Chapter 16

We quickly morphed back to human - or in Ax's case, Andalite - and stood shivering in the cold building. I ran my hands along the wall, looking for a light switch. I found one, and a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling flickered to life.

We looked around at our surroundings. We were in a small, single-roomed building. There was one door, and several dusty windows. There was a desk, a chair, and a few dusty folders of various files and sheets of paper. The place reminded me of some kind of army barracks or whatever.

"I wonder if there's some kind of computer terminal around," Philip said. "Or maybe the controls here are all manual valves."

"What about all this?" said Marco, turning towards the wall behind us. It was lit up with a series of LEDs and LCD displays. There was a grid of switches, buttons and knobs, each marked by a series of letters and numbers. It looked about thirty years old.

"What does it all mean?" said Rachel, peering at it. "Is this where they control the adding of the chemical?"

"My guess is as good as yours," I told her. "Ax? What's your take on all this?"

--My first thought was that for I moment I assumed we had entered some kind of human museum,-- he said. I rolled my eyes, not sure if this was supposed to be Ax's attempt at a joke or just another insult to human technology.

"Ax, this isn't top of the range stuff," Marco retorted. "Just give us your take on it and quit with the remarks."

--Well, I believe that yes, this is where the addition of the chemical to the water is controlled,-- Ax replied. --This system must control the valves which allow for the flow of the water, and some of them must allow different chemicals into the tanks. One, I assume, is the chemical that is causing humans to become ill.--

"Right," I said, trying to focus on what to do next. "So if we can work out how to work this thing, we might be able to shut down the system that releases the chemical."

"And you're just going to pick up the nearest manual, are you?" asked Marco sarcastically.

I shrugged, realizing none of us had any idea how to work this thing. "Well, we can't risk playing around with the switches, incase we mess up something else. A whole district of people could end up with a load of sewage coming out of their showers this evening."

"That is not a pleasant thought," said Marco.

"No," Philip agreed. "And we might accidentally release a chemical that kills these people."

"So what then?" asked Marco, sighing.

"I say we stomp the place," said Rachel eagerly. "Just morph elephants or whatever and bring this whole lot down."

"Oh, very subtle, Rachel. That would probably just make the whole place malfunction, and who knows what the neighborhood will end up with then?"

"It might be the only way," I said, speculating.

"What? You're backing up Rachel's insane idea?"

"We can't do that to this system," I said, thinking allowed, "because it might control too many other systems. But, if we can work out where exactly which tank is holding the chemical, maybe we could find some way to put a leak in it. Shut it down completely."

"That's the way to go," said Rachel happily. "Why don't you and Ax do the thinking, and I'll morph to elephant and get ready to do some serious stomping?"

"You'll help us work it out too," I said. "No one morphs until we know for sure which tank is holding the chemical."

We started rummaging though the folders and files, just like we had in the main building. Unfortunately, these folders were even older and in no particular order.

"Hey," said Rachel. "This file is really old and dusty, but it has finger prints on it, where the dust had been wiped away. And all the papers inside are new and in good condition."

"Bring it over here," I said, clearing a space on the desk. She spread the papers out onto the table and I peered that them. There was a map, some letters stapled together and a bunch of other stuff.

"There's a copy of that letter giving permission for the new pipework," I said. And there's another one dated a few mouths before that. They must have built that system, and are now planning a new one."

"There's some plans for a new container as well," said Philip.

"Let me have a look at the map," I said. "Yeah. Look at this. The new container is connected to the new pipe system. It runs directly to the reservoir by this pipe here." I traced the route with my finger, hoping the others were following.

"There's a report on it's progress as well," Philip said, picking up another sheet of grids, tables and text. "Carried out by a Mr. Michael Adams."

"Hey!" said Rachel suddenly. "I know that guy. He used to teach technology at our old school."

"Yeah, you're right," said Marco. "And I saw him at The Sharing yesterday evening. He must be a Controller and working on this scheme."

"Which means this container must be the one that holds the chemical," I said. "Tank DZ3. About ten meters to the right of this building. We should be able to see it."

We peered out of the dusty window, and sure enough, there was a brand new looking container just behind one of the circular pools. It was a large, upright cylinder, white in color, with stenciled-on letters and numbers. It was connected to a pipe which became buried in the ground.

"Ax, can you ask Ferdie what the letters on that tank say?" I asked, not wanting to risk shouting out and anyone hearing my voice. I knew we'd be making a heck of a lot of noise in a few minutes, but I still felt it was safer to remain inconspicuous for as long as possible.

--Of course, prince Jake,-- Ax replied. Then, --Ferdinand? Can you make out a large, white, cylindrical tank about ten of your meters to the west of this building?--

"Ax, they're everybody's meters, not just ours," Marco muttered.

--Um, yeah,-- I heard Ferdie call. --Is that the one which holds the chemical?--

--Yes, we believe so. But we need to be sure. Can you read any of the writing on it? It is too dark for our eyes to make out.--

--There's a load of random numbers on one side,-- Ferdie said. --And Some kind of warning sign. Some black letters…D-Z-3,-- I think.

"DZ3," said Marco. "That's the one."

--I do not believe so,-- blinked Ax. "Ferdinand told us it said D-Zed-Three. We are looking for D-Zee-Three. Now, I do not say that I am an expect in human- --

"It's just the English way of pronouncing Z," I said. "They're the same letter."

--Ah. Zed. Zee. Zed. Zee.--

"Great," said Marco. "Now he's starting to play with mouth sounds as an Andalite."

"Well, if we've got the right tank, what are we waiting for?" asked Rachel. "I say we power up and start causing some serious damage!"

"Ok, ok!" I said, exasperated. "Just don't go over board, ok? And this is probably going to alert the Controllers to our presence, so get ready for a fight. I'll let the others know. Everyone else; pick your most powerful morphs, get outside and start morphing."