible now, almost straight
up.  It was a reddish color, and kind of small.  Smaller than
how the moon looked like back on Earth.  There were a lot of
stars that were flickering in the nearly black sky, and a
nebula was visible as well.
     Watching the stars, Jared had arrived at the river
before he knew it.  He dunked the bag in the swiftly flowing
water, and heaved it out.  Jared sealed the opening, and
tried to wipe off some of the water that had soaked the bag,
then slung it over his shoulder, and started back, taking his
bearings from the star that Hus had pointed out.  In fifteen
uneventful minutes, he was back at the hill.  Hus was sitting
by the fire, eating a round, pinkish fruit of some sort, and
two ragged slabs of some meat were sizzling on the wood.
Jared set the bag down and sat down next to Hus.
     "Everything went ok?" asked Hus.
     "Yeah."  Jared rubbed his feet, watching the fire.  "How
do you get the meat?"
     Hus handed Jared a fruit, then said, "I have some traps.
I can only catch the native animals, the smaller ones.  Once
I caught a rabbit.  Can ya believe that?  I mean, what would
a rabbit be doing here?"
     "Beats me."  Jared bit into the fruit.  It was bitter at
first, then sweet on the inside.  Jared realized that he
probably was supposed to peel it first.  Juice dribbled down
his chin as he took another bite.  It was good, even with the
skin.  He scarfed it down in a few more bites, then sat back.
     Neither one of them said anything for a few moments.
Hus noticed that the meat had finished cooking, and grabbed
one off the burning wood, and tossed it to Jared.  "Careful,
it's hot," chuckled Hus as Jared juggled the meat from hand
to hand, blowing on it.  When it had cooled down some, Jared
stared at it.
     "Am I just supposed to...  Eat it?" asked Jared.
     "Unless you have some utensils on ya, man!  That's how
I've been eating ever since I got here," replied Hus.
     "Ok," muttered Jared.  He bit into the meat.  Rich
tasting juices flowed into his mouth.  It tasted very good.
Even with a charcoaled outside, and a pinkish inside.  It was
the best food he had had in a long time.

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