Aldin and Sallie at NoCO

Originally posted Jan-Feb, 1996 under a few differant headings all starting with NoCO. This story ties-up loose ends between Aldin on the Road and The Return. A collaboration with Kkatman the Furry Rep. It also provides a little more background into Amy the Cute Fudd

©1996 by Kkatman and Scott Bernier
First HTML-ized 29-31 October, 1997

Tappity, tappity, tappity....Aldin clicked away at the keyboard while Sallie was going through a set of exercises that he had designed for her. Aldin was delving into the copy of the Namakata archives that had been downloaded from LuFI (which itself had been downloaded from Namakata). He was in The Rabbit's personal diary:

Aldin paused as a tear came to his eye. Sallie noticed.

(sniff) "Don't mind me, Sallie. These archives reminded me that I need to do something for an old friend, though we have never really met."

*****TIGHTBEAM TO AMY ROTH*****
***BUNNYSTUMPER DELUXE™ ACTIVATED***

Lil'Beth,

(greetingsflick) Happy 22nd birthday. I know this date may bring-up mixed feelings, but I am here at NoCO if you want to talk about anything at all. Hurry home soon.

Aldin Busheytail
*****END TIGHTBEAM & ENCRYPTION*****

Aldin pushed the send button and adjusted Sallie's weights before going back to the computer terminal.

Aldin Busheytail, mentat and Fudd research scientist
"We're cute and harmless.....We are...SQUIRRELS!" -- The Beastlie
Boys

Sallie was growing stronger each day. She could now walk about between the barracks and the science building where Aldin was working on the computer without getting too tired. Aldin examined her carefully that morning. He looked proud.

"You're coming along quickly, Sallie. I think you're ready for the next step...climbing." (reassuringflick)

Sallie groaned plantively and grinned lovingly. "Greaaat!"

After a quick meal of pine nuts ("Again?" ,Sallie mock-complained, tired of pine nuts but knew that they contained high amounts of energy and protein she needed) and almonds (her favorite), Aldin led her out to a large, old aspen in the training yard.

Aldin (pointflick)ed up to a branch about 30 feet up. "Remember to take it slow and easy. I'll be right beside you. If you grow tired, just relax. You're claws will hold you in place."

"Yes mother..." She gave Aldin tiny kiss and started up, slowly. Unused muscles in her body screamed in protest, but she persisted, stopping to rest every few steps. A healthy squirrel could have scampered up that distance in 5 seconds, maybe 3.5, but it took Sallie over half an hour to reach the branch. She lay panting for some time upon the branch before looking over to Aldin near the tree trunk and noticed an opening behind him.

"Surprise." (slyflick) "Would you like to look around inside? I've done some remodeling within, thinking that maybe you would find it more comfortable than the barracks. I find the...um...aroma of humans can be quite repulsive at times...." Aldin trailed off and gestured to the opening.

Sallie got-up and entered, followed behind by Aldin. The entrance twisted about a couple of times, offering protection within from the wind. She was surprised by the interior. It was a bit primitive compared to Capewarren, but tastefully done. A hardwood flooring had been layed down and there were lights in the ceiling...*Ceiling?* she thought to herself.

Aldin answered her unanswered question. "Yes, I put a ceiling in. I remember what you described Capewarren like after the liberation and did the best I could with this without harming the tree. There is enough space within this hollow to put another level in above the ceiling. I haven't decorated it or put in heat, for I wasn't sure on those aspects. It's the best I can do here for you with a home away from home until you are strong enough again to travel."

Sallie rubbed her paw against the wall. So natural, the wood, compared to the stark metal halls of Capewarren. She sniffed. The smell of Aspen! "Great Frith, Aldin. It's MARVELOUS!"

Aldin and Sallie
This material is copyrighted by the authors behind Aldin and Sallie,
violators will be pelted to death with walnuts and the remains
divided amoung the Fudd scientists, mentats, and the War of Four for
experimentation!

Aldin had set Sallie out to do her routine morning exercises while he delved through the Namakata computer archives. He wasn't sure what he was looking for. He was just studying the bun, Checkerboard "Checkers" Rabbit Mentat who had wanted Aldin to call him father. He had finally gone back to Rabbit's personal diary, the first time in over a week. The reminder of Amy's past had shaken him somewhat. His and her personal histories were both tragic.

July 14, 1974: I have finally confirmed on my own that the Nibble Notice issued from Central for the execution of Lorilop had been a forgery. It is my belief that Captain LonGears is the culprit behind this, but it would be mote to bring-up charges against him now on this, since his sister is dead. Nor do I want him to find-out that Lil'Beth has survived. Tomorrow, I shall start producing a file for Lil'Beth to view someday so that she can learn about her past.

Aldin stopped reading. If this file still existed, perhaps it would provide more information on Amy's background than he had found so far. He started searching. Twenty minutes later, he found what he thought might be the file: lilbeth.red. The name was so obvious that he missed it the first time around. Aldin called it up and hit the button to open the file.

"Please enter name and a pawscan (pleasefluff)," appeared on the screen.

[chitterspit] Aldin looked around, before it occurred to him that the Fudds wouldn't have a pawprint scanning device. But they did have a normal scanner. He shut-down the terminal he was on and moved over to the IBM-clone that had the scanner. With a little programming he was ready to get the computer to accept a scan of his pawprint. He called-up the lilbeth.red file and entered his ID while the scanner lit-up his paw.

"Processing...." The screen then lit-up with the picture of an elderly grayish rabbit with black splotches on portions of his body. He looked out from the computer screen.

(appologeticfluff) "I'm sorry, Aldin, but I designed this file to be viewed by Lil'Beth and not you. You must understand, my son, that some of the information contained within could endanger her if it fell into the wrong paws. (glarefluff) And don't you dare attempt to access it using my password, for it won't work either. (STOMP!)"

The screen went dark. Aldin just stared at the screen with a slack jaw. There was only one thing to do.

*****TIGHTBEAM TO AMY ROTH*****
*****BUNNYSTUMPER DELUXE™ ACTIVATED*****

Amy,

When you return to NoCO, I have a computer file for you to examine. I don't know what's on it and I can't hack into it. It's security codes claimed it was for the "eyes of Lil'Beth only" from Rabbit Mentat of Namakata Labs. If you do not return before I must depart, I'll leave instructions for you on how to access the file: lilbeth.red

Good luck.

Aldin Busheytail
*****END TIGHTBEAM AND ENCRYPTION*****

(readyflick) Aldin looked down the trunk at Sallie below. She nodded. (goflick) Aldin clicked a small stopwatch.

Sallie raced up the trunk of the aspen to the opening as quickly as she could, pushing her muscles all the way. Aldin clicked the stopwatch a second time.

(disbeliefflick) "Sallie in four days you've gone from 30 minutes to 9.7 seconds in scaling this tree." He hugged Sallie who was still panting from the exertion. "I'm very proud of you, Sallie. Looks like you're ready for the next step."

(pant, pant) "Next step?"

"Leaping. We can start low if you like...."

"No, I don't need to start low. Let's just go to it."

Sallie started to climb further-up the tree and then out on one of the branches towards a nearby maple. She looked behind her for Aldin. He wasn't there. She looked about herself. *Where did he go?*

"Aldin?" she called out.

"Over here."

Sallie turned towards the voice but only saw another branch of the aspen. (sighflick) "Are we going to play games or continue with my rehab, Aldin?"

"You don't see me do you? I was afraid of that." A knob at the base of the branch next to Sallie moved. Except this knob had grey fur and a flicking tail. Aldin leaped onto Sallie's branch and again hugged the branch tightly and held still. He blended in well with the grey of the aspen's trunk.

"How do you do that?"

"Living in the wild, one is taught to blend in with one's surroundings at a young age. It's understandable that the buns would not allow their slaves to learn such life skills. You just need to find a background that your fur will blend in with, make sure nothing is watching you directly, hug-down and make yourself one with the background, and hold yourself as still as possible. With some practice you can remain that way for an hour or more."

"You make it sound and look too easy."

"It's not hard, but you'd have a hard time against a grey trunk. That maple over there, however, would blend better with your fur. Want to try? I'll just turn around here, and give you a minute to pick your spot and hide. Then I'll try to find you."

Sallie flicked her tail. Smiled. Aldin turned around and Sallie looked into the branches of the nearby maple. Nodded once. And shot off!

Aldin and Sallie
This material is copyrighted by the authors behind Aldin and Sallie,
violators will be pelted to death with walnuts and the remains
divided amoung the Fudd scientists, mentats, and the War of Four for
experimentation!

Sallie leaped the 4 foot gap to the maple only registering that she did indeed make the jump easily after the fact and felt a little flutter inside. *When was the last time I had been able to leap from tree to tree?* None of her muscles protested. She found the place she wanted, not quite facing the aspen and hugged down as Aldin had showed her and held herself as still as possible.

"Here I come." Aldin leaped to the maple and then held still, visually scanning the branches. He then moved a little more and repeated the process.

Sallie was finding it hard to keep still, since she was use to just moving about, a habit of hers to burn-off excess energy. Five minutes had passed. Aldin was now on the branch, nearly directly below Sallie. She couldn't wait any longer and leaped down upon him. Aldin didn't react quickly enough and was rewarded with a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I was going to check that branch next..."

(tauntflick) "Ooofff cooourrrse you were." There was merriment in Sallie's eyes. "You don't have to lie to make me feel better. You really knew were I was before I leaped on you."

(honestflick) "No I had not seen you yet, Sallie. You did an superb job at evading my search for you...at least until you jumped me." Aldin grinned at her. There was a momentary, almost uncomfortable pause before he continued. "I think you've had enough exercise for one day. Shall we do some more work on the tree house?" He didn't like calling it a nest, since he felt nests were dwellings for birds.

Sallie wrapped her tail around Aldin and looked him in the eyes. "You're rather strange at times, Aldin." She pecked him quickly on the lips and bounded off back towards the aspen with Aldin in pursuit.

Aldin and Sallie
This material is copyrighted by the authors behind Aldin and Sallie,
violators will be pelted to death with walnuts and the remains
divided amoung the Fudd scientists, mentats, and the War of Four for
experimentation!

Several more days had past since Aldin had taught Sallie how to blend in with her surroundings. She was recovering rapidly, and he felt it was time to set-out east again as soon as possible. Aldin was quite happy to get the message that evening from the NoCO garage that Da Beast was as ready as it would ever be.

Aldin told Sallie. Her reactions were mixed. "Didn't we just get here? We're not finished furnishing the tree house yet." (sighflick) "Couldn't we put it off a little longer?"

"Sallie, didn't you want to get back east as soon as possible?" She (yesflick)ed. "Didn't you wish to contact the other squirrels at Capewarren?" (curiousflick) "And how am I suppose to meet your Cheshire if we stick around here? As for the tree house... I designed the basics didn't I? You think I wouldn't plan for this eventuality? Everything is set-up so we can take it apart, transport it and reset it up inside another tree with a similar size hollow."

"Of course I want to contact my comrades," Sallie replied. Then Aldin's next statement sank in. She brightened-up. "You're willing to meet Cheshire!?" She leaped at him and embraced him. "But I thought you said you would never do so."

"I've reconsidered, Sallie and I will set aside my duties as a member of the Army of Fudd long enough to hear him out, for your sake, but don't expect much more out of me." He paused in her embrace. "Please understand, that I could never work with one who has killed children."

"Even if they were devilbunny kits?" She let go of him.

"Did these kits directly do you any harm, Sallie?"

(considerflick) "Define directly."

"They came into physical contact or attempted to come into physical contact with you with the intention of causing you harm."

"Well, no."

"Then to kill them just because their lot in life was to be born devilbunny is wrong. It's the sort of evil a devilbunny would commit. Sallie if you stoop down to the level of your enemies, you become your enemy. That is why I could never work with Cheshire. Whether or not he realizes it, he has become as bad or worse then the devilbunnies he kills."

There was an awkward pause. "Then you saw my post to Teral."

"Yes, I did." There was another pause. Sallie started to apologize, but was choked-up by tears. Aldin embraced her. "There, there, it's alright, I know what you have been through." (comfortchitter) "It was your past speaking out, still seeking vengeance for what had been done to you and your friends and family. I know what it's like, I've been there." He paused as Sallie calmed down.

"There are many within the AoF who probably support your statement, Sallie, but we've got a bigger problem now."

Sallie sniffled. "What?"

"Fudds aren't dumb. At this base alone they have several Fudds monitoring the Internet at all times due to the constant banter war. Most likely, at least one of them saw your post. If you had signed it any other way than: 'sallie@capewarren.com' there wouldn't be a problem. It's not going to take them too long to figure-out that you are that Sallie. Then we'll have some real explaining to do, since members of the War of Four are not welcomed here. We would be lucky if we could ever leave once that happens. So we've got to pack and leave in the morning. The sooner the better."

Sallie fumed a moment. "of all the stupid!..." Sallie's eyes welled-up with tears again. "I'm sorry...Frith, how could I have been so stupid! To send messages from here...I'm... sorry..." She began to sob uncontrollably again and Aldin comforted her.

Aldin and Sallie
This material is copyrighted by the authors behind Aldin and Sallie,
violators will be pelted to death with walnuts and the remains
divided amoung the Fudd scientists, mentats, and the War of Four for
experimentation!

Things went quickly the following morning. News travelled fast of Andersen's promotion throughout the complex. Aldin regretted that he would not be able to meet the new commander for he intended on leaving as soon as possible. He knew Andersen would be kept busy for the next several days anyway. Aldin did leave the new commander a message of congratulations and regrets on not being able to stay long enough to meet him in person.

Da Beast was as good as new. The miracle workers at NoCO's garage did a superb job in repairing the beat-up Impala. New paint job helped disguise the old heap and make it look newer then it was. Aldin was just packing the last pieces from the tree house as the hour of noon approached. Sallie was going over the provisions list one last time as Aldin stored the last piece of flooring in Da Beast. He got a passing private to close the tailgate.

"Ready?" he asked Sallie as he leaped into Da Beast through an open window.

"As ready as can be," she replied from the back seat as she finished checking-off items on her checklist.

Aldin leaped to the dash and strapped himself into the squirrel harness and started the engine. Da Beast roared to life and then stalled. He tried a second time and it stalled again.

(concernedflick) "What's wrong?"

Aldin fought back releasing a string of squirrel explicatives and simply said, "I think the engine's flooded. One way to find-out." He pushed the throttle control to maximum and again turned the engine over. Again it roared to life, backfired loudly twice, emitting blue smoke, nearly stalled, but settled down to a loud roar. Aldin let-up on the throttle. Outside in the training compound, a few new recruits hit the dirt, looking around for the sniper.

"That did it. Let's get this heap on the road, shall we, Sallie?"

She smiled at him. "I can't wait to get to Capewarren." She hugged him. Aldin shifted the car into gear and made his way towards the compound gate. There were no problems at the gate and they were on there way east within minutes.

Once outside of FT Collins City Limits on State Route 14, Aldin set the throttle to 55mph and concentrated on traffic or lack there of. At least they wouldn't get so many stares on the road as before thanks to the new tinted windows.

Sallie had continued some of her exercises within the confines of the car, but after an hour or so, she grew bored. She joined Aldin on the dash.

"So what route are we taking to Capewarren?"

"I decided to risk a more or less easterly route through Nebraska, Iowa, southern Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia, to Pennsylvania and New York to Albany and then the Mass. Pike eastward from there. We'll have to be on our toes in Iowa and Illinois due to fighting. We will also have to be cautious throughout Kentucky due to how close we will be at that time to Ohio."

"Is there another choice?"

"The alternative was to drive back to LuFI and then through the southeastern states and up the eastern seaboard. We could attempt to cut across Ontario and Southern Quebec, but without a human driver, I doubt the border patrol would let us pass. So this appears to be the best choice, unless you want to take the long route?"

(negativeflick) "This is just fine," she replied and trailed off, thinking about Nebraska. There was something about it she should know, but she couldn't quite recall it.

"Oh, and Sallie."

"Yes, Aldin?"

"It should be safe to contact your comrades with the laptop and cellular modem now. Be sure to tightbeam it. We don't need to let the buns know where we are."

Aldin and Sallie
This material is copyrighted by the authors behind Aldin and Sallie,
violators will be pelted to death with walnuts and the remains
divided amoung the Fudd scientists, mentats, and the War of Four for
experimentation!

To be continued in The Return.