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"Come on gang," insisted AllStar.
"Are you sure we're suppose to do this?" asked Dimmy.
"He's my relative," said AllStar, "I have a right to be worried about him.
AllStar and the gang made a 40 kilometer swim away from Snorkland to the back country known as the Outback, one of the most hostile places in the ocean. Despite the danger, a green snork named Radio Seaworthy has taken refuge in the Outback. Ironically, he made the place more dangerous after incidents of capturing fugitive Snorks and screwed up their brains turning them into Hillbillies. Not to mention the green octopus breed named Neuroctopus due to it's ability to take control of Snork's bodies.
However, the Feral Snorks out in the Outback see's AllStar as one of their own. Including the Neuroctopuses since they can trace their descendents all the way to Occy, as a result they have steered clear of the Snorks. Radio's robots and cyborgs however are patrolling the prowl and they did their best to avoid them. If they were caught by Radio, they might get a lecture.
AllStar knows exactly where Radio's laboratory is, the Adolescent Mad Scientist had built himself an underground lab underneath a Coral Reef. To make things more unusual, the lab is filled with air from Dry Space (the air land lovers breath) instead of the usual saltwater. AllStar managed to locate the reef and the Snorks swam up to the boulder door.
He reached in through a crack in the Coral Reef and pulled on a lever, the boulder then pulls open. "Are you sure about this?" asked Daffney.
"He's a friend and I don't care what Radio says," said AllStar as he swims inside, the gang was forced to follow to much of their dismay.
The boulder soon closed behind them and the place nearly went pitch dark, "There's no turning back now," said AllStar as he turns on a light.
The Snorks managed to swim down through the tunnel, it went pretty far which scares the Snorks to their core. That's when they reached a Bulkhead door and AllStar presses a button next to the door, after hearing something fill inside a dinging sound was heard and AllStar opened the bulkhead door. Inside was the decompression chamber and the Snorks swam inside, that's when AllStar shuts the bulkhead door and then press a button on the wall.
The room drains of sea water until it is bone dry, then AllStar remembered something. "Occy?" asked AllStar, "Are you okay?"
The red octopus nods his head, even though he can't breath air he would last long enough for the visit. AllStar opened the other bulkhead door and light shot into the Snorks eyes, and it was so bright that it nearly blinded them.
Inside were machinery up against the walls, the walls and tiles were white. Not to big and not to small, it looked like a science lab alright and it was more highly advanced than what the Snork's expect. Equations cover whiteboards, some equations made no sense awhile others can be understood by AllStar. "It looks like Nuclear Physics to me," said AllStar, "This lab is being powered by a small Nuclear Reactor."
"Who's there!" called out a voice before coughing, "Is that you Billy Bob?"
The voice was coming from a nearby room through an open door, the Snorks walked through it and saw Radio and his pet green octopus Rex in bed. The green Snork and Octopus looked gravely ill, their faces had red spots on them along with dark freckles. Radio was holding onto Rex as the octopus appears to be crying, it was a depressing sight.
"Radio?" asked AllStar, "Are you okay?"
"I was okay, until you showed up." muttered Radio as the ill Snork looked at him with dark circles around his eyes.
"How long have you been sick?" asked Daffney.
"About two weeks," coughed Radio, "Me and Rex were busy digging up sand to turn into Silicon when we stumbled into a Petroleum Oil Well, it shot crude oil into our faces and man we were miserable. Three days later, we fell ill and been sick ever since."
"It looks like a severe case of Pneumonia," said AllStar.
"No, it's a deadly case of Influenza that I have unearthed." corrected Radio before coughing.
"Can we do anything to help?" asked Daffney worriedly.
"Nothing can be done," said Radio, "The only help you might give me is leave, and don't come back. If Mother Nature wants me dead, then so be it. I don't seem to care anymore whenever I survive or not."
"I'm sure you might beat the virus," said AllStar.
"That's not how life works AllStar," said Radio as he turns onto his belly and looks away, "How many times to I have to tell you, a gazillion."
"What do you mean?" asked Casey.
Radio turned around and sat up and stared at the Snorks for a second, "Have you watched Snorks you care about die before your very eyes every week?" he asked.
"No," muttered Casey as she looks away.
"I had, and its not just those Ferals. It's my robots and cyborgs." said Radio, "I see then as people, seeing one die is like loosing a friend. Those are lives I created, with my bare hands."
Radio lays back down and coughed, AllStar spots a empty glass on the table and picks it up. He walked into the other room where he fills it with water from the sink and hands it to Radio, the Snork pretty much drank the glass dry and places it on the table. "You seemed to understand more than your friends here AllStar," said Radio.
"Just helping out a friend in need," said AllStar and smiles, Radio smiles back.
"I'm more than a friend AllStar," reminded Radio, "You remember that day where you approached a pile of Nuclear Waste barrels?"
"Yeah," said AllStar.
"You were curious on whats inside so you took a screw driver and tried to use it to cut it open," explains Radio as he tries not to laugh, "Then you cut your hand on the metal after Radioactive Goo dribbled out, then your blood lands on the goo... and then it formed into me."
"First you call me dad," said AllStar.
"And then start calling you Pappy after the Outback has gone to my head," added Radio, "And then my robot technology got so advanced that I made cyborgs then created a Android left arm after that shark that tried to kill you ripped the one I was born with off."
"That got me worried," said AllStar.
"I was even more worried about you, since you nearly died over a gazillion times." said Radio.
That's when Occy started coughing and wheezing, and Radio rolled his eyes. "Please tell me why you brought that non-amphibian in here?" he asked.
"Whoops forgot," said AllStar, "I gotta go."
"Before you go AllStar, you see those papers on the desk." said Radio.
AllStar looked at the other side of the small room and see's a small stack of papers with handwriting on them, "Take that with you," said Radio, "If anyone want's to know what happened to me, they'll know through my words."
"Okay, I will," said AllStar as he grabs the stack of paper, "Bye!"
"Bye Radio," said Daffney and Casey.
"Beep!" tooted Tooter.
"Yeah bye," said Radio back.
As the Snorks leave through the bulkhead door, Radio heard it shut, "Oh I wish they hadn't come all this way to see me," he says as he pulls the covers up to his chin and wrapped his arms around Rex, "This isn't the end Rex, it only has just begun."
When AllStar picked up that glass, he was exposed to Radio's illness. When the Decompression Chamber fills with water, Occy took a big gasped of it and got himself infected without his knowledge. "There there Occy," said AllStar as he pats the octopus on its back.
The Snorks soon swam out through the Outer Bulkhead door, through the boulder entrance, and back into the sea. They soon swam back to Snorkland, carrying the deadly virus with them.
TO BE CONTINUED...
