Second Hand Dreams of Five Kittens

Second Hand Dreams of Five Kittens by Allen Fesler

(From the Chakatheaven yahoo group)

This story appears to be a continuation of the original Folly Curse novel, but it's difficult to tell. It begins with the character's names (not introduced), which is never a good sign.
We start with a scene of the protagonist trying to resolve some kind of emotional issue regarding amnesia and killing someone, which I really didn't understand, and the author didn't adequately describe. Was this a chapter from something? If so, I couldn't figure that out. I awarded a cheese point for that.
The plot abruptly skips to a scene onboard some kind of ship, where students are discussing technobabble for warp core engineering. Amidst the discussion, a stranger tells them the faults in their project plans, then treats them to a long, boring lecture, which the characters eagerly listen to for some reason. I guessed that the stranger was Neal in disguise, since nobody else in this story universe seemed to be that boring, and I was right.
Later on, we see Neal competing in a starship engine building contest. I don't see why he'd be going back to school when the previous installments describe him as perfect in everything, especially this category, but whatever. It's not like there's a clear connection between Folly The Curse and this one anyway.
As expected, Neal again bores the reader to death with an in-depth explanation of everything he's doing, and people just listen with rapt attention instead of telling him to stick a sock in it.

My eyelids became heavier and heavier as it went on. The narrator spent far too much time explaining the reactors instead of setting up the scene, and then Neal's continued lecturing combined to form a 1-2 punch drawing me right into Slumberland.
The comment he made about Base 10 made me dislike the character even more. A character this flawless does not make for good fiction. Point.
It only gets worse. After this, we read about how his wonderful starship engine powered an entire city. Flaws, please.
Some generically defined "humans" threaten him, but he deflects the threat by being a know it all. They leave in a huff, and then he lectures the teacher some more.
I awarded a point for the Oh Henry type of ending.

Weird Parts

When she was gone, a voice behind him said, “You’re wasting your time on that one.”
“You think so?” Neal asked, turning to find M’Talonyiss behind him.
“Rakshani can’t be taught, they just get angry when they don’t understand and then they tear the place up,” she warned him.
“Says the voice of experience,” Neal said with a grin. “Just remember one thing, cub,” he advised her. At her look of confusion he grinned. “Five seconds,” he reminded her.
M’Talonyiss stood there for a moment before her ears flushed red in embarrassment. She turned to flee, only to run into a wall of fur. The top of her head hadn’t even brushed the bottom of Eyeblack’s breasts. She ‘epped’ in surprise before almost scampering for the door.

I have no idea what the hell is going on here. Why was she embarrassed? What does `five seconds' mean? Did he telepathically give her an orgasm or something? I award a cheese point for not making that clear anywhere in the surrounding paragraphs.

“Bringing her down to seventy-four,” Neal said as he did so. After confirming that the core was stable enough to not need constant supervision and giving Eyeblack instructions, he turned back to the instructor. “What was that all about?”
The instructor gave Neal a funny look as she said; “We feed excess power back to the grid to help pay for the fuel the students use. The city’s main power station was calling to say their generators were currently at idle, we – or rather you are supplying the full needs of not only this school, but also the city beyond. This will give them time to get in some maintenance without having to borrow the power from other areas.”

Insufferably smug with no shortcomings. The author must have come from a different planet. How could it be possible to come up with a character this boring right off the top of your head, and continue to write about him at such length?

Cheesey Story Checklist

Each item on this list earns a story 1 Cheese Point. Earning the maximum amount of Cheese Points will earn you the Golden Wedge! (Note: Additional points can be added only when the scene changes. Also, WTF points do not count for a trophy, but may be considered criminal evidence in some states)

Award one point for parental warning plot spoiler [Click For Explanation]:
0
Award one point for Copyright Spoiler [Click For Explanation]:
0
*Award one point for Lazy Narrator Intro. [Click For Explanation]
0
*Award one point for Yagermeister Influenced Intro. [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Title Cheese. [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Joe Is In A Room. (Bonus for Afterthought) [Click For Explanation]
5
*Award one point for No Return:[Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for POV Potpourri: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Quick Release: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Mister Invincible: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Mister Invincible - Category: Flawless: [Click For Explanation]
4
*One point for Mister Invincible - Category: Flawless Beyond Logic: [Click For Explanation]
1
*One point for Mister Invincible - Category: Invincible Ego: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Mister Invincible - Category: Villains: [Click For Explanation]
1
*One point for Mister Invincible - Category: Law: [Click For Explanation]
1
*Award one point for Mister Invincible - Category: Canon: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Award one point for Mister Invincible - Category: Overkill: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Award one point for Mister Invincible - Category: Straw Soldiers: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Award one point for Mister Invincible - Category: Red Shirt Deaths: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Award one point for Mister Invincible - Category: Herocentric Universe: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Award one point for Mister Invincible - Category: Can't Take a Joke: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Award one point for Mister Invincible - Category: "Love Story" Tagline: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Award one point for Mister Invincible - Category: Planning For Yawns: [Click For Explanation]
1
*Award one point for Mister Invincible - Category: Magic on Demand: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Award one point for Mister Invincible - Category: Slightly Wounded Hero: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Award one point for Mister Invincible - Category: Know It All: [Click For Explanation]
4
*One point for "This Looks Neat". [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Fandom Style Manual. [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for See Fandom Glossary. [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Redundantly Redundant. [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for CTRL+V. [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Pretty Nice. [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Mega Recap. [Click For Explanation]
1
*One point for Doctor Standards. [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Info Dumptruck. [Click For Explanation]
11
*One point for "What do you mean, `Fire is hot'"? [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Fill Dirt Dumping [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Rererecap [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for MSDS Unabridged [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Conversational Sow's Ear: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Always The Right Shoulder: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Mary Sue: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Mary Sue: Category: Wish Fulfillment: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Mary Sue: Category: Everybody Loves Me: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Mary Sue: Category: I'm So Sorry: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Mary Sue: Category: Canon: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Gee, Thanks Narrator: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for The J.K. Rowling: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for However, He Also Had A Gun: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Harlequin Romance: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Doctor Strangelove Dialog: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Patching: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Angry Lesbian Breasts: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Character Non-Descriptions: [Click For Explanation]
2
*One point for Refer To Previous Description: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Refer To Movie: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for Concept Salad: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point for It's Lucky That: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Excessive Homage: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Temporal Salad: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One Point for That's Why I Prefer Amiga: [Click For Explanation]
0
*King Trite-On: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Raping the Fourth Wall: [Click For Explanation]
0
*The Space Bus: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Surfer Novelist: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Don't Think of An Elephant: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Step 1: He Got In The Car: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Hmm, I wonder what Rosebud Is: [Click For Explanation]
0
*He Is Because I Said He Is [Click For Explanation]
0
*"Translation: Where's The Beef?" [Click For Explanation]
0
*Unsolicited Detailing [Click For Explanation]
0
*Scene Shifting Without Clutch [Click For Explanation]
1
*You Wore It Out: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Adam West Narrative: [Click For Explanation]
0
*The Rabbit's Waistcoat: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Character Disassociation: [Click For Explanation]
0
*MEANWHILE... [Click For Explanation]
0
*Michael Gondry prose: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Textbook Hero: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Cookie Monster Style Manual: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Oh, I Forgot He's Naked: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Fakedreaming: [Click For Explanation]
0
*"In English, "Tree" Means Tree": [Click For Explanation]
0
*CUT TO: CHAPTER 2, PARAGRAPH 1 [Click For Explanation]
0
*Target Audience Yo-Yo [Click For Explanation]
0
*Shirley, You Can't Be Serious: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Name Overlap Confusion: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Moviephone Prose: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Shaggy Dog Ending: [Click For Explanation]
0
*A Word From Our Sponsors: [Click For Explanation]
0
*I'm Bored: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Retief Dialog: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Pranks For Those With No Friends: [Click For Explanation]
0
*It All Depends on Jarjar: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Archie Bunker Dad: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Pancake Villain: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Present Progressive Abuse: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Attention Defecit Prose: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Peeping Tom Universe: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Mr. Tree Monkey's Ulcer: [Click For Explanation]
0
*My Little Pony's Dark Secret: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Grandpa Skywalker's Story Time: [Click For Explanation]
0
*One point if the author describes actions with vague adverbs such as "sensually" or "brutally":
0
*Award one point for overly long uninterrupted Q&A session/info dump:
0
*Award one point if characters get into a long, drawn out argument/debate over a plot hole:
0
*One point for POV Spoiler where the disorganized POV of the story lead to the author giving away the plot:
0
*One point for inappropriate punctuation, or comma usage in places that don't need commas. Example: "He let out a short, coarse, laugh."
0
Award one point for unprofessional use of numbers such as "he looked up and saw 2 men enter the room."
0
*One point for "Time (seemed to) stand still as..."
0
*One point for "As if on cue..."
0
*One point for unnecessary recap of events the reader has read.
0
*One point for over-explaining the self explanatory, or the obvious:
0
*One point for rewording an old adage to fit a new type of character/species/whatever, such as "A bird in claw is worth two in the bush."
0
*One point for trite expressions made literal, such as finding a drum, and a door nearby that is literally tighter.
0
*One point if it contains movie cliches:
0
*One point for pseudoscience Squared (The Twilight Effect):
0
*One point for excessive profanity that dulls the impact of profanity in the story:
0
*One point if the author kills a joke, pun or metaphor, or fails to understand the concept of a metaphor:
1
*One point for any bad puns:
0
*One point if there's an anticlimax:
0
*One point for a Mary Shelly ("I made my creation large so it would be easier to work on.")
0
*One point for Sex=1, Science=0:
0
*One point if alien biology is ninety to one hundred percent identical to earth biology:
0
*One point if popular song lyrics are quoted extensively:
0
*One point for character interactions and dialog in a description-less vacuum:
0
*Award one point for too many "saids".
0
*Award one point for any situation resembling the Kobiashi Muru:
0
*Award one point for American English names being used on all spaceships:
0
*Award one point for inertial dampers that don't work when the ship is attacked or hit by asteroids:
0
*Reader excluded from inside jokes:
0
*One point for the Christopher Walken (unconnected dialog):
0
*Extremely pointless mundane details:
0
*Award one point for He-Man nomenclature ("Get into the SkySled, Ram Man!):
0
*Turn based combat and/or any video game-like battle sequences:
0
*Pointless excursion into segment involving irrelevant side character or characters:
0
*A word is broken into two words when it isn't supposed to be:
0
*One point for recipe analogies. Example: "Add one part scumbag, one part moron, one part scientist, and you get Jeff."
0
*Award one point for inappropriate transition into action. Example: "He was a slim, muscular fellow, with raspberry hair and glistening white teeth, shoveling manure out of a barn with a pitchfork."
0
*First person narrative begins with something like, "You know, doctors say it's healthy for you to keep a diary..."
0
*Technobabble:
0
*Award one point for generic scenery descriptions:
0
*Award one point for narrator referencing unknown character not featured in story:
0
*Award one point for a character verbally finishing the narrator's thought, breaking the suspension of disbelief:
0
*Award one point for a Harry Potter millionaire (i.e. parents die and boy gets unlimited wealth, etc.)
0
*Award one point for characters doing exactly what is described in their elaborate plans, with no kinks in its execution:
0
*Award one point for adding a "you've got mail" to the dialog:
0
*"Dark as midnight", or anything "raven" in their description that isn't a raven:
0
*Award one point for vaguely defined setting, where you're not really sure what country or planet it is:
0
*Award one point for details about a character's employment (or lack thereof) as an afterthought:
0
*Use of the non-word "furred", or human equivalent such as "socked foot":
0
*Accidental use of popular quotes, such as "more than meets the eye" or "knowing is half the battle":
1
*"May you live in interesting times":
0
*"These aren't the droids you are looking for":
0
*"Nobody puts baby in the corner":
0
*"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."
0
*The guy who kills the thing or person trying to kill you is always a person you can trust:
0
*Award one point for a slapped on ending that really doesn't end the story.
0
*Award one point if the characters can hear capitalization in spoken words:
0
*Award one point if a figure of speech clashes with another identical sounding part of the sentence in a way that distracts from the reading, such as, "My relatives are strange, relatively speaking" and it's not done for humorous reasons:
0
*Award one point for referencing a popular internet meme (such as "I can has cheezburger") in the prose narrative:
0
*Award one point for inappropriate capitalization:
0
*Hero looks himself in the mirror and reader gets description dump:
0
*Puberty gives you magic powers:
0
*Conflict resolution via info dump (narrator says it's solved and it is):
0
*Size 14 description in size 5 shoe:
0
*Canon character recounts his/her adventures that we already saw in a movie:
0
*Award one point for Yagermeister Influenced Conclusion:
0
*The Military Has Gone Soft:
0
*"Note To Self: Remove author's notes from story":
1
*Simulations prepare you for everything:
0
*Inappropriately/untimely sexual moment:
0
*Instant Pregnancy (And they just had sex an hour ago):
0
*Plot sketching instead of actual story:
0
*Freudian slip count:
0
*Grammatical error count (a point for each one):
0
*Typo Count (a point for each glaringly obvious typo):
0
*Racial/cultural stereotypes:
0
*Saccharine tablet (gooey sweet paragraph) count:
0
Subtotal: 35
Furry Cliches (+1/2 point for each)
*Not Naked, Sorta [Click For Explanation]
0
*"Exactly Like A Bat" [Click For Explanation]
0
*Furpile [Click For Explanation]
0
*I Knew My Change Was Complete [Click For Explanation]
0
*Transformation Holiday: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Instant Sexy, Just Add Fur: [Click For Explanation]
0
*Furries get lavish descriptions. Humans get nothing: 0
*You always can identify what you've transformed into: 0
*Your doctor can always identify what you've transformed into immediately (the Health Channel doesn't exist): 0
*Protagonist knows that his transformation is done: 0
*Kinky scene involving protagonist exploring his or her transformed body (award a bonus point if it is actually sexual in some way): 0
*The transformed always knows the correct diet they're supposed to eat/what environ they're supposed to inabit: 0
*Starting immediately with a transformation without establishing the character's humanity before the change: 0
*The internet was right: 0
*Transformation is the only topic of conversation: 0
*Furries don't receive spam: 0
*Transformed people can still eat normally: 0
*Hero faces an unreal crisis that only people in the fandom care about and believe to be a crisis: 0
*Humans and/or simians are evil or otherwise cannot be trusted: 0
*"Assembled furs," "he saw a fur enter the room" and other generic animal character descriptions: 0
*Part of the story is written around commissioned art (add a bonus point if it is irrelevant to the plot): 0
*Character faces an existential crisis because they are told, or believe, that furries do not have souls. Or the church tells them they have no soul: 0
*A character "unsheaths" something on their body, and it isn't a sword: 0
*Characters named after what they look like: 0
*"The Christian church hates furries/The Christian church is evil": 0
*"Playing with nipples enough can cause an orgasm": 0
*Breastfeeding fetish (bonus point if there's some flimsy excuse for an adult feeding): 0
*Breast fetish (bonus point if overtly stated): 0
*Parents take bestiality marriage/mating unusually well: 0
*There are special classes for learning how to be the animal you've changed into: 0
*You can only get pregnant when you're in heat: 0
*Obligatory furry newscast: 0
*Obligatory magic power endowment: 0
*The Memory Warehouse/Hallway (or wall) of Furry Power: 0
*The president became a bald eagle: 0
*Using a synonym for animal features instead of actually describing the character (example: "Her feline ears perked up at the sound"):
0
*Literal bitches (female canines) literally acting like bitches:
0
*Character goes to the mall immediately after transformation. There is always a mall available for this purpose:
0
*After transforming, the hero automatically finds a new girlfriend:
0
*The news is the only thing on, or the only thing anybody watches:
0
Furry Subtotal: 0
Chakat cliches (Chakat stories only - when featured in a Chakat story, two cliches equal one to allow for fair scoring)
*Lifestyle "Shocker" [Click For Explanation]
0
*Diet Slut [Click For Explanation]
0
*I Don't Care About Nudity, Sorta [Click For Explanation]
0
*Chakat Greeting (award bonus point if it involves a hug): 0
*Chakat pronouns explained: 0
*Chakat telepathy: 0
*Bernard Doove Was Right: 0
*Chakats are always genetically superior, even in morality, wisdom, mental health, and common sense: 0
*It's all in Scientific Chakat: 0
*Chakat style imitation wedding proposal/marriage: 0
*Chakats don't care about nudity (probably because they spend most their time having sex anyway). Award bonus point if they contradict this laissez faire attitude with provisions for their own privacy or get embarrassed about their nudity: 0
*Excessive Chakat grammar, or, alternately, any usage of the uber silly non-word "shir": 0
*Milkwater: 0
*`Taur pads are the only furniture: 0
*Sexual preference such as "male phase" used as character description: 0
*"Tail high": 0
*PADD: 0
*Halter tops compose ninety percent of the clothing being worn by the protagonist(s): 0
*Humans First: 0
*Naked birthing party (add a bonus point if a naked human is involved):
0
*Births are never spontaneous, random, unwanted, uncomfortable and/or inconvenient: 0
*Nobody has a miscarriage or abortion: 0
Chakat Subtotal: 0
Unclassified Cheese Bonus (Described in review or "Weird Parts:" section): 4
Subtotal: 39
Kudos
*"Caught In A Plot Web" [Click For Explanation]
0
*Award one kudos if the character is introduced before their name is used in the story.
0
*Kudos for breaking away from canon (fanfiction only):
0
*Misc Kudos: 0
Total Kudos Deduction: 0
OVERALL CHEESE SCORE: 39
WTF: 0
Sleaze-O-Meter (One for every scene and/or dialog goes beyond the pale in trashiness): 0

The Story

Shadowcrest sat at the desk in Neal’s ‘ready room’ having just completed one of hir certification tests for piloting warp capable vessels. Hir idle glance went around the room; shi was wondering if anything there might bring up some more of the memory slivers shi had inadvertently gained from Neal. While Lighttouch had given hir some new ways of understanding and controlling how some of those memories affected hir, shi was still surprised at how many little sights, sounds, and scents could bring up thoughts that shi never would have thought of before. Until shi and the others had joined Neal and Tess on Folly, Neal hadn’t been using this room all that much, preferring one of the bridge stations. So not much was catching hir attention, the long coat and its hook made from a piece of the Good Deal shi knew about already, and most of the things on the desk were common tools of the trade. One of the few things that wasn’t was an old style picture frame with a seemingly random picture in it. Shi had looked it over before; there were no controls to select what you would be seeing, not even a power switch. At the moment the scene was one of a hillside that might have been on Earth in fall as the trees were in a riot of colors.

Shi was about to turn away when the scene changed. The new one was a picture of five Caitian females mugging for whoever had taken the picture, while a Rakshani in the background was looking like she wished she didn’t have to be there. Shadowcrest didn’t get a really good look at them, as shi felt like shi was having a hearts attack. Fear, sorrow, anger, and the feelings of the cold-blooded killer washed through hir as shi sat there shivering. Fear that he had failed the Caitians, and he had. Sorrow because they had died, and he’d been helpless to prevent it. Anger from knowing they had been killed because of what he’d shown them, and the last because he had dealt with their killers himself.

Shadowcrest didn’t know how long shi lay there trying to cope with what shi’d discovered, but a sharp nip on the end of hir tail brought hir out of it. Looking behind hir, shi found Firestorm looking both hopeful that shi was back as well as apologetic for having needed to get hir attention that way.

“Thanks Stormy,” Shadowcrest said as shi reached down to pull the kitten into a hug/cuddle. A tap at the doorframe brought hir to realize Lighttouch was watching hir carefully, shi could just sense hys mental presence, but hy was waiting for hir okay before making the connection. “I’m okay now,” shi sent hym, “Stormy chewed on my tail for letting it hit me so hard.”

“May I?” Lighttouch asked. Shi turned the picture frame and sent the feelings it had produced in hir. Hy was silent for a minute before hy nodded. “Quite a shock from what looks like such an innocent image. Would you like some help with this?”

Shadowcrest nodded. “Tonight, if that’s okay with you. I don’t want to try rushing this as there feels like it has too many layers.”

“I agree. There seemed to be more than meets the eye, even for one of his memories.”

***

(Damn, I’ll need more &^%%$ names!)
Goldfur: I assume you need five Caitian female names. Suggestions:
A M’Nissabrrn (“Nissa”), B M’Rennersu, C M’Talonyiss (“Talon”), D M’Kress, E M’Lantrrsaa


“When we increase the warp core’s fourth level feeds by twenty percent, we’ll get a fifty percent output boost!” a Caitian exclaimed to her friends and co-engineers in the project they had been assigned. They were in a library, but as it was technically oriented, they were allowed to keep it down to a low roar in the noise level department. “We can get this ready for the simulators in an hour if we hurry,” M’Nissabrrn added as she pushed the data to her friends PADDs.

“And it’ll blow up in five seconds,” an elderly human voice muttered moments later from two tables over. Had their table been occupied by humans they never would have heard him, but Caitian ears were much sharper.

“What did you say?” M’Rennersu demanded as she closed the distance between them, the others not far behind. M’Kress glared at the PADD in front of him as it showed the same warp core figures M’Nissabrrn had just sent her friends.

“I said ‘it’ll blow in five seconds’, though I might be being a bit optimistic on how long the force fields will save you from your folly,” he said at a more normal volume. “And if you don’t want everyone getting a copy of your ideas, you may want to do private sends and not public broadcasts.”

M’Nissabrrn had a hot retort ready, but M’Talonyiss cut her off. “What did you mean about it blowing in five seconds? There’s no way you’ve had long enough to examine M’Nissabrrn’s theory in detail.”

“Your class requires you to use the standard class ‘A’ warp core test-bed, correct?” he asked her, ignoring M’Nissabrrn and M’Rennersu’s anger at his butting into their business.

“Of course,” M’Talonyiss admitted.

“Then the design requires that you return some of the power generated to reinforce the core’s force fields. As your friend’s data doesn’t show her reinforcing the fields, five seconds would be about right for a core breach.” As all five of them started to show signs of comprehension, he smiled. “My rough guess-a-ment would be that you’ll only see thirty, maybe thirty-five percent of that fifty percent your friend was bragging about after you boost the fields enough to handle the new energy levels.”

“And you know this how?”

“The basic warp core limits how much of a reaction we can let form, but the fields within the core determine how much of that energy we can contain without a breach. Let me give you an example. I know you Caitians had what we humans call a turbine engine, it makes a good comparison to dealing with warp cores and their force fields.”

M’Talonyiss thought for a minute before asking, “You’re comparing the compressed wall of air from the intake side to the force fields, keeping the generated energy flowing in the correct direction?”

“Just so,” he agreed. “And just like that turbine, adding more power than the ‘wall’ can handle results in energy escaping in unwanted directions.”

“So we need to make sure we raise the field’s strength as we raise the power levels,” M’Nissabrrn said, no longer angry.

“That too,” he agreed. “When is your test?”

“In two days, and after the midday meal,” M’Talonyiss informed him. “Why?”

“Because mine is also in two days. Perhaps we’ll see each other there,” he said with a smile. “I hope to see you there, minus any great balls of fire!”

“You’ll be at the test?” M’Rennersu asked in surprise.

“I’m one of those ‘token humans’ this semester. While I know human warp core technology well enough, the Caitian way of doing it adds some interesting dimensions to the theories I’ve studied. See you in two days kittens,” he said as he started gathering up his notes.

He was almost to the library exit when he heard an angry growl of frustration. The female Rakshani looked like she was torn between tearing the PADD in her hands in half or seeing how far she could throw it. The deserted tables around her suggested this wasn’t her first show of aggression.

He walked calmly over to her table and set his things down before asking her, “Is this seat taken?”

She didn’t quite slam down her PADD, as she demanded, “What do you want?”

He was careful to hide his smile as he said, “Only to see what has caused one of Raksha’s finest to mistake this building for the gym.”

“Raksha’s finest?” she sneered back.

“As this is one of the top schools on Cait for studying warp core theory, Raksha wouldn’t be sending anything but their best,” he countered. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“On Raksha I’m a fully trained and qualified warp core technician, able to build and maintain all manner or warp cores. But this,” she growled indicating the display on her PADD, “makes no sense!”

“And I am learning just how much their way differs from the Earth made cores I’m used to,” he agreed. “Perhaps by working together we can figure it out,” he suggested.

“You would do that? Work with me?” she asked in surprise, her anger forgotten.

“Why not?” he said with a grin. “I have a feeling you’re not here for a diploma, but to learn. How we learn doesn’t matter, just that we understand it well enough to be able to apply it.”

He heard several hisses of surprise around him as her arm swung at him. It stopped well short of him, open and with the claws retracted. “I understand you humans ‘shake’ on agreements,” she told him.

“Some of us do,” he admitted as his took her hand. “Neal Foster.”

“Eyeblack ap Cajyn na Night,” she replied.

“Well, Eyeblack, the first rule of beating any enemy is understanding how he thinks. So why don’t you go get their warp core primers, and we’ll plan our attack.”

“But I’ve got their core theory here,” she protested.

“The advanced books, yes. Tell me, were you born running, or did you start with a crawl and work your way up?”

Eyeblack gave him a dirty look, but she also got up to go get the books he’d asked for.

When she was gone, a voice behind him said, “You’re wasting your time on that one.”

“You think so?” Neal asked, turning to find M’Talonyiss behind him.

“Rakshani can’t be taught, they just get angry when they don’t understand and then they tear the place up,” she warned him.

“Says the voice of experience,” Neal said with a grin. “Just remember one thing, cub,” he advised her. At her look of confusion he grinned. “Five seconds,” he reminded her.

M’Talonyiss stood there for a moment before her ears flushed red in embarrassment. She turned to flee, only to run into a wall of fur. The top of her head hadn’t even brushed the bottom of Eyeblack’s breasts. She ‘epped’ in surprise before almost scampering for the door.

Eyeblack set the books down, but remained standing. “Perhaps she’s right,” she quietly said. “My father often claimed to have had to beat sense into me.”

Neal look thoughtful for a minute before saying, “One of the many places I’ve worked we had a guy who’s nickname was ‘Box of Rocks’, as in ‘dumb as a box of rocks’. I got stuck working with him a few times, and I learned something the others hadn’t noticed. Old Rocky knew he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and he studied a lot to try to compensate for it, but he had a comprehension problem.” Neal chuckled, “Once I figured out that he just needed things explained a little differently we got along quite well and I found I could depend on him more than I could some of our ‘experts’.”

“So you think I’m trainable,” Eyeblack half muttered.

“There’s an old song I remember, part of it goes ‘if you become a teacher, by your students you’ll be taught’. To me it means you only fully understand a subject when you can’t be surprised by questions others may ask.”

“So, where do we start?”

“Let’s start with a history lesson. See how they got started and where they went from there,” Neal suggested.

***

M’Nissabrrn watched the latest team bring their warp core to a shaky startup and a very rough run, the energy and field levels all over the place as they tried to dial in the proper balance.

Their own run had gone fairly smooth by comparison, they had gotten thirty-six percent more power with her power modifications, pushing them well into the lead for total amount of energy produced in the twenty minutes each team was given.

She now watched as the current group was forced to do an emergency shutdown just before their core would have failed.

A fresh core was brought into position for the next team; no teams were allowed to use a core that had been ‘run’, forcing them to contend with a cold-core startup.

M’Nissabrrn’s eyes narrowed as the next team moved to the controls. It consisted of six humans, one male about their age, the rest were older and their actions and movement suggested ‘ringers’ to her.

M’Rennersu muttered, “That’s one way to cheat your way though this class, hire others to do your work for you.”

M’Talonyiss was no happier to see them. “I overheard one of them trying to pressure the instructor into making the grade on a bell curve on total energy produced, so they must think they can outdo the rest of us.”

They watched as the human group brought the core up quickly and efficiently, bringing the power up well over what any of the other groups had managed. They were still edging the power up at the end of their twenty minutes, giving them a better than ten to one ratio over their nearest contenders.

Rumors of the new grading must have reached the other groups, for the next two ‘blew’ their cores trying to get more power out of them.

Next up was the human from the library. As he approached the controls, the instructor called out, “Where is the rest of your team?”

“I’m it,” he replied with a smile. “Who else were you expecting?”

Looking at his list, the instructor said, “Your team list states that there are a Neal, Me, Myself and Eye.”

“All present and accounted for,” Neal assured her.

“But, it takes more than one person to operate a warp core,” the instructor insisted.

“Depends on the ‘one’,” Neal replied. “Or do you think I can do worse than some of the other teams?” The instructor looked like she was going to stand firm, so he turned to other students. “Eyeblack? Would you assist me?” as the large Rakshani came forward, the instructor gave him a wave of surrender and he set to work. As his time started Neal set the controls where he wanted them and advised Eyeblack of her responsibilities as he waited for things to get where he wanted them.

Some energy is required in the beginning to form the first force fields in the warp core, as well as to help control the mixing of the matter and antimatter. An accumulator allowed the storing of some of that energy for when more was needed then was available. The other teams watched in confusion as Neal allowed most of the supplied energy to go to the accumulator, while just enough for minimum fields went to the core. More confusing was his dumping of very small amounts of antimatter and matter into the core; no useful energy was being produced, just generating blooms of wasted heat in the core.

M’Kress was the first in her group to realize what Neal was doing. “He’s force preheating their core! And with the accumulated energy – they’ll be able to create fields strong enough to start the core at a much higher level!”

Whether he had heard her, or whether the time just happened to right, Neal pushed the field levels up as he opened the flow valves to start his core in earnest. The energy levels settled at almost half of what the other human team had peaked at, but Neal was still channeling most of that power back into the accumulator. Once the accumulator was again fully charged, he brought the fields up even higher and again increased the flow rates of antimatter and matter. By the time the fields were reaching their maximum power settings, the core was releasing more energy in one minute than the total output of all the other tests that day.

The other students watched as their instructor received a call. “No, just one core is live right now…. Yes, I know the output is a bit excessive; we can turn it down … What? You want me to have him hold the core at that level? … Let me ask him.” Walking over to where Neal was tweaking his settings, keeping the core’s power at just inside the field’s capacity, the instructor asked, “How long can you keep the core at this output?”

“ ‘Bout another ten minutes at this setting. She’s right at the limits for your field generators. I could hold it longer if I drop the power levels by five percent.”

“How long at seventy-three percent?”

“Sorry, I was thinking in my base ten, not your base eight. Seventy-four percent, and I should be able to hold it as long as you have fuel.”

The instructor relayed the information before turning back to Neal. “They say you can drop it to seventy-one if you need to, just so long as you can keep it running for two more of your hours.”

“Bringing her down to seventy-four,” Neal said as he did so. After confirming that the core was stable enough to not need constant supervision and giving Eyeblack instructions, he turned back to the instructor. “What was that all about?”

The instructor gave Neal a funny look as she said; “We feed excess power back to the grid to help pay for the fuel the students use. The city’s main power station was calling to say their generators were currently at idle, we – or rather you are supplying the full needs of not only this school, but also the city beyond. This will give them time to get in some maintenance without having to borrow the power from other areas.”

“Glad to know my showboating came in useful,” Neal commented as he checked his readings again.

“I take it ‘showboating’ is another way of saying ‘showing off’?” at Neal’s nod she asked, “Just why were you showboating?”

“I had heard someone was putting pressure on you to change the way this test was being graded. After this, I think they’ll be happy with a passing grade for not blowing up their warp core … I’d also suggest letting some of the ‘failed’ teams retest with the new criteria.”

“I agree with you, but I do suggest you not get too compliant, as I can and will flunk you for pulling stupid stunts like this in the future.”

Neal shook his head. “I’m not here to cause you trouble, but to learn. The only reason I’d be upset about flunking would be the loss of access to the training and tools, at my age a degree doesn’t mean that much.” Checking his boards again, he added, “You might want to let the others take a break, I don’t see you letting the next group try anything until after I’m done.”

“Agreed,” the instructor said before releasing the other groups to return after the evening meal.

Two groups stayed back as the others left. The human group was the first to approach Neal. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the young human ‘in charge’ demanded.

Neal’s smile was not a nice one as he replied; “I heard you were turning this into a pissing contest … You will find I’m always up for a challenge.”

“Do you know who I am?” the youth demanded.

“Yeah kid, I know who you are, I even know who your daddy is, and that he’s probably still wondering why Ides of March hasn’t made port yet.”

“What do you know of the March?” one of the kid’s keepers demanded, all of them were more alert now.

“I know that it’s in military hands. I know that they know it was a slaver and a smuggler. They also know that the ship often carried kidnapped furs and humans to sell.” Looking again at the ‘kid’, Neal added, “If ‘daddy’ didn’t know that already, then I’m guessing his strings into the military aren’t as tight as he thought ….One last thing, the rumors I heard said the captain died, but the computers were open and the crew was singing like a flock of little birdies.”

“And you would just happen to know this how?” the youth asked as he glared at Neal.

Neal returned the glare with an icy look of his own. “Let’s just say their last ‘harvest’ contained some things that managed to fight back. I heard that some of the animals fought quite frantically when they learned they had nothing left to lose.”

The flashes of memory Shadowcrest was getting suggested that Neal had awakened on the slave ship, unsure in how he’d gotten there. The ship’s ‘engineer’ had taken a new toy with him into engineering that had managed to not only kill him, but also disable the warp drive system before the rest of the crew could kill it. Neal had been brought out of a drug-induced haze to repair the drives. As he had to be clear headed to do the work, this also meant he was clearheaded enough to realize what was going on, and his chances of surviving it. A little trickery later saw Neal locked in engineering by himself, with the bridge controls locked out. Neal would later learn that his traps to keep the crew from regaining control of their ship had killed the captain and first officer, and with their leadership gone the rest of the crew had spent the remainder of the journey to the nearest starbase fighting amongst themselves.

The ‘kid’ interrupted the staring contest. “You’d better just watch yourself,” he threatened.

“You too,” Neal replied. “With your father already being watched, it would be foolish to call attention to yourself by doing anything ‘stupid’, especially since you know no one would dare stand up to you or your daddy without something to back them up.”

The instructor had no trouble overhearing the humans’ conversation, and stepped back over to Neal as the others stormed out. “You just made an enemy I think,” she dryly commented.

“They were already the enemy. But now they know that I know they are,” Neal replied as he checked his settings again. A minor tweak and he looked up at the Caitian. “With some types it’s best to make sure they realize that you aren’t a pushover before they start taking liberties with you.”

“Do you think they’ll try something?”

“The older ones will wait for instructions from above, the kid’s the wildcard. He’s young and may think he can get away with more than the others would dare … Only time will tell I fear.”

“You hadn’t told me you were going to use the warm-up trick,” Eyeblack accused him as the instructor went back to her desk.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Neal admitted, “but they raised the stakes, so I needed to have the winning hand.”

“You could have done it faster,” she pointed out.

“I wanted to maintain a quarter of the accumulator as a reserve, just in case,” Neal pointed out. “Had this been life or death, I would have had us riding it to its limits, but this is learning, not testing to failure.”

“I do think I have a crazy partner,” she murmured.

“We can get even crazier tonight,” Neal suggested.