>"We heard the commotion and decided to investigate," the original armored
>bunny said. "And look what we found. [armored-fluff] The kit killers,
>conveniently gathered and wrapped." It paused. "Don't you get it?"

>"Get it?" Chit asked.

>"Wrapped? All wrapped up? Finished?" He made a 'come on' gesture with a 
>black-spike-encrusted forepaw, then gave up in disgust. "Gah! Squirrels!
>No sense of humor."

"So that's it?" Charlie chittered, "You're going to kill us?"

"Yes," the bunny said, "But not yet. Our... friends here," he indicated the
unarmored bunnies, "want you to have a fair trial and a public execution.
I think they're insane. It's almost *asking* for an escape attempt. I told
them a thousand times, not to trust you squirrels even as far as we can
throw you, but they insist on formality. A formula for disaster, I say."
Chit blinked. He could have sworn the bun had just winked at him.

"Our prison is quite secure [poof]," one of the unarmored bunnies said,
"It held them before... well, those two anyway," he indicated Chit and 
Zander, "And it'll hold them now. [wiggle] Especially with your Claw 
providing personal security. [gigglefluff]"

"What? You can't do that! [stomp!]"

"You were sent to protect us from these squirrels, and here they are.
 Protect us. [fluff]"

So, under heavy guard, the eleven survivors were led to the warren and 
marched back to the same cell Chit and Zander had been kept in earlier.
It was... nostalgic. In a bad way. Chit shuddered at the cushions and
other fluffy instruments hanging on the walls of the outer chamber... 
and was almost glad they were being executed.

"So," Kara said, after the door had been locked and the bunnies left, except
for the four armored ones that sat indignantly in the guard chamber outside
the cell, "You were captured."

Chit was definately glad they were being executed.

But, since they were about to die, he told Kara and the others the truth
about his capture and release, and then for good measure related his story
about his past life as a human. Most were a bit shocked, except for Kara
who'd already known, and Charlie, who just nodded. "Did you ever hunt
squirrels?" Zander asked, to which Chit (truthfully, although that was mere
coincidence) replied that he'd always admired squirrels for their ability
to adapt, and he'd even wanted to be a squirrel from time to time, although
more of a were-squirrel than a lifer, he admitted, because of the convenience
of a human-sized form.

Then Kara told her life story, dwelling mostly on how she'd been caught
snooping into mentat affairs and had run to Teral out of fear for her life.
Only to find herself paired with submentat (read, test-tube washer) Zaphod,
who fortunately had liked being called a mentat enough not to carry out the
gruesome revenge the mentats doubtless had planned for her. Chit had the
distinct impression she was making it all up, but kept silent. It was a 
good story.

Then they went around the room, confessing all their dark secrets, which
varied in quality from Arlette's confession that she'd been... you know
(that was how she put it) with Emilio, which everyone knew already, to
Esser's shocking revelation that he'd been the one to break the solar array,
and he'd planted the softball to frame the humans.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Chit ran up and propped himself up
on it to look through the small barred window into an armored bunny face.

"Go to sleep already!" the bunny whined, yawning, "Those first two were
pretty good whoppers, but you're just getting boring now."

"Sleep?! [indignantflick]" Kara exclaimed, pushing up next to Chit, 
"You're going to kill us! How are we supposed to sleep?"

There was a sort of clattering rustle as the bunnies whispered to each other.

The whispering went on for a while. The squirrels waited expectantly.

"Well?" Chit asked, after ten minutes or so. His legs were starting to ache,
perched in this unnatural position. 

"Shh!" one of the bunnies said, "We're thinking."

Chit yawned, and dropped to the floor. After a few minutes he laid down and
rested his chin on his paws. After a few more he felt his eyelids slooowly
closing....

"Got it!" he heard one of the bunnies exclaim as he drifted off, "We'll..."

==
Chit