Chapter 05
MegaKat Museum of Natural History: 9:34 AM, Tuesday, September 10
It was always the same routine for them, but nevertheless it was a sight worth seeing as the rays of sunlight pours over MegaKat City that continue to warm up everything from the biting chill of autumn weather. Facing the east, two security guards yawned sleepily as they stood next to the opposite sides of the large main gate. They have been keeping their eyes over the people slowly gathering in numbers and some of them sitting below the large steps leading to the entrance since six o'clock in the morning as they wait for its doors to open. Only less than thirty minutes left before the museum is open to the public, their supervisor advised them to report once the VIP arrives to check on a new discovery. Motionless, as if they were dozing under their caps with the visor shading their eyes from the sun, they snapped to attention the moment their eyes followed four Enforcers on motorcycles surrounding a stretch limousine, two in the front and back. The convoy turns to a stop in front of the steps along the curb. The security guard watching on the right side of the gate approaches the vehicle while the other one reaches for his radio and called for the rest of his colleagues to prepare. The stretch limousine's door opens as a pair of a she-kat's silken legs emerges from within.
"Mayor Briggs has arrived, ma'am." The security guard standing at the gates called over the radio. Other security guards scrambled towards the steps to create a path for her. People within the area started milling in just to be blocked by the security personnel of the MegaKat Museum of History.
Without waiting for a response, the guard initiated his task as he pressed the numbers of a small numerical keypad that controls the service gate lock. After pressing the tenth number on the keypad, the door swings open from inside with a beep and the security guard hold it half-shut with his paw. People gathering along the steps slowly increased in numbers as they witness the sight of the mayor striding up the stairs towards the museum. The museum security force worked hard on trying to keep the spectators at bay as the mob continued to shove violently from behind that the security guards all held their paws together to create a link. Callie waves at them, causing her admirers to cheer as she brisk walked on the steps and through the service gate.
Inside, the noise from the outside instantly dissolves the moment the cavernous walls of the museum filled her eyes. Though the lights were already operational, Callie still could not get over the feeling of isolation as she stares at the exhibits, among them is a life size copy of a saber-toothed kat and the remains of a megasaurus-rex with its bleached bones casting a huge shadow under the lights of the chandeliers. The clatter of footsteps echoed all around them that almost made the exhibits look alive as Callie shudders. A she-kat's voice calls from behind as Callie nears the elevators. Callie turns around to find a smiling she-kat in her immaculate lab coat.
"Mayor Briggs." She greeted and stretches her paw to shake Callie's.
A warm smile also fell upon Callie's lips as she shook the she-kat's right paw. "Dr. Abby Sinian."
It was a kind of reunion that could only be felt by two she-kats who have shared the experience. Abby Sinian has been an invaluable ally to both Callie and the SWAT Kats during the time when they had to face off the Past Master. Abby's encyclopedic knowledge of history and natural science has been proven repeatedly a valuable help in ways how they were able to defeat the time warlock and others that involved in something beyond the natural understanding.
In silence, Abby accompanied the mayor to the elevators as the museum guards resumed their normal patrol route. The elevators took them to the fifth floor, where mostly precious rare minerals, metals, and stones are stored and examined before they are shown to the public. With a chime, the elevator doors parted open and the two she-kats boarded off the elevator.
"It's great to be seeing you again, Mayor Briggs." Abby began to break the silence as she noticed the kind of chill that runs up and down Callie's spine.
"Please, Dr. Sinian. I'd rather be called Callie while I'm here in the museum." Callie smiled as she looks at Abby with less-than-tired eyes.
They walked three doors to the right until they stopped at the fourth, which a small sign of plated bronze attached at the left side read LABORATORY in large black lettering. Abby opened the door as she motioned Callie to enter first. Inside, various microscopes, beakers of watery liquid in almost every color bubble over the flame of the Bunsen burner. A large oven-like silver box sat on the side near another table littered with various tools, chisels and hammers and a large stone sat among it, wondering if they were still working on that specimen. The lab buzzed with the activity of three more kats in lab coats peering through microscopes, mixing flasks with chemicals and one she-kat typing on the computer.
"It seems kind of busy today." Callie said; her voice had a touch of awkwardness as she observes the rather silent activity.
"Yes. Actually there's one other absent today. Caught the flu, poor guy." Abby frowned a bit, trying not to sound skeptical. "Anyway, about the upcoming 'project', she's the one to talk to." Sinian directs as she points at the she-kat sitting in front of the computer that Callie noticed earlier.
The two approached her workstation as the she-kat stood up from her chair as if on cue. Callie was forced to lift her head up, almost gawking at the she-kat that the top of Callie's blonde hairdo was a little above her shoulders. Though she wore no makeup, the tabby's skin glowed with a pinkish red above her cheeks and under her eyeglasses. A cluster of long brown hair with thin streaks of light brown tied to a ponytail complemented much of her slim, light-furred figure along with her conservative white blouse and dark blue skirt. The she-kat in front of Callie begins to cross her eyebrows slightly, wondering what Callie will get from looking at her.
"Mayor Briggs, this is Alice Katzenkauf. She's the new supervisor of the lab." Abby introduced. Callie raised her hand to shake hers.
"Katzenkauf. I felt that I've heard that name somewhere." Callie said as her eyes strained and taps her index finger reflexively on the left side under her chin.
"I believe that it was from my father Professor Volka Katzenkauf. He was the one who discovered the Kat's Eye over thirty years ago." Alice answered; her voice was thick with a middle-eastern accent.
"Yes." Callie snapped her fingers. "And I'm sure that your father would be proud to see you following in his footsteps."
"I do believe so." Alice smiled. Even her pearly whites shone.
Alice motioned Abby and Callie to the door next to the computer and into her office. Despite of Alice's looks that almost captivated Callie, her office did not say much about her sense of living, as it stands as plain as a used blackboard. Almost every inch of her office was buried under various stacks of papers, a large glass display showing off a collection of fossilized bones of a prehistoric kat, and paper cups of coffee that covered her desk that was also buried under sheets of paper. The only thing on her desk that stood out was a small gray box with a rotary combination lock. Alice began to twist the knob of the combination mechanism as clicking sounds came out softly from it. After a few moments of twisting and turning, the locks were released with a click and Alice pried the lid open. Callie was now looking at a ball of glass about the size of a larger-than-standard softball.
Alice began her intro as she cleared her throat: "For centuries, kat-kind has been appalled by the words of fortunetellers and their predictions. At times they happen to have a crystal ball that glows on their tables that signifies that they are looking at the future. But this is more than just superstition; it's a product of millions of years of evolution." Then Alice held the crystal ball at Callie. "This, mayor, is the Kat's Eye."
Callie couldn't take her gaze away, yet her eyes continue to strain with doubt.
"I've heard about the Kat's Eye back then but I never could have guessed that it'll be nothing more than a crystal ball. No offense, I hope."
"None taken, Mayor Briggs." Alice chuckled. "I was a skeptic as well until my father showed me its true purpose. This is only the smaller version of the Kat's Eye, though. If you would follow me to the window…"
Alice pulls the string to lift the Venetian blinds up, and much of the city can be viewed from where they are. Then Alice took out a rod almost similar to a microphone stand with a small bowl fixed with clamps on top sitting at the corner of the room behind her desk. She reaches down at the middle of the long pole and twists the small knob clockwise as her other paw grabs the upper part and pulls it upwards in accordance to Callie's height. Then she places the crystal ball on top and locks it in place.
"Now you can peer through them. As you do, try to move your eyes anywhere around within the crystal and you will know what I mean." Alice instructed as she took a step back.
Callie did, as she closed her left eye and peered through the crystal with her right. Callie's vision turns hazy at first, and in a moment she can see other people walking about their daily business so much like looking into a vision of the future. Callie lets out a small gasp, realizing that she was looking at Boardwalk Avenue, which was more than fifty blocks from where the museum is.
"Amazing." Callie breathes in awe, unable to tear her eyes away from the view. "This thing almost acts like a magnifying glass and an incredibly powerful one. And you can really see what's happening."
After a few minutes of looking at the same area, Callie also spots a fire red muscle car pulling over at the corner grocer. She recognizes the shape of the car as its owner emerges out from the driver's seat, walks around the car from behind and inserts a few coins in the parking meter. Only she could recognize the dark patches of grease smeared almost all over his grayish blue coveralls and the shoulder length hair tied on his back. Jake must be out of milk are the words that revolves inside Callie's head as she smiles, remembering her visit to the scrap yard late last night. After a couple of minutes, Callie moves away from the crystal ball and hands it over to the tall researcher.
"No wonder why some kats believe in this fortune telling stuff." Callie said as she crossed her arms and rubbed her shoulders with the opposing paws. "But how is this possible?"
Callie and Alice returned to the desk as Alice places the crystal all back to its box.
"In a sense, just as our DNA is represented by a double helix, the composition of the Kat's Eye is composed mainly of covalent bonds between two existing pieces of transparent metal. Just like when ice melts when their temperature increases, also releasing hydrogen and oxygen, the crystal continues to evolve in reverse by absorbing other minerals in the air and ground. The actual structure would put two molecules, one concave and one convex, that when it bonds, it forms into one whole molecular sphere where each of them acts as the magnifying glass in a telescope. Put them all together and you get the Kat's Eye. The one inside the box took almost twenty thousand years to develop into its present size.
"The actual Kat's Eye has been kept in the military warehouse in Cairo, Egypt and about fifteen meters in diameter. It will be ready for the third launch that will install the Kat's Eye in the new surveillance satellite. Finally, millions of years of evolution will be of good use for kat-kind."
Callie especially Abby's faces were appalled by the doctor's simple but detailed explanation of the Kat's Eye's composition. After spending five minutes in silence, contemplating on Alice's words, Callie broke the silence with her smile.
"Excellent work, Dr. Katzenkauf." Callie beamed as she shook Alice's right paw vigorously. "I believe that the upcoming launch will prove successful. I will send word for its shipment a week before the final launch."
MegaKat Salvage Yard: 05:17 PM
The metal grind of heavy chains lifts an electromagnet upward, attracting with it almost five tons of scrap metal. It could have made a strain in the ears of almost any kat, though in Jake Clawson's case he was used to the sound of machinery, knowing he has endured sounds much louder than the crane. The engine roared tirelessly, shaking the inner workings of the controls that cause the entire crane to vibrate slightly along with Jake's whole body. With his right paw on the control stick, Jake maneuvers the magnet towards the right and over the opening of a large compactor. He pressed the button on the right thumb side of the control stick, causing the power coursing through the magnet to cease, releasing the pile of metal into the compactor. After that, Jake returns the magnet back to the pile to take the leftover scrap to be filled again. It was almost a constant routine for Jake that he could do it with his eyes closed. Jake pulls the lever on his left paw; the magnet drops onto the pile and pressed the button on the control lever. Immediately the magnetic charge attracts the steel I-beams and repeats the process until the compactor is filled. Jake waits for the magnet to attract enough metal for a minute then pulls the lever again to lift the pile when the chains shook the whole crane violently and the engine begins to shrill. Cutting off the power before anything else goes wrong, Jake jumps out of the cockpit and approaches the junk that was sent from Puma-Dyne.
"What the hell?" Jake breathes out as he inspects the pile. "What do they have in here? Do they have a two-hundred-ton cyborg elephant stashed under it?"
Jake was about to return to the garage to get a flashlight when the sun's rays busts its orange light under the debris and casting a long shadow right on front of him. Thinking it will be a perfect chance even for a few minutes, he bends over to see what sort of object that was weighing down the electromagnet. It took a few minutes for the sun's rays to position itself through the crisscrossing of long pieces of metal blocking his view until Jake finds a nearly dulled metal plate. Jake couldn't help but wonder what it could be as he returns to the crane's control cockpit and presses the ignition switch. The engines rumble to life as he reaches for the small knob located under the many indicators that covers the entire panel and turns it counter-clockwise. Once he thinks it's enough, he grips the control stick and maneuvers the magnet again. The electric current running through the magnet was lowered enough to attract some of the metal pieces off. Jake guides the magnet to a clearing and releases the load, causing a heavy clatter of metal to ring in his ears. Then he peers through the window to see what sort of surprise that was buried. His eyes widened in bewilderment and began to breathe heavily as he jumps out of the cockpit. Running towards the pile and climbing over it, Jake thought his eyes were playing tricks on him as he knelt down on one knee over the large object and drags his left paw to wipe off the smooth surface covered in soot. Gritting his teeth, he runs back to the garage.
"I can't believe it. It's impossible." Jake breathes. The tingling around the back of his neck continued to send shivers up and down from his neck down to the tip of his tail as he arrives at the back of the repair area. The Jake opens a rusted old locker that was larger than the conventional ones behind the drums of used oil. As Jake enters the locker, his right paw instinctively reaches for the switch hanging above his head and flicks it with his index finger. Instantly, the inside of the dark locker was filled with a bright red light and the bottom part of the locker begins to descend, slowly at first until the drop increased in speed with the feeling that he was falling from the sky. It only took a few seconds to reach into an underground lair, where Jake has sworn that he will never enter again for the rest of his nine lives. Eyes constricted in deep thought, Jake jumps off before the platform lands into a slow stop only a few feet from the ground and dashes towards the drawers where he has spent months designing weapons and upgrades as the lights inside automatically blinks to life. Digging his way through the rolls of tracing paper, Jake reads each label and when he finds the wrong one he throws it to the ground. Thirty minutes later, the area around Jake were littered with papers and even some tools until he finds the one he was looking for hidden deep under one of the many large boxes beside the drafting board. He removes the rubber band holding the tracing paper in place and spreads it over the drafting board. The single light that keeps blinking adds to the distress that was crushing him; pondering on the question of why does Puma-Dyne have such a turbine engine. He knows a design that he had spent time in designing, knowing that it was supposed to be a modification upgrade for the Turbo Kat for space travel.
