To see pictures of 623 and such, go and check my profile please. There are links there.
Chapter 3: Escape
623 focused all her energy on running. Everything she had done that day had worn her out, but she kept on running. Occasionally a stray twig or thorn scratched her sides and face, but she forced herself to ignore them. Suddenly a root loomed out f the shadows and she tripped up, falling forward and landing sprawled on the forest floor. She got up slowly, checking for damage. Finding that nothing was broken she then inspected a third arm which came out below her right shoulder. A tattered sheet was clenched in her paw – a little dirty now, but still readable. She clutched it inwards to her chest and used her upper arms to continue running.
Exhausted and a little wounded, she finally made it back to the lake. She started crossing it by hopping across the stones, trying to avoid the shallow water, even though it cleaned off the mud and soothed her cuts. Bit by bit she slowly made her way over to the huge, black shadow that was former Captain Gantu's ship.
The light was fading and evening was fast approaching. She knew this would have to be done quickly and got ready… but stopped. The ship's mechanism suddenly whirred into life and she darted away to the shadows behind the ship. From her hiding place she watched as the boarding ramp came down to ground level and Gantu stepped off it. He grumbled to himself as he pulled his blaster from its holster and went off into the woods.
623 breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't been caught and jumped onto the ramp and it closed up. Once the entrance was sealed she scuttled onto the ceiling and carefully dropped to the floor. Then she tentatively started walking into the ship.
'Well, well. Come back for more, eh?' a voice mocked her.
She scowled. 'Can it, 625,' she retorted in plain English.
'Okay, okay. Man, you're a feisty one.'
625 walked out while pretending to look bored.
'Are you going to help me now, or not?' she asked him. It was harder for her to talk because her voice was still squeaky, but it was still understandable.
'Did you bring what I asked for?' replied 625. She held out the slightly ripped piece of paper that she had gone through so much trouble to get. 'All right!' he whooped, reading the page with enthusiasm. 'The sandwich shop's secret sauce recipe! It's finally mine!'
'Do we have a deal?' she asked impatiently.
625 stopped jumping about and frowned. 'What exactly do you want me to do?'
She made him lead her to the main teleport pad while she explained.
'You must have seen Gantu use this loads of times. Just send me off to Hamsterviel, then stay here and accept the return teleport.'
'All right, but you'd better be quick. Let's just hope Gantu doesn't come back while we're doing this.'
'Where did he go?'
'Hamster-face sent him off to look for you. Again He's probably gone to sleep by now.'
623 stood on the teleport pad and told 625 to start up the machine. A glass tube descended from the ceiling and trapped her inside, followed by a blast of smoke. 625 finished up pressing buttons and watched as the teleportation began.
'Wish me luck,' she said hopefully, as a green spiral sucked her up and suddenly she was gone.
625 snorted. 'Good luck,' he said sarcastically.
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Lilo walked into Jumba and Pleakley's bedroom looking dejected. They had already searched the entire house for the missing experiment, but to no avail. She was wondering what had made the experiment leave, and why, when Jumba found her.
'Ah, little girl, I was meaning to ask: did you manage to turn to good this experiment we are looking for?'
'Well… I'm not sure. I thought things were going well, but… I don't know. Why?'
'Because if one of my creations had run away, will probably be trying to start destructioning again.'
'Oh no… we've gotta find her! But where would she go?' Lilo pondered.
'Hmmm… I am thinking experiment 623 will probably be burning things which are important to Earth people. Like fuel, for example.' Lilo was about to run off to search outside, but Jumba stopped her. 'I suggest we watch news on television. If she blows up any car fuel stations, that way we will know. Then you can rush off with 626 and be doing all the saving. Also I suggest watching skies. Pillars of smoke will probably give away her location. We just hope that forest does not burn to ground before you find her.'
She followed Jumba down to the living room while looking depressed until Stitch found her.
'You okay?' he asked.
They stayed alone in the hallway while she explained. 'I thought we were doing a good job with 623…but now she's gone, and Jumba thinks that she'll go and blow things up again.'
Stitch shook his head. '623 good.'
'Really? How do you know?'
He spoke a few words of his own language to get her to understand.
'Yeah. You're right. When I found you at the animal shelter, I knew you were good. And you turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to our Ohana. If you have that feeling too, then I trust it.' Lilo smiled at her friend, but as she looked away and glanced out of a window her smile faded. She watched as the sun sank behind the trees and wondered. What was going on?
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623 hovered over an electrical panel, not knowing what to do. So far, her luck had held, but Hamsterviel probably wouldn't stay asleep for much longer. Before her were many small cages, little rooms with a strong clear pane in front. Inside them were all the experiments captured by Gantu and sent to Hamsterviel; this was where they all ended up. She had examined the rooms already, searching for what she had come here for. Most of them were empty. Now she had the tool that would open up these cages – there were as many buttons as there were doors. But as to which button corresponded to which cell, she was lost.
Taking a chance, she pressed a button at random. One of the transparent doors slid up and she was relieved to see that the cage was empty. Some of the captive experiments had noticed and they had come to watch her at the front of their tiny rooms. She looked at the buttons again and her finger hung in the air over them. Suddenly the weight of what she was doing crashed down on her. Hamsterviel could come in at any moment and find her, then she'd live here… forever. He would make her do evil things… and to think that she had given up being free, and having a family… all of the tension and pressure was getting to her. Her anger started to mount – she wasn't made to tiptoe around and hide! She was supposed to blow things up – blow everything up! Her fur brightened up and turned red and she felt hot.
Then suddenly she stopped herself. She shouldn't be worrying about getting caught – but if she went ballistic in here she would get caught. She closed her eyes to calm herself as she remembered her reason for doing this. Then she opened her eyes, watched the cages and pressed a button. Another door slid upwards and she inspected the room. It was in shadows and hard to see, but it looked empty. With a rush of adrenaline she saw it. She could see how the cages were arranged and which button activated them. Using the two already open doors to guide her, she pressed another button and with a satisfying sound the correct door opened up.
She ran forward, propelled by all the suppressed energy. All her thoughts were on completing this task and getting back to Earth. In the cage lay the sleeping form of a small purple bird. She picked it up as gently as she could manage and shot back to the teleporter, oblivious now to the noise she made in getting there. Some of the other experiments were making a din too, they wanted to be saved. She didn't spare them a look; this wasn't a rescue mission. Hurriedly she put the tiny bird on the pad and initiated the teleportation. For a few seconds she hoped that 625 hadn't fallen asleep, but then the little experiment was whisked away. She started the machine again and ran on to teleport herself, then sighed in relief as she again felt the swirling light pick her up.
625 was still stationed at the spaceship console, sitting with his head propped on one arm and using his other hand to poke lazily at the buttons. By some miracle he managed to get the incoming teleports to come through successfully. First the tiny bird appeared in the tube, then 623 materialised in the next one down. Once the glass case came up she rushed in to check on it.
'Oh, hey, cutie patookie, you're back.'
'I told you not to call me that,' she growled.
'Hang on, you went all that way to get that?' 625 scoffed.
623 ignored him and picked up her 'cousin'. Travelling molecularly had woken him up, so she held him firmly.
'Well, thanks anyway, 625.'
'You're welcome. Now get outta here before you run into Gantu.'
She carried her precious cargo out and 625 watched her leave. He wondered for a while what she was going to do with that, but soon enough all his thoughts were filled with sandwiches.
Meanwhile, in Hamsterviel's jail cell, something was happening. Inside one of the confinement chambers a creature moved in the shadows. One of the prisons that 623 had opened hadn't been empty after all. Now its occupant climbed out and looked around. It was free. The dark form ran across the room to the teleporter that had just been used.
In Gantu's ship, 625 had dozed off and lay drooling on the spaceship instruments. Something beeped and woke him up. A light was flashing on the control board.
'Aw, not another one…' he mumbled and hit a button with his fist to shut it up.
As he slept, the teleporter activated again. When the smoke cleared and the glass tube lifted, the escaped shadow crawled free. It narrowed its dark eyes and sought for a way to exit the ship, knowing it was back on Earth again…