The Animorph's first mission has officially begun, they have arrived at Petrolia, and the colossal water facility is larger than they could have anticipated, despite most of the group's inexperience, and the uncertainty and doubt stemming from it, they remain confident. Jake has faith that with Alice's cunning, Ben's discipline, and Tobias' vigilance, they will complete the mission to gut the source of the poison. But as they say, no plan survives once the shooting starts.
Probing Call V
Day 19, Afternoon
((That's a lot of building,)) Marco commented.
It was huge, the water treatment plant at Petrolia was staggering in size, practically the size of the town it was attached to. But I shouldn't be surprised, enough water is desalinated at this building hugging the shore to hydrate the entire Western Coast, maybe more. Parts of it were still under construction!
((Eyelizard should have the area scouted by now,)) I said as we flapped on. duck wings carrying us through. ((We should be able to see him on the rooftop where the camera's blindspot is. That's where we land.))
((But Eyelizard doesn't have thoughtspeak,)) Cassie pointed out. ((How will we know where he is?))
((He will signal,)) Tobias said. ((One thing Eyelizard is good at is getting attention unnoticed.))
Getting attention unnoticed?
((Isn't that a little paradoxical?)) Rachel asked.
((Depends on who he wants to be noticed by,)) Alice said. ((I manage to be consistently surprised by how crafty that little thing is.))
((But that's a lot of facility to move in,)) Harry said.
And guards, too, I quietly considered.
Eyelizard is supposed to be waiting for us on the roof when his scouting was complete. He's not at the blind spot he landed in, and he sure as rocks isn't showing up anywhere else. Is he still looking? He might be, but he's really fast and almost impossible to find when he wants to be. Has he been captured? By ETCS or...Them?
That little bug-eyed gecko would most likely be captured by The Controllers, if he was discovered. Would they be able to extract his information? Alice mentioned something about data drives and their defenses, but how can we know what defenses Eyelizard have will keep our information out of their hands? And if Visser 3 does have our information, who knows what he'll do with it...
If Eyelizard was captured by ETCS on the other hand, then that would be bad. They'd...I don't know what they would do to him, but it wouldn't be good either, ETCS, could they capture Eyelizard, and are they really that bad? Ben, Alice, Harry, Ellen, Tobias...everytime ETCS was brought up the Old Bloods reacted with disgust, or even hatred, even if Ben was the only one that really visibly showed it, but the only universal reaction was fear, too. Just Tobias and his reinforcements being afraid would be one thing, but James and all of his group were afraid as well,. I could hear James and his new arrival's fearful whispering at night when I stayed over, they were too quiet for me to actually listen in, but it wasn't good...ETCS destroyed the Chee and betrayed the Andalites and Old Bloods, but what happened? What did they do?
Perhaps ETCS is poisoning the water, maybe they aren't, but no matter the answer to that question, being afraid of ETCS looks like a smart thing.
But Eyelizard, he's nowhere to be found...I knew leaving him here alone was a mista-
((There. I see him!)) Tobias reported.
((Where?)) I automatically said, looking around. Tobias sent me a mental image via telepathy, and my duck eyes focused in, I could see him. Eyelizard was standing on both legs, his ridiculously bulbous eyes changing color rapidly.
Oh thank God.
((Alright,)) I said. ((Fly over and pass back. That invisibility cloak Tobias has us shrouded in may conceal us from sight, but I'm not taking any chances by landing in the surveilance zone.))
We flew over the water facility, invisible ducks that nobody knew was there. Heh, Schrodinger's Ducks.
We turned around and lighted down on the blind spot, we flapped to brake until we finally landed, our webbed feet scraping against the concrete. Eyelizard got back on all fours and his eyes returned to their normal color, this place was a small enclosed space between the outside ofa ventilation system and a door to the facility itself, and conveniently, the ventilation system was close to the strangely gravelly surface of the roof.
((Ooh,)) Marco said. ((Now I know why these guys prefer landing on water, ow!))
((Hope I'm not bleeding,)) Rachel remarked.
((Alright, let's go,)) I said, beginning the long process of demorphing.
Me.
My feathers curled into my wings as they thickened into proper human arms, my posture straightened as my spine and everything connected to it shifted, my legs thickened and the powerful muscles in my chest that enabled flight turned back into the front of a human torso. The feather patterns remained on my arms vanished, and my eyesight darkened as I felt my bill split into a nose and lips. My teeth came back, and the tips of my wings split into human hands. My organs shifted and I grew in size as my human form returned. When my vision returned I saw The Old Bloods still morphing as my friends finished theirs.
Weird.
((Hey Tobias, Ben, Alice,)) I said. ((Did you not practice with morphing the duck? I don't know if it's just me, but it looks like you're morphing slower.))
((We are,)) Ben agreed without hesitation.
((I think it's because of the residual effects of the conflict in our genetic code due to our heritage. The deformities,)) Ellen joined in.
((No, I don't think it's that,)) Tobias clarified. ((If it were, me and Alice would be visibly further ahead of you.))
((Well, we practiced morphing insects so much that it doesn't really matter, does it?)) I said. ((Ben, Alice, are your tools ready?))
((Affirmative,)) Alice said as Ben nodded.
((Eyelizard, have you found a way to the source of the poison?)) I asked.
The giant bug-eyed gecko nodded, a strange sight to see.
((Then we're going in,)) I said, focusing on the animal I sought to turn into.
Cockroach.
The first change was me shrinking, the odd falling sensation began as my body grew smaller all over again. I felt the feeling of another pair of shoulders growing and splitting from my own under my armpits, when my pelvis began changing shape my legs gave out from under me. An insect's abdomen grew from my rear and most of my internal organs shifted to it through my rearranged pelvis as my torso narrowed. My neck and head changed shape so that I was "looking down" and once the shrinkage was done my skin finally began hardening into that classic brown exoskeleton. As my skeleton finally began disappearing, antenae burst from my scalp from my receding human hair. My organs shifted as the changes compelted themselves, my eyesight became so dim, a crude mockery of what I could once see, in comparison to my human ears I was deaf, but I've gotten around this.
The instincts kicked in, and predictably, the roach wanted to flee, even moreso when Eyelizard walked up to us, he looked infinitely more goofy at this size, and somewhat intimidating.
((All aboard the gecko train, losers!)) Marco quipped. ((We're about to save our water supply!))
I began running over to Eyelizard, climbing onto his legs as my own body raced seemingly at the speed of light from my perspective. I touched his soft hide and began climbing up the leg, my roach brain wanting to run away and find someplace dark to hide from this giant reptilian predator. I quickly scaled Eyelizard's still legs and found the others on his back, fellow roaches, and Harry himself had morphed another lizard, smaller than Eyelizard, an anole. Harry picked up in his lizard mouth a small device that Ben had dropped when he demorphed from his duck form.
((Heh, you kids,)) Ellen said.
((Dibs!)) Rachel said, rushing over to one of the tiny cavities in Eyelizard's back where he typed out that we could hide in.
Soon enough everyone found a space, the roach's instincts calmed and we began moving as Eyelizard carried us into the ventilation system. I felt and heard only a brief sign of struggle before Eyelizard dropped.
We're in. We were officially inside the water facility. I don't know why, but as Eyelizard moved forward, carrying us through the vents, something felt off. It wasn't something in the air, it was cooler, but nothing had gone wrong, it wasn't in my roach body, if anything The Cockroach was calmer now there we were inside a truly dark space. Something felt different now, what was it?
((This doesn't seem fast,)) Marco commented.
((It's because we're riding on Eyelizard,)) Tobias said. ((Trust his stealth skills, he knows what he's doing.))
((If only your Dad was here, Tobias,)) Harry commented. ((Or Ben's. I'd feel a lot less nervous coming here.))
((We can't let that stop us,)) I said as Eyelizard soundlessly prowled through the ventilation system. ((Elfangor's gone, and no matter how much help he would've been, we can't let his absence stop us, we're going to have to make due.))
We're not supposed to be here, I realized.
We had trespassed into places before, places where if we were caught we'd get in trouble, Skridge's meat shop as it closed down, The Gardens, PETA's 'dumping closets,' even The Ghost Town in what feels like something that happened to another person a lifetime ago. We would be in trouble if we were caught in those places, but this was the first time we broke into somehwere we were truly not supposed to be. Where if we got caught, the normal response isn't supposed to be a slap on the wrist, but handcuffs or a bullet to the head, and a ruined reputation. This wasn't some person's business or a public space after hours, we were in restricted human territory, this entire building might as well belong to ETCS considring how many of them are close by.
((Hey Jake,)) Marco said to me in private thought speech. ((Are you feeling what I'm feeling?))
((The way you felt when you listened in on that Sharing Meeting?)) I asked. ((Me too.))
((Yeah, glad to know I'm not the only sane one.))
((Everyone, stay on alert,)) I reminded the whole team. ((If we're not careful, the people here won't hesitate to kill us.))
((And what about Eyelizard?)) Marco asked privately. ((Are you sure he's not gonig to lead us into a trap?))
((He won't,)) I said. ((He hasn't betrayed us before, and he never will.))
The walk through the vents was long, with more than a few turns, and still those same metal walls. Suddenly, Eyelizard stopped.
((Whoah, I think this is it, people!)) Rachel said as Eyelizard shifted.
((Harry,)) I said. ((What do you see?))
((Nothing,)) he said as Eyelizard suddenly moved again. ((there's nothing here
Wait.
((Why's Eyelizard moving like that?)) I asked.
((Like what?)) Harry said. ((Wait, he's looking around for something.))
((Oh crap,)) Tobias said.
((What is it?)) I asked.
All of a sudden Eyelizard moved again, this time going into a full-no sprint, the change of pace was immediate.
((Whoah!)) Harry said. ((Don't let me fall!))
((Now what?)) Rachel asked.
((Something's coming,)) Cassie noted from within her space on Eyelizard's back. ((It's there, something's wrong.))
((Eyelizard, he has to be sensing something wrong,)) Alice exclaimed.
Something's wrong, but what?
Eyelizard then suddenly jumped and landed silently, he slowed down and then began going down.
((Wha-hey! He's squeezing himself through a vent! How can he do that!)) Harry said.
((Eyelizard can do just about anything,)) Ben said. ((He doesn't give a single speck of dirt what anyone thinks.))
((This is it, people,)) I said. ((Everyone, get ready!))
And just as quickly as he entered through that vent grate, I felt the pull of gravity as we fell. Harry had jumped off of Eyelizard when he entered the grate earlier, holding that device that would lower a prehensile string to grab us when we morphed into insects when the job is done...at least, he was supposed to.
((Hey! WAIT!)) Harry said right before we suddenly stopped, landing on the floor.
((Harry?)) I asked. ((What happened?))
((Are you okay?)) Tobias asked as Eyelizard began moving again.
((Eyelizard just shot out his tongue and grabbed me as he went down!)) Harry said with righteous indignation that began dying down. ((Who do you think you are? Let go of me right now!))
((Well, at least we're at the place,)) Cassie said.
((Wait a second...)) Harry said, calming down. ((He just put me down.))
((Where are we?))
((Uh, I think you'll find out soon enough, Eyelizard's demanding you all to demorph.))
((Demorph?)) I asked. ((Why?))
((I don't know, but he's typing on the metal with his tongue 'danger,' and 'demorph.'))
What kind of danger? Some sort of pest patrol?
((But you can only morph so many times,)) Tobias said.
((Oh, he's excluding me,)) Harry said. ((I'm staying as a lizard.))
((Animorphs,)) I said, exiting from the nook in Eyelizard's back and jumping onto the floor of the very dark room. ((Demorph.))
And so I did, my exoskeleton turned to skin and softened as my bones returned along with my human shape, my abdomen receded back into my torso as my organs realigned and returned. My body became fully human in a short minute.
I looked around at my surroundings once my eyes returned, the room was fairly dark illuminated by lights shining from above, but...
((This is not the place,)) Rachel said in thought speech.
There was no equipment, nothing was here, this was a hallway. I looked up and saw the vent Eyelizard had dropped down from in time for a red flash to zip across it in an instant, I flinched as something landed on my face and landed on the metal floor, I leaned down and saw it was a cockroach, legs bent inward, smoking as if fried by a magnifying glass.
((This is a hallway!)) Marco said, crouching down as his antenae finished receding into his scalp. ((We're exposed out here! We need to get back in the vent before any guards show up!))
((Oh crap, speak of the devil,)) Rachel commented as we heard the sound of boots falling on the metal ground approaching.
((Don't worry,)) Tobias said. ((Remain calm an stick to the wall! My invisibility cloak won't let them see us!))
And so we did as he said, backs against the wall metallic wall, the sound of boots grew more noticable over the hum of the machines used to treat the water in here.
And in time we saw a patrol of guards, all armed to the teeth, bearing assault rifles and wearing fully enclosed helmets. Three, four, no, five, eight guards rushed into view, my heartbeat increased and I dry swallowed, closing my eyes, hoping that Tobias' cloak would work. As the guards came closer I opened my eyes again to watch them run past us without a single indication that they noticed us, noticing Harry clinging to Ben's neck. None of us moved, not a single inch, not until the guards turned the next corner and moved out of sight.
((Okay, we're clear,)) I said, turning down to our guide, who made himself known as he scratched the ground. I could barely make out in the light the black letters he had printed on the metal floor.
((Do you think those guards were Them?)) Cassie asked.
((Can't tell, I think that's the point,)) I said. "Eyelizard, did you take us out of the vent to avoid a trap? That red light?"
The creature nodded his head up and down, it's going to take us a while to get used to it.
"Can you still guide us to the spot?" Tobias asked in a whisper.
Eyelizard nodded again and turned to scrabble away in the direction the guards ran off into, and we followed.
((Thank God we're invisible,)) Rachel said. ((It would be so embarassing to be discovered like this.))
((I'm not going to die on you if that's what you're worried about,)) Ellen quipped as we turned right. But after that the conversation stopped in favor of following Eyelizard, straight forward, turn left, another left turn, and then the door, labelled: Filtration Room.
((Okay, how are we going to get through that without the people on the other side noticing?)) Marco asked.
((Why not send Eyelizard through?)) I asked, before looking down at the critter who was grabbed hold of Alice's wrist. "Can you squeeze underneath the door?"
The small creature nodded again.
((Yeah, I think he can do it,)) Marco said. ((Remove whatever's spraying the Anti-morph serum into the water supply.))
((Oh come on,)) Ben said in a way where I could hear him rolling his eyes. ((Surely you haven't forgotten why me and Alice are tagging along, have you?))
((Oh,)) was all Marco could reply with.
((Wait,)) Alice said. ((The door, it's open, the light above the keypad is green!))
I looked and sure enough, the keypad next to the door had a green light above it, I reached forward and grabbed the handle, pulling it open to a crack with ease. And from that cracked open door the sound of the water filtration machines were load. This is the place.
((This is too easy,)) Rachel said, almost gloating.
((Something doesn't smell right,)) Marco noted.
((I agree,)) I said, looking down at Eyelizard and nodding, the little guy then jumped from Alice's grasp and scamped on through the doorway, just as invisible as we were, his optics alert to all threats until only his tail protruded. If he entered in all the way, it's safe, if he turns back out, we're going back up the vents.
It was a tense few seconds as Eyelizard scanned everything within the mysterious room, and I grew tense as I heard a certain sound repeat itself.
"Hurry," I whispered to Eyelizard. "Time is short."
((We know that,)) Ellen said.
((And I thought we agreed to thought speak only when necessary!)) Rachel said.
((A patrol is coming,)) I explained, there was no need for me to inform Eyelizard, if I could hear it, he could too.
((Oh,)) Ben said. ((That would be bad.))
There! Eyelizard's tail disappeared, it was safe to enter!
I walked forward, and without a word, the others followed me, the invisibility cloak.
((I'll leave the door the way we found it,)) Alice said as we entered. ((Barely opened.)
The room was huge, dominated by a a row of massive metallic tubs of water like one of those big pools you could buy from Wal-Mart, but big enough to be the size of an Olympic Swimming Pool, and taller than the school we went to. There were catwalks leading up to the tops of those water tanks, and a couple of forklifts, inert. The room was better illuminated than those dark and dreary hallways, it sort of reminds me of a classroom, especially with the giant white painted letters on the sides of them.
Eyelizard pointed and Alice grabbed him again, the creature wrapping his tail around Alice's arm. We all moved to the area where Eyelizard was pointing to until it led to water tank D5.
((Alright, this is it,)) I said as my bare feet touched the metal steps, I made sure to move carefully so that nobody would hear me walk up. ((Up the catwalk and into the intake.
((Finally,)) Rachel said as I heard Ben begin to ooze his tool-kit from his subspace into his hands. And when we finally reached the top we were greeted with a series of large tubes running down into the giant tubs, going through lids that rose sort of like pyramids. And ever more obvious was the noise of massive amounts of water, like swimming pools emptying all at once, coming from underneath the lid. We moved until we reached the part of the catwalk that led down underneath the 'lid,' and so we went and found the place where the desalinated and fully water left the tanks and entered the pipelines that came fromt he center and reached the edge, going down. The center of the little crevice was a large central pillar surrounding the pipe hat led to the huge filtration tank, and there were consoles surrounding it, and a map detailing where this water is going to.
That's our town all right, I observed as Ben walked past me, hands rummaging in his bag for the tools he'll use to remove the source of the poison.
((Let's do it!)) Rachel said.
((This is insane,)) Marco quipped. ((And it ends here.))
((Just stand guard,)) Alice said as she got in a chair and logged into the console, fingers flying at the keyboard.
As Marco, Rachel, and everyone besides Alice, Ben, Harry, and myself spread out to keep a lookout, Eyelizard scrabbled around on the floor where a pipe was and rammed his snout into it, and before my eyes removed the panel. Ben pulled his hand out of his bag wielding what looked like a pair of really fancy tweezers. Eyelizard nodded, satisfied as he backed away, and right there, staring me in the face, was the source of the poison.
Jackpot.
It had been strapped to the pipe, it looked like a green colored frosting dispenser, but made of solid plastic and with a screw-on cap at the side of it. It had a tiny screen on it, indicating that this thing had some underlying technology under its shell.
Ben stuck his arm out and began to work on it with his strange cypher tweezers. I watched as his tool tapped the computer console on the injector.
((The injector,)) Ben reported in surprise. ((It's inert.))
((What?)) I said. ((The Injector's inert? How is it inert?))
((He means it's deactivated,)) Rachel said snidely.
((No, if it was deactivated, then I would be able to turn it on,)) Ben reported. ((This device is dead.))
((Maybe it's out of juice?)) Marco suggested. ((And whoever put the device in there hasn't refilled it yet?))
Ben then unscrewed the cap and removed it, and immediately a horrid smell reached my nose. I felt all of my hair stand up and my body became covered in goosebumps, in an instant I knew what I was smelling was horrible, deep down it was wrong. But I already had the name for it.
((Ugh, so that's what Anti-morph serum smells like?)) I commented. ((That is just god awful.))
((And it's definitely not empty,)) Ben said, screwing the cap back on.
Before anyone could say anything else, I heard the first signs that we were not alone in this room.
((Guys! Quiet!)) I said. ((We're not alone!))
"-and we can go over this, again, and again, and however many times you wish. Sooner or later you're going to stop torturing yourself."
The door! I realized, mentally punching myself for my stupidity. The door to this place wasn't closed! It wasn't closed because someone busted in here already! Stupid Jake! Stupid! You're an idiot!
That voice, whoever that voice belonged to, it just screamed all sorts of ominous. But we were soon to discover that we were in far more trouble than we could've imagined, we were about to come face to face with a force that will haunt our nightmares for years to come.