Mable: Okay, so I should explain myself. I got a little swamped with projects, along with hitting a nasty writer's block. Not one of those ones where you don't know what to write, but one of those ones where you DO know what you want to or are supposed to write and just can't get the words down. Now with my schedule better and me back in an Oddworld mood, I am ready to get the show back on the road. So, thank you for your patience! Enjoy!

Within Reach

Chapter 19: In-Voluntary Hospitalization

Vykkers Pavilion had only somewhat braced Abe for what he was walking into. That first hallway resembled the ones he had seen down in Nolybab, save that the feel of it was different. The air smelled heavily of cleaner, the tiled floor was so cold that his feet almost stuck to them, and the only thing breaking the silence was the buzz of the overhead lights. He pushed further down the hall in an attempt to avoid any run-ins with the Interns he knew were behind him.

Though that trek was stopped shortly down the hall and around the corner when his path was blocked with a large door of thick metal. It was almost like an elevator door and the only controls was a number pad and a slot to slide a keycard through. It didn't take more than one look at it to know there was no way he was getting through by his means alone.

His only way through was a vent high on the wall. Climbing the wall- using that chill to his advantage to get himself up- he got his fingers into the slats. He jostled the vent and could tell it wasn't bolted in too tightly, that mixed with the size meant he could probably pry it off. Using his weight and the wall as leverage, he just managed to do so, landing heavily on his feet and managing not to drop the cover on the floor.

After listening to make sure nobody was coming, he carefully set the cover on the floor beneath the vent like it had fallen off on its own- a tactic that had worked at the medical pavilion. Then he hopped up, grabbing ahold of the vent, and pulled himself in. Soon having to shed his bag and drag it behind as he squeezed through the tight space. The chilled air blowing through the vent barely cooled his anxiety heated skin.

The vent went on for a while, turning a few times in the process, before ending in another closed cover. Abe tried to look through to little avail. He could see that the floor directly beneath him was clear, but nothing else. He listened in to see if he could hear anyone nearby and didn't, but he found himself hesitant to throw himself through. He waited a little longer, trying to get an idea of what was out there, before realizing he had to take the plunge. Literally.

Awkwardly pulling up his bag enough to go through it, he managed to find the handheld can opener he had stashed inside and tried to use that to pop the cover out. It worked, him barely catching it enough in his fingers to keep it from falling, then having to scramble to catch it when that grip failed shortly afterwards. By the end of it having his arms fully sticking out of the vent in a very inconspicuous display.

And it was stuck like that when Abe got his first look at the inside of Vykker's Labs. If he thought the outside was unlike anything he had seen, the inside was all the more bizarre and alien. His mouth dropping open at the sight.

The inside of Vykker's Labs must've been massive as where he was, which wasn't even near the center of the structure, was comprised of levels of open floors. Walls were made of brick and padding, with tiled walkways that stretched around the open space in between the levels. So much space, in fact, that there was actually a sort of fog in the air. Though that could've been less because of the distance and more of whatever smelled so bitter in the air.

As he climbed down, cautiously setting down the vent cover again, and stepped closer to the railing of the landing, he got a better look around. He could see parts of the blimp's frame high above between the floors, distant bridges linking some of the floors, and instead of stairs or lifts, gently sloped ramps leading to the upper and lower levels.

Then he caught sight of a group of Interns walking along one of the higher floors in the distance and realized they could've easily seen him too, and thus quickly back up against the wall he came through before looking around. He could hear voices from somewhere above and from their shrillness knew they were Vykkers.

Knowing he had caught a lucky break, he began to move immediately, keeping close and to the wall. Though at this point Abe had no idea where he was going. There was nothing to differentiate which direction he needed to move in, so he found himself moving in the direction of where the hallway would've led if he had gotten through the door.

Then the moment he spotted what looked to be a directory down the way beside a wide doorway and on a stretch of wall with no padding, he also spotted two Interns coming in his direction, pushing some kind of metal table with a white sheet covering it, and the lump of whatever the sheet was covering. Abe panicked and looked around wildly, seeing nothing to hide behind and nowhere to go.

The Interns were closing in fast and only hadn't noticed him because they were staring dead ahead, but the moment they came around the corner they would see him dead ahead. With no other options, he decided to take a risk- a risk he considered earlier as a last resort- and rushed to the edge of the walkway. He climbed over the railing and down until he was dangling from the ledge. As long as they didn't look closely, they would probably not see his hands.

Abe looked around at the new level and his heart nearly stopped when he realized he wasn't alone. There was a different kind of creature standing only about twenty feet away beside the opening to another hallway, one with its back towards him, standing in place studying a clipboard clutched within many hands with sharp, pointed fingers. Its skin a sickly purple, is body shaped awkwardly above three spindly legs, wearing a rust-stained white coat and multi-lensed headgear.

It was a Vykker, and somehow it was both more terrifying and more threatening than the Interns above.

But it hadn't see him yet. It would if it so much as turned towards him, but right now it seemed distracted with its work. This would've been the perfect opportunity to slip away, but the Interns above still hadn't even reached him. He was stuck dangling there, because if he so much as dropped onto the railing beneath him there was no doubt the Vykker, who wasn't wearing the thick headphones of the Interns, would see him.

Panic began to grow as he became hyper-aware of every sound, of how vulnerable he was. He could feel thousands of eyes that weren't there staring from the other landings, knowing they weren't there but knowing they could readily appear.

And just when it couldn't get any worse, a second Vykker barreled out of the hallway and stormed towards the first. He could see the profile of its face- it could've seen him out the corner of its eye if it was just paying attention. Thank odd it was too blinded by its own anger to see anything except its current target.

"Well, I hope you're happy!" it cried in a painfully shrill voice. "Security just got back from searching the exam rooms from top to bottom, in and out, every nook and crevice, and NOTHING! The Gabbit is GONE! And you know what else is GONE? OUR PAYCHECK!" Its voice dropped to a hiss for a second, but it was still loud enough for Abe to hear, and it didn't last. "We could've been wasting all this time COUNTING THE ZEROES ON THE CHECK WE COULD'VE GOTTEN!"

The other Vykker stared at him for a long moment before giving a droll, "Are you done?"

"Am I done?!"

"Are you done?!" the second Vykker mimicked. The two stared at each other for a long moment.

"…Yes, but only because I'm about to go on break. We're not done talking about this!" the Vykker shrieked, pointing with firm jabs of his sharp fingers.

A beat.

"…So, I'm craving something fried and salty," he continued. His tone completely flipping into a casual one to fit the suddenly unremarkable conversation.

The other Vykker cocked a brow. "Really? That stuff goes straight to clogging up your arteries."

"Don't we sell pills for that?" the annoyed Vykker asked.

"You know the results may vary! And those results don't account for two pounds of deep-fried meat grease! Now come on, we've got a freezer full of Green Queas-ine. That stuff's at least moderately healthier."

"I'm a doctor. Why would I have to care about my health?"

The two kept arguing about this as they finally turned and went back the second Vykker had come from. Neither of them had looked back towards the dangling Mudokon.

Abe breathed a sigh of relief and did a quick look around and listen before dropping onto the railing beneath him. He nearly lost his balance before dropping forward safely onto the ledge. Pulling his backpack close, he continued on his way.

Eventually he came across a proper directory. Another gaggle of Interns too- these ones moving cages, escorted by one armored Intern with some kind of tasing wand- though he managed to evade them. The electronic directory had a vague layout of the layers of Vykker's labs that opened up with details when he pressed on a certain sections. Though as luck would have it, none of them boldly stated the location of the Mudokon Queen- if she was even here.

The closest thing were two sections listed as the 'Mudokon Testing Hold' and the 'Mudokon Pens'. Likely she would be kept in the pens, where he was assuming other Mudokons too would be kept, but the testing hold was also a viable place to check. She would need to be under constant monitoring, wouldn't she? They would've maybe just stuck her in there.

"Take a left, go down to the lift… cross this way, get into testing hold… go back- no. Go this way, go through testing chambers, come out right here and go this way. Comes out beside pens… Got it," Abe murmured and recited to himself. He just hoped he could remember it, because he had a feeling the tighter hallways weren't going to be nearly as easy to squeeze through.

There were a few close calls. One especially involving a large door with the letters "R&D" branded on the outside that Abe couldn't get open. He had looked around for another way through for a while before hearing noises on the other side and barely dipping around a corner and holding tight against a wall right before the door opened. More Interns came through, as expected.

In the amount of time, he had been here he had figured out that many of the doors were on a timer. Once it was opened the Interns would pass through and it would close after a few seconds, so that they didn't have to stop to shut it behind them. This door was no different, but the timing was a lot closer. Abe couldn't wait until the line of Interns was out of the hall, he had to make a run for it as soon as the last one passed.

His footsteps blended in with the beat of the music thumping through their headphones and he just barely skirted past the door before it slammed closed. Now he found himself beside a larger room.

The room almost looked like an atrium with a windowed, circular hallway surrounding some kind of surgical theater. Or dissection theater, as Abe realized when he peeked into the windows. Two Vykkers were huddled over a table and slicing apart a deceased Elum. The light glinted off a scalpel as it easily sliced through typically rough flesh. Abe gulped and squeezed one hand around the other, vaguely brushing over faded surgical scars.

They sliced open its guts before one of them reached back to a tray of utensils and grabbed some tongs. They dipped into the beast, yanked a little, and returned with a hunk of bloodied calcified stone pinched tightly. The Vykker tsked and shook his head then tossed it into a side basin before digging for more. Abe had no idea what they were looking for, but the process was making him feel a little lightheaded, so he looked away.

He crouched down and crossed underneath the windows as to not be spotted. Though he couldn't hear into the theater, he could hear the voices of numerous Vykkers from somewhere nearby, perhaps in a room above. That sick feeling didn't go away as he spotted more of these testing chambers. A massive room set with only a lone chair and surgical equipment in the middle, a small room filled with gurneys, and a scent that smelled like cleaning chemicals and decaying flesh.

He thankfully didn't run into anyone directly in the tight halls and ended up making his way into the sectioned off area for Mudokon testing. At least, that's what he thought it was. What he was expecting was pens filled with Mudokons- though in hindsight that would probably be the Mudokon Pens he read about- and maybe a big empty room that they would test them in.

He knew that testing would involve injections and chemicals, but there was still an innocent part of him that had latched onto this elaborate idea about Vykkers gathering up the most promising of Mudokons and sending them through a volley of physical tests to see who the best were for whatever they wanted them to be. Sort of like a parallel to the trials he himself had to run.

Instead, it was just another hallway. This one lined with heavy doors with little slots on the top with handles, to open and peek through at whatever was inside. There had to be at least thirty of the doors lined up before the hallway ended in a two-way junction. The hallway was painfully quiet, but the lack of Vykkers chattering was too much of a relief to really take in the eerie humming of the lights above and machinery down below.

Abe approached the first door on the left. There was nothing really of description outside of the door, so he reached up and slid aside the heavy cover. He peered into the cell on the other side anticipating, and dreading, to see a Mudokon captive within… but there was nobody there. The room was devoid of anything at all. Just a padded cell.

"Huh…" Abe had an uncomfortable feeling as he drew back. He wanted just to think that they moved the Mudokons out when they were done testing, but he had trouble believing the Vykkers would be so concerned.

He just hoped they didn't end up on that table too…

He shook his head and the thought away before continuing down the rooms. He kept checking them on both sides but there were no Mudokons in any of them. Though one had a large stain around the drain in the floor that made him uneasy.

It wasn't until the end of the line that he noticed there was finally something different about one of the doors. Well, not the door itself, but the fact that there was a medical chart in a file holder beside the door. It was the first and only one he had seen, and he assumed it would give him some answers, so after he stole one last look around, he dared to lift it out and spare the time to read over its contents.

He knew he made the right choice when his eyes immediately locked on the words "Projekt SoulStorm".

Abe feverishly scanned the record and tried to take as much information as he could off of it, but it was hard to understand. Everything was kept purposefully vague and there were a lot of words that he recognized as placeholders to guise other words, without knowing exactly what they were trying to imply.

What he did grasp was that there was a Mudokon labelled as "Subject 014781GX – Control Subject" and that they had gone through many testing phases. Their numbers running off an allotted line and scratched in with various shades of ink, showing that they were added additionally over time. All of the other papers detailed these tests, and they were confusing and concerning. Endurance tests, stress tests, blood tests, with the results usually being labelled as 'typical'.

Even though it had to be connected to Soulstorm Brew, the file didn't really contain any information on it. He set it back into the slot and dared to open the little window to peer in. Much to his surprise there was actually a Mudokon inside. Though he supposed it was fitting considering that this was the only door with a medical chart outside of it.

The Mudokon was curled up against the other wall, facing it, legs pulled up to its chest, covered in a very papery looking sheet as a blanket. Other than him, there was also a little television in the room, which was currently showing more static that anything else, a rubber ball, and a bucket in the corner. It was the bare minimum for a holding cell. No windows, no fresh air, not even a way to shut the lights off. Pretty much exactly what he expected.

"Hello?" Abe called in quietly. He jumped when the Mudokon suddenly shot up from his position and clawed around the wall and floor until he turned himself around.

His eyes were wide and wild, and that didn't change even when he saw another Mudokon peeking through the door slot. His green skin was a little chalky and there was dark shadows under his eyes. His pupils were shrunk and darting across the small glimpse of the other Mudokon's face, as though he didn't understand what he was seeing.

Just seeing that alone told Abe more about what he had been through than any medical chart could.

"Sorry! It's okay! You're okay. I'm not here to hurt you," he assured him. He was about to continue, but the other opened his mouth so he snapped shut his own in response.

"Wha-," the test subject began, his voice dry and crackly from disuse. "Wha- What're you doing out? How're you out?" He sounded confused and quite scared, so Abe immediately adjusted his tone to an even gentler one.

"It's a long story… I'm Abe."

"Uh… Uh-huh. Hullo."

There was no recognition. Abe had gotten so used to his name holding significance that the other not even batting an eye surprised him. Though it made sense considering that he was stuck in this cell, probably for a long while. He didn't know about a Mudokon uprising or escapes from other locations. All he knew was this room and whatever was on the television, and that was definitely scrubbed of the truth.

"I'm the guy who's here to bust you out of here," Abe clarified. "Where's the others?"

"Them? The, uh, the others in the- in the rooms?" the Mudokon asked. He received a nod. "Oh, they're dead. All gone. Back in the freezer."

Abe's mouth went dry and his chest tightened, along with that sick feeling briefly returning. He had to push it back down and press on.

"What… happened to them?" he asked.

"They pumped- the doctors pumped all this stuff in them and they couldn't handle it. They'd be okay for a while, sometimes, and then the screams would start, and it was aaaaall downhill from there," the test subject explained. He pulled his sheet tighter around him and it crinkled loudly. "…But I didn't. I dunno. I felt okay?"

His head then suddenly snapped up as he suddenly recognized what Abe said earlier. "Wait, you're- you're going to get me out? How? How can you do that? You can do that?"

"That's the plan… I mean, that's what I'm going to do," Abe quickly corrected. This wasn't the time to show doubt, especially when the other Mudokon sprung up and ran to the door.

"I know the code. Eight-five-eight-five-seven-seven-nine-two-star. I've seen it when they take me out, I know that's it. They don't change it."

Abe blinked. "…What code?"

"Th-Th-The code. For the door. For the door to the office that controls these doors, down at the end of the hall, to the right. The left's the testing halls, don't go left. Go right and then eight-five-eight-five-seven-seven-nine-two-star," the test subject said. He spoke it all in the same frantic rush as before, but this time Abe at least thought he got the numbers memorized somewhat.

"Got it. I'll be back."

"Hurry. Please," he begged. "I'll go back to the pens. I'll go anywhere, just not here. I don't want to hear any more."

"I won't be long, promise," Abe assured. He then continued down the hall in the direction he was pointed towards.

The moment he walked away from the door he felt those thoughts starting to build up. He started to think back on all those empty cells and the ones with stains in the floor. He started to think about Projekt SoulStorm and Soulstorm Brew and how many tests they must've done to make sure it was fatal, and he felt that clamp on his heart and stomach, along with the staticky burn on the back of his hands.

The moment he noticed his vision start to tunnel in he decided he had to do something. So, he raised the communicator to his mouth and turned it on as he was shown.

"Hey Vesper?" he asked quietly.

After a moment of crunchy static, he got a response. "I'm here. Where are you?"

"I'm in this hallway with a bunch of holding cells for Mudokon test subjects and there's only one guy left here," Abe explained. "There's a paper here that says he's the Control Subject. What's that mean?"

"A control subject is sort of like… Okay, so when doing an experiment there's usually a person or persons whose results are kept track of without being tested on for comparison means… Here's an example: imagine you were trying to make a hair growth serum and wanted to see if it was working. You would get test subjects to try it on- hopefully willingly, but I'm slowly waking up from that fantasy- and see if any hair is grown. You would have a control group, or control subject, who didn't have the serum to compare the results against."

"So, a control subject wouldn't have been given whatever they were testing," Abe figured out.

"That's right."

"So that's… probably why he lived."

"…That's right?" Vesper uneasily questioned.

"That explains it. Thanks," Abe said.

That explained all of it actually and explained why this Mudokon was the only one left, why he was so frazzled, why he had distractions in his cell, why everything. He had probably been here longer than any of the others had been and, considering how long brew had been around, it could've been a while. Maybe he replaced some other control subject Mudokon. He didn't want to think about it. He wanted to think about anything else.

"…This is probably a stupid question, but why would someone need something to make 'em grow hair?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, fur balding runs in some bloodlines back at the colony. Not mine, thankfully!" Vesper replied, putting on a false upbeat tone and playing along perfectly. "So, have you got any idea where you-know-who is?"

"Unless that's me, no, and I don't really know where I am either," Abe admitted. He stopped at the end of the hall and looked to his right, seeing a door with a keypad beside it. "But I'm about to."

"I suppose I should let you go then. Ring me back when you've got something?"

"You know it."

With that Abe removed his finger from the button and stepped forward to the door. He leaned against it, hands pressing against the cold metal and head tilted forward and listened for anyone inside. It was silent and he took a deep breath and typed in the code, still repeating it in the back of his head. He started reaching into his bag before the door opened and confirmed that it was empty. He exhaled and cautiously wandered inside.

Just like most of Vykker's Labs, the surveillance room was much more sterile than any from a Glukkon or Slig-manned facility. Numerous screens were mounted above a desk as glossy as a surgical table and mounted with a long control board, with two leather rolling chairs pulled up to it. The numerous CCTV screens showed live footage into each of the empty cells that Abe had peeked in out in the hall, including the control subject Mudokon's, who was still huddled at his door peeking through the slot.

The opposite side of the room was blocked off by fencing and behind that were rows of file cabinets, with boxes full of files stacked on top of and beside them. Only one file was left out, but Abe recognized the Magog Cartel's symbol on it. Likely it too was about Projekt Soulstorm.

Abe tried the handle on the fence's door and was met with a nasty surprise. A sharp jolt shot through his hand and up his arm, and he yelped and jumped back, shaking the limb out. Of course it would have to be an electrified fence; and from how his scar briefly lit up from the shock, it had to be a strong one. He looked around for a way to shut the power off and found nothing. Then he turned around and approached the desk.

Unfortunately, he didn't see any button that with a label that indicated it stopped the electricity or unlocked the doors, nor even any singled-out buttons that could've replicated that. He cautiously lowered his hand and pressed a button with an arrow on it. He knew practically nothing about computers, but that was a button he occasionally saw on keypads.

There was a smaller screen directly in front of the keypad under the wall of monitors and it responded when he pressed the button. The Vykker's Labs logo appeared on it and spun around in place for a few moments before a black screen with white text appeared on it.

INTERFACE 1397 READY FOR INQUIRY…

There was a small blinking line underneath it. Abe hesitated before reaching and pressing one of the letter buttons. The letter appeared on the screen. Taking a deep breath, he cautiously typed in:

Open doors.

The computer answered instantly: COMMAND NOT RECOGNIZED.

Maybe he had to be a little clearer about what he wanted. He cautiously typed in again.

Open electric door.

COMMAND NOT RECOGNIZED.

Abe went through a few variations of the request. From a super specific "Open electric door in security room in Mudokon testing hallway," which did nothing, to "Shut off power to electric door in security room in Mudokon testing hallway." The last command he tried, "Shut off power to Mudokon testing hallway," got a different result, much to his surprise.

REQUEST CANNOT BE COMPLETED. INADEQUATE AUTHORIZATION.

This didn't help him, but it did suggest that he was on the right track. At least he knew that it could understand something. He decided to forget about the files and return his focus to the sole prisoner. "Open Mudokon testing cell doors."

REQUEST CANNOT BE COMPLETED. ALL CELL DOORS CANNOT BE OPENED IN UNISON.

Abe looked up at the screens and squinted at the one that held the control subject. In the corner of the footage, alongside the date and time of the live feed, he found that it was labelled as "Cell X". Which Abe murmured under his breath before looking back to the tiny screen and typing in another command. "Open cell X."

TESTING CELL X OPENED.

He looked up to the screen to see that the cell door did in fact open and watched the control subject Mudokon inside leap away and huddle back into the corner. Abe got a touch of a smile and was ready to go out and get him, only hesitating to send a look back at the files just out of his reach. He supposed they would have to wait, that he had more important things to deal with, but to know he had answers this close and had to leave them almost hurt.

He had to keep a low profile, he had to keep from riling suspicion, and that meant he begrudgingly had to walk out of that office knowing he would likely never make it back.

He found the control subject Mudokon standing in the corner. He looked so scared, like his nerves were so fried that even the prospect of escape frightened him. Abe took a half step in- paranoid of the door shutting behind him- and offered a hand to the fragile Mudokon.

"It's okay. Come on, let's go. I'll getcha out of here," Abe softly assured.

The Mudokon cautiously stepped away from the wall and slowly approached Abe, carefully taking his hand. It was clammy, but after the vents and maneuvering to get here, Abe guessed his was too. He smiled a little and turned to step back out of the cell, only to be tugged back when the Mudokon reached out to grab his ball, holding it tightly to his chest, staring back with wide eyes.

Abe managed a smile before starting to lead him out of the room once again. Soon they were creeping down the hallway. Abe leading the way, leading the other by the arm and pressed to the wall, while the Mudokon shuffled behind him.

"So… What's your name?" Abe whispered, deciding that 'the Mudokon' and 'the test subject' had gone on long enough.

"Not my numbers? Right, not my numbers. Name's Les. Not Less, not with two 's's. Les."

"Les. Okay, got it. That's a good name."

"Where're you taking me…?" Les asked.

"I'm going to take you to a portal and then you'll be sent outta here and to safety," Abe explained. Les gave a semi-confused 'huh?', so he elaborated. "First, we've gotta find some birds. Then I'll open a portal and you'll hop through and pop up at the village where the other Mudokons are. They'll help you out once you get there, and the best part is you'll be free and far, far away from the place. No more tests."

"Oh… Good," Les said. His tone still as vague and distant as ever. "I don't like the needles."

"Well… No more needles then," Abe said uncomfortably. Maybe it was best not to ask for clarification when the mental images were enough. "So… Didja hear anybody talking about a… a queen?"

"A queen?" Les processed the question a moment. "Y-Ye-Yeah. I heard 'em say something. Talking about a queen."

"Really?" He looked back at the glazed-eyed Mudokon. "What did they say?"

"Queen-lady Margaret needs new lungs. They've gone kaput."

"Oh…" Abe said with disappointment. Only to then suddenly remember who Lady Margaret was. His eyes went wide. "…OH!"

That was interesting. Maybe not helpful, but you couldn't live without lungs, and if queens were big then how were they going to find a pair big enough for her? For a fleeting moment he worried for their own queen, but he shirked that off quickly. There was no profit in cutting off their labor force flow, queen or not. She was probably safe for the moment… he hoped.

He fell silent as they made it to the end of the hallway and took the turn to the unvisited door. He approached it only to find that it too was locked by a keypad, but in this case, Les turned out to be the answer again, quickly rushing out another combination that Abe had to hastily type in- and ask about twice since he rambled it out so fast.

He must've been through here hundreds of times. He must've memorizes the codes to escape, which meant at some point Les hadn't been as foggy as he was now. Abe spared him a glance and a smile before taking a deep breath and leading them through the sliding doors that had just spread open for them.

But that was only the beginning of the testing rooms. While they were currently empty, which meant they were able to pass through significantly quicker, it did give a better glimpse into some of these tests that the Vykkers were running. Padded chairs with belts and restraints to hold someone down with suspiciously close IV stands. This with the needle comment gave him vivid images of Mudokons being strapped down as mixtures were pumped into their veins.

There was a larger room too with various types of monitoring equipment inside, like some sort of wheel that looked like a mine car but was stuck in place. Abe stared at it long enough that Les took noticed.

"They make me run on that sometimes," he said unprovoked. "I hate, hate, hate it… But I like it too. I like moving and getting it all out. All the uh, uh, tight-tightness from being stuck in my room."

"So, they can test how fast you can run… Or how long you can run," Abe murmured. This must've been where they checked to make sure the brew was fueling better workers, just like they wanted it to. More productive workers who could go for hours or days on only a couple bottles of brew. Again, unprovoked, Les offered more context.

"The ones who drank the real brew ran a lot faster and they never wanted to stop… even when they're back in the rooms. They'd bang all night," he said. He pulled in a little closer to Abe. "…But after they stopped… I missed it."

Abe frowned worriedly and reached over to pat his shoulder. Les gave a tiny squeak and clung tighter.

"Come on. Let's go," the blue skinned one said. He quickly did a quick scan for any loose papers or documents and, when he didn't find any, gently coaxed the other Mudokon by the arm to continue on.

The further they got into the testing rooms, the closer they got to the sounds of distant voices and footsteps echoing from the upper floors. Just hearing the rapid, thumping footsteps passing above reignited Abe's anxiousness. He guessed it was a Vykker and, assuming that it wasn't running after anything, they were naturally speedy. He noticed it with those doctors earlier. That could be a problem.

They passed through a junction of hallways after passing through a set of automatic doors that didn't require a keycard. The tile changed shade to a checker of white dotted with random black ones, and just feeling it with his feet suggested to Abe that it needed a good waxing. His seventh sense: when to wax a floor. His mouth twitched in a nervous smile.

That smile didn't last though. Along the walls of the hall before them were more windows showing in on examination rooms and through them, they could see that they were no longer alone.

Abe peeked through one of the windows and was shocked at what he saw inside. There was a Vykker in a lab coat with a clipboard in its hands, with one spare hand on its hip, standing aside and watching as an Intern pinned a Fuzzle to a metal table with its large, thickly gloved hand. The Fuzzle was snarling and writhing but couldn't fight the cage of fingers. He watched with a twisted stomach as the Intern injected a syringe filled with milky liquid deep into its skin.

Now, Abe didn't have the best experiences with Fuzzles. The rabid ones outside the Raisin's dump were horrifying and their body shape alone reminded him too much of Sleeches, but they were still just animals. Like Scrabs and Paramites, their viciousness was in their nature, an instinct to keep them alive. They weren't malicious, they just wanted to live, and these poor creatures looked to be facing a fate almost worse than the meat grinder.

At least he didn't have a chance to get attached to these ones.

Just then the Vykker hesitated in its writing. Abe just managed to hide beside the window before it looked over in his direction. It blinked, hmphed, and returned to its clipboard.

They couldn't stick around, that much was clear. Abe crouched down and did a quick roll under the window before turning back and beckoning the Mudokon to follow.

Les crouched down before slowly leaning forward and then rolling the ball across in one smooth motion. It was soundless and Abe caught it in his paw on the other side. Much to his surprise, Les came rolling over afterwards. He gave him a quick smile and passed over the ball before cautiously continuing on. It would've been safest just to roll under the next window naturally, but he dared to peek into that one as well.

In this one there were three Fuzzles in glass boxes with dishes set before them filled with a mucky grey substance. One of the Fuzzles had eaten most of its and now slumped lethargically. The other was ravenously eating the food, perhaps half starved. The third Fuzzle was pulled back into the corner, hissing and growling as an Intern opened the lid and started to nudge a yellow and black striped stick inside, as though to 'encourage' it to eat.

Abe decided that he didn't want to keep looking after this. He only checked long enough to make sure there were no Mudokons, but quickly pressed forward under the windows.

This place was bizarre. It didn't feel right. All of the doors were shut tight, and no amount of moolah was going to open them, and there were no Mudokon laborers scrubbing the floors or tending to the machinery. Perhaps they were just hidden, but the grit on the floor suggested that the clean look of the place was only because so many of the corridors were empty. Nobody had really scrubbed anything down.

So, if they weren't using Mudokons for the labor force, were they only using them for testing? That was a grizzly thought considering all those empty testing rooms. Abe steeled his nerves; he had to find the Mudokon Pens.

But first, he had to find some birds.

Which eventually led him out of the claustrophobic hallways and into a stairwell of ramps- a rampwell? -leading up through various open floor walkways like the massive atrium he escaped earlier. He walked to the railing along the edge of one of the ramps and looked around and upwards. As luck would have it, there were a few birds clustered together on one of the scaffolds holding up the metal skeleton of the airship.

He cupped his hands and whistled to them. He wasn't sure if it would work, but he didn't see or hear anyone around and thought it was worth a shot. It turned out to be a good guess as the birds cocked their heads in his direction. After a moment of tilting their heads and looking at him, they started to fly down and land on the railing.

Except for one. One decided to dive directly towards his face.

Abe squeaked and threw his hands up to shield his face, only to be surprised by a weight landing on one. He peeked out to see that the bird had perched atop his hand and was peering at him curiously. He stared in surprise as he slowly lowered his hand to get a better look. It cocked its head cutely and he cracked a little smile.

"Oh, a birdie!" Les said in awe. As though he hadn't ever seen one before or hadn't seen one in years. "These are the birds?"

"Yup! These are the birds we need," Abe agreed. He lowered his hand to the railing and the bird hopped off and joined its friends. He took a few steps back and clasped his hands together. "Ready to be free?"

"Y-Yes!" It was the most excited and certain he had sounded through this whole ordeal.

Abe's face only brightened further at hearing it and he bowed his head and began to chant. Within seconds, the bird hopped off of their perch and flew into a circle of light. Les was wide-eyed as the light reflected off the glassy orbs, giving a totally entranced look. He edged towards the portal as Abe continued to keep it open, hoping that the Mudokons at the village would give him a warm welcome.

And then…

There was a loud and distant pop and something suddenly pinched his calf. A slow-moving burn spread out from around the spot. It was enough to break him out of the chant and either that or the pop caused the birds to promptly fly off.

He thought he had been shot and looked down with panic. In fact, he had been shot, but not with a bullet and the slow spreading heat was not blood.

There was a syringe sticking out of his leg. Through the glass he could see an automatic plunger currently depositing a sickeningly green liquid into his leg. He hastily reached down and yanked it out, but he could see some of the fluid leaking out from the injection site and knew the deed was done. If this was poison, then he was done for.

Abe looked up at the direction it came from and in this kneel he could see the source of the dart on another ledge. It was an Intern, not one heavy with armor but one of the ones walking around doing busy work- save that it was holding a gun with a ring of syringes instead of bullets. The Intern looked just as shocked to see him, maybe only then getting a good view of the blue skin and stitches, but then his face twisted up in a glare.

Abe just barely rolled out of the way before a barrage of syringes were unloaded right into the spot he had been in. They hit the ground and shattered and splattered their contents on the floor. A line of them followed him as long as they could as he got to his feet and was far enough down the ramp that he was blocked from view.

Les had already bolted and Abe put aside his current plight to run after him, now in a total panic, when the Intern must've sounded the alarm. A siren blared through speakers mounted throughout the facility and a door he was passing slammed shut beside him, causing him to stumble over his own footing. Trying to swallow with a panic-dried mouth, he continued running after Les.

"Wait up!" he whisper-shouted after the Mudokon. Not that Les could hear him. Even if he wasn't running at a breakneck pace, he was frantically rambling and borderline yelling as he did so- something that was going to give their location away.

"Oh ODD! I'M NOT- I'M NOT! NOT GOING BACK!"

But that was only one of their problems when Les sounded completely detached.

Abe almost caught up when Les suddenly turned around halfway down a ramp and ran back past him, but Abe's attempt to grab him was short lived when he heard the footsteps and realized why he had turned. Then he was running too again, heart pounding in his chest and he hoped he could just get out of sight before they could see him, or at least before they could aim. His leg still burning in protest with sudden movements.

But Les didn't know where he was going and Abe was solely following him, so it was no wonder when they were eventually ran into a corner. To another high railing overlooking the plummet into Vykker's Labs. Though this time they had gotten low enough into the complex that he could see the floor of it if he looked. A hard, unforgiving floor that their bones would shatter hitting.

And Les was about to jump. He realized it the second Les didn't slow down once he saw the end of the road. He just put his head down and continued running, silencing the babbling just to sprint like he hadn't before. His ball tucked under one arm and legs pumping as he silently made to brace himself for the leap to the other side. There was no way he was going to make it though. It was much too far.

"Les, don't!" Abe warned. Though the warning fell on deaf ears, as it was all over in a matter of seconds. Before his eyes, Les leapt up onto the railing and in the same motion leapt off of it.

He hung in the air for one long instant before he fell. There was a resounding bang shortly after.

Abe didn't want to look but was forced to peek over the railing, only to nearly collapsed against it. Les had hit the railing on the lower floor of the other side and then fell onto the floor. He looked dazed, he was labored as he got up, he had to be injured, but he was alive. At least, he was for the moment. He then disappeared out of sight and Abe was left watching in concern and relief.

But jumping across after him wasn't an option. At least, it wasn't once he heard security catching up. Abe instead climbed over the railing and down, having to release himself early when he saw armor laden Interns and barely avoiding the next barrage of chemical filled syringes. Abe dropped onto the level below and hit the ground running.

There were so many closed doors now. Finding himself back in corridors, he found them much more restrained than before. Less options, less escape routes, one wrong turn and he could quite realistically come face first with his doom. He could imagine passing out and waking up in one of those little cells with a crowd of Vykkers leering at him through the tiny whole in the door. They would probably slice him open if they didn't just kill him outright.

He was snapped out of these panicked thoughts by a damaged door. It was shut askew, leaving a little gap in the bottom that wouldn't close. He was able to pry it open with his hands and hit with a funky smell and the sounds of crawling and hissing once he did. He knew this probably led to where they were keeping the test subjects, but with no other choice he ducked inside.

Abe ran out of one chaos and into another when he entered into the testing subject cells. Instead of deafened by the pops of syringe gunfire, he was hit by bellows, shrieks, and growls and ran through, surrounded on every side by cages large and small that held back rows upon rows of teeth. The air clogged and humid and the smell of chemical cleaners drowned out by the musk of numerous animals and their excrement.

It reminded him of the Stockyards, if the Stockyards were much smaller and cramped together in a poorly ventilated room. Creatures were snapping at him left and right- or startling him with friendly bellows in the case of the few Elums he slipped past. One bold enough to lick his fingers as he grabbed ahold of its cage to stop himself from knocking into a stack of cages filled with growling Fuzzles.

This was all to get in one entrance and slip out the other, losing his pursuers in the process. Except for one problem, there wasn't another way out. He made it all the way to the back of the testing room, where the light barely reached and the floor was thick with grime, and there was no second door. This room was just a large dead end. It protected him now with the many cages and crates, but it wouldn't forever.

The doors opened with a rattly creak on the far side of the room, loud enough that Abe could hear them. He could hear the march of dozens of legs too, though it was nearly drowned out by the raucous noise that the animals began to make.

He flattened back against the wall momentarily as best as he could and watched lights dance across the ceiling and through the bars until the overhead lights suddenly came on with a buzzy clank. Now he was totally exposed, only shielded by a small barrier of animals and crates, and he began to make another run for it when his foot landed on something that rattled with a soft clunk.

Abe went rigid, expecting that he had given himself away, but only he had heard the noise and looked down to see a grate underneath his foot. It was a small circular grate and testing it he realized that it was loose. He crouched down and pulled it up. A strange chemical smell wafted up from beneath and the shaft went further than he could see, but it was more than large enough for him to fit inside. Nothing to hold onto once he got in though.

But by time he realized he could fit inside he had decided that was what he was going to do. That was the only option other than a swift execution, or worse and excruciatingly long one. He lowered himself in feet first, pressing his back to the side and using the tight space to hold himself up. He quickly pulled the grate back on before pressing his hands to the side.

It wasn't his first time in a vertical shaft, but the walls of this one were a little slicker than he anticipated. This was likely a drainage and disposal shaft for whenever they hosed down the animals' enclosures, much to his dismay. From the condition of the room, he couldn't imagine that he used it much. Yet his fingers were trying to slip on the metal walls. At least his backpack added an extra amount of friction.

He scooted a few feet down underneath the grate. The further he went, the more uncomfortable and claustrophobic he felt. Trapped in this narrow space where likely anyone would be able to see him if they so much as looked down.

The footsteps came close, and he could hear pattering on the floor close to the grate, followed by a shriek from one of the cages he had stopped nearby. There was a rattling banging on the bars- Abe could imagine the Intern hitting them with one of those yellow striped batons.

And then, just like before, Abe caught wind of a conversation between two very shrill voices standing nearby. One of which had a slightly more muffled voice, as though speaking through a Slig mask. Maybe a Vykker wearing armor?

"Don't you all start coming back here! I want at least three of you watching the door! He's a slippery one!"

"You better hope to Odd that that's not that terrorist, because if he goes screwing around and somehow shuts down the turbines, we're dead. We're all dead. You, me, every bastitch in this place!" screeched the clearer voiced Vykker.

"He ain't gonna do that with his Mama on board."

Abe withheld an inward gasp. It shouldn't have been a surprise, he knew she was here, but that confirmation meant everything. It was tangible, she was real, and she was here in this place.

His palms started to slide on the condensation slicked wall of the shaft, and he slowly began to sink. He could only press tighter because he wouldn't dare risk climbing up while they were in earshot. His heart pounded in his ears.

"Hmph! Nice 'a you to assume he'd do it on purpose," the other Vykker grumbled.

"Speaking of which…" There was a buzz that sounded like a radio or communicator. "Double the guard around Sam! We don't need this crap getting out of control."

"Oh, like it isn't already?! He could be anywhere!"

His hands were starting to tingle. At first, he thought it was because of the pressure he had to apply to keep himself up, but then he realized it was in his feet too, and in the back of his head. His heart finally started to slow down, but it felt too slow. Everything felt a little too slow and a little too distant. Such as the voices. They were still there, still chattering on, but Abe was having trouble focusing on them.

His hands were sliding but he couldn't feel them very well. He mostly noticed it because the walls were moving up around him and not just slightly from side to side anymore. While he acknowledged that this was a bad thing, he surprisingly didn't panic. He could just climb back up, he supposed. He just had to try and stay quiet and focused.

He dropped like a rock.

He wasn't sure if he hit a slick spot or if a limb briefly gave out, but Abe was falling. That jolted him to full alertness and he tried desperately to stop himself, but the walls were getting wetter the further down the shaft he went, and wider, and his hands were clumsier than usual. Somewhere in the back of his tingling mind he pieces together that it must've been that green stuff in the syringe, but there was nothing he could do not that it was in his veins.

Abe tried to brace himself for impact. He could only hope that he landed on his feet and somehow didn't shatter his tibias in the process. That thought was cut off by him falling out of the shaft and his fall meeting an abrupt end.

But it didn't end in a bone breaking crunch into the floor. It ended in a full body smack and then being swallowed up by cold water.

Abe was sinking under immediately. He thrashed about, swinging his limbs, and just barely managing to get his head above water, but with nothing under his feet he quickly dipped under again. His heart was pounding in his chest, his lungs aching for oxygen, but he was submerged. He got up again, gasping, choking, and trying his hardest to replicate what he assumed swimming was. It wasn't just his heavy bag holding him back, he just couldn't get himself to stay up.

Under the water again. It burned his eyes and pressed down on his chest. Some of the liquid that made it in while gasping his last breath tasted wrong, like cleaning chemicals, and his throat burned from it. It didn't matter how much he was fighting, he just kept slipping further under until he couldn't draw himself out.

He never imagined he would drown. He had traversed through so many deserts that the idea of dying in water seemed outlandish, yet here he was. He would never stop kicking and thrashing, but he wasn't going to pull himself out. He couldn't.

Until he was suddenly pushed to the surface.

He gasped for breath and had to cough and wheeze out the water that made it in when he did. He reached for something, anything, kicking his legs and struggling, but he started to sink under. Except this time, he didn't. Something had ahold of him from behind and while he was sunken into the water to his neck, it was holding him up from going under. He was still reaching around for anything to hold onto, panting and gasping.

A hand suddenly smacked over his mouth. At least it felt like a hand. When Abe grabbed at it, he realized it wasn't shaped like any hand he had ever seen. Not a Mudokon's, not even a Slig's. Though with his oxygen restrained again, even the smallest amount, he began to panic once more.

Then he heard a frantic, derogatory hum from behind him. Something like an, "Uh-uh, uh-uh!" That was enough to get Abe to stop.

Which also succeeded in having him sink further until his mouth was covered, but at least now he could still breathe.

At first, he just stayed frozen in place, afraid that it would let him go. When it pulled its hand away, he was able to see it better; three fingers with rounded tips and no thumbs. It was enough to convince Abe to slowly peek over his shoulder.

All he could see was the head and shoulders, but it was an exceptionally bizarre looking creature. It had greyish skin and a large head with orb-like eyes with blue iris and pupils shrunk with fear. With those eyes currently aimed up at the shaft he just fell through. There were a couple of little prongs or fins off the sides of the upper portion of its head that twitched and shifted as though he was using them to listen. From how he was positioned, he was holding onto Abe's pack.

The creature finally looked from the ceiling and to Abe. It blinked at him with those big eyes, and he stared back just as quizzically. Then it pointed at him, then at itself, and then pointed a finger like a thumb back down the tunnel.

Abe didn't know where it was going to lead, but it sounded a lot better than drowning, so he nodded in agreement. It began to swim back, pulling him along with it, and he could feel the motions of legs or something kicking underneath him and propelling them sluggishly through the chemical reeking water.

He was just along for the ride. That might've summed up Vykker's Labs as a whole.

Mable: Lets hope this friend sticks around a little longer. ;)