The next day, Holly passed the word to her cellmates and had them pass it to their neighbors until the entire cell block had heard the news. There was to be a celebration that night, a sharing of song and dance among the prisoners. Excitement ran hot that morning, but that evening the morale was low. Interrogation tended to do that. Holly herself was subjected to a series of electric shocks that still reverberated in her fingers after the session was long over. But, to her satisfaction, she had not broken and Cudgeon went to dinner with no more information than he'd had before.

She entered the cell to meet the wary gaze of the Atlantean, the Shadow Lassie, and the gnome, Averies. The other occupants of the cell were waiting, waiting on her to give the word. Holly blew out her breath and let a few more seconds tick off the clock. She desperately hoped that this ridiculous scheme would work. Raising her voice, she called loud down the cell block. "Let's get it started!"

The response was less enthusiastic than she'd hoped, but as the night drew on the people's enthusiasm rose. Holly opened the show with the Celtic song Si Do Mhaimeo, Averies broke it down with the Mud Man rap Soulja Boy, Apple Kai from two cells over sang out the old Gnommish ballad Frond's Lament, and Cat Morgan at the other end of the block gave a rendition of the Riverbend classic Never Hit Your Grandma With a Great Big Stick, just to name a few songs that were sung. Lyrics and laughter rang loud until guards broke up the party. But long after it was over, a current of ecstacy ran over the cells. Holly was glad for the lift in the others' spirits, but she was still anxious to see whether their distraction had sufficiently covered Foaly's end of the plan.

Foaly was feeling better than he had in a very long time, so he decided to indulge in a pout. It just wasn't fair; just because he was the technical genius, he wasn't allowed to participate in the festival. True, he had known since the beginning of the plan that he probably wouldn't be able to attend, but it still upset him. Sighing, he turned back to his work.

As he prepared for his end of the plan, an idea occurred to him. If I can't sing in the festival, I can certainly sing to myself! The centaur ran through a list of song options in his head. Next to nothing came to mind. Foaly resolved to widen his repertoire as soon as they got out of here. Then a scene from one of his favorite Mud Movies came to mind and with it, a song. He tapped out the tune on his board as he sang the words aloud.

Life forms,
You tiny little life forms,
You precious little life forms,
Where are you?

A hand came out of nowhere and smacked against the side of his head. With a snort, Foaly turned to find Cudgeon standing at his side, hand raised. "Shut up," the elf snarled, "It's bad enough the rest are singing without you doing it too."

A particularly clueless sprite at another of the computer stations piped up. "So what's so bad about the prisoners singing, sir?"

Cudgeon rounded on him, eyes blazing. "What's wrong with it? Are you daft?" He approached the sprite and swept everything off of the desk in front of him. Slamming a hand on the desk, he leaned into the face of his challenger. "A song on the lips is a song in the heart, and a song in the heart gives hope. Hope is the last thing these prisoners need. We are trying to break them, remember? Now get out of here and shut 'em up!"

In the confusion and yelling over the diversion, Foaly had enough time to complete his end of the plan without detection. His end of the plan being the planting of a timed computer virus. In just ten hours, the virus would be released through Cudgeon's computers and neutralize every program. Unlocking doors, lowering shields, the lot. However, this wouldn't take place until the next day. So all there was to do now was wait.