The Speed of Darkness
Chapter 14 - Groggy

Very slowly, Skipper opened his eyes and peered at his surroundings. He was laying in his bunk, sprawled out on his stomach. He could see the entirety of the inner HQ; the fridge, the television, and table were all there. Some early morning light, tinted blue by the water outside the headquarters, was shining through the porthole window. He heard Rico lightly snore from above him. Everything was in place.

The only question was, how did he get here?

The last thing he remembered was smiling and waving for a couple of small children, which rewarded him by throwing popcorn. Rico had been in the HQ with his doll, Kowalski was working on some important calculations, and Private was watching a show on the television. Everything had been normal, but what had happened between that point and this one? The thought escaped him.

Skipper sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes with his flippers. As soon as he reopened them, he felt a very sharp pain in his forehead. His vision grew cloudy for a second and pins and needles ran down his spine. He clutched his forehead and fell back onto his pillow, gasping with loss of breath.

"Skipper?" said a voice.

"Kowalski?" asked Skipper, recognizing the penguin's deep tone.

"You're awake. Good." returned the intellectual. Skipper turned his head to catch a glance at Kowalski, who was tinkering with some objects on the table. Kowalski looked at Skipper with concern.

"Skipper, we may have a problem."

Skipper knew when Kowalski said that, it was never a joke. "Yeah? What's that?

"When Alice came and tranquilized us, she took us to the veterinarian." explained Kowalski.

"Wait, Alice tranquilized us? When?"

"Last evening, Skipper. Don't you remember?"

Kowalski's words brought the memory of the incident flooding back. He explained what he remembered to Kowalski.

"Aw, isn't he adorable?" said a small boy to a small girl standing next to him. They were leaning over the railing of the penguin exhibit, looking at Skipper, who was being cute and cuddly, and throwing random pieces of popcorn, which Skipper happily munched.

"What'd'you mean 'he'?" responded the girl, "It's obviously a she. And yes, she is very cute."

"No, he's got too much muscle to be a girl. And he's got a bad attitude, just look at him!" said the boy, pointing at Skipper. Skipper only waved, rolling his eyes.

"But it's cute like a girl," argued the other child, "and I bet she'd look great in a tutu."

"Yuck. Only sissy girl penguins wear tutus. He'd look much better in a ripped t-shirt."

"Says you--" The girl stopped talking as a large hand was placed on her shoulder. She looked up to see the smiling face of Alice, the head zoo keeper.

"Hello there," she said sweetly, "I'm a zoo keeper here at the Central Park Zoo. Are you enjoying the penguin exhibit?" The children nodded. "I'm glad. I just have to ask you one favor, is that okay?" Another nod. "Don't feed the animals!" Alice suddenly shouted, slapping the popcorn out of the boy's hands. The two exchanged nervous looks at each other, then ran away from the red haired zoo keeper. Skipper glared at Alice for treating the kids in his zoo that way.

"Heh," said the zoo keeper, who was now leaning over the railing and looking back at the leader penguin, "I'm finally going to figure out what you've been up to. Now stand still for me."

Alice reached into her pocket, producing a small, air-powered dart gun. Skipper recognized it as soon as the woman could aim it at him. He clenched his beak and prepared to do evasive maneuvers. Alice was too quick for him, though, and the first dart clipped him in the side. He pulled it out right away, but the sedative already entered his bloodstream. His vision became cloudy and he attempted to climb down into the fishbowl, but he felt his legs go numb, then his flippers, and finally he blacked out.

* * * * *

Skipper found himself laying on a hard table with a bright light above him. His mind was very foggy, and he could only barely crack open his eyes. Although his vision was impaired, he was still able to hear voices around him talking.

"Are you sure this is safe?" said a man with a Hindi accent. Skipper recognized it right away as the zoo's veterinarian.

"As sure as I'll ever be." responded a female voice. It must be Alice, Skipper thought.

"The CIES is still in its prototype stage, but I assure you that it can be implemented into the penguin without hindering its ability to live as a... happy bird." said a third, male voice that Skipper didn't recognize. He sounded like he was smiling widely.

"Alright. I am just worried for my veterinarian license. If this chip winds up hurting any of these penguins, I could loose my job."

"Don't worry, it won't affect them," assured Alice.

"What's this CIES, anyway?" asked the vet. Skipper heard footsteps and then the sound of running water. He figured the Hindi man must be washing his hands in preparation for the procedure.

"Nothing special really." responded the unknown male voice, "Just a GPS tracking chip." Skipper thought he heard Alice chuckle.

"Are you sure it should be placed in the forehead, then? I mean, GPS tracking chips are more commonly inserted into the back of an animal."

"Yes, very. This kind of GPS... uh... will receive a better signal if inserted superior to the eyes." the unknown man said.

"I still am not so sure about this..."

"There's nothing to worry about it doc!" Skipper heard Alice clap the veterinarian on the back. "This is completely normal."

There was a few moments of silence, then the light above Skipper dimmed a little.

"Hey, doc," said Alice, "I think this one is starting to wake up."

"Oh? Then we must apply another dose of stative..." A few seconds later, Skipper felt a sharp pinch in his side and then he blacked out again.

"Wow. After the operation was finished, the zoo keepers must have returned us to the HQ and placed us in our bunks." Kowalski said when Skipper finished his story. He reached up and touched the middle of his forehead, which resulted in a sharp yelp from the intellectual. "It must still be a little tender from the surgery, but that doesn't explain the electric pulses down the spinal cord." he said to himself.

"What now?"
"According to what you told me, Skipper, Alice had us implemented with GPS tracking chips. That means that they can track our every movement no matter where we are on the planet." explained the taller penguin.

"That won't fly," Skipper said, "because not even I am supposed to know where I am at all times."

Kowalski nodded. "I am currently trying to see if the chips can be removed, but I can't even seem to locate the darn thing. This is a lot more complicated then those bracelets that scientist put on us last winter..." he touched his forehead again. Another yelp.

"Stop doing that, Kowalski. You're going to put yourself in a coma or something." said Skipper, shaking his head. The leader penguin, feeling a little less groggy, attempted to sit up again. He had more success this time, and he climbed down the ladder adjacent to the bunks and into the room.

"I need a magnifying glass," observed Kowalski, holding up a small mirror and trying to see his forehead in it.

"On it," responded the leader penguin. "Rico!"

There was only a particularly loud snore.

"Rico!" Skipper tried again, this time grabbing one of Kowalski's small books from the table and launching it at the weapons expert. The large penguin stirred, sat up, and touched the middle of his forehead. He, too, yelped in pain and fell back down on his pillow.

"Are we all going to do that?" said Skipper to himself. "Rico, front and center."

The large penguin climbed down the ladder, nearly falling, and then lined up across from the leader penguin. He swayed slightly in place, showing that the sedative had not fully worn off for him yet. "Yack." he said, weakly.

"Here's the situation. We were forced to make a surprise visit to the doctor last night and he planted some GPS tracking chips in our heads. Now, I need that magnifying glass I had you swallow a couple weeks ago."

Rico nodded, although slow compared to the Penguin's usual jerky movements, and then began heaving. Skipper held out his flipper and waited for the looking glass to come tumbling out of his explosives expert. Several agonizing minutes of hacking later, and Rico looked confused. He stopped trying to regurgitate the requested item and shrugged his shoulders.

"Empty?"

"What?" exclaimed Skipper.

"Oh, no," said Kowalski. "I knew they would eventually give Rico and X-ray and find all of our weapons. It was only a matter of time."

"So they took all of our weapons out of Rico?" said an angry Skipper.

"I'm afraid so," returned the intellectual.

Skipper put a flipper to his temple, being careful not to touch the center of his forehead. He sighed before speaking. "Well, at least there's still the weapons in the secret panel." He waddled over to the wall with the large, metal door, and pressed a brick down. The wall spun around, revealing a specially designed compartment for the different weapons that the team had acquired over the years. All of the weapons were safely on the wall. Skipper picked two sticks of dynamite from a shelf and tossed them to Rico, who swallowed them and burped. The leader penguin then closed the secret compartment.

"So, let me get this straight. The humans can track each and every one of our movements now, and they have all of our weapons?"

Kowalski flipped through his clipboard. "That's ninety-eight percent correct, Skipper."

"Youch!" exclaimed Private, who had woken up. Skipper figured he touched his forehead, as well. "What happened?"

Skipper told him what they had found out so far. "That's terrible!" said the younger penguin, gingerly touching his head.

"I'm currently trying to see if I can remove the GPS chip," explained Kowalski, "but I can't even find it."

"Keep looking into-" began Skipper, but his words trailed off when he felt pins and needles start at the base of his neck and then travel down his back. He clenched his flippers into tight balls as the electricity coursed through his nerves and into the ground. "Is there anything you can do about the electrocution?"

"I'm afraid not, Skipper. Although it should go away after a few days. If this GPS chip has a power supply with it, it may be contacting with key nerves and sending electrical pulses through them. But within a few days the ends of those nerves should die, stopping the pain."

"That's great to know," said Skipper sarcastically. He thought about Manfredi, and how he wanted to go find his old teammate. He would have a hard time leaving the zoo without Alice or the other zoo keepers knowing, now.

"Well, this is just great," Private said, as if to himself, "First we're running out of fish, then a crazy penguin threatens the zoo, then another crazy penguin threatens Skippah, and now every one of our moves are being tracked?" He looked around the HQ. "Too many weird things are happening lately, wouldn't you agree, Skippah?"

Skipper didn't respond. He was busy thinking about any way he could get out of the zoo without the zoo keepers tracking him. There would be no way. A little alarm would go off in one of their offices as soon as he stepped his foot outside the zoo, and then they would catch him and probably ship him off to another zoo. Things just wern't working out.

"Yes, Private," Kowalski answered for the leader penguin, "I believe you're quite right."