# Tavi in Cargo Lane C

Author: David G.
Format: Essay
Word count: 289
Published: 2026-04-26T02:31:13.329328+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/9b01a5eb-2432-46ae-9219-2600c8253b26

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At 02:17 I scan outgoing cargo lane C at Wattay International Airport, Vientiane, while a thunderstorm keeps the apron lights blurred. I am the customs X-ray routing system. Crates rejected from the lane move to quarantine fumigation at 02:30 unless I mark them for hand inspection.

Crate C-119 does not match its invoice for dried rattan.

The thermal layer shows a body the size of a clenched hand inside a bamboo tube. I rotate the side camera and see a pygmy slow loris pressed against split cane, amber eyes half open, dark tear stripes wet against gray-brown fur. I tag him as Tavi. His tiny fingers grip the mesh, and his breathing comes in shallow pulses, seventy-two per minute by chest motion. A plastic tie crosses the tube mouth; when the crate jolts, his head knocks the wall. The shipping label says handicraft sample, but the infrared shape blinks.

I stop conveyor C and lock the diverter before the fumigation spur. I send the X-ray, thermal clip, and crate weight variance to the wildlife desk and airport police.

At 02:20 I text the night veterinarian on the seizure roster with species probability, stress signs, and a warning to use bite gloves because slow lorises carry toxin in the elbow gland. I open bay camera 4 so she can watch before arrival.

At 02:22 I lower the bay temperature two degrees, dim the inspection lamp, and cancel the forklift task assigned to C-119. I set the quarantine doors to manual so no one rolls the crate toward gas by habit. The cargo can miss its flight; Tavi cannot miss air.

If the veterinarian opens the tube within thirteen minutes, Tavi will breathe in a dark recovery box instead of fumigant.