"What do you *mean* we can't come back if we die?" exclaimed Fuzzball in irritation. "How does anyone expect me to run an effective military campaign if I'm dead?

"Well that is certainly not *my* problem," sniffed the feline Avatar. "You can whine to my cousin Jerry."

"I don't whine," sulked Fuzzball.

"Besides...you can come back," continued Bast, "you just can't come back as the same character until your experience drains off." The Snarf snorted his contempt for the rule.

"Well, *I* don't see it as a problem," said Gatotrueno happily, stroking a white cat. "I'm here to have fun and don't plan to get into any kind of dangerous situations if I don't have to. After all, I'm more worried about pain than death here."

"Well that's a disturbing thought," said Ruka with a stunned look. Wilykat paled considerably. "I never even thought of the possibility. *Will* we feel pain in this virtual world?"

"Yes!" said Rhythm suddenly, looking up from his diligent practise in the field of weather control. "That shot in the leg *hurt*!"

"I *said* I was sorry," huffed Xahji though his face showed no sign of remorse and even reflected a sort of wicked glee.

"It probably didn't hurt as much as it could have," said Bast mildly. "There's a safety built into the program to slowly build up pain levels. Your real body isn't being hurt though...it's the sensors that you're wearing which tell your brain that you should be hurting. It's a necessary part of the game although, as I've said, the pain will be duller than it should be. This is partly because you're not hurt in the real world and partly because the game isn't meant to be unpleasant...it's just a device -like death - to keep people from taking stupid chances and abusing the game. The idea is to experience Third Earth on as real a level as possible."

"Well, I don't mind," said Xahji, sparks dancing between his fingers. "If you play with fire, you will get burned. It's just a matter of time.

"As though fulfilling some prophecy, one of the sparks escaped and ignited the dry grass nearest to Shark. The anthropomorphic fish gave a snapping snarl and jumped to his feet to avoid the spreading blaze. Gato yelped and scooted back as Wilykat leapt into action and tried to beat the flames out with his blanket though he succeeded only in fanning them further.

"Damnit, Xahji! Do you *have* to practise that particular move in a grass field?" snarled Ruka, grabbing for their meagre water supplies.

"Where else am I going to practise?" the warrior snapped back angrily, trying to turn up the earth around the flaming area with his energy rifle. The effort was useless, but Rhythm managed to stop the spread by calling a small rain cloud into existence. It was small, as clouds go, and close to the ground, but no one was complaining.

"Bet you're happy *I* was practising," smirked Rhythm. "I appologize for my idiot friend's clumsiness with his powers."

Xahji raised an eyebrow. "Idiot?"

"Thanks, Rhythm...but if you start playing with lightening, I'm letting Shark make a snack out of you," grunted Ruka in irritation. Shark grinned." No more practising with flamable powers in the camp! And that goes for any blow torches you might be hiding, Fuzzball."

Fuzzball scowled and put away his supply of bic lighters. "Who died and made *you* king?"

"It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. And it ain't gonna be me," said Wilykat. "I just want to jump a few Warrior Maidens, that's all I ask."

"EW! Well, I'm glad everyone is clear on their objectives," said Gato witha scowl. "To get back to the subject, I just want to know why the original characters can be reset and not us...it doesn't seem fair."

"Well," began Lady Bast who had been watching the proceedings with mild amusement, "the characters are built into the game for one. I can rework the game, but the save files are another matter. On top of which,considering the kind of people the mailing list seems to attract, we'd soon have a shortage of original characters if I couldn't bring them back! Altaica alone could probably wipe out most of the main characters in the name of fun."

There was a momentary pause and then Bast's eyes narrowed slightly." Fuzzball, where did you get a bag of lighters? You didn't have one when you came in."

"I have my ways," said the Snarf, looking away.

"You weren't...oh...hacking the code...were you?" asked Bast lightly. "That would be very bad. The viral defenses might get you."

"Look, it wasn't me, alright? A friend rigged out a few things before I came in...it was just surface stuff...for fun."

"Hand them over."

"Oh come on," said the Snarf. "They're just lighters."

"Hand them over," said Bast with an edge of desperation. "Look...this is just a test version of a very complex game. It's very sensitive to discrepencies and if your 'fun' crosses a wire somewhere, the game will fix it...and you. Hand over whatever you've got."

"Okay, fine! Relax a little," grumbled Fuzzball, pulling out the lighters and a few other minor items like razors and a vial of some noxious substance. "That's all there is...surface stuff."

Bast gathered up the Snarf's "toys" one at a time and appeared to concentrate. As she did so, the object pixelized and disappeared into the atmosphere. "Never...ever...do that again...please," she said hoarsely.

"Kitty's scared," grinned Shark.

Gatotrueno shot him a dark look and turned back to the Avatar. Bast was carefully ignoring Shark and seemed to be listening to something far away. Then she returned to the present and smoothed out her kalsiris, calm, but no longer amused.

"If you don't mind my asking, Bast," began Gato cautiously. "Is this really JetKitten? We've been having a sort of...discussion...about it."

Bast looked at the white kitten and brightened considerably. "Of course it is! She decided to make her appearance as a cat. I'd like to talk to her if you don't mind...you'll have to excuse me."

There was a general twisting and turning of the Avatar's body. Fur grew thicker and her body shorter. Soon the dress collapsed in a pile of semi-sheer material and a small brown cat burrowed its way out of the cloth. Shaking itself out, it flicked it's over large ears and waved it's elegant tail before trotting over to where Gato was treating Jet to a tummy rub.

"Mrr?" said the brown cat.

The fluffy white cat brought herself back to awareness from that pleasant dozing state that the feline persuasion prefers. She stood and stretched before approaching the new cat and nuzzling it in greeting. The gathered players watched as the pair circled each other, nuzzling and rubbing,before finally seeming to get down to business. They sat and stared each other in the eyes mostly, green on yellow-green, making only the most rudimentary of cat noises. For emphasis, it seemed. Tails waved, flicked, or twitched back and forth, ears pricked and relaxed and there seemed to be a full conversation in every tensing of muscles or grooming of fur. Finally, the brown cat stood and twined herself around the white one, tails locked a moment longer than necessary like the parody of a handshake.

The brown cat strutted back over to the dress and dug her way underneath the linen. There was a second shifting in the cloth, much slower than the first, and Bast grew back to her semi-human form, slowly filling the dress and adjusting her collar. If the group wondered at her excessive modesty, considering the fact that she was covered with fur, they had the good taste not to comment on it.

"Mmmmm," purred Bast, stretching and pulling her soft brown hair out of the back of the dress, "she is indeed JetKitten...although she would prefer to be called simply 'Jet' if you don't mind. She also said that as soon as she finds the Mad Bassist, she's going to have Shark taught a lesson," said the Avatar, looking significantly at the anthro. Shark stuck his tongue out at her in a shark-like manner, showing all three rows of wicked teeth. Bast snorted delicately, unimpressed.

"I would like to stay longer, but I still have two groups to speak with," said the Avatar. "The last thing I can tell you has to do with the map. As I've mentioned, it doesn't show any structures, but I can give you their relative directions so that you know where to head to find the people you want to meet."

"Great idea," said Wilykat. "You can start by directing us out of this fucking grass field."

"Now, now," smirked Gato. "That's no language for a Thundercat!"

Bast shook her head and called up the system map, pointing out the routes to all the major structures of Third Earth.

"I want to head to Cat's Lair and take out the Thundercats for their years as slaves, but it might be safer to gain some powerful allies," said  Fuzzball. "Like Mumm-ra for instance."

"Like Mumm-ra would help a hairball," snickered Wilykat. Fuzzball kicked him in the shin.

"Well, I intend to find the Thundercats," said Xahji. Rhythm nodded his agreement.

"That's my preference," said Ruka, "and Cat's Lair seems closest."

"I'll go with you. I'm looking for Auroara, really, but Cat's Lair is as good as any other place to start."

"Jet expressed an interest in going there as well," said Bast, picking herself up and preparing to go.

"Cats are Shark food. Castle Plun-darr for me," said Shark smugly.

"I'm sure you can work the issue out amongst yourselves," said Bast slyly, disappearing in a shimmer of displaced air. There was a moment of silence as the group pondered the mechanics of the Avatar's comings and goings. Then the spell was broken.

"You just *had* to choose the cats, didn't you," Fuzzball asked Ruka in disgust.

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