Earth 2320: The Boarling

He lumbered across Bleaker Street slowly stepping up on the sidewalk three buildings down from 4450, he turned to look back at Wylie, before turning the door handle, cowbells clanged to life from above as he opened the door slowly and crossed over the threshold, there were a variety of various electronics, TVs, Radios, scanners, there were tools and counters full of jewelry, most of which Magnus assumed to be stolen.  Behind the counter near the register, a large male sloth looked over the top of its horn brimmed glasses at Magnus, it's nose wrinkling and its eyes began twitching uncomfortably. Magnus turned to walk over to the counter, he cut off the end of a cigar and lit it, carefully studying the Sloth through the thick plums of smoke. He walked back and forth almost pacing like an angry miger, The sloth tried to ignore him, but Magnus wasn't having it, moments later Wylie came walking in, he jumped up on the stool in front of the counter, he smiled slyly looking the sloth up and down.

"Why hello Fane, when did you start working for Girth?" Wylie hissed.

The sloth didn't react. he slowly folded his stubby little arms in front of his chest.

"Bout three weeks ago Wylie, a guy's gotta a right to make an honest living doesn't he?"

"Honest? Girth? that's rich, he's the biggest fence in the western U.S."

The double doors from the back room swung open and the large Boarling stepped into the pawn shop, he was tall well over six foot, dressed in a spiked black leather coat sporting a bright red Mohawk, his head was fat and round and his snout protruded from the front of his face at an odd angle, his big floppy ears went straight up and were bent at the tips, his two front tusks were rather short for someone his size, his eyes were bloodshot red like he'd been up for days. He let out a loud snort when he saw Wylie, he stopped in his tracks and leaned toward the wiry weasel, but quickly changed his attitude when his eyes met the menacing stare of Magnus Clinch. He slowly walked up to Girth, The Boarling tried to shake off the uneasy feeling.

"I'm not here to dance with you pig boy, where's Theodus and Pepus? I know you set up the whole caper, you hired them to steal the Alpha Curra, I know you set up the whole caper, and you're going to be the one who fences it when the heat dies down." Magnus snarled.

Girth took a step back, trying to bluff the Miger with a nasty grunt.

"I dunno what your talking about bub! I ain't seen those two in years!"

Magnus stepped forward, landing a haymaker to Girth's lower abdomen, followed by a punishing uppercut to his jaw that sent him flying backward.  He landed hard on the concrete floor, letting out a loud squeal. Magnus didn't let up, instead he reached down, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him back to his feet, landing two more hard punches to his gut and another to his Jaw. The boarling slumped to the ground, crying out in protest.

 

"I swear Clinch! I don't know where they are!" He sniveled

"That's okay doughboy, you don't have to tell me right away, hell, I like beating on your fat ass! and I got all night."  Magnus growled.

He grabbed him by the collar and started picking him up again.

"Alright! Alright! I'll tell you what I know!"

Magnus stood over him, staring him down.

"Where are they?"

"I dunno, They gave me one and a half million to hire Theodus and Pepus to steal the stone then after they did the job they handed it off to me, and I was supposed to call a number, and they came to my shop and got the stone. I was just the go between, I didn't have to fence it, they already have a buyer."

"Who came and picked up the stone?"

"Uhhh, some big mean dude, Ugghhh, His Name is Elmore Ettienne, he had two big mutts with him, mean bastards." Girth whined.

"Animals?" 

"Nah, they were all three human. but I don't know who they're working for."

 Magnus stared down at him lying quivering in one spot, he didn't move, only his hands raised slightly in weak resistance of further assault. Wylie hopped to the floor, and he hurriedly walked over, his long toenails making loud clicking noises on the concrete flooring as he did,   He eyed Magnus cautiously. The Miger looked down first at Wylie, and then at Girth, Wylie's eyes narrowed. 

"What was that name again?"  Wylie asked Girth.

"Elmore Ettienne." Girth responded flatly.

 

Wylie turned sharply and looked up at Magnus, nodding toward the door. Magnus turned and leaned down, staring at Girth squarely in the eye's.

"If I have to come back here, our next conversation is going to get really ugly." He growled at Girth. 

The Boarling franticly shook his head no. When he and Wylie walked out the front door, they walked five blocks in the drizzling rain in complete silence, until Wylie stopped abruptly his furry little head completely soaked in rain, he tilted his head to one side, looking up at Magnus, 

"Elmore Ettienne." He repeated several times. "I know that name Magnus, I'm not sure from where exactly, but I know that name. I'm going to go do some digging, keep your phone number charged, I'll be calling you as soon as I find out anything." he said, turning to walk away. until Magnus stopped him.

"You think you can dig something up on this guy, Wylie?" He asked.

"Why sure. I'm a weasel Magnus, digging up shit that people don't want you to see is my specialty." 

~Scratch. A.B.T. copyright © 2009~

Earth 2320. The Sandoval Corporation.

 

He found the building itself to be cold and impersonal, and it didn’t in any sense seem to reach out to potential visitors in a warm and welcoming way. It rose one hundred stories above ground, and the sides were sheer and gray, and you couldn’t even be sure that there were any windows anywhere on the structure. At the very top in bold white letters, the words “Sandoval Corporation” sprawled across the side almost the entire width of the very top floor. “Someone is definitely in love with their own name here!” he thought to himself as he removed the unlit cigar from his coat pocket. His eyes moved silently up and down the building as he bit off the tip and slowly lit it. Glancing down at his watch, he knew that he was a little early, and it would be another five or ten minutes before the officers from the building’s security force would arrive to usher him to the vault, some four floors beneath the surface. “Strange place for a vault” he thought to himself. “ you’d think that they would’ve put it on the top floor to make it harder to get to.” moments later, two human males pushed open the double doors of the lobby and emerged from the Sandoval building. One was a large black male that was thick and muscular all over, he had a hard face with very dark, almost brooding eyes that seemed to carry a flash of anger in them. The other was a very short, and a bit on the plump side, and seemed rather unassuming, at a first glance, he had thin, short brown hair that he kept neatly trimmed into a crew cut, and he had these nervous looking hazel eyes that didn’t speak in the same self-assured manner as his posture. Both wore standard blue security uniforms.

They almost cautiously approached him, with the shorter, pudgy fellow extending his hand in a luke warm welcoming gesture. “Mr. Clinch? I’m officer Todd and this is officer Gilbert.” he said, nodding to the larger black man with the dark angry eye’s. “We are going to be taking you down to the vault where the robbery took place, Lucas Thorne will be joining us there momentarily. This way, please.” he gestured towards the doubled paned lobby doors. Magnus stubbed his cigar out onto the sidewalk as he followed them into the lobby, where he took notice that the inside was as sterile as the outside, the walls were stark white and seemed more like the lobby of a hospital than a place of business, there were a total of three large potted plants that looked strangely out of place in various corners of the long white room and even though he couldn’t actually feel it, the dark tiled floors seemed as cold and impersonal as the rest of the building. He followed behind them as they moved quietly down along a short hallway to the elevator that would take them four floors down to the vault. He stepped in behind them as Officer Gilbert push the zero button, it made a faint whirling sound as the elevator motor kicked in, and he felt the floor shift slightly as they began to descend to the vault floor. The double doors whisked open and Magnus saw the familiar form of Lucas Thorne standing in the open vault with two other officers, seeing Magnus he turned to face him fully offering his hand to go along an uncomfortable smile. “Mr. Clinch, so good of you to join us, welcome to the Sandoval building.”

He stepped into the vault, stopping beside of Lucas Thorne, who turned now and instructed the officers to wait outside. He led him to the back of the vault, where a large hole appeared directly in the middle of the floor. Magnus knelt down and peered into the hole. He could hear Lucas Thorne’s voice echoing in the empty vault behind him; “I don’t know how they pulled it off, quite frankly I didn’t think that a simple hare and a mole could tunnel through five feet of concrete and steel reinforced flooring.” he said. Magnus produced a small penlight from his pocket and slowly descended into the tunnel. it was about four feet in diameter and could easily house two fully grown human males. He stopped to closely inspect the hole in the actual floor.  

“They used diamond tip nano bits. It probably took them five or six hours just to get through the floor. But the rest of the tunnel took them some time. They were down here at it for at least two weeks. I’ll have to follow it to the opening, then I can start tracing them.” he told Lucas Thorne.

He looked down into the tunnel before turning back to face Lucas Thorne.

“I’m going to follow it back to where it started, I probably won’t be back today, gimme your cell number so I can contact you if I find anything.”

Lucas Thorne handed him a small business card. Magnus Clinch disappeared into the dark tunnel.

Wylie.

~~~~~~~~

He recognized the sounds of the elevated train that ran between Seventh and Covington streets. The opening narrowed at the top as Magnus pulled himself up to street level and squeezed through the hole. He was in an alley just off of Prater street in the mission district, once out of the hole completely, he began to check the area surrounding the tunnel opening for any signs that would tell him if Theodus Hare or Pepus Mole had been there. He picked up a strange moldy smelling scent Just ten feet from the tunnel, the stench of mole urine.

“Haven’t seen you around in a while, Mags, but I figured that hole in the ground there would get your attention sooner or later, so I just waited.”  

He turned to face the squeaky high-pitched voice from the top of the fire escape on the large red brick building directly in front of him, it was a shadowy area where he saw it standing, a figure about three and a half feet tall slightly sloped at the shoulder, long thin head with fiery reddish colored eyes. Black, wiry fur covered its face and hands. It took him a couple of seconds to recognize it to be Wylie the Weasel, another street hustler who sold information to the police and anyone else in the mission district that could pay his often steep prices. Magnus pulled an unlit cigar from his pocket up to his lips and lit it.  

“Hmmmph! I follow this tunnel all the way from the Sandoval building, and what do I find waiting for me at the beginning? a fricken weasel. Imagine that. So what are you up to, Wylie?”  

“You and I need to talk, Mags, I have some information that you may find rather useful.” Wylie said. Magnus inhaled the thick cigar smoke as he eyed the weasel suspiciously.

“And just how much is this information gonna cost me?”

The weasel nimbly climbed down the side of the fire escape until he was at ground level. He slowly walked towards Magnus Clinch.

“Not this time, Mags. This is you and me we’re talking about here, this information I gonna give you for free. That piece of crap Theodus Hare and his little pal Pepus? I know about some of the key players in this little game of theirs, and I’m gonna give them to you, but under one condition.” Wylie said.

The large miger slowly moved forward towards Wylie the Weasel, his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked him up and down.

“What conditions Wylie? He growled.

The weasel slowly extended both hands palm up towards Magnus, smiling all the while. 

“You gotta take me with you, Mags, that’s all.” Wylie said.   

“Why Wylie?”

“Because Mags,” Wylie sneered. “I wanna be there when you take them down.” 

Magnus leaned forward looking down at Wylie, his paw slowly inching towards his head, finally he extended a foreclaw fully and raised it to Wylie's left cheek. Suddenly the weasel didn’t feel quite so confident. “I bring you along Wylie, you watch yourself, if I don’t like what I’m feeling from you, we’ll only have one order of business left to discuss. How I’m gonna kill you. So? You still want to tag along?”  

The weasels eyes narrow tightly. As he slowly nodded to the affirmative. 

“Well then.” Magnus said. “Where do we start?”  

Wylie led him along almost the entire length of Prater street out past the very edges of the poverty stricken neighborhoods and seedy storefronts of the Mission district, out of one back alley and down into the next until they arrived at Bleaker street, where Wylie motioned him into yet another back alley.

“That’s the one Mags. 4450, the gray brick ten stories, with the barred windows. The whole shithouse belongs to a big fat boar by the name of Girth, he’s a local fence, word is, he put the whole caper together himself, but he’s got some outside money financing the whole thing, somebody hired him to nab the rock, and in turn he contracted the job out to Theo and Pepus. He was supposed to hide the rock until the heat comes off and then move it at a later date. Even money says he’s already paid off Theo and Pepus and has the rock stashed somewhere safe, until the buyer gives him further instructions on where to drop it.” Wylie smiled confidently.

The large male Miger slowly walked to the edge of the alley to where the sidewalk sloped down into Bleaker street, he turned to face Wylie, his voice carried a less threatening tone than before, putting the weasel more at ease.

“I’ll go in alone at first, give me five minutes, and then you come in, I want to see how he reacts when he sees you, Wylie.” Magnus told him.

~Scratch. A.B.T. copyright © 2009~

Earth 2320: Meeting The Miger.

 

Harbor City NY. December 5th 2501.

He’d often read that back in the old days before the big storm, that most of his kind were unintelligent animals, that broodingly stalked around on four feet devouring whatever had suffered the misfortune of wandering into their path, or had unintentionally pissed one of them off. But the only memories that Magnus Clinch ever had were of him walking upright on his hind legs amongst humankind, he had to the best of his knowledge always had furry stubby clawed elongated digits on his front paws that he could grab objects and food with, in ways that humans had always used their fingers in. and though his skin was covered in thick striped fur as were most of his kind, Magnus preferred to wear the finest leather clothes especially in the time of winter, when it most often rained in Harbor city. This afternoon the weatherman had called for scattered rain showers off and on all day, so he wore a large floppy hat to keep his head dry.

He moved with ease through the crowds that lined the sidewalks on either side of Barter street, rush hour, it was the time he hated most, humans and the animal hybrids in a hurry, trying to get home from work before dark, and from the way that the sun looked as it slipped behind the heavy rain clouds that were moving in slowly from the western sky, he could just tell by the way that the shadows fell from the skyscrapers that formed the man made concrete and steel canyons of Harbor city, that nightfall was not all that far off. He crossed Barter street near the Tangiers hotel, a six-story fleabag that seemed dwarfed by the much taller buildings that cropped up around the very center of Harbor city that was the hub of commerce there. But it was at the flickering lights of the crosswalk at the corner of Barter and Baker streets that Magnus first noticed the four door black sedan gliding slowly towards him just one block away. He pulled the wide brim of the floppy hat down around his ears as the rain began to fall around him, casually, he moved across the street through the crowd, his eyes never leaving the sedan. Something deep inside was telling him that whatever was inside that vehicle was looking for him.

As he crossed at the intersection he kept a cautious eye on it, and once on the other side of the street he moved back in the direction of the black sedan, never letting on that he was on to the tail. He turned halfway down the block into the narrow alleyway, thirty feet in he pushed his back up against the wall, pulled the black 360 Blaster free from the shoulder holster from beneath the leather trench coat and waited for the sedan to appear at the mouth of the alley. The small black Sedan silently slipped into the mouth of the alley behind him, the undercurrent of air from beneath the Hover car sent waterlogged shreds of discarded newspapers and tin cans flying and clinking in every direction as it slowly came to rest just twenty feet from him. Almost instinctively he leaped up to the lowest rung of the fire escape directly above him, and grabbed hold of it, his powerful lower legs pushed him away from the side of the building launching him into the air in the direction of the hover car. He landed right in the middle of the hood with a resounding force that stalled the engine, forcing the craft to land on the wet alley floor.

He smashed his fist through the windshield, grabbing the operator, and pulled him out of the hole where only the shattered remnants of glass remained. He trained The 360 Blaster on where the small man in the passenger seat sat stunned, barely able to move. The alley drew silent around them as the large, angry form of Magnus Clinch leaned in towards him. In a deep throaty growl, he lowered his face to meet the much smaller human's panic-stricken eyes.“Alright little man, why’re ya following me?” Magnus hissed. He didn’t answer, the eyes of Magnus Clinch slowly looked him up and down. Small, thin, white guy, thinning black hair, bookworm glasses, probably approaching middle age, he estimated. 

“ Designer Claudio Cardivale three-piece suit, probably one of them upper crust types. Fricken desk jockey, so what do you want with me, wormy?”

The small, pale human looked up at him before he finally managed a hesitant answer.

“You are the Bengal Magnus Clinch?” he stammered nervously.  

He stepped down off of the hood and moved to the side of the wounded vehicle. Slowly, he placed the 360 blaster back into its holster.   

“I’m Magnus Clinch.” he leaned forward slowly. “Now who are you?” 

 The small human slowly stepped out from inside of the black sedan, noticeably shaken, he tried to steady himself at a considerable distance from Magnus Clinch. He slowly extended his hand to him, between his fore finger and thumb he held a business card. 

“Mr. Clinch. I am Lucas Thorne, I have been retained by the Sandoval Corporation to obtain your services. They wish to hire you.”

He slowly reached out and clasped the card between his fore claws. And brought it close to his face to give it the once over. His eyes raised to look at Lucas Thorne.  

“The Mica street diner in one hour. You come alone if you want me, Thorne.” Lucas Thorne glanced over at the unconscious operator laying in the stench of a garbage heap on the alley floor.

“What about him?” he jerked his thumb in the direction of the operator.

Magnus coldly looked down and then back at Thorne.

“He’ll live, the vehicle is still operational. Let him take it back to wherever you came from, when we finish you can call for another. I gotta take care of something else. See ya in an hour, Thorne”

Contacting The Miger.

One hour later as promised, he sauntered into the Mica street diner, his forepaw pushed open the glass door causing the cowbell that swung from the inside handle to make a clanking noise that traveled through the near empty diner indicating that someone had entered the establishment. A short pudgy waitress wearing a slightly stained white apron, came bouncing in his direction and through tar and nicotine stained teeth she offered him the most sincere “welcome” that she could muster considering that she was talking to what many considered in civilization to be a 6 ft 6 inch miger. She asked him if she could get him a booth, and he nodded in the direction of Lucas Thorne.    

“He’s expecting me.” Magnus growled.   

She nervously nodded and went behind the counter to fetch a couple of menus as Magnus Clinch slid into the seat directly across from Lucas Thorne. The surly looking waitress once again appeared at the booth and offered a pot of coffee, hesitating slightly as it hovered over the cup in front of Magnus. He winked at her and tapped the side of the empty cup with his foreclaw making an impatient sounding clinking noise.  

“Yes, I would Love some!” he told her,  “And might you have some cream and sugar too?” 

Lucas Thorne slowly nodded yes at the coffee as the waitress disappeared back behind the counter. Once she returned with the cream and sugar, he stirred two spoons of each into the hot coffee. His eyes inquisitively moved over the form of Lucas Thorne.

“So?” he asked, raising the cup to his furry lips, “What’s this all about, Thorne?”  

Lucas Thorne stared down into his own coffee cup, slowly he raised it to take a sip before placing the hot cup down on a napkin on the table.  

"The Alpha Curra. Have you ever heard of it?” He asked.

Magnus Clinch slowly shook his head no.  

“It’s a very rare diamond, Mr. Clinch, that belongs to Abigail Sandoval, my employer.” Lucas said.     

Magnus leaned forward, his eye glistening now, full of suspicion.  

“So? What? Does she want me to baby sit the thing or something?’  

Lucas Thorne sighed deeply.

“No. it was stolen, and she wants to hire you to find the ones that took it.”    

Lucas Thorne leaned back in his seat and watched the large male miger thirstily slurp down the remainder of his coffee.    

“Why me? I’m not a cop, or a fed. Shouldn’t you contact one of those?” Magnus asked, slurping at his whiskers.  

“But you’re a tracer, aren’t you, Mr. Clinch? You trace wanted criminals.”  

He didn’t answer as the waitress reappeared to refill the empty cup with fresh coffee. 

“Yeah. I’m a tracer, So?” 

“Well, considering that the thieves that stole the diamond aren’t human, we figured that you’d be the right ma- err. Guy for the job.” 

“Hybrids lifted your stone?” Magnus asked in a surprised tone.   

Lucas placed a folder down in front of him and slid it with two fingers across the table, stopping in front of Magnus Clinch. He opened it slowly, his eyes wandering purposely across the two photo’s inside.

“Theodus Hare and Pepus Mole.” Clinch Muttered.

“So.” Lucas said Flatly. “You know them?”

He nodded slowly, reaching for the cream and sugar.

“Yeah. Last I heard, Theo was locked up someplace upstate, Pepus was inside a cage someplace back east. Both were doing a dime apiece for armed robbery. So how do you know it was them?” he asked.

Because we caught the whole caper on video disk.” Lucas answered.   

Magnus carefully considered the situation as he slurped the hot, sweet coffee, afterward somewhat surprising Lucas Thorne when he produced a cigar from his pocket and lighting it. He stared at the small, frail looking human through the thick smoke as it rose from his lips. He bit down on the cigar, his face almost contorting into a grimace.  

“It ain’t easy to track a subterranean, I’ll have to see the tunnels first, which means I’m gonna have to see the vault that they took the diamond from.”

Magnus told him.

Lucas Thorne nodded in agreement.

“And I’m gonna need three grand a day, American dollars, none o’ that Euro shit, that crap ain’t worth the paper its printed on. And supplies too. I'll get you a complete list.”

Lucas Thorne leaned back in his seat to peer through the cigar smoke into the eyes of Magnus Clinch.

“Anything else Mr. Clinch?” Lucas Thorne asked.

Magnus leaned forward looking Lucas Thorne square in the eye.

“Nope. You get me that, I’ll get you the two rodents that stole your diamond.”

“Consider it done.”

Somewhere in the world Theodus Hare and Pepus Mole were laughing in the face of the Sandoval corporation, after having stole their diamond. Little did they know they wouldn’t be laughing for long.

~Scratch A.B.T. copyright © 2009~

Earth 2320. Prologue.

 

Earth: January 22nd, 2320, Lunar Park observatory, Los Angeles, Ca.

He sat there for a considerable amount of time before he decided that perhaps his facts needed to be reexamined, he began to paw at the folders that lay scattered across the top of his desk searching almost frantically for the one marked “Collision 2320-1” he dropped his round spectacle eyeglasses, and in the haste of trying to pick them up, knocked over a perfectly good cup of black coffee, soaking every paper that lay spread out across the counter top adjacent to his own work space. He stopped, abruptly running his fingers through his jet black hair, his dark eyes darting nervously across the desk top, He could feel a sudden rush of panic that began to slowly sweep over him where had he put that cursed folder?

“Winston!” he shouted. His high-pitched squeaky voice loudly echoed down the empty hallway into the next room. A small framed young man appeared through in the doorway, his hands clasped in front of him, a quizzical look flashed across his thin almost pale face.

“Yes Noah?” he asked.

Noah Kramer was trying to soak up the contents of the coffee cup with a roll of paper towels, and without looking back, he began to interrogate the nervous young man as to the whereabouts of the folder in question.

Winston Harper was leaning forward slightly, his hands still clasped tightly together in front of him, his own bright blue eyes darted, trying to see everything at once, finally resting on Noah Kramer, who had now turned to face him.

“The collision 2320-1 folder, where is it? do you know?”

“Yes sir, I put it in the drawer right below your monitor, so it wouldn’t get-”

“Damaged by my Clumsiness?” Noah Kramer Interrupted.

“I-I wasn’t going to say that, sir!” he stammered.

Never raising his eyes to even glance in the nervous young man's direction.“it’s alright Winston.” he smiled, “I said it for you.”

He reached down and opened the drawer, his hands carefully reaching in for the folder, he nervously spread its contents across the surface of his desk, he carefully read through each numerical equation twice, before he would call his superiors to confess the error, he sat down and wrote a note to the director of operations, pausing momentarily to reflect on what he would write before he concluded that a note simply would not do, he should be told face to face. He closed the folder and stood up to gather his new notes and stuffed them into the folder with the others. It was one year ago, to the day, when Noah Kramer saw the strange anomaly in deep space as it silently made its way towards earth, it wasn’t a meteor, it wasn’t an asteroid, and it certainly wasn’t a comet, the only thing that he was certain of, was that whatever it was that it would eventually turn out to be, it was on a direct path to the earth. The team that was assembled to observe the anomaly determined that it would be a full two years before it was close enough to do any damage to the planet itself, but here in that very same observatory, Noah Kramer discovered a flaw in their mathematics. And the earth wouldn’t have another year before the strange object reached its atmosphere, it had one month.

The director sat and listened silently with other members of the assembly, as Noah Kramer cautiously explained the entire situation to them. He could feel the skeptical stare’s as they almost seemed to pierce through his very skin, and the silence after he had finished with his presentation of the grim news was deafening. The director removed his eyeglasses and began to rub the bridge of his nose. Other members of the panel muttered to themselves, others turned towards their colleagues and cursed softly. He patiently answered their questions, no, the object actually wasn’t simply one object, but rather a large cluster of small ones, almost like a meteor shower, no they could not be certain of what effect that an impact would have on human life on Earth, all that he really knew was that an impact was indeed coming, and it was coming very soon. Despite the warning’s of Noah Kramer, it was decided that the particles contained in the anomaly would burn up and turn to dust once inside the Earth’s atmosphere and there really was no cause for alarm.

And when the large cloak of dust rained down on the planet one month later and turned the entire sky to gray for three days and nights, the whole world held its collective breath for humanity and waited for the sun's return. On the fourth day after impact, the whole world breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the sun had indeed returned and brightened the beautiful blue skies of Earth once again. It appeared as though the cosmic dust storm would have absolutely no effect on life on Earth at all. But unknown to human kind, it only SEEMED that way, for just beneath the surface of normalcy, evolution was stirring. The dust storm hadn’t changed life on earth for the HUMAN race. But the animals. The animals were another story…

~Scratch. A.B.T. copyright © 2009~