(We should follow them,) Rachel suggested. (They just might lead us to where we need to go.)
(Yeah, or they just might lead us right to where they make those Oscar Mayer Shark-meat Lunchables,) Marco said, smirking mentally. (Hammerhead slices, American cheese, and a cookie.)
(I dont think thatd be such a hot seller,) Shara said, as the Animorphs fell in behind the group of not-normal Hammerhead sharks that they were tracking through the facility. (People have very good reasons for not eating shark meat.)
(What would those be, oh wise one?) Marco asked, as they joined up with the group of sharks, who were oddly enough waiting to get into whatever room was behind the door that they had heard opening not long ago.
(Sharks pee through their skin,) she sent, in private thought-speak so she wouldnt distract anyone else.
(I think I could have lived without knowing that,) Marco said, as they all swam down the tunnel after the Hammerheads.
(Im starting to think Marco was right,) Tobias said, after the pathway they were following had narrowed to the point where they were all forced into single-file. (This sure feels like some kind of shark slaughterhouse.)
(I dont think so,) Cassie pointed out. (I think this is probably something more medical. Besides, wed smell blood if the other sharks were getting hurt.)
(Unless theyre getting boiled alive,) Marco cheerfully countered. (Boiled cleaned, and canned all in one process! Then its Chicken of the Sea shark meat.)
(Marco, youre so wei- Awk!) Shara yelped.
Marco himself was just about to ask what was wrong, when he found out: a thick pair of steel claws clamped down just behind his sharks hammer-head, lifting him up until he hung vertically just above the water. Writhing in instinctive panic, Marco felt his gills gasping uselessly in the open air. He could see a line of sharks, all moving in the same direction.
A conveyor belt of hanging Hammerheads, and with Hork-Bajir and Human-Controllers manning control panels and equipment boards; they looked completely disinterested in the procedure, and so missed the fact that they had been infiltrated. However, it was unlikely in the extreme that anyone but Visser Three would have been paranoid enough to consider that the very sharks they were using in this operation could present any kind of danger to it.
So, perhaps they could be forgiven their negligence.
As the shark-conveyor turned a corner, a mechanical arm festooned with tools that none of the Animorphs were particularly in the right state of mind to care about rose up to just the height of the sharks heads. The business-end of the robot arm was aimed at the head of the shark two spaces ahead of Cassie. The arm extended a large, relatively thick needle, and plunged it into the back of the sharks head.
(What the?) Marco wondered aloud. (We have to get outta here!)
But the arm and the conveyor, moving with the speed and precision that most machines were known for. Cassie was injected before Marco could even begin to think of a way to stop the procedure.
(Its all right,) Cassie said, though she sounded a bit strained. (I think it might just be some kind of immune-booster or something.)
What came next, however, was not even a distant cousin to all right. The robot arm slowed, pausing for a moment over the back of Cassies sharks head. The needle retracted, and in its place appeared something that reminded Marco of nothing more than a metal detector. This assertion would prove to be more apt than any of them would have preferred, but they would only find that out once it was too late.
Extruding a drill, of the kind one would have expected to be used in carpentry rather than on a living creature, the robot arm drove the drill bit deep into the back of Cassies head. Deep relative to the length of the bit itself, of course.
(What was that?!) Cassie exclaimed.
The drill bit was withdrawn rather quickly, but before any relief could be felt, a small, bright, steel-colored probe was poked into the wound. It withdrew with almost the same speed that it had been deployed, and a green laser cauterized the wound before it could bleed excessively.
(Cassie!) Jake shouted, his silent voice taught with worry. (Are you okay?)
(I- I think Ill be all right,) she said. (That was really weird, though.)
(It certainly seemed it, from what I saw,) Shara said, not particularly looking forward to having such a procedure repeated on herself.
For that matter, neither was Marco; but he had Shara herself to hide behind. For the moment, anyway. Once all eight of the Animorphs had been treated for the first time, they were dropped back into the same boat dock that they had fist arrived in.
In fact, the eight of them nearly ended up on top of one another.
(What the heck was that all about?) Tobias wondered aloud, voicing the very question that had been going through the minds of his friends.