USA Mustelidae household.
Something woke Warren out of his sound slumber, he wasn't sure what it was but he was now awake with an uneasy feeling that something was wrong but he had no idea what. He stared over at the time on his alarm clock, 2:46 am. Still the space beside him remained empty.
He quickly got up and ran down to his den and pushed open the door. Hoping to find his wife dozing at the desk while reading; instead he found her passed out on the floor where she had collapsed earlier.
"DORA!!!!!" He quickly raced to her side and tried to gently rouse her. She didn't respond, carefully he put her back down and ran to the kitchen. His trembling fingers dialed 911; he prayed that he was in time and that she was going to be ok. His mind raced as he tried to figure out what had happened to her.
The paramedics arrived in record time, but to Warren's frantic mind it seemed to take forever. They were ever so gentle with Endora but to him it seemed they were anything but. They tried to wake her up but they didn't succeed. Carefully they did a quick injury assessment, checking her vitals signs and pupil reaction. Concluding she was stable enough for transport they put an oxygen mask on her muzzle and put her on a gurney. Warren quickly threw something on and went with her in the ambulance.
At three o'clock in the morning, the hospital was almost deserted. The waiting room had a couple of furs there, both were just as disheveled as Warren waiting for word of a loved one in the middle of the night.
One of the furs turned out to be a wolf who lived close by. He knew him in passing, it seems his son, Irving had been in an motorcycle accident and was getting his broken leg set. Warren didn't know him all that well but he seemed genuinely concerned for his wife as he told him about the evening's activities. He turned out to be a kind soul, giving him change for the coffee machine and talking small talk with him; all in hopes of taking his mind off the matters at paw. It didn't but he did appreciate his attempts.
He called Sabrina, waking her from her slumber. He couldn't tell her much about what was going on but explained what he knew. She said she'd be there as quickly as possible. He told her to be careful and she reassured him she would.
Sabrina arrived shortly with Amy and Thomas in tow. They all hugged and Sabrina cried. Warren hugged her dearly for he didn't know what else to do; he felt lost. He explained again what had happened but he was at a lost as to why Dora had fallen. They all had coffee again trying to stay awake.
Finally a doctor did come out. "Mr. Mustelidae?" Asked a very old looking male porcupine.
"I'm Warren Mustelidae…how is my wife??" His voice was raw and he was so tired.
"Your wife is resting now, she has a mild concussion and a nasty goose egg on her forehead. She must have hit her head on something."
"I'm thinking the desk, I didn't see anything else about the room."
"That would make sense, she briefly came too obviously distraught and shouting something about her mother, we quickly sedated her so she could rest comfortably. We also had some strange blood work come back from the lab and we redid it just to be sure. The results were still strange on the second run through but we did get one piece of interesting information that did make some sense. Did you know that your wife is pregnant?"
Warren stopped blinking for a few moments, unable to grasp what the doctor had just uttered. "What?" Warren squeaked in shock.
"Obviously not from your reaction. Well, she isn't too far along. Has she had children before?"
"Yes", Warren stammered still stunned at this news, "but she's had trouble carrying." This was incredible news; a baby!
Behind him Sabrina was as equally stunned.
"Ok, I can see this is an obvious shock to you and maybe even her. When she comes around and is feeling better I suggest you two have a chat."
"Yes we will, Doctor. I'm not sure she really knows."
"I can understand that, she isn't that far along. We can tell her when she awakens. At her age, a baby is a definite risk so you two need to discuss this completely. We can give you some literature to take home and study. It's best to be as informed as you can be with this type of decision."
"That might be a good idea. Of course we had this same discussion a few years ago when the twins were born; but they were a planned pregnancy"
"Ok, I'll make sure the attending physician has a talk with her. Now you folks go home, there is nothing you can do for her now. Come back tomorrow, we should know more then."
Warren shook the Doctors paw and thanked him. Once the doctor ambled off Warren said, "I don't think I'm going to sleep now." Warren said, exasperated.
Sabrina threw herself around her Dad, "Oh Daddy theirs going to be another one in our family."
Warren hugged his daughter, "Don't count your chickens yet, little girl. There are a lot of factors we have to consider here, I don't want to endanger your mother. If it's not meant to be then so be it. If it is then we'll deal with that."
Sabrina kissed him, "I know Dad, it's a big decision."
"Yes it is. Now how about we hit one of those all night coffee shops; might help."
The vote was unanimous and it was off to a local all night coffee shop; it was a short trip to the café in fact. The coffee was good and hot, not like the horrible stuff from the vending machine he had as of late. Warren started the conversation since he needed to say something, "I can't believe it; Dora's pregnant."
"Well Dad, things happen, I'm happy for you two." Sabrina smiled, she read her father and he was shook up for sure.
"We are too Warren," said Amy smiling.
"Yes, congrats Mr. Mustelidae," said Thomas adding his support as he sipped his expresso.
"Thanks all of you and I'm sure Dora would have told me if she knew. I think she's in for a big surprise in the morning." He rubbed his head, this was a pretty big piece of news to have at three in the morning. "I'm still wondering what made her collapse though. She was just reading her mother's diary we found yesterday."
"I doubt that had anything to do with it Dad." Sabrina said quickly, "Mom wasn't feeling too good yesterday, remember."
"Yeah…you're right hun. "Tomorrow"…he quickly changed that… "today should be quite a day." Warren could only imagine as he sipped his coffee.
Canada Early Morning: The White's Residence.
Nancy awoke to the new day eagerly, because it was a special day; Heather was home.
She smiled as she remembered watching her daughter walk into their home without any help from anyone when she returned from the hospital. Her heart filled with joy at the sight. She had thought that Heather would forever be confined to a gurney to move about. It wasn't a life she wanted for her adopted daughter but those fears had abated as she watched her walk around the living room the day she came home. She still had to use her arm crutches but that was a small price to pay for being able to stand at all.
She was also glad to see Hector feeling better from his close call. That damned mother of his; she hoped she rotted in jail for the rest of her days. Trying to kill your own, what kind of sick and twisted person was she? She had met Hector's sister finally, she was different; outgoing that was for sure. She was glad to see she was on the mend as well.
Things weren't all going well outside their small little world. Heather's sisters were having a hard time with Ti losing an arm plus the disappearance of Swallow didn't help things. She hoped that they would find her soon and that everything would turn out ok. Today however was to be a shopping day, a good day she hoped.
She did her morning business then woke Sid, he mumbled something about it being too early then started to rise. Her next stop was Heather.
She opened her door and found her daughter spread out across her bed. A light blanket covered her. She looked at peace laying there. Nancy stared at the metal rods that now were connected to her legs. They didn't look natural, just painful. She knew they were screwed directly into her bones and it made her shiver.
"Enough of that thinking", Nancy said to herself, time to wake up sleepy head. She gently shook Heather back to the land of the living.
"Huh…nurse it's too early for my exercises."
"Heather hun, it's Mom."
"Mom…oh yeah I'm home."
"Yes you are and I'm so glad." She cuddled her waking daughter's shoulders. Heather's muffled purrs could softly be heard.
"I missed you too Mom." Heather yawned trying to bring herself to life.
"I suspect you did, this has been your only home. But it seems you'll soon have a new one."
"Yeah, I know!" She really couldn't believe it, "I really didn't think Hector would go as far as building a house for us. I can move around just fine in a normal home, it's just a little more inconvenient. Then there's the fact he built another one, I hope he has this figured right. I don't want him… I mean us to be so far in debt that we can't see our way out of it."
"He's done the math, I know. In fact I've known about this for quite awhile." Nancy winked.
Heather looked surprised, "Really!"
"Yeah, he told me in confidence. Heather, I don't know if I have told you but Hector is a wonderful fur. He's everything I wished in a husband for you."
"Thanks Mom, he likes you too. He thinks of you and Dad as the family he didn't have."
"I'm glad we can be there for him, he's had a rough life."
"Tell me about it. So what's for breakfast? I'm starving."
"I can bet, you've got a big tummy." She rubbed Heather's side and her leg started jerking involuntarily. Her mother grinned and Heather rolled her eyes.
"Mom!"
Construction Site: Early Morning.
As Hector approached the field where the two houses were to eventually stand, he saw a trailer parked near the driveway. It had to be the construction foreman's office. He didn't really know a lot about construction but his friends did and they recommended, Arden Bearridge. A polar bear who was well known in the local construction industry as a fur who knew his business. Getting him had been a stroke of luck from what the guys had said. Hector couldn't believe that since their luck had been nothing but bad as of late.
He pulled the van into the field and as close to the trailer as possible. He saw another truck there and assumed it was Arden's. It didn't match any of his buddy's vehicles. He got out and gave a shout.
"Hello?" Hector saw the trailer move then the door flew open.
"Yes?"
"Hi, I'm Hector Sandrom." He put out his paw in greeting.
"Ah… the financier of this venture."
"Yup, that would be little old broke me."
Arden grinned, "Don't be so sure, I just saved you a bundle."
"Huh??"
"Come on I'll show you." They took a walk out to one of the holes. As they approached, Hector could see the foundation/floor was poured. The plastic covering rustled in the breeze.
"Huh the floor is poured?"
"Yup… I got word of a pour not too far from here, an apartment complex in fact. Quite often loads get contaminated or sit too long in the truck, ruining its potential for a stand up form. But it's perfect for a floor. So I made a few calls and asked if a load that got that way could be brought here and dumped. They charge was half cost on high yield concrete."
"High yield…ah is that good??"
"Well, it's not really a lot different from regular concrete it just gets its strength much faster. It's more expensive but it's great for forms 'cause you can take the form down quicker. It's over-kill, sort of, but you have a foundation and a floor at half cost. Same with the other one, we had to rush the forms on that one but it still will be a good foundation."
"That's great news."
"Yeah, I thought you'd like that, anything to save you some money."
The big bear turned and started walking back to the trailer. "So what's next?" Hector inquired.
"Well, I have to price some stuff. I'm considering having the foundation walls poured. It will mean some cutting of concrete for the rebar but it might work out cheaper than blocks."
"Oh?"
"Depends on where they get them from." They had reached the trailer. "Come on in, let's talk." The trailer was really roomy inside. "I'm glad you're here, I was going to call you to come down and talk with me anyway. I like meeting the people I'm working for."
"I do too; Gary says you're one of the best around here."
"Gary Shanks?"
"Yeah."
"Oh I know him, he's a good framer. Well, I don't like to brag but I usually get things done by my dead line."
"Seems you're off to a good start."
"Yeah, it seems so. I've taken a look at the plans for these places; I haven't done a quad's home before."
"Quads?"
"Quadruped."
"Ah…yeah my fiancé is a 'taur and she needs room to get around."
"Oh you'll have room in this place, lots of it. I see there are a few specialty items here that you have made note of."
"Yeah, those are going to cost but I do need them."
"Ok, the showers, toilets and dryers are not totally uncommon. There are more quads than you'd think. The power lifters are going to be harder to locate, probably a custom build. You didn't specify if you wanted them for both places."
"Yeah I want them for both, especially the bathroom, a lift has to be there. Heather, my mate has difficulty walking and the shower lift will help greatly."
"Ok that's not a problem. We just have to reinforce the joists. This will also be in the other dwelling?"
"Yup, upstairs and down. I know it's a great expense these specialty items but I'm renting the other place to 'taur tenants. I want them to feel the extra price is worth it too them. Since I'm responsible for the other building and if I get a 'taur tenant that's lame; well they'll need those items. To put these things in afterward will cost me even more."
Arden let out a good laugh, "Oh you're right about that, 'pay me now or pay me more later.' By the way, there is a home a buddy of mine built a few years back for a quad who was in a gurney. She's dead now and the place is up for sale, I'm sure I could get us a look through it. There might be something there that you'd like to incorporate into the design. Now is the time lad. It's a lot easier to do it now than later, plus a lot less expensive."
"That's sounds great Mr. Bearridge I…" Hector was cut off mid sentence.
"Arden's fine.
"Arden, I'd like that, I really want Heather to be comfortable."
"Then we'll schedule that. You have a cell phone?"
"Yup." Hector gave him the number. "I don't see many of your type around here."
"Well… heh... My parents (now only mother) lives in Albuquerque. I was born in Phoenix AZ and have lived all over the US and in a few places outside the country. I was offered this job opportunity here in Canada so I took it. I got a few years left in me and it's a lot cooler up here than the desert."
"Well from the last few summers, I don't know."
"You're right about that Mr. Sandrom."
"Hector is fine Arden, I'm not my father yet."
The polar bear winked, "Then Hector it is. Well Hector I have a few more questions. Come on over here and take a look at these plans for a minute."
Hector got up from the chair he was sitting in. The guys were right, Arden did know his stuff and he was glad to have him leading the team to put the houses up. Finally something had gone right!
Tarra: The Hanger Housing The Old World Ship.
Afain and her team had spent many months getting ready for this moment. Today would be the day to show if they indeed succeeded in delving into the past.
Alex, the organic they had struggled so hard to acquire had proven a great asset after Kira had explained the situation to it. After that, Alex was very co-operative. Now it knew the ancient's language and its codes.
It had taken a lot of research to find the necessary codes for that era. Now with them encoded into Alex they were ready to attempt to bring down the seal. Once that was done Alex had to tell the AI not to power up, instead auxiliary power would be supplied to it. That was Lyja's job; she had things configured to slowly power up the ship. Radiation levels were now almost non-existent due to the collectors; they had done their job well. After a final check, they discovered the emitter they were using turned out to be completely wrong. The emitter was a device that sends the codes to the ship, they had forgotten that they needed the correct one. The new ones used sequential waveguides where as the older ones used parallel waveguides. It took Lyja hours to modify it to do what they wanted.
So it was time to run down the checklists to get things underway. Kira had insisted that Afain stay home incase something went horribly wrong. She had argued fiercely but in the end she saw it Kira's way, but she did let Kira have Cleo. Cleo on orders from Afain had made an extra powerful drone just for this occasion with multi-phasing shielding to protect Lyja from an explosion.
All was set, "Lyja are you ready?"
"Ready Kira."
"Good I'm going to maneuver the emitter into place."
"Ok." Lyja stood ready for the command to plug the ship into the reserve power supply. The ship would receive minute power pulses until it could regulate them internally. She then would convert it to a steady stream of low power. The ship's internal systems would have to shift to regulate the stream due to the core being by passed. That's if they weren't blown to a million bits before then. She had great reservations in trying to revive this AI.
"Emitter locked on target, synchronizing the emitter to Alex. Coms are good, we have communication between the two." Kira had waited for this day, now if they didn't get blown away the future, or should she say the past, was wide open. "Alex I need a progress report."
"DATA STREAM FUCTIONAL, NO DATA DEGREDATION."
"Good. Lyja I'm going to give the command, standby."
"Ok." She shouted back. How do you prepare yourself for an explosion? She had to grin ducking wasn't really going to help a lot in this case. Running wasn't really an option either, she guessed it would be over in an instant; at least it wouldn't hurt. She did have a bit of hope Cleo had shown her the shield design that it had come up with. It might work depending on the yield of the explosion. She took a deep breath and waited.
"Alex, time to show it your stuff." Kira pushed several buttons and the emitter began its cycle. It was a simple code if you knew it. She only hoped that the old ship had enough power to respond back. Five pulses were sent directly to the ship then it was to wait for so many seconds then send another five, then four, three, two and at last one. Then it would be Alex's time to wait for the reply, the code it sent back would trigger a specific response. That's what Alex had to interpret if Alex was right it would either open the ship or if wrong; close it off forever. Kira was a nervous wreck as the process was a slow one, too slow for her. In these days the information flowed much faster and the seals were brought down in mere seconds not hours.
After a grueling time the pulses were sent, the message complete now it was the ship's turn. They waited on bated breath. Kira watched for any activity from the ship, nothing; seconds, minutes, then hours. She sighed, then shook her head. Nothing, it had all been in vain. Then something came back, it was weak but Alex picked it up and enhanced it.
"Alex?"
"I HAVE A RESPONSE AND I AM INTERPRETING."
"Good, let me know when you are finished."
"I WILL KIRA."
It took Alex an hour to decipher the codes, "I BELIEVE I HAVE WHAT IT WANTS BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM."
"Go ahead."
"THERE ARE TWO CODES SIMILAR TO WHAT IT WANTS, ONE IS CORRECT THE OTHER COULD BE JUDGED AS WRONG."
"Damn!" Kira cursed out loud.
"What's wrong?" Lyja said coming towards Kira after hearing her curse.
"We have a problem, seems it's all going to come down to chance."
"Huh?"
"Alex has deciphered the ships request but it has two answers to choose from.
"That's not so good news, so what are we going to do?"
"Let Alex choose, I can't do it."
"Then let's do it."
Kira cleared her throat, "Alex choose one message and relay it to the ship."
"UNDERSTOOD." For a moment nothing happened then the emitter fluttered to life once again; with the hope that the door would open and not slam in their faces.
The End Of Chapter 14
Oh crap, snake eyes!!!!!!
Do I cut the red wire or the white?