One Week Later… Mid September, 1860
The sun had decided to shine once more outside the rocky mountainous passes of Little Rock. The rain had stopped a few days gone, and the sky was still a bit cloudy. However, the warmth of the land had decreased a bit, and often a chilly wind would blow. The miners of Little Rock greeted these somewhat cold winds with welcome, as the coal pits they dug through were warm enough already.
Little Rock was a small town on the borders of Sylvaland, nestled between the ebbing sea and the high, mineral reach peaks that stretched around her borders. The people of this town were of three breeds. They were either miners, house wives, or in training for one or the other. Though the town itself was somewhat small (consisting of several unpaved roads and homely businesses), the industrial influence was not. Train yards for as long and wide as the eye could see lay where they could, filling with train cars that were themselves being filled with coal or another kind of valuable mineral. There was at least always one train sitting upon the rails, being served upon. The people were busy, happy, and healthy.
It was upon one of these rails that Werner found himself walking along, his leather boots stepping upon the gravel stones that were to be found between the wooden planking and the rail itself. He could see the boxcars roll beside him and the workers in their blue denim overalls and scarves doing maintenance. Werner was waiting for something, eagerly anticipating an unseen move from an unseen force. He had been staying in this town, Little Rock, for about one week, much longer than he had anticipated, in the Rolling Stone inn. Werner's thoughts were unexpectedly interrupted as a high-pitched whistle pierced the air. Those brown eyes under the rim of the broad rimmed hat gazed up to see a slowly oncoming train. Werner stepped to the side as the train slowly pulled into the yard. It was a postal train, the one that he was so eagerly awaiting for. So much, in fact, that Werner then began to trot along side the train, coming to match the engine car.
"Have you any mail in these cars?" Werner shouted.
The trainman looked down from the high window of the engine car to the man walking alongside. "Of coarse we do, son! This here IS a postal train!"
Werner laughed at his own idiocy and shouted once more. "Have you any letters from the Federal Government!?"
"All sorts. Bills, evictions, notices, summons, you take your pick." The old conductor smiled through a white mustache.
Werner was seeing this was going no where. It was a postal car carrying hundreds, if not thousands, of letters. His was just one, and he'd most likely have to wait at the post office to gain it. "How long will it take for the post to sort all of this through?"
The trainman pulled on his mustache in thought. "Well boy, if you want to get to this letter of yours so bad, why don't you climb aboard and pick it out yourself?"
"Isn't that illegal?" Werner asked, interested in the proposition.
"Only if you open someone else's mail. Now are you gonna walk along the rail all day or hop on?"
Werner did just that, grabbing hold of the car and hoisting himself aboard the slow moving vehicle…
"It arrived!" Werner shouted as he came through the double swinging doors of the Rolling Stone Inn. The inn was particularly empty at this moment, save a man wiping some shot glasses at the desk and Duran, who was sitting by a small table reading the Daily Gazette.
"What's here?" Duran asked, not bothering to tear his eyes away from the Horse Races written in the paper.
Duran found the article ripped away from him when Werner folded the newspaper over so that he could see the spectacle clad old man. "The letter from Leyline."
Duran sighed and took the paper away from Werner, folding it over as Werner took a seat. "Leyline is it? I was thinking it would have been from Jolly Roger…"
"The letter may have gone through the Leyline offices last before coming to us. We are, after all, Leyline employees." Werner added.
"Yes, yes. Well, what did it say? Are we leaving yet?" Duran asked with a bit more enthusiasm than he had originally greeted his partner with.
"I don't know. I haven't opened it yet." Werner produced the manila colored envelope from a pocket and looked at it.
"Good Abram man! Why not?" Duran asked.
I was thinking about what you said earlier. That we both are members of the recruiting committee…" Werner smiled.
"So we both have to be present whenever an envelope needs to be opened?" Duran raised a white eyebrow.
"Exactly." Werner grinned. "Say… where's Koge gone to?"
"I haven't the foggiest Werner. It is but only eleven in the morning. For all I know, she could still be asleep." Duran shrugged.
"Remind me to never leave Virginia with you, Duran…" Werner sighed.
"Well, are we going to just continue jabbering the day away or are you going to open the letter?" Duran suddenly changed the subject.
"Fine, fine." Werner tore open the side of the envelope and lifted it so that the papers inside gently fell out and onto the table. Werner then placed the envelope down and picked up the paper and began to scan.
Duran looked to the younger man, his eyes awaiting the result. "Well? What does it say?"
Werner sighed. "It says that the Government won't pull Malik out of the institution without approval of the institution itself."
"Thus is government ruled by the governed… For one, I don't think Dr. Benedict senior is going to allow his son out…" Duran sputtered.
"And why not?" Werner asked, though he felt the same way inside.
"Last week, when we first went to that Abram-awful place, we hurt his pride by not taking that little tour." Duran replied.
"How? It was just a little tour…" Werner grumbled.
"I feel up for a little lunch, what say you Werner?" Duran asked, his mind obviously somewhere else. "We can speak of this then."
Lunch was served on a paper plate with a paper cup, outside upon a wooden bench. The two ha decided to dine at "Andy's Barbecue and Chicken", a little shack that served up exactly what it advertised. Picnic tables consisted of the dining area, and absolutely no one besides dirty miners could be seen, save two government officials by the names of Duran and Werner.
Duran was getting funny looks from the surrounding miners as he sawed away at his chicken leg with a rusty knife. "Well, how is that…"
"Barbecue." Werner responded as he finished chewing a piece of the messy barbecue sandwich. It was not difficult to tell who had picked the dining spot. "And it's good."
"Huh. You could never tell that was once an ork." Duran stated right before slipping a piece of chicken into his mouth.
"I think that's the point." Werner said. "Only with seafood should you be able to tell what you're eating. But any ways, this presents a problem."
"The barbecue?" Duran asked.
"No, Malik's predicament. According to the law, you cannot be dismissed until the Institution says you are safe to enter society once more."
"And the Government doesn't really care enough for this individual to demand he be freed."
Werner turned behind him to see two miners start playing a guitar and the other a whistle, starting a small tune that the other miners knew only as the self titled "TOWN04". The scientist continued to chew on his sandwich until it was done. "If Mattias doesn't want his son out, then there's nothing we can do."
"You could try taking it to court, Werner." Duran replied. "Though chances are that we wouldn't win."
"Breaking him out wouldn't get us far either…" Werner put a hand to his chin.
Duran nearly spat out the water he was drinking upon hearing Werner's remark. "We certainly aren't doing that. I'm not sure what this is about. Mattias could be simply having his revenge for our not taking the tour, or he really does want to keep Malik in the nut house."
"I still don't understand why that would matter. We didn't wish to take the tour. It was late of night and we had pressing matters."
"Werner, by not taking his tour, we clearly stated we didn't wish to see the place. That in turn says we're not interested in it at all, which comes down to the fact that we weren't going to be getting any federal assistance for it." Duran explained. "It's all about money."
"It couldn't be just about the money. Malik is his own son. There has to be something else." Werner rationalized.
"Well." Duran said while sticking a piece of the chicken leg upon his fork. "Where'd you originally address the letter to?"
Werner thought for a moment, wondering how this had any relevance. "Leyline Bureau of Affairs, why?"
"That would explain why it had came from Leyline. You do realize that the Leyline Bureau of Affairs and the Federal Bureau are not connected in any way, do you not?" Duran explained while eating a piece of chicken.
Werner seemed a bit puzzled. "I was thinking that they were one and the same…"
Duran swallowed the finely carved bit of poultry before speaking his turn. "Not at all. Leyline is a private organization. The government only allows federal aid, so it would make sense that Leyline wouldn't be able to aid you in releasing Malik."
Werner sighed, taking a sip of the water set before him. "Shit… this means I'll have to send away another letter and we'll wait yet another week."
Duran chuckled a bit, giving Werner a mischievous look. "I wouldn't say that."
Werner raised an eyebrow, curious as to what his old friend may have come up with. "You wither have a plan or you're going senile, Duran. Both I'll believe."
"I have my uses Werner." Duran smiled. "The day after we finished our first conversation with Malik, while you were busy preparing all of the legal work dealing with his eligibility in the Council, I sent a letter to Senator Kaze, Congressman Hill, and Berlitz Lee. You hadn't sent yours in until a few days later."
"Kaze, Hill, and Berlitz… I'm impressed Duran. You seem to know a lot of people." Werner grinned.
"Not so much Kaze and Hill, but when you've been in the field as long as I've been, you meet a few people. Berlitz knows the Senate all too much, being a politician and representative for the Federal R&D department himself." Duran admitted.
"Thank Abram for that." Werner laughed. "I don't know what in Abram's name I'd be doing if you weren't with me sometimes, Duran."
"This I know all too well." Duran smirked. "Perhaps it would be best if we went and checked the post to see if any letters arrived at all."
"Perhaps is a vast understatement." Werner stated.
Koge was walking along the rusty rail, a bit out of town, following it for no apparent reason. She was lost in her thoughts, and found it undeniably hard to get out of them. It was well over a month ago that she had discovered Werner was a married man with a daughter far far away. It was probably just as well, seeing how he was clearly ten years older than herself. He was a scientist and she was an assistant. He was a member of the Council of Seven and she was clearly not. So many differences and nothing alike. It was probably meant to be like this.
Her thoughts raged on in her head, telling her to let the man go and continue on her own lonely path when a small rock hit the bottom of her shoe. She looked from the shoe to the rock and noticed it to be no different from any other gray, gravel rock that always lined railways. Yet another rock flew at her, this time hitting her forehead straight on. She fell down, instantly covering the spot with both of her hands and gritting her teeth, squinting her eyes. It hurt badly, no explanation needed about this.
"Hey! Are you O.K?!" Came a young voice.
Koge managed to open one brown eye to see a young reddish blonde girl wearing a simple burgundy sleeveless dress over a yellow button up shirt. Her head had a red headband wrapped around it, sitting just above her brown, wide eyes. She looked a bit younger than Koge, about fifteen or so, and generally concerned about that rock that flew into Koge's face. "I'm O.K." Koge gave a false smile.
"Oh, that's good!" The girl gave a sigh. "For a moment there I thought I accidentally killed you."
"I'm lucky I guess." Koge continued smiling, standing up and taking her hands off the small bump.
"That must have hurt. I didn't mean to hit you! I was just throwin rocks." The girl said.
"It's O.K. You don't need to worry." Koge stated. "I'm Koge. What's your name?"
"I'm Catherine Lee, but my friends call me Cathy! That is, if I had any friends, that's what they would call me." Catherine smiled.
"No friends? Is it because your throwing rocks at them?" Koge laughed.
"Nah." Cathy laughed. "It's cus I'm always moving. My Dad's a politician, and he's always doing field work, so we're constantly moving, you know?"
"Huh, hey, I'm with the government!" Koge beamed.
"What? How can you be in the government? You don't look any older than I am." Cathy gave her a strange look.
"I'm an assistant from Leyline. Right now I'm working with Dr. Maxwell and Dr. Feld of the Council of Seven!" Koge smiled.
"The council of seven! My Dad works with them! He's at Leyline right now! He's the ambassador to the Leyline Committee or something." Cathy replied. "You never know, right? Still, it's awfully important. It's the buzz on the politicians minds for a while. Or at least, that's what my Dad says. The other politicians on Capital's Bluff in Jolly Roger don't really talk about it that much in my opinion." The two began to walk along the rails.
"You've been to Capital's Bluff? That's where the Capital is! The President and all the congressmen live there and act and everything!" Koge was rather interested. She had never really been far from Leyline. Or at least, as far as she could remember, anyway.
"Man, you're really interested in politics, aren't you? My Dad would like you. Politics aren't that big of a deal, I mean." Cathy smiled. "You want to be a politician or something?"
"Me?" Koge was a bit taken a back. She had never thought about being a politician. She was around a lot of politics herself, but she never looked beyond her apprenticeship with Dr. Enduro. "I never really thought about it before…"
"You sound like you'd like it. Politics is for big spenders and people who can argue. At least, that's what my Dad says. "What do you do with the government? I know you said you assist the Council, but what exactly?"
"Well I, um, I did assist Dr. Enduro and Dr. Inkapalia in their laboratories at Leyline Observatory for a few years, you know, genetic engineering, anthropology, paleontology, anatomy, things like that. Actually I helped record files, push crates, and clean up messes and stuff like that. Still, I guess I learned a few things about science there. Now I'm helping in pretty much the same way with Dr. Maxwell and Dr. Feld, though it's more like diction taking, records keeping, and stuff. Werner won't really let me do too much, he tries to help as much as he can. I don't think he's ever had an assistant before…" Koge smiled, thinking about how Werner had stopped her several times so he could finish for her.
"I wish I could do all that! Anthropology, paleontology… that sounds neat. I want to be a scientist some day! My Dad always tells me that if I ever go into the scientific field that I should stay there and not move on into politics. I think that's what he did. Right now he's at Welles Island doing some oversight." Cathy replied.
"Who is your dad Cathy, you seem to talk a lot about him." Koge wondered.
"Oh, he's Professor Lee, the representative of the Federal Research and Development Program. He's famous, I think. Right now I'm staying here in Little Rock with my Aunt." Cathy exclaimed happily. "I stay here when Dad goes abroad."
The two were interrupted by the tiny barks of a small dog. It appeared to be a labrador with dirty yellow coat. Koge stepped back as Cathy trotted ahead and began to pet the dog's head, she in turn received several licks in the face.
"Is that your dog?" Koge asked, stepping closer.
"This is Kaitlyn, my Aunt's pup! I gave her the name when I moved in, because Auntie just called her Pup-pup. Kaitlyn is the prettiest name in the world, don't you think?" Cathy said as she petted the dog near the tracks.
Koge sat near the dog and shyly petted it at first. Cathy noticed this and took Koge's hand and applies force, allowing Koge to pet with a bit more strength. "She's a nice dog. At Leyline, we just have test animals and beasts of burden."
"Wow, what kind of test animals? Do you have those Greater Beasts' I've read about? The ones with all kinds of tentacles coming out of their heads and they walk around on their back legs? Those are the neat ones!" Cathy asked, excited.
"Heh. I don't know. All I've seen since I started there is Cannon Buffalo with a few Rat Monkeys. Still, we don't have anything is cute as Kaitlyn here!" Koge petted a bit more, a great smile on her face.
"Wow… That's pretty cool. I've never seen a great big animal before. Kinda have the sheltered life, if you know what I mean…" Cathy sighed. "My Aunt has bodyguards for her. We've never had to use them, but their Dad's protection for us when he can't be around."
"…" Koge thought. They were kind of like opposites. Koge had always been on her own with the great and dangerous beasts, where as Cathy here lived the life of one in almost exile, seeing nothing of the world, but having a great family for her at home. "Hey Cathy." Koge began. "You want to meet Werner and Dr. Feld? They probably have a great story involving big animals to tell!"
"Politicians with animal stories?" Cathy raised an eyebrow.
"Werner's not exactly the politician. You'll see!" Koge grinned.
"This is not what politicians do, Werner!" Duran shouted as he tried his best to keep up with Werner. The two were running along the railroad tracks in the train yard, trying desperately to catch up with the escaping Postal train.
"You should have picked up the letter this morning, Duran! If you did, we wouldn't have to be doing this!" Werner shouted as he ran, trying to catch the caboose.
"Well you went to the post! I thought you were going to do it!" Duran wheezed.
"You didn't tell me you were expecting mail, remember!?" Werner shouted back as he gunned it on his own two legs, holding on to his broad capped hat with one hand.
The train's whistle pierced the sky with its shrillness. Duran winced as the sound offended his ears. "It must have slipped my mind!" Duran began to slow down, his energy spent. "Go on without me! Get that letter!"
Duran nodded to himself, quickening his pace and allowing his trench coat to catch the wind. The last car was ahead of him, and if he didn't get there soon, the train would catch speed and he'd lose that letter for at least another week. Several rail workers were looking at him rather strangely, and the same went for the miners and trainmen. Still Werner would not give in, and his persistence would pay off. Werner reached out with his right hand and caught the rail guard of the caboose end. Latching on with his other hand, he managed to hoist himself up onto the vehicle. He could see Duran getting smaller and smaller in the distance, and he had absolutely no idea where this train was going. Still, Werner opened the caboose door and allowed himself inside, much to the protests of some of trainmen and postal workers aboard.
"Now, I know this must seem odd." Werner said between breaths. "But I'm urgently looking for a letter."
"A letter? This is a postal train! We have thousands of letters! And how'd you get on this train anyhow?" A postal worker asked.
"That doesn't matter. What matter's right now is that I find a letter that was meant to be picked up this morning at the Little Rock Post. It's from the Government, and it's urgent." Werner announced.
"Messing with the mail is a crime you know!" Came the voice of a different postal worker. "What kind of proof do you have?"
Werner reached into his coat and pulled out his Federal Employee card. He showcased it to everyone around, gaining his or her reluctant approval. "This is the proof. I am Werner Maxwell of the Council of Seven, and I am looking for one or three letters addressed to a Dr. Duran Feld, my partner!"
"Start looking!" The postal worker shouted to everyone else. "It shouldn't be hard to find seeing how it's in the left over pile!"
"How do you know it's on the train?" Another postal worker asked.
"The Post Master affirmed it." Werner replied. "And can we get this train stopped? I'm stationed at Little Rock right now."
"We'll see what we can do." The Worker responded.
It was about a half an hour later once Duran had spotted Werner once more. He looked like he had endured a sandstorm or two as he followed the rails back to town on this cloudy day. Koge and her new friend, Cathy, had recently joined Duran, and the two parties informed each other on what they had accomplished, albeit hardly any of it being of any importance. Koge trotted off a bit towards Werner in an attempt to meet him halfway. He had jogged quite a bit since his departure from the train.
"Werner! Hey, you all right?" Koge asked as she met up the scientist.
"Yea, I'm good. Thanks Koge." Werner smiled, patting the girl atop the head. "I think that was my most dramatic encounter with the mail as of yet."
"I'd say so." Duran smiled as he began to meet with them, followed by Koge's friend Cathy. "Did you obtain the letter?"
Werner shook his head. "No…"
"Well, I suppose a train like that may have had some kind of difficulties…" Duran sighed.
"Duran, I got three letters." Werner revealed the letters with a grin.
"Are those the letters to get Malik out?" Koge asked.
"They sure are." Werner said. "I heeded your advice Duran and read them myself. It turns out you really don't need two people to read a letter or three."
Duran shook his head. "You really are something Werner. Well, what did they say?"
"Senator Kaze, Congressman Hill, and Berlitz have all sent an order of National Crisis to the Institution for the release of one Dr. Malik Benedict." Werner said.
"The fate of the world depends on it, so it is kind of a national crisis!" Koge examined.
"That's my Dad." Cathy smiled to Koge.
"Well, let's go see what Mattias has to say, shall we?" Duran smiled.