Chapter 12: The Jacqueline-Keeves Institute
As Ash was walking through the lab, he threw Tracy a greeting on his way. He was going to show Cleaver what he and Misty had found. As he entered the lab, he saw Cleaver's workbench, and the workbench surprised him: it was as much covered in scientific equipment as it was covered in knick-knacks, ranging from model airplanes to Sailor Moon paraphernalia. Cleaver seemed to Ash like a guy who had too much time on his hands, and all this extra time was what allowed him to be an expert in stuff. He shook off the urge to comment on the strangeness of the workbench and asked, "Did you find anything out about the pokéballs?"
"I was right about the subspace theory with your pokéballs. About those menace machines you brought in, I'm still working on it. I can't seem to decipher their machine code, no matter what I try."
"While Misty and I were out on Seek Patrol, we came across two guys. One of them was a pokémon trainer, from my parallel universe. The trainer was a criminal, and he was speaking to this other guy wearing a blue shirt. They guy in the blue shirt was talking like he owned the menace machines, and he called them 'ator'."
" 'Ator', huh? …Weird name."
"Up until the time when the thief asked the other man for a job, he was threatening the theif with this," Ash said, pulling the weapon out of his pocket. "After he asked for the job, they were talking almost like they were friends. I didn't get all of what they were saying, but I caught that the job the thief would get would give him the rich life and there was something about an…experimental project."
"If those two are really behind these menace machines, then, whatever that "experimental project" is, it can't be good. Did you get why they were attacking Earth?"
"No. There was something about buildings not mattering, but other than that I don't know what they were saying."
"Where are these two ne'er-do-wells now?"
"I don't know. The thief got in a spaceship-thingy and took off. It looked like the other one…died, or something. He just lay on the ground and acted like he was dead, and so I pulled this weapon off his body."
"Did you check his wallet for ID?"
"He wasn't carrying one."
"Ah, well…knowing names wouldn't really help us much at this point, anyways. The information age is over, so knowing a name might not help us track anybody down."
"The only other clue was this pencil in his pocket. It has the words 'Jacqueline-Keeves Institute' written on it."
"Huh…the Jacqueline-Keeves Institute was a research organization for figuring out how the Digiworld works. In fact, one of the tops dogs around here was a head scientist there. I think it's time we paid them a little visit and see what we can dig up. In the meanwhile, I really need to get to work on these…'ator' you caught. They definitely have a data composition, but I can't seem to decode it. I get nothing but garbage."
"I heard the guy who had this pencil say that they were made of something called 'ternary data'."
Cleaver was startled. "Ternary?! …That's unheard of!"
"Unheard of?"
"Yeah, but, then again, it explains a lot. …Man!"
"What?"
"I was just thinking…if those things are made of ternary data, then they wouldn't be able to enter the Digiworld at all. The Digiworld is made of binary data, zeroes and ones. But ternary data is zeroes, ones, and twos. So if they tried to enter the Digiworld, the twos would have to become ones and their data would get messed up."
"…So it's a pretty big coincidence that the Digiworld is destroyed right before they come, huh?"
"My thoughts exactly. You tell Izzy that we need someone to scope out the JK Institute; I'll keep at it with these menace machines. And thanks for the ternary data tip."
******
Izzy, Kari, Sora, Yolei, Moochi, and Tiger crept towards the Jacqueline-Keeves Institute. They were as quiet as they could be, knowing that any sound might give them away. Tiger suddenly whispered, "HIDE!!" and they all ducked into an alley. A few slagsters slowly drove by, looking for victims to burn. The slagsters didn't see the heroes, and passed them by. Once they were gone, the eight of them crept back out and began moving back towards the institute again.
"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Kari asked.
"Answers," was all Izzy could offer for a reply. "We just have reason to believe that someone who seems to be behind all these menace machines has some connection to the institute."
"Any idea what kind of connection?" Yolei asked.
"No."
"Great. So we're risking our necks to scout out a place where we don't know what we're looking for or if this will even be worth it?!" Tiger asked.
"Basically. This is the first clue we've had in a long time. ---Actually, it's the first clue we've had, period."
Tiger snorted in frustration. "Well, don't ask me to come on a mission like this, next time!"
"Aw, cheer up, Tiger!" Moochi insisted. "At least the weather isn't so bad, chi!"
As the snow blew in, Kari turned up the collars of her raincoat and added, "…Well, it wasn't so bad."
"Don't worry; I came prepared for such a catastrophe," Yolei said. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a few blankets.
"So did I," Tiger remarked. He shook his fur to fluff it up and make it more insulating.
"Man, I need to get a pelt like that," Gatomon mused.
"We'll have to make do until you grow one," Kari answered as she picked Gatomon up and wrapped her in her blanket.
"Personally, I can't wait to get indoors," Izzy cut in. "What say we pick up the pace?"
"Not a bad idea," Hawkmon agreed.
There was nobody guarding the door, and there was no one in the lobby. "Sure is quiet," Izzy muttered.
"Too quiet, chi," Moochi agreed.
"So…what now?" Tentomon asked. "Do we split up, or what?"
"No, I'm the only one who knows my way around here."
"Then where would you go if you were trying to mastermind a hostile takeover of a planet?" Tiger asked.
"Probably the communications tower. It's a few stories up. So…do we take the stairs, or the elevator?"
"Elevator, chi?"
"It's a machine that lets us quickly move up and down different floors of a building, so they're like stairs, only faster," Yolei explained.
"You're leaving out one important fact about elevators," Biyomon pointed out.
"What's that?"
"That they're evil!"
"…chi?" Moochi asked.
"Never mind," Izzy said. "This building doesn't have electricity, and we need electric power to run the elevator."
"The stairs then?"
"Yep."
They didn't find anyone in the communications center. All they found were a couple short-lived humbugs. Breathing heavily after using his Super Shocker, Tentomon asked, "So…since we have them out of the way, what do we do now?"
"The only other place I can think of would be the volatile data lab. It's where I was keeping the Doommon DVD at the time all this started."
"Might as well check there," Yolei agreed.
As they approached, they heard strange noises that sounded remotely like speaking, but they couldn't tell. They quietly crept up to the lab, and found that a few, tiny creatures were inside the lab, creatures that looked like gremlins and might have been digimon. They were trying to use various kinds of equipment on the disks, datacubes, computers, and papers that littered the desks in the lab. They spoke to each other in a language the Digidestined and Monsters couldn't make heads or tails of. But the most interesting thing was that each little creature had strapped to its back a weapon that looked exactly like the one that Ash had found on the strange man.
"This looks to me like we might get some answers," Kari whispered.
"Yeah," Yolei agreed.
"I'd hate to think our time here was totally wasted," Tiger muttered…