"So what do we say to the others that we could transform animals?" Alexis asked as they walked toward the famous Sydney Opera House, which had been commandeered as the forward command post.
"I'd be more concerned about telling them that we decided to take a break and get ourselves pregnant," Flake commented and held Alexis's hand, "Especially when we had six years to become mothers..."
That had been true. The simultaneous triple marriage had been a beautiful one, though none of them wore anything super fancy, and since Danna and Mikkie's specialized fashion designs and manufacturing systems weren't in place yet, it had been a bit itchy, but it was still beautiful. And over the next six years, it was not as though Alexis and Flake had been sexually inactive. They'd found that even with their minds under their control, Kats had sex fairly easily, usually with extensive declarations of their love for each other, and over the course of six years, Alexis and Flake, and all the other Kats living in Janace, Colorado that they interacted with found excuses to mate with the ones they loved. But in the course of those six years, something had always come up to keep Alexis and Flake mating while they were in heat over those six years. Either the cattle or sheep were having their babies and they needed to help deliver the calves and lambs or they would have to fix fences or chase off predators, or Danna and Mikkie had a new idea they wanted to try and needed models, or there was some delivery of stuff for the new Chakat Industries they needed to deliver that came up, or Janice, Pinkie, Foxy, Silky, and Snowflake, Luna, or Midnight had some school related event come up just when Alexis or Flake were coming into heat and they missed their chance to get pregnant over those six years.
"Meow," one of the two new Chakats said to them with what looked like a smile on hir muzzle. Shi looked like some sort of calico colored Chakat with a coat length that was like Flake or Snowy's.
"Well, we didn't find anything worth noting," Alexis sighed, "No one was outside there was no activity... and I'd think the update on the fact that animals might contract the virus and become Chakats might be something Snowy would want to know."
Flake looked back to the two new Chakats who were following them agreed.
"I'd even wonder why they changed," Flake commented as they began moving into the park area near the Opera House, "I mean... there was that one time where we got frisky while looking after the cattle... they never changed..."
"Maybe it works only with animals that had had their DNA attached to the virus," Alexis commented, "there were no Cowkats in Paris."
"Maybe," Flake commented.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Luna was very embarrassed as shi and Lia walked along, following hir adoptive mother Sally. The other Dingokats weren't with them, but Luna had left hir radio behind along with the doses of the Foxkat vaccine that they had. The Dingokats agreed to use them and report in if they saw anything. The situation for her embarrassment was hir mother's obvious games at trying to set hir up with Lia. The Dingokat was beautiful, but they had only just met. It was too early to think about romancing her, but then, Luna knew hir mother had been with Charlie for years, even before they became Chakats and then mates. While Luna knew hir mother would always focus on what was right, shi also knew that finding true love was something that Sally and Charlie enjoyed. Luna remembered that very much from when shi and Midnight were adopted. They had been twelve then, and Charlie and Sally had been very attentive and loving parents. They also had a lot of fun helping look after Pinkie and Janice as well as the other infant Chakats as well. But now, after six years, Luna was eighteen and was old enough to consider finding someone to love on hir own. Shi glanced over at Lia as they walked, and then felt hir cheeks grow warm under the fur on hir muzzle and face.
"Say... Lia... do you know what kind of Kats people have been becoming?" Sally asked from hir position up front.
"All of them are some native Australian animal," Lia said slowly, "I've seen no Chakats... they've all been based off of Dingoes, Koalas, Tasmanian Devils, Saltwater Crocodiles, and Kangaroos."
"I wonder how that would work with Kangaroos," Sally wondered, "We're all taurs combining a human torso with the body of a cat, a panther in my case, or wild dogs, a wolf in Luna's case and a Dingo in your case. Our lower halves are quadrupeds. A Kangaroo, however, is a biped..."
"Those Kats were still bipeds, but they still have everything that Kats seem to have," Lia answered.
"Even a pouch?" Luna wondered.
"Well... for a marsupial, yes," Lia shrugged.
They then quietly made their way along the sidewalks toward the Opera House. The conversation remained light and friendly, and Luna did enjoy listening to some of the stuff that Sally pointed out as sights that shi'd wanted to see, though Luna got the sensation the one Sally wanted to be showing things to was Charlie. But Charlie was back in Janace, waiting to give birth for the second time.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Twin sister..." Sammy said slowly as she walked along side the Snow Leopard Chakat, "Mikkie! That's you!?"
"Yes," Mikkie answered, "Didn't you think it was me when I called you Sammy?"
"You're not the only one who calls me Sammy," Sammy answered, "and I haven't seen you in ages... I mean... I got your phone message that you got caught in the Paris outbreak and were a Chakat... but from the letters and phone calls I got, I thought you were living in Colorado... in America now."
"We do live there now," Danna commented, "but we've also teamed up with the scientists who originally came up with the Chakat Virus and have been trying to atone for it along with the two Kats that stopped the spread of outbreak in Fee City, and their sither and hir mate. We've sorta become the unofficial Kat control team..."
"You haven't done very well, Mikkie," Sammy answered, "Half of Sydney has become some kind of Kat, all based on Australian animals... and in the Paris outbreak, you and about two million people became Kats before things stopped spreading."
"We've been trying," Danna answered in defense of hir mate, "a lot of this has been sudden and we think someone is using it for some sort of secret purpose... either perpetuating what the two who originally created the Chakat Virus wanted... ending STDs and war... or they want money... or it's part of some war to make us appear to be living in sin..."
"How could it be a sin to love someone so thoroughly," Mikkie purred to Danna.
"Yes, but odd groups will simply say the fact that we aren't physically human is the sin," Danna answered, "it's a weird thing..."
"It is odd," Sammy spoke up, "Forgive me... but it is weird for me to be walking with a couple of Kats who's first thought is sex."
"That was only when we were first infected in Paris," Mikkie said, sounding embarrassed, "The Kats we've teamed with gave us the Foxkat Vaccine and we got our minds back. We came to you to see if you could help and you hit me in the head!"
Sammy cringed as Mikkie sounded a little defensive when she said the last part.
"Sorry, Mikkie, I didn't know it was YOU and figured all the Kats here were horny like the ones in Fee City and Paris were," Sammy said slowly.
"We Kats are horny a lot... but thanks to the Foxkat Vaccine, we're not infectious, and Snowy's said that for some Kats, once they burn through the lust phase of the virus, they get their minds back," Danna answered, "So... we're horny but not so aroused that we're completely lost on what is important or what we should be doing."
Sammy gulped a bit, wanting to hide the fact that she was fearful of getting raped by a horny Kat, though doing a poor job. Thankfully, Danna and Mikkie were focused on escorting her back toward the Sydney Opera House.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
The all arrived at the Opera House together, and Sammy ultimately found herself surprised by the number of Kats there, and was even more surprised by the fact that the Dingokat seemed rather calm and quiet. She was even further surprised by all the military and police officers there who seemed to be from different countries, but figured the UN or some other international organization had put together an international team to solve the issue. What made her the most nervous though were a pair of Chakats that only meowed like house cats and purred. The two insisted on rubbing up against her and purring like they were over-sized pets. Eventually, a snow white Chakat managed to get those two away from Sammy.
"I know you two love each other and want kittens," Snowy said to Alexis and Flake, "but you really picked a bad time to decide to answer heat's call..."
"We're sorry... but nothing was going on where we were... and... we've seen you with Snowflake and we wanted to be mothers so bad," Flake said weakly.
"I know," Snowy sighed, "Hopefully you both prove to be good mothers... but in the meantime, keep your focus on trying to find any sort of area where they might be operating out of."
"Right," Flake nodded.
"What about transforming these two? They were house cats, we're supposed to be vaccinated... right?" Alexis asked.
Snowy sighed and looked at a what a computer screen was showing based off of blood she took from the Chakats that had followed Alexis and Flake back.
"And if this is right, so are they," Flake answered, "They can't infect humans... but it would appear that animals who's DNA has been used in the Chakat Virus will become Kats if exposed to the Virus in some way."
"Can you vaccinate against infecting animals?" General Lawrence wondered, "Is that possible?"
"We'd need to do an awful lot of testing with animals to see if any animals don't transform," Snowy answered, "The only reason Jess was able to become the basis for the Foxkat vaccine was because her blood type was immune to the original virus strain... and that was only luck."
"What about doing something with an animal species that wasn't used for the Chakat Virus?" General Heroud questioned.
"Too risky... the vaccine could potentially be as mutatgenic as the Virus," Snowy sighed, "we don't want to turn all the house cats and such into cattle and sheep either. If we can isolate any individual strand of DNA that shows an immunity to the virus... THEN we can begin work on an animal vaccine... then with it being species appropriate we can prevent animals from becoming Kats based on that animal."
"I might be able to get you blood samples from the zoo I work at," Sammy spoke up slowly, though very slowly and mustering up as much courage as she could."
"Thank you," Snowy smiled, "I'll need the blood samples to begin the tests, though they'll need to cross all known blood types and antigen levels for every animal... at least all the known ones."
"We'll make some calls and they'll bring in whatever samples are needed that the zoo cannot provide," a Chinese colonel, who was also part of the international response team answered.
To that Snowy nodded. Snowy then turned to the tube that Mikkie and Danna found.
"This... meanwhile is the bigger conundrum," Snowy sighed, "It looks like a syringe of the altered serum that we've sold to those who want to become Chakats..."
"You're transforming people again?" General Heroud demanded.
"Only those who ask and we generally have people come to Janace to take the serum and its done on a one to one basis," Snowy answered, "Nearly every order has come from Japanese young adults who seem to be addicted to all things cute."
"So someone in Japan ordered a large shipment?" General Lawrence asked.
"No one could have done that," Snowy answered, "the sales are all done individually, and they have to show up in Janace to get it."
"Do they take the shot there?" Sammy wondered.
"Not always," Snowy answered, "but the kids did post the picks of the new them when they transformed, so we know they took it."
"So our guy is following your new business," General Heroud grumbled.
"And is trying to frame it," Snowy nodded, "Though how much of it is stalking those who have bought the serum or is working with them is unknown."
"That might give us some idea as to where they could be operating from," an Australian policeman spoke up, "if this puppet master is using your own syringes second hand... he might be using some small shop or something as a distribution center..."
"And if he's using the same version used in Paris... with it also being airborne, he wouldn't need too many," General Lawrence commented, "Thank goodness you've all been peaceful."
"The Dingokats that took me in will do all they can to try and find where this guy was operating from," Lia commented.
"I hope they don't go after children," Luna commented remembering hir own transformation and hir sisters and then hir biological parents' death in the Paris outbreak, even though she knew that children couldn't avoid infection if they hadn't been given the Justin Vaccine.
Sally came up to hir and hugged hir adoptive soughter and purred. The closeness and love from hir "mother" made Luna feel better.
"We'll still need orders of the Justin Vaccine delivered," Snowy spoke to the human officers, "if there are humans here that aren't already infected, they'll need that. Those that have been infected but haven't transformed yet will need the Foxkat Vaccine."
The human officers nodded. Snowy had some frustrations inside hir, as there was a lot they were still trying to figure out. Calls would need to be made to Japan to get in touch with those who had bought individual orders of the Chakat Serum and make sure that they weren't doing business with an odd man, and to do that, they would need to get the records from Janace, and that was assuming that Maurice, Charlie, Nikole, and Jess hadn't gone into labor. Midnight might be able to help, but between looking after four six year old Chakats and one six year old Foxkat and helping four heavily pregnant Kats... Snowy didn't want to overwhelm hir.