James Bond meets the hybridS
by Anthony Durrant



As he boarded the old DC3, Donald Jenkins sighed sadly. He'd never been wed,
and he didn't have any children. Sitting in his seat, which was by the window,
Donald looked outside and watched as the doors closed and the old craft's
propellers began to spin. Soon he and the other passengers were taxiing down
the runway and ten minutes later, they were in the air over the plains of
Africa, on the way to the Zambezi National Airport in Kenya. As Donald watched
the plains below, a bird flew into the engine outtake and a fire broke out
when the bird's body ignited the engine components. Donald saw the flames
coming out of the engine, and watched as the wooden frame of the DC3, which
had been built in World War II, caught fire and burned like blazes. At this
point Donald realized it was too late to do anything and the fuel tanks
ignited. Seconds later, the plane exploded, becoming a bright red fireball
over the African sky. Pieces from the fuselage rained down from the sky, and
the DC3's tail came to rest against a tree. Lying inside the fuselage were
five horribly injured passengers including Donald.

"There it is!" cried a man as he and three others pulled up in a jeep. "We
were lucky this time - crashes can go undetected for years here in the African
bush."

He jumped out of the car and with the aid of the other three men, he loaded
the unconscious bodies of the five survivors into the trailer behind the jeep
and when all of them were secure, he sat down beside the driver of the jeep
who gunned the throttle of the vehicle and drove off. Eventually they came to
a subterranean laboratory situated in an old diamond mine. As he left the
jeep, the man stubbed his toe on a rock.

"Are you all right, Dr. Caliban?" the driver asked as he climbed out.

"Fine, fine!" Dr. Caliban said as he rubbed his sore toe. "Now help me get
these people into the morphing pods. I tell you that's the only way we can
save them."

His three aides helped Dr. Caliban lift each one of the five people into the
ovular morphing pods and seal them in, one person to each pod. Hurrying to the
console, the doctor smashed his fist into the button that activated the
morphing process. He smiled as he watched the pods retract into the walls and
the morphing process begin. As their bodies twitched and writhed as the new
DNA was fed into them, Dr. Caliban hoped the five survivors would be delighted
with their new forms. As he sat back in his chair, the window above his head
smashed into hundreds of sparkling pieces, and a figure came out of the sky.
He jumped to his feet and turned to the amazed doctor.

"The name is Bond," he said, "James Bond."

"I've perfected my morphing process," Caliban said, "and you can't stop me
doing what I love. Soon a race of new beings will arise that combine the
features of both human and cat! If you stop me now, five injured people will
not survive."

"What you've done is broken the laws of nature!" Bond shouted.

Caliban went for his gun, but gasped in amazement when he saw it rolling along
the floor behind him. Bond had shot it out of his holster, and now he was
pointing the Walther P-99 directly at the doctor, who grabbed for his knife
only to have it shot out of his hand and then be shot by the enraged Bond
right between the eyes. Dead, he collapsed to the floor, and Bond searched the
body. In Caliban's pocket was a security ID, which had been issued by a
company named Kenton Enterprises. Grabbing it, Bond was attacked by the three
men and shot the head off one of them with his Walther.

Hitting one of the remaining two men in the head with his Walther P-99, Bond
quickly head-butted the other one, knocking them both unconscious, and then
ran out of the mine into the open air, where his ride was already waiting for
him.

"Olay olay olsen free-ee ohhh!" he cried.

At this point a ladder descended from above, and Bond climbed up this ladder
to the helicopter above. He opened the side door and climbed into the cabin,
where a tall stunning brunette was waiting for him with a pot of newly made
tea.

"Beautiful," Bond said as he inhaled the warm fragrance of the tea, "very
beautiful, and very soothing. What's your phone number, Beautiful?"

Behind him, Bond left the five still functioning pods back at the laboratory,
never even having noticed them when he made the raid on Dr. Caliban's lab.
They were still ticking away, still humming - and still contained the five
survivors of the plane crash in the plains. There was a BEEP as the new cycle
was completed and the five pods turned themselves off. They were now ready to
disgorge a new life form such as the old world had never seen before . . .

Donald came awake without fanfare, without trauma. He found himself inside a
large pod, curled up like a mealy bug curls up when it is scared, with his
knees in front of his eyes. Pushing up, he was able to break the clamps of the
pod and push off the lid with the muscles of his long back. Standing up
abruptly, Donald stepped out of the pod and fell flat on his face. From where
he lay on the floor, Donald could see a console just in front of him and
another pod about five feet beyond it. Then it came to him why this was weird:
not only am I in a laboratory, but I'm not strong enough to lift industrial
plastic like that pod - at least not without help.

Coughing green fluid out of his mouth, Donald looked around the room. A pod
beside the one from which he'd just emerged was being pushed open and Donald
stood up and stumbled over to the pod just as the occupant broke the latches.
He pulled open the lid and a weird creature climbed out. This creature had the
markings of a leopard and was powerfully muscled. She had green eyes and what
appeared to be long flame- red hair. Her body was quite shapely and her
breasts were large and erect. Her facial features were like those of a cat and
she had a small black nose. For a moment, both of them looked at each other,
neither moving nor speaking. Then she spat out the same fluid and gasped for
breath. Meanwhile, a large tigerlike creature had climbed out of the pod near
the console and a brown puma creature had emerged from another pod. Finally,
the fifth and last pod disgorged a smaller creature that looked like a small
lion and had the sad expression of a little girl. She climbed out of her pod
holding a doll and just stood there staring at Donald and the others on her
wobbly feet.

"Mister?" she asked, tugging on Donald's fur. Fur?

"Yes?" Donald asked, kneeling shakily down.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Donald," Donald said, "Donald Jenkins. Say - whose kid are you?"

"My name's Lucy," she told him, "and I'm scared and I want my mummy!"

"So you want your mummy, do you?" asked Donald.

"Where's my mummy?" Lucy asked. "What have you done with my mom?"

"I'm afraid she died at the time of the crash, Lucy," Donald said, "so you'll
never see your mummy again. I . . . I'm . . . sorry."

"Who's going to take care of me, Mr. Jenkins?" Lucy cried.

"Now see here!" Donald snapped. "Don't you ever call me Mr. Jenkins again!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

Grabbing her in his arms, Donald wobbled to his feet as unsteadily as a drunk.

"Call me DADDY."

He hugged the girl close and patted her on the back as she sobbed.

"I lost someone special too once," he whispered in her ear, "so I know just
how you feel. It was a long long time ago, but I cried too when my dad passed
away."

And to his surprise, he found he was crying now. Getting hold of one of the
pistols from the men lying on the floor, he smashed the console again and
again until it was beyond repair. Dropping the pistol, Donald put down the
girl, who smiled at him just before she cuddled up to the brown creature, whom
Donald realized was female - and, he realized, just a little bit shy. She put
her hands on the little lion girl's shoulders as he turned towards her. There
were long claws on each of the puma woman's fingers and she also tried to
comfort the little girl, whispering to her gently. As he watched them, a hand
wrapped itself around Donald's shoulder, the hand of the leopard woman.

"What's happened to us?" she cried in a melodious voice.

"We've been genetically refurbished by that man over there on the floor," he
told here, "and while we were in those pods, somebody blew off his head."

"But the plane and the fire -"

"We were lucky!" Donald snapped back. "We were sitting in the tail section."

He stooped over the dead man and made his own search. Tucked in one pocket
were the man's keys; there were several, used to unlock and to start a
vehicle. Now all Donald had to do was find that vehicle.

"This is our ticket out of here!" Donald cried. "We'll escape in his vehicle.
We'll go now. Follow me, all of you!"

Everyone rushed toward the entrance to the mine. Just in front of the door,
Donald stopped everyone, including the overeager tiger-man.

"Wait!" he cried.

Grabbing the dead man's gun, Donald hurled it through the cave's mouth.

"It's safe!" he called back. "Come on, let's go!"

Everyone hurried outside, with the puma woman carrying Lucy. Donald could not
recall ever having seen a bluer sky and he thought he heard vultures in the
distance cawing over some unfortunate animal. Looking around, he spotted the
jeep.

"There it is!" he cried. "Come on."

Everyone climbed awkwardly into the jeep and Donald handed the keys over to
the leopard woman, who inserted one of them into the steering column and
started the jeep. Spinning the wheel, she made a three-way turn and they drove
away.

"Every type of big cat is represented here but one," he told the girl beside
him at the front of the jeep, "and I wonder why they didn't include the black
panther."

"They did, Donald!" the girl said, a smile brightening her spotty face.
"You're the black panther. You should see yourself in the mirror!"

Looking in the rear-view mirror, Donald saw the golden eyes and black fur of a
panther staring back at him and gasped in amazement. He hadn't realized what
he had had done to him up until that moment.

"Agent 007 reporting," Bond said as he walked into M's office, "with the
information I found on Dr. Caliban's body after I shot his bloody head off."

"Please be brief and to the point, Bond!" she snapped back.

"When I searched Caliban, I found a security ID issued to him by Kenton
Enterprises," Bond told her, "which is a company founded and led by Lord
Kenton."

"I know," M said, "and when I made a search for the owners of the mine I found
that it was owned by a company that was owned by a company that was owned by
one of the companies taken over by Kenton Enterprises. Something crooked is
afoot."

"I couldn't agree more," Bond said, "and it has something to do with the fact
Dr. Caliban was a genetic engineering expert."

"I want you to investigate," M snapped, "so start your inquiries at Lord
Kenton's African estate, where he is throwing a party to celebrate his 48th
birthday."

"Yes, my lady!" Bond said, shaking hands with M and walking out of her office.

At that same moment Donald and the other four survivors were driving through
the African savannah. Suddenly the motor began to chug and then the jeep
stopped its forward progress. The leopard girl gunned the throttle and nothing
happened.

"That's it," she said, "we're out of gas."

"I suppose we'll be walking from now on," Donald snapped, "so let's get to
it."

Climbing out of the jeep, the five cat people began walking forward. Always a
bitter man, Donald decided he and his friends should walk until they dropped
if necessary. They climbed up a small hill, and on the crest of the hill they
found a cabin.

"What luck!" Donald cried. "It's an old poacher's cabin! Let's go in!"

"Why do you want to go in there?" the puma woman asked.

"There might be food inside!" Donald called back. "Aren't you hungry?"

Everyone walked to the front door, which Donald himself broke open. Once the
five survivors were inside the cabin, Donald looked around and found an icebox
which he tore open. Finding frozen dinners inside, he placed them in the old
microwave oven one by one and doled them out to his friends. On heading into
the dining room to clean the table, he saw a large leopard had made the room
into his den. Growling loudly, he rushed in waving his arms and the leopard
panicked and fled through the back door as Donald wiped the table clean and
set five places for himself and his friends. When the black leopard called
from the dining room, the other four survivors came to join him at the table.
Putting their paper plates at their place settings, everyone began to eat.
Donald sat at the head of the table and as he looked at the big tiger man,
Donald thought he recognized him as an old classmate from elementary school.

"Andrew?" he asked. "Andrew Jackson?"

Andrew nodded, smiled at Donald, and clasped his hand gently. Andrew's firm
grip on his fork caused the utensil to break in two. Clearly he remembered
him.

"Listen, everyone!" Donald called, tapping his glass with his spoon. "It's
quite obvious we can't go back to our old human lives - the genetic
alterations the doctor did on us are permanent and we'd die of our various
injuries if someone were to change us back to normal folks somehow. I think we
should try to build new lives out here in Africa, where the sun is hot and the
animals are allowed to roam in peace."

Andrew clapped his hands proudly as the leopard girl asked:

"Out here?"

"Why not?" Donald asked. "This is the place where the big cats hang out."

At that moment a pair of headlights appeared through the window.

"Another jeep!" Donald snapped. "Just what we needed."

They could all hear the sounds of people coming out of the jeep and hurried
over to the back door. As soon as they'd fled the cabin, they saw a pair of
men with tranquilizer rifles walking up to the door, obviously looking for
them.

"Now what?" the puma woman cried. "Where do we run to now, young man?"

"This way!" Donald called, hurrying the opposite way from the back door.

With that, the five survivors fled into the desert.

"We've missed them," one of the men said, "but not by much."

"You're right about that," said Bond as he lifted a cat hair from a plate,
"but who set the table? Someone has obviously been here and has been eating
these dinners. No cat of any sort can set tables and eat with utensils - it's
physically impossible."

Bond had gotten into Lord Kenton's party by posing as one of his former
schoolmates, a recently deceased big game hunter named Eric Shanlon who bore a
remarkable likeness to Bond - remarkable enough to completely fool Lord
Kenton, who now strode forward out of the shadows. He was a thin, sickly man
with pale skin and grey hair but he had a passion for big-game hunting that
burned in his china blue eyes. Every year at this time of year - his birthday
- he went on a hunt through the savannah.

"You couldn't handle the truth, Shanny," Kenton said, "so trust me on that."

"As you wish, my lord!" Bond said, tucking the cat hair away.

"My lord!" Kenton's aide Shuler cried as he came into the room. "I found
tracks outside leading away from the back door!"

"Excellent!" Kenton cried. "Come on, all of you! Let's follow those tracks!"

The five survivors had trudged for what seemed like hours, feeding on the
plants that grew in abundance on the African plains, before they came up to a
large house that had seemingly been abandoned. Donald padded up to the door
and knocked on it, perhaps feeling old-fashioned, before noticing the doorbell
and ringing it. Nobody came to the door. Grasping the handle, he pulled the
door toward him, and it broke off its large hinges! With a gesture, he ushered
the other four people into the house and walked inside himself, pulling the
door up after him to keep out the drafts.

"It's awfully quiet in here," the puma woman said, "and everything's dusty."

"It certainly is quiet," the leopard woman said, "quiet enough to hear a pin
drop. Let's face it, this house is empty and we can live here quietly for a
while."

"This house looks familiar," Donald said, "and I feel as if I've been here
before."

He spun around in a circle, confused.

"Lucy, come with me!" he snapped. "We're going upstairs."

"Yes, Daddy!" Lucy cried.

"Drew," Donald added, "you stay here and look after the girls."

Andrew nodded resolutely and took the two women into the living room.

Taking Lucy by the hand, Donald led her up the stairs and turned right when he
got to the top. Seeing that Lucy was tired, he let her climb on his back and
turned right again, to a dusty brown door that was falling to pieces. Kicking
it down, he walked into the room and looked around as he put Lucy back on the
floor. Walking to a bookshelf, Donald slipped and bumped into one of the
shelves; a book fell down and hit him right on the top of his black furry
head. Bending down, he picked up the book and read the words on the page to
which the book had opened when it had fallen down:

"Just think happy, wonderful thoughts and soon you'll be flying."

"Why, it's Peter Pan!" he cried. "I haven't read that in years."

"Will you read it to me, Daddy?" Lucy asked.

Opening the book to the front cover, Donald found this nameplate attached:

THIS BOOK

BELONGS

TO:

DON JENKINS

"My name!" Donald cried. "My name on a book far away from my homeland."

He flipped back to the page he'd been reading, and read again Barrie's words:

"Just think happy, wonderful thoughts and soon you'll be flying."

All of a sudden he made the connection and everything became clear. Throwing
back his head, Donald crowed like a rooster.

"This is a child's room . . ." he whispered. "This is my old room!"

Donald laughed.

"I REMEMBER!" he cried. "I remember everything. Shortly after my sister and
mother died in childbirth, my father was working in his butcher's shop when I
was put in the meat chute by a man who wanted to abandon me, leave me for
dead. He saved my life and raised me as his own son, and I lived happily in
this room until I was about nine and my dad died. Then I ran away from home
rather than be put in the custody of my Uncle Peter and live with my cousin
Bruno. When I was twenty years old, I fell victim to a seizure at Christmas
dinner and the doctors revived me with an experimental drug that wiped out
most of my memories. I later became an interior decorator."

Running his hand along the wall, Donald found a certain button and pushed it
in with a happy smile; a door opened in the ceiling and a ladder dropped down.
Eagerly, Donald climbed the ladder and Lucy followed him. As his head came
over the edge of the open door, Donald looked at the toys at the back of the
attic and said:

"Hoiya, Fellahs. Didja miss me?"

Climbing into the tiny attic, he picked up a small plush cat and held it in
his slim, furry black arms.

"Hello, Bowser!" he cried. "How long has it been, eh?"

Laughing, he stretched his arms wide, extended his clawed hands.

"It's me, Fellahs!" Donald cried. "I've changed, but it's me! I'm back! I've
come back and I'll never never never leave you ever again!"

Donald crowed again and picked up Lucy in his arms.

"It was gone with the wind but it's all coming back to me. It was gone through
the door but it's all coming back to me now!"

He spun Lucy around and then put her down.

"What's this?" Lucy asked, pulling at a box.

"That's my Maurice Chevalier L'il Dancer Kit!" Donald cried. "I wondered if it
was still here. It was a Christmas gift from my grandfather to my father."

Opening the box, he put the straw boater on her head and gave her the cane. As
quickly as he could, Donald went around behind her and turned on the jukebox.

"This is my little niche!" he exclaimed, then bowed to Lucy and said:

"May I have thees next dance, Madame?"

"Certainly, Monsieur!" Lucy cried.

Lost in each other's eyes, Lucy and Donald danced.

"Donald?" a voice cried.

Turning, Donald saw the leopard girl climbing up the ladder to the attic. He
was exhilarated and full of joy; cured of his bitterness, Donald pulled her
into the attic.

"This was my family house!" he cried. "I remember everything now. It was all
gone with the wind but it's all coming back to me now!"

As he spoke, Donald swept her off her feet into his arms. Turning off the
music, Donald carried the leopard girl downstairs and set her back on her
feet. Lucy followed them down and watched as Donald jumped on the bed.
Laughing merrily, he bounced up and down and then flopped back on the bed.

"My room!" he cried. "My bed - it's still springy!"

"Come on, Donald," the leopard girl said, "let's go back down."

Donald jumped off the bed.

"It's all right, girl," he assured her, "I'm not mad. It's just that I'm so
very happy to be back in my old room!"

Smiling, he walked over to them and they all went down hand in hand, joining
Andrew and the other woman in time to see the sunrise, their tails held high.

"The only thing that's changed," Donald said, "is the view."

He let the leopard woman lay her head on his shoulder and they watched as the
sun came up. As the sun rose over the cliffs, Donald saw a jeep come up.
Grabbing the rifle that was hanging over the fireplace, he cocked it and
pointed it at the large picture window as the jeep stopped and four men
climbed out of the vehicle. Each of the men was armed with a rifle and wore
ammunition belts around their waists. Hiding behind a drape, Donald turned and
fired at the men through the picture window.

* * *

Bond heard the sound of glass breaking and then the crack of a rifle shot. A
bullet whizzed past him and buried itself in the sand at Bond's feet.

"Cats can't use rifles either," he told Kenton, "and that was a rifle shot."

He pulled a dart off his belt and loaded it into the gun.

"Keep your mind on the job, Shanny!" Kenton snapped back.

A black arm thrust its way through a window on the screen door, shoving aside
the wooden front door, which had been broken off its hinges. Pointing a rifle
through the broken window, a dark figure fired a shot from the rifle it was
holding. Kenyon returned fire and a dart whistled past the figure, but it
dodged the shot and pointed that same rifle back at the men. When it came
closer for a better shot, Bond could make out the golden eyes and black fur of
a panther - yet the big cat was holding a rifle and Bond was dumbfounded -
utterly and completely dumbfounded.

"What is that thing?" he cried.

"An artificially created predator," Kenton said, "the ultimate quarry. He has
the brains of a human and the abilities and general appearance of a big cat.
They're Sammy Caliban's brainchild, Mr. Bond."

"How the devil did you know?" Bond cried. "How the devil did you know?"

"Shanny's brother notified me of his death several days ago via the Internet."

Walking back to the jeep, Kenton pulled out a laptop with Internet connection.

It was the one thing I didn't figure on, Bond thought. There goes my cover.

"I smashed up my file cabinet a long time ago!" Kenton joked as he pointed his
tranquillizer rifle at Bond. "Computers store my files now."

He laughed harshly.

"Come on, Mr. Bond - into the jeep. There's a nice dark mine just waiting for
its next victim. Shuler, you drive - I presume you still know the way?"

As they left the area, the weird panther creature fired again and missed.

"They'll be back," Donald told the other four survivors, "so we have to get
out of here. "Someone look around for a vehicle or tunnel we can use to
escape."

He hurried to the fireplace and put the gun back where he'd found it. Everyone
split up to search the whole house, and Donald wanted particularly to explore
the room to the left of the stairs, the one that had been boarded up a long
time ago. Climbing the stairs, Donald turned left and found himself facing the
door. With an angry roar and a yank of his powerful arm, Donald tore off the
door and walked into the room. Inside, a few feet away from the door, he found
a laptop sitting on the large wooden desk. Upon opening the laptop, Donald
watched a clip begin to play.

"By the time you hear and see this message," his cousin Bruno said, "Lord
Aesop Kenton will have murdered me over my objections regarding the Caliban
Process. Sam Caliban wants to break the laws of Nature and I have left Lord
Kenton's service, but the two of them will hunt me down like a wild animal and
shoot me dead. So if you're seeing me now, I want you to know that the house
and furniture are yours, Donald."

If he only knew! Donald thought. If he only knew what we've been through!

Smiling, Donald watched as the clip shut down, then he clicked on the little X
to turn it off. Examining the desktop, he found a key lying on the desk beside
the laptop; noticing a keyhole on one of the drawers, Donald stood up and
inserted the key into the lock. This activated the hidden electronics Bruno
had installed throughout the house in order to move it from its original
location. To Donald's amazement, the top of the chest of drawers retracted,
revealing a control console underneath. On his left, another chest of drawers
retracted at the same time and the top of the desk slid back. Behind him, the
captain's chair rose up from the floor and the "laptop" slid into place in the
main helm control console. Bruno had even forged Okudagrams for the console
readouts!

"Daddy?" a voice asked.

Donald roared and jumped out of his chair.

"Don't scare me like that, Lucy!" Donald cried as everyone entered the room.

"We were looking around like you asked us to," the puma woman said, "when it
seemed like everything went haywire. Things were switching around all over the
place and panels were opening like crazy."

"I assumed David had used a vehicle to move the house," Donald said, "when in
fact the house was the vehicle all along! Welcome to the bridge!"

"The bridge?" the leopard woman asked.

"The bridge!" Donald said. "Now will you let me sit in the Captain's chair?"

Andrew let out a shriek of laughter as his old friend stood up. Chuckling at
his friend's mirth, Donald went to the chair and sat down. Meanwhile, Lucy
walked up to the main helm controls and studied the keyboard. She found a
sentence written on the screen of the phony laptop:

WHAT WAS THE NAME OVID GAVE TO THE WIFE OF PYGMALION?

"Ummm . . ." Lucy muttered. "Let's see."

She typed in CLARA, then JANICE, then PATSY, only to have the computer turn
down each name with a hearty ACCESS DENIED.

"What's wrong, Lucy?" the leopard woman asked.

"There's a stupid question on the computer!" she cried.

Donald watched the girl walk over and stand beside Lucy. She took one look at
the riddle and let out a whoop. He wondered if she was amused.

"What's the question, Lucy?" Donald asked. "Perhaps I can help."

"'What was the name Ovid gave to the wife of Pygmalion?'"

When he heard Lucy read out the question, Donald let out a whoop of his own.

"That's my cousin's little joke," he told her, "and it's really a trick
question. You see, Ovid didn't give a name to Pygmalion's wife. That was done
after his death."

"So what should I type in, then?" Lucy asked.

"Type in the word NONE, Lucy!" the leopard girl said.

"Okay!"

With that, Lucy typed in the word NONE and the joystick control lifted out
from the console. Underneath the house, huge airbags were inflating and the
mighty engines were starting up. Eventually Bruno's hover craft was fully
operational.

"You take the helm," Donald told the leopard girl. "I don't know how to
drive."

Walking over to the helm control, the girl sat down in the chair.

"Now," Donald said, "we go after those men. Follow the tire tracks!"

* * *

Shuler handcuffed Bond and then he and Kenton walked to the mine, leaving the
jeep behind at the entrance, taking Bond with them. They led him deep into the
depths of the mine, then cuffed him to a wooden support beam beside a
beautiful blonde. Seeing Bond's distress, Kenton threw back his head and
laughed.

"You'll join our other guest in death when we send the water through the
mine's tunnels!" Kenton laughed. "When I get back to my plantation I will
begin the process of creating an army of supercats whom I will use to march
throughout all the nations of Africa! No one will be able to stand up against
the soldiers of my army."

Kenton followed Shuler outside and Bond heard their jeep drive away. Seconds
later, Bond and the girl heard the sound of rushing water.

"We've got to get out of here!" the girl cried, tugging at her handcuffs.

Bond nodded and began pulling on his own handcuffs, trying to get them loose
before the water swamped them on its path through the tunnels of the mine. As
he was pulling on the chain, the boards on the shaft above his head splintered
into pieces and a pair of spotted arms broke the chain and lifted him to
safety. At the same time, a black arm pulled the girl up and out of the mine.
As he was being lifted to safety, Bond fainted. Just before he blacked out,
Bond saw the girl disappear into the shaft.

Man is a proud beast, thought Donald, the ultimate predator.

He looked down at the man lying on the kitchen floor as he and the leopard
girl closed the escape hatch they'd found hidden there. Beside him, the girl
moaned in her sleep and moved slightly; Donald wondered what she was dreaming.

* * *

"There are no such thing as cat people, Bond!" M snapped.

"She's right, Double-Oh-Seven!" Q called. "There's no such thing as cat
people."

At which point they both turned into huge leopards and jumped on Bond. Bond
screamed . . . then woke up screaming on the floor of a large kitchen.
Recovering quickly, Bond looked around him at the five survivors and they
looked back at him.

"Who are you?" he cried as the girl awoke. "What am I doing in here?"

"You've read my mind!" the girl snapped. "Yes, who are you and how did I get
here - wherever here is. I thought the two of us were goners for sure."

"I'm the one who's King Cat around here, Mr. Bond!" a voice said.

Bond looked up as a princely black panther came toward him; his regal bearing
and quiet pride made Bond realize that this was the creatures' leader. He held
a small hot dog in what was definitely a hand with an opposable thumb.

"So I'm the one who should be asking questions of you," the panther said, then
asked, "Mr. Bond, why? Why are you hunting us down?"

"It was Lord Kenton who was hunting you down," Bond said, "I joined his annual
hunting party to find out what was going on and why he'd hired Dr. Caliban."

"I suppose he wanted to tranq us and take us back to his home for study."

"Something like that," Bond admitted, "as he seemed to want to know what Dr.
Caliban had done to you. Would you mind if we try to find a cure for you?"

"Don't insult my intelligence, Mr. Bond!" the panther snapped. "You must have
been watching too many cartoons. There is no cure for our condition - our
feline DNA is permanently fused to our human DNA. It's too late for us, but we
don't want anyone else to share our fate. Therefore, we want to help you two
bring down Kenton."

Bond heard a chorus of assent from the other four survivors.

"We also have important information regarding the crash of an Rockwell-Martin
DC3 in the plains not far from here. All five of us were passengers on that
plane."

"What's your name, girl?" the leopard woman asked.

"Anna," the girl said, "Anna Bixby. I work for the FBI, and I promise you will
be protected to the best of my government's ability."

"Thank you," she said, "but we'd rather be left alone."

"She's right, Mr. Bond!" the panther said. "Leave us alone - please."

"What's your name, Panther?" Bond asked.

"Donald," he told bond, "Donald Jenkins. Kenton murdered my cousin Bruno."

"I'm Darlene Traynor!" the leopard woman said.

"Darlene, is that really you?" Donald asked.

"Donny? Donny Jenkins?" Darlene asked. "My God, it is you!"

"I'm Cassandra Conway," the puma woman said, "from Cornwall."

"I'm Lucy Blessington," a little lion girl piped up, "from Worcestershire."

"This is my dear friend and ex-class mate Andrew Jackson, who used to lead me
to the right school bus every morning for a whole year!" Donald said, putting
his arm around a big tiger man who sat quietly at the kitchen table.

"You saved my life," Bond said, "so you can all call me James."

"Thank you . . . James!" Donald said. "We'll go to the bridge and set course
for Lord Kenton's address. In this vehicle, we can be there in no time."

"The bridge?" Bond asked.

"The bridge."

By the time they reached Lord Kenton's lodge, a group of guards had been sent
outside the front door; Darlene brought Bruno's hover craft to a stop and the
survivors climbed out through the front door and rushed toward the door of the
lodge. Using his tranquillizer rifle Bond took out the two guards before they
could draw their guns. Andrew bashed down the door and everyone rushed inside.
When they entered the living room, they found a pod identical to the ones from
which they'd emerged.

"Lord Kenton must be in there!" Donald cried.

And indeed, a few minutes later explosive bolts blew the clamps of the pod
open and a huge brown creature emerged. He looked like a huge lynx with long
sharp fangs that jutted from his upper jaw and had chocolate-coloured fur.
When he saw the seven people standing in front of him - five cats and two
humans - he smiled broadly.

"A Smilodon!" Donald cried. "Lord Kenton has turned himself into a Smilodon!
He's big and tough and those long sharp teeth can sink into your body like
knives."

"Correct!" Kenton cried, grabbing a sabre from the wall. "And I can use them
to dispose of uninvited guests!"

Donald also grabbed a sabre from the wall and whirled to face Kenton.

"En garde, my lord!" he cried, meeting the Smilodon's first thrust.

Kenton lunged, but Donald blocked his saber and lunged forward, goring the big
cat in the shoulder. At the same time, Shuler jumped Bond and tried to
strangle him to death with his bare hands. Kicking out, Bond sent Shuler
flying, but he jumped up and grabbed Bond in a bare hug.

"Lord Kenton ordered me to kill you the next time we met, Mr. Bond!" he cried.

"Where did you learn to fence?" Donald cried.

"Who taught you to fence, young man?" Kenton snapped back.

"Errol Flynn!" Donald cried.

Kenton swung his sabre around in an ark to cut off Donald's head but he ducked
and blocked another lunge with his own sabre.

"You swing like a rusty gate!" he cried.

"And you talk like a cartoon character!" Kenton snapped back as he leaped for
the door - only to be blocked by Darlene.

"You'll have to get through me first, Kenton!" she cried.

Now Kenton lunged for the picture window on the east wall and Donald leaped
after him. To his amazement, though, Kenton found Andrew standing in front of
the window, his arms crossed and his foot tapping. Backing away to the dining
room, Kenton found the way blocked by Cassandra, smiling broadly, her furry
arms crossed. She bared her fangs and shook her head. Now Donald lunged
forward, goring Kenton in the arm. Kenton lowered his sword and smiled
broadly.

"Would you really kill your own uncle?" he asked.

"What?" Donald asked.

"I am your Uncle Aesop, the brother of your mother Maxine, whom our father
disinherited when she ran off with the butcher and died giving birth to his
daughter, a child who also died in the process, as well as you. You wouldn't
kill your own uncle, would you?"

Thunderstruck, Donald lowered his sword - and Kenton seized the moment to grab
Lucy and aim his sabre at her naked throat.

"What are you doing, Papa?" she cried. "Put me down!"

Now it was Kenton's turn to be thunderstruck. He dropped Lucy and let out a
horrible scream, then fell to his knees. She scampered away and huddled up to
Darlene as her father began to sob. Donald pointed his saber at the Smilodon's
throat and the big cat pushed the blade away and rose shakily to his feet.
There were tears in his eyes as he roared and lunged at Donald who ducked and
gored him in the leg.

"Donald," he whispered, "how I hated you - your happy childhood, your tender
kindness, your loyalty to your friends and classmates."

"I hate you too, Uncle Aesop," Donald said, "so let me let you in on a little
family secret: I was never related to you, since I came to my father down a
meat chute."

"Oh, God . . ." Kenton whispered.

He slowly drew himself to his full height.

"At least I can finish you and be done with it!" he cried.

He lunged at Donald, but the black leopard was too quick for him and he wasn't
as agile as the younger man. Donald dodged and ran his saber right through
Kenton's black heart. Meanwhile Bond was trapped in Shuler's bear hug.
Frantically, he reached for the flare gun on the wall behind him. Grabbing it,
he pointed the gun at Shuler and pulled the trigger, blowing off the big bald
man's head.

"Presumably," he thought as Shuler's body fell to the ground and he wriggled
out from under the dead man, "Donald will give some sort of signal when he
defeats Kenton, which should be quite soon."

"You've read Peter Pan," Donald said to the injured Kenton, "so tell me, what
do you think Captain Hook would do now?"

Kenton coughed blood out of his mouth.

"He would look upon Peter Pan," he said, "and ask him to tell the girl he was
sorry. Hook may have been evil, Donald, but he . . . was also . . . a man of
honour and - and his word . . . was his . . . was his bond. Tell Lucy . . .
I'm . . . I'm very sorry."

And with that, Aesop Kenton died. Donald raised his head and crowed.

"That's it!" Bond told Anna. "That's Donald's signal!"

When Bond Turned and saw the Smilodon's body, he was delighted.

"Now we know why Smilodons became extinct!" Donald shouted.

"Too much bulk and too little agility," Bond said, "will kill any species."

At which point the doors of the lodge flew open and a group of refugees
entered the house. They came into the room one by one.

"One side, one side, people!" Lucy said as they bumped her. "Be careful! Gee!"

"I think we've found our new purpose in life, James!" Donald told Bond.

The proudest moment in Donald Jenkins's young life came a few days later.
After being debriefed by M, he and the other four cat people were made
honorary MI6 agents and assigned the African bush land, their mission being to
protect the refugees who were travelling across the bush land to find a new
life elsewhere. They stood in a line in front of M as she handed out their new
ID cards.

"Donald's really bright!" Darlene said. "He can leap, he can fight, and he can
-"

Donald crowed.

"That, too!" Darlene added. "We'll call ourselves - the Hybrids!"

"Good choice of name!" Bond cried.

"What would you say," M asked Donald, "if I granted you permission to marry
Darlene Traynor, young man?"

Donald looked at the ID card in his clawed hand and then rushed over to the
leopard girl. He took her hand and lost himself in her big golden eyes, then
grinned at M and laughed with delight, then told her:

"May I obey all your commands with equal pleasure, my lady!"

Later, Bond and Anna walked into a bedroom at the lodge only to find Donald
and Darlene lying in the bed under the covers, their muscled bodies
intertwined.

"What took you so long?" Donald asked.

Bond was surprised, but recovered quickly.

"It seems your adventures are over, Donald!" he said.

"Oh no, James!" Donald replied. "From now on our lives will be an adventure!"

the end