LU IN THE KEY LAIR

As Lu was set down by his hideously transformed father, he shrank

back from the four people who had watched his arrival. There was

one in red and black robes with red hair, one in blue and black robes

with blue hair, one in cream to white robes with a strange headdress,

and the smallest of the lot, an old man with a cane in purple robes. It

was this last who spoke, addressing the twisted parody of Lu's father.

"Well done, XD001. This is perfect." Lu looked at the harmless-

looking old man, reached out with his mind to touch the old man's

mind, and recoiled as he felt a burning and evil ambition in the man's

head. The man, who had not even noticed Lu's mental touch, turned

to the man with the headdress.

"Snattle, take our latest guest to Gorigan, and have him processed."

Lu shrank back as the man with the headdress approached. He didn't

know what being 'processed' would involve but if it had anything to

do with what was wrong with his father, he wanted none of it. Snattle

reached out surprisingly fast, and scooped Lu up into his arms. Lu

squawked and tried to struggle, but Snattle's arms were pinning Lu's

wings to his side. The blue-robed man came over with a roll of tape,

and before Lu realised what he planned, he had taped Lu's beak shut.

"It looks like it could give a nasty nip." he said to Snattle, by way of

explanation.

Snattle nodded and walked towards the elevator. His grip was gentle

enough, but Lu was still scared, for he had briefly touched Snattle's

mind as he'd picked him up, and what he had felt was completely at

odds with his gentle grip.

Snattle took him into the hold of a boat, and a white-coated man had

had a low conversation with Snattle, and then Snattle had left as the

white-coated man had sat on Lu, stretched out a wing, and injected

him with something that made him woozy and tired. After that, the

white-coated man had called over two more people, who had picked

him up and put him in a sort of crate with hay on the floor as

bedding: they had then closed the crate. It was dark in the crate,

darker than Lu was used to, and he had never been so alone and

scared in all his life. His terrified whimpers had gone unheard for the

entire boat journey, and although when the crate was transferred to

a land vehicle he heard two people discussing his whimpers, nobody

came to check on him.

When they arrived, and the crate was opened, Lu had never been so

glad to see daylight. The two white-clad people who had taken him

out seemed friendly enough on the surface, and one even gave him a

few strokes and a pat. He didn't dare touch the mind, scared at what

he might find, but accompanied them meekly enough into a big

threatening-looking pyramid. They were met just inside the doorway

by a big-chested man with huge arms and a hard jaw, who indicated

that the two people were to bring Lu and follow. As they entered a

bigger room, Lu noticed there was a lot of noisy machinery. Lu was

unnerved by the strange noises and the sense of wrongness he got

from the machinery, his gaze wandering to where a conveyor belt

entered a menacing-looking black tunnel.