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There was, naturally, a lot to talk about and all of us speaking dogs gathered together for a big Talkie, including Dizzy and Spinner who were relieved to see me calmer after our return to the yard. The five of us who'd gone out all had ourselves a good lap at the fountain and then we settled a short ways away from the gate out in the yard to have our Talkie. Before we started, however, Pink Nose had an idea and got up. He came back with Patch, Slim and Lopside who sat near us, but not exactly with us, not yet anyways. Pink Nose explained it'd be good for them to listen.

I said it was a fine idea, but also thought that they'd likely as not wander off halfway through. I didn't mind so much for Patch and Slim, but I did in fact, want Lopside here. I looked at him suspiciously, but he just yawned and put his head down on his paws; he didn't close his eyes, however.

"So... What's outside the yard then?" Fat Gut prompted.

I traded a look with Pink Nose and with a slight nod of my head gave him a go ahead to start. "Well, for a while, it's just grass and fence like normal. But around the last corner of the building, everything gets really big..."

Pink Nose began to tell the story for me. I wanted him to do it not because it wasn't my place to do so necessarily, but because in truth, I was still reeling mentally from what we'd experienced out there. A neighbor tribe of dogs, so different... My gaze fell to the odd scrap of paper between my paws. I had no idea what this, or much of anything else meant. Besides, Pink Nose seemed to be enjoying himself, even though I hadn't even discussed his leading the story with him prior.

"Black stuff all over the ground?" asked Fat Gut with a skeptical gleam in his beady eyes.

"Yes, but we only went over that as a short cut to catch up with the pups." Pink Nose threw a sharp look at Spinner and Dizzy who were lying side by side. Spinner shrank at being called a "pup," but Dizzy took the opportunity to speak.

"We didn't go over the black stuff. I didn't like the way it smelled so we went all the way around" Dizzy said with a flourish of his head and paw. My ears perked a bit because Dizzy and Spinner had indeed traveled a much larger distance that we had in pursuit of them.

Pink Nose's expression changed when Dizzy spoke and I could tell that his thoughts were moving in the same direction as mine. He looked at me and I decided that I'd better ask the question. "Did you and Spinner see anything... interesting while you were out there?"

"Well, there were lots of great bushes to pee on..." Spinner interjected and everyone flashed him a look that made him hide his face.

I noticed that Slim to the side expressed a doggish grin, but Patch was already looking bored, pawing at Slim's baggy collar fat. As my gaze crossed Lopside momentarily, our eyes met with a sudden intensity I found disturbing; especially in a dog who didn't understand what we were talking about. I broke contact to get back to Dizzy and Spinner, "Besides things to pee on." I said with a chuff that lifted my jowls.

"What about scents? Did you smell anything odd?" asked Terrier-face suddenly.

We were all looking expectantly at the two young elopers and from the way they held their heads, and the wideness of their eyes, this was almost too much for them. I felt like I ought to divert the attention away from them, for Dizzy's sake at least... but then I was also still mad at him for running away in the first place. "There... there were lots of different animal smells all around..." said Dizzy in a slightly halting voice.

"But it was all dark and all quiet." Said Spinner. "It was a little scary, but also a little nice."

"I woulda felt real afraid if the fence wasn't there to keep the forest out." Dizzy admitted sheepishly and finally I had mercy on him.

Grinning down at him, I said, "I know the feeling. I would have been very afraid myself if the fence wasn't there."

"Really, Topsy? But you're so big and tough!" gasped my brother of equal age. And while normally his preconceptions of me were a welcome ego-boost, right now they felt like a burden.

I ignored the comment and asked, "So you two didn't see or sniff anything around the edges of the big black space?"

Dizzy looked thoughtful for a moment and then said. "There was some human smell, but it was old."

"And there was some bad smelling stuff on the ground near some of the bushes." Said Spinner as he lifted his head again.

Dizzy nodded and added, "And there was this really huge looking bird once that made a lot of noise."

I inclined my snout, but there was nothing more forthcoming from the two. Eventually, Fat Gut felt it was his place to get the conversation moving again. "So you all crossed the black stuff and then?"

Maybe it was the edge to his voice, but Pink Nose snapped at the morbidly obese shepherd-lab. "We didn't just 'cross it' as you say. It was a huge distance we had to walk with no cover and huge lights beaming down on us." I thought he was overreacting to Fat Gut being Fat Gut, but then maybe it was the extreme trouble he'd had traversing that distance that set off the usually tepid labrador.

"As if there was anything any of you needed to hide from." Fat Gut growled, rising to meet the challenge and reasserting his original opinion. "As if those two were in any danger at all to begin with."

Pink Nose yapped at Fat Gut, and even shuffled a bit closer to him on his wide, chocolate furred belly. "You! You wouldn't have even made it to the black stuff, you slug!"

"Come closer and I'll show you how big of a slug I am!" growled the larger dog fiercely and Pink Nose looked like he was actually going to take the shepherd-lab up on his offer.

I got to my feet as quickly as I could - which caused my spine to pop as I did - and then rushed to get between the two fattened canines. I growled deep-throated at each of them in turn and they both backed down, accepting my dominance. I took a new position between them, lying down and making Pink Nose scoot over a fair ways closer to where Spinner and Dizzy were. The outermost curve of my right flank was touching the downward sweep of Fat Gut's paunch where he lay on his side, but I didn't mind.

"It was a long way we had to cover..." I said, my face turned towards Fat Gut, "But we didn't see anything very unusual as we did." I finished with my eyes locking on Pink Nose who turned his head. "Anyways, let's just get to what was at the end of the black stuff... The other building."

Even Fat Gut didn't have a sarcastic remark for the existence of the second research building. He had even less of one when Pink Nose began to tell of what lay behind this second building which was similar and yet not similar to our own. Fatty was keener to express himself than the reserved Fat Gut. "Another pack of dogs..." he muttered in unconcealed amazement while Pink Nose paused to let the revelation sink in. "What are they like?"

The question was simple, but earnest. Fatty had his ears cocked forward and his forepaws were restless, causing most of his upper body to wobble haphazardly. Pink Nose looked at me again and I figured that I had to take things from here. After all, I was the only one - besides Spinner and Dizzy - to have any real experience with the other tribe, fleeting as my experience was. However, looking at Fatty and his excited face and wagging tail, the only thing to come to mind was, "They're... skinny."

Fat gut raised an eyebrow and shifted his weight. Against me, his protruding gut pushed against me a little harder.

"Really skinny." I iterated.

From their expressions, I could tell that neither Fatty nor Fat Gut completely grasped what I meant. But how could they? How could they without seeing those dogs and those tiny waists and... and ribs for themselves?

Fat Gut chuffed proudly, "Well, then I guess it's clear which group of dogs the humans like more then."

Fatty shook his head slowly. "Poor dogs. Not getting enough to eat..."

My mouth opened slightly because although similar thoughts had crossed my mind, after seeing the dogs for my self with my own eyes, I didn't think a mere lack of food was the reason for their trim frames... or perhaps not the only reason. I decided against arguing a point which would probably have been lost even on Pink Nose and Terrier-face who had been there. "The important thing about these dogs, though." I said firmly to forestall a tangent about comparative waist sizes, "Is that they could talk."

"What did they have to say?" asked Fat Gut, lifting his ears in interest for practically the first time since the Talkie began.

"I don't know." I was forced to admit and Fat Gut gave me a smug glance. I growled at him and lifted my head so that it was over the thickened mass of his head and neck. He growled back a bit and his rebelliousness almost led into another fight right then and there. Instead of grappling with him and biting him like I wanted, I forced myself away with severe mental restraint. I stood and towered over Fat Gut's prone form. He was softly growling still, but made no overt moves. I stepped out into the gap between us dogs of the Talkie, turned and looked down at Fat Gut, meeting his eyes with cool fire. Then I backed away slowly and set my great body down opposite of him. If Fat Gut wanted a fight, he could damn well get up and walk for it. As the seconds past and the other dogs watched us, including several others who'd now gathered around the Talkie, it became less and less likely that a fight would happen.

Finally Fat Gut looked away. When he did, I asked, "What's your problem? Did you want us to find nothing outside the yard?" I asked in a snarky voice.

The shepherd-lab sniffed and looked back at me, his eyes staring out from the fleshy contours of his cheeks and heavy brow. "There's nothing for us outside. We live here."

Pink Nose jabbed him before I could think of a response. "You only say that cause you can't leave the yard."

"That's enough Pink Nose. Or do I have to remind everyone hear that you almost couldn't make it across the black stuff yourself?" The brown lab whined a note in his throat and decided to look at the dirt between his paws for a bit. He still glared openly at Fat Gut though. "Anyways," I said, looking back at the shepherd-lab across from me. "How can you be so jaded? To think that there's nothing worth looking at outside this fence?" I gestured with my nose. "Maybe there's something out there that can help us."

"Help us with what?" Fat Gut growled. "We have everything we need here. The humans take care of us."

I hesitated, growling as a dog does while I did. "...I don't know what might be out there for us... and that's the point. I want to know." I looked at the dogs on either side of Fat Gut and all around me and I'm sure that my eyes were a little wild just then. "Don't any of you want to know more?"

A paw touched my shoulder and I turned my head, breathing heavily into the face of Dizzy who'd scooted over to me. "I wanted to know, Brother Topsy."

"Me too!" yipped Spinner.

I looked into both of their bright faces, feeling like their elder, even though Dizzy was the same age as I and I was barely older than Spinner. Any anger I still felt towards the two of them for disembarking on their adventure without my leave disintegrated, especially in the light of Fat Gut's conservativeness. Maybe what we all needed was a little adventure.

My ear swiveled at the gravelly sound of someone clearing their throat. Pink Nose bristled his fatty collars and said, "I think it's important to explore outside, Topsy. I just think that we need to talk about things and not go running off." Fatty and Terrier-face as well were of the same mind and after they'd voiced their agreements, Fat Gut was looking less like a dissenter than a curmudgeon with an unpopular opinion.

"Why couldn't you understand the other dogs, Topsy?" asked Fatty, recovering the former thread of the conversation.

I was relieved with the show of support from the rest of the Talkie, so I eased back and spread my hind feet on the grass before saying. "They spoke another language, but I wasn't expecting anyone else to understand me." Everyone already knew the origin of the manner we were using to convey meaning to each other in the Black Lab; who, it turned out was fairly notorious in the older dog population before he'd been taken. "But the really weird part of it was how they were talking."

I explained to the group how the rhythm and patterns in the foreign dogs' tongue strongly resembled the music I heard in the humans' speech. Due to the rudimentary nature of the tongue we ourselves were using, however, I had a hard time trying to describe exactly what I'd heard in the familial notes of both English and the skinny dogs' barks and whines. In the end, really, they just had to take my word that I knew what I was talking about.

Pink Nose, more than the rest was able to substantiate my bold claim, due to our shared musical inclinations. But he admitted that he hadn't been as close to the fence as I'd been and also, he'd just been waiting for me to return, rather than trying to decipher any meaning from their barks and yips and whines. "It may be as Topsy says." He said. "From what I heard, I thought they were talking for sure at us."

"And just plain old barking." Added Terrier-face with a grin.

I shared one with him; the pleasures of just a good old fashioned bark are known only to dog-kind. Fatty asked another question. "So what does that mean, that their talk sounds like the humans' talk?"

Of course, Fatty had cut right to the heart of the matter. I stared at his rounded bulk spread over the ground for a bit and said, "I don't know. I'm afraid I've brought home more questions than answers. Here's another one." I reached down between my paws and lifted the scrap of paper between my lips.

"What's that?" asked Pink Nose.

"Looks like some litter." Fat Gut ventured snidely. I glared at him and he met my eyes levelly, but I ignored him. Honestly, I wasn't sure this scrap was indeed litter or not. I certainly could not discern a use for it.

I set the paper down gently and said, "One of the dogs over there gave this to me."

"And what exactly did they expect you to do with a bit of paper?" asked Fat Gut, lifting his head a littler higher and better displaying the great sagging of his proud neck. "Lemme guess. You don't know."

I was shocked momentarily as Fat Gut stole the words from my mouth. Though I growled at him, he continued, "We can't know these things!"

"So we shouldn't even try?" I asked him again.

Fat Gut was silent, evidently happy with making his stance known and watching us struggle with the mysteries surrounding us. I took a deep breath to steady myself and looked at my dogs. Pink Nose seemed unflappable, but there were hints of doubt in my betas' eyes. Spinner and Dizzy naturally were on my side, I knew, but only because they thought that if we put enough effort in, we could tease out meaning from these puzzles. I however, already suspected that much of this was simply beyond our current station in life. Fat Gut clearly wanted to forget that the gate could be opened and return to the status quo with which he was perfectly content. And really... I'd been content with the way things were as well. Did I really want to meddle in things I didn't understand? What if the humans already knew about our little expedition, what trouble might come of it? Clearly, if they had intended for us to move about, there wouldn't be a fence in the first place. Was this exploration then against my masters' wishes?

The thought of bringing dissatisfaction to the friendly hands that petted me and fed me every day brought almost physical pain and I very nearly threw the entire concept away as doubt seeped into me. But there was one matter left to talk about and it did not concern an otherworldly mystery. "Let's just... let the matter rest for a while." I said. "Maybe things will make more sense in a day or so. But we do have one more thing to talk about." I looked at each dog in turn. Even Fat Gut seemed more attentive. Perhaps he already guessed what I was going for. "Lopside opened the gate somehow."

"We need to make sure that he doesn't start doing that whenever he likes." Fat Gut said at once, and I thought that he'd been sitting on that for a while now.

I looked over my shoulder to where the three invites to the Talkie were seated. Patch was already gone and Slim was looking bored and confused; ignorant of most of our discussion. Lopside, however, had caught mention of his name and was sitting straight up; or at least as straight as he could manage with his heavy figure. He was looking at me alone from the other dogs.

"Lopside, come." I said gently and the shepherd with the mismatched ears obeyed, getting up to his feet and plodding over to rest in a gap between Terrier-face and Spinner. I looked at him and he looked back with intelligent eyes. "Lopside." I said.

"Yes." He quipped.

I threw my nose to my right, "Gate."

Lopside took his eyes off of me and looked at the towering metal construct which gleamed dully in the moonlight. "Gate..." he said softly.

Making sure that he was looking at me first, I tried, "Lopside open gate?" I said this with a gesture of my paws, not sure if I'd used that word with Lopside as of yet.

Lopside looked at the closed portal in the fence again, as if transfixed. "Yes." He said

I felt relief wash over me. At least he knows what he did. I asked the important question. "How?"

Lopside responded readily, but not in words. Instead he began to scratch at the surface of the ground. I sighed wretchedly. This wasn't the time for drawings of dogs and fences and humans. "No Lopside, how did you..." The words died in my mouth. I'd gotten up and walked over to him, with the intention of stilling his paws, but when I looked down and saw what he'd transcribed on the ground, it was not a dog, or a human, but I recognized the shapes aways. They were the squiggles that he'd made the previous day.

"What's he doing?" asked Terrier-face squinting down at the ground.

"It's the way he 'talks.'" I said. "He's drawn these shapes before, and I don't know what they are."

"Topsy..." Pink Nose said in a tone that sounded amazed and frightened. I turned and I saw him getting to his feet, which was unusual given the inclinations of the heaviest dogs. Pink Nose waddled over, heedless of his own girth and set his paunch all but slapping against his hind legs as he hurried to where I'd left my paper slip. "Look at this! Do you see it?!"

Excitedly, Pink Nose blundered to where Lopside had drawn his strange figures. I moved out of the way for him, but remained close. My fat flank pressed against his as he lowered the slip down to the ground, very careful to its orientation for some reason. "Do you see it Topsy? Tell me I'm not crazy."

I was at a loss for a moment, and then I did see it. The figures, or rather a single figure. For there were figures scribed on the scrap of paper as well and I'd taken them to mean something incomprehensible with no means to decipher them, but there, plainly one of the characters on the slip, Lopside had just created on the ground from his own mind. The character, it turned out, was the number 2.