Chapter 11
"Ok, we'd better get down to business," I said. "The Yeerks are predicting another five hundred new hosts in the next couple of weeks, which means we don't have time to sit around on our butts playing with time."
"Absolutely," Philip agreed. "What do we know?"
"Well," I said, pleased to here one of the new guys getting his input in so quickly. "We know from the Sharing meeting that the Yeerks are adding something to the city's water supply. This in turn is making a load of people get ill. Those people, we assume, are being admitted to hospital, and referred to a specific department."
Sam nodded. "The Yeerks are given those people a quick treatment, and then making them into Controllers."
--Didn't the Yeerks try something like this a few months ago?-- Tobias asked. --With that whole hydro-therapy thing?--
"Uh, yeah," I said. "That plan went a bit off course."
Tobias was referring to the time when we'd checked out a similar scheme of the Yeerks', and I'd been made into a Controller. Not exactly the happiest three days of my life, but three that taught me a lot.
"Well, can we maybe try a different tactic this time?" said Marco wryly. He looked at Rachel expectantly.
"Trash the place!" she said happily. "The Yeerks can't make new hosts this way if they don't have the facilities."
Sam looked at her, a funny expression on her face. "Trash the place?" she said, disbelievingly. "What, like just tear it down?"
"Don't worry," Marco said. "Rachel is always first to suggest the most insane strategies."
"Look," I said, before the two of them could get into an argument. "As I see it, we have three options. It's not just the hospital we have to deal with, but the patients, doctors and the whole chemical thing too. So, number one. We find some way to stop the chemical being added to the water. Number two, we get hold of the antidote and add it to the water supply. And number three, we trash the place."
"Go for number three," said Rachel and Ferdie simultaneously.
There was a moment's silence, broken by Marco.
"Well, there's a surprise," he said. "Someone who actually thinks like Rachel."
"I don't really think trashing the place is going to be very useful, Flawless" Sam said. "It's just going to draw the Yeerks' attention to us, and besides, just tearing down the infrastructure isn't going to stop them moving their facilities elsewhere."
I nodded. "Good point. We can't just go in, all guns blazing. We have to do this a little more subtly. Formulate a strategy which actually brings their plans to it's knees."
"Ok," Sam said. "So we have two other options. What does everyone else think?"
"I think we should try and go for option two," Cassie said. "Find some way to get hold of a chemical that neutralizes the effects of the chemical, and add that to the city's reservoirs."
"Same here," said Maggie. "If we can do that, the Yeerks will think that their plan isn't working and give up."
--I agree,-- said Tobias. --It might be the only way to do it without alerting to the Yeerks that we know about their plans.--
"Yeah, that's all really great and all," said Marco impatiently, "but does anyone besides me see a major flaw with that plan?"
"What?" asked Maggie.
"Look. We don't even know what the Yeerks are adding to the water, let alone come up with the right antidote or whatever for it. I know you're good with medicine and all," he said, looking at Cassie, "but I doubt even you can be sure what drug to get hold of if we don't even know which one we have to counteract."
"Marco is right," said Ax, who was now using both hands to practice his salute. "With, of course, the extra hazard that we might add something to the water supply that is potentially dangerous to humans. Rous. Danger-uss."
"Apart from the 'rous' bit, Ax is right," Sam said. "We'd need to be absolutely certain what chemical is being added to the water, and even more certain what drug we'd have to get hold of to counteract the effects."
"Not to mention actually getting hold of the antidote," Ferdie added. "We can't just go snooping around a hospital, looking for the right medicines. And we'd need huge amounts of the stuff if it's to go around the whole district."
"Ok, so how about number one?" I said. "We find a way to stop the Yeerks adding the chemical to the water in the first place."
"And how are we meant to do that?" asked Maggie.
"We'll have to find a way to find out exactly which plant the Yeerks are adding the chemical to," I said. "Then, we'll need to find a way into the facility itself, and find out where exactly the chemical is being stored, and at what point it is added to the water."
"That's where things start to become a little insane," Marco said to new guys in a stage whisper.
"It will probably be underground, out of sight of the normal workers - or at least disguised." Philip pointed out, ignoring him. "Possibly in the sewer system, just before the water is stored in the reservoir."
"Sewers?" exclaimed Marco. "Aww, man! Don't tell me we're going to have to be flushed down the toilets!"
"I shouldn't think there's any need for that," I said. "But we will need a morph that handles those environments well. Cassie? Any ideas?"
"I don't think we need any thing fancy," she said, scanning some of the cages. "Just a plain, brown rat should be ok."
"Lovely," said Ferdie dryly. "I've heard you can get some disease from sewer rats which makes you go blind."
"Well, we're morphing them, Flawless, not taking them out to dinner," Philip muttered.
"Do you have any rats in at the moment, Cassie?" I asked. "Hang on a sec, haven't you and Rachel already got a rat morph?"
"Yes, and yes," Cassie answered. "But we've only got white lab rats and they might get noticed. So for rats that are up to the job, we've got a nice big brown one in one of the other cages."
"Can't I just stick with my mouse morph?" Ferdie grumbled.
"Ferdie," I said, slightly impatiently. "We should all acquire the same things. That way, we all know each other's strengths and weaknesses, and it makes it easier for me to keep track of who has what morph."
"That's so true," added Sam. "When we first went to a zoo to acquire some morphs, Flawless just went round the whole park, acquiring anything he could touch. He hasn't even morphed half the animals he's got. I have no idea what DNA is lurking around in his bloodstream!"
"Alright?" I said, looking at him. "We all acquire a rat. Then, we need to come up with a plan as to how we're going to do this whole thing. First of all, we need to find out exactly which water system the Yeerks are adding the chemical to, and I'm not too sure how we're going to do that."
"There is a way," said Philip, slowly. "But it will take a while, and we'll need a good computer, with decent internet access. And someone who can create a strong firewall to stop the Yeerks from knowing we've hacked into their system."
Everyone looked at Ax.
"I can be of assistance there," he said, nodding at Philip.
"You can use my dad's computer," Marco added. "He's an engineer, and always has the latest models," he told the new guys.
"Ok, that's settled then," I said. "Let's acquire this rat, and get over to Marco's and get this done."