Claws That Catch

CHAPTER THREE

“Good to hear, Captain Weaver,” Captain Prael said, grinning at the XO’s tone. “Glad to hear you got it all back. You’re going to need to arrange transportation… Okay, glad we’re clear on that. And a working party to… I’ll make sure the COB’s aware of the importance. In case I wasn’t clear, good job on all of this from tracking down the problem to rectifying it… Yes, I’m fully cognizant of Miss Moon’s part in this and appreciate that as well. She may not be the problem-child she at first seemed.”

“So I’ve been thinking,” Miriam said.

“Oh, those are scary words,” Sub Dude replied.

“My belly’s quaking for some strange reason,” Red agreed.

The threesome were playing cards in the small space between the number fourteen and number sixteen chaos launcher. Technically a storage space for peripheral materials, it was strangely empty because the parts that should have filled it were sitting in a warehouse in Delaware.

“The CO’s still not real happy with me helping you guys out,” Miriam continued, ignoring the jibes. “And I got really bored on the last cruise. Worse, I had nobody to snuggle.”

“You’re not snuggling me or Red,” Gants said, sucking his teeth. “Married. Damnit.”

“So I need something to snuggle,” Miriam continued, ignoring him again. “And the ship really needs a mascot.”

“Oh, God,” Red said. “This is getting worse and worse!”

“All I’m talking about is one little kitty,” Miriam said. “It will take up hardly any room. Nobody will notice. Probably.”

“And just what is this kitty going to eat?” Red asked. “We don’t stock cat food.”

“He eats raw meat just fine,” Miriam said. “Don’t worry, I got that covered. With my access, tweaking the supply orders was easy.”

“Oh, God,” Red said. “You hacked the supply system?”

“Duh.”

“Okay, how are you going to get it on the ship, Smart Lady?” Sub Dude asked.

“All hands! All hands! Assemble by Hatch Three for working party!”

“I dunno,” Miriam said. “Maybe in a Hexosehr cargo box I just happen to have and that looks just like the rest we’re getting ready to load.”

“Damnit.”

“PO, is it just me or are we loading a lot of provisions?” the mess specialist asked, heaving a leg of beef onto a large stack in the freezer.

“Stuffing every nook and cranny,” the petty officer replied. “Going to be a long cruise.”

“Yeah, but, this is one heck of a lot of meat,” the mess specialist said. “I mean, more than normal, right?”

“Looks about right to me,” the PO replied. “This is the Blade…”

“We don’t turn back until we’re out of food or Marines,” the mess specialist said, sighing. “I guess we’re going to be making a lot of chilimac.”

“We got it all back,” Bill chortled. “All of it. Every last item!”

“That’s great, Bill,” Miriam said, looking around at the piles of boxes. “Now all we have to do is figure out where it all goes, again.”

“No problem,” Bill said. “I just want to get it all back in the ship. Then we can figure out where it’s going. I can see you’re just as glad as I am, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Admit it.”

“You’re right,” Miriam said, trying not to glance over at where Red and Sub Dude were joining the line of sailors loading the ship. “But I’ve got stuff I’ve got to do. See you later?”

“Absolutely,” Bill replied. “And did I mention we got it all back?”

“I thought you said this was a cat,” Sub Dude whispered as they broke away from the group and headed aft.

“It’s sort of purring like one,” Red pointed out. “Sort of.”

“It’s way too heavy to be a cat,” Gants said, sucking his teeth furiously. “Unless you brought a menagerie.”

“Just one little kitty,” Miriam promised. “Is this far enough? I miss my Tiny.”

“Over here,” Red whispered, opening up one of the between-launcher supply closets.

The threesome entered the compartment, shut the hatch and then Gants hit the lock on the box.

“What kind of a cat — ?” he started to say and then found himself flat on his back in the face of a joyous “MRAOWR!”

The beast on his chest was the size of a medium dog and weighed about the same. But that was where the resemblance ended. Snow white with black spots and blue eyes, the thing looked like an albino jaguar. And it had the power of one, having knocked him off his feet before he could get a sentence out or even scream. If it was a house cat, it looked like it must have been crossed with a leopard. It began licking his face like a dog, but with a vocalization that could best be replicated as “YUM! YUM! YUM!” It was not a reassuring sound.

“Can I push it off? Or is it going to rip my throat out?”

“Oh, Tiny’s a big softie,” Miriam said, pushing the cat aside.

“Is that some sort of bizarre genetic accident?” Red asked. He’d backed into the corner of the room since the cat was between him and the door. He was afraid to try to run in case it caused a chase reaction in the massive feline. “I saw this picture online one time…”

“It’s a Savannah,” Miriam said. “A cross between a Bengal and a Cervil. And his name is Titanus, after the lord of the Titans. I like to call him Tiny.”

“Look,” Gants said, scrambling to his feet and backing to the door. “I don’t know anything about any cat. We were not here. We disavow all knowledge of how a fricking monster catzilla got on the ship. My God, woman, where is he going to go to the bathroom? We don’t happen to have the Sahara onboard!”

“Where does a sixty pound cross between a housecat and a mountain lion go?” Red mused. “Anywhere it wants. I’m thinking… Conn.”

“He’s potty trained,” Miriam said with a moue. She knelt and grabbed the massive cat by the head, scratching it hard at the neckline. At which point, “Tiny” rolled onto the deck and onto his back to have his tummy rubbed. That required two hands for sure. “He goes in the potty. I wouldn’t want to change his catbox.”

“Like, in the can?” Red asked, straightening out of his crouch. “Really?”

“Oh, sure, that I’ve heard of,” Gants said, sucking his teeth nervously. “But is he trained on a potty for a prototype, Hexosehr-built, spaceship Miss Smartypants?”

“Well, duh.”

“So it just eats raw meat?” Red said, holding out a slice of beef. It turned out that Miriam had doubled the meat ration of the ship. Normally, that would be impossible, but for some reason the ship had about double the regular freezer space. He had to wonder, given that Miriam had been involved in the design, just how long the girl had been planning on bringing her “little kitty.”

“And organ meat,” Miriam said.

“Okay, who in the hell ordered two tons of calf liver… ?”

“Oh, man, liver and onions, here we come…”

“You’ve pretty much got it licked, don’t you?” Gants said, sighing.

“Thought of everything,” Miriam said. “Trust me.”

“Is this one of those times that as a good Marine wife I trust you that you were not carousing all night?” Brooke asked as Eric opened the door to the apartment. She was folding laundry in the living room with the TV set to Fox News.

“Yes,” Eric said. “The first sergeant and the CO decided that everybody was getting too into their new roles as TV stars. So we had a ruck march.”

“All night?” Brooke asked, alarmed.

“Yep,” Berg said. “I caught breakfast at the mess hall and that was the first solid food I’ve had since yesterday sometime. The good news is that I’ve got the whole day off. I need to be back at 1700.”

“That’s… five o’clock, right?” Brooke asked. “Do you want me to get you something to eat? I would have fixed breakfast. I’m sorry I snapped.”

“That was not a snap,” Eric corrected. “A snap would have been ‘where the hell were you last night?’ And I’m fine. I need a shower. After that I’m sure we’ll find some way to pass the time. Especially since lift-off is about this time tomorrow morning.”