Raiyev - Parts 1-5

Part 1



Perhaps the best way to describe it would be to say that it was otherworldly. The raccoon saw the world die around him; buildings crumpled, people were blown away in the blink of an eye, and Raiyev could only feel in a way satisfied that science was the answer to it all. But at the same time he felt almost betrayed, as if science had let him down, stealing away the world like that. After all, science was one of his two passions in life, superceded only by his passion for his fiancée, Brad. Where WAS Brad in all of this pandemonium? He sensed that Brad was already gone, long before any of this had happened, though he didn’t know how he knew this—he just sensed it to be true. Now he felt torn, lost…but there was something more… He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it was almost as if the whole notion of death due to science had put him in a state where he was feeling every single fathomable emotion at once. Omni-positional emotion. The absolute antithesis of apathy. A fifth dementia of psychology. Downright otherworldly.

He slowly came around, squinting his eyes open into the darkness of his bedroom. A dream. It had been only a dream. The world was still here, and the gentle snoring next to him proved that so was his love. He closed his eyes again and gently pondered his dream. He felt it slowly slipping away from him, as was his otherworldly state of mind. It faded away as consciousness took over stupor. He wanted it to go, but then at the same time he didn’t. It was so…odd…the way he had felt during that nightmare. Was it a nightmare? He didn’t know. He didn’t feel like getting up yet—it was still too early. He drifted back into a slumber right as the phone rang…



“Goddammit,” Brad grumbled into his pillow. He didn’t know it at the time, but that was going to be the catchphrase for the day around his workplace at EarthTech Labs. For now, however, it was five o’clock in the morning—too damn early, as far as he was concerned, for the phone to be ringing. Nevertheless, he grunted, flicking his ringed tail a bit out of annoyance, and reluctantly reached over to his nightstand to pick up the receiver.

“Hello?” he answered groggily.

“Brad? That you?” came the slightly gruff voice on the other end.

“Yes sir, Dr. Patterson,” Brad answered, rubbing his eyes. It was Dr. Frank Patterson, a short little fox in his mid 50s who served both as Brad’s boss and head of the Geological Department.

“Brad, we need you down here. Something’s happening that we can’t explain, and we need as many active minds as we can get.”

There was obviously excitement in the fox’s voice, but Brad couldn’t tell whether it was joyful or fearful excitement. “Okay, I’ll be there in half an hour. Raiyev won’t like it too much—we only have one car, you know.”

“I know, I know. He might as well be here, too. This isn’t entirely his field, I don’t think, but you never know who might turn out useful, ya know?”

Brad grunted and hung up. He didn’t much care for some of the bad rap that his fiancée got. Sure, Raiyev was just a touch clumsier than his fellow employees, but he certainly wasn’t a “bumbling idiot” as Brad had overheard a husky tell her friend not too long ago. So to hear his boss imply that Raiyev wasn’t too “useful” to begin with upset him. As far as Brad was concerned, Raiyev was the most beautiful, loving, kind, benign, and generous warm-hearted fur ever to have graced the planet. And he was pretty much right, as far as those that knew Raiyev were concerned.

Raiyev wasn’t the brightest biochemist at EarthTech, but he was still very well known, be it for his physique ideal of any fur in his late 20s, for his occasional knack to trip over his own tail, or simply for the uplifting smile seen on his raccoon muzzle every day. Needless to say, he got much attention from the ladies and some of the guys, but he was already spoken for, and quite happy for it. Brad, also a raccoon in his late 20s, was Raiyev’s lover, fiancée, and best friend, and was much larger than Raiyev, with a body nearly completely ripped with muscles. It was almost a wonder that these two veritable playboys weren’t busy modeling or taking up any other work that better suited their physiques, but they were quite content living their current lives and delving into the mysteries of science.

Science was their stimulant in life. The concept of progression through knowledge and understanding of the universe around them, of inventing a better life, was too tempting to them to want to pursue anything else. They both had shared this passion since they were children, so when they met each other at The University of California at Berkley, a friendship clicked almost instantly between them, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history. They both graduated with honors, moved into an apartment together, and began their lives soon at EarthTech Labs. Since EarthTech was the largest independent science facility in the nation (meaning that it was not funded by the government), it covered nearly all aspects of science. This meant that the two raccoons could get in the know of nearly everything new in the science world quite easily—something that just made the deal all the sweeter to them.

Or at least, it did when they didn’t have to wake up and get to work so damned early, Brad though to himself. It pained him somewhat to have to wake his lover up, he realized, so he just stood there for a moment in silence, watching the smaller raccoon’s tail flicker slightly as he continued to dream.

Brad reached out a huge, beefy arm and gently caressed Raiyev, bending over to kiss him lightly on the cheek. Raiyev opened his eyes slowly, coming unwillingly out of unconsciousness.

“What time is it, sweetie?” he asked, stretching.

“Too early for us to get up, but we’re needed at work,” the bigger raccoon replied, frowning. “There’s some sort of emergency or something—Patterson wasn’t too clear on the phone just now. But I’m needed, which means it’s an early start for both of us.”

Raiyev made a small noise in his throat that Brad was sure was a whine.

“Yeah, well, once we can afford a second car and perhaps a house of our own, this won’t be a problem in the future.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Raiyev said, sitting up and scratching his chest. “I won’t make a fuss if you won’t.” He winked at Brad, then stood up and kissed him on the cheek. “So do you want to shower first or shall I?”

“Normally I’d suggest we shower together, but we’re gonna need our energy, plus I said I’d be there in half an hour, and that was five minutes ago. Geez, that was stupid of me,” Brad said to himself in retrospect.

“I’ll shower first,” Raiyev said, ignoring his lover’s last comment. “I’ll be in and out in two minutes.” And with that, he started for the bathroom. True to his word, Raiyev stepped out of a steamy bathroom a couple minutes later, still toweling off. “Your turn,” he said coyly as he passed Brad to put on his work clothes. Brad took just a little longer in the shower, as he had more body to wash, but still made it with enough time to dress, groom, and get to work.

“So what do you think this big emergency is, anyway?” Raiyev asked Brad as he drove their Chevy convertible down the highway. It was summer and humid, and the sun had just barely come up, but the wind whipping by at 75 miles and hour was enough that the two thought driving with the top down was rather nice and comfortable.

“I honestly have no idea. Knowing how excitable Patterson is, though, it’ll probably be nothing important. Just something minute with plate tectonics or something. I swear, that guy is such an oddball about plate tectonics. Any tiny seismic reading that shows any hint of abnormality and he gets in such a fluster that you’d think he’d just won the Superbowl.”

Raiyev laughed and said, “Well, you have to give the guy some credit, though—he IS quite brilliant in his work.”

“Yes, he’s won a good handful of awards and recognitions. I’m not saying he’s not brilliant, but it just comes back to that fine line, you know?”

“You mean between genius and insanity?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” Brad grinned widely, and Raiyev made the turn into the EarthTech Labs parking lot. From behind the a wall of trees, a rather vast parking lot came into view, with a large white building visible a few hundred yards away—the main building. EarthTech Labs was a large plot of land littered with numerous small buildings, open fields, and large scientific equipment, the least of which not being the huge satellite dish that could be seen peeking above from behind the main building. And all surrounded by an overly large barbed wire fence, which ended only at the sides of the main building.

Generally, the parking lot would be nearly empty at this time of the morning, but to Brad’s and Raiyev’s surprise, it was nearly full, and a few cars were still milling around, looking for a decent parking spot.

“What the hell is going on here?” Raiyev cried out in shock.

“I’m beginning to suspect that Patterson actually has valid reason to be overly excited this time,” Brad replied as he took in the sea of cars filling the parking lot.

“Well, we’ll find out in a minute, anyway,” Raiyev said as he pulled into an open space near the back of the parking lot. Turning off the car and pocketing the keys, he gestured to his fiancée with a grin of excitement as Brad just sat there a moment, lost in thought and wonder. “Well, come on! Let’s go!” he said with an excitement like that of a child at an amusement park. “This has gotta be huge, and my curiosity is trying my patience.”

“Alright, alright,” Brad said, coming back to himself. The two began to trot, hand in hand, the length of the parking lot, getting passed by a few furs who were running more avidly to the main building. “This is gonna be something. I can see that now,” Brad said as the two of them leapt up the stone steps to the eastern main entrance, the rising sun on their backs. Wondrously, they stepped in through the glass doors of their workplace to face whatever this new hype was.







Part 2



“Name?” the large female bear in uniform said almost apathetically from behind the front security desk. The main building was bustling with excitement as furs were hurrying to and fro, phones were ringing off the hook, and the line to check in was longer than even the normal check-in line usually was at nine in the morning on any standard day. Yet, Ms. Bilicek, the bear who headed the front security desk, still acted as if nothing at all was out of the ordinary.

“Raiyev Dmitri Kosekovic,” Raiyev answered, and placed his paw on a print scanner sitting on the large laminated countertop in front of him.

“Brad Steven Johnson,” Brad said as Raiyev’s scan was approved, and placed his own paw to be scanned.

“Alright, here are your security passes,” she said without energy as she handed over a couple of large badges on plastic necklaces, each bearing a name, picture, and level of security clearance to its furson. Due to a high level of secrecy in the work done at the facility, it was standard procedure for all personnel to check in and out each day, leaving their security passes in the main building.

“None of this hullabaloo bothers you?” Raiyev asked the bear.

“Just another day at the rat races,” she replied unenthusiastically.

“Hey, I heard that!” cried a small and bony rat from behind Brad, who approached Bilicek, trying to size her up. The bear couldn’t be bothered, and neither could the two raccoons as they made their way to the northern wing of the building, now adorning their passes. They were turning the corner down a corridor when a ferret, not exactly watching where she was going, ran right into Raiyev, knocking herself and the large portfolio she was carrying to the ground.

“Oh, my, are you okay?” Raiyev said with honest concern as he bent down to help her up.

“Oh, yes, sorry…my boss said she needed this file on the double and—oh, dammit!” the distressed ferret cried out as she saw the papers from inside the portfolio strewn all over the floor. Raiyev began to pick them up while the ferret was still standing there, a horrified look on her face. “Oh, I’m gonna get killed! And this is my second day on the job!”

“Look, honey,” Brad began, “I have to run. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“I beg your pardon?” the ferret said, apparently thinking “honey” was referring to her.

“Okay, see you later,” Raiyev said as he stood and kissed Brad on the cheek. As Brad hurried off, Raiyev bent back down and continued picking up papers. “You know, this would go twice as fast if you helped out a bit,” Raiyev said, succeeding rather well in his attempt not to sound condescending of the foolish ferret.

“Oh, right!” the ferret replied, as if the idea of picking up her own mess had only just dawned on her. “Terribly sorry,” she said as she got down on her knees and started picking up papers. “I’m Toni, by the way. Toni Hawthorne.”

“Raiyev Kosekovic,” the raccoon replied.

“Who was that other raccoon? The one that just left?”

“That was my fiancée, Brad. He’s wonderful.” Raiyev smiled as he stood up, a stack of papers neatly ready to go back into the portfolio.

“Thanks,” Toni said as she slowly took the papers and frowned at them. “They’re all out of order now, though. I’m gonna be fired for sure. I’m so clumsy sometimes.”

“Hey, look—I’m known well around here for being a bit of a klutz myself. Just blame it all on me. It’ll be okay.” Raiyev stood, still smiling at the ferret.

“You mean that?” Toni said in amazement. “You’d do that for me?”

“Hey, everyone has accidents, especially on days when there’s so much activity. Don’t worry about it. Who’s your boss, anyway?”

“Uh, Dr. Paxton, in Astronomy.”

“Ah, yes, I think I’ve met her before. Don’t worry. Everyone here knows me, and they all know that I’m a bit clumsy sometimes, so just say I wasn’t looking where I was going and I accidentally ran into you.”

“You think she’ll believe that?”

“If she doesn’t, you tell her to ask me, and I’ll admit that it was my fault, okay?”

“Oh, wow! Um, okay. Uh, thanks! Mr…uh…Costyvich.”

“Kosekovic. But please, call me Raiyev.”

“Oh, okay. Is that Russian?”

“Yep.”

“But you don’t have an accent.”

“Oh, well, I was born here in America. My parents emigrated here from Russia. Anyway, I have to run, and I’m assuming you do, too. You’ll be fine, just mention my name. Oh, and walk just a bit slower.” Raiyev gave Toni a wink and started off.

“It was nice meeting you!” she called to him, and he stopped and turned.

“Nice meeting you, too,” he grinned back at her. She smiled and took her cue to leave. That was something else Raiyev was well known for—his charm, especially his charming grin. He could always speak volumes with that grin. It is perhaps why he had yet to be fired, despite his semi-consistent clumsiness.

He started back down the corridor and found his way, as he did everyday, to the glass double doors at the northern end of the main building. The warm, moist summer air greeted him again as he exited the rather sterile and heavily air conditioned building. He breathed deeply, enjoying the intoxicating scent of wildflowers and heather from a nearby field. The tiniest bit of him almost felt sad that such natural beauty was being squandered on industrialist progression. But he was a fur of science, and that small hint of sadness was overpowered hundred fold by his love for his study.

As he strolled somewhat casually along the small sidewalk to the Chemistry building, he kicked himself for not having asked Toni if she knew anything about what all of this excitement was about. He figured, though, that a two-day old assistant here probably wouldn’t know diddlysquat, anyway. Raiyev saw a figure standing just inside by the door as he approached the Chemistry building. He put his security pass up to a scanner by the door, where a little red light switched to a little green light.

“Morning, Dr. Frost,” Raiyev greeted the half-dog, half-bear as he stepped inside.

“Morning, Raiyev,” the hybrid answered with a smile. Raiyev always got along well with his boss, Dr. Ebony Frost. She was keen on sticking by Raiyev, since they were both subject to social criticism—her being a product of interspecies breeding, and him being homosexual. Raiyev had to admit, though, that for someone who took a lot more heat than he ever did, she did exceedingly well to get where she is now.

“I’m glad you’re here. No one quite knows exactly what is going on, so it’s good to have experts from every field here just in case, you know?” Raiyev thought she seemed a bit on edge. Well, a BIT was an understatement, he corrected himself. She obviously needed a smoke, but that was quite reasonably forbidden on the lab grounds.

“No, I don’t know, to be honest. Can I get you some coffee or something, Dr. Frost?” he asked her concernedly.

“Oh, no, I’ll be fine,” she lied.

“Is anyone else here yet?”

“Not yet. You and I are the only ones from our department that are awake so far, it seems.”

“So what exactly IS this thing that is causing so much hype?”

“You mean no one has told you yet?” she replied in surprise.

“I just got here with Brad. Patterson—“

“DOCTOR Patterson,” she interjected.

“Yes, Dr. Patterson didn’t tell Brad anything when he phoned him 40 minutes ago—just that it was urgent we both get here.”

“Oh, okay,” she responded, looking lost in thought.

“So, what is it?” Raiyev asked, trying to get his boss’ mind back to the topic.

Frost looked at Raiyev with an indiscernible expression that only told Raiyev that this wasn’t exactly something positive. “You know, I think we SHOULD make that pot of coffee,” she said finally, still looking at him. “And if it were permitted, I would suggest perhaps some vodka, too.” She escorted him down the small hallway to a room at the far end. In it was a sink with limited counter space, two bar stools, a couple cupboards, a small refrigerator, and two coffee makers.

“No caffeine, I think, Doctor,” Raiyev said. The last thing they needed was for her to be even shakier.

“I agree, Raiyev.” After she got the coffee maker going, she offered the raccoon a barstool. “You’ll probably want to sit to hear this.” Raiyev obliged and looked quizzically at his boss.

“So what is this all about?” he asked.



Part 3



Raiyev was sipping his fifth cup of coffee, going over in his head everything he had just been told, when a bespectacled old badger opened the door.

“So THERE you two are!” he said, trying to make his feeble voice sound firm while he looked at the two over the gilded rims of his circular glasses.

“Ah, Dr. Hatchett. Sorry to cause you to look for us,” Frost addressed the elderly badger. “I was just telling Raiyev here everything that we’ve found out so far.”

“Ah, yes. I would have been here sooner myself, but I was in an…impromptu conference with Doctors McGrey, Rutherford, Paxton, AND Patterson. You should have been there. Did you not hear the telephone ringing 20 minutes ago?”

“No, sorry. Like I said, I was in here, having coffee and telling Kosekovic about the new data. We haven’t even opened any of the lab doors yet.”

“Well, the labs are open, and everyone from our department is here now and continuing their normal work, until you can tell us all what ought to be done. You really ought to get yourself a cell phone, you know, Dr. Frost. If need be, I’ll get one for you.” Raiyev thought that Hatchett’s tone was a bit too haughty, considering that Frost was his boss as well. Sure, Dr. Edgar Hatchett may be one of the oldest non-executive employees at EarthTech Labs—a fur well into his 60s—but superiors are superiors, and Raiyev thought it was unbecoming for Hatchett to speak to Frost as if he were the authority figure.

“Yes, I’ll look into it.” Frost passed off the old fur’s advice, regaining her air of authority. “So what news transpired in this ‘impromptu conference’? Something big, I’d assume, considering that you were in the company of the heads of four other departments.”

“Yes, well, Dr. Rutherford confirmed that the sizes of all animal life has remained unchanged in proportion to the change in size to the earth as a whole.”

“So Dr. Patterson has confirmed that the earth truly is…shrinking?” Frost asked.

“With the help of Dr. Paxton, yes. And with no thanks to you, Raiyev.” The badger looked down almost scathingly at the raccoon, who realized it must be related to the run-in he had with the new assistant earlier that morning.

“What does he mean, Raiyev?” Frost asked.

“Oh, nothing…it was just a small accident I had on the way over here earlier,” Raiyev replied with a little laugh and a wave of his paw.

“Yes, a rather unfortunate accident that delayed the processing of certain information in the Astronomy department,” Hatchett said moodily. “Anyway, Dr. McGrey has also confirmed that, like the animal life, all plant life has remained their correct sizes proportionate to the fluxuation of the size of the planet.”

“So what did they all want with the Chemistry department?” Frost asked.

“Well, we’re all supposed to be trying anything and everything we can think of that will stop this continuous shrinkage. If we can get everything to stop shrinking, perhaps we can find a way to put everything back to the right size. If not…well, I think you already know the ramifications of what would happen if we let this continue. Dr. Paxton said that the Moon is not changing its size, so we’ll have a hell of a time battling extremely tide fluxuations, and we’ll be sent out of orbit. In fact,” the old badger sighed, looking down, “a shift in orbit has already begun. The government has been alerted, and if we cannot find a way to stop this, whatever is causing all this, it would mean the end of life on this planet. We could get drawn too close to the Sun, thrown too far, or even collide with another planet or satellite.”

“Speaking of which, have our satellites circling the earth—I mean fur-made satellites—have they changed in size as well?” Frost asked.

“Yes, for whatever reason, they have changed as well and are, like everything else, properly proportioned.”

“Okay, then. Raiyev, you already know what to do. Just get to work and tell those in your lab room what needs to be done. I’ll inform the everyone else.”

Raiyev looked rather panic-stricken. He still was having difficulty believing everything he was being told about the earth shrinking. “How much time do we have?” he asked Dr. Hatchett.

“At this rate,” Hatchett answered, “we have approximately seven and a half years before our change in orbit becomes too critical to continue life on this planet.”

“And there’s absolutely nothing that anyone has seen yet to determine the cause of all this?” Raiyev asked.

“Nothing at all,” the badger said. “Your guess is as good as mine this time. It could be anything from global warming to something caused by extraterrestrial beings.” Raiyev raised an eyebrow at Hatchett, who added hastily, “But don’t go spreading rumors or anything!”

Raiyev took his cue to leave and headed out down the hallway to his usual lab. He entered a room marked Lab 8 on his left, which inside looked typical of a modern chemist’s laboratory. There were many blacktopped worktables stationed around the room, each with an assortment of glass and earthenware, microscopes, computers, and various other tools. Many furs were already at work, grouped at tables and concentrating hard. A small and rather squat red-breasted bird came up to Raiyev.

“Hey, Thomas,” the raccoon greeted the bird.

“’Lo, Raiyev. What news?” the bird answered.

“We have…um…a situation…” Raiyev’s voice seemed to falter as he tried to fathom how to explain to everyone that the entire planet and everything on it was shrinking. He took a deep breath and cleared his mind before continuing. “Everyone, I need your attention. Dr. Frost has asked me to inform you of a special assignment that calls for immediate focus.”

“You mean why it seems that everyone who has ever been on a payroll here has been called here today?” a voluptuous bunny called from the back.

“Yes, Dr. Harper—for once, the entire facility seems to be focused on the same problem, and it’s because, quite frankly, no one knows the cause of it quite yet.”

“The cause of what?” Thomas asked loudly so that all could hear, even though most had already left their workstations, had made their way up to Raiyev, and were huddled around him

“Well…I don’t know how many of you are going to believe this, but…” Raiyev hesitated for a moment before he continued; he even considered for a split second about giving up right then and there and running away. “…But the planet earth is shrinking.” Everyone in the room (except Raiyev, of course) gasped loudly and immediately started chattering away at each other. Obviously, none of the other biochemists working at EarthTech had gotten any word of what the hubbub throughout the facility was all about. Some even began to laugh.

“How the hell can the earth be shrinking?” scoffed a sun bear from within the group.

“It’s just not possible!” remarked a fox standing next to the sun bear.

“Please, please! Settle down everyone!” Raiyev cried out in attempts to get everyone to listen to the explanation. The small mob calmed itself quickly and allowed Raiyev to continue. He did his best to explain everything he had heard to the group, from the first signs of a dramatic reduction in the overall mass of the earth, up to the estimated seven and a half years left in the life of the earth if it continued to shrink at its current rate. When Raiyev told them how Frost had ordered everyone to begin at once to try and find anything that could counter the shrinking, everyone quietly complied. Raiyev took his place at one of the tables by Thomas and began to brainstorm with him.

The lunch hour seemed to come quickly, as Raiyev had already spent half the morning in the break room with his boss. Not unreasonably, no one had yet to come any closer to solving this new mystery than they had since they begun. Raiyev took his hour in the local cafeteria like everyone else, which was much fuller than usual that day. He met up with Brad and took a table by a window. The two had just begun to exchange stories of their morning’s events when the room went entirely quiet and Brad seemed to stare right past Raiyev. Raiyev turned around, a puzzled look on his face, only to see the President of the United States step into view on the screen of the large plasma television in the cafeteria. The CNN headline at the bottom read “Emergency Broadcast from the White House,” and the entire world seemed to stop to hear what the President had to say.



Part 4



Flashes from the bulbs of a dozen newspaper photographers bounced lightly off the greying fur of the well-dressed President. President Alexis McKenzie was the oldest feline president the USA had ever seen inducted into office. However his wisdom, experience, and physical training from spending decades in the Marines (ending at the honorable rank of colonel) gave his appearance a strength and dignity that most other cats his age could never have. So, it was with a courageous “full speed ahead” attitude that allowed him to speak to the public with no hint of fear at the situation.

“My fellow Americans,” he began, his stony face resolute and unsmiling, “it has come to my attention that an emergency situation has arisen—not just for our country, but for the world entire. This situation will call for all of us to band together and unite our efforts into one. The US Government has discovered, thanks to the brilliant minds of our country’s expert scientists, that a rare and so far unexplainable phenomenon has begun a drastic shift in the mass of our planet.”

Raiyev watched from the eerie silence of the cafeteria as the dozens of reporters surrounding the President started chattering all at once. Word had already spread like wild fire throughout the entire facility of EarthTech Labs that morning, so no one in the cafeteria needed to chatter away like everyone else in the country must have been doing at that very moment.

After a couple seconds, the banter died down, allowing President McKenzie to continue. “What this means for us is that we have an approximated seven and a half years to find a remedy to this problem, before our planet’s new mass shifts us out of orbit.” There was much more uproar from the reporters at this point, but McKenzie raised his voice over them. “Scientists all over the country are working as we speak to provide us all with a solution. However, we already have a plan in progress, though it will take the combined efforts of many nations as well as many tax dollars. An emergency meeting with The United Nations has been scheduled for tomorrow, where we will further discuss possible solutions. I regret to inform you, however, that I cannot speak any further of this. I can only ask for everyone’s full cooperation through this inexplicably rough time. Thank you.”

As the President stepped out of sight again, bodyguards took their place to ward off reporters trying to follow the President with questions. The CNN correspondent popped into view on the large TV, and Raiyev turned back around face his fiancée as the rest of the room went back to their own conversations.

“So now everyone knows,” Raiyev said, sighing.

“Hey, don’t fret it,” Brad offered in return, seeing the slight droop in Raiyev’s face. “We’ll find an answer. Someone will.”

“I sure as hell hope so,” Raiyev said, poking indifferently at his lunch with his fork. “So, anyway…” he said after a moment, finally beginning to eat, “tell me about your morning. Any developments?”

“Nothing yet,” Brad answered after swallowing a bite of his salad. “We’ve been checking different sites all over the globe known to have large amounts of radioactive exposure, the biggest ones first—you know, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Hiroshima…”

“Well, at least you’ve got your work cut out for you,” Raiyev said. “We’re still brainstorming as to where the hell we should start, but there’s really nothing we can think of so far. Hey!” Raiyev yelled out as his bottle of water was knocked over.

“Sorry,” came the voice of the perpetrator. Raiyev looked up to see that it was Thomas Ferai, the squat, red-breasted bird he worked with. He talked hurriedly after he picked up Raiyev’s bottle of water. “Just needed to talk to you—now. I just thought of something. If you’re finished with lunch, I’d like to show you now…I honestly don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.”

Raiyev looked down at his half-eaten veggie burger and nearly untouched salad with a bit of a frown. “You want the rest of it?” he offered to Brad.

“Nah,” Brad replied, waving his paw at it. “You want I should wrap it up for you?”

“Um, okay. Thanks.”

“Hey, don’t mention it. You just run along.”

“Okay, good,” Thomas said with enthusiasm as Raiyev stood and followed his hurried footsteps out of the cafeteria.

Raiyev had to run to catch up with Thomas once they were outside. Once they were side by side, however, Raiyev was able to slow down to a quick walk.

“So what is this that’s so urgent?” the raccoon asked.

“A few years before you and Brad came here we worked for a while with the chemical effects of complications of the pituitary gland. We had to quit by 1999, though, so we only got a couple months of work done at the end of ’98 with Gigantism. We never got to learn too much about what was the chemical cause of Gigantism, so the records we have are very limited and unfinished, with some of the shakiest and most unprofessional conclusions ever drawn up.”

The two entered the Chemistry department and jogged down to Lab 8. Thomas hurried over to a set of filing cabinets lining half of a wall and leaned in close. Squinting his eyes, he ran his finger down a column of filing cabinets before pulling open a drawer marked “1998” in small print on a yellowing index card attached to the drawer. He thumbed through an assortment of large, thick manila folders and darker brown expandable portfolios before pulling out a half-inch thick folder with the typed label “Pituitary: Gigantism.”

“Here,” Thomas said as he thrust the folder towards Raiyev.

Raiyev took it and began looking through it. He paced slowly towards his workstation, skimming over the pages talking about the various test patients used, their reactions towards the different injections concocted by the team working on Gigantism, the reaction to placebos…it went on, but not long enough.

“I see what you mean about shaky and unprofessional conclusions,” Raiyev said finally, now sitting on a stool at his workstation. “But tell me—why ever was the work cancelled?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Thomas answered, then paused, listening to the sounds from the hallway that told the two that the rest of their coworkers were returning from lunch. Thomas continued as other furs entered their lab. “The excuse given us was so shady and horrible that I don’t even remember what it was now. Just stupid politics, I think—using test subjects and all of that ‘immorality’ crap the extremists try to feed us.”

“Right,” Raiyev said, returning to the front page of the file. “Can we get any new subjects? I’d like to see if we can try to find the chemical cause to Gigantism; it may well hold a key to…something. Geez, this all sounds so shaky anyway. Do you really think it could work?”

“What could work?” asked a voice right behind Raiyev. The raccoon turned around to find Dr. Harper standing before him. Raiyev was almost surprised at how tall she appeared up close.

“Dr. Ferai here thought about trying to do something with Gigantism. He showed me what you all had worked on a few years back.”

“Oh? I hadn’t thought of that one,” Harper said, looking oddly at Thomas. “Raiyev is right, though—it DOES sound shaky…” She continued to stand there, almost glaring at Thomas for a moment before shaking her head, as if coming out of some deep trance. “Anyway, Raiyev, I was asked to deliver this to you.” She held out a piece of paper that was folded over and taped shut. “I can’t say who it’s from—I got it through some sort of weird chain of deliverers. All I was told was to tell you that you’d understand it.”

Raiyev took the piece of paper and removed the tape as he unfolded it. He frowned a bit to find that the inside was only as blank as the outside, though. Suddenly, though, he had an idea. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back,” he said to Harper and Thomas. He walked hurriedly out of the lab and into the nearest washroom, sighing in relief to find it empty.

Pouring a bit of soap onto the paper, he gently rubbed two fingers over the paper, spreading the soap around until he found what he was looking for. The soap revealed a message written in invisible ink that read in shaky pawwriting: “Meet me at the Western Entrance of the Main Building just after 5 o’clock this evening, after everyone else has left. Come alone.”



Part 5



Raiyev read and reread the paper. He had spread the soap over the rest of the paper, trying to find anything more to the message, but there was nothing else. Surely this must be some kind of a practical joke, he thought. This is something that you only see in the movies. But he could think of no one he knew who would send him such a thing. After spending another couple of minutes just staring at the paper, he decided it was best that he just comply. After all, it’s not as if anyone was out to get him for anything.

Tossing the soap-smeared paper into the wastebasket, the raccoon washed his hands and returned slowly to Lab 8. When he got back, Harper and Thomas were in a debate over whether or not a more in-depth study of Gigantism would prove useful. Some of the other furs were standing around, listening and shaking or nodding their heads in agreement or disagreement.

“I just don’t see how anything without a pituitary gland could be affected by this,” Harper was saying. “This is the entire world we’re talking about here—not just us animals.” The sun bear, who had been the first in Lab 8 to declare the whole predicament as being ludicrous earlier that morning, was whispering into the ear of his coworker fox and gesturing to Harper when Raiyev walked up to Thomas.

“Well, it’s at least worth a shot, isn’t it?” Thomas said. “I mean, what else have we to go on in our field? ‘Lo again, Raiyev. Where’d ya go?”

“Had to use the restroom was all,” Raiyev answered passively.

“What happened to that paper?”

“It was trash,” Raiyev lied. “Nothing but a blank piece of paper. Just someone’s idea of a practical joke.” Raiyev wanted to believe that it was really a joke, but he was still seriously considering going to see whoever it was that wrote him that message. The problem would be that he’d have to tell Brad that he needed to stay behind for a couple minutes…well, he couldn’t be really sure about HOW long it would take—it could be just a couple minutes, and it could be some hours. This was really puzzling him. He decided to give the thought some rest until later.

“Anyway,” he said, returning to the situation at paw, “I have to agree with Dr. Ferai.” Harper cast her eyes to the ground and stuck out her bottom lip in a sort of soft grimace of malcontent. She looked at Thomas again, the same way she had been glaring at him before Raiyev went off to the restroom. Raiyev got the distinct impression that there was something more between the rabbit and the bird that he wasn’t totally clued in on, but that feeling passed as Harper spoke again at last.

“Alright,” she said. “So where are we supposed to get some subjects to study? The file shows us that we never did totally figure out what was chemically different that caused the Gigantism—“

“I know that, Dr. Harper,” Thomas returned quickly, a note in his voice showing a wear of his patience. “I was thinking about calling back the placebo victims we had when we studied all this before.”

“I honestly don’t think that we would have problems getting the facility to approve of us acquiring test subjects, Dr. Harper,” Raiyev added.

Harper was starting to look flustered. “Yeah, fine,” she said, raising her voice a little, “but how long will it take to get them? A month? Two months? What do we do until then? Just sit around on our asses, arguing like we’re doing now?”

“I would suggest you take a good, long, and thorough look into that file to remind yourselves what you already have learned,” came a voice from behind Raiyev. Everyone looked at the doorway to Lab 8 to see Dr. Frost standing there, a stern executive look on her face. She began to approach the group as she continued. “Furthermore, you needn’t worry about waiting a couple of months for any test subject. In a situation as drastic as this, the facility can provide them for you pronto, and without all the damn red tape getting in the way. Well, what I mean is that the government should help speed things along.”

“What do you mean, exactly, Dr. Frost?” asked Thomas, an inquiring look etched in his eyes.

“Well, it’s rather obvious, Dr. Ferai,” Frost answered. “The government, like the rest of the world, is in dire need of all the help they can get to solve this problem. It’s like I’m sure you heard the President say at lunch today: ‘This situation will call for all of us to band together and unite our efforts into one.’ So, since they can’t legally put us under military rule yet, stating that we should work only for the government, the best that they can do to encourage us is to give us whatever we require.”

“And at top speed,” Raiyev added, understanding.

“Exactly,” Frost said.

“So how long then?” said a bit calmer Harper. “How long should it take us to get our test subjects?”

“Within the next day or two, I believe,” Frost answered. “Now, I just got here in time to hear that you needed test subjects, but I didn’t catch what type of test subjects.”

“Ah, well,” Thomas began, “we were considering looking into the chemical cause for Gigantism to see if we could somehow use that to counter-act the shrinking planet.” He handed her the thin manila file, then asked, “What were you here about in the first place, Dr. Frost?”

“Oh, just checking up on all the labs—seeing what they were approaching.” She thumbed through the file, nodding her head and mumbling to herself. “Ah, yes, I remember this…didn’t get far, did we?” She handed the folder back to Thomas, and then started for the door. On her way out, she said to the group, “Just do as best as you can. That’s all this company asks of you for now.”



The rest of the afternoon went slowly, with Raiyev and his coworkers going over copies of the Gigantism file, discussing possible tests and procedures they should try once they got their subjects. They had agreed that a blood sample from each subject would be needed, and not just for the general physical each subject was required to take. Also, Thomas had pointed out that during the initial study, children had proved to be the best subjects to study. It was various details like this that were the points of discussion for the rest of the day, until the clock in the lab showed them all that 5 o’clock had come.

As everyone was starting to leave, Raiyev remembered his requested meeting with the anonymous letter sender. He was still trying to think of something he could say to Brad that wouldn’t seem too unreasonable. He had thought about just saying he needed to use the restroom before they left, or about saying that Dr. Frost wanted to talk with him. In the end, though, he decided to tell the truth—or at least, part of the truth. He used the phone in his lab to call Brad’s cell phone.

“Hello?” Brad answered.

“Heya, sweetie. It’s me,” Raiyev said.

“Oh, hey. I was just about to come over to your building.”

“Well, um, something came up.”

“Oh?”

“I’m supposed to meet someone about something—they didn’t say what exactly. So, could you just wait in the car for a little while?”

“Um, okay.” Brad sounded a little confused. “Who are you meeting?” he asked suspiciously.

“Uh…” Raiyev tried to think of someone quickly, but just gave in to the truth. “I don’t really know—I just got a note, and it didn’t say who it was from or anything.” Raiyev paused, but there was no sound from the other line. “You there?” Raiyev asked.

“Yeah, I’m here,” Brad said finally. “It’s okay. I’ll wait for you. Just in front of the main building. Is that okay?”

“That’s fine. Thanks a lot, love.”

“No problem. See you soon.”

And with final goodbyes, Raiyev hung up. By now, most everyone had left. He went a bit slowly to the main building, to allow everyone else to leave. When he finally got to the main building’s Western Entrance, he could still see a few others preparing to leave, so he ducked into a nearby restroom for a couple minutes. When he came back out, everyone else had gone, except for Ms. Bilicek, whom he could see far at the other end of the building. He looked back at the two sets of double doors at the Western Entrance—and he saw the messenger he had been waiting for looking right at him. Her?! he thought to himself in disbelief. But it was no mistake; it was Toni Hawthorne, the ferret he had run into earlier that morning.