Strangetown: chapter 26.5 (Truth)

[strangetomato]

Warnings: None.



Chapter 26.5

Truth



Detective Jack Luxel lifted a book from the shelf.




After his meeting with their client that morning, he had poured through the files again, leading him to what appeared to be another dead end. It was frustrating, but he was not content to give up.

There was one detail that had caught his attention: a reference to alien abduction in the genealogy of one of the suspects. It was something that he was already quite familiar with, but one could never be too well read on the subject.




The records on alien abductions told an interesting story. The increased frequency of these occurances pointed to a growing urgency on the part of the aliens.

It was as if they were racing against time.

The records mentioned his own grandfather's abduction, in Riverblossom Hills. He had moved to Sim City shortly after it had happened, and Jack had been born there too. Jack's own family tree revealed just how linked he was to this story. He was a part of that whole thing, as much as it weighed on him at times. He was marked by it.

There had been very few abductions in Pleasantview in recent memory, but there had been a number of them, and that was significant. There had been some sightings, here and there, but not nearly as many as in that little town on the Road to Nowhere. West of there, through the desert.

Strangetown... was that where his answer lay hidden?




As he worked, he was joined by his partner, Zelda. Knowing that Jack did not like to be disturbed while he was in the middle of something, she quietly selected a volume of her own, and joined him in his research.

Hours passed.




"C'mon, Jack. That's enough for now, don't you think?" Zelda rose to her feet.

"But I'm so close to a breakthrough. I can feel it."

"Suit yourself, then. I'm going to make us a lunch."

"Okay."

When he didn't move, she sighed, but smiled. That was how he was. When Jack put his mind to something, there was no way to pull him from it until he achieved his goal.




He would not rest until he discovered the truth about Bella Goth.








A/N: Thank you to pixelcurious and jessicus for the wonderful sims.

 

Comments

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

You were thinking more about people like Erin Beaker and the clones, right? I've decided to touch on that side of the story a little in the next chapter. It's been too long.

Speed has never been my forte in anything I do. Can you tell? *snicker* I tend to think of the parts of this story more like episodes of a TV series or comic book than chapters in a novel - that's closer to the pace I want. There's more time to develop things slowly.

I didn't realize you had Jack in Peculiar. Is he one of the new aliens that you're going to introduce?

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "jack" (aka Achates) is a alien who'll be living (with his Mother/wife MNO) in Bluewater Village, just down the street from the Moonbleam's and Geike's (aka Hippy Community). Achates is blonde, though (needed to lighten up my hair gene pool).

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting name. Where does it come from?

There seems to be a lot of activity around that hippie community lately. I take it we'll be seeing a lot more of them in future updates? (When are those coming, by the way?)

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

fidus Achates (latin): trusty friend

I first used the name on a dog in Feo (who I planned to put in my Ish family, but his sibling Didicoy was chosen instead--ahh, Didicoy, the dog who lifted his leg on the heiress)

The hippy community isn't REALLY a hippy community. It's just the Moonbeams and the Larsons (who defected from the original/true hippy community). They were joined by Chester (who defected from Nocheat). The new alien hive is attracted to their lifestyle (and the big ole house at the end of the street).

They will make their debute in upcoming updates. I haven't quite figured out if Pierre meets the Moonbeam family BEFORE he takes Blossom to Vid and Piq's wedding party or after (I need to spend some time with the pictures to see how it works best).

As for updates, I'm on vacation next week so I'm hoping to get my Round Robin story out (and maybe finish posting my pixel trade asylum) during that time. THEN, my full attention can be turned to Peculiar. I have a crapload of pics, so I should be able to produce a nice round of updates after that.