Chapter 6
Wild Horse Chase (part II)
With Mulch in sight, Butler headed off, keeping within the shadows to conceal his presence. Butler now knew better than to sneak up on any dwarf from behind, especially this dwarf, so he contented himself by making a perimeter check to make sure there was no one around to ease drop on their conversation. Technically speaking, humans weren't allowed anywhere in the fairy terminals. It was best for him and Artemis to keep their heads low and avoid trouble for their fairy companions.
Once sure of the area's safety, Butler signaled to Holly and Artemis to follow him. Together they approached Mulch Diggums. The kleptomaniac dwarf was waiting by the entrance of a beat-up ship. Mulch had suspiciously acquired this transportation from heavens knows where, But it seemed to be in good working order when they climbed on board, each giving a brief greeting to the dwarf as they passed. Once inside, they noticed Mulch hadn't followed them. They took one sniff and turned right back around and disembarked.
Mulch saved the process of asking the question when he said, "Well it wasn't me. I got this from my great-uncle Larito. He was a vinegar smuggler. See, most sprites are very fond of vinegar and cucumbers, but the LEP have designated vinegar as a dangerous substance because of the whole baking soda thing. But anyway, to make a long story short, my great-uncle accidentally parked too close to the earth's core and the plastic bottles the vinegar were in..uh,well…melted. This thing hasn't been used in 83 years, so just imagine the stench before that. But I got it free, so we'll just deal with it. It has the best in anti-security protection from 83 years ago, great navigation's systems, and a decent sized and well stocked refrigerator. Oh, and some handy weapons for you Butler."
The three had no choice but to accept the vehicle as their transportation as time was short and Foaly was probably in trouble. Mulch grabbed a personal fairy computer and handed it to Artemis. They would hold their briefing outside the shuttle in an attempt to escape the smell. "I'm no good with briefings," Mulch grunted, "You can open the news programs from there yourself. The LEP made their official report already."
Artemis took the computer while Holly and Butler crowded in behind to watch the news report. Artemis easily manipulated the fairy keys and brought forth a high quality clip from the LEP.
A cheery looking pixie in a bright purple blazer shuffled the papers in front of her as she started, " The LEP have just released this announcement. Foaly, the centaur head of the LEP Technology Program of Peace and Fairy Protection (LEPT), has gone missing. I repeat Foaly is missing. Officials believe that foul play is involved, possible horsenapping. LEP confirmed today that the infamous Artemis Fowl, mud boy accused of kidnapping Holly Short, previous of the LEP Recon, is not involved. Repeat no foul on Fowl. However, Foaly's disappearance has suspicions aroused of Haven citizens. How safe is the population if the mind and power of the LEPT could be easily kidnapped? Please contact the LEP with any information you may have. Story update will be on PPTV later tonight. Stay tuned."
Artemis paused just long enough to look around at the wide-eyed faces around him. How could Foaly get horsenapped? He was the smartest fairy alive. Things didn't look good for Foaly's would-be rescuers.
Artemis closed the clip window and found four more that more-or-less covered the same information, but on different networks. If this was all the information they had, it would be impossible for the boy to form a plan of any kind. He was about to give up with the news networks when Current Fairy News' (CFN) site had an update.
Artemis immediately brought up the new clip. It was the same pixie as the earlier clip, except this time, her blazer was neon green. The pixie's face was grim. She tried to remain unemotional and professional through her presentation, but her voice was strained with the emotions she fought to keep inside. "The fairy world has been thrust into mortal peril following in the wake of Foaly's disappearance. Foaly's absence from the operations booth, from which he normally conducted his affairs, has somehow activated a virus. This virus is attached to every computer and every electronic device under the surface. It has already disabled every weapons system known to fairy-kind. The LEP believes this to be some kind of safety feature Foaly had built into the system to ensure the secrecy of the People. What is this virus' goal? Self-destruction of all it comes in contact with. Luckily for the fairy world, this virus won't completely destroy anything until another 16 hours, another safety built into the system. The LEP has 16 hours to deactivate this disastrous safety and save us all. They have their best technicians on the job at this very moment. Why must Foaly disappear now when all the fairy world needs him the most desperately?"
Artemis had had enough. He handed the computer back to Mulch expressing his dislike of the reporting, "Honestly. 'Why must Foaly disappear now when all the fairy world needs him the most desperately?' What a ridiculous question. It's obvious the program was designed to initiate in Foaly's absence. So many days after he wasn't there it would turn on and all of fairy world would turn off. The only safety it is, it that of job security for Foaly. The LEP can't fire him or all of their creations blow up."
Holly wouldn't have any of this. She restrained herself from punching the boy in the nose and instead contented herself with screaming in his face. "How dare you!" she screamed in a voice cascaded in emotion. Tears were springing to her eyes. Artemis already felt sorry for just saying what he had, however logical they may be, but Holly wasn't having any of his objective theories today, "How could you say that about Foaly. I remind you that he has saved your unworthy skin many a time mud boy! HE is my friend, and yours too, if you believe in such a thing!"
Artemis was stung by the last comment. Had Holly and him been getting along perfectly just a few hours before? How could she ask him such a question? Artemis did not let these concerns show on his face, but rather kept his pale cool demeanor and level voice, responding, "This has nothing to do with friendship Holly. I was merely making a logical conclusion on the basis of everything I know about Foaly. I believe we both know that the situation I have described is perfectly within the character of our FRIEND. It was you yourself who said that Foaly was under pressure in the office. Sool was after him to get him fired. Building a job security would not only be like him, but would also be a 150 percent reality. He's told me about it and its purpose. A FRIEND, and I emphasize the word friend, has accidentally put the People in danger. Now I suggest we control our emotions and get to the control box as soon as possible and with all haste. I may be able to put a stop to this from there."
Holly's clenched fists were trembling. She knew Artemis was right. Foaly would be the one to ensure his job in such a way. She just nodded and took her spot at the drivers chair in Mulch's transport pod. Once everyone was in and buckled, she threw the transport into its top speeds towards the LEP in Haven. Holly even threw in a few a few extra twists and turns to rattle the passengers a bit, especially one little mud boy. Needless to say, Holly still hadn't quite forgiven him for casting such a negative light on Foaly.
At the LEP Headquarters, Commander Ark Sool was also looking for information on Foaly. How had the centaur escaped his plan? Even more mysterious was that Council Member Vinyaya had managed to escape too. The furious commander punch a yellow button on his desk. It put him into contact with his secretary.
"Yes, Commander?" his secretary asked cheerfully, " May I help you?"
"Get Zango and Lobst in here now!" he screamed into a mike by the yellow button. Five minutes later two gnomes knocked on the door. Sool allowed them entrance and they stood in front of the commander's desk in a embarrassed silence. The two gnomes had on special emerald green suits with red X's on the sleeve which designated them as Majors in Sool's special forces unit.
Sool lit one of Root's fungus cigars and blew the toxic fumes into the waiting gnomes' faces. They tried not to breath and hoped that this briefing would not take long. Sool let the anticipation increase until he saw that both of his employees were turning blue from not breathing. "Tell me, " Sool demanded, "how a little old elf and a trapped centaur escaped from my two top hit-fairies."
The taller of the two gnomes, the one responsible for taking out the council member, choked on the smoke as he began, "We were following your orders, sir, and were waiting for the go ahead on the assassination. We had the old elf in our blaster sights and everything. Then, just as we were about to shoot, our guns, uh,..well, they lost power sir. While we were...erm...checking on the guns' status...Vinyaya just...disappeared. When we look back up she had just vanished like that!" said the gnome named Zango, snapping his fingers to further relate how fast the old elf had vanished.
"Just like that, huh?" asked the Commander mockingly. He was not about to look like the fool of this operation. As far as he was concerned, it was his hit team's fault for the failure. " And may I ask where she went? Did Vinyaya wave goodbye, or leave the room, or what? I hardly believe that disappearing form thermal imaging has become a hobby for the old elf."
Zango shook his head nervously, "I don't know how she did it sir. We turned on the thermal readers but the elf was no where in sight. I don't understand how she just vanished...completely."
Sool was growing angrier, and he turned to the other gnome, "Lobst! What do you have to contribute? Did Foaly just vanish or was he kind enough to wave goodbye?"
"Um...yes..com..ander." Lobst gulped. He didn't like being under pressure and he often lost the ability to speak.
"Yes what, Lobst? To the vanishing part or the waving goodbye part?" screamed Sool. His cheeks were beginning to have a red tinge to them, suggesting that he was about to go off on somebody.
"Bo..both parts, sir." Lobst stood up straighter as he tried to relate his story with dignity. "We were getting ready to take the control booth by surprise when the front window depolarized, allowing us to see inside the booth... He..Foaly that is...was just standing at the window, waving goodbye to us. we tried to force entry by blasting the door..but Foaly pushed some buttons and our guns went dead. We were trying to fix them when..."
Sool was able to finish the gnome's sentence, "when he vanished. The D'Arvitting centaur! He better hope that he's miles away by now, because if I get my hands on him, I swear I'll throttle the little pony's neck." The two majors quickly bowed out of the room to a commander pretending to strangle a certain centaur, but really only managing to tear up a lot of really important paperwork.
Holly, Artemis, Butler, and Mulch hurtled through passageways recklessly in their shuttle, sometimes within mere inches of the cave walls. Stalagmites and stalactites ensured a zigzagging pattern would have to be taken. Mulch had already puked twice and Artemis was just about to do the same when the entire ship's occupants jerked forward straining on their seat belts as Holly slammed of the brakes.
"We're here!" Holly called back turning and facing two pale humans and a greenish dwarf.
"I didn't frighten you, did I?" A quite rhetorical question.
Holly was already unbelted and getting out of the shuttle by the time the other three could see straight again.
"Hurry people! We have an emergency to attend to!" She yelled from outside.
They followed her slowly, still trying to keep whatever they had in the last week down. Mulch stumbled down the loading stairs to the ground and kissed the dirt wishing he had installed new gyroscopes in the ancient transport.
Artemis got out on shaking legs with a none-too-stable Butler behind him. The boy looked around, registering everything he saw as it might come in handy while investigating the crime.
The place was a zoo of fairies of all shapes and sizes. They were all wearing standard LEP uniforms. Artemis concluded that these were the techies assigned to counter Foaly's virus. Commander Sool could be seen right next to Foaly's control room door, ranting and raving to every fairy near to get him what he wanted now, or else...!
Charming thought Artemis. He began to descend the stairs but on the first step he stopped. The entire area had suddenly gone silent. Everyone paused in their tracks and everyone was staring at the mud boy.
One gnome, short and fat, completely lost it, "Artemis Fowl!" he yelled, "We're doomed. Everyone run! He's here to kidnap someone else! Run for you l-i-i-f-f-e-"
This unfortunate gnome had been silenced in mid-rave by Holly. She stood with her hand clenched into a fist. Apparently, she had punched the gnome in the nose.
"Listen to me, People of the Haven!" called out Holly loudly, "Do not panic! This mud boy is here on my permission to help us foil Foaly's virus! He is not here to kidnap anyone and he is not to be harmed! Any questions?"
Most of the fairies had questions and snide comments to make to Holly, but Butler's sheer size, not to mention his reputation for taking out an entire squad of LEP Retrieval officers, silenced any questions forming in anyone's head, anyone except Commander Sool.
"Holly Short! LEP arrest this elf for breaking Fairy Code 0.1 HUMAN! Short, you should know better than to bring a human down to the Haven without direct LEP permission! Especially these humans! You're a traitor to us all! I'll have you throw into Howler's Peak for this treason of your people!" A wiser fairy than Sool may have held his tongue, but this was Sool.
LEP officers began to circle around Holly. When Butler and Artemis stepped in front of her to protect her, they hesitated, looking back at their commanding officer. Then, after the command came from Sool, they shielded and began their assault on the would-be helpless mud men.
Butler and Artemis, however, just reached into their jacket pockets and brought out a pair of glasses each. Of course, these weren't ordinary glasses. Each lens was a filter to allow them to see the shielded fairies.
Sool wasn't the brightest fairy and goaded, "Oh mud men, when will you learn? You cannot see the fairies! Even with you're reading glasses!"
The mud men in question didn't respond to this ridiculous statement. They formed a triangle with Holly, backs facing each other so the team could face enemies on all sides. Mulch seemed not to have been noticed and took a seat on the steps. "If only I had popcorn," he thought.
Artemis and Butler could see their opponents closing in on them, 20 in all. The fairies drew their electric batons and had every intention to zapped all three into unconsciousness with them if only they worked. But with Foaly's virus, they were just hefty baseball bats, so they decided to use them as such. About 12 bold ones approached Butler, six attempted to capture Holly, and only two came after Artemis (after all, he was more of a mud whelp than a mud mountain.)
In the end, there lay 11 unconscious fairies in a pile next to Butler, one running and screaming for his mommy, six strung out on the ground around Holly, and, surprisingly, two fairies at Artemis' feet as well. Holly told Artemis, "Wow, Arty's not just useless luggage in a fight anymore. There may be hope for you yet, mud boy."
Artemis gave his vampiric smile, "What can I say?" he asked, stopping to kick away the fairies' dropped batons, "I was tired of just being luggage."
The boy turned to Sool and said, in his most intelligent and evil sounding voice, "Sool, are you through playing your little games? You cannot defeat us. So quit your pathetic schemes and let us help you stop this virus. Foaly's my friend and I intend to help him, whether or not you give us permission. I suggest just staying out of our way."
Sool's face was one of pure anger and hate. His malice could be felt, radiating from his being like heat from the sun. Mulch's hair cringed from such an outpouring of such evil emotions. "This isn't going to turn out well," he thought.
But Mulch's hair must've been predicting the far future, because Dwarf hair is never wrong, for Sool had to give in this time. He had no more men at his disposal, none willing to fight these three, that is. He gave more parting shot as he stepped aside, "This time, mud boy. Next time, I won't even bother threatening or mind-wiping. No! It'll be straight to Howler's peak with the lot of yah!"
The commander stormed off to make a report of this incident to the council. Oh how he would love to do just what he threatened! He must ask the council right away! So off he went, smiling to himself. He would yet have the last laugh!
Artemis wasted no time with threats. He scudded over to the gathered techies, all looking extremely scared, as if Artemis would just bite them at any second. Artemis, however, ignored this and demanded information out of them.
"What type of glass is this?" he asked one very nerdish looking pixie with bad teeth.
"Eh...um...it's c-c-completly bullet, laser, and ..and..and everything proof! Not that it matters. Any weapon that might have broken it has been de-deactivated by the virus." the pixie stuttered.
"Have they?" asked Artemis, his brain cells sparking into their famed intelligence. He needed something to get through the window. It was the weakest point. Lasers won't work, bullets won't work, and force itself is useless...unless...
"When?" he demanded.
"Excuse me?" asked the nerdy pixie.
"When did Foaly have this glass replaced last?" asked Artemis, upset that the pixie needed a question so simple to be spelled out.
The pixie pulled out a micro computer similar to a palm pilot, but much more advance. He did a quick search of LEP control station records. A few seconds later, the pixie said, "10 years ago. The next upgrade is scheduled for next week."
"Perfect!" exclaimed Artemis with a vampiric smile and he ran back over to Holly leaving a very confused pixie in his wake.
"Holly, I think you mentioned earlier today that your new gun uses sound, correct?"
"Yes, Artemis, but how does that help us. All weapons have been rendered useless and that glass is Foaly's invention."
"Yes, it is," Artemis revealed, "but so is that gun if I'm not mistaken. Did Foaly give it to you?"
"Yes, right before I came to visit you. But how did you know?"
"Ah, the pieces of this puzzle are beginning to come together. And how did I know Foaly gave you the gun? Well, that was just logic. I doubt your private eye salary could have afforded such a new and powerful weapon. Holly, use you Dipper to break the glass. Just shuffle through all it's settings. One of them will do it. I'm sure of it! Now everyone else, stand back please!" Artemis could be annoying at the most stressful situations, but nevertheless, it seemed like a good idea.
Holly took out her Dipper and set it to the lowest setting. Nothing. She quickly turned through the settings, one-by-one. This took a while as there were 257 different settings. The 128th one did the trick. It shattered the glass into and couple hundred billion pieces. Holly couldn't believe it worked. How did the mud boy know what to do? Why did her weapon work and everyone else's not?" She pushed this aside along with a group of the techies scratching their heads. They were all wondering how Artemis knew so much, too much they agreed. Holly and Artemis entered the control station through the broken window. Butler kept the crowd back so that Artemis could think. holly was getting ready to jump to the floor when Artemis grabbed her hand.
"Hello!" exclaimed holly as she faced the boy for an explanation. He was staring at the floor intently. "Artemis?"
This seemed to waken the boy from a trance. He took a water bottle from the bag he was carrying releasing Holly's hand as he did so.
"Wait!" commanded Artemis, "and watch."
He took the top off the bottle and threw in on the floor. The water spilled out, but was imediatly evaporated by a strong electrical current that swarmed through the floor.
Holly gave a slight chuckle, "That was close. Thanks Artemis."
Artemis nodded and was once again looking around, searching for more booby traps no doubt. He slid along the top of the work bench under the window. Ah, there it was. The switch to the floors was being compressed by an automatic clamp that was activated whenever Foaly was not in the control room.
Of course, Holly nor the surrounding fairies knew this. They just saw another trick to keep out intuders and robbers. Artemis, however, suspected something more, but he kept his mouth shut. No need to get a centaur friend in trouble now.
He undid the clasp and jump to the floor; perfectly safe now. He saw the control panel and went over to it. He studied for an entire 10 minutes, everyone waiting on baited breathe. Finally, he pushed one button. It brought up the countdown screen to how much time all the electronics under the surface had until the virus took complete control and bang! There goes all the fairies.
Artemis further manipulated the controls. Finally, he found the program entitled Armageddon Virus. That would be it Artemis surmised.
He try to open and deactivate it, but two things happened at once. A password box popped up on the monitor of the control panel while a paper floated down from the ceiling. Artemis caught the paper and saw that a mechanical flap on the ceiling had been released. Most interesting. He read the paper, memorized it, and handed it to Holly.
She read it aloud,
to find one lost
you must come seek
below the surface, water, and rock.
sixteen hours had you to find
A way to enter this confine.
Together now you must bind.
Lose but one
And you will fail
Now come together mud and fairy
To the place where your friend fled
Is your next clue to wait
So fly fools fly, you dipper of fools
and regain one you sorely miss.
The options you'll have are described
on a street of sums of levels
and a house of breaking glass.
all this shall continue till the end of 48,
and now at the end of sixteen,
play it backwards to unwind.
"Are you serious? Who would leave such a riddle as this? If ever we unravel this, it will be too late." said holly with frustration. She ran her fingers through her curly hair trying to get her head around the riddle.
She thought Artemis would tell her exactly what it meant, but she was left in silence. Artemis had his eyes closed. he seemed to be thinking.
"Artemis?" she whispered trying not to break his train of thought.
The boy's eyes snapped open making the fairy start. Artemis didn't respond, but he began pushing fairy keys on the control panel.
Holly was amazed. This boy seemed never to fail to do that at least. Artemis pushed in seven keys. In English it would be "neetxis." Funny thought Holly, that's not even a word. The boy hit submit and the computer excepted the password.
The countdown from 16 hours (which had reached one hour by now) stopped to be replaced by a countdown from 48 hours.
"Artemis, I don't understand. 'Neetxis?' Why is there another countdown? Can't you stop it?" asked Holly with a confused tone.
"No, I'm afraid not. Not even I can hoodwink Foaly's system. The only thing I did was follow part of the riddle. We're going to have to follow the entire riddle to get Foaly back so he can stop it."
"The riddle? What part of the riddle told you that 'neetxis' would be the password." asked Butler from out the window. He had been listening in.
"Well the last two lines, 'and now at the end of sixteen, play it backwards to unwind.' 'end of sixteen' would describe how many hours the virus' countdown contained. And if we play sixteen backwards to unwindthen 'neetxis,' or sixteen spelled backwards, must be to relieve of us the 16 hour deadline, or 'unwind.'"Artemis explained with a triumphant gleam in his eye.
Realization played on Holly's face as she thought about what Artemis had said.
"So where do we find the next clue?" said Mulch's voice.
Holly and Artemis looked around. The dwarf was no where in sight. All of a sudden, Mulch's head popped into view and just as suddenly vanished with a bump. The kleptomaniac had been standing underneath the broken window the entire time. He was just so short that neither Holly nor Artemis could see him. The bump they heard was him landing after he had jumped into view.
"Atlantis!" announced Artemis dramatically, "I shall explain on the way."
