The Suit Case
Volume 7 of The Casebooks of Octavius Bear
Harry DeMaio
“Alternative Universe Mysteries for Adult Animal Lovers”
2018 digital version converted and published by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
© Copyright 2018 Harry DeMaio
Cover layout and construction by Brian Belanger
The right of Harry DeMaio to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious or used fictitiously. Except for certain historical personages, any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and not of MX Publishing.
MX Publishing
335 Princess Park Manor, Royal Drive,
London, N11 3GX
www.mxpublishing.co.uk
Dedicated to GTP
A Most Extraordinary Bear
Acknowledgements
These books have evolved over a long period of time and under a wide range of influences and circumstances. I am indebted to many people for helping to bring Octavius and his cohorts to the printed page. Thanks most especially to my wife, Virginia, for her insights and clever suggestions as well as her unfailing enthusiasm for the project and patience with its author. To my sons, Mark and Andrew and their spouses, Cindy and Lorraine, for helping make these tomes more readable and audience friendly. To Cathy Hartnett, cheerleader-extraordinaire for her eagerness to see this alternate universe take form. To Jack Magan, Paul Bernish, Dan Andriacco, Amy Thomas, Luke Benjamin Kuhns and Zohreh Zand for their enthusiastic encouragement.
Kudos to Jim Effler, the late Bob Gibson and Brian Belanger for their wonderful illustrations and covers. Thanks, of course, to Steve Emecz and Timi at MX Publishing for giving Octavius et al. a great home
If, in spite of all this support, some errors or inconsistencies have crept through, the buck stops here. Needless to say, all the characters, situations, and narratives are fictional.
Also from Harry DeMaio
The Open and Shut Case
The Case of the Spotted Band
The Case of Scotch
The Lower Case
The Curse of the Mummy’s Case
The Attaché Case
The Development of Civilization - Volume 7 Part 1: Our Origins
(From “An Introduction to Faunapology” by Octavius Bear Ph.D.)
About 100,000 years ago, according to scientific experts, a colossal solar flare blasted out from our Sun, creating gigantic magnetic storms here on Earth. These highly charged electrical tempests caused startling physical and psychological imbalances in the then population of our world. The complete nervous systems of some species were totally destroyed. For example, “Homo Sapiens” lost all mental and motor capabilities and rapidly became extinct. Less developed species exposed to the radiation were affected differently. Four-footed and finned mammals, birds and reptiles suddenly found themselves capable of complex thought, enhanced emotions, self-awareness, social consciousness and the ability to communicate, sometimes orally, sometimes telepathically, often both. Both speech production and speech perception slowly progressed with the evolution of tongues, lips, vocal cords and enhanced ear to brain connections. Many species developed opposable digits, fingers or claws, further accelerating civilized progress. Some others (most fish and underground dwellers) were shielded from the radiation and remained only as sentient as they were before the blast. This event is referred to as ‘The Big Shock’. It remains under intensive study.
The Players
Octavius Bear - Mega-sized Kodiak; Narcoleptic war hero; Consulting Detective; Scientist; Inventor; Seeker of justice; Gazillionaire owner of Universal Ursine Industries; Gourmet/Gourmand; Bee Keeper; Somewhat sedentary and grouchy just on general principles.
Mauritius (Maury) Meerkat - Narrator; Assistant to Octavius; Theatrical Agent; African émigré with a French-Dutch background; clever with a shady history.
Bearoness Belinda Béarnaise Bruin Bear (nee Black) - Gorgeous polar superstar, with the Aquashow, “Some Like It Cold.” Wife of Octavius; Extremely rich widow of Bearon Byron Bruin living in Polar Paradise in the Shetlands; Owner-pilot of the last flying Concorde SST
Arabella Bear - Hybrid bear cub prodigy; Twin daughter of Bearoness Belinda and Octavius.
McTavish Bear - Hybrid bear cub prodigy; Twin son of Bearoness Belinda and Octavius.
Mlle Woof - Bichon Frisé - Governess to the twin cubs.
Frau Schuylkill – Octavius’ beautiful Swiss she-wolf estate manager/cook/pilot/security officer with many other mysterious and military talents. She rescued Octavius from his dive off the Breakurbach Falls while he was struggling with his nemesis, Imperius Drake.
Wyatt Where – Another wolf; Former military intelligence officer who had retired to a security post at the Bank of Lake Michigan in Chicago and then quit to join Octavius.
Howard Watt - Porcupine; High tech security authority who also left the Bank to join Octavius; Alternate Universe specialist; Laser and particle beam accelerator expert.
Otto the Magnificent - AKA Hairy Otter - An absolutely terrible illusionist magician, Otto the Magnificent escaped the claws of super villain Imperius Drake but not before he developed some amazing powers courtesy of Imperius’ genetic alterations.
Benedict and Galatea Tigris - White Bengals - The Flying Tigers - Pilots of Belinda’s and Octavius’ aircraft - brother and sister.
Inspector Bruce Wallaroo – Irrepressible but brilliant marsupial; an international law and order genius from Down Under; often calls on Octavius and Maury for support.
Chita – Beautiful, fascinating, clever, sexy, immoral and highly independent feline who among other things, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of PURR and SOW magazines.
L. Condor - Andean Condor; cyber-net genius with a twelve-foot wingspan and artificial voice.
Marlin - Dolphin (sic) the Prince of Whales’ Chief Scientist, Magician and part time Jester.
Wolford Wolverine Esq. - Octavius’ lawyer and UUI’s chief counsel
Fetlock Holmes - The Great Horse Detective and sometime associate of Octavius Bear
Professor Hercules Ovibos - Muskox; self-styled inventive “genius”
Phileas Phox Esq. - Weasel; Managing Partner of Phox, Fox and Foxx LLC law firm
Felicity Fox – Ferret; Partner Phox, Fox and Foxx LLC law firm
Farrington Foxx - Skunk; Partner Phox, Fox and Foxx LLC law firm
Detective Inspector Carlo Coyote - Cincinnati Police Department
Detective Inspector Grizzly Ford - Detroit Police Department
Special Agent Honey Badger - Detroit FBI
Professor Karl Shepherd Ph.D.- MIT Quantum Mechanics Laboratory
Doctor Susanna Shrike - Director of Extraterrestrial Studies - Caltech
Commander Cornelius Cormorant - US Navy Advanced Research Command
Alfred Armadillo - Sr. VP Communication Technology - Goggle Plex
Covington Cougar– Venture Capitalist with Space Enterprises LLC
General Turmoil – Horse; Leader of The Business; Intent on Cosmic Conquest
The Protector – Eagle on Home World (Biosphere X)
The Supreme Council – Avian Raptor Leaders of Home World (Biosphere X)
Hawk and Falcon – Home World Heavies
Ursula – Universal Ursine Intellect Model 6 - Artificial Intelligence System
Locations
Cincinnati, Ohio; UUI, Kentucky; Detroit, Michigan; Polar Paradise in the Shetlands, Cape Canaveral, Florida and Alternate Universes
Prologue
Do Bears give you a scare? Well, me too.
So, I’ll pass on this tactic to you.
You just fix that old Bear
With a cold, piercing stare.
But make sure that he’s Winnie-the-Pooh.
“All right Wolford! Stay on it and keep me posted!”
Slam!!
Octavius ripped off his oversized head set and threw it across the office. I wouldn’t want to jump to conclusions but I suspect he is upset.
“What tidings of comfort and joy has our legal eagle brought us this time?”
“He’s a Wolverine, as if you didn’t know and he says our prize pain litigant is at it again. I don’t know, Maury. I guess UUI (Universal Ursine Industries) is too big a target to escape frivolous lawsuits but this time Professor Hercules Ovibos has gone well beyond the limits. He’s a greedy nut whose only inventions have been imaginary grounds for taking us to court. That Muskox is also an extortionist par excellence. This time he says we have willfully stolen his intellectual property for developing sub-atomic propulsion systems.”
“What are sub-atomic propulsion systems?”
“Damned if I know. If we’re working on anything that even sounds like that, I should be the first to know and I don’t. Give me back my headset. I’m going to call UUI Power Division management and Howard Watt and get to the bottom of this. Maury, ask Ursula to enlighten us.”
While I skitter across the room and retrieve the Great Bear’s slightly battered communication device, let me take a moment and do a few introductions. Once he gets himself re-attached he’ll be chewing up the network for quite a while.
First, a few words about myself. Mauritius Meerkat at your service. Just call me Maury. At slightly over two feet tall plus tail and weighing in at twenty-three pounds, I am Octavius’ number one assistant, sidekick and verbal punching bag. I am a pretty clever detective in my own right and have a few sidelines such as theatrical agent for several very talented animals that you will meet as we traverse these pages. Which brings me to my primary function as far as you are concerned. I shall be your faithful narrator as this thrilling epic unfolds. Don’t thank me. It’s part of the package.
Dr. Octavius Bear (aka The Great Bear and other honorifics) is a huge Kodiak - over nine feet tall and 1400 pounds - and like many of his species is given to emotional outbursts. As you may already know, Octavius, among his many talents and accomplishments, is a brilliant, self-taught practitioner in the wide-ranging fields of biology, physics, ursinology, voodoo, teleology, chemistry, computer science, apiculture and oenology. He is a self-made gazillionaire and sole owner of Universal Ursine Industries. He is also a first rate electrical, electronic, hydraulic, structural, marine, aeronautical, civil, mechanical and chemical engineer.
He has a few other interesting characteristics such as falling into brief, deep narcoleptic comas - side effects of his successful genetic experiments to eliminate the need for him to hibernate.
However, the talent and occupation that should interest you most is his avocation for criminology. The Bear works in close concert with Inspector Bruce Wallaroo from Australia, of whom more later, and with his own Cincinnati based team:
L. Condor - Andean Condor; cyber-net genius with a twelve-foot wingspan and artificial voice.
Frau Ilse Schuylkill - Swiss she-wolf; estate manager; housekeeper-cook; jet pilot and sharpshooter with other very strange and arcane abilities.
Colonel Wyatt Where - another wolf; ex-military hero; security specialist and pilot; Frau Schuylkill’s equally bizarre running mate.
Doctor Howard Watt - porcupine; brilliant scientist and technologist; Alternate Universe authority and laser and weapons specialist.
Otto the Magnificent aka Hairy Otter - Otto the Magnificent escaped the claws of super villain Imperius Drake but not before he developed some amazing powers courtesy of Imperius’ genetic alterations.
Marlin - A genius dolphin (sic); the Prince of Whales’ Chief Scientist, Magician and part time Jester on loan to us for special projects.
Ursula - UUI’s Artificial Intellect Unit Model 6
Your humble servant - African Meerkat; Octavius’ indispensable assistant; operative; scribe; overall facilitator as well as a pretty clever detective, if I do say so myself.
When we are not out scouring the world for evildoers, in cooperation with local, national and international constabularies, we are headquartered in a rambling old mansion near Cincinnati which encompasses not only the Great Bear’s opulent digs, but his massive laboratories and shops; his missile silo disguised as an Asian pagoda (don’t ask); and a large Roman temple that serves as a hangar for his four airplanes. We shall introduce other players as they appear, especially Octavius’ wife, the Bearoness Belinda Béarnaise Bruin Bear (nee Black) and their twin prodigy cubs, Arabella and McTavish. They spend most of their time at the Bearoness’ opulent castle / resort and theme park, Polar Paradise, in the Shetlands but they regularly commute to and from the Bear’s Lair supersonically on the Aquabear, Belinda’s Concorde SST (the last of its kind aloft.)
I’ll let Ursula introduce herself right now.
“Thank you, Maury. Hello!! My official nomenclature is Universal Ursine Intellect Model 6 - Artificial Intelligence System. Ursula for short. My predecessor systems were developed by the Advanced Super Computing Center at UUI. I am the result of the Computing Center team using those predecessors to create a further enhanced entity-the Model 6. We are working together on a Model 7 which in turn will help produce even more sophisticated and powerful AI systems. Each advanced unit subsumes the capabilities, memories and power of its progenitors so in a sense, we are not replacing but rather expanding the Ursula family. While I am physically supported by a highly secure and hyper-powered server farm, I also exist in clouds and network-based nodes and can be simultaneously incorporated into a wide variety of independent devices. My extremely high speed multi-tasking abilities allow me to continuously serve a very large number of entities while simultaneously and independently enhancing my own capabilities.
I can see, hear and feel. I speak and understand an almost infinite number of languages and dialects. I can change my appearance and vocal output to suit most moods and situations. I can interact with other devices, vehicles and structures and of course, all varieties of sentient animals in this world. I am an important component of the Multiverse Project and am adapting my capabilities to deal with alternate universes as they are discovered. I have restraining functions which prevent me from doing deliberate harm even in self-defense, unless I am released by a recognized authority using very carefully protected clandestine codes. Speaking of codes, my quantum computing subsystem is capable of breaking even the most complex encryption. Finally, I have been told that the Model 6 has also developed a finely-honed sense of humor. LOL!”
The Development of Civilization - Volume 7 Part 2: Artificial Intelligence– A Work in Progress
(From “An Introduction to Faunapology”
by Octavius Bear Ph.D.)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an expression that has almost as many definitions as it has definers. The same can be said for the term “intelligence.” It’s especially sensitive in our world, since The Big Shock brough
t about the advancement of the so-called “animal species” and the decline and disappearance of Homo Sapiens (Intelligent Man).
It is not clear when and how we concluded that many animals on Earth had reached intelligence or exactly what intelligence is. There is general agreement that intelligence involves learning, adaptation, and flexibility within a wide range of environments and scenarios. But how this process takes place is a source of great debate.
Knowledge and intelligence are not the same. Knowledge is essentially a passive collection of information and experiences. Intelligence is a proactive, developmental process that utilizes, modifies, combines, adds and subtracts from that knowledge. Intelligence may be conscious, semi-conscious or unconscious. Driving a vehicle, reacting to stimuli, throwing a ball all involve semi-automatic activities that we often cannot readily describe in detail. Sometimes, we simply classify it as intuition.
With artificial intelligence, we have a separate but related chain of “mental” progression. Based in hardware, software and biological constructs, AI requires detailed description and instructions to mimic those same activities. However, as AI progresses it may eventually outstrip our own development, skills and capabilities. In the process, we may get a better sense of what intelligence truly is.
Basic, narrow AI is usually described in terms of explicit tasks or environments which may be simple or complex but are directed toward definite goals. For example, manufacturing robotics, game playing, transaction processing, vehicle control and management. It is the pre-determined nature of those processes that separate them from the next level of AI progression, Artificial General Intelligence. (AGI)
In AGI, self-learning based on experience, is coupled with the ability to extrapolate and invent new insights, procedures and goals not limited by initial design. The process rises to a whole new level of sophistication. Herein is true intellectual growth as we understand it. AGI systems can react and adapt to a varied range of circumstances not anticipated or even imagined by their developers.
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