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.
