Chapter 11

((Wait!)) Cassie cried out.

Santorelli was poised, hanging over the Kelbrid disposal unit's lid as the wary kelbird froze in place only six feet away.

((Huh? What now?)) he grumbled, eager to make his decisive jump.

((How do we know the Kelbrid toxin won't kill the bird?)) she posited.

Jake hummed, watching on from the other end of the alleyway to block off the bird's ground-level exit. ((Good point. We don't know.))

((Geez…)) Marco sighed. ((Here we are, deep in the bowels of Kelbrid Space, on a mission to save an alien centaur, kidnap the general of the poison-hedgehog aliens and avert the oncoming Space War III… and we're pulling our hair out trying to catch a bird.))

((Small, simple steps,)) Cassie replied with a subtle hint of frustration.

((Hey,)) Santorelli barked, glancing over his shoulder at Cassie. ((This is a Kelbrid trash can, right?)) he asked, tapping a silver finger on the surface of the large container.

((Smells like one,)) Marco answered in her place.

Without much thought, Santorelli rolled to his side and reached for the lid of the container. It wailed and squeaked when he lifted, and everybody had an undignified moment of panic when the startled bird flapped up as if to make an escape. But despite the noise of the container and all the calls for Santorelli to be quieter, the bird was confident enough to fall back to the ground, albeit closer to the far wall.

((Sorry,)) Santorelli acknowledged. On the second attempt, he performed the action with a little more care. With the lid opened, he shifted his form and tumbled inside with the most repulsive squelch! ((Oh-ho, man!)) he exclaimed. ((It's like Marco's Academy Award speech in here. Full of shit.))

Jeanne turned to Marco inquisitively. ((You have won an Academy Award, Marco?))

Even his morph smiled. ((Why, yes! I co-directed a movie back in '03. I'll show it to you sometime!))

((I hate those awards,)) she said.

((Ah. Right. Well, so do I! We share so much in common.))

She didn't waste a second. ((No, I do not think so.))

((Opposites attract?))

((No.))

Santorelli rustled within the container, causing us all to pay attention to the bird that was sniffing around the wall, seemingly inattentive. ((Hey, will a rag work?)) he asked, his arm popping out with a dirty sheet in hand.

((Better than nothing,)) Jake surmised. ((Let's give it a try.))

Santorelli slowly emerged from the dumpster, dragging multiple used sheets with him. He threw one to Marco. ((Here, maybe you could at least catch one bird today.))

Marco grumbled something incoherent but didn't refuse the sheet, and the pair of them diverted paths to surround the bird. It was starting to take notice.

((Monkey man,)) Santorelli whispered – which was utterly redundant in thought-speak, but he insisted anyway. ((I'll go for the first strike. If I miss…))

((Got it,)) Marco replied. ((I pounce.))

They approached with extreme care, holding the wide sheets in front of all but their eyes to lull the bird into a false sense of security. It seemed baffled, more than anything. Its little head twitched from side to side. Yet, it remained on the ground.

Five feet. Four feet. Three…

((Now!)) Santorelli bellowed. Marco braced himself as Santorelli lunged forward like a falling redwood, dropping his upper body to the deck with the sheet out in front.

The bird caught on quickly and attempted to dash off to the side, but it simply wasn't quick enough. A single-winged bird wasn't too agile, unsurprisingly. Santorelli landed on his Kelbrid chest with a painful thud, but with his arms reaching out, he covered the small bird with the dirty old rag and held it to the ground.

((Ha! Got it!)) he cheered. ((Sorry, Marco, still no birds for you today!))

Marco dropped his sheet with subtle irritation as Santorelli cackled victoriously in our heads and began the process of folding the sheet around the bird beneath, adjusting it like a sack. Once completed, he held it up in the air. The bird struggled inside.

Jake approached, not in the mood to celebrate catching a single bird. ((We take it in turns. Get in the dumpster, demorph, get your hand in the bag, and acquire the morph. Next person goes in, grabs the bag, first person morphs and flies out. Let's go.))

((Aye aye, Captain Fun!)) Marco saluted.

The kelbird was a surprisingly calm creature, for one so small and vulnerable. Anything similar on Earth tended to be manic, often irrationally so. It was as if the creature lived without fear of natural predators. Surely, it had them. That was nature, or nature as I knew it.

I was the last to acquire the morph since I had no hands in my natural form and had to snatch the befuddled creature from the bag in the procedure. It flew from a gap in the dumpster as I began the transformation.

Jake had the comms device to Menderash attached to his left hind leg so that we could continue to send him updates. He was growing wary of our progressing decisions but had yet to suggest anything other than what Jake imposed. He wished us luck as we took to the air, rising above the line of buildings before heading for the walled military base.

Menderash's fuzzled voice came through to us as we approached the laser-topped wall. ((Prince Jake, from here, I can't sense any forcefields over the base.))

((We'll check anyway,)) Jake insisted. ((Sarge, swoop by the wall.))

((On it, boss!)) he called back, and as the rest of us turned to fly away in random directions or sit on roofs, he flapped onwards with the single kelbird wing.

Just before an infiltration over the lasers, he forced the wing sideways and swooped left, parallel to the top of the wall. He turned and headed back.

((Feel anything?)) Jake asked.

((Nothing, boss!)) Santorelli reported.

((Then let's go.))

With reasonable distance, we crossed the boundary one by one. Jake split us up, designating us areas within the base to fly over. I was to flap on over to the furthest edge.

It was a considerable distance for my little bird body, and it didn't fly particularly well. It expended far more energy than my hawk body ever would over the same was not a great flyer, and the animal probably spent more time traveling on the ground than in the air. Nevertheless, I made it around the enormous tower structure in the center. I had to avert my eyes as the golden pyramid high above forced dense sunlight down, and it was worse the closer I got.

So I swooped downwards. Ahead, I could make out the movement of military Kelbrids, each one carrying some form of insignia. A lot of them were in groups, formations just like those seen in any Earth army. They were performing drills. I even saw a large group doing a physical training exercise on a raised platform near the outer edge of the base.

And then I spotted exactly what I was looking for. Wandering alone along a main circular passageway was a Kelbrid whose gold burst light in extraordinary beams. He strutted slowly, purposefully, and though he held no weaponry himself, the proud salutes of the others he passed made clear that he had no need.

I dived closer, feeling confident enough to land on a roof he was passing. His scarf was claret, and on it were nine glistening stars, each one lined with tiny red jewels. His collar was protected with a golden, jeweled amulet, inscribed with something indecipherable.

((Guys!)) I shouted. ((Found a Kelbrid with nine stars! Getting saluted by pretty much everybody.))

((Nine?)) Marco repeated. ((That beats my six.))

((Sounds like a suitable target,)) Jake concluded. ((Keep an eye on him. Cassie, join up with Tobias. The rest of us will keep a lookout for anything else.))

I maintained sight of the Kelbrid, but to remain inconspicuous, I jumped up to take flight once more. I lifted my tiny body higher, making some distance to temporarily disappear from sight.

How best to briefly disappear and erase any suspicion I may potentially have built up?

The golden pyramid! I could hide beneath the light it cast. From there, I could still see the ground.

It was a long way up, but nothing the little kelbird couldn't handle. The only difficulty was not being blinded by the rays the pyramid gave off, but I hugged the tower closely to evade most of it. I passed barred openings on the way up, just wide enough that I might be able to squeeze through.

I reached the uppermost opening and landed on the ledge, shielded from above by the incredible beams of light. But instead of gazing back from where I had arrived to keep track of the highly-ranked Kelbrid, I was immediately distracted by something behind the bars.

The perfect lines of red hummed dangerously, tangled together like the most baffling spider web, crisscrossing with the clearest intent to keep even the most ambitious intruder out. There must have been dozens of lasers in the grid, and it gave the room behind the bars a haunting red glow.

But within that red glow, a blue one attempted desperately to push back the tide. It came from the centerpiece, caged away behind the exaggerated defense, huddled neatly within a thick glass casing. Even then, the small blue box overpowered everything that enclosed it.

((Jake, they have the morphing cube.))