Twitchy tries to feel pretty...


The Heart of the Plan

The trio froze as they stepped out of the crack, finding themselves in the middle a crowded room of the lab. For a moment none of them moved, expecting one of the scientists to sound the alarm.

Nothing happened however and after another moment they realized they were actually hidden by a large -and rather loud- machine, and they all breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Let's try not to do that again," Twitchell advised.

"Now what?" Burt hissed. "We can't go back the way we came, we won't be able to climb back into the main cave."

"Well...they gotta have a work schedule, right?" Twitchell asked. "We could wait out in the tunnel until they leave."

"That might work," Burt nodded.

"Wait," Casey said, "There is obviously something big going on around here. Maybe we should try and figure out what."

"Couldn't we just look through their files when their gone? Or am I missing something?"

"That would take too long, and it may trip alarms," Burt said.

Twitchell sighed. "Right. Spying it is then."

Burt turned to Casey and Twitchell. "If you want, we will watch in shifts. You two could wait in the cave so if I'm caught, you'll be safe."

"I'll take second shift," Twitchell offered.

Burt nodded, removing his hat and settling down behind the machine in a way that allowed him a good vantage point without being seen. Twitchell followed Casey back into the tunnel where they settled down to wait, hoping they could finally get some answers.

Burt waited, a bit annoyed that everybody seemed to be too intent on their work to talk. He hoped that would change soon. He caught a lucky break when one of the workstations apparently stopped working.

"Hey George! This stupid thing messin' up again!"

"George" walked over toward the guy who had called him over. He typed a few things into the computer, fixing it. "There 'ya go, Brian. You should really get used to this machine if you're gonna be one of the guys working on the Alpha Dragon," he said to the other scientist.

Burt concentrated on the conversation, highly intrigued.

"It's not my fault the damn thing is so touchy," Brian grumbled. "How do you get the damn thing to accept the Graboid heart?"

Burt stifled a gasp of shock at the mention of a graboid.

"You use the Mixmaster to change the genes so it is accepted by the base organism," George explained. "We were successful with putting cow hearts in pigs and lion hearts in cheetahs using that method."

Brian hit a few keys on the machine, watching the screen carefully. "Like this?"

The scientist examined the screen. "Perfect. We'll have the closest thing to a dragon in no time, and Bossman won't have our heads," he said, patting Brian's shoulder.

Brain grinned. "Yeah, now all we need is to get those dang residents out."

Burt narrowed his eyes at the men, his anger flaring up at them.

"No kidding," George laughed. "Whoever comes up with how to do that would get promoted for sure."

"You know I've been thinking about that," Brian said frowning. "Their two main sources of income are the Graboid Tour and the Survival School. If they lost those they would lose a lot of tourists as well."

Burt could hardly restrain the hatred boiling in him for these people at this point.

"Hmmm... that's a good point," George nodded. "I'll pass that on to the Bossman. Shut down the Tour and the School, and force them out from lack of income."

"Easiest and fastest way would probably be to arrange an 'accident'," Brian grinned. "It'll get them out of the way and no one will be the wiser. And maybe that sci-fi freak too. He might be able to take over the tour."

George's nod and slight laugh made Burt's vision turn red. They wanted to hurt his people, threaten his town? It took the survivalist every ounce of his self control not to launch himself at those men. He was saved by the loud bell that suddenly went off, echoing around the small room.

"Finally, lunch break!" Brian said in relief. "I think my stomach was starting to eat itself!"

Burt released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He turned towards the crack in the wall, squeezing back through.

"Find out anything?" Twitchell asked.

"I think... these two scientists were discussing ways to get us out of Perfection," Burt growled, anger flaring up inside of him again. "One of them suggested an 'accident' could get rid of Tyler, Larry, and I."

"What sort of 'accident'?" Twitchell demanded, immediately annoyed that someone was trying to make his life harder when he didn't even know the idiots. That and they were after his people but he wasn't about to admit that.

"That's all they said before they left for lunch. They also mentioned something about... a graboid heart and Alpha Dragon," Burt reported.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"They mentioned something about transplanting a heart," Burt said.

"What kinda heart?" Twitchell asked curling his lip slightly in disgust.

"I can only guess..." Burt trailed off.

Casey shook her head, appalled. "Well, at least Shadow showed us this."

"Yeah, but how do we get out?" Twitchell asked. "Especially if we're gonna warn the others about a possible 'accident'."

"They are out of there now. We could go now," Burt said.

"Lead the way," Twitchell offered, waving his arms towards the crack.

Burt slid through the opening, followed by the others. The lab was eerily empty of people.

Twitchell glanced at the machine Brian had been working on. "What the heck?"

Burt narrowed his eyes at the station. "That's where one of the scientists I told you about was," he growled. "What about it?"

Twitchell just pointed at corner of the screen where a small downloading bar was. And it was titled, 'Graboid Heart Transplant'.

"I knew it," Casey said. "I knew there was a connection between graboids and these Dragons."

"What do you mean, dear Casey!" Twitchell asked in falsetto.

Casey gave him an annoyed look. "Something just told me graboids had something to do with the dragons. I didn't mention it because it didn't make sense, but now it's obvious."

"How so?"

"The graboid heart transplant," Casey said, "The 'Alpha Dragon' Burt mentioned. They need us gone so they can get El Blanco's heart."

"And they apparently have no qualms of killing to get that," Twitchell mumbled. "These guys are sick."

Burt nodded. "Come on, let's get out of this place," he mumbled.