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Chapter Twenty Five

"The Machine"

By

Furry Sith Lord

Bear sat nervously waiting as he wore a suit and sat on a bench in the courthouse. He used a finger to tug at his collar as it felt uncomfortable pressing against his neck. He had plenty of room but it still felt too close and pressed his collar against his neck.

He wondered why he had not removed the collar but everytime he thought about it his mind would become hazy and forget that he had it on. He then looked down to make sure his tie was tied correctly. He was not sure why it was important but it seemed important to him.

His lawyer stepped out from a chamber and walked over and smiled at him. Bear rose swiftly to find out the results and what the next step was.

"The judge would like to speak to you." His lawyer said sternly and Bear nodded as he was led by his lawyer into the judges chambers. A large conference table was set up and the judge sat at the head of the table. Melody and her lawyer sat on one side and he was led to sit with his lawyer at the other side.

"If everyone is here. I have heard both sides and I do find that there is evidence to go to trial. I will set a trial date three weeks from today unless there are any hardships I should be aware of." The judge dictated. He was a ginger colored caracal and he sat there as Bear was focused on his pointed ears. He looked like a lynx to him with his ears but the coloring seemed a little off. The name of the judge on a small plaquared in front of him was the only clue that he was a caracal.

"No objections on our part." Melody's lawyer replied. Bear's lawyer leaned in and asked if he had any objections and Bear whispered back that he did not.

"We are fine with the date you set, your honor."

"OK, then the date is set three weeks from today. I'll send confirmation of all paperwork to your attorneys. I will see you both then." The judge rose and collected his paperwork as he prepared to leave. The other parties collected themselves and left without either side speaking to each other.

"There is no turning back now." His lawyer said as he smiled and placed his claw on Bear's shoulder. Bear looked at the hawk feathers and felt reassured not that he knew that Melody had an Irish Setter as a lawyer.

Even though he hated sounding specist but the thought of a hawk rather than a dog seemed better as a choice for the aggressive nature of an attorney.

"So how are we looking?" Bear asked nervously.

"I presented the evidence we have and the only thing that she could do was cry on command. She really is a good actress but I think I was able to convince the judge that she was lying."

"Is there any chance we could lose?" Bear asked and his lawyer shrugged.

"Honestly depends on the jury. They will most definitely be moved by her tears but the evidence against her is overwhelming. I don't think there's much of a chance we'll lose. I expect they may try and make a deal to keep this from going to trial.

The trick is to appear as if they are not terrified so they can try and make us afraid then they'll get a better deal." His lawyer explained.

"Which reminds me, my agent and I came up with a movie script and we have someone writing an idea we have for a movie. Depending on how long the trial plays out will this be a problem with the shooting schedule?" Bear asked.

"Depends... How soon you get things up and running but from the evidence we have I expect a speedy trial." Bear forced himself to smile even though he still felt nervous. Even though was innocent he still felt like proving that was going to be a hard road to walk on.

BH had lead the apes towards the back end of the city of Salam. He had mapped out the layout when he first took his hunters through it on the way to capture Maxx. He had planned this in case things did not turn out the way he planned, as they usually did, and needed a Plan B.

"All is set Reverend Lord." Maxx whispered to him but still used his honorific name with the others around them. It had become a rule among them to call him Reverend Lord since Hueman had declared it. Now that they called themselves humans they still enforced their devotion to the fallen prophet of Gawd.

"The women and children are to stay behind but all males are to come with me." he ordered.

"You can't be serious, there must be half a dozen police stations and you think that we can subdue all of them?" Maxx asked incredulously.

"As I recall, your stories to the hunters say you can subdue an entire station by yourself with one paw tied behind your back. This should be easy for you." BH mocked.

"We both know those are only tales to entertain the humans so they don't eat me." Maxx confessed. BH gestured for the bull to lower his head so BH could mess up his hair. Maxx politely obeyed fearing what the humans would do to him if he refused. They still outnumbered him!

"The woman and children can camp here in the woods to keep them safe. I'll send some scouts to watch the police stations and once we know their habits I can pick a strategy of when it's best to attack." BH said and Maxx scratched his chin as he stood upright again.

"You really think wooden spears with stone blades will be effective versus police guns?" Maxx asked.

"Of course not! The victory is in the strategy. If we can take them unawares then we'll have the upper paws and take them down easily. Once we have their tech in my paws... our hands I can train the humans and make them ready for war."

"A war machine verses the entire police force is suicide. We have untrained humans that only really hunt by cutting down speciews that have committed suicide in their forest. None of them are equipped for something like this! You want to throw away their lives for what? Petty revenge against a wolf you don't like?" Maxx asked.

"A petty wolf that killed that little boy I was fond of!" BH lied as he saw the saddened look in Maxx's eyes. He was the only one to know that he was the one to kill Hueman. The opportunity had presented itself for him to take control of the entire shrewdness and he took it. Even though the wolf and Tyger knew the truth, none of the humans would believe them. He had made sure of that. With the humans wanting revenge he now had the army that he needed.

Soon his plans to liberate Bear and reclaim The White Citadel would come to fruition. They would hail him as a hero and he hoped over time he could continue to expand his army and take over the other cities. He did not know what name they would give him then, but he knew he would rule supreme.

Dad and I entered the warehouse and I was surprised it lit up but not a single species was around. Dad held my paw as we entered and I offered no resistance since I was more curious about what this machine was. Why was I never told about it before if grandfather was so keen on me understanding it. The only thing I could think of was that father had known about some danger of it and wanted to keep me away. That or he thought I was too young to know about it.

Seemed funny that I had helped destroy C.I.Z.A. and The White Citadel but he thought I was too young to understand this monstrosity they were keeping secret. I had thought I had proven myself by now yet I still felt like they thought I was a stupid cub. Grandfather trusted me so why didn't they trust me?

The other mystery I could not wrap my head around was that I had never met my grandfather so how could he know anything about me? At least I don't ever remember meeting him and father spoke little about him to us.

I jumped a few times as a loud crackle of electricity could be heard from many of the conductors. Dad made a few soothing noises as he looked around and kept his body in front of mine as if he was ready to shield me from something. I felt both relieved and annoyed at the same time. I was almost out of my cub age and didn't like that he was still treating me like one.

"This thing make any sense to you?" Dad asked and I shrugged. From what I saw a trail of electricity would move from one conductor to the next and pass through some sort of amplification device to increase the power output. I seemed to double the amount sent into it then send it out to the next amplification unit.

It looked like there was a ring, on top of a ring, on top of a ring, on top of a ring. The initial charge would start at the bottom and work it's way upward. There must be over a dozen of the amplification units making the charge. Taking a charge as small as a battery once it passed through the rings it would grow from a size D battery to the size of a car battery.

That block of rings then needs to be multiplied 50 times and the end result a charge the size of a D battery would grow to power an entire city. The whole warehouse housed those 50 sets of rings and from what I saw there were solar panels to create the initial energy charge that would eventually be magnified.

The first thing I could not fathom was how the amplifiers worked. The second problem was what was happening to the energy after it passed through the 50 ring network? I did not see any connections to where the energy was sent.

"Weird." I remarked and dad looked at me.

"What?" he asked.

"I understand some of the basic ideas of how this machine works but I can't figure out what makes it work and what happens to the energy onces it's created. It looks like energy starts in one of the sets of rings and travels eventually through all the rings but I can't see where it goes after going through all the sets I can't see." I tried explaining.

"What's in the center of the rings?" Dad asked.

"I dunno, it might be how the energy is amplified but I don't want to get closer because I could be electrocuted. Are you sure we can't turn it off?" I asked and I saw dad shake his head.

"I don't know if that's safe. Like you said, where is the energy going? If we turn this off who's to say the energy won't instantly be released and blow us all up... ka-blu-ie!" Dad said as he exaggerated an explosion. I understood him enough but the mystery was really intriguing. I slowly walked around trying to get an idea of where the energy might be going. I thought I saw a few areas where the energy was being diverted and funneled to power the machine and warehouse. The whole place seemed self-sustaining!

"Hey look at this!" Dad exclaimed and I walked back to him to see him staring at something.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I dunno," he replied and I saw that something had been scratched into this control panel. I turned and saw that a long line had been scratched into the panel and the words: String Theory. It Will Make Sense Later.

"What does it mean?" Dad asked.

"I dunno. I know that string theory is a thing in science but I have no clue how it words or what it does." I replied.

"How dangerous is this thing? Should I be reporting it to the government to have them take it away and deal with it?" Dad asked and I shook my head.

"If you do that they may try and turn it into a weapon. I understand a few basics behind this but there are a number of components I have no clue about. When the note said it was dangerous to turn this off then I agree."

"So what do I do with this? Keep it doing whatever it does for all of eternity?" Dad asked.

"My best guess right now is to study it more. The energy must be stored someplace or used in some way otherwise this whole device would overload and blow itself up. The answers can't be figured out by looking at this for a few minutes. I'm gonna need more time to study it."

"When you get back to school, see if you can figure out what string theory is because whatever carved that into the panel might be trying to tell you something.

"Could... Father have written that message?"

"No, it's not his hoof writing. Honestly, if your father knew this place existed then he would have spent every waking hour trying to figure it out and would have left some notes explaining his findings so that other experts could help him capitalize on the research." Dad replied. I continued to walk around and I saw dad jump as another crackle of lightning was heard. Then an idea came that I wanted to know where the discharge was coming from. I began to search around the ring sets.

"Be careful! You don't wanna get struck by lightning!" Dad cautioned and I nodded but wasn't really paying attention as I was searching for any electrodes that might be discharging the energy released. Starting next to the nearest set of rings I began to follow what I presumed was the path the energy would travel so I could get an idea where it would go.

"Tyger! Get away from there Now!!!" Dad ordered and I was so close to finding out where the energy went that I ignored him. I heard him stomp his feet coming towards me and I backed away slowly but I laid on the ground and saw that the sets of rings centered on something that looked like a computer tower that was as big as a small house.

Dad scruffed my neck and I became limp as he pulled me to my feet and pulled me away. I just hung helplessly in his grip and was annoyed that I was so close to figuring out the whole machine and he had to do this.

"When I tell you something I mean now and not when you feel like it!" He scolded me. "By my paws, no wonder your father kept punishing you. Were you this disrespectful to him?"

"I'm sorry dad, but I'm so close to figuring this thing out." I whined as he set me down away from it and released my neck but kept his paw there as a reminder that he would scruff me again if I tried getting near it.

"I realize that, but you could have killed yourself in the process. If you even think about getting near that monstrosity you better be in some kind of rubber suit to protect yourself."

"Yes sir."

"I mean it, you and your brother are the world to me and if anything happened to you guys... I'd die instantly! I just couldn't bear it." I lowered my head after hearing dad confess that and a pang of guilt at ignoring his warming made me look at my feet.

Father had just died and here I was nearly endangering myself. I should have realized that besides being overprotective, the death of my father would cause him to be overly cautious of me and my brother.

"I'm sorry dad, I wasn't thinking. I guess I just want to make my father proud by carrying on his work." I said shyly.

"He IS proud we both are. I just wish we never had to end. Even if I could spend 1000 years with you guys it would not be long enough." Dad said and then he stepped in and hugged me.

"Wait, I just got an idea! Dad pick me up."

"You're kinda big for that aren't you?" Dad grumbled.

"No, I mean yes but if I sit on your shoulders then maybe I can see better," I started.

"And see inside the rings!" My dad continued my thought and he stooped down so I could sit on his shoulders and he gripped my feet and stood upright as I looked to see what the inside of the rings held.

Inside one set, closest to the bottom, I saw some conductors that were helping to create static electric fields. The flows of energy through the rings would grab the energy from the static electric fields and that was how the electricity was being magnified.

The crackling we heard was the static fields being shut down so that they would not grow to dangerous levels. The energy gets pulled along like strings from one destination to the other.

"I get it! I understand what the note said when it meant string theory. This entire machine operates on that principle but it uses electricity instead of whatever the string theory uses. The energy gets pulled by electrical strings and grows larger and larger." I yelled so dad could hear me although it was not loud in here so there was no need for me to shout. I guess I was becoming overly excited.

"Can it be turned off safely?" He asked.

"Yes but not all at once. It needs to be shut down section by section in order to have the energy use itself up."

"Could it then be turned back on later by going in reverse of shutting it down?" He asked and I had to think about it.

"I'm not entirely sure. It might take a large jumpstart to get it moving again once it stopped. You can't just safely turn it on because the static fields might become dangerous if someone doesn't know what they are doing. It's probably why grandfather never wanted this shut off until someone was familiar with it."

"If we turned it off, we could safely study it, if we get the proper species familiar with it." Dad replied. He was talking to himself as he was thinking over what to do with this.

"I still don't see a battery so where does it store the energy because it is producing more than is needed to power this warehouse.

To my horror I saw what looked like a translucent image of my father. He seemed unaware of us as he was looking in another direction. He reached down and seemed to grab something then put it in his mouth and began chewing it.

"Father?!" I cried out and Dad shifted under me as I reached out for the ghostly image before me.

"Tyger? What are you doing?" Dad shouted as he grabbed my legs to keep me from falling off him and he began to lower himself to the floor so I could climb off.

"Don't you see him?" I asked then realized I could no longer see whatever it was.

"See what? What did you see?" he asked.

"I saw my father and he was eating something!" I exclaimed.

"That's impossible! I think we need to take a break." He replied and grabbed my paw trying to lead me away but I struggled against his gentle grip as I drew closer to the machine. I had to know if that was really father or what it was I saw.

"Tyger stop!" Dad said as he pulled stronger on my paw.

"Father? Father is that you?" I yelled into the machine. I now had to fight with dad to stop him from pulling me away. I tried leaning in to make sure I could hear if father was trying to call out to me.

"There's nothing there, you're just imagining things." Dad shouted but as I saw him pulling me away from the machine I used my other paw to pull my paw free from his grasp and I lunged forward and fell next to one of the ring sets.

My body felt an increasing tingle of electricity until it started to become painful and I found myself unable to move. I heard dad shouting but was unable to respond but my vision was becoming blurred as I saw more and more translucent figures around me.

Figures that looked like father, dad, Uncle Jon, Will, and even Master Fox walked either by or through me then disappeared. Other figures did the same but I had no idea who they were. At first I could only see the figures but slowly I was beginning to see what was around them. Everything around me looked bright white then I lost consciousness.

I felt groggy as I lay on my back and felt grass brushing against my fur. I could feel it touching every inch of me and realized I was in only my fur. I could not see clearly but I felt a breeze and sunlight on me.

I lay there wondering how I got outside and I wondered where dad was. I tried to move but my body felt too heavy to move. Each limb really did not hurt but refused to move no matter how hard I tried.

I felt some slaps to my face and I watched as my vision began to clear. I saw a deer with a couple of bumps on his head where his antlers should be.

"Father?" I wondered if his antlers had fallen out again. I saw him frown but I felt the last of my energy drain and I passed out again.

"Lou? What's going on?" Oziah asked as he walked over to his adopted son. Lou was still a young fawn and was beginning to go through puberty. His antlers were beginning to grow and he still looked like a young fawn despite the expensive suit he wore.

"I'm not sure father, I heard a noise and found this... white tiger laying on the ground in only his fur." Lou replied as his voice carried a bit of annoyance.

"Did he say anything?" Oziah asked as he walked over and looked down at the white furred tiger. It lay there, peacefully, sleeping without any clothing on.

"He called out for his father." Lou replied.

"His parents must have tossed him here to get rid of him. Species with rare white fur like him are considered bad luck." Oziah said as he used the edge of his shoe to nudge the white tiger cub to see if he would move.

"Aren't they?" Lou asked and he became immediately silent as his father gave him a cold hard look.

"I would have thought you were smart enough to stop believing in cub books. I fear we may have to deal with him until we can find a way to get rid of it." Oziah replied Lou frowned as he looked on the ground and when he saw that his father was not looking he gave the tiger a swift kick.

To Be Continued in

Gaining Lost Time