Two security men and one small unnoticed companion materialized in the center of a beautiful glade on the surface of Slart II. There were trees all around, springy green turf beneath their feet and a light breeze propelled puffy white clouds across the crystal firmament above. Benton took a moment to savor the air. It felt good to be back in nature; sometimes he missed his old home on New Kelva. Even city-boy Sitto seemed to be enjoying the raw beauty here.
Off in the not-too-far distance, Benton could see a small town nestled amongst the trees of a small wood. "That must be the administrative center for this hemisphere," he told Sitto. They began walking toward the town to meet with the chief administrator. Along the way, Benton noticed that there were many homemade flyers pinned to light poles and trees offering rewards for lost neighborhood pets. He wondered briefly at this, but in the end dismissed it as unimportant.
Meanwhile, still unnoticed, their small companion moved off on his own and soon disappeared amid the trees and buildings of the town.
Officer Nedic Arn walked his beat in the quiet arboreal suburbs. He had been in the police force for almost eleven years now, and he still enjoyed his job: the fresh air, the exercise, and the fact that nothing very serious ever happened.
Naturally, just as this thought passed through his mind a shrill female voice cried, "Help! Officer, help!"
Arn turned and saw a young girl frantically jumping up and down and flailing her arms to get his attention. "This way!" she waved. "Quick! Mr. Tuvo's in trouble!" Arn didn't hesitate for a second. Quick as he could, he dashed off in the direction the girl indicated, determined to save Mr. Tuvo.
Fifteen minutes later, Arn climbed out of a tree with a small furry bundle in his arms and handed a frightened little kitten to a relieved little girl. She hugged the little kitty to her with such fervor that the kitty's eyes bugged. "Oh, Mr. Tuvo, are you all right? I was so worried," she gushed. "You're a naughty kitty for climbing so high."
Arn brushed some leaves and twigs from his hair and uniform. Now that he had a moment to think, he recognized the little girl as Fiola Linali. He also noticed that Fiola's cat looked like a pure-bred. "There you go, Fiola," said Arn. "Mr. Tuvo sure is a nice cat. Now you take care of him, okay?"
"Thank you, Officer," said Fiola as she skipped away back to her house.
Arn stood watching until Fiola disappeared into her home. He made a mental note of the address. Now that he had found what he needed, he'd be back: tonight...
Arn turned around to resume his patrol and bumped straight-away into a pair of men costumed in gold and black uniforms of some type he didn't recognize. Must be some of those 'Federationers' I've heard about, he thought to himself.
One of the gold uniformed men smiled and said, "Pardon me, sir; terribly sorry," and politely stepped aside to let Arn by.
Arn said absentmindedly in return, "No trouble. My fault," and went on his way. He had other things on his mind. He hadn't walked far when he was brought back to reality when he thought he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye behind a tree. He walked over to investigate, and just caught a glimpse of a small, brown, furry object scuttling away behind some other trees a little farther away.
Intrigued, Arn decided to follow in case it was a dangerous type of animal that he would have to take care of. But it seemed as if the more determinedly Arn chased the furry whatever-it-was, the more quickly it was able to elude him. It was as though there were more than one little animal. Arn dashed over to the tree where the fur-ball had just been, only to see a glimpse of it disappearing behind a different tree. He ran to the new tree, just in time to see it duck into a nearby bush. It was becoming maddening. He thought he saw a hint of fuzz beneath the leaves of a nearby hedge, but then a sudden movement made him turn his head to the left. A small dog ran yapping from behind one tree trunk to another. Then, another motion diverted his attention to the right when a small cat zipped between two low bushes with a loud and deliberate "meow."
There was more than one animal here! When Arn looked back under the hedge where the brown fur-ball had been before, it was gone. The animals had ganged up on him and were deliberately trying to divert him from catching the fur-ball. Arn couldn't believe it. What was this little fur-ball that it could unite the pets of the neighborhood against him like this?
Suddenly, Arn saw his chance. He dove at a rustling shrubbery hoping to snag this mystery creature, but instead, the foliage virtually erupted with dozens of dogs, cats, ferrets, wuzzles and goombas, and Arn wound up face down in a mud puddle, empty-handed. The animals jumped all around and on top of Arn in a hopeless whirlwind of confusion tearing at his uniform, but Arn nevertheless managed to spy the small brown creature riding away from the scene on the back of a small beige cat that bore a remarkable resemblance to
Mr. Tuvo. Gathering up the tattered remnants of his uniform, Arn took off after the pair, and the chase was on!
Meanwhile, back aboard the Virgo, Francesca was still desperately looking for Spot. She had checked out the mess hall, the kitchen and the central food replicator machinery rooms, especially the chicken prep area, all the likely places a hungry tribble might head for, but there was no sign of him.
"Where could he be?" she said aloud as she stood in the middle of a corridor feeling at a loss for where to look next. Then a thought hit her. "He must have jumped ship when the landing party beamed down!" she suddenly realized.
As Francesca ran to the nearest transporter room, her mind was full of thoughts of wreaking her bloody vengeance on that stupid little tribble for putting her through all this. Again.
Back on the planet surface, Benton and Sitto were taking a few tricorder readings of various flora and fauna to confirm there were no unpleasant surprises in store for the crew. As soon as they were finished and made their report to the captain, shore leave would commence. The only thing they were reminded of again by the Slartan administrator was the basic request not to upset the local citizens with any ruckus or troublemaking while on shore leave.
As they made their way back toward the edge of town and the glade where they originally beamed down, Benton noted once again the huge number of reward posters for lost neighborhood pets.
A distant racket was becoming louder. Benton realized it was the sound of many animals barking, meowing, growling, howling and harrumphing, and they were coming this way. He and Sitto stopped beside a brick wall to wait and see what was going on.
A few seconds later, a small, beige cat came bounding around the nearer street corner and ran right past Benton and Sitto. They jumped back in unison against the brick wall to avoid being run over. The cat ran down the middle of the street, around the far corner and out of sight. That in itself was not all that noteworthy, but Benton also happened to notice that the small beige cat was bearing an even smaller rider on its back -- a round furry one -- like some sort of bizarre Lilliputian horse and jockey team.
"Spot? How..." said Benton in disbelief. He and Sitto looked at each other in astonishment, but just then, a stampede of other animals came tearing around the corner after the tribble-and-cat combo, making a fearsome noise.
When they too had passed and disappeared around the second corner, Sitto shook his head and chuckled. He said, "What's next, a cattle drive?"
Benton was about to explain that that wasn't very likely, but he was interrupted by a new noise. To his further surprise and Sitto's growing amusement, Francesca came barreling around the corner hollering, "Ssspoooooot! Wwwaaaiiit!" As she blew by the two men, she spared Benton a smile and called, "Hi there, Benton," in between her huffs and puffs, and then she too rounded the second corner, the echoes of her hollering still ringing in the men's ears.
Deciding that this situation probably needed looking into, Benton was about to take off after the parade himself, but again, the sound of running footfalls checked him. This time a man wearing some sort of tattered uniform came around the corner. His face was red from the exertion, his clothes were dirty and torn, and he was clutching a large, long-handled net. He ran by Benton and Sitto and vanished around the second corner in hot pursuit of anything he could catch.
"Come on!" said Benton to the madly grinning Sitto as he headed off after Spot. He couldn't imagine how Spot had gotten himself down to the planet, but he was causing trouble and needed to be stopped before he got hurt or jeopardized the relationship between the Slartans and the Virgo. To discover that Francesca was involved came as no big shock, but now he was more sure than ever that what he suspected was wrong with Spot was true, and it alarmed Benton a great deal.
Sitto shouted and pointed to a narrow alley that looked like it offered a shortcut. Benton altered his course, and running between buildings and through people's back yards, he and Sitto quickly gained on the amok tribble and its train of pursuers.
Jumping out from between two buildings, Benton stood fearlessly in the middle of the street in front of the approaching stampede. The cat carrying Spot came to a screeching halt in front of Benton and Spot went flying head over heals (so to speak) through the air. He thumped into Benton's chest and plopped onto the pavement before Benton's feet.
Benton folded his arms across his chest, looked down and said, "Hello, Spot."
Spot chirped an angry and annoyed reply.
Just then Francesca came running up surrounded by dozens of yammering and jumping wuzzles and goombas. She was saying, "Beat it, you mangy beasts!" as she fought her way through them to where Spot lay. She shot off a rapid-fire stream of words: "Spot! You bad boy... Hi there, Benton," she smiled and fluttered her eyelashes innocently. "I'll just be taking Spot here back to the ship now. No harm done..." She bent to scoop up Spot in her hands and make her escape before Benton could reprimand her when the red-faced uniformed man finally caught up.
"Not so fast, Miss!" he huffed. He shouldered past Francesca and bent down to pick up Spot himself. Spot reared up and began screeching and hissing so loudly that you'd think there was an army of murderous Klingons after him. Somehow he managed to jump up a little, and Officer Arn jerked his hand back. "Ow!" he yelled, wiping the blood off his finger. "That animal just bit me! That's it. He's under arrest!"