Tom's Parallel World Pt. 06

"Hi Tom, have you heard they've forecast storms and they've cancelled the herring run. So we won't be able to put your plan into action to trick Becky into listening to me."

"Yeah, I heard."

Tom guessed Becky could appear at any moment, so he turned to face Thomas, who kept his back to the main bar and hallway to the kitchen, whilst maintaining eye contact with Tom.

"Captain Brown will remain here in the village, so it won't be so easy."

"No, I'm thinking up something else."

Tom was, but it was how he could keep Thomas talking. On cue, in his peripheral vision, Becky appeared, having heard Thomas's voice. Seeing Thomas, talking to Tom, with his back to her, some sixth sense encouraged her to remain in the hallway.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just tell Becky the truth? Captain Brown must approve or he wouldn't let you both be friends when younger."

Becky stood half hid behind the entrance hall wall, realising that this could be something worth hearing.

"I guess so, but it's whether Becky will forgive me. She has an awful temper and has been jealous of the attention I've had from all the other girls in the village."

"But if you were to tell her, what you told me? That they don't interest you and Becky is the only one you've ever had eyes for."

Tom was trying hard not to look directly at Becky, as he maintained eye contact with Thomas, whilst keeping her in his peripheral vision. He could see her grinning and looking pleased, motioning for Tom to encourage Thomas to say more.

"She wouldn't listen to me. She's had short thrift with me in the past."

"Do you think it could be more about her losing the top dog title if she married because she's a bitch?"

"Oh! Tom, I couldn't give a stuff about being the top dog. If I could, I would happily let her be top dog, bitch or not. I'm happy being the captain of my boat. To have her as my bitch would make me far happier, better than being top dog and better than marrying any other bitch in the village."

Behind Thomas, Becky's ears twitched, and her eyes beamed at Tom. She slowly padded her way from her hiding place to behind Thomas. Before he could say anything more, Becky wrapped her forelegs around him, so tightly that he couldn't wriggle free once the shock wore off, recognising her scent.

"Say more nice things about me, Thomas."

Becky giggled, whilst pecking a kiss on his cheek.

"You tricked me, Tom?"

"Yes, I didn't really have a Plan B, so this was the best I could come with at short notice."

Craning his neck around Thomas addressed Becky, "You're not normally up this early? Were you in on this?"

"No, Dad woke me early this morning, so I came down to help. Tom seems to have many talents."

Becky relaxed her hold on Thomas, but rather than pulling away, he rotated around in her arms to hold her and they passionately kissed. Tom left them alone and returned to the kitchen to gather more condiments to place on tables, but waited until he heard the front door close before returning to finish setting the tables.

Becky sat there waiting for him, "Hmm, so what was plan A?"

"Ahh, you don't want to know."

"Well, it seems plan 'B' has worked, so it wouldn't hurt to give Plan A away?"

Tom laid condiments out on each table, unable to look Becky in the eye.

"Well, it involved tying you down to your family mating tree."

"Haha, you are talented, and then have Thomas find me? Mmm, I like the idea. It's romantic."

Tom tutted, "You mammals. I don't know... What are you like?"

"You still have a lot to learn."

Becky and Tom continued preparing then tidying up, as guests filtered down for breakfasts. The two busied themselves serving, and once guests returned to their rooms, they cleared the tables. As guests left, Tom, Becky and Sarah moved up to change bedding and towels for the rush of new guests due that afternoon.

By eleven o'clock, they were all ready for a break and went to sit in the lounge. Tom popped in to the kitchen to collect coffees and cake, as Brenda started lunch.

"I don't understand, you youngsters," Brenda told Tom.

"Sorry?"

"Well, Becky was the biggest sour puss when she started working here, for her to change mid-evening, and then to be completely different the following day. Today, she found out, you dumped her to swim with a princess and yet she's singing and humming songs."

Tom laughed, not wanting to let any cats out of the bag.

"Don't worry Brenda; it will all make sense soon."

Tom wondered what the other girls in the village would do to Thomas when Becky makes it known they were now an item. Possibly less than what Becky will do if Thomas was to back down. Well, at least Captain Brown may have something to thank Tom for when he finds out.

The five of them all sat over a coffee and chatted. They had all noticed that Becky was happier and more light-hearted than in recent months. Whenever Becky looked the other way, any of the four not in her vision would raise eyebrows, questioning the others about the change in her. All remained shocked whilst also enjoying the change in her temperament.

Kitty explained that over the next few days, they would be full, with more guests expected to arrive over lunch, keeping them busy. As a result, she suggested them having an hour off before the rush.

With the caffeine boost, Tom pondered. An hour in bed would be nice if he could sleep, but he wanted to talk with Lucy to hear if they had any news. Becky elected to return home for an hour. Brenda had to prepare the lunches, whilst Sarah and Kitty had paperwork to do.

Tom, under the pretence of going for a walk, headed along the coast, then cut up to cross the headland. Looking around, he checked no one was watching, and then he cut up along the back of the clifftop cottages. Counting the doors, he reached his spy liar.

He knocked quietly on the back door, so he wouldn't surprise Lucy. Stepping through the doorway, he found the lights on with equipment now spaced around the room, with notepaper strewn over tables.

There were no bubbling glass phials or smoking glass flasks, nor sparking electrical apparatus to impress Tom. He surveyed the room, wondering if they could have a few flashing lights, if only to satisfy him.

It was eerie being in the cottage on his own, not knowing if he dare touch anything. There was nothing to show if Peter or Lucy were there. He wandered around, wondering if he could take advantage of being able to shower with no one around to catch him naked for a change.

Before he climbed the stair, he heard a thump coming from above, then a groan. He halted in his tracks, as his mind ran riot with possibilities. He could smell Lucy and Peter's scent, but didn't know how old the scent was, or if there was anyone else there, definitely not the smelly weasels they saw last night. Not knowing the limits of his new smelling sense, he couldn't discount he was missing something.

He stepped up the stairs, trying to avoid any creaking treads so he could maintain the advantage of surprise. Halfway up, he heard the padding of paws, creaking of floorboards and muffled groans.

He tried to detect which room the assailants were in and how much retribution he could play on them for harming Lucy. The moaning was more definite now. Were they punching her? He stepped further up into the hallway above.

The bathroom door was open, as was the front bedroom door, leaving the rear bedroom door, muffling the sounds emitted. Tom's hackles were up and he was ready to fight, not flight. He poised at the door, ready to explode into the room and defend Lucy to the death if required.

He heard a muffled scream, and a growl, then a rhythmic cry. Like any gangster film, Tom's mind gave him a picture of thugs working over Lucy, gagged and tied to a chair. Taking a deep breath, Tom burst into the room, giving the loudest war cry he could give, hoping to shock Lucy's assailants.

The shock, however, was all Tom's, as he took in the scene. His scream had the required effect, pausing the two animals in the room. Frozen in lovemaking, Lucy and Peter turned in shock to look at Tom, standing mid-pounce, reflecting on the pair.

Peter, no longer the geeky looking canine, was mounting Lucy from behind and in mid-thrust. The white feline kitten, Lucy, led face down into a pillow. With her rear in the air, her tail curved up out of the way. Sweat dampened the pair's fur and judging from the bedding, this was not their first time or a spontaneous act.

"Tom?" Peter broke the silence, remaining inside Lucy, who looked annoyed, panting on the edge of her orgasm.

Tom, changed from 'pouncing lion' to 'embarrassed human', standing still, bringing his palms up, to hide their predicament from his eyes.

"Sorry... Sorry, I thought Lucy was being attacked."

Tom backed out of the bedroom, onto the landing, out of the two lovers' sight with them hearing him continue to apologise.

"Tom?" Lucy's voice came from the bedroom.

Tom heard the bed creak and the two whisper between themselves, neither knowing what to do. Tom didn't know the social convention, except he was in the wrong.

"I'm sorry... So sorry... I'll go back to Kitty's, it's okay... You two carry on... Sorry."

"No, Tom... It's okay." Lucy spoke out, to whisper again to Pete something Tom couldn't hear.

"No... It's okay, I'll go."

Tom made his way downstairs, thinking this was almost as bad as catching your parents having sex.

Back downstairs, Tom was going to leave but heard paws pad down the stairs, with Lucy arriving behind him saying, "Don't go, Tom, it's okay, honestly."

He turned to see her, looking as embarrassed as he felt, with her fur sweaty and ruffled. Tom tried not to look at her obviously swollen breasts and her nipples peeking through the thin, dampened fur. Lucy pointed at a chair for Tom to sit down at, as she turned her back and tried to fluff her breast fur up.

"I'm really sorry, Lucy. I thought you were being attacked."

"You need to check your paranoia, Tom. It's not healthy."

"No, you see last night I..."

Tom stopped talking as he can't say anything after Captain Brown had commanded him to remain silent, plus it may actually put them in real danger...

"What happened last night, Tom?"

Lucy also sat down, but was now concerned for Tom.

"I can't say, Lucy. You'll have to trust me on this, but we can't trust anyone."

"Now you're talking in riddles."

Two pairs of paws padded down the stairs and Peter emerged, trying to look calm, but it wasn't working. Thankfully, he had calmed down enough, so there was nothing intimate flagging out of his fur between his rear legs.

"Hi, Tom... Er... I have two infrared cameras for you."

He went to the table and picked up two tiny devices.

"There's a problem now. I can't be the one to set them."

Tom could, but maybe, being seen to return to the beach may upset Captain Brown further. Worse still, he couldn't explain to Lucy and Peter why.

"That's okay. Lucy and I can do it. Just tell us where."

Tom explained the layout of the beach, where he could set the cameras and where they were to be pointing. He outlined he hoped they could catch any boats landing or people meeting on the beach. Above all, they couldn't tell anyone, whether about the cameras, the location or if they find anything.

Both nodded in agreement, quite pleased to be included in some more clandestine activity. Then Lucy remembered the task at hand, the main reason why Tom would have visited.

"We've been testing, but so far there is nothing untoward about the nanobots. They all are performing as they should. We can't find anything in their programming that is telling them to do something they shouldn't be."

Lucy looked as disappointed as Tom felt.

"That can't be. Why would anyone go through all that trouble and risk for nothing? There must be something in the nanobots for them to risk Pisces' life to buy them time to recover the material."

Tom scratched his head, hoping for inspiration. He tried to recap all the sci-fi films and plots he had seen over the years, hoping one of them may hold the answer.

"Peter, can you recollect any sci-fi films or books that cover this kind of scenario?"

"You're joking?"

Tom closed his weary eyes to think, hoping an answer may come to him, but with his energy deflated at the news, only found his body shutting down, desperate to sleep. His hand reached into his pocket, pulling out another seaweed pod to suck. The salty exterior just didn't want to release the sweeter interior, even after he sucked harder, with no change.

Frustrated, he bit into the pod and chewed on it, beginning to get some sweetness in his mouth. Before he could think any further on the problem, his body shut down, his eyelids closed and his legs buckled, as he blacked out.

"Tom... Tom... Tom," Lucy's soft voice slowly penetrated his blanked out mind. "Tom, please... Open your eyes."

Tom's body was numb all over, his limbs felt like lead and his eyelids wouldn't respond. He heard a groan echo around his mind, then a slap across his face.

"Not so hard, Peter. You'll knock him out."

"It's supposed to be hard. I'm trying to bring him to his senses."

Light pierced Tom's eyes as he opened his eyelids to see Lucy bent over him. Feeling returned to his limbs for him to realise, he now lay spread eagle on the floor. He smiled at Lucy, but his mind couldn't engage through the fog confusing him...

"Hi, Luce... Luceeee... Hi Lucy, what ha... happened?"

"You just collapsed out of the chair, onto the floor. You've been out for five, maybe ten minutes. We were about to call for help."

"No... No, what were we doing?"

"Talking. We just told you we had found nothing out."

Suddenly, the events of the last twelve-hours span through Tom's mind on fast forward. He remembered every detail. Clair, swimming with Pisces, seeing Balthazar, Brock, Flip and Flop (he laughed at the names he had given them, to receive a quizzical look from Lucy).

His discussion with Captain Brown that morning burned into his memories, Becky, breakfast, Thomas, then finding Lucy and Peter in the bedroom...

"You were both... You know?... In the bedroom you were..."

He pointed at Lucy, who nodded, blushing. He then remembered their conversation. The nanobots were performing as expected, but why would Brock attempt to kill Pisces?

His mind then ran through all the sci-fi films and book plots, again in fast forward mode. His eyes glazed over as he ran through episodes of Star Wars, Star Trek and multiple books, Anime films, Dune, Alien and even old black and white cowboy films.

"He's going again Peter, fetch some water."

Then he got the answer, somewhere between Independence Day and an old 1960s black and white film. Tom leapt to his feet and walked up and down the room like an expectant father. His arm's gesticulating, trying to get Lucy and Peter to understand.

"Bingo. I have it... It's not what the nanobots change, add or turn on... it's what they turn off, or disrupt... it may be like a virus, turning off something... I can't remember the book or film, it's all swirling around in my head... It's the aliens. They're going to destroy the earth, but they have a force field..."

Lucy tried her best to decipher Tom's sped up gibberish, but he wouldn't stand still, parading up and down the room, talking at a hundred miles per hour.

"Whaaat? What aliens, you're the alien here, remember?"

Tom continued to pace up and down, which was now annoying Lucy. Peter stood there with a glass of water in his hand, ready for Tom to drink, but he wouldn't stop in one place long enough to hand it to him.

"No, not me... Well yes me... But not... I remember a book... or a film... we send in a virus... No... Not that one... we kill them all, the Daleks... No, Cybermen... Maybe it's like the Borg; they ignore us until we're a threat... No, not the Borg, they'd assimilate us... We send in a bomb, the biggest we can find... No... Not a bomb..."

Tom stopped as he passed Peter and swamped the glass of water down, gave him back the glass, gasped and continued, "That's it... they were going to kill us, kill us all... But we had no defence... They cheated with force fields... So we sent a virus... A virus that put them to sleep... No one dies, like the Ood, no one dies."

Lucy and Peter were exchanging worried looks. They'd never experienced anyone so wired before. Tom was striding up and down the lounge, wearing the carpet out with his speed. As he turned at the end of the lounge, he stopped and pointed to Lucy.

"That's it, that's the answer. Lucy, do your tests look for something the nanobots don't do? Something they don't modify, something innocuous they just turn off."

Lucy and Peter looked at each other, thinking it over. After a pause, Lucy said, "That's sort of the same thing. If they switch something off, they're making a change?"

"Something subtle... Say, if you were a warring nation, you would protect your weapons but not the command to put you to sleep... That's what we did; the virus put them to sleep... What if the nanobots switch something innocent off, something untoward that wouldn't ring alarm bells, something normal testing wouldn't pick up?"

Peter nodded.

"I think I understand. No, we were checking for minor abnormal behaviour, nothing devious or life-threatening. Lucy, we'll need to be more invasive."

Lucy nodded, and the pair began looking through notes. Tom rushed over to Peter, grabbed the empty glass, and went to the kitchen to drink several more cups to quench his thirst. When he reappeared, the two were deep in thought.

"Lucy, I'm sorry, I caught you two... Peter, it's great mate... I'm made up for you both, happy... You're a great couple."

Tom was pleased, as he liked them both. Then more images ran through his mind, one cropped up.

"Bite, Pisces said not to chew or bite and I did... that's why I'm spaced out... I'm as high as a kite... how long was I out? I need to get back to Kitty, as they need me."

Peter stood in his way.

"You're not going anywhere in your state. What are you on about? Bite what?"

Tom's hand shot to his pocket, pulling out some of the seaweed pods, showing them to the pair. The pair looked at each other and nodded, knowing Tom's problem.

Lucy confirmed, "You are lucky to only be as high as a kite... These are powerful when bitten into. You should only suck on them. It's a wonder you came around, let alone talking so fast and wearing the carpet out. Where did you get them from?"

"Pisces, we've been out all night. She's sexy... We swam miles and had great sex in the sea, but not with Flip or Flop."

He looked at them proud of his declaration, but whilst Peter chuckled, Lucy frowned. The pair were not sure of much of the gibberish Tom had spoken.

"Keep him here, Peter. I think we may have something back home that will calm him down."

Lucy ran out of the cottage, leaving Peter wondering how he could stop Tom if he really wanted to leave.

"Peter... My man... You... And Lucy... I bet you never thought? Eh?... No, nor did I, but you did... Well done, she's lovely."

Tom looked around the room, checking to see if anyone else was with them. Seeing the room empty, he leaned into Peter and whispered, "Don't tell anyone... She's my favourite kitten."

Tom winked at an incredulous Peter, who wasn't sure whether he should take that as a compliment or be jealous.

Tom checked around the room once more.

"I've another secret... Secrets many... That's me... But this one is great news... Shhhhh..."

Then Tom sang, "Becky and Thomas sitting in a tree, K-i-s-s-i-n-g, First Comes Love, then comes marriage."

Tom held his fingers to his lips.

"We know who's the captain, but who will be the Top dog?"

Peter reeled at the news. Every one of their generation thought the couple would never repair the rift between them. Tom saw the surprise on his face and beckoned him closer.