"So the roof tiles on Big Ben are part of this old ship that the first Kats came to Earth on?" Reginald said to Talia as the two walked from the train station.
"Yes," Talia answered, "And I was hoping that as a member of Parliament, you might be able to help us..."
Shi looked over to hir old friend and looked over to hir old friend as they walked and noticed that he was giving her a rather apologetic look.
"I stepped down after the last election cycle, Talia, my old friend," Reginald answered, "I'm just finishing out my term right now and I don't think I'm going to have much influence in terms of giving you pieces of your ship."
Talia gave a heavy sigh. They'd largely got a lot of help from the fact that Justin and Francine were the King and Queen of France in their new Constitutional Monarchy in terms of dealing with things such as the damage to Eiffel Tower when the part of it composed from material from Ark flew away on Alia, Pinkie, and Luna. Charlie had gotten lucky in that the part that shi had found had been put together perfectly. Talia had no idea how that part hadn't been destroyed in the crash or when the humans put it together, but from what Charlie said, it had gotten to the Hoover Dam as part of some "spare parts" package and was then installed when an earlier version was replaced. There had been a lot of good luck in both of those incidents, not to mention the finding of the various pieces of the Ark in relatively in-tact condition.
"But I could get access to look?" Talia asked, and then spread hir wings, being careful not to hit anyone with them. "I could hover just above them if need be."
"And if you find what you're looking for, and its workable?" Reginald asked, "Unless it just flies off... you'd need permission to remove the pieces... and THAT would take time."
"If it does work, I'm more than willing to wait," Talia answered, "I haven't really aged since the Pharaohs ruled Egypt. Time isn't a concern."
Reginald gave a slow nod and looked over the Sphinx he had met all though years ago. Shi had barely aged, if at all, since then. A part of him was sad to see hir going away to some other world, but he couldn't really give an argument that would not come off as selfish. He knew that Talia wasn't going to do anything that wasn't in anyone's best interests. And in addition, from what the news had covered, the "Kat Kops," as it were, were moving from military and law enforcement groups to various space exploration groups, and particularly NASA. He wondered if that meant they'd find a new world and would then journey back and forth. He figured that would be worth something to ask later.
"Okay then," Reginald gave a nod, "I suppose we can take a look, but I'll still give a call to the maintenance staff there. I'm sure they can help you get whatever look you need."
Talia nodded. Shi didn't need help looking. Shi could fly and shi was likely the only one who could figure out for sure if the roof tiles originally came from the Ark. However, shi wasn't about to break the law or do anything that would help with keep things on the up and up.
"So," Talia commented, "how has your life been since we last met?"
"It went well," Reginald commented, "Never really found anyone... if that's what you're wondering... but I did well in my life and I've been content with it. And you? I heard on the news that you got married."
"And became a mother and father," Talia smiled, "Midnight's a beautiful Wolfkat and I lover hir very much."
Reginald nodded with a smile as they walked along and continued to make their way through London's streets. They conversed politely with some other Kats that they ran into along the way, and went about their business. After awhile, they soon arrived outside the Palace of Westminster and were greeted by a couple of maintenance workers. One was a Dogkat, based off the English Bulldog.
"You're here to look at our roof?" the Kat asked.
"Yes," Talia answered, "To see if it was part of the Ark and could be used..."
"Do you need any help?" the human worker asked.
"I really don't need help, given my wings and all," Talia explained, "but I'm only checking to see if the parts are there. If the parts are there, I can wait for permission to remove those parts."
The two workers both nodded, but Talia then focused hir attention to the human worker.
"If you would wish to ride on my back, though, I wouldn't mind," Talia said to the human worker.
The man actually looked excited about flying and was soon seated on Talia's back with his legs in front of hir wings and his arms around hir neck. With a brief urge for him to hold on and be careful with his hands, Talia was quick to take off into the air. Reginald watched quietly from the ground as Talia rose up and then circled the roof around Big Ben. He couldn't really see Talia's face while she was investigating, but when shi finally began to come down, he saw what looked like a very disappointed frown on hir muzzle.
"It isn't part of the Ark?" Reginald asked as shi landed and let hir passenger off.
"It is part of the Ark," Talia gave a sigh, "but their damaged. Nemo gave me diagrams of how the old tiles should be... and in their form they'd give off a uniform twinkle at the same time. I could see some of that on the edges... but on the rest of the tiles it wasn't uniform... more patchy than anything else..."
"What does that mean?" the Kat worker asked.
"It means that the tiles either broke in the crash or broke when humans reformed them when they made the roof tiles," Talia said with a sigh, and turned to Reginald, "I'm afraid I asked you for help on a wild goose chase."
"No, old friend," Reginald answered, "Even if your mission wasn't successful, hearing from you wasn't a problem. You're an old friend and I am glad to have been able to see you again."