In collaboration with Aaron Mandelbaum who did a considerable amount of the writing and came-up with the title for this story and advice and guest appearence by "Remus Shepherd".
©1998 by those above and Scott
Bernier
First HRML-ized 17 September, 1998
"I can't make a jump like that!" one of the trainees chittered. "Not with all this equipment! I feel like I weigh a dozen pounds!"
"It's not as far as it looks," Pinebrush replied from the next branch over, flicking his tail encouragingly. "You could probably jump twice as far, but we want to start slow until you're used to climbing with a crossbow. In a week you'll be able to feel your trajectory as easily as if you weren't carrying anything at all. Then we'll start on the hard stuff." The veteran scout grinned evilly at his charges. Namakata started training them so early... none of them were more than four or five months old.
"Couldn't we practice on a shorter tree?" another trainee asked, peering over the side of the branch at the ground below. She wasn't scared of the height, of course, but all of them were feeling clumsy and sluggish. It actually felt like they *might* fall, which wasn't a good feeling to a squirrel, even if they were only 15 or 20 feet off the ground.
"How much shorter do you want?" Pinebrush snapped back. "Just jump, already!"
One by one, the trainees leaped the gap to the next tree, which really wasn't far at all. Pinebrush kept a close eye on them, although there really wasn't much he could do if they didn't make it. But -- ARGH! One of the trainees hadn't fastened his crossbow properly, and it was hanging out of balance. Not enough to be really *dangerous*, but the whole point of this was to get them used to the weight distribution and the new center of gravity when the standard patrol equipment was mounted *properly*.
"Stop!" Pinebrush chattered at the line, hopping over to the trainees' branch to fix the mounting.
The squirrel at the front of the line flinched, but didn't manage to stop his jump, and chittered loudly as he fell short, just barely managing to grab onto some twigs at the very end. The tiny twigs bent down dangerously under his weight, and it was obvious that it wouldn't hold for long.
Pinebrush pushed past the frozen trainees and leapt to the rescue. But just as he jumped, two of the trainees who'd already crossed the gap ran towards the end of the branch to pull the other squirrel up to safety. The branch bent down farther under their weight... and Pinebrush went sailing past through the air.
He cast about desperately for a lower branch to catch himself on, but they'd already been on the very lowest set. Pinebrush rebounded off the trunk of the tree -- the angle of impact was *completely* wrong to catch himself -- and tumbled head over tail to the ground.
The trainees were silent, staring at the ground in horror. Finally, one of them asked, "Are you okay?"
"No thanks to you," came the angry chattering from the underbrush, "But no harm -- OW!"
Pinebrush limped out of the bushes on three paws, his left front held off the ground. "I think I twisted something. Wait here, I'll send someone else to finish the lesson."
Return to the
Pinebrush limped back towards Namakata, noting with some amusement that he'd never actually seen this part of the forest from the surface. And with less amusement that it seemed like a much longer walk on three legs. He wasn't even going to *try* to climb, though, not with the way his ankle spiked with pain whenever he brushed it against something.
This was *so* embarassing. He was supposed to be an example and an inspiration for the kits, and instead he managed to injure himself on a confidence-building exercise. He'd probably scarred a whole generation of scouts for life, and the warren would be defenseless, and they'd all die horrible deaths because he made a stupid newbie mistake and didn't even manage to land right. On the plus side, they probably wouldn't make him take another group out for a while.
"You okay?" chattered a voice from the trees overhead. One of the other scouts. Acorn or Grapenut or Fuzztail or something like that. Names names names.
"Fine," he snapped back, "Can you go finish up the training exercise, though? I need to rest."
"What's wrong with your foot?"
Pinebrush just glowered and continued towards the warren. Other squirrels turned from what they were doing, and sat there watching him limp pathetically towards the entrance. He wanted to die. No, he wanted to teleport. Or maybe just to go back in time ten minutes and *not* fall. But death was the likeliest alternative...
"Hey!" said a strange voice in front of him. Pinebrush looked up just in time to avoid running right into Mustard, Aldin's pet bunny. The bunny looked at him with mock concern, obviously gleeful at the prospect of tormenting a squirrel. "Do you need any help?"
"No, I'm fine," Pinebrush chittered in reply, trying not to sound too defensive. "Go away!"
"Your foot looks pretty bad. Here, I'll take you to the medical center."
"No! Ack!" Pinebrush chittered uselessly as Mustard picked him up by the scruff of the neck and dashed underground.
Before he knew it he was unceremoniously dumped on the floor in front of the chief medical officer whatsisname. Pinebrush? No, that was his name. Firbrush, that was it.
"What seems to be the problem, Mustard?" Firbrush asked.
"He hurt his foot, so I gave him a lift. [giggle] Can you take a look?"
"Of course I can. Thank you, Mustard. Now..."
"Pinebrush," Pinebrush prompted, holding out his injured paw. Best to get this over with quickly... being in the medical center made him nervous.
"What happened to your paw?" Firbrush asked. Mustard waved a paw and hopped off.
"I fell out of a tree. I think I twisted it," Pinebrush replied, "I'll just rest until it -- SCREEEECH!"
Firbursh looked concerned, and let up on the gentle pressure he'd been applying. "Did that hurt?" Pinebrush gave him a look. "I think it might be broken... notice the swelling."
"Great. Perfect. Wonderful."
"Don't worry, we'll have you back on all four paws in no time."
Return to the
Aldin was tired, but he didn't care. The rain had let-up a few weeks before and Ash had convinced him that the two of them should go on 'vacation' for a couple weeks. She had led him several miles north of Namakata to a secluded mountain pond where they enjoyed themselves away from the weight of leadership.
In his absence, Tamarack and Mustard had done a superb job with the day-to-day tasks in the labs. His son, Cloud(chitter), was learning the ropes rapidly, too. Thanks to these three and the other assistants, all there was for Aldin to do was the paperwork and messages, which he had been doing all morning. He didn't even take time to look-up and glance at his assistants as they entered that morning. He already knew he'd be one short as Tamarack had shipped-out that morning for a two week tour down to the Maine Fudd Base.
Aldin read through the last message from Remus and felt his blood pressure rise slightly as he started a reply.
*****BUNNYSTUMPER DELUXE™ TWO-WAY TIGHTBEAM*****
Remus wrote: >Aldin wrote:
[Computer simulations on the nanites that partially converted Mustard--simulations can never replace real data from real experiments]
>> (agreeflick) But I doubt there are any volunteers out there who'd want >> to help me confirm those simulations. Not to mention I'm not in the >> least bit interested in converting humans into squirrels, even if the tests >> confirmed the simulations. My gut instinct says it wouldn't work, >> period. > > Primates and lapines are actually fairly closely related. I suspect that >converting a primate to a squirrel (rodent) would be more difficult and > more prone to fatality. :/
(drooptail) Exactly my thought, Remus. And as I said before, I doubt there are any Fudds out there who'd want to volunteer to confirm or deny these theories.
[Nanodocs--Fudd field research subjects instead of buns--is there a chance of the research subjects accidentally being turned into devilbunnies?]
>> I don't see any chance involved. *Especially* if I'm starting with fresh >> nanites and programming. (besidesflick) there was no chance of that >> with the nanites I had used on Mustard. > > Well, fresh nanites or not, they're still based on old devilbunny >formulas, aren't they? Are you sure the skeletal, base structure of the >nanites isn't HLV?
(Aldin counts to ten and fails.) Will you please drop the whole HLV thread! If these nanites were based on HLV, why would I be able to deactivate them in an electromagnetic field? There shouldn't be any metallic, mechanical parts in them if that were the case, or are you implying that HLV is itself a manufactured/artificial virus? I'd love to see the data backing that theory. I've read some of the latest research on nanotech, but the nanites we have here are NOT enzyme-based as would need be for them to mimic HL...
*****PAUSE*****
Aldin's intercom chirped loudly.
(sighflick) "Rabbit, cease dictation."
On screen:
*Do you wish to send this message now?*(blinking curser)
(negativeflick) "Save for later transmission."
On screen:
*As you request.*The screen blanked and was replaced by the distraught face of Firbrush, Namakata's chief medsquirrel.
"What can I do for you, Dr. Firbrush?"
"I'd like to inform you about the status of a patient of mine," Firbrush stated, "A squirrel fell out of a tree on a training exercise and managed to hurt his foot. He thought it was a sprain." (amusedflick) "Mustard had to carry him in like a kit. It turned out his foot was badly broken, and I had to operate to set the bones correctly. He should be okay, however."
(confusedflick) "Well, thank you for the update... Mustard is certainly turning out to be a real asset to the warren."
(concernedflick) "That's not what I wanted to inform you about, however. I needed to do a transfusion for the operation, and while I was doing a blood test to determine the type I ran across something rather disturbing."
"A blood test? Why didn't you just check the records?"
"This Pinebrush doesn't seem to have a medical record on file. He only arrived about a year ago, after escaping from some warren out of the state, and he's somehow managed to dodge me all this time."
"So what did your tests determine?"
Firbrush hesitated for a few moments, before continuing. "The blood tests indicate that he's carrying some sort of virus." (puzzleflick) "I've never seen this particular strain before. Until we figure out what it is I'm keeping him and myself under quarantine. I'll send a sample down to be analyzed more thorougly."
"Understood." Aldin terminated the link. A few minutes later Hazel arrived with the samples. She hugged her father briefly and departed. Aldin immediately got to work on the samples, guiding a few of his newer students through the process.
A few hours later Aldin sat back in disbelief at what he saw in the electron microscope. The virus was too perfect to be natural. It appeared to be an engineered virus like the retrovirii he had designed in the past. He had his students conduct a match against the Namakata records that took another few hours. Perfect and near matches came-up negative. Partial or minor matches included some of Aldin's designed retrovirii and the Blake-strain of HLV. Aldin hadn't had time to closely examine the Blake-strain before but made note of this anomaly for future research.
Aldin sat there (puzzleflicking) trying to think this through. He patched into the personnel records at Namakata and called-up the record of this Pinebrush to see if it would lend any clues as to what this was that Pinebrush was infected with.
On screen:
*Access denied.*(blinking curser)
Aldin stammered as he stared at the screen and typed-up the request again slightly differently.
*Access denied. No such file on the system.*(blinking curser)
"Most unusual," Aldin mumbled to himself. "He should have a record. Everyone here has a record." He sat in thought another moment and decided he'd have to go down to personnel to investigate this in the fur.
Return to the
Mustard scurry-hopped into the lab, disturbing Aldin's train of thought. After the partial conversion, he couldn't quite hop nor quite move smoothly as a squirrel and his shuffle movement was sort of a mix of the two. Aldin for the first time all day really looked at Mustard. Almost stared at him in fact for something seemed amiss, but Aldin wasn't sure quite what. He tried to write it off as the fact that he hadn't seen Mustard for about three weeks. But it kept nagging at him as his eyes continued to followed Mustard around the lab and he decided to set aside his investigation into Pinebrush.
Mustard noticed Aldin staring at him. "Does it show that bad?" (drooptail)
"What show, Mustard?"
(sighflick) "My emotional state. I guess I can't hide it from you. Over the past few weeks I've talked seriously with Mapletip but I didn't know how to talk to you about it..."
"What?" (concernflick)
"I was afraid to talk to you about this. I know how much it means for you to correct my accidental partial conversion. I didn't want to disappoint you, but I've changed my mind."
"What?!"
"I love Mapletip very deeply...and..." he paused breifly "I don't want to go back to being a devilbunny. I want to be able to sire kits with her. So, we'd need to somehow complete my conversion to a squirrel." (fangygrin) "Guess you've won me over through your kindness and treatment of me rather then the way my old species would have used brainwashing."
Aldin didn't like what he was hearing. In fact it set-off a few alarms in his mind.
"What about the new batch of nanites?"
"You'll be able to use them on that nanodoc project you wanted to work on rather then waste them on me. Just give me another shot of the old ones you used on me before, the ones based on Rabbit's Formula."
Aldin moved up to Mustard and started scrutinizing him carefully. (concernflick) "Have you been feeling alright these past few weeks?"
Mustard thought for a moment. "You know, I haven't felt better." (honestfluff)
Aldin nodded. "May I examine your forepaws?"
Mustard was taken aback for a moment, but complied, holding-up his forepaws for Aldin. Aldin examined Mustard's forepaws and the clawtips carefully, flicking his tail a few times.
*Is it me or do they appear more squirrelish then before?* Aldin thought to himself. He stated aloud, "Extend your claws for me." He waited. Mustard failed to comply. "I said..."
A bead of sweat dripped off Mustard's forehead. "I'm trying..."
Aldin let go of Mustard's left forepaw and placed both of his paws around Mustard's right one. He pressed down on the back of the paw at the pressure point that should have caused Mustard's claw to extend. Nothing happened. Dread fell over Aldin.
"I want you on the scale, *NOW*!" (squirrelystomp) The mentat authority in his voice told Mustard not to question Aldin's order.
He got onto the scale and Aldin examined his weight. He called-up Mustard's weight from his last physical just six weeks previous. Between then and now, Mustard had lost seven point three ounces.
"Have you been eating regularly?"
(Noddle) "Matter of fact, I've been eating more these past few weeks then before."
"What have you been eating?"
"Same thing as everyone else, but in bigger proportions."
"Have you had any toe cravings?"
Mustard paused for a moment. (shudderflick) "No, not at all. Actually, for some reason the thought of Fudd toes is now repuls..." (drooptail) "You're not saying..."
(concernflick) "It looks that way, but we have to make sure. I hate to do it to you, Mustard, but I'll need to run you through a battery of tests again."
Mustard nodded in understanding. He was sick of tests but there was something wrong with him and he wanted to know what it was.
Return to the
It was late evening when Aldin completed the last battery of tests on Mustard. They all pointed to the same thing, he was still converting, but much, much more slowly. If Aldin hadn't taken the time-off, he believed he would never had noticed it. Well, at least until Mustard noticed his claw problem. But how could he still be converting? After all, the nanites had been flushed from his system months before....or had they?
Aldin's tail drooped again as Remus' message came back into his head: 'Are you sure the skeletal, base structure of the nanites isn't HLV?'
"Spirit..."
Aldin obtained a blood sample from Mustard and put it under the electron microscope. (disbeliefflick) There before him he could see what looked like a virus in Mustard's blood, attaching itself to cells. He looked more carefully. "No..."
He pulled the sample out and replaced it with the sample from Pinebrush. They looked identical.
"Spirit help us..." He commented as his tail lay still behind him.
"How bad is it?" Mustard inquired with a tiredness in his voice from all the tests.
Aldin turned to him. There was fear in the edge of his voice. "You're still converting, Mustard. In about a week, you'll will be at the mass loss point of no return. After that time, it will be impossible to change you back. So you'll be getting your wish..." Aldin hesitated a moment. "It seems Rabbit's nanites create a virus that does the actual conversion process, altering the host DNA." (deepbreath) "And it appears to be contagious."
Mustard stared at him in disbelief as Aldin concluded, "That injured squirrel you carried in seems to be infected with the same virus."
Return to the
*****BUNNYSTUMPER DELUXE™ TIGHTBEAM*****
*****TOP PRIORITY, READ IMMEDIATELY!*****
TO: Major Blake, Maine Fudd Volunteers
FROM: Aldin Busheytail
SUBJECT: Possible disease outbreak
I know it's the middle of the night, but it is imperative that the squirrel scouting unit that just arrived be put immediately into quarantine and blood samples from all members, especially Tamarack. When I learn more I'll let you know. Thank you for your help.
Aldin
*****END TIGHTBEAM AND ENCRYPTION*****
At Maine Fudd HQ, Eugene didn't get any sleep that night as he was 'volunteered' to get the blood samples and prepare them for immediate shipment up to Namakata.
In less then half an hour, all of Namakata was under semi-quarantine. No outside contact was allowed. Blood samples from all who had come into direct contact with either Mustard or Pinebrush were rushed down to Aldin's lab for testing.
Aldin spent all night working on the samples until he collapsed in exhaustion around five in the morning. His son, Cloud(chitter), took over with guidance from some of the other lab techs and also tested the Maine Fudd scout party samples when they arrived at seven-thirteen. When Aldin awoke a couple hours later with a splitting headache, they presented him with their findings, which he double checked for he didn't believe the results--negative. All negative, even Mapletip, who everyone knew as Mustard's mate, should have been infected if this virus was contagious.
Aldin was puzzled even further. He looked to his assistants. "I want the DNA structure of both the virii samples broken-down as completely as we can. In the meantime," (yawnflick) "I'm going to try and get a little more rest and clear my head. Call me when you have some results." They started on the project as requested as Aldin left the lab. (Yawnflick) *Sometimes, it is good to be able to delegate authority,* he thought to himself.
Return to the
"Hi!" Hazel pipped, popping into Pinebrush's room. "I've got some good news and some bad news." (perkyflick)
"Who are you?" (alarmedflick) "Aren't Firbrush and me supposed to be quarantined?"
"That's the good news," Hazel said, "We're letting you out. Firbrush too. That means I can give you your meals and check your bandages and Dr. Firbrush can get back to his other patients." (relievedflick) "My name's Hazel. Nice to meet you."
"You're Aldin's kit, right?"
"Yeah."
"'K."
"This place is a mess!" Pinebrush watched in fascination as Hazel, with a horrified look on her face, went around tidying up the room. Firbrush hadn't been in any mood for burrow-work, trapped with him for two days.
"So what's the bad news?" he asked at last.
"Oh, the whole warren's been put on quarantine. That's why you were let out." Hazel giggled. "Don't worry, Pinebrush, my father will figure it out right away. He's a mentat." (proudflick)
Pinebrush just chittered and gnawed on his pillow.
"Don't be such a Teral."
"WHAT?!"
"I mean, don't be so paranoid. It's an expression I heard someone use... Teral was this squirrel who lived in Ohio." (scaredflick) "That'd make *me* paranoid."
"And being infected with a horrible deadly virus doesn't?" Pinebrush chittered, and started shredding the bedding with his good claws.
"Stop that." (indignantflick) "All any of us can do right now is wait, anyway." Hazel looked around, surveying her work. "Anyway, I'll be back later to check on you. Do you need anything right now?"
"Can I have a bunnymover ticket out of here?"
Hazel giggled. "No." (byeflick) "See you, Pinebrush. And don't worry, my father will fix everything. You'll see."
Return to the
Aldin had slept until almost noon when the intercom chirped. Tiredly, he depressed a switch. "Yes."
Cloud(chitter) voice replied. "We've broken down the structure, Father. You'll want to see this for yourself."
"On my way."
He stretched in the nest he had built just a few weeks before for himself and Ash and proceeded out and then underground to the lab.
"What have we got?"
"See for yourself." Two slides were held-up for Aldin depicting a series of lines. "The one on the left is Mustard's virus. The other is Pinebrush's."
Aldin looked back and forth. They appeared to be an exact match, except...
"Are these in the computer system?"
(affirmativeflick)
Aldin went over to a terminal and did some programming. Both slides appeared on screen one over the other with differences noted. There were not many, and all were very, very minor. The sort of differances one would expect in a mutation of a virus. He shook his head in disbelief. They were dealing with either the same virus with mutations or two differant, very simular virii, both engineered. He packaged-up all the data they had obtained and sent it off to Remus:
*****BUNNYSTUMPER DELUXE™ ACTIVATED*****
*****TIGHTBEAM TO REMUS SHEPHERD*****
We've got a new complication up here. All the data is enclosed. It appears that you may have been partially right afterall. It seems that Rabbit's Formula starts as a mechanical nanite but in turn creates a virus to do the actual work on the DNA. It is not HLV, but it is a virus. (sighflick) I don't know how we overlooked this. Enclosed is a lot of data, but I *need* you to examine it as soon as possible. We've got a squirrel in the medical center with what appears to be the same virus in his blood stream. No one else has been infected yet, and (hopefulflick) it will stay that way. Talk to you soon.
Aldin Busheytail, Namakata Labs
Enclosures
*****END TIGHTBEAM AND ENCRYPTION*****
(On screen)
*Should I attach yesterday's message?*(blinking cursor)
(negativeflick) "Delete yesterday's reply."
(On screen)
*Understood.*
Return to the
"Mentat!" (surpriseflick) "We weren't expecting you!"
(sighflick) "Please don't use my bun-title."
"As you wish, sir..."
Aldin glared at Aspen, the squirrel on charge in the personnel department, who cringed slightly.
"As you wish, Aldin?" (hopefulflick)
"Thank you. Relax, I don't bite." (deviousflick) "Much.."
"No, sir.." (erflick) "I mean, Aldin...."
(exasperatedflick) "Never mind. I'm here for I need to see Pinebrush's file. Why isn't it in the computer system?"
Aspen darted down an aisle and pulled-open a draw to extract a small, very thin file. "There isn't much in his public record and Pinebrush requested it not be placed in the computer system. He has that right, of course." (nod)
Aspen pawed the file over to Aldin who flipped through it rapidly. Name. No age or origin listed. Extremely average shot with a crossbow, but excellent in paw-to-paw combat. Keeps to himself when not out on patrol. Follows orders, but reluctant to show initiative. Despite that, several commendations while out on patrol, including one for killing two devilbunnies near the south entrance to Baxter State Park the previous fall. Nothing else.
Aldin pawed the file back. "Thank you, Aspen."
"Find what you needed?" (hopefulflick)
(sighflick) "No. But it's not your fault," he added quickly as he saw Aspen's expression turn to disappointment. "Pinebrush appears to not want anyone to know him well."
Aldin left the personnel office and wondered about this Pinebrush. *You'd think he'd be lonely in a strange new home and at least attempt to make some friends, even if he only hung-out with some of those he went-out on patrol with, but he seemed almost obsessively secretive. Why would he not even reveal what warren he escaped from?* That last part struck Aldin as odd. Unless...
*No.* Aldin thought for a moment. *Could it be that Pinebrush is a devilbunny plant sent here to spy on Namakata? Or... could it be that the mentat community already knows that if mistreated, Rabbit's squirrel converting nanites could change a bun into a squirrel? It wouldn't be below some devilbunnies to do that to a fellow bun in the name of the cause...* (shudderflick)
Aldin had a sudden desire to have a muzzle-to-muzzle look at Pinebrush. It was time to get to the bottom to this.
Return to the
Hazel looked-up from bandaging a minor scrape on the back of one squirrel's forepaw.
(greetingsflick) "Dad. What are you doing here?"
"Hello, little one..."
Hazel nearly tied-off the bandage too tight as she reacted to the nickname. "I'm five months old, Dad," (protestflick) "I'm not little anymore!" (poutflick)
"I know, but you'll always be my little one, dear." (quickhug) "Is Dr. Firbrush around?"
"I'm right behind you," Firbrush stated. "Come to visit my patient?"
"How'd you guess?" (rhetoricalflick) "May I examine him?"
"I don't see any reason why not. I released him from quarantine when you gave the order to seal off the entire warren, not that he can move around much just yet." He led the way down to the far end of the medical center and brushed aside a curtain revealing a sleeping squirrel, one paw in a cast.
"Try not to wake him," Firbrush added, "He needs his rest."
Aldin entered and looked at Pinebrush. (disbeliefflick) *I don't believe it. It couldn't be...* he thought to himself.
"Never mind, Doctor," Aldin said, turning away and motioning for him to close the curtain. "I've seen everything I need to." He paused for a second, then continued, "Can you arrange to end the quarantine? It seems that this was all a false alarm."
"Excuse me?" (confusedflick)
"There's no virus," Aldin said. "Nothing dangerous, at least. Nevermind, I'll do it. I'll explain later."
It was almost embarassing. He'd heard that the squirrelvirus was an engineered version of HLV, but he'd imagined it as some primitive recombinant formula, and that unfounded conception had kept him from recognizing what should have been obvious until it was spelled out in front of him.
Aldin glanced back at the curtain, and thought to himself, *I don't know why you're using this other name or why you've been avoiding me, brother-in-spirit. Maybe when you get better you'll decide to tell me? Maybe you'll be willing to tell me what happened in Ohio and why you wound-up here? For now, I'll keep your secret safe and not tell anyone else you're here. You'll always be welcome here at Namakata, Teral Acorn.*
Return to the
*****BUNNYSTUMPER DELUXE™ ACTIVATED*****
*****TIGHTBEAM TO Aldin Busheytail*****