by M. A. Owens
Just the thought took me back to Elly’s diner and picking up the ‘bribes’ I needed to smooth things over with Petey any time I asked for his help. A bag of biscuits did it every time. And that time I had scrambled eggs and coffee with Buddy after the Grand Gobbler case. After he and I took a beating from Lady. My second beating from her, as a matter of fact. The first time I met Rick, dressed in his Rico disguise, he made a joke about buying him breakfast. It only just now occurred to me I never did. I’d have to surprise him when I got back to the city.
How was Sugarplum doing? In a lot of ways, Nightshade reminded me of her, but with more energy and minus the teasing. Had Saint caught on to what happened and realized she spilled the information we needed to rescue Lily and capture Saul? Maybe Mr. B had saved her by now, somehow. That cat was nothing if not resourceful. He was sure enough a pain in my neck for a while. Then I remembered Marty, and I doggone sure knew where he was and what he was doing. Fish food in the bottom of Arc River. I was sure there was a part of me somewhere that felt bad for the dog, but I wasn’t finding it. And Lily must be worried sick.
No, not worried. Grieving. She thinks I’m dead.
“Hey, Trigger. Save some for everyone else,” Nightshade said, elbowing me and bringing me back to reality.
“Oh, right. I had some catching up to do and if I’m on the job I may as well soak up all the perks I can. Free food included,” I said, holding my bowl sideways to show the second serving was empty.
“Thinking about your pals just now, weren’t you? You looked a bit spaced out there.”
I sighed, placing my bowl down beside me. “Yeah, I was. Say, you were in the city for a while, right? You have anyone there you miss?”
To my surprise, she laughed. Not the reaction I was expecting, but it should’ve been.
“Nah, I’m more of a loner, believe it or not. A drifter. Made me perfect for recon. I can go out riding on my bike, with nothing but the wind and trees and skies to keep me company for weeks.”
“I’d have never guessed it the first time I met you. You seem like the life of the party, and everyone swarmed you to listen to your stories.”
She tapped her chin, considering for a moment. “I guess I just save up the energy spending time alone, drawing maps, and seeing new places. Nothing much better than seeing a place that hasn’t been explored by anyone else in years.”
I smiled, looking back over my shoulder toward Moss’s tent. “Always wondered what it would be like to travel myself. Want to take a trip? Maybe go pick up a distant relative of mine to visit the camp?”
“Oh, you know you didn’t need to ask. There’s still the matter of the scout bike, but it should be the easiest requirement to satisfy. I know a few of the scouts who would be happy to swap bikes with me for a day or two. Even though it’s a lot slower, my bike’s amazing. They’re always bugging me to take it for a ride, but nope. She’s all mine.”
“Right, nothing weird about calling a bike ‘she’. I think we better go before this bike conversation makes me uncomfortable,” I said, standing, grabbing my bowl, and heading toward Lilac’s food station.
After depositing our empty bowls, we headed to Moss’s tent, but were turned away at the entrance. Moss was working on some finishing touches with something and wanted us to see Morel first. So, that’s what we did.
Morel actually noticed us when we came in this time. I hadn’t really taken this place in well last night, due to the poor lighting, but it was an even bigger wreck than I thought. It’s a wonder Nightshade and I hadn’t fallen into a pile of something and ended up lost forever. Beside her desk were several days’ worth of empty bowls, tossed into a haphazard pile. Some were starting to smell.
“Good, you’re here. About time. Come over here and have a look. Moss and I put our heads together. You’re going to be impressed. No doubt about it.”
Morel held out her arms, showing us two somewhat ordinary looking backpacks sitting on a table previously piled high with parts, now shoved straight onto the floor to make room for something she was prouder of.
“I… don’t really know what I’m looking at. Sorry,” I said, scratching my head, looking to Nightshade.
“Actually, neither do I. Such is the trouble with genius. Care to explain, Morel?” Nightshade asked.
Morel grabbed up the pack. “I’d be happy to! You see, I’ve managed to integrate and synchronize the multi-rotational—”
“Idiot dog words, please!” I said, hoping to save my brain from another head-splitting day of explanations I couldn’t hope to understand.
Morel paused for a moment, and it appeared the effort of bringing her words down to my level genuinely perplexed her. “Right. Hmm. Well, it uses fewer cells than I thought I would need, because I’ve added another part from Moss’s flying machine. Very efficient solar… Hmm… It recharges two sections of cells using the sun while one cell is powering the cloaking signal. It doesn’t need nearly as much battery power that way. However, it needs coverage. Moss said you’re definitely going to need backpacks since you’re gathering parts for him, so this seemed like an ideal solution. Only downside is you can’t venture more than ten feet from the backpack, or you’ll show up on sensors again. That make it clear, Trigger?”
I buried my face into my paws. “Sort of, but based on what you were telling us yesterday, this all sounds truly impressive. Thank you, Morel.”
“Thank you? This is one of only a few times, ever, that we’ve improved a human technology beyond original specs, and all I get is a thank you?”
“I’ll bake you a cake and dance at your kitten’s wedding, alright? What do you want? I pull out my doggone wallet and only ‘thank you’ sounds come out, along with some dust. How about we use this thing to save the world, and your rear end is included in that, huh? That work for you?”
Morel stood up straight, her eyes wide, her mouth open in disbelief. I’d really done it now.
“Would you really dance at my daughter’s wedding? She’s only a year old, but she’d probably love that. Alright, then. It’s a deal, and you better not back out of it. You can bake the wedding cake and knock both promises out in one go.”
Nightshade threw her paw over her mouth, but the giggling sounds escaped anyway.
“Sorry, Trigger. Morel is a very literal cat. I’m afraid you’ve signed your name in blood on this one. I suggest you consider dancing and baking lessons when all of this is over.”
“Yeah? That’s just great. But a deal is a deal,” I said. Should’ve known that humor wouldn’t land quite the same out here.
“Go on then. Moss is waiting. Get out of here!”
Morel picked up both backpacks and shoved them toward us. My heart skipped a beat, and I felt light-headed as I reluctantly, and very carefully, grabbed the one she held in front of me.
“What’s the matter with you?” she asked, seeing my distress. “Don’t worry, it’s tougher than it looks. You won’t break it unless you, or I guess something else, really tries.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good to know, ma’am.”
“Okay? Well, leave then! Look at this place. Doesn’t it look like I have better things to do?”
“Sheesh, alright. We’re moving. We’re moving,” I said, carefully stepping around tripping hazards behind Nightshade.
Moss himself was waiting outside his tent as we approached. “Nice tech you have there! Historical, even. I asked you to come here second because I wanted Morel to have her short-lived fame. Before I blow her out of the water with my work, that is,” he said, ushering us inside. He seemed confident. Had he finished the flying machine somehow, even without the cells?
Once inside, I looked around. To my surprise, he had dismantled the flying machine even further than it was last night. Several sections were strewn across the corner that were once whole. Scanning the room, I couldn’t pick up on any differences. An additional bike, maybe.
Nightshade pointed to it. “Is that my bike?”
&nb
sp; Moss laughed and patted her on the back. “Sort of. Why don’t you have a look? See if you can tell me what’s different.”
She put her paw to her chin and bent down in front of it. “Hmm.”
She moved around to the sides, and squealed, making me jump in surprise.
“What? What happened?” I asked.
She ignored me. “Is that what I think it is? The other cells. You installed them on my bike!” She bent in closer, fiddling with something I couldn’t quite see. “And you’ve opened up the output! I bet it could keep up with the scout models now. Moss! I don’t know what to say!”
“Well, stop talking then. Keep looking.” He nodded enthusiastically. There were differences, definitely, but Morel and Moss definitely had the ego and love of praise in common. That’s for sure.
“What’s this bar over here?” she asked, as she moved around to the other side.
“That? Oh, nothing special. Just a multi-ton, expanding towing bar I just made last night. Made specifically for your bike, and one of a kind. Just remember than when you’re using that kind of power, speed and longevity will suffer. It has a roll out net, and an optional magnetic field. I don’t want any excuses for not bringing my parts back,” he said, handing a notebook to her. “Everything is listed in here. Other than myself and Morel, I know you’re the most knowledgeable on where these components are found and what they look like.”
Nightshade took the notebook from Moss and leaped forward, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Moss! You’re the best!”
“Aw, come on. You didn’t even notice the reinforcement to the frame. The lightweight armor plating under the existing armor?”
“You’re the double best!” Nightshade shouted, as she jumped around her bike, with a smile that looked like it might pull every muscle in her face if she didn’t let it go soon. Suddenly, she stopped jumping and hung her head. “But you had to take apart a lot more of your flying machine to make these upgrades. Are you sure it’s okay?”
Moss smiled and held up his paw. “It’s not a gift, Nightshade. It’s an investment. Trigger here convinced me. If others believe in my dream, I should let them help instead of doing it all myself. So, you’re now honorary assistants to my shop. Understand? Your mission to get these parts is second only to your saving the world stuff. If you do anything else, it’ll be working for me.”
“Understood!” Nightshade shouted, snapping into a salute with her back straight and fist clenched tightly over her heart. “Trigger, want to go for a ride?”
“I, uh… well, I do but take it easy if you don’t mind. You love these things, but I’ve never been on one before.”
She grabbed a helmet off the bars in the front, yanked my hat off my head and put it in one of the storage compartments on the side of the bike, then fumbled a moment to secure the helmet on my head. “There, that’s to keep your head from exploding if you fall off or if we hit something. My riding armor and your coat will take care of the rest. Now hop on. Let’s go!”
It took me a moment to figure out how to get on the bike, and Moss was kind enough to secure me to the seat with various buckles and harnesses. “Good luck, Trigger,” he said. “You’re going to need it.”
And with that, the bike ripped out of the tent faster than anything I could have imagined, and I began regretting every decision I’d ever made leading up to this moment. Nightshade was a mad cat, and this was going to be how I died.
“Hold on tight, Trigger! Here we go!” she shouted.
I did hold on tight. So tight my paws hurt. I tensed every muscle in my body so tightly I almost forgot to breathe.
We rode straight out of the camp, through the trees, and into a wide, open space with only grass and weeds as far as I could see.
“Just taking it for a test, and going back to Moss’s tent, right?” I asked, my voice cracking.
“Why? We’ve got everything we need. I drew up most of our maps. No one knows the distant lands better than me, with exception to Kerdy maybe, and our soon-to-be new dog friend. No time to lose, and no time better than the present, right? Our mission is underway!”
I was becoming too sick to answer, doing everything I could to hold on to my breakfast. Just yesterday she seemed reluctant to go along with something like this. Now? Put this dame on a bike and she’s suddenly ready to face almost certain death with a smile on her face.
At least my new partner has guts, and possibly even more reckless than me. Here goes nothing.
15
Our surroundings passed by us so quickly, I wasn’t sure how anything could ever hope to catch us. The realization that I hadn’t even seen one of these machine enemies yet washed over me. Could they catch us, if they saw us? Maybe the scout bikes were so fast because they needed to warn everyone quickly, or maybe… it was because the machines were so fast it was the only way to outrun them. No one had ever described them to me, and I never thought to ask. That was probably for the best. The last thing I needed was a reason to lose my nerve.
There was a time, recently, when I stared at a patch of grass as though I’d witnessed a miracle. There was so little of it in Arc City, with only a few trees in the entire place. Rose Garden Estates in my district felt like a whole different world because of it. Flower gardens, and lots of grass. Even a few trees in the park in the middle, filled with an empty playground where no pups or kitten ever played. Everyone who lived there was old, and the few who weren’t didn’t have any pups or kittens. With exception of Harvey.
After about an hour of silence, Nightshade slowed to a stop near a collection of tents that looked eerily like the ones we just left behind. Eerie, because they’d obviously been abandoned for a long time, and looked it. Tattered pieces blew in the wind, surrounded by a backdrop of trees on the opposite side.
“Let’s stop a moment here. This is as far as we can safely go without activating our cloaking devices.” Nightshade said, before noticing the frown on my face. “Sad, isn’t it? So many there didn’t make it, but it’s their fight we’re continuing.”
“Just had an image of Arc City pop into my mind, all in ruins like this. Nothing but wind passing through the streets, and echoes of falling debris once in a while,” I said.
“Not going to let that happen, are you? It’s an honor worth being happy about, if you ask me. Aside from Lady, you and I are the only two from that place who know the whole truth, and we have a chance to fight against it. Have you ever found yourself wishing you could’ve just kept on working normal, sane cases, without knowing what was happening outside those walls? It’s understandable, I think.”
I shook my head. “No, absolutely not. Cases there, or cases here. What’s the difference? Besides, things haven’t exactly been going great for me lately. I could choose between the rock and the hard place. The frying pan, or the oven. I’m out of happy options. There are a lot of evil forces to fight against in this world, and that comes along with the job. You don’t get to fight the bad guys, then enjoy retirement somewhere. At least not easily. But, hey, that being said, I plan on trying it anyway. Once all of this is over, if the world isn’t on fire, and the city isn’t on fire, I’m going to try being the first private detective to succeed at doing just that. Of course, there’s almost no chance I’ll live long enough to see the day.”
Nightshade nodded along. “You know, I’m kind of jealous you can even plan for possibilities like that. Maybe I’m just impulsive, but I’ve never been able to see my life more than a few days in advance. I don’t have big dreams like Moss, or a series of potential goals like you. Just this bike, and the wind in my hair, and the world passing by me in a series of colorful blurs. I look forward to the things I might find today or tomorrow when I explore, then I just move on to do the same thing the next day. You think that’s bad?”
I laughed as I took off my backpack and handed it to her. “Only if it’s bad that it makes me a little jealous of you too. Wish I could just put my mind at ease and enjoy the moment sometimes. I’ve ta
ken a lot for granted over the years.”
She fiddled with it a moment before handing it back. “I’m going to warn you. We’ll be safe as long as these are active, but what you’re about to see may be a little… jarring. Are you ready?”
“We’re on the clock now, right? You activated these things?” I asked.
She nodded. “I did.”
“Then I’m ready as I’ll ever be, and I’ll never truly be ready. This is all insane to me.”
“A respectable answer. I’m going to confess to you, these things scare me so much. I think that reaction is normal. Lucky for us, they reduce their activity dramatically just before a colossus attack.”
“Yeah, lucky us. Being close to a colossus attack. Fantastic.”
She grinned. “Yep, now that you put it that way, I guess I’d prefer seeing little scout machines everywhere instead.”
She handed my backpack back to me and I slipped it on, taking a deep breath.
“We’re moving. Get ready,” she said, speeding off again.
This felt like anything but fun to me, and I’m not sure how she found so much joy in it. Everything that passed by us was definitely a blur of colors. Every rock we hit sent us gliding high into the air before landing softly on the ground again. My stomach felt like it was bouncing from my feet up to my mouth and back down again. Through some miracle, I’d kept my breakfast down, but only just barely.
For a few more hours, we continued on like this. Nightshade would stop more and more frequently, inspect what I assumed was some kind of landmark, then continue on again.
Finally, we stopped, and she stepped off the bike, motioning for me to do the same. When I did, I could barely stand. It was as though my sense of balance had been wrecked during the ride. I leaned against the bike a moment, trying to gather my bearings.
Nightshade’s smile told me she had expected this, and… it was very amusing, apparently. At least to her. I started to speak, but she placed her paw to her mouth and shook her head. She pointed to the area behind me, and that’s when I saw them.
