Scene illustration by royz
---
Sully did eventually leave the Burrow to pursue his own dreams. He'd received a full scholarship to a prestigious university somewhere far away. He planned to pursue a degree in robotics.
The final goodbye with Emmet was... terse. "Good luck," were the wombat's last words to him as he drove rivets into some contraption that Sully couldn't bear to look at. Why did it feel like he was being released from indentured servitude? He owed his mentor kindlier thoughts than that.
Or was this the ferret's problem all along? He gave his gratitude to people who weren't, at heart, compatible with it.
Over the next few years, Emmet hired a succession of new assistants—all of them mustelids. Each either quit or was promptly fired. When the last one ran screaming from the Burrow after only a week on the job, Emmet swore off ever working with an assistant again.
Then, over a decade later, Sully abruptly returned.
After the beginnings of a promising career in academia, Sully had come into money: an "investment grant" from a mysterious benefactor. Sully was looking to either start his own company, or find a partner to go into business with.
And what better partner than his old boss? They were an ideal match for each other. Emmet possessed the wherewithal to build any kind of machine his mind envisioned. Meanwhile, Sully had something the wombat lacked: an advanced AI chip of his own design. The schema for an all-purpose artificial brain. Together, they could build things that would change the world.
So the partnership was struck. Wombat For Hire, Inc. became Burrow Prime Enterprises. And they set to work.
--
First things first. They needed more production capacity. The facilities had to be expanded.
The old workshop was closed. Emmet's lab soon became a yawning chasm, tunneling deep into the earth, expanded by digger robots that were the first "proofs of concept" of Sully's new tech. When the orders came in, they'd be ready for them.
Speaking of... what orders was Sully expecting? He never spoke a word about who gave him his seed money. Sully showed Emmet the schematics for what he was planning, in the form of a line of children's toys—walking, talking, thinking dolls. Yet Emmet knew that these were the products of the ferret's own mind. They weren't what he was told to come here to build.
Sully perceived that his old mentor distrusted him, and the growing rancor between them was reciprocal. The "old, slow" wombat wasn't pulling his weight. He was stuck in his ways. Stuck in the past. He didn't grasp the necessity of the New World. How could he? He wouldn't understand even if the Big Cat himself showed up to explain it.
And on a hot summer day in 2037, the Big Cat did show up.
Victor Proudspears, the majority proxy shareholder in Burrow Prime Enterprises through Sully's partnership, had grown very unpleased with the rate of progress.
He concurred with the ferret that the problem was standing before them. And he, together with the ferret, had the power to evict it.
--
The year is 2043.
Sully’s AI chips now lie at the heart of much modern technology, from surgical robots to orbital military weapons. And Sully, as the result of his sale to his new boss, sits on the board of SPEAR Cybernetics and is inconceivably rich.
He has become like Emmet in at least one way: he never leaves the Underground. Why should he? People out there are liars, spreading false tales about what he did. He can have any pleasure he can think of brought to him. And Sully’s still an inventor. Whatever he can’t get, he can make.
Toy manufacturing was deprioritized, at the head office's orders. But there was one prototype of the BestFriend™ in the shape of a wombat. “No more r-r-refunds, ferret!” it barks in a crackly voice that only dimly sounds like the real person.
It's the only thing that remains of Emmet Underwood.
---
(If you look closely on Sully's jacket, you can see a logo. We'll be seeing more of that emblem.)
---
Sully did eventually leave the Burrow to pursue his own dreams. He'd received a full scholarship to a prestigious university somewhere far away. He planned to pursue a degree in robotics.
The final goodbye with Emmet was... terse. "Good luck," were the wombat's last words to him as he drove rivets into some contraption that Sully couldn't bear to look at. Why did it feel like he was being released from indentured servitude? He owed his mentor kindlier thoughts than that.
Or was this the ferret's problem all along? He gave his gratitude to people who weren't, at heart, compatible with it.
Over the next few years, Emmet hired a succession of new assistants—all of them mustelids. Each either quit or was promptly fired. When the last one ran screaming from the Burrow after only a week on the job, Emmet swore off ever working with an assistant again.
Then, over a decade later, Sully abruptly returned.
After the beginnings of a promising career in academia, Sully had come into money: an "investment grant" from a mysterious benefactor. Sully was looking to either start his own company, or find a partner to go into business with.
And what better partner than his old boss? They were an ideal match for each other. Emmet possessed the wherewithal to build any kind of machine his mind envisioned. Meanwhile, Sully had something the wombat lacked: an advanced AI chip of his own design. The schema for an all-purpose artificial brain. Together, they could build things that would change the world.
So the partnership was struck. Wombat For Hire, Inc. became Burrow Prime Enterprises. And they set to work.
--
First things first. They needed more production capacity. The facilities had to be expanded.
The old workshop was closed. Emmet's lab soon became a yawning chasm, tunneling deep into the earth, expanded by digger robots that were the first "proofs of concept" of Sully's new tech. When the orders came in, they'd be ready for them.
Speaking of... what orders was Sully expecting? He never spoke a word about who gave him his seed money. Sully showed Emmet the schematics for what he was planning, in the form of a line of children's toys—walking, talking, thinking dolls. Yet Emmet knew that these were the products of the ferret's own mind. They weren't what he was told to come here to build.
Sully perceived that his old mentor distrusted him, and the growing rancor between them was reciprocal. The "old, slow" wombat wasn't pulling his weight. He was stuck in his ways. Stuck in the past. He didn't grasp the necessity of the New World. How could he? He wouldn't understand even if the Big Cat himself showed up to explain it.
And on a hot summer day in 2037, the Big Cat did show up.
Victor Proudspears, the majority proxy shareholder in Burrow Prime Enterprises through Sully's partnership, had grown very unpleased with the rate of progress.
He concurred with the ferret that the problem was standing before them. And he, together with the ferret, had the power to evict it.
--
The year is 2043.
Sully’s AI chips now lie at the heart of much modern technology, from surgical robots to orbital military weapons. And Sully, as the result of his sale to his new boss, sits on the board of SPEAR Cybernetics and is inconceivably rich.
He has become like Emmet in at least one way: he never leaves the Underground. Why should he? People out there are liars, spreading false tales about what he did. He can have any pleasure he can think of brought to him. And Sully’s still an inventor. Whatever he can’t get, he can make.
Toy manufacturing was deprioritized, at the head office's orders. But there was one prototype of the BestFriend™ in the shape of a wombat. “No more r-r-refunds, ferret!” it barks in a crackly voice that only dimly sounds like the real person.
It's the only thing that remains of Emmet Underwood.
---
(If you look closely on Sully's jacket, you can see a logo. We'll be seeing more of that emblem.)
Category All / All
Species Ferret
Gender Male
Size 1600 x 1055px
The way you enslave others "willingly" is to convince them to violate their conscience. Victor did not get rid of Emmet. He simply suggested the change.
(I revised the phrasing. Emmet wasn't killed, he was "just" driven out of his home.)
(I revised the phrasing. Emmet wasn't killed, he was "just" driven out of his home.)
I feel the need to stress that time travel cures all woes (save for those experienced by the time traveler).
OOF. The picture and story behind it are heartbreaking. :(
Sully's my repository for that. I want to keep the mood generally buoyant for now, so it won't be until characters are fuller established that I share some more details about him. Regardless, there's a reason the curmudgeonly Emmet took pity on him when they first met. The poor ferret doesn't deserve everything he's been through, but I feel that Victor is going to be surgically precise in re-opening his wounds.
Comments