CHAPTER TEN: FORCEFIELD
The first floor was not of much interest. There were no top secret files, no secret meetings to eavesdrop, but worse of all, there was no SPLAT! Ingrid turned back to the lift and pressed the button for the second floor. Once the doors had opened, she stepped in, rolling her eyes at the Octopus as it appeared yet again. As the lift travelled upwards, she hoped that she would be able to locate her friends quickly. Although always striving for her independence, Ingrid really didn't want to be left alone inside the tower. When she entered the second floor, her spirits were lifted. She was in a canteen and none of SPLAT were in sight, but there was food. Her stomach growled as a reminder of not having eaten much that morning and upon seeing bowls of gooey chocolate cake, she rushed forwards and dug her right hand in.
Ingrid shoved the cake into her mouth, eyes rolling to the back of her head at the delicious taste. She could spend all day standing there eating cake, but after finishing off the bowl, she realised that she had to keep moving. SPLAT were taken in by that Octopus and as she was the only one currently there who was clever enough to not be drawn in, it was up to her to save the day.
Ingrid shoved the bowl aside and picked up a napkin, wiping her hands clean, then moved back over to the lift, hitting the button for the third floor. The same series of events happened and Ingrid stepped out onto the third floor, feeling like the next time she saw the Octopus, she would end up with a sore fist. The third floor was a warehouse and Ingrid looked at all the boxes on the different shelves with interest. Finally, she was getting warmer in terms of events within the tower and decided that the stacked boxes would be able to provide her with some much-needed information. However, upon closer inspection, she was met with disappointment. The boxes were clearly labelled with food stickers and though tinned beans may have been able to provide some satisfaction, it wasn't what she was looking for. What freaked her out the most though were the machines rolling around, scanning boxes then putting them on the correct shelves. They looked deadly and Ingrid backed away, towards the lift, not wanting to be caught up in the arms of a robot.
Backing into the wall beside the lift, she felt along for the button that would take the lift to the fourth floor and repeatedly jabbed it. Her eyes remained locked on the machine she had spotted until the lift came, where Ingrid waited for the doors to ping open before jumping back and shutting the doors.
The screen flickered to life, but luckily, the ride to the fourth floor was short so she was spared the hated image. Ingrid stepped out of the lift and immediately spotted a commotion in the middle of the room. She ducked down, cursing under her breath. If there were guards patrolling and she was spotted… Ingrid heard the words 'Obey the Octopus' blasted from the overhead speakers and cursed again.
'I told SPLAT that there was something shifty going on! And now I'm on my own, I have to find them!'
Ingrid decided to risk peeking over the railings and as she slowly rose up to her full standing height, her breath was taken away. The room was darkly lit, swirls thrown up onto the ceiling from the force field that crackled in the centre of the room. A winding staircase was placed to the far left of the balcony she was currently standing on and if she made her way to the bottom of the staircase, she would be standing in a sparsely decorated room, with only the forcefield, speakers, a huge colourful screen and a large computer for decoration.
Ingrid gripped the railings of the balcony tightly as she focused on the forcefield. She could see six people standing within the forcefield, one person stumbling around with their hands clapped over their eyes. Yet the rest seemed to be in a trance, but what unnerved Ingrid the most, was that she had now recognised some of those people to be members of SPLAT.