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She searched for the series of events leading to Doctor Nudd’s death. Some things came sharper and clearer now that it was closer in time and she already knew some of it.
Why would the pride-king kill Doctor Nudd?
Holding that question clear in her mind allowed her to see even more of the near future.
Her vision showed a large examination room as big as her entire house, with three complex microscopes and other unknown scientific-looking equipment on a long counter along one wall. Black office chairs with wheels sat in front of the equipment. Glass-doored cabinets above the bench held an odd combination of beakers, computer chips, test tubes, and electrical wire. Workbenches with granite tops held Bunsen burners and soldering irons, with bottles of chemicals on shelves above, and wooden cabinets that opened on both sides of the bench below. Several types of 3-D printers sat in the corners. Office doors lined the wall opposite the counter with the microscopes. Brass plaques indicated the owners of the offices.
It looked like a place where many doctors and scientists like Pete might all work together, but in Liliana’s vision, the place was nearly deserted, all the workers gone. The clock on the wall showed it was twenty-two minutes into the future. The people who worked there must have already gone home.
Near the center of the big open space waited a gurney. On it lay an American badger-kin in his brown and white-furred, pointy-nosed, demi-badger form, wearing a lieutenant’s uniform. Liliana looked at the name badge. As she’d suspected, Runningwolf was stitched on the front. An IV ran into the young beast-kin soldier’s arm.
She’d never seen a beast-kin asleep in his demi-beast form. Beast-kin normally shifted to human form when sleeping.
Doctor Nudd walked past the door and did a double take, as if also surprised to see the gurney with Lieutenant Runningwolf on it in demi-badger form. He walked over and checked the information printed on the IV bag. His brows wrinkled in puzzlement.
After knocking on the office door with the brass plaque that read “Dr. Andrew Periclum” and getting no answer, he went in. On the desk lay a folder labelled “Other Physical Enhancement Nanite Model 14.” The goblin picked it up, then stepped back out to the exam room. He pulled one sheet of paper from the folder and held it up beside the IV bag. The long scientific words on the paper in his hand matched the ones printed on the IV bag.
The goblin doctor mumbled softly, “Remove the needle from the badger. Right. It makes sense now.”
Liliana felt a wash of pleasure to know that her friend remembered her warning.
He removed the IV needle from the young badger’s arm carefully, holding a cotton ball over the hole to keep it from bleeding into Lieutenant Runningwolf’s fur. He waited expectantly for a few minutes, but removing the needle had no immediate effect. The badger-kin soldier remained deeply asleep. “Hmph. Or perhaps not.”
Liliana nodded to herself. It was all right. Doctor Nudd didn’t know it yet, but he had bought himself a few important moments of life.
He picked the folder back up and read through more of the information, mumbling things under his breath as he read like, “What was he thinking?” and “This is madness.”
Andrew Periclum entered the large room and saw the goblin holding the folder.
They argued, shouting a lot of scientific words Liliana did not understand. The words “side-effects,” “toxic,” “unethical,” and “human experimentation” from Doctor Nudd made the meaning reasonably clear. The essence of Andrew Periclum’s argument seemed to be “power.” Power for all Others, power for himself, and power that would impress Princess Aurore with his genius. He mentioned her again as a sponsor of his experiments, but the way he said her name made Liliana wonder if he wanted more than just power from the beautiful Fae princess.
Andrew Periclum seemed to think that ended the discussion and walked into his office.
Doctor Nudd followed. “Princess Aurore has no authority to give orders on this side of the ocean, and furthermore …”
Liliana skipped ahead in time to the end of the argument, perhaps a half hour in the future, when the fight would progress beyond words.
The argument ended with the honorable goblin drawing himself to the full height of his slim human form in Periclum’s office and swearing, “This could kill people. I’m surprised half your subjects aren’t already dead.”
“More than half of them are,” Periclum said with a wave of his hand as if that were unimportant.
Doctor Nudd’s face was a picture of shock. “I insist you put a stop to this outrage immediately.”
“I am the king of lions, and my word is law. Are you challenging me?”
“Absolutely I am. Your rank is no more an excuse than Aurore’s. This is wrong.”
“Do you know how the North Carolina pride chose me to be king?” Periclum asked calmly, as he opened a large, classified equipment locker behind his desk with his thumbprint and retinal scan.
Doctor Nudd spluttered, “Do you think you can simply change the subject and I will forget that you are poisoning …”
The locker door opened. Periclum swung it wide so Doctor Nudd could see that it was filled with ancient weapons: swords and shields, axes, maces and knives. Periclum picked up a mace and tossed it at the goblin doctor. In surprise, the goblin dropped the folder full of papers he was carrying and caught the weapon.
Periclum chose a sword for himself. “For thousands of years, the pride-king has been the one who can claim kingship and defeat all challengers.” He turned to face the goblin. His shirt and lab coat ripped along the seams. His military-buzzed, black hair lengthened and straightened into a thick, shaggy, golden mane.
Doctor Nudd swallowed, the mace slack in his hand, staring at the seven-foot-tall, four-hundred-pound demi-lion. “We could simply discuss this, like civilized men.”
Fangs so long his mouth couldn’t contain them pushed from between Periclum’s lips as he completed the transformation. He smiled at the goblin, an entirely unfriendly gesture.
