A/N: Sorry about format problems in the last chapter – it looks like my incredibly wonderful and clever plan didn't
quite work. Oh well. Maybe this time I will have better luck. I hope so. I'm really sorry it turned out so
annoyingly. I'll re-upload it when I upload this one.
TO MY REVIEWERS: thank you to all those who reviewed! There was only about 3 of you, but still… thank you so very
much to Artemis Fowl the Second, Blue Yeti and sindaarniel. Love ya all! And to all those who didn't review… shame
on you! *sob* ^_~ just kiddin', I'm actually thrilled to have 3. I still can't believe that people have
acknowledged the fact that I actually exist. It is an incredible thing.
Oh, yeah, and to blue yeti: about what you said about decibels – I dunno if its different elsewhere, but in the
U.K, we do decibels increasing with volume. Sorry if I annoyed you when you thought I got it wrong. I did look in,
like, three different science books to check that I was right, including a SATs revision guide, and a science
encyclopaedia. They got me through with level 8s for my SATs, so I kinda assumed they were right. If they weren't,
I'm really sorry, and please will you accept my humble apologies.
*****
Holly took the lead, with Root and Foaly close behind her. Slowly, they edged to the door so as not to make any noise, and alert the creatures in the passage. Holly grasped the door handle firmly, then, with a glance behind her to make sure the other two were ready, pushed the door open, and stood poised in the doorframe, fists raised, ready to fight if the fairies attacked.
They didn't. Well, not immediately. Being goblins, it took them a few seconds to realise what was happening, and a few more to decide on what to do. This gave Holly enough time to land a flying kick on the goblin closest to her, knocking it to the floor.
Unfortunately, she hadn't taken the restrictions of her outfit into consideration. Instead of keeping her balance, and being ready for the next strike in a matter of nanoseconds, her dress snagged her legs, binding them together, and she went flying backwards, arms flailing. Luckily, the commander was close enough to catch her and stop her from cracking her head open on the stone floor.
When her foot had connected with the goblins chest, Holly's shoe had become loose, and in the few seconds that she was down, she took the opportunity to flick her ankle, causing the thing to hit one goblin right in the centre of it's ugly forehead. It didn't take him out, but brought Foaly enough time to get ahead of her, and deliver a kick to its cranium.
Fortunately for the goblin, Foaly, being a centaur, had had the subtleties of using one's hooves drilled into his brain over and over again before he had managed to escape to techie-school. This meant that although it had been catapulted into the dark world of unconsciousness, there would be no permanent damage to what little brains the goblin had. That species needed every brain cell they could muster.
"Nice manoeuvre!" Holly quipped, now up and using her training in upper-body combat to contribute to the dispatchment of the remaining eight goblins.
Foaly took a second to flash a grin at her. "And what about you? That was nifty footwork back there."
Holly moved slightly to the side, so as to give the commander more room to attack.
"The shoe? That was just something they taught me in my FSD class. It's one of the first things you learn."
Root raised an eyebrow, ramming a particularly resistant goblin into the passage wall. "'FSD class'? I didn't know they held those at the academy."
Holly smirked. "They don't. I didn't learn everything with the LEP, you know! It stands for 'Female Self Defence'." she explained. "Carmen and I used to go together. It was her idea, and she didn't want to go on her own. I've forgotten most of it, 'cos I know better techniques now, but I still remember the odd move."
She curled her fingers, and double-punched the last goblin into submission. They were the only three beings left standing in the passage. All ten goblins lay sprawled on the floor, blacked out.
"Nice work people!" commented the commander, nodding approvingly. "Now what I want to know is how the hell these idiots got into this place! I thought security was meant to be tight here, not non-existent!"
Holly and Foaly nodded in bemusement. It seemed unbelievable that goblins had been able to come up with the idea to be there, bypass the security, and manage to go so long undiscovered. They were obviously up to no good. And they were just as obviously not acting on their own. There were bound to be more somewhere in the manor…
Foaly bent down to examine one of the goblins' equipment. "These definitely aren't the only ones here. Look at this." He pointed to the creature's ear. Holly and Root squatted down next to him, leaning closer to see better. There was a small communications device attached to the flap of skin, complete with camera, mike, and of course, speaker.
Holly bit her lip. It certainly looked like Foaly's hypothesis was correct. The centaur, seeing the expression on her face nodded.
"Exactly. From the look of this, it's a Wide Area receiver, with a transmitter for use on a smaller scale. I'm guessing it could possibly be one of a group of 200 receivers, and is probably in contact with at least 30 other transmitters." Carefully, he detached the hardware from the thing's ear, peering more closely at it.
The commander rubbed his eyes. "Which means…" he trailed off expectantly.
"It means we've got a serious problem." Holly muttered, gazing thoughtfully at the small piece of electrical wiring.
"Quite." said Foaly, now starting to dismantle the object using a small tool that he had secreted away in his pocket. "Basically, the goblin can communicate with his squad, up to about 15 individuals, and can also keep in contact with one member of each other squad, probably up to about 20 to 25 different ones. So he can talk to his team, and can keep in contact with any other buddies of his who are infesting this place."
The commander was starting to understand. "I know the ones you mean. We use that system when we send two or more retrieval squads out on a mission together. What's the rest of it mean?"
"Well, in addition to the transmitters, they have receivers. As I said, from the look of them, there are 200, possible 300 of these babies all connected up to the same place. You can speak to all of them at once, or you can just zero in on a selective group. We don't use these in the LEP. They take advanced engineering to make them work over a large area. I just don't have time to hook 'em up for every mission. These are too advanced for goblins to make or use. Sorry guys. It looks like we have superior management."
Root swore, and Holly ground her teeth in frustration. Now they had another mystery to solve.
***** Well, shorter chapter than usual, but what can a girl do? It was gonna be about two/three times this length, but I decided that this was a good place to stop the chapter. Don't worry though. I plan to upload the next chapter (I'm about to do it, just as soon as I finish typing this) very, very soon so, I'm making up for the shortness! I have the day off today, you see, 'cos its an inset day at my school (teacher training day) so I get the day off. Then, next week, I have half term break for a week, but I'm getting dragged down to Devon for the whole thing, so I won't be updating for like, two weeks. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and PLEASE REVIEW 'COS I WILL LOVE YOU FOR EVER, AND EVER, AND EVER, AND EVER… Bye! Luv slime xxx "POWER TO THE MUSHROOMS AND THE GREEN AND YELLOW PAINT!"