*** Adrenaline ***

Inspired by "Once upon a time in the West", written by Mark Knopfler.

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It had been some weeks since they had arrived at Central Park Zoo. In the visitors' eyes they were innocent and adorable fledglings, but the four shared a secret desire for improvement and conquest. They intended to change everything around them, to conquer the world. And it wasn't just an attitude towards life, being them it was a reality to achieve. Their blood ran out of control through their veins, it was swell, it lacked space to turn round. That was how they felt, they knew that they weren't ordinary penguins.

They often saw the zoo staff come and go in that caddy. It was nothing to write home about, it didn't grab the attention of anybody except for some children and the penguins, children after all, paid attention to the vehicle. Who could borrow it?

Them.

The key was in the ignition, the zookeeper was busy and with her back to the caddy. Kowalski raised his eyebrows, the gesture didn't go unnoticed for Skipper.

"Options?"

"To get on it. I know how that stuff is driven."

Skipper smiled. He pointed at the caddy with his flipper and the four got in it leaping, not seen by anybody.

.

Kowalski was thoughtful. It seemed easier seen from their habitat fence. Something was wrong: he looked at the steering wheel, at the pedals... and something told him that it wasn't going to work.

"Didn't you say that you could drive this?" Skipper said, taking him abruptly out of his thoughts.

"So I thought, Skipper... I've been paying attention for some days and I know that the key there switches the caddy on, that you move it turning that wheel... and also that you must go treading down there. I don't know very well how that thing works, there are three pedals and humans only have two feet."

Rico, who was vigilant on the zookeeper's movements, cleared his throat. The others looked to where he was pointing at and understood: either they hid before she saw them or they would be in trouble. Luckily, they were fast and stealthy. They found a gap behind the seat and from there they could see how the caddie worked, and it took them to the other end of the zoo.

.

The zookeeper had just got off the caddie and was heading for the reptile house.

"It's our time," Skipper said. "Driving is a team task. Kowalski, Rico... to the pedals. Private, could you move that lever? I will take the steering."

They all nodded, Private with insecurity due to the task entrusted by Skipper, who turned the key as he had seen it was done before.

"It doesn't move," Private said.

"The pedals," Skipper just said.

Rico put all his weight on the pedal assigned to him. The caddie responded with a hoarse roar, that he would later learn to translate as "I am a diesel engine." He liked it.

"It reacts, but it doesn't work on its own," Kowalski commented. "I think that these pedals work at the same time as the lever. Private, when I tell you push the lever towards ten o'clock."

Private nodded.

"It doesn't work," Kowalski said a bit disappointed. "It seems that this pedal is bottomless. Rico, can we swap places? You weigh more than me, maybe -"

"Not fat!" Rico protested.

"Rico! I'm not calling you fat. I only want you to swap my place. I don't have your ability to swallow objects!"

Rico crossed his flippers. Skipper stared at him defiantly, but he only got Rico to return the stare as in a mirror. Skipper sighed.

"Kowalski, jump on the pedal and keep steady. You won't have to do it many times. Rico has to tread on it all the time... he'll get tired. Private, be alert."

Kowalski protested in an uninteligible way, but he did it. Private leaned with all his strength on the lever and...

"First gear! Rico, your turn!"

And Rico made the engine sing.

.

They were going by fits and starts, but much better than expected. In some minutes they seemed to have got the hang of the caddie and it even seemed to be making music. A great job for being driving by ear.

"Great job, boys!" Skipper shouted from the steering wheel. "Rico! Run a bit more!"

Rico was more pleased to obey than ever. With all his weight he made the engine roar as they had never heard it. The pull caught the other three penguins unaware, but speed is so funny...

The needle indicating the speed surpassed the red line once and again. They were in a closed circuit and they didn't know that outside they would deserve a great fine. But it didn't matter: it was speed, it was the swell in their veins, it was life and the four were feeling it. The adrenaline had taken them as newbies, and they liked it. Rico was the one who was laughing the most of all, Skipper was having a good time too and Kowalski was a bit confused: on the one hand, he wanted speed; on the other, his most rational side was telling him that they had to slow down. Private was the only one who wasn't enjoying: he was starting to feel a bit dizzy, but he didn't want to say it not to look like a child in front of his teammates. But the four were!

.

When they noticed, the right side of the caddie was tracking the fresh grass in the zoo and plowing it in a rough way. The first protests of the other zoosters were arriving cushioned to the penguins' ears, possessed by the machine's soul.

"Crazy birds! You're going to knock me down!" The voice by Marty, who had left his habitat, was the first one to be clearly heard.

"Stop!" Skipper shouted. With the caddie stopped, he scolded Marty. "Whiny quadrupedal! There's space to pass between you and us! Better have stayed behind the fence! Don't complain later if there is collateral damage!"

"Collateral damage?" Private asked. "Aren't you going a bit too far?"

"War is hard, young Private." Oh, yes... Skipper's pretensions were innate. "Even heroes die in combat." He noticed disapproval in Private's stare. "Well, this is the wild West...what can we do?" And he gave the order to start the caddie again.

.

The penguins were making circles. Inside the zoo there wasn't a wall indicating the end of the road as if it were the end of the world. And, even though there had been, they would have jumped over it. Who said that penguins can't drive? It was a great victory on a small scale. Or a small victory on a great scale. They didn't care. The penguins were delighted, they were feeling that they were going to take all by storm... either the others knew it or not. That didn't matter.

Rico started to yell something apparently uninteligible.

"That is, Rico!" Skipper replied to him while he was looking at where Rico was. "Mothers in the zoo, hide your sons! And, especially, your daughters!"

"Skipper," Kowalski was heard say, "with all due respect, I think it's not goo-"

The violence of the crash into the reptile house sent them out of the caddy. The four were late to react; the wreckage of the caddie was everywhere, a wheel rim still rolling in a low angle and, above all, a lot of confusion.

"Private! Are you ok?"

"Skipper?"

"What happened?"

"Are you all ok? Are you... alive?"

"What the hell has happened?!"

That wasn't the voice of any penguin! The four fled from the crime scene, they went running as they could towards their habitat so that no-one blamed them for what they had done. If someone discovered what had happened... then they would be in real trouble!

"If I catch the one who has done this I'll kill them! Criminals! Schmucks!" the zookeeper was shouting out of her wits. "How will I explain this to the bosses?!"

The penguins listened to everything from their habitat.

"I don't like this," Private said. "Aren't we supposed to do always the right thing?"

"I know it," Skipper replied. "This has got out of our flippers. We should protect the innocents."

"Well, we haven't done it," Private said sadly.

Even Rico had lowered his head.

"Then we'll do it now. We start Operation: save the zookeeper. Kowalski, go find out her name. We'll act tonight."

Kowalski slipped out to the mess of junk and shouts, the bosses were already there trying to understand why the zookeeper couldn't explain how she had smashed the caddie into the reptile house. Kowalski listened and went back right away.

"Her name is Alice."