This story deals with what is happening at Namakata Labs after the Lubbock Battle up until the Aldin/Teral plotline. There is one more segment which takes place after the Aldin/Teral plotline. It is appended to the beginning of Invading Namakata.
Originally posted on and off 11 January- 9 May, 1995.
© 1995-2002 by Scott Bernier
First HTML-ized 6 March, 1998
(The following takes in late October, 1994)
The elder grey bun with one missing bucktooth and a mangled, bent right ear hopped into the genetics laboratory of his warren secure deep in the Maine Wilderness. He hopped over to the isolation unit within which was a lone human. Upon the devilbunny's approach, the human leaped at the 6inch thick plexiglass window of the chamber.
"Hellspawn! Murderer of my son!"
(tsktskfluff) "Now, now, Joe. You knew about the mission and had a chance to keep your son off it. He did his Fudd duty and destroyed a warren with the weapons on his F-4 Phantom. Unfortunately for him, he had to crash his plane into the side of Namakata Mountain and do it with no time to eject...not that his ejection seat would have worked." (chucklefluff)
FlopEar paused, but the human, Joe Pleau, FlopEar's former symp in the field, did not respond. FlopEar continued. "Thanks to your latest efforts, I've lost my two top agents. I had hoped Eugene Pomerleau would have been here to keep you company, but you'll have to suffer alone. You should feel honored. Instead of being victim number two of my master plan, you, Joe, shall be number one. (deviousfluff) If successful, and it will be, within a matter of months, there will no longer be a need for the (sarcasticfluff) mighty Omega Treaty."
"I suppose you, like all egotistical villains, shall elaboh'ate on your plan."
(glarefluff) FlopEar almost failed to keep his calm. "It wouldn't be any fun torturing you, if you didn't know what we were going to do to you, now would it. Over the past 6 years of isolation, my techs and I have perfected a strain of HLV. A very strong strain of HLV similar to those designed by the great BunnyMentat himself, with one exception. (dramticpausefluff) Our strain is airborne."
"Impossible! You buns, yourselves have claimed that HLV can not survive for long periods of time outside of a host body."
(chucklefluff) "This is not normal HLV. It is a genetically engineered variant. You, my friend, will be our first test subject. Over the next few weeks, my techs are going to pump you up anti-bunnies so that we can prove that anti-bunnies are no match for our new virus. Then we shall infect you in the chamber you are in now. Get use to it, you'll be spending a lot of time in there. Don't worry, you'll be out of there and fluffing by Thanksgiving. If you like, we can bring in the 'little' misses and change her over too."
(slamagainsttheplexiglass) "Leave Elma outa this, FlopEah! Besides, I doubt you have enough paws in this place to carry my Elma. You should know she's a typical BMW" (BMW--Big Maine Women).
FlopEar ignored his ranting and continued. "By the time we are through tests on you, I shall have devised a way to lure Eugene here. I have a special treat for him. After we have him secured, I'll launch my master plan by releasing our new strain of HLV into the atmosphere. Within 4 days, the whole world will be converted over to the cute side. Bwahahahaha."
"You think the Fudds will sit by while such a blatant violation of the Omega Treaty takes place?"
"That's why I'm testing it on you rather than just launching it now. I must make sure that it runs through the system fast enough to prevent the Fudds from having time to retaliate. (materoffactfluff) Oh and as for fatalities, I estimate about the same as would occur with normal HLV, about 40% of those infected will die. Another 10-15% will resist and the rest will become fluffy. I think 3 billion buns should be able to handle the 2.5 million humans left after the virus runs its course." (twitchofgoodear)
"You ah off ya rockah, FlopEah. It'll nevah work."
(amusedfluff) "We shall see. If you think I'm just going to release into the air, think again. There will be an 'accident' down to the United States Government Center for Disease Control. The result of that accident will release the virus into the atmosphere. By the time the Fudds figure out the accident was caused by sabotage, it will be too late for the. Tech, begin treatment. Joe, you can fight the treatment and we'll strap you down, or you can cooperate and it will go that much smoother."
Joe sat back, rolled-up his sleeve and glared at FlopEar as the Techbun in an environmental suit entered the chamber and injected Joe Pleau with anti-bunnies. FlopEar left and mumbled, "And so it begins."
.
Several weeks had past since the treatment had begun on Joe Pleau. FlopEar was in a good mood thanks to some outside news. The secretly bunny-backed Independent candidate for the Governor of Maine had won a narrow four way race. By January, the open season on rabbits should be lifted and Spam should be making its way on to the shelves soon after that. This day was special also for it was the day, the techs would establish that anti-bunnies in Joe's system were doing their job. FlopEar almost felt younger as he entered the lab, for his life's work would now be one step closer to completion.
"Fluffy and Fuzzle here are HLV positive. We are going to make sure your systems anti- bunnies are working. I'm not going to ask you to hold out a toe for them. I'm going to give you a sporting chance, Joe. There is an axe on the far wall. See if you can get to it before they score."
The two buns enter Joe's chamber through a small bunny door and approach Joe menacingly. They are between Joe and the axe FlopEar mentioned. Fluffy launches himself at Joe's neck. Joe tumbles out of the way towards the axe and reaches it, but can't bring it around in time as Fuzzle bites off two toes off his right foot. Joe howls in pain and brings the axe to bear as Fluffy scores on Joe's other foot, biting off the big toe. The axe comes down and nicks Fuzzle's hide, which begins to heal immediately. They both make their escape back through the bunnydoor before Joe can raise the axe again.
(amusedfluff) "Oh, sorry, I should have warned you, Joe. Most of us here have an accelerated healing rate thanks to some experiments by our late Aldin Mentat.(snarl) Seeing your lack of skill with a fire axe just now, leads me to believe you are the one who was 'off ya rockah' when you tried to invade Namakata singlehanded armed with only one fire axe. Now then, we'll wait and see how well those anti-bunnies work. The techs tell me that it will only take a few days before tests will be able to determine whether or not those ab's are doing their job. Now for my other problem." (eartwitch)
FlopEar left the lab and started scheming on how to lure Eugene back to Namakata.
.
WARNING: THE ALT.DEVILBUNNIES SENSORS RATE THE FOLLOWING INSTALLMENT AS PIG-13 DUE TO ITS GRAPHICNESS. AS SUCH IT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL HUMANS/BUNS/OTHERS TO READ. DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
A week had passed. It was now the second week of November. Joe's tests came up negative. His anti-bunnies had fought-off the HLV infection. *Excellent,* FlopEar thought to himself. (deviousfluff) *Now for phase two.*
The tech buns knew ahead of time to prep the subject for FlopEar's next test. Joe was pushed and shoved like...well, like a lab animal. He was stripped naked and strapped to a medical bed. Two buns quickly removed his remaining toes and placed them on ice. Through all of this, even the amputations, Joe seemed distant, and yet defiant. The tech buns then hustled him, bed and all into an isolation chamber. Once locked inside by himself, Joe's restraints were released via remote control. Just then, FlopEar walked in.
(hopfluffspin) "Can you hear me, Joe?" (quizzicalfluff) "Come on, I know you can." (Joe pretended not to hear the bun) "You can try to ignore me, but it won't work. You're about to make history Joe Pleau. The chamber you are in was flooded with my new airborne strain of HLV before the restraints on your bed had been released. Do you feel anything yet?" (deviousfluff)
Joe did feel something now that FlopEar mentioned it. It made him sick to his stomach and in anger he threw himself at the observation window towards FlopEar, only to slam off it and land in a heap on the floor where he began to retch.
(amusedfluff) "The more you fight it, Joe, the more painful it will be. Give into it. Yield to the Cute and it will be over that much sooner."
FlopEar didn't really want Joe to give in. This was to be a test as to how the airborne human-lapine virus (AHLV) would react to a 'worst-case scenario' where the victim was very anti-cute and attempted to fight against the virus. FlopEar's taunt had the desired effect on Joe Pleau. Joe got up and attempted to move, but the dizziness he felt dragged the floor up to meet his head. He could feel his internal organs slowly rearranging themselves, causing a round of dry heaving, which in turn caused him to loose voluntary control of his bowls. FlopEar pulled up a Laz-E-Bun™ chair and settled in for what would probable be a few hours of entertainment as the virus exacted its toll on the human.
Joe lost track of time. It seemed like an eternity before he stopped dry heaving and the dizziness and accompanying nausea subsided. As he got up into a sitting position, he noted a few things immediately. The room appeared to becoming larger; he was growing fur, long ears and feet; his teeth were falling out; and he felt a sudden sereness--this was meant to be. He was a bunny trapped in a human's body. (fluff) But he was being cured of that. The illness he had felt was just a side-effect of the cure. But who was he really? As a human he had been known as Joe Pleau, but that was just too unCute™ for a bun. That's when he noticed an elder bunny watching him through a window.
(nosetwitch) "Are you responsible for healing me of my illness?"
(surprisefluff) FlopEar was taken aback. He hadn't expected the virus to reprogram the human's brain so quickly. Only an hour had passed since the virus had been unleashed against the human. He quickly regained his composure and addressed the soon-to-be-new devilbunny.
(assuredfluff) "I am one of but many who have worked to cure you, my friend. It will be several more hours before you are completely healed. At that time, you shall have food and drink before undergoing some more examinations before we can release you into the warren."
(confusedfluff) "I know through my memories that in my illness I had tried to cause you harm. I'm sorry. I know what my sick-human name was, but I can't recall what my real name is. Do you know what it may be?"
(sighfluff) "I'm sorry, nobun here knows what your real name may have been. You will have to choose one. But that can wait for later. For now, rest. It will make the rest of the healing easier."
The new semi-bun/semi-human liked that idea and the bed looked so comfortable. He was asleep almost as soon as he got up onto the bed. Once unconscious, the viral transformation accelerated even more.
FlopEar got out of his Laz-E-Bun™ and (hopspinjumpfluff)ed his way out of the lab. The experiment looked like it was going to be a complete success. It would be days still until they had full lab results from the experiment. Once they had accessed the results and if they looked positive, FlopEar could initiate phase three of his plan, the ultimate disaster, one the Fudds would not catch on to until it was too late.
.
(note: this all takes place back in mid to late November, 1994)
FlopEar was back in the laboratory. It had taken the virus 36 hours to breakdown into a non-airborne contagion. The lab techs had dubbed the experiment successful and the new bun, Whitey, (formerly known as the human Joe Pleau) was free to leave. FlopEar was there to personally show the new snowshoe hare to his new quarters. As they walked down a warren tunnel, Whitey was full of questions, which FlopEar answered as well as he could just like a parental figure with an (asurefluff) here and a (comfortfluff) there, until one question in particular.
"Near the end of my sickness, you mentioned something about some other problem to deal with. Is there some way I could help you as you have helped me?" (curiousfluff)
FlopEar thought for a moment, and (whattheheckfluff) *he's one of us now...* "Yes, we are trying to capture another sick human, one you were suppose to help us with when the sickness you were infected with began to interfere with your work. We need to lure the human, Eugene Pomerleau, here so that he may be cured also."
(perkupfluff) "I recall this one and am greatly sorry I messed-up..." (appologeticfluff)
(assuringfluff) "What you did was beyond your control, forget about it."
"Very well..." (ponderfluff) "All humans have a weakness. In my sickness, my weakness was greed, that's probably why you were able to keep me around long enough to find a cure for me. If you could find Eugene Pomerleau's weakness, it wouldn't be all that hard to lure him here either."
(astonishedfluff) FlopEar stopped in his tracks. How brilliant! The answer was so simple that he had completely overlooked it. "Whitey, I'm going to take you up on your advice and get others to try and find Eugene's weakness. In the meantime, your wife needs to be cured also, any ideas on how we could get her to come quietly?"
(simplefluff) "The illness has affected her very badly. Emma has always thought she was human. She is also very fat, weighing in at almost 350 lbs. She fits the description of a typical BMW (Big Maine Woman). Like all BMW's her weakness is dieting. If we sent a couple of buns morphed as humans in a non-discrete van to her, telling her she just won a vacation at a fat farm....call it Club Slimbunny...she shouldn't give us any problems at all."
(lightSTOMP) "Brilliant! It shall be done immediately. Once you are settled in, as part of your reorientation into our society, I want you working on finding Eugene's weakness."
(hopspinhopfluff) "Thank you, sir. I won't let you down."
They had arrived at Whitey's new quarters and each went their separate ways. FlopEar smiled as he hopped away. The conversion was more complete then he hoped for. If he could get his buns to stick to the time schedule, there would be no more need for an Omega Treaty by late March.
.
(Late December, 1994)
Whitey could not find a weakness in the human, Eugene Pomerleau, until he accessed the archives on the net. At some point Eugene admitted that his parents were alive and he had at least one brother, Chris 'MacGyver JR'. This was a start. If he could find where in Maine this family was living, he could arrange 'visiting quarters' for them.
It had been two weeks since he had found this possible weakness. Thanks to a little hacking in the state income tax computer banks, he had an address:
RR 1, Box 104, Bog Brook Road, China, Maine
Good and bad. It was in the country, so it would be easy to pick-up the 'guests'. According to the record banks, there was a civilian warren a couple miles away that could be relied on for some minor help if necessary. The problem was that Whitey would need clearance from FlopEar to send a small skirmishing party the 130 miles to the Pomerleau residence.
He went to FlopEar's office and explained his plan. FlopEar approved, but hesitantly and only if Whitey stayed at the warren. FlopEar with Whitey hand-picked a crew of 6 buns to carry-out the operation and they were sent on their way, using the truck Whitey's former human-self had used to get-out to Namakata Labs. Their target would be Eugene's brother, Chris.
.
(Late December, 1994)
1st LT Snowshoe and his party had kept surveillance of the Pomerleau residence now for three days. The human fitting the description of Chris Pomerleau seemed to not follow any real routine in day to day living, except he went-out cross-country skiing every afternoon at 3:30 for a few hours. Snowshoe had made his decision, they follow this human today and ambush him in the back-country. It was now approaching 3:15 and from his position in the truck's passenger seat, he could see Chris loading his skis into the back of his vehicle, a 78 Buick Limited--very unCute and very big. He pulled-out of the driveway and headed up the road.
"Follow him!" (commandfluff) LT Snowshow barked to the bun in morpharmor behind the steering wheel. They followed him at a discrete distance as he drove for several miles down China's back roads. Chris pulled onto a dead-end road, Yorktown Bog Road. Snowshoe ordered for the truck to keep going past said road a ways. They then circled-round and came back and waited at the head of the road for five minutes before pulling down the dead-end road.
Meanwhile Chris had pulled-over at the end of the plowed section of road and dug-out his, well they were Eugene's skis, but he didn't need them in Texas. He waxed them a little and put them on and made his way down the unplowed abandoned section of Yorktown Bog Road. He was out of ear shot when the Ford pick-up with 6 devilbunnies in it pulled over next to his car. They unloaded and prepared to circle around their prey.
Chris was enjoying the winter scenery. Unlike his older brother, he had studied the ways of their MicMac Indian heritage heavily. Thus, he was able to keep the swish noise of his skis to a minimum and actually pass-by the wildlife without spooking them. He saw two deer, neither of which spooked for he kept his distance from them--after all this was their home, and he was just a visitor.
A mile beyond where he parked his car, he came upon an abandoned farmstead. All that was left was a depression were the basement of the house once stood and a dozen apple trees. Here he could keep going straight for another 3 miles, or turn and take a different trail that eventually found its way back towards his car. He noted 4 snowshoe hares in the abandoned orchard which had scattered upon his approach. He decided to take the trail that lead back towards his car.
A rabbit who was not part of his contingent scurried by. One of his buns pinned-it to the ground. There was nothing but fear in its eyes. LT Snowshoe questioned it.
"Who are you?"
(scaredshiverfluff) "Please don't hurt me. We must run. Run before the human gets us!"
Snowshoe shook the scared rabbit a little to knock some sense into him and repeated his question.
"Everybun knows I'm Largefoot," the rabbit replied. Largefoot then noticed for the first time that he was surrounded by militarybuns. (nosetwitch) "You're militarybuns! We have lost so many bunnies in the past year to humans with guns. We're just a civilian warren, many miles from any human warren. We don't attack the humans, yet they come and shoot us anyway. We sent for help months ago, but got no reply. Did you come to stop the humans?" (pleadfluff)
"Yes, we have come to stop the humans, starting with this one. Have your fellow rabbits stay out of our way. Better yet, have everybun return to the warren where you will be safe, and we shall deal with this human." (assuringfluff)
Largefoot shook Snowshoe's paw furiously, thanking him and headed off to tell the good news to his warrenmates. Snowshoe called his small force together and they finalized their plans.
Chris had just finished climbing a fifty foot hill, when he noted something was not right with nature around him. Everything was just too quiet. He reacted, but a moment to late as a white rabbit, much like what he had seen in Monty Python's Holy Grail, leaped at him, knocking him down in the snow.
.
Chris noted there were several more rabbits now around him, all white snowshoe hares. The rabbit on his chest spoke in English. Chris had studied the old MicMac legends on such things, but never expected to wind-up living one.
"Human, if you come peacefully with us, you will be unharmed." (snarl)
"Whoa....talking rabbits! This is so cool, man!" Chris was actually scared, but he remembered that in times like this, he needed to try and remain calm. "Sure I'll come peacefully, man, er...rabbit. I'm like, you know, one with nature."
This reaction from the human had thrown Snowhare off guard. He had expected to have to bite-off a couple toes and knock the human out to get him to cooperate. He got off the human. (snapfluff) "Get-up!" The human got-up on his skis. "Move it!" Snowshoe pointed down the trail in the direction that their vehicles lied.
They had gone a half-mile, two buns in front, one to each side of the human and two behind. Chris kept an eye on them, watching for his chance to make a break for it. He knew this trail and knew there was a steep ravine ahead, which skirted the edge of Yorktown Bog. If he broke away from his captors, he could probably make enough speed going down to make it up the other side and leave the rabbits behind. He saw his chance.
The human suddenly lashed out at the rabbits to either side of him using the sharp end of his ski poles to skewer them and sprang into a sprint on his skis, plowing aside the buns in front of him. Snowhare attempted to leap at from him from behind, but missed. The human quickly approached the beginning of the ravine.
"After him, you fools!" (STOMP!--sink--stomping in deep snow just creates a deep hole) "You, WildClover, with the morpharmor, why aren't you going after him!" (STOMP!) Snowshoe was now neck-deep in snow, which did nothing to calm him down.
(attentionfluff) "Morpharmor is too heavy in human form in this snow, sir. Not to worry, though. The human won't get far. On our way in, when I went off on my own, I hade made my way over here and tore-apart the ski bridge at the bottom of the ravine." (deviousfluff)
Chris had seen the destroyed bridge, but not until after he had started his descent. All he could do was pick-up as much speed as possible on the 80 foot drop and pray it was enough to clear the 15 foot gap at the bottom.
.
The abutment on the remnants of the bridge made a nice, but short, ramp. Chris cleared the stream, landed on the far bank hard and started scrambling up the other side. Two buns were right behind him up to the stream crossing. One made the leap, but the other stumbled head first into the stream. Chris hits an ice patch half-way up the other side of the ravine, and falls, tumbling back down, plowing over the devilbunny that had come across after him and the two of them wound-up in the stream. Upon tumbling into the water, Chris' head meats a rock and he greets unconsciousness.
WildClover worked quickly, using his suit of morpharmor™ to retrieve the soaked human and his two comrades.
"Get them back to the truck quickly." Snowshoe snapped. " I'll be right behind you. We must not loose the human. FlopEar have our ears as it is if he's seriously injured." (shiverfluff)
WildClover did as he was told and carried two wet and cold bunnies and one unconscious human back to the truck. At the vehicle, Snowshoe sent off a quick tightbeam squirt to FlopEar.
*****tightbeam to FlopEar*******
****BUNIX™--Namakata Edition Activated******
Sir, we lost Hughie and Pufftail, but we have the bait. Returning to base.
*****end tightbeam and encryption*****
The buns hightailed it with their prize back down the road and then headed north. In their wake they left behind Chris' car with some tale-telling damage marks.
.
The comm tech was surprised to be receiving a transmission, but FlopEar already knew what it would more or less say before it had been received.
>*****tightbeam to FlopEar******* >****BUNIX™--Namakata Edition Activated****** > > Sir, we lost Hughie and Pufftail, but we have the bait. Returning to base. > >*****end tightbeam and encryption*****
(hopspinflufflehop) "Excellent! Comm tech, confirm the message and then tell staffing to prepare 'guest quarters' for our visitor. Also, I want to see Whitey in my office immediately."
(attentionfluff) "Yes, sir!"
Five minutes later, Whitey knocked on the door to FlopEar's office.
"Come...ah, yes, Whitey." (pleasedfluff) FlopEar motioned him in. "Have a seat. LT Snowshoe's party has reported success in capturing Eugene's brother." (leansforward) "However, you have not explained to me the rest of your plan."
(excellentfluff) "Here's what we shall do, sir...."
Chris's banged-up car was found the following day and his smashed skis about a mile in. The Pomerleau's were stressed over the loss. They were even more stressed when they found that contact with Eugene had been lost. Eugene had been too busy with schoolwork and training to remember to send his new address and phone number to his folks. Two searches began--one to turn-up clues as to who may have kidnaped Chris and one to find where Eugene had disappeared to.
.
Two months later...
"Sir," the commtech reported to his superior, "the medbuns report their patient has awakened."
"Finally." (STOMP!) "Thank you comm tech." FlopEar proceeded to Namakata's medical facility. Two months earlier he had grilled LT Snowshoe for injuring the human, Chris Pomerleau. The human in turn had spent these past two months in a coma. If he was now awake, they could finally begin the next stage. They may be able to keep their time schedule after all. It now all depended on how much longer it would take Eugene to notice. FlopEar bumped into Whitey while thinking these thoughts.
(appologeticfluff) "I didn't see you sir."
(glarefluff) "Don't worry about it." a pause "About Eugene, Whitey....I thought the Pomerleau's where a close family. So where is he?" (glareimpatientfluff)
(cowerfluff) "I've been investigating that sir. Eugene apparently cut-off contact with his family back in mid-November. His parents have tried to contact him, but without success."
(disappointedfluff) "Then, we'll have to try something else....well, we shall still have our bait afterall, Whitey. Medical has informed me that our guest has awakened. Join me. We may yet be able to put those plans of yours to use."
(thankyoufluff) "Thank you, FlopEar."
The two buns proceeded to the medical facility and entered. There was one patient in the facility, a human male with rather long hair (It was that way before he had been brought in.). He seemed alert, but weak and rather uncooperative. One of the medbuns approached FlopEar.
(attentionfluff) "Sir, the human is awake, but refuses to eat. We can't keep him on IV forever. He must eat if he's to regain his strength. He demands to see 'Whoever's in charge.'"
(amusedfluff) "Our guest is making demands...I'd say he's all read recovering." FlopEar approaches the bed and pears at the human. (deviousfluff) "I see our patient is awake. My name is FlopEar, Chris, and I am in charge here."
The human glared back weakly and spoke hoarsely and quietly. "I know of your kind through the legends told by the elders, moskimus. I will not cooperate with you. To do so would be to aid the enemy of the Micmac, my people."
FlopEar arched his good ear. He backed-off a moment to confer with the medbuns.
"He looks like a white human to me. Why would he be claiming red human heritage?"
"According to his background, he is one-eighth Micmac. The heritage is too minuscule to show-up on our tests." (cluelessfluff)
(sighfluff) FlopEar approached the human again. "If you don't eat what we give you, Chris, you will force me to take drastic measures, like force feeding you Spam™ once you are too weak to fight us." (seriousfluff)
Chris glared at the elder greyish rabbit, then looked at the tray of vegetables, picked a stick of celery and started eating.
(encourageingfluff) "Good, very good, Chris."
(betweenmouthfulls) "So moskimus, why do you hold me captive. I have not raised weapon against your kind. I didn't even believe the legends until your squad attacked me."
(nonchalantfluff) "I have nothing against you. I'm after your brother, Eugene. You are here to encourage him to come to me."
"You mean I am bait to lure my brother into your trap, moskimus."
(nonplusfluff) "Well, you could put it that way...I prefere the word, 'guest'." (deviousfluff) "Once you have healed, you will be provided with a room and net-access, read only of course."
Chris started on the asparagus. "I have never experienced 'the net'. You are a gracious prison warden, moskimus." FlopEar turned to leave. "However, moskimus, your plans will not work against my brother. He is no fool and will see through your trap." Chris continued eating.
"That's what I'm counting on." FlopEar mumbled as he left the medical facility.
.
Several weeks go by...
Chris Pomerleau had learned how to "cruise" around the Internet in short time and found the group alt.devilbunnies fascinating. It showed that the group of moskimus that held him were not unique. He had also won some minor liberties--the moskimus, Whitey, had discovered Chris' ability to repair electronic equipment that no one (well bun) else could fix. He showed them why he sometimes was referred to as "MacGyver JR".
It was through the allowance to repair this equipment that Chris was able to smuggle small amounts of electronics back and forth to his "quarters". He was eventually allowed to just set-up a small shop in his quarters--however the moskimus took the tools away each evening. That didn't matter, it still allowed him plenty of time to tinker. When Eugene would finally get there, Chris would be ready to help his brother in his own way.
On one afternoon in Mid-March, the moskimus-in-charge, that elder buck with the bent-ear, paid his human guest a visit.
[amusedfluff] "I see that you are keeping yourself busy."
"Not as busy as I could be if you were to send me stuff that was really broken," was the reply. Chris didn't even bother to look-up from the monitor he had torn-open in front of him. "I'm willing to bet that right now you are wondering if my brother will ever show-up. And you are debating whether it would be easier to try and 'convert' me or just kill me." Chris now looked up at his captor.
FlopEar kept his emotions in check. "Convert?" [innocentfluff] "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play games with me, moskimus. I suppose you haven't read the latest out on the newsgroup alt.devilbunnies then..." He waited for a reply. FlopEar just [fluff]ed, so Chris continued. "Well, I suggest you check it out. An anicus, I believe he called himself Aldin Busheytail, has made some huge accusations against you. Something about an unstable air-borne 'bunny-virus'. I think you would find it quite fascinating."
[STOMP!!!!] FlopEar lost it. "What did Tailless say!" [commandfluff STOMP!]
Chris just looked at the fuming devilbunny before him. "Not much, moskimus. He took 120 or so lines of text spelling out an air-borne doomsday virus and pointed towards you. He also said something about him not being the only Tailless soon. I'm sure you can read the whole thing yourself.
"Oh and one more curiosity, moskimus. I've read all the propaganda about how your kind is supposedly the protectors of Mother Earth, or Gaia, or whatever you wish to call it. Wouldn't such a virus upset the balance of nature. If your intentions are to eliminate the human race in order to protect Gaia, wouldn't it be better for Gaia if the virus described changed humans into random creatures?" With this Chris turned back to his work and the monitor flickered to life.
FlopEar resisted the urge to leap at the human and tear him asunder. He decided to wait and do that in front of Eugene. He turned around and [STOMP]ed out of the 'guest quarters'. He went to his office and started catching-up on the newsgroup. After reading the last round of banter exchanged between Aldin and his nephew, FlopEar through the computer console across his office.
"COMMTECH, GET IN HERE!" [STOMP!!!]
A rather nervous looking rabbit hopped into the office. [shiverfluff] "Yes, sir..."
"Get me a new monitor and console. Oh and take that one (points to smashed console on the floor near the far wall) to our guest and see if he can fix that." [amusedfluff]
The commtech left. *Blast you, Tailless. You are going to force me to break radio silence if I don't' get my paws on you very soon.*
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FlopEar got his monitor and console back the following day. He was still quite enraged at his human guest. But this was incredible. It helped him make the decision. No more waiting for Tailless. He'd carry-on without Tailless and start with one more round of testing, this time on Chris Pomerleau.
His techs had spent the past several months since Whitey's conversion trying to lengthen the incubation period of the virus to a full 24 hours. It would be fully contagious during this time, but its host wouldn't show any signs of the virus. Chris had proven too valuable an electronics wizard to just kill him. He'd make an excellent bun.
FlopEar buzzed the techs in the lab. "Begin the experiment. Release the virus within the quarters of our guest. Seal his door and don't let anybun enter or leave for the next four days."
*Once you're one of us, Chris, perhaps you'll tell me more about Tailless.* FlopEar thought to himself as he leaned back and waited for the report that his orders had been carried-out.
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Four days had past and the subject had not shown the signs of conversion. On the second day, he complained about having the chills and a stuffed head and that was all. FlopEar was furious. Of all the Frithin' blasted [pig-13] humans out there, Eugene's brother had to be immune to the Bunnyvirus™, at least the modified air-borne variety.
"Lab techs, (commandfluff) I want a full analysis on how he was able to resist. I want an estimate of how many others may be able to resist the virus in its current form if released."
FlopEar went to personally supervise the extraction of blood samples.
"So moskimus, why do you need these blood samples?" Chris enquired. "If it is to try to 'convert' me, you are wasting your time. The legends of my people have it that one of our medicine men long ago found a way to prevent any Micmac from being turned into a moskimus. Since the legend of the moskimus is apparently true, why not this one." Chris smiled as if he knew what had been tried on him the last few days and perhaps he did know.
FlopEar was growing tired of this human. He was almost as annoying as Tailless had been at times. He wondered of the squirrel had rubbed-off on his human brother. He did not say a word to his prisoner. He (sighfluff)ed and left.
When the lab results came back, he already knew what they would find. The human was genetically immune to the Bunnyvirus™, including traditional. FlopEar leaned back in his chair and began to contemplate about what had happened in the past and what could happen in the future. If he had not been stuck in this wilderness for the past 11 years, he most likely would have doubted his captive's words about legends. But now, he actually felt a little doubt. Especially when it came to the legend of "the leader who would rise and lead both Micmac and Anicus in battle against the Moskimus. The one called Moski."
(Ridiculousfluff) "Just tales." FlopEar brushed the notion aside and started contemplating what to do with his guest, since Aldin wasn't obviously coming for him.
Anicus--Native American for Squirrel--translation provided in accordance with the Fluffyteacher Directive of 1994.
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Chris Pomerleau knew his time at Namakata Labs as a live captive was running out. He estimated his usefulness for repairs would quickly end. He estimated he had three more days work before there would be nothing left at the facility for him to repair. He already extracted everything he felt he needed. He had already tampered enough with his net-access to know that he could send-out a message, but that would alert his captors to what he was up to before he could carry-out his escape attempt. The moskimus were foolish to grant him free read-only and apparently only lightly monitored access to the internet. It's amazing what one could find on the internet.
He didn't have any vanilla and the bunnies carefully disposed of all his waste fluids, so HU was out of the question. But he was able to rig-up several hand-held ultra-sound speakers with his 'borrowed' parts from all that equipment he repaired (more like MacGyverized) over the last two months....or was it three months, he couldn't recall anymore. Anyhow, he had created a few sonic weapons that he believed would work against the unarmored buns. He also had a few other tricks ready, but no hand weapon to deal with the 'canned-bunny' types. All he needed was a good broom stick for that. When his time was up, he would be ready.
He sat down at his terminal and began to read more about the devilbunnies. "If only I could get a message to Eugene without the moskimus discovering it."
TBC in Teral and Aldin.
Moskimus is rabbit in a Native American Language--translation provided by the Fluffyteacher
order of 1994
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