The Fire Triangle -- Part II, Oxidizer

The Fire Triangle: Book II - Chapter 41

At this, Jeanne had just rolled her eyes; "Yeahhh, right!" Obviously this wasn't the first time her brother had fobbed off an injured young miscreant on her.

Now Erin glanced at the door to the examination room for the umpty-eighth time. What the heck was going on in there? Oh, she had no doubt that Jeanne would do the best she could for Conor...but then what? Would she alert the ZPD? She might be on the phone with them even now.

Dangit, the young doe-bunny chided herself, she had to stop fretting-and there was only one sure cure for that ailment. She needed a distraction, any distraction to take her mind off of Conor.

Well...how about the animal sharing the waiting room with her? He ought to be good for at least a little diversion.

"Billy...can I ask you something?"

"Ehh, you can ask," he answered lazily. He had shed his oilskins and was stretched out on a chair as if it was a lounger. He was a hard-muscled young marsupial, this Tasmanian tiger. Not the heavy build of a weightlifter, but the lean, rangy frame of a triathlete. In that regard he was not unlike a certain silver fox of her acquaintance.

"How is that you know Conor?"

Billy sat up and stretched his paws out in front of him, cracking his knuckles like a pawful of walnuts. Okay...he seemed to be saying, this was a question he could answer.

"Right...welllll, y'know 'bout him carryin' money for the Phantom, I reckon?"

Erin only nodded...although, whoa, did she EVER know about that!

In response, Billy returned the nod and then got up and turned around. On the back of his jacket was the embroidered image of a speedboat throwing up a gigantic plume of water.

Stitched above this were the words 'Roostertail Marine.'

"Family business," he explained, turning to face her once again, "Kind of odd for a species that's not anywhere close to being aquatic, in' it? But that's us. We've got our boatyard over on Outback Island-which isn't so strange, eh?"

"Nope," Erin answered, with a grin peeking through her otherwise worried face. She was seriously beginning to like this Tasmanian tiger.

"So," he went on, pointing to the door by which they'd entered, "That V-8 Superboat we came here in's a custom job-that the bloke who ordered it never picked up; tell y' bout that some other time. But we've also got a production line, several of 'em in fact. And how d'yer think we build the hulls, eh?" He capped the query with a wink and a grin.

"I don't know...how?" Erin answered him tiredly. She was in no mood to play guessing games at a time like this.

Billy winked again, "We print 'em."

Oh-kay-y-y, that got the doe-bunny's attention; all at once, her ears were standing up straight and so was she.

"Wha...print? Ohhh," she snapped her fingers as the realization hit her, "You're talking about a 3-D printer right?"

"You're got it, bunny!" Billy cocked a finger, "We've got three of 'em, small medium, and jumbo; we can build a boat for almost any species y' care to name-from a mouse, all the way up to a polar bear."

"No elephants?" Erin was unable to resist the tease. There was something infectious about Billy Mackenna's sense of humor.

"Oi, we're boat builders, not miracle workers," he was making a face and raising his paws defensively. "There's only so much y' can do with a printed hull, y'know. But whatever kind of boat you want, ski boat, fishing boat, pleasure boat, we're your blokes."