The Serpent had found the wall of silver bars during its first descent, into the massive network of tunnels that should have been their hive for generations to come. Beyond the barrier it had seen daylight, seen the grey structures that stood on either side of the river, caught many scents that resembled what it had smelled on the ship. Chemicals. Waste. Emissions. Plants touched by fire. Hosts. A colony of lifeforms lay beyond those bars, but instinct had advised caution. As powerful as it was, it was still one creature against dozens of lifeforms, and it did not yet know what natural defenses they possessed. If a hunt went wrong, the impregnators, and the unborn queen, would have nothing to defend them. So it had left the bars untouched and sought hosts elsewhere, eventually discovering a perfect specimen in the horned behemoth.
Then the unforeseen had happened. Plans changed.
Behind it, the two drones that survived the assault hissed low and softly. It could feel their anger as if it was its own. It was its own. Because of the Hunter's interloping, the queen's host was lost, and the cavern was too unstable to serve as a hive. Revenge, however, would have to wait. First it needed to remove this obstacle.
The bars were 10 centimeters in diameter and buried a foot into the rock walls, but the Serpent pulled them apart like spiderwebs and crawled through. The two behind it followed without question. They would stay beneath the water and within the shadows, allowing the darkness of their skin to conceal them from the lifeforms inhabiting this land. They would stay out of sight until the time was right to strike, when their quarry was located. It was wounded and weak. Bleeding. It wouldn't be hard to find.
Further down the canal, a thickly grated metal walkway jutted out over the water. The Serpent swam beneath the convenient hiding spot and poked its head above the surface. Footsteps clanged as a gazelle walked mere centimeters above the Serpent's eyeless face. It slid its toothed tongue between its jaws, tasting the air. Many scents filled the air, some organic, some not. Then it caught it. Rhino blood. It was faint, but it was enough. The rhino was here. The Serpent was sure of it.
Everything was packed. Everything was secure. Everything was archived. It hadn't been easy. She'd taken her work with her everywhere she'd went, even to the apartment's restroom. Every surface that wasn't the floor or head of her bed was covered in scribbled notes, books and papers, but at least she'd been professional enough to keep all the physical stuff, the evidence, the tools, the cases to carry them in, on the desk. There was no practical way to take the pin board she'd covered with photos, notes and red string, so she'd photographed the arrangement on the board and packed up the paraphernalia, leaving the board bare on the wall. Clawhauser would be around to take it back later.
So, this was it. She was going back to the Crime Lab, and MINERVA. Rafe and Jean were still stuck planet-side, as even with Flash finished with the repairs, they were still short a working hyperdrive. The Captain had requested that he be authorized to fly back up to the Vidarto check up on things, but the no-fly order Bogo and Clawhauser had issued put a stop to that. Jean and Rafe didn't complain too loudly. They still had some business to see to planet-side, mainly involving paperwork and gathering supplies such as cereal and air coolant. Some of it wouldn't arrive for two weeks, and with luck, the no-fly order would be relieved by then.
Nick had insisted that her leaving was for the best, that at least she wouldn't have to worry about becoming the colony morgue's latest addition anything. Two deaths. Half a dozen missing colonists. An abducted Administrator. Possible treachery and a conspiracy involving a disgruntled scientist and a ruthless corporation bubbling right under everyone's noses…
She'd expected Bogo to be skeptical to the point of patronizing when she had approached him about the rumors of Carthusia's disagreement with the Company, but instead he'd sternly advised her against assuming anything. The Company had a reputation for being intolerant of rebellious employees, but it was doubtful that they'd resort to causing costly damage to their own properties. Or blatant murder in cold blood, which could lead to even more expensive lawsuits. And if the Company was behind the whole thing, the most likely scenario was that they'd hired the wrong mammal for the job.
In any case, that was a matter between Carthusia and the Company. Judy needed to focus on her assigned task, investigate the saboteur and Green's murder, and keep her nose out of the bigger picture. When the commander had said that, Judy had had a creeping feeling that he wasn't just talking about Carthusia.
After days of being judged and reamed out for reckless behavior, this time Judy was inclined to follow Bogo's advice.
Judy had one bag of spare clothes, the rest being held in reinforced cases that required a code and pawprint scan to open. Now she just had to get it all outside. Nick was waiting for her in the corridor, leaning against a small orange vehicle with his arms crossed. He'd been somber since he showed up at her door a few minutes ago, and in a way, that made her feel more relieved that she had when Bogo had admitted that he suspected that there was more to this whole affair than the Company was making it out to be. He was taking the situation seriously, Hornbull, Carthusia, Green, all of it, to the point where he was no longer even trying to hide it behind a smile and a snarky comment.
"Need a hand?" He asked through the open door.
"No thanks, I got it." Piece by piece she carried the baggage out of the apartment and placed it on the truck bed for Nick to strap down. The last item she brought out, the large metal case containing the samples she'd collected, prompted him to raise an eyebrow. "Do you by any chance lift weights in between photoshoots?"
He asked this with a half-grin. Judy knew he was trying to ease the tension before they parted ways, and she couldn't help but smile back. "Sometimes I use the tripod to do pullups."
Nick chuckled. "Oh my god, I just got a mental picture."
Judy snorted and shoved the last case onto the bed, strapping it in herself. Together they climbed into the driver's seat. After a couple seconds passed and Nick didn't start the electric engine, Judy looked at the fox questioningly.
"You know, I checked in on Hornbull, and he's lucid enough to talk. You still have time to see him and have a little chat… if you want, obviously."
It would be good to get Hornbull's statement now rather than later. "Obviously." She said.
In Room 12 in Medical, they found Clawhauser already at Hornbull's side, an electronic screen in his paws. He was speaking gently to the rhino lying on the single bed in the room.
"… the next shipment will arrive in six weeks, but Mansa has promised that he will keep the no-fly order for two weeks at most, so we won't have to worry about delays. Also, I've written that report like you told me to, but until we get comms fixed, I won't be able to send it to Dr. Ewetani."
"Fine… fine…" Hornbull mumbled. He looked much better than when Judy last saw him; when the marines pulled him from the cavern, he was covered in dirt and blood. Now he just had bandages all over him, and most of them were hidden beneath the gown and sheets. He was staring in Judy and Nick's direction, but he wasn't seeing them. Not really. Seeing him like this gave Judy a cold prickly feeling in her skin. Her nose began to twitch.
Ben reached out and held the forearm that wasn't covered in a thick dressing. Judy blinked when she saw the blood coating his sleeve. "Sir, it's okay. I know you didn't mean for any of this."
"Neither did Green. Neither did…"
Clawhauser gently shushed him as he started to get agitated. "Hornbull, stop. We'll talk about this once you're off the drugs."
"I'm so sorry… I never meant… I just wanted to… live on the ice…"
"You will. This isn't your fault. The Company will understand."
"No… they won't…"
He closed his eyes.
Clawhauser exhaled heavily and looked away from Hornbull, his eyes widening slightly when he finally saw Judy and Nick.
"We were told he was lucid." Judy said.
"He was. But he had some kind of flashback and freaked out. Tore half his stitches and bled all over the place before the medics could sedate him." He showed his paws, which Judy saw were stained red along with his clothes. "Yeah, I haven't gotten changed yet."
"Or showered." Nick was wrinkling his nose. "No offense, but you smell like a murder victim."
"I look like a murder victim." Clawhauser said with a rueful smirk. "The cleaner hasn't been round yet, so watch what you touch."
Judy quickly glanced around the room, spotting smeared blood here and there. She cringed and focused her attention on Clawhauser.
"Clawhauser, we need to talk."
The cheetah's smirk disappeared. "About what?"
"About what we heard just now." Judy said. "And what I think really happened with Green."
Clawhauser sighed. "Please close the door."
Judy turned and closed the door before Nick could, wincing as she felt the cold wetness of blood beneath her paw from the blood spatter she'd unwittingly planted her palm right on top of. She wiped the blood on her pants and turned back to Clawhauser with her recorder in hand.
"I want to state for the record that I knew nothing of this." Clawhauser said. "I figured something was up from the things he said while he was delirious and got the full truth out of him this morning."
"Full truth? What full truth?" Nick asked.
Judy held the recorder between herself and Clawhauser. "Green wasn't murdered by the saboteur. He was the saboteur."
Nick blinked. "And you figured that out how?"
"Didn't it seem odd that he was allowed to go outside the colony border on his own, with all those dangerous creatures running around?" Judy pointed out. "He was sent to find weaknesses in the Rainforest Sector's security."
"Whoa whoa whoa, wasn't he only involved with two of the sabotage cases. What about the rest?"
"The Company likely commissioned more than one mammal for their operation. Isn't that right, Clawhauser?"
"Yeah. The systems are hackproof, so attacking the electronics directly was their Plan B." Clawhauser said. "Once they worked out the best plan of attack, the Company would exploit those weaknesses and send a special ops team to infiltrate the lab and take Carthusia's research by force. Hornbull's job was to cover for them and make sure Dr. Carthusia didn't catch on to what was really happening."
"Pretty underhanded, committing corporate espionage against its own employees."
"Not much choice. This project is top secret, so they can't just take it to court. Increases the risk of information leaking to the wrong mammals."
Judy nodded in acknowledgment. Inside, she was seething. She was supposed to solve the murder of an innocent mammal, but instead the Company wanted her to find out who was interfering with their plan. But it was as she had told Nick before. The research was theirs by legal right, and Carthusia should have known better than to antagonize the mammals in grey suits.
"So instead of catching a saboteur, you're catching the guy who killed the saboteur." Nick said. "D'you think Carthusia's on to them?"
"I won't know for sure without MINERVA's input." Judy took another look at the prone rhino. "I guess I'll have to wait for his statement after all."
"I'll download it to you as soon as possible." Clawhauser said. "And please… don't think too badly about him. They didn't give him a choice. Standard procedure, you know."
"Do whatever Company tells you to do, or else." Judy said, familiar with the unofficial protocol for Company employees. Herself included. "I know. Give me a call as soon as comms are fixed, okay?"
"Will do. Have a safe journey, Hopps."
As Judy's eyes lingered on Hornbull, she realized that her pink nose hadn't stopped twitching since she'd set foot in the room and laid eyes on him. She didn't want to be in here with him. He was sedated and nearly unconscious, his wounds severe but non-life threatening, but he felt like a bad omen.
"I'll examine the samples from Hornbull's abduction while I'm up there. I promise I'll send you whatever data I find." She turned to the door, Nick having already opened it to see her out. As she stepped through the doorway, she was suddenly struck with a foreboding certainty that this would be the last time she ever saw Hornbull, that she would never return to Zootopian Prospect...
Grimacing, her back to Hornbull and Clawhauser, she stopped just outside the room and stared at the floor. She was just afraid for the future, she told herself, afraid for the colony that had such bad luck in a few short weeks. But this feeling wasn't one she could shake off and forget. Something else was coming. Something much worse than espionage gone wrong and a missing mammal case…
"You okay, Carrots?"
Judy looked up at Nick and saw the genuine concern on his russet face. She was going to miss him most of all. She'd had him pegged wrong right from the start. Her sense of impending doom faded as she locked eyes with him, suddenly feeling immensely grateful for everything he'd done. To heck with that bad feeling. She would be back. She'd say hi to Flash and the others, pass her samples to MINERVA, and return to Rhamnusia with a smile and a firmly closed case.
"Let's get to the ship." She said. With that, she and Nick walked down the fluorescently lit sterile hallway, leaving Hornbull's room as cold and silent as a morgue.
It was first time Judy had been close enough to the canal to touch, but once they were driving along the metal walkway, she found that it was a lot cleaner that she'd expected. It was dark like lake water, but there were no bits of natural debris floating in it. It shimmered as it flowed, distorting the reflections of the buildings surrounding it. An ambush predator could hide in there no problem.
"You do have washing machines on the Vidar, right?" Nick took one paw off the steering wheel to point at Judy's pants. He slowed down as they drew closer to a gazelle traversing the walkway.
"Of course, we do." Judy said, giving a polite wave to the gazelle as they passed. The gazelle waved back, his expression freezing when he saw the blood on Judy's thigh.
"Oh, yeah. A dispute over some maggoty carrots got a little messy back there." Nick raised his paw in a 'this small' gesture and grinned at the gazelle. "I'm just taking her downtown. Don't worry, her bite's worse than her bark."
The gazelle's stunned face slackened when Judy scowled and punched the fox in the shoulder. "Very funny, Nick!"
The gazelle laughed, getting the joke. "I see what you mean, Private."
Nick drove on, a smirk back on his face. Judy shook her head with a smile, which fell when she caught a faint whiff of the blood on her pants. It was weaker in the open air, but she knew the scent would only get stronger as the blood started to decay. She just hoped it wouldn't attract any bugs.
