Surefoot 41: Stray

"Calvin?" a wonderful voice now asked.

"Calvin, son? Can you hear us?"

Mom... Dad... Cal opened his eyes, blinking into a strong light that was quickly subdued to let him open his eyes more. He smiled. "Mom? Dad?"

They were there, on either side of him, looking tired but also happy, each of them hugging him in turn, Mom declaring, "Oh, sweetheart, we're so sorry! We would never have left the Oberon without you if we'd known you were still behind!"

"That's right," Dad agreed, squeezing his hand. "We're sorry! We looked almost everywhere! How did you manage to get all the way down to Deck 10 by yourself?"

"I-" Thoughts of what had happened to him, the realisation that he had done something bad, returned to make him tear-eyed. "I'm sorry-"

"Shhh, it's okay," his mother assured him, "All that matters is that you're safe, thanks to Captain Hrelle and his crew." She drew back.

Cal looked around. He was in a Sickbay like the one on the Oberon, and while he knew Mom and Dad, of course, and Captain Taaers, and others he didn't know, including a smiling, brown-furred Cat Lady with a pregnant belly, standing next to- "Power Cat!"

Power Cat grinned. "I'm beginning to like that name. I might get it changed."

The Cat Lady with an arm around his nudged him playfully. "Forget it, Husband of Mine. Your ego is already galaxy-sized."

"Calvin," Mom said gently. "This isn't Power Cat, this is Captain Hrelle of the USS Surefoot. They came to pick us all up when we evacuated the Oberon, and then boarded to find you when we couldn't. He and his wife and son are Caitians."

Cal looked at him again. Feeling better now, he could see more clearly: no mane, no costume, a big belly. No, no he definitely wasn't Power Cat.

The disappointment on Cal's face made the Caitian's wife grin.

And suddenly Cal remembered- "Hobbes! Where's Hobbes?"

"He's all better," Power Ca- Captain Hrelle's wife said with a smile. "And now he's having what your Mom says is one of his 'Zoomies' up and down the corridors with our son, who has more energy than anyone else onboard-"

A bark from out of view was immediately followed by a bundle of tan-and-black fur torpedoing between grown-ups' legs and hopping up repeatedly at the side of the bed, barking each time he came into view of Cal, until Mom helped him up onto the biobed to furiously lick Cal's face and make the boy giggle as he hugged his pet. He was alive! He was alive!

Then a Cat Boy appeared, who looked up at Captain Hrelle and demanded breathlessly, "Papa! I want dog!"

"Well, there's a surprise," the Cat Lady commented dryly.

Captain Hrelle looked down at the youngster. "Misha, we're getting you something even better than a dog: a baby sister! Wouldn't you rather have her?"

The Cat Boy scowled and growled.

Now Mom leaned in to Cal. "Sweetheart, shouldn't you say something to Captain Hrelle for helping rescue you and Hobbes?"

Cal looked up to the man. No, he wasn't Power Cat. But he was still good. "Thank you, Sir."

He smiled. "You're welcome, Calvin. You know, I could still be your Power Cat. We seem a lot alike: strong, handsome, smart, fearless-"

"Thin?" his wife added.

Misha poked his father in the belly. "Papa not thin! Papa fat! You not Power Cat, you Fat Cat!"

Hrelle growled. "I'm big-boned, you little [BLEEP]."

But then he smiled and winked at Cal...

THE ADVENTURES OF THE SUREFOOT WILL CONTINUE IN... CLANDESTINE