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Jones had never lacked for friends.
Once he'd had a warm purring mother and three other kittens, plus some humans who'd fed and played with them. One day the four kittens had been taken away from their mother and put in a room with more humans and a selection of toys. Jones and his siblings had played with the toys and each other and with the new humans, until each of them was taken away by a human.
The human who selected Jones had a thick jacket and scratchy fur on his face, and he took Jones to an enormous echoing place full of things to climb on and squeeze into, rooms to explore, and small scampering or slithering or crawling creatures to catch and kill. It had six humans, too, who fed and played with him, and one sort-of human who looked like a human but wasn't as warm, who also fed and played with him. One day a small scampering creature came onboard. It was too quick for Jones to catch, and soon grew too big for him to kill. It didn't bother Jones, but it hunted the humans like Jones hunted the small creatures. Then Ripley took Jones away.
Ripley left Jones with some humans. They fed and played with him, but the place was small and didn't have so many interesting nooks and crannies, and there was nothing for him to hunt. He was bored. He missed Ripley. He missed hunting. Then Ripley came back. It was the first time anyone had ever gone away and then returned. He banged his head against her chest and purred.
She took him away to a new place. It wasn't as big as the one where he'd lived with the six humans and one sort-of human, but it was similar, with lots of places to climb and hide and explore and curl up in and nap. It had two humans, one shorter than any human he'd ever encountered before, and a sort-of human. The short human was Newt, the ordinary sized human was called Hicks, and the sort-of human was called Bishop. All four of them fed and played with Jones, but Newt played with him the most.
Jones was happy. The only thing he missed was hunting. In the big echoing place, the small scampering creatures came onboard hidden inside big boxes and barrels and bales and containers, and ventured out when the humans went away. In the little place that didn't echo, very few containers came onboard, and the ones that did were much smaller and never had anything alive hidden inside them. Sometimes the humans and the sort-of human brought him small mechanical creatures that scurried and slithered, and Jones enjoyed pouncing on them. But it wasn't the same.
One day a small scampering creature came onboard, hidden in a container with frozen things that smelled nasty. It looked like the creatures that had hunted humans in the big echoing place, but it smelled sort of like them and sort of like a cat. It was the size of a kitten: too big to kill, too small to be afraid of. Jones hissed at it until it backed away with its tail curled over its back. But it kept trying to come up to him, scuttling low to the floor, and finally he let it. The creature was, after, very small. He could knock it down if it bothered him.
The creature hid when humans or sort-of humans were around, only creeping out to share Jones's food and water. He let it. He had plenty. It grew quickly, until it was as big as Jones, and then it stopped growing.
When Jones stopped hissing at it, the creature began to come closer. It tentatively pounced on him, something Jones hadn't experienced since he was a kitten. He pounced back. The next thing he knew, he was playing with something his own size. They chased each other around until they collapsed together in a heap. Then they did it all over again.
Grooming, alas, was a failure. But other than that, Jones and the creature got along well. Jones enjoyed having a companion his own size.
One day the humans began talking very loudly, and there was a jolt. A door opened, and Jones saw a whole new place - somewhat like the echoing one, but with a lot more people - and he ran into it. His humans and sort-of human ran after him. There was a lot of shouting. Jones got scared and jumped into a duct. After a while, his friend joined him. Jones banged his head against his friend's hard side, and his friend pushed his long hard head into Jones's side.
He smelled something then: the creatures that hunted humans. His friend smelled it too. They scuttled along the ducts until the smell was very strong and there was lots of shouting and screaming. His friend spat on the floor, and a piece of it went away. His friend jumped down. Jones warily peered down the hole. Humans were fighting the big creatures. His friend was fighting them too, biting one that was attacking Newt.
A small one came up behind Jones, and Jones hissed and jumped down. The small creature followed him. His friend attacked and killed it. All the creatures were dead now, so Jones rubbed up against his friend and purred. His friend purred back and wrapped its tail and limbs around him.
There was a shout, then a lot of whispers. Then Jones smelled the human hunting creatures again. He jumped up and hissed at where they were hiding behind the wall. So did his friend. There were some loud noises, which scared him. Then he could smell that the creatures were dead. He and his friend sat down again, and Jones stretched out with his chin on his friend's cool back.
The humans talked a lot. Jones didn't understand much that humans said, but he knew his name and "cat" and "dinner." One of the humans kept saying "cat dinner," or at least something that sounded sort of like "dinner." Jones meowed hopefully.
Ripley snatched him up and clutched him to her chest. Bishop snatched up Jones's friend and clutched it to his chest. There was a lot more talking.
Jones and his friend were taken back to the place where they lived, with all the places to climb and hide. At first only Jones had the run of it, and his friend lived in an enclosure inside a room with a locked door where Jones wasn't allowed inside. Ripley and Newt and Hicks and Bishop played with and fed Jones, but only Bishop played with and fed Jones's friend. But some days Bishop and Hicks or Bishop and Ripley or Ripley and Hicks took them both to new places, and they hunted together for the creatures that hunted humans. Jones only sniffed them out; as soon as he found them, he was put back in his carrier. But Jones's friend helped with the kill. When they were done, Jones's friend was put back in its enclosure and Jones got a treat. Every now and then, he got a little scampering or slithering thing to hunt. Those were his favorite days.
One day a creature that hunted humans knocked Ripley down and knocked Hicks away. Jones crouched and hissed in his carrier. Jones's friend jumped on the big creature and bit it, and kept biting and clawing and tail lashing it until Ripley and Hicks got up and killed the big creature. Jones's friend was dripping stuff with a harsh smell. Ripley and Hicks didn't leave until they stopped the dripping.
After that, Jones's friend didn't go back to its enclosure. It didn't have the run of the place like Jones did, but it was allowed into certain parts. Jones wasn't allowed to be with it unless Hicks or Ripley or Bishop was there too, but when they were, Jones and his friend played together. Bishop, Newt, and Hicks played with them both. Ripley didn't play, but she watched them playing and made funny noises.
Jones was happy.