Midnight at the Beiter household. The treehouse is quiet, the only sound the occasional creaking as the wind blows through the branches. Upstairs, in Samantha's private workshop, lie half-finished projects and a number of open books scattered around. Taking up a place of prominence on a pedestal in the middle of the room is a small row of figurines which seem to sit in the eye of the maelstrom.
Samantha is sleeping away in her room next to the workshop.
A figure glances furtively around the cabin built into the elder oak, and slinks towards the workroom, dressed all in black.
All seems quiet inside the house, everyone asleep. The workroom door is closed, but nothing more than a fairly simple lock on it.
The young teenage squirrel almost forgets himself and chuckles, but remains quiet as he pulls a set of odd shaped metal pieces out of his pokect and in short work is picking the lock.
The door opens smoothly, the way clear. The figurines are sitting in plain sight on top of one of the tables, with several experiments in progress going on around them.
Ankhl eases into the room, looking to see if there is anything around the figurines. He figures his mother may have some minor protections here and there, but as she lives out in the wilderness, he doesn't take that too seriously.
No obvious protections in sight, aside from the figures being on top of a table with several books and a complex array of glass nearby. Of course, things like the tripwire at just over ankle-height go completely unnoticed in the gloom...
Ankhl feels something like a string across his ankle and blinks?
The lights snap on brightly when the string is touched.
The young thief is momentarily blinded as his eyes try to adjust to the glare, and he sputters as he tries to grab at the figurines and run.
Samantha is standing at the door when Ankhl turns to run. "Well, well,well..."
Ankhl seems even more determined, and tries to knock his mother over in his efforts to get away with the figurines.
Samantha stands her ground, bracing herself in the doorway with both arms at the jam so she can't be easily moved.
Ankhl struggles some more, but drops one of the figurines and finally falls back on his behind, bending his tail. He yipes!
Samantha glares down at Ankhl. "I've already removed what looked to be a small piece of circuitry from one of the figurines and have it stashed elsewhere, so you wouldn't get everything anyway."
Nalae, inside Acera's room, abruptly sits up as she hears the noise from down below. She glances over at Acera's sleeping form, and gently nudges her."Acera?"
Acera rolls over slightly, and blinks, "Wha?"
Nalae asks, unnecessarily, "Did you hear that?"
Acera blinks and finally wakes up, "What noise?"
Ankhl frowns and looks down at his toes, at a loss for what to do now.
Samantha folds her arms across her chest. "Now, perhaps you could enlighten me as to what this is all about."
Nalae shakes her head softly. "Sounded like something... crashed or something, outside..."
Acera stretches and gets out of bed, "Let's go check it, sometimes the animalsf rom the forest get into ma's shed."
Nalae nods a little, clambering after Acera.
Ankhl tries what he's second best at, playing dumb, "Someone wanted me to steal these for them."
Samantha snorts. "Sorry, I don't buy that. I started wondering after I realized that the same merchant had used the same sell on both myself and the girls... it was odd enough to start with that he sold me an object which hadn't been on display at all before I got there; for it to happen twice was more than mere coincidence."
Nalae slowly makes her way down the tree with Acera, for once not dashing ahead of the slower-climbing mustelid.
Ankhl shrugs, "They knew that you were my mother, and those little killers were living here too. So they sold em to you, knowing they could ask me to steal them later easily." He frowns as he sees Acera and Nalae through the window as they run towards the front door.
Samantha snaps, "You are not to refer to your foster sisters in that manner."
Acera opens the door and rushes in, "Ma? We heard a crash. What happened?"
Samantha sighs, and composes herself. "In any case, obviously you're involved in this up to your neck, if not higher. I've learned a few things about those figurines that I'm sure a number of people would be interested in..."
Ankhl sighs, "I'm not the only one who calls em that..." then blinks? His mother knows something about the figurines?
Samantha turns to Acera. "Your brother has decided to pay us a visit."
Acera ews like when she tried one of those bitter walnuts her adoptive mother adores.
Samantha turns back to Ankhl. "One of them had an impressive little piece of technology in the base. And that's not including the odd 'circuitry' that runs all through the figurines themselves."
Ankhl continues his dumb look, trying to ignore Acera as she sticks her tongue out at him.
Samantha say, "And your dumb look isn't fooling anybody. You know more about this than you're telling. Now, either you can explain to me what you know, or I can take you back to town and have them hold you for a time while _I_ explain what I know to the Council."
The young male squirrel looks scared at this point, "Ma, there are folks on the council who'd try and silence you about this stuff! This stuff is dangerous, it took out a whole mountain up in Turning Point."
Samantha nods. "Now, why don't you tell me what you were doing in with this and why I shouldn't tell them?"
Nalae frowns slightly, confused. She remains a half-step behind Acera.
Acera is looking around her mother, hoping the "mink family" figurine is ok as Ankhl sighs, "Arthur Dactyle threatened to have me arrested as a thief. I was trying to get out of the racket...mostly. Seems the stag nobles want to insure their power now that those birdcats are around."
Samantha nods. "Sounds like them, yes. So...?"
Acera listens intently, finally, some excitement.
Ankhl sighs, "Some other spacers have been around, and they found out that those K'haoos nuts had found some of this odd crystal. It can store images and information and stuff, and they were using it to collect lots of information. But it seems the stuff..." and pauses, trying to remind himself to tell her enough to get her off his back.
Samantha nods again. "It has a mind of its own, as it were?"
Ankhl jumps at that phrasing, and mutters, "Yeah, to put it mildly. But the idiots in Turning Point somehow blew their source up, and it melted nearly ALL of the chunks we had. In fact, all but yours."
Samantha nods. "I shielded mine pretty thoroughly."
Ankhl blinks, and thinks . o O (She thinks the shielding did it? Ok, play this calmly, and she'll buy this next bit). "That explains why they're still ok. It's also why they want them so badly. It's all they've got left. They're afraid it'll get out of control like it did in Turning Point, and ...they're afraid they'll get caught by the rest of the council."
Samantha hmmmmms, looking you over. "Right. You looked startled there, so you don't actually believe that. Besides, you were obviously _expecting_ mine to be still intact or you wouldn't have even come here."
Ankhl sighs, "Can I make you a deal ma?"
Samantha say, "I thought that's what we were trying to do. What's the deal?"
With the first look of true honesty on his face all night, Ankhl sighs, "I'll tell you everything I know, if you can get me away from the stags. Permanently. I should have stuck to picking pockets. Those snobby idiots will probably get us all killed trying to rule the world."
Samantha looks her son over, obviously weighing the alternatives. "Deal. You're right, something needs to be done."
Ankhl nods, "Can we go sit at the kitchen table? I think I bent my tail when I fell."
Samantha nods. "Let's."
Ankhl looks at his two 'sisters' hanging on every word and says, "Ma, maybe they should go back to bed for a bit?
Samantha steps back out of the shed, then turns to nod to Nalae and Acera."You two should head back up; if I need you I'll call you. Don't worry, everything will be fine."
Acera pouts and says the typical, "Awww mom!" but the two little girls finally go back up to bed. Acera consoles herself with the knowledge her brother is in trouble with ma.
Ankhl sits down at the table, after getting a glass of juice, "I only know parts, but I've been able to figure out some. Some other spacers, who walk on two legs at least, don't want the competition of the birdcats. So they've been trying to gather info on em, to cause em trouble. When they found the first crystals in Turning Point, they mixed em with some of their science and made the figurines to collect information from anyone who came near em. They could hear what you think and stuff. I'm not sure how that worked."
Samantha pours juice for Ankhl and herself, sitting down to listen. "All right, go on..."
Ankhl shakes his head, "That's not why they thought they'd be ok still ma. The stuff in Turning Point went really bad. So bad some of the spacers who started it got scared. Seems that the set you and ....my sisters...got, came from somewhere else."
Samantha hmmms. "Where from?"
Ankhl frowns, "I'm not sure, but I did hear them say that they needed to find some Ke'epper or something, so that they can make sure this one doesn't get out of control too."
Samantha nods. "I see..." She props her head in her hand, sipping at her juice as she thinks.
Samantha say, "The Ke'epper are felines that live up north in the ice fields. I wonder what they'd be needed for..."
Ankhl shrugs, "Maybe they were the ones that found it. It's clear your stuff isn't quite the same. And that..card? you were talking about, they really wanted it."
Samantha nods. "I see. I was wondering about that, it seemed even more unusual than the rest of them."
Ankhl looks somewhat relieved to have told SOMEONE, and quietly says, "So, what are you going to do?"
Samantha sets down her empty glass. "Right now, I don't know yet. I'll have to sleep on it. I suspect the simplest solution is to give them what they want... slightly modified, of course. Make them think they've got the right figurines and see what they do with them."
Ankhl nods, "I think they need it to find more. The spacers want to destroy it all, I think."
Samantha nods. "Would make sense if they did. I expect the stuff can be used to 'grow' more of it, so you want to get rid of it all. Would probably take years to do so, though."
Samantha hmmms. "In any case, I think we both need some sleep. I'll get to work on duplicating things in the morning; we should have something you can take back to them tomorrow."
Ankhl shrugs, "Well, supposedly they got rid of a whole moutain full. Course, from what I heard, they took the mountain with it. Thanks ma."
Samantha nods, and stands up. "Be interesting to find out what happened with that. I may have to see if I can find out."
Samantha say, "Your old room is still open, if you want to sleep here tonight."
Ankhl nods, and is about to leave when he changes his mind and turns back, and, though a bit awkwardly, hugs his mom, "Thanks mom." and then heads off to bed.
Samantha chirrrs, and hugs her son back. "Good night."