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window and leap onto Noa’s bed. He heard Sergei say, “It’s her dad, run!”
    Inside the house, there was the sound of Mom’s footsteps running toward Noa’s room. Hsissh dived behind the pillows on Noa’s bed just before Mom burst in. Outside, he heard the boys’ retreating footsteps, Dad’s thunderous approach and booming voice. “Noa, what was going on?”
    “They wanted to go racing,” she said. “And then Jacob tried to attack a wild werfle.” He could hear her rifling through the ivy.
    Hsissh watched Mom go to the window, peer out, and then turn to shoo Masako and John from the room.
    In the garden, Dad said, “Go back inside.”
    “But the werfle …” Noa said.
    “Will be fine,” said Dad. “You go inside …”
    There was the sound of soft, quick steps and then a thump against the house. A moment later, Noa was climbing through the window, a few pieces of ivy clinging to her fingers.
    “That wasn’t what I meant!” Dad shouted.
    “I have to get back to studying!” Noa said, landing lightly on her feet and immediately going to her hologlobe. The device was larger than the one she used to have—this one was as large in diameter as two grown werfles. Hsissh felt her concentrate. The globe glowed and within it appeared a scene of Fleet ships below a time gate.
    Noa’s paws balled at her side. “The Guard won’t take me …” she muttered. Shaking her head, she focused ... and then her mind was alight with the thoughts of members of the Reserve Fleet Training Corp.
    “Hey, Noa, you’re back!” said a boy Hsissh didn’t recognize.
    “You weren’t kidnapped by crazy fundies and forced into marriage with a man five times your age,” said a girl who looked to be about Noa’s age.
    “Ha, ha, you’re hilarious,” Noa said aloud. The words were picked up by the nanos in her mind and sent across the galaxy to her friends. Noa punched the air. “Let’s get back to the Battle of Time Gate Five. What would we have done in Captain Malik’s position? I was thinking … ”
    Hsissh dropped from her consciousness. He was warm between the pillows, but an uncomfortable feeling was coming over him. Noa didn’t really need his help. She was going to leave. She had to, not because of any plague, but because she didn’t belong here. Maybe he didn’t, either.

    I t wasn’t until she was putting on her pajamas that Hsissh slunk from his hiding place. Her back was to him, and he was pondering quietly leaving … but then she turned suddenly. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of him—and he reared on his hind legs at the sight of her. She’d grown in the time he was gone, and developed the secondary sexual characteristics of her kind, but she was still lean, her skin was still a beautiful rich brown, and her eyes that deep almost-black.
    “Fluffy?” Noa said, reaching out hesitantly. In the waves he heard her thoughts. It’s not really Fluffy, but so much like him, he’d stand just like that …
    With a strike of inspiration, Hsissh dived beneath the covers and did his circuit. Coming up for air, he gave the squeak of ‘all clear.’ He tugged at the waves, and tried to reassure her, I won’t bite.
    Noa fell onto the bed and scooped him up into her arms. She scratched him behind the ears, the way he’d liked in his old body and still liked in this one. He purred unabashedly and she wept into his fur.
    Later, with a belly full of leftovers Noa had sneaked from the kitchen, he curled up with her under the covers. Noa didn’t need him to escape Luddeccea … and he didn’t need to love her. But life without love was like a rat that had been dead for a few days. You could eat it, but it wasn’t as delicious.

6
    Releasing Pets into the Wild
    H sissh’s body was old again. If he moved, his joints would ache, and his fur was thinning. But he wasn’t moving, the chair beneath him was soft and comfortable, and he was warmed by a sunbeam.
    “Looks like you’ve stolen my seat, Sir,” said Tim.