Nellymcboatface
Introduction:
On his parallel world Tom gets to know the three kittens and Becky better, whilst setting up his secret lair.
Nothing beats a comment or a PM, if you have a constructive criticism, or just leave a +ve vote.
This chapter is a little longer than previous to link parts of the story and make up for the lapse in time since publishing chapter 7.
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Tom woke hearing Kitty and Sarah rising to start their day through the adjoining wall. Lucy was still curled up asleep on her student’s internal clock. Tom hated leaving her, but he had work to do. He unravelled himself from Lucy and slowly dressed. Timing his leaving the room as Kitty and Sarah passed on the landing, the three smiling and Sarah nodding a silent laugh at Lucy curled up asleep on the bed behind him.
Tom felt fresh in his clean new clothes, welcoming Brenda’s breakfast smell omitting from the kitchen as he walked down the stairs. Now he could tell all the ingredients she was preparing and identifying her scent. The four of them sat discussing the previous day and Tom feeling a little hungover from all the celebratory beers brought him last night.
Several cups of tea and Brenda’s hearty breakfast later, he got to work laying tables. Stepping outside to check the weather, even the busiest fisherdog found time to wish Tom well. With another bright warm morning, Tom started bringing tables and chairs outside for the human family.
“I think we’ll have to advertise breakfasts in the garden,” Kitty said laughing through the bar’s open door. “We’re already having a wealth of enquiries from potential guests and a waiting list of retired captains wanting to captain any fishing trips available!”
Tom was enthusiastic about this fresh day, especially as his hangover was drifting away. He thought again that he fitted in well here. Maybe this was the place he was looking for after all. It was nice, comfy, and it seems they will be busy over summer.
The lounge door opened to release little Stevie pulling his mother to the table, excited to watch the boats one last time. His father looked the way Tom felt earlier and seeing the daggers his wife was throwing at him with her eyes, she wasn’t impressed.
Once again everyone’s gaze fell on Captain Brown as he sauntered past, waving a greeting, just as Tom felt a caressing hand on his bum announcing the daughter had arrived, wafting a new perfume along with her, disguising her initial arrival.
“Tom, I’ll get everyone away and come to see you after breakfast and we can sort Lucy out,” Captain Brown said, as he made his way down the beach.
Tom took everyone’s order and as he returned into the pub, a hand-pulled at his shirt.
“Can I change my order?” Came the dulcet tones of the daughter who had followed him out of earshot and walked with him inside. Once inside, she pretended to sniff at him, “Hmm, pussy cat? Again? It seems I will have competition when I return… What’s your phone number?”
“Err, I don’t have a phone, I lost it in a storm a week ago, when I was walking,” Tom answered, dreading having her returning and being a stone around his neck, especially with the freedom he seemed to have with the villagers and their offspring. He wouldn’t want to lose his Sex Toy moniker.
Thankfully, Sarah came through with teas and coffees to cut the daughter short and Tom got on with taking the cereals out into the garden. After that, Tom was too busy and kept the daughter at arm’s length. When going into the kitchen to give Brenda their cooked choices, Tom saw Lucy sat having a cup of tea and some toast.
“Not a morning kitten?” Tom joked.
“I think my sisters plied me with a bit too much drink last night… But, no I’m not… A morning kitten that is, thankfully Brenda is more forgiving than mum.” Lucy smiled back.
“Captain Tom will be along once we have breakfast done,” Tom warned her, trying not to give anything away to Brenda.
With Sarah helping Tom with breakfasts, the daughter didn’t have any further opportunities to corner Tom. As soon as the humans returned to their room, Tom cleared the tables and brought the furniture back inside the pub.
Rather than loiter around in the public areas, Tom hid in the kitchen enjoying a cup of tea with Brenda and Lucy, to avoid any tactical manoeuvres by the leaving family’s daughter. Then Kitty popped her head around the door.
“Tom, Lucy! Captain Brown is here for you?”
Tom and Lucy sank their drinks and followed Kitty out to the bar to meet Captain Brown.
“Right, you’re here already, well done. Let’s get on.” Captain Brown led them out.
As they walked, Tom walked along with Captain Brown, trying to be diplomatic.
“It’s safer if we can enter the cottage using the back door. The cottages can be seen from the entire village and anyone could see us to entering an empty cottage.”
“You really are paranoid… Okay, I’ll play along… I suppose it makes sense.”
They turned off the clifftop path to head inland, then once passed the end of the cottage row, turned up the overgrown path along the back gardens. Counting the back doors as they walked until they reached the appointed cottage This one had a low garden gate in the wall and a path leading up to the back door, making it less obvious that there would be regular foot traffic over the next few days or even weeks, to the empty cottage.
At the door, Captain Brown told the door, “Top Dog Captain Brown, open cottage.”
They heard a click as the lock released and they followed Captain Brown into the house, as lights turned on inside. Lucy went to pull the curtains back.
“Err no sorry Lucy, open curtains show occupancy, this is still an empty cottage for all intent purposes, cloak and dagger I’m afraid,” Tom asked, to hear Captain Brown tut.
“Add a new person to level five access, name Tom,” Captain Brown said to no one in particular.
“Tom confirmed. Tom, please speak clearly?” The house computer requested.
“Hi, I’m Tom.”
“Add a new person to level eight access, name Lucy,” Captain Brown repeated the process.
“Lucy confirmed. Lucy, please speak clearly?” The house computer requested.
“Lucy here house.” Lucy answered, familiar with the technique.
“Hang on Captain, Lucy is a level eight and I’m a plain level five?” Tom protested.
“Lucy will need to access the internet and her profiles online, whereas I don’t think you can reach yours,” Captain Brown answered. “Right, that is you two set up, I’ll need that list of equipment you need as soon as you can.”
Captain Brown went to leave by the front door, but then realised and turned to leave from the back, giving Tom a glance of despair. Once the back door closed behind him, Lucy burst with a barrage of exciting ideas.
“This is perfect Tom, we can install all the instruments here. We need to get Peter on board as soon as possible. We can run simulations in the bedrooms, with duplicate setups.”
“Whoa hold on there, we’re not sure of our budget yet. Let’s get a list of the minimum of ‘A’ grade equipment we need for the initial evaluations first. Then let’s see what the kickback is from that initial cost, and then maybe we’ll need to draft a second list of ‘B’ grade gear. I’m not convinced Balthazar is as community-spirited as he should be.” Tom interrupted Lucy.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, he was quick to take the evidence away with him and possibly straight back to the IGC fold it came from,” Tom explained. “This smacks of corruption at a high level and it’s best we trust no one.”
“I’m sure you’re being paranoid, Tom, but for now we’ll tread carefully.”
“So, we need to find Peter and bring him into our little team.” Tom reminded her. “He can be Q”
Lucy looked at him questioningly. “What?”
“Haha, when we have time I will tell you all about James Bond in our world. Q was his quartermaster, equipping him with wonderful gadgets and cars, which seem apt for Peter.”
Lucy chuckled, seeing the parallel. “He’ll be sunning himself in his back garden reading knowing him. He lives along the valley. We can use the cross-country path to reach him so no one will see us.”
She chuckled again, willing to accommodate Tom’s paranoia. They left the house by the back door and returned down the back path, then followed the cross-country path out of the village. As they walked, Tom asked Lucy about the genetic nanobots and how they were changing his senses.
“They shouldn’t affect you at all. Mum being on heat shouldn’t have crossed the species boundary, but if you didn’t have nanobots, then there was nothing to switch that off.” Lucy pondered.
“But previous off-world visitors hadn’t been affected, or they would have known, surely?”
“There’s no record of it that I’ve seen. But then none have met a cat or dog on heat on their first day. Maybe that was the catalyst? We won’t know until I look at a sample of your blood and DNA Tom.”
“Okay, so long as the contents of that yellow box are our priority. If you can discover anything in the meantime is a bonus.”
“About two years ago they upgraded all nanobots for the first time in decades. They undertook all the peer revues and trials, but maybe they never considered someone who didn’t have existing nanobots already present. There were papers written about possible side effects, but none considered someone from a parallel world turning up.”
Lucy had diverted them off the cross-country path and up another running along the ridgeline of the valley. They caught glimpses of the village below through trees and hedges. It amazed Tom that even walking on two legs Lucy showed a feline grace, even when skipping over a style along the path. Lucy turned to catch him admiring her, then watched him attempt to copy her and fail.
“You humans can be so clumsy,” Lucy laughed.
The path dropped down the valley slightly to the back of some cottages and in the back of one was Peter, who sat at a table, reading in the sunshine.
“Hi, Peter, no hangover this morning?” Lucy called.
Poor Peter looked up, shocked, then surprised that Lucy was calling on him, almost falling off his chair. He put his book down and almost ran up the path to open the gate in the low wall.
“Wow, Lucy, Tom, it’s lovely to see you both.” Peter stammered, looking at Tom quizzically. “I’m not really hungover, more sore headed. I’m surprised you’re up and about Tom after that long line of beer you had queued up for you.”
“Thankfully, I had the sense not to drink all of it, but also by working I think I wore some of it off before going to bed.” Tom chuckled, shooting a knowing glance at Lucy causing her to blush. “We have something interesting to discuss. There is more to the saving of Pisces story than you may know.”
Tom and Lucy sat down at Peter’s garden table and then explained all about the plot behind the entrapment of Pisces in the crab pot and the yellow box recovered from Tor rock. He explained his theory of the IGC and once again had to play the ‘hide the stone in his fists’ game to prove his point.
The inhabitants of this world were too trusting, almost naïve. Tom pondered how they would survive in his world, with all the emails, phone and street scams around. As they explained the deal Tom had agreed with Captain Brown and Balthazar Peter’s fascination grew as he burst with excitement…
“Oh… Please tell me you need my help? Lucy, you know I can build exactly what we need.” Peter burst with enthusiasm.
Peter grabbed a pen and pad and started scribbling notes, talking to himself, with Lucy nodding in agreement to the technical equipment he was listing out. Tom had to wave his hand over the paper to attract Peter’s attention back to him.
“The trouble is Peter, with the potential of one or more moles in the IGC we can’t purchase, search or log into any networks or highlight that we are investigating genetic material.”
Peter’s face dropped then engaged a new gear, tearing off his original notes, scrunching the page into a ball, he starting scribbling once more.
“That’s ok, we can modify an agricultural nanosensor wave scanner, plus use some off the shelf diagnostic equipment.” Peter excitedly listed reams of equipment on his notepad.
“Can we do that Peter?” Lucy excited enquired. “We’re on an unknown budget. Tom’s concerned that Balthazar may try to strangle any real research by limiting the budget.”
“Haha, you kittens are so straight… How do you think I managed both midterm and end of term experiments? You don’t think I collected all that data in the limited time they allocated to us in the labs, did you? I built exactly what we need in my student lodgings… I brought it all home with me and everything we need is in boxes in my bedroom.” Peter beamed at Lucy as he proudly announcing his achievement.
“But that would have cost you way more than your student grant?” Lucy gasped.
“Haha, I sold the data to the other students, which is how they could all continue partying whilst we studied. I made a tidy profit in the end and have already shut down the server so it’s untraceable. The university will never find out that I am the source. I added in some variables so everyone’s data has enough random scatter they won’t be able to claim plagiarism and students get roughly the scores expected of them, only giving a few higher paying students a boost. Otherwise, it would raise a few eyebrows if we all aced our exams.”
Lucy jumped out of her chair at him and kissed him, causing him to blush. “You sly fox, you deserve a medal. So let’s see what we need, what we have, and then we can still give Balthazar a list of purchases, even if we don’t need it.”
Tom jumped into the conversation. “What if the list we give of purchases is false, so any other geneticist reviewing the items will think we are looking up the wrong path, so will discover nothing and then no one will consider us a threat?”
The three all laughed at their brilliance, Peter led them up to his bedroom and they all carried down various boxes of electronics back out into the garden. Immediately Lucy and Peter began sorting through the boxes to make two distinct piles, with Lucy tutting and giving Peter disapproving looks every time they added something to the smaller pile.
“So what’s wrong with that pile?” Tom asked, noticing Lucy’s disapproval and pointing at the smaller pile.
“I suspect they belong to other money-making, grade cheating schemes.” Lucy sneered.
“If the market demands, any good entrepreneur would fill any demand.” Peter tried to explain. “Plus boost my grades at the same time.”
The pair made an inventory of everything in the larger pile, making a new list and ticking items and equivalents off Peter’s original list. Tom was impressed with his merry band of spymasters, working enthusiastically with technology he couldn’t even pretend to comprehend.
“Apart from some wires, plugs and screens, we have everything here, but we can do preliminary scans.” Lucy excitedly told Tom, “Which means we can give Balthazar a false list of items that will include items we can use to investigate your blood and DNA at the same time.”
Peter was once again looking at the pair quizzically. “What don’t I know now?”
“Tom is from a parallel world. In the spring storms, he accidentally came through a portal. He’s had a few… Ahem… encounters with this world’s DNA and our nanobots are giving him bonus boosts no one could have ever imagined.” Lucy excitedly told him, trying not to blush.
“Ooo… can we dissect you, Tom?” Peter laughed, to see Tom’s face rear up in shock. “Haha, I see your world has the same Sci-Fi stories as ours… No, we won’t need to dissect you. All we need is a blood sample.”
Lucy giggled at the notion, seeing Tom roll his eyes, not finding it funny.
Tom went on to explain. “What I’m worried about is contamination of the samples. I think it gives us two problems…”
“A. If those samples contain nanobots, they can’t escape to contaminate any of us.”
“B. Once this is all over, you guys won’t be able to confirm data if any of the samples have been contaminated,” Tom said.
Now Lucy and Peter both looked incredulously at Tom, and chuckled.
“We don’t even need to open any sample bottles. All testing is done using scanners, whether sampling or diagnosing the nanobots. If we had the right equipment, we could even program the nanobots remotely.” Peter explained and then reeled off the technicalities as Tom halted him.
“Sorry Peter, you’ll be wasting your breath as I flunked out of university. But that is a relief; it was one of the main stumbling blocks I foresaw.” Tom admitted. “I think I can trust you two with the technicalities and I’ll stick to paranoia.”
Peter carried the smaller pile of equipment back up to his bedroom. Lucy poured over the rest, double-checking the inventory. It disappointed Tom to look at the dull pile of the equipment, no flashing lights or glowing dilithium crystals, not even humming radioactive boxes with meters showing needles flickering in the red zones.
“The three of us should easily carry all this down the lanes to the cottage,” Peter said upon his return.
“Ahh, well, we may have to make two trips, as we can’t be seen using the cottage. This is all top secret on a need to know basis Peter. We’ll need to go return by the way we came up, on the paths.”
Lucy shrugged her shoulders in acceptance, looking at Peter. “It’s alright, you’ll get used to his off-world paranoia. But something tells me these are all prudent precautions after the attempt on Pisces life.”
They sized up what they could easily carry, moving the rest inside Peter’s cottage, and then started off down the path back to the cottage. A few walkers passed them but no one local who would ask questions and they reached the cottage without problems.
Inside the cottage, Lucy started arranging equipment as Peter and Tom returned to Peter’s house to bring the rest. Peter on the walk back excitedly thanks Tom for including him in the project and giving him the chance to work with Lucy again. Once back at Peter’s house, Peter added some note and reference books to the pile, and the two carried it all back to Q’s lair.
Peter and Lucy were in their element, shuffling equipment around, busying themselves, muttering to each other which sequence they would run first, second and parameters, both scribbling notes and nodding in agreement. Tom was very much superfluous to all this, and he had other things on his mind, so made his excuses and left.
Tom walked two doors up, clambered over the wall and knocked on Sarah’s cottage’s back door. There was no answer, so he popped his head around the door.
“Hi… Anyone home? Tom here.” Tom called, not sure what the etiquette would be and whether he should enter.
He heard a voice echo back, a padding noise of paws on floorboards, and one of the two remaining triplets appeared, although Tom didn’t know which one. It surprised her to see him at the back door, rather than the front.
“Hi Tom, you looking for mum or Lucy?” She asked.
Not being sure which triplet she was, Tom wasn’t sure if his question would cause offence…
“I was hoping to talk to Chrys?…” He nervously asked.
The kitten laughed. “And you’re not sure if I am or not?”
“Err, well you are all identical…”
“If I was Chrys, what were you going to ask me?”
“I wanted to ask about the storms, portals and the North American Teleportation Organisation… If you are Chrys,” Tom asked hopefully.
“Oh, is that all? Well, okay, but first I have a little chore that needs a human’s help if you don’t mind?” She asked.
“Oh, of course, anything to help,” Tom answered happy to help, stepping into the house and closing the door behind him. “Lead the way.”
Chrys turned around and scampered up the stairs, disappearing into the kitten’s bedroom. Tom followed to enter the room with three single beds, to see the kitten led upside down on a bed, with her head hanging off the bottom of the bed, looking up whilst pointing at the ceiling.
Tom was stupefied, not seeing any problem in the ceiling, and stepped closer. It wasn’t as if there were any light bulbs to change. As he reached the end of the bed, the kitten grabbed him with her paws and Tom felt her claws grip his shorts to dig into his backside.
“Ow… What’s that for? I thought you wanted something doing?” Tom exclaimed in shock.
The kitten pulled him in closer to her.
“Oh, I do, it’s something only a human can do… Now undo your belt and shorts.” The kitten demanded.
“What?” Tom queried.
But with his crotch looming over the kitten’s open mouth, seeing her body stretched out underneath him on the bed with her pert fur-covered breasts, Tom’s libido was already gearing up, with his blood pumping.
“I need you to fill this mouth with your super sex toy.” The kitten purred. “We know what you’ve been up to and we kittens think it is our turn.”
The kitten’s tail came over her body to stroke his face and run down his chest, to tease his crotch. Knowing he couldn’t escape the claws piercing his shorts holding him, Tom unfastened his shorts. She withdrew her claws to pull down his shorts and boxers, freeing up his growing member to flop down onto her face. The kitten’s eyes widened as she wrapped her lips around Tom’s shaft head and licked and suck it.
“Mmmm, nearly super, let’s see how it grows.” The kitten giggled. “I taste pussy, mum?… Lucy?… or… Chrys?”
“Hang on your Chrys?” Tom replied shocked, looking down at her grinning back at him with his stiffening shaft in her mouth.
“I never actually said I was Chrys… Mmm… Slurp”
The kitten that was now admitting she was Clair continued to enjoy sucking on Tom, although her claws now tweaked at his buttocks, warning him not to move.
“But that was the inference… Oh well, never mind… I’m going to have to learn to tell you kittens apart.” Tom laughed.
Clair’s lips were like velvet and her part rough, part soft, tongue flicked up and around his now stiff shaft. She would lap the rough part of her tongue down to his balls and back up to the tip, then plunge onto him until her lips fully immersed his sex toy.
“Chrys went to Kitty’s…” Clair admitted without remorse.
Clair was now purring with her sucking, the vibrations echoing onto his dick and balls. Tom couldn’t resist the furry body stretching out in front of him and he fondled Clair’s breasts hidden in her fur, encouraging more purring. Tom leaned over and started sucking and nibbling one nipple.
“Mmmm, Nice.” Clair purred, increasing her vacuum qualities on Tom, flicking her tongue around his shaft.
Tom felt that usual warning twinge in his balls and erupted into her mouth. Clair sucked harder and swallowed the ropes of cum shooting into her, pulling Tom deep into her mouth as she purred harder. Clair released him as his shaft relaxed, Tom stepped out of her legs reach and pull his shorts up.
“We’re not finished yet.” Clair purred, looking a little dejected. “You’ve not satisfied me…”
“Well, unless you want to make it a threesome? Your mum’s walking up the cliff coming home,” Tom said as he nodded to the window as if he could see Sarah.
Clair got up, leaning to the window to look, wondering how much time they would have, as Tom backtracked to the doorway.
“I can’t see mum?” Clair gasped, thinking Sarah was already coming through the front door.
“I will when I get to Kitty’s.” Laughed Tom, as he scampered down the stairs.
“I’ll catch up with you….” Clair laughed back. “You owe me…”
Tom left the cottage by the back door to walk down the path at the back of the cottages, returning to the village and Kitty’s pub. The pub was quiet with a few regulars, Sarah and Chrys were sitting at a table in the lounge and were pleased to see Tom. Tom could already distinguish Sarah’s scent and now could isolate Chrys’s scent, meaning he could now identify each of the three kittens.
“Is Lucy set up in your evil lair?” Sarah chuckled.
“Yes. She’s busy working on the problem,” Tom answered.
“Chrys, can I ask you about NATO?” Tom asked, then seeing her nod he continued. “I’m sure the technicalities of teleportation are way outside my understandings, but surely it takes a lot of power?”
“Well, it does, even for short distances. For say teleporting across half the globe, we can utilise the earth’s gravitational pull with the moon to boost the long jumps, saving energy. They experimented with teleporting to the moon in the early days, but it gobbled up so much energy they deemed it wasteful, even with fusion power.” Chrys excitedly answered.
Sarah cut into the conversation, “Tom, Brenda is making us up some sandwiches, would you fancy one?”
“Please, that would be lovely, with a mug of tea?” Tom chirped, realising he was now peckish.
Sarah rose and walked to the kitchen, not wanting to even try to understand teleportation. As soon as she was out of hearing, Tom leaned into Chrys.
“These storms, that accidentally bring off people from parallel worlds like me here, if they need so much energy then why do they keep repeating and at intervals that they can be predicted?” Tom whispered.
Chrys looked a little off-put. “They aren’t really sure, reports claim some sort of feedback loop that repeats, somehow using the Sun’s gravitational pull. But they set up their research base at Goonhilly every spring and autumn to evaluate each occurrence. They’re only just finishing their latest research, which included the storm that brought you.”
“So how are they predictable?” Tom asked, “Planetary orbits?”
“I’m not fully convinced, but that is roughly the line of thought. They publish very little of their findings.”
Tom realised his thoughts may be on the right track. “Chrys, when I was at Uni, there were many conspiracy theorists over every historical or scientific fact. If you’re not convinced, what would be your conspiracy theory?”
“Oh, it sounds really silly now looking back at it… But one theory was that when they first investigated teleportation they were looking at interstellar travel. Because we were happy to pay for flights, trains, cars, whose industries employed millions and earned trillions, they wanted to keep that status quo. By going interstellar they could mine and exploit the moon, Mars, or even as far as Pluto.”
“But?” Tom interjected.
“They cut corners and somehow set up the portals, which are really unstable wormholes that they claim they can’t close.” Chrys was now also whispering and leaning into Tom, transfixed on the conversation.
“Claim? Or pretend to close…”
“Exactly Tom. Each season they return and we get almost minute perfect warnings of the portal openings.”
“But this may take additional power, is there a way of confirming power consumption with portal openings?” Tom excitedly asked. Now they were well into Star Wars territory.
“We’ve already looked. Power consumption figures show nothing but then when you read the small print, the published figures are average figure based on previous weeks and month’s consumptions. When we looked at the algorithm they use, you could input any random data and the result will be the same flat curve.”
“So why is it that only once in a generation some poor sap like me gets pulled across worlds?”
“Again, we think it is all down to gravitational pulls, based on planetary orbits. It’s not an exact science, as it works by bending and using the space between space. It seems time gets involved as well, which is another reason for it needing so much power. One conspiracy theory is that this was the reason for the drive to get fusion to work.”
“Okay. Keep this very much to yourself. There seem to be more and more alarm bells ringing on all of this. If you hear of anything else, let me know as it seems we have the summer to sit and wait before the next scheduled storms.” Tom whispered.
Sarah returned with a tray of sandwiches and drinks, placing it down on the table between them. As they tucked in, Kitty came to sit with them.
“Make the most of the day Tom, we’ve had an influx of interest after Mermaid sightings and people interested in the fishing trips. We seem to be ‘The quaint Pub’ for families.” Kitty told Tom.
“I’m buying some garden tables and benches with umbrellas for summer breakfasts in the garden. We have couples in for tonight and a steady increase of B&B bookings over the next few days.”
Tom nodded, scoffing his sandwich. He had a few loose ends he wanted to look at this afternoon, and a little time to himself would be nice.
“Oh, Tom… Have you promised the human family’s daughter anything?” Kitty asked. “She cornered me asking about summer work with you in a few weeks? And asking for your contact numbers, but you don’t have a phone or anything, which seemed to upset her.”
The three cats all looked at Tom. All guessing what was behind it, but not knowing how he had time to do anything with the Human woman?
“Ah… Kitty, she’s sort of invited herself.” Tom answered, embarrassed. “I tried to dissuade her, saying I would have moved on by then. But it seems she’s determined to return here.”
Kitty and Sarah shot each other a glance, but rather than seeing jealousy, Tom saw amusement in their eyes.
“Honestly, I’ve not suggested or promised anything.” Tom protested, seeing the three cats’ chuckle.
“Well, maybe we do need extra help if Tom is going to service all our guests and keep up his sex toy reputation.” Sarah laughed.
“Mum!” Chrys feigned shock.
The three cats cackled with laughter and teased Tom over their lunches. Tom decided enough was enough and made his excuses, rising to leave the three cats. As Tom exited Kitty’s pub, the three cats were still cackling with laughter.
Tom made his way up the opposite side of the cove, he wanted to see if he could find Mermaid cove, but this would mean passing Captain Brown’s watchful wife. The path was a little harder to follow as it wound its way through various miss-matched cottages and he had to double back after a few dead ends. Soon he was leaving the village, looking down onto the cove from above the cliffs.
Across on the other side of the cove, he could see Clair sunning herself and two doors down the curtains were still closed with no sign of the pair within it, working. Captains Brown’s house was now to his left, looking down on him. Mrs Brown appeared at a ground-floor window, so he waved to acknowledge her presence and hopefully avoid her interest, as he was making it too obvious that he was going for a walk out of the village.
He made it around the headland and Captain Brown’s house was now out of sight behind him. As he walked on, he tried to recognise the cliffs and rocks that yesterday he saw from the seaward side. The path dropped lower into some undergrowth, hiding the ocean from view. Soon he was walking through some small trees, only catching fleeting glimpses of the ocean. He would never recognise Mermaid’s Cove from this angle.
The breeze was coming off the sea, so he heard footsteps behind him before he smelled any scent. Not wanting to be followed, Tom jumped over a wall on the landward side of the path and waited. The breeze brought a familiar scent to him as he heard the footsteps pass his hiding place. He let Becky pass him before he stood up and followed her, treading carefully and staying downwind.
The path emerged from the trees and undergrowth as Tom allowed Becky to stretch out her lead on him. She was searching for him ahead of her. Tom remained half-hidden, still in the trees and stone wall, ducking down as Becky stopped. He heard a rustle of paws, then four paws landing hard, then quiet steps leading away.
Tom poked his head over the wall to see Becky now off the path, having jumped over a fallen tree and small bush. She was working deftly through long grass, trying not to leave steps, working her way to the cliff edge. Tom then recognised the cliff shape and rocks below. They were now on the cliff above Mermaid’s Cove.
Tom followed Becky’s footsteps to stand above her in the grass as she made her way down the winding path, now using the steps cut into the rocks. She was peering onto the beach to see if he was there. When she realised he wasn’t down there, she turned to return along the path and saw him above her grinning.
“Looking for me?” Tom said with a smug grin on his face.
“Mum sent me,” Becky said, apologising. “She thought you may check the cove out rather than escaping.”
Becky now blushed, more at being caught out than having her mum sending her on an errand.
“That’s okay, rather you than your mum.” Tom laughed. “But at least now I know where the path is, thanks.”
Tom took a good look around, checking he could identify the path’s location in the dark. Beck was making her way back up to him.
“How did you know mum would send me?”
“I didn’t… But females seem to be inherently suspicious of males… Don’t worry, I caught your scent first with the wind behind you.” Tom lied, trying to mend Becky’s hurt feelings. “I’ll tell them you found me at the Cove rather than I followed you.”
Becky reached him, and the two returned to the path. Becky turned to walk back the village but Tom pulled her away, to continue along the path, keen to explore further.
“Well now I am chaperoned, why not let me explore further?”
Becky shrugged in acceptance, but also happy to continue walking with Tom, rather than return home. They walked on, following the path away from the village
The coastal path dropped into a hollow next to a shallow beach, with some overgrown ruins close to the path. There was a well-worn path down onto the beach.
“That’s strange,” Becky said, “There was always a path past the house, but a large group has recently trodden this down.”
Tom and Becky followed the downtrodden grass path to the beach where it changed to mud, sand, then pebbles. Becky was about to tread onto the mud when Tom pulled her back.
“There are some definite paw prints in the mud and wet sand before we ruin them, can you identify them?”
“Yeah, that is simple… Badger… Fox… weasel maybe.” Then she pointed at some prints off to one side, where the mud was dryer. “Cat.”
Becky sniffed the air, then bent down to the grass, sniffing, “That’s strange. That’s Balthazar’s scent, but he would never come down to a beach voluntarily.”
“Are you sure? How long ago?”
“Well, possibly last night or yesterday as the scent is still strong. There are some more odorous scents too, and perfume.” Becky replied.
Tom smelled the air, sniffing around, picking out various scents. He couldn’t identify Balthazar’s individual scent as yet, but he could smell perfume. It was something similar to what his sister would wear. Then he caught the odorous smells Becky identified, definitely sweaty men, close confined or ones that had been working hard.
“Do fisherdogs pull up on this beach, would that explain the footprints?”
“Hell no, that is why the fisherdog’s house is in ruins. See the protruding cliff there?” Becky pointed.
“Years ago that outcrop dropped into the sea to create those rocks, like shark’s teeth. They would rip a hard hull fishing boat apart.”
“So they couldn’t reach here by boat?”
“Oh yes, just not a hard hull. You can see a slight witness where they have pulled something like an inflatable up the beach, more than once. This is a regular meeting place.” Becky answered.
“But passing fisherdogs could see them.”
Tom pointed out to the wide horizon that would make the beach readily visible from any passing fisherdog for an appreciable time. Becky nodded, her face full of surprise, telling Tom this was not a readily advertised meeting place.
“Fisherdogs would have noticed and Balthazar’s white fur would stand out, allowing anyone to recognise him, but no one has mentioned seeing such a meeting. They must be meeting outside of fishing hours.”
Tom and Becky looked at each other, realising the importance of this information.
“I have to let dad know, this is not normal… The only badger known around here is Brock. Why would Balthazar be meeting with him?”
“Yes, tell your dad know what we’ve discovered, maybe he knows about it, but the safe money is on he doesn’t.”
“Yeah, I’d agree.”
“Becky, in this world… Do you have wild animal tracking cameras? You know, so you can watch animal trails to see which wild animals are coming and going.”
Becky looked horrified, “No… Why would you need such a thing?”
“Well, in my world humans can’t ask animals who use a path and why, so by setting cameras up in trees or bushes the next day we can watch the wild animals.”
Tom ensured he avoided the terms game and hunting, one of the primary uses of them.
“Again, why would we need such a thing…?” Becky asked.
“Well, what if we could capture a group photo of these clandestine meetings, then we would have evidence?”
To Tom, this was a natural progression, but judging from Becky’s look of horror, the use of camera surveillance may not be acceptable. He made a note to talk to Peter about it. Becky shook her head in disgust and returned to the main coastal path.
This time Tom motioned to return to the village, maybe they had gone far enough, then Tom remembered Thomas’s request from last night.
“What happened between you and Thomas the Fisherdog?” Tom asked, not realising what a sensitive subject he’d touched upon.
“Why what has he been saying?” Becky demanded. “I saw him talking to you last night.”
“Nothing, it was actually your dad on the boat yesterday.” Tom hoped this would ease the interrogation.
“That’s worse… What’s it to do with him?” Becky said, spitting the question back at him.
“He mentioned that you two were close growing up,” Tom answered, realising he was being a little tactless. “But as you’ve grown older, you’ve grown apart.”
Becky stormed onwards, not answering. Her tail swishing almost angrily as she kicked dirt and leaf litter on the path. Tom followed a few steps behind. With her not looking at him, made it easier for her to open up.
“I’m supposed to inherit the Top Dog position. But as I’m a bitch, it has to go to a sire which means going outside the family and dad always favoured Thomas,” Becky said angrily. “As soon as they realised this all the village bitches chased after him as if he were on heat and the dog sires avoided me like the plague.”
“Why can’t a bitch be a Top Dog?” Tom asked, hoping she wouldn’t turn on him.
“I’ve asked that question many times,” She answered, barking back at him. “But I’ve never had a genuine answer.”
“Can it still be Thomas if he chooses a different wife?” Tom said, readying himself to duck, or dodge any violent reaction.
“No. He has to marry into the Brown family.”
“Why?”
“Well… Well… I don’t know why… it’s just the way I’ve been told it has to happen,” Becky said, puzzled.
“So, if you chose someone else other than Thomas, he and your dad have no say in it?”
“Oh… Don’t worry Dad will have a lot to say about it… But you make a good point,” Becky said looking smug.
“Would you choose anyone else but Thomas?” Tom asked, remembering he was supposed to be putting in a kind word in favour of Thomas, not talking her out of the idea.
“No, and that’s what pisses me off about it all,” Becky answered, angrily walking on indicating that was the end of the conversation.
The path returned to the trees, and overgrowth as Becky took on a swagger to her steps.
“How do you fancy some angry sex?” She asked, “I’m feeling angry, and it’s been a while since we had sex in the kitchen.”
She turned off the path, walking between some trees and to the wall Tom had previously hidden behind. There was a gate in the wall for her to walk through, turning to beckon him to follow. They walked on down an old narrow path, into thicker trees that opened out to a small glade hidden from view.
In the centre of the small glade was a bent tree, deliberately bent over in a fallen ‘Z’ shape with a short horizontal portion to the trunk at waist height, before the trunk headed skywards again. Branches dropped off to become roots, acting as legs, making the short portion of the tree like a carpenter’s trestle sawhorse.
Becky turned to sit on the bent tree, grinning smugly at Tom.
“My family’s mating tree… Generations of my family were conceived on this tree, so I’d like to try my turn.”
Tom realised that this was the tree Becky’s mum told him about in Kitty’s pub last night. Becky motioned to Tom’s shorts. “I think you’re overdressed…”
Tom was already horny after Clair warming him up earlier, he was eager to satisfy Becky. He undid his belt and shorts. Becky licked her lips and her paw delved into Tom’s boxers, even with her novice experience her paw excited Tom with her thumb teasing over his growing cock’s head, stroking its eye.
Becky pulled Tom close and kissed him, her slightly larger snout being more cumbersome than any cat, but Becky was now more erotic in this encounter. No longer a lapping, licking tongue, her tongue teased around Tom’s tongue even tickling his tonsils.
Tom’s shaft that was now flagged outside his shorts, as Becky stroked it in a tight grip. She dropped onto her knees and sucked his shaft into her snout. This time she’d practised and sucked him as hard as Clair. Tom held her head, stroking her ears, as she bobbed up and down on his shaft, licking his shaft’s head then balls.
Becky pulled Tom’s shorts down to his ankles. She held Tom’s shaft up to tuck underneath and suck each ball. Her tongue darting out to lick his rear entrance, teasing him in a way he had never considered exciting before.
“Mmm, I think that has gotten your interest,” Becky said.
She got up, licking her lips and straddled the tree, leaning face down on the horizontal trunk, legs following the root legs of the trestle. Her tail flicked, displaying her targets to Tom. The one glistened with juice, waiting for him. Tom teased his fingers easily into her, stroking her tail from base to tip.
“Mmm.”
Tom eased his fingers out and slipped his shaft into Becky. She gripped onto the tree trunk as Tom pumped in and out of her, arching her back to lift her rump. Tom’s grip on her tail helped and this time he was enjoying himself, his free hand spanked her.
“Mmm, yes… Spank me… Double stuff me.” Becky asked.
Tom’s mind spun. ‘Double stuff’ what on earth was that and how did she learn that? So he spanked her again.
Answering his unspoken questions, Becky said, “I’ve found some helpful sex instructional videos.” Giving Tom a wry look, and a dirty giggle, she said, “Maybe next time we should bring some ropes…”
Tom then second-guessed what she meant, spanked her and pressed his thumb into her rear passage, for her to scream excitedly. Tom enjoyed bouncing off her rump, with each impact driving his thumb into her, making her gasp at every drive into her.
“Omph… Omph… Omph… Omph.”
Tom leant over her back, removing his thumb but digging his hands into her fleshy hip erogenous zones. His eyes searched her neck, and he gathered up some neck skin in his teeth. She knew what was coming.
“Yes… Yes… Yes, Tom… Bite now, I’m coming, please…” Becky said, begging. Tom bit hard on the fold of skin on her neck and she spasmed on the tree trunk, tensing around his shaft deep inside her, squealing.
”Yeeeeaahss.” As she spasmed, tensing her body.
Tom held on until she relaxed, then released his bite, drew in a deep breath and stood again, withdrawing out of her, his rod dripping with her cum. She relaxed onto the tree trunk with a gasp.
“But Becky, you’ve not finished yet, I’m not satisfied, I’ve not cum yet… You know the drill,” Tom said.
His shaft pulsing rock hard and his balls were aching. He was enjoying this. Now he had more empathy for Becky, more than when they were in the kitchen. He lied down on his back on the grass in the glade, his dick mimicking the surrounding trees, reaching for the sky.
“Climb on top, sit on my throbbing cock you worm, you’ve had your pleasure, now it is my turn,” Tom said, commanding her.
Becky rose off the tree trunk to step over to him.
“Sit on my dick, I said, I want your wet cunt wrapped around my stiff cock.” Tom commanded, wondering if this would work with the kittens.
Becky straddled Tom’s waist, squatting down her paw guided his dick to its target. He felt the wetness of her lips on his naked tip. She was lowering herself down slowly, but Tom couldn’t resist grabbing her waist and pulling her down onto him.
Becky gasped, and her mouth opened wide, howling silently in bliss. Tom now admired her underbelly, enjoying her attractive, slim waist and her neatly trimmed fur.
She was more experienced now and ground her hips backwards and forwards, impaled on his shaft, then rising up to slide back down onto him. Her lovely small perfectly rounded breasts bounced and jiggled as she created her own wet patch on Tom’s crotch. He could smell her sex and her excitement mixing with the smells of the small glade.
Tom slapped his fingers of one hand across both her breasts. “Yowww.” Becky yelped but grinned back. He then softly fondled them. He ruffled her fur as he lowered his hands to grasp her hips and ground their hips together with the wet patch between them growing.
Becky rode up his shaft on her rear legs, then releasing to drop mouth open, grunting in time.
“Uh… Uh… Uh… Ugg.”
Tom enjoyed the feel of her well lubricated, velvet tunnel, sliding up and down his throbbing shaft. Looking up at her again, he felt his balls give that familiar twitch. He was nearly there.
“Bounce up and down bitch, I want to see your tits bounce,” Tom said, knowing he couldn’t last much longer. He slapped her lightly across her breasts again and returned to fondling them. Becky raised her front legs over her head, paws together, as her own orgasm grew.
Becky upped the tempo and pumping up and down faster, rising high enough to just keep his naked spade end just inside her lips, then slapping down onto the increasing wet patch between them. Her breasts were bouncing for Tom to admire. She grunted with each landing stroke. “Uhg… Uhg… Uhg.” She was in control of her own orgasm that was building to a climax.
She squealed. “Ooooo I am coming again, Tom, I am coming, yeeeaahhss.”
She arched her back, and Tom felt her muscles clench around the crown of his shaft then her entire body dropped onto his flag pole pushing it deep inside her. “Fuuccckkk.” she squealed.
Seeing her orgasms climactic release, he could feel his own orgasm climax, releasing to flood warm liquid into her. He grabbed her hips and ground them to empty his balls. She squirmed in delight and collapsed onto him, her head just above him, hugging him tightly and kissing him.
They both giggled as they got up with Tom pulling his shorts back up. Becky wore an inane grin across her face, enjoying her new experience of afternoon sex in the open air, in her family’s mating glade.
The two walked back to the main coastal path to return to the village. Becky’s mother was nowhere to be seen as Becky left him. Tom passed the house by walking back alone to Kitty’s Pub. The boats had returned, and the beach was busy with fisherdogs finishing their working day. A few more tourists were around, enjoying the hustle and bustle. Kitty and Sarah warned him they had a full B&B that evening and for the next few nights.
Lucy called into the pub with Peter and passed Tom their list.
“We’ve started a few initial passes on the samples, but so far nothing is immediately noticeable as being out of the ordinary. But at least we know that Peter’s Heath Robinson test equipment works as all the standard markers are registering,” Lucy said, quickly outlining their plans for further investigation.
To be on the safe side, Tom rewrote the list in his handwriting and gave the original list back to Lucy. In between serving, Tom spoke to Peter, asking about an infrared camera to spy on the beach he and Becky saw earlier. Rather than Becky’s reticence, it excited Peter at the clandestine nature of the idea, saying he’d be able to knock something up the following day.
The evening flew by, with Tom and Sarah busy serving and clearing tables. Becky and Brenda were busy in the kitchen, allowing Becky and Tom the briefest of smiles as they passed. Guests were a mix of cats, dogs and a couple of humans. Guests all asked about mermaids and opportunities for a fishing trip, all boding well for the summer ahead.
Balthazar appeared at the bar during the busy evening and whilst clearing empty glasses Tom passed him the list, saying “Dwayne Dibley’s list.” Balthazar folded the list without reading it, thanked Tom and left him to continue with his work, not wanting to make small talk.
Later, during a brief lull, Tom caught the Fisherdog Thomas’s eye and nodded to him to meet outside.
“Hi, I had a word with Becky, if you’re still interested?”
“Oh Please Tom, I can’t keep putting off all these village girls. They say I’ve been single too long and they’re circling like predators. What did she say?”
“Well, she’s not ecstatic about arrangements as she jealous about losing the opportunity to be top dog.”
“It’s some old-fashioned nonsense, I want to be Top Dog. But not at the expense of losing Becky,” Thomas said, looking sheepish.
“I know how we can get you two together…” Tom said and then outlined a plan.
Tom wasn’t sure how well it would be received, although dogs seemed to be a little more open about sex and relationships than humans or cats. Once he outlined his idea to Thomas, Thomas was all for it and slapped him on the back to congratulate him.
“Oh, no, it’s kind of romantic in a doggish way…” Thomas laughed. “I’m sure quite a few of our parents met in similar ways, not quite arranged marriages but almost…”
“Are you sure? It’s not something humans would approve of. Oh well, each to his… Or her own.”
The pair re-entered the pub separately to avoid suspicion. Soon Tom was busy again, clearing tables and serving beer to the Captain’s table. Becky’s mother was there, so Becky wouldn’t be staying late, letting Tom off any late-night kitchen liaisons.
Lucy and Peter had left and none of her sisters were present either, so Tom was looking forward to a shower and a bed to himself as the clientele dwindled. Kitty walked Balthazar back home, leaving Sarah and Tom finishing clearing up. Sarah must have sensed Tom’s weariness as she suggested he get off to bed and she’d wait for Kitty’s return.
Tom felt relieved as he made his way to his room. He lost his boots and socks and picked up a towel to make his way to have a shower. With all the guests in bed, Tom enjoyed wandering the stairwell and corridors in the dark, using his cat’s night vision to guide his way.
The pub’s upper floors were a whole mixture of guest and familiar scents, Tom recognising some, others he couldn’t. Entering the bathroom Tom exhaled a sigh of relief, finally having the shower to himself, shutting and locking the door behind him, he inhaled.
“Clair, why are you hiding in the shower?” Tom asked, smelling the kitten’s scent behind him, confirmed by a sniggering giggle.
“I thought I had you earlier today, but you cheated me…” Clair said.
Clair’s legs wrapped around from behind him and her paws loosened his belt and shorts. Tom could feel her warm breath on the back of his neck, causing the hairs to stand on end as she pecked kisses. His shorts fell to the floor, and a paw delved into his boxers to stroke his growing manhood, as she purred.
“We have unfinished business, Tom,” She said purring as one leg pulled him tightly into her behind him.
Her tail worked its way into around Tom’s waist and into his boxers, pulling them down. Her tail then tucked through his legs, stroking between his balls and rear entrance. The soft fur at the end of her tail teased and excited Tom, as Clair’s paw stroked his shaft, with her purring in his ear.
Clair no longer needed to hold Tom, so her one leg pulled his shirt over his head. She cast his T-shirt to one side as she nibbled his ear, and his hands reached over his head to stroke her ears behind him. Clair pulled Tom around to face her and wrapped her forelegs around his neck and her hind legs around his waist, purring whilst her tail seductively stroked his shaft and rear.
Clair was light to carry, and Tom was enjoying her tail stroking him. She was more sexually aware than her sister Lucy. Her paws pulling his face to her to kiss him and her one paw able to stroke his rear passage. Cats were much more erotic than dogs, although his only dog experience was with Becky and she was improving.
“Can’t you kittens let me shower in peace,” Tom asked, chuckling as Clair purred, her tail guiding his shaft into her.
“We’ve worked out a rota, mum and Kitty are busy so we have you to ourselves.”
Tom hoped she was joking, but the look on her face was serious.
“I can smell dog. Are you two-timing us kittens…?”
“I didn’t get the memo… Perhaps you kittens need to share the rota with me.”
Clair’s tail wiped his shaft tip across the wetness of her pussy, slowly lowering herself onto him. Tom slipped in easily, enjoying her warm velvet interior as she gasped.
“You’re bigger than any of the boys on campus, but none have your super sex toy nickname.”
“You seem very sure of yourself, maybe you need to join me in the shower,” Tom said, knowing cats aversion to water, he still hoped he may have a solo shower for a change.
“Humans aren’t normally that kinky, but I’m willing to try,” Clair said, chuckling. “It would be a shame to shorten our coupling.”
She rose and dropped onto Tom’s shaft, still hanging onto him as her tail stroked his rear passage, teasingly. Tom now seeing her comment as a challenge walked over to the shower tray and turned the water on, standing just clear, testing the water temperature and her resolve.
“You are kinky!”
Clair purred nervously but continued to slide up, and down Tom’s shaft, nibbling his ear. As the water temperature settled just where Tom wanted it he stepped under, carrying Clair with him, under the water stream.
Initially, Clair shuddered, only just able to hang onto Tom, wiggling her rear down onto his shaft, to keep her hooked, impaled onto him. The water seemed to just run off her fur. Tom thought she’d foiled his plan as she threw her head back into the water, pretending to enjoy it running over her head. The look on her face wasn’t so confident.
Clair continued to slide up and down Tom’s shaft, pretending to revel in the shower as the water ran off her like a raincoat. Then Tom noticed her fur was getting saturated and flattening as it retained the water, giving her fur a sheen, reflecting the bathroom light.
Clair was now grinding her hip into Tom, and her purring note had changed. She was getting more aroused, as her fur lost its water repellent properties and became a flat wet skin. Tom could feel her body more as she moved and wriggled, the water lubricating their excited bodies. Her hardened nipples now stroked Tom’s chest through the flat, wet fur and he felt his arousal growing.
“Tom, you are one kinky sex toy… No human has ever excited me like this…”
Tom leant Clair against the tiled shower wall and took over, sliding in and out of her. Her fur was no longer fluffy, but thin and slippery. Her body felt different next to his skin, as he felt every wriggle, twist and tensing of her muscles.
Tom continued to drive his shaft deep into her, her lovely soft breasts squashed between them and her nipples teasing into him. He could feel her tensing, building up her orgasm as drove into her time and time again.
“Yesss… Umph… Armph… Umph… Fuck me, Tom… You super kinky sex toy, Fuck me… Umph… Umph.”
Then Tom felt her velvet tunnel tighten on him and her back arched as her muscles spasmed with the flow of ecstasy running through her. Tom thrust onwards, Clair was now hanging on as her body wracked with spasms of her orgasm, enjoying her muscles tightening around him. Finally, he released into her, with her grinning as she felt the warm liquid inside her, grinding the last of her orgasm into him.
Clair relaxed, unwrapping her hind legs to stand, kissing him under the stream of water. Tom could now see her waterlogged fur draped around her, as they both panted, catching their breath. Tom turned the water off, so Clair could dry off. Initially, they both stroked her fur, encouraging the water to leave her coat.
“I didn’t think you would brave the water, Clair.” Tom Joked.
“Neither did I, but I’m glad I did, that was so kinky… Now, please help me dry off.”
Tom stroked his hands hard over Clair’s body to encourage the water out of her fur, working his way around her. He soon noticed her reaction whenever he was close or in an erogenous zone. She was getting more and more erotically charged as the drying process progressed, her tail especially as she moaned softly, her body twisting in glee.
Soon her fur was no longer saturated, and they used towels, causing her fur to fluff up, giving her an afro, fur ball hairstyle all over, and causing Tom to giggle.
“It’s not funny, if the other kittens see me like this I’ll never live it down. It will take hours of preening to flatten this fur down,” Clair said dejectedly, looking at herself in the mirror.
“Was it worth it?”
“Hmm, I enjoyed it but after all this drying I’m not too sure. Ask me later once my fur is flat again.”
Clair let herself out, taking a towel with her, Tom assumed to go to his bedroom. Finally, alone, Tom got on with enjoying a shower. Once finished and dried he tidied up the bathroom, having to dry the floor, wipe the wall tiles and replace any wet towels with dry.
Entering his bedroom with his dirty washing and a towel wrapped around him, he could see Clair, purring, wrapped around herself, preening on his bed. Seeing more than normal light entering the bedroom, he walked to see the view out of his small window. Craning his neck to see the beach and sea beyond, he saw a full moon appear from behind a cloud.
The full moon sparked his memory of his promise with Pisces, for them to meet at the next full moon.
“What time do you think it is Clair?” Tom asked, pulling on clean boxers, shorts and his nearest day old sweaty T-shirt.
“Hmm? Nearly midnight, come to bed and let’s put some more scratches on those roof timbers…”
Tom was already pulling his boots on and tying his laces.
“Sorry, I’ve got to go… Got to see a man about a dog,” Tom said, using one of his homeworld excuses for leaving someone.
Before Clair could protest, Tom was already flying down the stairs and out of the door into the street, now running to reach Mermaids Cove.
To Be Continued….
