A Fox in the Works
             For All My Sins, I'll Have to Pay

                             By

                         Fox Cutter

    1: Even

5/17/2000:

In all honesty I expected Oria to meet me as soon as I
stepped out of the fold room. It was what normally would
have happened, but in this case it did not. I shouldn't have
been to surprised; my wife had a life outside of myself, and
that sometimes took her away from home. I just shrugged,
pulled my duffle bag over my shoulder and started on down
the hallway.

I didn't get more than a few steps when I heard the strains
of an argument. It was Samantha's voice, but I couldn't
quite make out the words just yet. I slowed down my pace
just a little bit as I neared the kitchen, the source of the
argument.

"You are not going to go, and that's final," Oriana snapped,
followed by the sound of something hitting the table. I
stepped around the corner, Ravindar in tow, and found that
my wife was standing up, her fist on the table. Samantha was
across the table from her, with Mallory at her side.
Santhara was standing at the doorway and gave me a nod as I
came in, but the rest ignored me.

"The hell I'm not! I'm not going to leave this lie. I'm
going to find out what the hell is going on," Samantha
replied.

I shook my head and sighed. "What's going on here?" I asked.

Mallory spoke up, rising up to his full height. "You cannot
stop us. We are going to continue to be involved in this no
matter what you wish," he said.

Oriana shook her head, her hair flying as her ears pressed
down against her head. "I'm the one who can get the
information, and I'm not going to give it to you. I'm not
going to risk anyone else getting killed!"

I pulled back at this, gasping softly and looking between my
wife and my friends, "What happened?" I asked. Still I was
ignored.

"That could have easily been you and me," Samantha replied.

That was too much for me to just stand around and listen to.
"What the HELL is going on!" I yelled out, throwing my bag
to the ground.

The three of them finally noticed that I was there. A look
of horror crossed Oriana's face as she realized I had heard
a good part of the ‘conversation'. "Fox--" she started to
say but I just waved her off.

"What exactly is going on?" I asked, placing my hands on the
table and glaring at all three of them.

My wife paused a bit, her ears lifting and then falling back
into her hair. "Jadith is dead," she said in a soft voice.

This was not what I had expected to hear, and it hit me like
a punch to the gut. I pulled out a chair and collapsed down
into it, my head dropping slightly as my eyes unfocused. I
wasn't sure how to react to that. My head was spinning and
my ears were roaring with the sound of my own heartbeat.
Jadith, of all people, Jadith, who had saved my life more
times than I was comfortable with. How could she have just
died... been killed.

"What happened?" I asked, my head snapping up to look at my
friends.

"She found some information about a couple of safe houses
where Clark might have been. The one that Jadith and Sora
went to exploded, killing Jadith and nearly killing Sora,"
Oria explained in a soft voice. My friends around us
slouched slightly at the words.

I let out a long sigh and placed a head on my face, blocking
out my eyes for a few moments. I closed them and tried to
compose myself. My mind was racing, trying to work out how
all this could have happened. "Why did they go there?" I
asked. It was a dumb question, Oriana had just told me why,
but still I had to ask it.

"It was the most likely location, and she had the authority
to do something about it," Samantha said, pressing herself a
bit closer to Mallory's large body.

Licking my lips, I looked up at Samantha and then over to
Oriana. "And what were you doing?"

"We were at the other location," my wife replied.

I looked between Samantha and Oriana, and sighed. "It could
have been you," I said.

She shook her head. "No, it couldn't have been. I never had
the authority that Jadith had. If you were there, then yes,
it could have been, but not just by myself."

Trying to think, I stood back up, shaking my head as I did
so. "That doesn't matter, it could have been you. It could
have easily been you. Both locations could have been bombed,
it could have happened no matter what," I said, partly
babbling.

Mallory walked over to me and placed one of his large hands
on my shoulder. "I understand how you feel, the same
emotions came to me when I heard what had happened, but you
can not dwell on what could have been. Our mates are safe
for the moment, and now we must avenge the loss of your
friend," he said in a low tone.

I lifted an eyebrow at this. "Avenge? That's an interesting
way to put it. Someone did this and we have to find them and
drag them kicking and screaming to the OZG," I replied.

"That is a start, but it does have to be done," he replied.

Oriana nodded her head, quickly moving over to me. "It does
have to be done."

I nodded my head and looked around at everyone, my mind
still jumping all over, still spinning around. I wanted to
find a way to get my feet back on the ground. I wanted a
place to start. "I want to see it, I want to see where she
was killed," I said.

"Okay, but it's not nice to see," Oriana said and turned
around, walking back to the fold room. I followed right
behind her with Samantha and Mallory just behind and the
bodyguards brining up the rear. My wife pulled out her
portal controller and opened up the fold. We crossed over
and came out into a nice looking suburban neighborhood. Down
the street I could see police tape and debris in the street.

We walked at a brisk pace down the street, as we neared the
place Oriana started to fall back. "There's too much
splitters and glass, it would tear up my feet," she said,
looking down. Her feet were bare as usual.

I nodded and gave her a kiss between her eyes. "Okay, hon,
you stay here for now," I said then started back down the
street, Samantha and Mallory at my side.

It didn't take long for me to finally see the house, not
that it was that much of a house to start with. The street
in front of it was marked off with police tape and debris
lined the edge of the street and the grass of the nearby
houses. The two houses next to the crater were seriously
damaged. I didn't think either one could be saved. The
crater was just that, a hole in the ground with pieces of
wood and masonry filling it.

The street in front of the house was heavily discolored a
dark blackish brown. Walking towards it I frowned a bit. It
was dried blood, smeared around and pooled a bit as well.

"This must be where Sora landed," Samantha said.

"Landed?"

"She was blown clear by the explosion. The medics said she
must have flown," Samantha explained.

I nodded a bit and looked back down at the stain on the
ground. I took a few steps back and looked back at the
remains of the house. I casually walked along the debris,
kicking a few out of the way as I neared the crater. I
glanced back at Samantha and could see Oriana waiting in the
distance. "Where was Jadith's body?"

"I really don't know," she replied.

I nodded again and folded my arms behind my back, clenching
my hands into tight fists. I wanted to do more, but just
looking down at the hole made me mad. I wanted to do
something, to do anything, but all I could do was just stand
there.

Samantha walked up to stand beside me, and Ravindar was a
few feet behind. "We have to do something about this," she
said.

I nodded my head. "Yes, yes we do. The OZG will still have
the information that Jadith used. I think it's time we took
advantage of that," I said, turning around and stalking back
towards where my wife was waiting for me.

She gave me a knowing look as I walked past. "What are we
going to do?" she asked.

"Take care of this, all of us. We were all involved in this
and we're not going to cut anyone out," I said, and then
lapsed into silence as we walked back to the fold. This time
I opened it. and we all went back into the house.

"I need to make a call," I said as I broke away from the
group and headed to the office, Ravindar at my side.

Once behind my desk, I made a call to Jadith's old number. I
was not surprised when the line was picked up and I saw the
somewhat unfamiliar face of her second in command on the
screen. She looked human, but not quite right as humans
went. Her ears were too pointed, poking out of her black
hair. Her skin was almost gray in color and her eyes were a
flat black. She looked at me with a bit of surprise, then
nodded her head.

"Mr. Cutter, I'm glad to see you are back on world," she
said.

"That I am, Natasha," I said after a moment of struggling to
remember her name.

"Is this about Bad Wolf?" she asked, her eyes glowing
slightly as she spoke.

I gave her a vicious smile. "Oh yes, it's time to go kill
it."

* * *

The six of us filed into a meeting room at the OZG. It
wasn't exactly what I expected. It just had a single table
in the center of the room with twelve chairs. In other
situations any meeting would have taken place in Jadith's
office, but Natasha had a different frame of mind for such
things.

Oriana, Samantha and I each took a seat at the table. The
two tigers took up a position at the back of the room, each
one flanking the single door. Mallory stood at the table
next to Samantha, the chairs were the wrong size for the
large alien. He simply wouldn't fit.

I folded my hands on top of the table and tried to wait. It
was uncomfortable and we were all fidgeting, even the
bodyguards. I think we all wanted to be doing something, not
waiting to find out what would happen next, or what we could
even do. No one really spoke, we just shared glances and
maybe tried to say something, but nothing really came out.

Finally the silence was broken as Natasha came into the
room, her body almost floating over the ground under her
floor length skirt, much like what Oriana wore. The skirt
was a flat gray that matched her buttoned up shirt and it
all seemed to flutter around her figure. She had a thick
folder tucked under her arm and looked us all over as she
walked to the opposite side of the table and sat down.

She set the folder down, flicked it open and looked up at
us. Resting her hands on the table on either side of the
folder she finally spoke. "So, this must be your team?"

"Yes it is," I replied, glancing down at her hands. Her
fingernails were cut to a short point and were black all the
way through. They looked like they could cut my skin without
much effort.

"Took you a little bit longer to get in than I had
expected," she said, flipping through the pages in the
folder.

I shrugged my shoulders. "There were some issues with
getting in the building. I had to pull a bit of rank."

She looked us over and tilted her head slightly to the side.
"Then I have to assume that you are all armed. That's
probably for the best, considering your file. I suspect that
we will be needing that fairly soon."

"I guess it depends on what other information you have and
if there are other locations to check."

Natasha turned a few more pages and nodded her head. "There
are a few more locations, yes. I only recently gained access
to these files so I am still familiarizing myself with them.

"How many is a few?" Oriana asked.

She looked over the page with narrowed eyes then smiled a
bit. "There are only three," she said, pulling the page free
and sliding it across the table to us. I picked it up and
looked over the page. It had five addresses, two of which
had been marked off with notes in Jadith's handwriting.

My wife took the page from me and looked it over. "This
looks simple enough. Fox and I can take the one that seems
the most likely," she said.

"I don't think that's the best choice, not with the
bodyguard. I think it should be two for each location,"
Samantha said, reaching past me to pluck the paper from
Oria's fingers.

I nodded as I glanced between the two of them. "That is
probably for the best."

"Perhaps we should not go alone? The threat may be greater
than expected," Mallory said, moving next to Samantha so he
could see the page from over her shoulder. A moment later he
gently took it from her, his segmented jaw flexing.

Natasha shook her head. "That might not be the best choice;
if anyone sees us approaching with an armed platoon they
will run. A few normal looking people will be enough to not
cause them undue concern," she said, glancing at Mallory as
she spoke. The tall alien didn't seem to notice.

"I suppose that's true," I said, debating whether I should
disagree with her. Going in alone might not have been the
smartest idea, not after what had happened to Jadith. Even
so, I was leery of doing anything that would cause our
target to flee. I wanted someone from whom I could get some
answers, one way or another.

"I would like some backup at least, one or two people who
can come in quickly," I finally said, compromising my
different thoughts.

"Very well, I will call in some of our undercover agents. I
will have them begin monitoring the locations soon. We will
move in soon after," Natasha said.

I nodded and leaned back slightly in my seat. "That should
be fine."

She smiled at me, a slightly disconcerting sight as her
teeth were all sharply pointed fangs that interlocked with
each other. I didn't doubt that they could tear flesh from
bone. There wasn't much else they could do. "Fox, I will be
accompanying you to whichever location you visit."

"Why is that?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I've read your file. You have a history of being the right
man in the right place at the right time. The odds seem good
that this will also be the case."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence," I said, the comment
coming out with more sarcasm than I had intended.

She nodded a bit and then stood up. "I must make a call.
I'll be back in moment," she said. Walking briskly over to
Mallory she took the page of addresses from him and returned
it to her file. The file was tucked under her arm as she
stepped out of the room.

Samantha let out a long breath. "She only looks human. What
is she really?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I have no idea."

"Whatever she is, her species must be nocturnal," Mallory
said, tapping his thick fingers together.

"You have that look you get when you're stuck on something.
What is it?" Samantha asked as she stood up and walked to
her boyfriend, her tail flicking quickly behind her legs.

He tilted his head to the side and lowered his long neck. "I
am not sure. The addresses on that list seem to have a
relation to each other. I wonder if I could find a map of
Corbin," he said, his voice trailing down into partial
silence as he spoke.

Oria slipped her hand around mine and pulled me a bit closer
to her. I wrapped an arm around her waist and nuzzled at the
soft fur of her cheek. She started to purr very softly, and
it didn't take long before I was purring as well, the sounds
soon slipping into harmony with each other.

We finally broke it off when the door opened again. I looked
up to see Natasha walk back into the room. The gray woman
settled back down and dropped the folder back onto the
table. "Spotters are in location. They will also make sure
that no one leaves before we reach the various locations."

"We should probably get going then," I said.

"I would like to see a map before we depart," Mallory said.

Natasha looked up at him, her eyes narrowing just a bit.
"Why would you want that?"

"I think there is more to these locations than just their
location," he said.

She thought about it for a moment then motioned towards the
wall. "There is one on the terminal there."

He nodded his large head and flexed his segmented jaw. "I
will also need the list of locations."

"Very well," she said, almost in a sigh, and handed him the
sheet of paper. The alien took the paper and walked over to
the wall, Samantha joining him as he slid the wall up to
uncover a computer terminal.

Natasha pulled out three more papers and set them face down
on the desk in front of her. "Which one would you like?" she
asked.

I gave her a sharp look. With all that was going on, I
didn't feel that it was the proper place for such games.
Without a word I picked up the closest page and turned it
over. Oriana took the next sheet and pushed the third near
where Samantha had been sitting.

"I have one further concern before we go," she added.

"Which is?"

"You are a bit of a public figure, and these are not the
best of locations. If you approach them and someone
recognizes you from the news they will reach appropriately.
I believe a disguise is in order."

I looked at the odd woman for a moment then nodded my head.
She had a good point, and one I wasn't in the mood to argue
with. I took my glasses off and handed them to my wife. As
she took them I allowed myself to slip into my vulpine form.
Naturally the change was not very smooth as my now large and
fairly full tail was bunched up in the back of my pants.

Standing up I took a moment to readjust myself, undoing the
button on the back of my jeans and threading my tail through
the now open hole. Some final adjustments made sure the
clothing wasn't too baggy on my smaller frame and I kicked
off my shoes, they wouldn't help my digitigrade feet. Lastly
I took off my wedding ring and placed it in my pocket so it
wouldn't fall off my smaller finger.

"Now we can go," I said.

"I believe you might wish to see this first," Mallory said.
A moment later a light flared from above, and a map of
Corbin appeared on the table. There were five points of
light on the map, four in the middle of town, and the fifth
near the edge.

We all leaned in slightly to look at the image on the table.
The four points in the center of the map were placed in an
interesting way. You could easy make a slightly distorted
square between them, and in the middle was the Marble Hall.

"That is very interesting," I said, rubbing the bottom of my
muzzle.

Natasha nodded her head. "And very suspicious too. This is
not something we had realized. I shall notify the Hall's
security force."

"Why didn't you work this out sooner?" Samantha asked.

"I was only given access to the files this morning. Jadith
kept this information close to herself. No one even knew
that she was in the field until she was killed."

I nodded and took a few steps back. The one outlying dot on
the map was the place where Jadith had been killed. That
made me wonder why it was so special. "Have you run the
information on who owns these places? There might be a
connection between them."

"Something else her secrecy and death prevent us from
doing," she said, tapping her fingers against the wood of
the desk.

"You should run it as soon as you can, and against the
HammerHead databases," Oriana added.

Natasha nodded with a look of annoyance."I will make the
calls, but then we will be on our way," she said, then once
again picked up her folder and slipped out of the room.

I watched her go and shook my head. "I didn't realize Jadith
was keeping this so close to her chest. You'd think she
would at least have trusted her second in command."

"Apparently not," my wife replied.

"I suppose so," I said, flicking my tail a bit in annoyance.
It was nice to get back into my fox form, it still felt
natural on my body and I never really spent enough time in
it. I suspect my wife was feeling the same way to judge by
the look on her face.

"We should try the norm-shift stone when you are like this,"
she said with a smile.

I returned her smile. "Only if you give it a try. I would
still like to see you on all fours," I countered.

A blushed crossed over the fur inside her ears and she
lifted one paw and placed it over her face. "I'll think
about it," she whispered.

I shook my head and gave her a soft poke in the arm. "Not
just think about it, I would like for you to do it, just one
time, before I have to take off with the Neverending. I
think we will all enjoy it. We could go for a nice run out
at the lake, though we would have to bring them as well," I
said, looking back at our bodyguards.

Ravindar balanced slightly. He remembered the last time he
had been non-morphic and his trip into the lake. Santhara
just looked a bit curious about it. There was a small smile
crossing her muzzle, but she said nothing.

My wife blushed a bit more, letting her paw rest over her
eyes for a moment. "Okay hon, I'll do it, but Rhea has to be
morphic so someone can watch over the children."

"Deal," I said, then gave her a quick kiss. It would
disappoint Rhea a little, but I was sure we could all be
non-morphic for a little bit before I left. The idea of
being part of a pile of lionesses with my wives was very
appealing to me.

She returned my kiss for a moment, then pulled away just in
time it seemed, as Natasha came back into the room.

"Everything is ready. Shall we begin?" she asked.

I nodded my head and pulled away from my wife. "We should,"
I said.

She motioned for us to follow her and left the room again.
The six of us walked after her, down the long hallways of
the building to where the single fold was waiting. The room
the fold was inside was much better reinforced than my fold
room, and could easily take a heavy bomb or two if needed.
Once we were all inside Natasha handed each group a radio,
preset to an encoded signal.

The paper I had not only had the address, but the nearest
fold and directions to where we were going. I took out my
fold controller and punched in the fold's address, closing
my eyes slightly as the feeling of it washed over me. I
stepped over the threshold with Ravindar and Natasha at my
side.

We found ourselves in a fairly busy commercial area of town.
Most of the buildings around us were ten to fifteen floors
high, but a few were at least twice that. I didn't waste any
time looking. As soon as everyone was through I closed the
fold and started following the directions I had been given.

It was a short walk and the three of us kept a brisk pace.
We really didn't need to rush. The address wasn't even half
a mile away and on the same street. As we got closer I was
starting to make it out, a plain looking building of about
ten floors. It hardly stood out from the rest.

My head was beginning to ache, as was the back of my neck. I
tried to fight it off, I didn't need a headache, not just
then, but it persisted in growing stronger with every step
we took. Finally I was so distracted by the pain that I
stumbled over a curb and nearly fell, only regaining my
balance with a couple of well timed skips.

"Are you all right?" Ravindar asked.

"Just a headache, I'll be fine," I said, waving him off with
my paw.

The tiger nodded and took a step back, familiar with the
headaches I would sometimes get. I had a treatment for it at
home, but I could deal with it for the time being.

Natasha moved up and looked me in the eyes, her own black
eyes slightly narrow. "When did this start?"

"A few minutes ago. They sometimes--" I started to say, but
was interrupted as she grabbed my arm and started pulling me
back the way we came. I tried to protest but she gave me a
dire look that caused me to shut up for the moment.

We went a full block before she let me go and looked me over
again. "How are you feeling now?" she asked.

"A little annoyed. What was all that about?"

"How is your headache?" she asked again.

I paused for a moment, and was surprised to find that the
pain had gone down a couple notches. "Better," I admitted.

Natasha nodded and folded her hands behind her back. "That
is what I thought. Your wife discovered a device that could
hold a ripple in place. It gave your human friend quite the
headache as she got near it."

This was the first I had heard about such a device. I didn't
even believe such a thing would have been possible. Ripples
were formed like folds, but their movement was part of their
nature. To hold one in place was an insane piece of
technology. "It gave Samantha a headache? Does it only
affect naturals?"

"It seems like that is the case. It apparently made her
quite ill."

I nodded. "Well, she is more powerful than I am. It might
have had a stronger effect on her."

"We should warn the others," Ravindar said.

Removing the radio from my belt I handed it to the white
tiger. "You're right, we should. If two locations have had
this device, the others might as well. Do you have another
natural, someone we can send to meet Oriana?" This last part
was directed at Natasha.

"Jadith was the only natural in the OZG," she replied.
"Perhaps you can switch with your wife?"

I shook my head. "No, if there's a device there it would
just be extra time for no gain. Let's just keep going. If
I'm lucky, it won't hit me as badly as it hit Samantha."

"Very well, but if I tell you to sit out, you will do so.
Understood?"

"Understood," I said with an annoyed flick of my tail.

She nodded and started back down the street. I followed
right after her, hoping that I was right. I could deal with
some level of a headache. I used to get them all the time
before my exile. If it got too bad I would be worthless for
whatever might happen, and I had too much invested to allow
that.

Clenching my fists, I kept walking as the pain grew within
my head. I was just glad that my wife wouldn't be having the
same problem.

* * *

Ravindar's voice came over the radio, sounding tinny through
the small speaker. "It seems like there is another device at
this location. You should be careful," he said.

"I'll keep that in mind," Samantha replied, letting the
button up a little early and cutting off the last syllable.

There was a moment of static on the radio as Oriana joined
the conversation. "We heard that as well. We'll keep an eye
out here, but I don't think it will be an issue."

"You should be careful, none the less," the tiger replied
before the radio fell back into silence.

Samantha stuck the radio back into her belt and looked up at
Mallory, giving him a small smile as they continued walking
down the street. They were in a nice section of Corbin,
slightly upscale without being too fancy. The businesses
that lined the street were well tended, and busy with late
afternoon crowds.

"Do you feel anything, St. Clair?" the large alien asked,
his tail sweeping behind him with each wide step he took.

She shook her head, her tail flicking out to tease against
his. "Nothing out of the ordinary. I'll tell you if I get a
twinge of anything." As she spoke she allowed a cigarette to
roll down her fingers. She grabbed it between her fingertips
then lit it with a flick of her other hand. She took a long
draw and allowed the smoke to fill her lungs.

Mallory looked at the paper in his hands, then up at the
street signs. "We need to turn left at this intersection,"
he said.

With a nod she allowed the smoke to trail past her lips as
they walked around the corner. They were getting near the
place and she was eager to find out what would be waiting
for them there. It was unlikely to be another abandoned
building. It would stand out to much. Her tail twitched in
anticipation and then started to relax as she began to pull
her powers back into herself.

"It appears to be halfway down this block... there," the
alien said, pointing to a small shop in the middle of the
block.

She laughed to herself and took another draw of her
cigarette. She was wrong, the place was abandoned, but in an
upscale way. It had been a dry cleaners at one point in
time, but now it was closed and the windows were covered
with a silver film. There was a single light on above the
door, but it was useless in the daylight.

"Think we'll find anything?" she asked, slipping her hand
under her shirt and unhooking the clasp of her holster. It
was too nice an area to pull the gun free, people would
notice.

Mallory nodded his head, his jaws flexing slightly. "I
believe that we will do so." He adjusted the rings that were
on each finger. They were part of a complicated mechanism
that connected each ring to a device in the palm of his
hand. There was a gem on each ring, each one glowing
slightly in the light of the suns.

She stopped in front of the closed door and dropped her
cigarette to the ground, grinding it out with the tip of her
shoe. When she looked up she found a wolf standing next to
them. He was dressed casually, but still managed to look
like a professional. He had a jacket on that almost managed
to hide the bulge of his gun.

"Natasha told me that you would be easy to find," he said,
looking up at Mallory.

The tall alien lowered his head and chuckled. "I do not
exactly blend in on this world. What do you know of this
place?" he asked, pointing to the closed shop front.

"It's been dead. The front door is locked and the back door
is blocked off by a dumpster. There might be some activity
inside, but no one has gone in or out as long as I've been
here," he said, relaxing a bit, succeeding at looking
causal.

Samantha reached out to try the front door, finding it as
locked as the wolf said it would be. "We should probably go
inside and see what is going on, if you have a key."

The wolf gave her a smile and then reached into his jacket,
pulling out a set of lock picks. He moved her out of the way
and leaned down towards the lock, starting to work at it
with the tools. She watched him as he worked, surprised when
the lock opened in under a minute.

"You're good," she said.

"The lock was more complicated than it had any right to be.
This is was an expensive upgrade," he said, putting the lock
picks back and pulling the door open.

She nodded and stepped through the open door, pulling her
gun free as she crossed the threshold. Her tail swept behind
her as she looked around the shop. There was a dust covered
front desk with an open cash register in the corner. A small
divider was located behind the desk, and a long line of
tubing circled around the ceiling, which eventually lead
into the back of the store.

Mallory came up behind her, and the wolf followed after
gently close the door and attaching some sort of device to
it. "No one can get out now," he said in a soft whisper.

"Good," Samantha said and then walked up to the counter.
"Anyone home?" she called out. The only response was the
sound of scrapping metal in the back of the shop.

The wolf frowned at this and pulled out his pistol, holding
it firmly in his paw. "I suppose that is a yes."

She nodded and flicked out her tail as she walked towards
the edge of the divider. Touching the light switch on the
wall she peeked around the thin wood. The backroom of the
shop was large but surprisingly empty. Some large machines
lined the room's back wall, and a single door was sitting
between the machines. Another door was on the far wall, half
open and leading into a small office. There was a toolbox
shoved up in one corner, and a large device hidden next to
one of the machines.

Mallory leaned his head around behind her, taking in all the
same things. "I believe that is the same device we found the
day before," he said, pointing at the half-hidden device.

"It's just not on yet. We need to double check that door,"
she said, looking at the wolf.

The wolf smiled a bit and hunched down, rushing across the
open floor. He moved silently, his footfalls not making a
sound as he crossed the floor. As he moved she noticed the
lack of dust on the floor while it covered the machines. He
stopped at the door, trying it with a quick motion, creating
the same scrapping metal sound as before.

She looked back at her boyfriend and smiled to the large
alien. "Someone is definitely here," she said.

Mallory nodded and flexed his hands. "We should take care of
them," he said.

With a glance at the wolf she started moving along the
dividing wall, her eyes staying locked on the open office
door. The tall alien followed behind her as the wolf moved
around the opposite wall.

She moved closer to the door, than came to a stop as two
shots rang out, bullets pinging into the wall a few feet in
front of her. Pulling to a stop she glared into the open
door then fired two of her own shots into the room.

Silence fell again, the only sound coming from Mallory
moving closer to her.

"Come out; you have no place to go," the wolf called out.

The response was another few shots, still landing wide of
Samantha.

Mallory stepped around her and clenched his hand into a
fist. The gems started to glow with a bright purple light
that seemed to wrap around his hand. Thrusting his arm
forward there was a flash of light, and a ball of plasma
leapt off his hand and arched through the air. It crashed
into the half open office door. The wood flared with the
super-heated plasma and moments later fell to ash. The last
flames in the air snuffed out on their own, leaving only a
momentary green glow to mark their passing.

She looked up at him, then back at the weapon in his hand.
"That is a nice toy," she said.

"It serves its purpose," he replied.

"Are you sure you don't want to come out? It will probably
be safer than getting a face full of plasma!" Samantha
yelled to the occupants of the office.

Silence returned for a few more moments, and then a gun was
thrown out of the door. One man, an older human, stepped
out, followed by a second human. Both of them had their
hands held above their heads.

"Good choice, you're both under arrest," the wolf said and
hurried to the two men, forcing them both to the floor.

Samantha joined the wolf, searching the younger of the two
humans as he checked the older one. Neither one was armed.
When that was done she looked back into the office. There
were some scorch marks on the walls, but no real damage
other than the destruction of the door.

She looked up at her boyfriend and smiled sweetly. "I know
what I want for my birthday."

    2: Odd

"Do you think we'll get anything from those two?" I asked,
rubbing my head as I settled down at the conference room
table. My head was still hurting a little bit. It wasn't
enough to be to annoying, but I still noticed it. Oriana was
already at the table, and the moment I sat down she placed a
paw on top of mine. I was still in my fox form, not quite
ready to shift out of it.

Natasha thought for a moment and nodded her head. "We'll get
something out of them, but not right away. I'm not that sure
they know anything. I think they were just there installing
the device," she said.

"They still shot at us," Samantha replied in annoyance.

"They aren't saints, just hired hands," Natasha replied.

I nodded and frowned a bit. Other than Samantha's group,
nothing interesting had happed. The only things interesting
at the other locations were more of the devices.

With a sigh I rubbed the bottom of my muzzle. "I wonder why
they were even there. With what happened last time, I would
think they would go to ground, not keep going."

"It must have been too important to leave," my wife
suggested.

"I suppose so," I said with a sigh, leaning back a bit in my
chair.

Oriana ran her fingers over the fur of my paw and twisted
her ears back slightly. "Can I see the file?" she asked.

Natasha gave her a glance and slipped the file over the
table to her. She opened it and started to quickly flip
through the pages, scanning over them.

"What are you looking for?"

She didn't reply, she just turned the file around and
started from the back, moving quickly through the pages.
With a smile she stopped and placed her paw on the page. "It
was something Jadith said. We went to those two addresses
because they were connected with the date. Look at this. The
location Samantha was at has a line here for today," she
said, turning the page around and tapping at it.

I took the folder from her and looked at the page. It was as
she said; a list of dates and the same addresses. The
majority of them were in the past with only a couple more in
the future. What I found interesting was that one of the
dates listed both the place Samantha had been and the house
where Jadith had been killed.

"You found something, didn't you?" my wife asked, leaning a
bit closer.

"I think I have. Look at this, the dates match up," I said,
pointing at the page. Oriana leaned closer to look at it
while I skimmed back over the page. I found a similar match
between the other two addresses and the house.

Natasha reached over and took the file from us, a smile
crossing her face as she saw what I saw. "There is a clear
connection between each location."

"They were installing one of these devices when we
encountered them. Wouldn't such a device need to be tested?"
Mallory asked.

She smiled a bit and nodded her head. "They would have to
activate them to get the address of the fold, otherwise why
hold one in place," Natasha mused a bit.

I nodded by head. "Right, but why do it from so close? They
could do it from anywhere, why stay in Corbin?"

"The Consortium monitors all off world fold connections,
even unlicensed folds. Staying inside the city would be a
short enough jump to keep them from being detected," the
gray-skinned woman said.

Oriana frowned a bit. "How would they know about it? I
imagine this would be top secret."

"It was initially developed by the HammerHeads," Natasha
admitted.

My wife let out a sigh and leaned back in her chair, her
ears pulling closer to the top of her head. "Of course it
was."

I rubbed my chin, my ears flicking back slightly. "I wonder
if this was another one of these devices, or maybe it was a
normal fold." I mussed, pointing to the location where
Jadith had been killed.

Natasha stood up and walked over to the terminal in the
wall. She spent a few moments typing into it and then turned
back around to look at us. "It is a registered fold."

"Can you pull the off world folds it connected to?" Samantha
asked.

She shook her head. "No, we can only record when and where a
fold is opened off world, not to the fold that it is
connecting to."

I thought about it for a few more moments. "But there is a
fold there. I wish Jadith had known about that, maybe she
could have used it to escape the explosion."

There was a moment of silence over the room before Mallory
slapped his tail on the floor. "We can always wish for such
things, but wishing for them would not make them true. If
such a thing was a trap then there was no foreknowledge
about the destruction, since it could not be avoided unless
they knew about it in advance."

Letting out a sigh, I nodded my head. "We can always hope,"
I said and dropped my muzzle down against my chest. If she
had been able to used the fold she would have gone somewhere
on Prid, probably right to the OZG. We would know about it
before we knew of the explosion.

Samantha cleared her throat then spoke up. "Tests have to be
run by people, and this house seems to be the center of them
all. If they weren't in the house when Jadith and Sora
arrived and tripped the explosion they had to go somewhere.
The fold is the most likely way to leave the house."

"You've got a point," Oriana said.

I nodded, then pushed my chair back from the table and stood
up. "We should go back to the house and check out this fold.
If we get lucky, it will lead someplace useful."

Natasha smiled a bit. "You have a habit of getting that
lucky. Let's go," she said.

The seven of us filed out of the room and down towards the
fold. We were a bit more relaxed then on our last trip.
Samantha jumped forward, opening the fold with a twist of
her hand and a flick of her tail. We all walked through one
at the time.

Oriana leaned in a bit closer to me as we walked.

I slipped an arm around her back, pulling her closer to me.
"Maybe we should be a bit more careful. I'm not sure how I
could have handled it if you had been killed. I'm not sure
you and I should both be getting into this sort of
situation, at least until the children are adults."

She shook her head. "It's hard not to. With our lives, it
seems like we attract that sort of trouble."

Snickering softly I nodded my head. "Trouble does like to
shoot back, doesn't it? Once this whole thing with the
Neverending is over we should try hard to settle down. Just
sit back, run the shipyard and raise the children. Maybe add
one or two more."

My wife laughed softly and nodded her head. "We should try,
I don't think it will be as easy as that, but we can try.
Just remember, if we have any more kids, you get to be the
mommy." She said the last part while poking me in the belly.

"Don't be too eager, you get your own transformation as
well," I replied, then kissed her on the cheek.

She returned the kiss. "I can deal with it," she said in a
way that made me think she mostly meant it.

I smiled a bit and pulled away slightly. "I'm sure you can,
hon," I told her and gave her a soft grab on her ass. She
laughed and pushed me away, causing me to stumble slightly.
I returned her laugh and moved back to her. I loved that
woman.

We stopped on the sidewalk at the edge of the debris field.
I looked down into the hole, feeling my stomach twist at the
thought of what had happened here. I wanted to do more than
just stand here and poke around at the folds.

Reaching out with my powers, I touched the fold. It was in
the center of the crater, about a dozen feet above the
ground. I felt at it, frowning when I discovered that it was
cold... Not as cold as a natural could leave it, but cold
enough.

"I can't get anything from it," Samantha said with a sigh.

"Nor I; I don't think these people have any naturals on
staff," I mused, still probing at it. I could feel
something, but it wasn't very strong and I couldn't hold
onto it. I tried, but it kept just slipping out of my
fingers. "I can almost get something, but I'm not powerful
enough."

Samantha looked a bit surprised. "You can feel something
there? I can't feel a thing."

I nodded. "I may not have a lot of power, but my control is
off the charts. If I had your level of power I could
probably open a fold from a mile away. If I had Little Fox's
power I could open a mega-fold, maybe even from here," I
said, casting a glance up at the twin suns.

Natasha let out a low whistle. "Do you know how many
Naturals can do that?"

"Jadith and a few others. Enough to count on a single hand.
Little Fox hardly has any control; we're opposites in that
way."

The gray skinned women shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe we can
get him here? If you two can work together maybe you can
find a trace."

I shook my head. "Sorry, I can't easy contact him and even
if I did call it would be a few days before he could get
here."

"We can wait," she replied.

Oriana walked up and placed a paw on my back. "I don't think
just working together will help. You need to connect your
powers to someone who has enough power to trace this. Can
that even be done?"

"Yes, it can be done, though it does take some special
tools," Natasha said.

"What sort of tools?"

"A level twelve telepath," I said with minor distaste. I had
a few contacts with creatures of that level: the wyrm had
been one, the telepath who had separated Rhea and I had been
another.

"We have one on staff. I could call him in if you like,"
Natasha said.

I tried to hide my distaste for that idea, but the position
of my ears and tail gave it away. Luckily Oriana was the
only one who could read them that accurately. She placed a
paw on my shoulder and leaned in a bit. "Don't force this if
you're not comfortable with it," she whispered.

Samantha shrugged her shoulders. "I'm fine with it," she
said, showing that she never had experienced that before.

Looking out into the debris, I tried to grab onto the small
thread, hoping I could hold onto it, but it slipped away
again. It was a few days old and wouldn't last all that much
longer. I might have been able to trace it right after it
had been opened, but not now. I wondered if it would lead
anywhere other than the ripple that Oriana and Samantha had
found. It could just be a dead end, leading nowhere, then
again it could lead to the people who were testing the fold,
who set up the trap that killed Jadith.

That was really what it came down to, finding the people
that killed Jadith. If that meant allowing my mind to be
violated by a telepath then I would just have to grit my
teeth and accept it. There were bigger things than just my
own head at risk.

"Fine, call the telepath," I said.

Natasha pulled out a phone and started to make a call.

Letting out a long breath I pulled away from my wife and
walked over to Samantha. "Are you ready for this?" I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders and flicked her cloth tail.

"It's not like what you expect. Naturals are telepathically
null, to the point that we stand out because of it. It takes
a special kind of telepath to overcome that, that's what
level twelve means. Very few species have that ability, and
it's not easy on us. I've had them in my head before; it's
not easy."

Samantha gave me a short look and then smiled. "I can deal
with it, it can't be any worse than losing my arm," she
said. To emphasize her words she light up a cigarette and
took a long drag on it.

I shook my head. "It's still not what you'll expect. Just
brace yourself when the time comes."

"What do you think I'm doing?" she asked while motioning to
me with the lit end of her cigarette.

With a shrug of my shoulders I stepped away, allowing
Mallory to take my place. He pressed up to her, wrapping a
thick arm around her back and nuzzling his neck over the top
of her head. She responded by pressing close to him and
flicking her tail. Even I could read the fear in the
motions, but her boyfriend seemed to calm her.

I walked over to Oriana and snuggled up to her as well.
"This is going to be different," I said.

"That's one way to say it. You're going to be closer to her
than you've been with anyone other than Rhea," she said in
return.

I chuckled softly. "Jealous, love?"

She shook her head, her long hair fluttering over her
shoulders. "Not at all, but it might be interesting to be
that close to you."

"I'll be happy with just being non-morphic with you," I said
and gave her a kiss on the nose.

My wife laughed and shook her head. "You are silly."

"Of course," I said, then glanced back at Samantha and
Mallory, both of whom were looking at us.

The human woman smiled and looked up at her boyfriend. "I
might have to borrow that toy of yours," she said to us.

"Why? I don't think being a monkey would be all that fun," I
replied.

She shook her head. "Why not? I think it would be nice to go
jumping around in the trees."

"And you would have a real tail," Oriana added.

Samantha gave my wife a sharp look and flicked her cloth
tail. "Being a monkey is just as exotic as being a lion,
don't forget that," she paused then looked up at Mallory. "I
wonder what you would become?"

The alien laughed and shook his head. "I assure you that the
full grown form of my precursor species is just as large as
these buildings and far less intelligent"

Natasha, who had been eavesdropping on all of our
conversations, let out a low growl. "What exactly did you
evolve from?" she asked.

He flexed his jaw a bit in a smile. "Not everything
evolves."

Samantha looked up at him. "Then how did you end up
sentient?"

"A million years of servitude," he said in a tone that
suggested he was joking, but I was willing to believe that
he was not.

Natasha lifted her eyebrows and smiled her slightly
disturbing smile. "I think I should discuss this with you at
some point in the future."

"I think not," he replied.

She looked at him for a moment the shrugged her shoulders.
"Very well then," she said, then turned around and walked
back to the street, waiting for the telepath to arrive.

I thought about pressing the matter myself, but I felt he
made it clear that he didn't wish to speak about it. I put
it out of my mind and just pressed myself up to my wife.
Time passed in silence as he looked down over the hole in
the ground. Finally I just grunted and turned away, I didn't
want to be reminded about what had happened to my friend.

A few minutes later a young looking canine walked up the
street towards us. He picked his way though some of the
debris to stand with us. "Natasha, I'm sorry for the delay,"
he said.

"It's alright, come with me," she replied, motioning for
Samantha and myself to join her. We pulled away from our
respective lovers and moved together with the canine and
Natasha.

The gray woman smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Blackwood, this is Fox and Samantha. We would like you to
link them together."

Blackwood glanced at us, then back at his boss, a smile on
his face. "Linking two naturals, that is rare. I should be
able to repress the power multiplication, but there is still
a risk."

I glanced at Samantha who just shrugged her shoulders. "I'm
game."

"My abilities are fairly low, everything should be
controllable, but you should abort if things risk going out
of control," I replied.

He nodded his head. "I will be able to do so."

Letting out a deep breath I flicked my ears back and moved
just a little bit closer. Without much thought I reached out
and took Samantha's hand in mine and we knitted our fingers
together.

Blackwood reached up and placed a hand on the side of my
head, his other hand pressing against Samantha's head. There
was a moment of silence then I felt a shot of cold as his
fingers pressed into my mind, and with a flash the world
twisted to white.

* * *

I hate the feeling of someone else in my mind, poking and
prodding with their mental fingers all over the places I
didn't want them to be. About the least intrusive person who
had ever snuck into my brain wasn't even a person, but a
wyrm, and that was more about having a conversation of a
sort than it was about deep contact. The most intrusive was
when Rhea and I were split in twain. My whole mind had been
duplicated, then each side edited to only be one of us. It
had been an interesting experience.

The world swirled white around me, slowly reforming into a
green field, but not real grass. It was more like painted
grass, or something out of a video game. The edges were
jagged and I could see a few trees in the distance that
looked like photos instead actual tress.

My feet found solid ground, and I turned to look around the
field. I wasn't alone, Samantha was standing a few feet away
from me, and her head was tilted back and looking up at the
sun above us. Only it wasn't exactly her. Her face was
slightly distorted with a small muzzle, her nose flattened
out and her eyes just slightly further apart. Her ears were
pointed a bit and poked out of her hair, flicking slightly
as she took in the world. At the same time her tail, now
real, though without any fur, flicked in excitement.

"Samantha?" I asked.

"Is this world yours or mine?" she asked, turning her head
down to look at me, her teeth pointed under her lips.

I looked around the place, clicking my tongue slightly. "I
wish I could say. Things were a lot more real looking the
last time I was here, but then again I was in my own mind."

She nodded a bit, her ears twisting to the side. Bending
down she pulled free a clump of pixilated grass and let it
scatter to the ground. "It's very retro, whatever it is,"
she said.

"It's sort of pretty I suppose," I said, reaching out to
place a hand on her shoulder. The contact between us was
very warm and very real, more real than anything else in the
whole little telepathic world. I squeezed her shoulder a
bit. She looked up at me, purring softly, then suddenly
turned and wrapped her arms around me.

Without thinking I reached down to hold her, my hand
touching at the base of her tail. The touch of it was odd,
the lack of fur made it feel very different than I had
expected. I held it there for a few moments before I
realized that wasn't the only thing wrong. There was a large
mass between me and her.

We pulled away from each other. Samantha reached out to grab
the base of her tail while I looked down at myself. I was
female, and not just normally female but very much so. I
pulled at the hem of my shirt, looking down at my breasts.
They were huge! At least double what I normally was as a
female, and I was human.

I let go of my shirt and ran my hands over my body. I was
curvy, even if I still had my excess weight around the
belly. I wouldn't stop traffic, but everyone would be
watching me.

"Why is my tail real?" Samantha asked in an annoyed tone.

I shrugged, adjusting my clothing to better fit my new form
and wishing for a bra. It might have been a touch of cartoon
physics, but now that I knew about my new breasts I could
feel their weight on my body. "The same reason I'm a woman.
It must be some sort of view into our souls," I said.

She let out a long growl and tucked her tail around her
body. "You weren't supposed to see this," she snapped.

"Why? I knew your tail was real, at least as far as your
mind was concerned," I said to her reaching out to place a
hand on her shoulder.

Samantha snorted and pulled away from my touch. It was
probably a good idea, as I could feel the urge to hold her
again starting to rise the moment contact was made. "You can
see it now, you can see what it made me," she said, her ears
laying back in annoyance.

"What happened? What caused this?" I asked her.

She glared up at me, her anger glowing red in her eyes.

I sighed and shook my head. "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting
this to happen. This is the first time I've ever tried
this."

The half feline giggled a bit and looked me over. "I guessed
not, otherwise you would have been ready for your
enhancements. I suspected you liked them big, Fox, but I had
_no_ idea!"

A blush rushed over my cheeks as I turned away, wrapping my
arms over my chest. "I'm not that much of a letch; I think
it's just this place," I said, looking around the field.

"I think your chest is telling me otherwise." She walked up
and poked me right in the nipple. I wanted to protest but
the contact with her sent a jolt through my body.

I took a step back. "Let's be careful with the touching. It
seems a bit overwhelming here," I said.

"I suppose so," she replied, then leaned her head back,
sniffing at the air around us. "We should find the fold."

I nodded and took a few steps away from her, looking around
the field. I could feel the fold in the distance, maybe the
middle of the field, but it was hard to tell. Samantha must
have felt it as well, as she spun on her heels and started
to run towards it.

Following her turned out to be a lot harder than I had
expected. I got maybe half a dozen steps before my
unrestrained breasts made me drop back to a low jog. I
simply couldn't keep up with my friend like that, so I just
watched her run across the fake grass. She didn't get far
before she fell down onto all fours, her hair and tail
fluttering behind her as she picked up more speed. I could
see her body reshaping under her clothing and skin as she
ran.

She wasn't the only one who was changing. My body was
growing as I neared the fold myself, the clothing becoming
tight over my chest and around my hips. Before long I was
being squeezed in a number of uncomfortable ways and I was
worried that I wouldn't stay in my clothing much longer.

It took me around ten minutes to reach the fold. By the time
I had reached it, I had a chest that was better associated
with a porn star than anything normal. I couldn't see the
group from around my chest, and I could only see the tips of
my feet at full stride. My hips and ass had kept pace with
the growth and I doubted I could fit through a door. I was
more of a parody of a woman than the real thing.

Samantha hadn't fared any better, she was sitting on her
haunches, licking one paw. Her body was not much more than a
cat in human skin. Her muzzle was long and narrow with sharp
teeth. She looked up at me with her large slited eyes and
let out a soft mewing.

"Samantha?" I asked. I was surprised to hear my voice, it
was high pitched and breathy.

She lowered her ears and looked at me, her eyes narrowing
slightly. "You look silly," she said, her voice a
combination of normal speak and a purr.

"I could say the same about you," I told her, looking up at
where the fold was. The air seemed to twist around it,
flickering like heat was rising off of it, but the air was
cool.

The feline stood up on all fours and looked over herself,
her face falling a bit as she struggled to stand upright,
but failed. "Fox, what is going on?"

"I wish I knew," I replied.

She shook out her head, which flowed down the rest of her
body all the way to the tip of her furless tail. "It wasn't
like this before; it was never like this."

I nodded to her, looking back up at the fold. "This is just
in our minds. It's not real, it will never be real. We just
need to do our job and get out of here and we'll both be
back to normal."

She nodded her head, walking around me in a tight circle,
but not quite touching me. "You had better be right. I don't
want to be trapped like this again."

"You're not the only one," I said, biting my lip slightly. I
sat down on the fake grass and closed my eyes, reaching out
to feel the fold. It was just the same as before, and I
could just feel the trace of the last connection, hanging
just out of my grasp.

I reached out for it, trying to grab onto it, to do what I
couldn't do before, but it continue to be just out of my
grasp. I strained, putting everything I could, but I just
couldn't get my hands onto it.

"Can you feel the fold?"

She nodded her head. "Of course I can, but I can't find
anything. I just can't see what you see."

Licking my lips I looked down at her. "Then it's time we
started working together," I said, and reached down for the
top of her head.

The half human pulled back a bit and tilted her head,
looking at me with one eye. Slowly she nodded and tried to
relax, but her ears lay flat in her hair. I reached down and
placed my hand on top of her head, feeling the rush of the
contact between us. I wanted to embrace her, to hold her to
me, to hold onto the only real thing in this world.

Next to us the fold pulsed with power I had never felt
before. I could feel it like a weight on my shoulders. I
could also feel the fold we had taken to reach the destroyed
house. I could even feel a ripple in the air high above us,
moving like a streamer through the atmosphere.

I reached out to the fold, feeling it twist around my touch.
I closed my eyes, focusing on it. I could feel the thread of
the trace again, just under the trip of my fingers. I
reached out for it but it pulled away, teasing me, staying
just out of my reach. I went for it again, but it danced
free.

Growling softly I gathered up all the power and lunged for
the thread. It tried to twist away but I was able to catch
it between the tips of my fingers. It wasn't a sure thing.
It tried to pull away from me again, wiggling and twisting
as I tightened my grip. Once I had it firmly in my hands I
pulled it back towards me and finally I knew where it lead.

I opened my eyes and looked down at Samantha. "I know where
it leads," I said.

"So do I," she replied, giving me a smile that I had only
seen before on Rhea.

Pulling my hand away from her, I gave it a shake, feeling
the tingle from the contact. "Now we just have to wake up,"
I said. As I spoke the words they seemed to reverberate
around us. For a moment I could feel the touch of
Blackwood's mental fingers in my mind. I pulled at them,
twisting away, feeling them separate from my mind.

The world started to swim around the pair of us then fade
back to white. A moment later my real eyes opened and I
found myself looking into the eyes of my wife.

I smiled at her and fell forward, wrapping my arms around
her and kissing her nose. "I have it, love," I said.

"We have it," Samantha said from my side. I turned to look
at her, pleased to see that she was still her normal self. I
double checked myself. I was once again male, and still a
fox.

Blackwood came over to me, a concerned look on his face.
"Are you okay? There were some issues with the connection. I
was worried about the pair of you," he said to me.

"What sort of issues?" I asked.

He ran his paws over his head, looking tired. His fur was
stained with sweat, as was his clothing. "'Sympathetic
resonance'. Your common traits were reflecting and enhancing
each other, increasing them tenfold."

"More like fifty," Samantha said.

"Fifty sounds about right," I replied with a chuckle.
"Everything is back to normal now."

The canine looked a bit annoyed at my proclamation but
didn't seem up to saying anything else. Natasha walked over
to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You had better
get some sleep. I'll have the bonus in your account by
morning."

"Thank you," he replied, then turned and started back
towards the fold. He seemed to regain some of his composure
as he walked away, but he still looked the worse for wear.

Samantha pulled away from us and started towards the fold.
"I think it's time we found where this leads," she said, and
then frowned.

Mallory was by her side in a moment. "Is everything
alright?"

She shook her head, her tail flicking slightly. "I can't
open the fold. Damn it, I can't open the fold!"

I frowned at this and reached out for the fold myself. I
tried to open it as well but nothing happened. I could feel
it, but I just couldn't control it. It was like I was trying
to make it open to a fold that didn't exist, but I wasn't.
That had a different feeling to it, but this was nothing.

"I can't either. That's never happened before," I said in
disbelief.

"We're out of power. I haven't had this happen in years,"
Samantha said, her annoyance growing.

I looked at her in surprise. "I can run out of power?"

"Of course you can," she said. At the same time my wife also
answered with: "Didn't you know?"

Shaking my head I looked at Oria. "No, I didn't know. I've
never had this happen before."

She surprised me with a giggle and wrapped her arms around
me. "Something about Naturals that you don't know? I never
thought I would see it happen."

I wrapped my arms around the body of my sexy wife and gave
Samantha a glance. "How long will it take before we can open
a fold?"

"A day or two," she replied.

Smiling a bit I nuzzled my wife's cheek. "Then we can wait a
few more days and spend the time to get properly prepared.
Wherever this fold leads, if anywhere at all, we're going to
give the people on the other side a big surprise."

-----

This story (AFiW #511) is copyright 2007 by Fox Cutter.
Hardcopy reprints limited to one per person, all other
rights reserved. This story may not be distributed for a fee
except by permission of the author, and this copyright
notice may not be removed.