Nueva-Delhi and the Snow Catastrophe

by oranzinispegasas

Chapter 4 The Cause of Outrage

"If you follow my recommendations," said the penguin doctor, "you will soon be on the mend. You came at the right time, so we managed to nip the disease in the bud."

"But I can't spend all this time in the hotel," objected Nueva-Delhi. "I'm not here for that! Besides, the circumstances that happened a few hours ago require my intervention."

The doctor frowned and set aside the towel he had just used to wipe his wings.

"Miss," he said, "if you value your health, I hope you won't make such reckless decisions."

Nueva-Delhi looked at him persistently, but he didn't even raise an eyebrow.

"You are free," he simply said.

***

Nueva-Delhi stepped out onto the street. Vasilly was waiting for her near the entrance.

"How did everything go?" he asked. "I hope it's not too serious?"

"No, everything is just fine," replied Nueva-Delhi. "The disease hasn't spread yet, so I'm essentially healthy."

"Great," Vasilly exclaimed happily.

Nueva-Delhi moved forward. The cat hurried after her. He jumped onto the fence and walked along it.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"Me?" Nueva-Delhi said absentmindedly. "I don't know. But I would like to fully understand what mess is happening in your city."

"You mean about the reservoirs?" Vasilly asked puzzled. "But there's nothing to investigate here. The reservoir was obviously damaged, the breakdown wasn't noticed in time, so it burst. Just a random accident."

"You're mistaken," Nueva-Delhi objected. "If it were that simple, only one reservoir would have burst. But all of them were broken."

"Probably it happened because of the water pressure..." Vasilly guessed.

Nueva-Delhi looked at him attentively and even stopped.

"Do you believe what you're saying?" she asked.

Vasilly opened his mouth but couldn't find a response. The clever horse had stumped him.

"Hmm... You reason well," Vasilly remarked. "Are you perhaps a detective?"

"You could say so," Nueva-Delhi replied. "My father is an investigator. I'm his apprentice."

"And so?" Aren't your investigative skills bothering you?" Vasilly asked.

"Well, aren't you curious to figure everything out?" Nueva-Delhi said.

"Yes, you're right," he agreed. "What do you want to start with?"

Nueva-Delhi looked around thoughtfully. In the distance, behind Vasilly's back, she noticed a snow leopard helping a horse break free from the ice. The snow leopard was wearing a blue jumpsuit with a snowflake patch on the back.

"Are you acquainted with her?" Nueva-Delhi asked Vasilly, pointing her hoof at the leopard.

Vasilly turned around.

"Oh, that's the master from the creative department," he immediately replied. "Poor thing."

"Why?" Nueva-Delhi already had her notebook and pen ready.

"She got fired," Vasilly said. "Well, they fired half the plant, with the introduction of new technologies to reduce the number of live workers. The fewer workers, the less salary to pay."

"So that's why they started a riot?" Nueva-Delhi asked.

Vasilly stared at her in silence for a while.

"You can question her yourself," he said. Vasilly was afraid to take responsibility for his words and decided to pass it on to someone else.

Nueva-Delhi just rolled her eyes and headed towards the snow leopard. She had managed to break the ice around the horse with a pickaxe. The last thing to do was to pull the victim out of the water.

"Excuse me, miss?" Nueva-Delhi addressed her.

The snow leopard raised her index finger.

"Just a minute, dear," she said in a rough, hoarse voice. "I need to pull this poor soul out. Once I'm done, we'll talk."

The snow leopard grabbed the horse by the hooves and pulled with all her might. The ice cracked even more and eventually split apart. Shards scattered, and the horse was freed. Two penguins with stretchers immediately rushed to the victim.

The snow leopard turned to face Nueva-Delhi.

"Miss," Nueva-Delhi addressed her.

"Lapa," she interrupted. "Just call me Lapa. Why so formal?"

"Alright, Lapa," Nueva-Delhi said uncertainly. "May I ask you a few questions?"

"Of course, if it's not long," Lapa replied, taking the pickaxe. "I still need to help a few more."

"Yes, I understand everything," said Nueva-Delhi. "I won't detain you. Just a couple of questions."

"I'm listening," Lapa replied, looking at her.

Nueva-Delhi flipped through her notebook.

"Ahem," she coughed. "Where were you this morning?"

Lapa didn't rush with her response.

"By the factory," she said after a while.

And then it dawned on Nueva-Delhi.

"So you were among the protesters?!" she exclaimed suddenly.

"Well, you could say so," said Lapa, scratching the back of her head sheepishly. "Still, I hoped to return to my beloved work. I was hoping that way Richard would hear us."

"Richard?" Nueva-Delhi said puzzledly. Jessica's endless excuses came to mind. His name kept popping up.

"What!?" Vasilly snapped at her and nudged her with his elbow. "He's the factory director."

Nueva-Delhi looked at him in surprise, then lifted her gaze to Lapa.

"What? Really?" she said. "I had no idea."

"Yes, Richard is Aaron Agatov's descendant," said Lapa, "so the factory belongs to him now. Lately, the factory has been facing financial difficulties, and Vladimir Dubov offered his help."

"Ivan?" Nueva-Delhi asked again as she flipped through her notebook once more.

"Yeah," Lapa nodded. "Seems like you don't know many people around here. Dubov is a local mechanic and inventor. He offered his inventions to be implemented in the factory. But because of his inventions, many workers lost their jobs, including me." Lapa sighed sadly. "I've only worked at the factory for five years, but I've grown attached to it. I took great pleasure in creating different patterns on snowflakes."

Vasilly patted Lapa's shoulder understandingly. Lapa sighed deeply.

"I don't believe Dubov's mechanisms can create the same snowflakes," she said. "As we did. They can't come up with such diverse patterns. And they lack soul..."

Nueva-Delhi nodded thoughtfully.

"Listen, Lapa," she said, "could you tell me where this Ivan lives?"

"Sure," Lapa brightened up. "I think he can provide you with much more information. I'm just a simple worker. Now, I'm not even that, I'm fired, to top it off. I'm not a well-informed creature in all this paperwork mess."