FURRY HEARTS

Chapter One

A NEW WORLD

Sunjia Keedasdau floated silently in the near dead ships shattered bridge. Her suited body turned slowly in the vacuum environment as she forced into her mind images of the burnt out wreckage. Finally se silently gazed out the shattered bow, studying a blue-green planet far below. Sunjia knew that within minutes she would have to enter the life pod, to leave her ship behind. Leaving this now dead link with her world. Wistfully she slid a gloved paw across her own stations shattered controls, flakes of carbon ash floated up as she did so. Quickly surrounding her gauntleted paw. Almost she cried out for her lost life, for the meteoroid had done quite a job on the control section of the small survey craft. Yes, she decided, a very good job. If she hadn't been visiting in Sick-Bay, then she too would be dead. Along with the rest of the flight officers and crew.

Carefully she pulled herself to Lieutenant Derreks navigation station, delicately moving around the now sheet shrouded mouse’s body still strapped to its seat. Reaching the position she wanted, Sunjia tapped the button, bringing up her navigational settings on the flickering screen. Following Service regulations she had tried to set the ship to skim the planet's outer atmosphere, then swing out against the orbital velocity of the system. Regulations decreed her course to result in a quick spiral into the systems sun, insuring total destruction of her ship. While at the same time allowing any survivors a chance to land safety on a hostile, and perhaps deadly world. She had noted the primitive probes as they passed the fourth planet. Service law demanded that under no circumstances should her craft be allowed to fall into the paws of a any race, especially those already making their first steps into space. With luck their escape would look like part of a meteoroid breaking off the larger body as it skimmed the atmosphere. Without luck, they would be shot out of the sky before they realized it.

Passing through the flame scarred bulkhead behind her she drifted back, making her way to the secondary pod holding Sick-Bay, and its related services. One of which was its own set of airlocks. Passing through the well used lock, she waited until the pressure returned to normal before pulling herself back to the remaining landing craft. Artificial gravity was a luxury this size craft had only for special cases, and although this counted as such, many of the delicate, and power hungry units that generated such had been vaporized. Wiped out by the beachball sized mass of nickel-iron as it slashed apart the ship. Emergency life support had become an iffy thing, she and the only other survivor had been forced to sleep in their suits last night. Reaching the final hatch she quickly tossed off the last of her spacesuit, moving carefully as she entered the overpacked lander.

Major Chealith Elemion, the only other surviving member of the ships complement, and the ship's medical officer, smiled up at her from one of the two remaining acceleration couches. When the feline nodded to her she sighed slightly, then winked playfully at Sunjia before slipping back into sleep. Although technical Chealith out ranked her and had more experience, she wasn't Command rated. So every ounce of the missions responsibilities fell on the shoulders of the younger, less experienced Lieutenant. This worried the petite mouse medical officer at first, until she noticed how the other had dug in and started getting things done wither she liked the job or not.

Sunjia though turned to her station, again checking the fuel loads and cargo balances. She wished they had been able to top the crafts fuel up. It had been under preventative maintence with drained tanks when the meteoroid had located them, but the pumps were dead and the main fuel tank had ruptured into space. Still, by careful work they had managed to recover a few thousand pounds of mercury from the ships docking engines, and from the frozen metal floating around the ship. Not much for a eighteen hundred foot long mothership, enough to allow the smaller hundred foot craft a few minutes or powered flight. Just enough to get them down safely if she was very careful. Before settling into the pilots couch she checked to insure the hatch was sealed tightly, giving it an extra jerk with her good arm.

Without their crewmate's weight, and by ripping out the extra acceleration couches and related beds, they had been able to pack several thousand pounds of extra supplies into the small ship. 'Goddess knows what these barbarians eat or drink' the young feline thought, pulling the last buckle painfully tight against her hips. They weren't even sure that they could survive outside their small craft, so they had packed everything possible into every crevice. Chealith had been adamant about carrying as much food and medical supplies as possible. Too few worlds supported biospheres that weren't instant death to one, or both of their species. Even fewer worlds were survivable by both races, the muridae's race had blue, copper based blood. So very much different from the feline's iron based blood.

Those differences had almost immediately insured peaceful co-existence between the two races, as worlds one race could barely survive upon were Eden's for the other. Sunjia smiled inwardly, for once she wished one of the Homulin's had been aboard. A silicon lifeform they would love this systems second planet as it was almost a duplicate of their homeworld. She just hoped that targeting the craft for mountains was a good idea, what little they had been able to understand of the planets broadcasts had determined which continent to aim for. With the planets massive gravity their choices had been limited. Simply fighting to survive meant selecting the best possible longitude.

Glancing at her drug induced sleeping partner the feline settled down. Reaching up with her good arm she switched off the interior lights, thanking her Goddess it was her right arm that had been shattered when she was thrown into the bulkhead, not her left. Forcing herself to relax into her acceleration couch, she let exhaustion take over. Months of suited work had repaired most of the tiny landers damage, some old, most due to being bounced around in its small hanger as gasses vented and engines misfired, and had left both women worn out.

While they slept the shattered survey ship closed rapidly on the third planet, slowly pulled in by its immense gravity. It's semi-intelligent computer launched several small emergency beacons towards the planet's single monster moon. There they would be safe from possible discovery by the planet's inhabitants while they called for help. Unless those same inhabitants had the capability to reach their moon. Five hours later, as the ship skipped the planet's atmosphere, it launched the lander along with several hundred pounds of radar reflective material. It's last action was to transmit a short message to the escaping craft, a report detailing everything it had discovered and done as the two occupants had slept. Moments later plasma flames roared into the command area, shutting down all but the most rudimentary functions. Effectively the ship was dead.

Chealith awoke with a start as they violently separated, her fatigue induced headache returning under the sudden pressure. She had a glimpse of the ship moving away with a huge cloud of reflective material flowing behind it, then they began to spin violently as they encountered the planets atmosphere. She glanced away from the side port, to the pilots area. Sunjia was awake and working the controls one pawed, trying to land them safely on a hostile world in a crippled ship. Turning back to her own station she initiated the counter measures she had trained for these last few weeks. There was a sudden bang from the rear of the craft, shaking it like a dog with a rag. Sunjia was slammed against her shattered arm, pain flared like a bonfire and the mouse watched in horror as she slumped into her couch, unconscious.

Outside the ship plasma fire rolled across the landers skin as it searched for any way in, licking hungrily at the alien alloys as it strove to reach the two women. Failing to find an exploitable weakness it screamed in anger as the pod's skin refused to let open a way. Slowly the craft bled off energy, plasma fire grudgingly giving way to the rushing cry of hypersonic flight. Noting its position, the pod's guidance system extended small fins to adjust its trajectory, desperately attempting to compensate for six meters of missing starboard wing. Below, cold hard earth waited for the aliens arrival.

Sunjia woke sullenly to Chealith's voice. "Wake up, Come on Sunjia, wake up or we are both going to end up as pancakes" she screamed, reaching forward to jerk on the woman's collar.

Opening her eyes she forced herself to conciseness. Carefully studying her instruments, some covered with bright red blood from her re-opened wound. "Not yet my friend" she whispered, her voice weak from pain. She focused her attention on the laser altimeter. "We're still about three miles up and moving fast, I'm afraid we're going to miss our mountains though, and badly. Something happened to our starboard wing. We're heading south of the site I was planning for." She suddenly felt the soft touch of the medics paws on her arm, glancing up into the other woman's eyes for an instant.

"You're bleeding again" Chealith answered the unspoken question as she fought to remain standing in the jerking ship. "I'll stop it as best I can for now." She tightened the bandage with a jerk, sending a wave of fire through the larger woman's body. "It's not too bad, yet. But when we land I'm going to have to work on it again. If you don't stop banging it around I'm afraid you'll lose it."

Sunjia thought about that for a moment, then dismissed it. She’d almost lost her tail once in training. Losing an arm would be worse but survivable. There was nothing she could do about it now anyway. Ignoring the medics ministrations as best she could she made a quick check of the automatic log. Yes, the beacons had been launched and activated. No, no moon colony had been detected. Their signal should reach a rescue ship in a few years. If not they were stranded for life on a planet in the middle of nowhere. Thinking about the video signals they had received, and how they showed this planet's people treated visitors from the outside, she knew such a life would be short... very short.

Studying the rapidly changing mapscreen she adjusted the ships attitude. Dancing numbers slowed, then steadied as the ship ceased its wild skydance. "It looks like we will be landing somewhere around Latitude 28.5 by Longitude 98.5, using this planet's reference system," she informed her partner. "That's near a very large city, but there appears to be a lot of undeveloped hill country to its West. I'll try to set us down there, I can't do much until we're below the radar net, or we'd be spotted as an artifact." She adjusted their flight yet again as tale-tales suddenly reported heavy military grade emissions. "You better pray to your Goddess the camouflage system works after landing, there's bound to be 'scientific teams' out hunting us by tomorrow." She tapped a display sharply. "Once we're down its going to be rough, this planet is larger than any I've landed on before. A full three points above standard gravity, and there is currently a rather severe storm system covering most of the possible landing areas."

She waved Chealith back to her seat, watching a moment as the petite mouse sat down, quietly checking her own belts. She knew the woman was frightened, knew she had never experienced anything like this. But she also knew the medic would never show it. Seven years in the Survey forces, and here she was landing on an unknown planet with a Muridae medic whom she outranked only because she was bridge crew while the medic, three ranks higher, was not. Then there were the injuries. Chealith had recovered from her concussion, but Sunjia had been forced to do the delicate work, and her right arm was shattered so badly they the medic had debated on removing it all together. Sunjia had hid the fear of losing her arm, being maimed was one thing. Being maimed and trying to live on an unknown planets wasn't something to dwell on. Thankfully over the months her arm had started to mend, but shattered fragments of bone took a long time to heal. Especially in zero gravity.

She wondered how the local religious groups would explain away the intelligent Felidae and Muridae, before they burned them alive at the stake. 'I wonder what kind of devils they will make of us,' she thought. Reports of other crews grisly deaths at the paws of semi-civilized barbarians fluttered through her memory. Above all she couldn't let the peaceful medic fall into their paws. Chealith wasn't only delicate physically, the loss of her husband in the accident had drained her emotionally as well. 'Better to kill her quickly than let such a soft soul wither under their 'questioning' she thought to herself, wondering at the same time if she had the courage to do so. Those intercepted video transmissions had been explicit about what happened to those different than the majority, even if they were plays made for the public. Surviving this was going to take every scrap of skill and knowledge she had, and more. She turned back to the controls, noting they were less than a mile up. Time to begin searching for a landing place she knew, they would be entering the storm in less than two minutes.

Turning on the polarized landing radar she leaned over, looking out the canopy at dry, scrub brush covered hills. Not an inviting sight for two homeless women.

Chealith though was quietly watching Sunjia, her fear evident only in the punched material of her seats arms, her tiny claws digging in as the mouse fought for control. Sunjia had glanced at her, flashing a quick smile, then returned to her controls. Unlike her feline pilot, she had landed on enough planets to know too much was going wrong. Privately she put their chances of landing in one piece at a million to one, especially after she had caught the younger woman practicing landings a week ago. Settling back she tried to relax, forcing her tiny claws to retract as she closed her eyes. Forcing her tail to unwrap from the seats supports. A bad landing would rip hr tail out by the root. That was not a survivable injury. Not with only Sunjia to care for her. Still, no need to let her pilot know that her passenger was almost physically ill with fear.

'No need to frighten her by letting her know just how bad things really are' Sunjia was thinking as she fought the sluggish controls. When they entered the storms outer wall the ship tried to flip over twice before she managed to regain control, fighting against the loss of blood even as she started her search for a landing sight. Without the radar they would be safer, less chance of their emissions being detected. Yet, without the radar she would be blind, and hill or tree. Either would be enough to send pieces of shattered craft spinning into the storm. Shattered craft.. and bodies. Knowing she would only have one chance she slowed the bucking craft, according to her radar they were reaching the end of this line of hills, and nothing better was between them and the city. Tapping her controls she began descending, began the life or death hunt for a suitable landing site.

Their small ship slowed quickly as its pilot applied breaking energy. Several times she spotted good landing areas, only to be unable to return to them due to a combination of lack of fuel, the storm and starboard wing damage. In desperation she used the last remaining fuel to hover a few moments, pick a likely spot, then dive the ship quickly to the ground. Moments after landing she slapped at switches, barely waiting to insure the craft wasn't going to slide down a slope or fall into some hidden underground cavern. Hearing the engines slow their high pitched whine she slumped into her seat. For better or worse they were down, the main engines were almost out of fuel. Almost as an afterthought she engaged the ship's auxiliary power unit. Listening as the powerful little machines vibrations settled into a comfortable low hum, then activated the camouflage system as she let the encroaching darkness overtake her, eventually slumping lifelessly into her couch.

As soon as the ship settled Chealith started releasing her straps, moving as quickly as she could in the crushing gravity to Sunjia. She quickly noticed the felidae's arm was still bleeding and that her friend was unresponsive. Slowly she released the still form and, half dragging, half carrying, moved her back to the small medical section. Getting the now very heavy form on the bed was an adventure in itself. Fighting the massive planets deadly gravity field was exhausting. It didn't help that the feline weighed a full half again more than Chealith to start with. 'At least the bed lowers to the floor,' she thought to herself as she finished pulling Sunjia's unresponsive body over the shining stainless steel surface.

Opening the small medical cabinet she quickly gave Sunjia a mild pain killer. Working quickly she cleaned the wound, then selected a small needle and medical thread. Quickly but carefully beginning the process of re-sewing torn stitches. "At this rate she'll never heal. I hate command officers" she muttered to herself. It took almost half an hour to complete her job, bandage the wound and return the precious needle to her small sterilizer. Opening her tiny cabinet she selected another hypo and stimulant, "Three thousand years of medical progress, and we still use plungers and needles," she muttered, mostly to herself. Turning she slipped the needle into Sunjia's right leg, injecting the amber fluid.

It was only a matter of minutes before the injured woman's eyes opened. "How bad's the damage" she asked, groggily trying to look around from the bed.

Chealith, still dismantling the hypo for cleaning glanced up at her a moment. "To the ship or you Captain" she asked, laying each delicate piece into the waiting tray.

"Both, I think," Sunjia replied. "And don't call me Captain, even if I'm the only flight officer left. We're on first name basis, remember?"

Moving the bed to a sitting position Chealith sat down, rubbing her now sore neck and back. "Well, as to the ship I really don't know. I was rather occupied, and we only landed about an hour ago. Its probably still doing diagnostics. As for you, you tore your stitches and started bleeding again. Scans show the bone repair is all-right, but we have to be careful of infection until it heals. All in all Snowy, you'll live."

Sunjia grinned at the nickname. The mouse’s husband had given it to her during a skiing trip on their last shore leave, when she had proved her skiing abilities by plowing uncontrollably through several snowmen at the bottom of a hill. Moving as slow as possible she sat up. "Really? I wouldn't believe it the way I feel right now." she admitted, testing her balance carefully. "I guess we better check the ship in case there's more damage." Slowly she stood up, paused, and began to settle.

Chealith moved over and slipped under her good arm. Looking up into the pain laced face she grinned. "Lucky I'm so short or you'd need a cane" she joked, letting the felines weight settle on her, feeling her own delicate bones bend slightly. "Well, I guess we can make it to the cockpit, if you don't fall on me that is. A lot of your problem is this gravity, how could anything survive here?" Slowly the two moved forward.

Settling down in the still sticky, bloodstained seat Sunjia began working with the ship's computer. Selecting the voice pattern systems she began speaking. "Computer, status of lander please."

<<Complete, limited, or overview report?>>

Looking over to Chealith she said "Complete could take hours. I'll just get an overview right now." Turning back to the computer she answered "Overview. Major Data only."

<<Working, hold.>>

Several minutes passed while both women looked out the flame licked cockpit at the shadowy, rain blurred landscape.

<<Status as follows>> the computer suddenly said, breaking into their silent thoughts. <<Lander is safely grounded, holographic camouflage system working within parameters. Fuel remaining for primary engines 0.9%, fuel for power system 59%. Estimated flight time under current gravity conditions, calm atmosphere, two minutes. Estimated lifetime of power generation, three years. No pressure hull breaches located. Ship systems working within parameters. Report complete.>>

Chealith released a held breath in relief. "Well, I guess we had better re-supply at the local gas station then. What and how much do we need?"

Sitting forward slowly, Sunjia rubbed her still aching head with her good paw. Without looking up she started. "Anti-matter and Mercury. About twenty grams of anti-matter would do nicely. Unfortunately, according to the computer this world doesn't appear to have access to anti-matter as yet. Mercury should be easy, but it really doesn't matter. This ship will never enter space again."

She paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "We've landed in a pretty desolate area, about sixty miles from the city as the locals count distance. That's good and bad. Its good because we probably won't be located for a few months after the holo-field drops. It's bad because if we were close to an electrical power grid we could supplement our power requirements. But there's no telling how far away a large enough power grid is." She stared out as lightning suddenly illuminated the landscape around them. "Goddess, with enough electrical power we could create our own primary systems fuel. One of those if-then-else problems your husband always talked about. I wish he were here now, he would know exactly what to do."

Chealith abruptly sat down at the mention of her husband. "Oh" she said, pain filtering through her voice at the mention of her husband, memories of his lifeless body floating past a viewport flashing through her mind. "Then in three years we die, right?" She turned to the computer pickup. "What if we put out solar collectors or wind generators? Would that help?"

<<Solar collectors will improve energy usage. Addition of approximately seven months local projected. No equipment manifested on-board for wind power generation usage>>.

Sunjia stood up, turning to the back of the ship. "Besides, any wind powered unit would be spotted by the locals. Our holo-field can’t hide anything big enough to be worth the effort." Looking down she smiled into the seated mouses eyes. "Brace up. We'll make it somehow. But I suggest we eat and get a good nights sleep." Looking out the flame streaked canopy again she shook her head. "I don't think this storm is going to end before morning, and it will be a while before we can go out and hook up the collectors. Anyway, I'm hungry. And awfully thirsty." Standing slowly to avoid another wave of dizziness she started back to the tiny galley.

Chealith though remained seated. Staring out the canopy at the rocky, storm battered landscape, remembering her own heavily forested home. The intermittent view outside was as alien to her as a desert would be to a fish. She finally pushed the image from her mind. Then leaning over her environmental station she depressed a few buttons, nodding to herself as the station began her selected program. She hadn't missed just how much blood her partner had lost and was honestly surprised the woman could even function at all, much less work in this crushing gravity. She read some of the preliminary data crossing the tiny screen, nodding to herself. Could they even survive outside their ships hull, was this planets ecology acceptable? Closing her eyes she sent a short prayer heavenward to her Goddess. Only then did she turn to follow her partner to the ship's small galley. 'It won't hurt to get some fluids and food down her' she decided, carefully skirting a crate of engine parts. 'There's always the sleeper tanks, they have their own power supply.' She tried to look cheerful as she started helping Sunjia dig out lunch from scattered cans. 'I'll just have to keep my mind open' she finally decided.

Chapter Two

SENSOR ARRAY

A helicopters heavy beat pulsed through Sunjia's body as she lay hidden. The natives noisy flying machine had been making slow passes since just after sunrise, trapping her out in the open with her bag of sensors. Moving slowly, she carefully took another sip from her canteen. Not only was this planet's gravity heavier than her homeworlds, but the thick humidity of the day was causing her to overheat.

"I think that was their last pass" Chealith's voice said through her earplug. "It looks like their headed back to the farmhouse."

Sunjia glanced up. The local sun was near zenith. Bringing her microphone back into position, she triggered her transmitter. "Looks like its about noon local time" she reported. "I bet their headed in for lunch." She rolled onto her stomach, bringing her binoculars up for a better look.

As Chealith had guessed, the huge machine slowly lowered to the ground, landing in an open field less than a mile from Sunjia's hiding place. She made a careful sweep for any of the walking searchers, only then slowly rising from her hours long position.

"If it wasn't for the heat and insects, this wouldn't be too bad a place" she commented as she worked her way back to the hidden lander.

"That's easy for you to say" Chealith replied. "You're not lifting almost half again your weight every time you stand up."

Sunjia chuckled, "That's why you get the easy jobs" she answered. Trying to make light of their desperate position.

"I'd rather be out there, making new discoveries" the mouse replied.

Walking through what appeared to be dense, closly packed cactus Sunjia sighed as she entered the relative safety of the cammo-field, and its slight shade. Her field bags pull reminded her of the three sensors she hadn't been able to deploy. She would have to complete the pattern tonight, in some of the roughest terrain. Looking up at the cloudy sky, she prayed for thick fog.

Meanwhile, still moving carefully as she learned to live in the crushing gravity the delicate mouse medical officer triggered the ships outer hatch. Thus allowing her sole companion on this alien planet to enter. Swivelling her seat she faced the cat as she entered the ship.

"So, did you find anything interesting this time?" the mouse asked.

"I've brought you a few plants, some mineral samples, and some particularly nasty insects" the cat replied, dropping her field sample bag on a desk. A deep sigh escaped the feline as she sat. "I've trained in high Gee fields, but this constant day in day out stuff is murder."

Chealith nodded. "Your adapting well. In the week we've been here your muscle mass has improved. I think you'll survive." She stood carefully, walking over to the table to examine the samples.

"What did you mean by 'nasty'" she asked, holding up a vial of several dozen rapidly moving, multilegged insects.

"They bite, long and often" the cat replied. "Whatever you do. When your out there, from now on avoid those mounds of earth. Just touch one and they swarm like Hurj."

Nodding, Chealith set the vial in a quarantine chamber, letting the computer's remote's open and examine the vials contents.

"I think they're ants" she said, adjusting the computer's research program slightly. "At least they match those insects on last nights' program." Picking up a small stone, she weighed it carefully in one paw.

"Looks like limestone" Sunjia commented. "But there's igneous rock here too. Place must be a mix of old sea and volcano field."

"Mmmmmm" the mouse answered, letting a drop of acid onto the stone. It fizzled, tiny bubbles built up to quickly subside as the reaction finished. "Probably right. A Base at least. If it is limestone, we should have caverns around us. Maybe even one large enough to hide the ship."

"After those searchers leave I'll start the remote's to searching" Sunjia decided. She stretched, a soft smile crossing her face. "I'll see about tapping that river below. Unlimited water and a hot bath would work wonders for the both of us."

The thought of a tub of hot water, floating near weightless almost caused the older mouse to moan. Gravity had been doing its worst on her. Already joint pain was almost a full time experience. Shaking the image away she turned to the plant material.

Sunjia stood while her partner worked, peeling off her outer grey-brown cammo-clothing as she headed for the shower. "As soon as I get cleaned up I'll start lunch, then I need some sleep" she called. The sound of Velcro fastenings being pulled apart followed her to the ships rear.

Chealith glanced back toward the ships aft section. She envied her companions strength in this worlds crushing gravity. Keeping her own medical condition, and prognoses away from her would be a full time job. If she could adapt everything would be all right. If not, she would die from the crushing gravity. Turning back to her specimens she softly cursed the searchers. A full week and they were still combing these hills for 'a meteorite of unknown size.' The image of a hot bath floated through her mind again. For a moment she imagined a giant robot attacking the searchers, sending them scattering. A soft giggle escaped her petite lips. Giant robots, on this world and every one she had been too, were still elements of fiction.

The smell of cooking food eventually brought Chealith out of her studies. A quick glance showed that she had been examining the alien plants over an hour now. Carefully finishing her current test she closed up, just in time to accept plate and mug from Sunjia.

"So, find anything interesting?" the younger woman asked.

Setting her mug down Chealith tapped a few keys, bringing up her report. "Basically, your average semi-desert vegetation. Like we thought, those insects are ants. I cross referenced them with the database I'm building off the planetary network. They are native to the Southern continent and were introduced to this one about fifty or so years ago." She glanced over to her partner and grinned. "A typical acid bite, painful in small amounts. Deadly if you're overwhelmed. Nasty. The one high point so far is the wood you brought in. Its almost a perfect match for Jen-Jurra."

Sunjia's ears perked up at the, to her good news. "Jen-Jurra?" she half whispered. "If it is we're famous. The Lurnoq can't get enough of that wood."

"And now it's an endangered species on my planet just for that reason" the mouse agreed. "It used to be fairly common, until the commercial concerns went crazy. It'll be another thirty years at least, before any sort of normalized trade can start again."

"Well it's pretty common as far as I was able to see" Sunjia reported. She picked up a small cartridge, slipping it into a viewer. Tapping the play button she fast forwarded through the first few minutes. A slow pan East of the cliff showed low rolling hills.

"That big city is in that direction" Sunjia commented. "I'd say, sixty miles or so. You can see the hills are just covered with the plant."

Absorbed by the scene, Chealith tapped the pause button. "So much, like it once was on my planet" she whispered. "That city, how big?"

"About a million from what I've been able to gather" the cat answered, absently leaning against her companion. "The communication lines below us are awful limited. I've had to rely on our satellite tap for most data."

"And a military city at that" Chealith groaned. "How long until our signal gets home?"

"Eighteen years to base. Another four years for a ship. Less if they've already sent a ship looking for us or better. Our signal is interceptted by another survey ship."

"What, in all the names of life, are we going to do for the next eighteen or more years?" the mouse asked.

Sunjia shut the viewer off, popping the solid-state cassette into her paw. Setting it on the table she faced her friend. "Hide" she answered.

Fog hadn't answered her prayers, but heavy rain had. Sunjia shivered as the cold water slipped beneath her cammo gear, soaking her fur. The good news was while she had slept the aliens had broken camp. Less than ten remained, and they would probably leave when the rain ended. The bad news was, she had some difficult climbing ahead and the rock was wet.

“How much longer" crackled in her ear.

She grimaced, looking across several yards of slick rock to the position suggested by her computer map. "Maybe ten minutes to set it, another half-hour to get back" she reported. Lightning crackled across the sky, ruining her night vision again. Swearing, she keyed her mike. "Better make that another fifteen, this lightning is making things impossible."

"Understood" Chealith replied. "But if your not back in an hour, I'm coming out after you."

Sunjia laughed as the image of the delicate mouse fighting storm winds flashed through her mind. "You better dig out an anchor then" she said. "It's a full sized gale out here."

As if making her point a gust of wind slammed the cat hard against the cliff, bringing a curse to her now bloodied lips. "If it isn't the gravity, it's the marg wind" she cursed. "This planets out to kill me." Even her tail ached.

Inside the ship Chealith watched as the blue point of light representing her crewmate moved slowly, finally coming to a stop over an amber point. Moments later the amber point changed to green, and the blue dot of her friend's beacon started moving back. She sighed, relaxing a little. This was the most dangerous sensor position. Now with the sensor in place nothing larger than a fly could approach within a mile. Not without being detected. It would take days for the ship's computer to learn what to disregard. Animals, birds and such. And what to scream bloody hell about. Like the aliens.

Outside Sunjia eased toward the ragged gash in the cliff, the point where she had descended. If anything, the storm had gotten worse. Hail had come through minutes before, giving the feline more bruises than she wanted to count. Thankfully the cliff had protected her from the worst of the pounding ice. She shivered at the thought, some of it had been as large as her fist. Actually shattering rock from the cliff-face. Reaching out she grasped her safety rope, pulling herself into the wind just as a huge gust screamed down the ravine.

Chealith stopped breathing as the blue dot showing her friend spun away, falling at high velocity toward the ground over three hundred feet below. Without a word she spun her chair around, running for the airlock in a vain hope against hope. Less than a minute later she was fighting the storm herself, dragging herself along the safety line Sunjia had set. Heading near mindlessly toward the cliff edge.

Sunjia finally dragged herself over the cliff edge, pulling her battered body along the safety rope by more force of will than strength. Several pieces of equipment had departed her care when the wind had spun her against the rock. One of them had been her communications gear. Fighting the wind she started for the ship, only to run full against something small, soft, and warm. With a gasp she collapsed against her friend, exhaustion and pain overcoming her mind.

Chealith fell under her friends massive weight, slamming against hard rock as the cats unconscious body pinned her to the ground. She felt, more than heard the bone in her chest fail. Positioning her free leg against the other woman's body she forced herself free. Free, she stood, pulling the safety rope up from the cliff. Once the end was in her paws she looked down at the body before her, the ship behind her, and the distance between. No way. She would have to wait until the cat woke up again.

This was getting monotonous.

"You shattered your arm again" Chealith reported, limping across the small room to her patient.

"It seems you did about the same thing" Sunjia replied from her bed.

Chealith looked down a moment, then back at the bandage covered feline. "Actually, you did this when you fell on me" she admitted.

"Oh" Sunjia gasped. "I'm so very sorry."

"It's nothing to what you did to my heart when I thought you had fallen off the cliff" the mouse continued. "After all, if you get killed. Well, how am I going to get water from that river? And the hot bath to go with it."

Sunjia laid back in her bed and groaned. "That's right, you're the computer illiterate of the two of us."

Slipping back into her now favorite chair the mouse laughed, bringing up the latest weather map from the alien satellite. "Yep" she replied lightly. "I never have found that 'ANY' key."

Furry Hearts was started in early 1992. It has lain almost untouched since at least then. I have on occasion looked at it, changed a word or two, but in the whole it remained as it was. I finally dragged it back out, re-wrote quite a bit and now place it on my website. You will find a drawing by Mr. Robert Newell in the Main Gallery that shows the characters. (Sunjia and Keela Investigate.) Regrettably I have lost contact with him. I think that the last snail-mail contact was around 1996 or ‘97. Perhaps he found his own starship. I will probably never know. But he captured these two exactly as I imagined them. Perhaps I will return to these two. I honestly do not know. All the notes, outline, character list and such have been lost during the last seventeen years. Hard drive crashes and OS/Machine changes tend to do that. Why, of all the material I wrote in my TI-99/4A, nothing remains. Of the old 8088 in SAMNA IV, only a handful. Such is the way of life.