One of the guards turned and yelled down inside. "Comin' in!"
The gates opened. Gently accelerating, Bentley drove through into the unpaved earthen courtyard. Gripping the armrests of her seat as the stretched luxury car bumped gently over the uneven ground, Callie suppressed her annoyance as Mayor Manx exhaled loudly beside her. He kept checking his cheap gold pocketwatch.
"This is the third one today...!" he whined.
Callie leaned back in her seat as the car drove past numerous blockhouse with barred windows. Hizzoner could be such a petulant brat. "Come on, Mr. Mayor. You have to do the yearly prison inspections..."
Manx was undeterred in his complaining. "But all on the same day?" he asked, dejected.
Callie refrained from reminding him of why he was being so impatient. That it was his own fault. He was impatient because he'd had the lack of foresight to schedule three prison inspections on the same day as the golf tournament at Megakat Springs. His golf bag and change of clothes were in the trunk. When Callie pointed out the potential scheduling conflict, he'd brushed her off. Of course they could do both, he insisted! He'd been cheerful and optimistic during the drive out of the city, but had begun fidgeting restlessly before they'd even arrived at the docks to take the ferry to Alkatraz Island, and although he'd smiled and nodded and swapped funny stories with the warden, it was clear to Callie on the boat ride back that Manx was already losing interest.
"It's the last one," said Callie, holding up a finger. "Besides, you said yourself... the faster we get this over with, the faster you can tee off."
Manx brightened a bit, then turned and looked out the rolled up window without responding. The gates closed behind the limo with an ominous, reverberating bang as Bentley drove up to the brutalist-looking administration building. Standing outside were Warden Cyrus Meece and three prison guards. The limo stopped. Meece and the guards approached as Bentley got out and walked towards the back of the car. Callie made a point of getting out first on her side, while Manx, as usual, waited until the tired-looking chauffeur had opened his door before exiting. He shot his cuffs and Bentley shut the car door as his employer walked over to greet the Warden and his men. Callie shut hers and followed. They met halfway and shook hands with Warden Meece.
Meece was a fat fellow in a tacky purple suit and magenta tie, with a gray crewcut and a neatly-trimmed mustache. Callie frowned. She remembered Meece from the last inspection they gave. She didn't like him. There was something unctuous and unpleasant about him, even though as far as she knew he ran a tight ship. Megakat Maximum Security Prison had never had a recorded escape in its entire short history, something Meece was proud of and loved to boast about.
"Good afternoon, Mayor Manx," Meece said, a thick Southern drawl to his voice. "How nice of you to come down and pay us a visit."
No hello for me, Callie thought. She kept her mouth shut. The three guards lingered behind the purple-suited Warden. They looked mean and tough. The meanest-looking one was a gaunt, stone-faced individual whose features looked like they'd never been lit by a smile in his life. Callie thought his name was Slammer, the captain of the prison's security force. The Mayor moved to shake Captain Slammer's hand, but the glowering corrections officer emphatically didn't accept. Manx jerked his hand back as though bitten. Callie smiled a bit. At least someone here saw through Manx's glad-handing.
Manx backed up and cleared his throat. Putting on his best "official" voice, he said, "Well, you know I have to make these yearly inspections of all the prisons, Warden Meece."
There was a gleam in Meece's eye. "Then I'm sure you're going to be impressed with what you see." He turned and the three headed off, followed at some distance by the guards. They entered the main building of the prison where all the inmates were housed, which was separate from the administration offices. They were given laminated visitor ID badges and had to be buzzed through numerous checkpoints before entering the main cell block. There were rows and rows of prisoners in drab gray uniforms, many of whom came to look out at the visitors. Armed guards stood at every entrance and exit.
"Megakat Maximum Security Prison lives up to its name, Mayor. We're the most secure prison in all Megakat City," Meece was saying.
"Yes, indeedy," Manx said, sounding bored again already.
Following their visit to the second prison, Manx wasted valuable time by making a point of getting his golf bag out of the trunk to practice some putts in the carefully manicured front lawn of the main building. It'd been difficult for Callie to persuade him to put the putter away so they could make the third and final prison visit before the tournament. Initially, Manx had hesitated, insisting they had time, but finally relented when Callie had the audacity to suggest Manx take his seldom-used personal helicopter to Megakat Springs, allowing her to finish the inspections by herself. She could handle it, she insisted. No, glowered Manx, gesturing with his putter. The warden would be expecting no less a luminary than Megakat City's mayor, not the deputy mayor. To an extent, he'd been right, she realized; after all, Meece hadn't even acknowledged her presence since they arrived.
And with that, he'd spitefully tossed the putter into the trunk without returning it to the golf bag, and gone and gotten into the car, leaving it to the longsuffering chauffeur, Bentley, to shut it. Callie made helped him. It didn't require two people to shut the trunk, but Callie knew what it was like to feel unappreciated, so she'd made a point of helping him. He'd smiled his thinks. A few of the prisoners hooted and hollered and gave Callie a few "kat-calls," bringing her back to the present. She ignored them with pure, cool professionalism. Although impressed with her detachment, Captain Slammer, bringing up the rear with his men, was nonetheless of a... different persuasion.
"Knock it off, you hooligans!" he said with a voice like gravel. "We got us a lady visiting!"
His guards gave the misbehaving inmates a few whacks on the knuckles with their nightsticks where they gripped the bars as they passed the cells behind the group. They piped down. Callie's opinion of the prison guard captain changed. She wasn't sure she liked this kind of physical abuse, even if they were criminals. She didn't thank Slammer; although she nevertheless appreciated the gesture, the fact that Slammer believed the convicts should face comeuppance for insulting a visitor, the Deputy Mayor, no less, she hadn't needed his help. Besides, she doubted Slammer would've accepted her thanks; all he did when she glanced back at him was tip the wide brim of his hat and say "Ma'am" disinterestedly.
The tour continued without incident. Manx was still bored out of his skull and made a point of repeatedly continuing to check his pocketwatch, unimpressed with what he's seen so far. That darn tournament, Callie thought. She, despite her dislike of Meece and Slammer, was impressed; a few broken fingers aside, something she'd bring up with Meece at a later date, Megakat Maximum Security Prison was definitely living up to its reputation as tightly run and well-ordered.
The group, sans their escort, then went to Warden Meece's office on the second floor of the main administration building. Waiting for them there was a kat Callie had never seen before. He was young and scruffy, in a rumpled shirt and tie wearing glasses, sitting in one of the plush armchairs reserved for visitors in front of the desk. A magazine he'd apparently been reading was on Meece's desk in front of him and he was drumming his fingers idly on the armrests. Callie wondered who he was, noticing a visitor's ID badge clipped to his shirt pocket, but for the moment she was too busy gawking at the room they were in. It wasn't very big but it was strikingly opulent and luxurious in comparison the rest of the facility. Megakat Maximum Security Prison was state-of-the-art, being only a few years old, constructed to house the worst criminals in Megakat City and the surrounding towns and counties, but it was also extremely spartan. Here, though, were wood-paneled walls and plush, deep, rich red carpet. The desk the scruffy-looking kat sat in front of was made of hand-carved oak. Tastefully nude classical paintings and a statue of a beautiful she-kat drawing water decorated the room.
This opulence stunned Callie. During the previous inspection, Meece's office had been functional. Now, though, it seemed as though the Warden was moving up in the world. But how? Meece's budget had been cut considerably since the destruction of the Megakat Tower, and as far as she knew he wasn't personally wealthy.
Callie went to the window. There were three. One immediately behind Meece's desk with a view of the courtyard, and one to either side of the room. Callie approached the window to the right of the door. Down below, she saw prisoners, supervised by guards, working around a storehouse that abutted the main building. They were pushing covered wheelbarrows of something in through a big loading door. Something was up.
She cleared her throat and spoke for the first time since getting out of the limo. "The prison certainly seems to be in great shape, Warden. How are you able to keep it up on the sadly meager budget you have? Especially after all the cuts made to compensate for rebuilding the Megakat Tower?"
The others turned to look at her. Glancing up from his watch, Manx frowned at the mention of the tower.
After a moment, Meece's eyes gleamed brighter, his smile becoming more condescending and smarmy. "Well, my little side project sees to that. If you'll follow me...?"
The three exited the room, Manx pocketing his watch. The other kat rose to follow.
Meece led Callie and Manx outside, with the scruffy kat in the rumpled shirt and tie trailing behind to the storage house Callie had seen through the window. It was a single story gray structure that sat alongside the main building. They went in through a smaller door beside the big loading one. Upon entering, Manx and Callie's eyes widened in astonishment as they beheld boxes and boxes of glittering diamonds. The prisoners being supervised by the guards were adding more diamonds to the collection. Each wheelbarrow had its cover removed to reveal more of the precious stones, which the inmates tipped into the boxes. So that was how Meece funded the prison... not to mention his expensive taste in office furnishings. Callie glanced back at a grinning Warden Meece. The scruffy kat from his office lingered in the doorway behind him, hands stuffed into his pants pockets. Who was he? wondered Callie.
"We use prisoners to mine the nearby mountain for precious diamonds," Warden Meece explained. "We keep them here until we ship them out to dealers, who in turn pay us the money we use to fund the prison."
They walked among the rows of boxes as the prisoners finished up, pushing the empty wheelbarrows out, followed by the guards. Now Manx was interested. Of course, thought Callie. Now that there was an untold fortune in diamonds, suddenly her boss' interest in the prison had been piqued. From a random box, Callie picked up a diamond between her fingers. No one objected. It definitely seemed real to her, although she was no jeweler. Assuming they were real, where had they come from? Supposedly there was an old mine or two out in the middle of Megakat Desert, but they'd long since run dry during the big diamond rush back before Mega War I. Had Meece found a new vein? Was the scruffy-looking kat from his office involved somehow?
Palming the stone and curling her fingers tightly around it, she turned and said, "But I thought those old mines were dried out."
Without missing a beat, Meece said, "They are, as a matter of fact."
That admission surprised Callie. "But then how did you get the diamonds?"
The kat in the rumpled shirt and tie aproached them and stood beside Meece. The Warden clapped him on the shoulder. "I think he's the one who can best answer your question, Deputy Mayor. Let me introduce you to Dr. Leiter Greenbox."
So that's who he was. A scientist of some sort. Possibly a geologist? Callie continued playing with the glittering diamond in her hand.
"Thanks to this genius, diamond production is going to triple!" Warden Meece continued excitedly, gripping Greenbox's shoulder tightly in his enthusiasm.
The scientist smiled. "You mean thanks to the Gemkat 6000!"
"The what?" asked Callie, eying him.
Greenbox reached into his pocket and produced a folded-up piece of paper, which he unfolded into the blueprints for some sort of machine, spreading them out on a table. According to what Callie was looking at, the physical model of the device would be roughly the size of a household vacuum cleaner and the schematics indicated it had a clear compartment built into the side for storage. "It's an experimental mining device contracted by the prison," Dr. Greenbox said, stuffing his hands back into his pockets, smiling, clearly proud of what he'd designed.
"And," Meece added, grinning, "a workin' model of this baby is being used up at the mines."
Callie frowned and flicked the diamond she was holding back into the box she'd gotten it from with a "chink." The Gemkat 6000. That settled it. Greenbox was definitely a geologist, or at least worked in a field that was geology-adjacent. Gemkat Labs was a private outfit located somewhere outside of Megakat Springs. Callie knew enough about them to know that they did technological-based geological work. The Gemkat 6000 was just something they'd invent. Manx leaned over the blueprints to study them, squinting through his glasses as though the diagram was difficult to see. His enthusiasm was gone now that he was faced with a machine more complicated than a toaster oven.
Enthusiastic, Greenbox continued, "It uses a high-velocity laser beam to heat rocks to the point of crystallization. Basically, about a million year's worth of nature's work in about a few seconds. Making them essentially artificially-created natural diamonds, if you will... assuming that makes any sense. Just as valuable as the real thing because they are the real thing."
Callie yielded to a swift liking of the Doctor. There was an "aw, shucks" quality to his cadence and his enthusiasm for his work. Something genuine in him that was lacking in the other men in the room with her. His pride lacked the smarmy arrogance of Meece, and unlike Slammer he actually smiled. Remembering the way Slammer had made his guards rap the knuckles of the misbehaving convicts earlier, Callie remembered how she'd initially liked him too because he'd amused her by refusing to shake Manx's hand. While he didn't strike her as a bully, he was still a little too quick to violence for her tastes, especially for a prison guard. She just hoped he didn't abuse his authority. As for Greenbox, she hope her initial impression of him would hold firm...
"Ehhh," grumbled Manx, straightening and making a point of adjusting his glasses in a gesture calculated to make himself seem like the smartest person in the room. He furrowed his brows, eying Dr. Greenbox. Of the device pictured in the blueprints, he said, "Looks complicated..."
Greenbox chuckled, and Meece shook his head.
Callie only wanted to know one thing. "Is it safe?" She didn't want the prisoners working with the thing to be in any danger.
Warden Meece turned and glowered. "Who cares if it's safe or not? It's just convicted criminals using it."
Greenbox cleared his throat and cut in. "As long as you use it correctly, Deputy Mayor," he reassured Callie, smiling. "Fortunately, it's very simple to use." His smile broadened. "I promise you, no one is going to be hurt because of my invention."
Callie nodded, also smiling. She was sure now. She liked Leiter Greenbox.