Chapter 4

Atac had decided that having a pet was a lot more work than he had originally thought. Although he was the first Quatyl in all of history to have a pet, the Quatyl were not unfamiliar with the concept. Other space faring races had pets. Up until the Quatyl had run into humans, it was impossible for them to have pets. Being able to control an animal prevented it from being a pet.

A factor that complicated taming the beast was that it kept different hours than the Quatyl. That was nothing compared to the fact that he wouldn't be able to train it to do tricks until he figured out some way to communicate with it. For the moment, the beast would pick him up and pet him whenever he rubbed against its leg. That was a start, but he couldn't figure out how to take the training further. At least Atar had forgiven him for making the love noises.

The other thing that made taming the beast difficult was its energy. It seemed to move around almost the entire time it was awake. It seemed that the beast kept moving from the kitchen to the desk to the bathroom and back to the desk. Sometimes the beast went outside. It was a strange pattern of habits that Atac couldn't figure out. All of the movement was taking its toll. Atac was exhausted from trying to follow his pet around.

On some of the trips outside, the Quatyl would find a mouse. They would keep it under control until after the beast went to bed. In the dark house, they would gather around the mouse and exchange information. After the first night, they took their time talking as a way to extend the amount of time the mouse would last before losing its voice.

This particular evening, Star was particularly upset. She said, 'He said that he's leaving here tomorrow.'

The others had begun to learn the language being used by the beast, but the extent of their knowledge concerned food, water, and rest. Atac asked, 'What does that mean?"

'He said that he was leaving here for good tomorrow morning, ' Star answered.

'What about us?' Atar asked getting worried. Without the beast to feed them, they would be in serious trouble.

'He wished that he could take us with him, but didn't think that was possible, ' Star answered.

All of the Quatyl sat around the mouse lost in thought. The mouse wasn't all that pleased at being the center of attention, but that is another story best told from the mouse's perspective. The Quatyl knew they were facing a major crisis. After an hour had gone by, Atac said, 'We must go with him.'

The others agreed with his decision by not objecting. Now the problem was convincing his pet to take them. Without coming to a solution, the meeting broke up and they released the mouse. The Quatyl curled up in pairs to sleep the rest of the night. Atac spent the next few hours trying to think of some solution that would force the beast to take them along with him.

James stood at the door of the cabin. The trash had been carried out to the trash pile. The suitcases were packed with his clothes and stacked by the front door. The laptop was in a carrying case on the desk. The external monitor and keyboard were on the desk where they would remain. James didn't want to carry a monitor around in the back of his plane and was leaving it there for the next occupant of the cabin to decide what to do with it. He figured that the next occupant would take them into town and sell them. In short, since everything was packed, stored, or thrown away, he was ready to leave.

It took James ten minutes to load everything into his rental car. The only reason it took that long was the delay created by the need to keep the screen door from hitting the animals each time he went in and out of the house. They followed him every step, keeping him in sight the entire time. Slamming the trunk shut, he went around to the driver's side door. He paused and looked down at the eight fuzzy faces that were looking up at him. He sighed and asked, "What am I supposed to do with you?"

The Quatyl did not reply. They were incapable of answering, but they had learned enough of the language to know what was asked. As a result of James' idle comments to the Quatyl, Atac had decided that he was just going to follow James everywhere he went and not allow any obstacles to get in his way. Of course, James knew nothing about this decision; he had slept through the whole discussion and wouldn't have recognized it for what it was even if he had been awake.

"I'd take you with me, but I'm worried about getting arrested for smuggling a rare or endangered species," James said shaking his head. He opened the car door and was surprised when Scout frantically tried to climb into it. Frowning, he asked, "You want to come with me?"

Frustrated, Atac struggled to get inside the car. The height was just too much for him and it didn't seem to him that the beast understood that they wanted to go with him. After the experiences in the swamp and on the journey to the cabin, the Quatyl knew that they couldn't survive on their own. This planet was just too dangerous for them.

James bent down and lifted the little animal into the car. Scout scampered over to the far end and turned to watch him. Thinking that Scout was the only one that wanted to go, James was surprised when another of the animals was at the door trying to climb into the car. One by one, he lifted them into the car. He was surprised since this was the first time that seven of the eight animals had ever let him touch them.

Upon getting into the car, each Quatyl moved across the seat in order to make room for the next Quatyl. The last to get into the car was Leac, the Quatyl that had been injured in the crash. James noticed the small patch of disturbed fur and said, "Oh my; that must have hurt."

Leac trembled slightly and then cleared space for the beast. He wasn't sure what the beast had said, but it didn't sound too threatening. Of course, he was the most risk adverse of the Quatyl after his injuries. The beast settled down right next to him. Leac looked over at his mate wishing that he could ask to be moved further from the beast.

It was time to head for the airport. James started the car and pulled away from the rental cabin knowing that he would return when it was time to work on his next book. While driving, he said, "I'm going to have to load you on the airplane with my luggage before turning in the rental car. The way you little fellows follow me around just might be a problem."

James made his way to the local airport where his airplane was parked. The distance wasn't that far, but it took time to make the trip. The dirt roads were rough and the poor little animals struggled to stay on the seat. He glanced over at them thinking that it would have been better for them to be on the floor, but he feared that they would soon be underfoot. He drove slowly trying to minimize the impact of the uneven surface that passed for a road.

James preferred to fly his own plane over taking a commercial flight. When he flew his own plane, it was a seven hour flight to Brownsville, Texas. He would stay the night there and then fly on to Tulsa, Oklahoma the next day. Even though his travel plans took longer, he was able to avoid lines, cramped seats, and bad airline food. From his perspective, that was a net gain.

Under the current circumstances, it was also the only way he was going to be able to take the cute little animals with him. He wished that he had a spare suitcase in which to carry them. He'd stop and get one, but that would be too much like smuggling. With them running around loose, he could always claim that he didn't know they were in the back of the plane if someone discovered them.

Reaching the airport, he parked the car next to his airplane. He took half an hour to inspect the plane despite knowing that it had been well cared for while parked there, but James was a careful man. Once he was satisfied that all was well, he went about loading his gear into the plane. It took several trips and the animals watched him from the front seat. Atac was fully prepared to jump to the ground if he thought that the beast was going to leave them in the car.

Believing that the little animals were unable to jump out of the car, James waited to take them until he had stowed the rest of his gear. He carried the animals to the plane and put them in it one at a time. Each scurried to a place where it could hide when he released it.

Lear had been the first to go into the plane. Being carried by a huge untamed beast was the scariest thing Lear had ever experienced. She had immediately sought out a hiding place convinced that this entire adventure was a mistake. It wasn't until Leac had joined her that she stopped shivering although he wasn't in much better shape.

Once the last animal had been put on the plane, James went over to the door and put a hundred dollar bill where it would be seen by the customs official who would come to inspect the plane. He'd made this trip for each of his books and knew that the bill would expedite the inspection. He closed the door on the plane and went to take care of the business necessary for leaving.

It took thirty minutes for him to return the rented car and to file his flight plan. Once he had filed the flight plan, it was time to go through the process of getting out of the country. The border official gave him a ride to the plane and then went through the process of inspecting it to make sure that James wasn't smuggling anything out of the country. The inspection consisted of opening the door of the plane and taking the hundred dollar bill. His normally sharp eyes did not see any other money lying loose or bundles of drugs. He wasn't looking for unusual eyes watching him.

Stepping back, the man put the hundred dollar bill in his pocket and, with a grin, said, "Adios."

"Gracias," James said pronouncing it 'grassy ass.' He took one last look around before climbing into his plane. He went through the startup checklist and then taxied out to the runway. Five minutes later he was up in the air and winging his way to Brownsville, Texas.

The eight Quatyl had not recognized the flimsy craft as an airplane. Their fear of harm would never have allowed such an unsafe form of transportation. None of them had realized that they would be flying when they had made the decision to go with James. The risk adverse Quatyl would never have gone alone with him if they had known they would end up thousands of feet in the air in such a flimsy craft. As far as they could tell, it didn't even have a single failsafe system to protect them in case of a crash. They could hardly believe that the beast would be willing to risk its life in such a craft.

Once in the air, James looked over his shoulder to check out the animals. He could just make one out that was tucked away between pieces of luggage. He shrugged and said, "Well, that's one hurdle out of the way. I wonder how the US customs inspection will go. They usually send in a drug dog. A few sniffs and it'll be over."

He was silent for a moment while thinking about the rest of his trip. After a minute, he slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand then said, "Oh shit. They're going to send in a drug dog."

For the rest of the flight, James was just as worried as the Quatyl although it was for completely different reasons. He kept imagining what would happen when the drug dog found the animals. The dog would either let the handler know it found them or attack them. Either case was pretty bad. The Quatyl had other worries. They kept imagining the plane crashing into the ground. Each little bump in the flight just increased their tension.

By the time the plane landed, all of the occupants of the airplane were emotionally worn out. James hoped that he'd have a minute or two to get himself together, but that wasn't to be the case. When James guided the plane into the customs area, a Customs Agent and Border Patrol Agent were waiting for him. He stopped the plane and waited for the prop to stop spinning. It took a few minutes to shut down all of the systems.

James opened the door and stepped out with his paperwork in hand. He walked over to the Border Agent and handed his passport to the man. While he was doing that, the Customs Agent led a dog over to the plane and watched as it jumped into it. The Border Agent looked over his passport and, in a very bored voice, said, "You're good to go once you clear customs."

"Thanks," James replied turning to watch the dog. A sinking feeling settled in his stomach as images of being arrested for smuggling animals flashing through his mind.

Fortunately for James, the Quatyl had seen the dog coming. It was not the first time they had encountered a dog. They knew they couldn't control it enough to make it do things, but they could have it ignore them. They focused on it and it had sniffed all around them without noticing them. In a way it was good that they hadn't been able to fully control it. If the dog had sat down next to the luggage then that would have been a signal to the handler that something was the matter.

After a few minutes, the dog returned to the door and jumped down. The Quatyl relaxed a little when it had left the plane, but kept up the mental compulsion to prevent it from returning. The Customs Agent said, "Looks good to me. Take the plane over to there and park it. Once you leave this hanger, you've cleared customs."

Looking inside the plane, James expected to see blood everywhere. Instead he saw eight pairs of eyes staring at him. Relieved, he turned to the Customs Agent and said, "Thanks."

Ten minutes later, James had taxied the plane out of the customs area. He got out, leaving behind some rather worried Quatyl, and picked up a rental car. That took more time than passing customs. Upon returning to the plane, he unloaded a suitcase from the plane containing a change of clothes under the watchful eyes of the eight animals. Once his gear had been transferred to the rental car, he carried the animals to it one at a time hoping that the customs agent didn't glance his way.

He got in the car and leaned down towards the animals clustered on the seat beside him. In a soft voice, he said, "Well, that was a long trip. I'll get us to the hotel. I should probably stop and get you some food. I bet you are as hungry as I am."

Driving through the busy streets of Brownsville, he said, "I'm going to have to get a box or something so that I can carry all of you in a single trip."

Rather than going directly to the hotel, James stopped at a convenience store. Again, the worried Quatyl were left behind. Searching the shelves, he tried to figure out what would be good for the animals. Experience over the past week had them eating watermelon and applesauce, but he didn't think that represented a healthy diet. He purchased some baby food thinking that would be a good way of expanding their food choices. Just in case they didn't like any of them, he picked up a jar of applesauce.

While paying for his purchase, he asked for a box and was told to get one out of the garbage. After collecting his change, he went out to the dumpster and found a reasonable sized box in which to carry the animals. Holding the box reminded him that he needed a litter box so he picked out a second box for the purpose. Holding the two boxes, he said, "I never thought that having a pet would be so much work."