Strange Things Afoot

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

1/18/96:

As the sun slowly set in the distance, I sighed over my cup
of Rithen tea.

"Something wrong?" Oria asked from downstairs.

I shrugged in the fading light. Then moving to the end of
the dinning room, I slid open the outside door, and stepped
onto the deck.

Resting my arms on the railing, still holding my tea, I
looked down on the small lake behind Ted's house (he never
actually uses it, so he lets me stay there, long story) and
watched the reflection of the sun in the slowly shifting
waters.

I stood there for a few minutes, until I felt a light tap on
my shoulder. I glanced back at Oria, who was dressed in a
light, yet baggy, sweet suit. "Hi."

She moved next to me, and glanced up into the pale gold sky,
which was slowly shifting to black, "What's wrong."

I sipped my tea, "Nothing, at least important."

She looked at me, and placed a paw on my shoulder, "Fox, I
know you too well. What's eating at you?"

I shrugged, "I don't know, maybe the fear, the pain, the
fact that Becky's birthday is the 21st."

Oria slowly nodded, "I see."

I sipped at my tea again, "You know, at times, I'm just a
total fool."

"What makes you think that?"

I shrugged again, turning my head to look at her, "Well when
we first meet, I had this whole big thing about 'Saving the
Universe,' but doing it my way. If I had just followed the
rules, not pushed my luck. I don't think any of this would
have happened."

Oria looked at me, "I don't understand."

I licked my lips, taking another sip of tea. "It's very
simple, if I had followed the rules, and signed up with the
HammerHeads, I would never have doing my freelance shit,
never landed on Catarn, never have gotten involved, thus I
would never have been exiled. Which means when Becky's
Grandfather's cancer started to go terminal, I would have
been able to get a hold of some kind of cure, or something
to stall it. Then he would have lived, Becks never would
have gotten that land in England, so she would never have
had to move, and she would be alive today."

Oria sighed, "Well, you've really found a nice tight way to
blame yourself."

I nodded, rubbing my arm slightly, on Prid (the verse where
the Marble Hall, and the house, is located on) it gets cold
at night faster then it does on Earth.

Oria hugged me a bit, "Listen, I know you hurt, I've been
there. But right now you have more to worry about then what
ifs."

I set my glass on the railing, the tea gone. "Did you know,
some of the council now are considering Becky's death an
assassination by the same people who tried it on me."

Oria nodded slowly, "Do you believe that?"

"Considering that Earth is a locked verse, no. Anyway how
could they get there, the only know fold is in my bedroom."
I grinned a bit.

"Well, that would make it a bit harder." She replied,
smiling back.

We stood on the deck for a few minutes in silence. I was
staring into the lake, thinking about life in general, Oria
was staring at the sky.

"I wonder," Oria said, breaking the quite, "Are we in the
same universe as my world, or yours?"

I paused for a second, then said, "I don't know. Never did
get the verse number for Prid. Though I do know that your
world and mine are only connected through the multi-verse."

"How do you know?"

I glanced at her, "The universe numbers are different, even
though the world numbers are the same."

She looked puzzled.

"It's in the advance courses, but a quick explanation. A
verse number is always even, if it's not, add a zero to the
front."

She nodded.

"Now you split the number into to even parts, right down the
center. The left side is the actual universe number, the
right is the solar system number."

She paused, "What about the slashes, you always have to
include the slashes."

"There is a slash for each usable fold in that system, so if
it's slash b, it's the second fold. There numbered with
letters to keep from being to confusing."

She nodded, "So, to get back to my House, I use verse number
14127/g which is universe 14, system 127, fold 7, right?"

I patted her on her back, "Right on."

She grinned widely, "Why is it so complicated."

I shrugged, "Designed by committee."

"Ah, then it makes perfect sense."

I nodded, picking up my glass. "Ya, lets get inside, it's
getting cold out here."

Oria chuckled, "You need some fur."

"Tell me about it." I muttered, opening the glass door,
letting Oria go in first, I followed.

"Well," she said, "if you ever meet the right people..." She
trailed off, leaving the 'again' hanging in the air.

I sighed, her comment referred to one of are misadventures
together, where I ended up saving an overly powerful mage.
In return for my service, I was offered the chance to be
transformed into the male for of Oria's species (Leos, as
they call themselves), as that was something I wanted at the
time.

I spent days thinking back and forth on it, finally deciding
to turn him down. A choice I soon came to regret, and even
though I wish for a different from then that of a male Leo,
I still regret it.

I shook of the memories, and set my cup in the sink. Then I
moved to the railing over the main room.

The house isn't very large on the whole, but it is wide
open. Two stories tall, the bottom floor is mainly one large
room, with a small wet bar in one corner, and a bathroom off
to one side.

In front is a door to the rest of the world, the back opens
onto a large patio with a dock. On either side are two long
stair cases leading to the second floor.

The second floor is extend about half way over the main
room, on the left and right side of the floor are two master
bedrooms, each with a full bath. In the center is a kitchen,
dinning room setup.

Each room in the place was wired for full sound, and video,
with a input jacks in the main room and bedrooms, along with
a master control room in the basement (along with many other
things, which I won't go into now).

All in all, the design is a bit different, but it's great
for holding parties.

"Fox," Oria called up from where she was standing, "There is
a new message on the mail system."

"Read through it, it's prob just a poll or something." I
called back as I was digging through the refrigerator.

There was a pause, "It's from someone names Jenner, he
want's to meet with you as soon as convent."

When I heard the name Jenner, I pulled my head out fast,
hitting it on the top of the fridge. I jogged down the steps
rubbing when I had hit, "Jenner, are you sure?"

She nodded, "It says right here Jenner Ritchersons."

I came up next to her, and read over the message. "What in
the world is going on?" I muttered to myself.

"Who is Jenner?"

"The leader of the HammerHeads."

She looked puzzled again, "That's the second time you've
mention the HammerHeads, who are they?"

I shook my head, "I'll tell you later, right now I need to
relax." The I headed upstairs, and into my room (which was
the one of the left).

As I fell to the bed, I was left wondering. 'Why would the
head of the HammerHeads want to talk to me.'

It was with that though I drifted into sleep.