Tammy Ch 2
#2 of Cadi, Volume 6: Tammy
On some level, Tammy was relieved to have changed. She was just like the rest of her friends now. Only... they were gone. Disappeared. That dragged her back down into a state of depression.
She didn't fight as the government officials bustled her into a maximum security prison. They considered it a safe place to keep her while they figured out what was going on.
She wasn't let out among the other inmates, which was good. She was just brought food in her cell. She ate some of it, but she didn't have much of an appetite.
She mostly just sat there on the bed, curled up in her little ball of self, trying and failing to rebuild her mental fortress from the rubble.
She had almost no sense of the passage of time. She might have if she'd done anything to count the meals that she'd been delivered, but she... just didn't have it in herself to care about that right now. If she needed to know when it was, they would let her know.
She lay there in her little solipsistic bubble until it was... abruptly burst.
There was a gentle purring there in the cell with her, and a warm voice saying, "Hey there, hun... don't be afraid, I'm here to get you out of this place."
Tammy squeaked and jumped, twisting around to stare up at the tigress who was suddenly in the locked cell with her. She pressed herself back against the wall, trying to flatten herself there as her heart raced. "What... who are you... what... I thought... all the other furs... vanished... please, don't eat me..." she stammered out, the fear running her brain, not her logical side. That was gone for the moment.
The tigress lowered herself down... not into the crouch for a pounce, but more so that she was sitting on her heels, making herself seem smaller. That helped. Still, those... intense, gold-colored eyes felt like they weren't just looking at her, but into her. "Easy there... easy... I'm not here to hurt you... or eat you... I'm here to rescue you. We've found a new home... just for our kind... where we don't have to worry about the humans who hate you." She held her hand out to Tammy, giving off such a gentle, calming aura.
Tammy couldn't help but relax a little as she sat there on the bed, looking at the offered hand. "But... I just... I just want to be with my friends again... it's been so scary without them... and now I'm here... just a little mouse... and there are all of the predator furs..."
The tigress laughed a little and smiled, shaking her head. "Humans don't like us... so they make up all sorts of nasty stories to make how they treat us easier for everyone to live with. We're all really nice on the island, and we look out for each other."
Tammy's ears flicked. That was a new sensation that she was still getting used to. She brought her hand up to wipe across her eyes to try and clear the tears from them. "Nice..." she said, sniffling, "I... am... what... am I going to need to do once I'm there? I don't... think I'd do well with a lot of jobs... and I'm not strong... I'm not really a... people person..."
The tigress stayed calm and easygoing as she crouched there, still holding out her hand. "What you do is up to you. We don't force anyone to do a job that they aren't happy with. We've got plenty of food to go around... and lots of resources, so none of us need to worry about anything... and you don't have to worry about where to live."
Her voice was just... so calming... it was really helping a lot. She sniffled a little more, looking up at the tigress. "It's... not going to just be... some tiny little... dingy apartment, is it?" That had been her worry for quite some time now, given what rents were like in LA, and what starting salaries were like, even for engineers.
The tigress smiled and shook her head. "No. We've got pretty nice little houses, and you can even get them to make it the way that suits you. I'm Cadi. It's nice to meet you. I've even got a place you can stay while you get used to things on the island."
She took a breath and reached out to take Cadi's hand, shaking it a little. "Tamora-Lynn... but usually just Tammy," she said, unable to help but smile a little. The tigress' gentleness was helping the whole situation a lot easier for Tammy. "So... how are you getting me out of here... and how did you get in here? I just... did you have some kinda secret tunnel you're going to use to get us out of the prison and then... what... to a car? A plane? A boat?" Her mind was starting to race through thoughts again.
Cadi let go of Tammy's hand and stood up with a big grin on her face. She turned toward the door to the cell and gripped a handle that hadn't been there before, and opened the door. Or... rather, opened a door. On the other side... oh, that salt breeze and smell of nature... the singing of birds and other small animals, and the very beautifully lit courtyard that had a weird kind of standing stone like some bizarre piece of modern art. "We go back the same way that I got here. With a bit of magic," she said, standing in the doorway as she held her hand out to Tammy.
Tammy felt a shiver pass through her. The view on the other side of the door was... just so beautiful. She took a little breath and reached out to take the tigress' hand. She let the tigress lead her through the magical doorway into the night air of Tropico. She felt so much relief, not even bothering to turn and look back at the door as it closed quietly behind her.
She'd felt as though she was a condemned girl already, and that they were just going to... execute her, or something like that. She looked up at Cadi and softly said, "Thank you..." her voice little more than a whisper.
As they stood there, still holding hands, a doe approached with a giant smile on her face before she said, "Welcome!" A moment later, she just scooped Tammy up in a big, joyful hug.
Tammy squeaked and felt her white cheeks redden as she was trying to wrap her head around being hugged like that. But, soon enough, she just relaxed into the hug, bringing her arms up to wrap around the doe as she leaned against her... even nuzzling her a little. This doe... if she had thought that Cadi had a warm, welcoming, calming presence, this doe practically put her to shame.
As she held her, though, her stomach let out a loud growl. Now that she was relaxing, the days of eating only small helpings of prison rations were catching up with her all at once. She couldn't help but giggle and smile sheepishly up at the other two in the courtyard. "I guess... I could do with something to eat... they don't really feed us that well in prison, and I haven't had much of an appetite." She paused, realizing what she'd said, and corrected herself, "Didn't."
Cadi lifted her head and sniffed at the air, "Smells like Carla's got some good food cooking for dinner tonight," she said with a little smirk, and as she said it, Tammy realized she could smell it, too.
She didn't pause to ask where the smell was coming from, she just followed her nose toward the source. It led her to a dining hall area, with a long table sitting in it. There was a beautifully vibrant parrot sitting at the table, an otter, and a goldie. The goldie's face lit up as she came in, and she waved at the mouse.
Tammy couldn't help but blush a little in response to that. Damnit, she'd never been a blusher before she'd changed... but then again, she'd had all of her defenses then, too. Oh well, she'd just have to get used to it. She didn't think that new defenses were going to be... a thing, really. Not here. She found a spot to sit at the table and smiled at the others. "H...hi... I'm Tammy... and I'm... new here..." she said, finding herself unable to really project her voice right now.
The others introduced themselves, too. The parrot was Claire, the otter Lottie, and the goldie was Shawn. However, before they could do much more than share their names with each other, a bunny came into the room, pushing a trolley laden with food. Tammy's stomach let out another growl, but at least it wasn't the only one making noise. Most of them were just as hungry as she was, it seemed, and they all dug in with a will.
While she ate, she lost track of Cadi, and once her stomach was full, she took a moment to just relax in the chair, just breathing deeply before she got up and walked over to the doe. "Hi, I'm Tammy," she said, her tone nice and sweet.
The deer smiled and bowed her head to the young woman. "I'm Dawn. How can I help you?"
Tammy took a deep breath, "I wanted to thank Cadi. I... don't know that I would have survived for long if she hadn't come to get me."
Dawn looked surprised, but nodded her head, pointing toward the main part of the town, "She's down at the palace, meeting with some of the techs, I think." She then gave Tammy directions to the palace.
Tammy smiled and bowed her head to her, "Thank you very much, Dawn. You're so sweet... it means a lot to me," she said. More than you know, she didn't add. Her heart ached for her lost friends, not yet realizing that they had to be on the island, too. "I really have to wonder, though... how did you guys manage to find this place... when no one else ever found it?"
Dawn's eyes lit up, "Oh! Well, Senator Parson kind of smuggled a group of us out of the district up in Chicago, and once we were on the boat, it was like Cadi... turned into a compass. She looked at the map, feeling drawn to this area, and when we got near... she went out onto the deck and literally pointed where we needed to go. Even through all of the fog surrounding the island, but when we made it through, there were clear skies. It was pretty wild."
Tammy blinked in surprise, "The compass thing makes sense... but... the magic knew what area to head toward on a map... it's smart enough to process that level of information... it's... that's very fascinating..." she said, thinking intently before she shook her head. "Anyway... I should really go and find Cadi so that I can thank her," she said, waving goodbye to Dawn, Carla, and the other three.
She made her way down into the main part of the town, just... amazed at the varied architecture of the place, but all of it finding common elements to share, taking the disparate elements and weaving them into a cohesive whole. She looked up at the colorful fabric stretched across the streets, imagining how that looked when the sun was shining. She got to the plaza where the palace was (it really was as impossible to miss as Dawn had said it was), and she even took a moment to go to the fountain, just completely taken aback by how pretty it was.
She even trailed her fingers in the water, giggling. No one looked at her with any disapproval... no, everyone here was just so relaxed... and happy. She had to imagine that compared to what she'd heard of the districts, this really was paradise for them.
She continued on to the palace, going inside, and finding the area where the tech labs were. She knocked softly on the door, and a moment later Cadi opened it. Tammy was relieved that she'd found the right place. "Tammy! What brings you over here?" Her tone was surprised, but also... happy? An odd combination, but... that was probably just Tammy's limited experiences.
She smiled shyly, breathing before she said, "I wanted to thank you... and Dawn said that you'd be here at the palace." She was still glowing from her trip through the town, and there was no hiding the delight on her face. "The town is so beautiful, I love it!"
Cadi smiled at Tammy's giddy excitement, but it seemed as though that wasn't where it ended. Tammy's eyes took on a new kind of focus as her gaze swept the room. This was something she hadn't expected to find on an idyllic island like this. "A computer lab like this here? That's some serious lifting power... what'cha need that for?" She didn't direct the question at Cadi, but rather at the techs in the room.
A black dog in a lab coat looked at her in surprise and replied, "Well, Cadi'd grabbed a scan of your magical signature when she'd picked you up, and it matches the magical signature of the other furs on the island. So, there's a recognizable signal that we could use to find other furs as they appear... but... we're having trouble figuring out how actually to use that information in order to be able to get to them before the authorities."
Tammy zoned in completely on what the dog was talking about and squeezed past Cadi... not rudely, but just because her brain was too focused to tell her not to do that. She stood in front of the whiteboard wall, studying it intently. This with that... and around... She was in her element right now. When she was done, she turned and looked at Cadi. "Dawn and I were talking... and she said you knew where to look for the island by looking at a map, yeah? So... something about the magic... can recognize maps..." she said, her hand deftly snatching up a whiteboard marker, flipping it in her hand as though that was an entirely natural gesture for her.
She turned back to the board, finding a clear spot to start drawing out what was going through her head. "What if we were able to... set up a globe that we could put a filter tuned to the magic to scan... and then had the ability to pull up local maps for wherever flags on the globe to hone in on where we need to go?" When she was finished drawing out her idea, she flourished the pen once more and smiled brightly at the others in the room.
The other techs were staring at her in stunned silence for a moment before the black dog she'd spoken to at first said, "That... is a lot simpler than getting satellites into orbit... which was my next best idea..." he said with a little laugh, "I like this idea a lot... so, Tammy, think you'd be up to helping us figure out how to actually pull it off?"
Tammy grinned from ear to ear as she rolled up the sleeves of her prison jumper. "Just try to stop me."
Tammy wasted no time in getting to work with the techs. She didn't mean to take a leadership role within the team, but this was her idea they were working on, so that was a natural project for her to head up. The other techs weren't bothered by this at all. They quickly came to recognize her brilliance and aptitude for not only technology... but the magic as well.
They didn't know that she'd always had a critical, curious mind that was constantly taking in all of the available information and processing it, even if it seemed improbable to her at the time of learning it. She'd come to understand that just because something seemed improbable didn't mean that it wasn't true, just that she hadn't learned the truth behind it yet. From there, she just needed to seek that out.
In the end, it only took them a few days to have a working prototype up and running, and they'd configured it to project the results onto a hyperwall of flatscreens, which projected a satellite map of the world. The governor, Christine, was even there for the test launch of the system.
She stood at the computer and took a brief moment to beg this to work before she fired up the system and the screens came alive. At first, it was just the map of the earth, but soon enough, there were dots of light all over the map, indicating positive hits on Nothing's magical signature.
Christine stood at the map dumbfounded, bringing her hand up over her mouth before she said, "So... even the governments didn't find everyone... there are... so many..." she said with a laugh before she turned to look at Cadi with a lopsided grin on her face. "I think we're going to need more than just you and me to deal with this..."
Even Cadi looked overwhelmed by what she was seeing on the map, but Tammy quickly came to the rescue. "I've not only been working on the mapping. I've been working on how to interface with the magic for those who don't have the connection that you have and I've had a few good breakthroughs."
She walked over to one of the tables, picking up a bracelet with a line of small gems along it. She brought it back over to Cadi and slipped it on. "This will allow people to tap into Nothing's magic without being tied more directly to him," she said as a cup of coffee appeared in her hands. She smiled and took a sip before setting it down. "The crystals are the same kind of gem that we've used as filters for the surveillance system. They're attuned to the magic here. For the first batch, we had Christine channel Nothing's magic at it for a while, but once we had one set of them attuned, we were able to use those to attune more crystals, ourselves."
Cadi was clearly quite amazed at Tammy's results, and the fact that she wasn't upset was a good indication that Nothing didn't disapprove of the use of his magic. And, for right now, that's what really mattered.
Cadi chuckled and held out her hand to Tammy, "I suppose we've found the answer to one of your questions. This is what you will get to do. Welcome to the team," she said with a great big smile on her face.