Alex woke with his arms wrapped around his feline lover.  He put his face against her soft white fur.  He slowly squeezed Fiona tighter, feeling her soft fur along his entire body.  He thanked whatever gods existed for making him a human, that he could thoroughly enjoy the feel of her soft pelt against his skin.

He brought his hand up from around her waist and gently cupped her breast.  "Taking advantage of a sleeping girl, eh?" the cat said.

Alex just kissed the back of her neck.  He knew she loved it.  He let the hand on her breast run down her belly and to between her legs.

"No, " she sat up quickly.  "We don't have time for that."

"Aww, just a quick one?"

Fiona smirked, "You know better, now get a shower, I'll make breakfast."  Fiona exited her bedroom still in the buff.  Alex poked his half mast member as he watched her backside, despite it being hidden by her tail.

He glanced over at the clock. Crap, it was later than he expected.  No wonder Fiona didn't want to play around.

He crawled out of Fiona's large bed and looked back.  The large half circle bed had a huge seashell as a headboard, he still didn't know how Fiona had managed that.  The cat loved water, and had decorated her entire apartment in an ocean theme, from the blue squishy carpet to the blue painted walls, to the furniture adorned with artificial coral.  It was a stark contrast from the barren desert landscape out the window.

He stepped into the cat's bathroom.  She had completely remodeled this from the default setup everyone was provided.   Again, how she managed this he did not know.  In the corner beneath the window was a large spa tub with two mini fridges mounted above, for convienent cocktail preparation as her and her lover enjoyed a long soak.

To his left was the cat's shower.  Alex stepped in and closed the door.  The shower was large enough to hold a small orgy in, and that had probably been Fiona's intent when she designed it.  

Alex tapped the computer display.  Hot water sprayed from numerous nozzles simultaneously.  Alex arced his body in the pleasure.  He took a bottle of shampoo from the rack on the wall.  Fiona did nothing small scale, the rack held numerous bottles of shampoos, conditioners, and soaps, as well as various gels for... other purposes.

He showered, all the while daydreaming of his feline lover.  As he finished, he realised his fantasies had left him with a problem.  He poked his erection with a finger, then glanced at the temperature control on the wall.  Fiona had somehow rendered the thing incapable of spraying water in anything that could be remotely considered cold.  If one was hot and bothered in Fiona's apartment, there was only one thing to be done for it.  Alex picked up one of the bottles from the lower shelf of the rack.

He finished his shower, refreshed in more ways than one, and dried himself off.  He headed back into the bedroom, dressed himself, then joined Fiona in the kitchen.

She glanced over at him and scowled.  Fiona was a nudist, plain and simple.  The only thing she loved more than water was not wearing clothes.  The cat knew the human did not completely share her love of nudity, but this was her domacile, and she had definately seen him nude before.  She took it as a personal insult that he would cover himself in such a way in her apartment.  Alex knew this, but he simply found his clothes more comfortable than nudity.

He walked up to Fiona pressed himself against her and kissed her on the lips.  She remained stiff.  He glanced down at the stove.  Fiona had pancakes cooking, along with scrambled eggs.  Bacon and sausage sat wrapped in towels on the table.  Large breakfasts were third on Fiona's list of favorite things.

"Finish this, I'm going to go shower."  She walked coldly out of the room.  He worried he had gone too far.  A few moments later his fears were abated as he heard the cat moaning loudly from the bathroom.

He scowled.  Fiona did not make noise during sex.  Only in the most passionate of lovemaking did she let loose the slightest whimper of pleasure.  What he heard now was a show for his ears.  Not that she wouldn't be masturbating, she just be lightly touching herself now as she cleaned herself.  It would be when the false moaning subsided that the cat had begun to pleasure herself in earnest, probably making use of one of her collection to bring herself to orgasm as quickly as possible.

Alex looked down.  Damn it.  Oh well, he unzipped his pants with one hand as he removed the pancakes from the pan with the other.  The teasing bitch was going to have a mess to clean up.

Fiona entered the kitchen shortly thereafter wearing a long pink robe that hung open.  She sat down at the table and took some of the breakfast fare Alex had finished.  She glanced over at the wood beneath the stove, then back at Alex, a look that plainly said, 'I know what you've been doing.'

"I don't know what came over me," he said simply.  Fiona laughed a bit as she proceeded to munch on her morning meal.

After they had eaten, Fiona went to the bedroom and dressed, then returned to meet Alex by the door.  They started this relationship as a purely sexual one.  Both had wanted a slightly more regualar partner than what they otherwise paid for.  They had promised each other then that this relationship would get no more serious than that.  That hadn't lasted.

The two embraced tightly and kissed deeply.  When they broke, Alex whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Fiona replied.

They exited the apartment and headed for work.  They travelled the same route to work yet again.  They rode the elevator down the apartment building.  The two then hiked the short distance to the maglev station.   They hopped a car and set it to take them to the main street section.

The car glided out of the station.  It moved along it's track through its transparent tubes in the Town.  As it left the town, it entered a straightway and picked up speed.  Alex watched the fast approaching mountain ridge until the car dove down underground.  Alex wished he could steal a kiss from Fiona but the train moved too quickly to allow for that.  

It zagged through the tunnels beneath Westland.  The car finally glided to a stop at the Main Street Station.  The two climbed out of the car and walked up the stairs.  It would be all business from here on out.  The two were trying to keep their relationship a secret for the time being.  They would have to declare themselves eventually, and then their future together would be uncertain.  Westland's policies on employee fraternization were rather lax, but he was her supervisor.

"I've got to go get ready," Fiona said.

"Alright, meet me for lunch later?"

"Sure."

They split ways; Alex made his way through the Tunnels to his office in the duel office complex.  He had to judge a duel this afternoon.  Until then it was just paperwork.  Millions of different types of data storage algoritms, data encryption algorithms, and biometric verification algorithms were known to the galaxy and Clarence went with pen and paper.

Of course they had computer records; it was Alex's job to verify the paper records against the computer ones.  Every step of the the dueling process had to be overseen by multiple randomly selected judges.  Each judge wrote a short report on their step, and Alex compared them for consistancy.

After that he set about scheduling the next batch of duel events.  It was a simple process, disturbingly so.  A few taps of the screen brought up the list of new applicants.  Another tap and the computer randomly paired off the fodder.  Another couple of taps and everyone had a set time for rule reading.  Each dueling pair had two judges randomly assigned to read the rules.  He looked over the selected judges; Fiona and he had been set to do a reading two days from now.

Another few taps and he had the list of duelists completing the reading phase.  Alex tapped his screen again and they were all scheduled for weapon selection.  Finally, he went to the list of all those who had selected their implements of destruction and set their time and date for fun in the sun.

Alex sat back and stared at his screen.  Yep, that was his job.  He stared some more.  He started spinning his swivel chair around and around.

Alex later met his beautiful fur for lunch at the cafeteria.  Fiona wore her western getup; a white shirt and red vest, long solid red skirt, and large brimmed hat.  "What?"

"Just admiring how well you make that work."

"You've seen me in this before," she said snidely.

"I know, but still," he hoped he hadn't insulted the cat who normally preferred her own fur.  They sat and ate their meals quietly.  Alex knew Fiona was one of the few who worked here without having been blacklisted everywhere else first.  The water-loving nudist had come for the obvious reason, the clothing optional waterpark.

"Why didn't you get a job in the waterpark?" he asked out of the blue.

Fiona looked stunned for a moment, "Oh, I wanted to start as a lifeguard.  But they make you wear a bathing suit."

"I'd think this is a bit more than that."

"Oh, this isn't bad.  It's loose.  Bathing suits... hurt me," she glanced around at that last bit then shot her eyes downward.

"I get it," Fiona looked solemn.  "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she still seemed upset.

That afternoon they met Adrian, a mouse, to judge a duel.  They marched through the Tunnels to the stairs leading into the Town Hall.  They stepped out into the desert air, wincing at the heat.  Alex, now dressed in his own western gear, adjusted his hat.

The three judges walked to their table.  Adrian sat at the far left of the table, in front of three small black boxes.  They were timers, a minute, a thirty second, and a random.  Fiona sat in the center behind the small hanging brass bell.  Alex took the other end of the table.  Two boxes sat before him.

Security worked to keep the crowd back from the open street.  The first duelist arrived; a spectacled bear.  Alex picked up one of the boxes and carried it to her.  He presented her the box, opening it.  The bear took the revolver off the cushion inside and placed it in her holster.  He positioned the bear in line with a mark on the Town Hall building.

When he turned around he saw the other duelist had arrived.  Alex presented the raccoon female with her gun in similar fashion.

He took his seat.  He opened his pocketwatch (that had a digital display) and waited for it to show 'three.'  "Ready," he said.  The duelists took their appropriate stances.  The crowd went quiet.  Adrian pushed the button on the random timer.  Fiona picked up the hammer.  Everyone waited.

The flag on the timer popped up.  Fiona struck the bell.  The duelists drew.  Two shots fired.  The bear took a round to the arm; the coon, to the chest.

"Minute," Alex said, but Adrian had already hit the timer.

The coon coughed.  The bear holstered her gun then cradled her wounded arm.  The coon holstered her own weapon and placed both hands on her chest.  Still she coughed.

An eternity later the minute expired, and Fiona hit the bell twice.  Adrian hit the random timer again.  "Ready," Alex called.  The gunfighters seemed not to notice.  The flag came up; Fiona hit the bell again.

The coon stood there cradling herself, blood dripping from her muzzle.  The bear reached down with her off hand, drew her gun, aimed, and fired.  The raccoon fell flat on the ground.

Fiona struck the bell twice, but Alex caught her arm before she could hit it the third.  "Thirty," he said.

"Damn," her and Adrian both said.  Adrian hit the thirty second timer.  Both duelists had been wounded so they had to wait half a minute to see if the bear succumed to her injuries.  Not that that seemed likely.

Whem the flag popped up Fiona hit the bell three times.  "Winner," Alex cried.  Another minute was allowed to pass before Fiona struck the bell thrice again.  Coup de gras time, but the bear elected too use it showboating despite her injured arm.  Another thirty seconds passed before Alex could check on the racoon.  He had gotten good enough that he could detect the faintest signs of life.  There were none here.

He stood and made the sign that the raccoon was dead.

He carefully gathered the raccoon's gun.  He turned and saw that Fiona had collected the bear's.  The judges walked quietly back into the Hall and down into the cool air conditioning of the Tunnels.

"Well, that was fun as usual,"  Fiona said.  "I'm going to get out of these clothes, go home, and lay on my bed in the buff."

"Now that's a mental picture," Adrian said.

"Men," Fiona chided.  "You'll be over later?" she asked Alex.

Adrian looked at them puzzled.

Alex just said, "Make sure you get your report done first."

"I have twenty-four hours."

"It was a bit odd, you missed that an extra thirty was called for.  Best to get the report done now.  It'll make it easier to clear up any questions later."

"Adrian missed it, too."

"I did."

"I know, I'm telling both of you.  Get your reports done before you do anything else."

"Seriously?"

"It's nothing you haven't done before.  It only takes a few minutes.  Get your report done now while it's fresh in your mind."

"Fine," Fiona said.

"But, yes, I'll see you at your place later."

"Okay," she said quietly.

Alex headed down to wardrobe, changed back into his jeans, then headed to his own office and wrote up his own report.  His and the other two judges reports would be compared by another randomly selected judge.  The judge would likely have questions, none that couldn't be resolved, though.

Alex took the train back to the apartment buildings.  He headed up to his own, showered again, then changed into some fresh clothes.  He headed over to Fiona's apartment.  The door was open, so he went straight in.

He stopped to admire more of her handiwork.  Her entrance hall was flanked by two walls that water flowed down.  He stuck his finger in one for a moment before heading in further.

Fiona sat on her bed, huddled up and still clothed.  Alex rushed over to her, "What's wrong?"

"I...  I need to break up with you."

"What?  Why?"

"It's just... , it's not working."

"Was it something I said?  Did someone else say something?  Adrian?"

"Just go.  Get out of my apartment."

"But. Fiona..."

"Get out before I call security."

Alex turned and left the apartment.  After closing the door he stared at it, wondering what went wrong.