'The sacrifice was much too high, our greed just made us all go blind'
'We tried to hide what we feared inside, today is the end of tomorrow'
'As the sea started rising the land that we'd conquered just washed away'
'Although we all had tried to turn back the tide, it was all in vain!'
.
(One week After Aelita Awakens)
In the outer districts beyond Tundra Town a group of winter wolves and a few rhinos were busy installing a new generator into one of the many wind mill turbines built near the breeziest part of the snowy biome of Zootopia to take advantage of the reusable source of energy. With the Hydro powerplant down in the Rainforest District following a turbine malfunction, it was important to get these up and running as fast as possible to help ease the energy crisis.
"Hey Jeffrey, this is Tod at Number Seventeen!" The Rhino said into his phone. "The new generator is in and we're about to turn her loose!"
"Let it rip Tod, numbers two and four are down for maintenance, we need all the power we can get from her!"
"Number's two AND four?" He called back angrily. "What are those idiots doing, have they heard of this thing Tundra Town is having called an 'energy crisis'?"
He had every right to be mad, his home was 'in' one of the areas that was currently without power. He had to move his whole family into his cousin's place until they could get power back on. It was not a happy thing having two families of rhinos being cramped together.
"Sorry Tod, nothing we can do, just hope nothing needs fixing or replacement this time like number seventeen did!"
Tod grunted as he turned his phone off and signaled his buddy to turn the windmill on. Moments later the propellers began to turn their slow and steady pace, matching numbers sixteen and eighteen nearby alongside the others he could barely see through the blizzard. He nodded proudly that the new generator built to replace the old one had fit so well and was working without any issue so far.
Ten minutes later as he went inside number seventeen to check on the generator itself, he received a phone call from EHQ.
"This is Tod at number seventeen, what's up?"
"Tod, what the heck is going on at number seventeen?"
"What do you mean, everything is working smoothly over here!" He said confused, looking at the generator running perfectly before him.
"Because our readings here indicate that the energy output of number seventeen is almost 'three times' what it should be! Number seventeen is putting out the same energy as sixteen, eighteen and nineteen combined!"
Eyes wide he ran outside and looked at the propellers high above, comparing the speed they were going at to the two nearby that he could clearly see. From his eye they were moving the same speed, but still unconvinced he ran inside and had one of his colleagues call up the rotation speed data.
"Turning speed is steady at thirteen MPH, same as all the others!" The arctic wolf said.
"And yet it's putting out three times the energy!" Tod muttered as he called up EHQ. "Do we have a schematic of this new generator?"
"Negative on that Tod, we haven't received an official word to replace the generators with a new one yet." They said. "Who authorized the new generator installation on your end?"
"Nobody did, we assumed 'you' sent us the new generator." He responded. "Who built this thing and shipped it to us?"
"Same company who usually builds our generators and replacement parts for these mills." His colleague said. "Hang on, I got a schematic from them in an email… says they were commissioned by someone in our company named… 'Aelita'… whoever that is. They even said that the mammal who commissioned it gave them the schematic of the generator to build…"
"You know anymammal named 'Aelita'?" He asked EHQ who were still on the phone.
"Negative, there is nobody named Aelita working for us."
"Well whoever they are… they commissioned one heck of a generator for us…" He replied as he looked over the schematic. "I'm just taking a quick look at the schematic here, and this thing is incredible… I've never seen engineering design like this before."
"Your telling me, whoever designed this overhauled the specs, some of this looks like it's used in the hydro power plant's generator design. It even uses the same 'enhancer' system used to increase the energy output and storage. This turbine is capable of outputting three times the energy as any of our windmills using the 'same' turning speed as the others." The wolf said in amazement. "There are even notes indicating how it works, how to repair any malfunctions, optimal maintenance schedule… this was built with 'love' chief."
"EHQ, how long would it take to replace 'all' of our windmills with this new generator?" Tod asked.
"About two years, this new generator was built as a 'rush order', whoever this 'Aelita' mammal is illegally used company funds and hacked in to create a phony profile to do this. The Exec isn't going to be happy about this and will probably be pulling in his team of lawyers."
"Well whoever this 'Aelita' is deserves a promotion, because this generator design, she gave us is going to solve all of Tundra Town's energy problems!" He said as he once again looked over the schematic.
Chapter 7) A Venture Outside
(Jeremy's PoV)
"So uh, are you sure this will work Gazelle?" He asked her.
"One hundred percent sure!" The antelope said cheerfully.
"But… its like 'summer' isn't it? This is a large winter scarf and large winter gloves… I'm going to stick out like… well… like a 'human'!" He said as he held up his hand to examine the gloves he wore.
He was wearing a large and heavy winter scarf that was meant for a tiger and on his hands were a pair of 'tiger sized gloves', both meant to disguise his human features from behind and the side. To help conceal his head he was wearing one of Gazelle's summer hats she wore sometimes, and even had a pair of fake horns to make him look like an Antelope, worn by her backup dancer bodyguards at one of her previous concerts as a getup. To help cover his face better she had him wear a pair of 'blocky' sunglasses. That hat was more to keep the fact he was wearing fake antlers a secret, unless someone looked closely, they'd think he was just an oddly dressed Antelope.
All this to help hide him because they were going out into town, Gazelle wanting to show him the city because he's been in her home for nearly a week now, and it was starting to drive him and Aelita crazy. Aelita wanted to see the outside world, and despite the fact she could learn all she wanted to via the Interweb, she wanted to see it with her own eyes. Jeremy also wanted to go outside, but for Aelita's sake because he wanted her to see the world.
"You'll stick out no matter what Jeremy, trust me this will work just fine!" She said with a smile.
Next to him Aelita was giggling in her glass sphere at him.
"What?" He asked her.
She laughed out and held her knees with her hands, using one hand to point at him.
"I look ridiculous, don't I?" He asked her.
She nodded while still laughing at him.
"Need I remind you Aelita that without that holo-sphere your using, you look like a motherboard with wires and circuitry?" He deadpanned as Gazelle put on a pair of sunglasses and a hat as well to match him. "Are you sure this disguise will work Gazelle, what if someone recognizes me from the hospital?"
"They didn't get a real good view of you, and if anyone sees you with me in public, I'll just make something up for the paparazzi to gossip about me!" She said with a smile. "Come on, this is going to be fun, trust me! Besides you need some new clothes, and I want to show you around Zootopia like I promised."
He couldn't argue with that, his only set of clothes were still loose, and he 'needed' underwear that fit him.
He took one last look at his gloved hand and sighed before picking up Aelita in her sphere and held her in his hands. With that they were finally ready to leave.
They left her house into a beautiful sunny day, with Jeremy looking up to see hardly a cloud in sight. The view of the light blue sky with that yellow glowing orb high above him making him pause in awe. The last time he looked at the sky properly had been… however long ago he visited the surface before he froze.
Thinking about that he turned to Aelita who was also looking at the sky in wonder.
"It's beautiful isn't it Aelita?" He asked.
She looked at him and nodded with a smile, before pointing at Gazelle who had stopped at her limo to wait for him to catch up with one of her Tiger bodyguards.
"Sorry, its just…" He muttered when he did catch up to her.
"Don't worry, I understand completely…" She whispered warmly, patting him on the shoulder. "Everything is different for you, I understand. Even something 'we' take for granted like a beautiful sunny day, for you was rare."
As she walked around the limo to climb in from the other side while he and Aelita climbed in from his side, he silently muttered to himself, "You have no idea how rare…"
Aelita however heard him, and only glanced up in his direction before looking away.
Minutes later they were driving away and heading off to Savanna Central, or downtown Zootopia, where nearly all of the mammals lingered and got together to go about their days. As they entered downtown district he looked up at the massive buildings and glass structures alongside Aelita. Both of them wide eyed as they saw the amazing city, almost a mirror image of what one of 'humanity's' cities in its golden age looked like only larger. The glinting of the light from the sun bouncing off the buildings slightly blinding him at times only emphasized the fact that this was a 'city', a real city above ground and not the cramped metal hallways and steel rooms of his base underground.
"It's amazing…" He commented, to which Aelita nodded in agreement, her own eyes wide in wonder.
"That is Zootopia, it has that effect on every mammal that first sees it." She said warmly. "We're just entering Savannah Central; our first destination is a clothes shop for you."
"Wow… how 'big' are some of these buildings?" He asked as he pointed at some of the buildings they passed.
"Zootopia Tower is the biggest of them all." Gazelle said, pointing to the tallest building they could see, one that had a curved point at its top. "It's about one hundred and five floors tall, though some of those floors are meant for large mammals like giraffes, elephants, and others are small for gerbils and other rodents."
Gazelle looked at him as he continued to look at the building in question.
"How big did human buildings get?"
"Well… the history records indicated the tallest building constructed was a massive housing complex created by the City States Union of France in 2174, designed to house over seven hundred thousand people, stood roughly one hundred and ninety-seven floors tall, and took up as much space as an entire city block. Each floor was also the same size."
Gazelle's eyes went wide at that number. "You built structures 'that' tall?"
"It was necessary to cope with the population growth… when your species numbers forty billion, you can't house everyone in their own little homes." He said quietly. "That complex-styled building was the simplest and cheapest solution at the time for housing the poor income families at the time, it gave a cheap affordable home but… it meant millions were cramped together like… ants in an anthill."
Aelita nodded before glowing and creating an image of a large square building, each window too small to be noticed but she showed the size comparison by first showing a single human and waving at her and Jeremy. Then she shrank the human till it was almost 'miniscule' and barely noticeable when compared to the large cube building, he was talking about.
"Oh… I see…" Gazelle said, the wonder in her voice now gone as she realized the building wasn't designed for splendor but for purpose. "Well at least it was really big!"
"Yea…" He muttered as he looked out the window and saw the other tall buildings, admiring how fancy they looked in comparison. "At least they were big."
(Gazelle's PoV)
She watched Jeremy look away from her and back to the other buildings, looking at their various designs and how they looked and feeling her heart hurt a little bit at the sadness in his words. She had 'tried' to sound positive but, every time he mentioned anything related to humans it always seemed to end negatively. Even with her talking about how amazing at how tall man-made structures could stand, he soured it by making it sound bad.
She frowned at the human, she had hoped this first venture would be a positive experience, but already it was having a negative effect.
As Moe turned down the street toward the clothing center, she hoped that their first stop would brighten his day at least.
Thinking about clothes she had an idea to get his mind off the sad thought. "What kind of clothes would you like?" She asked. "Something casual and maybe something professional? You know for if you ever have to talk to the mayor again?"
At the mention of clothes Jeremy seemed to brighten up because he mentioned that he had never had 'casual or professional clothes' before.
"Then that will be our first task today!" She said cheerfully. "I happen to know a clothes store owner and called him yesterday to do me a big favor!"
"Like what?" Jeremy asked as they pulled up to a store called 'Sabre's Linens, Business and Casual'.
As they left the limo, they approached the main door which had a 'Store Closed' sign on it. While Moe took the limo away, they entered the store with her rather hurriedly trying to get Jeremy inside before anyone spotted them. Fortunately, it was just after midday and the only mammals out and about were either those with the day off or people off to get lunch, so nobody noticed them.
Once inside the store she quickly looked around for her friend 'Sabre'.
"Sabre, are you here?" She called out as Jeremy followed behind her looking at all of the clothes on display on the various mammalequins.
"There you are darling~!" He called out warmly, the black panther walking from around a row of suits on the far side of the store.
She smiled warmly at the black panther as he strode over and gave her a warm hug which she returned. Her friend was one of her prime sources of her various dresses and outfits that she and her backup dancers wore for concerts and music videos. He was a maestro when it came to apparel designing, both female and male mammals, designing for all shapes and sizes. Not only that but because she outsourced the outfits from him, his business boomed thanks to her popularity. Needless to say, he owed her at least 'one' favor for all she's done for his store.
"Oh, darling it's been too long, how goes the new music video you are working on?" He growled cheerfully as he led them into the store.
"Sabre its only been two weeks." She said as she took off her sunglasses and hat. "The outfit you made for me looks amazing by the way, I can't wait till the video is done so you can see it on screen!"
"Oh, two weeks and already I want to see it seen by all of Zootopia darling!" He said proudly.
She chuckled as they reached his measuring station, already prepared for Jeremy with a changing curtain drawn for privacy nearby.
"Sabre, did you get my message yesterday regarding the favor I asked of you?"
"Oh, I think I skimmed most of it, I only knew you wanted me to close my store for the day so that I could help your 'friend' out with a private measurement and help him pick out clothes for himself!" He said warmly. "So, who is this 'charming young mammal' you asked me to close my store for an entire day for~? Is he a boyfriend of yours darling~?"
"Sabre he's not my boyfriend, he's just a mammal who's my friend…" She stuttered with a blush.
"Ah but you can't deny that, he is a boy, and he's a friend of yours~!" He responded before he 'finally' noticed Jeremy and Aelita. "Oh, is this the young mammal? Hmmm nice antlers, a little smaller than yours but…"
He went silent as he looked at the glowing sphere held in Jeremy's hands, only realizing Aelita was inside of it as she looked around at all of the clothes and even the panther with a curious gaze and wonder on her face.
"Sabre, this is 'Jeremy'." She said gesturing to Jeremy who was still fully disguised. "And this, is his friend… Aelita."
Aelita waved hello before bowing to him in greeting, Jeremy also offered his greetings in the form of a handshake which Sabre accepted, a little confused and stunned as he beheld his two guests.
"How is… what is…" He asked quietly, glancing at her.
"Jeremy… its okay, you can remove the disguise." She said warmly. "Sabre is my friend, I wouldn't have brought you to him if I didn't trust him to keep your secret."
"Okay." He said before offering her Aelita's sphere so he could remove his disguise more easily.
Slowly Jeremy began to remove the pieces of clothing that were obscuring his human features, starting with the hat that also removed the antlers, revealing his dark hair. Then came the gloves revealing his hands, the scarf revealing his face and ears, and finally his sunglasses which revealed his eyes and mostly flat face.
Slowly comprehension dawned on Sabre that her 'friend' wasn't just an ordinary mammal that she had just asked him to help out.
"I think I should have paid more attention to your message Gazelle." He muttered. "What… are you?"
"I'm… 'human'." He muttered.
The reaction to the word 'human' was instantaneous by her panther friend. One moment he went from being confused and curious to suddenly scrambling and backing away in shock and fear. He had changed from being her proud and eccentric friend to looking terrified for his life as he looked at Jeremy.
"H-HUMAN?!" He screamed in fear.
Jeremy was just as taken aback, taking a tentative step backward to put a little distance between him and the panther while also looking a little nervous. Aelita was also confused at Sabre's reaction and trying to understand what he was so afraid of.
"Sabre… calm down, he's not dangerous!" She said, patting his shoulder as he began hyperventilating. "He's not going to hurt you, he wouldn't hurt anymammal."
"You have no idea, he could shapeshift and… fly and… grow talons or something at any time!" He almost yelled. "He could kill us with his magic powers or something, what is a 'Human' doing here in Zootopia?!"
"Magic powers?" Jeremy asked incredulously. "Also how do you know about humans?"
He turned to Aelita who looked up at him.
"Aelita, how long were you sleeping since dad turned you off?" He asked the AI.
Aelita instantly used her fingers to give him a number, using each number of fingers to represent a digit.
"Three Hundred and forty-seven thousand, five hundred and fifty-two years?" He asked in astonishment.
Aelita nodded and added three new numbers to that count.
"And four months and twenty-six days?" He deadpanned. "I don't think I needed an 'exact' count Aelita…"
She shrugged with an 'you asked for it' expression.
While he and Aelita talked among themselves she was just now calming down Sabre and convincing him that the human was not a threat and that he wasn't anything like the stories he'd no doubt been raised on about the mythical and legendary species that most mammals assumed only existed 'in' stories.
"Jeremy 'is' a human Sabre, but he's nothing like the tales you were raised on." She said calmly. "His species cannot grow scales, they cannot fly, they can't sprout fangs or talons, and they certainly can't change their body at will or use magic powers."
She also looked sad as she revealed the last bit of info about her friend.
"And… he's also the 'last' of his kind."
At hearing that Sabre looked at her and then back to him, letting that knowledge sink in with everything else.
"The 'last' of… his kind?" He whispered.
She nodded sadly. "He's alone Sabre… he's the only survivor of his species." She said. "They tried 'everything' to save as many as they could… but when they found that structure last week, only 'he' was found alive. The rest were gone… and even then, he barely survived."
She leaned closer so that she could whisper to him, "Please Sabre, just give him a chance… he's only gotten over the loss of everything he knew and everymammal he knew recently."
Sabre finally nodded and got up before offering a handshake again, which Jeremy kindly accepted with his own.
"I'm sorry, it's just… most predators know of humans as… well the 'ultimate predator' spirits." He said apologetically. "Humans to us were the perfect predator species, no weaknesses, no fears… they could do 'anything' they wanted."
"Oh… we had our… weaknesses… and we had fears… but we could certainly do anything we put our minds to." He muttered.
"And who are you?" Sabre asked Aelita.
"This is Aelita, she's an 'artificial intelligence', AI for short." Jeremy said as Aelita nodded and waved. "She can't really leave this sphere, so she can't shake hands. She also can't talk unless it's in song form, so all she can do is gesture and change her image to convey messages."
Aelita nodded and showed what he meant by taking on Sabre's form and recreating how he reacted to Jeremy, and frowning at him with a scolding look, as if she were saying he had been very 'rude' to them.
"Well let me make amends for how I acted, you came here for measurements and to look for new outfits yes?" The panther said with a chuckle. "My friend Gazelle, why don't you go try on some of my newest outfits that just came in from Sahara Square, while I attend to your friend?"
"Alright Sabre, you take care of him." She said. "Jeremy, you're in good paws, Sabre is my friend and one of the best tailors in town!"
With that she went to toward the new dresses that he told her about. As she did, she looked over a few of them while thinking about something in the back of her mind. There was a big movie coming out soon that she had did the music video for the main song, and because of this she had been given an invite to a party which would premiere the movie to a select group of VIPs.
She 'was' tempted to just ignore it and stay home, but now that she thought about it, the invitation said she could take a guest, and she honestly wouldn't mind bringing Jeremy to it to help socialize him and get other mammals used to him.
Smiling with her plan, she decided to pick out the perfect dress from what Sabre had to see what she thought 'Jeremy' would like to see her in.
Then she mentally slapped herself while shaking her head.
"Brain, he's just a friend… a very 'unique' friend but still… just a friend." She muttered as she looked over the dresses.
But while her brain seemed to accept that fact, her heart felt the teeniest, tiniest, bittiest bit of pang at her own words.
(Jeremy's PoV)
"So 'Jeremy', may I ask a question?" The panther asked as he held the measuring tape.
"Sure?" He said.
"Hold out your arms for a moment, yes straight out just like that!" Sabre said, lifting Jeremy's arms up. "Anyway, I was wondering, there are a 'few' stories about humans that many predator species tell about. We call you 'The Ancient Apex Predators', and I was wondering if 'any' of them are true?"
"Well what did you want to ask about?" He said as the Panther's whiskers were awfully close to him while he measured his arms.
"Could your species 'fly'?" He asked.
"Uh, no… not naturally." Jeremy said. "We had to invent vehicles to get us into the air, but no humans couldn't fly."
"So, you 'could' fly?" Sabre asked eagerly. "Just not naturally, right?"
"Yea."
"What about armor, could your species make scales and plated armor on your bodies?"
"Well… we could make 'clothes' and wear pieces of metal that 'acted' like scales."
"Marvelous…" He muttered to himself. "My mother always told me and my siblings about stories regarding humans. She said you could tame nature at will, force the land to bend to your command, and even destroy threats with but a gesture of your claws!"
"Well… we couldn't do that… normally…" He muttered, not liking the conversation.
"Oh, I'm sorry… touchy subject?" Sabre asked nervously.
"It's just… not something I like to talk about."
Aelita below him, sitting on the floor nodded in agreement.
Sabre, seeing that the subject wasn't one Jeremy, or the AI, wanted to discuss changed topics as he began measuring his other body ratios. "I'm going to need you to remove this shirt and pants Mr. Jeremy, I can't get a proper measurement of your waist and leg width until they are off."
"What?" He said suddenly.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked.
"No, it's just… I have no 'underwear'." He said with a blush.
"Oh, that's not a big issue." The panther said before he did a double take. "I take it that humans don't have 'sheaths' for… 'that'?"
Jeremy shook his head in confirmation.
"Oh my, well… let me think quickly…"
Suddenly Aelita's sphere lit up and wrapped Jeremy's midsection in a blinding display of holographic light. When she did, she made sure to completely cover his private areas, and while it was active her human form could not take shape. The light was as solid as she could make it, preventing anyone from 'seeing' what lay beneath the area she had covered.
"Thank you Aelita!" He said as he took off the shirt and then pants, which both easily fell off him because they were too big for him.
He'd only managed to keep them on by using a belt to tighten them.
"Instant censorship, very nice!" Sabre muttered as he began measuring again.
After a few minutes of measuring the panther rolled up his tape and nodded to Jeremy that he could put his clothes back on, which he rapidly did. Being indoors and naked was giving him a very cold feeling and he feared it would trigger his Cryogenetic Sclerosis.
"Thank you again Aelita." He said as he picked her up.
The AI gave him a thumbs up indicating she had his back.
"Alright I have your measurements, and I definitely have your size for everything you need, now the only question is, what kind of 'fashion' are you looking for?" Sabre asked. "Something 'classical' perhaps, or perhaps a bit more 'modern', or would you prefer to go fancy?"
"Well, I don't know… it's been a long time since… well since I've worn any clothes outside of standard uniforms in the base." He replied.
"Then let's get started!" Sabre said proudly as he pulled the changing curtain around him, concealing him from view. "I'll go and grab some outfits for you to try on, in the meanwhile, here are some undergarments you can put on to wear. Goodness knows you needed some!"
"Did I hear that, is Jeremy about to try on some outfits at last?" He heard Gazelle call out.
"Uh, yes." He said.
"Well I can't miss this, I want to see what you look like in clothes that fit!" She called out happily.
"Then wait no more, here's the first one I want to try!" Sabre called out, handing a set to him through the curtains.
(Gazelle's PoV)
She just finished examining some of her friend's most recent designs and found nothing she liked, or that she felt Jeremy would have liked to see her in. Since she couldn't find one, she figured she'd ask Sabre to design something for her. But in the meantime, she'd heard that Jeremy was going to be trying on outfits and was eager to see him in something than besides the basic clothes the Hospital had given him which didn't fit him at all.
"Alright, let's see how you like this!" Sabre said with relish as he peaked inside the curtain. "I call this look, 'A typical walk in Sahara Square'!"
He revealed Jeremy to be wearing a yellow short sleeved shirt with matching beige trousers.
She chuckled as she suddenly imagined the human walking down the street in Sahara Square in that getup.
"Well I like it!" She said warmly.
"I don't know, I feel a little exposed…" Jeremy said curiously. "It's also a little light… you wouldn't happen to have anything heavier, would you?"
Aelita gave it a 'four out of ten', saying she didn't like it either.
"No problem, here, try this one on!" The panther said eagerly, not deterred at all as he closed the curtain and handed him a new set. "This one I like to call, 'Rainforest District's Delight'!"
Jeremy was revealed to be wearing a heavy pair of dark blue pants and matching shirt. The shirt had outlines of raindrops on it with the sleeves going down to his wrists. This time she had to admit he looked like a natural resident of Rainforest District!
"I feel like I'm about to run around in a thunderstorm." Jeremy commented as he twisted around to look at himself better. "But I like how the shirt feels and looks."
"You look just like a Rainforest native!" She commented.
Aelita however gave his outfit a 'six' out of ten.
"Since when did you become a fashion expert?" Jeremy deadpanned.
The AI giggled as she let that comment go while Sabre pulled the curtain around him again and handed him a new outfit to try on.
"Nothing to fear, I have just the thing, this time let's see how your piers appreciate the choice of look…" He said, smiling and enjoying the challenge of trying to get everyone's vote of approval. "This one I call, 'A Savannah Professional yet Tundra Casual'.
This time the curtain revealed Jeremy wearing a beige shirt and brown pair of casual pants while also wearing a dark grey trench coat that had fake fur cuffs and lined with soft feathery leather for the insides.
Gazelle had to slap herself because she was staring at him too much, he just looked 'handsome' in it.
"I love it!" She said quickly, giving him a warm smile.
"I like the coat." Jeremy said as he looked at himself.
Aelita gave him a once over before she relented and gave the outfit a 'nine' out of ten.
"A nine?" Sabre said in mock despair. "Oh no, I must have perfection! Let's try the next outfit!"
She watched as Jeremy was subjected to the many, many outfits of her tailor friend who seemed as delighted as he was determined to get a perfect ten out of ten from Aelita. He had put Jeremy in different outfits of various colors and fashion, ranging from home casual to party professional. Each time Aelita was the deciding vote, giving no higher than an eight for any other outfit besides the one that Jeremy, Gazelle and Aelita all liked.
As they continued, she watched the pile of clothes that didn't pass growing steadily larger next to the curtain, until it began to reach halfway to the top of it. Then after a while her panther friend was almost laughing at how exhausted he was trying to get her stamp of approval.
"I'm really sorry for Aelita, she is a very 'picky' individual." Jeremy muttered.
Said AI nodded sadly before pointing at him and then clutching at her heart with a sweet look on her face, saying 'she only wants what's best for him'.
"Well I can't believe I'm saying this, but I admit defeat, I can't think of anything that would get a perfect 'ten out of ten' from you!" Sabre chuckled.
"Aelita, what would it take to get a perfect ten from you?" She asked the AI.
Aelita looked at Gazelle before she beckoned Jeremy to pick her up and then hand her sphere to Sabre. With her in Sabre's paws she directed him around the store and had him show her various pieces of clothing. While they walked around, she went to Jeremy to talk to him.
"How are you feeling Jeremy?" She asked.
"I'm fine, just wondering what is going on with Aelita." He muttered.
"What do you mean?"
"When dad talked about her, she wasn't designed to be this… 'diverse' in her expressions or thought processes. She was only supposed to be a moral and ethical compass and talk about human history so we wouldn't make past mistakes." He said quietly. "She wasn't designed to be a 'fashion expert'…"
"Maybe she just wants to help you more than what she was programmed to do?" She said.
"Or maybe my dad did more than he said… or… maybe after… over three hundred thousand years in isolation… she developed new subroutines to her programming that helped her to 'evolve' beyond what she was originally." He said quietly. "That would explain why she's acted the way she did, commenting on everything I do or say, laughing and joking the way she does."
"She can do that?" She asked curiously, the AI still as much a mystery to her as anything 'human' related was.
"She is a miracle Gazelle, she was designed to be our emissary to 'whoever' came after us if we all died, she was created to give a good impression about us." He muttered. "But she's so different than what I pictured her, she could do so much more without me to weigh her down… all I can ask is why she is so attached to me?"
There was silence before he felt Gazelle hold his hand with her own, causing him to look at her warm smile.
"Because you're her family, and who wouldn't want to be with their family?"
At the word family she suddenly wished to take it back because she remembered that Jeremy was 'alone', and at the word family then human's expression turned sour.
"Oh, I'm sorry Jeremy I didn't mean to… I wasn't thinking…" She tried to apologize but he shook his head.
"It's alright… I've accepted it." He responded, but the grip on her hand tightened ever so slightly, one which she returned.
They simply sat there in silence for a few minutes while Sabre and Aelita were off on their own, simply enjoying each other's company.
When they came back, she let him go and returned to her position as Sabre pulled the curtain back and handed him a new set of clothes.
"Alright this is a new set we picked out, this one… I'm going to call 'Aelita's Embrace'!" The panther said proudly, before pulling the curtain back to reveal Jeremy.
Jeremy was now clad in a pair of thick pants colored black, with an equally heavy shirt colored white. He also wore a small pair of gloves that went up to above his wrists that were lined with fake fur and tiny pieces of rubber to grip and hold objects.
"Why the gloves?" She asked.
"I don't know entirely myself, but now that I look at it, it certainly adds more 'flare' to the overall look of the pants and shirt!" Sabre said. "While overall the outfit gives off that 'dull and boring' appearance the gloves add a bit of 'mystery and pizazz'!"
Aelita however pointed at Jeremy's hands, arms, legs and feet, before pointing directly at his heart with a nod of assurance.
"Oh, she's saying this outfit will help protect my body from my Cryogenetic Sclerosis." Jeremy said.
The AI nodded proudly before gesturing to his outfit and twirling in joy and giving him a 'ten' out of ten.
"You would give the outfit 'you' picked a 'ten out of ten' Aelita." He said.
"Regardless I 'love' the new look, I'm going to put it on display and show off a new line of clothes I've just come up with!" Sabre said proudly. "This has given me new ideas, in fact I'm going to call my new design 'Aelita's Vanity'."
At that Aelita gave him a sour look, shaking her head.
"Maybe change the name?" Gazelle asked hopefully as the door opened.
"Uh excuse me, is there a 'Sabre Tileteeth' here?" Someone called out.
They all turned to see a rabbit and fox in ZPD uniforms walk in through the front door. She recognized them as Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, some of the most famous police officers in Zootopia. They helped solve the Nighthowler Case regarding all the rabid predators, and even thwarted Mayor Bellwether's attempts to control the city through fear.
"Officers, hello there." Sabre said as he walked over to them. "I'm sorry I wasn't at home, but I had to come out today to help out a good friend of mine."
"No trouble at all Mr. Sabre, we just came by to ask you a few questions." Judy said before she noticed her. "Oh… uh… Miss Gazelle, how good to see you here!"
"Hello there." She replied, already seeing the 'fangirl' peep through the professional officer.
She had that effect sometimes on fans of hers in public, it made her laugh a little on the inside.
"Carrots…" Nick said, getting her back on track.
"Oh uh… mhmm, right… sorry." She said before resuming her professional attitude. "So, as I was saying, can you tell us exactly what happened two nights ago?"
Seeing that this was a personal matter she left her panther friend and went back to Jeremy who was trying to decide if he should change out of the clothes he was wearing or not.
"Go ahead and keep them and take the other ones that Aelita liked as well." She said warmly. "Sabre said they're on the house, so no charge. I'll have him prepare a few sets of this outfit as a 'standard' for you to wear!"
"But how much are they?" He asked curiously.
"Oh, that doesn't matter, trust me!" She said with a laugh. "What matters is you have something you like that's comfortable!"
(Jeremy's PoV)
With that she helped him fold up the clothes that they were keeping and placed Aelita to sit comfortably in the pile. As they began to leave the officers were wrapping up their questions for Sabre.
"Thank you, Mr. Sabre, we'll inform you if anything comes of this, you've been a great help." The rabbit officer said.
"Of course, I just hope whoever broke into my garage doesn't do it again." Sabre said. "It's not something I want to think about; my home being so easily broken into…"
"Oh, what happened Sabre, you didn't tell me your home got broken into?" Gazelle asked.
As she spoke up the officers turned to look at them, before eyes locked on him and Aelita. "Ah, 'Jeremy Wilheart'… if I remember all those briefings 'buffalo bullhead' sat us through." The fox said warmly. "So how ya taking to Zootopia Mr. Human?"
"Nick!"
"I'm just asking Carrots, no harm done!" He said with a chuckle.
"Uh, I'm fine… Miss Gazelle has helped me greatly getting adjusted… as well as sheltering me in her home." He responded nervously.
"Yea, the Mayor has given us all of the details, everyone at ZPD knows all about you and your underground home." The Rabbit said, walking forward and offering her paw in a handshake. "Judy Hopps, ZPD, pleasure to meet you 'properly' this time. Last time I saw you was at the hospital and we didn't get to introduce ourselves with all the chaos happening. And this is my partner on the force, Nick Wilde."
"Really Carrots, that's 'all' I am to you, your 'partner' on the force?" The fox asked slyly. "Casually forgets that I'm her fiancé now, what is a fox to do."
"Nick, oh no that's not what I mean I just… I mean…" Judy began saying, blushing in embarrassment and apology before her partner patted her on the head.
"Relax Carrots, I know, your parents are just getting used to it as well." He said calmly. "Love her parents by the way, good folks, raise wonderfully delicious blueberries by the way! Anyway, I know it's not your concern but do you two think you would be willing to just help us out really quickly."
"Of course, what can we help you with?" Gazelle asked.
"There has been a string of break ins all across the city, nothing unusual outside of the fact that the homes have reported somemammal breaking in and bypassing various security measures they've put in place." Judy said as she pulled out her notepad and looked at the notes taken. "Each time the mammal in question 'broke in' but instead of taking anything, seems to have 'fixed' something, before leaving the scene without a trace of being there."
"No mammal has seen anything or anymammal suspicious, but a few cameras placed around the city have caught 'glimpses' of somemammal at the scenes and times where it was reported." Nick said, taking out a picture and showing it to them. "Would either of you have any idea who or what this mammal is?"
Both Jeremy and Gazelle looked at the picture, before Jeremy's eyes snapped open and his body froze.
The picture was dark, and the angle offered no clear distinction and the little light being given off from a street lamp couldn't clearly define what was in the picture. But Jeremy saw a pair of 'red' glowing eyes staring at something. He could also 'barely' make out a faint outline of something short, roughly one to two feet tall… and he saw a clawed paw that, if he looked carefully… gave off a distinctive metal gleam with the light in the picture.
"No, I can't say I recognize it." Gazelle said with a warm tone. "And I doubt Jeremy would know anything since he's never left my home till today, right?"
Thinking quickly, he shook his head and smiled. "No, I can't say I do!" He said.
Gazelle seemed to have bought it, as did Judy the rabbit, but the fox watched him more carefully as he smiled and put the photo away.
"Say uh, Sabre, do you happen to have a bathroom I could use really quick… I just realized I haven't gone today…" He said, feigning an urge to go.
"In the back, you'll find two doors colored blue and pink, male's room is blue!" Sabre said warmly, taking the clothes from him. "I'll go and bag these up for you and Gazelle!"
"Thank you!" He said, taking Aelita and slow running to the bathroom in the back.
Once he was safely out of earshot and behind a closed door, he put Aelita down and turned to her.
"Aelita, I need you to bring up that picture!" He said.
She nodded and cast a holographic image of the photo on the wall.
"Okay, can you quickly enhance the image for me… I need to be sure!"
Seconds later the image brightened and darkened certain areas of the photo, before revealing exactly what he feared.
"Oh no…" He muttered fearfully.
The profile was small, as he suspected, a one foot seven-inch-tall robotic canine resembling a Husky from humanity's past. It was around six to seven feet in length and walked upon four slim legs, belying their true strength. It's eyes glowed red as it was using 'night vision mode' to see in the dark alley the photo had been taken. The little light that could reach back in the alley showed that it's titanium body structure still gleamed with perfect brilliance even after all this time. The tail was curved upward and to the rear in a 'J', acting as a rear scanner for any potential threats from the rear that it's forward vision couldn't see.
"Aelita… can you confirm if any of its 'offensive weapons systems' are active?" He asked nervously.
A big red 'X' appeared on the image, indicating 'no'.
"Oh, sweet lord… if this is a DOG Drone, and it's weapons are still functioning…" He whispered. "That thing could kill half of Zootopia, before they could ever hope to contain it… but why is a DOG drone here? They were all locked down in the bottom of the base with the rest of our drone weapons…"
Aelita resumed her normal form as she looked worried.
"Sentinel… oh no, what are you 'thinking' Sentinel?" He whispered as comprehension dawned. "It's my fault… I didn't finish transferring controls or initiate a 'code green' status for the base… so Sentinel thinks… it thinks that technology has been stolen before 'we' woke up. So, it sent a Drone to retrieve it and eliminate any potential threats to the base. But what, what could have been stolen that would trigger Sentinel's automatic 'retrieval and elimination' program."
Aelita looked thoughtful before she created an image of Jeremy's Cryogenic Pod on the wall, still sitting inside a hospital room.
"The pod… it detected one of the pods being removed, without authorization… so it sent the drone to… but the pod is inactive so the signal it's trying to detect isn't there… so the drone is wandering Zootopia looking for it."
She resumed her standard form and looked worried as Jeremy explained the situation to her.
"The drone must not have enough power to run constantly, so it's using its energy to search at night when it can be 'least' detected and hiding during the day in standby mode until night arrives." He said to himself. "If nobody has gone missing or been killed, then it hasn't seen any mammals as a threat, more seeing them as just something to avoid. But if anyone panics and attacks it… it may just deem them a threat and… we gatta find it and stop it before it hurts anyone!"
"If that drone kills any mammal, it will ruin any hope of humans 'ever' being redeemed in their eyes… Aelita, can you mimic the signal my pod would make to indicate it was active?"
The AI nodded and created a clock, indicating the time they should begin to look for the drone.
"No, we can't go looking for it, we need it to come to us… once it detects the signal it will lock in and move toward it to retrieve it. We'll lure it out to someplace where nobody will get hurt… and then… find a way to shut it down… without me getting killed." He gulped.
(Nick's PoV)
"Oh, my… gosh darn Nick did you HAVE to make me look like a total fangirl in front of Gazelle?!" His bunny wife-to-be screamed as they took off in the squad car.
He ignored her as he reached for the walkie talkie and radioed HQ.
"This is ZPD Car 573, is Chief Bogo still in his office?"
(10-4 Car 573!)
"Can you inform Chief Bogo that we have a lead on the suspect?"
(Uh 10-4, will do Nick.)
"Uh, a lead, who are you talking about?" Judy asked in confusion as she drove. "You aren't seriously thinking about Gazelle are you, she has no idea what is going on!"
"I'm talking about the Human Carrots; did you see the way he jumped at the photo?" He said sternly.
"No, he looked alright to me… he did say he had to go to the bathroom, nothing suspicious about that."
"He's lying, he knows more than he let on." Nick said. "This is a Predator thing Carrots, I know when a mammal is hiding something out of fear from me. He was hiding what he knew because of everymammal being there with him. He knew something he didn't want to tell."
"Nick, I think your reading into this way too much…" Judy said before she relented. "How can you be sure?"
"He answered 'no, I can't say I do', he could have just said no, but he tried to double his answer as if to ensure we believed it." He replied. "Also, that little sphere with the glowing girl, Aelita, you remember her from the briefings. He took 'her' with him to the bathroom… if he just wanted to go to the bathroom why take her with him. I doubt she's into watching a male go in front of her."
"Okay so say your right, what do we do? We can't just spy on Gazelle even if her guest is on our 'watch list'."
"Just leave it to me Carrots, just leave this one to me!" He said as the sun began going down.