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Jake woke abruptly to the sensation of the bed shaking. He'd been having a wonderful dream of making love to his big furry tiger out in the tall grass in a meadow under a blue sky somewhere out on the surface of Mars. He realized Hunter must be in the process of re-inhabiting his doppelganger after being somewhere else. He must have got out of the sphere to go to the washroom, or to do some other business related to monitoring the worldwide disarming process.

The tiger had done just that, among other things.

He'd left the bed over an hour ago to check on the feeds from the imaging swarms to ensure that all of the world's governments were still cooperating. The disarming process was proceeding apace, so the cat had nothing new to deal with there.

He'd been concerned about all of the videos and images that were being taken of them yesterday during the wonderful picnic the town had thrown for them. He knew the images would spread like wildfire through the Internet and he felt he should block that from happening, at least for the next while. His concern was primarily for Jake's safety, but he was also worried about the possible effects on the town and its wonderful people. They might become collateral damage in the media feeding frenzy that would likely occur. Not to mention the danger if the government descended on the town in hopes of capturing Jake to use as leverage against the alien that was now controlling their world. Hunter felt it would be madness for them to try anything like that, since if they harmed Jake in any way, he would simply kill them all, twice if he could manage it, and there was nothing they could do to stop that. He worried that they might still not have complete faith in his conviction though, so he wanted to take no chances.

He instructed his computer to block any and all Internet access for the town and its surroundings until he told it otherwise. That way the town would be at peace at least until they left, which would be in just a couple of hours. During that time the computer would also use its image recognition abilities to search for any of those images, or trending topics related to the alien being spotted, and remove any posts, images, blog entries or news items of any sort that suggested they had been located in the small town.

His ability to control the Internet was already proving useful and he'd been giving some thought to possibly preparing some 'propaganda' of his own that would clearly explain to the world exactly what was going on, before the governments could try to spin it as some sort of alien invasion in an attempt to turn public opinion against them to make them less likely to receive any aid from anyone in their travels. Perhaps after they'd put some distance between themselves and the town, he would release the videos of the picnic to give the world a chance to get to know him and realize he's just a normal person with normal feelings and not some alien creature bent on world domination.

He would also explain in detail what his plans were, but first he'd need to figure out the details of those plans himself since he hadn't had time yet to figure out how much of the terraforming operation was still salvageable. He would elicit Jake's help with that later on. He was confident that between two engineers, they should be able to come up with some ideas to save quite a bit of it.

He'd also been concerned about the other weapons that he knew the Americans had deployed against him and had checked on the status of things on that front.

Hunter's drones from the belt had located the rockets that were carrying the nuclear warheads the Americans had planned to use against the drone controllers in the belts, and one of the drones simply flew in among them and detonated to eliminate them all. The other drones continued on to the L2 Lagrange point where they found a great many small rockets parked and ready to intercept any incoming asteroids that might be launched from the belt at Earth. Hunter had no intention of launching anything at the planet, but he was not comfortable with all of those nuclear warheads sitting out there with the American president's finger on the button. Once again he sent in one of the drones and detonated it to clean the area up. Unfortunately, several sophisticated science instruments were also removed from existence by the antimatter blast, but it was unavoidable.

A couple of the remaining drones that had gone out to L2 were then given the task of going out to explore the other four Lagrange points to ensure no weapons were in orbit at any of them. L1 was close so it wouldn't take long to reach it, but it would be quite a while longer before they would know for sure about L4 and L5. Those points were so far out of the way that the tiger felt that it simply wouldn't make sense for the Americans to have put any weapons out there, but he wanted to be completely sure he'd covered everything and he could spare the few drones it would take for that peace of mind.

L3 was one of his priorities, though. It's located on the far side of the sun from the Earth. Since his people's ships and the animal ships were coming from the sunward side, they would pass L3 even before they passed near the sun. It would make that location the best place to park any weapons that might be used to destroy more of the incoming ships and Hunter had no defenses way out on that side, so he decided to make that Lagrange point his highest priority after L1. He switched the two remaining drones' tasking to head there at maximum speed right after they reached L1, and keep watch for any human rockets they might encounter along the way. He dispatched separate drones to head directly to L4 and L5. He would then send out another drone to each of the five Lagrange points to park themselves in orbit there and keep watch just in case anything showed up there later on.

After having done all of that, the big cat had taken a long shower with the suit off. He'd found that when he woke earlier he'd been terribly itchy on several parts of his body. He had queried his computer about it and it came to the conclusion that being inside the activated suits for too long may be detrimental to their skin. Over time, irritation would set in that would only worsen to unbearable levels. It was a drawback of the second skin the tiger hadn't been aware of since it had never been used in this particular way before, covering the entire body for extended periods. The computer suggested that simply deactivating and removing the suits for a brief period each day, and preferably also showering and exfoliating dead skin cells, dander, and shed hair during that period, should keep their skin healthy and ready to go back into the suit again.

He was getting hungry for his breakfast and he knew Jake would be too, so he thawed some meat to take into the sphere with him.

When he finally put the suit back on and entered the sphere to re-inhabit his doppelganger in the motel bed with Jake, Hunter noticed immediately that his man was waking with an erection as he often did, and the cat leaned over and slurped the wonderful organ into his mouth to suckle it.

Jake enjoyed a long and satisfying stretch as well as the feeling of Hunter's warm mouth on his penis and he said, "Morning, you wonderful tiger. That feels great. How did my sweet kitty sleep in the strange bed?"

Hunter pulled his mouth off of Jake's cock and came back up to kiss him on the cheek and said, "Good morning, my sweet pet. I slept wonderfully well, thank you. It is getting late. I've been up for a little while and left the sphere to take care of some things and freshen up a bit. I was getting hungry, so I went to get some meat to bring into the sphere with me. I am ready to eat with you if you'd like to get up and go with me to Ed's diner one last time. But first, I found an appetizer right here between your legs that I thought I might enjoy."

The tiger had been stroking Jake's cock while speaking, to keep it alert and involved in the conversation.

Jake chuckled and said, "Dig in then, you beautiful cat. Let me have yours too."

The cat kissed him one more time and grinned and nodded, and Jake slid further down the bed to give room for Hunter to get into a sixty nine position.

The muscular cat turned on the bed and put his knees on either side above Jake's head while he lowered his hips to put the tip of his huge, straining organ at his man's lips. He lowered his head back down and took Jake's member back in his mouth and began to suck harder.

The tiger moaned with pleasure as Jake reached up and skinned his big cock back and began to lick and suck at it while jacking it with his hand.

The cat continued to work his man's wood with his mouth and he reached one of his big paws in to work the base of Jake's cock while sucking even harder on his cock head, and he brought his other paw around to begin to fondle Jake's nuts to add more pleasurable sensation for him.

It was Jake's turn to moan as he began to pump his hips up at his tiger's eager mouth. He reached up with his other hand and did the same for Hunter and took the cat's big, furry balls in hand and began to lightly play with them while he squeezed and tugged at the tiger's thick cock, and sucked as much of it into his mouth as he could handle.

Jake was never able to get much of Hunter's huge, thick meat into his mouth before he would begin to gag from the size of it, so Hunter had at one point made another slight modification to their suits to make things more interesting. He'd programmed the suits so that they would completely suppress the gag reflex by not allowing the excitation of the nerves that normally caused it to kick in. The result was fun for both of them.

Hunter was taking advantage of that modification right now by sucking Jake's cock right in until it hit the back of his throat, and then pushing hard to open his throat to let the big head slide right in. He then pushed the rest of the way until his mouth was mashed right up against Jake's body and he'd swallowed his thick cock right down. He would then make swallowing motions that felt incredible to Jake. The muscles in the cat's throat were squeezing and working his cock head and it felt fantastic. The big tiger would then pull back his head and take a breath, then plunge his head down again and force Jake's cock right back down his throat.

Jake could almost do the same for Hunter. The cat's cock head was so big that it couldn't quite fit down Jake's throat, but with no gag reflex he had no problem with the muscular tiger trying hard to make it happen. It still felt great to Hunter to jam his cock in as far as it could go, and when Jake made the swallowing motions it worked the head of the tiger's cock in interesting ways, and it felt wonderful to the cat to be rutting his big body lustfully against his lover's face.

The two of them moaned and groaned as they began to work themselves into a frenzy. As usual, their powerful lust for each other brought them to their peak very quickly.

Jake felt the beginning of his orgasm as his balls began to tighten up in Hunter's paw, and he began to thrust his hips harder up at the cat's face while he watched the big tiger's heavy balls repeatedly coming at his own face as the cat humped at it lustfully. He began to feel the bloom of electricity at his loins and he moaned and wrapped his arms around Hunter's waist and began to pull him in harder as he thrust up against his mate.

The big cat moaned and began to really pump his hips down hard at Jake's face and tried with all his might to jam his big cock down his lover's throat. He couldn't do it, but the sensation of trying so hard was all he needed to bring himself all the way. He pushed hard and tensed and grunted as he felt the first long blast of his thick semen shoot straight into Jake's throat. Of course, in reality it was shooting out of his cock on Mars, through his suit, and onto the fabric that coated the inside of the ambulator sphere he was in, which had perfectly assumed the shape of Jake beneath him. With the sphere coated with the fabric, he didn't even need to bring Jake's doppelganger on Mars in with him. He was fucking the sphere in reality, which had taken the shape of the objects in the immediate proximity of the doppelganger, but his mind had him right there in the bed with Jake in the motel on Earth, and his suit made him feel the warmth and the male solidity of his mate on Earth. The sphere cleaned itself up by moving the mess through the fabric and then moving it along to a receptacle in the sphere that collected it for disposal later.

Jake moaned as he felt the pulsing of the cat's fat cock head and his suit recreated the heat and gushing as the tiger shot his massive load down the man's throat, and it quickly brought Jake to his own release. He grunted as he pushed his hips up hard to jam his cock right down Hunter's warm, wet mouth to the tight throat at the back, and the first big volley of his cum shot right down the cat's throat. In this case his cum was passing right through his suit, and then through the fabric of Hunter's doppelganger to be really swallowed by the hollow shell, while giving the cat on Mars the sensation of the warm gush into his mouth and the feeling of swallowing it down his throat. The cat's doppelganger would take care of the cleanup itself later on by moving the mess down to the inside of the doppelganger's feet, and then pushing it slowly out through the fabric there to be left behind later on in the dirt in microscopic amounts when they'd be walking around outside after it had dried.

The suits were truly a marvel of long distance sexual relations, and Jake was forever grateful to the cat for the brilliant design and the constant improvements the horny tiger was making as they experimented more with them.

They finally settled down, and then rolled off of each other and they each sighed in satisfaction at the fantastic release they'd each experienced once again from their undying lust for each other.

Hunter turned around again and came up to cuddle with Jake for a bit and bask in the post orgasmic glow with the man he intended to spend the entirety of the rest of his three hundred year long life with.

Jake rubbed his hand up and down the cat's muscular, furry back and said, "I love you more than I ever even thought could be possible."

The tiger purred and said, "I love you just that much myself, so we're even. See how that works? I know how much you humans seem to love to one-up each other, so perhaps I should put the brakes on that right away by saying 'we're even' whenever it appears one of those contests is about to start. I know how deeply you love me, and that you could not possibly love me more, so it would be pointless for me to say 'I love you even more than that, my sweet, wonderful man' even though that's precisely how I feel."

Jake chuckled and said, "I'm so glad to hear you say you love me even more than that, because it makes me love you probably really really lots more than that even."

The tiger laughed and nuzzled his human and said, "And I you, so we're even."

Jake said, "Of course we are, but just remember that I'm way more even than you are."

The big cat chuckled and said, "I honestly can't tell you just how amazing this is for me. You are truly the perfect mate for me in every way. Every minute more that I spend with you makes it more and more obvious to me. I adore your sense of humor and your intelligence and personality, and the way you look fuels a powerful lust in me I never thought I was capable of. Imagine how my life was before, or how it would be if I'd never met you. Even if everything had gone completely smoothly with the terraforming and my people had arrived on a completed and ready Mars, all I had to look forward to after that was another two hundred and twenty years of loneliness among them. Since homosexuality is not really done by my people, I never could have experienced anything like this. It took me meeting you for it to happen, and it thrills me to no end to know that the universe is such a beautifully elegant machine that it made you for me and had you waiting for my arrival, and it even put your robot in my path to initiate our meeting."

Jake smiled and said, "That's an interesting way to think of it. I'm curious about something though. From what you were telling me yesterday about the type of utopia your people lived in and how there's no conflict and no greed and no one wants for anything and everyone just gets along, it seems odd that homosexuality is not accepted."

"I may not have given the correct impression of how my people live. I believe I did mention that it was not quite a perfect utopia. One thing we hadn't discussed was just how my people came to live the way we have for the last several centuries. I think I told you at one time that everything changed on my planet not long after our scientists discovered that our star had reached the final stages of its life as a yellow dwarf and had begun its rapid expansion towards its new phase as a red giant."

"Yes, you said something like a thousand years ago all conflict ended."

"Correct. In order for conflict to end, it means there must have indeed been conflict, and there most certainly was. My people were not all that different from yours at one time. It took the rapid advancement of our technology to make available the type of world that we eventually lived in, because the fabricators enabled the one major change that let us forget about the concept of ownership. It made everything we needed absolutely free. Before that happened, though, crime still existed because ownership existed. Intolerance existed because different factions and different races within our species still existed. Borders still existed because people couldn't all agree on the best system of government. There were many different religions and some of the most brutal wars in our long history were fought over them, much as the case is here. Greed was the norm and everyone wanted more of everything, to the point of trying to take what others had, or exploiting the population of poor countries to manufacture the toys enjoyed by the rich ones, much as things have gone in your own history. While life could be good at a small scale, much as it is in the town we're in now, the bigger picture was most unpleasant in some areas, just as it is in your world."

"So, all of that changed when everyone found out you were all doomed?"

"That was the major catalyst, yes. There was still trouble even when we realized our mortality as a species, because different governments couldn't agree on what should be done to change our destiny and things began to take a turn for the worst at first, until a particularly charismatic individual rose up and began to get the notice of many of our people with the notions he had about how to unite all of our people. The things he said seemed at first more hateful and intolerant than anything that had ever been said before, but to many of our desperate people at the time, they made sense. A cult of personality began to form around him and his power grew by leaps and bounds.

"A final great war broke out among our entire species, but the momentum he had gained allowed him to rapidly steamroll over the rest of our people, and he was victorious in realizing his dream. It was the most bloody and brutal part of our entire history. His followers murdered hundreds of millions in order to 'cleanse' our race. All other governments were dismantled along the way and all of the borders vanished as each country was consumed in the blitz.

"It was a terrible time for my people and it brought about sweeping change. We used to have a few different physical variations of our race. One that looks like me in color, which was the first to begin to organize into larger societies when we first rose to intelligence, one that was more of a predominantly black color that came from the hottest climate on our world, and one that was nearly all white that came from the colder climates. Those other two had been discovered to have branched off in our prehistory from the original stock, which was the same color as me and the rest of my people.

The followers of that charismatic individual who was leading the blitz were all of my color, just as he was. They wanted the whole world cleansed of any imperfection and they engaged in mass murder of those who they felt were not of pure stock. All of the black and white were rounded up over time and slaughtered in most horrific and efficient ways. It was an unimaginably dark and ugly period in our history that many of us prefer not to remember, though we force ourselves to do so in the hopes that the memory of the horror might keep it from ever happening again. Most, in reflection, feel it might have been necessary in the sense that the result was a single, pure race that could now focus on the only goal that mattered, preserving itself from extinction. We had become one race that could move forward with no distractions whatsoever, but it had come at a horrible cost.

"When the dust settled from that final great war, no borders remained and no forms of government other than the totalitarian one that had consumed all the rest existed anywhere. All religions were abolished and the churches were burned to the ground and replaced with schools to train our young in the sciences to begin to push our technology forward as quickly as possible. The legal system was simplified to the point where every crime was punished with death in order to cleanse the race further of any possible genetic factor that might cause someone to have criminal tendencies. Our population crashed, but all of those that remained had lined up behind the charismatic leader and many fully believed in his dream and intended to stick to it, though it is difficult to say how many fell in line simply for fear of what would happen to them if they did not."

"Holy shit! We had someone just like that in our past. His attempt at world domination failed, but it could easily have gone a lot like it did on your world I would think. His crimes are still remembered as the worst ever to be committed by anyone in our history."

"Yes, what happened to our people could definitely be seen as a series of horrific crimes, but in the end it really was likely the one thing that had to happen in order to get us all on the same page and moving as one in the same direction."

"I get it now," Jake said, "If everyone's on the same page, then everyone gets along perfectly so there's no longer any need for conflict or borders to separate anyone. The leader who changed it all for you felt that the best way to get everyone onto that same page in your past was to eliminate everyone who was not on it."

"Just so. It was a brutal point in our history, but it did, as you say, get absolutely everyone on the same page. Unfortunately, homosexuality was not written onto that page. While being homosexual is not in itself a crime punishable by death, acting on it could be, if it was done openly. That was one of the reasons why my father nearly beat me to death the day he caught me with my sweet pet when I was young. The other was that bestiality too is a crime punishable by death. In the case of our love for each other, it would be easily argued that you are no beast, but an intelligent, self aware person, so our relationship would not be considered bestial by my people. We are homosexual, though, and clearly we have acted on it, so that could land me in quite a deep pot of trouble."

"So, you've committed a crime punishable by death by having sex with me."

"In a sense, yes, and I will continue to do so. If we kept it completely hidden and never gave any indication that it was happening, it would likely be ignored, but to act on it openly is considered unacceptable by my people and they would have to put a stop to it."

"Do you think your people could ever be convinced to give you a pass? You have all of their lives in your hands, and you've gone to heroic lengths to ensure their safety. Surely they'll feel indebted to you for that and offer you some leniency when it comes to some of their rules?"

"That may allow them to forgive my past transgressions with you, yes. I would have to give you up entirely going forward though, if I wish to remain a member of society. I have already seen a possible solution, though. I might simply be allowed to leave my people and accept banishment as my punishment. If I am not allowed to live among them ever again, they may see that as a way out and be able to consider me no longer a member of my race, and therefore no longer subject to their rules of behavior. I could come to live among your people in asylum.

"After having met the people of this wonderful town and having consumed so much of your media and arts and seen what you are capable of, I believe I would find that sort of punishment as more of a reward than anything else. As you've said before about coming here to Mars to be with me, it matters not to me one iota where I am, it only matters to me that I am with you. I would be more than happy to leave Mars to come to you there on Earth, when all of my people leave Earth to come to Mars. It would suit me just fine. I care more for you than I could ever care for any, or even all of my own people. In any case, I would not be allowed to stay among my people unless I adhered completely to their rules."

Jake said, "Totalitarianism absolutely demands that everyone is made to fall in line and they'll want to show all of your people that you're not exempt. I suppose if you sort of become an outcast and are no longer one of your people, it should work."

"I believe so, yes, and it can only be made possible by the fact that, as you say, I will have saved all of their lives and they will feel that I need to be rewarded in some way, while also feeling that I need to be punished for my crime of being with you. Banishment would be both punishment and reward and they would recognize that."

"If your people are that strict about their rules, I'm not sure how well they'll do during their enforced stay here on Earth. They definitely won't be happy with the way the humans live. What happens to my people when your people wake up and gain all of the power that you hold now? Won't they be inclined to 'cleanse' us out of existence? Especially considering what we've already done to them?"

"The brutality of the totalitarian government occurred primarily a thousand years ago, remember. Things have mollified somewhat since then. It's hard to even think of the current government of my people as totalitarian. We no longer have a single charismatic leader who insists that everyone adhere to his own vision. What we have now is more of a council of elders who ensure that our people remain focused on our goal, and do not allow any distraction to impede it. As I told you once before, our view of life changed quite a bit over the centuries that passed afterward. Our struggle to retain our place in the universe made us keenly aware of the struggle of life in general. It gave us a greater appreciation of it. Our government still insists that our people adhere to the rules, but one of those rules is to treat all life outside of our influence as inviolate. We may not interfere. The only thing different in this case, as you've said before, is that your people lost the right to be left alone when they committed what my people will see as an unprovoked aggressive act against us.

"You might think of our government as an enlightened version of what totalitarianism becomes when the leader that instigated it all dies, and those left behind, while still agreeing with his overall vision, are also still reeling somewhat with the shock of the atrocities committed in his name in order to achieve that vision. We still require everyone to strictly adhere to the rules, as I said, but one of the main reasons for that is that it avoids any future need of the sort of horrific brutality that occurred at the hands of that charismatic leader who changed everything. So long as we all stick to the rules, everyone lives in peace and harmony and everyone is happy. That is how it has been, anyhow. I sometimes wonder what will happen when my people are finally settled on Mars. We will no longer have that singular and all important goal that has been driving us all in the same direction for the last thousand years. Without it, my people may begin to mill about and wonder which direction they should go next, and they might not all agree on it. It will be interesting to see, to say the least."

"Well, at the very least your people will be pissed at mine for destroying the bacteria ships and putting your whole species at risk, so I think we need to find a way to protect my people from any possible retribution from yours if we can find a way to do it."

"I've been giving some thought to that, but let's discuss it a bit later. It is a heavy subject and will require much discussion and planning to deal with it, but right now I'm hungry and I would like to eat. Are you ready to make your way to the diner?"

Jake had been scratching at his armpits occasionally while they talked, and now found himself scratching at his belly. It felt almost like he was developing a rash.

"I think I might like to take a shower. I feel sort of itchy for some reason."

The big cat nodded and said, "I felt much the same way this morning and had to remove my suit and wash myself completely. I think we may have found a drawback of keeping the suits on for too long at a stretch with no break. We might need to remove them on a regular basis and leave them off for a time to allow our natural skin to breathe and shed dead cells and hair as it would naturally do. I felt much better after simply showering earlier. I believe you'll feel the same. We may need to get into the habit of sleeping without them most nights in order to keep our skin healthy. I will have to discuss this development some more with my computer to see if there is any modification that might be made to help with the situation. Allow me to disengage your suit so that you might go and have a shower."

"Thanks."

Jake felt the odd sensation of the suit separating from him and becoming more like a tight costume again even as the beautiful tiger beside him suddenly turned into a spooky looking black demon. The current default was to turn off the texturing trick when they weren't both in the activated suits and interacting with each other. Jake wouldn't be able to feel the tiger's fur, so it made more sense not to see it. He now saw the smooth, furless, living ebony statue of Hunter that everyone else was seeing.

He got up and stripped out of the suit. He sniffed at it but found it was completely devoid of any odor, even around the armpit and crotch areas. Clearly its self cleaning capability was indeed working perfectly and it would be pointless to bother to clean it. It just wasn't needed. He suspected it was likely just the fact that it was so tightly fused to his skin and interfaced to the nerve endings that was causing it to become slightly irritating over time. It made sense that if they simply removed it once in a while for a period it would reset things and they could take it again for another extended period. Hunter was probably right and removing it once a day for several hours might become necessary. For now he'd probably be OK with just a quick shower.

He made his way to the bathroom and the black demon cat followed him. Hunter loved Jake so much that he still wanted to do everything together with him. He joined Jake in the shower even though his own suit had no need of a washing. It felt good to him to be the one to lovingly lather up his man and wash him down. Jake enjoyed being spoiled by the cat and he stood still to let the tiger clean his man completely from head to toe.

He stepped out of the shower when he was done and stood with his arms out and smiled while Hunter dutifully dried him off thoroughly with a thick towel. He felt quite a bit better already and the itchiness had vanished. He had nothing to wear though, and obviously didn't want to go outside naked. It was sort of acceptable to do it in his suit, but he figured that the fact he looked sort of like a carved ebony statue that had come to life might be what had eventually made people accept it. If he simply went out looking like himself with no clothes on, the reaction would likely be much different.

"Should I put the suit back on? I still have no clothes. I suppose I could go out with just a robe on for now. Should I give my skin more of a break do you think?" Jake asked.

"I would be much more comfortable if you would put the suit back on. I believe you'll find you will be OK in it for the remainder of the day. We'll take them off for a time again later on. I prefer to have you wearing it so it can engage its self defense mechanisms should anything unexpected occur. There were a great many people taking images and videos of us yesterday. I can't be completely certain that some of them didn't actually slip out onto your Internet before my computer was able to get it under control, which I instructed it to do earlier this morning. Your government may have been alerted to the fact that you are here. I would prefer they not know of your whereabouts. You are my Achilles' heel, my love, and they will know that. I will feel safer with you in the suit with it fully engaged any time we move about in the world if you don't mind."

"I never thought of that. Word of what went on yesterday must be spreading like wildfire out there on the Internet."

"Yes, it would be, if my computer were not completely in control of it. I have had it shut down all Internet access from this town for the time being even including the cellphone services. It did find several images and videos out there already by the time I thought to block it this morning, but it removed them and all references to them. I cannot be sure they weren't already seen by the wrong eyes, though. We should be relatively safe, regardless. My imaging swarms are now closely monitoring all activity near this town, so no one can catch us by surprise. The computer will alert me if we need to leave in a hurry. I cannot risk anything happening to you."

"Well, it sounds like you have it covered. I'll put the suit back on so we can go eat and then get out of town so we don't draw any unwanted attention that might wreck the peace for these nice folks."

Hunter nodded.

Jake put the suit back on and the tiger engaged it again. Jake felt the tingle of it fusing to him and smiled as he watched the black demon cat suddenly switch back to being his gorgeous furry self again.

The two of them left the motel room and went to the office to thank Gladys and John for their wonderful hospitality, and the older couple told them to get over to the diner so Ed could feed them before they left. They told them a room would be ready for them any time they might need one in the future. Jake and Hunter thanked them and headed out.

They made their way through the town to the other side where Ed's diner was located.

Several people called out to them and smiled and waved and wished them a good morning as they passed by, and they returned the greetings.

As soon as they entered the diner and sat at a table, Nancy rushed over to take their order. Jake ordered coffee and asked for a few eggs over easy with bacon and a few slices of tomato and some toast. Hunter had his usual invisible meat.

They'd finished their food while they sat and chatted and now that they were done Jake asked, "So, yesterday we briefly discussed going to scout around for a new home for your people. You said you had some idea about how we might travel around. Colombia's a long way south of here. Should we just get the government to give us a ride? We may as well make them pay in any way we can for what they did to you. I doubt they'd try anything with you right there in your doppelganger ready to smash the shit out of them."

Hunter smiled and said, "Yes, but I would prefer they simply give us the aircraft and leave us to ourselves. I will fly us there myself."

"Huh? How would you do that?" Jake asked, "I saw that you have some sort of a flyer in your hangar there on Mars so you must know how to fly, but do you think one of our planes would fly exactly the same as yours?"

"It is unlikely that they would be exactly the same, but they shouldn't be too far different. I would be more interested in one of your peoples' helicopters, actually. It would be more useful for exploring the type of terrain we will encounter. There may not be suitable areas to land a plane there. At least, not anywhere in the uninhabited tracts of land that we'll be looking at."

"Whoa, that would be way more complicated to fly than a plane. I've messed around a lot with a Huey helicopter simulator on my computer and it took a hell of a lot of practice to finally be able to fly it reliably. Even with all of that practice there's no way I would ever trust myself to actually fly a real one though. Unless you've flown something like that before, it would take several weeks of practice just to get as close as I am to being able to fly one. Is there some analog in your technology that's similar to a helicopter that you've had experience with?"

"Not exactly, but there doesn't really need to be. My doppelganger can do the flying, under the control of my computer, which has learned every nuance and detail of how your peoples' aircraft operate. In fact, through the use of a mode I haven't introduced to you yet that I've sort of thought of as 'marionette mode', I could operate any vehicle, play any instrument, or do any sort of complicated physical activity you can think of that would normally take months or even years of practice to master, simply by having my computer download the information on how it is done and take control of my doppelganger to do it. Even you could do it with a bit of practice as long as you are in your activated suit."

"What? How exactly would that work. What you're talking about sounds sort of like a scene from The Matrix or something. You just say 'I need to fly a chopper' and then just like that, you're able to fly one?"

"Yes, that is precisely where the idea came from. I loved your original Matrix movie, since it was sort of an interesting fusion between science fiction and martial arts, which are my two favorite genres of your people's motion pictures. As I watched the first one, where Trinity needed to fly a helicopter at one point, and they simply downloaded the knowledge into her, I realized I could do the same sort of thing using the doppelganger. I had a preliminary discussion with my computer about it and we experimented a bit during one of those times I had disconnected from you while I was working on the suits, just to see if it was feasible. It is, though it will take some practice to learn to allow it to happen."

"What do mean, allow it to happen?"

"Essentially what has to happen is my computer is given full control over my doppelganger. That in itself could cause issues, because if the doppelganger over there on Earth begins to move, my suit here will need to respond to those movements in order to keep the two in full synchronization. Normally it's the reverse, where I move and the hollow suit responds. In this case, since the hollow suit is doing the movement and my body is forced to copy it, it will naturally react by fighting against the motion that it didn't initiate, in the same way you might suddenly jerk and fling your arms out when you sense yourself falling. We found that in order for it to work, the suit I'm wearing has to fully nullify my nervous system's attempts to control my body in any location that it needed to be controlled for me. It is essentially the same mechanism it employs to completely stifle the gag reflex when you push your cock right down my throat. The same effect can essentially nullify the signals going to our muscles at any location in our bodies using electromagnetic pulses.

"For all intents and purposes, if I were to allow the computer to fully control the doppelganger on Earth, I would become a fully paralytic rag doll from head to toe back here on Mars, in effect a marionette. The suit I'm wearing would take over moving my body around to match the movements of my doppelganger on Earth, as if the computer were the puppeteer directing my movements. In truth the computer would only do it to any muscles it needed to, while leaving me in control of all of the others. I would never know exactly which were in my control and which weren't at any given point in time, but the suit would go ahead and move in any way it needed to in order to complete its task. In some quick tests we did, I found that my brain quickly began to accept the new reality, and it felt almost as if I were the one making those motions happen through a sort of muscle memory. As an example, when you play your drums, do you concentrate on moving your hands this way and that, raising your sticks up and smacking them down, and controlling each of your feet on the kick drum and the hi-hat?"

"No. That's how it started when I first learned, but it was clumsy and really hard. Over time, with practice, that all sort of falls away and all you're really thinking about is the beat and the patterns and your body automatically goes through the motions to make it happen."

The tiger smiled and said, "Precisely so. Through training and repetition your brain no longer needs to deal with the control of each of your muscles and it can change its focus to simply playing the music, and it allows your muscles to deal with the details of making that happen. That's how you improve over time to be able to play faster and more sophisticated pieces more and more easily. I found that when I allowed the computer to run my body, in essence, I could simply think about what I needed to do and it felt as though I were the one controlling things and my muscles were performing long practiced and perfected moves on their own. I could, in essence, fly one of your helicopters so well that it would be as if I'd been flying one for decades, even though I've never been in one and never really learned to do it. My brain will think that I need to go over that way, or that I need to land on that patch of grass, and the computer will direct the suit to make it happen, just as the muscles of a practiced pilot would do for him without him thinking of exactly how they do it."

Jake said, "But, in order for the computer to know that you want to land over on that patch of grass, it would have to be able to somehow read your mind, no?"

"In a sense, yes, but it can't actually do that. However, it can most certainly indirectly and very accurately intuit what I need it to do by observing the myriad of signals that my body is giving out. While I'm scanning for a good patch of grass to land on, for example, I am in a certain state. My eyes are wandering, my brain is processing, my muscles are relaxed and my breathing and heart rate have fallen into a certain rhythm, and so on.

"When I suddenly see the perfect patch to land on, my brain locks onto that thought, my eyes lock onto the patch, my heart rate and breathing change suddenly, my muscles tense a bit and I may even subconsciously shift my body almost imperceptibly towards that location, and so on. There are a myriad of clues that the computer easily picks up to know that that is the landing spot I've been looking for. It will begin to move my suit in the ways necessary to land there while further observing my reactions to ensure it is doing what I wish.

"Really, I would be much more involved in the process than that. I would be the one guiding the helicopter using the stick myself, but the computer would be filling in all the blanks to keep the aircraft smooth and steady like adjusting the collective and moving my feed on the pedals and so on. It would seem to me as though I was the one flying the helicopter, though.

"That sounds amazing! It sounds a lot like the 'easy flight model' mode of my simulator. You can set it up so you're essentially just using the stick to point the helicopter and the computer handles the more involved parts of reacting to the constantly changing torque and wind and rotor wash and so on while you're first learning how to handle it. Anyone can fly it in that mode. I'd love to try that myself some time. Do you think the same would work with my suit? Could your computer control it that way?"

The cat nodded and said, "Absolutely, yes. I can't be sure how your mind will react, but I expect it would feel to you just like it did to me. It would seem like you're doing something you've practiced for so long that you no longer need to think about it. If it controlled your whole suit for example and thus removed all muscle control from you, it would still likely feel quite natural to you if you simply thought that you'd like to walk over to the counter there and say hi to Nancy, and your suit would just automatically do it. The computer would allow you control to initiate the motion, then it would take over smoothly from there when it has figured out what you want to accomplish. You don't think about raising one foot and moving it forward and putting it down, then repeating the same with the next when you walk normally, you let your muscles do what they've learned to do on their own. If the suit is doing that for you instead of your own muscles, it's only slightly different and with just a bit of relaxation and getting accustomed to it, you'd forget it was any different at all."

"Is there some sort of safe way we could try it out? I wouldn't want to try it first while controlling a big helicopter in the air or something. Maybe we could get your computer to learn how to play a piano or something. If we can find one in town here I can sit at it and see if it works. If what you say is true my brain should eventually be tricked into believing I'm playing the instrument myself."

Hunter said, "That's a good idea, but we could try something simpler that might be fun and wouldn't require us to search for an instrument. Another scene from that wonderful movie had Neo suddenly get several forms of martial arts 'downloaded' into his mind. I love your peoples' martial arts. They are beautiful and fluid, yet seem so effective and dangerous. I would love to try them. Perhaps my computer could control both of our suits and we could have a fight outside together."

Jake chuckled and said, "Are you serious? With both suits in strength mode so we don't get hurt, we'd be like two superheros duking it out, and we might wreck the place as we throw each other around and smash into things."

"No, we wouldn't need to have them in their strength enhancement mode at all. They could still have the self defense function engaged, though. That would mean if I punched you hard in your beautiful face, the fabric of your suit would briefly separate to come and meet my fist and slow it to a stop just as it reaches your face. We could fight as hard as possible in full earnest, yet we wouldn't hurt each other at all."

"Holy Jebus! That sounds like an absolute blast! Let's try it."

"One moment, my love. Let me disconnect briefly and make the arrangements. I will have the computer quickly research a few variations of martial arts. It will take only a minute."

Jake nodded and the tiger suddenly collapsed into a heap in front of his eyes.

Ed came over to the table and said, "I couldn't help but listen, sorry. Are you guys really gonna go out and fight each other in the street? I really need to see that."

Jake grinned and said, "Yup. We're testing a new system for the suits. It should be an interesting show."

Several other people in the diner had been listening and a few were already on their phones calling others to let them know something interesting was about to go down outside the diner.

A few minutes later Hunter's doppelganger inflated again and the tiger said, "I believe we're ready. The computer is now fully versed in the arts of Karate, Kung Fu, Muay Thai, and Taekwondo. Since it can process and analyze reality at a rate many thousands of times faster than our brains can, it will be able to respond to any incoming attack from either one of us with the best possible defense, and counter attack immediately. It will allow us to guide the fights ourselves as much as we like. You simply need to think about kicking me in the side of the head and begin the motion, then the computer will make it happen as though you'd been trained to do it.

"My suit will already be reacting to the kick by the time I realize its happening, but I'll feel as if I'm simply acting out of long practiced instinct and I will be convinced I'm responsible for the defensive move that follows. If we can learn to relax and begin to feel engaged in the fight, it will seem to us as though we're the most practice fighters that have ever existed. I promise you it will feel very strange at first, but if you give it a chance it will begin to feel more natural. I've asked the computer to ensure that we start off slowly to give you time to acclimate."

Jake grinned and said, "This is gonna be really cool. Ever since I was a kid I dreamed of becoming a martial artist, but never had the opportunity to really try to do it. Now you're telling me I'm gonna be the best martial artist in the world, without even trying! Let's go."

They both got up from the table and headed outside. Everyone in the diner followed after them and they already found a crowd beginning to gather on the street outside.

They walked a little way out of town to a clear area of grass off the side the road and they stood and faced each other.

"If you are ready, my love, I will enable the new mode. It will feel a little strange to you at first. You will still be in control of your body, unless the computer takes over for a particular motion, then suddenly you will completely lose control while the motion is completed, but since you initiated it, it will still feel as if it's you in control. You do not need to learn not to fight it, since your ability to fight it will be completely removed while its happening. You'll adjust quickly. Start by coming at me and punching me in the face. I will consciously allow it to happen so that you can see that you can't harm me, nor will you harm your own fist in the attempt."

Jake smiled and said, "The last thing I would ever want to do to that gorgeous face is punch it, but I always do what I'm told, so here goes..."

He moved forward and wound up and punched his beloved cat right in the face with all his might. It felt completely bizarre because he was fully in control until the moment the punch nearly landed and he could actually feel his fist make contact and come to a stop, even though he'd been focusing on punching as hard as he could and the tiger's head should have snapped back quite a bit. It happened so fast he couldn't really tell what exactly happened to stop it, but he didn't feel the impact as anything more than a light tap against his knuckles, and Hunter's suit absorbed all of the energy of the punch in the same way it would have done for a bullet.

The cat smiled as Jake brought his fist down.

"Take this!" the cat shouted and suddenly leaned back and his foot came up to hit Jake in the chest. The tiger put all of his weight behind it and he had a lot of momentum going. Jake had to focus hard on not reacting. He wanted to see how it would feel. The suit allowed him to be in control and it didn't try to defend him by making him dodge or react in any way, but he did feel a strange sensation as the second skin briefly separated and moved outward to intercept the tiger's big foot, and it pushed hard to slow the cat's foot enough to dull the impact. Jake was surprised when he suddenly found himself falling backwards onto his ass, but again, the suit separated behind him and absorbed the impact so that he felt as if he'd fallen onto a bed of soft foam or something.

Jake laughed as he said, "I thought it was supposed to absorb all of the impact! Why am I suddenly on my ass on the ground?"

The tiger chuckled and said, "I probably should have warned you. I instructed the computer to allow some flexibility just for our fight. If sufficient force is applied and not responded to, we can indeed knock each other on our asses, as you put it. Now, let's begin in earnest."

The cat suddenly posed just like Morpheus had done in the first fight training scene in The Matrix. He grinned and brought up his hand and made the 'come at me' motion.

Jake laughed and said, "All we're missing is the music for this training montage."

Hunter stopped for a moment and said, "Good point! We cannot possibly learn without the right background music."

Suddenly the entirety of the tiger's doppelganger became a loudspeaker instead of just its mouth, and it began to pump out the same music from the fight training scene in The Matrix.

Jake stood up and grinned as the tiger shifted his feet and once more made the 'bring it on' motion.

Jake ran towards the cat with the idea of bringing his feet up to kick the tiger full on on the chest. He wasn't sure at what point it happened, but he completely lost control and the suit followed his plan through with a perfectly executed kick with both feet at Hunter's chest.

The muscular cat rapidly turned his body to the side and leaned back just slightly while reaching up to grab Jake's ankles, and he swung him around and used his momentum to throw him. Jake landed with a fairly soft thud on the ground and rolled back to standing again, all under the control of the suit, though to him it already felt like exactly what he wanted to do. He laughed and dusted himself off while the tiger once again shifted on his feet into a new stance, brought up his hand, and teasingly invited Jake to try again.

Jake walked up to the cat and took a fighting stance right in front of him. He wanted to see what the suit could do on its own so he began to try to think more vaguely about what he wanted to do instead of trying to be to precise. He thought of punching the tiger with a sideways motion and he just started the motion, and the suit immediately took over and his arm shot upward, outward and then in towards the side of Hunter's head at astonishing speed. The cat's arm quickly came up in a defensive motion to counter the blow and then once it stopped Jake's incoming arm, the cat's other arm came up to punch Jake in the head. Jake saw the incoming attack even as he noticed his own arm was already on the way up to block it. To him it really felt as though his body was responding automatically out of thoroughly trained instinct and he already began to think about a counter and he twisted his other arm inward and down and around to lock it onto Hunter's arm that had blocked his earlier blow, while blocking the incoming blow from the cat, while twisting that arm outward and around to lock the cat's other arm. He pulled both of Hunter's locked arms downward while bringing up his knee and he made solid contact with the cat's chest the sent him staggering backwards to fall on his butt.

The cat shouted, "Yes! That's much better! Let us really open it up now!"

The tiger stood and without any further ado he lunged through the air at Jake and began to spin and bring one of his big legs around to hit Jake in the head. Jake began a ducking motion by falling slightly backwards. He continued the motion and put a hand back to catch himself on the ground while flipping himself around to bring his leg up over his head to intercept the coming blow from the tiger and their legs banged together and bounced them both back around again to face each other.

They both grinned and then quite suddenly the music began to thump loud and fast as they both came at each other at once.

The crowd was in awe as the two began to exchange flurries of beautifully choreographed punches and kicks that were all defended and countered so rapidly that it was hard to follow each move. The two began to let go of the notion of deciding what to do next. They simply didn't know martial arts so it made more sense to relax and let the suits fight it out, while they allowed their minds to convince them they were doing it all themselves.

The suits began to work into a flowing pattern of moves that had the two moving back and forth as one would gain the upper hand only to be finally stymied and the other would begin to push back and gain the advantage.

Several people in the crowd were cheering and shouting and many had their camera phones out again as the fight continued to escalate.

The longer they kept at it the more it began to really feel to Jake that he was the one making all of these incredible moves, even though it really wasn't. He would see Hunter getting up from the ground and he'd already be thinking of knocking him back down while he ran towards him and it was really the suit that decided he should leap into the air and come down on the tiger's chest once again using both of his knees, but to Jake it seemed so much like the right move that it was like his brain had convinced him that it was the one that made the decision. The more he let himself go the more it felt like it was really him in control and not the suit, but that really wasn't the case.

Faster and faster they began to move, flinging themselves at each other, punches flying, legs kicking, and bodies twisting, ducking and jumping this way and that to the loud, pumping fight music from the Matrix as the crowd became mesmerized by the amazing action.

As both of them got further and further into the groove and allowed the suits to do most of the work while staying only superficially involved, the action continued to ramp up. The suits began to counter certain fight styles with certain others and blend the styles together in various ways that most martial artists either couldn't do, or would likely frown upon, but would likely make either Jake or Hunter a very difficult opponent to beat by even a master of any one of those styles.

Hunter definitely had the weight advantage and the muscles, and he would come at Jake hard with a Karate move, but Jake's slightly lighter weight made him more maneuverable and his suit would switch to Muay Thai to help him leap out of the way and come down on the cat with a knee or elbow as a counter.

Back and forth the fight raged on and the crowd couldn't believe what they were seeing. Neither combatant was showing any signs of tiring and neither appeared to gain the upper hand for more than a few moments before the momentum would shift in the other direction.

In time the two realized they could literally do this for hours and they decided to finally call it a draw and stop.

They laughed and came together and hugged each other, then they kissed while the crowd cheered wildly.

"I believe the test was a complete success. You can see how your mind begins to let go, but it stays involved enough in the process to trick itself into believing you are doing it all yourself using long practiced moves from life long training. Either one of us could sit in one of your peoples' helicopters and take control and fly it like a professional who'd been doing nothing else for his entire life."

Jake said, "It's just like that. The transitions from when I was controlling my own muscles, to when the suit took over, were imperceptible, but that was when things really took off. It was incredible! As soon as I started to play along with what the suit was doing and let the computer use its knowledge of martial arts to fight you, it started to feel like I was using muscle memory to do what my instincts wanted to do. It really felt like I was that skilled! I loved it!"

"As did I. It was great fun. More so even than I expected. I do love your martial arts movies and it was a thrill to play act the motions. It may become an effective tool to add to our arsenal. I'm sure you could imagine how dangerous we would be to anyone who tried to come at us if our suits were in their strength enhancement modes while we were fighting them that way."

Jake nodded, "We'd be nearly unstoppable."

"Indeed."

"That was incredible! What an amazing show!"

They looked over and saw the town mayor coming towards them while grinning widely.

"Ah, Mayor Brooks, I was hoping to see you before we left your wonderful town," Hunter said.

The mayor looked a bit disappointed and he said, "I was really hoping you two would decide to stick around for a while. You're the most interesting thing that's ever happened to our town. I'll be sad to see you go."

"I believe it would be in the best interests for your town if we left as soon as possible. You can well imagine the frenzy that would descend upon you if the world at large discovered we were here."

The mayor smiled and nodded and said, "Yeah, it would be absolutely incredible for the local businesses. We've got some sort of problem with our internet feed though, so I don't think word's got out yet. I've got my people on the horn with our providers to try to figure out what's wrong."

"I must apologize for that. That was my doing. I cannot allow your government to learn of Jake's location. It may put him in danger. I instructed my computer to tightly control your Internet just until we're gone, which will be in mere minutes now. Once we've put some distance between us and the town I will fully enable your Internet once more. I will remove any blocks from the images and videos that have been taken of us as well if you wish. They would do us no harm once we're gone. I was only thinking of the effect they would have on the peace of your community if they got out."

"Peace is nice, but in our world, prosperity is even better. I'm not sure how it is on your world, but in my world small towns need to do whatever they can to try to improve their income. Some have the world's biggest ball of yarn, or a two-headed cow, or whatever. Ours will now be known as the location of the most incredible martial arts fight the world has ever seen! Several of the cameras that were recording that whole amazing fight had Ed's diner right there in the background so people will want to come and visit it. They'll know that's where the two of you first showed up here. Our town will be famous for a little while, and with luck the diner and the motel will be overflowing with business, as will the rest of the town."

The tiger smiled and said, "Then I will happily remove the blocks once we've gone. Have you got a phone on you right now?"

The mayor nodded and brought out his smart phone. Hunter gave him an email address to add to his contacts and said, "I have created that account on the Internet to use for access to certain things. I would like you to keep it a secret if you don't mind. Should anything happen in your town as a result of all of this that you think Jake and I can help with, please don't hesitate to send me a message through that account. My computer will alert me.

"Your government is not happy with me and they will likely try to find some way to get at me through Jake and I don't want them descending on your town in an effort to catch him. Your town should be safe once we're gone, but if there is any sort of trouble I can be here within minutes. There is another of my doppelganger suits currently in orbit and I could bring it down quickly to respond to any threats that might emerge. I would not be happy if anything bad were to happen to your wonderful town or its people as a result of our visit here and our taking advantage of your hospitality. Should anyone threaten you in any way whatsoever, please do not hesitate to contact me. It would be no bother at all for me to come down here and deal with them myself."

The mayor smiled and said, "Thank you, Hunter. I'll keep that in mind. I know you two are making your way on foot, and you probably don't want anyone to know where you're headed, but can we offer you a ride somewhere?"

The cat grinned and said, "What a thoughtful offer! Yes, I believe that would help us out quite a bit. Where I would like to go should not take long by vehicle. We can inform the driver where we need to go. If word of where we went could be kept secret as well, that would be appreciated."

John Seeger emerged from the crowd and said, "Please, let me be the one to take you. I still feel we owe you for what you did for our family. Giving you a ride would be the least I could do. You can rest assured I'd keep your destination a secret."

Hunter said, "Thank you, John. I would appreciate if we could leave immediately."

The man nodded and said, "Let me go get my truck. I'll be back in just a minute."

"We'll come with you, John. One moment," Hunter said. He turned back to the mayor and said, "We must take our leave of you now. I would like to thank you again for your town's hospitality and the wonderful celebration you arranged for us yesterday. It will not be forgotten."

The tiger put his hand out and shook the mayors hand one last time.

The mayor was grinning from ear to ear as he nodded and then put his hand out for Jake to shake, "I'm sure I don't need to tell you you're both welcome back any time you like. We'll be looking forward to another visit. Go ahead and let those videos and images out as soon as you're ready and we'll get ready for the flood of business it'll bring."

The two smiled and nodded and turned and walked with John back towards the motel.

As they passed the diner Ed rushed out and said, "Whoa, hold on just a sec. I almost missed you. Take this."

He handed Jake a large cooler that was extremely heavy.

"I know you don't need anything, Hunter, but we need to keep our man Jake here fed if you two are going on a long trip somewhere. It ain't much. I like to make jerky and smoke the fish I catch so I put a bunch of that in the cooler. It'll keep for a long time. I've got a lot of bottled water in there and some sodas and some fruit and cheese. I piled in a bunch of junk food too in case you get peckish for something unhealthy. Thanks again, you guys. I'll be seeing my little brother in another couple of days thanks to you and I can't wait. I wish you could have stayed around to meet him. He'd go nuts to see the two of you I bet. He was always into the sci-fi type stuff and he would just die to meet a real life alien."

Hunter smiled and said, "I've given your mayor a means of contacting me. I'd love to meet Joe some time. Have the mayor let me know when he arrives back home and I can pop down from orbit to say hello."

Ed said, "Holy shit! You'd have a friend for life if you did that! I'll tell the mayor when Joe gets home. Thanks a bunch!"

Hunter nodded and he and Jake thanked Ed for the food, then turned to walk with his father back to the motel.

John led them to his pickup truck and Jake put the cooler in the back and they got in the passenger side. It was a crew cab truck and Jake got in the back so Hunter could take the front seat and move it as far back as it would go. It was still a fairly snug fit for him given his height and muscularity.

"Where can I take you folks?" John asked as he started up the truck.

"We'll be heading back to Peterson Air Force Base at Colorado Springs, if that's alright," Hunter replied.

"Sure, no problem. That's not much more than an hour's drive from here. I heard it was completely abandoned, though, two days ago when you made that mountain vanish. I doubt there'll be anyone there to greet you folks. What do you plan to do there?"

"It is your government's fault that we are in the predicament we are currently in and I feel they at least owe us a ride. We intend to take one of their helicopters," Hunter replied.

John Seeger smiled and nodded and he put the truck in gear and headed out to start Jake and Hunter moving on to the next leg of their adventure.