Chapter 11

"I'm still up for it," said Ferdie.

"You're always up for anything, Flawless," replied Philip. "That's what makes you so dangerous."

We had just left MegaClick, our time on the computers having run out, and were now back to wandering around the streets.

"Think of what an opportunity this is for us," Ferdie went on

"You said that onboard the Hertford, and look at where it got us," Sam said.

"Yeah, we blew up the ship, a load of Yeerks and some technology they were going to use to advance their invasion!"

"Nearly blowing ourselves up in the process."

I took a deep breath, speaking up. "The Yeerks don't know we're so close to their mission," I said. "They are probably aiming this whole trap at the resistance! The last they'll expect is for the Fugitives to get involved."

"See, Sam?" Ferdie winked, tapping her playfully on the arm. "Mags agrees with me. If we morph wasps or flies or whatever, we can just hop on, completely undetected, and hop off again when we reach LA!"

"Aye," I said. "Then we could go as geese and follow them to the Yeerk headquarters, and we'll find out exactly where the Pool is."

"We don't have to try and take them down, or anything," argued Ferdie. "Just use this opportunity as a spying mission. The Yeerks are obviously predicting that the resistance are going to show up anyway, or they wouldn't have splashed their name all over the media, so they are probably expecting an ambush by them instead."

"We can just let them sort it out, and join up only when it's safe," I said.

"What if the celebrities have already been infested before they get on the plane?" suggested Sam. "Or are actually infested onboard the Concorde."

"I don't reckon so," replied Philip. "Have you noticed how the celebrities are all keep together until they reach the headquarters? On board the Concorde together, then again in a coach?"

"Well, seriously, guys, I do think this is too big an opportunity to waste," I said, catching Ferdie's eye.

Sam sighed. "This is going to very risky, you know that, guys?"

Ferdie grinned. Sam had obviously come around to the idea a lot quicker than he'd imagined.

"Absolutely," he said. "But I'm sure we could pull it off."

"This is coming from someone who completely ignores the strategic problems," muttered Philip.

"Well, we've got a day and a half to work out the details, and fly to New York, haven't we?" I said. I'd managed to persuade Sam to do some further research on the internet to find out exactly where we were, and how far away the airport that the Concorde was flying from was. Amazingly, it was only around a hundred miles from where we were, and I'd even had a look at an online route planner to find a main road we could follow from the air. We'd certainly been lucky so far, but by the look on his face, Philip was obviously worried how soon our luck would run out.

"Well, Maggie needs to a get a new insect morph, if we're even going to go ahead with this mission," Sam told us.

"What's wrong with her beetle morph?" asked Philip, frowning.

"I don't think it's fast, nor agile enough," she replied. "We've all got wasps, which are much faster and better fliers. If we're to stand any chance of getting on board that plane, Maggie will need something better than a beetle."

That's how I ended up standing barefoot inside an open dumpster.

"Oh, this is disgusting!" I cried, trying not to step in a pile of mouldy baked beans. Ferdie was laughing, standing well back to avoid the stench. Sam and Philip were a little more helpful, leaning over the greasy sides of the other bins and opening their lids too. The smell was horrendous. A foul mixture of mould, dirt, oil and filth. Even worse, the dumpsters belonged to a fast food restaurant, and were filled with old, greasy chips and rotting meat.

"A biologist would be fascinated by these mould growths," said Sam conversationally. "Look at all these cultures."

"I would really rather not!" I exclaimed. "Just let me try and catch a bug without falling headfirst into this rubbish."

Luckily, we had come to acquire flies, and there were hundreds of the things buzzing around. Sam, Philip and I were swiftly reaching out and trying to catch on in our hands, but it was proving very difficult.

"These ruddy flies!" Philip yelled. "They're too fast!"

"Flies can see movement practically before it happens," I said. "They have lightening-fast reactions. To them, we move like snails."

"Thanks for that, Maggie," said Philip. "Now I'm never going to catch one."

"Ferdie - why don't you get over here and give us a hand?" Sam called, slightly annoyed.

"Whilst standing in a rubbish bin? No thanks."

"But you're the only one of us with shoes on!"

"Yeah…but they're so tight that I find it difficult to climb in them," he said. "I wouldn't be able to get in."

"Yeah, whatever, Flawless," I said.

Suddenly, Sam cried out. "I've got one! At last!" She immediately started to acquire it to stop it buzzing around in her hand.

"Pass it here, before it wakes up," I said, holding out my hand. She tipped the fly - a big, black, hairy one - into my hand and I began to acquire it. I passed it to Philip, who already had a wasp morph like the others, but acquired the fly anyway.

"Ferdie, get over here and acquire this thing," he said, walking to him.

"Why? I've already got a wasp morph," he said.

"I don't care. I'm going to make you at least touch this thing. We've spent all this time trying to catch it, you can at least use it's DNA."

Ferdie rolled his eyes and acquired the fly, his top lip curling in disgust.

"Cool," said Sam. "I'm thinking maybe we should morph now whilst we're hidden. Get in the air. Walking around the streets might get us seen by Controllers."