Revelations

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

07/20/96:

I grumbled under my breath as a stalked back to the house
from the docking bay. Things had been going very far from my
way for the past two weeks.

First, the new hull plates had finally arrived and, as luck
would have it, actually where done RIGHT. The spacing was
perfect, the bolt mounts where strong enough, even the
hypospace shield wiring systems where in place.

Naturally this was all to good to be true. Apparently the
contractor I had to build the hull, contracted out for half
of it. So with two people on the job, there was bound to be
some kind of mistake.

About three feet of it. The forward half of the hull had the
slight problem of being three feet WIDER then I need, so not
only did the two halves not match, I had to send the front
have back again to be refitted.

Though a few days before the new generator outputs arrived,
only two weeks late. And-lo-and behold they actually worked.
So we where finally able to pull the computer out of the
cave, and stick it into the ship.

The computer it's self was one of the harder bits of the
ship to straighten out. First off, Oriana spent a week
trying to get it to speak Prid Standard and not the language
it was programmed to. After that we gave it a few run
throughs on some of the new hardware that I had installed.

It nearly shorted it's self out.

Finally though, we got it understanding some of the new
equipment, and as I said before, into the ship. So now I at
least have a something inside that can tell me what else is
blowing up.

I shook my head as I pushed my way through the teleport
curtain, and then through the door into my living room. For
a small project, it was becoming extremely large.

So with all that on my mind, I was totally unprepared to
find, sitting on the couch talking with Oria, a dragon.

As I came into the room, he turned and gave me a huge toothy
grin, and stood up from the couch. He wasn't a full dragon
in actuality, but a half dragon half human mix. He stood
only 7 feet from head to feet, and 10 from head to tail, as
well as a 20 foot wingspan.

Most of the rest of his body was the same in human
proportions, though he had the dragon head, with the long
muzzle and ears, as well as the tri-slitted eyes.

He walked over to where I was standing, totally stunned. He
had his arms spread, and his wings mostly out. "Fox!" he
said wrapping his arms and wings around me in a tight hug.

I broke myself out of my amazement of seeing my old friend.
"Ken!" I said back, doing my best to hug him.

After standing like that for a minute, he unfolded himself
from around me, and held me at arms length. "God, you've
gotten bigger," he tweaked my beard, "and hairier."

I shrugged, grinning myself. "Well, I've been around."

He grabbed my collar with a clawfinger, and tugged on it a
bit. "So I see. Any other changes in the past two and a half
years?"

"Oh... Been in and out of exile, mourned over a friend, got
a ship."

He nodded. "I heard about the Exile, and what happened to
your friend. Though I'm glad you pulled yourself out of it.
Even if it could make you a target for getting killed."

I blanched. "Don't I know it."

"You two care to come over and sit down?" Oria asked from
her place on the couch.

"Sure" Ken said, letting go of my collar. He moved over to
the couch, and sat down in such a way to not sit on his
tail. I grabbed a chair and moved it over to talk.

"So what have you been doing sense I last saw you?" I asked
him.

He tilted his head a bit. "This and that. I spent a year
studying under a mage on 173,245/b. And have been working on
call for the Hammerheads."

Oria paled a bit. "You work for the Hammerheads?" I could
see in her eyes that she was afraid that he had come to call
in her favor to them.

He shook his head. "Not really. They call me when they need
my help on some things. Some times a quick scrying, other
times to spell some stuff. Once or twice to do some small
component of a larger spell. Nothing I would call work, but
it pays the bills."

Oria nodded, though not looking to sure of herself. "I'm
going to get something to drink, you two want anything?"

"Nope" he said, as I shook my head.

She nodded, then got off the couch, and headed up stairs.

Ken grinned at me for a second. "She's nice. Any good in
bed?"

I chuckled. "Lecherous fool."

He grinned wider, "Hey it got you in my bed."

I nodded, remembering that night VERY well, and every night
for the month following it too. "Yes. But as for her, well,
she runs a House back on her own world, and goes back twice
a week. So I would have to guess she is, though I can't say
for sure."

"I see. She's a same-species?"

"Yep. Gave up trying nearly." I paused and did a quick
count. "Two years ago."

He gave me that toothy grin again, then glanced up at the
kitchen. "I wonder what's taking her so long?"

"I think you spook her when you mentioned the Hammerheads.
She's in for a favor with them."

Ken whistled though his teeth, a neat trick considering
dragons don't have any real lips. "I see, that is far from a
good thing."

I nodded. "I know, all to well."

He leaned forward a bit. "Listen Fox, between you and me.
Something is going on in the Hammerheads. After you pulled
your stunt at Council, there was passing talk of killing or
using you."

I grimaced. "I know, there people in everything. I've
already run into a ex-agent of the Hammerheads."

He shook his head hard. "Not exactly. I'm not talking a few
people here and there. I'm talking almost EVERYONE was
muttering about it."

I shrugged. "Well come on, of course they where. All the
evidence I left said there where agents in everything."

He put his foreclaw on my leg, and leaned really close.
"Fox, you know me, as a friend and a lover. Listen to me
when I tell you this. You shook up the WHOLE Hammerhead
organization when you did what you did. They weren't trying
to find agents, they where talking about how to get you
working for them, or dead!"

I looked him right in his eyes, and I could see he was
afraid, very afraid. I gulped. "Are you sure? Are you
absolutely sure?"

He nodded.

"Run," I said, with all the force I could muster, "run hard.
Get as far away from Prid and the council as you physically
can. Do it carefully, but do it soon."

This time he looked a bit pale. "Why Fox, what do you know?"

I looked at him. "I know that behind the scenes there are
some good guys working. I also know the bad guys are getting
ready to move. And I now fear that the Hammerheads ARE the
bad guys."

He nodded. "I know a place that I can go."

"Then don't go there." I said, picking up a good old notepad
from the table and scribbling a number on it. "Go here. It's
not the safest place, and the population has fur, but it
will be safe. It's a locked universe and far from anything."

I handed him the number. "You remember how to modify the
control to make your trail totally cold?"

He nodded, putting the paper in the pouch that hung around
his neck. "Yes."

"Good. Use it, and it will take a couple of days before they
trace you."

He stood. "Fox... I'm not sure what to say. I'm not even
sure if I should do this."

I looked at him, hard. "Ken, you are a good friend, and
someone I care for a lot. I don't want to lose you. Do this
for me, please?"

He slowly nodded. "I will."

I stood myself, and moved a bit to the door. "Be careful."

He followed me to the door, then turned, lowering his head
level with mine. "I promises." Then in one swift move he
wrapped his arms around me and kissed me.

I responded in kind, though broke it off shorter then I
would have liked. "Goodbye my friend."

"May we meet again, if only in dreams." He replied. A phrase
I knew his culture used only when they didn't really ever
expect to see someone again. Then he turn, and left through
the door.

I let out a sigh, and looked up to the kitchen. There was no
sign of Oria, but I made sure by running up stairs, then
back down again.

Picking up the phone, a quickly dialed a number I had been
given days before.

"Hello." Page's voice answered on the other end.

"Page, it's Fox. I want you to do something."

"What?" she asked, sounding concerned.

I licked my lips. "When we're done, call Rachel and Thal,
and tell them to get people following any major Hammerhead
people on Prid, and Jenner himself. Then, I want you to stop
ALL the searches you are doing, and start solely
concentrating on the Hammerhead databases for every bit of
information on Catarn."

"I already have Fox."

"I don't care. I want you to go through every single one,
left, right, forwards and backwards! I don't care if you
have to look at them in a mirror while hanging from the
ceiling until you pass out and have a vision!" By this time
I was talking so fast I was blurring my words together.

"Why?" She asked. "What's going on?"

I licked my lips again. "Because, we're about to step into
the fire..."