The Fire Triangle, A Zootopia Fanfiction -- Part One

The Fire Triangle, A Zootopia Fanfiction -- Part One: Fuel - 64

"Need a refill there?" Mr. Pye asked, nodding at Judy's nearly empty coffee-mug.

"No thanks, I'm good," she answered covering it with her paw. It really was excellent coffee, but the last thing she wanted right now was the crying need for a pee-break.

Since making the call to Meadowlands precinct, she and Nick had gotten to know a little bit about their hosts. Unlike his neighbor to the left, Charlie Pye was strictly a pleasure pilot. He hailed originally from Bullbuquerque Zoo Mexico, where he'd run a pest-control business for thirty years, eventually selling out and retiring to the Meadowlands. It was a subject that Judy Hopps found tedious but not distracting; rather like the background music in a shopping mall. And so she was content to let the spotted skunk drone on. (Besides, Nick seemed to find his reminiscences at least mildly interesting.)

At the moment, he was saying, "Mind you, I can still handle that helicopter, but..."

"Autogyro," his wife corrected, looking up from her Zoodoku puzzle.

"Helicopter," Charlie repeated, overruling her for the second time that morning, "If that's how the fool government's going to treat my aircraft, then by thunder, that's what I'll call it, too."

"Yes, dear," his wife answered wearily, in yet another quirky role reversal.

"Wait, what?" Nick's ears were working and his head was tilted, "Charlie, what are you talking about?"

It was Mrs. Pye who answered him

"Oh the ZAA passed a rule this year, said from now on, you need to have a rotary-wing license if you want to fly an autogyro. There was some kind of accident, last summer I think, and everyone just went crazy... 'Pass a law, that'll fix it.' You know how these things go."

"Ummm, do you know what an autogyro is, Officer Wilde?" her husband queried. The uncertain tone of his voice suggested that most animals had no idea of what that was, at least not the ones he'd met.

Nick Wilde, however, was not part of that group.

"Yes, it's like an airplane with helicopter blades, except the blades aren't powered; it's the air pressure makes them spin."

"Not quite but close enough." The spotted skunk nodded and raised his coffee mug in salutation. The logo on the side read, 'ExTerminator Pest Control' and beneath that, the slogan, 'They WON'T Be Back.' He took a sip, adding, "Anyways, I'm hanged if I'm going to plunk down another $175.00 for a rotary-wing license and then have to take another exam; not on an aircraft I've been flying for close on six years now without a speck of trouble."

"Hang on, you need a separate license to fly a helicopter and a fixed-wing plane?" In spite of herself, Judy was beginning to take an interest in the subject.

"Heck, that's nothing, Officer Hopps," Charlie told her. He set down his cup and started ticking off points on his fingers. You need to have different licenses to fly a single engine plane, a twin engine plane, a water plane..." He waved a paw at the property next door, "Heck, 'ol Jake there's a commercial airline pilot...and he still had to spring for another license to fly that old Stearmink biplane of his..."

"Wait, stop!" Judy was holding up her paws in a T-formation and her ears were on full alert. That name, it was vaguely...sweet cheez n' crackers, of course!

"A Stearmink, is that an open cockpit plane?" Her voice was airy and breathless, as if she'd just completed a three-mile run.

"Uh, yeah that's right," Charlie Pye replied, thoroughly confused by the question.

So was Nick Wilde.

"Carrots, what the heck has that got to do with...?"

She wheeled in her chair to face him