London Wild (75 page)

Not that she felt totally safe with the Lomaxes
. They were herd, after all. But she had spent three nights with them so far, and this had brought her to the conclusion that although she couldn’t trust them fully, they were very unlikely to do anything against her so long as Kitty was around. If they handed February over to the authorities there was a high risk that Kitty’s liberty would also be forfeit, and none of the three Lomaxes wanted that, not even Maureen, who had so far been extremely outspoken against February staying with them and even more so against her going to Mars with them.

She rose from her crouching position almost immediately and pulled the blanket off of her makeshift bed
, throwing it about her shoulders to cover herself. The living room was the nexus of the house. It wouldn’t usually take long for the others in the house to make their way here after they had woken up, and she would rather not be in just her night attire once they started to appear, especially as she had taken to sleeping in her underwear.

No more than a few seconds later
she heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs towards the living room. They seemed to be deliberately heavy, no doubt as a courtesy to give February plenty of warning of an approaching visitor. The scent that accompanied the sound was Stanley’s, mixed with a slight flowery smell that probably came from the soap that he had just been using in the shower. February quickly checked to make sure the blanket was covering her decently, and then she sat back on the couch, peering over the backrest to await his arrival.

It was clear that Stanley had just emerged from the bathroom, not only because of how clean he was looking and the smell of soap, but also because he was wearing towels instead of clothing
: one about his midriff, one on his hair, and another about his shoulders. The drying facilities in the bathroom were amongst the most modern on the planet, but Stanley was used to what the moon had to offer, and life on the moon was all about the conservation of space. A towel took up a lot less room than a mechanical dryer, and once people had gotten into a habit it sometimes became hard to break them of it. It was a habit he would have to break, though. February didn’t know a lot about Mars, but like most people she was aware of the water shortage. Some claimed that Mars only had about a quarter, maybe a third of the water it really needed for comfort. She didn’t know how they handled things like showers and baths, but she was pretty sure that the use of towels would be frowned upon. 

‘Good morning,’ February said to him as he walked in. She considered his body for a minute
: the odd drip of water glistening as it ran down his arm, the ugly stripe-less skin, and his lack of tail. Despite everything that the herd was currently putting her people through, she was glad she hadn’t been born one of them.

‘Morning,’ Stanley replied happily. Then, no doubt referring to their imminent trip to Mars
, he added, ‘Today’s the day!’ He sounded very jolly today.

‘Indeed!’ February felt
that her voice sounded a little stilted, probably because of the earliness of the hour.

‘The
bathroom’s free if you hurry,’ Stanley added. ‘I’m about to make some breakfast. Would you like some?’

‘That’d be nice,’ February replied as amicably as she could manage. ‘Whatever you’re making for yourself will be fine.’

‘It’ll be a simple fry up.’ Stanley then left the room, whistling to himself.

‘That’s fine,’ February called after him. It was nice that Stanley wanted to fix her breakfast every
day.

Virtually every meal since her arrival had been prepared by someone else. For some reason they didn’t seem to
o keen on letting her do any cooking. They probably thought she’d try to put herd on the menu, or something silly like that. They wouldn’t even let her cook something just for herself.

After her shower she used the mechanical dryer, both for the ease and the speed of it. Then
, covering herself with the blanket again for the sake of decency, she crossed the landing to Kitty’s room.

She knocked twice on Kitty’s door. This was more
for courtesy than anything. All of the items she had brought from her home had been stored in Kitty’s room for the duration of her stay, including her clothing, some of which she needed immediately.

‘Come on in
,’ Kitty called from the other side of the door.

February entered the room and stepped to one side so that Kitty, who had obviously been waiting for her arrival, could leave the room. Kitty dashed across the short gap between her room and the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

One of the worst things about flying by shuttle, especially when you were leaving the planet rather than just flying from one city to another, was the limitation on weight. For the casual traveler the limit was just one suitcase and one carry-on, both of which were heavily policed as to how much they could weigh. If you were a resident or going to be a resident of your destination and could prove it by producing the right paperwork, then you were allowed two suitcases as well as the carry-on.

February’s carry-on had been easy; it was a small bag that carried a portable computer. The bag also had a number of small side pockets, and these February had filled with anything she could fit in them.

By the time Stanley and Maureen had known that February would also be coming with them, it had been too late to get the paperwork updated. She was going to be limited to just one suitcase, while each of the other four got two. She had managed to convince Kitty to pack a few things in one of her cases, such as the pills that she had gotten from Stenhas and some of the makeup stuff. This had provided her a little more room in her own suitcase. Most of that extra room was now filled with clothing. She also packed a book reader and some cartridges, but as small as they were, she wanted to take a lot of cartridges, and together they took up a lot of room. February had had to painstakingly decide which to take and which she just didn’t have room for.

That was all in the past now
; she was packed, and the weight of her suitcase was still within the limitations laid down by the spacelines, but February couldn’t help thinking that there was something missing. Something she had made a point of bringing with her from her home and had yet forgotten to pack for Mars. The idea that it might be a weapon kept nagging at her. In the end she put it down to that nagging feeling most people seem to get that they have left something they need behind when they are about to go somewhere.    

She took something from the pile of clothes she had left beside her packed suitcase. Later she would have to decide from that small pile which combination of clothes she would wear for the journey itself. The rest would be discarded through lack of room. She was already considering wearing two or even three outfits so that she would get to keep them, but there were many things to do before she made any final choice,
and right now all she wanted was something to wear so she could mingle with the others and have some breakfast.

After breakfast, February made her excuses and returned to Kitty’s room with Kitty in tow to finish getting ready for the trip. The first order of business was a disguise, and whereas under normal circumstances she might settle for a mixture of powders to obfuscate her stripes, today that just wouldn’t be enough. They were taking a long journey to a different planet. Though they might not be expecting to encounter any of the Elite Guard en route, they would be passing a number of security checkpoints, including what might be waiting for them at the spaceport. For this trip February had deemed it necessary to use the masks they had each had specially made.

‘I’m glad now you insisted on getting your own mask made up,’ February told Kitty. She remembered how she had tried to steer Kitty away from the idea because of how much work it took to make such a mask, but Kitty had been adamant.

‘It seemed like something that would be good to know,’ Kitty replied simply, brushing off the compliment. ‘Since I was now a fugitive, I thought the more such skills I could learn, the better my chances of survival.’

‘That makes sense to me,’ February commented dryly. She closed the bedroom door behind them and then locked it. There were parts of the disguise February didn’t really need to wear because she expected to be covered in those places by all the clothing she was planning to put on. Nevertheless, the easiest way to carry the disguise, as she didn’t want to leave any part of it behind, was to wear it
, and that meant stripping down to her underwear again. Plus there was something else that both she and Kitty needed to put on afterwards, and that would require them both to strip even further. And though February felt she could trust the herd for the time being, she didn’t want to risk one of them barging their way into the room while she and Kitty were in a state of undress. Not that they were in the habit of doing so, but better to be safe than sorry.

February had often heard members of her race boast that they could put on a disguise like this in less than ten minutes
, including all the color matching that had to be done after the pieces had been placed. February, though, had never managed to get this type of disguise on in less than twenty-five minutes, and on this occasion she had to share the room’s mirror with Kitty as well as assist her in putting on her mask. In the end it was nearly a full hour before she was happy with how it looked. Kitty too was nearly ready as February admired her handiwork in the mirror. She still had a bit of a problem with the way the mask merged around her eyes; it just didn’t look natural, and it took another twenty minutes with February’s help to fix it.

‘There,’ said February as she assisted her friend with her contact lenses, ‘it would take an alert
Elite Guardsman to recognize us for what we are now.’

‘How would they recognize us?’ Kitty asked.

‘I don’t know,’ February replied; she studied her reflection in the mirror and continued, ‘something in the eyes perhaps. Your guess is as good as mine.’

‘I’d like to know for certain,’ replied Kitty to herself more than anything.

February nodded and walked over to the pile of clothing she had left next to her packed suitcase. At the bottom of the pile, hidden where she doubted any of the herd would bother to look, were the two canisters she had obtained almost a week previously from her regional headquarters. Supposedly the stuff in these cans would confuse her scent enough that even a sniffer dog wouldn’t be able to detect her. She looked at the cans doubtfully. If it worked, it was a shame to have to use it when she might have a dearer need for it later, but with that thinking she might decide never to use it.
No
, she thought to herself, she knew that the herd had put checkpoints up all around the north of London. These would be guarded by sniffer dogs, and there would be other sniffer dogs at the spaceport when they arrived. If they didn’t wear this stuff, or if it didn’t work as advertised, then both she and Kitty would probably find themselves in a Cattery cell by nightfall anyway.

She handed one of the cans to Kitty
. ‘Spray this all over your body. Don’t miss anything. Concentrate anything that’s left on the areas that are likely to sweat the most, under your arms, between your legs, the base of your tail, under your feet. Any part of your body that you think might create a scent that a dog could pick up on.’

‘Can we wear perfume over top of it?’ Kitty asked as she took the canister
. She looked at the can herself, but it was blank except for a single word.

‘I think it would be okay,’ February replied to her friend, ‘but I’m not going to risk it.’

‘Then I won’t either,’ Kitty agreed. She removed the cap from the can and began to liberally spray herself with the contents. She held the can about an inch from her body as she did so, using this spray in much the same way as she had used other sprays in the past. 

February watched her for only a few seconds until she was satisfied that Kitty knew what she was doing, and then she began to cover herself in much the same way. ‘Don’t forget your hair,’ she said a
few seconds after she had started.

‘Okay,’ Kitty replied
, and she gave the wig that she was wearing a thorough going over with the spray before continuing where she had left off.

Although the cans were of a fair size, they sprayed their contents fast and thick
, and it wasn’t long before Kitty was shaking the can in an attempt to get the last little bit out. What she was able to retrieve she concentrated on the four areas that February had mentioned before they started.

February then handed Kitty the remains of her can
and said, ‘There isn’t a lot left in mine, but you might be able to finish off what you’re doing with it.’

‘Thanks,’ said Kitty as she took the proffered can, placing her now empty one on the side of the dresser. She quickly drained this new can of its contents but seemed more content that she had covered herself with the stuff. ‘I thought the can had more than it did
, and I guess I didn’t plan properly for what it did have.’

‘I saw that,’ February replied,
walking over to her pile of clothing again. ‘You can’t always get these things right on the first try, and I thought there was more myself.’

Kitty, noticing where February was headed
, added, ‘I guess we’d better get dressed then!’