The Recurrence Series, part VII "Betrayal" 
Written by and(c) May-2003 Ralcor (me),
Do not redistribute without permission.

This is the seventh and final part of the "Recurrence" series, all six parts before this one are
available on VCL or Furnation.


	Lorna Roe padded into the main room of her house from the bedroom corridor, heading for 
kitchen.  The front door flew open and Danny came charging in, his clothes caked in mud, it’s amazing 
how everything dirty and wet can gravitate towards children’s clothing.  Before he could sit down on 
the sofa, Lorna caught him by the tail and pulled him away from the upholstery.
	“I’ve told you again and again don’t get mud on the furniture.”  She scolded.
	“But the game…”  Danny tried to protest.
	“Get washed and changed first.”
	“But…”  He stopped, seeing his mother’s unyielding ‘you’re not going to get your own way’ look on 
her face.
	He plodded away, leaving Lorna to return to her kitchen.  She sent the cleaning drone, that had 
been sitting idle in a cupboard, to clear away the moist earth that Danny had left with his 
footpawprints.  She checked on a tray of half baked cakes in the oven before setting about preparing 
more food.
	Danny returned after having gotten changed, if not washed, in record time.  He plonked himself 
down on the couch and turned on the television, immediately the room drowned with the sound of 
cheering Terrans and the dialogue of the commentators.
	“Aww, I missed the start.”  The young otter complained.
	“Next time don’t get so mucky.”  Her head in the fridge as she spoke, looking for vegetables that 
just weren’t there.  “I’m going outside to get some carrots and potatoes, come get me if your father 
calls.”
	“Uh-huh.”  Danny murmured, distracted by the baseball game onscreen.
	Lorna pulled out her gardening tools and went out the back door into her vegetable patch.  After a 
few minutes of harvesting she distantly heard the doorbell and soon after the front door was opened.  
She got up and patted some of the loose earth of her fur and clothing, she walked in the back door 
and headed for the main room.
	“Danny, who’s at the…”  She saw the answer for herself.  Danny was nowhere to be seen and 
standing in the doorway was a man wearing plain black, in one hand he had a radio and in the other he 
held a rifle.
	Lorna darted for her bedroom, her unknown assailant in quick pursuit, she locked the door and 
immediately went for the dresser.  She pulled open the bottom drawer, inside was a glass 
compartment with a keypad built into the top.  A thud emanated from the door, telling her that 
whoever was outside was throwing his weight in an attempt to get in.  She punched in a twelve digit 
number and the glass slid away.  She retrieved Tyler’s personal gun and fired through her bedroom 
door at whatever intensity it was set to.  On the other side of the small, smouldering hole there was 
a mixed yell of surprise, pain and help.  Lorna sat there in the corner of her bedroom, scared witless 
and had no idea of what to do next.  She reached for an audio-only telephone that rested onto of the 
dresser, putting it to her ear she heard no tone.  The next thing she knew, the window glass was 
shattered as a small orb came hurtling through to land forcibly on the bed in a shower of tiny shards.  
A thick yellow gas sprayed from the nozzles around the equator of the orb.  Lorna drifted into 
unconsciousness as the gas took its effect, the last thing she saw was another man dressed in equally 
black clothing approach her, his face concealed by a gasmask.

* * * * *

	“You had Arctic Fury moved without my knowledge.”
	“It was necessary for the research to progress on schedule.”
	“What if General Masters or Colonel Roe inquires as to where he is.”
	“General Masters will be taking some personal leave, a family member recently passed away.”
	“Did we have a hand in that?”
	“No, a fortunate coincidence.”
	“And Colonel Roe?”
	“Inform him that Arctic Fury has been transferred to a secure location for questioning.”
	“There is no location more secure than the Special Operations Base.”
	“That is not my concern.  Ensure the good Colonel has a meeting with our man at the hospital.”
	“Consider it done.”
	“And make sure he doesn’t get a chance to contact his home.”
	“Why?”
	“As an extra precaution, the Roe family is now under our protection.”
	“That was not part of the plan.”
	“This is not up for debate, events are already in action.”

* * * * *

	“Why weren’t we told Eric was going to be moved, sir?”  Tyler asked.
	“It was a rushed job, Colonel.”  General Powell answered.  “The Division Generals met and decided 
Arctic Fury should be moved to an Intelligence Division facility where he’ll be questioned before the 
Ra’val want their turn with him.”
	“You still could have told my team, sir.”  The otter insisted.
	“Sorry Colonel, but we’ve been busy with the missions, and with General Masters on leave I didn’t 
have time for such formalities.”
	“Yeah, about that.  When’s my team going back out there?”  He asked with a movement of his paw.
	“Not for at least a week.  After the unconventional events Alpha Team has been through, you all 
have to undergo full psychological examinations.  And being the leader of your team, you get to go 
first.  You’ll find an Atlas waiting in the launch bay.”
	“Yes, General.”  He said in a less than enthusiastic tone.
	Tyler left his superior’s office and headed straight for the lift.  On his way he bumped into Jade 
coming out of the lift, she was on her way to her lab.  She was clutching another piece of otherwise 
useless electronics to add to her collection.
	“Back to your family, sir?”  Jade asked, checking to see her gadget hadn’t broken when they 
collided.
	“Nope.  Tests, tests and wonderful tests.”  He stepped into the elevator and pressed a button for 
the top sub-level.  “Looking forward to yours?”
	Before Jade could answer the lift doors shut, leaving her slightly confused.  She didn’t know about 
any tests.
	She continued onto her lab.  Wil was standing over the otter’s desk, examining a sheet of technical 
scans that had been taken of her own body.  The cyfur ferret had pretty much moved into Jade’s lab, 
not that either minded, her stasis chamber was in one corner and Wil did the majority of her work 
from one of Jade’s many computer terminals.  She looked up and smiled before returning to her 
schematics.
	Still confused, Jade asked.  “Have you heard anything about tests?”
	“I just did a few more MRI examinations of myself.”  Wil said, holding up a folder of results.  “Is 
that what you’re talking about?”
	“No, no.”  She shook her head.  “I just passed Tyler, he was on his way out of the base.  I asked if 
he was on his way home, and he said something about ‘wonderful test’.”
	“I don’t know, sorry.  Maybe General Powell will know.”
	“I’ll go and ask.”  She placed the electronic device on a workbench.  “Here’s the optical-phase 
scanner you wanted, why exactly did you want it?”
	“Well, I’ve found that the extent of my cybernetics implants isn’t finite.  Additions and 
modifications can be made to my structure.  And I thought, who better to do the work than me.  
After all, it takes perfection to make perfection.”  She finished with a grin.
	“You’re turning out to be a modest little life form, aren’t ya?”  Jade said playfully.
	“When will you just call me a fur or a Terran?”  Wil asked back, slightly miffed by the life form 
remark.
	“When you lose your superiority complex.”  Jade teased.  “I’m going to see General Powell.”  She 
walked through the underground complex on the way towards the General’s office.  She knocked 
timidly on the door, not wanting to disturb him.
	“Excuse me, sir?”
	“Yes?”  He looked up from his computer.  “Ah, Ellis, what is it?”
	“Have we got any tests or exams planned that I haven’t been told about?”  She asked.
	“No, Second Lieutenant.  I’m sorry but you’ll have to leave, I’m very busy.”
	“Yes, sir.”  And quickly left him in peace.

* * * * *

	Shortly after takeoff, Tyler wandered across the crew lounge of the Atlas.  He accessed a 
videophone, dialling his home number.  He wanted to tell Lorna that he’d be late home, _again_.  He 
growled at the glass device when a message reading ‘transmitter assembly malfunction’ appeared 
where he’d hope to see the image of his wife or son.
	He stepped out into the narrow corridor which ran along the spine of the transport ship, leaning 
against the closer wall when the vessel passed through a patch of turbulence.  The door to the 
cockpit slid open and Tyler approached the single pilot.
	“There anywhere onboard I can make a call?”  The otter asked.
	“Sorry, sir.  Our transceiver’s been on the blink since we left the hanger.  You’ll have to wait until 
we land.”
	“How long?”
	“Half an hour, forty five minutes at most.”
	Tyler sighed deeply, there was nothing interesting to do on a transport ship.

* * * * *

	Jade had returned to her lab, she hadn’t said anything since her arrival and just started fiddling 
with circuit board.  Wil hadn’t moved from where she sat, still leafing through pages about herself, 
she watched Jade’s agitated behaviour.  The last straw was when the otter huffily dropped the 
board onto the worktop.
	“Okay.  What’s wrong, did General Powell say we had tests?”
	“No.”
	“Then what?”
	“The Colonel definitely said that I would have a test of some sort, he asked if I was looking 
forward to mine.”
	“But you don’t know anything about it.”
	“Right.  And when I asked General Powell, he said I didn’t and was unusually distracted.”
	“By what?”
	“I don’t know, he asked me to leave almost as soon as I got there.”
	“He’s a General, doesn’t he have the right to be busy?”  Wil asked, trying to calm her down.
	“He’s always managed to make time in the past.”  Jade stressed.
	“Have you tried asking Tyler?  Maybe he was joking with you.”  The ferret offered.
	“I tried contacting him after I left the General’s office.  I couldn’t get hold of him, apparently he 
flew off somewhere on the base’s Atlas.  Someone’s hiding something.”
	“What can we do about it?”  Wil’s attention now completely diverted from her scans.
	“I don’t know, don’t you have any ideas?”  Jade asked hopefully.
	“Don’t look at me, you seem to be the conspiracy theorist in the room.”
	“This isn’t funny, Wil.”  The otter barked.
	“Alright, sorry.”  She took a breath and thought for a second.  “Where was the Atlas going?”
	“The flight plan was erased.”
	“Okay.  If he made a call, we could track the origin of the signal and estimate a trajectory.  
Where would he have called?”
	“His wife.”  Jade answered with enthusiasm, picking up on Wil’s idea.
	“Field trip?”
	“Let’s go.”

* * * * *

	The Atlas finally touched down on a landing pad outside the psychiatric hospital after what had 
felt like hours for the thoroughly bored otter.  Almost immediately after getting out of the 
transport ship a male squirrel appeared at the otter’s side, he began talking away with Tyler barely 
paying attention.
	“Welcome Tyler is it, Dr Krendel is waiting for you.”
	“Yeah, whatever.”  Tyler said dismissively.  “Is there a phone around, I need to make a call.”
	“Sorry, but Dr Krendel is expecting you, he’s a very busy man and we shouldn’t leave him waiting.”
	He sighed.  “Fine.”
	Tyler was lead down a few white-washed corridors, it was a large and very imposing building which 
it seemed would be easy to get lost in.  Eventually they arrived outside the right door, the squirrel 
left Tyler standing there.  He knocked on the door and after a few seconds a few came back.
	“Please come in.”
	Tyler entered.  The room was completely unlike the corridors outside, it had a very old feel to it.  
All the furniture was built from a dark oak wood with a thick, heavy style.  Along two of the walls 
spanned huge bookcases, both laden with weighty leather-bound volumes on psychiatric works.  On 
the other two walls were various paintings of nothing in particular and a couple of ink blotch tests.  
There was a couch, a few leather chairs and a large desk behind which sat a man in a neatly pressed 
grey suit.
	Seeing the otter checking his surroundings, Dr Krendel commented.  “It’s designed after a time 
period from human history, long before furs were created.”
	“And here’s me thinking it was just old fashioned.”  Tyler remarked.
	“Would you like to take a seat?”  He gestured towards one of the chairs in front of his desk.
	Tyler, instead, stretched out on the cream-fabric couch and propped himself up on an elbow to 
speak to the doctor.  “I thought the idea was to be comfortable.”
	“Very well.”  He said, pulling a chair across the room so he could sit beside the couch.
	“So, Doc Krendel…”
	“Jacob will suffice.”  He corrected the otter.
	“Whatever, let me get this straight.”  Tyler got up from the couch and began looking along one of 
the bookshelves at the row after row of books.  “You guys get people in here to speak about their 
problems, then you recite a little of that Fred…”
	“Freud.”  He corrected again.
	“Whatever, then you talk away their problems and let them leave and get back to their new and 
improved lives.”
	“I suppose that could summarise what we do here.”  Jacob said thoughtfully.
	“Great, I’m off then.”  Tyler said, already heading for the door.
	“Wait, what makes you think you can just leave?”
	“You see, I don’t have any problems to talk about, so we’re pretty much done here.”
	“I have to complete a full psychiatric profile on you for your Division General, I won’t be able to do 
that if you leave.”
	“Do you think I’m like, nuts or something?”
	“Not yet, we’ve only just met.  But I can tell that you are impatient and lacking in concentration.”
	“Hey, I get along fine in life.”  Tyler said, slightly insulted by the remark even if he knew it was 
true.  “I don’t need to talk about problems I don’t have.”
	“How about you let me be the judge of that.”  Jacob stood up and went to his desk, retrieving 
several files from one of the drawers.  “Reading over your mission reports, I see that you have 
experienced some very unusual events as the leader of Alpha Team.  This could have deep 
psychological effects that may not become evident for years after today.”  He patted the back of 
one of the leather chairs at the desk.  “So, please, have a seat and then I’ll be able to ensure your 
ability to continue your work.”
	“Whatever.”  Tyler laid back down on the couch.  “Just make this quick.”

* * * * *

	After a short drive, Jade and Wil pulled up outside Tyler’s country home.  The engine powered 
down and the two got out the car.  They looked over the driveway and the front of the house.  
Lorna’s car was sitting in its usual position on the dust track, around it were an unusual amount of 
deep tyre tracks.  Some of the plants in the front garden had been trampled, in their place were 
many footprints.  The pair walked up to the door, it was closed and locked with no evidence of it 
being forced.  Jade pressed the doorbell, they waited and got no response.  She tried again, still 
nothing.
	“Mrs Roe, Danny!”  She banged on the door with a clenched fist.  “Hello?!”  She turned to Wil.  
“Check round back.”  As the ferret jogged around the house, Jade took a palm computer from the 
pocket of her jeans, now that they were away from the base they had to wear civilian clothing.  Using 
the small device, she quickly overcame the keycard lock and stepped into the main room of Tyler’s 
home.
	The first thing she noticed was the television had been left on, it was on a sports channel where 
they were now giving a rundown of the scores in all the latest sporting events.  Next things was a 
distinct burning smell, she traced it to the oven, discovering a tray of severely burnt cakes.  Nothing 
seemed missing or out of place, it appeared that the house had just been abandoned.  Then Wil came 
in from the bedroom corridor.
	“You’d better come see this.”  She said solemnly.
	Jade followed Wil along the corridor.  She noticed the backdoor had been smashed off its hinges 
and now lay broken on the ground.  There was a small blackened hole about two-thirds up the door 
leading to the main bedroom.  Opening the door they could see that the window had been smashed 
and the remains were scattered around the room.  In one corner was a laser pistol which Wil checked 
to find had only been fired once.
	“It appears we have a bigger problem on our paws.”  Wil said.
	“Oh yeah.”  She looked around them at the devastation that someone had wreaked.  “Are there 
any clues to who would have done this?”
	“Not that I can see.”
	“I’ll have to run a scan on this gun for fingerprints.”  Jade said, taking the weapon from the 
ferret.  “Maybe that’ll help.”
	“Lorna Roe, that’s who the fingerprints belong to.”
	“You can see them?”  Jade asked in surprise, but considering who she was talking to probably 
shouldn’t have been.
	Wil nodded in response, then asked.  “Now what are we going to do?”
	“Normally I’d call in a team from the base to search for anything of use.”
	“But?”
	“But, I think someone on base is in on this.”  She said with concern.
	“Who, General Powell?”  Wil asked dubiously.
	“It could be, it would explain his change in behaviour.”  Jade said pensively.
	“Isn’t this all a little farfetched?”
	“Do you have any better ideas?”  Jade asked back.
	“No.”
	“I’ll go check the telephone records, you check for any clues or other pointers we could use to get 
to the bottom of this.”  Wil nodded her understanding and began a careful search of the room.
	Jade went back to the main room and turned off the television, switching it to telephone mode 
and began searching through the most recent inbound calls.  But the last call wasn’t from Tyler, it 
was from someone named George, a name she didn’t recognise.
	Wil returned from the bedroom.  “Judging by the depth and shape of the prints in the carpet, I 
can tell that all but one set belong to human males.”
	“And the other?”  Jade knew the answer but asked just to confirm.
	“Otter, female.”
	“Anything else?”
	“Nothing.  What about you, did you find what you were looking for?”
	“No, the Colonel hasn’t called here today.  The last call was from a man named George…”
	“Human male, co-owns a local museum with Lorna Roe.”
	“Are you just a walking database?”  Jade asked, quite astounded by Wil’s knowledge.
	“I thought it would be helpful to memorise important facts about my new team mates and their 
families, their hobbies and their interests.”
	“Okay.  So using your _expert_ knowledge, is there anything you can suggest?”
	“We have to find Colonel Roe.”

* * * * *

	“Tell me about the incident with Eric Draks’ attempted escape and the computer program 
‘Wildfire’…”  Jacob said.
	“It’s all in the missions reports.”  Tyler said airily, utterly bored by the doctors constant 
questions.
	“…and you’re feelings about nearly losing Second Lieutenant Ellis.”
	Tyler growled.  “We have been through this already.”  He roughly ran his paws down his muzzle, 
messing up his whiskers, they had been going in circles for what felt like days.
	“How do you feel about working side by side with the entity that nearly killed your team mate?”  
He asked, not taking any notice of the otter’s annoyance.
	“We get along fine.”
	“Do…”
	“Stop.”  Tyler interrupted.  “Before I ask anymore questions, I’m going to call my wife.”  He got up 
and moved for the door.
	“Colonel, I have other patients to attend to, so the sooner we get done here the sooner I can 
attend to them.  Please sit down.”
	“I doubt that, with all the time you’ve been wasting with me.”
	“We haven’t been wasting our time together, I have nearly finished your evaluation.”
	“Great stuff, then you won’t mind me skipping a couple of minutes.”
	“Colonel, sit down.”  He commanded in a border-line harsh tone.
	“Why is it so important that I don’t speak to my family?”  He asked suspiciously, something finally 
clicked in his mind.
	“What gives you that idea?  I would just like to finish our session together.”
	“No, earlier you made excuses that kept me in here, on the Atlas the transmitter _mysteriously_ 
broke after takeoff and when I arrived I was rushed past the phones.”
	“Hmm.”  Jacob murmured.
	“Hmm, what?”  Tyler snapped.
	“Have you ever had paranoid delusions in the past, besides those involving Eric Draks?”
	“I am not delusional.”  Tyler stopped his exit, his paw resting on the doorknob.  “Why would…no, no, 
no, no, no.”  The otter waved his paws around as he cleared his head.  “This is what you did before, 
you’d make up something to make me stay.  Not this time.”  He twisted the knob and exited out into 
the plain white corridor.
	“Colonel, stop!  Don’t make me call security.”  Jacob warned.
	Tyler quickened his pace as he heard the doctor live up to his threat.  Unfortunately for him, 
every corridor looked the same, white and lined with door after door.  Two guards turned a corner at 
the head of the corridor in front of him, he quickly turned down another hallway to avoid getting 
caught.  He walked straight into the squirrel guide from earlier.  He tried to run off, but Tyler 
grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, pulling him back.
	“What have you been told about me?”  Tyler asked harshly.
	“Th…that you’re delusional and violent.”  The squirrel quivered in his grasp.
	“Show me a way out of here, or I’ll live up to what you’ve been told.”  He threatened.
	The poor squirrel gulped visibly and nervously nodded, he led Tyler through the hospital to a side 
entrance.  He hastily opened the door and stood still, hoping the otter wouldn’t kill him now that he 
had got what he wanted.
	“If anyone asks after me, tell them you haven’t seen me.  Got it?”
	He nodded.
	“Then go.”  They both ran off in opposite directions.
	Tyler returned to the Atlas.  The pilot was standing at the foot of the ramp leading into the 
cockpit, with him was Dr Krendel no doubt talking about how insane he was.  After a few moments the 
doctor left.  Tyler, almost casually, walked up to the pilot.
	Noticing the approaching otter, the pilot started.  “Hey, aren’t you…”
	Tyler winded him with a fist to the stomach and knocked him out with an elbow to the head.  He 
dragged the pilot’s body up the ramp and dumped it in one of the side rooms off the main corridor.  
He went to the crew lounge and, as he suspected, the transmitter array was working perfectly again.
	He dialled his home number, hoping to see his wife’s face.

* * * * *

	“That leads me back to, how?”  Jade insisted.
	Before Wil could answer, a chime from the television rang through the room.  The pair walked over 
to the screen, Jade found the remote hidden under a cushion and pressed a button to answer the 
call.  Tyler’s face appeared on the glass screen.
	“Sir.”  Jade said in surprise.
	“We found him.”  Wil whispered in her ear.
	“Shh.”  She turned her attention back to Tyler.  “Where are you?”
	“The Confederation mental hospital in Norway.  More importantly, why are you in my house and 
where is my family?”
	Jade and Wil looked to each other briefly before Jade answered.  “We came looking for you, sir.  
As for your family, there’s been some sort of break in and they’re missing.”
	“What?”  Tyler asked in disbelief.  “Why?”
	“We think there’s a conspiracy against you.”  Wil answered.  “Have you been given any kind of 
demands?”
	“Nope, I’ve just spent some quality time with some doctor who wants to make me admit to being 
delusional.  And now they’re after me, they probably want to drug me up and throw me in a nicely 
padded room.”
	“Maybe someone’s trying to get you decommissioned or discharged.”  Wil suggested.
	“Who, Eric?”  Jade offered.
	“No, he wouldn’t use humans in any of his plans.”  Tyler disagreed.  “Unless it was to kill them, of 
course.”
	“I think General Powell may be in on it, sir.”  Jade said.
	“Why do you say that?”
	“He told you the team had tests?”
	“Yes.”
	“He told me there weren’t any, I think you were being singled out.”
	“Great stuff.  Have you got any solid evidence as to who did this?”
	“None.”  Wil reported.
	“Okay, you two get on a civilian transport and get over here ASAP.  Use your alternate IDs, and 
don’t tell anyone else who doesn’t already know.  We are going to catch whoever took my family, and 
if they’re hurt then I will _kill_ whoever took my family.”
	Neither Wil nor Jade doubted his words.

* * * * *

	Tyler deactivated the connection from within the Atlas.  He sat down on the metallic ledge which 
served as a chair in the crew lounge of the craft.  He was pensive as he analysed his situation.  He 
had a three fur team to find and rescue his missing family that he didn’t know their captors nor their 
location.  He stood up and kicked at the opposite wall in his anger.  He hated the feeling of 
helplessness that he felt now.  And to make things worse, now he had the security sections of every 
Division out to get him, just because he had been declared delusional by that damned psychiatrist.  
That’s it.
	Tyler hurried to the equipment room of the Atlas and retrieved a palm computer, leaving 
everything else as he left the transport and returned into the hospital the same way as he had 
escaped.  There at the exit he found the squirrel again, this time with two of the security guards.  At 
seeing the otter’s arrival they immediately reacted, one grabbed for a pistol and the other went for 
a set of cuffs.  Tyler lashed out with a left, catching the weapon with his swing and sending it 
hurtling away.  His right caught the other guard in the jaw, knocking him out.  He kicked at the first 
one’s legs and tripped him, the force of his landing rendered him unconscious as well.  He turned his 
attention to the squirrel who immediately blurted out.
	“I didn’t tell them I swear.  Please don’t kill me.”  He pleaded.
	“Shut up.”  Tyler snapped.  “I’m not going to kill you.  But I do need your help.”
	“M…me?”
	“You’re going to get me civilian clothing.”
	“What if I called for help?”  He said, trying to seem brave.
	“Go ahead, just see how long it takes you to wind up like them.”  Tyler gestured to the fallen 
guards.
	The squirrel wisely shut his muzzle and guided him to a store room, making sure to avoid being 
seen the entire way.  Tyler entered with the squirrel right behind him.  Inside were many white 
cardboard boxes stacked high on metal racks.  The squirrel pulled one out and opened it, revealing a 
pile of clothing and several other personal items within.
	“A patient’s stuff?”
	“It’s the best I can do, honest.”  He was still fearful of the otter.
	“Don’t these belong to somebody who’s sick?”  Tyler asked, not sure if he wanted to touch the 
clothing being presented to him.
	“Mental illness isn’t contagious.”  The squirrel said knowingly.
	“A smart little guide aren’t you?”  He asked, almost sarcastically.  At the same time he pulled the 
clothes from the box and began getting changed
	“I’m training to work as a physiatrist here.”  He looked away as the otter removed his grey 
overalls.
	“Really?  What’s your name?”
	“Martin.”
	“Well, Martin…”  He had now finished changing, he placed his Division assigned clothing back in the 
box.  “…you can go now.  And remember…”
	“I never saw you.”  Martin took the opportunity and left, locking the door behind him and running 
off to security.
	Tyler smiled to himself, so the squirrel wasn’t as gutless as he’d guessed.  It didn’t matter to him, 
he never planned to leave that way.  He looked to the roof, there was what he needed, a ventilation 
grille.  He climbed up one of the racks and sat atop of it, he slid a small knife out of his boot and 
used it to unscrew the bolts keeping the cover on the roof.  One by one they fell with a metallic clink 
onto the rack top, eventually the grille came off in his paws.  He clambered into the duct, after a bit 
of a struggle he was in.
	He figured that if he went in one direction long enough he’d come to the edge of the building, then 
he could crawl his way around the perimeter until he came to where he wanted to be.  So he hoped as 
he started off.  Soon he did come to an edge, he chose to go right and continued.  After taking three 
more rights he realised he should have gone left, but it didn’t matter he arrived above Dr Krendel’s 
office.  He watched him through the grille which he’d noticed earlier.
	He was using his computer as a telephone, from the angle Tyler couldn’t make out the person’s 
face.
	“I’ve finished my evaluation of Colonel Roe, so you requested I have found him both delusional and 
violent, a danger to himself and those around him.  I have completed all of the appropriate forms 
indicating this.  As soon as he is found he will be discharged and assigned a padded room for the rest 
of his life.”
	“It’s what he deserves.”  Responded the voice at the other end of the phone, Tyler recognised it 
instantly as General Powell.
	“I’ll contact you again when he’s apprehended.”
	“Well done, doctor.”
	Dr Krendel pressed a button to hang up on the General then began dialling someone else.  The 
connection was made, but again Tyler couldn’t see the face.
	“It’s done.”  He said simply.
	“Good.”  A male voice that Tyler couldn‘t identify.
	The psychiatrist hung up.  He sat back in his chair and seemed to be considering what to do now, 
after a few moments he stood and left the room.
	Tyler immediately went to work on the screws that secured the ventilation cover to the roof.  It 
fell to the ground, Tyler carefully slid out the gap feet and tail first.  He held onto the edge of the 
opening and swung himself back and forth, he released and landed just in front of the desk.  He 
plugged the computer into the palm one he’d brought from the Atlas, using it he tracked the last two 
calls made by the doctor.  The first was indeed to the S.O. Division Base and was patched to General 
Powell’s office. The second was to Nevada, the former Area 52.  Tyler was surprised by that, the 
‘secret’ base had been closed after some of the more secret secrets had been publicly exposed.  It 
had never been reopened, not officially anyway.

* * * * *

	Having flown to Norway and following all of Tyler’s instructions to secrecy, Wil and Jade had 
made their way to meet Tyler a few kilometres away from the hospital where he’d moved the Atlas.  
Now the craft was flying on autopilot across the Atlantic Ocean at a literal rate of knots.
	The three furs had gathered in the equipment room and were preparing.  They were taking 
everything they usually needed and then some because they were only half a team, they had no 
backup and no intelligence on what to expect.  All they did have was the maps of the Nevada base and 
threat of hostages against them.
	After a few hours in flight, spent mostly in pensive silence, they touched down right onto of the 
base.  Sweeps of the area had shown no sensor or surveillance equipment monitoring the topside of 
the base, probably to avoid the base becoming exposed as active once again, so it was perfectly safe 
to land so close.  The three of them stepped from the Atlas, all they saw around themselves was 
golden-dusty desert.
	Jade began counting steps from the exit of the transport ship, walking in a perfectly straight line.
	“What are you doing?”  Tyler asked.
	She held up her paw, concentrating too hard to speak as she continued walking evenly.
	“The console is two steps back and one to your right.”  Wil said.
	Jade turned to look at her in a mixture of surprise and annoyance.
	“How can you see it from all the way over there?”
	“Ocular implants and enhancers.”  She answered, almost self-consciously at being caught doing 
more self-modification.
	“Perfection?”  Jade asked.
	“Something like that.”  Wil shrugged.
	“Ladies.”  Tyler interrupted them.  “I don’t care what you’re talking about, just get us in here.”
	“Sorry, sir.”  Jade apologised.
	At the same time Wil went to where she had indicated the console to be, she brushed away the 
sand and underneath was a metal handle.  She pulled at it and twisted before forcing it back into the 
socket.  The panel rotated around to reveal a glass control screen in the place of the handle.
	“This is tied into their computer system, so as soon as I activate this they’ll know we’re here.”  Wil 
cautioned.
	“We haven’t got a choice.”  Tyler responded.  “Do it.”
	The ground shuddered at Wil’s command, slowly at first it began to lower under the sand.  At the 
edges of the lowering area the fine sand rushed downwards into the presently unknown, exposing 
metal edges to the lowering platform and on ground level.  Luckily the forward landing strut of the 
Atlas was just out of reach of the descending platform, it remained safe on the surface which was 
now out of sight.  The walls of the shaft were pitch black, so the three furs had no idea how far they 
had travelled.
	Finally the platform came to a stop, one so abrupt they were all knocked to the floor.  The 
designers of the lift had failed to take into account the build up of sand topside, it had gathered 
underneath the metal they stood on and had halted their descent near the bottom.  From where he 
lay, Tyler could see the top couple of feet of a closed doorway on one of the walls.  He crawled over 
to it and forced his knife into the slit between the two doors.  He twisted the knife, trying to 
enlarge the opening, but the blade snapped and he fell to one side.  Jade and Wil crawled over to 
where he was, the cyfur ferret spoke up.
	“Shall I?”  She offered.
	“Can you?”  Tyler asked.
	“I can give it a try.”  She said as she sat on her ankles in front of the door.  With a hugely 
powerful thrust she pushed her right paw an inch into the door and did the same with her left.  She 
strained, trying to push her arms apart.  Her tendons grew tense and pressed out under her fur, her 
claws clenched into the metal.  Her breathing grew fast and rough.  She growled out with the effort.  
The door moved millimetre by millimetre, but it resisted her at every step.  Tyler and Jade could 
have sworn they heard the mechanised parts of her straining within her.  Her body relaxed and she 
slumped back, leaving fist and raking claw marks in the metal.
	“I’m sorry, it’s too strong.”  She conceded.
	“That’s solid titanium alloy.”  Tyler said in amazement, he ran his paws over the indent in the door.
	“Yes.”  Wil confirmed, her strength rapidly returning.
	“Not even a paw grenade could do this sort of damage.”
	“It wasn’t enough.”  Wil squeezed her paw into the gap she’d made, there was not chance of anyone 
fitting through such a small space.  But at the sight of her right paw gave her an idea.  “I could use 
another of my adaptations to get through this, my shield should work.”
	“I thought that thing was for reflecting laser blasts.”  Tyler said.
	“It is, when directed energy strikes my shield it is reflected.”  Wil explained.  “When matter 
strikes, under the same principles of matter-energy conversion in pads, it becomes energy which can 
be used to recharge my batteries.  So I can use this door as an electrical outlet.”
	“You have batteries, and you can use metal doors and electrical outlets?”  Tyler’s voice was almost 
mocking.  “You sound like a kitchen appliance.”
	She ignored the comment and prepared herself, her right paw was still in the gap between the 
doors, she angled it to run parallel to the door and placed her left paw behind it.  She closed her 
eyes, but their movement under her eyelids could still be seen by Tyler and Jade.  She took in a deep 
breath, held it and as she slowly released it the pale glow appeared in her palm.  The light shot 
forward then slowly expanded outwards, it ate through the door with ease.  When Wil had finished 
there was a cylindrical hole that ran straight through to the opposite side.  Wil breathed heavily, 
pressing her paw against the side of her head to try and stop it spinning.  Her body wavered as if she 
were drunk.
	“Wow, what a rush.”  She gasped out.
	“Can you keep going?”  Tyler asked, eager to get inside.
	“Yes.”  She said, her poise and balance quickly returning.
	Tyler took the lead, sliding footpaws first through the door.  As soon as he touched the ground, 
alarms began blaring.  Jade and Wil hit the ground running after Tyler, who was already making his 
way down the corridor they were in now.  The complex was five floors, most of which was storage 
rooms and corridors, there was no designated detention area nor crew quarters so they had no idea 
where to start.  Each door they checked they were greeted with storage area after storage area, 
either empty or loaded with unmarked crates, the same happened for every room on the first floor.  
Guards began appearing around every corridor, everyone of them human and most of them male.
	In the first room of the next level down they found a laboratory, most of the equipment seemed 
used, blood on syringe tips, emptied vials and bottles of chemicals and discarded lab coats in a 
corner.  In the centre was an operating table, lying on top was the last person Tyler wanted to see, 
Eric Draks.  Tyler approached the arctic fox as Jade and Wil guarded the door.  Eric jerked on the 
bed, restraints kept him nearly still though.  His eyes locked onto the advancing otter’s as if he were 
transfixed.
	“Stay back!”  He yelled.  He laughed madly and jerked against the restraints again, his face was 
contorted as if he were in pain.  “Stay back.”  His voice now barely above a whimper.
	“Where is my family?”  Tyler asked.
	He twitched slightly in response.
	“Where are they?!”  He demanded, prepared to run up and grab the fox by the scruff of his neck 
and beat it out of him despite his pathetic looking state.
	“Stay back!”  His voice back up to a shout.
	“Why?”  Tyler spat the word.
	“If you touch me.”  He closed his eyes tight and strained his body.  “I’ll infect you.”
	“Who did this?”
	“The humans.”  His eyes locked with Tyler’s again.  Now the otter was closer he could see they 
were bloodshot and tired.  “They want to kill us.”
	“Where is my family?”  He asked again.
	“A cage.”
	“Where is it?”
	“Forth floor, storage room.”  Eric managed.
	Tyler turned, now he had the information he needed he could do what he came here for, to rescue 
his wife and kit.  But in mid-turn the reality around him changed, after a wave of nausea washed away 
he took bearings of where he was.  He was standing on a slightly raised circular platform, the glow 
from which had only just dissipated.  The room around him seemed somehow undersized, everything 
was smaller and the roof was lower, his headfur nearly touching it.  At a console stood a Ra’val.
	“I am Kal’Darna, commander of the Ra’val cruiser Vora.”  It said.
	“How, there wasn’t a bright light or anything.”
	“Modifications have been made to the long-range tranlocaters of this cruiser, a consequence of 
this is the loss of tertiary enhancer array which is responsible for the light you see.”  It explained 
flatly.  “We are here to retrieve Arctic Fury, he is in the complex and we must take him.”
	“You can scan that structure I was just in?”
	“Yes.”
	“How many people can you translocate…”  He had to sound out the word.  “…at once?”
	“Our current capacity is four hundred and thirty seven Terran humanoids.”
	“I need you to take everyone from that base and bring them to this ship.  The furs are to be sent 
here and the humans have to be detained.”  Tyler demanded.
	“For what purpose?”
	“Please, both my family and my friends are in danger down there, and another who’s not so 
important.”
	“Very well.”  It manipulated the console it was stood in front of.  Behind Tyler his family 
materialised, Lorna‘s cheek fur had been matted with tears and Danny was asleep in her arms.  He 
slung his rifle over his shoulder and went to their side.
	“Tyler?“  She said with surprise.  “How did you get here?”  She looked around herself, this wasn’t 
where she and Danny were a few seconds ago.  “Where is here?”
	Eric Draks appeared next, lying peacefully beside the family.  Kal’Darna walked over to stand over 
him.
	“What’s he doing here?”  Lorna asked.
	“Sensors show Arctic Fury has been subjected to extensive experimentation and exposed to many 
biochemical agents, the translocaters have removed all of these from his bloodstream.”
	“It can talk.”  Lorna said in astonishment, she’d never seen anything like the creature standing 
beside them.
	Finally Jade and Wil were there too, they must have been in a fire fight since Wil fired one last 
shot which was absorbed by the wall it struck.  They looked around themselves at their new 
surroundings.
	“Colonel.”  Jade exclaimed.  “Where are we?”
	“Colonel?”  Lorna looked straight at her husband.  “You’re a Colonel?”
	“The humans have been detained as you requested.”  Kal’Darna spoke, completely ignoring Lorna’s 
near-hysterical questions.  “Is there a location you desire them to be taken, or shall they remain 
where they are presently?”
	“Take us the S.O. Base.”  Tyler answered.
	“Where’s that?”  She asked.
	“Very well.”  It responded.
	“Just everyone shut up!”  Lorna yelled, all eyes fell on her.  “What the hell is going on?”
	“I’ll explain everything later, I promise.”  Tyler assured her.

* * * * *

	The crew quarters rooms were plain and sparsely furnished, a small table with two chairs and a 
bunk bed.  Tyler and Lorna sat opposite each other at the table and Danny was sitting on the top 
bunk looking down at the two.  Tyler had to fill in General Masters, who had returned early in light of 
recent events, but first he had to explain to his wife that he’d lied to her for a long time.
	“So, to recap.”  Lorna said.  “You are an officer and weapons specialist of a top-secret Division of 
the Confederation.  You and your team of five others are charged with the mission of using stealth 
and covert operations to destroy threats to the Confederation and the general population of the 
worlds within.  There are two factions you have to deal with, firstly the rebel furs who want to kill 
the humans, and the rebel humans who want to do the opposite.  But you have taken out the second 
and apprehended the prior’s leader.  In doing this you have been all over this world and others too, 
including one’s inhabited by bug-like aliens, on ships which you have met friendly little aliens.  And all 
this time we thought you were in a room somewhere concentrating on some mission reports from the 
Military Division.”  She took a deep breath, awaiting Tyler’s response.
	“That’s about it.”  He admitted.  “You have to know I always wanted to tell you.”
	“Cool.”  Danny piped up.  “My dad’s like a secret agent, you could be a fur James Bond.”  He 
bounced on the bed with excitement.
	“What about you, are you okay with it?”  Tyler asked his wife.
	“I don’t know, it’s a lot to go through in one day.”
	“Yeah, I’m still upset about it.”  He put on a sad face.  “Can I get a puppy?”
	“No.”  They said in unison.
	“We already have little furry thing that makes a huge amount of mess.”  Lorna added, she looked 
back to Tyler.  “You risk your life in more _unbelievable_ ways than I could imagine.  And you want 
me to just be okay with that?”
	“Yes.”  Tyler said simply.
	“Have you ever killed anyone?”  Danny asked.
	“Yes, but they were all bad.”  Tyler answered.
	“What if you had been killed?”  She asked.
	“You would have been told I died in an accident.  But now you know, they wouldn’t lie to you.”  He 
said honestly.
	“You would rather risk your life than be at home?”
	“You always knew I did something I believed in, and you were happy with that.”
	“I am, but you regularly come face to face with death.”
	“And I’ve always come home and no-one in my team has died.”  He stood up and went to the door.  
“I have to see General Masters, I’ll let you think everything through.  If you need anything at all, just 
speak to the Private outside the door.”  He left and closed the door behind him.  The Private outside 
stiffened and saluted as he passed, Tyler returned a half-hearted salute back as he hurried on.
	General Master was behind her desk reading reports when Tyler entered.  He stood in front of 
the desk as she began to speak.
	“It appears you’ve had an eventful time in my absence.”
	“Yes, ma’am, that’s one way of putting it.”  Tyler responded.
	“It seems you have been deemed mentally unfit to serve in the Confederation, lucky for you the 
psychiatric evaluation has been rescinded.  Because of your efforts in rescuing your family you 
managed not only to find the base of an otherwise unknown anti-fur organisation, but to apprehend 
everyone of them.”
	“With a little help from the Ra’val, ma’am.”  He added.
	“Either way, out people are now checking the base to find what happened there.  At the moment 
they think it was being used to produce viral agents in the same way Arctic Fury was in the Amazon.  
Using the computer data stored there, we have uncovered nearly forty people in the Confederation 
who were in league with this group, including General Powell.”
	“What about Dr Krendel?”  Tyler asked.
	“He has been detained with the others, he was replaced by…”  She scanned down her file.  
“…Martin Forsyth.”
	“Heh, good for him.”  Tyler remarked.
	“You know him?”  She asked.
	“We bumped into each other once or twice.”  He paused.  “Ma’am, what’s going to happen to my 
family?”
	“Do you believe they can keep your secret?”  She asked back.
	“Yes.”  He said without a doubt.
	“Then they can return home, when you do.”  General Masters answered.  “But I have to warn you, if 
they breach our security they will be imprisoned.”  The same was said for anyone that revealed these 
secrets.
	“Can I ask a favour, ma’am?”
	“What is it, Colonel?”
	“I would like my wife to have access to this base.”  It was almost too absurd for him to ask.
	“What?!”  She couldn’t believe what she’d heard.  “Do you know how big a breach in protocol that 
would be.”
	“I realise that, ma’am.  But she’s finding it hard to accept what it is I do, if she could just meet 
my team, it would help.  She’d never need to be privy to classified information.”  He pleaded.
	“This base is classified information!”  She bellowed.
	“She already knows it’s here, she’d never have to see anything classified within these walls.  Just 
to let her know she can be apart of my life.”
	General Masters just stared at him, Tyler hoped she was thinking it over.
	“I will discuss it with the other Division Generals.”  She said finally.  “For now, go home.  Your 
team has been through far too much recently.”
	Tyler saluted and went for the door.
	“And Colonel, I wish all the best for you and your family.”  She turned her attention back to the 
paperwork on her desk.
	Tyler knew he should feel good about life, Eric Draks was safely in the custody of the Ra’val.   The 
formerly unknown anti-fur organisation had been uncovered and completely striped down with all 
their agents in the Confederation being exposed.  Military Division had destroyed or apprehended all 
but a pawful of the rebel furs, so the war was finally over.  His family now knew what he really did 
and how important it is.  Hopefully his request would be granted and Lorna would be able to once 
again become part of his life.  Yet somehow he felt troubled…



Look out for more instalments still to come.
Any questions, comments, suggestions?  E-mail me, ralcor1@hotmail.com
If you want to read more of my writings, check out my website at furnation; www.furnation.com/Ralcor