After they had arrived Skipper was given a shot of adrenalin to wake him up. It worked.
They were taken to a room and pushed in.
"This is your quarters." Colonel George said. "You will not leave your quarters unless you are told to do so. I will be back shortly to take you to the general."
"Which room is this?" Skipper asked. There were multiple hallways with multiple rooms. It would be nice to know where to go.
"Sector twelve room twelve." And then he slammed the door shut.
There were two bunk beds with pillows. No blankets. Just four beds with one pillow each. The floor was smooth and the walls were the same. Both were a dark gray color. the bunk beds were held together by steel and were located in the furthest two corners from the door. There was also a vent in the corner parallel to the door. It was a very blank room. A very boring room.
"He's taunting me." Skipper said blankly staring at the vent. "Or he's just stupid." They were put in a room with a vent. He had expected to be put in a room where the vent was on the door. But the vent was up on the wall. That meant that there was room for a short trip back to the zoo. The Colonel was either A, and idiot. Or B, taunting him. Skipper sided with the taunting. But he would have to prove that.
"Um…Ok." Kowalski said confused. Someone was taunting Skipper with a vent. Odd. Oh. Stupid. Kowalski told himself. Taunting. It meant the vent was there to make Skipper want to get out and to give him a way out. But if he left there would be hell to pay. That made sense. And the or stupid part was that the Colonel was just being stupid and forgot that Skipper knew how to use vents. Now it made sense.
"Um…a little explanation please." Private said, braking both Skippers and Kowalski's train of thought.
Skipper turned to them. "Explanation on what?" He asked. There were many things that he could explain. Not smart things like Kowalski knew. But there were still things he could explain.
"Everything. What this place is all things about it." Private said impatiently. He didn't like this place. It was a little creepy.
"Yes, well." Skipper took a deep breath. "This is unit nine of the fifteen training and battle units. There is one General commanding each unit and one general only. There are five Army Generals controlling three sectors each and a Global General controlling the five Army Generals. We are currently located in the twelfth sector and there are twelve sectors in all. The twelve sectors empty out into a large dome looking room and continue down a bigger hallway to the training area. There are multiple hallways webbing out of the training room, each going to a different point for a different job. These hallways are connected with smaller ones at certain points to make getting from one place to the next easier. There is a weapons wing, a security wing, and others.
"The training area. Actually there are two of them. Your superior can train you any way he or she wants to as long as they get the basics covered. They can also punish you haw ever they want to, so long as they don't kill you. Training usually lasts from five am to ten pm with three twenty minute rest brakes. And you have to complete every step of the training or, depending on who you have, you will be kept in the training area until you do finish.
Skipper took another deep breath. "Now the punishment. Thank god Reniku isn't our superior because he would put you near death if he had to punish you. George is almost worse though. He will make you do every workout in the world. He will make your arms want to fall off and the rest of your body will want to fall apart as well. And he still makes you do the every day training. To make everything worse he expects you to do the usual training as if the punishment never happened. So although Reniku gives you a lot of pain all at once. George Makes you bring yourself pain via the workouts, and his pain lasts longer.
"This. Everything from the Global General down is a fighter association type thing. I'm not exactly sure what they call it but it's a lot like the human military. Except for the fact that the fifteen units are stationed all over the world and have one purpose. To prevent the spread of evil. But it seems to only attack major mad men. Leaving the smaller issues up to people like us to solve and get rid of. We are called free roamers. We go where ever to fight the smaller mad men and basically stop things from needing these guys.
"Is there anything else you want to know?" Skipper finished. That was everything he had to say about this place. They would learn the major details soon enough.
"Just one thing." Private said. "How di you get here the first time? I mean you didn't just walk up and join. Did you?"
"No. I didn't." Skipper replied. He didn't know if he wanted to explain the answer to the question Private had just asked. But it couldn't hurt. Could it? "Manfredi and Johnson took me here. How they got here I don't know. Nor did I ever care to ask. But this was where they were when they found me. And no I'm not going to explain that. They were Brigade Generals here and the Colonel was one step above them. So I slowly got used to this place and ranked up to the rank Major. But then I started to realize that there were screams coming from areas off of our track. Other problems that we weren't addressing that we should be solving. I thought that that was what we were there for. Manfredi and Johnson realized that beforehand. Before the got me. That's why they got me. Then we all got into a fight with George. We were sick of having to ignore the minor problems. Those problems needed solutions too. They attacked George and I finally know why he was able to hold them off. Then the General came and separated the fight. The three of us retired. But George took a major demotion. That's how I got here. And that's how I left. Before you ask. I don't know why the general wants me back here. And I don't know why you three had to come. But I intend to find out." Skipper explained. He didn't like ignoring those who need help. He never really had. And he wanted to know why they were here. There was a reason behind it.
"Oh. Well that explains a lot." Private said. He was surprised actually. He didn't know any of that. But there was still one question. There was always one more question to ask Skipper. But he wouldn't ask this one. Skipper had already said he wouldn't answer it. What did Manfredi and Johnson save him from? Private shook his head forcing the question to the back of his mind. There were more serious things to worry about.
"So basically, you came here the first time through Manfredi and Johnson, left because it didn't address the smaller problems, and this place is a training area where everything you do is basically controlled by who ever is in charge of you and if you get in trouble you're going to have to have to do the punishment that makes your body want to fall apart?" Kowalski asked. He wanted to make sure he was hearing everything right. Because what Skipper had just explained was that. There was no fun and games here. There wasn't any free choice here. And there wasn't any escape. It sounded like being in a prison. Without the chains and torture part. In other words. Not fun.
"Yeah basically." Skipper replied. Kowalski was right. They controlled you and punished you. It was like not being able to be you. One thing Skipper always hated.
Then George came back. He flung the door open. "Let's go." He growled.
"Do you think you could be any happier George?" Skipper asked sarcastically. What was his problem?
"Don't test me boy. Just go!" He shouted angrily.
Skipper rolled his eyes. Here we go.
They all walked out into the cave hallway and followed George.
George was leading them and two guys were behind them making sure they walked. They went down the hallway and into the first dome. They went down another hallway to the training area. It was just a plain empty dome.
Kowalski opened his mouth to ask where all the training equipment was. But Skipper put up his flipper stopping him.
"Later. He said. Kowalski could ask later.
They walked down yet another hallway and came to a big castle looking door.
"Wait here." George hissed. He walked into the room behind the two big doors.
"Ok. What was his problem?" Kowalski asked. He seemed overly angered.
"Eh." Skipper shrugged. "Probably something to do with us. No big problem"
"Why isn't it a big problem?" Private asked confused. Wasn't it a bad thing when your superior was mad at you?
"Because. We didn't do anything wrong. He can't do anything to us. So he can be as angry as he wants. He can't do anything." Skipper replied calmly. It was true. The General didn't grant permissions without logical reasons. Sometimes the reasons had to be extremely logical other times they didn't have to be very logical.
Then George opened the doors and motioned for them to go inside.
And so they walked into the Generals quarters.