Chapter 19- A Whole New World
Hunter grunted as he was pushed against the side of the patrol car, feeling the wolf's paws in his pockets as he was roughly searched. "Good grief, Howland, if you're going to search me like that you should have at least bought me dinner. And there should be a safe word or something."
"Hunter, this is weird enough without your commentary," said the wolf cadet.
They were practicing searching techniques. Each cadet had hidden something- a simulated weapon, contraband, or whatever- on themselves and the other cadets were conducting searches of them. Friedkin, wandering around keeping an eye on things, cast a critical eye on Howland. "Keep control of those cuffs, Howland," she said.
"Yes, major," replied the wolf. He tightened his grip on Hunter's cuffs slightly, eliciting a wince of pain from the human.
"Banana! That always makes a good safe word, right? Banana!"
"Hunter," growled the wolf in exasperation.
Friedkin came closer. "Much as I hate to admit it, Howland, Mr. Hunter is doing a fairly good job of simulating a crook. Most of them don't know when or how to keep their mouths shut, either."
The wolf pulled a plastic toy knife from Hunter's boot. "Got a knife," he said in satisfaction.
"Yeah, but where did I hide the other knife?" said Hunter.
"I've searched everywhere-"
Hunter twisted around and waggled his eyebrows. "Not quite everywhere."
The wolf's face froze, then twisted in disgust. "Please tell me you're joking."
"Relax," said Hunter, turning to face him fully. "Just yanking your chain. All right, my turn."
He was uncuffed and, using proper techniques, cuffed up Howland. "All right," said Hunter cheerfully. "We can do this the hard way or the easy way."
"Um, what?" asked Howland nervously.
"Hunter," growled Friedkin.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," said Hunter. He started at the wolf's shoulders, scrunching his shirt, working his way from top to bottom. "Let's see," he mused. "You're a wolf, with great big claws and teeth, so I'm guessing you wouldn't have gone with one of the fake knives." He checked the wolf's waistband. "You can't really hide one of the guns anywhere except the waistband, so that leaves- contraband. And you think you're cleverer than you really are- no offense-"
"You know saying that doesn't actually make it less offensive, don't you?"
"-so I'm thinking...here." Hunter pulled a small packet of flour- intended to simulate drugs- from where it had been wedged in the wolf's belt buckle. He held it up critically. "Not bad quality. Street value might be two, even three cents." He held the packet in front of the wolf's eyes. "You better talk, Howland, this is enough to get you seconds, even minutes in prison."
The wolf rolled his eyes. "Hunter-"
"I'm serious. Listen, we don't want you. You're small fry. A little bit of flour like this ain't nothing." He shook it. "We're after the big fish. You know who I'm talking about, don't you?" Hunter narrowed his eyes. Howland gulped as he met his gaze. "So tell me, wolf. Do you know- the Muffin Man?"
Howland blinked. "The Muffin- Man?"
"The Muffin Man," said Hunter, nodding seriously. "Because I only know one mammal who deals in this kind of stuff-" he held up the flour, "-but this isn't even enough for him to get started. I want the weight, wolf. So talk."
"This is a searching exercise," said Friedkin, who had been watching in bemusement. "Not an interview and interrogation class, Hunter. If you're done, uncuff him."
"All right, all right," groused Hunter. He uncuffed the wolf, who rubbed his paws and watched Hunter apprehensively. "But we'll never catch the flour dealers if I'm not allowed some leeway, major."
Friedkin ignored him, glancing at her watch. "All right, cadets, you all have an hour for lunch. Be back in the classroom at 1300 on the nose!"
Howland sidled up to Hunter. "You know, if I really had been a dope dealer, I would have told you where I got the stuff."
The human glanced at him incuriously as he replaced his cuffs. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." He leaned in a bit closer. "So how do you do that thing with your eyes?"
"Thing with my eyes?"
"Yeah, the crazy eyes." He blinked at Hunter. "Hey, you're doing it now."
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Tavi walked onto the Academy grounds and found Hunter in the cafeteria. He had a small compact mirror- presumably borrowed from one of the female cadets- and was studying himself in it. There was a partially-eaten vegetable curry in a bowl in front of him.
The mongoose walked up. She was in uniform, as she was currently on her lunch break from patrol. "Relax, Hunter, I don't think your makeup is on too thick."
He jumped, snapping the compact closed. "What? Oh, very funny." He frowned down at her as she jumped up onto the adjacent seat. "Do I have crazy eyes?"
"Yeah," she said. "So anyway, I've been thinking."
"I do?" He opened the compact up again. "Really?"
"About Lucas," she said.
Hunter froze. He slowly closed the mirror and looked at her. "What about him?" he asked, very calmly. Too calmly.
"What was he after?"
"Oh, you know, the usual megalomaniacal evil genius stuff. Revenge, immortality, the chance to play God." Hunter shrugged. "So?"
"Well, immortality and 'playing God' sound familiar?" asked Tavi. "Isn't Prometheus prophesied to save mammals from sin and death?" She'd spent some time reading the Naturae Libri that Nick and Judy had been given, and now she pulled the book out of her bag and put it on the table with a thump. "Here, read this."
Hunter leaned over. "And Auroch begat Mefurselah, who begat Camelech, who begat-" he stopped. "I don't get it."
Tavi rolled her eyes. "Not that part, here." She tapped her claw against the book.
"And Mefurselah was blessed by Nature, and all the days of Mefurselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years." He shrugged. "It's an ancient book, Tavi, I wouldn't take it seriously."
"Uh-huh. So I've got a great-great-aunt."
Hunter blinked at the sudden change in subject. "Congratulations."
"She's currently ninety-five years old," said Tavi.
"And still as spry as a spring chicken, no doubt. Tavi, what's your-"
"Do you know how long primitive mongooses used to live? Before we were evolved?" She looked at Hunter. "About twenty years."
"Well, sure," said Hunter. "Obviously that was part of how you were changed. Made to live longer, more like human life-spans."
"Okay. And if you could expand a mammal's life span by four or five times, why stop there?"
Hunter stopped short, thinking it over. "You think that's why Lucas was experimenting on Terrans," he said slowly. "To try and find out how your lifespans were increased."
"And thus, possibly, becoming immortal." Tavi sat back in satisfaction. "And he was working for Prometheus."
"Yeah," said Hunter. "Prometheus said he was doing this for humanity, to ensure the survival of the species. So that makes sense. But what does he want with me?"
Tavi shook her head in frustration. "I don't know."
"Neither do I," said Hunter. He decided to change the subject. "Any word on the DNA from that super-wolf?"
"They've got a rush on it. Nothing so far- doesn't match anything in any of the databases. Most mammals aren't in the database, though."
"Yeah, just violent criminals," said Hunter. "Or mammals that have been investigated before and DNA taken. I was kinda thinking that super-wolf might have been one of those violent criminals."
"She was violent with us," said Tavi.
"And how. Oh, is Shepherd doing okay?"
"Hmm?" said Tavi, distracted. "Oh, sure. He's fine. The speech problem is fixed, now. Apparently he has pretty good self-repair capabilities. That wolf damaged a-" she scrunched up her forehead, trying to remember the words, "-peripheral motility sub-processor, I think he said."
"Motility? I'm no expert, but that sounds like it just controls his motion. Explains the damage to his right-side grav unit, but not the speech thing." Hunter turned back to his food.
Tavi shrugged. "It's all connected, from what I gather. He seems fine now, though."
"So what's our next step?" Hunter took a bite of his vegetable curry.
She gave him a surprised look. "You're asking me?"
He nodded at her. "You've been doing a lot of the legwork, Anila. I've been stuck here in kindergarten."
"Well, um...can you give me a hint?"
The human smirked at her. "It's not a test, Tavi. I honestly am not sure where to go next with this, at least not until maybe they can tell us more about that wolf."
She rested her head on her elbows, on top of the table, thinking. "Well, we probably won't get much from the Fellowship church fathers- they must be forewarned now."
"And it doesn't seem like them thinking I'm a god or whatever will make them cooperative." Hunter scowled. "That still seems unfair."
"What other leads do we have?" mused Tavi.
"Well, let's see." Hunter started ticking off points on his fingers. Tavi pulled out a notebook and pen. "Lucas and the other higher-ranking members of the group involved in the Raid are dead, but there are still a few XSO soldiers that were captured."
"In some top-secret hole somewhere," pointed out Tavi. "We won't have access to them."
"Well, we've got the Fellowship. They may not talk voluntarily, but we could just start interviewing them one by one. Eventually someone will let something slip."
"That's a possibility," said Tavi. She wrote it down.
"Then there's super-wolf. We should check the ZPD files, see if there's been anything weird involving wolves."
"It's the city, Zach. There's plenty of weird to go around."
"You know what I mean," said Hunter.
They sat for a long moment. "Not much to go on," said Tavi, looking at the two items on her list.
Hunter sighed. "Yeah, it happens in every investigation. Maybe Nick and Judy will turn something up. I keep thinking that where I ought to be is back on Alphacen."
"What?" said Tavi, jumping up. "What do you mean?"
Hunter looked at her in confusion. "For the investigation, Tavi. I think that's where the answers are."
"Oh." Her ears laid back flat self-consciously, Tavi sat back down. "Right." She forced a smile. "I mean, you can't go back anyway. You're still a criminal to them."
"Yeah," said Hunter, the pardon heavy in his pocket. He still hadn't told anyone about it.
He wasn't sure why.
"Well, Judy will turn something up," he said after a pause. "She's a very determined bunny."
Their phones beeped simultaneously, and both pulled them out of their respective pockets. "Well," said Hunter, when he saw where the call came from. "Speak of the devil."
To: zhunter
From: jhopps
Subject: Everything's Okay!
Hey, Hunter. We just arrived and everything's just great, no need to worry. Really smooth trip, Nick and I slept through most of it. There were no Karathi raiders. Just wanted to let you know we're okay.
Met with Sergeant Wu. He seems nice.
Love,
Judy
Hunter read the email. He looked at Tavi, who smiled nervously after she'd read her email. "So they're okay."
"Yeah," said Hunter suspiciously. "Took you a lot longer to read your email than it did for me to read mine."
Tavi hurriedly replaced the phone. "Gosh, is that the time? You've got to get to class."
"Tavi-"
"And I've got to get back to patrol. Bye, Zach!" She jumped off the seat and hurried out.
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Judy's phone beeped. She glanced at it, and kept walking.
"Hunter again?" asked Nick casually. They were unpacking their things in their hotel rooms. They'd requested adjacent rooms with a connecting door, which the hotel had been all too happy to provide. The government was paying, after all.
"Yeah," said Judy. She frowned. "I don't think he believed my email."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because he keeps writing me saying, 'I don't believe you. What happened?'"
"What did you write anyway?" Judy thumbed back to the original email she had sent and showed it to Nick. He read it, and rubbed the space between his eyes with one paw. "Really, Carrots?"
"What?"
"Never deny anything unless you're specifically forced to," he said. "I mean, come on, you had parents, you must have occasionally lied to them."
"No!" she protested. Then she paused. "Well, not about anything important."
"Next time, let me write the email."
"I was space-lagged."
He grinned and squeezed her shoulder. "And hung-over. You feeling better?"
She nodded as she smiled up at him. "Yeah."
"Well, I was thinking- since we have a free day before our schedule starts- we could go see the sights."
"Ooh!" The bunny's ears stood straight up. "Yes! They have a police museum at the main FLPD headquarters- supposed to have artifacts over a thousand years old! And then we could go by the municipal courthouse- what?"
Nick coughed. "I didn't say anything."
"No, not verbally."
"Look, we're in the largest city in the Human Stars. We're going to spend the next few weeks doing nothing but diplomatic stuff, primarily involving police mammals. Maybe we should spend our free time doing something else?"
"Like what?" she asked.
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Arrizondo stretched as she sat in the overstuffed sofa outside Nick and Judy's room. "This assignment isn't half bad," she said appreciatively. "I could get used to guarding people in five-star hotels."
Sergeant Wu, sitting in another sofa across from her, shook his head. "Yeah, Mika, just keep thinking that. All I can think about is that it was Hunter who got us this duty."
"And we should be thanking him," said Arrizondo. "I knew having him as my field trainer would pay off one day. Like I said, it's like having a crazy guardian angel."
The door to Judy's suite opened and Nick poked his head out. "What sorts of sights do people go to see here, anyway?"
Wu and Arrizondo looked at one another. "The Colonnade?" suggested Arrizondo.
"Too crowded," said Wu. "Victory Square?"
"Too boring." Arrizondo looked thoughtful. "How about Loronar Gardens?"
Wu choked. "What? Do you have any idea how expensive that is?"
"Isn't the government paying?" asked Nick innocently.
There was a pause.
"Loronar Gardens it is," said Wu, smiling.
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"So," said Judy brightly as they got into the car. She ignored the curious looks several patrons of the hotel were giving her and Judy. "What exactly is this place?"
"Well," said Wu. "It's the fanciest arcology in the city. One of the biggest, too. The whole thing is one big artificial environment- sort of like Zootopia, from what I've heard."
Barker, who had somewhat reluctantly agreed to come, leaned forward, her muzzle very close to Wu's. "Not as advanced," she said. "Zootopia keeps the various habitats the way they are even being open to the sky. Loronar Gardens is a closed system."
"Part of it is simply a sort of wilderness- I guess preserve is the wrong term? Part of it is incredibly expensive housing for the super-rich, and then there's a mall, a large number of casinos-"
Nick's eyes lit up. "Casinos, you say?"
"No!" said Wu sharply. "It's far too crowded in there. And we'd stick out like sore thumbs."
"Oh, come on, sarge. What's the big deal?" asked Arrizondo from the back seat, next to Barker. "They've got top-notch security there."
"The big deal is that we're here to keep these three safe, and it'll be damned hard to do that on a busy casino floor," said Wu. "And their security may be top-notch, but their bosses are all crooks. We'd be walking into the lion's den."
"The lion's den?" said Judy. "What, like where a lion keeps his computer and work desk and things?"
Wu gave her a sidelong look. "What?" He shook his head before she could answer. "Never mind. Look, Hunter made it very clear that if anything happened to you he would rip out my gizzard. To start with."
"Humans have gizzards?" said Nick, surprised.
"No," answered Wu. "But I don't know if Hunter knows that, leading to the possibility that he would rip out various organs until he found one he thought might be a gizzard."
"He's actually pretty nice when you get to know him," said Judy defensively.
"I worked with him for almost fifteen years," said Wu. "And I found that he's actually pretty crazy when you get to know him."
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"Welcome to Loronar Gardens!" said the ticket taker as they came in. She frowned when Wu led them towards the front of the line. "Hey, the line starts-" Her jaw dropped as Nick, Judy, and Barker walked in behind them, followed by Arrizondo.
Wu held up his badge. "We're on secondment to the Ministry of State," he explained. "Diplomatic mission."
The woman behind the counter looked at his badge, then leaned over the counter to look at Nick and Judy. "They're Terrans?"
Nick started to say something, but Judy elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Yes," she said politely.
The other people in line were already nudging one another, whispering, and taking out phones to take pictures.
Nick eyed them nervously. "Feel like an exhibit in a zoo," he muttered.
"They're so cute!" gushed the ticket-taker.
Judy's eyes narrowed.
Wu noticed and hastily caught the ticket taker's eye. "We'd like to go to the-" he hesitated, looked over at Barker. "What do you think, Ruth?"
She looked at the list of locations they could visit. "How about Luyten?" she suggested. "I mean, the jungle, desert, and other biomes will be sort of old hat to us."
"Good point," said Wu. He turned back. "Luyten biome, please."
"All right, that will be-" she stopped as Wu handed her a card.
"Just charge it on here." He grimaced, thinking about the expense report he was going to be filling out. It sort of took away some of the joy of having virtually unlimited credit.
They soon had their tickets and a guide, wearing khaki shorts and shirt and a pith helmet soon appeared. "Hello, folks!" he said, smiling. He scanned the group and blinked when he saw the three Terrans. "Well, I'll be- I mean, welcome!" Taking a breath, he continued. "My name is Ollie, and I'll be your guide to the mysterious world of Luyten today."
Nick leaned closer to Judy, still eyeing the various humans pointing and staring at them as they followed "Ollie". "This is kinda weird."
She nodded. "You know," she said thoughtfully. "Hunter has to deal with this every day."
Nick blinked. "Not the same extent," he pointed out. "We're more used to dealing with different species."
"Sure, but humans?" Judy shook her head. Her ears twitched as she caught the word "cute" being used for about the hundredth time. "I wonder what it must have been like for him."
Barker fell back slightly from where she had been walking with Wu to come up beside them. "It's isolating," she said quietly. "Being the only one of your kind on an entire planet. You start to look for friends whereever you can." She looked back at Wu, her expression suddenly softening. "Sometimes you're lucky enough to find them."
Nick and Judy exchanged surprised glances. "I hadn't thought of that before," said Judy. "No wonder he latched on to us-" she stopped. "Why us, though?"
"When I came to Alphacen," said Barker, "I was around a bunch of policemammals, which helped. Yeah, they thought I was a bit of a joke, but I was still a cop, and cops tend to stick together. But there was always a distance." She hesitated, looking at Nick and Judy. "Louis was the only one who just accepted me as me. Who didn't look at me as a wolf first, but as another cop. And a friend." She nodded to Nick and Judy. "Maybe you two did the same with Hunter." She quickened her pace, falling back in line with Wu.
Judy noticed how the wolf instinctively matched her pace with the human sergeant, falling into an easy, rolling, comfortable gait. "There's something going on there," she murmured.
"Oh, yeah," said Nick.
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"Now, Luyten is one of our most 'alien' biomes," said Ollie. They were standing outside a massive door, which- judging by the caution signs- was actually an airlock of some kind. "Luyten III, the planet we generally just refer to as Luyten, is what is generally classified as a 'marginally habitable' world. Not because of the atmosphere- it's perfectly breathable- but because of the unique ecosystem. Now, this biome doesn't include any of the dangerous predators native to Luyten. For that you'll need to go to the Luyten Safari. Feel free to ask if any of you fancy some big game hunting."
Nick and Judy both frowned. "Hunting?"
"Yeah," confirmed Arrizondo. "Both ways."
"Both ways?" repeated Judy, confused.
"You hunt the big game, and the big game hunts you," clarified Arrizondo.
Ollie had overheard. "Oh, we almost never lose any hunters," he said, waving his hands. "Maybe only one in twenty, one in thirty."
"One in- hold on," said Nick. "You mean humans pay for the opportunity to potentially be eaten by large, scary predators?"
The tour guide hesitated. "We don't put it that way on the brochures."
"No," said Nick flatly. "I imagine not." He looked at Wu. "Your planet is weird."
"Hey, I'm a cop. You'll get no argument from me."
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Luyten was an alien world.
That hadn't sunk in for Judy until they walked through the airlock doors, which were only designed to keep out any contaminants from Alphacen's air. The atmosphere was breathable, with a strange, undefinable odor to it. Her ears were used to picking up the sounds of cars, of horns, of mammals talking- or in the country, the wind, the leaves swaying in the trees, the calls of insects. Here, she heard a strange trilling cry, then a deep, answering ultra-sonic vibration. There was wind, but instead of the soft rustling of leaves there was a soft clacking, or a low chiming sound.
They stood in what looked at first glance like a forest. Until you realized the "trees" were slowly moving, the "roots" actually legs that gradually pushed them along. Instead of the soft leaves she was used to, they had branches with hardened nodules, which made the clacking sound she heard when the wind moved through. The entire area was shrouded in a dim light, and on the "horizon"- which must have been an optical effect of some kind- she could see rosy streaks of dawn. Or maybe dusk?
Nick took a deep breath. "Wow," he said, his eyes somewhat glazed. "It's so- different."
"Luyten," said the tour guide, "has a very slow rotational period- it makes a full rotation approximately every forty standard days. Because of this, the areas in direct sunlight get hot, very hot- and most of the life you're seeing now lives on the edge, where the wind blows constantly. We've cut down the wind for right now for your comfort, however. Because of this, the 'trees' have no leaves- instead, those globes you see gather what sunlight they can to photosynthesize. The trees grow very slowly because of the rather dim light as well as their need to constantly be moving." He patted a "root" that was slowly moving past him. "Not all the ecosystem stays on the move like this, but a large chunk of it does."
They continued walking, with the tour guide pointing out various plants and a few animals. Most were insectile creatures, such as the balloon bug, which looked like a miniature, living blimp. "They live their entire adult lives in the air," said Ollie. "Surviving on nectar- for want of a better word- from plants. Like butterflies, but slower and filled with hydrogen gas. Just a reminder, no smoking please."
Nick and Judy were soon walking paw-in-paw, gaping at the wondrous things they saw around them. The air filled with a sweet scent, the sunrise- for it was a sunrise, Ollie had explained, not a sunset- stayed constantly in the sky. Bird-like reptilian creatures flitted from one moving tree to another, squeaking and growling, but also occasionally making a bird-like trilling song that put a smile on Judy's face.
Something else caught her eye. She nudged Nick, who grinned widely as he saw that they weren't the only ones holding paws. In front of them, Barker had pressed up close to Wu, who had her left paw clasped firmly in his right hand.
"I'm calling that confirmation," whispered Nick. Judy smiled at him and pulled him closer.
They slowed down, the rest of the group pulling ahead slightly. There wasn't really a path- the constantly moving trees made that impossible- so they lost sight of them, though both Judy and Nick could hear Ollie speaking.
"This is beautiful," said Judy quietly, looking around. "I'd never imagined what the worlds the humans had found were like. I guess I kinda thought of them as, you know, just like ours."
Nick looked down at her, her ears lying against her back, her eyes wide as they took in the world around them. "Beautiful," he agreed. "Not half as beautiful as you, though."
She smiled up at him. "Dumb fox," she said. "That's the best you can do?"
He stopped, hesitating. She looked up at him, puzzled, as he swallowed. "I can do better," he said, a bit hoarsely.
There was a pause. "Well?" said Judy, half-jokingly, but as she looked into his eyes her heart began beating faster.
He looked down at her. "You know, Judy, I've been a bit worried with- well, everything, but partly because you're going to promote, and-" he stopped again. "I'm just thinking that, um, maybe if we won't be working directly together, then it would be-"
"Nick-" She was starting to guess what he was going to say, and her eyes widened. "Are you-"
Both of their heads snapped around, their paws reaching for the concealed miniature laser guns Bonnaire had given them, as the branches to their right rustled loudly.
A human stepped through them, brushing away bits of the twigs that stuck to his dark suit. He wore mirrored sunglasses and a hard expression. Nick and Judy immediately drew their weapons, though as his hands were clear of his pockets they kept them pointed at the ground. "Who are you?" demanded Nick.
The man looked them over carefully. "I was expecting someone a bit more, what is the word, formidable?" he said, almost to himself. "Forgive me for my abruptness. I am Casimir Kolchek."
Nick and Judy exchanged confused glances. "Are we supposed to know you?" asked Nick, his voice still suspicious.
"No," said Kolchek. "In fact, you could say it is my business specifically to not be known to you. I have had business dealings with someone you do know, however."
Nick sighed. "You're kidding me."
"Nick?" asked Judy, eyes still on the man, her tone inquisitive. "What have you figured out?"
"Mr. Kolchek," said Nick in exasperation, "is clearly a business partner with Mr. Big."
Author's Note: So I know a lot of folks were excited about how fast I was posting, and so the bad news is I'll probably slow down quite a bit. Thanksgiving is coming up, and I've got family stuff like crazy. The good news is that do intend to keep going, just possibly a fair bit slower until we get most of the way through the holidays. This may push back my estimated completion date a bit- I clean forgot about the holidays when I said the end of November. Might be closer to end of December. I'll try and keep it fairly steady, if at all possible- it just might stretch to two or three days a post for a bit. I've also had an incredibly full schedule, because of training and other work-related stuff. Frankly I'm astonished I got so much done, though that was partly because I had Act One figured out. We're on Act Two now and it's going to take me a bit of time to work it out plotwise. Once I have a good idea where I'm going I should speed up again.
Oh, and in case it wasn't clear, Nick was about to- not propose, but certainly bring up the possibility of proposal to Judy. She kinda suspects that's where he was going, but isn't sure. Let me know if that came across or not- I'm very much a 'show, don't tell' writer, which can lead to some things being more ambiguous than I intended.
The chapter title is of course a reference to the Aladdin song "A Whole New World".
