The Speed of Darkness
Chapter 24 – Corporate Musings

The two ex-teammates continued to sit in silence for some time. Skipper wasn't sure what to say. He recalled when they used to talk about silly things when they were sitting in their bunks back in the military camp. Things like fishing, food, and girls. They would laugh and make up silly puns while Johnson quietly wrote in his journal. They would pick on their younger, literate friend and punch him in the shoulder. Then all three of them would laugh before moving out to preform their duties.

Skipper sighed. How could he have forgotten his past friends so easily? He remembered telling himself he only wanted to forget about Manfredi and Johnson shortly before he came to Central Park Zoo. He sat up at night wondering what ever did happen to them... at least that was until Kowalski, Private, and Rico showed up. With new friends he found it easy to let the old ones slip from his mind. Suddenly, Skipper was overcome with a heavy feeling of guilt.

Trying to get his mind off the subject, he gazed down the alleyway. The day was really picking up now; the sun had fully broken the horizon and traffic was picking up on the streets. Previously, the air had been filled with awkward silence, but now it was filled with car horns and voices speaking nothing important.

Manfredi placed a flipper on Skipper's shoulder. Skipper noted the icy cold touch of the metal plating.

"We should get going to see your friend," Manfredi said, all evidence of his recent breakdown gone from his face. "We are far from Central Park."

Skipper got up, shrugging off Manfredi's flipper as he did. "Well, uh..." he began, "You see, I can't go back there."

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"Then how will I meet with this friend of yours?" asked Manfredi.

Skipper rubbed his beak. "I guess I can show you the way back to Central Park Zoo if you want."

"But you will not enter with me?"

"No."

Manfredi shook his head in disapproval, then got up and walked over to where the crooked dagger was still embedded in the side of the dumpster. He took it out of the dumpster and ran his flipper along it's edge. "How do you think your friends will react when they see the penguin that almost killed their leader, and acknowledge that their leader is now missing?"

"I'm not their leader!" Skipper shot, although Manfredi did not even flinch. "I'm their friend."

Manfredi nodded. "How do you think they will react if I walk into the zoo asking questions?"

Skipper didn't respond. He knew they both already knew the answer. Private, Rico, Kowalski would have none of that. They would take Manfredi captive, question him, possibly even go as far forcing the answers out of him, and most certainly not answer Manfredi's questions about this Sarge penguin.

"I suppose your right," Skipper said after a while, "But I don't think I can go back there."

"Why is that?"

Skipper felt uncomfortable. Trying to compose himself, he said, "I left without a trace. I didn't say goodbye. Fish and chips, I didn't even leave a note."

Manfredi looked expressionless. Skipper noted how he was not judgmental. "You are afraid that your friends will be upset with you for leaving." Manfredi said simply, almost as if he knew the answer this whole time. Skipper hated how Manfredi had always been able to read through any facade.

"Yes," responded the leader penguin, seeing how futile it would be to try to argue, "I didn't plan on coming back."

Manfredi nodded again. "Why did you leave?"

Skipper sighed. "I left to come find you. I wanted to ask you questions about what happened since you ran back into that building and it collapsed after you."

"I understand." Manfredi answered. "I had similar questions about you, which you have kindly answered for me."

"So answer some of mine," said Skipper, "and I'll bring you to Mar... my friend."

Manfredi's eyes lit up slightly. "Why do you hide your friend's name from me?"

Skipper didn't want to answer. He didn't know why, but he felt like he needed to protect his friends from Manfredi. At the same time, however, he felt completely safe around him. Regardless, if Manfredi had really killed that pigeon over an insult, he wanted to be cautious about bringing him to see his friends.

"Don't mind it," Skipper finally said, "You'll learn her... or his, name when you get to the zoo."

Manfredi nodded understandingly. Skipper wondered how the robot penguin knew exactly when to agree and when to argue. "So anyway, can I ask some questions now? Like what happened to Johnson and how did..."

Skipper trailed off as Manfredi held up a flipper. "The day is still young. If my target is still located on Long Island, we will need to figure out where he is before he leaves."

"I don't think a few minutes will make a big difference, you can answer some of my questions. Besides, we saw that penguin over two weeks ago at this point."

This time it was Manfredi's turn to sigh, "Skipper, I do not think you understand."

Skipper blinked.

"You do not realize that these memories I have buried deep within me. These memories would be the most painful to dig up, the most painful to explain. These are the memories that attack me in my dreams at night. They are the memories that caused me to kill that innocent bird. I assure you, though, I will tell you the full story when the time is right."

Skipper was speechless. Manfredi walked over to the pack that was still on the ground and slid the crooked dagger into it. "We should get going," the robot penguin offered, sliding the pack onto his back, "The city will be very crowded soon."

Alice hopped out of her taxi and looked up at the tall office building in front of her. The early morning sun was glinting off of the large, glass windows. She could make out a sign several stories up that read – Green Security Systems, Inc..

After checking her watch, she crossed her arms as the taxi pulled away from the curb. Green had asked her to come down to his office only twenty minutes ago. She had payed twelve dollars for the cab ride here. She scowled, knowing that she would not have enough money to buy lunch now. She began crossing the street, trying to forget about her grumbling stomach.

She walked into the building through the sliding doors and looked around. Everything was clean; marble floors and a glass chandelier. She walked up to a desk where a secretary was busily typing something on a computer.

"Excuse me?" she said. The woman behind the desk jumped slightly and looked up.

"Oh, sorry, may I help you?" she asked politely.

"Yeah. I need to speak to Andy. Know where he is?"

The secretary looked confused. "Er, Ma'am, we have many Andy's who work at GSS, is there a specific one you're looking for?"

Alice slapped her head. "Andrew Green."

"Oh, sorry about that! You must be Alice Smith. Mr. Green is expecting you." replied the secretary with a smile.

"So, uh, where is his office?" asked Alice.

"Mr. Green requested that you meet him downstairs in the development laboratories. I can let him know you are here or..."

"That's alright. I'll go there myself. How do I get there?"

The secretary looked uneasy for a minute. "You take the elevators down the hall to floor BB and then you can follow the signs to get to the lab," she said, pointing to a nearby hallway.

"Perfect," responded Alice and walked away, leaving the secretary to shake her head and return to her computer.

Alice walked down the corridor and walked up to the elevators. Rather than entering one with several people already inside, she decided to wait for an empty one. While she was waiting, she noted that Andy had never invited her to his actual business, and this was her first time here. Whenever they had met in the past it had always been in her office or in a local diner. She had never realized just how massive the man's company was and how much money he must have. No wonder he could afford to give her discounts on all her services.

The next elevator emitted a ding, and the door opened. Several people in suits walked out, and Alice suddenly felt out of place in her dirty zoo work clothes. She shrugged and entered the elevator. She pressed BB, noting that there were 33 floors, and the elevator lurched to a start.

When she reached the bottom and stepped out of the elevator, it didn't take her long to find the laboratory. She glanced through a window and saw a massive room with many whirring machines and hundreds of people running around in lab coats. No wonder why Andy was able to develop the CIES, thought Alice.

She walked into the lab and asked the nearest person where Andy might be. Once again, the person was confused until she referenced him as Mr. Green. The employee pointed to as short, stout man leaning over a table and looking at several monitors. Alice marched over to the table and put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump.

"Whoa, uh hello, Alice," Mr. Green greeted, straightening his tie.

"Why'd you drag me down here, Andy?" responded Alice quickly.

Mr. Green sighed, "Always quick to get to the point, aren't you, Alice?"

"Yeah, so get to the point,"

"These are the monitors that display the feedback from the CIES implanted in your penguins," said the business man, pointing to the monitors. Three were on and displayed a concrete bunker. One showed a clipboard with a flipper rapidly scribbling down some symbols Alice could not recognize. Another showed a television with channel 8 news on. Another showed a pair of flippers trying to open a can of tuna. The last monitor only showed static, presumably the monitor for the penguin that jammed the signal of his CIES.

Alice was impressed, looking at the monitor for the penguin that was writing. "I didn't know my penguins were so advanced."

"Apparently so. My employees have been gathering a lot of interesting video over the last two weeks," Mr. Green gestured to a growing pile of DVDs, "and frankly, you need to see it."

Alice nodded. "Did you get any video from the penguins that attacked me?"

"That is the odd thing. At the time you were attacked, the three penguins who monitors are still on were at that strange party. At the same time, the fourth penguin's monitor was static, but the last reported location of it was on a direct course to leave the zoo. So it is doubtful any of your penguins were the ones that attacked you."

Alice scratched her head. "That makes no sense. How would some penguins get into the middle of New York when there isn't another zoo on Long Island?"

"I am quite curious of it myself. We have been studying penguin behavior and nothing leads to any hint of these penguin's aggressiveness or tenacity. Yet, the evidence of its occurrence still shows." Mr. Green pointed to a spot on Alice's pant leg where a small hole and some dried blood existed. Alice had not noticed it before.

"Yeah I don't remember how that happened," Alice responded, pulling up her pant leg slightly in order to see a small puncture wound, already starting to heal over. "They must have stabbed me with something."

"Plausible," nodded Mr. Green, "and if it is the case, then we have something really troublesome on our hands."

"What do you want to do about it?" asked Alice.

"Nothing."

Alice's eyes grew wide. "These penguins almost killed me and all you want to do is nothing ?" Her voice boomed, causing everyone in the lab too look over at the pair. "We should call animal control! We should call the police! We should call the army for crying out loud!"

"Alice! Alice, calm down!" urged Mr. Green, waving his hands.

Alice scouled, "Okay, why do you think we should do nothing?"

"It's the CIES," explained the stout businessman, "if animal control takes the penguins away, regardless if they were the ones that attacked you or not, they will perform tests and find the CIES. You see, Alice, I do not have a license to perform animal testing."

"They have a license for that?"

"Yes. If they find out what we have done, they will surely sue me, and at the same time shut down your zoo."

Alice grumbled. "So what should we do? We can't just sit around and do nothing."

"We can watch." Mr. Green gestured to the computer screens. "My interns have confirmed that the penguins stole, however they might have known what it does, both the GPS tracking device and the remote control that disables the chips. Fortunately for us, they have left the chips on, so we can continue observing. Unfortunately, though, we will not be able to track their positions.

"So lets go in there and take the stupid thing from them," offered Alice.

"That would also be unwise," noted Mr. Green, "at least until we know how dangerous these penguins really are."

Alice scratched her head again. "Can't you just make another one of those stupid trackers?"

"We are already making efforts to tune another device into the exact frequency of the chips, although a unique and specific frequency was chosen, specifically so that the signal may not be tracked by anyone else. It seems that this concept has backfired."

"Why didn't you make a spare?"

Mr. Green frowned. "Why didn't you keep a closer eye on the GPS tracker in the first place?"

"Excuse me?" shot back Alice, raising voice again, "I was attacked by those stupid birds!" She pointed to the screen. The room fell silent as everyone again directed their attention to the fuming redhead. "I could have kept my eye on it if I wasn't unconscious!"

Mr. Green tapped Alice's shoulder. "It's alright, Alice, I should have kept the devices here instead of trusting them to your hands."

Alice's face grew bright red. "I don't care how big and how successful your business is, Andy, but you have no right to call me irresponsible!" Suddenly, she grabbed the monitor with static from the wall and threw it at Mr. Green. Mr. Green ducked and the monitor shattered on the ground. Mr. Green looked furious.

"Great, nice job, Alice," he shouted, "Now we won't have any information from that penguin!"

"The screen was static anyway!" shot back Alice. "You should have fixed it a long time ago!"

"Things aren't so simple, Alice."

"I'll break another one of these damn monitors! Would that be simple enough for you?" She reached for another monitor, but Mr. Green batted her hand away.

"This isn't going anywhere helpful, Alice," he sounded a little bit more calm, "We need to work together on this if we want to deal with these penguins."

Alice crossed her arms and grunted, "I guess so."

Mr. Green pushed his glasses up his nose. "I will continue trying to tune into the signal from the chips—you should keep an eye out for that missing penguin, because now we will have no information on him."

Alice looked at the screen. The TV was off and it looked like the penguin was now asleep on the couch. Why had she given them that TV in the first place? "Alright," she stated simply.

/AN: This chapter should probally have been two chapters. But instead of making two short ones, I just switched the POV. Hurray. Also, I'll be doing some more regular writing now, hopefully, so you can check back for new chapters every week or two. :AN\