Chapter 254

Selina and Billy materialized in the bathroom in her suite, Selina holding him by the back of his neck as a mother cat would her kitten. This kept Selina's hand away from his claws, as well as subduing him because of the instinct to relax when the mother cat picked him up – in this case, Selina.

"The water is an ambient temperature and quite shallow. I do not utilize pet shampoo due to the fetor; instead, I employ the identical product I use myself. Your endeavors to escape are invariably futile."

Knowing what was coming, he let out a howl, drawing out the sound as if he were being tortured.

Ignoring his pitiful moans, she put him in the bathtub, but kept a hand on him, knowing that he would teleport away if she let her vigilance lapse even for a second. After using a plastic cup to pour water on his back until he was thoroughly soaked, she put shampoo on him, and one-handed, worked it into his fur to the accompaniment of a spitting, snarling, howling kitten, but he settled for drama only, as usual, and didn't actually try to bite or scratch her, although he threatened repeatedly.

After rinsing the first time, which caused a lot of dramatic choking and sputtering, although Selina hadn't gotten any water anywhere near his face, she shampooed him again, then after letting the water out, used the sprayer for a second rinse. Much to his disgruntlement, she worked conditioner into his fur and rinsed him a final time. When the bath was over, he stood dripping and bedraggled-looking as he glared up at her. "Do not glower at me in that manner. I shall never perish from your stare. Furthermore, I am unfazed. You were commencing to emit an odor of feculence. If you are going to sleep in my bed, it was necessary that your odor should disappear."

She dried him as much as she could with a towel, then came the hair dryer and the fight to the death. If his tiny claws could have scratched the hard plastic of the dryer, he would have left it in pieces. But alas, they couldn't; the monster won and Selina eventually had him dry. With a small saucer of warm milk and a spoon of his favorite cat food later, he had forgotten to be mad at his mistress.

"Shall we go visit with our guests?" the little genius asked the now nicely-smelling ball of fur. Billy let out a tiny belch that Selina took as agreement. "Perhaps, we shall convey an improved impression on this occasion. You will remain on my shoulder while I converse with them." She repeated the last statement in a stern voice as if he could understand her.

Billy looked at her, and uttered a very subdued, "Mmeeow."

Instead of teleporting into the living room, being polite, she walked in. Jeff, Diana, Arlene, Matt, Courtney and Bridget, along with Eric, Alice, Terri and Angela were sitting where they had been earlier as Jeff, Diana and Arlene continued the telling of the Matthews' story.

Selina stood just inside the door, quietly waiting until Jeff paused with his story and motioned to her. With the final steps, she hurried to stand in front of him. "My Prime, I should like to apologize for the behavior of Billy and myself, particularly in the presence of our guests."

Before Jeff could respond, Alice blurted, "How do you do it?"

"Alice," Eric quietly admonished.

"But, Daddy, she teleported."

"Yeah, Selina, please tell us how you do it," Terri implored.

Selina looked at Jeff, who nodded his permission.

"It seems to be a relatively uncomplicated process, but thus far, I have been unsuccessful in describing the phenomenon sufficiently to allow others to duplicate the feat. It originated from my attempting to capture Billy. I was repeatedly unable to catch him due to his teleportation. I was quite annoyed and equally frustrated at the time, and I somehow gained the ability."

Selina sat to listen to the Matthews' story, but it soon became obvious to Selina that Diana was trying to send her a subtle message as she glanced at Alice, then Terri, then back to Selina.

"Would the two of you care to visit my suite?" Selina asked the girls.

The Clan Queen smiled at Selina and gave a faint nod.

"Sure," Alice responded, jumping up.

Terri smiled her approval, and with Eric's permission, the girls followed the six-year-old.

As they gained the hallway, Alice blurted another question. "Are you really a genius like Jeff said?"

"Alice, that's rude," her older sister scolded.

"Well, I didn't mean to be. Uh..."

"That is not relevant to my showing you my suite," Selina responded, trying to avoid the subject.

Terri smiled at the six-year-old as they walked. "Uh, I have a question, though. I mean, you don't call Mr. or Mrs. Matthews Daddy or Mom..."

"They are not my parents – well, at least not biologically, however..." Selina almost said that she wished they were, but said, instead, "My mother and father are traveling, and this is my semi-permanent residence. Perhaps it would be pertinent to say home rather than residence for I love the Retreat and everyone in it, with particular emphasis on my Prime and my Queen."

Selina held the outer suite door open for her guests. As Terri and Alice stepped into the sitting room, they had expected to see dolls, toys and games suitable for a six-year-old girl, but there were none. Instead, the coffee table had a number of technical magazines strewn on it. A corner bookshelf was stacked with text books, among them math, physics, chemistry and biology as well as some subjects that the girls were uncertain of.

When Selina ushered them into her bedroom, they saw a desktop computer with a giant hi-res screen on the right wing of a large corner desk. On the other wing sat a high-end laptop and stacks of texts. In a corner, there were two open boxes containing more books.

"I have read those," Selina casually remarked as she realized where Terri was looking. She chose to say "read," instead of "memorized," which would have been a much more accurate description. "The ones that Doctor Boswell does not keep for her school are sent to the local schools and colleges."

"I've never seen a computer monitor that big," Terri said as she stared at the big screen, the screen saver featuring a view of the Retreat obviously taken from somewhere near the top of the mountain. "Wow, what a beautiful picture."

Selina smiled as she looked at the screen. "Mr. Wainwright owns a helicopter service. I requested one of the pilots to take a snapshot for me, and that is the result. I suppose I should replace it with a winter scene, but the autumn colors are so beautiful that I am reluctant to change the image."

"But why do you have such a big screen?" Alice wanted to know.

Selina just shrugged. "As a pastime, I occasionally work with a CAD program when I am not in class. I am currently in the second stage of the approval process of a preliminary design of living and storage quarters for our proposed underground fortress. Of course, the design must be reviewed again by my Prime and my Queen, and should they desire additional changes, those will be incorporated. After that, the architect will produce the final working design, but I am learning from the process and it has proven to be quite interesting."

Billy, who was sitting on Selina's shoulder, left with a "Whap" of displaced air to appear on her bed. Jumping to her pillow, he kneaded it with his front paws before curling into a ball for a nap.

Selina looked at him and smiled. "He and I fight regarding my favorite pillow. There are four others on my bed, but he prefers the one I favor. My Queen says it is because he detects my scent on it. Frequently, he sleeps snuggled against my head."

"So, he doesn't sleep in his kennel?" Terri asked, motioning toward the cage near the bed.

"I should have removed it from my suite. It functioned as his home when he first came to live with us, but the locking mechanism proved inadequate for his intelligence. Then when he learned to teleport, nothing could restrain him. He is quite strong-willed. He continues to fight each bath, even though he invariably loses."

"He's so tiny."

"Yes, and he should be larger by now. He certainly eats well, but I postulate he wishes to remain a kitten, although, I have no supporting data for my working hypothesis. But with the enhancement, one can choose his or her outward appearance, so my hypothesis is a reasonable one."

"And that's why Mrs. Matthews and her mother look so young," Terri supplied.

"Also, the majority of the other adult women here," Selina added.

Terri frowned. "They will always look that way?"

"That is what Little One has assured us is the case."

"So our Daddy and Aunt will never get old..."

"Little One is quite adamant in regard to that, according to my Prime."

"Are all those women really his wives?"

"Definitely," Selina replied.

"But how does he..."

"I will not discuss biological functions with children," the little genius said.

Terri and Alice both stared at her, and Terri spoke for both of them. "We hacked Daddy's site blocker two years ago. We've been watching R and XXX rated movies ever since. We don't need you to tell us anything about sex. The Internet is replete with articles describing in detail various aspects of making love. We're just waiting until we're old enough to date. According to what we understand from our reading, one man could not possibly make love to..."

But Selina abruptly interrupted. "That is something you must discuss with your father or aunt."

"But..."

"Subject terminated," Selina sternly said, looking up at the two, her hands on her hips.

In the living room, Jeff sensed something opening in his mind. "My Prime," Ship's mental voice snapped out, the tone urgent.

Reflexes took over and Jeff was suddenly on his feet, his body ready for combat, his movement almost a blur. Responses from the group ranged from a squeak from Courtney, to hissed-in breaths, to a grunt from Eric. Matt was on his feet a second after Jeff.

"What's wrong?" Matt asked, his voice tight.

"Jeff?" from Diana.

The Prime's body almost instantly relaxed and he held a hand up partway, obviously asking for quiet. "The Ship is trying to contact me."

Attempting to remember what he should do to converse mentally with the Ship, he concentrated, but she didn't wait. "I have discovered that we were soon to be under attack if a group of men, probably mercenaries, had been successful in their approach."

"'Were soon to be?'" the Prime questioned, wondering if he had interpreted correctly.

Jeff motioned for Matt to return to his seat as Ship went on. "There was a slight anomaly that attracted my attention five point three of your miles from your home."

"Well, there are several homes on the way down the mountain. I assume that you don't mean people inside any of those homes. Is someone out in this blizzard?"

"There are six men at the bottom of a crevasse, in the desolate area northeast of your home, as well as several immense boulders and large quantities of earth that appear to have sheared off the cliff face and are now covering four bodies. Two bodies were not covered by the falling boulders and earth. The two men who were not covered were armed with what appears to be assault rifles, and the men are wearing what you refer to as fatigues, as well as heavy clothing suitable for exposure to the environment. In addition, they are carrying food concentrates capable of sustaining them for several days."

"They got to almost five miles of us before they were detected?" Jeff wondered.

"They are wearing outer garments that are designed to reduce their heat signature, and with the interference of the storm, their equipment would have continued to keep even me from observing them for another of your miles. But the fall of the boulders and earth attracted my attention, and it also subsequently damaged the covering of the two individuals not buried, which allowed my sensors to detect them, and once alerted, I was able to detect the others that were covered by the fall of earth and boulders. As we have discussed before, the environment in that direction is extremely inhospitable, and to use your terms, can only be assessed by the extensive use of climbing gear. There are ropes and such gear on and about their bodies. It appears to a near one hundred percent probability that these men were on the way to attack you and your family, but disturbed the rock face as they scaled down it, thus causing their demise."