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"Oh
no, it's gone again." Moira O'Malley, first engineer for
space crafts at B.E.T.A., looked into a big paper box at the
entrance of the BetaMountain cafeteria.
"Who
is gone again?" asked Captain Zachary Fox behind
her.
"My kitten."
Moira bowed down and searched under the near standing tables.
"Suzie got five, but it is only allowed to keep one pet in
an appartement. My special permission run out today. I've found
new homes for four of them, but nobody wanted the last one so
far." She shrugged in sorrow. "If I don't find it fast,
I'm never going to get a new home for it in time."
"What
is it?"
"It's a little
tom. A *really* little tom. It's the smallest kitten in the
litter. Maybe that's the reason nobody wanted it." She still
searched under the tables.
"What
it looks like?"
"Grey
striped with a white snout."
"I'll
help you searching."
Niko
curiously watched the little cat walking across the cafeteria
with it's tail raised high above it's small back. The tip
twitched. It headed directly towards Goose. He looked out of the
great window down to the starting decks and took a deep sip of
his coffee. He hadn't noticed the cat... until it marched
straight up his legs and curled up in his lap.
"What's
this?!"
"Looks like a
little cat."
"But
what...?" He looked down at the tiny creature that drove her
claws in the cloth of his uniform. Perplex great green eyes
matched with determined great green eyes. A soft purring was in
the air.
Niko snickered. "Shane,
you are possessed."
He
suspiciously touched the cat with a single finger at the neck.
The purring got louder. "What is it doing here?"
"I
don't know."
"There
you are!" Moira rushed over towards them, Zachary followed
much slower. "Ranger, please, this is my cat. Will
you..."
Goose raised his
hands. "Not my decision. I'm just the seat."
Niko
looked at the curled up cat. "More like a basket,
Shane."
Moira grapped for
the cat and got a really angry hiss. Niko and Gooseman looked
amazed at it. None of them had believed this little creature
capable of such a furious noise.
"It
doesn't want to go, Miss." Goose said dryly.
"Ranger,
I'm really running out of time. I've to find a new home for it
today, otherwise it will be put down."
"Oh
no." Niko looked horrified at the kitten. "Why? It
seems totally healthy."
"I've
no place for the kitten and the mother. And nobody wants
it."
"But *it*
obviously wants Goose." Zachary stood behind them and
watched, amused, the whole scene.
"Do
you want a cat, Ranger?"
"Not
really." The purring in his lap increased when he ran his
fingers over the big ears. "I don't know, what to do with
it." He tried to remove the cats paws from his uniform only
to find out that it didn't work.
Niko
grinned. "The only way to give it back seems to be *with*
your trousers."
"That's
out of the question." A tiny head knocked against his palm
demanding for further stroving.
"Then
you have a problem."
"Hm...
What are cats for?"
"What
do you mean?"
"I mean,
I know why people keep dogs and horses and even some kinds of
birds. But cats?" His fingers ran again over the ears,
strove through the grey fur at the neck and started to crawl the
throat. He continued without noticing it at all.
Niko
watched his unvoluntarily stroving. "You already know,
Shane," she said with a smile. "And I think we have an
adoption to party."
"Whose?"
Two pairs of amazing green eyes looked up at her.
"Yours."
Niko laughed. "This little guy," she pointed at the
ball of grey fur on his lap, "has adopted you if you like it
or not."
"I'll give
you a list of the things it needs, Ranger." Moira tucked the
paper box under her arm. "I don't think I'm going to get it
off you in time." She grinned. "Seems it has solved
it's problem on it's own."
"I
wouldn't be ask, would I?"
"With
all the things I know about cats in my mind," Zachary
laughed, "not at all, Goose!"
Running
his fingers again through the grey fur Gooseman finally shrugged.
"Than there's a new animal in the predator's
cage."
"How are you
going to name it?" Moira asked.
"Possessor."
The cat agreed with a loud purring. |