"He's running away!" Sparky flew next to Trilby snarling at the screen like it worked both ways. The visual itself prompted Trilby to plunge into the recesses of this mind again. The other members of the group gave tame reactions to the camera view. Even Lilo hardly seemed phased by the information.
"Well this makes this much harder. Can't say I'm surprised… Yet for this Hamster it was worth a try." Negid was bent over exposed wires poking at disabled motherboards.
"But what about him?" Trilby pointed at the red faced rodent. Whose mouth was stretched to its limits in frustrated agony.
"Him? He'll escape, he always does. Lilo, my dear, we need to get to the other generator, it's relatively close." Negid's features ruffled in abject nonchalance. As if he had expected this. "This place is destroyed,"
"You're just going to let him go?" Trilby's outburst resonating around the circular wall. Eyes turned, the faces distorted in a confused visage. Negid turned with slow indignation. He squinted at the little experiment, a look that seemed to go straight through him. Trilby wavered. Something about the look unsettled him. But he was unrelenting here, Sparky's influence. Smoke gathered in the room, toxic and pungent, it stung their eyes, dulled senses, the irritable sensation pulsing through them.
"Very well, Trilby, you're smart. What would you have us do?" The question burned on his mind. He knew what he wanted to do, the plan was laid bare, he only had to say it. Yet he hesitated, the silence broadening to seconds. He felt the eyes on him, the pressure of their gaze. What would I be willing to risk for an answer? He thought.
"We split up." He felt the words drop like stones. "If half of us get Hamsterviel before he takes off, the other half can infiltrate the system. They may have rigged the ship to blow up. Hamsterviel can be very bitter, and having him gives us leverage."
"Why don't we all get Hamsterviel, Trilby?" Lilo perked up, she clearly wasn't happy with the arrangement. Trilby opened his mouth to explain, but the words came from a different mouth.
"If Hamsterviel's flight becomes common news people will panic. We need to make sure people are willing to help land this ship. If this thing crash lands there will be injuries… Lots of serious injuries."
Negid smiled, fingering a whisker as he did so, his goggles concealed his eyes. No one questioned further but the shrugs from Sparky and Janqe the grunt from Hoklert and Lilo's 'hmm'. Was hardly valid rebuttal.
"Well, dear Trilby, what should these groups be I ask, I wonder how much time we have to spare."
"None,"
The rhythmic beat of foot to metal filled the next couple of minutes. The shuttle bay was not far by the ships standards, though it still took minutes to alight outside the room. Trilby sped through the corridors unhampered by slow company. Instead he had Hoklert carefully cradling Negid as he barrelled after Trilby. It simply gave Trilby no end of satisfaction watching Negid try to contain his fear, his goggles had fallen down and his eyes betrayed fearful agony at the danger he was in. Amusing yet odd, Trilby only needed Hoklert to provide the muscle. It was a wonder he had agreed to come. It would have been just as easy had he gone with the others, Trilby surmised. Yet he was curious too. Negid was a scientist, a field scientist. It would be interesting to see just how good a field scientist he was.
Lilo ran, but it was barely faster than Janqe's walking speed. Trilby was elsewhere, so she was the one in charge now. Or she assumed. Janqe had said very little after they had first met. Maybe it had something to do with him speaking a different language. But he was one of those quiet, commando types. Regardless, it was her job now to make the decisions. Sparky hovered in front of them to light the path. The generator was 'relatively close', Negid had said. But how close was relatively close? Lightning darted from Sparky's antenna. Fizzling out of existence as quickly as it had come. Janqe turned a corner, and Lilo followed.
"So you know where this Generator is then, Janqe?" She glanced at the white visor where the scaly Henchman's eyes were. He nodded, without making a sound he turned another corner, Lilo let him lead the way. "We should think of a plan, Sparky could zap them, but then they couldn't help land the ship could they?" Again she glanced up. The bolts of lightning shone against the white of his armour, the glow gave him a shiny aura. His silence was unnerving now.
The door split against the onslaught. Hoklert fell headfirst into the room, the resounding crash bouncing off the walls as Trilby hopped into the room, on lighter feet. Negid stepped into the door likewise but he was dishevelled from the journey. The room glittered the same white, but the lights were on, the torrent of light shone upon the floor. Debris layered the room, glittering items, pillows and cushions. In its place the empty silence that followed the crashes was as deafening as the crashes themselves.
"You must have known we wouldn't catch him?" Trilby turned. Negid was adjusting his messy clothing and hair, he replaced his goggles atop his head and gazed curiously at Trilby. Trilby glanced aside- he had.
"At least I tried, you would have just let him go."
Negid chuckled, " Leaving him, was the sensible thing, the smart thing to do. But you went and tried anyway. You're so much smarter than the rest of Jumba's experiments but you have the same impulse problems. I should congratulate him when I meet him you're the best experiment he's made. What number are you, by the way? Hoklert picked himself up out of the rubble, groaning.
Trilby darted about the room, after finding nothing of interest he landed in front of Negid.
"Jumba... Isn't my creator." Negid frowned. Trilby sighed, "I was hydrated on Earth- but Jumba didn't make me. I tried to catch Hamsterviel so he would tell me, but now he's gone..."
"But you look like one of Jumba's, I don't know anyone else who designs you like he does. That's actually why I want to see him. His experiment's are wreaking havoc in space, and I want to see if I can work with him," Negid shrugged. "I learnt English so that I could. Just promise you won't tell Janqe." Negid grinned his classic grin. Trilby looked at Negid, head tilted in confusion.
"What are you talking about, Negid?"
"The federation is chasing his experiments round in circles it's actually quite entertaining, I think you are my favourite though." He said nonchelantly, Trilby's confusion was plain on his face,
"All the experiments are here, now, on this ship. They can't be in space. Besides Jumba wouldn't do that. Whatever you find, 'entertaining' is not Jumba's."
"But that's impossible, Only Jumba creates experiments like that, and Jumba protects all his blueprints on that computer of his. Trust me I've tried to steal it before." Hoklert stood to his full height and stretched. Trilby considered the information for a time, his creator had made other experiments, that were fighting the federation.
"Negid, whoever is copying Jumba's designs must be the one who designed me." Negid gestured wildly, messing up the clothes he had just reorganized.
"Even if that is true why would he send you to Earth?"
"I was supposed to help Hamsterviel capture the experiments." Hoklert shuffled taking out a water bottle of some sort.
"Trilby, I know Jumba this has his fingers all over it."
"When was the last time you talked to him," Negid considered the question. "Just before he got caught for that 626 case. But he can't have changed that much."
A grunt interrupted the conversation. Hoklert smiled a dumb grin.
"Ki no mosin," Hoklert drew a large green ball.
Negid and Trilby understood. 'Ball into liquid'.
The ship shook suddenly, Janqe caught Lilo as she tumbled. Sparky jumped to the floor to check her. "I'm all right, What was that?" She brushed herself off. Janqe was staring off in the direction of the sound. "Should we just keep going?"
"I wasn't sure he'd actually be able to do it. Trusting anything to Hoklert is a risk."
Lilo almost collapsed again, Janqe could speak English. Sparky seemed surprised too. "Yes, I speak English, Jumba did have an odd attachment to the language," Janqe unscrewed his helmet tossing it to the ground. Sparky reared back in surprise. "Don't overload yourself 221 I have a job for you two." He turned, the scaly lizard like face an odd mix of satisfaction and business. "You want to save your friends, yes?"
"Do you recognise him, Sparky? Who is he?"
"Assistant!"