Jerrix slowly opened his eyes and blinked.

“Who turned the lights out?” he muttered.

He climbed groggily to his feet and saw nothing but darkness around him. He stomped his feet muttering,”seems solid enough.”

He suddenly realised that his blue cloak had gone and that wherever he was, this was not his ship.

“Yoland!”

There was no response.

A beam of bright light suddenly surrounded him and he scratched his head.

“She is not here Jerrix Tau.”

The voice was deep and rather menacing. It disturbed him that its source could not be seen.

“Who’s there?” he asked carefully.

A figure seemed to appear from nowhere, and the cat noticed the red glow around him.

“Oh you must be joking.”

“I am as real as you are,” the figure replied.

Jerrix was looking at a tall darkly hooded figure that was carrying a scythe.

“You just cannot be the Grim Reaper,” Jerrix protested. “That is just silly.”

“As silly as a space faring cat?” the figure asked.

Jerrix was stumped for an answer.

The figure raised a bony finger and pointed into the darkness. The cat saw an image appear. An image he remembered. It showed a small brown kitten sleeping peacefully.

“Who is this?” the figure asked.

“Seems to be from a very long time ago.”

“Let us look at what you became shall we?”

As the cat watched, he saw himself as he used to look. Deep brown fur, sea blue eyes and the distinctive yellow cloak.

“Do you agree that this is you?”

Jerrix shook his furry head.

“Of course that is me. Who else would it be?”

The image faded and was replaced with that of a young girl. He saw the straight yellow hair and flowery dress.

“That’s Tarra,” he muttered. “Is she alright?”

“She is safe Jerrix Tau. Far safer than she was with you.”

“What does that mean?” the cat asked.

“You took her from her home and plunged her into a world of terrible danger.”

“I did not kidnap her,” he protested. “She came willingly.”

“Can you remember where you took her to?”

“Of course I can,” he replied. “It was Sagittarius One.”

“A planet where the Fleons were fighting the Dogians,” the figure told him.

“That is correct. I made sure the Fleons were left alone.”

“There was much danger there,” the figure said. “Did you not worry that Tarra could be harmed?”

“Of course I worried. That is why we did not travel together for long.”

“So you took her to Helos 6.”

“As a reward,” Jerrix countered. “I knew nothing about the Siphonans till then.”

“When you saw their lethality you could have left.”

“That would have been cowardice. I had no option but to intervene.”

“Your solution was pretty brutal was it not?”

“It had to be,” the cat replied. “I even lost a life there.”

An image of a ginger cat appeared. It had bright green eyes but still wore that yellow cloak.

“That looks like me,” Jerrix acknowledged.

“Now we shall see what further trouble you got into,” the Grim Reaper told him.
---
“You decided to take the young girl for a space cruise did you not?”

“We both needed a rest.”

“Just in time for a wing to snap off,” the figure reminded him.

“You cannot blame me for that,” Jerrix protested.

“Six people survived,” the figure said. “Six from two-thousand.”

“The captain came down on an H class planet. What do you expect?”

“You and Tarra moved to higher ground in order to escape the plant life.”

“I wanted them to join me but they refused. Their deaths are not on my paws.”

“How about the racketeers?” the figure asked. “Are you denying their deaths too?”

“They had to pay for their crimes. They got their just deserts.”

“Tarra was so horrified that she left you,” the figure said.

“My life is a rather busy one.”

“As a taxi driver found out,” the figure said.

Jerrix was annoyed now.

“Your information is wrong mate. That was simply a projection as you are well aware.”

The figure nodded.

“I will concede your point Jerrix. Shall we turn to other events?”

“Wait a moment,” the cat said. “Is this a trial or what?”

“At present your body is on board your ship,” the figure told him.

“Only I can send you back. Lose this review in my court and you will never leave this dark place.”

“Then we had better get on with it,” the cat suggested.

“You returned to Earth and met Tarra again,” the figure pointed out.

“I landed in a caravan park.”

“Yet again,” the figure said. “When an alien race arrived to destroy a research station.”

“I don’t go looking for it,” Jerrix replied.

“So you sabotaged the space laser after travelling back through time.”

Jerrix smiled ruefully.

“You must admit that it worked. I also lost another life by the way.”

Jerrix saw a large ginger cat appearing. Still dressed in that yellow cloak. Beside him appeared a schoolboy wearing a bright red uniform.

“You know about Gerry then,” the cat commented.

“Of course,” the figure replied. “You took him to a dying world and ensured the Jawans extinction.”

“I sympathised with their problem but I could not allow any of their spawn to reach earth. That would have resulted in the destruction of mankind.”

He paused.

“I nearly fried. What should I have done? Sit back and watch the fireworks?”

“Genocide does not recognise guilt from the victims. You should know that.”

“What they planned would have been genocide,” the cat spat back.

The dark figure ignored that comment and rolled on.

“What do you remember of Terros?”

“A rather sad trip really. The prince actually used me in order to get to the rebels.”

“The actual cause of that was your previous involvement,” the figure replied.

“I had saved them from starvation,” the cat said sharply. “What the prince did later was wholly reprehensible.”

“Did you even consider the possibility that they may have solved the problem themselves?”

“When I got there, it was obvious they couldn’t.”

“So you say Jerrix, but we will never know now.”

The figure paused as another image appeared. The cat recognised the planet. It was Earth.

“Explain why you were there?” the Grim Reaper asked.

“I wanted Gerry to see the castle on Holy Island. I had no ulterior motive.”

“The Siphonans had taken over. Correct?”

“They certainly had. I fell in with the human resistance.”

“Which you took command of.”

“In the end it was the only way. I feared they would fail.”

The figure moved on.

“You even tried to sacrifice yourself in order to save Moscow.”

“Well, I realised there was no alternative. Luckily for me the prison ship beamed me back to the island.”

“Lucky indeed,” the figure replied.

“You must admit that my solution was pretty unique,” the cat suggested smiling.

“I could not agree more,” the figure replied. “A two year freeze that will cause famine and countless deaths.”

“You are twisting it,” Jerrix hissed. “The Siphonans needed to be stopped. At any cost.”

“Not at that cost Jerrix,” his accuser told him.
---
There was a pause as a star ship appeared. The cat watched for a moment before intervening.

“That mouse had to be stopped. Not even you could argue against that.”

“I have no worries there Jerrix,” the figure said. “My concern is for Yoland.”

“You may have noticed that she can take care of herself.”

“I saw her punching you during your latest escapade.”

“I found that rather painful,” the cat admitted.

“You went home.”

“Should never have bothered. I was forced into a war not of my making.”

“I noticed that,” the figure told him. “I also noticed your suggestion of the flank attack.”

“I suppose you will condemn me for that too.”

“Perhaps in future you should consider a less violent solution.”

“I am who I am. I cannot change that,” the cat told him.

Then Jerrix paused.

“Wait a second. You mentioned the future.”

“You still have one Jerrix. It was your sacrifice on Earth that saved you this time.”

Jerrix smiled.

“You will send me back?”

The Grim Reaper waived his bony hand, and the cat found himself plunged into the darkness once more.

“Come on Jerrix, fight it.”

He opened his eyes and saw Yoland looking down at him.

“No need to shout my dear. Let me up.”

She stepped aside and the cat scrambled to his feet.

“I thought you were finished,” she told him.

“Actually I nearly was,” he said staring down at his black paws.

He shook himself and padded towards the door. On this occasion however, it remained closed.

He rubbed his ears.

“Now that’s strange my dear. A bit too strange. We must be in orbit.”

He returned to the controls and quickly examined them.

“Everything seems to be alright.”

A sudden explosion erupted from the right wall and the ship lurched violently. Yoland and the cat were thrown to the floor.

“What’s happening?” Yoland yelled as fire erupted from the wall.

“We must be under attack,” Jerrix replied.

She saw the cat statues suddenly explode, sending debris across the floor. Flames shot up from the remains and the ship was engulfed in thick dark smoke.

“We will burn for sure,” Yoland told him.

“Not if I can help it. Come on.”

He crawled towards the door and pushed a hidden button down. A panel slid back revealing a dark interior.

“Get yourself inside,” the cat insisted.

Yoland dropped inside and found herself looking at a small capsule.
When Jerrix joined her, he pressed a switch and the panel slid back.

“An escape capsule?” Yoland asked as the ship shook violently.

“First time that I have used it,” he admitted.

He reached up and pulled a hidden lever. As he did this, Yoland felt a rather sickening falling sensation.

“We have separation,” Jerrix said simply.

“This had better have parachutes,” Yoland commented as the capsule tore through the upper atmosphere.

“I just hope they work,” the cat commented.

Yoland placed a palm upon the wall and pulled it back.

“It’s a little warm Jerrix.”

“Nothing we can do now my dear. We either survive or fry.”

Like a meteor streaking to earth, the capsule hurtled down. The outer shell was completely enveloped in white-hot flame as the re-entry continued.

It seemed the buffing would go on forever until they both heard a welcome pop, followed by a sudden deceleration.

“At least the chutes deployed,” Jerrix said smiling.

The craft swung gently in the morning air as the capsule drifted slowly toward the well-kept cornfield. Beyond this lay the city and even more trouble for Jerrix the cat.