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                Morlei

was testing out his new clone body. The circuits inside the melded

technological/biological brain were still working out the kinks. It was taking

some adjustments in getting used to having his own body back and not just

pigging-backing on his friend's circuits.

                Keverne

was sitting in the diagnostic chamber getting a once over. Any examples of

bacteria that had managed to attach themselves to his person where carefully

removed and sent for study, propagation and storage.

                Their

quarry and his wife were one room over. Her mind was slowly being pulled

forward. For the moment the human was too caught up in the recovery of his wife

to question his unfamiliar and somewhat bizarre surroundings. He only had eyes

for her at the moment.

                Morlei

walked around in his sleek, tawny body, flexing his limbs and gazing at his companion.

He walked over to the chamber and tapped on the glass, running his fingers thorugh his mane.. "Hey look, another body

you can break in!"

                His

friend smiled weakly. "Not right away we're not. That last jump nearly burned

out some of my hardware. It's going to take a while for the damage to be

repaired."

                "So

you're telling me that the only part I'm presently interested in is

non-functional?"

                "I

didn't say that, but we both know our guest will need attending to. I'm sure he

has numerous questions that will need to be answered."

                It was

some time later that the diagnosticians were satisfied that he was clear to

leave the recuperation chamber. He was a little off-balance from the effects of

the upgrades, but he was anxious to have a talk with this ancient scientist.

                The

human was at the side of his wife, who was coming in and out of consciousness.

"Mr. Newberry?"

                The

human turned. "Oh, it's you. What is this place? No one has said a thing and

it's all rather phenomenal to take in. It seems like it's all just a dream."

                "It's

no dream. Rather, it's the result of a nightmare."

                "I see.

Could you manage to explain that a little better?"

                "There

is too much to explain. A lot has happened in between the time period  I have plucked you from and now. I will try to

answer single questions as coherently as I can."

                "OK.

Why do you look like someone's artistic rendering of a humanoid cat?"

                "Because

that's what I am. I have mixed genetics. There are no full humans in this time

now except for you and your mate."

                "How

come?"

                "Now

that is quite the story and I'm not sure that you'll enjoy it."

                "I'm

not sure I believe any of this right now. But it seems all too real to be some

sort of hoax."

                "I

assure you this is no hoax. If only it were."

                "Since

you have already done more for my wife than anyone else, I will take your word

as being the truth. If nothing else, your appearance is either clever makeup,

or even cleverer gene manipulation. If the former, my compliments to the

artist; if the latter, then you indeed have much to tell me."

                Keverne

leaned down and put his face in the human's. "Pinch me if you have any doubts."

                Two fingers

came up and gently rolled the furry flesh between his fingers. "I was hoping

for makeup you know."

                "Not

surprising. An old human frailty; not accepting the facts. But the evidence I

hope you see is that I am what I appear. Now are you ready for the story?"

                "Oh,

why not? I can only hazard a guess right now as to how things got to be this

way; whatever way this happens to be."

                "Allow

me to discuss your extinct species in blatant terms. I hope you will not take

offense but I do not like skirting an issue."

                "I'm a

scientist. I understand paring back the data to its simplest form."

                "Good.

It all began at a time some years in your future. We don't know when  exactly because so many records were lost. It

revolved around the chance discovery of an organism, a small pathogen with a

unique nature."

                "Unique

how?"

                "Like

so many bacteria and viruses of your time, it was essentially harmless to

humans. But it was found that a few variants of it had some noticeable side

effects. For one, it tended to congregate in the reproductive system."

                "So it

was a venereal disease?"

                "An old

term and not an applicable one. No, it could be only transmitted, in its

earliest form, via direct blood contact. It never produced symptomology;

neither fevers nor sores. All it did was inhabit the ovaries or testicles,

depending on the gender of the subject."

                "Strange,

but hardly surprising. Many organisms have preferred regions to infect."

                "You

are correct. That in itself was not unusual. But the location was a

compromising one, if you understand my meaning."

                "I'm

afraid I don't."

                "You

will. I assume you understand the problems with what you referred to as

religion?"

                "You're

losing me now."

                "Religion;

the belief in a greater being that controls your life."

                "Yes, I

understand what religion is. What does that have to do with a pathogen?"

                Keverne

smiled."Some scholars have said that religion is in itself a pathogen. But I

digress. Religious wars were erupting in your day were they not?."

                "Yes.

Mostly in the Middle East, but little hotbeds were brewing elsewhere."

                "Yes,

and they only got worse. Intellectuals were killed because they spoke out

against the stupidity and arrogance of many believers. The planet was

threatened with another Dark Age such as you had in your far past. There was a

rampant destruction and constriction of information in your own future, mostly

from corporation entities and religious leaders."

                "I

could see that happening. It still doesn't explain the role of this pathogen."

                "I'm

getting there. A few scientists, at the urging of several governments, tinkered

with it until they developed a form that scarred the tissues of the infected

person. Outside of a brief, low grade temperature, there were no symptoms."

                "Oh I

see. Bacterial sterilization."

                "You

are very perceptive. Yes, anyone inoculated with the organism was rendered

sterile. In one way or another, this pathogen was given to thousands of people

in an effort to end their lineage. Studies had showed that what religion you

believed in was mostly a matter of where you lived, so many towns were bought up

and those who were science oriented and anti-religious moved into them.

Churches were destroyed and believers, regardless of their sects were removed.

A movement rose to oppose this."

                "I

see."

                "Do

you? I don't think so. The religious groups went up in arms. The call of God, Guns and Glory is still feared to

this day, and we had no part of that slaughter."

                The

human nodded. "I can see that."

                "I

don't think you quite see it as of yet. This pathogen was designed to be

administered like a typical vaccination, but many people were against such

normal methods of protecting themselves from disease. They preferred to rely on

their god to protect them."

                "Yeah,

that was happening in my day."

                "Good.

So you know the harm they promoted to the whole population. However, given the

appropriate scare, they could be induced to taking vaccinations. So a number of

fairly harmless airborne diseases were released. Anyone who was vaccinated were

fine, but those who weren't got ill. After that, it was a simple matter of

injecting them with both the good vaccine and the active pathogen. No one ever

noticed."

                "I take

it the population began to decline?"

                "No at

once of course, but eventually yes. The religious folks blamed it on all kinds

of superstitious reasons."

                "It

would take a few decades before anyone would be able to tie the effects to the

vaccinations."

                "They

never did. They were too preoccupied with praying for an answer that they never

had the intelligence to run the numbers."

                "So

what happened?"

                "Do you

mean before, during or after the Great Religious Wars?"

                "The

what?"

                "You

heard me just fine. The countries began to split up into different sections. On

the religious sides, the pathogen mutated until it was passed from one person

to another. It soon became an epidemic, though they never knew it. It's hard to

think of something like a little fever could be the sign of a deadly thing, but

within a few years they were all infected and thus, sterile. There was no more

breeding."

                "Wow!

They would be insidious."

                "It

truly was. Only it didn't stop there. You see the program had been abandoned

because it was considered to be too prohibitive to be effective. Once it became

transmissible, then it roared through the population like wildfire. No one

noticed until it was too late. Only the most remote pockets of humanity

remained unaffected by it. These groups became phobic about having contact with

any others, except via their communication systems."

                "Ok, so

that can go far to explain the reason my kind may have died out, but it doesn't

explain you or anyone else around here."

                "I'm

getting to that. There had been some dabbling in genetic crossovers. There were

a number of corporations that invested in genetic technology, working to build

better soldiers and warriors. In this they were successful, to the point that a

number of protoforms actually went into production."

                "Production?

You make it sound like they were manufactured!"

                "They

were, just like we have to do here on occasion. They were all sterile...except

that they weren't. Someone figured out that giving one of these protofroms a

healing elixir activated their reproductive organs."

                "Ok, but

what's the catch?"

                "Catch?

Oh, I see the term you are using. The "catch" was that this pathogen didn't

affect the biology of the protoforms. They could breed where the humans were

inhibited in their regenerative process. In two generations thehuman population

across the planet plummeted by forty percent."

                "Wow!

That was millions of people!"

                "Yes it

was. The planet was better off for it, for the demand on food and energy was drastically

reduced. At the same time your species became so paranoid of one another that

the wars were fought to the death rather than risk soldiers coming back with

the unknown ailment. Only the scientific people prevailed, using technology to

continue fighting."

                "Using

these protoforms?"

                "They

were only a few of the developments they used. But the harm from this pathogen

was not to be halted. Over centuries it kept cropping up, sterilizing formerly

isolated patches of the population. Many natural disasters happened as well,

since given enough of a population loss, there were not enough of your people

to stave them off. We can discuss those later if you are interested."

                "And

this is where you come in?"

                "To a

certain degree. Much damage was caused to this planet, and while given a few

hundred thousand years it might return to being agreeable to life as you knew

it, we think we can help it long. Therefore, we are searching out people whose

presence in the past won't be missed, such as yourself. We have a great amount

of information and technology available to us, but we lack a certain

imagination that seemed to go hand in hand with the human species."

                "And

you think I can fix... how many years worth of damage?"

                "A few

millennia."

                "Is

that all?"

                "We can

send you back to your past if you like. We are giving you a chance to correct

what your kind did to themselves and to this planet. You can be the new Adam

and Eve, if you will forgive the religious reference."

                He

thought it over. It was a lot to take in. "I have nothing back home. If my wife

recovers, then you have yourself a deal!"