WooFDriver

Slippers waits for an explanation, but it doesn’t come. Instead, the tiger cub drops onto the ground, belly down. Ebe groans and bellows out in a wordless complaint before flopping over onto her side, letting her legs flop down in every direction.

She looks to be the picture perfect image of someone that has given up. Ebe closes her eyes, and she sighs again. “I miss her,” says Ebe, finally. The words roll into reality like something sour – carrion meat or a mouse that is too skinny to justify turning into a meal. “I miss her so much! Oh, you two cats have no idea. You have no idea how much I miss her!”

Tom Quartz is the one that answers this time, surprisingly enough. His voice is soft and light and sad. “I know what it’s like to miss someone,” he says, seriously. “I have many brothers and sisters, and I miss them all dearly. Right now, Slippers is the only cat I have, and I can’t imagine how miserable I would be if something happened to her.”

Ebe cracks open one eye. She’s listening, but still not encouraged enough to get up, or to say anything.

“You must be miserable,” says Tom Quartz, as if that isn’t the obvious truth. “But that’s just it, Ebe. We’re here to help you! What happened to your sister?”

Ebe sighs again, but this time it’s chased down by an answer. “They took her. The humans moved her away from here, and I don’t know why, and I don’t know where she went! And…” The tiger still doesn’t sit up. Her tail tip twitches. “I miss her so much. It makes my heart hurt, kitten, without her here. I’m tired. And I don’t want to do anything. I just want to curl up with her, and I want to know that she’s safe!”

Slippers takes charge again. She does that a lot, and it usually works out very well for the two cats. “Do you know where they took her?”

“There’s a big building at the center of the zoo,” says Ebe. “There’s a monkey that got loose a while ago, and he says that they took her there. He says that the building is bad, and that the animals who go in there usually don’t come back out. I’m so worried.”

A big building in the middle of the zoo? Slippers gives Tom Quartz an uncertain look. She doesn’t know what she’s supposed to be doing out here in this strange time zone, but there’s no doubt that the answers are in that building.

Slippers nods. “Alright,” she says, with a flick of her tail. “We’re going to find that big building, and we’re going to find Ada.”

Tom Quartz adds, “we promise that we’re going to figure this out.”

 

Katelynn E Koontz – Author

Ebe doesn’t look very happy to have visitors. Despite the fact that she’s a young thing, there’s something imposing about the way she looks. There are lithe muscles beneath her bright orange and black pelt, and sharp eyes that watch the two house cats even as she steps down from the boulder to join them at its base.

Slippers tries to be brave, but her instincts are screaming at her to run. This entire enclosure smells like predator and it’s a hard thing to shake. She gives the tiger cub a thin, shaking smile. “We’re really sorry to bother you. I don’t entirely know why we’re here, if I’m being honest.”

“Honesty would be helpful,” advises Ebe, sitting down and lifting her head up.

Tom Quartz whines at the back of his throat. His ears are flattened out, tail twitching with unease. “We’re being honest, I swear. Slippers is a good cat – and so am I! We’re just trying to do our jobs, and make sure that everything is okay.”

Ebe demands, “and what, exactly, do you think your job is?”

Slippers takes a deep breath. She says, “we were told that something is wrong with Ada. I don’t – I don’t know what, I swear. But we were asked to come here, and see if we could help.”

Ebe still doesn’t look happy. She looks around the enclosure, as if she’s trying to find something that might help sway her mind. Whatever she’s looking for is either there or it’s not, because the tiger cub lets out a sigh that makes her entire body shudder and shake.

She sinks down onto the ground, then, stretching out over the dirt floor. Her claws dig deep into the earth. “I don’t know how to help, either.”

Slippers, feeling particularly brave, takes a small step forward.

Tom Quartz hisses, his tail snapping out to brush over her flank.

It earns him a rather irritated look, and a shake of Slippers head. The she-cat is determined to make sure that their mission is accomplished, and she won’t let age old instincts and a bit of unease stop that! So she takes a step forward, and then another one, and another, until she’s able to sit down beside Ebe and press their shoulders together.

Slippers is much, much smaller than Ebe. It’s only more clear now that they’re pressed together. She says, “why don’t you tell us what’s happened? Is Ada in here with you?”

Ebe shakes her head. She lets out a sad, rumbling sound. “No,” says Ebe, sounding just as miserable as she looks. “No, she’s not. Not anymore, at least.”

 

Katelynn E Koontz – Author

Presidential pets are a very strange thing to understand. They rely on the fact that time travel exists, and that they are all connected on a level no human could possibly realize. Traveling through the time zones is a very arduous task, and not one to be taken lightly. For the most part, they simply meet in the Room, where they convene and confer, to discuss the events of their current lives.

As such, Tom Quartz and Slippers have never been to a time outside of their own. Still, they walk through the dog door together, with their tails twisted together to try and offer each other a bit of comfort. The darkness of the pathway adjusts to fit their size, occasionally lit by a burst of red light.

“I’m nervous,” admits Slippers.

“Me too,” says Tom Quartz. “But there’s the exit. If we’re going to do this, we have to do it now.”

“We’re doing it,” says Slippers, and then she surges forward and pushes her head through the flap of the dog door. Her shoulders follow next – the tip of her tail – and Tom Quartz is left scrambling to go in after her.

The dog door is plastered to the side of a large boulder. It vanishes the moment that the two cats step out, fading seamlessly into the gray until it’s nothing more than a series of cracks and crevices. Only a Presidential Pet would recognize the shape for what it is, or take the time to notice the fine red moss growing around it.

The boulder, of course, is settled into a small enclosure. A massive metal fence has been erected around the land, which is meant to replicate, in some small fashion, the plains of Africa. It’s sparse, though, and the metal scattered about is obvious.

“I guess we have to find Ada,” says Slippers.

Tom Quartz says, “shouldn’t there be two of them? I thought there were two tigers.”

A shadow casts over the two cats. They look up, and come face to face with the brilliant green eyes of a tiger cub. It stands on the top of the boulder, brilliant even in her youth. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

Slippers yelps. She scrambles away from the boulder, struggling with the instincts to run in the presence of a predator. “Sorry! So sorry! We didn’t mean to intrude or anything like that, Miss Tiger!”

“We did mean to intrude,” says Tom Quartz, moving to stand next to the she-cat. “We’re looking for Ada. It’s important business. Is…is that you?”

The tiger cub blinks. “No. Ada’s my sister. I’m Ebe. Who are you?”

“Slippers,” answers the she-cat. “And Tom Quartz. I’m just here to help. I promise.”

 

Katelynn E Koontz – Author

Cornwallis has been around for a very long time.

Now, that can be said about every presidential pet. These are animals that transcend time, that go beyond a single life span. But of them all, Cornwallis is the oldest. He is the first presidential pet, summoned into the void that makes up the Room long before it was named, long before it was common knowledge.

As such, he considers every other animal here his charge. When something happens to their red strings, Cornwallis makes sure that he finds out what. Or, as has become the case in recent years, he makes sure that someone else finds out for him.

Today, he has selected a pair of cats.

Tom Quartz and Slippers both belong to President Theodore Roosevelt. They’re nearly inseparable, these two, practically joined at the hip. Even now, they sit close enough together that their shoulders are touching, that their tails are twisted together.

Slippers asks, “what did you need, Cornwallis?”

“You don’t speak with us all that often,” says Tom Quartz. “It must be pretty important to call us down here before the actual meeting. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” says Cornwallis, and the lie slips off his tongue with ease. “But Ada is not. You know her, yes?”

“Ada,” echoes Slippers. The gray tabby flicks her ears, looking curious. “She’s one of Van Buren’s tigers, isn’t she?”

“Yes,” answers Cornwallis. He stands up, tail wagging just once. “I can’t give you a lot of information, I’m afraid. But it looks like something is dreadfully wrong with Ada. She’s in need of some assistance, and I feel as though the two of you are the only ones able to help.”

Tom Quartz lets out a meow of laughter. He’s slightly larger than Slippers, with dark black tabby markings and a streak of white across his throat. There are matching white splotches on either back leg, covering his paws like socks. “Us? How do you think we’re going to be able to help? She’s a tiger!”

“I’m well aware of her species,” says Cornwallis, dryly. “And I’ve told you, I’m not sure what the problem is. But I do know, without a doubt, that you’re the only two capable of helping her.”

Slippers asks, “how do you know?”

Cornwallis says, “because the room told me.” He leads the two cats across the black meeting spot, over to one of the many dog doors. It’s ringed in a red light. “This will take you to Ada’s enclosure. It’s extremely important that you not only find out what the problem is, but that you solve the problem before you return. If you’re unable to fix it, then we will all be trapped within the most unfortunate of circumstances.”

Tom Quartz drapes his tail over Slippers flanks. He says, “I’ll go if you’re going.”

Slippers hesitates. She looks concerned, and frightened, and less then certain. Eventually, though, she nods. “Alright. Alright, we’ll go check on Ada. That’s our job, right? As presidential pets?”

“Aye,” says Cornwallis, eyes dark with grief that no one understands. “That’s your job.”

 

Katelynn E Koontz – Author

Cornwallis has been around for many, many years. Unlike the other dogs, who come and go through the Room, he has turned it into his own personal home. There’s a gray dog bed tucked in a corner that no one else can see, and a raw hide bone pushed into the shadows.

He is content here, alone, in the silence. For the most part, the other pets leave him alone. His crass nature makes them leery; his harsh words and short manner of speech makes them unwilling to start up a conversation.

And that’s exactly how Cornwallis likes it.

But, today, something changes. The moment that Cornwallis wakes up, he knows that something has changed. There’s electricity in the air. It seeps under his fur, makes his whip like tail curl around his slender back legs. Long nails clatter against the black floor.

He walks away from the council station and away from his bed. Cornwallis ventures deeper into the black. There are no shadows. There is only pitch black, and there is Cornwallis. On and on he goes, for what seems like an infinite amount of time. Eventually, though, he comes across a flash of white. It’s pinned to the ground, held there by an unseen force.

Cornwallis peeks into the white. At first, there’s nothing. Slowly, though, fine, red lines appear. These lines are the mark of the various time streams. None of them are tangled up, which is a very good thing indeed. But one line is starting to fray. The strings are coming unfurled, right at the point where it connects, not with another time line, but with the room itself.

“I don’t have much time left,” mutters Cornwallis, unhappily. “Something has to be done. But what? What?”

There’s no one else in the Room, and so no one answers. But then, even if Cornwallis was alone, there would be no way for anyone to offer him help. This is a problem that transcends time, after all. It’s a problem that no one else will understand.

As Cornwallis is standing there, sulking, glowering down at the fraying string, another red line starts to pulse. It flashes bright red twice, and then the red coloring begins to fade. “No,” growls Cornwallis. “No! Whose line is that?”

Paws scrabble at the white. Nails catch on the fading string, pulling it up and away from the white backdrop. It snaps against Cornwallis’ paw, and a new image appears in the white. There, huddled in the white backdrop, is a small, brightly colored tiger cub.

“Ada,” says Cornwallis. “There’s something wrong with Ada!”

 

Katelynn E Koontz – Author

David scratches behind Laddie Boy’s ear, finally kneeling down next to the clearly upset dog. He’s frowning, brows pinched down and lips twisted. “Come on, buddy. Just tell me what’s going on. You want something else to eat?”

“Yeah,” grumbles Laddie Boy. “That’s obviously what I want.”

Sometimes, he regrets the fact that humans can’t speak to him. More than that, he regrets the fact that people are so bad at picking up the subtle hints. The flick of an ear, the curl of a lip, the stance of a tail that’s held down a little lower than usual.

People like David, they don’t understand that. They miss it, so caught up in their own lives. Thinking about it makes Laddie Boy even more frustrated. He shakes the hand off his head and then, in a move that is spurned on by desperation and irritation, Laddie Boy darts forward and slams his shoulder against the desk.

There is no clearer move then that.

Even David, bad as he is at understanding the language of a dog, can’t miss it. “He wants something under the desk. Help me move it, will you?”

Robert stares at him. “Seriously? David – “

Laddie Boy growls at Robert. Then he starts scrabbling at the front of the desk again. In the end, it only takes a moment before Robert is convinced to get up and help David move the desk. The moment that the slip of paper is visible, Laddie Boy snatches it up and scrambles away from the furniture, a sign that he’s gotten what he wants.

David kneels down next to Laddie Boy. “What do you have there, pal?”

The paper is dropped onto the ground in front of David. “You need this. Pay more attention, David!” Laddie Boy wags his tail, sits down and can’t help but look so totally proud of himself.

It takes a moment for David to realize what’s just been given to him. The moment that it clicks, David snatches it up and swoops down on Laddie Boy, smothering him in hugs, kisses and an endless shower of praise.

That night, when all have gone to sleep, Laddie Boy slips back into the room at the far side of the White House. He goes through the same motions as always and, when the doggie door appears, Laddie Boy steps into it, eagerly padding down the hallway.

Cornwallis is waiting for him. The other dog looks reluctantly pleased. He says, “you did good. I wasn’t sure if you would be able to figure it out.”

“I tried,” says Laddie Boy. “Does this mean that everything’s okay?”

“For now,” answers Cornwallis. “It’s okay for now.”

 

Katelynn E Koontz – Author