It was dark in the quarters of Ensign John Pettigrew. A cat slept on a pile of rags in the corner, snoring lightly until a tiny alarm went off. Then she leapt onto Ensign John Pettigrew himself, pawing at his face. Desperate as most humanoids are to stay in the safety of the bed in the morning, he threw the blanket off the bed to join a rather large pile of laundry. The intended effect was to have the cat jump off the bed, and in this sense the effort was a useful one. However, the cat leapt right back up and continued its insistent pawing. "Okay, Quilter, I'm UP!" the man said in irritation, shoving his hair back out of his face. He staggered to the bathroom and came out about twenty minutes later, much neater and somewhat more awake. The cat requested a petting by rubbing against the man's legs, for the difficult chore of waking John up in the morning, and the admittedly not too grateful ensign obliged. Enjoying himself, he played with the cat for awhile before the duty shift started. As was perfectly normal, she gave him a few soft, sandy licks with her tongue to show her gratitude. As was not normal, she followed him out the door. He didn't notice. Deanna Torres read the Science Supply report again and sighed. The tricorder numbers were off. Again. This time, there were abundances in Botany and Physics and deficients in Life Support and Stellar Cartography. Then the door opened. Torres had already narrowed it down to two people before the individual even finished entering: Department heads had a habit of sending the same runners. Sure enough, Lorrie asked, "Sir, I'm here to pick up tricorders?" "Just a second, Lorrie," Deanna replied. She got up from the chair in her mini-office off of Lab Four and headed for the door to the corridor, the Orion right behind her. When she opened the tricorder cabinet across from Lab Three, several fell out. "Abundance, indeed!" commented the chief. "How many do you need?" "Six, sir. Who do you suppose is moving the tricorders around?" "No idea." She counted out six tricorders and handed them to s'Lorena. Then they both turned to hear someone clamoring down the corridor. "That would be Ensign Sharna." Torres called to the big Andorian, "Try Physics!" He nodded and turned around to head in the other direction. "All right, Lorrie. That's right? Six?" "Yes, sir. Thank you," she said, and headed toward the turbolift. Just before she reached it, a man wearing a supply department uniform and carrying a large package came out. He asked her"Ensign Pettigrew?" "Oh, no. That's Lab Three, third door down," she corrected him. He nodded and headed in the correct direction. "You're welcome!" Ensign Sharna heard a noise in the corridor and looked down. A cat of several different colors, like a quilt, was wandering in the other direction. He smiled and knelt to pet it a second before moving on to the Physics department. "Nice animal," he commented to himself. "Oh, thank you," Ensign Pettigrew commented to the lad from Supply when he delivered something from the package. T'Senca looked up from the plants she was pruning. "What are those?" "I ordered the newest safety model of beakers," he explained. "You control them from the outside, so fumes won't leave." "A logical idea," T'Senca agreed. "Especially considering..." "I know, I know. The accident yesterday is exactly why I ordered them." T'Senca nodded. "Where do you intend to put them?" "Well, I was going to put them into those new cabinets, but as this arrived before they did, I suppose I'll have to store them in my quarters." "I will help you carry them," T'Senca decided. "Thanks," John replied. "The Supply person didn't leave his anti-grav." Working together, they eased it down the corridor. A certain cat wandered past them, out of the pair's sight. Sanitary Specialist Stovok was having a day in which every aspect imitated something that was true on an almost daily basis. He also seemed to feel unusually tired, and wondered if it would be logical to report to Sickbay after this duty shift, as Vulcans simply didn't aquire the Terran condition known as "utter boredom". Then he raised an eyebrow at his readouts and double-checked them. Almost before he knew it, he was absolutely fascinated. Never before had he found cat-hair in this corridor. Yet, here it was. It was shaggy, multi-colored, and long. It was only logical to follow the trail, as it was his job to make sure that there was as little a chance as possible of any scientific endeavors being contaminated by unexpected particles. The instrument in his hand made a little whirring sound as it sucked up the shed hair, constantly beeping to let him know where more was. "Careful where you put the box down: There's a cat in here." T'Senca and John gently set the box in a blank area. "May I see your cat?" T'Senca asked. She had a certain interest in Terran pets. "Certainly. Quilter! Quilter!" He paused. "That's weird. Maybe she's asleep." He searched in all Quilter's favorite sleeping spots with his Vulcan friend trailing behind, but she seemed to have dissapeared. T'Senca asked the computer to cite a record of all beings that had entered or left Cabin 132A, Section B, during the last duty shift. "Ensign John Pettigrew, creature identified as a Terran feline, Ensign John P-" "Computer, stop!" John said frantically. "She's loose!" "Then it would be logical to find her before she can do any harm." "You don't KNOW this cat! She's probably in Engineering by now!" John snapped. Then he apologized for his outburst and agreed:"Of course, I have to go look for her. I'll register a personal leave after she's found, but you'd better get back to work." T'Senca nodded. "I shall see you tommorrow." The cat meandered through a Jefferies tube. She stared at two feet clomping decidedly through the corridor. They were covered in black boots and going quickly. Just when she was about to go further exploring down the tube, she caught sight of something flopping about. It was the ensign's black ponytail. Quilter decided she like the ponytail:It reminded her of many cat toys her owner let her play with. Ensign s'Lorena thought she heard something behind her, and did a quick pivot to see if she was right. No one seemed to be behind her until she looked down. It was a multi-colored cat. It skirted around behind her, but didn't run away. Lorrie had to laugh when she realized it was following her ponytail. Then she picked it up and deliberately threw her ponytail over her shoulder so the cat would be occupied while she made a quick detour to Sickbay, where Dr. McCarthy would be happy to post an announcement on the ship's bulletin board about the seemingly lost cat. The owner probably didn't even realize their pet was gone yet. Ensign Pettigrew was frantic. In fact, he nearly crashed into Stovok. "Oh, sorry..." "That is quite alright. In fact, I was wondering if you knew if anyone with quarters in this area had a cat that might have gotten loose," he informed John. "Sorry, can't help you, looking for my-What?!" Had he said 'cat'? "Perhaps you had best study on Vulcan for a little bit. Emotions seem to be interfering with your hear-" "Yeah, sure, but what about my cat?!" His own lack of emotional control was the last thing Pettigrew wanted to hear about right now. His cat might be in danger. If Quilter had gotten hurt because of his carelessness... "I was following a trail of cat hair. It seems to be long, shaggy, and multi-colored." "That's her, all right." John had calmed down somewhat: The janitor was only trying to help. "If you are certain that is your cat, perhaps you had best follow me to assuage your worry. The hair seems to go into this Jefferies tube." "Okay, you're smaller, you go first." Stovok nodded and climbed in. Pettigrew soon followed. Sickbay didn't seem to be particuarly crowded, so Lorrie was surprised to see someone she knew. "Hi, Lisa!" she called. Manez smiled and waved, but she looked a little pale. Lorrie took the cat with her and stood by the bed on which her friend was sitting. "So, what's wrong with you?" Lorrie asked. "Da cobod cold. Ad addoyig but dot serious Terran disease dat's dever bed cured." Not used to de-stuffing sentences, Lorrie just said, "Ah, maybe I'd better wait until Dr. McCarthy gives you the antidote to ask that again. I found a cat in the corridor and brought it here to find the owner. Want to see?" Lisa nodded, smiling when she realized why Lorrie couldn't understand her. The cat happily transfered laps when Lorrie sat down, and pawed Manez until she was petting her with sufficient force. "Friendly cat, isn't it?" Lorrie commented. "I deek Jod had a cat like dis. Yes, very fredly." Well, Lorre got enough of that, anyway. They pet the cat until the doctor came back with a hypospray. "Geez, Ensign," Dr. McCarthy commented. "When you catch cold, you don't take half-measures, do you?" "No, I don't," Lisa smiled, speaking normally again. "Ensign s'Lorena, I didn't know you had a cat! It needs a check up?" "No, doctor: I found it and don't know whose it is." "Now that my nose had been cleared up, I think I may be able to answer that. Doesn't John have a cat just like it?" Manez asked. "John who? There are about twenty John's on this ship," Dr. McCarthy pointed out. "John Pettigrew, in Hydroponics," Lisa said. "I don't know," s'Lorena admitted. "Dr. McCarthy to Ensign Pettigrew." "I'm really busy right now, Doctor McCarthy. I'll do my physical at the end of the day, I promise." "He's probably busy mixing chemicals," Lisa whispered. "Maybe he should come at the end of his duty shift?" "All right, Ensign, if you're that busy, you can come at the end of the duty shift. We just wanted to see if a cat we found was yours or not." They heard a most unprofessional woop over the comm badge. "I'll be right up! Thank you, Dr. McCarthy! Pettigrew out!" "Anyone want to lay odds?" Lisa deadpanned. Stovok picked up a tricorder that had somehow made it's way into the Jefferies tube. "Fascinating," he commented. "I'm going to see my cat...Thanks for all your help, Stovok!" Pettigrew grinned, and started to leave, but then he realized he had no idea which way sickbay was. "Perhaps this will help," Stovok commented, and set the mysterious tricorder to give a map of the ship including their own location. All thought of how the equipment had made its way into the Jefferies tube was forgotten in the fascinating study of Terran joy. When they came out of the Jefferies tube, Lorrie couldn't help but snicker a little. "Coming though the back entrance, guys?" Pettigrew blushed, but was clearly delighted to see his cat, anyway. A very pretty security ensign with a small device on her wrist came over. "Nice cat, Pettigrew," she commented, and flashed him a calculated smile. Everyone in sickbay from the Science department gave him a little wave, and he walked out of sickbay with the security ensign, his mouth moving much faster then his legs. Lisa was just barely holding back a snicker. "Nice to see his ego wasn't too badly damaged by your comment, Lorrie." Torres needed a tricorder to take a look at the vital signs of the new tomatoe plants. She briskly walked to the storage cabinet just outside Lab Three and took one out as T'Senca was getting off shift. Curiously, T'Senca queried,"Do you have any idea who has been moving the tricorders around?" "No, nobody seems to have been signing them out..." Bemused, Torres wiped something off the tricorder, and along with T'Senca watched it flutter to the ground. "Most fascinating." "Cat hair?!" All things Star Trek copyright Paramount and Viacom. I'm sure you'll be amazed to know I'm not making money off this and that no infringement is intended.