Mique

Part 1

It should be noted that this is a beta version of this story. Help! E-mail suggestions using the link above. Now on to the story...

Jagged streaks of lightning slashed across the sky as Melly ran from the library to her car. The thunder roared, drowning the sound of the torrential rain. Tossing her books through the open window onto the sodden seat, she cursed fluently and jerked the door open. For fifty bucks, the VW had been a great little car, even without the windows. At least it was great as long as the weather was good.

She gasped as the ice-cold rainwater seeped up through the seat of her tight jeans, and fumbled for the keys. A small pair of golden, almond shaped eyes watched in amusement from the relatively dry back seat.

Thrusting the keys into the ignition, she started the car and slammed it into reverse. Turning to look over her shoulder, she found herself staring into a small bewhiskered face. Vaguely feline, it belonged to a compact being dressed neatly in scarlet biker's leathers.

Melly's eyes saucered and her jaw dropped into her lap. She nearly backed into a SAAB parked directly behind her. The VW lurched to a halt on the wet pavement. Jamming the stick into park, she leapt from the car and was halfway across the parking lot when her mind said... ‘Hey! Wait a minute!’

Coming to an abrupt halt, she wheeled and stared in disbelief at her motionless car. As she began walking back towards it, a small figure crawled into the front seat and began driving towards her. Thoughts racing, she got mechanically into the passenger seat as the car came to a halt beside her.

"So where are we going?" asked the driver in what could only be described as a low whiskey voice with a hint of a Detroit accent.

"I was headed home," she said hoarsely "Who the hell are you?" Her mind reeled 'What was in those brownies?' she thought. She watched in amazement as the small being threaded the beetle through the sodden downtown traffic like a lifetime taxi driver.

"My name is Mique. My bike had a flat and your car was open."

"Mique" Melly's mind blanked momentarily, before she realized they were headed unerringly for her loft. Glancing at his smug furry face, she said, "What are you?"

"I could be your worst nightmare but... fortunately for you I'm just a friend you are going to appreciate. I hope." Mique said smiling, as they pulled into her parking stall without a hitch.

As he threw on the parking brake, she turned to look at him straight on. "You still haven't answered my question," she said softly. "Why, for that matter, would I need a friend like you?" She regarded him in silence for a moment, then pushing her unruly red hair back from her eyes, continued "How did you know where I live?"

"Easy, it's on your registration card. I had lots of time to snoop around while I waited for you to come out of the library." Mique said matter of factly, with a feline smile. "Me... I'm an illegal alien."

Stressed to the max, Melly found this uproariously funny. Still laughing, she got out of the car and headed for the door. "C'mon. Let's get inside before we drown." Entering the back stairs, she said, "Where are you from?"

"Would you believe me if I said 'Hull, Quebec?'" Mique asked. "No, I suppose not." he continued as he pussyfooted up behind her.

Melly kicked off her sneakers in the landing of her small loft, holding the door open for Mique who walked in sniffing and sank into the large overstuffed couch in the center of the room. "What’ve you got to eat?"

"There's some cold pizza on the stove" Melly replied, indicating the kitchen with her elbow.

"Are you trying to give me botulism?" Mique asked, giving Melly the fish eye.

"Nah," she said, crossing over to the narrow stove, "It won't kill ya. You never did tell me why I might need a friend like you. Wanna piece?" She gestured towards the greasy box on the stove.

"I think I'll pass on the trip to the ER, thank you very much. As for a friend like me... I'm charming, handsome, and a swell dancer!"

"And short!" Melly snorted. "You're quite adept at not answering questions, aren't you?"

"No, I'm evasive as hell haven't you noticed?"

"No, duh!" Melly jerked open the fridge. "Wanna beer?"

"Beer! Did someone say Beer!" Mique said making a beeline for the fridge. He had a can in each paw and was slurping noisily before Melly had a chance to finish "Eer."

"Uh huh." Melly shook her head and reached for a beer for herself. Before she had a chance to pop the top on the can, the doorbell chimed.

"Oh shit!" Melly crept up to the door, realizing that she had a people sized cat person lounging on her couch sucking back a "heinie." Through the peephole, she saw a large, insectoid, behemoth staring back at her with multi-faceted eyes. Grabbing Mique by the paw, she threw the deadbolt and ran for the fire escape. "You've got some explaining to do, mister." she growled.

"Let me guess," Mique said following Melly out the window. "We need a large can of Blackflag roach killer."

"You got it, bub! Let's fly." Melly jumped from the fire escape to the parking lot below. "C'mon Chicken Louie, I thought cats always landed on their feet."

"Hey, whoa!" Mique said, still hanging on to his half-gone beer. "That bozo isn't enough to panic about. You stay here. I'll be right back." He scampered back up.

Baffled, Melly jumped two or three times, finally catching on to the bottom of the fire escape. Climbing laboriously back up to the loft, she peered cautiously in the living room window.

There was no sign of the bug. A large splotch of green ichor was staining the rug in front of the door, and Mique was now back on the couch, calmly licking his paws.

"Okay", Melly said, trying to ignore the spreading stain on the carpet. "That's about enough of that. I want some honest answers, and I want them now."

"Well first off, I'm not hungry any more." Mique grinned, indicating the spot on the floor. "That'll vacuum right up once it dries. And second, he won't be missed. As far as I know, he was the last Xgftln left on your planet."

"Xgftln?" Melly queried, "What the hell is a Xgftln? And what the hell are you, that you would know?"

"Would you believe that I'm a cat prince and one kiss from you would turn me into a handsome human?"

Melly only returned an icy glare.

"OK, I had you pegged as smarter than that anyway." Mique said with his paws held up in surrender. "The bug was here to stop me from saving your planet."

"From what?" Melly screeched, "I don't recall seeing anything in the news about giant bugs. Why should I believe you? After all, I don't know you from Adam."

"You sure you wouldn't like to kiss me? No? Fine, I'm what you might call an intergalactic cyclebum, and that bug was calling in a bad gambling debt. Not mine mind you, but I'm the only one that gives a damn about this little blue ball."

"Right, Furface. And I'm the Queen of England." Taking a long pull from her beer she sighed deeply then stared at him for a moment. "Ok. I'll listen. What are you trying to save us from?"

Mique played with the zipper on his jacket. He was not going to get away with a flip answer this time. "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." The serious look on his face overshadowed the obvious theft."... there was this really serious war going on. The two main sides were this bunch of power hungry hardcore warlords, against everybody else who didn't want them walking in and taking over."

As Mique paused in thought, Melly quietly got up and opened two more beer. Handing him one, she said softly "Go on."

"In short, the bad guys won. Then they started fighting amongst themselves over who got what. They settled it all by a lottery, and carved up the known universe. Your neighbourhood of galaxies, including this lovely system, went to the meanest bastard of the bunch."

Struck by the change in his manner, Melly chose her words carefully. "Why would you care? You're obviously not local." Taking a sip of her beer, she continued "Why would we matter to you?"

Mique shrugged, "I've seen what these jerks do to an inhabited rich planet like this one and it stinks! Besides, I happen to like it here." He smiled and crunched the beer can on his forehead. "I'm gonna save your planet. Wanna help?"

Melly looked at him in dismay. "Help? Me? Just you and I are going to save the world? How do you figger?" Her voice rose sharply toward the end.

"Well mostly, up 'til now I've been a pain in the ass to these guys. Eating anybody they send to check the place out isn't going to work forever, though. Got any bright ideas?"

"Oh, yee haw, throw it all in my lap why don't you? Why me? I take it we have no backup."

He looked at Melly like she had no concept of what was going on (which she didn't) "Of course we don't! Way out here on the rim there is next to nobody. Hell, they wouldn't even known you were here if they hadn't picked up on all those 'I love Lucy' reruns you guys insisted on spewing out into space."

"Shee-it!" Melly stomped over to the stereo and threw in a CD at random. Oddly appropriate, the raucous sounds of AC/DC's Highway to Hell filled the loft. "Um, what...er, what exactly are these bad guys?"

"The best way I can describe them is the Smurfs on acid, without the cute little hats. They call themselves the Grynak."

"Okay, that's it! I've definitely lost my marbles. This has got to be some bizarre delusion. Smurfs on acid, indeed. Go away!" Melly began laughing. "I must be totally off my rocker!"

"Seriously, they're blue! Their language sounds a lot like 'la la ... lalala', but they're mean and lazy and they hire out all their dirty work. That's why you've got a green stain on your rug. You should vacuum that up now, by the way."

"Haven't got a vacuum." she belched. "Oof. 'scuse me. Your turn to get the beer." Draining the last of hers, she continued "Blue, eh? Okay, I'll buy that for a buck. We need a...." she trailed off as a piercing, high-pitched whining sound filled the air. "What the hell is that?"

"Nuts! The bug brought a friend! Come on Honey grab the beer, We better haul!" Mique vaulted the couch to jam a chair under the doorknob. "If we leave now, he might leave your place in one piece."

Melly scooped the last two beer and the pizza box, and ran for the fire escape. Jumping to the ground, she headed straight for the parking lot with Mique hot on her heels. She fired up the Beetle and was half way out of the lot while Mique was still trying to get in the passenger side window.

"Take your next left!" Mique hollered "I know a safe place we can go. Keep heading east 'til you see a bar called 'The Pit'. The owner is a friend of mine."

Melly flew down the road, ignoring stop signs, red lights and the smoke curling up through the back seat from the engine. She careened into the parking lot of a garishly lit bar with a neon sign that said 'The Pit', and parked beside a long line of Harley motorcycles.

"Intergalactic cycle bum" she muttered to herself as she got out of the soggy VW. "You lead."

"Mique!" The entire bar roared in greeting as he and Melly pushed their way through the swinging door. The place was as seedy as the sign described, sawdust on the floor, smoky and poorly lit. Melly wasn't even surprised that no one even reacted to the fact that her companion was a five-foot cat dressed in red leather.

Silently, she followed him as he meandered through the crowd of gargantuan men in black. When they reached the bar, the battle-scarred titan behind it handed them each a mug of draft. Taking a long pull from hers, she leaned her back on the bar and looked around. Shaking her damp hair back off her face, she looked at Mique. "Okay, Fuzzball. Now what?"

"Who's the chick?" The burly man behind the bar asked. He looked Melly up and down, causing her to suddenly find her beer mug very interesting.

"Percy, this is Melly, my newest and bestest friend. Cute ain't she?" Mique replied, grinning a Cheshire grin.

"What the hell kind of a name is Melly?" Percy asked, his gaze firmly fixed on her chest.

Looking him square in the eye, Melly snapped "It's a hell of a lot more sensible than Percy. Besides, it's a damn site better than Amelia-belle which is what my parents saddled me with." Totally annoyed now, she added "I DO have a face you know."

Percy grinned, "Nice tits and spunky too. I can see what you like about her."

"Brains too. Scary, huh?" Mique looked over to Melly. "Your registration only said 'A. B. Bernhart'... Amelia-belle?"

"DON'T go there!" Irritated, Melly drained her beer and smacked the mug on the bar. Looking at Percy, she said hopefully "Tequila?" While he poured her a straight shot, she glared balefully at Mique. "Enough pissing around, Hot Shot. What are we gonna do?" Pounding back the shot, she waited impatiently for an answer.

"Percy, we're gonna have some company soon, think the boys could nail a banshee for me? I just ate." Mique asked.

Percy smiled a wicked grin. "Sure no prob. You want him fried or fricasseed?" He reached behind the bar for a Louisville slugger, then shouted at the assembled patronage. "Hey Ass-Holes, wanna piece of an alien shrieker?" A roar swelled up from the bar, just as a newly familiar, shrill, high pitched noise came from the parking lot.

Melly swore and dove over the bar, as a large, four-armed, knife wielding avian crashed through the door. The birdman slashed viciously at the bikers as they converged on the door. Three or four of them went down, before the sheer mass of the leather-clad brawlers blocked the ensuing carnage from sight. When the clamor died down, there was nothing left but a bloody mass of feathers on the floor. Picking herself up, Melly realized that she had cut her bare foot on a broken glass on the floor. "Dammit!" she muttered, "Percy, you got a bandaid?"

"Sure Sweet-cheeks," Percy said, as he lifted Melly on to the bar. "You hold still, I'll be right back." He retreated to a room behind the bar, emerging a short time later with a satchel from which he pulled a plaster pack. Handing it to Mique, he continued out into the bar to pass the bag to the small man who was hovering over the wounded men. "Here Doc, every thing you need should be in here."

Decidedly miffed, Melly snatched the plasters from Mique and patched up her foot. After she finished, she grabbed somebody's neglected beer and drained it. "How often are we gonna have to do this?" she complained. "It's getting old real fast. We need a plan."

Mique ducked down behind the bar coming up with a bottle of tequila. He poured two tall shots, and salted the back of his left paw. He licked, drank and sucked a lime. "Do you want out?" He asked, one brow raised in a quizzical fashion. "I'm afraid this is just the beginning... but I'll tell you this: These guys will now live and die for you, just because you were here tonight. How does that make you feel?"

'Strange.' Melly thought to herself. Aloud she said "Bad time to ask, but how did I get into this? Why'd you pick my car?" Downing the other shot of tequila, she continued plaintively, "I don't exactly want out, I just want to finish it."

"I cheated," Mique replied, "I picked the car with best aura. I mean that in a nice way. I learned a lot about you from more than just your registration, A. B. Bernhart. I learned that you were a liberal thinker, and a caring person." He poured another shot. "The whole car stank of someone who cares, and believe me," he said, touching the side of his nose, "The nose knows."

"I see." she replied uncertainly. "Okay. If we can get rid of the whacked out Smurf, does that solve our problem? How do we find this dirtbag then? And more importantly, I need some shoes." Belatedly, she remembered the smoke in the car. Jumping off the bar, she picked her way over to the door without waiting for an answer.

She sat with a thump as she watched the burning embers of her once beloved bug flicker in the moonlight. Mique tsk'ed as he walked up to stand behind her. "I'm sorry Honey, but I'll but you a new car... Did I mention that I'm filthy rich, earth-wise that is."

Laughing helplessly, Melly looked up at him. "Of course. Why not?" Shaking her head she looked sadly back out at her bug. "Why the hell not?" Realizing the last of the pizza was still in the car, she stifled a sigh of regret then got up and looked at him. The glint in her eyes was thoroughly unpleasant. "Let's rock. Where is he?"

"The Grynak, you mean? Well aren't we brave." Mique said, running his paw over hair. "You’re right, let's go get the sumbitch." He turned and opened the swinging door. "Percy? Your boys ready to rumble... Big Time?"

The swelling roar was all the answer he got. It was all the answer he needed. A short second later, Percy leaned over his shoulder. He said in a curt gravelly voice. "About time we stood up for our turf. Let me call some people."

About an hour and several tequila later, the rumble of many, many bikes thundered up to the front of the bar. Moments later, they were on the road. Melly sat behind Mique on a borrowed chopper. As they roared out of town and into the badlands they were joined by still more bikes. By the time they slowed, they numbered into the thousands and had acquired a police escort.

They toured off onto a side road, down a long and twisting lane. 'Funny,' Melly mused to herself. 'They all seem to know exactly where they’re going.' The dark road went on for several long hours. The convoy pulled up to the crest of a high tor. In bottom of the gully sat a low, black, heart-shaped building.

"Hell of a troop, for no cavalry." she snorted at Mique as they stopped. "What now? Do we just charge in, or do you actually have some kind of plan?"

About then, a Mountie rolled off his bike and walked over to the chopper. "What's the plan Mique?" Looking back at Melly he asked, "Who's the chick?"

"I'm gettin' REAL sick of that question." Melly snarled "I'm a friend of Mique's. Let’s just leave it at that." Looking down on the building, she noticed a flock of the banshees swarming out of the door. "Looks like things are going to be interesting real soon."

The cop looked at the dark cloud massing at the bottom of the coulee and whispered "Oh Shit!". He ran back to his unit, pulling a twenty-gauge from the holster. The silken silence rang with the song of a multitude of arms being locked and loaded.

"Yes!" Melly exulted as they opened fire. Under the cover of the guns, Mique eased the chopper along the edge of the coulee. When they came up behind the building, he cut the engine and they coasted in close. Stopping the bike tight in the shadow of the building, they dismounted. Gunfire still echoed stridently from the opposite side as they slipped through the shadows towards the door.

"Be vewy, vewy quiet." Mique quipped as they sidled up to the portal. The popping of gunfire echoed off of the hills as Mique played with the entry pad at the doorway. The door slid open with a soft hiss. "Thank you Ziggy from Calabash where ever you are." Mique said in a low voice.

Managing to slip inside unseen was easy, what with the raging battle happening out front. Deciding where to go was another story. Once inside, Melly and Mique were faced with a series of five identical seeming corridors branching away from the door.

Confused, Melly turned to Mique and whispered, "Which way do we go?"

The question hung in the air, when they heard 'La la lalala' coming from the far corridor. "How's them boots?" Mique asked as they crouched by the entryway.

Laughing in spite of herself, Melly replied "They’ll do." Biting down on her laughter, she crept down the corridor. After a short time, she came to the door of a brightly lit room. When she caught her first glimpse of its only occupant, she was profoundly stunned. Turning to Mique, she whispered "THIS is the big bad alien? He's only six inches tall!"

A bolt of fire caught Mique square in the chest before he had a chance to answer. He fell back into Melly's arms. "Damn!" He said, and collapsed into a heap. Melly looked up dumbfounded. A rage unlike any seen now or hereafter built up in her chest. She moaned a soft keening sound as she lowered Mique to the floor. "I’ll La-La you, YOU BASTARD!" She roared into the room.

Dodge though he might, the nasty little sucker didn't have a chance. He did, however, get one good bite in on her ankle before she cornered him. Melly caught him in her left hand, and squeezed. As he started to whine in his peculiar smurfy singsong, she said "Goddam friend stealing little ankle biter!" With that she snapped his spindly blue neck. Tossing the minuscule corpse to the floor, she looked back at Mique's crumpled form. She only had time to whisper his name before the room spun away into darkness.

"She Gonna be okay?" The cop voice asked.

"Right as rain, once she sobers up." The Doc voice answered.

"How about Mique?" said the Percy voice.

"I don-know." The Doc voice answered. "Fifty-fifty, best guess."

"Crap! Who shot me?" The Mique voice asked?

Mique voice? Melly's eyes flew open. "Mique?" she said weakly, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah sure Honey. I'm just winded." Mique said in his whiskey Detroit voice.

"Cool" she slurred quietly.

"Unfortunately this is just the beginning." Mique said and then he added, "Cute, nice tits, and brains. The Grynak don't stand a chance!" He whispered. "They don't stand a chance!"

Back *** Part 2