Cats World Chapter 2: Trekking the Way
Cats World Chapter 2: Trekking the Way Written by Chris Sharkson
Walking into the bathroom, I'm again reminded of the old 1800's era, as I see the porcelain tub resting on four feet and a quaint-looking flush toilet, which probably be referred to as a 'water closet.' I am rather surprised that they have running water here not to mention adequate plumbing for the water sources, since the lighting seems to be provided by lamps burning a fuel which is slightly lighter and of a clearer colour than kerosene or oil.
After noticing the lamps that illuminated the bathroom, I chuckled to myself realizing that I am so out of place here, as I, being a electrician, someone who works with and installs electrical goods on a daily basis is in a place where electricity doesn't even exist or to put it bluntly technology doesn't even exist, how would I even explain the concept of technology to Vanessa, surely she wouldn't understand, even though she raided my house for my clothes, she didn't bother to investigate our technological advances, hell she probably wouldn't even know how to operate an IPhone or know what an IPhone is.
I'm a bit dubious about using the toilet, even though it must work perfectly, it's just that it looks like something that belongs in a museum and I don't know how well I trust it. However, after a few short test flushes, it proves to work just as well as its modern counterpart. As I'm examining it, I notice that the tank which is suspended above it get its water supply from a pipe running down from the ceiling instead of up from the floor, of course it's gravity fed, petrol driven or electric water pumps are nonexistent here, very clever that they thought of a way for water catchment. Even though this does arouse my scientific curiosity and I make a mental note to ask my rather strange-looking hostess more about it.
When I'm ready for the bath, I quickly slip out of my underwear and start the water running, looking briefly at my mirrored image reflecting back to me in the mirror above the porcelain sink. My 6'2 frame stared back at me, solid build not too shabby, a bit of perplexed muscular structure, I tend to go to the gym a lot and work out, which adds to the muscle development that I currently endure, I'm a fit guy, basically I'm the build of the kind of guy you wouldn't want to pick a fight with; it wouldn't last long, and you wouldn't be the one left standing. I gave my tattoos a glance over in the mirror, both on my arms, on each shoulder and one that ran down my right arm, I got them some few years ago with artistic designs I had drawn up, and decided to get them done, only the one that ran the length of my right arm, was of my design, the other two on each shoulder were symbols and a saying that I got off the internet.
No doubt, Vanessa will be asking all sorts of questions about them once she notices that I have such things drawn on my skin, how I got them, what do they mean, she's gonna get a shock when I tell her that it's all done by an electric needle that injects ink into my skin, and that it's permanent, unless you want to go through the pain and expensive process of having it removed.
Smiling briefly back at my reflection and giving my biceps a tense, showing off their tone and how big they were before I step into the tub. A small thought conjures across the back of my mind, 'how strange is it to find a bathtub in her house, since most cats naturally despise water.' 'Then again,' I figure, 'we've certainly changed a lot from our ancestors, we've come down from the trees, learned to like meat, and so on. So why is it so hard to believe cats could evolve to a point where they could enjoy the feel and hygienic benefits of a good relaxing bath?'
As surprised as I was to find running water here, I'm also rather surprised to find that it comes in two temperatures, there's no sign of a gas or electric hot water heater, plus they don't know what natural gas is let alone have the capable means of capturing it and they are way off to the point of having powerlines and telephone poles running down their roads. The cold is definitively cold, several steps below room temperature, but the other faucet actually produces warm water. It's by no means the imagination of boiling hot like our hot water systems on Earth where one turn too many will scorch you, but it is nice and warm, and by adjusting the flow, so I get mostly warm water, I'm able to get a nice and reassuring bath temperature where one can relax and enjoy the soak.
As the water fills up around me, I lean back against the contours of the tub and relax, enjoying the simple pleasure of taking a nice bath, when I think about it, I intently needed one after a long day's work, I would of had a shower if I had the chance of getting home, but that simply didn't happen for these unseen circumstances, being a sparky you get covered in dust, dirt, grime and mostly pink bat roof insulation which is just mostly made up of fibre glass, which leaves you itchy and get's into places where you don't want it to go and makes you exceedingly uncomfortable, this bath after all is pleasant I'll admit, all that was missing is a ice cold beer.
I bask in the warm waters for over half an hour, pondering my current situation. If I had this many baths at this length of times, which I wish I could endure, my water bill would be through the roof. It seems that this is defiantly going to be somewhat of a vacation and an adventure for me, forget about the crystal clear waters and beaches of the Hawaiian Islands and getting a tan. The thought of travelling with her into the wilderness is somewhat premonition, since there is no telling what might be out there, 'yeah, yeah beat yourself up about it James, like you have gone on an adventure, the only adventure you have gone on is a ton of working hours and working in peoples newly built homes.' "Hell," I mutter softly to myself as I deliberate the thoughts of this unwillingly situation I currently endure, "I'm not entirely sure if I trust her or not. I mean this talk of her strange visions and dreams is a little bit much to try and deal with right now."
"For all I know, she could be crazy, although she didn't really look like it." Then as my thoughts quickly changed, I chuckle crazily to myself and almost as if responding to an inner voice reply, "Yes she did look somewhat cute, even if she was a cat woman. Well I guess that makes her a little cuter in some ways. But I really shouldn't be thinking about that right now should I? I just settled a divorce, I'm single and ready to mingle, but yet again am I willing to pursue another love life?' "And I probably shouldn't be talking to myself like this either," I chuckle, still trying to come to terms with all I've already seen this morning. "Well I guess if any shmo was to look at the circumstances I'm in, they'd be questioning their own insanity instead of mine..."
After much more accepted wisdom, and internal dialog, some which was spoken out loud, I finally come to some sort of conclusion. "I guess there's no way of getting out of it, it's not like I can ring a taxi and ask them to come pick me up and take me non-stop to my home, " I voice audibly, as if trying to finally convince myself that I've made the correct decision "She's right about at least one thing, if I let this adventure pass me by, it'll drive me bonkers not knowing what I have missed. I'll probably end up regretting it, with her sending me back to Earth, where I'll live my normal life as if nothing happened and knowing there is no way of getting back to her world, it's not like I can 'magically' summon a portal, who knows what we'll get into, but I've got to experience this for myself, as they say, 'nothing ventured, nothing gained.'"
Pulling the plug out of the drain, briefly watching the vortex of water spiral its way down the drain, I then get out of the tub and towel myself off. Walking back into the bedroom, I quickly dress in a blue collared T-shirt that had the Ford logo imprinted on it and blue lines that streaked down the left hand side of it with a picture of a 1978 Ford Falcon Cobra and cargo shorts coming down past my knees. Then throwing on my socks and pair of runners I had bought not too long ago, I stand up and hesitate briefly, I walk over to where my work clothes were neatly placed, I pick up my mobile phone out of one the pockets, a IPhone 6S model and casually slide it into my right pocket, also taking my wallet, car keys, a pair of headphones, after putting them into my respectful pockets, I then fished through my pockets of my work shirt and found my forty pack of Winfield cigarettes, I rummaged more through the pocket and found my silver Zippo lighter.
After a brief hesitation, I head downstairs. Then with a weary grin on my face, I mutter "Well, I hope I'll live to regret this..." and I'm off. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I pause momentarily before my nose picks up the scent of cooked meat coming from what I assume must be the kitchen. Navigating my way through the medium sized-house, it's almost the average size of a house back on Earth, I'm sure it has all the amenities that a house would have, I find her there in the room which is brightly lit from the sun coming in from the large windows, giving the room a mix of yellows and oranges of the sun's rays. She is sitting at a wooden oak table with a polished finish to it, which was sculptured with many patterns and sat on two big wooden pedestals that acted as support legs, which could easily seat ten with a good variety of food on it.
Spread out before me are several platers with meat looking simular to our own beef, cut in thin strips and fried, eggs whose size are almost twice that from those of chickens, fresh loafs of bread of variable sizes, and a good selection of fruit that I have never seen or heard of before. The tray she had brought to me whilst I was recovering in her bed with the hot soup and fruit juice was already positioned on the table. Looking quickly around the room, I notice a sink which also looks to have running water and sceptical plumbing, what looks like a refrigerator, and a black cast iron stove, which probably runs on wood or coal. It is a little warmer in here from the stove being in use not so long ago, but it is not uncomfortable. Seeing me look appreciatively at the spread of food before me, she looks up and smiles. "Nice shirt for you to wear James, it suits you," she says giving me a smile. I merely blush, "Thanks, it's what I could muster from your carefully chosen attire of my clothing," I reply with an equal smiling expression.
She gestures at the table, "Please sit down and join me in a late breakfast James. We have a lot to do today, much to discuss, and we'll need the energy. I trust you had a good bath?" "Yes, I did Vanessa," I reply, sitting down and helping myself to the small appetizers laid out in front of me. "That reminds me; I wanted to ask you about your plumbing. I'm a bit surprised to see that you have running water when you obviously don't have electricity as capable means to provide light or heat." Looking confused, she pauses for a second, and then understanding jumps into her eyes. "Right, I remember seeing how far ahead you were compared to us with your technology, it would take me so long to get used to your way of life on your world. At first I thought the power you were using to create the various types of lighting devices you use was some kind of magic, until I was able to search your mind and understand how advanced you are in terms of controlling the energy of your world. You certainly have lots of wonders all around you that your people take for granted."
"Now as for the running water," she continues, "that is very new, especially here. The idea has been around for awhile, but no decent means of pumping the water existed for most places. Then once steam power became practical, in the cities giant pumping stations were created, and now all of the major cities have been fitted with the necessary plumbing." "I had heard a lot about the marvels they were doing in the cities, so when the railroad was finally completed here a few years back, I managed a trip to the nearest one and was fascinated by their technical advancement. I have always tried to keep up with technology, which has made me a bit of an eccentric out here, but I decided that I wanted what they had in the city." "It took a great deal of planning, and also a good amount of money, but I was finally able to do it. I'm by no means rich, don't let me give you that impression James, but I am able to live rather comfortably based on the funds I charge for the services I provide using my talent as I mentioned earlier. So, about a year ago, I was finally able to have one of the few houses in town with running water."
I nod taking it all in, "Very interesting, I am glad for you to clarify it all for me and how your system works, I admit I am by no means rich myself, I could afford a nice house and a nice car happily on what I was earning, but when it came to running my own business, the expenses were there, plus paying my employee's wages, I had heaps of bills to pay and most of my money would go towards bills or supplies." She looked at me indifferently, "You had your own business?" she asks with curiosity and bit of a surprised demeanour. "Well, yeah, I ran my own electrical contracting business, I was or still am a qualified electrician, I would go to peoples newly built houses or near completion and wire up their houses for all the electrical conduits and appliances, the pay was good, paper work was the hellish part, my hours were average, my charging rate was good, it's what I wanted to do, so I put my mind to it and it turned into a successful business." I finish.
She gives me a smile and shakes her furry index finger at me, "Your species does really peak my interests, and I need to learn more about you and your species and what more advances you have accomplished." I smile, "Well, I'm defiantly impressed. It's a really nice set up you have, given your technology. How do you pump the water up here though, with no means of an electric water pump?" "I'm lucky and have a small, yet quick-flowing natural river running through my property. I've had a water wheel installed and that provides the power to slowly pump the water up to large holding tanks on the roof. Yes they may look a little rustic, but I've gotten used to them, and they're defiantly worth it in the long run. Once the water is in the tanks, it feeds the rest of the house using gravity. It's not as powerful as the pressurised plumbing they have in the city, but it sure beats lugging water from the well and using an outhouse" she says with a quick grin across her furry muzzle.
"You've probably also noticed that I have a warm water supply too. That wasn't too hard of a problem to solve. It's been noted that the sun quickly warms objects of dark colours, so I had one of the tanks painted black to absorb the heat, thus warming it up to temperature, and the other painted white and shaded by a roof to keep it cool." "Vanessa, you are truly a lady and a scholar," and taking another bite of my breakfast I add, "and an outstanding cook too." With a wide grin on my face, I continue, "If you aren't taken, I'm tempted to ask you your hand in marriage right here on the spot." Right after finishing saying this, I realize that this was not the best thing to say to this panther woman whom I'd just barely met. I quickly broaden my smile hoping that she'll see the humorous side to it, not wishing to offend her in some way
She looks confused or troubled for a short moment, and then returns the smile. "Well James, that's certainly a flattering proposal, but I don't think I could live with the scandal of marrying outside of my race like that." She finishes up with slightly forced laughter, and we both silently agree to let the matter die. After a few minutes of silently eating, I break the stillness with a simple question. "Vanessa, do you have anything to drink?" "Oh, of course, I can't believe I forgot to get that out. Trying to do too many things this morning I guess." Going to the fridge, which turns out to be just an insulated metal cabinet with slowly melting ice in the top compartment to keep the food cool or what one would call an ice-box, tetrafluoroethane doesn't exist here or any sort of refrigerant has been discovered as of yet, she asks with her back toward me, "what would you like? I have some fruit juice or water."
As she's standing there, bending down ever so slightly, her muscles are tensed almost perfectly. Admiring her supple curves, I have to remind myself just where I am and whom I'm leering at. Pausing a couple of moments, I finally manage to come back to the present and mumble, "umm... I could go for something sweet. I'd like to try the juice." Taking out a glass pitcher filled to the brim with a dark-reddish fluid, she places it on the table and then turns to the cabinets above the sink. Coming back to the table, she has two china bowls in her hands, each about as wide as a soup bowl, but only half as deep. Placing one in front of me, she fills it to the brim with the red juice, looks akin to raspberry Fanta, then doing the same for herself. I stare at the bowl and then at her for clarification with a somewhat confused and almost dumbfounded expression on my face, I was expecting a glass, or a cup or a mason jar. For some reason, my brain just can't seem to comprehend what I'm supposed to do with the bowl seeing as I have no spoon handy.
She looks quizzically at me for a moment, then as understanding flashes again in her eyes, she grins at me, and holds the bowl up for me to see clearly. Then she brings the bowl to her muzzle and with a slightly exaggerated motion, her tongue darts out and flicks across the surfaces of the liquid. As I watch her with amusement, curiosity and surprise, she laps at the juice for about a minute. Then putting the bowl down, she grins at me once more, and with a chuckle in her voice asks, "it's a bit different than how you drink isn't it James? I keep forgetting just how many subtle differences there are between our races. I hope you'll be able to make do with the bowl, since that's all I have." I admit, I will have to succumb to doing it her way, after all I have no choice, if I were to do it her way in a five star restaurant the customers would look at me as if I were mad and the staff probably would have security escort me out, I gotta put that aside, as I am not on Earth anymore. Looking at her, I notice she has some juice on the tips of the fur of her muzzle around her mouth. The sight of the red droplets of moisture, sitting there glistening on her black fur is quite adorable. A moment later, perhaps as if she saw what I was looking at, she darts her tongue out yet again and licks over the fur of her muzzle cleaning most of the remnants of the drink from it. Giving her a shrug an adventurous but confident look, I take the bowl in my hand and slowly lift it to my mouth trying not to spill any of it. Then carefully tipping the bowl back I take a few small sips. The juice tasted wonderful. It's nice and sweet with somewhat of a citrus taste to it, but also reminiscent of berries, akin to tropical punch mixed with raspberry juice. It's also carefully blended so that it's refreshing and not too sweet. After the success of the sips, I become more daring and try and take larger drinks of this pleasant beverage. It is there where I make the mistake, forgetting that the bowl is much wider than a drinking glass, where all it takes is just a tip of the glass and the liquid washes down into your mouth in an evenly fashion. As I'm drinking from the bowl, the liquid starts to seep around the edges, and before I realize what is happening, a good amount of it is flowing down the sides of my chin, to Vanessa's obvious amusement.
Bringing the bowl quickly down to the table, I manage to spill a little more of it on myself and the table, forgetting to swallow in the process. It's then when Vanessa bursts into laughter, throwing back her head slightly, laughing with a slight feline hiss, with her mouth part way open exposing her sharp predatory teeth. This is too much for me to take, and I find myself overcome with giggles too. Trying to suppress the laughter as I attempt to swallow my mouthful of juice doesn't go to well, and I end up in a coughing fit as even more of the red fluid dribbles down my chin.
Seeing me coughing, her laughter quickly dies, and she runs around the table faster than I can blink to kneel at my side looking very concerned. She attempts to help, but I motion her away with a wave of my hand, as my breathing slowly returns to a normal pace and the coughs die down, 'Watch it there, James, you almost gave the poor cat woman a heart attack', I wanted to slap myself upside the face for such an embarrassing outcome. Looking at me with remorseful, she softly states, "I'm sorry for laughing at you like that James." Looking back at her through my momentarily water eyes, I force a witted smile and reply, "that's okay; no harm done... you can't take me anywhere can you?" She smiles back at the remark, and I continue "I'll be okay, now that I know what to avoid, I should be able to take small sips from the bowl without making a mess such as this."
Patting my shoulder lightly, she stands and hands me a cotton napkin to clean my face with and then returns to her chair. The rest of the meal passes without event and a little idle chatter. When we're finished eating she finally asks the big question I'd been waiting for. "So James, have you thought about coming on the trip with me?" I pause after giving my mouth a wipe with the cotton napkin, and stare at her; I place the napkin on the table, and place my hands on the table and interlaced my fingers. After a brief of intended silence, I reply with "I am still contemplating whether I should go or not, but if it's tolerable with you, is it okay for me to go outside, just for some fresh air and ponder over your request, I find that fresh air helps me think clearly." She nods in a gracious manner and replies "Of course you can, let me lead you to the front door," she says as she stands up out of her chair and gestures me to follow her. I follow her through her vast impressive house, and gestures to the front door with her hand, "There you go James, take your time to think about it, but don't be too long, as I want to get going as soon as possible that is if you have reached a decision." She gives me a soft smile and walks back towards the kitchen, her tail softly trailing behind her as she walked.
I take hold of the old fashioned door handle and turn it, unlatching it and pulling the front door open, as the big heavy wooden door creaked on its hinges. I make my way out, and stepped out into what had to be her front yard, closing the door behind me. I take a couple steps on a gravel path that lead to her front door, and started pondering. 'James, do not pass this up, if you do, you will regret this for the rest of your life' I thought to myself as I paced up and down the path. I stop pacing about, and reach into my pocket taking hold of the packet of cigarettes and pulling them out, I flick open the top of the packet, I fumble a cigarette out and placed it in my mouth between my lips, I reach into my pocket pulling out my Zippo lighter, flicking the top back with my thumb, and rolling the flint with my thumb igniting the lighter, hovering the flame at the tip of the cigarette lighting it up and drawing in a few puffs, as I flick shut the lighter top extinguishing the flame.
I take a big drag, as I inhale the smoke, letting it fill my lungs and then exhale, blowing the smoke out. By the time the cigarette was finished, as I crushed it out and put the remnants of it in my pocket, as I did not want to be the first human or person to litter on her planet, I had made my decision. 'Fuck it,' I thought 'What's the harm in going on an adventure with her, it will be quite the experience and I deserve it, let alone she chose me for this adventure she has conjured up, it's like there's nothing stopping me from going, ah to hell with my thoughts, I'll go' I thought as I took hold of the door handle, turning it clockwise and pushing the front door inwards, stepping in and quietly closing the door behind me. I walk in through the passage way that lead to her kitchen, to find her seated at the table, patiently waiting for me. "Yes, I have made my decision Vanessa, I'll go. I know this is probably a rash decision, one that I may soon regret, but I have decided to come with you, no matter how crazy some of it seems. You were right about the fact that I can't pass up on an adventure like this. I'd rather go though all sorts of trouble, than not knowing what I'd have passed up. So for better or for worse, I'll be with you for the duration." "That's good James; I was hoping I'd be able to sway your decision. Your talent as a power user will be very useful out there, and I think you'll be somewhat understanding of the situation. As least you'll be a hell of a lot more understanding than those pompous fools at the assembly I had attended."
"So when do we leave?" "As soon as possible, I'd like to leave this afternoon. We can get packed very quickly and put the house in order and then be off. Are you ready to leave that soon?" "I guess so, since I have nothing better to do, as there is no internet or phone signal here. So where exactly are we going and how are we getting there?" "We'll be travelling almost due north for about two to three days. We can follow a road for the duration of the trip that will lead to my home town, and then if you continue along it will lead you to the main city, but beyond that are the wilderness and you have to make your own trails. We'll be walking the whole way." "What! Walking, really? But why... why don't we just use horses or some other animal or other means of transport to carry us there? I can rule cars out as you don't have that kind of technology yet. I can't believe we're going to walk that far." "We don't have any animal like the horses you mention, and if you're talking about those things I saw on your home world that has four-wheels and you human's are going about in them everywhere, they are too noisy and smell awfully bad like burnt oil. The only animals we have that are large enough to carry cargo or pull carriages, are really large, I mean up to my head, and are very heavy, and also very slow. When they pull a carriage, it is only somewhat faster than walking, and it's not worth the trouble or the expense. You look like you're in pretty good shape, so this shouldn't be too hard on you. Again, think of it as another part of our adventure."
"I take your word for it, what you saw on my home-world are called cars, many of us human's own one or two or many of them, if you're a collector, we drive them a lot, what you smelled was burnt gasoline which is a combustible liquid that burns in the engines of the cars to make them move which emits a toxic gas called carbon monoxide, which is highly poisonous to the air which pollutes it. And I in good shape? I may look it, but I smoke, I certainly am not in the best of shape, my body and health has probably deteriorated much over the years since I started smoking, not to mention my lung capacity has probably gotten considerably shorter." She gives me a firm look, which turns to a look of confusion and asks, "What's smoking?" Ignoring the rest of my lecture on human automobile technology. It's hard to explain to her what smoking is and to someone who has never heard or seen of it before, I reach into my pocket and pull out my packet of cigarettes. "These are what you call cigarettes, we humans buy them, we smoke them, it's a form of recreational drug-use, and it's highly addictive and bad for your health, once you smoke a few, you get addicted to them and you can't stop, it's extremely hard to quit." I say to her as I held the packet of cigarettes in the palm of my hand, out-stretched for her to see.
She slowly grasps it out of my hand and inspects them, she closely observes them, reading the labels, and I knowing she probably wouldn't know how to read written English. She brings the packet up to her nose and slowly gives them a sniff and she reels back, "Ah they stink!" she says in an alarmed matter. She flips the top with the flick of her furry index finger and pulls one out, inspecting one. "This little stick is bad for your health? Looks harmless to me." she asks, giving me a glance. I eye her carefully, "Don't get fooled by them, those cause the most deaths of humans each year." I say pointing at it. She looks at me with a horrid look, "You mean you humans die from, as you say smoking these things?" I give a light sigh, "Vanessa, you see, that cigarette you're currently holding in your fingers observing has the potential to kill many human's, I'm not talking about in a few moments, I'm talking about years of gradual use, time is what causes death, in each cigarette there is fifty compounds that are highly toxic to us humans, one of which is called Nicotine, it's a drug they put in it, that's what causes the addiction, it has the ability to do potential damage to the body, with the other compounds, they cause cancer, the last thing anyone wants to get, plus it shortens the life-span of your lungs, of the smoke when you inhale it, it damages your lungs that cannot be undone, you will find that I will get short of breath real quickly, it's all to do with this, I've been smoking for five years now, I promised myself I would quit, but I haven't, and I faced the fact that I will eventually end up dying because of it."
She gives me a sorrowful look, "James, I can see how hard it is for you and realize what it is doing to your health, but I can fix it for you." She says. I look up at her in a shocked manner, "How?" I softly ask. "First, how does this 'Nicotine' affect you?" she asks. "Well, it's all to do with the brain, you see..." as I said that, she puts her fingers to my temple, with a twitch of her hand, she sends a form of power through my head, making my head spin, I close my eyes, with the power rushing through my own mind, it blasts me with a tingling sensation, it starts rapidly picking up speed, but with a final burst, she withdraws her hand and the pulsating power relinquishes itself from my head. I look at her, dazed, "Wha...what did you just do?" I ask, as I give my temples a rub, and shake off the feeling of being drowsy. She gives me a friendly smirk, "I just cured you," she replies gleefully. "Cured me of what?" I ask again, somewhat hesitant. "I cured you of your 'nicotine' addiction." I look at her in a shocked state of despair, I find that very hard to believe. "One simply cannot cure someone of nicotine addiction, it's all to do with the brain, and it's a drug." I say. "Find out for yourself," she says in a correct manner, as she hands me back my packet of cigarettes.
I take the packet from her furry hand and over look them, "What the hell? Why do I have a packet of cigarettes for? I don't even smoke." I observe them, and I wanted to dispose of them, I walk over to what had to be her rubbish bin and threw them in it. Then it dawns on me, "You did it, you actually did cure me of my smoking addiction, how... how did you do that?" "I used my powers to overwhelm your brain, intently pushing out the addiction that had enveloped your brain, replacing it with the correct thoughts and emotions." "I...I don't know what to say, thank you. Vanessa, it means a lot." "You are welcome, James, it's the best I can do for you, you will also notice an improvement of your lungs and breathing too, now let's get under way shall we?" she says giving me a grin, as she walks past me in the direction of her bedroom. I confused by her statement, I give a couple deep breaths and notice my lung capacity has greatly improved.
I'm not too fond of the prospect of hiking all those kilometres toward our unknown destiny, but if she's up for it, I'm pretty much forced to go along. We take an hour or so putting things in the house in order and loading up our backpacks. By the time we have our sleeping rolls, clothes, food and footwear all packed, our packs are quite heavy. However, I remember hiking in the mountains years ago during a camping trip I took in the Blue Mountains, and my pack was just as heavy then and I survived, and actually had a pretty fun time, if you count drinking, being drunk and rowdy with your mates and getting stoned.
For food we packed mostly dried meat; our rations will only last about a week, but she assures me that we can stock up when we reach the first town and also that we can do some hunting along the way and eat fresh fruit if we come across any. We also take a couple of metal canteens full of fresh water. We will be travelling along rivers and streams for most of the trip, so fresh water won't be a problem. Finally after all our preparations, we are ready to go. We strap on our packs which feel quite heavy until our backs become accustomed to them and step out into the day light. Curious to know what time it is, I check my water-resistant watch, which say's 3:15PM, really, I've lost a day and a half by travelling here, but the sun is just barely past its zenith. Realizing that the time is totally out of sync with the days here, I figure it's a little after noon from the sun's position and reset my watch.
I glance over at Vanessa, she was ready to get going, but something made me unsure if she had the capability to endure such an adventure, "Ah, Vanessa," I say grabbing her attention. She turns to me, "Yes, James," she replies. "Why are you wearing sandals? They certainly are not the adequate footwear to go trekking such a long distance, wouldn't that be uncomfortable?" "Actually quite the opposite in fact, they are really comfortable," she replied. "Don't you have other means of footwear, like boots for an example," I say. She merely gives me an uncertain look, "I do have such footwear, but I like sandals, they help my feet breath, plus they won't get as sweaty as we make the long distance." "Yes that maybe so, but trust me when I say you should put your boots on, you will regret it later on if you don't." I say giving her affirmative look. She gives her version of a sigh, and proceeds to change her footwear, by sitting on a nearby tree stump, unlacing her sandals and taking them off and stashing them away in her pack, and then taking out her black boots, sliding them on one after the other, that came up to her knees. She stands, giving me an exasperated look, "You better be right, James," she says, "Oh, I'll be right; you just wait and see once we start walking, you'll thank me later." I reply. She squints at me in an annoyed look, I just merely grin at her.
Walking out into the warm summer sun, the day is beautiful and the temperature is almost perfect, hovering somewhere I guess in the mid 20 degree Celsius's. Looking around, I notice the beauty of the landscape. Her house is a good-sized residence, akin to a four-bedroom modern house, painted white with light blue trim and shutters, and built in a style combining elegance and functionality. Her home lies in a big field with neatly trimmed grass, 'No ride on mowers here', and trees scattered throughout it, it looked like one of those dream-properties that people want to buy to build a house on with seven or eight acres of land at their disposal. Looking off to the left a ways down from where we are I can see the river she described to me, and the engineering marvel that is the waterwheel-driven pump assembly. Her estate must be rather large, since I don't see any other houses nearby, at least a total of I'm guessing nine or ten acres of decent land, a property such as this on Earth would cost a fortune.
As we're walking on, my attention is drawn to the grass and the leaves of the trees. I'm no horticulturist, but there is something slightly different about them, and I ponder on it for a few minutes before I realize that their hues are of a darker shade of green than on Earth, as well as the texture. The colour isn't too much different, but is subtle enough to have caused my confusion, and it is defiantly different enough to be noticeable. Then looking up at the sky, which is almost totally clear, save for a few white puffy clouds here and there, I notice that its hue too is subtly altered in comparison to what I'm used to looking at. Instead of being the light blue I had expected to see, the sky is a couple of shades darker, and with just the slightest purple hint to it, no pollution here and positively will not be seeing any passenger airline jets flying through the sky. These differences are strange and a bit jarring at first, but also serve to punctuate the fact of what a strange adventure I'm undertaking.
Then I look at Vanessa, who's walking in front of me, and again take in her beauty. Looking at the attractive blue patterns of her spots and how they contrast with her black fur, and seeing her tail protruding from the back of her shorts, further adds to the exotic beauty of this alien world. She stands a couple inches shorter than me, which would put her at about 5'8". She looks to be in excellent shape, and has wonderful muscle tone, especially in her legs which must support her weight. As she walks, her tail which is about ten or eleven inches around, sways slightly in time with her hips, topping off the whole picturesque quite nicely. I watch her for several minutes, letting my mind wander into areas which it probably shouldn't, before I pick up the pace for a few steps until I'm walking beside her. "It's a beautiful view, isn't it James?"
I'm taken aback for a brief moment, until I realize that she's referring to the landscape. Then looking at her smiling in wonder, I reply "Yes it is Vanessa. It's nice to just get out and walk out in the open... Things are a little different here; a bit different from what I'm used to. It's a little strange, but also a nice change. The weather is nice too, especially from the wintery cold days we were having this past week, beats that any day coming here where it's summer." We walk for close to an hour before we come into town. When I see the first houses appearing in the horizon, I become increasingly concerned. "Vanessa, are we walking through town? What will everyone think when they see me? They've never seen a human before have they?" "No they haven't James. In the large cities there is a better mix of races, but out here, it's pretty much just Felinese. There have been some strange visitors here before, but they are very rare, and most of the townspeople are still somewhat wary of them. It will be okay though, once they see that you're with me. I have their respect given my talent and the services which I provide. You'll defiantly be noticed, but they'll realize that you're also fairly important, and will leave you alone."
"I don't know if I really want to be put on display like that. Couldn't we just walk around the outskirts of town and avoid it altogether?" "It won't be that bad, James, and that detour would waste too much time, I'd like to get as much distance covered as possible. You're going to be here for awhile, so you might as well get used to this, since we'll be no doubt be meeting some people on our trip, especially in the beginning." I grudgingly concede, and we walk along the hard-packed dirt road as the town draws nearer. Coming into town, it looks like that of a largish town of Europe in the 1800's, housing I guess a few hundred cat-people. The streets are lined with cobblestones, the buildings are mostly made out of bricks, and I see what appears to be gas or oil lamps on every corner to serve as street lights. Walking throughout the streets, are cat morphs of every type imaginable. There are people with coats of every colour and fur markings as you'd see in house cats, and I also notice a few who look to have descended from predatory stock, such as leopards and tigers, oh wouldn't David Attenborough have a field day here. The Felinese are a bit bigger than humans, especially the ones resembling larger cats. We walk by one tiger who is easily 6'5" just a couple inches above me, he looks at us, and especially me, with a passing interest, probably taking an interest at my tattoos on my arms or just me in general, but seeing Vanessa, he politely nods and passes by.
The rest of the people in the moderately busy streets, pay me the same attention. As my tourist-like gaze darts around between the buildings and people, I notice them looking at me, casting sideways glances as they walk on by. As Vanessa had said, nobody bothers us, but I still feel a bit like I'm being placed on display. The walk through the town is defiantly somewhat uneasy for me, but also not without its novelties. Watching all of the cats walking by is quite an incredible experience. Letting my eyes freely wander, I take in all of the sights of this wonderfully new species before me. Letting go of some of my uneasiness and beginning to feel a little bolder and more confident, I notice a cute little orange tabby, with long flowing red hair coming toward us. She is wearing an elegant Victorian dress, with the bodice cut slightly low enough to be a little risqué, guessing at the time frame of their society. She has her gaze fixed intently on me, with a delightful mixture of confusion and interest. Feeling just a little devilish, I turn my eyes fully on her and flash her a warm and endearing smile, followed by a wink, watching her walk quickly by, looking just the slightest bit flustered. Oh what I would have given to have been able to spend some time with her.
If Vanessa had noticed my little game of cat and mouse, she had chosen to ignore it, as we walked on through the town in silence. After another fifteen minutes or so we started coming to the outskirts of the town. Before leaving however, we pass by the railway station, with a large, black steam engine and several passenger and freight cars, lying dormant on the tracks for the moment, as a few people are boarding and loading it. Remembering my childhood fascination with trains, I turn to watch the locomotive as we walk by, slowing our pace down ever so slowly. It's then we hear a voice call from behind us. "Vanessa, I can't believe you've gone through with this. What do you think you are doing?" Turning around we see a squat little lynx standing behind us, wearing a maroon tunic. "Tiran," Vanessa replies a little testily, "you've made it clear that you want nothing to do with this, so I ask you to please stay out of it now." "But look what you've gone and done, you've kidnapped the human, even though I advised you against it." Then turning to me, "Has she told you all about her strange visions and how much they're disturbing her? You don't have to go with her if you don't want to."
Before I can think of a reply and was about to reach for my mobile phone, Vanessa jumps into action. Almost instantly her body tenses and her fur ruffles up, standing on end. Gripping the collar of his robe, she pulls him toward her, extending her retractable claws slightly into the fabric. She opens her mouth in response to this challenge, pulling back her thin lips, and exposing her carnivorous teeth. The pupils in her eyes constrict several notches, as she snarls at him. "Dammit Tiran, I told you to stay out of this. If you're not going to help me, then leave me alone. I don't need this from you now." Pulling his ears back in fear and surprise, the smaller cat manages to stammer, "I'm sorry... you know how I disagree with you, and I shouldn't have brought it up now..." Having won the confrontation, her demeanour quickly becomes more subdued as she releases the quivering cat. "That's better... now as you've guessed, James and I are embarking on a trip to my home town which I've told you about. You're free to disagree with me, just don't get in my way. We're going to be gone for quite some time, close to a month and a half. Would you mind checking on my house for me from time to time?"
Taking a step backwards, he hastily replies, "Of course I can, and let me apologize once again for interrupting you two. I'm sure you'll have an interesting adventure." With that he quickly turns and is off shuffling rather quickly down the street. Turning to me and seeing what must certainly be a comical display of surprise on my face, she flashes me an almost dangerous smirk. "Were you impressed with my little display? I gather from the look you're giving me, that humans don't act quite that way." "Well," I manage to reply, "We usually don't act that way, unless of course we're stupid drunk in a bar or something... and we never growl like that. I'm positively sure if you did that kind of display on my world, you'd be arrested on harassment charges. It was certainly impressive, and to be honest, rather scary. It looked like you were ready to rip that guy's head off. Who was he anyway?" "Oh, that was Tiran, the other power user I told you about that lives in town. He and I normally get along okay, but since he has the same attitude as the rest of the guild over my concern of these dreams, we've had a few lesser confrontations." "I'm sorry if I scared you James, I was just doing what comes naturally to us. In our society it is quite often for confrontations like this to occur. Usually no fighting will comes out of it; it's just a display of force. We also allow people to have different ideas from us, but don't like them forced upon us."
As we turn and resume walking. I look at her with a newfound respect and a hint of caution. I'm beginning to realize just how different this world is. We leave the town and continue walking on the narrow dirt road for the rest of the afternoon. Early on we pass a few farm houses, getting more strange looks from their inhabitants. I tell Vanessa to stop for a minute as she gladly obliges, as I stop walking with her and reach for my mobile phone, this sure is a photo moment. As my mobile phone had a high quality eight megapixel camera, it takes pristine crisp photos, I swipe the camera icon and the phone goes into camera mode, I tap the shutter button on the screen snapping a few photos of the outlying landscape. "Ah, James," I hear beside me, "Yes, Vanessa." I reply as I look at my screen snapping a few more photos. "What is that you're currently holding?" "Oh, this? It's a mobile phone, human invention, highly technological, we use it to make phone calls and do all sorts of things." "Mobile phone?" she slowly says. "Yeah, that's what it's called." "But what are you doing with it?" she asks in a somewhat confused fashion. "I am taking photos of the beautiful landscape that happens to be your world." I reply. "Photos?" she asks again confused. That gives me an idea; this is the opportunity for a selfie. "Yes, let me show you what it can do," I say as I motion her to come closer, she takes a few steps closer to me. "Lean in closer to me," she does by stepping a few inches closer, I press the camera switch icon to switch to the face-time camera, "And smile," she gives her best smile as I do the same and I hit the shutter button, taking a photo of both of us.
"What was the point of that?" she asks, a bit annoyed. I go into my photos, and select the photo I just took of us, and I hold it up to her so she could get a clear look at it and reply with, "That was the point of it." I haven't seen Vanessa give a look of astonishment in that kind of way before, "Is that me and you?" she asks, pointing her furry finger at the screen. I nod giving her an accomplished smile, "Correct, that is you and me, a photo of us; it's what we humans call a selfie, as it's taking a photo of yourself." "That is so cool," she astounds, "Keep it, I really like that 'photo'." I nod, "I'll be sure too." As we continued walking, there is one instance where a little tom cat, perhaps five years old, comes running out to meet us, with his worried mother trailing after him. "Hello, where are you guys going," he asks excitedly. Then turning to me he innocently asks, "What's wrong with you, what happened to your fur?" Just then his mother reaches him and picking up, and with a pleading look on her face apologies to us. "I'm sorry for his behaviour, he's always been so full of energy and is always trying to talk to travellers." She shoots a couple of furtive glances toward me, but obviously knows better than to make anything of it. We accept her humbly apology, and as she turns with her son and walks quickly back to the house, he looks at us over her shoulder, waves and shouts a simple "bye."
The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful. We walked for five hours or so, going at an easy pace, and stopping often to rest, before we finally stopped at a clearing off the side of the road near a small stream. It feels so incredibly good to get the weight of the pack off my back. I drop it on the ground, and stretch out my tired muscles; I know I'm going to be sore in the morning. Walking over to the stream, we kneel down for a refreshing drink. We both use our hands to scoop up the water, but instead of gulping it down like I do; Vanessa again laps it up with her tongue. Once more, I find this secretly amusing, enjoying her display of feline characteristics. Then I remember how she had looked when confronting Tiran and quietly shudder. After getting some wood for a fire, Vanessa sits me down for another super-power lesson. Again she takes my hand and helps me to conjure up the power flowing through me.
This time it is a little easier, and I don't get scared when I feel the energy charging within me. Once the glowing vortex appears in my hand, she slowly lets go of my hand, keeping only two fingers gently touching me. "Okay, James, this morning you had trouble sustaining the flow without me there to help you maintain it. Can you feel what it takes to control it?" She quickly removes her fingers from the back of my hand, and I see the vortex shimmer slightly and then begin to fade. As she does this I also feel the absence of the controlling presence she was giving me. Waiting a moment, she then touches my hand again and the vortex of energy jumps back to full brilliance, as I feel her energy come into contact with me once again.
"So can you feel what the difference is James?" As I nod at her excitedly, she continues, "This is what you need to learn to try and control. It will be difficult at first, as is learning any new skill, but you are very gifted and I think you'll learn fast." We spend a little under an hour with this lesson, repeating it over many times. Each time she pulls away, I gain a little more control over the energy within me; finally after getting a little bored with the exercise, I'm able to completely sustain the power without her help. Beaming at her with my accomplishment, she returns the smile and congratulates me. "You're coming along very well James, faster than most students, but that could be because you're older and have better developed mental skills and a longer attention span. Now let's try for a neat finale to this simple parlour trick. It has no real use, but can impress some people who don't know too much about super-powers; also it's the easiest to learn."
She instructs me to concentrate on sending more energy to the vortex in my hand, and then bringing my hand up and quickly spreading my fingers, causing the energy to quickly dissipate. This takes a couple of tries to get the effect quite right, but after I do it is rather impressive. When I spread my palm out like that and the energy is no longer contained, it is released in a small flash of light and sparks spreading quickly out several inches and then dying out. Upon seeing it work correctly, the only comment I think of making is a not too eloquent "cool!" "Pretty impressive isn't it? You will soon be able to learn how to use your powers for useful purposes, such as healing or defensive fighting powers which might come in very handy on this trip. This is enough for tonight though... well I can show you how to start the fire."
We get up and more over to where we had stacked the wood for tonight's fire, placing them in a small pile, she has me sit down in front of it. Then sitting down behind me, she reaches her arms around me and grabs my forearms slightly above my wrists. This position startles and confuses me, until I realize that she plans to channel her energy through me. As she explains the procedure, I try and keep my mind from wandering off from the subject at hand, and ignore her presence so very near to me. "Okay James, I'm going to be using my energy to start the fire, since you don't have anywhere near the control or power yet to do it. However, I'll be directing the energy through you, so you can learn what it feels like and hopefully soon will be able to replicate it." I feel the power building again; it seems that she is doing this slowly for my benefit, so I can take it all in. Then as the energy reaches full power, I feel it shoot down my arm and out of my hands, shuddering slightly at the power of it.
Then as I watch in amazement, the wood quickly begins to smoke and then bursts into flames. As she releases my hands and stands up, I sit there watching the fire in wonder and as I let a "wow" escapes from my lips, no need for the use of the Zippo lighter I had in my pocket after seeing that.
We have a simple dinner of dried meat, which somewhat resembles beef in taste and texture, and some fruit from nearby trees. There is something about eating after a good day's workout like that, even if it isn't anything fancy, it still seems like the best meal I've had in such a long time. Sitting there eating, I watch the sun setting, lighting up the sky with brilliant reddish and orange hues. Then something strikes me funny about its position. "Vanessa, we've been heading north all day right?" "Yes, well not do north, but pretty close to it, why?" "Well then wouldn't that make the sun setting in the south right now?" I asked somewhat confused. "Yes, of course, why wouldn't it be setting in the south?" Then as soon as she's saying this, the explanation hits me. "Of course, how stupid of me, I keep on forgetting I'm not on Earth, although I don't know how I could do that since I'm travelling with a cat woman." I reply smirking at her quickly, "on Earth the sun sets in the west and I'm still a little confused and surprised by all these subtle differences."
Smiling back at me she replies, "I realize this is pretty strange for you, but you're doing well adjusting to everything. Give it time and in a few days this will seem somewhat normal for you." After dinner, we're both pretty tired from out first day of exercise, so we roll out our bedding and prepare for bed. As I nestle into my bedroll and blanket, I gaze up at the sky and see that a couple of stars have come out and also a gibbon's moon has risen in the north. It looks pretty much like ours, being white and having many craters on it, but it is also about one and a half times larger than ours. Turning to look at Vanessa lying in her bedding, across the dying fire from me, I remark "the moon is beautiful here. In fact everything so far has been beautiful. I realize we're going to run into some hard times along the way, so I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate things right now before I start complaining when things get rough."
She turns to look at me with a warm look on her face, "Thanks James. I'm glad you're enjoying this so far, and we should have lots of adventures ahead of us. I agree with you, the moon is really beautiful, it's always inspiring romantics and poets and the like. It's also how we measure our calendar, since it has a regular cycle. Each month is one cycle of its phases, which is thirty-two days, and then a year is simply ten months. The weeks work out easily too, being four weeks to a year, and eight days in a week." "That's neat, but how did you work out such a simple lunar calendar without the seasons getting messed up. We can't go by the phases of the moon, because if we did, we'd be celebrating Christmas in July after twenty years or so." "What do you mean by seasons?" she asks me sounding rather confused. "Seasons are periods of similar temperatures and weather, such as summer when it's hot and then winter when it's really cold. Don't you have temperature changes here?" "No, the weather will change, sometimes getting cooler got a few days, but is always pretty much like it is today. It must be rather strange for your weather to change like that."
"Wow, it must be great to have this weather all year round, not too hot or too cold, it's perfect. But it's kind of strange that you don't have any seasons here. I wonder if we're on the equator, or if your world isn't tilted like ours?" She doesn't seem too interested in this topic, and simply replies, "I don't really know what you're talking about, and it's getting late and we need the rest. Goodnight James." With that she turns away from me; I reply "Goodnight Vanessa," and turn my gaze up at the sky once again, watching it darken as more stars come out, I wonder if one of them is our galaxy or our sun, billions of light years away. It takes me awhile to finally wind down all my scattered thoughts and fall asleep. Just before I do, I notice that a second, smaller moon has risen in the southwest. It is about half the size of the larger moon, and has a pinkish tint to it. I find this a little unusual, but by now, it's not really too surprising. As I watch the sky, consciousness slowly drains away from me and I pass into a comfortable sleep.