CHAPTER 13

     Jamie spotted the floater as a speck in the distance and watched from a comfortable seat on a recently fallen tree as it slowly approached. It descended rapidly once the group was located, obviously trying to conserve power. With the landing skids down, it looked somewhat like a streamlined bathtub with a bubble canopy, bulging large at the front, like a wingless four-legged beetle, with the power gathering antennas extending forward like feelers. In came in close to camp and he felt his hair stand on end as he was brushed with a backwash of magnetic flux. The floater carried a re-chargeable power cell, augmented by solar panels. In flight, those power sources were supplemented by conversion of ambient magnetism, but that only served to extend it's range; the conversion process was simple and not efficient enough to power the craft alone. Floaters were the workhorses of air transport between the Enclaves, but like so many other items, materials to manufacture and repair them were scarce. All but unnoticed by most citizens, their numbers had dwindled over the last decade, with a subsequent decline in commerce.

     Fuzzy Britches was lying on his side, in obvious pain from his sore pads. They were abraded, but there were no obvious cuts or wounds. Jamie was soothing him with petting and chin scratching while Woggly tried to help by licking his feet. Fuzzy Britches doubted if that was of any benefit other than temporary relief, but appreciated the dog's efforts. Kristi was with Masters and one of the sergeants, conferring with the two man floater crew and Jamie didn't want to interrupt her to ask about medicine for the cat.

     Judy saw what he was doing and snapped her fingers. She dug into her pocket and brought out a small tube of ointment. "Sorry, I forgot; Kristi said to give you this."

     "Thanks." Jamie examined the label listing the ingredients and found himself no wiser, but the directions were clear.  He applied the ointment to all four of Fuzzy Britches' pads, then took his boot off and examined the blister on his own heel.

     Judy squatted down and peered at it. "Hold your foot out and I'll fix it for you." There was a brief stab of pain which made him wince, then she applied a medicated stickpad and slapped his leg. "All done. You'll have a callous there by morning. Isn't science wonderful?"

     "Wonderful," Fuzzy Britches agreed, rolling to his feet.

     "Take it easy, Fuzz. No mouse hunting tonight," Jamie warned.

     "Maybe get a rabbit. It smelled good," the cat said, referring to the bobcat they had passed.

     "You better leave the rabbits to Wog. From what I saw, the ones around here are as big as you are."

     "Not smart like us," Fuzzy Britches said.

     "If we're so smart, what are we doing here?"

     The cat couldn't find a ready answer for that one. He was still enjoying the trek, but like Jamie, he realized now that his previous assumptions about life in the wilds were far removed from the reality.

***

     Jamie was stretched out on the ground, nearly asleep, by the time Kristi finished her consultations and returned. "Did you get the ointment I sent over for Fuzz?" She asked, picking up his shelter half and melding it with hers.

     "Yes, feels good," Fuzzy Britches opened his eyes long enough to answer, then immediately went back to sleep. Woggly woke him again by snuffling in his face, then he and Lady pushed into the readied shelter, carefully wiping their paws at the entrance. Conan followed, imitating their actions. Fuzzy Britches yawned and stretched, then he and Princess trailed Jamie and Kristi inside. A wet animal smell permeated the air but soon disappeared.

     While they were removing their boots, Jamie asked, "What was the consultation about? Anything new?"

     "No, we were just checking coordinates and putting them into the computers. Here, I brought you a present." She passed over a small chocolate bar.

     "My God!" Jamie exclaimed. "Where did you get this? Thanks." He broke off small pieces for the pets to sample and popped the rest of the bar into his mouth.

     Kristi smiled at his thoughtfulness in sharing with the animals. His rapport with his pets, as well as those of others, was one of his traits which attracted her. She loved her own pets and treated them as equals other than in the military guise as commanding officer, but had about decided years ago that her attitude was generally an attribute of women rather than men. She thought most men tended toward a master complex and it pleased her that she saw no signs of it in Jamie. "One of the floater pilots is a friend of mine. She got the candy from a South American sailor last week when his ship was docked. Enjoy it; you may never see any more."

     "Is it that bad down south?"

     "Bad enough. Chocolate production has been discontinued every where now, she thinks. Contact with the Bogota Enclave has been lost. I guess the food rioting got out of hand."

     "Good news from everywhere."

     "Yeah. Damn, if those lab boys had just been content to work on the animals' intelligence and left their longevity and resistance to disease alone, we could get control back with a plague of some sort."

     "Sure, but who would have bought a pet that might up and die on them? Besides, 'if onlys' are only good for historians. They don't help the present at all."

     "You're right, Jamie. I shouldn't let it bother me. What's done is done." She glanced at her thumbnail. "No sense in getting undressed. We go on guard duty in a couple of hours. Second shift tonight."

     "That sounds good now, but I'll sure hate to get up later."

     "I'll roust you out, never fear. Right now, let's try to get a nap." She lay down and snuggled her back up to him, spoon fashion. He put an arm around her, placed an undemanding hand over her breast and fell quickly asleep.

     It felt as if he had hardly closed his eyes when he had to open them again. Kristi's shaking interrupted a dream in which he and Jeannie and Kristi were being chased through the corridors of a giant spaceship by huge bobcats, keeping ahead of the pursuing animals only by throwing them bloody rabbits which they stopped to devour. He came sleepily from the dream state to reality, blinking several times to assure himself that no bobcats were in the shelter with them.

     Lady and Conan were already outside. Woggly yawned and got to his feet, deciding to accompany his friends even though he had no specific duties. The cats slept on, undisturbed.

     The stretch of guard duty passed slowly enough to cause Jamie to doubt the accuracy of his thumbnail watch, and the sleepless hours were compounded by a cold wind whipping at the hood of his coveralls. It was still blowing from the north, though not so fiercely.

     "I hope Fuzz and Princess keep the shelter warm," Jamie said at length. "I'm not getting undressed until it is."

     "After tonight, we sleep dressed anyway. This is our last stop before we enter unknown territory, and we have to be ready to react at a moment's notice to dangers we haven't encountered before. That's why the shelters are transparent," she added.

     "You mean we have to wear these suits constantly from now on? We'll get kind of rank, won't we?"

     She reached back and patted his leg. "Not all the time, but certainly while we're sleeping. Remember how much trouble I've had waking you up?"

     "No, but I'll take your word for it."

     "Troy will tell Wolfgang to try to find us a stopping place every day or so safe enough to let us get cleaned up, but it's not guaranteed. I remember times when we've been out that I would have made a pact with the devil to be able to sleep upwind of myself. And remember, we're concentrating on speed, so don't expect us to go out of the way for unimportant things like taking a bath. Besides, just think about how good it will feel when we can get clean again. I'll let you scrub my back."

     It was something to think about. After only two days on the trail his hair already felt greasy and his skin itched with the need for water. He hated to contemplate what it would feel like after a few more days.

     There came a loud bark in the night, followed by a pregnant silence; then an eerie yowl shattered the stillness, like the death knell of a banshee, washing over them from nearby like a sudden tsunami. It brought them both to their feet, weapons drawn. An instant cacophony of barks and growls echoed from the guard dogs. Jamie thought he recognized Woggly's voice in the melange and cursed inwardly. Damn it, Woggly was a city dog, no match for whatever monster could make a sound like that. He had no business getting mixed up with the ranger dogs. Immediately, he began to worry.

     The noise came again, high and shrill this time, but with a rasping, grating undertone that vibrated in his ears, blurring direction. Jamie waved his weapon nervously. He could feel his heart thudding in his chest, jolted by enough adrenalin to make a sloth do acrobatics. More barks and growls assaulted his ears, then died away. Brush rattled off to his left. He turned, weapon up and ready.

     Kristi's hand met his forearm, forcing the laser gun down. "That's a dog coming in. Relax. Whatever it was, it's  leaving now." The accuracy of her reply was proven by a third cry, undeniably more distant.

     "What in hell was it? -- and Woggly! I thought I heard him bark. If anything happened to him --" He broke off, unable to continue.

     "It didn't sound like any of the dogs got hurt, but I'm not sure what it was. Some kind of big cat, probably. Maybe a tiger. A lot of those were enhanced in the old days. Every zoo and circus had them. But be quiet, now. It's just barely possible that it was a diversion to let another one sneak in and drag off a kill."

     Jamie shivered, wondering whether she was referring to humans or pets in terms of a kill.

     A white blur broke into the open and loped toward them. Kristi hunkered down and took Lady's head in her hands, ruffling her thick fur. The dog whined and growled in a low voice before speaking. "Cat. Big cat. Gone now."

     "Good girl. Tell Woggly to come."

     The command was unnecessary, as Woggly arrived even as Lady was turning to fetch him. Jamie hugged his dog, digging his hands into his shaggy hair. His throat constricted, preventing him from speaking even had Kristi already not admonished him to silence. He had loved Woggly since he was a clumsy fat puppy, but his love was usually expressed in casual banter and friendly insults. Just now he realized how deep his affection for the pet went. "Go stay with Conan," he whispered, patting his rump. Conan was restricted by the edict of his importance from straying far from the confines of the camp area. He should be safe with him.

     After an interval, Kristi said, "I guess it's safe to talk now. Just keep it low."

     "Are there many of those things out here? Damned if I want to meet one by myself, if it's as big as it sounded."

     "There are more of them than there used to be. Like I told you before, this is getting to be cat country. I'm at a  loss to know what they live on, though. There aren't many deer left, nor wild cattle, either. There never was much of a call for enhancing their intelligence, and without that, they can't survive long among the smart carnivores."

     "So far as that goes, humans aren't doing such a damn fine job of surviving, either."

     Kristi had no answer for that comment.