Shel heard the crew talking about how much they missed Saskatoon.
She had been a true friend to all the cats as well as the crew of the Catavenger and it's small fleet.
They talked about how Alberta had shown up. Victoria said that she had also been saved when stranded at sea.
Alberta told of sailing with the ship for a short time. She had been friends with Saskatoon and other members of the crew.
However she never signed the Ship's papers to become a permanent crew member.
ALBERTA ARRIVES
Shel heard them talking about Mike Malone and the devices he called 'Robondroids.
Alberta said that she had been friends with Mike Malone but that her equipment to communicate
with him had been lost with the ship. The cat crew had a Laser Geostationary lunar radio-telephone (LGLRT). This was a top secret device.
Alberta said that sounded like the device that Mike had given her. However that device was pre-programmed to automatically dial Mike.
Since the other cats had no number for Mike they wouldn't be able to reach him.
The cat's human Shel interrupted and said Mike Malone was related to him.
"Oh sure, Victoria said."
VICTORIA
Vancouver interjected; "No, wait for what he says. He might even have a relative with some sense. Tell us more Shel."
"I'm sure there is a Mike Malone who is related to me," Shel continued. "He works for an agency so secret that it has no name."
As they continued to talk, they agreed that Shel's relative might be that Mike Malone. Alberta said that Shel looked somewhat like
Mike Malone. She didn't understand it before so didn't want to mention it.
Shel said that he had a phone number that might work with the cat's special telephone.
It had unusual characters that wouldn't work on a regular phone. He had the number back at his hut. His shanty was near the cat's chateau,
where they kept their LGLRT. They headed in that direction and saw a torn up trail. An oil like substance was on it in places.
"That's not oil. It is something that the mechanical devices use. Mike told me of it," Alberta said.
Something caught Winnipeg's attention and he looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of something ahead of them.
"I don't know if you saw that but I'm sure there is something just ahead of us."
WINNIPEG
Vancouver agreed that she thought she had seen something going in the direction of Shel's shanty.
The crew, along with their human, followed the track.
Alberta pointed out more of the oil and some other liquid that the machines used for coolant.
They passed through a stand of palm trees and a giant paloverde tree quite near Shel's hut.
Near that was a cave.
The cave was the place where Engineer Spott had put the Lilith Robot that he had disassembled.
.
Just outside the cave they saw the device that Mike Malone had called a 'Robondroid.'
This Robondroid was in bad shape. It's left side was very damaged.
That side of it's head was dented, it's left arm and (particularly)
it's left leg were damaged. That leg seemed to be shorter than it's right.
That might just have been because it's left foot was smashed.
It must have been one that Alberta had fought and had somehow crawled to the island.
Although it was disabled it had managed to open the cave's sliding door.
Shel and the crew could look through and see parts of the robot that looked like Lilith.
Engineer Spott had removed it's head and set it on a work table.
The head was making a squealing noise and it's eyes were flashing bright red.
Shel went forward and before the cats could yell at him to stop, the Robondroid had grabbed the human in it's mechanical grip.
VANCOUVER
When Vancouver reached for the mechanism it released the human. As soon as Vancouver touched it the device sparked with thousands of amps and volts and killed the brave feline.
Within seconds of it murdering Vancouver the three other cat's shot it. They continued to blast it until they had reduced it to a smouldering pile of burnt debris.
As they did so, (in the cave) the head of the Lilith 'bot screeched. It's eyes flashed brighter than before.
The head rolled off onto the ground sparking. It seemed deliberately
to roll toward the human.
Before the cats could stop him the human Shel kicked the head into a nearby boulder. The head quickly flew sparking blue flames.
It hit so hard that it exploded itself and the boulder.
The remains consisted of nothing much more than smoking dust. Shel walked up to it and spit on it's remains.
Sadly we had lost another crew member.
EPILOGUE:
Once the cat's had his number they were able to contact Mike Malone by using the special phone (that they had stolen years before).
Sure enough Mike was related to Shel and actually approved of Shel's action in destroying the mechanical head. Mike also said
to not destroy the rest of the "Lilith" robot but to seal it in the cave and keep it under close guard.
The death of Vancouver made him sad as well as mad.
Mike said that he would like to join the cats to plan their vengeance on those who were manufacturing the malevolent mechanical humanoids.
You will be avenged my dear Vancouver.
NOTE: In the human world all of my cat's have gotten older. Sadly cats die much, much younger than humans.
Vancouver must have been at least 18 years old.
Rest In Peace My Dear Feline Friend.
NOTE: some of the incidents here refer to things that have happened in previous stories. The story about
Alberta was the story just previous to this one. The Lilith (robot) was in "The Fall"
