7Seven Secret Space Guppies
Hello there and welcome back to my newest story. The group is back together, they are going to space, let's hope they'll make it! Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Back to basics
Some hours of driving, the truck stopped on a small parking next to the coast. Zooli took a box and opened it.
"Put on your suits, as they are water-proof." She said.
"My good old suit that I carried for months!" Gil said, hugging it. Everyone stared and him. He just grinned awkwardly.
"Are we gonna swim to Antarctica or what?" Goby asked.
"Aah haha, in the time you left, the WPP developed some new vehicles. We are ready, reveal yourself." She said to her radio. Not far from the coast, out of the water, a special submarine appeared.
"This is an underwater rocket-engined submarine. We'll be at the HQ in a couple of hours." Zooli said. Everyone swam to the sub and entered it.
"Hello, I'm captain Haddock, welcome aboard! Go to the room left and attach yourself. Unaccustomed people could become sick." The lobster said.
"Wouah, I think I'm gonna sleep. Goby, wake me when we have arrived." Deema said, closing her eyes.
"OD wiped off the Earth, we are going to space, and the WPP develops submarines! There's no water on the Moon." Gil said jokingly.
"Those jet engines are from the early rockets of the space program. They got replaced by real spaceships and didn't know what to do with the rocket engines, so a creative scientist attached one to a boat, and it worked out great!" Zooli explained.
"Attention, we will leave the coast in some seconds now. Get ready!" Haddock said through the loudspeaker.
"It won't be that b..." The sub started its engines and the Guppies were nailed to their seats.
"Oh gosh. This is an uncomfortable position." Gil said not able to move. After a bit of time, the pressure was lowered.
"It's always like that when it just starts." Zooli said smiling. Gil looked terrified.
1 hour later
"We are slowing down. Have we arrived yet?" Oona noticed.
"It has only been 1 hour, impossible." Zooli stood up and ran to the control room. Molly followed her too.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"The engines ran out of rocket fuel. We must continue our journey on the secondary diesel motors. We will stop at Montevideo to fill the diesel tanks, I never used them, so I didn't bother filling the tanks." Haddock explained.
"How are we gonna get the fuel? A submarine like this is suspicious in a port." Zooli said.
"The WPP has some informants in the port. Uruguay was a former 'OD dictatorship' after the coup 2 years back. The country's democracy has been restored since, but back then, we couldn't let them do whatever they wanted. Up to this day, the WPP stays present in the country. Enough history, you find señor Mateo Los Siantes and make him send a fuel boat to us. Tell him that the world will depend on it!" Haddock explained. The girls nodded.
Port of Montevideo, Uruguay
The submarine got as close as possible to the coast. It sticked his sail out. Molly and Zooli quickly jumped off and began swimming to the coast.
"We made it. We gotta find that Mateo now." Molly said.
"He must be in the administrative part of the port. He has an important function." Zooli said. The 2 girls climbed over the concrete wall, surrounding the port. They arrived on a wide concrete plain, filled with containers.
"I wonder what is in those things." Zooli said.
"Let's go forward and see what awaits us." Molly answered with. The 2 walked a bit until they were forced to stop by a 2-meter-high fence.
"Ahh crap! We can't climb over it, there's barbed wire. Can you cut through it?" Molly said.
"I didn't charge my lasers..." Zooli said. Molly sighed and looked around.
"Here, there's only one container stacked on the ground. Let's get on it and from there we jump over the fence." Molly said. Zooli climbed first, helping Molly after. They started running the few meters they had and jumped over the fence. The girls landed successfully on the other side, but they didn't see that 2 worker lobsters just walked by.
"¿Quién eres tú 2?" One asked.
"¿Qué estás haciendo aquí?" The other said.
"They ask who we are and what we're doing here." Zooli whispered to Molly.
"Forgot you spoke Spanish. Well, we can't tell them, and we've got no time to lose. So follow me!" Molly turned around and sprinted away. Zooli followed her.
"¡Oye, vuelve aquí!" A lobster shouted angrily. The girls ran towards another container storage.
"Hide in here, it's a real maze! We'll split them up and neutralize them." Molly explained. Zooli nodded. They heard footsteps and both hid behind containers.
"¡Ve por ahí, Martino!" A voice said. Footsteps approached the girls' positions.
"When he arrives, I'll neutralize him." Molly whispered. The footsteps approached even more. The lobster looked to his left, nothing, to his right...
"Neutralized!" Molly said, hitting the worker in the neck with her hand, making him yearn for air. He fell unconscious.
"Don't worry, he'll wake up later, now the other one." Molly added. The girls hid again.
"Martino." A voice said.
"His foot is sticking out." Zooli whispered to Molly. Footsteps approached again.
"Sneak away, run around the container and neutralize him, I'll keep him busy." Molly ordered. Zooli nodded and disappeared.
"¡Eh, tú! ¿Qué le has hecho a Martino?" The lobster said, appearing from behind the corner. He saw Molly.
"Just need to wait for Zooli, what do I say?" She thought.
"¿Y dónde está esa otra chica? ¡Di algo!" He shouted.
"Ehm yeah, there's not much you can say in such situation." Molly thought. She continued staring at the worker.
¡Te voy a enseñar modal..."
"¡no vas a enseñar nada!" Zooli said neutralizing him.
"Good work, let's reach the administration part. I have a feeling it's those buildings over there." Molly said, pointing over a wall in the distance. The 2 started moving via the road that goes through the whole port. They eventually arrived at the buildings Molly spotted earlier.
"First, entering this structure, second, not getting spotted. How?" Zooli said. The 2 were against the building's wall. Molly looked and saw...
"Air vents!" She said. It was pretty rusted, so the girls could remove it and enter the systems.
"Come on hurry!" Zooli said from above.
"It's hard, to climb, horizontally when you're, not, a robot!" Molly said panting. By and by, she made it too. Next, the duo started crawling through the systems, wondering how many times they already did this.
"Molly!" Zooli whispered.
"Yes?" Molly said, turning around.
"How are we gonna find the WPP contact like this?" Zooli said. Molly was thinking.
"Well, I don't know, you're the robot, you should know!" Molly said.
"But this was your ide..."
"Let's look where the vents lead us first." Zooli was silent and continued crawling. The vents went down at one moment, revealing another rusty hatch. The girls were in a bathroom now.
"A bathroom? Seriously? Nothing better?" Zooli said.
"I hear voices outside, they probably have a reunion, let's look." Molly opened the door silently, revealing a hallway with different doors. One in front of them, had a wall of glass to its right. Molly saw several lobsters and crabs discussing.
"That's probably the briefing room." Molly thought. On the door she saw a panel.
"M. Los Siantes. Gerente? Zooli, what does that mean." Molly asked.
"It's his name..."
"But the other!"
"Ah, gerente. Manager!" Zooli said.
"That's him! Haddock said, señor Mateo Los Siantes. We'll wait until their briefing is over." Molly proposed.
Roughly 20 minutes of nervous waiting later, the duo heard a door open and voices.
"They're all leaving. Let's go no..." Molly wanted to take the handle, but out of nowhere a person knocked on the door.
"Zooli, tell him it's occupied!" Molly whispered.
"Occupied!"
¿Qué?" The voice said.
"In Spanish!" Molly whispered loudly.
"¡ocupada!"
"Ah lo siento." The voice said, and it walked away. The girls sighed.
"Second time's the charm." Molly said. She opened the door, this time there was nobody. The duo crossed the hall and opened the door of the manager room. A snail in a black outfit was present.
"¿Quiénes sois vosotros dos?" He asked seeing the girls.
"I hope he speaks english, unlike that guy in Africa." Molly thought.
"We are from the WPP, on a crucial mission." Zooli said. Mateo was confused and rushed towards the glass wall to close the curtains.
"Ah si, the ETS, right? Everyone of the WPP knows you, your team is very famous! It's an honour for me to have you here, but weren't you 7? And weren't you sent back home?" Mateo asked.
"We were called back as reinforcements. The rest is waiting in the submarine that must transport us very quickly to the HQ in Antarctica. Captain Haddock send us here. He needs diesel fuel asap." Molly explained.
"Good old Haddock, haha. I will order another WPP member that works in the dockyards to prepare a fuel boat to bring it over to your submarine. Give me un momento por favor!" Mateo said, turning around. He called someone on the phone and hung up rapidly after.
"The fuel boat will arrive at the submarine in 15 minutes. Do you need my help to leave?" Mateo asked.
"Could you take a look in the bathroom?" Molly asked. Mateo looked confused, but did it anyway.
"Nobody here, you can enter." Mateo said. The 2 entered the air vents again.
"Thanks for the help, Mateo! We will remember it." Molly said.
"I hope you'll succeed on your mission, goodbye!" Mateo said.
"¿Patrón? ¿Todo bien?" An employee said standing in the doorway. Mateo turned around and nodded happily.
After a long and difficult escape, the girls were back where they started.
"I see the fuel boat there. It's helping the submarine." Zooli said spotting the vehicles.
"Time to swim back." Molly said jumping in the water. Captain Haddock was waiting for them on the sail.
"I see everything went as planned, you did a great job. We will get back on our track in 10 minutes, you can go inside." Haddock said.
"Ahh I slept wonderfully, have we arrived yet?" Deema said waking up.
"We'll continue the trip in 10 minutes, the fuel has been secured!" Molly and Zooli said entering the room. Deema looked confused, lifted her shoulders, and went back to sleep. The rest chuckled a bit.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are exiting the port. Destination, Antarctica." Haddock said through the loudspeaker.
2 good hours later, the submarine slowed down again.
"I think we've arrived, it's been so long." Oona commented.
"Deema, Deeeema?" Goby said poking Deema's arm.
"Ha hu huh, who?!" Deema said waking up being confused. Goby was it too.
"We've arrived..." He added. The group ran to the control room. Haddock and his crew were present.
"It's cold outside, enter the platform quickly and uh... Good luck to you all." Haddock said. He and his crew greeted the Guppies who greeted back. The group left the sub, into the icy desert of Antarctica. Several WPP guards were standing on the big platform.
"Welcome back, ETS!" A familiar voice said.
"Sergeant!" They said in unison.
"That's right, I'm still alive, unfortunately for you! Let's spare the long 'welcome-back' speeches. Your first briefing was 1 hour ago, you arrived 60 minutes too late..." Flynn said.
"Does that mean we have to do, 600 push-ups?" Gil said worryingly.
"Haha, nah, I'm not that cruel. Captain Haddock explained the situation via the radio. Okay enough talking, you have a briefing in a couple of moments, I hope you remember the way to it." Flynn explained. The group nodded. Flynn whistled and the platform started going down, revealing the underground complex once again.
"This is very, emotional." Gil said, staring at everything.
"This place is my second home." Nonny added.
"I can't wait to see the rest!" Oona commented.
"They really missed this goddamn place!" Flynn thought. The platform stopped moving.
"Attention, the ETS must report immediately in the briefing room!" The loudspeakers said typically.
"I even missed that!" Gil said. The 7 continued walking towards the briefing room, passing by the cafeteria, the training room and many other nostalgic places.
"Our quarters!" Goby said pointing at a door.
"It's very empty since you guys left, but I asked to keep the beds to fill the room a bit." Zooli explained.
"Milou!" Gil screamed seeing his dog sleeping on a bed. The dog woke up and ran into Gil's arms. Everyone awed.
"I'll come back later Milou, daddy has a briefing now." Gil said to Milou.
"So you're the mommy, Molly. You could have told us that you 2 had a child!" Deema said playfully.
"Yeah right, we'll keep that for later." Molly answered. The rest laughed. It was now time for the briefing. They were standing in front of the door.
"Here we are again..." Oona said.
"Uhh, I have something to say." Nonny said. The rest turned around and stared at him.
"How, do we have to act? Happy that we're back, or mad because of how they just threw us out their organization? I find it suspicious. They would've never let us go..." Nonny said thinking.
"But I already explained the reasons. They aren't good reasons, but it's something..." Zooli said.
"I I just... Stay wary everyone, we had treasons in the past..." Nonny said. The rest was silent.
"We're always on our guard Nonny, let's not be paranoic." Molly said. Nonny nodded and the group walked into the briefing room. The round table was still there. Around it were Samur, Mccrab and another lobster. He wore a white, general costume. Nonny and him made eye-contact. The general looked away, Nonny scratched his head.
"Greetings Guppies! We're happy to have you back at our services. Take a seat please." Samur said enthusiastically.
"I assume soldier Zooli, who was in charge of bringing you back, explained the reasons for this, 2 and a half months of absence..." Mccrab said beginning.
"I don't justify those reasons..." Nonny said, attracting all the attention. Mccrab was confused.
"Everyone in the WPP praised us for what we did. Without us, the OD would have won! You just threw us out!" Nonny said.
"Nonny!" Oona said trying to calm him.
"I comprehend your anger, Nonny... Let me explain you something. I'm the leader of this organization, but I don't have all the power. For important decisions, I must reunite the high-command to discuss the decision. After that we vote, the majority wins. The majority of the members voted against your stay here." Samur explained. Nonny looked dissapointed.
"Why, did they vote against us then?" Nonny asked.
"The most common argument I heard is that teens aren't made for space. The conditions are extreme, and we were scared to lose you up there."
"We know what extreme conditions are, it's not valid!" Nonny said.
"I couldn't agree more. But I must execute the high-command's orders." Nonny was silent.
"Nonny, stay calm. We'll talk about it later." Oona whispered in his ear.
"Ehem, let's not look at the past! You are back now and it's all what matters." Mccrab said breaking the silence. Everyone nodded.
"He's right! We won't throw you all out again, I'm convinced that the high-command members will change their minds after you brought some fresh-needed victories. The morale is very low after our failed operation, but you already know that." Samur said. The rest nodded.
"You 7 will get transferred tomorrow to 'the Hannibal', our space HQ. Mccrab will accompany you, I unfortunately, must stay here. Now I'm going to let commander Valen here speak." Samur sat down.
"Thank you Mister Richardson. Greetings ETS, I shall be brief. I'm commander Valen, head of the Hannibal. Tomorrow, a space ship in hangar 3 will bring us to space. I hope nobody lost their discipline hehe." Valen explained.
"We aren't kids anymore! We are responsible now!" Nonny said. Valen looked at him.
"Nonny! Show respect!" Oona said loudly.
"Eh, I think it was a, how to say, a joke?" Gil whispered.
"I think I know who voted against our stay." Nonny thought.
"Ehem, when arrived I'll explain the rest there. Be at the hangar around 9am. Briefing out." Valen said. Everyone stood up and the Guppies headed to their quarters.
"How impolite were you Nonny!" Oona said entering their quarters. Nonny stayed quiet and sat down on a bed. Molly approached him too.
"I can understand it. You feel backstabbed. But sometimes you must let it go. You didn't gave a good first impression to that Valen, but I trust you to fix it." Molly said.
"So inspiring!" Gil said.
"Time for you to sleep Gilly, it's an order!" Molly said playfully. The rest laughed. Even Nonny started chuckling a bit.
"Yes, Sergeant."
And that was the end of chapter 1 that got a bit too long hehe! I hope you enjoyed this one and thanks for reading. See you next time.