“We clearly have reason to suspect,” explained the cat, “that your sister’s disappearance is somehow related to the activities of a certain Cyborg King. I know of nothing on Earth that anyone would describe as such – so either the Cyborg King is part of something that has existed covertly on Earth for a while or his origin is extraterrestrial. Until we discover who, or what he is – we have no way of knowing what danger, if any, your sister is in – or how urgent the matter may be.”

“She probably disappeared on purpose,” dismissed Cliff, “just to cause trouble. She’ll come back when she realizes it isn’t working.”

“And what if she is in genuine distress?” demanded Edmund, angrily, as he leaped onto the chair that Cliff had vacated moments earlier, standing upright there as he previously had on the floor. “Her hour of need is no time to indulge in sibling rivalries.”

“So what can we do?” asked Cliff.

“We combine our talents and resources,” answered the cat, “and investigate.”

“Our talents and resources?” mused Cliff. “What have I got?”

“Are you not,” inquired Edmund, “a self-trained expert in the field of cartography?”

“Cyborg villains of the world beware,” joked Cliff. “The map man is on your case.”

* * *

The next evening, when Cliff got home from work, he expected it to be his usual routine. He would unwind for half an hour, and then take care of a few tasks that demanded his attention. By eight o’clock he would be at the Golden Spine – and within five minutes after that be studying the available maps, again, to see if he could find any discrepancies, or anything at all that could shed some light on what was going on.

That was what he expected. It wasn’t what happened. As soon as he sat down, he heard Edmund’s pawing and mewing. As usual, he got up and let the cat in. But this time, as soon as the cat was in the room with the door closed behind him, he dropped the pretense of being a normal house cat and stood up on two legs.

“Welcome home, Cliff,” he said. “After we spoke last night, I took the liberty of assembling some equipment that may be of use to you.”

“This quickly?” asked Cliff.

“Oh,” assured the cat, “there is a lot more work to be done before the equipment can be considered ‘complete’ – but even in its current state, it can prove to be quite useful.”

Cliff looked around. “Where’d you put it?” he asked, opening and closing a few drawers.

“Not here, that’s for sure,” said the cat. “It is at my base of operations.”

“Your base of operations?”

“You don’t seriously think I’d be spending time here with nothing more high-tech than a litter box, do you?” inquired Edmund.

“I suppose not,” conceded Cliff. “So how do I get there?”

“Through either of the two passageways that are large enough to get a human through,” explained the cat, “and I concluded that the best option would be the one connected to this room.”

“So you just happen to have passageways to your high-tech base that are fit for humans?” asked Cliff.

“Not really,” conceded Edmund. “You wouldn’t be able to walk through them – but if you recline on your back, you can be wheeled through on a cart designed for this purpose.”

“And who’s going to pull this cart?” asked Cliff.

“Motors,” Edmund pointed out the obvious. “And I’ve installed under your bed the switches by which to operate your transport.”

“Why there?” asked Cliff.

“You’ll see,” explained the cat, who then proceeded to instruct Cliff how to feel under the bed frame for the necessary set of buttons, and the sequence of buttons he had to press. The moment Cliff had followed these instructions, the bed began to lift, and continued to lift until it was almost at the ceiling. A section of the wall going from where the head of the bed had been moments earlier all the way to the floor then pulled back and lifted as a vertical door. This revealed the passageway, out of which rolled the cart of which Edmund had spoken. As soon as it was out of the wall, it elevated to the level of the bed – not where the bed was now, but where it usually was.

“Lie down,” said the cat, “and enjoy the ride.”