In Janace things remained rather quiet. In their home Sally and Charlie sat quietly enjoying the family love from Janice and Pinkie. The two young Chakats both loved Fluffy and Mary, and Charlie had gone through great lengths to teach their older soughters how to hold the newborns. They'd also loved growing up with Luna and Midnight when Charlie and Sally had first adopted two Wolfkats, and now it looked like they would not only love the Kat Sally was one month pregnant with but the Kat that would be their niphew (combining niece and nephew).
"We really can't play with Luna?" Pinkie asked a somewhat sad look on hir pink muzzle.
"You can play with hir," Charlie said as shi lay down on hir belly with hir four legs curled underneath hir to talk with hir eldest soughter, "but you can't be super rough with hir. If you hit hir too hard... she could have a miscarriage."
"We can be gentle, daddy," Janice said from where shi was sitting with Snowflake beside hir.
"I know," Charlie replied, "we're just making sure that you remember to be gentle with Luna when shi comes home."
"And with me," Sally added.
"Can we hold the babies, mommy?" Janice asked to Sally.
"When we give birth, yes," Sally smiled.
"Will they like us like Fluffy and Mary do?" Pinkie asked, referring to the twins, presently asleep, though Charlie did have a baby monitor ready in case hir infants were ready to be fed or taken to the bathroom.
"I'm sure they will," Charlie smiled, "Why don't you three go and play for now. There's no school today and Talia's out. Best to enjoy the sunshine."
"YAY!" the three six year olds cheered and ran back outside.
As they did so, Charlie sat back up beside Sally and looked to hir.
"Where does all the time go?" Charlie asked after a moment, "It seems like yesterday we gave birth to Pinkie and Janice and adopted Luna in Midnight. Now Luna's going to make us grandparents and in twelve years, it looks like Janice and Snowflake will become mates... not to mention that Midnight's promised hirself to Talia when shi becomes an adult."
"All part of the magic of growing up, I suppose," Sally replied and hugged Charlie, "though neither of us look like we've aged much since we became Kats."
Charlie only shrugged and watched as Janice, Pinkie, and Snowflake began a game of tag, running about the year and giving very excited and happy squeals, sounding very much like human children, even though they were all Chakats. The close friendship between Janice and Snowflake was obvious. It wasn't sexual or anything remotely like romantic love, as that would all be a sign of physical maturity, which in Chakats was the same as humans... at eighteen. They might begin to enter puberty when they were twelve or thirteen, but they weren't fully mature until they were eighteen, and just about every country that had Kats had passed laws that Kats couldn't take mates until they were legal adults, though the definition of "legal adult" could always vary with the country. Most were similar to the US with the age being around 18, but there might be other countries with different ages. And the oldest group of Kats born in Janace were still kids, and romance was the last thing on their minds. But the closeness between Janice and Snowflake was obvious. It resembled the same sort of bond you'd see in storybook tales of love. They grow up together and are best of friends, and then as they grow up, it blossoms from fraternal love (love between friends) into romantic love (love between couples).
"Good," Charlie said with a smile, "because I hope we both have lots more baby Kats in the future."
"Me too," Sally smiled.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile, Jess and Nikole were in Janace's clinic. The expansion of Janace, which was still ongoing had not affected the town's clinic that had been put together when Janace was created. It had been expanded, but that was also done before Janace became the headquarters for the UN's efforts to catch Li Sang. And in this area, Jess was looking over various notes and donated blood samples that could be used for the manufacture of the various vaccines against the Chakat Virus. For the moment, nothing had happened that would indicate that Li Sang's supporters had altered the virus to overcome the vaccine, which was a good thing, but at the same time, the fact that the vaccine triggered a transformation in any mundane animal that had been used in the various Chakat Virus strains made the present reworking of the vaccine important. Animals didn't respond to the vaccine on its own, but they did respond to the vaccine combined with the sexual fluids of a vaccinated Kat.
"Any idea on how to get around the transforming animals part yet?" Jess asked as shi moved about the lab getting whatever Jess required.
"Not quite," Jess sighed, "Though with our pregnancies at the moment..."
"I know," Nikole nodded and then rubbed hir womb against Jess's, purring when shi felt hir soughter inside Jess press outwards and then feeling the soughter inside hir push back, "but we still have another month before our due dates."
Jess nodded. Shi and Nikole were now in their eighth month, but, both knew that that didn't mean they couldn't give birth early. Snowy gave birth a week or two early in Paris thanks to all the stress shi had put on hirself, and Charlie gave birth a month early to Fluffy and Mary, but that was because shi had been carrying twins. They didn't expect to give birth early, but they did admit it was possible.
"Do you at least have an idea as to why the vaccine affects animals and the virus doesn't?" Nikole asked.
"I'm pretty sure some of it in the exact differences in the immune systems," Jess commented, "Maurice and Snowy have both said that the virus was intended to be given to humans, and thus the virus doesn't cross contaminate different species..."
"But the vaccine does," Nikole said.
Jess nodded, "but that's also because of the way the vaccine had to be spread... in many ways the vaccine is a virus in and off itself... but it doesn't affect people... that's sort of where all these things become tricky and unexpected. In the present case, it would appear that the vaccine form of the virus does cross contaminate into other animal species."
"Couldn't we just attach the virus to the vaccine?" Nikole asked curiously.
"No, the vaccine was designed to attack and render the virus inert," Jess answered.
"What about developing a vaccine based on the way other vaccines are produced?" Nikole suggested, "The Foxkat Vaccine and the Justin Vaccine are both developed from blood types naturally immune to the virus, but while they work, they then create same problem the virus creates but with animal... Maybe we could take the virus, expose it to one of the original vaccines, and then work to create a new form of the vaccine based on the inert form of the virus after it's already been treated..."
"That might work," Jess gave a confident smile, "a person would contract the virus, but since it's "dead" the person wouldn't become a Kat and would gain a natural immunity, based on antibodies rather than blood type..."
Jess turned and licked Nikole's nose, "I've taught you well."
"That's because you're the purrrrrrfect mate," Nikole answered and then kissed Jess, though they also heard Foxy and Silky coming, and figured they'd soon be entertaining their eldest soughters for a little while.
++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile Talia and Chris rode quietly in the helicopter that they ultimately found themselves in. Despite Talia's assertions that shi could do it, it was still obvious that shi could not fly hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles on hir own very easily. Especially while carrying Chris who was carrying the new vaccine bomb. The helicopter could attain a great deal of speed, but the pilots still figured that it would take several hours to get to the Andes Mountains in Argentina for the highest point in South America, and they'd need to refill their fuel tanks at least once while in route.
"So... how will we get around borders/customs type things?" Chris asked, "I didn't really have to deal with that when I arrived in Brazil... but then I doubt they expected a Kat to swim from Miami."
"Raul and Maria were on the phone with their government when we left after you," the pilot answered, "we'll get a call from them when they've given the all clear, though we'll have to fly on a path that will take us around Uruguay or Paraguay."
"Hopefully they accept us then," Talia commented.
"Raul was fairly certain they would if it means stopping Li Sang's games at robbing banks," the pilot answered.
"Robbing banks?" Talia asked.
"The guy caught in Rio admitted that the Paris, Sydney, Cairo, and Hong Kong outbreaks were all massive cover for even larger bank robberies. We probably stopped that in Rio, but we won't know until the city is fully under control..."