Chapter 9
Throwing various items into a bag, Artemis scanned his room once again making sure that he hadn't forgotten all the necessary items he'd need. That is, all the things he thought necessary, Artemis had never actually had to pack for himself before. In fact, Artemis hadn't done much physical labor for himself ever and he found the task arduous and mind boggling. How had Butler been able to fit all his personals into one bag? At this rate, he was going to have to just pack up his room in a moving van, but he realized that that would be irrational – how would he drive it north?
Sighing, he bent his thin frame over his bag and squished the sides together as to zip it shut. How did Butler do it? Grabbing the straps, Artemis heaved it off his bed only to collapse under the weight of it onto the floor. Ok, well, that'd have to be repacked for obvious reasons.
Artemis walked over to the wall panel that had the house communications system, pressing a button, he spoke into the distended microphone, "Juliet, would you please come up at once?"
The answering beep made Artemis smile – packing was taken care of now. He just had to concern himself with travel. Land and sea were out of the question, they were too slow; he only had a short time period to get north and back again before his parents became suspect. The school professors weren't a problem – they believed anything he said. But his parents... A frown marred his perfectly smooth skin, his smile fading as thought of how much time had settled into his mind - he had perhaps three days at max. Three days to reach the north, find Holly and return with Butler and Foaly. The task seemed daunting, even to a mastermind like himself.
A knock intruded on his thoughts. Juliet. She was here to pack his things. She would be staying here with his parents...but... The earlier smile reappeared on his face and he called her forth. "Juliet, thanks for coming so quickly. I am going on a short venture north. Murmansk, if that name means anything to you." He watched her face, "It'll be brutally cold, so if you could pack the necessary things for me, that'd be great." He turned to go to his study, a room branching off of his sleeping quarters. Snapping his fingers he snorted exaggeratedly, "Sorry, I almost forgot." Facing her, he saw her expectant face, "You're coming with me."
A bright smile split her face, she really was pretty when she smiled, "I figured as much." She exclaimed then flounced off to complete Artemis's packing. Smirking, Artemis shook his head, he only hoped that she realized that this would be no fashion flaunting trip. Even that smirk fell away as the seriousness of the situation sank in further. There would be no one to show off to anyways. No one – he'd be on his own with Juliet.
Rolling his shoulders to get the blood flowing, he walked across heavily carpeted floors to his study where he locked the door behind him. Flipping on the main power drive he brought his computers online the hundredth time that day – he couldn't risk having someone see his stuff.
"Computer: Updates on search." The results were the same of that not one hour ago. Sighing deeply, he shut the computers down once again and seeing that everything was quietly back in its place returned to where Juliet stood with her own pack.
"Took you long enough."
Artemis lifted his shoulder in a show of indifference, "I had something to check up on."
Anger sparked in Juliet's eyes, "I know what this is about Artemis, so don't be going in circles with me. My brother is in trouble and we're wasting time." She didn't explain how she'd found that out, nor did Artemis bother, he'd figure it out sooner or later.
"Ah, Butler. How are we feeling?" Foaly pushed his face close to Butler's.
In response, Butler groaned and attempted to shove Foaly away, the darn centaur smelled something awful. But the stench didn't leave with Foaly and it forced Butler to focus his blurry thoughts on his surroundings. Nose crinkling slightly, he glanced warily around him, searching for the offending smell.
Foaly, watching Butler's facial expressions brayed loudly, "Not to worry Butler, the smell will wear off in a bit."
Butler repeated dumbly, "A bit? You mean that it's me who smells?"
Waving a hand in the air as if the matter was nothing, Foaly replied flippantly, "Oh yes, the smell will last maybe a week or two. Nothing so bad." He chuckled, fully aware of how humans were so against offensive smells.
Butler merely grunted in response, he was already distracted with his attempt to get up off the bed he'd been placed in (with little ease on Foaly's part). His muscles felt incredibly weak; numb, in truth. Struggling to at least gain a sitting position, Butler forced his stomach muscles to bring him forward, but even that small action seemed to drain him for strength.
"Take it easy, Butler." Genuine concern.
Grunting again, Butler heaved his feet over the edge of the bed. Already, the smell seemed to be fading, but then, his nose was probably adapting – all for the better of course. Ok, next step – get to feet. Butler's mind, methodical as it was, was sometimes a little off in it's fortitude. He always reached for the furthest possibility it seemed. His attacking the troll was an excellent example. This, though of a lower magnitude, was no different; he was in no shape to start walking around, yet here he was, attempting to do just that.
"Butler, you fool, I just got you in that bed, and with no ease on my part!!!" Foaly watched impatiently, his feet tapping out a nervous sound on the stone floors. Finger twisting together, Foaly backed away as Butler took a few unsteady steps. "I really should insist that you get back in that bed until you have sufficient energy and your health is up to bar. You're too weak."
"And since when do you take such a care for Humans?"
Foaly's eye's snapped to Butler's, it seemed unlikely for Butler to say such a thing and he bit out, "Caring for Humans has never been a problem for me – true, you have covered the land with your pollution, your buildings, your filth and garbage, but I never held it against you. Every race has to go through it, most magic folk have all but forgotten those days, but I remember and so I understand. It's a stage in life that you'll get through."
Butler blinked.
Continuing, Foaly berated Butler with more facts, "But there is one thing I despise about you Humans, and that is your lack of respect of life itself. So many of you are foolish enough to not to care about the small creatures – the small things. Life is balanced, but when you mess around with it too much, something goes amiss. You are doing this, sooner or later, you're going to screw something up bad. I mean, look what happened to us, we really screwed up."
"What do you mean?"
Foaly nearly answered that, then remembered whose company he was in. But it wouldn't have mattered much even if he had answered. Eyes glazing over, Butler began to collapse and Foaly watched in dismay as he fell into a heavy mass of Human flesh at his hooves. Nudging Butler with a hoof, Foaly muttered, "I told you so – too weak."
Juliet held the back door open of the shiny black jaguar, she was especially excited – more so than Artemis. Although she loved Angeline Fowl, there was a lot she was missing out on, she'd seen that in the little expeditions that Artemis had taken with her brother.
She slipped into the driver's seat and adjusted the rearview mirror till Artemis's pale face appeared. As usual, his face was void of emotion, but his eyes were full of life and anticipation.
"Where to, Artemis?"
A slow grin spread across his features and he appeared almost sinister. "Make for the International Airport. We're going on a little trip."
Little trip? Hardly, but Juliet wasn't going to complain. Straightening in her seat she turned the car on and revved the engine. This was more like it!
As usual, Artemis paid little attention to the lovely landscapes of Ireland. His laptop computer was already opened and whirring quietly, it was hooked up to the car's central intelligence wire-up. It allowed him to use the car as a magnifier for his satellite searches. In Artemis's mind, satellites were incredibly stupid. They worked in ways that even he couldn't find a reason for.
The bigger and stronger the signal meant that it would have priority over smaller signals. Obviously Artemis had devised a way to get around this and use it to for his own purposes and was the reason why his parents new jaguar was wired up the way it was (although his parents just thought it was a really good navigation program their son had installed).
Downloading the most recent searches from his home computer, he brought the search program back online. He turned the sound off – he didn't want Juliet to hear what was going on, especially considering that there were magic folk involved. A few milliseconds later, a window popped up: CONTINUE RUNNING PREVIOUS SEARCH? He hit enter.
Juliet couldn't help but sneak a glance over her shoulder in attempt to see what her young master was up to, but Artemis's cold steely eyes were watching her every move and he questioned, "Problem Juliet?"
Turning her attention back to the road she shrugged and muttered, "No, no problem. Just checking to see you're alive back there." She chuckled at her own joke – it was so lame that it amused her, obviously not Artemis, for his face full of disapproval.
Staring at Juliet a moment longer, Artemis's attention was diverted when his computer came back with his satellite search. FIVE THOUSAND THREE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE RESULTS Keeping a straight face, lest Juliet look back on him again, Artemis leaned forward and did a rescan, the results were the same. When he brought up a world grid, dots representing the found locations – what was this? There should be only one location, the whereabouts of Holly. Blowing up the map so it filled his twenty one inch computer screen Artemis inspected it with a scrutiny that would do any scientist proud.
Tapping his digital sensory pad with the tip of his finger he zoomed in. The dots were not stable, they flickered and vanished completely at times. A definite frown creased his brow. Ok, this was unquestionably without a doubt, not good news. Either his computer system was down – which was highly improbable, or something, even beyond Artemis, was happening.
"Juliet, step on it. We need to get airborne."
She smirked then saluted, "Aye, aye captain."
Artemis wouldn't be caught dead running, but that was precisely what he was doing. Running as if the very devil himself were on his heels. His briefcase clutched tightly in his hand and Juliet just a step behind him – both making the hundred yard dash to the private jet. A personal flight attendant and pilot were already readying the jet as they scrambled up the stairs into the interior of the finely furbished jet.
"We're in," Artemis used the small intercom in the seat he'd plunked himself down in. "Let's get in the air, Captain."
"Yes sir."
Panting and sweating was a stage that Artemis rarely got to, if ever, but here he was doing both. He allowed a small smirk to touch his mouth – it was a day for firsts. Inhaling a deep sigh as he felt the turbine engines whir to life below him he straightened in his seat and once again flipped open his laptop computer. Preferring it to the onboard computer.
"Sir, the tower say that we'll have to wait an hour before we can take off. One of the runways is under construction."
Gritting his teeth, Artemis resigned himself for a long wait ahead of him, "Very well. Have you already tried the usual?"
A pause ensued, and then a nervous stutter, "I-I'm sorry...sir. Not as...as of yet."
"Get to it then."
The Fowls had a separate account for just these kind of situations. A rather large account well into the hundreds of thousands for when air traffic was heavy and they wanted to get in the air. A bribe here and there never hurt anyone and in the end most people were the happier – except maybe those who had to seriously wait.
Within a short period of time they were airborne and traveling at speeds unattainable on land. Artemis, having watched the take off, turned resolutely back to his work. On this trip there would be no idle time. He brought up his previous map of the world and nearly choked on the ice cube he was sucking on. Every single location indicator was gone, that is, all but one. And it was not in the Arctic. In fact it was rather farther away than that. After a few computer demands, Artemis shook his head. The locator signature matched Holly's.
Opening up another program he let his fingers fly. [ESTABLISH COMMUNICATIONS LINK WITH LOCATION SIGNATURE 83G8IN] If anyone could understand this, it would be Foaly.
[SIGNATURE 83G8IN REQUESTING LIVE LINK. PROCEED WITH CONNECTION?]
Enter.
Grabbing his laptop, Artemis dashed for the bathroom and locked the door. Flipping the seat down on the toilet, he plunked himself down. "Foaly? You there?"
This time there was no struggle for Foaly to use his equipment, "Of course I am. Where do you think I'm going to go with your hulking he-man body guard?"
"No where." And that was the truth.
"Where are you?"
"We're in the air, but there's been a slight change in plans. I'm not going to Murmansk, in fact, I'm not even going north."
Foaly raised his brows, "You call that slight?"
Ignoring his question, Artemis continued, "I'm making my way to Australia. I thought my computers were going haywire-"
"Their only human, remember? You can't beat my technology."
"-but in truth, there was nothing wrong with them." He put an emphasis on the nothing wrong part, "Something strange is going on. Holly's location signature was popping up all over the world for a good solid ten minutes. It's settled down now and it's in Australia."
Foaly tapped a finger to his chin, "So you're going to Australia. I've never been there, but I heard that a lot of the goblins end up there – shipped off from the prison containment camps. Australia, I don't envy you."
Neither did Artemis – he hated the heat and sun; but now it was inevitable. His curiosity was piqued and there were unanswered questions. He was going to Australia.
"Over and out."
Throwing various items into a bag, Artemis scanned his room once again making sure that he hadn't forgotten all the necessary items he'd need. That is, all the things he thought necessary, Artemis had never actually had to pack for himself before. In fact, Artemis hadn't done much physical labor for himself ever and he found the task arduous and mind boggling. How had Butler been able to fit all his personals into one bag? At this rate, he was going to have to just pack up his room in a moving van, but he realized that that would be irrational – how would he drive it north?
Sighing, he bent his thin frame over his bag and squished the sides together as to zip it shut. How did Butler do it? Grabbing the straps, Artemis heaved it off his bed only to collapse under the weight of it onto the floor. Ok, well, that'd have to be repacked for obvious reasons.
Artemis walked over to the wall panel that had the house communications system, pressing a button, he spoke into the distended microphone, "Juliet, would you please come up at once?"
The answering beep made Artemis smile – packing was taken care of now. He just had to concern himself with travel. Land and sea were out of the question, they were too slow; he only had a short time period to get north and back again before his parents became suspect. The school professors weren't a problem – they believed anything he said. But his parents... A frown marred his perfectly smooth skin, his smile fading as thought of how much time had settled into his mind - he had perhaps three days at max. Three days to reach the north, find Holly and return with Butler and Foaly. The task seemed daunting, even to a mastermind like himself.
A knock intruded on his thoughts. Juliet. She was here to pack his things. She would be staying here with his parents...but... The earlier smile reappeared on his face and he called her forth. "Juliet, thanks for coming so quickly. I am going on a short venture north. Murmansk, if that name means anything to you." He watched her face, "It'll be brutally cold, so if you could pack the necessary things for me, that'd be great." He turned to go to his study, a room branching off of his sleeping quarters. Snapping his fingers he snorted exaggeratedly, "Sorry, I almost forgot." Facing her, he saw her expectant face, "You're coming with me."
A bright smile split her face, she really was pretty when she smiled, "I figured as much." She exclaimed then flounced off to complete Artemis's packing. Smirking, Artemis shook his head, he only hoped that she realized that this would be no fashion flaunting trip. Even that smirk fell away as the seriousness of the situation sank in further. There would be no one to show off to anyways. No one – he'd be on his own with Juliet.
Rolling his shoulders to get the blood flowing, he walked across heavily carpeted floors to his study where he locked the door behind him. Flipping on the main power drive he brought his computers online the hundredth time that day – he couldn't risk having someone see his stuff.
"Computer: Updates on search." The results were the same of that not one hour ago. Sighing deeply, he shut the computers down once again and seeing that everything was quietly back in its place returned to where Juliet stood with her own pack.
"Took you long enough."
Artemis lifted his shoulder in a show of indifference, "I had something to check up on."
Anger sparked in Juliet's eyes, "I know what this is about Artemis, so don't be going in circles with me. My brother is in trouble and we're wasting time." She didn't explain how she'd found that out, nor did Artemis bother, he'd figure it out sooner or later.
"Ah, Butler. How are we feeling?" Foaly pushed his face close to Butler's.
In response, Butler groaned and attempted to shove Foaly away, the darn centaur smelled something awful. But the stench didn't leave with Foaly and it forced Butler to focus his blurry thoughts on his surroundings. Nose crinkling slightly, he glanced warily around him, searching for the offending smell.
Foaly, watching Butler's facial expressions brayed loudly, "Not to worry Butler, the smell will wear off in a bit."
Butler repeated dumbly, "A bit? You mean that it's me who smells?"
Waving a hand in the air as if the matter was nothing, Foaly replied flippantly, "Oh yes, the smell will last maybe a week or two. Nothing so bad." He chuckled, fully aware of how humans were so against offensive smells.
Butler merely grunted in response, he was already distracted with his attempt to get up off the bed he'd been placed in (with little ease on Foaly's part). His muscles felt incredibly weak; numb, in truth. Struggling to at least gain a sitting position, Butler forced his stomach muscles to bring him forward, but even that small action seemed to drain him for strength.
"Take it easy, Butler." Genuine concern.
Grunting again, Butler heaved his feet over the edge of the bed. Already, the smell seemed to be fading, but then, his nose was probably adapting – all for the better of course. Ok, next step – get to feet. Butler's mind, methodical as it was, was sometimes a little off in it's fortitude. He always reached for the furthest possibility it seemed. His attacking the troll was an excellent example. This, though of a lower magnitude, was no different; he was in no shape to start walking around, yet here he was, attempting to do just that.
"Butler, you fool, I just got you in that bed, and with no ease on my part!!!" Foaly watched impatiently, his feet tapping out a nervous sound on the stone floors. Finger twisting together, Foaly backed away as Butler took a few unsteady steps. "I really should insist that you get back in that bed until you have sufficient energy and your health is up to bar. You're too weak."
"And since when do you take such a care for Humans?"
Foaly's eye's snapped to Butler's, it seemed unlikely for Butler to say such a thing and he bit out, "Caring for Humans has never been a problem for me – true, you have covered the land with your pollution, your buildings, your filth and garbage, but I never held it against you. Every race has to go through it, most magic folk have all but forgotten those days, but I remember and so I understand. It's a stage in life that you'll get through."
Butler blinked.
Continuing, Foaly berated Butler with more facts, "But there is one thing I despise about you Humans, and that is your lack of respect of life itself. So many of you are foolish enough to not to care about the small creatures – the small things. Life is balanced, but when you mess around with it too much, something goes amiss. You are doing this, sooner or later, you're going to screw something up bad. I mean, look what happened to us, we really screwed up."
"What do you mean?"
Foaly nearly answered that, then remembered whose company he was in. But it wouldn't have mattered much even if he had answered. Eyes glazing over, Butler began to collapse and Foaly watched in dismay as he fell into a heavy mass of Human flesh at his hooves. Nudging Butler with a hoof, Foaly muttered, "I told you so – too weak."
Juliet held the back door open of the shiny black jaguar, she was especially excited – more so than Artemis. Although she loved Angeline Fowl, there was a lot she was missing out on, she'd seen that in the little expeditions that Artemis had taken with her brother.
She slipped into the driver's seat and adjusted the rearview mirror till Artemis's pale face appeared. As usual, his face was void of emotion, but his eyes were full of life and anticipation.
"Where to, Artemis?"
A slow grin spread across his features and he appeared almost sinister. "Make for the International Airport. We're going on a little trip."
Little trip? Hardly, but Juliet wasn't going to complain. Straightening in her seat she turned the car on and revved the engine. This was more like it!
As usual, Artemis paid little attention to the lovely landscapes of Ireland. His laptop computer was already opened and whirring quietly, it was hooked up to the car's central intelligence wire-up. It allowed him to use the car as a magnifier for his satellite searches. In Artemis's mind, satellites were incredibly stupid. They worked in ways that even he couldn't find a reason for.
The bigger and stronger the signal meant that it would have priority over smaller signals. Obviously Artemis had devised a way to get around this and use it to for his own purposes and was the reason why his parents new jaguar was wired up the way it was (although his parents just thought it was a really good navigation program their son had installed).
Downloading the most recent searches from his home computer, he brought the search program back online. He turned the sound off – he didn't want Juliet to hear what was going on, especially considering that there were magic folk involved. A few milliseconds later, a window popped up: CONTINUE RUNNING PREVIOUS SEARCH? He hit enter.
Juliet couldn't help but sneak a glance over her shoulder in attempt to see what her young master was up to, but Artemis's cold steely eyes were watching her every move and he questioned, "Problem Juliet?"
Turning her attention back to the road she shrugged and muttered, "No, no problem. Just checking to see you're alive back there." She chuckled at her own joke – it was so lame that it amused her, obviously not Artemis, for his face full of disapproval.
Staring at Juliet a moment longer, Artemis's attention was diverted when his computer came back with his satellite search. FIVE THOUSAND THREE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE RESULTS Keeping a straight face, lest Juliet look back on him again, Artemis leaned forward and did a rescan, the results were the same. When he brought up a world grid, dots representing the found locations – what was this? There should be only one location, the whereabouts of Holly. Blowing up the map so it filled his twenty one inch computer screen Artemis inspected it with a scrutiny that would do any scientist proud.
Tapping his digital sensory pad with the tip of his finger he zoomed in. The dots were not stable, they flickered and vanished completely at times. A definite frown creased his brow. Ok, this was unquestionably without a doubt, not good news. Either his computer system was down – which was highly improbable, or something, even beyond Artemis, was happening.
"Juliet, step on it. We need to get airborne."
She smirked then saluted, "Aye, aye captain."
Artemis wouldn't be caught dead running, but that was precisely what he was doing. Running as if the very devil himself were on his heels. His briefcase clutched tightly in his hand and Juliet just a step behind him – both making the hundred yard dash to the private jet. A personal flight attendant and pilot were already readying the jet as they scrambled up the stairs into the interior of the finely furbished jet.
"We're in," Artemis used the small intercom in the seat he'd plunked himself down in. "Let's get in the air, Captain."
"Yes sir."
Panting and sweating was a stage that Artemis rarely got to, if ever, but here he was doing both. He allowed a small smirk to touch his mouth – it was a day for firsts. Inhaling a deep sigh as he felt the turbine engines whir to life below him he straightened in his seat and once again flipped open his laptop computer. Preferring it to the onboard computer.
"Sir, the tower say that we'll have to wait an hour before we can take off. One of the runways is under construction."
Gritting his teeth, Artemis resigned himself for a long wait ahead of him, "Very well. Have you already tried the usual?"
A pause ensued, and then a nervous stutter, "I-I'm sorry...sir. Not as...as of yet."
"Get to it then."
The Fowls had a separate account for just these kind of situations. A rather large account well into the hundreds of thousands for when air traffic was heavy and they wanted to get in the air. A bribe here and there never hurt anyone and in the end most people were the happier – except maybe those who had to seriously wait.
Within a short period of time they were airborne and traveling at speeds unattainable on land. Artemis, having watched the take off, turned resolutely back to his work. On this trip there would be no idle time. He brought up his previous map of the world and nearly choked on the ice cube he was sucking on. Every single location indicator was gone, that is, all but one. And it was not in the Arctic. In fact it was rather farther away than that. After a few computer demands, Artemis shook his head. The locator signature matched Holly's.
Opening up another program he let his fingers fly. [ESTABLISH COMMUNICATIONS LINK WITH LOCATION SIGNATURE 83G8IN] If anyone could understand this, it would be Foaly.
[SIGNATURE 83G8IN REQUESTING LIVE LINK. PROCEED WITH CONNECTION?]
Enter.
Grabbing his laptop, Artemis dashed for the bathroom and locked the door. Flipping the seat down on the toilet, he plunked himself down. "Foaly? You there?"
This time there was no struggle for Foaly to use his equipment, "Of course I am. Where do you think I'm going to go with your hulking he-man body guard?"
"No where." And that was the truth.
"Where are you?"
"We're in the air, but there's been a slight change in plans. I'm not going to Murmansk, in fact, I'm not even going north."
Foaly raised his brows, "You call that slight?"
Ignoring his question, Artemis continued, "I'm making my way to Australia. I thought my computers were going haywire-"
"Their only human, remember? You can't beat my technology."
"-but in truth, there was nothing wrong with them." He put an emphasis on the nothing wrong part, "Something strange is going on. Holly's location signature was popping up all over the world for a good solid ten minutes. It's settled down now and it's in Australia."
Foaly tapped a finger to his chin, "So you're going to Australia. I've never been there, but I heard that a lot of the goblins end up there – shipped off from the prison containment camps. Australia, I don't envy you."
Neither did Artemis – he hated the heat and sun; but now it was inevitable. His curiosity was piqued and there were unanswered questions. He was going to Australia.
"Over and out."