Kitty Katt 11: Alien Separation (10 page)

T
O HIS GREAT CREDIT,
Christopher didn't snarl at me for this one. He just shot Patented Glare #4 at me and Chuckie, probably because we were both still snickering.

“Is there a plan past sleeping together?” Chuckie looked around. “Because while it's lovely here, I don't think we're going to be able to stay here too long.”

“I don't either, unless this question is answered in the positive—do we get to eat?” Christopher asked quietly. “Because it's been a long time since lunch.”

“I'm not sure, and now isn't really the time for us to ask.” Due to having started my day in Australia and ended it in another solar system, I had no idea what time it was anywhere. “And at least you had food somewhere in there. Chuckie and I didn't get breakfast, and I can't speak for him, but I didn't get a lot of food in during the few minutes of briefing session before we started our latest Journey Into the Weird.”

Bruno clucked at us, then the three katyhoppers we'd been riding indicated we needed to mount up again. Once we were so mounted, they flew us up to a middle section of the gigantic nest apartment.

We dismounted, more antennae were waved about, then our katyhoppers hopped off, but not far.

Our family group of friendly helpers were housing with another young group of katyhoppers in the nest next to the one they put us in, and it was easy to see that the space was crowded.

Despite being made of branches and such, the nest was comfortable. Cramped if you were pony-sized, but comfortable. For us it was roomy. Once we settled down, Bruno shared some more.

“Those piles of leaves and such are their food,” I told the guys quietly. “They know we can't eat it, but they have no food for us and it's too dangerous to let us out to try to find food we can eat anyway.”

“How are they talking to Bruno?” Christopher asked. “I mean really? I wouldn't have guessed birds and insects to even be friendly, let alone able to communicate.”

“No idea. I'm willing to take the favors as they come to us, though.”

“He's smaller than they are,” Chuckie pointed out. “Meaning the butterflies or whatever they really are would be Bruno's prey, but not the katyhoppers. He's sentient, so are they. Though, honestly, I'd have expected the Poofs to be doing the communication. Though I couldn't tell you why.”

Considered this. “Maybe the Poofs are providing translation services.” Looked into my purse. Harlie and Poofikins shot me with their Standard Looks O' Innocence. “Yep, I'm right. Bruno had the natural skills—remember, he talks to a human all the time, and that's as different from an avian as an insect is—and anything else the Poofs are helping with.”

Meaning Algar was assisting, or at least the Poofs had decided that the Free Will Manifesto Algar lived by included keeping us all alive on an alien planet that was likely to be hostile territory. We got so few gimmes like this I was more than happy to take this one and just send a big Thanks For Doing Us A Solid out to the cosmos.

Since I was looking in it anyway, decided now was the time to take inventory. I carefully rifled through my purse's contents. I had a good helping of syringes filled with adrenaline, which would be great should we find Jeff and he need to be revived, but whose presence boded. I had my Glock and a lot of clips. I also had some food bars. I never carried food bars, and there were far more syringes of adrenaline than I had in here on a normal basis, so I was sure I'd find more needful things if I kept on digging.

However, I heard stomachs rumbling, and mine was one of them. “We have a small meal available to us, but no water.”

Bruno squawked quietly, then he flapped to the nest next door and had a quiet conversation. The katyhopper I'd been riding flew off and Bruno came back to us.

“Where is he going?” I asked.

“What do you mean ‘he'?” Christopher asked. “That's the pink one.”

“Yep and they don't have colors assigned to genders, because my katyhopper is the boy. You two are riding the girls.” Bruno hadn't told me this, I just knew it. Maybe the Poofs weren't helping Bruno all that much—maybe I was. Or maybe we all were. Maybe ACE was nearby and on the case. And maybe this was all a dream and I'd wake up under a tree and realize that Alice had nothing on me.

But no matter. Watched my katyhopper fly up into the trees. He came back down with three small fruits held in his front legs. He dropped them carefully into my lap and went off again. He came back two more times, so that we had nine of the fruits.

“Thank you so much, Pinky, we really appreciate it.”

Pinky rubbed his front legs together to create a pleasant hum. He waved his antennae at us, then he hopped back to the next-door nest.

“I'm not calling mine Yellowy,” Christopher muttered.

“Of course not. Yours is named Saffron.”

Chuckie grinned as Christopher rolled his eyes. “And mine? Sky? Turkey?”

“I think she'll like Turkey, so sure. Anyway, what Pinky brought us are called, I think, waterfruit, or this world's equivalent. They literally hold liquid more than fruit.”

“Is it safe for us to drink?” Chuckie asked. “I mean that seriously. We don't have the same physical makeup as an A-C, let alone a katyhopper.”

“I'll try it first,” Christopher said. “As long as it's not alcoholic, I should be fine.”

“But if it is, or if it metabolizes like that in your system, you'll be having seizures and we have no doctor around, let alone any medicine other than adrenaline. Meaning it's up to me.”

So saying I carefully used a fingernail to cut a hole in the purple skin of the fruit. As I did so, I took a deep sniff. “Smells like purple, the same purple from the trees. And it also smells like liquid. And no, I can't say why.”

“Maybe there's something in the atmosphere here that makes scents filter into the brain as an image,” Chuckie suggested.

“Maybe. Going to take a drink now. So, um, you know, be prepared for me to die and all that. Or not. Really hoping not.”

Sure I could have asked Bruno or one of the Poofs to try this, but they had different metabolisms than we did, too. Besides, they weren't my Royal Tasters. They were my pets.

Both guys looked worried and ready to argue. But we were hungry and thirsty, Chuckie was more likely to have read through medical journals for fun than I was, and Christopher was the fastest man alive.

“Down the hatch.” And with that, I took a sip.

R
ESISTED THE URGE
to fake dying—hard as it was, based on the guys' worried expressions—in no small part because I wasn't sure if the katyhoppers understood humor like we did and I didn't want them panicking.

“Tastes like purple. Not wine, not grape juice, but like liquid purple. It's really good. Do I look weird? Am I breaking out in spots or shrinking or growing or anything?”

“You're not
Alice in Wonderland
,” Chuckie said. “And, no. Thankfully, you look like you.” He sniffed. “Only you smell a little purple now.”

“Huh. I wonder if the water in this area is what causes all the monochromatic color theme around here along with all the good smells.”

Took another sip. The juice or whatever was really good. We waited a few minutes, but I remained me. The guys tried a fruit each—same thing. Tasted purple, none of us died. Handed out food bars, though Bruno and the Poofs passed on eating them. Shared the rest of my waterfruit with Bruno while the guys shared theirs with the Poofs. None of us suggested drinking down the six other fruits we had.

As we ate, night fell. Fast. The katyhoppers hadn't been exaggerating—it was dark by the time we'd finished and I could tell the temperature had already dropped some.

Once we'd eaten Bruno took the fruit skins in his beak and flew them down to the big piles. I shoved the empty wrappers into my purse—no reason to litter. I carefully put the waterfruit in my purse, too, using the wrappers to sort of pad them. They might be the only liquid we could find, and I knew without asking that none of us planned to stay here once daylight returned.

None of us were farmers, and I was as far away from an “early to bed, early to rise” type as you could get. However, the katyhoppers were settling down. And we were treated to a beautiful sight.

The darker it got, the brighter their young glowed. Being inside their hidden nest fortress at night made a lot of sense—why literally have a sign telling predators where your babies were? At least I hoped that no one who wasn't touching a katyhopper could get in here, or even see what was really in here. If they could get in, they'd be able to see all of us easily.

Decided the katyhoppers hadn't built this elaborate nesting complex in a day, and actively chose to relax.

The bright glowing didn't last long. As each baby went to sleep, its glow died down, leaving the lights turned low but not off. It was a lot like sleeping in standard A-C housing, where nightlights were always on in every room. Only in this world, the nightlights were dotted about, since not every family group had a young one. Wondered if the need for low light at night was something this solar system required for some reason, or if there were just more things hiding out here in the dark to be afraid of.

Couldn't tell if the adults were asleep or not, since I couldn't hear them breathing in the first place. And I didn't have a clue if katyhoppers breathed rhythmically when they slept anyway. But if they were asleep, they were silent sleepers who didn't move much. A quick wing flap here or there was all that I could spot, and those were fast, soft, and far between.

Heard a rustling that wasn't katyhopper wings or legs. Wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed far away. “Think that's Louie?” I asked quietly.

Chuckie lay down. “Honestly? I doubt it. Let's not think about what could be out there, okay? There's a reason we're all in here.”

“What Reynolds said.” Christopher lay down as well. Their Poofs cuddled into their necks.

Considered using my purse as a pillow, but didn't want to squish the waterfruit, and besides, I had a gun in there, too. Put my purse above our heads, then snuggled down in between the guys. Bruno settled at my head, between us and the purse. We were all lying on our backs, well, the guys and I were, and about all I could see above us was a canopy of leaves and branches. “I can barely see the sky.”

“Good,” Chuckie said softly. “That means predators can barely see us, too.”

“Good point.”

As we lay there the air around us turned colder. And I could tell by their breathing that no one, not even the Poofs, were asleep. Some, I suspected, due to the unfamiliarity of where we were, but most likely due to cold. I snuggled closer to Chuckie. “Back to back or spooning?” he asked me softly.

“Depends.”

“On what?” Christopher asked in kind.

“On how cold it's going to get and how cold you are, honestly.”

“I'm okay right now, but I see why the katyhoppers wanted us nesting.”

“Yeah. Their nest is snug for them but kind of big for us.”

“Hence why they suggested spooning,” Chuckie pointed out.

Considered the fact that I'd slept next to Charles in the other universe and managed to keep it chaste. And freezing to death wasn't really in the Smart Wife Handbook at any rate. Rolled onto my side and snuggled my back up against Chuckie, who moved his arm so I could lie on it. “Better?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah. Christopher, snuggle up, it's chilly and I promise not to compromise your virtue.”

“Oh, fine.” He went onto his side and put his back to me, then shifted closer.

“That's better, or at least a lot warmer. Thanks, guys.” Felt bone tired all of a sudden.

“Goodnight, Kitty, Chuck.”

“Goodnight, Christopher, Kitty.”

Chose not to mention that all of a sudden they were using each other's first names. Bonding happened in different ways for different people. “Night, guys. Sleep tight. Don't let the alien bedbugs, which I'm in no way insinuating our gracious hosts have, bite.”

It was definitely warmer this way, and the proof of this was that we all fell asleep.

I woke up and realized I'd moved. Sure enough, just as Chuckie had predicted, my butt was up against Christopher, who was curved around my back, and my head was on Chuckie's chest and he had both arms around me. Figured I'd probably kicked them both a few times, too, but oh well, it hadn't been intentional. Hoped the katyhoppers didn't have some way of taking a picture of this, because I was certain how we were cuddled up together wasn't going to make either Jeff or Amy happy.

Both men were still asleep, snoring quietly. So were the Poofs, all making tiny, adorable little snore sounds. Noted that we were the only ones making sleep noises. Also noted that I didn't hear Bruno. But I felt him. He was snuggled between me and Christopher. Clearly it was cold for everyone. Missed blankets and wondered how the katyhoppers were faring. Probably better than us, since they were used to it.

Frankly, I wasn't that cold, but only because of how we were all dog-piled together. No one was making unusual noises, and I hadn't been dreaming, as far as I recalled. So, why had I woken up?

Listened carefully. No, the only sounds I was hearing were from our little nest. Either the katyhoppers truly slept like the dead—and my knowledge of insect sleeping sounds wouldn't fill even the smallest of thimbles—or they were all gone. Sincerely hoped they weren't all gone.

I was now wide awake. Listened more intently. There had to have been a reason I'd woken up.

No sooner had I thought this than Pinky hopped over, followed by Saffron and Turkey. Each katyhopper settled above the person who'd been riding them earlier. They didn't sit on us so much as sit over us—their legs kept their bodies just above ours. Since we were piled together, they were right next to each other. I could tell they'd stepped on the guys, because I heard quiet grumbling from Christopher, though he sounded like he was still asleep, and Chuckie's breathing changed and I felt him start to wake up.

“This is really sweet of you,” I said softly, “but you guys need your sleep and to stay warm, too.”

The katyhoppers didn't move. They also didn't provide a lot of warmth, probably because they had chitin instead of skin, and a hard shell rarely equaled the spreading of warmth.

Was about to say that their efforts were great but not doing what they wanted and they should just sleep when I heard something and kept my mouth shut. I heard rustling, like I had before we'd fallen asleep. Only it was louder and seemed much closer. Realized that this sound must have been what had awakened me and probably the katyhoppers, too.

Then I heard a sound I really hadn't wanted to hear, a sound that sent ice through my veins and made me sick to my stomach with fear.

A hiss.