Part 7
A new livestream from Fluffy Rights Now had just popped up on social media. The video opened up with the FRN logo. It quickly switched to Karissa sitting cross-legged on the floor with her rescue fluffy and former enfie-pal Strawberry in her lap. She had a pink coat, bright green mane and only one bright blue eye. In addition to this she was missing her front legs. Despite her deformities she cooed happily as Karissa stroked her back. Karissa beamed to the camera, eyes wide with excitement.
“Hello to friends of fluffies everywhere! A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to visit the Torgl-tech Mark 2 Power Plant. Despite our initial misgivings, we can now say that Torgl-Tech is a proud supporter of fluffy rights as well as FRN! We were privileged to a tour where we got to see how humans and fluffies can live in harmony. In his plant, Brennan Torgl has created one of the most ethical fluffy habitats we have ever seen!” Behind her, a screen displayed a picture of the hive, flashing through different aspects of it. “The fluffies here are taken great care of. They are fed, cared for, and they show their gratitude by giving us power that is much cleaner than fossil fuels! We have been given an opportunity to work with Torgl-Tech to-“
The livestream was interrupted by a large pounding on the office door.
“Bad noisies!!” Strawberry screamed as she made scaredy peepies in Karissa’s skirt. Karissa tensed, maintaining her composure so as to not interrupt the live stream.
Karissa looked over to the noise, looking back to ask “Mitchell? Can you please get that and see what they want?” She turned back to the camera, beaming her best fake smile. “Sorry folks! When you do things live, you never know what will happen!” She adjusted, trying to hide the wetness that Strawberry had made in her skirt. “As I was saying……”
She was interrupted by a voice off screen. “Karissa Davis?” A man’s voice asked.
She looked up at the source of the voice. “Yeah? Can this wait? We’re doing a live stream-“
“You’re under arrest for blackmail and conspiracy to commit fraud. Please come with us.” Several men in suits appeared in frame as yelling was heard in the background.
“What?!” she screamed, immediately standing up. The wet spot created by Strawberry was in plain view as the fluffy tumbled on to the floor.
“Please put your hands behind your back.” The officer commanded, knowing that he was in full view of a live stream.
“No!” Karissa screamed. “You’re making a mistake! I didn’t blackmail anyone! This is bullshit! Hey! Let go!” she screamed as another officer got behind her and pulled her arms behind her back to cuff her. She offered only minimal resistance as she was carried away.
This, however did not please Strawberry. “Wet mummah gu, stoopi meanie dummeh!” She yelled. She maneuvered herself with her two hind legs to put her rear at the officer on screen. “Take sowwy poopies!”
“What?” the officer turned to see what Strawberry was doing, only to get his legs blasted by the vile spray of excrement. He sneered in disgust. “You little shit……” he said through clenched teeth, giving her a hard kick that had her flying off screen with a loud shriek followed by silence. He turned, seeing the camera for the live stream still going. “God damn it!” he yelled, running towards the camera. Just before the camera went dead Karissa could be heard screaming the name of her now dead fluffy friend.
……
In his office Brennan Torgl watched the whole scene unfold live on his computer screen. Margot stood over his shoulder watching alongside him. They had initially watched to see the endorsement video but had no idea they would witness the fruits of their labor. Both of them stared at the screen eyes wide and jaws dropped. The silence was palpable as both of them processed what they had just seen.
“Bren……” Margot asked, her eyes still glued to the black window on the screen in shock and disbelief. “Did that really just happen?”
“God, I hope so……” He said, still processing the scene himself. He knew that Brooks would be making his move soon but had no idea he would get to see it firsthand. This was just plain luck.
Neither of them moved, still trying to come to terms with what they had just seen. They jumped as Brennan’s desk phone went off. Brennan took a look at the caller ID; it was Brooks on his personal phone. Brennan hit the speaker. “Everett!” he said, “I’m guessing you just saw what we saw. I’ve got Margot here. We saw the whole thing!”
Everett chuckled. “Yes…. It was shocking, wasn’t it? Who would have thought that Fluffy Rights Now could have been blackmailing and defrauding people? It just doesn’t make sense….” His voice carried a thinly veiled air of sarcasm.
“I can’t help but wonder how you pulled it off……” Brennan quipped. Everett had not been forthcoming with what been done. Behind the scenes, Everett had worked with many of his other startups. As a venture capitalist, Everett had dipped his feet in many new and emerging technologies. AI content generation was one of them, and he had several promising contenders.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about….” Everett responded. “However…. I sent Margot an email recently. I suggest she review it….” He said. “That being said… I think we need to remove ourselves from FRN support for the time being. I’ll have some of my PR guys draft up a press release. Just take a look and confer with your Overseer of Fluffy Care for the near future. I’m sure she may be asked a few questions. Other than that… keep the plant going. I’m happy to see the returns on my investment. Do what you’ve been doing, and the Mark 3 may be here sooner than you think. Good day, Torgl!” He said, immediately terminating the call.
Brennan looked to Margot. “I’m guessing you’ll need to read your email……” he told her.
She shot back with a mischievous glance. “Later…” her gaze moved back to the monitor on Brennan’s desk. “But the video of Karissa and her fluffy has been archived. Wanna watch it again?” She bit her lower lip in a sadistic smile.
Brennan couldn’t help but laugh. There was an odd cuteness when the abuser in her came out. “Of course……” He turned to the screen, ready to relish in the moment again and again….
….
At his station in the plant, Fred was looking over several numbers. The plant was producing energy efficiently and the gas levels had once again started to accumulate in the past few weeks. At this rate, they may be able to start selling gas to other industries. In most cases this would have been good news. However, Fred couldn’t stop looking at many of the other numbers in the plant. Nothing seemed to be making sense. First, he had looked at the numbers in the Hive. Several high quality foals had been sold and some of the breeders had moved out. For the most part the hive had maintained a population at an equilibrium of around one hundred fluffies per column for a total of two hundred.
This was not disconcerting as the Hive was designed to be an ethical breeding operation that harvested fluffy excrement as a side benefit. However, he kept diving into the other numbers. Despite the fact that the Hive had been operating at a stable level since the plant operations began the methane production had been on a constant upward trend. This trend had started as soon as accumulation was activated. The outgoing fertilizer components had also increased along with the gas accumulation.
These two indicators were not the only things baffling him. He also took a look at the organic waste consumption. The organic waste was continuing to build up in the storage silo but the rate it was building up was slowing proportionate to the rate of gas and component production. He couldn’t wrap his head around it as he could not find a rational explanation that a population of two hundred fluffies could maintain a constant increase of food consumption and waste production.
He tapped his mouse buttons as he stared at the screen, analyzing the numbers again and again. He remembered that Brennan had told him to come knocking in a month if the numbers didn’t improve. The numbers, however, did improve. They improved more than he could have expected. He just couldn’t escape the fact that the increases were happening without more fluffies in the Hive. He had something he needed to say but wasn’t sure how to say it or who he would say it to.
Fred looked at his phone. It was time for a break. Between his main job of monitoring plant operations and trying to make sense of the numbers he was starting to stress out. It was time for a step outside. He went out back, walking towards the wooded area. He was grateful that the area around the plant had remained undeveloped. He liked having some reflection time in the trees. He pulled out his vape, taking a long inhale as he closed his eyes. He slowly exhaled when he heard a metallic clang.
“Hewp fwuffie!! Meanie munstah eat fwuffie!!!”
He heard the high pitched squealing of a fluffy in the distance. That was not something he was expecting. He moved into the woods deeper, following the pitiful pleas for help. It didn’t take long, and he saw a yellow feral earthie caged in a metal trap.
The earthie recoiled at the sight of him, burying it’s face in it’s hooves. “Nu huwt fwuffie!” it cried. “Fwuffie just wan sketties! Smeww sketties! Munstah eat fwuffie!”
Fred leaned down for a closer look. On top of the cage was a metal placard that read:
PROPERTY OF TORGL-TECH
DO NOT TAMPER OR REMOVE UNDER PENALTY OF PROSECUTION
IF FOUND PLEASE CONTACT 360-555-4535
He examined the trap further, noticing at the back of a trap was a mechanism fanning spaghetti scents with a red light blinking. He took another long inhale off his vape. He looked down, noticing that the cartridge was empty. He started switching the cartridge out while what he had witnessed ran through his head. Why was Torgl-Tech trapping fluffies? All of the fluffies in the hive were produced by the hive and the excess were sold off; what was the purpose of the traps?
His train of though was derailed as he was startled by some stomping behind him. He turned to see an orange unicorn fluffy puffing his cheeks. “Dummeh hoomin! Give smawtie back speshow fwen ow ou get wowstest huwties!!”
“Speshow fwen! Sabe fwuffie fwom munstah!” the yellow earthie cried.
“Nope!” Fred said as he backed away. “I do not have time for this! Work this out yourselves!” With that, he turned and quickly marched back to the plant to get back to work. He did not have the patience or time to deal with a smarty and his caged special friend. He had zero desire to be the target of a shitrat’s sorry poopies.
He looked over his shoulder as he walked away. Even when they ran fluffies were not hard to escape; especially on uneven ground. He went back in the building to his office and sat at his desk. He did not want to think right now. He wanted to finish his shift and do his best to ensure the plant was operating at peak efficiency. Still, in the back of his head there were so many questions. When he was less stressed, maybe he would try to figure things out.
….
After sundown, the crew of three men in Torgl-Tech overalls headed into the woods. One of the men was looking down at his tablet, leading the other two who were carrying sacks and cattle prods. “This way… the trap was tripped earlier today.” Hopefully it was done shitting itself in fear. They came to the trap, where the orange smarty was still trying to get his special friend out of the cage.
It turned towards the men, puffing his cheeks and stomping his hooves. “Dummeh hoomins! Wet speshow fwen gu ow ou get wowstest-“
“Shut the fuck up!” One of the crew immediately pressed his cattle prod to the base of the smarty’s neck, causing it convulse and evacuate both bowels and bladder. Once paralyzed, he picked up the smarty by the neck and stuck it in his sack.
The special friend stayed cowering in her trap, hoping the meanies wouldn’t see her if she hid her eyes enough. The man holding the tablet looked down. “Yep… this is it. Time to collect. But wait…” he looked to the man ready to open the trap. “If she was this smarty’s special friend, she could be pregnant. She can’t go into the Kremlin pregnant. Take care of it….”
The man reached into the pouch of his pocket and pulled out a small spray bottle. In it was essential oil of parsley. He sprayed it into the mouth of the cowering fluffy. “Nu taste pwetty wawas!” she cried, “Nu wike!” The men waited for a minute, then she screamed out. “BIGGEST POOPIES!!” she screamed. “Nu babbehs! Nu come out! Too soon!” In defiance of her pleas she immediately pushed out several pink, barely gestated foal fetuses. “Nu! Nu am soon mummah no mo! Babbehs!” Her cries were cut short as she was dumped out of the trap with her foals. She was unceremoniously electrocuted and put in a sack.
The man with the smarty kept the light on the trap as the one of the other crew refilled the spaghetti odors. Clean up was unnecessary; raccoons loved the leftover foals. He noticed a reflection of light next to the trap. He pointed to it as the trap was reset. “Hey…. What is that?” He asked.
The man kneeling next to the trap picked it up. He looked at it closely. “It looks like a vape cartridge…” He looked to the guy with the tablet. “Think someone’s been out here?”
The guy with the tablet shrugged. “I don’t see how…. We’re way off the beaten path. I’ll mark it down that we found it. Worst case, they add some surveillance to the traps. Even if someone saw it, they didn’t mess with it. At least they could read the warning….” He trailed off as the three men turned to head towards the plant. The needed to put these bricks in the wall……