CHAPTER 3

OFFSIDE TOUCHDOWN


NEW YORK, PRESENT DAY

Half an hour later everyone was ready to go. Julien and Mort pouted a bit because they had to leave the bouncy and the plastic volcano behind but when Maurice had told them they'd either have to carry it themselves or they wouldn't take it along at all, they'd renounced. They regretted the penguins weren't here so they could say goodbye. Maurice explained to Clover that they were special neighbors to them; she suggested they could leave them a greeting card so when they returned, they'd know why they'd find the lemur habitat empty. And that was what they did; when they had finished the card, they slid it under the edge of the fish bowl and then turned to leave through the secret tunnel – which was meanwhile drained again – the penguins had shown them once.

They'd barely walked two streets away from the zoo when Maurice thought he couldn't take it anymore. They had disassembled the throne to be able to carry it since Julien insisted on taking it along at all costs, but the wood was still so heavy Maurice could feel his back bend painfully under the weight with every step.

"Come on, Maurice, we'll never get home at this rate!" Julien complained when they took the first break.

"Well, I certainly agree we'd be a lot faster if everyone carried their own things!" Maurice snarled back at him and they would've almost started to fight over the issue, if Clover hadn't interfered. Although it was a tedious task, with her help Maurice finally managed to convince Julien to leave the throne behind. The lemur king was angry about the loss for some time, but when he saw how much faster they proceeded his mood changed, and he soon became cheerful again. They went down another three streets.

Then suddenly Mort let out a blood-curdling cry. "My Gameboy! I forgot my Gameboy!"

"Oh, dear," Maurice moaned and palmed his forehead.

Julien shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Nobody will be missing it."

"But I will be missing it!" Mort wailed, "Okkuu, he can't live without me… It's still on the shelf next to the Smoothie Bar. We need to turn around and get it!"

"Listen, I won't carry this heavy stuff back to the zoo just because of a Gameboy!" Maurice protested, "And then all the way back again! Oh no!"

"But I want my Gameboy!"

"We will not be turning around until I, who is the king, am ordering everyone to be turning around!" Julien hissed at him, "And I am ordering everyone to not be turning around!"

"But I want it! I want it, I want it, I WANT IT!" Mort went to wailing like a siren going off. The others kept moving, trying to ignore him but he stumbled after them crying and yelling, kicking the ground with both his tiny feet so hard he left deep tracks in the earth. "That's not fair! Not fair!" He continued screaming fiercely and stomping in protest, throwing a temper tantrum their nerves wouldn't stand for long.

"Alright, we'll go back but would you STOP YELLING now!" Julien finally shouted at him.

Mort fell silent in an instant. "Okay." He smiled as happily and adorably again as ever. The three older lemurs breathed a sigh of relief. "I forgot he could be like that," Clover muttered.

Maurice rolled his eyes. "Lucky you."

"There's a subway station." She pointed at a sign on a road nearby. "If we take it, we'll be back at the zoo faster."

Julien frowned. "Why didn't we do so in the first place?"

"Well, I'm not always so sure I can find the right one," Clover replied while helping Maurice shove their bags down the stairs, "I've never been to a town like this, you know. I'm still a bit confused with reading subway lines on maps…"

"At least you can read, unlike the rest of us, so the choice which one to take is best left to you, I guess. – Now think very hard, everyone – maybe anyone else forgot anything? Then at least it'd pay off we go all the way back again…"

"Of course I didn't forget anything, Maurice," Julien muttered, "I'm not like Mort…!"

They took the subway Clover chose to the best of her knowledge. The train rolled into the station with a screech and they boarded. It was noisy inside, filled with the usual hum. They edged their way through a forest of tall human legs, Maurice struggling once more with the weight of their luggage. They hid under a seat row.

"Remember, animals like us on a train are considered an anomaly to humans," Maurice told the others, "They mustn't see us, so be quiet and move carefully…" – And just then they recognized four familiar figures huddled closely under the opposite seat row, most likely on their way home from an exhausting mission. Skipper had scratches and bruises all over his beak, Kowalski had his left foot bandaged, Rico's Mohawk was burned, and Private's Lunacorn was stained with oil. They hadn't noticed the lemurs yet. They sat quietly until –

"HELLO, NEIGHBORS!" Mort yelled joyfully over to them.

"What are you doing?!" Julien shouted back at him, "Haven't you heard? BE QUIET!"

An instant later the old lady on the seat they were hiding under jumped to her feet. "Rat!" she screamed, pointing at the floor, "There's a rat under my seat! – Oh my God, look at that, there are several! And they're huge!" Now the man sitting opposite her jumped up, too; more cries began emanating from the crowd of people around them, and soon everyone in the car was on their feet, roaring their disgust.

"Someone pull the emergency brake!" a frightened voice called but luckily this didn't happen since the train was slowing down anyway to stop at the next station; the penguins were on their feet now as well, helping the lemurs to push and shove through the crowd of humans running about frantically and to get out of the car.

"Way to go, lemurs!" Skipper muttered when they were all finally safe in a dark place in the underground tunnel, "Now you terrorize even the areas outside the zoo. – Oh, who are you, lady?" He raised his eyebrows at the sight of Clover's unfamiliar face.

She straightened and saluted briefly.

"Clover. Leader of the Ringtail Guard and the king's personal bodyguard. Currently tasked with making sure that King Julien will get home safely."

"Get home safely? Well, why did you run off in the first place?!"

"By 'getting home' she is not meaning 'getting back to the zoo', but 'getting back to Madagascar'," Julien explained. "We just had to turn around because Mort was being silly enough to forget his favorite toy, but then we will be on our way to the harbor."

"Yep. We're leaving you, guys," Maurice said, "It's nice we got to meet you again after all before we go; we didn't think we would."

"You're leaving? But this is so sad!" Private called out. "We're going to miss you so much!"

His leader shot him a glare. Perhaps he would even think of their ex-neighbors from time to time but unlike Private, Skipper was looking more than forward to future lemur-less silent nights – all the more since their noisy group had apparently taken in now even a fourth member –, as well as to having a whole lot of dangerous and completely unnecessary rescue missions less to worry about. "Lemurs, this is a bang-up idea," he said, sounding almost overly affirmative, "I mean, I've been thinking for a while now that a zoo isn't quite fitting to replace a lemur, uh… kingdom."

Private blinked his eyes. "Really, Skipper? You have?"

Kowalski put his flipper over the rookie's beak.

"Lemurs like you aren't made to live in a place like this," their leader quickly continued, "You guys aren't city boys. You need nature. The zoo can't give you the natural environment you need; you need taller trees and much more room to, uh, to party…"

Clover nodded at him very approvingly. "That's just what I'm saying. You're definitely right about that, Mister…"

"Call me Skipper. And that's my team." He introduced the boys to her, and the other three penguins waddled up to her to shake her paw. "Travelling from here to Madagascar by ship is going to take way too much time. – You know what? I think we can take you there."

"You would?" Maurice seemed very happy about it. "But that's great!"

Skipper looked at his second-in-command. "Think we can handle it, Kowalski?"

The tall penguin typed something into his smartphone. "Considering the weather forecast I'd say… yes. We need a little preparation time, though."

"Good. Let's all meet at the JFK Airport at 1900 hours."


HOBOKEN, PAST

When she saw the doctors returning him to his habitat, Lulu felt smitten with remorse at having tricked Clemson the way they had.

The lemur's face looked haggard and lost and drawn with pain. Torn skin and bloody welts littered his chest, and on his left leg was a huge red ridge that ran all the way down his thigh, across the inside of his knee and down his calf. A cut on his cheek wept blood down on his face. There was red in his hair, too. His right paw clutched at a stab wound in his flank, which had been poorly treated; blood was running out of the bandages already. He trudged back inside his cave, dragging his injured left leg behind, limp and useless. Lulu wanted to call out to him but couldn't bring herself to. Still, she felt she had to talk to him, so she climbed over the fence inside his habitat.

To her surprise there was another lemur in front of the cave. She'd never known that Clemson had a roommate! Judging from how uncannily similar he looked to him it had to be a relative of his.

The stranger didn't seem particularly concerned about his roommate's bad state of health, nor did he pay much attention to him or her in general. He was just sitting there in front of the cave fidgeting with a screwdriver.

"Uh… hello," Lulu said but the other one didn't answer. She wasn't even sure he'd noticed her. Clemson had moved a big rock in front of the entrance to the cave from inside, but as Lulu walked around it she eventually found a small crack in the rocks where she could look through. It was dark down there; the cave was lit only by a very small oil lamp.

Clemson lay there covered in big leaves, shivering and hugging himself, but the pain didn't allow him to fall asleep; he dozed off from time to time, but then it would shock him out of sleep again, and so he lay trembling in cold sweat in a state between sleep and wakefulness.

"Clemson," she ruefully called down to him, "It's me, Lulu. Let me get in and help you!"

No reaction. Yet she was sure he'd heard her.

"Listen, Clemson, I'm sorry for what happened," she continued, hesitating, "But it wasn't my fault. Please understand."

He didn't answer for a long time. "Leave me alone!" he finally called out, his voice stronger than she'd expected, "You slut! You can go on pretending as much as you like, it's no use to me. You knew that it would happen, all of it. You knew that Charlie would come and what he'd do, and you could've told me. But you didn't!"

"Clemson, I –."

"You guys refused to tell me that our new zookeeper was a killer because you knew it'd give you an advantage if you didn't. You thought you couldn't afford to have anyone else to rival in getting those pink accessories that would protect you from being chosen as victim by his daughter. So you sold me out because you wanted to shelter yourselves, and that's all there's to it!" – His voice broke with rage and despair, and Lulu shamefully bit her lips. – "But I'm telling you, bitch, sooner or later he'll take you down, too. I hope he does! Oh Sky Gods, he'll bring us all down so hard…!" And he turned away from the wall she was addressing him through and wouldn't say any word more, no matter how hard she tried to talk to him. She gave up eventually; she had no more arguments. He was right, after all; this was why they had decided to trick him. When she hadn't known about the pink cover yet, she'd already been through this herself; her own scars still hurt badly enough.

Still she felt guilty now; she hadn't wanted it all to turn out like this. Why couldn't Charlie have had a little mercy just for once! She turned away, furious at him, furious at herself, and then found herself facing the other lemur again who was still dispassionately fiddling with his wrench. "Don't you want to do anything?!" she hissed at him as if all this was his fault.

It took the lemur a while to react as if he didn't believe she was really talking to him.

"Me?" he asked in a strangely electric voice and looked up to her, red eyes flickering unsteadily across her as if he was highly uncomfortable to be addressed by her. "Do what?"

"Well, you're Clemson's roomie after all. – So he's your friend, isn't he!"

He seemed to need time as though he had to analyze this question. "Positive," he said then.

"Then why don't you go and console him a little? He does look like he could use a hug right now, doesn't he. And since he probably won't let anybody in there but you…"

The other lemur didn't answer. The features of his face were very stern, almost unnaturally immobile. He looked at her as if he had no idea what she was trying to tell him.

Lulu laughed a little. "You are a bit of an unworldly fella, aren't you." – She walked up to him and hugged him. – "Like this, you know? Tell him it's not so bad. Tell him he needn't be afraid because you're there for him. Tell him next time there'll be enough pink left for him. Just… anything! Anything that could make him feel better."

The lemur was stiff and still within her embrace, looking all but comfortable. "Feel…?"

"Don't you understand?" Lulu asked, letting him go; suddenly she was a bit frightened. He seemed so cold, so numb to all emotions as she had never witnessed it from an animal.

His glowing red eyes seemed to scan her. "I… do not know. Something in my binary operating system is changing… Unpacking data. Please wait until compilation of the script has finished. …Compilation successful. New data saved." Lulu could only shake her head, uncomprehending.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"I do understand… now. When you do this…" – He made a gesture that indicated he meant an embrace. – "…It is boosting my CPU; it is as if my entire system had recently been updated!"

Lulu blinked. "Er… if that means, it makes you feel better… then, yes, exactly."

"I am going to see my maker and tell him that I am now able to… feel," the strange lemur announced, "I estimate he will be satisfied with my progress in skills."

"Uh… yes, do that. I, er… I have to go now. Bye!"

Suddenly Lulu was overcome by the urge to put some distance between them.

'No doubt, he must've been one of Charlie's victims, too', she thought to herself. 'These doctors went too hard on him, and now he has lost his mind! He seems to consider himself a robot!'

And then she turned and scurried away as fast as her legs would carry her.


"Clemson, wake up." An electric voice drifted like a haunt into the fog of his pain. "Please, wake up!" He struggled to open his eyes but the effort was too great, the pain in his ribs so white-hot and terrifying he couldn't get away from its grip. He waited, his leaping, uneven heartbeat thundering in his ears, knowing another racking pain would soon overwhelm him. These waves had a rhythm, like waves of an ocean. He blinked his eyes again, opened his mouth to speak to the shadowy face before him. 'Mea?' But he couldn't get a word out. 'Mea…'

Another rushing wave of pain carried him on its crest, higher and higher. He heard his own cry far away, unearthly and frightening, and felt a cool, iron paw gently take his. He clutched it, squeezed it, holding on as if he would surely die if he let go. The pain reached its peak and held him there, silent and weeping, then lifted him and sent him whirling far, far away. It was relentless. It ebbed, only to return higher than before, each time carrying him further away.

He was no longer afraid. He didn't have the power to. He was only weary. So weary. He was drowning in pain. The thought didn't frighten him. He just wanted it all to end.

When darkness threatened to swallow him again he tried to scream, but no sound escaped his lips. Terrified, he forced himself to finally open his eyes. He blinked a few times and saw… his android.

"It's you…" His voice was hardly more than a whisper. He leaned back against the cushions, staining them with blood that oozed from a wound on his neck. His limbs felt swollen and uncontrollably useless. His blood seemed to boil. "It's good to see you, Mea."

"You are damaged." The android had come closer and knelt down next to his bed. Now he leaned over Clemson, smoothing the damp fur away from his forehead. He was very close now, and Clemson relished the unexpected gesture. He watched Mea's features closely, saw how they contorted painfully at the sight of his own suffering. It seemed the android really pitied him! Clemson would've never believed it possible. But it was obvious that he was perfectly able to compute what was going on; there was no way to hide the truth from him any longer. Clemson stared at him, the vestiges of his torment still visible on his ravaged face, before he let out a choked cry and tried to roll away.

He couldn't; the android wouldn't let him.

"Don't," Mea whispered. His voice was as clipped and electric as it had always been, but now there was a strange tone to it that Clemson hadn't ever noticed before. Mea's fingers threaded through his hair, drawing his gaze back to him. "What happened to you, my maker?" the android asked, "Where did they take you?"

Clemson said nothing. His heart was racing and he swallowed back another cry.

Then, in a very tender gesture, Mea trailed his fingers down his cheek. The unexpected touch sent a little shiver through him. It was the first time he ever witnessed Mea being gentle. The android had never done anything irrational before, anything that wasn't of any kind of use to him. After all, he was a computer – a prime example of efficiency but also of inflexibility. Usually he was doing only what he was programmed for. The only remarkable difference between him and any other kind of machine was his artificial intelligence, his learning ability. Still, for some reason Clemson would've never expected him to be able to ever learn about anything irrational, like emotions.

However, at a moment like this he was nothing but glad about it.

His paw clamped over Mea's, his fingers trapping and yet clinging to his and he shook his head, trying to speak but unable to. A part of him wanted to turn away while another voice inside him told him he couldn't bear the despair alone any longer. Mea's touch was the first kind gesture he'd experienced in a long time, and it made something inside him break.

He didn't want to give in.

He didn't want to fall apart in front of Mea.

He tried to control the shakes but now they grabbed him. Sobs broke free from deep inside him and burst from his chest as his bundled fears were shaken loose, and a horrible muddle of images, sounds and smells overwhelmed him.

The Alchimus Hospital.

He desperately tried to drown out the images of the torture that were flooding back into his consciousness, but failed. The memories of it were carved too deeply within his soul. He felt so lost, dead and buried under a granite slab of fear and pain. He huddled into a tight ball, wanting to shrink smaller and smaller until he could disappear. He was so jaded and weak and ill, and all he could think about was how these humans longed to hurt him so brutally for no reason he knew. His shoulders twitched with heart-rending sobs as he fought for control he couldn't find until exhaustion lowered him back to a numb place deep inside himself.

A shudder went through his body, a tremor of remembered emotion, as he felt Mea put his arms around him and draw him close. It was the very first embrace he ever gave his maker, and at the first moment he nearly smothered Clemson. However, he seemed to realize this as he immediately adjusted his strength, and when he would not hold him all too tight anymore, Clemson smiled a little through his tears to show him he was comfortable now. He felt small and breakable in his embrace but strangely safe. The android's arms were so strong and sheltering around him and he soaked in their comfort as they stayed that way for a while. He buried his face in Mea's chest as if by doing so he could just block out the whole world around him.

"Clemson," Mea said very quietly when he looked up into the android's face after all, "What is it? What has happened?"

"Charlie… it was Charlie," he said. And that name was enough to make him sob again, so hard he could not take a breath. Mea held him and rocked him a while, until he could lift his head and look at him again. And then, one way or another, weeping, in broken sentences and out of order, he told him about Charlie, about the Alchimus Hospital, about what they had done to him.

"I'm sorry," he choked out, "I fear it's… it's going to be over soon. I don't know if I can survive this. If they take me to that hospital one more time, I might not return again…" More tears stole away his words. "Mea, my friend, I'm sorry if I have to leave you… You were the best thing that happened in my life. You were my only ally around here… my only friend. You would never trick me, like the others did. Thank you for always having been there for me."

Mea watched him in silence. His paw trailed down Clemson's back, big and warm. He didn't quite seem to understand. "Why would you leave me, my maker?"

"I don't want to. But I'm afraid it won't be long until they'll kill me."

"Kill you?"

Clemson nodded. "You know… Destroy me. Destroy me in a way I can't be fixed anymore."

Finally something like understanding flooded the android's gaze.

"No!" he said, taking Clemson firmly by the shoulders, "You will not be… killed!"

"I fear so," Clemson whispered.

"I shall not allow this," said the android. Clemson leaned against him again. His head was on Mea's shoulder, the android's silky fur brushing his lips, his body, hard and muscular, against Clemson's. He was warm beside him now and Clemson realized they had never been so close before, every part of their bodies in intimate contact. He knew that under this soft red fur there was a framework of metal, there was oil flowing through this artificial body instead of blood… Imagining this was weird; yet it felt so good, and there was nothing artificial to this tenderness, it felt natural, right, this closeness, their bodies wrapped around each other in an embrace of comfort and need. Neither of them spoke.

Clemson's heart pounded against his chest, and after many long moments his ragged breathing slowed down. Another long moment passed and Clemson now rested calmly against the android's chest. He was conscious of Mea's paw still stroking his hair and closed his eyes under the soothing caress. Now was the time, he knew, to roll away, to close his eyes, and to forget about this brief and wonderful moment of affection.

But he didn't. He couldn't tell why.

And when he looked up into Mea's eyes he knew with a sudden, thrilling certainty that he wouldn't either. The android was holding him more than tightly now. His eyes were like red stars shining down on him, and as these eyes gazed into his, full of sympathy and passion, he inescapably, inevitably knew what the android would do.

Mea kissed him.

It was a tentative kiss, soft and tender, but it startled Clemson's entire body into a vicious sort of longing. Clemson gave himself up to that kiss, let it reverberate through his spirit and mind, body and soul. But deep inside a thought went through his heart like a dagger – Don't! –; this body wasn't made for these kinds of things; it was artificially created, running algorithms he had written himself, and every part of it was screwed together by his own paws. Moreover, this body was his own; Clemson knew exactly how it liked to be touched, and this made it all the weirder. The only difference was that while it was in fact an almost exact replication of his own, Mea's body wasn't alive; its breathing was replaced by the humming of a CPU, and inside its chest there was no heartbeat but electric impulses. It wasn't thinking but calculating; it wasn't acting on instinct but on programming. And there was no such thing as being programmed for love – or was there? – It all happened in such a blur…

Perhaps he would've felt differently about Mea's tender touch if the circumstances had been different, but in the sorry state he was, in the situation of being surrounded by enemies wherever he turned – a lunatic zookeeper, and zoo mates who were ready to turn him in to this man without hesitation – this testimony of love and devotion was all he could wish for.

Mea was his creation. He was that one ally he'd never lose.

Reality was wavering, the terrible images of Charlie slowly fading into the back of his subconscious, the details already eluding him. It felt so good, so right, like a wonderful and healing dream as Mea's paws moved over him. They skimmed his cheeks and neck as their kiss deepened. Clemson felt waves of heat flush through him, his breath escaping him in an unsteady rush as he pulled him close until Mea's fur pressed hot and firm against his. The two of them tangled, and then broke apart, panting. Clemson drew back from the android, his mind swimming with confusion, his body still pulsing from Mea's touch. He swallowed a rough breath. "But why…?" he asked, shaken, "Why did you do that?"

Mea lifted his paw to Clemson's cheek to stroke away the last trail of tears with his thumb. "To make you feel better." Suddenly he looked very uncertain. "Was this… inappropriate?" There was deep confusion behind his red glowing twin-lensed eyes. "Emotion… I have access to all the files now. I know about its existence. Still I cannot… properly compute it."

Clemson leaned against him, his heart still thudding heavily in his chest.

"Oh no… no, don't worry. It's just right the way it happened," he answered with a weary sigh, smiling a little, "I'll die a little happier now…"

Mea wrapped a protective arm around his waist. "You will not die! I was programmed to shelter you, and I will not fail in my purpose."

Closing his eyes, Clemson enjoyed the warmth of the android's body and the vibration of the engine inside him. "That's lovely to hear. But I have no hope we can make it. Apparently this has been going on for quite a while now… I have no idea what's behind his madness but it seems that Charlie is experimenting on us for some reason. And he won't stop until he's found whatever he's looking for… no matter how many of us bite the dust!"

"We have to finish the remaining models. Then we will be powerful enough to leave this place."

Clemson nodded. "Yes! I invaded zoos before… But this time it seems I can't make it alone. I need help… your help, and the help of those." – He pointed at the unfinished android models. – "If we manage to get the other androids ready, we should be able to make it out of here."

A faint but very dark smile came across his face at the thought. "With all their strength combined we'll be powerful enough to walk away from here in a bloodbath… but then the blood that's shed won't be ours!"


NEW YORK, PRESENT DAY

At least the airport could be reached by using the subway, so Maurice had less trouble carrying things this time. Clover had also gotten them a luggage car with which he now moved their bags along, as well as Julien and Mort, who were sitting right atop the pile of luggage with big smiles on their faces. They avoided the main hall crowded with humans and walked around it instead, careful not to be detected. They found the penguins at the hangar they had arranged to meet in; it was the very last one in a line of hangars holding in storage only aircrafts out of service. To the lemurs' surprise they found them gathered around a big U.S. Marine Helicopter.

"So, little change of plans," Skipper greeted the arriving lemurs, "As you can see we'll use a helicopter instead of an airplane."

Kowalski fidgeted with his clipboard, looking a little embarrassed. "Yeah… I've made some notes on how to pilot a plane back then when we took off from Monte Carlo… but it appears I left them in that plane, and you all remember how that turned out, don't you. Its pieces are still scattered across a suburban rail yard somewhere in France, so… sorry about that." With that he put the clipboard beneath his flipper and turned to his leader. "Anyway, a helicopter will do fine. Plus, it is easier to handle when looking for a place to land."

Maurice frowned. "Are you serious? A helicopter won't make it over the entire pacific from here to Madagascar!"

Kowalski grinned proudly. "If it is rebuilt and ameliorated by yours truly, it will."

"Right," Skipper said; yet they could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't fully convinced. "Now, in orderly fashion, let's board."

The lemurs climbed in first and made themselves comfortable in the spacious cabin in the back of the aircraft while Rico handled their luggage. Knowing what their passengers were like, Kowalski had installed a door that separated the cockpit from the passenger seats; he'd told Skipper right away that the last thing he could need during the long upcoming journey was a bunch of lemurs making a racket while he was struggling to find a smooth flight path.

When Private reported that everyone had taken their seats, Kowalski set the radar for the latitude and longitude of Madagascar and then flipped a switch, which started the helicopter's engine. The propellers began rotating. Kowalski put on a headset with a microphone connected and then pushed another button and outside the hangar's top doors retracted slowly into the hull, opening the compartment to the nightly firmament. Then he raised the lever and the helicopter started to levitate and in the passenger section behind them they could hear Mort start to freak out. While Kowalski slowly accelerated, the other three penguins stood with their beaks glued to the window, looking down.

"Bye bye, Central Park," Private murmured, waving his flipper.

They saw a police car pull up towards the hangar but they were so high already, they could barely read the 'NYPD' on its doors anymore.

The display soon indicated they had reached maximum altitude.

Skipper had just settled in the co-pilot seat next to Kowalski, preparing himself for a long, quiet flight, when suddenly the main rotor on the top above their heads made a weird noise.

Kowalski looked up in confusion and then exchanged a look with his leader.

"Um, what was that?" Private asked just when there was another noise in the underbody. The craft rocked violently to the right, shaking them in their seats. Then the lights began flickering, both the headlights and those on the dashboard, and the engine started to lurch, whine, and lose power.

"Oh, oh…!" Kowalski stared at the dashboard with growing consternation. He pushed a few buttons but nothing seemed to happen. Lights kept on blinking all over the console, dials fluttering. There was a strange burning smell filling the cabin now.

"Kowalski –!" They were losing altitude now, and Skipper pulled his seatbelts tight. "Come on, we're not even over the Atlantic Ocean yet!"

"I just don't understand this!" the taller penguin muttered to himself, "When I last checked the engine, radiator water level, and battery, they all appeared to be completely normal. – Well, maybe… or, it could also be that – oh, but I'm not sure about this..."

"'Ameliorated by yours truly', huh? Maybe your 'ameliorations' were just a bit too much for the engine to handle!"

"Oh, but I calculated that –." They lost another several feet of elevation.

"Well, now you better recalculate and fix this or else get us down there pronto before we crash!"

Kowalski struggled to manipulate the controls. The damaged aircraft responded clumsily.

"Hold this, please," he instructed Skipper, giving the lever into his leader's flipper.

"Me?! I'm not a chopper pilot! I've never even been officially on aerial support during all my years in the service –!"

"I know, but it seems I need to do some soldering here." The tall penguin disappeared under the dashboard. "I'm connecting the bypass circuit now… or, I try to."

"Oh, dear!" Private held his eyes closed with a whimper while Rico sat snoring in his seat. There was smoke in the cabin now and a spray of oil on the windscreen. Cold air blew inside through a hole in the fuselage. The craft spun wildly, pulling back and forth. It was losing more altitude.

Skipper clenched both flippers around the lever. "Kowalski, status report!"

"I am randomly pushing buttons while we spin out of control, Skipper."

"Okay… Can I push one? I'd feel better then."

Kowalski appeared from under the dashboard for a second, holding a pencil-like electric soldering iron with a slender tip in his flipper. "Pull down the lever," he advised Skipper. – The leader did as he was told. The helicopter wavered, but was still airborne. Suddenly the cabin pressure warning device started ringing, and then the over-speed warning rang, too; they were descending at a very high speed now.

"Not so fast! Keep accelerating, or else we'll be descending too fast!"

And then the tail rotor failed and the helicopter spun completely out of control.

For a moment gravity was missing and they were pulled up from their seats in empty space. Clover looked up from her book for a second, lifted an eyebrow, and then continued writing into it. Julien spread his arms wide and laughed. "Look, Maurice, I'm flying!" he called over to the older lemur, who was trying to prepare a little snack for them.

"To hell with these air turbulences!" Maurice cursed, trying to hold himself in his seat, "Could the penguins hold it straight for a second? I can't cut the mangos like that!"

"Can I have my smoothie with pineapples, please?"

"No, Mort, sorry. The pineapples are in the big bag that's in the trunk. We can't get them until we've landed."

From inside the cockpit Private secretly watched their fearless behavior with astonishment. "Um, Skipper, shouldn't we tell the lemurs we're about to crash?"

Skipper shrugged. "That won't make any difference, will it? And I bet they're more useful when they're not panicking." With his face pressed against the side window, he was trying hard to see the ground they were rapidly approaching. "I think I see a public fountain or something like that. Not sure it's big enough though, but we could try a splashdown."

Kowalski got back behind the dashboard. "Alright, prepare for splashdown and –."

He didn't have the time to finish. All at once, they tilted nose down into the depth, and then the craft turned fully upside down, trailing smoke and tearing them toward earth.

Brace yourselves, Skipper wanted to call out to his men, but he couldn't; the fall robbed him of his breath. He stared out the window, trying to find the horizon and keep his gaze on it – but all he saw was the ground rushing towards them, the fountain under them, very close now, with tall statues of golden seals… Suddenly he felt strangely light-headed; something hummed through his body, like electricity. Time seemed to stop.

The world around him went blinding white, then black.


A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Danish author Dorrit Willumsen. Thank you for an interesting seminar.