Entry: July 4, 654 A.E.

Morning

The Disappearance

Three days after the killing, the Fuzzies vanished.

The Company's Chief Prosecutor, Mohammed O'Brien, had gotten a court order to impound the Fuzzies as evidence in the Kellogg case. Constabulary troopers came to take them. I watched helplessly as my family was stuffed into sacks and carried away. All except Baby Fuzzy, who Gus had hidden under his coat.

They were taken to the Company's Science Center. And then, somehow, they escaped. Six Fuzzies broke out of their cages and disappeared into the city of Mallorysport.

For a month, I searched. Every day, following up leads, chasing reports. Most were false alarms. I offered a reward—two thousand sols per Fuzzy. The whole planet was looking for them. But there was no trace. No cracked prawn shells, no evidence of their passage. Nothing.

I began to fear the worst. Maybe they hadn't escaped at all. Maybe someone at Science Center had killed them to eliminate the evidence. Maybe my whole family was dead, and the Company had won.

Those were dark days. I kept going through the motions, but inside I was hollow. Baby Fuzzy didn't understand why his family didn't come back. Neither did I.