Dash crouched and crawled next to the low moss-covered wall. The mission would have been better at night, but by then the wagons laden with a King’s ransom in treasure would be gone. A dragonfly flew in low and hovered three feet from Dash’s head. Dash started to change directions towards the dragonfly, and felt the sting of tiger claws rake his butt. He looked back at Shadow and growled. “We not after dragonflies,” whispered Shadow Dash frowned. Shadow was always so bossy. Every time something fun came up, she’d scold and growl and swish her tail impatiently – ‘Don’t eat worms,’ she say. Don’t chew oily leaves,’ she say. ‘Don’t chase porcupines,’ she say. ‘Take nap when sun bright,’ she say. Gah, she was so annoying. He glanced back at the dragonfly. It was flitting back and forth in the sunlight, tempting him, taunting him. He sighed and continued along the wall until he reached the end. He peeked around the edge of the wall, then crawled backwards a step and looked back at the others. Dash held up a paw. “Three guards,” he whispered. Shadow cocked her head to the side. “That two toes.” Dash flicked his tail in frustration. “Is not, this many three,” replied Dash. Shadow held up three toes. “This many three.” Dash looked at his paw and added a toe. Gah, she think she so smart. Dash shook his paw, then waved at Tag at the end of the line. Tag was their best thrower, holding the record of four skips with a stone at the river. The four skips had gained Tag a great deal of respect among the cubs. Tag already had her stone selected and slowly rose up. She peeked over the wall at the three guards facing away from her. She pulled back and threw the stone as hard as she could. The stone arced up and over the guards to clatter against the stones. The guards heard the sound and went to investigate, leaving the immense treasure on the wagon unguarded. Dash gave the all clear and with Shadow, Leaf, Kam, Tag, Dot, and Jib following, stood and ran for the wagon. Dash scrambled up into the wagon, his jaw dropping open at the incredible wealth just waiting for a daring tiger with the courage to take it. “Hurry,” whispered Shadow. Dash pushed the first watermelon to the edge of the wagon, and then over the side to fall on the soft moss covering the ground. Shadow and Leaf sunk their teeth into the watermelon, and together dragged it away into the ruins. Kam and Tag took the next watermelon, and Dot and Jib grabbed the next and followed the others. The cubs would drag their stolen treasure to a secret place they knew to split the treasure among themselves, except for Dash. He was a male tiger and the biggest, and capable of carrying an entire watermelon on his own – he wouldn’t have to share. Dash chose his watermelon and pushed it over the side, then jumped down and wrapped his jaws around the green treasure. It was a little awkward, but he managed, and followed after the others. The others were already splitting their stolen treasure among themselves. Dash bit into his watermelon and was rewarded with a sweet squirt of the delightful treasure. The cubs gorged until their bellies were full, and then napped in the warm sun. It had been a very good morning. *** Mara leaped over the wall and onto the worn flagstones of the area they had set aside as a reading room. Jack had the library apeirogon door open for tigers and Jacks to wander back and forth into the library to retrieve books to study. It was technically not allowed to share a library card, but everyone was either a Mara, or a Jack, so there was a gray area in the whole thing. A librarian was positioned at the doorway, marking down each book that left the library, and occasionally coming through the door to retrieve or give a book when a Jack or Tiger motioned for assistance. Jack looked up from his book at Mara. “How are the kids?” “They’re sleeping now. Tag almost hit the guard with a rock she threw to distract them, and Dash picked up a watermelon all by himself. I gave the trader a few extra coins for going along with the raid.” Jack smiled proudly. “He’s going to be a big tiger.” Jack closed the book he was reading. The librarian stepped through the door and came to take the book, then handed him another. “Might I suggest this one on particle physics,” said the librarian. “Thanks for all the help,” said Jack, taking the book. “I didn’t know you were allowed to leave the library.” “We are still on library property, Sir.” The lizard man scanned the book with a small hand-held scanner, then motioned for his assistant. A lizard boy hurried through the door. The librarian handed the book to the boy. “Make sure it gets back in the correct place this time, I’ll be checking.” The lizard boy hurried off with the book. “Was this a Zilinth city?” asked Jack. “There were two libraries connected by the desert road. One library was a free enterprise that relied on donations from its patrons to survive, and the other, a commercial enterprise.” Jack waved his arm at the ruins around him. “Let me guess, the free library didn’t survive.” “It did not, Sir,” said the Librarian. “Of which reminds me, today’s special is 15% off on remote access membership upgrades.” Jack laughed. “And all in the comfort of your own Land of the Dead ancient ruins. Enjoy all the classics while fleeing in terror from mud monsters.” The library gave Jack an indignant snort before returning to his station at the apeirogon door. Scholar looked up from his book at Jack. “This isn’t actually the ‘Land of the Dead’,” said Scholar. “It is only the place we refer to as the Land of the Dead. This is actually a white hole singularity in which all life, matter, and energy in the universe originates and returns.” “I’m certain that is an important distinction,” said Jack, noticing that Mara had her eyes closed and was napping. Jack leaned over and took the book that was propped up between her paws. Mara would sleep through most of the afternoon heat. He glanced at the title of the book Mara had been reading. He glanced at Scholar. “You know, Mara may be on to something, quantum entanglement might be the answer.” “Possibly,” said Scholar. “I was considering dimensional mathematics in which the concept of dimension isn’t restricted to physical objects.” Warrior and Medic poked their head over the wall. “Hey Dreamer, it’s time for you to make a decision,” said Medic. “Do you want to continue to age, or do you want to reset? Three of our elderly Jacks are going to go ahead and reset today, you can join them, or continue to age and I’ll get ready for the surgery.” Jack looked up. “Say what now?” Warrior glanced at Scholar. “Didn’t you tell him?” “We got so wrapped up in reading about physics I forgot,” replied Scholar. Warrior frowned. “I completely understand, when I curl up with a good math book, I lose all track of time.” Scholar ignored Warrior and glanced at Jack. “As long as you stay within this particular crystal world, you continue to age, but if you leave, you’re reset to the original age you were when you arrived, of which in our case is sixteen years, thirty-five days, and 7 hours.” Jack shook his head. “I thought I didn’t age here.” Scholar gave Jack the look that said, ‘think before you speak’. “And why do you suppose all the Jacks are at different ages?” Jack pursed his lips. “Umm… I don’t know, I’m Dreamer Jack, not Observant Jack.” Scholar shrugged. “Good point, anyway, time outside the library stops, but not inside. You have to reset occasionally. Most of us put off resetting as long as we can, because while it’s nice to be young again, it comes at a great cost for us.” “Can we go back to that surgery thing?” said Jack. “What’s Medic talking about?” “At sixteen years, one-hundred fifty-two days, and six hours, we have an appendicitis. It’s our only medical problem until our heart attack at 93, but we only tempted that fate twice, and at that point we don’t give you a choice, we make you reset.” “That explains the stomach aches I’ve been having, but an appendectomy is a simple twenty minute procedure, what’s the big deal?” asked Jack. “It’s simple if you’re on any Aeden world, or a Ruk ship that has an advanced hospital, but here all we have is Medic. He’s become very good at it, but it’s an hour and a half procedure here, and we don’t have anesthesia. The surgery is very unpleasant. It takes six of us to hold you down, and the whole time you have a stick shoved in your mouth so you don’t bite your tongue off.” Jack shrugged. “I don’t want to reset, I want to get big like Warrior, so, no big deal. I’ll have the surgery.” “Okay, I’ll go get ready,” said Medic. “We’ll do it this afternoon, it gets very difficult if we wait until your appendix bursts.” Jack laid his book down. “Nah, I’m good. Go ahead and take the day off.” Jack stretched, craned his neck, then placed his hand over his right lower side and turned to the librarian. “This is library property, right?” “Yes Sir,” replied the librarian. “My stomach hurts, I think I’m having an appendicitis, I need help,” said Jack. The librarian lifted a small device and spoke into it. “Medical emergency, doorway 77213, juvenile human male with lower right quadrant pain.” The librarian looked back to Jack. “Emergency services are on the way, remain calm, your premiums are current and everything will be covered by your Membership Medical Insurance.” It wasn’t even ten seconds before the apeirogon door changed from a view of the library interior to a view of a hospital emergency room. Two lizard men in white uniforms pushed a gurney through the door. Jack jumped up on the gurney and laid down, then waved a hand at Scholar. “Hey guys, we’re all Jack, so our membership insurance covers all of us as long as we’re on library property. How did you not know that, didn’t you read the membership contract? See you in twenty minutes, don’t start lunch without me.” The two white-uniformed lizard men pushed the gurney with Jack lying on it into the hospital. Scholar turned and glared at Warrior. “You bought the membership card, didn’t you read the contract, you illiterate thug?” Warrior raised an amused brow. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you angry.” “Well yeah, I went under Medic’s knife three times.” Scholar waved his hand. “Never mind, it’s not your fault, you’re only the fighter of our personality. Without Dreamer to dream up solutions, we were missing an integral part of ourselves.” Scholar turned to the librarian. “Bring me a copy of our membership contract, there might be services we don’t know about that can help us solve this.” The librarian stepped aside and the lizard boy staggered through the door balancing a stack of paper in his arms almost taller than he was. “And you think I was going to read that?” asked Warrior. “See if there’s dental insurance in there, I have a tooth that’s killing me.” “Dental Insurance is an add-on service, Sir,” said the librarian. “But we have a 10% off coupon special if you purchase the Eye Care Plan at regular cost.”