The Fire Triangle -- Part II, Oxidizer

The Fire Triangle: Book II - Chapter 50

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The Fire Triangle

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Part Two:

Oxidizer

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Chapter 9: Conor's Story
(Continued...Part 2)

♪ "The season rubs me wrong
The summer swells anon
So knock me down, tear me up
But I would bear it all, broken, just to fill my cup..." ♫

The Decembrists - Down by the Water

Conor Lewis was a fox, not a wolf-but you'd never have known it from the way he was wolfing down his submarine sandwich.

Mind, he was still capable of displaying some foxy tendencies-such as asking for something to eat right after dropping a cliffhanger...with the implication that he might not be able to continue until he got some food in his belly. "I don't talk too good on an empty stomach," he'd pleaded, offering up a pair of big, innocent eyes.

And then... it had turned out the Mercy Star's galley was closed for the evening, and they'd been obliged to send ashore for some grub.

"Oooooo, it's a good thing we're not up on deck," Erin Hopps grumbled, silently, as she watched him eat. Otherwise, she'd have been sorely tempted to pitch this silver-furred so-and-so into the drink.

Glancing down at Mr. Rodenberg, she could see that the rat-attorney wasn't any happier about the state of affairs than she was-even if he was tucking into his hoagie with a gusto nearly equal to that of his client.

For her part, the young doe-bunny had left her sandwich untouched. How was she supposed to eat, when her two companions were chowing down on...on THAT?

As if on cue, Conor chose that moment to take notice of her reticence.

"Relax bunny-girl," he said, holding up his hoagie like 'Exhibit A', "It's not real meat, it's plant-based."

Erin didn't care what the heck it was made from; it looked real enough to her that, once again, she was glad that bunnies were incapable of vomiting.

"You know what the next big thing is gonna be; lab-grown meat," Vern Rodenberg offered. Unlike Conor, he seemed oblivious to the young doe-bunny's queasiness-surprising, in an animal with sensibilities as keen as his.

Or maybe he just wasn't interested.

"They've already approved it for sale in Israel," the grey rat went on, tapping his kippah cap for emphasis.

"Yeah, I know," Conor answered him, taking another bite. And then he said, "The Impawssible Meat guys are already working on their own version

Slowly, almost gingerly, Rodenberg set down his sandwich, looking up at the young silver-fox with curious eyes and quivering whiskers.

"And you know this...how?"

He had to wait until Conor finished another bite before getting an answer.