Chapter 8
Butler's eyes frantically searched the area and he waded through the snow to where his friends were. What he came upon would have been comical were it not for the fact that one of the members of their group was missing. Foaly was lying with his upper torso hidden down in the snow, his horse anatomy trying to free him. Not sure where to grab Foaly, Butler did what almost any other person would. He reached out and took hold of Foaly's tail and yanked him out.
Once on his feet again, Foaly brushed the lingering snow off himself and said grimly, "I'll let you get away with that insult this time, merely because you don't know. But from now on, if you ever pull my tail again, I will do some serious damage to you."
Butler, too concerned for the whereabouts of Holly, nodded and looked away. He was frozen to the bone, if he didn't get out of this weather soon, he'd be one more lost soul of the north. Teeth chattering slightly, Butler asked through blue lips, "Where's Holly?"
Sighing, Foaly responded, "Really, Butler, I didn't think you were that blind, but obviously I was in the wrong. They took her."
"They?"
"Seriously? How could you have missed them? They were hovering right above your head!" Foaly stamped his feet, keeping the blood from freezing in his veins. "Come on, we're almost there and I'm nearly a statue."
Butler didn't bother answering; he was too cold to even think straight, something that was very dangerous for a person of his expertise. Eyes once again searching the area, he trudged through the rough trail that Foaly had made. He was so cold.
Darkness crept into his vision, and it wasn't the darkness of night.
Artemis had yet to tell his father of his expedition north, and he still wasn't ready to divulge the information even after hours of chatting with his father. It was too weird a feeling for Artemis to share anything that was going on his mind with another being as openly as he was doing now.
"Son? You listening to me?"
Mentally shaking his head, Artemis focused his eyes once more on his father's face.
"I didn't think so, you completely missed the punch line to that story."
"Sorry, father."
Patting his son soundly on the back, Mr Fowl chuckled quietly. "No worries, we'll continue this on later – you go get some sleep." Artemis nodded his agreement and trudged off through the house to his rooms upstairs. Once inside his rooms however, his sleepiness evaporated and a small grin lit up his features. His father was still in the business.
Putting up the pretense of getting ready for bed, Artemis quietly checked his room for bugs – despite his father's warm welcome last night, he was still wary. His time...away, would be the perfect time for his father to check up on his activities and additions to his room. Nothing seemed to be out of place, the safety catches and lines were all secure and undisturbed. Nothing had been tampered with. Excellent.
Opening the panel hidden in the wall, Artemis flipped the master switch for his room putting him onto his private power line – it wouldn't show on his parents electricity bills. An almost undetectable hum began – Artemis could hear it because he was expecting it. Portions of wall slid to the side and computers rose from sections in the floor. The big screen TV he used for mapping, was coming to life, the blackness dispersing into colour. This was where Artemis's eyes were fixed. This was where he would track Butler and the other two.
Each had a tracer on them, as all three knew, that would allow him to keep a close eye on them. The beacons were incredibly accurate, not like the common GPS units available for the "normal working class people." A three meter diameter was too imprecise for Artemis. This narrowed it down the footsteps of the person with the locator.
Presently the group was still, obviously they were resting. A zoom in brought more details for Artemis's mind to take in. A thermo scan showed that they were sitting on the now closed chute that the fairies had used to get them to Murmansk before. An even closer look brought a frown to his face.
"Computer, bring view ninety degrees down for a horizontal view of subject."
Complying to Artemis's command, the image revolved to show a blob of yellow – Butler's position with Foaly and Holly.
"Computer, zoom in to a magnification of 230 times." He had to wait till another appropriate satellite passed over the location. Hacking into the United States' Spy space probes hadn't been difficult, especially considering they weren't expecting anyone to be aware that they were up there spying on other countries. Artemis had merely taken advantage of the hardware sitting up there – putting it to his own uses. Of course, his trails were all covered and well hidden underneath a thick layer of false information. As for what he saw on the screens, it was nothing what the US would see. Again, everything was artfully covered up and hidden.
The computer beeped and Artemis unknowingly held his breath, "Computer, rotate full 360 degrees around subjects." Spinning around the locating beacon, Artemis felt his breath whoosh out of him as if someone had punched the air out of his lungs.
Two dots. Someone was missing.
He blinked; a new idea coming to mind. If the third person wasn't with the other two, perhaps they'd found something and followed it. "Computer new search: third member of party is missing. Locate."
Immediately a grid appeared, dividing the land into sections which in turn were further divided. Scanners blazed across the expanse, quickly covering the area. The results came up with fifteen weak signals. Not one of them had a familiar signature – although there was one that was similar.
"Advance search to new signal. Pin point location – procure coordinates."
Hands clasped behind his back, Artemis patiently waited for the computer to come back with something. A monotonous voice came back, "Signal has been lost. Coordinates unfound."
Sighing, Artemis sat down into his computer chair. Something was definitely wrong up there. Pulling himself towards his desktop computer, he let his fingers fly across the keyboard.
[ESTABLISH COMMUNICATIONS LINK. COORDINATES INDEFINITE. FOLLOW SIGNAL.]
He waited for the link to stabilize then he typed in a new message.
[WHAT IS GOING ON BUTLER?]
A full two minutes passed, but it felt like an hour to Artemis, then a new message popped up.
[LIVE LINK IS BEING REQUESTED. LAUNCH?]
If Butler wanted to speak to his face, then fine.
Another minute passed before the computer console beeped its connection. "Butler, who's missing?" Face taut with fear, Artemis appeared almost skeletal. Prying his fingers from his chair's arm rests, he forced himself to relax. A chorus of curses and mutterings emitted from the speakers around him. "Butler?"
"No, Artemis. Just me Foaly. I'm still trying to learn your primitive tool here."
Finally the vision stabled and Artemis was staring into a worried Foaly's face. "There's been trouble."
"Cut to it."
"I was getting to it." Foaly looked over his shoulder then quickly back to the camera, "We've lost Holly and it looks like Butler's got a severe case of hypothermia. I've got him in a flesh recuperator – a little something of my own design – basically a big hot tub that is filled with a herbal induced fluid. Gets blood flowing to every capillary."
Artemis let it settle in. A thoughtful look crossed his face, but it was quickly replaced by worry. "Holly's missing? Butler's out. I'll be up there as soon as possible." He cut his end of the link.
Foaly stared at the blank screen in astonishment. Surely Artemis couldn't be so foolish to go north. What did he expect to do that he or Butler couldn't do? "Artemis you fool! Don't come north!" he shouted at the blank screen. When nothing appeared he began cursing loudly in all the languages that came to mind.
Stepping over to where Butler was immersed in the sickening smelling solution, he checked the man's vital signs. "Well my friend, it looks like your ward is crazier than we gave credit to him. He's coming north."
Butler didn't respond, not that Foaly was expecting it.
Somewhere
Magick creature won't move. Dead?
Light hovered above Holly's closed lids. She was so cold, yet the light seemed to permeate no heat to her frozen limbs. Although no words were spoken aloud, she still was able to catch the drift of thought.
Not dead. Breathing see?
Yes. Can I keep it?
Holly wrinkled her nose. This was worse than having to wear a pink dress. "I'm no pet..." Then shadows claimed her.
Butler's eyes frantically searched the area and he waded through the snow to where his friends were. What he came upon would have been comical were it not for the fact that one of the members of their group was missing. Foaly was lying with his upper torso hidden down in the snow, his horse anatomy trying to free him. Not sure where to grab Foaly, Butler did what almost any other person would. He reached out and took hold of Foaly's tail and yanked him out.
Once on his feet again, Foaly brushed the lingering snow off himself and said grimly, "I'll let you get away with that insult this time, merely because you don't know. But from now on, if you ever pull my tail again, I will do some serious damage to you."
Butler, too concerned for the whereabouts of Holly, nodded and looked away. He was frozen to the bone, if he didn't get out of this weather soon, he'd be one more lost soul of the north. Teeth chattering slightly, Butler asked through blue lips, "Where's Holly?"
Sighing, Foaly responded, "Really, Butler, I didn't think you were that blind, but obviously I was in the wrong. They took her."
"They?"
"Seriously? How could you have missed them? They were hovering right above your head!" Foaly stamped his feet, keeping the blood from freezing in his veins. "Come on, we're almost there and I'm nearly a statue."
Butler didn't bother answering; he was too cold to even think straight, something that was very dangerous for a person of his expertise. Eyes once again searching the area, he trudged through the rough trail that Foaly had made. He was so cold.
Darkness crept into his vision, and it wasn't the darkness of night.
Artemis had yet to tell his father of his expedition north, and he still wasn't ready to divulge the information even after hours of chatting with his father. It was too weird a feeling for Artemis to share anything that was going on his mind with another being as openly as he was doing now.
"Son? You listening to me?"
Mentally shaking his head, Artemis focused his eyes once more on his father's face.
"I didn't think so, you completely missed the punch line to that story."
"Sorry, father."
Patting his son soundly on the back, Mr Fowl chuckled quietly. "No worries, we'll continue this on later – you go get some sleep." Artemis nodded his agreement and trudged off through the house to his rooms upstairs. Once inside his rooms however, his sleepiness evaporated and a small grin lit up his features. His father was still in the business.
Putting up the pretense of getting ready for bed, Artemis quietly checked his room for bugs – despite his father's warm welcome last night, he was still wary. His time...away, would be the perfect time for his father to check up on his activities and additions to his room. Nothing seemed to be out of place, the safety catches and lines were all secure and undisturbed. Nothing had been tampered with. Excellent.
Opening the panel hidden in the wall, Artemis flipped the master switch for his room putting him onto his private power line – it wouldn't show on his parents electricity bills. An almost undetectable hum began – Artemis could hear it because he was expecting it. Portions of wall slid to the side and computers rose from sections in the floor. The big screen TV he used for mapping, was coming to life, the blackness dispersing into colour. This was where Artemis's eyes were fixed. This was where he would track Butler and the other two.
Each had a tracer on them, as all three knew, that would allow him to keep a close eye on them. The beacons were incredibly accurate, not like the common GPS units available for the "normal working class people." A three meter diameter was too imprecise for Artemis. This narrowed it down the footsteps of the person with the locator.
Presently the group was still, obviously they were resting. A zoom in brought more details for Artemis's mind to take in. A thermo scan showed that they were sitting on the now closed chute that the fairies had used to get them to Murmansk before. An even closer look brought a frown to his face.
"Computer, bring view ninety degrees down for a horizontal view of subject."
Complying to Artemis's command, the image revolved to show a blob of yellow – Butler's position with Foaly and Holly.
"Computer, zoom in to a magnification of 230 times." He had to wait till another appropriate satellite passed over the location. Hacking into the United States' Spy space probes hadn't been difficult, especially considering they weren't expecting anyone to be aware that they were up there spying on other countries. Artemis had merely taken advantage of the hardware sitting up there – putting it to his own uses. Of course, his trails were all covered and well hidden underneath a thick layer of false information. As for what he saw on the screens, it was nothing what the US would see. Again, everything was artfully covered up and hidden.
The computer beeped and Artemis unknowingly held his breath, "Computer, rotate full 360 degrees around subjects." Spinning around the locating beacon, Artemis felt his breath whoosh out of him as if someone had punched the air out of his lungs.
Two dots. Someone was missing.
He blinked; a new idea coming to mind. If the third person wasn't with the other two, perhaps they'd found something and followed it. "Computer new search: third member of party is missing. Locate."
Immediately a grid appeared, dividing the land into sections which in turn were further divided. Scanners blazed across the expanse, quickly covering the area. The results came up with fifteen weak signals. Not one of them had a familiar signature – although there was one that was similar.
"Advance search to new signal. Pin point location – procure coordinates."
Hands clasped behind his back, Artemis patiently waited for the computer to come back with something. A monotonous voice came back, "Signal has been lost. Coordinates unfound."
Sighing, Artemis sat down into his computer chair. Something was definitely wrong up there. Pulling himself towards his desktop computer, he let his fingers fly across the keyboard.
[ESTABLISH COMMUNICATIONS LINK. COORDINATES INDEFINITE. FOLLOW SIGNAL.]
He waited for the link to stabilize then he typed in a new message.
[WHAT IS GOING ON BUTLER?]
A full two minutes passed, but it felt like an hour to Artemis, then a new message popped up.
[LIVE LINK IS BEING REQUESTED. LAUNCH?]
If Butler wanted to speak to his face, then fine.
Another minute passed before the computer console beeped its connection. "Butler, who's missing?" Face taut with fear, Artemis appeared almost skeletal. Prying his fingers from his chair's arm rests, he forced himself to relax. A chorus of curses and mutterings emitted from the speakers around him. "Butler?"
"No, Artemis. Just me Foaly. I'm still trying to learn your primitive tool here."
Finally the vision stabled and Artemis was staring into a worried Foaly's face. "There's been trouble."
"Cut to it."
"I was getting to it." Foaly looked over his shoulder then quickly back to the camera, "We've lost Holly and it looks like Butler's got a severe case of hypothermia. I've got him in a flesh recuperator – a little something of my own design – basically a big hot tub that is filled with a herbal induced fluid. Gets blood flowing to every capillary."
Artemis let it settle in. A thoughtful look crossed his face, but it was quickly replaced by worry. "Holly's missing? Butler's out. I'll be up there as soon as possible." He cut his end of the link.
Foaly stared at the blank screen in astonishment. Surely Artemis couldn't be so foolish to go north. What did he expect to do that he or Butler couldn't do? "Artemis you fool! Don't come north!" he shouted at the blank screen. When nothing appeared he began cursing loudly in all the languages that came to mind.
Stepping over to where Butler was immersed in the sickening smelling solution, he checked the man's vital signs. "Well my friend, it looks like your ward is crazier than we gave credit to him. He's coming north."
Butler didn't respond, not that Foaly was expecting it.
Somewhere
Magick creature won't move. Dead?
Light hovered above Holly's closed lids. She was so cold, yet the light seemed to permeate no heat to her frozen limbs. Although no words were spoken aloud, she still was able to catch the drift of thought.
Not dead. Breathing see?
Yes. Can I keep it?
Holly wrinkled her nose. This was worse than having to wear a pink dress. "I'm no pet..." Then shadows claimed her.