Reluctantly, Susanne began the trek back to the Mori. She changed direction along the way, though, being disinclined to meet up with the loony again. And besides, something was pulling her in the other direction. She wasn't sure what it was, but it was the same thing that told her to hurry up.

She had the definite sense of being watched. There was very little cover in this area, though, so she dismissed the notion. Nevertheless, the feeling was occasionally so strong, she whirled around to try to see whoever it was. She always saw just the empty landscape. Then is struck her that as long as she stayed out here in the open, she would be easy to follow, even from a great distance. She headed in the direction of the forest, and as soon as she reached the brush, she ran ahead.

After running for about ten minutes, she stopped short and listened. She was still being watched. But who would have and could have followed her just now? She was caught somewhere between terror and embarrassment at her unfounded paranoia. Then she had an idea...

"Roger?" she called tentatively.

There was no answer.

She tried again, this time more forcefully. "Roger, I know it's you! Come out now!"

There was the sound of a slight thud as the tiger dropped from the tree to a spot right in front of her. She tried not to show her surprise. "It took you long enough," Roger purred. "I thought I'd have to be following you all over Konan before you realized who was watching you."

"You nearly scared me out of my mind! Don't you ever do that again!"

"Come off it. You told me to sod off, not the other way 'round. And besides," he said, settling himself down in a patch of sunlight. "I like you better scared. Humble you were, like never before."

Susanne sighed. "Guardians," she mumbled.

"So you've decided to come back, then, have you? I'm glad."

"Are you, now?"

"Saves me the trip to London. I've still got to guard you, no matter where you are. I was on my way to Friar Park to watch over you when I saw you coming back."

"You knew exactly where I was?" Susanne said, shocked and unnerved.

"Of course. I'm your Guardian. It's my job. Why did you come back, anyway?"

"I-- I'm not sure. It felt like I had to."

"Well, I can't tell you where everyone else is, but maybe you'd like to go to the city to look for them."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"I took the liberty of packing some clothes in your HammerSpace, by the way."

"Gee, thank you. Oh, I had probably better change, you mean?"

"You stand out enough as it is. A Beatles tshirt doesn't camouflage very well. Another reason I was able to follow you so easily."

Susanne stuck her tongue out at him and searched through her HammerSpace. "This ought to work," she said, pulling out a loose, long-sleeved blouse in browns and greens. "Can I keep the jeans?" Roger shrugged (as well as he could, of course -- have you ever seen a tiger shrug?), and Susanne looked at him for another few moments. "You could at least turn around!" She said.

Roger sighed in frustration but complied, and Susanne quickly made the switch, tossing her other shirt into her HammerSpace.

"Okay, ready! Lead on! In the jingle jangle morning, I'll come following you," she sang.

Roger chuckled and started walking through the forest, Susanne close behind him.

As always, the scenery changed quickly, and it was not long before Susanne and Roger stood on a hill overlooking the capitol of Konan.

"Wow," Susanne said, stepping forward out of the trees. The city was spread out before her. The view wasn't anything like looking down at Los Angeles from the hills, but it was impressive nonetheless. "Okay, so now wha--" She turned to Roger only to find he wasn't there. "Roger? Roger! Get back here!" She received no answer. Shrugging, she turned back to the view in front of her. She figured he had gone back in the forest and would wait for her here. After all, even if she had gotten fairly used to him by now, it would undoubtedly bring unnecessary attention to bring a tiger into the city.

"Here I am," she heard Roger's voice say then. She turned -- to see a man emerge from the forest.

"Who are you?"

"Don't you recognize me?"

It was Roger's voice, all right, but this... First of all, this was NOT a tiger. The man before her wore blue jeans and a black tshirt, and his blonde hair fell in curls over his shoulders. It was Roger, though, Susanne thought as she looked into his deep blue eyes. He reminded her vaguely of the Colonel Rickman from Sliders. The origional one, the one who had been in Riverside to film those two episodes, and she had been so bummed that she had missed not only Jerry O' Connel, but also...

"ROGER DALTREY???"

"Come on, then," he said, leading her down into the city. "After all, it wouldn't do to walk around with a tiger in the city, would it?"

"Bet you never told Keith Moon about your alternate identity!"

"Sure did. But who would believe the ravings of a drunk man?"

"Sing something!"

"Get on," he said with a laugh. They were now walking through the streets of the city, not entirely sure what they were looking for.

"This is great! Who do I get to meet next? Jakob Dylan? Mel Gibson? Oh, I know, Sean Connery, right?"

"You're supposed to be concentrating on your chosen bishounen!"

"Well, I can dream, can't I?"

Roger rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

"Oh, I just realized I haven't eaten today," Susanne said. She stopped and reached into her HammerSpace. "I know I threw some food into my backpack..." She pulled the bag out, but just as she did, a man ran by, knocking into her and snatching away the bag. "HEY, YOU! THAT'S MY STUFF!!!!"

"I'll get it," Roger said, taking off after him. In another moment, they were both gone, and Susanne stood alone.

For the first time, she took a good look at her surroundings. This must be, like, the inner city, she thought. The walls seemed to be in various states of disrepair. She felt rather uncomfortable here, so she began walking in the direction Roger had gone.

As she passed by an intersection with another alley, she suddenly stopped. She looked to her left and saw Anaera standing a short ways down. Anaera looked at her, and back in the other direction. Susanne looked past Anaera to see a group of street toughs. She ducked back around the corner, hoping they hadn't seen her.

But what about Anaera? This was the only direction she could hope to run, and when she did, they would see Susanne. But what if...

The unmistakable sounds of a fight erupted then. Anaera hadn't run. Could she take all of them alone, though?

Susanne heard a thud and saw a pair of feet land right by the corner. Anaera had thrown one of the guys that far? Well, it looked like she could take them all alone. Susanne began backing away slowly, afraid that the man laying by the corner would get up and see her. When she saw him move, though, he didn't look around. He just went back into the fight.

Susanne breathed a sigh of relief and looked arouns the corner. There were bodies around Anaera in the alley, and she was fighing with one guy. Susanne slowly began walking in her direction.



Anaera was almost surprised by how easily most of the men were beaten. They were just regular street toughs, though, without the centuries of martial arts training and practice Anaera had received. The look on the face of the man she had thrown almost to the end of the alley had been hilarious.

She wasn't sure what had become of the other girl, Susanne, but she wasn't worrying about her now. She was otherwise occupied. She finally threw the last man to the ground, knocking him out, and stood a moment to catch her breath.

There was a twangy kind of thud from behind her then, and she whirled around, poised to fight. She saw one of the street toughs sink to the ground -- again -- revealing Susanne standing behind him, holding a guitar.



One of the street toughs stood up as Susanne started to walk toward Anaera, but he didn't see her. He just centered on the girl who had beaten him. He crept toward her silently. Susanne realized that Anaera didn't know he was there. And if she yelled to alert her, she might lose concentration on what she was doing now, and this guy might decide to come after Susanne. She crept toward him, searching for something, anything, in her HammerSpace. Her hand closed on something that felt solid and heavy, and without thinking, she pulled it out and whacked him over the head with it.



The girls stood and regarded each other. Susanne looked down at what she had hit the guy with, and started laughing. She felt Roger come up behind her, and she laughed harder. Anaera was puzzled. Was this girl going into hysterics?

"Roger," she finally managed to say, "you packed a Pete Townshend signature Strat in my HammerSpace?"

Roger just grinned.