The Time Traveler's Guide to Zootopia

Chapter 14: Preydator

"Well Cherry, should we go?"

"Sure," I said while panning my head around the vicinity to get a panoramic view. "Want to run back?" 

"We can walk. It's not far from here."

We both started to walk while I let Judy lead the way.  As we moved down the pathway, I kept recalling the events of today.

"Those wolves were good,"

"Yes! They are so sweet!" the rabbit beamed. "They're such a beautiful looking family."

"Lots of good families here," I commented. "They're all nice like yours."

"Thank you Cheribim. I sure love them!"

I nodded and continued to walk.

"Do you have a family?" she asked before her ears dropped. "Or, rather... Did...did you have a family?"

"A long time ago."

"What were they like?"

I tried to think about it but it was only painful to do so. This was a family that I thought was real for 113 years of my lifespan until I woke up in the simulation chambers to find out it was all fake. After that, I had to accept my new reality and adapt to it. There's no way I'd tell Judy about it at this time for it was all too personal to me.

"I'm sure they miss you," she said with a plaintive expression.

My head hung low.  "And I miss them."

"What were their names?"

I gently shook my head.  "I'd rather not talk about it." 

Every time I mentioned their names or even thought about them my mind would wander into the past and I'd get incredibly emotional. Their names were, in a way, sacred to me so I kept them safely stored in the deepest parts of my memory.

"I understand," as Judy gently placed a paw on me. "I'm so sorry."

"Thank you."

We followed the roadway for the next three minutes until Judy gestured me to turn right and continue on a dirt trail. It looked like a shortcut and seemed to lead the way back to the Hopp's Family home. From the trailhead, we gradually followed it uphill and continued our journey across the woods.

"So, Cheribim?" 

I looked at Judy.

"Back there with Howl family... back when we first met them... If you don't mind me asking... what was that all about?"

 I sighed that she brought it up.  "You mean the lighting? Or the thunder?"

"Yes, both."

"Well... It was neither."

"But... what was that? What were you holding?"

"A phaser rifle... from another time, dimension, and universe. Standard issue in the military." 

Her ears dropped.  "Military?  From your world?"

"Yes."

"I...I've never seen anything like it..." 

"I hoped you'd never have to."

"So how did you make it appear... and then disappear so suddenly?"

"It's nano-tech. My entire suit is made of it."

"Wow... So how does that work?"

"Basically, you can think of it as the Banach-Tarski paradox combined with the Koch snowflake. The nanites undergo finite fission to follow a nondifferentiable fractal curve until the geometric iterations fully synchronize with the neuronal firing frequency to form desired configurations... ...Does that make sense?"