Chapter 15
We waited nervously outside the room, waiting as Ax fiddled around with the keypad. He had removed the front of the key pad, and his delicate Andalite fingers were now working efficiently, twisting and re-fitting the exposed wires. At last, the door clicked open, and we stepped through. Philip flew in over my head, and Marco ran in, trying to avoid Ax's hooves.
"Where are we?" asked Rachel, as we scanned the room. It was a medium sized area, with several computer terminals, some desks and a load of filing cabinets. A notice board was pinned up on the wall, and the room was lit by harsh strip lighting. There were papers and folders scattered about, and the whole place was pretty untidy.
"Well, by the sign on the door, I'd guess we are in the primary control office," I muttered. "Marco and Philip, you may as well demorph. I have a feeling we're going to be piling through these folders, and it's going to take a while."
I walked over to the door and shut it, hoping that it would lock from the other side. Soon, Philip and Marco were fully human, and we crowded round one of the computer terminals.
"This one's screen saver isn't on yet," said Philip, sitting down at the desk and moving the mouse around. "Maybe it's the one the guy has just been fiddling about on."
"What did he say he was doing?" Rachel asked. "Carrying out some kind of control check?"
"Yeah, I think so," said Philip. "My guess is that if he was doing it in the middle of the night and not during the day, it's most likely he's checking up on the equipment that adds the chemical."
"Maybe we can access his last files," suggested Marco. "Find out a bit more about this whole thing."
"Yeah," I agreed. "Ax and Philip, why don't you guys work on that? The rest of us will see what we can find in these files."
"I take it these people aren't exactly into the whole Feng Shui thing," muttered Rachel, staring at the mess. "I mean, where are we supposed to start?"
"Try looking though the newer folders first," I suggested. "The dates are all marked on the spines. I don't think this project has been going on long, so anything we need will be in the recent files."
We skimmed through the masses of paper, looking for anything that might be useful. Marco put aside some papers on some plans for the construction of a new reservoir. Rachel found something that gave permission for some new piping that was dated just a few weeks ago. I found a rough map of the facility.
--Prince Jake, I think we have found something that might be beneficial to you,-- said Ax. --We have managed to take a look at a list of the most recent documents and programs opened. The Controller we observed entering this room has been checking this spreadsheet here.--
I walked over to the computer and peered at the screen. At first, it just looked like a complicated grid of letters and numbers. Then, I noticed a sub-note at the bottom of the page.
"Building 4A," I said. "That's where the computer that controls the chemical's release is being held," I read. "We should get over there and see if we should shut it down."
"But the guy just ran a control check," Marco pointed out. "If he discovers that the equipment has suddenly stopped working, he'll know something has shut it down."
"Well, I can't see what else we are supposed to do," I said. "We can't sit around on this for long. People are being made into Controllers. We have to stop this."
"I'm all for it," said Rachel, throwing down the notes she was holding. "We're here now, we might as well do what we came to do."
"Well, there's a surprise," said Marco sardonically. "Rachel's all for it."
I picked up the map of the facility and grabbed a pen from the desk. "Right. We are here," I said, circling the main building. Building 4A is here, by this smaller tank. We'll need to find a way over to it. I think we should morph rats."
"We're going above ground, right?" asked Marco cautiously. "I don't want to go swimming in anyone else's gravy just yet."
"Yeah," I replied. "We'll have to get out of this building first though." I pointed back to the map. "The primary control room is marked here. That's where we are. So we need to go back out of this door, along the corridor the way we came, then out this door here."
"That door is alarmed, dude," Marco pointed out. "You can tell by the little asterisk."
"Um, ok. We'll, there's a small room here with some windows. We'll check and see if they're open, and go out that way."
We made out way down the corridors, with Ax and Philip leading the way. Philip's best with directions, and Ax has an excellent memory for remembering which ways to turn. Finally, we found a couple of bathrooms. The female's room had an open window.
"See? The girl's room is always so much nicer than the mens'." said Rachel, as we all clambered through the window and slid down onto the grass. Ax, who couldn't fit through in his Andalite body, morphed straight to rat and I carried him through. The rest of us quickly completed our own morphs.
--This thing has a really disgusting love of beetles and maggots,-- said Marco. --And it feels disturbingly at home here.--
--Not as bad as when I did my shrew morph,-- said Rachel. --That was really horrible. This rat is a lot easier to handle, too. Basically the same as the other rat morph I have.--
--I remember that shrew morph,-- said Marco with a sigh of nostalgia. --The taming of the shrew-Rachel. What an evening.--
I ignored their conversation and called out to the others, who I hoped were still in wolf or owl morph.
--Sam? It's Jake. How you guys doing out there?--
--Yeah, all good,-- came the reply. --Not much has changed. Where are you?--
--We're rats. Round the back of the building. So if any of you can see us, try not to eat us for supper.--
--I see you,-- said Ferdie. --Very tasty looking. Would go well with a bit of mouse.--
--Oh god, another Marco,-- said Rachel. --Now we've got two jokers hanging around.--
--Just trying to keep up the morale,-- Ferdie replied. --So, where are you heading off to now?--
--Building 4A,-- I replied. --It's a small structure near one of the water tanks. You can help us look for it, if you like.--
--Why not?-- he said happily. My rat brain suddenly became aware of a large form, swooping over me. Ferdie as a barn owl. I resisted the urge to run.
We scampered across the grass, passing several other smaller buildings and a variety of tanks, pipes, water towers and huts. The place was set out in a kind of grid system, with small roads running in parallel lines, and groups of those big round tanks in clusters of four. At least, this was what I had remembered from when we flew over as owls. It was quite difficult to make out what was what when you were a rodent.
At last, Ferdie told us that we'd reached the correct building.
--It's clear,-- he told us. --I can see foot prints on the ground outside, so I think there might have been someone about a while ago, but they're long gone now.--
--How are we meant to get in?-- asked Marco.
--The building looks rather ancient,-- Ferdie said. --There's some kind of burrow that leads underneath. If you squeeze down there, you might be able to come up though the floorboards.--
--Burrow? Like a badger or something?-- asked Marco. --We're rats. We don't want to get into a fight with any badgers.--
--I can't see any signs that there's been anything living down there in a while. No droppings or whatever. You should be fine.--
--Yeah, well, I'm holding you personally responsible for anything that happens for my little rat butt, posh-boy.--
--Don't listen to him, Ferdie,-- I said. --Come on. Let's get down there.--
I entered the burrow, which made my rat's brain feel more at home. It liked dark, dingy tunnels like this. There were lots of tasty smelling beetles crawling about.
--Jake, would you quit looking for lunch and just get down there?-- snapped Marco.
--Oh, sorry,-- I said, realizing that I'd let the rat's instincts take over for a few seconds. We reached the end of the tunnel, and found ourselves under the foundations of the building. There was a small gap in the floorboards that we could just squeeze through.
--Let's demorph,-- I said. --Take a look around.--