Chapter 2:
We get up early the following day and bundle our kits into the van. All of them stare out the windows as the scenery passes by. We beat the rush hour into downtown. Mom and dad are waiting for us as we park the van in the visitor's parking lot at precinct one. They get hugs from all our kits and bable speak. They talked so fast that mom and dad didn't understand them, but we understood them just as they understood each other. We all grab a kit, pick them up, and head in. we take conference room one and invite the Chief to attend. He doesn't know what it will be about but was intrigued when he was told it was about the amber alert. Our kits are laughing and running around us as the Chief walks in.
"Good morning, Chief Bogo, sir; I'm Thomas Lasater, and my mate is Jessica." The Chief gets a puzzled look as he tries to remember where he has heard that name before. Bonnie stops for a second and, smiling at the Chief, says, "good morning" to him. She then continues to chase Oscar and John with Charlotte. "All right, Wildes, what is Bonnie doing here, and what has she to do with the Amber alert"? "We're not sure ourselves, Chief. Thomas was going to explain it to us as well." Jessica stands up, "Come, kits, let's go to the house." Jessica leaves with Oscar, Bonnie, John, and Charlotte.
"Well, Chief sir, it's like this; Charlotte, our daughter, can find mammals living or dead," I say to the Chief. Chief Bogo gets up to leave. He doesn't know what kind of joke Nick is trying to pull, but he wants no part of it. "SIT DOWN, SIR." The Chief sits down in the chair hard. His mind flashes back to the time in his office when Daniel did the same thing to Jack. He gets a look on his face as he stares at this new fox. "Chief, before we continue, we need to do a conference call with Commander Cromwell." The Chief's eyes get big and wide hearing that name. He never saw himself talking to that individual, even in his wildest dreams. Thomas hooks up the projector and cameras in the room to the laptop he pulled out of the bag he had been carrying. Thomas then flips open the computer and starts to dial.
It rings four times before it's answered. "Commander Cromwell here; how can I be of service"? "Sir, it's Thomas Lasater. We are in conference room one in precinct one, we have a secure link, and the room is bug-free." "Excellent, Thomas, but why the call"? "Sir, we need to tell Chief Bogo everything." Just then, the big screen comes to life. There is the face of a huge tiger with a concerned look on his muzzle. "I am against this, Thomas, the fewer mammals who know, the better it will be for you both." "Yes, sir, but our daughter is now mixed up in this, so we need to explain it all to the Chief." "How is she mixed up in this"? "Sir, she was the one to find our amber alert yesterday." "Right, can't your family just be normal"? "We would if we could, but you know we aren't normal." "Yes, I've known it for a long time. I see your parents are in the room as well; I assume they know already"? "Yes, sir." "Alright, Chief Adrian Bogo, you have a temporary level one security clearance. This will be for the duration of the conversation you are about to have. Is that clear"? Chief Bogo stammers out a yes. "Good, I have to go; we still doing lunch on the twentieth"? "Yes, sir, we will have your favorites." "I can't wait; tell your lovely wife I said hi." "She knows, sir." He chuckles, "I have forgotten for a minute how the two of you work; see you on the twentieth." "Yes, sir, on the twentieth then." The screen then goes blank.
"Dad, I think we are all going to need coffee. Can you get some from your office? Not that swill from the cafeteria." Nick laughs, "Is it fun to give your old mammal orders Thomas"? "Well, sometimes, but as I'm not an officer anymore, I can't just run up to the cold case office now, can I"? Nick bows to Thomas and chuckles as he leaves the room. Thomas turns back and looks at the Chief's shocked face. "Hi Chief, the remembrance ceremony was very emotional. It brought a tear to both Susan and I."
"Who the hell are you? and what gives you the right to besmirch the memory of two of my best officers"? Chief, we are not making light or fun of Susan and Daniel; Jessica and I are Susan and Daniel. Chief, it's a little hard to explain, but if you bear with me, I will endeavor to do so." The Chief folds his arms across his chest and stares at me with that look. "Chief, I'm going to tell you a story that few people know; that's why you were given a temporary level one. This is the story of Susan and Daniel." Jessica comes back in as I start the story.
We stopped for lunch, and Betty came in after lunch with Charlotte; we still needed to explain her part yesterday. It takes most of the day to explain it to the Chief, and mom and dad sit through the telling again. We can see the look of incredulity in The Chief's eyes that slowly turns to disbelief and then to acceptance.
"All right, I get that you are special, and I have to assume that because your daughter is here now, it has something to do with the amber alert from yesterday." "It does, Chief. Our daughter is a seeker; she can find anyone living or dead. What I mean is if they are dead, she will find their remains." I'm finding that really hard to believe, but I can't explain how she found Amanda yesterday. I assume you called in the anonymous tip yesterday"? "I did, Chief; there had to be some reason for you to raid that warehouse yesterday." "Can you prove Charlotte's ability to me"? "Sure, Chief, just pick a missing file from before our daughter was born."
Chief Bogo reaches into his wallet and pulls out an old faded photo of a much younger buffalo and a sweet little heifer. He hands the photo to Charlotte. Charlotte studies the image and then looks at me. "Dad, I'm going to need a bit more power; I sense she is far away." "You've got it, baby love." "DaaAaad."! "What? You are the baby of the family." I know, but you don't have to embarrass me." "I thought you knew that was part of the dad job description, and I quote, "Embarase your daughter every way you can, whenever you can" end quote." "I don't remember reading that in any of the books I have read." "You'll find it eventually; just read some more books." There is snickering from around the room. Even the Chief has a smile on his face. She crosses her arms and gives me a look. I smile at her and chuckle a bit. She then separates herself, and I follow her lead feeding her power as we go.
We travel almost half the continent away from Zootopia. I wish we had good news for the Chief, but we find her remains. I then memorize everything about where we are before we head back. Finally, we come back to the conference room, and I draw. It takes me about ten minutes to do a rough sketch of the body's location, and I then hand it to the Chief. Charlotte had just curled up and gone to sleep. "Chief, she's at the bottom of a tiny crevasse. She must have fallen from a great height to get wedged that far down."
"She did fall from a great height. My sister and I were base jumping. This was our twentieth and last jump before entering the academy, but something went wrong. I stayed with her all the way down. I tried to catch her several times but failed every time. I pulled my cord at the last minute and lost sight of her when I did. I broke my leg when I landed. They never found her. They searched for five days, even the crevasse you have drawn. And you're telling me she's at the bottom"? "Yes, Chief, she is." I had to wait a year to enter the academy so my leg could heal properly. I have never base jumped again. "Chief from the condition of the remains, she died quickly. Her remains are in a pile that look undisturbed. She didn't move after landing. The crevasse opens up a bit at the bottom. Why no one has found her before now is beyond me." Thank you, Dan…Thomas, you don't know how much this means to my family and me. We can have closure now." The Chief hangs his head, and a tear slips from his eyes.
As He straightens up, "Can you help with other missing mammal cold case files"? "We will, Chief, through mom and dad. But it won't be very often; we are worried about our daughter's mental health." "Yes, I can see that. I have to go and put some wheels in motion. It's great to have the two of you back. Will you be retraining to join the police force again"? With a sad look in my eyes, "No, Chief, we won't, but we will help whenever we can." "But, can I ask why"? "Chief, we are limited as police officers; we answer to a higher power now, but as I said, we will help when we can." He makes the assumption we were hoping he would. He salutes us and, turning, heads out the door. We get up as well, yawn, stretch and wish mom and dad well. I pick up our daughter, who cuddles into my chest and goes back to sleep as we head out the door. We head for the house paw in paw. We got some strange looks as we walked down the street but only once were we approached. We convinced the individual not to call the cops on us. I know in his twisted mind, he thought we were going to eat her. Two foxes carrying a rabbit? Nothing suspicious about that.
In the house, Charlotte wakes up and bounds out of my arms as she hears her brother laugh. We say hi to Betty, Brian, Mavis and introduce ourselves to Miss Watts. Brian and Mavis had come in with their girls. Natalie and Roxanne had Oscar down and were tickling him within an inch of his life. Charlotte joined in on the fun by tickling Roxanne. Finally, Oscar got up, and it became a free for all tickling session. We sit down in the living room and smile at the kit's antics.
We stay the night. William and Amber retire early, and their shield holds up well. We spend about an hour with Rick discussing the upcoming moon mission. Jessica's new suit would be ready in a few days. It was in the testing phase at the moment, and my suit was being refurbished as well. All our kits and Mavis's kits are in one big sleeping pile. We decided to leave them; it was kind of cute, though. Mom and dad smile when they see the kit pile. This brought a tear to mom's eyes as she remembered sleeping in the same kind of pile with her brothers and sisters.
From The Star-News
By Chris Beaverton
Today's announcement by Wilde industries was that they have now moved into the medical field. They have bought a controlling interest in T.J.L. ORGANS. This little startup was in a new area of study. They will clone individual organs for patients on the waiting list for transplants. Because the organ will be cloned from the patient, there is no fear of rejection by the patient's body. The founders of this company, through their spokes mammal, had this to say. "This is for all mammal kind. We will treat all equally, but they have to be on the waiting list. This is not an organ for sale business." The owner and his wife were very adamant on this point. The rich would not be put to the head of the "Q." The Lasater's are world-renowned for their cutting-edge technology in molecular biology and organ transplants. Jessica Lasater's epileptic implants have shown that they can control seizures. She has given a new and different life to people with epilepsy. The couple are very recluse; Their medical graduation photo's have been lost through fire at the school they graduated from. After my extensive research, I found one single picture of them. This photo was very grainy, and all you could tell from it was they are a couple of foxes. The division will be up and running in the next two weeks and full production about a month later. This does not mean that organ donation is still not needed. But if all goes as planned, the need will eventually become less in degree. Still, it's wise to sign the back of your driver's license to be an organ donor. The demand is still high.
In the second part of the press conference, Wilde industries announced they are taking a spacecraft they built and heading for the moon. All the reporters were floored when this part of the press conference was announced. We were taken to a small, dirigible hanger and shown this new craft. I am amazed at this unique craft. It's about half the size of a football field and nearly a third as wide. I know this is big news to everyone, but all should be able to see the craft as it ascends into the heavens in three days. They said the launch was scheduled for noon, and a countdown would go across the public address system starting at eleven-thirty. All air traffic will be forced away from the Wilde complex, but I'm sure there will be several air drones. One camera crew and four reporters were allowed in to film the interior. It was amazing there were seats for ten individuals plus two pilot chairs upfront by some glass-like windows. There is some kind of mission control chair behind the pilot chairs. There is a cargo bay in the back. Are they going to bring back moon rocks? Boy, do I wish I was going with them.