Skipper's Log. 03:00 hours on August the twenty fifth.
"Manfredi finally cracked.
"He woke Johnson and myself up around midnight and threw packs full of basic survival items at us. He told us we had to leave, and we had to leave no questions asked. Johnson and I looked at each other for awhile, but it was all too sudden. Manfredi told us there was no time to explain, but I wasn't so sure going AWOL was really a good thing to be doing.
"He pleaded with us for some time to go with him. Eventually he became desperate and told us how our leaders were actually, and I quote 'corrupt psychopaths.' He admitted that earlier that day he had been discharged for 'actively speaking out against superiors.' He told us that before he could leave he had been captured and told he would be executed in the morning. He apparently escaped. No idea how, though. After that he tossed two automatic gauss rifles at us.
"I'm still holding mine right now, actually. We were shown them and did a little target practice in the last couple of weeks but never really were trained to use them. It gives sort of an overwhelming sense of protection. Anyway, Manfredi told us that if we were caught with him we would be executed in the same way he would, but without us he would be powerless to stop our leaders from whatever it is they are doing... which actually he didn't get around to telling us.
"Johnson and I went with him. I don't really know why. We just did. Maybe it's just because we've been stuck up together for so long now we have some sort of brotherly bond. Maybe it's just a gut feeling that it was the right thing to do.
"Or maybe we're just being blindly stupid here..."
The Speed of Darkness
Chapter 23 - Remote Control
MANFREDI'S EYES SUDDENLY LIT UP.
It was sort of a surprise to Skipper. After seeing the penguin's emotionless, almost lifeless eyes, the scene was one that was reminiscent of how crying little boys start laughing when they see their favorite cartoons. Skipper could tell that his ex-teammate was listening intently.
Skipper looked down the alleyway. The morning light was just starting to wake the city up. In the distance he could hear some cars quietly speeding along. A car alarm sounded from far away. The thought of making a break for it crossed his mind. Even though, he returned his attention to Manfredi, who had finally set down the dagger he had been mechanically twirling.
"Look... I, uh," he started, awkwardly, "I didn't actually see it myself, but there was a penguin that was harassing one of my good friends a few weeks back, apparently. When she described to me what the penguin looked like, it kind of rang a bell, but I couldn't quite place it. Basically, she said this penguin looked sort of like me. She and a few other animals from the zoo chased it off and we haven't heard from it since... but who knows, it could still be around."
Manfredi nodded. "So this friend of yours from the zoo will show us the way?"
"Can't say for sure," responded Skipper, "but she's the only one who got a good look at this penguin, anyway. The interesting thing about it though, is earlier the same night, my team... err, cell-mates, came upon a pigeon in an alley. She said her husband had been killed by some sort of a rouge penguin and she described it to us. Her description was different than my friend's, but similar enough so I'm assuming it was the same penguin..."
Skipper's voice trailed off as he noticed Manfredi suddenly sat down and gazed at the ground. He looked like he was suddenly racked with guilt. A few moments of awkward silence again passed between the two birds. Manfredi picked up the dagger and began twirling it in his flippers again. Finally, Manfredi spoke.
"I killed that pigeon." Manfredi said. Skipper was taken aback and suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
"Why?" responded Skipper after a moment. "I mean, was it attacking you, or what?"
"No."
Silence. Skipper twiddled his flippers.
"The pigeon merely insulted me. That is all." Manfredi said plainly without looking up from the ground. "I blacked out, lost control of my own thoughts. Next thing I realized, I was looking at the dead body of S-S..."
Suddenly, Manfredi jumped up, grunted with exertion and hurled the dagger towards Skipper. Instinctively Skipper jumped out of the way. The next thing he heard was the clang of the dagger hitting the dumpster behind him. He looked to see it embedded a full inch into the soft metal. Although, he then realized it would have come nowhere close to hitting him. Manfredi had already sat down again and continued sulking.
Skipper waited a moment before speaking. "This is obviously not something you want to talk about." He sighed. Not knowing what to say, he walked over and sat down next to his old teammate, eyes locked on to the twisted knife still sticking out of the dumpster. "I don't think I ever want to know what it is like to destroy the life of someone innocent..."
"The innocent have died and the guilty live on," Manfredi said thoughtfully.
"You're nothing like you were, Manfredi," observed Skipper.
Manfredi let a moment pass before responding. "I never will be." Skipper looked over at his ex-teammate who had still not lifted his eyes from the ground. "I'm dead on the inside, Skipper. I shouldn't still be breathing. I'm only here for one purpose... and that is to eliminate my target."
"Okay," Kowalski began. The animals stood in a semi-circle around him in the ruined headquarters while he held the GPS device they had just stolen from Alice's office. "It is pretty clear that the orange dot is where this GPS device is," he pointed to the dot in the center of the screen that was in the middle of Central Park Zoo on the virtual map. "And these three green dots close together are Private, Rico and I," he pointed very nearby the orange dot where three green dots clumped up together, "so where is Skipper's location?"
Kowalski pressed some buttons to zoom out to the GPS's fullest possible area, and yet there was no fourth green dot to reveal Skipper's coordinates.
"Maybe Skipper is already out of range?" Maurice asked.
"There's no way that could be correct," explained Kowalski. "The GPS has a fifty mile display range and even if Skipper has managed to catch a train there is no way he could be off of Long Island just since last night."
Marlene rubbed her chin. "What if Skipper managed to disable his chip or something?"
"It's doubtful Skipper would have the ability to do such a thing without assistance, based on the chip's location and design." answered Kowalski. "I'm not sure exactly how he might have."
A few thoughtful minutes of silence passed before the hatch door to the headquarters suddenly flung open. Julien stood proudly in the entrance.
"Hello my subjects!" he announced, "Please bask in de awesomeness of your king."
Marlene was furious. "I'm not even going to start with you Julien, you almost got us all captured and sent off to some nature preserve or something. Why do you have to be so useless?"
"Yeah, your majesty, but falling asleep in the chair like that was pretty wrong considering our situation, y'know." Maurice continued.
"Maurice," responded Julien, ignoring Marlene for a minute.
"Yes?"
"Shut up a little bit, okay?"
Maurice shrugged. Marlene only shook her head in disapproval.
"You see, my subjects, your king was doing a little sneaking around." Julien began to explain. "I was hiding in an empty drawer in Alice's desk while you snuck away. When Alice left the room I did some snooping of my own and I found a shiny box. Inside of de box was this."
Julien pushed over some sort of small device similar to the GPS unit across the floor to Kowalski. He picked it up and began to examine it.
"There are three buttons here," he began "Green, yellow, and red. I can't quite make out what the writing says, but by the looks of it, the buttons may have something to do with the core operating systems involved with the tracking chips."
"K'walski, do you think this has something to do with turning off the GPS chips?" asked Private.
Kowalski rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then answered, "You might very well be correct, Private, if it even controls the chips at all. If your theory is accurate though, the green button would turn the chips on." He pointed to the green button which had a small LED light illuminating it. "The yellow button would have some adverse effects on the chips, perhaps disabling them for a short period of time, while the red button would turn the chips off completely."
"Do you think Skipper might have gotten his hands on this or something like it to disable his own tracking chip?" Maurice asked.
"It's plausible," responded the tall penguin.
"Turn off, turn off," urged Rico.
"Well here goes nothing," said Kowalski, about to press the red button on the small remote.
Julien cleared his throat obnoxiously loud, causing Kowalski to stop. "Instead of just going all willy-nilly with the button mashing, de king has conveniently also taken this packet of paper."
Julien slid a paper booklet, which up until this point Marlene had not noticed, over to Kowalski. The intellectual handed the remote to Private and picked up the booklet to study it. He turned it upside down and flipped through the pages.
"I can't make anything out of this," he responded, disappointed. "This human code is just so hard to crack."
"Maybe we should take it to the chimps, K'walski," offered Private, "Maybe they can make heads or tails of what this is all about."
Kowalski looked up from the book and then nodded.
Julien cleared his throat again, even more obnoxiously then the previous time, and then spoke loudly, "Silly fishy penguin, de king has all the answers you seek."
Marlene slapped her forehead with her palm. Julien was once again just trying to play up his stupid hero routine. Even though the lemur had accomplished something so helpful, Marlene wanted to leave and forget he even did anything.
"You see," he began, walking over to Private and grabbing the remote from him. "This green button here is de button that turns the chippy thingy on, yes?" He jabbed the button with a long finger, and nothing happened. "This yellow button is de button that turns off de chippy thingy," he jabbed that button, and the LED light turned on next to the yellow button and began flashing. Finished with his explanation, he handed the remote back to Private and crossed his arms proudly.
"Genius, Julien," said Kowalski, bewildered, "absolutely genius." He observed the GPS device again. "All of the green dots are gone and only a orange dot—the device it self—remains. How did you figure that out? Did you already take the instructions to the primates for decoding?"
Julien shook his head. "Silly bird, you are so smart but yet you act so stupid sometimes. Your king has been taking de time to learn the workings of this reading, as de people call it, and I figured it out on my own."
"Wow," responded the intellectual penguin, "You must teach me sometime!"
"Yes you see, de king would be happy to pass down his knowledge…"
"That's enough, Julien!" interrupted Marlene, who was growing angry with all of Julien's showboating. "You almost got us all captured for some stupid remote that turns off these stupid chips, but that won't do us any good because if they are off, we won't be able to see Skipper anyway."
Julien smiled awkwardly, "Well, uh, I figured after we find de fishy run-off-penguin the chippy thingies could be disabled."
Marlene only shook her head. A moment of awkward science passed between the group before Maurice finally broke it.
"Hey, King Julien, if the green button turns the tracking chips on, and the yellow turns them off, then what in the world is the red button used for?" He pointed to the red button on the remote that Private was still holding.
"Oh, that silly button?" Julien huffed, "It said it had something to do with termite Nate, whoever that is."
Kowalski rubbed his chin, "Perhaps it sends a homing beacon to this 'Nate' so that he might locate us?"
"What could that be used for, K'walski?" asked Private, looking at his taller teammate.
"It could be good or bad, but it would be safer to not push the button until we know for sure," answered the intellectual.
Julien shrugged, "Either way, de king had provided de penguins with all the help I could, so it is time for me to leave. Come, my subjects." He began making his way out of the porthole door, beckoning his subjects to follow.
Maurice turned to the others, "Let us know if Skipper ever pops up on that map of yours, and we'll come with you to try to find him," he offered.
"Thanks, Maurice," acknowledged Kowalski. Maurice nodded and then followed his obnoxious king out of the room.
"Wow, Marlene, you were awfully mean to King Julien," said Private. "That's not normally like you. Are you alright?"
Marlene nodded. "He just gets on my nerves, always putting himself before everyone and then acting like he is the big hero in everything he does." Private nodded in understanding. Marlene redirected her attention toward Kowalski. "So, what do you think we should do now?"
"Well, assuming that Skipper obtained his own remote, one that only affects his tracking chip, we should turn all of the chips back on and wait for his dot to appear on the radar." Kowalski sighed and looked at the GPS device. "We can only hope that it will appear before he leaves the range of the radar, though."
Private looked helpless. "K'walski, what if we can't find the Skippah. What if we never see him again?" Marlene saw some tears welling up in his eyes.
Kowalski looked a little uneasy at first, but Marlene noticed he looked just as helpless. "No, Private, don't say that," he stuttered on his own words, "I mean, I calculate a ninety-three percent chance that he'll appear on the radar before long… I think…"