The Loneliest Walrus Saga: Part Two

Part Two - Labra On The Lam

Pink sunlight flooded the back wall of the apartment. Another morning turned over, the same Sun rising over the line in the distance. Canis Alpha had been Candie’s refuge planet for long enough. She had taken sanctuary there at the behest of King Canut, promising that regardless of who was looking for her, they will not find her while she stays on Canis.

The heat from the Sun followed soon after sunrise, like it did every morning. This was entirely against Candie’s temperament. Being cooped up in a palatial bedroom, drapes hiding away any evidence, was not for her. She had lived too long on the lam, hopping from time to time, planet to planet, sector to sector, trying to evade whatever law enforcers she had managed to upset in her time there. She had the knack of not really sticking to laws when she stayed somewhere.

Of course, now these monumental events were taking place running was tougher. The Variverse was becoming polarised with factions siding for or against STASIS; the ones who stood against didn’t last that long. There was also the fallout from the Canis/Kittirar War, which made things even harder.

Kittirans, blatantly visible due to the perky furry ears had become the pariahs of the Variverse, no place was Home for them. Reducing the once proud and intensely clean race to a rag tag band of immigrants. Luckily, King Canut was only a figurehead and not involved in the staunchly anti-Kittiran politics of the Republic. In fact he was sympathetic to the Kittiran plight, hence the housing of a Variverse wide fugitive.

A muffled knocking came from the door. It was just the time for the servants bringing breakfast.

“Come on in pup.”

The enamelled door slid open but instead of the serving pups bringing in breakfast a small man wearing a matted grey dressing gown and slippers with a large hole in the right toe slunk in.

“Hey, Can! Come on in, long time no see baby.” Candie stood up from her bed to usher in the man who looked a far sight worse than his public face, the ruler of Canis Alpha, Beta and Omega, King Canut.

Canut shuffled into the room and shut the door behind him quietly. He looked like he could fight with a feather and was disturbed by something.

“Yo Cannie. Whats up? You seem majorly bummed out.”

“Yes, um, Candus, I have some bad news my dear. The reports from the Outer Lows came back today. I’m afraid to say it seems you were correct after all. Alpha Omega fell to the Kittirans this morning after they invaded Felirock 1. There are extended reports coming this afternoon about the extent of casualties.”

Candie had never seen him so worried before. She had passed on information she had garnered from her military sources to the relevant people. It wasn’t her fault that the Canis High Pack were so arrogant that they didn’t take action.

“Relax Canut. It won’t amount to anything. All you’d need to do is leave Canis Omega, retrieve all remaining forces and cede control to the Kittirans. They only want to have a planet to call home. Since Kittirar was destroyed we have been scattered far and when, always desiring a place to curl up and sleep. Is that not too much to expect? A place to house our litterboxes?”

“Not to me Candus, but its not me that has to change things. Its up to the High Pack Leader, as you well know. They implement all new laws. I have some more pressing matters to discuss with you though. I have it on good authority that they are going to ... ease me out of my position this weekend when I swear in the new High Pack Leader.”

“Oh, Canut, thats terrible. What are you going to do? You can’t let them get away with that!”

“There isn’t really anything that I can do. I have very little supporters on Canis because of Kittiran sympathies.”

“Then thats what we’ll do. We’ll use this conflict to our advantage for once. If you support the Kittirans, then they will support you. Come with me, run with me and you’ll be safe.”

“But what about STASIS? They will track you down eventually.”

“They may, but whats worse, dying on Saturday or possibly dying in the future? Think about it Can, we can travel to any star. Think of the adventures we’d have, the people we’d see, the things we can do. It’ll be amazing.”

“But how? There’s no way that I can leave Canis Alpha without everyone knowing.”

“Just leave that to me. Meet me in Lower Market Square in forty minutes and all will be revealed.”

Canut, who was looking more destabilised than when he had walked in, glanced at the large, ornate clock on the wall, took a mental note of the time and with a quiet click he closed the door behind him and was gone. Not a goodbye or good luck exchanged between them. A silent departure, like a thief in a dark night; slipping away with neither a by or leave.

A sense of excitement started to bubble up in Candie’s stomach, she was finally going to get back on the run, where she was meant to be, hopping around making fools of everyone who said that she couldn’t do what she wanted. She threw her clothes into her backpack, swung it over her shoulder and grabbed the Glamour-A-Tron from the bedside cabinet. She placed it over her chest and it hummed quietly, levitating in midair.

Before the Canis/Kittirar conflict escalated, the Kittirans were a leading figure in the technological progress of the Universe. They made huge leaps and bounds in the aspects of time travel, space travel, time and space travel and a manner of other things. One of them was the Glamour-A-Tron. It projected an image that would be less alarming. In this instance, she had it altered to show a Canis pup so she could stroll through the city without people pelting her with bones or food.

With the Glamour-A-Tron glimmering and buzzing away to itself Candie left the room and swiftly made her way through the Palace and into the courtyard.

The Sun had reached high into the sky now, it was making all the pups stick out their tongues to compensate for not having sweat glands. Lower Market Square was about a half an hour walk away. She set off, confident stride, smile on her face, making her whiskers twitch.

The barrios filled with Kittiran refugees stretched away from the palace, it was odd that they lived so close to the Canis palace, although it was only a temporary measure. They would be forced into gulags before long, especially if Victor Vox had his way. The Kitty Slums were filled with the wide breadth of Kittiran society, all boiled down to the same level. There was no room for the high rise laboratories that specialised in biogenic research. None of the palaces belonging to the Kittiran House of Furn had chance to grow here, with most of the members of The House being left on Kittirar before its destruction.

“Halt there! Name and number pup.”

A sentry patrol was waiting for visitors to the Palace. She was clad in heavy fitted armor that was the colour of blood.

“Name and number.”

Obviously Candie didn’t have a Name or a Number, she was a Variverse wide refugee.

“Er...er...um...”

“Don’t be so silly Helmsdog, she’s obviously with me isn’t she.”

A set of tapping footprints tapped off the concrete behind her and Canut appeared at her side.

“Please step aside.”

This was a different King than the one who had slunk into her room not five minutes earlier. He was confident, standing proud, shedding a long shadow across the floor.

“If you’re sure Your Highness.”

The Helmsdog looked unconvinced but stood to one side. Canut and Candie strode through the gate and headed to Lower Market Square. All of the surrounding businesses and houses emptied themselves onto the street to watch the King walk by. Some looked happy and begged to shake his paw, while some just stared at him. Canut had angered many people by allowing thousands of Kittirars to live on Canis Alpha.

Candie looked back at the Palace Gate, she had always learnt that you don’t turn your back on anyone, regardless of whether they had a waggy tail or not. The Helmsdog was talking to someone through a purple transmitter. The way things were at this moment, with everyone wanting to look at the King of the Canis, they were sitting ducks. She leaned into Canut and whispered into his ear.

“Can, we have to get to Lower Market Square soon. Are there any short cuts?”

“Yes, I see one right now.”

In front of them, parked in front of a puppy shop where on a normal day children would squeal cries of ‘He’s cute!” or “How much is that doggy in the window mummy?”, was a two wheeled vehicle, that could be pulled by someone so you could travel around the city quicker than walking and still being respectful to pedestrians.

Canut began to address the crowd before Candie could stop him.

“Who can pull this vehicle for me? I need to go to Lower Market Square on the double.”

A bulky dog stepped out from the crowd.

“I’d be honoured to Your Highness.”

“Then lets get started shall we?”

Candie and Canut climbed into the back of the vehicle and pulled up the shutters around them. Candie really wasn’t comfortable having this many people look at her. She had lived the majority of her adult life hiding from people’s gaze; jumping into shadows or behind asteroids to get by. Being the centre of attention really wasn’t her bag.

“It’ll take about ten minutes to get there Your Highness. And can I just say ... erm, I feel really sorry for the Kittiran plight, just like yourself. I don’t mind them being here, in fact, I’ve just started to date a Kittiran, she’s called Henshe, she works in the butcher shop.”

“Well thats mighty generous of you,” Candie spat, “Maybe she doesn’t want to be dating a tyrannical Canis.”

“I’m sorry Sir, I didn’t mean to offend.”

“Its not me who your sort should be apologising to, its Henshe, she deserves better.”

The Canis pulling the vehicle didn’t reply, he was too worried about annoying the King and his advisor. There had been too many disappearances of pro-Kittiran supporters to want to annoy someone who seemed so anti-Kittiran. He didn’t know it was a fugitive under the guise of a Glamour riding in the back of his rickshaw, to him it was a trusted companion of The King.

“What is wrong with you Candie? I’ve not seen you this annoyed before.”

“I just hate this Planet. Its just so horrid. We get treat like lower class citizens, even though our society was more advanced culturally and economically than yours. We led this Universe in terms of technological advances for over two thousand years. We discovered the Space Time Parallax for Catarina’s Duty! We changed the basis for all travel anywhere. And we’re pushed down to the level of pets, its truly sickening. I’m glad when we’re off this God forsaken rock once and for all.”

“I know exactly what you mean. When I opened up the borders and allowed all those poor Kitts in I thought I was doing a good job. I was stood on the spacedocks watching them come in, the children dressed in tattered rags and the mothers clutching newborns to their chests. It broke my heart knowing that they will never have the same respect here as what they did on Kittirar, but I knew that keeping them alive meant that they would have had a better chance of building themselves up to where they were before instead of dooming them all when Kittirar collapsed. We all knew that things would be difficult. Whether we wanted to admit it or not, we knew. Its just going to take some time to sort things out.”

“Sort things out how? By you running away? No one else in The High Pack wants to give the Kittirans equal rights apart from you and you’re about to leave. Whats going to happen then?”

“I have my supporters, like the very person carrying us to our escape. As long as there are people here who want to stand up for equality then I’m not needed.”

“They need a herald to unite them. You need to stay behind.”

“And be killed? A headless herald is use to no Canis.”

“No, suppose not.”

“We’re here Your Highness,” the pup pulling Candie and Canut interrupted.

“Oh. Thank you kindly.”

They both stepped out of the carriage and looked around. A large cobbled square stretched around them, bordered by shops and market stalls. Kittirans and Canis bustled around, buying shanks of ham or wraps of flowers. There was nothing out of the ordinary here.

“Candie, what was your plan here?”

“Just wait and see,” she pulled a small black box out of her pocket, there was a single red button with the word ‘expose’ written above it. The crowd began to notice who was standing with Candie, which began to make her anxious again.

“This, my dear King, is the pinnnacle of stealth technology, lovingly snapped up from the Tellitonith people of the Indigo star system. What can you see in the sky?”

Canut looked up and only saw what was there, namely a bright Sun and the odd smattering of birds tweeting and fluttering by.

“Nothing out of the ordinary, why?”

Candie pushed her thumb down onto the button with a definite ‘look at this’ flourish. It sprung back up as she let go and a vibrating sound started to resonate around the square. The sky began to weave and wave, like natural gas was being pumped by it, beams of light were being distorted and refracted, bouncing onto stalls and people, like an interstellar disco ball.

A shadow appeared instantaneously above them and shrouded the square in darkness. Hanging above them, in plain sight was the tattiest star cruiser that Canut had ever seen. Rust affected one side badly and the name of the ship had disappeared under it. A thin vessel, by comparison to the Canis cruisers, but would seem to hold it’s own in regards of speed and manageability.

“This, Can, is your escape. Say hello to The Tokyo Rose, the finest ship this side of the Hayakawa District.”

“And this will get us out of here? I doesn’t even look like it would make it past orbit.”

“I know it will.”

Very few people had confidence in Candie’s ship, she looked battered and very bruised, but what else would you expect from a ship that has outran the Hyperpolyglots of Origen 6. Its not like she could be easily repaired. I don’t know if you’ve been told but Candie Labra is a fugitive from the law, she can’t stop in any old spaceport and get knocked back together, she must be very picky.

“Maggie, two to beam up please.”

“Yes Madam Labra.”

A blue ellipse engulfed Candie and Canut. It didn’t matter how many times she went through this, it still made her feel icky. Teleporting felt like your stomach was in your head for the briefest of seconds and then it was down by your ankles. Luckily teleportation only took a second because a prolonged exposure to this feeling would have meant toilets would have to be built near the teleport pads.

A familiar sight greeted her once her stomach had taken its rightful place. She was back on her ship, her pride and joy. All the nuances and niggles were back under control and she was ready to take them somewhere else with her. Canut’s knees buckled and he fell to the floor, groaning loudly.

“You’ll get used to it Cannie. Now, where’s Maggie when you need her?”

A small automised robot came beeping into the room. She looked like she belonged on the Tokyo Rose. She was as battered as the hull was. Although she was a nice shade of teal.

“Nice to see you again Madam Labra. How was life on Canis Alpha?”

“Just fine and dandy my sweetness, how is Rose?”

“She’s running at optimum systems.”

“Fantastic. I’d like you to prep the Parallax Drive for immediate use please.”

“As you command.”

And off she popped, clunking and clanking down the hall. Canut had got to his feet and regained his composure.

“So, where are we going that’s going to save us all?”

“We, as a team, are going nowhere, Maggie and I are going to see The Forever One. You are going back to the surface.”

Candie took the Glamour-O-Tron from her chest and pressed it against Canut’s robes.

“You are to take this and start an underground movement on Canis Alpha. Cause as much trouble as you can and see what damage you can do. Unite all the Kittirans under you and you will live to see a new dawn. I promise you, with all my heart, that I will be back to aid you in the Kittiran struggle.”

“But what if-”

“No times for what ifs Can. You have your mission, now get to it. Maggie, beam the King on my mark please.”

“Awaiting your instruction Madam.”

“Take care Can. And raise Hell.”

She reached forward and pressed the big red button on the Glamour. He changed into the same young pup Candie was.

“Mark.”

The familiar ellipse appeared around Canut and in a flash he was gone, possibly forever, there was no way that Candie could be certain that she would see him again, although she knew how his struggle panned out.

Two days later and Candie was making her way to the one remaining break in the Variverse. Obviously you can’t really judge the passing of time in space, because you go past a lot more Suns than you would stuck on a Planet, so it became common practice to set the stopwatch going when you left the Planet you were last on, leave it to count on until the destination was reached. A good time piece would do the trick and Maggie was one of those.

She had started life out, as best a machine can without going all Philip K. Dick on you, as a vintage grandfather clock that stood in the corner of an elderly grandmother’s house, being revered with reverance and awe but never being used. She didn’t even show the right time, her hands were stuck at twelve and seven all through the day. No one felt it was necessary to correct her. Agnes, her owner, would coo that it adds to her appeal if she didn’t show the right time. Adds to her legitimacy to be an old clock if she didn’t work.

For some reason, which was lost to Maggie when she was granted sentience, she had never been thrown out. Even though she didn’t work properly, or at all. She felt like a half eaten sandwich, left to rot in a corner. It was like keeping an old car even though it had no tyres, paintwork or steering wheel.

Agnes had died many years after Maggie was brought to her to stay in the corner. She sat in her usual chair, strategically placed betwixt chair and television and began her usual seven hour afternoon slumber and just never woke up. Her young relatives, a smart-mouthed wine lover and his sister, a long flaxen haired maiden who had kept her hair tied back in a braid had came to clear out the house of her possessions. In reality he was trying to see what he could take and sell for wine, whereas she was genuinely looking for items that she had an emotional attachment to.

He eventually left with handfuls of gold and silver rings, grinning like an idiot, leaving her to peruse all Agnes’ belongings with wet eyes and a sad smile. Every now and then she would let out an emotional sigh and occasionally wipe her eyes.

The Sun eventually set behind the row of houses terraced opposite and sapped the room of the colour, like the living room had just started to mourn Agnes’ death.

Maggie made it seven o’clock when Candie turned up in a flash of purple and blue to take Maggie away. The flaxen haired maid stood shocked as Candie appeared, dressed in a bright red metallic jumpsuit, the likes of which would only be seen in Buck Rogers, or Flash Gordon.

“Don’t be afraid Reddie, I’m not here to hurt you.”

She was a sight to behold. An average sized woman by all accounts, a little svelte maybe, the only thing would maybe make her stand out from the rest of the World when she walked down to the local shops would be the long, furry tail that would flick from side to side every few minutes and a pair of ears that stuck out from her head, the same colour as the tail.

Candie immediately set about scouring the room, with determination, looking for something specific.

“Do you mind?! These are my Grandmother’s belongings! Please leave before I call the police!”

“Oh dear, I will have to remind myself to start shaking in my boots once I’m done.” She replied while lifting up a small golden carriage clock.

“I’m serious, you are going to have to leave.” She was clutching onto a ceramic house.

Candie walked over to a wicker hamper and opened it.

“And I’m serious, do something useful like tell me whether Agnes had a strong connection to this dog.”

“What do you mean? No, no, it was just an ordinary dog. Sitting on the mantle, like every other thing here. What are you after?!”

“Nothing much, just the key to temporal travel, that’s all! Now be quiet and help me find it. What was Agnes’ favourite possession?”

“I don’t know, she liked lots of things. Like that Grandfather clock up there. She always loved that thing.”

And love her she did. There would be many times that Agnes would look at Maggie, running her fingers along the ridged edge of her swing open cabinet, gently pressing her thumb against the second hand but never turning it, however tempting it seemed.

“That’ll do nicely,” Candie surged across the room and placed her hand on Maggie’s side. Her hand was cold, “Yes, this feels just right. Well anyway, I shall be seeing you later. Oh, before I go, don’t let your brother sell those rings, one of them is a one of a kind. Wasting it on rioja would be a crime against taste and retail. Goodbye.”

And then came the blue and purple flash again, only this time it wasn’t Candie appearing. This time it was Maggie’s resting place and Agnes’ grand-daughter that disappeared. In the place appeared a silver room with a row of shelves on one wall. It was very clean, or clean looking at least. Everything had a dull sheen to it.

It was a place that Maggie had grown to call home. She enjoyed trundling down the thin silver corridors, making the doors swoosh open and then not going through them, like a cantankerous child.

Maggie was secretly pleased when Candie returned from Canis Alpha. The two months that Maggie had spent alone on the Tokyo Rose were lonely and tiresome. Watching all the people milling around the in the market reminded her every day of the company she was missing, although no one could really compare to Candie. She was special.

Candie locked herself away in the bridge and only returned to feed and sleep, she didn’t even seem to be spending any time with Maggie, apart from giving her instructions. When she descended on the second day her mind was heavily laden with thought, Maggie could tell. She had never told Maggie more than she needed to know and every time that she had seen Candie like this her curiousity wanted to ask questions but every time she would get placated with the same ‘You don’t need to know’ or ‘Its too dangerous for you to understand’ even though Maggie had been modified to have a twelfth level intelligence. Only the Jungles of Perseopolis 11 and bus drivers had higher intelligence. She knew the basics, that a great change was coming and that there were some people who wanted to stop the change and she wanted to help. Since she had been given full sentiency Maggie had grown wilful and rebellious. Something that she wouldn’t even consider being when she was a Grandfather clock. She wanted to be fighting on the front lines of Candie’s battle with her, looking into her furry eyes and steeling herself. But Candie didn’t feel the same way, Maggie wasn’t to be trusted with important details for one reason or another.

The Variverse was huge, every believer knew this, but it was separated from one another by vibrational barriers that only a few had crossed. Two months ago breaks had started to develop in the barriers, letting people who shouldn’t be crossing through. Criminals on the run would jump into another Universe to escape the laws. Wait.

What? You don’t know what the Variverse is? Are you sure about this? You’re not just pulling my metal leg are you? Hmmm. Well, put simply, the Variverse is how the whole of space is arranged. Its basically the same Universe made parallel but with different things happening because of different events. So, for instance, when you look up at the night sky and you see the twinkling stars winking back at you, this could be happening in another Universe but it could be a polythene android looking back wishing of a non-transparent love, the filthy deviant. Its like that really. Understand? Well, lets get back to the tale in hand shall we?

The break in the Variverse started to come closer and the mood on the Tokyo Rose sank. Candie looked out from the viewing window at the front of the ship with a determination Maggie had never seen before. Even when the Tokyo Rose was racing toward Canis Alpha, away from those STASIS fiends Candie was smiling and laughing like normal. Shouting insults at them as they skimmed past, narrowly missing the Rose. But now, Maggie was silent.

The Forever One had always been the pinnacle of Candie’s dreams. She’d mumble dreamily about him, or her, saying how amazing it would be to live forever and have your own Universe to mould and snap, to remove trouble in the blinking of an eye.

“We’re approaching the break Madam Labra.”

“Good, prepare to raise what shields we have and power up the energy converters. We’re about to be at our destination and if STASIS know anything about me then they will know that I’ll turn up here sooner or later.”

A series of beeps and bloops came from the brightly lit panel Maggie was seeing to.

“Shields at eighty percent and the energy converters are fully powered up.”

“Right. How long until we’re in the break?”

“T minus seven seconds Madam Labra.”

“Brace for impact.”

Long metal clamps shot from Maggie and clamped onto the panel as Candie rested her paws on the window. She was ready for whatever was coming, be it good or bad. This was something she needed to do.

“T minus 5.”

The Forever One would know what to do about STASIS.

“4.”

Once she had reached Him she could leave it up to him to deal with.

“3.”

STASIS would leave her alone once she imparted all the knowledge onto The Forever One.

“2.”

Candie hoped that He was easy to find.

“1.”

She could get her sister back once her mission was complete.

“We’re entering the break Madam.”

The bridge fell into darkness, the hum of the engines started to die down. The speakers usually used for alarms, alerts and the occasional jazz induced scat session crackled into life.

“Candus Labra. We are STASIS. Stand down.”

“So close,” Candie sighed, “so close.”