ATm59v3.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/ATm59v3.jpg]

Kats

It started as a simple, lazy Saturday morning.

Toby had just managed to wake from his late afternoon nap to see his roommate Ron come home with groceries.

Staggering from the saggy, white couch in the living room, Toby muttered an offer to help put things away.

Ron grinned, tucked a hand in his pocket, and brushed back his shoulder-length brunette hair. "I got it, dude. Guess who I saw at the market."

Toby barely stifled a yawn as he rubbed at his eyes. He shook his head and guessed, "Meg Ryan."

Ron gave a quick little laugh. For the last few weeks, Toby had been nudging Ron to get his long hair trimmed because of how much he looked "like a chick" from the back. Ron's response was to note how Toby's dirty-blond, tightly curly locks looked like Meg Ryan's hair.

Setting the milk on its little shelf in the fridge, Ron answered, "I saw Kat. She's thinking of heading to a movie later with a friend and asked if we'd like to come along."

Cracking his neck a few times left and right, Toby snorted. His first inkling was to just say "awesome" and ask what time. But, perhaps because of his morning mind, he mulled, "We know a lot of Kats…"

That got another quick laugh from Ron. "It's Kat from my work. Redhead, you know?"

That should've been the end of it. But as Toby nudged his nose to clear his breathing, he stayed on the same thought. "Yeah, I figured. But like…there's a Kat I knew at work before they laid me off. There's a Kat my sister, Erin, always talks about. Isn't that kinda weird?"

Ron paused with a carton of orange juice in his hands. He smiled calmly. "It's a common nickname. You know…for Catherine…Caitlyn...Katie…names like that."

Toby gave a nod. "I get that…just kinda weird…you know?"

Keeping his gaze on Toby, Ron set the orange juice in the fridge and shrugged. "I dunno."

Picking up some tissues from next to the table lamp, Toby blew his nose softly and continued, "I mean…I wonder if any of them are related. As I think about it, like every guy friend I have knows a different Kat."

Ron pressed the fridge door closed a bit forcefully. "There aren't that many. It's just one of those coincidence things because of a common name."

Toby wiped his nose gently. "Yeah. You're probably right. It would be weird if her friend was named Kat too though."

Ron set the eggs individually in their place. "I didn't ask. Guess we'll find out."

Toby glanced over at Ron. "I think I'll just hang around the house. I'm not really in a movie mood."

Ron turned and leaned against the fridge. "It'll be fun. And two pretty girls. Maybe more depending on if Kat can get others to come."

Straightening his back, Toby gave a little shake of his head. "I got a lot of stuff to take care of around here. Been sleeping most of the day."

That earned a groan from Ron. "Dude, you always sleep in the afternoon when everyone is doing their stuff. And then you always bail out of fun stuff later. Come on…you're not really Meg Ryan…are you?"

Toby narrowed his eyes at his roommate. "Why are you making such a big deal of it? I'm just not up for a movie."

Ron tightened his fingers around the loaf of bread and wedged it onto a middle shelf in the fridge. "I talked to Kat about you. She's kinda assuming you'll be there. Come on, she won't bite and she's single. I hear her friend is too. And how long have you been single now?"

The sleepiness fading, Toby pressed his hands into his knees. "You know how long….man…I just don't like being set up. But…might give me a chance to put this whole Kat question to a Kat."

Ron sighed into the salad mix as he arranged it beside the dressing. "She probably gets it all the time. It's not a good icebreaker line."

Toby picked up the still-warm pillow on the couch and tossed it to himself a few times. "It's not that kind of thing. I really want to know. I mean…all these Kats could be alien invaders or something." He added a little chuckle at the end.

Ron's head turned. For a moment, Toby thought he saw anxiety on Ron's features, so he automatically gave another chuckle, which floated like a particle of dead skin in the air. Ron was silent as he looked at him. Before confusion could grow in Toby, Ron's flat expression flowed into a smile. "Now that might be a line you could use on Kat…especially if we go see a sci-fi flick. She likes those."

Relaxing, Toby gave a nodding chuckle. "Maybe….alright. I guess I can make some time for a movie and stuff."

Ron returned the chuckle as he set the last of the groceries in the fridge. "Now that's the spirit, man."

----

After a shower, a clean shirt and pants, and some quick shaving, Toby felt genuinely ready for an evening at a movie with some girls.

Ron got the door when it rang. Toby hung out on the couch and looked over to the hallway. At first, he wasn't sure which of the two girls was Kat. The first one who came in had long red hair with an interesting tint. It had to have been dyed to give it a hint like raspberries. Having known some rocker chicks in the past, it didn't look that strange to Toby. What caught his attention was that the other girl had red hair virtually the same shade.

The first girl's raspberry hair was long and past her shoulders. The other's was much shorter and a bit spiky. The long-haired one was dressed in a gray t-shirt and blue shorts. The short-haired one was dressed in gray shorts and a blue shirt. Toby looked them over with amusement.

They could've been sisters to his eyes. Neither were that tall, barely over five feet. Their figures were nice too.

The long-haired girl smiled at Toby and asked, "You're Ron's friend, right?"

Toby nodded and gave his name. With a grin, he asked, "So…you're both Kat or something, right?"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The long-haired one nodded and said, "That's exactly right, Toby."

Stretching his foot on the couch, Toby smiled. "Katherine or something, right?"

The long-haired Kat lowered her head a little and answered, "Just Kat." The short-haired one seemed shy.

As Ron came back into the room, Toby gave him a little glance with his eyes raised. Ron stayed back towards the fridge.

Asking the obvious question, at least to him, Toby inquired, "So, how do you tell each other apart?"

Long-haired Kat's answer was simply, "We know."

"And what about everyone else?"

That earned a shrug from long-haired Kat. "Doesn't really matter…"

Toby tossed up his hands. "Whatever…so are you Kats taking over the world or something?" He added a little grin to the end of his question.

The expression both Kats gave was flat. He hadn't expected his joke to go over quite that poorly.

The long-haired one took a few steps towards him before responding to his question with one of her own, "Why do you ask, Toby?" Her words were also flat.

"Cause…well I was just talking to my roommate and it seems like every girl a guy around here knows is named Kat. And here you and your friend come and you're Kats too. Doesn't that seem really odd?" Toby noticed that Kat was drawing constantly closer to him as he spoke. He tried to give a little, internal chuckle about it but there was something strangely predatory about her movements.

He cleared his throat and she froze. After a moment, she answered, "It's not all that odd. It's a rather common nickname…when you think about it."

As he watched, she settled onto the couch beside him. He watched her, shaking his head a little. "That's about what my roommate told me."

"It makes sense." She leaned towards him from her side of the couch. "Don't you think?"

Toby felt an odd, sudden shiver along his back. "Umm…I suppose you're right."

With that answer, Kat's advance halted. "When you think about it, it's not that weird at all, right? I mean it makes a lot more sense it's just a coincidence than some silly notions to make more of it than it is."

Not quite believing his nod, Toby still nodded in return and said, "Yeah…it's one of those coincidences."

Her expression curled up. "I'm so glad you agree with me. I can see you're a very reasonable, smart guy, Toby."

He tensed his back and kept his gaze on the Kat who was talking to him. He kept so focused on her that he didn't see that the other one was now very close to him too.

As he mulled how to respond to such a strange and vaguely mobster-like statement, Toby felt a sudden poke, like a claw had pressed through his side.

He turned around quickly and saw the other, coy Kat holding what looked like, at first glance, a ray gun. It had an old-timey science fiction appearance with a long, plastic handle and circular body colored by pink rings. However, the end of it was narrow and pointed out like a needle.

It took Toby a moment to realize that it wasn't a ray gun but rather an injector.

The chattier Kat chuckled to herself and told Toby, between his gasps, "Don't you worry too much about that now. It's just our little insurance policy."

His hands balled up and ready to run, Toby just about yelled, "What did you do?! What the hell is that?"

Leaning towards Toby, she answered, "No more deception. Ron has been observing you…for us…for a while. He noticed how smart you are. It seems you're very quick on the uptake, even when a little sleepy."

Toby shook his head and told her, hiding the tremble in his voice, "So…then you really are trying…to…oh my…you're aliens?!"

Kat let out a roaring giggle. "I loved that little guess. I was listening on Ron's cell phone in his pocket. But no…nothing so…out there."

He looked between the two Kats. "So…you're taking over the world?"

The Kat on the couch cracked her knuckles. "Warmer….And close enough really. We're what you might call 'facilitators of change'. We've been positioning ourselves everywhere."

A hand over the spot where the other Kat had injected him and his gaze flipping between the two of them out of caution, Toby listened as the talking Kat continued, "We were inspired by a single source. One out there who shares our name and our ideals. It took a lot of technology and effort to get where we are, but we stand on the brink of rewriting this entire world and we need your help, Toby."

Looking her over a little bit, he asked, "My help?"

She leaned on her cupped hands and nodded. "Your help. Just like we have the help of your friend, Ron. We had a little chat with him too and he understood our perspective quite easily. He's a smart guy and he told us how smart you are too."

It took a moment for Toby to find Ron lingering in the back of the room, near the table. He held a rigid stare on him. "So…then you injected him with that thing too, huh? What is it?"

Kat arched her cupped hands a little, like a shrug. "It's nothing too serious. If you continue to be a smart guy then you'll never have to worry about it. You just do some little tasks for us from time to time and you keep your eyes open for other smart guys."

Brushing back some of his dirty-blond curls, Toby asked, "And what would happen if I wasn't a smart guy anymore? Just so I know the consequences."

Kat's eyes narrowed, but she smiled. "Nothing too much. You would just get to know what it's like to be a Kat for the rest of your life. You'd still be helping us. You'd be one of us."

Toby's jaw felt like it wasn't quite connected to him anymore. He glanced at the other Kat. She felt a little different. She didn't have the smugness of the other. He looked to Ron, whose distant gaze told him all he needed to know.

Swallowing, Toby looked back at the Kat next to him and asked, "So, then you're going to change the entire world into a bunch of Kats?"