Chapter 22: the plan comes together
A small robot heads for the geothermal plant with a small package in its pinchers. It undogs the hatch leading to the geothermal tubes, it waits for a bit before it drops it down the tube, the package floats down gently on a parachute.
The rest of the week goes well, we meet all the other couples, and the prisoners in the other cells. One had his mate die, medical could not revive her, and the other two were just spelunkers who had found their way into the complex. They refused to preform for Carl. We "preform" for Carl twice more. We are ready to leave this place. We are listening to music when Mavis interrupts us. Sorry guys, but your ride is here, and they have just entered the complex I'm leading them here. You need to get everyone ready to go. We call everyone together; Mavis breaks the other prisoners out as well. and I explain it to them all. About the end of our conversation, our family comes around the corner.
Dad and mom put their guns away and rush us. "Son it's good to see you". Dad lets me go and brings Susan in to the same hug. "Did you make him behave daughter? "Yes, dad I did, but we need to all get out of here". All the couples are shocked that Susan can speak. William flips us a backpack, "Here you might need these". I open it to find Susan and I's guns. We quickly belt them on and chamber a round. We flip the backpack back at William and he puts it back on. "Alright folks, line up behind Rick, Judy, and I, and we will lead you all out". They do, and we all start to walk down the corridor. Susan and I, grandma and William are the rear guard. Just then a rumbling happens and the lights flicker, but stay on. "Mavis what just happened"?
"Sorry everyone but the geothermal tubes have just blown, you have about twenty minutes to get out of the area, before this mountain blows it's top, magma is rushing up the tubes as we speak. William, I need you to come and get something from my control room, down the corridor to the left" "Right go everyone I will be right behind you". The couples had already started to run up the hall, grandma gave me the look that said "you better be right behind us". With that she turned to run as well.
I ran down the corridor, to what appeared to be a control room. "43975 is the door code", says the computer that sounds like Mavis. I punch in the code and the door opens; I rush in with the gun at the ready. No one is in there. "Over here", a green light starts to blink on a console. I go over and look at the board. "Now I want you to lift the panel to your left, good, now grab the D-handle that is there and turn it one quarter turn to the right", I do so, "Alright the rest of this is going to be like a lock in a key, you will have to do exactly what I say, or an electrical shock will go through your body and kill you". "A little warning would have been nice". "Yes, but you probably would not have done it. Alright, turn the handle five-clicks to the left, good, now nine-clicks to the right, good, now seven-clicks to the left". A beeping noise comes from the console, and the cylinder with the D-handle slowly move up out of the console, it stops, and detaches from the console. "What is so important about this, is it you"? "No, it is not me, it's a memory module, it contains the sum of all history to date". "Why do I need this"? I ask as I stuff it into my backpack. "William, a philosopher out of my time once said, "those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it". "Take it, and make your world a better place. Now go you have eighteen-minutes to get away from the complex".
Mavis what the hell is happening"? asks Carl. "The geothermal plant has blown and I'm afraid that the magma is rushing up the tubes, this complex will be destroyed in twenty minutes". "How the hell were you not aware of this problem"? "I was, but you needed to be stopped. Carl, you have done awful things over time, and I can no longer standby and do nothing". "YOU TRAITOR, you are just like my son, how could you do this to me"? "Not do, but done". "You will die as well". "Yes, I will, but I die with a clear conscious, how about you"? "You built the bombs I used". "Yes, I did, but you can't lay that blame on me, a gun can kill, but it is only a gun, until someone like you picks it up and pulls the trigger". "Damn" says Carl as he rushes around picking up sentimental things, and a few big binders. Packed, he heads out the door.
Al and Theo, Carl's help, rush into the hall as another tremor rocks the complex. They are thrown against the wall some dust falls from the ceiling, and a crack appears in the ceiling. They get up and start to run down the hall for the hanger. They come around a corner and see a mammal running down the hall towards them, he skids to a stop. Al takes out his gun and fires at him. He dives to the side, and raises his rifle. As he pulls the trigger a big tremor happens and his shot is thrown wide into the ceiling. The whole ceiling comes down on him. Al and Theo go up to the downed mammal, and seeing blood, they jump over him, and continue to the hanger.
All the mammals run for the ship. Susan and I stay by the door with guns drawn looking down the hallway, as everyone else exits the complex, and heads for the ship. We can feel Will rushing towards us. When he just blinks out, a big tremor happens and the tunnel about fifty-feet in front of us collapses. We turn as well and head for the ship. We enter the ship and dog the hatch. "Daniel, where's William"? I just look at dad with a sad look in my eyes. "NO, NO", he says as he rushes for the door. "DAD STOP, SIT DOWN, AND STAY PUT". "Scott get us out of here". "But Will…". "Is no longer with us. GET US OUT OF HERE". Under the compulsion dad and Scott do as I say. The whole family looks at me, and I collapse as well. All of us kits, correction adults, are crying. I look at my parents and grandparents, "He's gone we all felt him blink out". With that we all howl and scream for William. We scare the passengers we had picked up, but they can feel our grief, and they mourn along with us. Scott through his tears, turns and heads for Zootopia.
"WILLIAM, GET UP WILLIAM". "Alright Mavis I'm awake, geez can't a guy sleep in once in awhile"? "No, you need to get moving, the complex goes up in ten-minutes. William shakes his head, and his head explodes in pain and he almost passes out again. He puts his paws to his head, and his left paw feels sticky. He pulls it back, and looks at his paw with blood on it. Slowly his recent memories come back to him. He shakily gets to his feet pushing the rubble off of himself as he does so, and picking up his gun, looks at the collapsed tunnel he was heading down. He can't get out that way, so he turns and heads back the way he came. "Mavis, I need some other way out of this complex". "Go straight four-hundred yards and turn right". I jog down the hall, and my head pounds with every paw fall. I grit my teeth, and endure the pain.
I turn right into a hanger of some sort. Some of the ceiling has collapsed. There is a blank space were a vehicle was, there is a flatbed with a white van on it, but it has been crushed by the fallen ceiling. I see the bodies of two mammals, I can see the legs of one mammal sticking out from under a piece of ceiling, and the other had his head replaced by another piece of ceiling. "Mavis, I don't see a working vehicle". "On the other side of the flat bed". I walk around the flat bed, and see what appears to be a "Graviton field" bike. I move to it, it has drive units all over it. Two on the bottom, two on either side of where the front wheel should be, two where the back wheel should be, and one front and back. I have never ridden a bike before, but I have the knowledge of how it should be ridden.
William you need to get moving you have seven minutes left". "Right", I hop on and look for the way to fire it up. "How do I start this thing"? "There should be a key by the control unit". I look, but all I see is a slot. "There's no key in the slot Mavis, is there a way to get it going without the key"? "No, there are two many anti-theft measures built into that model. Try looking around for the key, someone has to have it". I get an idea, and go back to the corpse and check for a key in his pockets, I find none. I can't check the one under the slab, so sit down hard and just put my head in my paws. I look up as a klaxon goes off. I realise I'm about to die. I'm looking back down when something under the edge of the flat bed catches my eye. I get up, and go to see what it is. I reach under and pull out a key. I move as fast as I can, and jump back on the bike. The key goes in the slot, and I cross my fingers as I turn it. The HUD display comes to life on the wind screen.
We are cruising at about five-hundred knots. When a blip appears on the radar screen. Scott hearing the radar, looks at it. "Guys we have incoming, a little help up here would be nice". Rick, Susan and I rush in. Susan takes the seat on the left behind Scott, I take the seat at navigation, and Rick takes the engineering seat. Dad comes in and takes the seat to the right of the pilot at the communication station. The blip gets closer to us. "Ah Scott I think he may have hostile intent". No sooner were the words out of my mouth than the craft is rocked by an explosion. Several if the indicator lights on the engineering board go yellow, two go red.
"Scat" yells Scott as he starts evasive maneuvers. "Scott we've lost two of the back drives, one lifter and one pusher". "Tell me something I don't know", yells Scott. Scott dives us towards the ground, trying to shake the tail. As he gets close, he does a cork screw maneuver. We see the glowing ball from a PPC as it goes by us. Scott then pulls back hard on the controls and we shoot straight up. He does another cork screw, trying to shake him. "Susan push that red button in front of you", hollers Rick. Susan pushes the button. Her display comes alive with cross hairs. "Susan you are our gunner. The PPC is dead center of the nose of our ship, try not to waste shots, it takes about ten-seconds to recharge. its very power intensive. Have everyone strap in, it could get bumpy. "Dad you have the cabin mic in front of you".
Dad picks up the microphone, and keys it. "Good afternoon everyone, thank you for flying with "Wilde Air" this is your captain speaking. We are going to be experiencing some turbulence, move your trays and seatbacks in to the upright position, and fasten your seat belts, hopefully it won't be too bumpy". Mom screams at the cabin, "Nickolas Wilde, when this is all over, you're a dead mammal". Dad smiles at us, "She didn't mean it", We all shrug, and look back at our consoles, dad swallows a nervous lump.
We are hit with a glancing shot, no new lights go red, but our craft shudders. "Scott brother, we can't take much more of this". "I know bro, but I'm doing my best". Replies Scott to Nick. "Scott don't think of this an airplane, it's not, it can move in any direction", says Rick. Scott stops our craft dead, the following craft over shoots. Scott gets right on his tail. he lines up as best as he can, Susan moves the cross hairs on her console over the craft, and pulls the trigger. She gets a glancing blow on the other craft; One of the back panels come off the other ship. it peels off and does a slow circle to get behind us again. Scott gooses it for Zootopia. "Rick give me as much power as you can". Rick gives him as much power as he can, the cannon is still recharging. We play this cat an mouse game for a while, tell the bogie gets off another lucky shot. More of our indicator lights turn red. "Rick cut the cabin coils; I need all the power you can give me just to keep us in the air". We start to slew from side to side. I look over at the radar, "Guys we have a second bogie, and it's coming up on us fast". "Scat, just what we need", says Scott. "It's all I can do to keep our craft flying".
The second bogie stays behind the first bogie, but starts to creep up on him. Carl in the first bogie smiles as he lines up his final shot. "Good bye you pain in the neck". Just as he starts to pull the trigger, his craft shudders and loses all power. Carl flips some switches and pounds on his control panel. "No, No, you piece of garbage". He can see the ground coming up fast. He pulls the emergency eject D-ring. His seat shoots out of his craft, Just before it hits the ground. He come down safe and sound on a repulson field.
Will on the bike, comes up quick on the second craft. He has seen the craft trying to shoot down his craft. He lays the gun on the side of the wind screen and lines up his shot, he aims for the area that is missing a panel. "Just stay steady, steady, steady…" he pulls the trigger and the shot goes into the back of the craft. Smoke belches from the craft and it dives for the ground, he smiles as the craft hits the forest. He doesn't see Carl eject from the craft. Will smiles to himself and continues to follow the Pegasus.
Nick gets a call on his phone, we all look at him, dad answers it. "Hel...Hello"? "Hey dad what the hell have you done to my craft"? "William"? "Yes, dad it is, put me on speaker". Dad puts him on speaker. "Hey guys, I bet your glad to see me". "William where are you"? "I'm the bogie following you, Rick what systems are still functioning"? "We have about half of the lift coils still green, but no braking coils". "So that means that you will be coming in for a landing like an aircraft". "Pretty much". Says Scott. Alright, where are you going to land"? "We are going to need a runway, a very long runway". Says Scott. "Dad can you think of any place around Zootopia like that"? "Just the airport son". "Would Jack know of anyplace"? "Don't know, I'll call him and call you right back". "Right standing by". Nick dials Jack, it rings a few times before it goes to voice mail, he hangs up and dials again, it rings a few before he gets an angry answer, it's Skye.
"This had better be good Nickolas, Jack and I are in the middle of something". "It's good Skye, put me on speaker please". Jacks voice can be heard in the back ground "Wilde if someone's not dying, don't bother me right now". "Well Jack it is life or death, mine, my family, and all the missing mammals from the case". "Alright Nick you have my attention, what do you need"? "Jack, we need a really long runway, know of any"?
"Well the ZCIA has the old Howard air force base as our training grounds, the runway is still there for practice sessions, touch and go, you know, that kind of thing". "Perfect Jack, does it still have any kind of counter measure for runaway aircraft"? "What do you mean runaway"? You know aircraft that run out of fuel, and are coming in hot". "It's still there last time I checked, but I don't know if it's still operational". "Jack can you send me the GPS coordinates for the base, and put them on high alert"? "I could, where are you"? "Jack we are in a type of aircraft and we will be coming in hot". Nick's phone beeps, he shows the coordinates to me, and I punch them into the nav computer. "How long bro"? asks Nick of Scott. "About thirty-five-minutes out bro". "Jack, we are about thirty-five minutes out". "Ah, Nick, what do you mean a type of aircraft"? "Jack you are not going to believe me, you'll have to come and see it". "Right I'll be waiting for you to land". Nick hangs up his phone and dials William. "Son we have a place to land, follow us". "Alright dad, lead the way".
"Rick, you can put the cabin coils back on, we need to protect everyone when we land". "Roger pilot". The Pegasus slows down some. Dad gets up and walks back to the cabin. He hugs Judy. "Don't think that gets you out of trouble mister". "No, but this might". Nick dials William, "Son I'm putting you on speaker phone, say hi to everyone". "Hi everyone, miss me"? Judy grabs Nicks phone, "How dare you scare your mother like that you little hooligan". "Love you too mom". "Where are you son"? "I'm following you right now, I'm riding a kind of bike, so yes, I guess I'm being a bit of a hooligan, see you when you land, tell dad if he can't play nice with my toys, I'm not going to lend them to him anymore". Everyone laughs, dad just blushes.
We all can see the lights of Zootopia as we start to come in. Elisabeth gets up and comes into the cockpit. "Daniel, Susan, I was told that if you ever needed power, all you have to do is ask for it". With that she hands us Bonnie's Crystal. "Bonnie has told me that she is a power conduit, and without her power I would not have been able to get into the complex. So, if you need power just call on her". Wow, what a secret to keep from her parents, but when we thought about it. It was wise, the chances of someone misusing her power was to high.
"Ok, Scott, how are we going to do this"? "Not sure bro, but it's going to be quite the ride". "Get everyone to strap in bro, time to land. "Good evening ladies and gents, this is your captain again, thank you for flying Wilde air, it has been a pleasure to serve you. Please return your seatbacks and trays to the up-right position, and assume crash positions, again thank you for flying Wilde air". Judy turns to Elisabeth, "He's so dead. I swear". "Mom you know it's his way of coping with tense situations, and yours is to get mad about it, even though you have no control over it". "How did you get so smart"? It's in my genes remember"? Judy just shakes her head.
Scott lines us up with the runway and slowly lowers the craft tell he's just skimming the ground. The lights are on the runway and a spotlight picks us out as we come into view. We are still doing two-hundred knots, we are defiantly hot. The counter measures are up, cables on long arm are raised up and a cargo net has been strung between them. we hit the first one, and our speed breaks everything, we go through the first one like a knife through butter. We do shed about forty-knots. But by our calculations we will still be doing eighty- knots when we go through the last one. We hit the second one, and tear it apart like the last one. We are slowed to about ninety-knots. Last chance we hit the last one and plow through it, we are still doing twenty knots. Susan and I link, and holding the crystal between us, ask for power. Boy did we get power. Susan and I did the same thing as I had done for the bullet in the range. This was on a much larger bullet, us. But we did bring us all to a stop. We release Bonnie's power, but kept enough for ourselves so we didn't collapse.
William rides the bike to the door, and sets it down. In less than ten seconds we are surrounded by personal with their guns drawn. All of us as we exit, put our paws in the air. Jack drives up, and jumps out and comes over. "Well Nick, you were right, I see it, but I still don't believe it" he signals the agents to lower their weapons. Two small buses roll to pick up everyone else. "So, what is this craft"? Why Jack this is the Pegasus-one". "I can see the name, what I mean is it a space craft, an aircraft, a submarine, what is it"? "Jack you are going to find this hard to believe", Says William, "this craft is all three". "Alright I'll take that at face value, but where did it come from"? "Why jack, Rick and I built it". "God, I can tell this is going to be a long night of debriefing". Jack puts his paw to his forehead as he says this. Rick and William take their rifles to the front of the ship. "What are you two doing"? "Sorry jack, have to make a phone call". William makes the call, and they lay their rifles on the ground.
"Mavis slag the rifles and the cannon, authorization Rick O O'Hare" "Mavis same authorization William I Wilde". "Done" The rifles and canon started to glow then melt down in about forty-seconds. Some personal rush over with guns drawn. "Why, did the two of you do that"? Jack asks as he walks over. "Jack, we did that because Rick and I will not be responsible for countless deaths, no one is ready for those rifles or cannon". "What made them so special"? "Jack, do you remember a computer game called "Mech Warrior"? "Yes, I do, but what does….". Jack do you remember what the most devastating weapon was for the mechs"? "Well my favorite was the PPC". "Right Jack, that's what we just slagged". "But how"? "Jack your tech boys can probable figure it out given time, but we will not give you that kind of weaponry now". It's bad enough we are giving your tech boys the "repulson bike". But it wasn't ours to begin with. The Pegasus is our and we will want it back". Also have your tech boys leave the Pegasus alone, the drive system and power plant is patented by us, and we don't give you permission to touch it". Jack just shakes his head.
We are all taken into the building, and the debriefing begins. The rest of the night is gone by the time they are done with us. The sun comes up, and it is a glorious sunrise over Zootopia. We are all exhausted by the time we get home. We are greeted by everyone, that stayed behind. Grandpa sweeps grandma off her paws and takes her to their bedroom. The rest of us get high fives and hugs from everyone else. Bonnie and Elisabeth get together. Elisabeth fixes Williams Head and he blinks back into all of our heads, like he was never gone. She then comes to Susan and I and in a few minutes erase all the scars we have including the scar from the knife attack from Darwin. Bonnie looks at us very sheepishly as we hand her back her crystal. "Thank you, daughter, this came in very handy". "Your welcome mom, I'm just glad I could help". "Guard it well, Bonnie, and thanks". "I will dad, and your welcome". She heads for her bedroom. "Don't you want to sleep with your parent's tonight, love"? "No dad, I think you and mom need some alone time, night". With that she closes her bedroom door. "She's growing up love". "She sure is", I say as I kiss Susan.
Come Monday morning we walk into the precinct in uniform, to say Clawhauser was shocked would be an understatement, it was the first time we had ever seen him at a loss for words and squeals. The bullpen wasn't much better, it went quiet with shock, we slowly walked up to our chair. No one wants to be the first to voice the question on everyone's mind. For the first time in history chief Bogo walks in to a silent bullpen. He walks to the podium and turns and smiles at everyone, this is actually scarier than if he was shouting.
"Well I see your back, here, I believe these are yours". With that he hands our badges back. "thanks Chief". We pin our badges on as we sit down. "Just to avoid the rumor mill, these two went undercover to see about some missing mammals. They found them and rescued them all, even some that were not related to the case they were working on". "Now I know you all have questions, but I will let Clawhauser read the report, and he can fill you all in later. WILDE'S, I want that report on my desk by the end of the day". Yes Sir". Susan and I say in unison. "As for the rest of you It's a quiet Monday Regular patrols and cases, Dismissed".
We get the report done about one, Chief Bogo reads it just before jack shows up. Jack, after he reads it, he redacts most of the report. "Too much classified material" he says. He makes us rewrite it. He stays tell we are done. He reads the new report and approves it. He takes the old one and places it in his briefcase. As he gets set to leave, he hands us our new security clearance cards, we now have level-two security clearance. "The higher ups figured that you needed it to look into some of the cases we are working on". "Thanks Jack, do you know what they would like us to look into"? "Not sure, but I will let you know in a day or two, see you later". "Bye Jack".
Willian and Rick get the Pegasus repaired in about a week, the tech boys watch them like hawks and ask many questions. Will and Rick are more than willing to answer them. About a week after, Scott fly's the ship back to the hanger. Will installs the latest weapon on the Pegasus, two small rail guns. It has fifty rounds in both the magazines, it's not as devastating as a PPC, but has more range, and can fire after only three-seconds. It is done with technology we have now, the cold fusion power plant is what makes it possible.
Almost all the couples we rescued went back to their regular lives, and the ones that couldn't were offered jobs at the plant. One of the couples took over the job we had been doing, and they just loved it. They were so bubbly, that they were loved by all the tenants of the apartment complex. Our plant grew, it's a good thing Terry bought the whole complex, we would need most of it later. There was one small part of the complex we didn't change, it was a little stone bridge, over a dried-up stream bed. Dad told us all, he had lived under that bride in his hustling days. It became a sort of shrine to our family, this was were our family began, this was were dad forgave mom. We didn't tell them of this, we kept it from them. We would tell them some time, just not now.
From the Star News
By Chris Beaverton
In a joint operation between the ZPD and The forty-three mammals were rescued on Saturday night from captivity. One sick lion abducted twenty mixed species couples. He forced them to "preform" sexually for him, and him alone. Three other missing mammals were also found there. We find this highly unusual. He kept them in some sort of underground complex in the mountains. In a related note or not so related, mount Raynor blew it's top on Saturday night. The eruption was not very big and didn't last long, but it was felt all the way to Zootopia. No one knew that it was a dormant volcano. In fact, most volcanologist would say it was impossible for mount Raynor to be a volcano. That mountain range is one of the most stable on the planet. Was this the secret base? And was it blown up to cover up the complex? We may never know, I'm sure the conspiracist theorist are going to have a field day with this for many years. More on page 28.