The Bikko police station was nowhere near as impressive as the train station. In fact, Kaiten felt it was rather cramped. A member of the official police force, a man just as tall as Kaiten was and had short brown hair, was guiding him to a cell. “Hey,” Kaiten asked, “what’s going to happen to my pet and my briefcase?”
The man ignored him and locked the door behind him. “You’ll get your one phone call in a little while” he said. “I suggest you use it wisely.”
One phone call. He would have to call the one person who had threatened to feed his insides to a goat should he fail his mission. Who else could he possibly call? He groaned. He could only hope that she would take pity on him and give him another chance. If not, perhaps it was safer just to remain in jail. Surely the cops could protect him from her? Hah, wishful thinking. He was doomed.
* * *
Inside the limo Taylen could take the anxiety no longer. He begged Nauthima to open the briefcase but she just laughed at him.
“Beg harder” she said as she pounded back another drink.
“Please, please, pleeeeeaaaasee let me see the blueprints right now! I promise I won’t tell anyone that you showed them to me here in the limo.”
“Sorry doctor but you know I’m not allowed to do that. It’s a matter of principal for me. Tee-hee.” Taylen sighed. “Are you sure you don’t want a drink?”
“No thanks.” Annoyed, Taylen pushed a button to roll down the window that separated the back seat from the driver. “Driver, just how much longer til we reach the research center?”
“We’re almost there.”
“Are you sure you can’t speed up? Drive around traffic?”
The window began to roll back up. The last thing the driver wanted to be told was how to drive his limo.
“Why are you so anxious to see this?” Nauthima asked as serious as she could be.
“Have you ever dreamed of flying?” Taylen asked her. She shook her head no. “Well I have. Imagine a world in which we could all board a flying train or boat and it would allow us to not only explore the world we live on in greater detail but allow much faster travel between our established cities.” His arms flailed as he talked. His voice was vivid and loud.
“Faster than train?”
“Much faster than train. Imagine being able to take a fifteen minute trip from Crim to Tinnei–a trip that currently takes several hours.”
“Sounds like a dream.”
“And it always has been until now. With those blueprints it will become reality.”
The window rolled down again. “We’ve arrived at the research center doctor.”
“Excellent!”
Taylen hopped out of the car and, much to his dismay, was met with several other important doctors and archelogists who all wanted to congratulate him and talk to him. He dismissed them as fast as he could, but not nearly as fast as he would like. Together, Nauthima, Taylen and several others were led to a quaint little room that had a small table and several chairs surrounding it.
“All right, let’s open this puppy up” Taylen said. Nauthima complied and put the briefcase on the table. With two loud clicks the briefcase’s snaps were unlatched and the briefcase swung open.
* * *
Detective Danshaw walked into the Bikko police station with KuroMa in tow. He was still singing an old tune and Kuro felt like he was going to go insane if the songs didn’t stop. Finally it did as the brown-haired policeman walked over to Danshaw.
“Detective Danshaw!” The policeman lit up. In college him and Danshaw had been roommates.
“Small world isn’t it Marcus?”
“Sure is. So what’s this guy done?” He nodded towards KuroMa.
“Destruction of property, being a fire performer without a license, and I’m sure some other things that he has yet to admit to.”
Marcus whistled. “Impressive rap there kid” he said to KuroMa who rolled his eyes in response. Marcus returned his attention to Danshaw. “I bet you’ll get a medal for this one.”
“I sure hope so” Danshaw beamed.
“Place your right hand in this and press it here” Marcus said nodding to a box of ink and a large piece of paper used to keep fingerprints on file. Danshaw didn’t give KuroMa a chance to cooperate on his own free will and instead forcefully pushed his hand into the ink and onto the paper.
“Right. Well, we have someone in cell one at the moment but he can feel free to make cell two his home until trial.” Marcus pointed down towards the cells.
“Thanks Marcus.”
“As always, Danshaw.”
* * *
Taylen’s face was pale white. Laying in the open briefcase was an open brown envelope that contained–the best Taylen could figure–a bill to have the Tinnei mountains be declared a protected national reserve that would disallow tourists.
“Uhm” Taylen said, adjusting his goggles after putting the piece of paper down. “This isn’t a blueprint.” He looked back over at Nauthima.
“I can see that for myself” Nauthima said matter-of-factly.
“What?” He heard another man behind him. “Taylen, where did the blueprint go?!”
“How should I know? Nauthima!”
“I guess a mystery is afoot! Yippie!” Nauthima jumped up and down as she squeed with glee.
