"We're not out of the woods yet!"

"Why do I get the feeling that we're going to be hearing *that* expression a lot," groaned Wildcat to Boron. mbswolf simply pretended that his comment had not been slighted and pushed on through the woods, hacking at the underbrush with his sword.

Originally, this job had fallen to Boron and the Lunatak had been able to stun anything dangerous which the trio happened to come across. Few Manticores had presented themselves and, fortunately, even fewer Gorgons, but when they did, the players managed to retain the element of surprise with Boron's help.

Lately, however, Boron had started to look a little worse for wear. He was wan and seemed distracted so Wolf had offered to take over as scout and lead trail-blazer, letting the Lunatak fall back and join Wildcat in guarding their rear.

"Hey, man...you okay?" Wildcat nudged the Lunatak when he failed to respond to any good-natured cracks reguarding mbswolf's dialogue.

Boron stirred to some sort of awareness. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired. Headache. Guess level one characters aren't supposed to overuse their mental abilities," he smiled grimly.

"Are you going to make it to Darkside or do you want to change the plan?"

The terms of the truce between avowd "good guys" and "bad guys" was that they would work together until they could discover the location of one of the primary bases of Third Earth. There they would part ways amicably and not meet again except, it was to be expected, in battle where they would be sworn enemies. Should they be surprised by a member of one team or another, then the players of the opposite team reverted to prisoners: Boron because he was outnumbered and Wildcat and mbswolf because of Boron's mental abilities. The prisoners would then effect a miraculous "escape" while the captor delayed his prospective allies with his surprise and explanations. This plan served everyone equally well, allowing them to find their respective teams, but saving them the stigmata of being seen with an enemy agent.

"No...we keep the plan. It's not too bad," the Lunatak lied, trying not to wince. "I'm probably just feeling the effects because my powers are mainly supposed to be telekinetic. All Psi characters seem to have some basic thrall powers, but I probably overdid mine. They're probably weaker because of telekinesis. Not that *that's* very strong either right now," Boron sulked. "I hate starting out in games...it takes forever to get your powers built up."

"But when you do, you can kick ass," Wildcat assured him. "Looks the like forest is starting to thin. We should be able to find out where we are. Maybe you'll luck out...maybe we're near Darkside."

"No chance of that," said mbswolf, stopping at the mouth of the forest. The other players ganged up behind him as he pointed through a break in the trees. Some distance away, past the thinning forest and over a stretch of plain, was the shape of a giant cat head, slowly becoming a silhouette against the darkening sky. "We're coming right up behind the Cat's Lair."

*********************

Snarfer grumbled as he trundled his cart down one of the many halls of Cat's Lair. Why did his uncle always have to volunteer him for the heavy duties? All Snarf had to do was sit around and watch kittens make cookies and maybe stop them from licking the spoons - not because it was unhealthy as Snarf claimed, but because he wanted them for himself. Snarfer, of course, had been charged with making up enough beds for all the new arrivals.

*Sheesh!* he snorted to himself. This, he was sure, would never happen at the Tower of Omens. There he was a respected mechanic. Well, he was a mechanic...and the Tower Thundercats did seem to show him more respect than those of the Lair, but putting the two words together might be a little much.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud thumping and scuffling from the linen closet a little ways down the hall. Curious, but unwilling to risk his neck, Snarfer approached the closet cautiously. Something seemed to be moving around although there was little space in the closet...barely enough to step into and the whole was surrounded by shelves and shelves of linen. As Snarfer contemplated what should be done, he thought he heard voices, muffled and whispering.

"What the...where the hell are we?"

"Rrr?"

There was a loud *thump* followed by a yelp. "Something's jabbing my back!"

"Yeowr!"

"I can't find a door...or a wall. Move over! What is this stuff anyway, it feels like cloth..."

"Mmmph...reer."

"ACK! Don't climb on me! Look...I *know* there's no room but... ARGH! DON'T PUT YOUR PAW THERE!"

"Mrrii?"

There was a solid *THUNK* and Snarfer saw the closet door shudder. He stepped back a pace just to make sure that nothing was going to leap out at him and then the voices resumed.

"Hey! Was that a wall? Move over!"

"Rowr?"

"Yeah, I *know* there's no room. That's why I need over here." There was a faint scuffling and then the door shuddered again. "Dammit, Faero!"

Carefully, ready to bolt at the first sign of attack, Snarfer hit a small button alongside the closet and the doors whooshed open, spilling a Thunderian woman and a large snow leopard out onto the floor.

"Hiya," said the cheetah woman, looking up at Snarfer from where she lay sprawled out on her back. She offered a strained grin. Strained, perhaps, because of the rather large cat crushing her midsection.

"Mrrooo..." groaned the snow leopard, allowing himself to flop bonelessly to the floor.

Snarfer stared at the spectacle for a moment, then turned tail and ran down the hall shrieking "UNCLE OSBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERT!"

*********************

Lady Bast floated in a field of negative game space. That is to say that she was neither within the game itself, nor disconnected from it, but instead in a spot from which she could survey various aspects of game play without fear of interuption. It was primarily dark though rows and rows of numerals, green and faintly glowing, skimmed along the surface of the blackness, appearing to be not so much as a phosphorous mist. Here and there the numbers glowed more brightly and these were the coding sequences of the Egyptian faction, pulsating in time to her own game code.

By causing the numbers in the setting sequence to deviate, Bast created a chair for herself and curled up in it as she opened a communications widown with her antechamber to check the logs and make sure that all the players had arrived safely.

"Jon is still in the location randomizer," she spoke softly to herself. She found the sound of her own voice helped her to concentrate. "That's odd. he wasn't one of the last ones to arrive. Perhaps too many people entered at once and caused a jam?"

Running a quick diagnostic on the randomizer revealed nothing. If there had been a problem, it was fixed now. Jon would certainly be placed quite soon.

In the meantime, Bast decided to skim through the last saved files of each character to mark their relative positions and make sure that everything was running smoothly.

"Fuzzball and Thunderwolf...with the Yetaba," she said out loud. Everything was fine there...she had just left them.

"Grak is on Snow Mountain. Interesting. Wildcat, mbswolf, and Boron all near Cat's Lair. In Cat's Lair: Zhie, Faero, Woodstock, Felina, Wilycub, and MDG Calypso578. Boron and Felina register significant power increases. Added experience all around."

She riffled briefly through the game files. "Forest of Silence: Mitts, Thundercub, and Peachyra. Hmmm...Peachyra has had a power boost already. She must be on fertile ground. ThunderManx, Artemis, and Telly are all in the Warrior Maiden Village and Wilykat, Ruka, Gatotrueno and Jetkitten are in the Thundertank nearby. Artemis and Telly must have had a rough journey...they've gathered quite a bit of experience. Thundermanx and Ruka seem to have significant charisma boosts too. Must have impressed *some*one..."

"Mummraa and Suzene are nearing the Tower of Omens. An experience gain there. Likewise for Axecat," mused Bast. "Now what would an inflatable cat encounter? Thundera Tiger and ScanMee are with him too. *Huge* stats boost for Altaica. For a level one player anyway. Whatever she survived, it was big."

Lady Bast Surveyed the files saved in Darkside. "Altaica and Melissa near Skytomb, Sonarion and Cheezey inside it. Nice experience bonus for Sonarion and Cheezey seems to have jumped a level or two power-wise."

"Demonprist has a significant combat boost and a smaller magical one. Kith's magic is starting to rise rapidly. Both are in the Pyramid," remarked the feline Avatar to no one in particular. Cleo's nearby."

"Darrell, the snarf, Don Karnage, Capresono, Auroara, Lepris, Casca, and Shark are all in Castle Plun-darr...everyone seems to have had some experience boosts there...must be a lot of action going on. Laura, Rhythm and Xahji are in the Feliner. Ian and GB Jazzman are near the Vortex. And Mooncat..."

The cat woman stopped short and quickly reviewed the data. Then she reviewed it again. Mooncat had never left the spot where she had been deposited by the randomzier, but...

"DAMMIT, JERRY!" fumed the Avatar, expelling a few choice words. "'The Vortex doesn't go in the randomizer,' I said. Next I'll have someone coming up under a patch of sponge fog or underwater!" She manufactured a glass vase to hurl against a quickly created wall and took great pleasure in the sound it made as it shattered. Both wall and shards vanished before the glittering projectiles could hit the ground. One nice thing about virtual reality was the temper tantrum potential.

Not quite relaxed, but not wanting to waste any time, Lady Bast opened a messaging window.

"Jerry, you dipshit! What did I tell you about the Vortex? You think your players want to be vapourized before they even get to play?"

Jerrytech: Nice to hear from you. I imagine nothing else is amiss?

"Amiss? Does anything else *need* to be amiss?" hissed Bast. "Don't promise a player a good time and throw them in a no-win scenario!"

Jerrytech: I know...I know...we didn't get the randomizer changed before we shipped the game out. It's not that big a deal. If the character is lost without leaving the initial starting point then it can be used again immediately. Remember, this version is just for testing.

Bast clenched her jaw tightly. "That isn't the point. The point is that this is a really nasty way to go and you're scaring off potential customers."

Jerrytech: No, the point is that things are working exactly the way you'd hoped, but you're too fast a talker to say it. Not that you don't have a point. But as I've said, this is a test version and your friends have all received the relevant information regarding bugs.

"Okay, okay...fine," snorted the Avatar, unconvinced. "How do I go about getting her out?"

Jerrytech: You can't.

"Look, Jerry, don't dick me around...you're the techie, you must know how!"

Jerrytech: You'd have to shut down whole portions of the game. It's not worth it. Find a way to play it out.

"She's not going to be impressed."

Jerrytech: Think of the experience she'll earn!

"Like that's worth a heart attack just by plugging into your computer. You're full of more bullshit than I am."

Jerrytech: It's genetic.

"Bite me."

Jerrytech: Good luck. And have a nice day :)

Bast closed the window with an indignant hiss at the space it once occupied. She supposed that everyone in the vicinity of the Vortex was going there to help. They could probably do it if they arrived in time...but how long ago did they discover the plight? Surely it was better for the players to handle the job, but just in case...

Sighing, Bast vanished in a swirl of light.

*********************

After what seemed like an unusually long period in Limbo, Jon walked out into dazzling light. "Aw, man..." he groaned when realized where he was.

All around him, as far as the eye could see, was wave after wave of soft, glittering sand. He, an Ice Lunatak...well, at least a partial Ice Lunatak...was stranded in the desert with nothing much to eat or drink other than Pepsi.

He looked forlornly at his bottomless soda skin. "Why now?" he lamented. "You've never let me down before!"

It was bad enough that the heat was killing him, but to have his favourite drink handy and not be able to sip it was going to be torture. He wondered if it would get warm and disgusting. He wondered if the heat would make it swell and explode his canteen. Mostly he wondered if just a little sip wouldn't hurt.

But sugar dehydrated...and he was already dehydrating rapidly.

*Okay,* he thought calmly as he surveyed his surroundings. *Where to now? Eenie, meanie, miney, moe...*

Moe was to the west, but Miney seemed to have the faint suggestion of a structure so he gave up his rhyme and walked northward, the skin full of Pepsi hanging from his belt and bumping gently against his thigh.

*********************