Escape from Kreludor: Part Three

1:15 PM NST

Virtupets Space Station

"Okay, I'm just going to go over it so I've got my facts straight, alright? You and Tracker were just walking out near Terror Mountain. Tracker said he felt funny, like he was being watched. You felt weird too, but it was sort of a scared feeling. There was an odd crunching sound in the snow. Like something heavy had just stepped in the snow. You and Tracker stopped walking. Then Tracker was knocked down by a big green thing with muscles bulging and you heard, 'Now, get the other one!' You and Tracker struggled. Two Bruces saw you and tried to help the two of you out. They did help, but they were both knocked firmly and hardly aside and they didn't get up. Then the big green things suddenly left, like they were worried. They left you face down in the snow, Tracker was nearby, left the same way. Then our agents showed up. Right Zippy?"

     The yellow Ruki nodded, his jaw firm and his face grim.

     They had brought the Ruki in an hour or so after 11:30. After they had fixed Zippy the Ruki up. He and Sadie had talked for a long time, about what happened. Sadie asking Zippy questions, and Zippy answering them, Zippy asking Sadie questions, and Sadie answering them. Sadie finally had gotten it straight. The two Bruces that had showed up had actually saved Zippy's life, by beating off some of the Mutants. One of the Bruces was still alive, and they had brought the Bruce in before Zippy. The Bruce, Wallace, was actually very helpful. He had full descriptions of the Mutants. Sounded just like Sloth minions. The other Bruce never moved again. Neither did Tracker.

SS Quadrant 341

1:20 PM NST

Virtupets Space Station

Zinc and Prozzie were nervous. They had gotten safely to the Station with help from the Bookstore Nimmo. A pretty Uni had kept helping them out, bringing them water and telling them the Resistance would be ready for them shortly. But she wasn't reassuring, and Zinc was beginning to doubt the Resistance's abilities.

     What if they weren't good enough? What if they couldn't help? What if they just didn't want to? What if--

     "The Resistance is ready for you now. Please come through this door to Quadrant 342."

SS Quadrant 342

1:21 PM NST

Virtupets Space Station

Sadie watched the door as she the Uni got the two…two what? Two victims? Two almost-abducteries? Two normal Neopets just trying to live their lives? But she didn't have to think what to call them, because they soon came through the door.

     Sadie watched as the Pirate Shoyru seemed to sort of glare at everybody, as if it was all their fault that the concert had been attacked by mutants. They probably didn't even know it was mutants.

     "Sit down," Lucifer said, who was standing nearby, and pointed to two chairs. Just Lucifer and Sadie were at the conference, along with the Nimmo and the Shoyru…and Zippy. Lucifer had decided that it was probably best that the Ruki stuck around too, so the other two wouldn't feel as if they were the only ones attacked. Lucifer waved away and his secretary and the Uni left. Lucifer sat down as well at the round table. There was a moment of silence before the Ruki said,

     "Hi there, I'm Zippy. This is Mr. Lucifer, he's the head of the Resistance. And this is Agent Sadie, she's a high-ranking agent, real high." The Nimmo seemed to ease up a bit and replied,

     "I'm Prozzie. Nice to make all of your acquaintance." Sadie turned to look at the Shoyru again. His arms were crossed, and an icy look was in his eyes. The Ixi waited. What was he waiting for? The Shoyru seemed to notice that they were waiting and said,

     "Hello. I'm Zinc." He straightened up and uncrossed his arms. He looked like he was ready to get started. "Look, I don't know if the Resistance can help us or not but we had a big problem last night. Don't say anything or ask until I'm done talking, okay? I'll start from the beginning." He took a deep breath, glanced at Prozzie and then the others and then he spoke.

     "I was going to the Concert with my little brother Tornado. A friend of his is obsessed with the Twisted Roses, and he wanted to know why. So I took him to the concert. We were in the middle somewhere, it was crowded. Really crowded. The lights were everywhere, and behind the back of the crowd were some big looking trailers. They didn't have the Twisted Roses symbol on them. I didn't think about it then. It was a couple minutes after nine, I guess. The Roses were just about to play. The lights went off. And they weren't there when the lights came back on. It just went downhill from then. Every minute or so, the lights would go off again and they'd take more. Tornado got separated from me during all the commotion. Tornado is wild, he just goes and runs around and causes chaos all the time. It didn't come as a shock to me when he wasn't there with the last 20 or so. Everybody was scared. It felt bad, like there was doom hanging in the air. It was horrible, everybody was panicking. Running, trying to get away…but they were just too scared, they couldn't think. I was on stage by then, I had been looking for the Roses. I tried talking to them with the mike, they were too scared, and they didn't want to listen. Prozzie got on stage and tried to help out. They still wouldn't listen. Prozzie was about to tell them to get on stage with us so we could figure something out, but then the lights went off. They were gone. We went to the bookstore and hid. The Nimmo there got us a ride up here this morning. There wasn't anybody else. They were all gone." Even as he said the last sentence, he seemed stunned by it all. In almost utter amazement that it could have happened.

     As Lucifer asked questions to Prozzie and Zinc, Sadie leaned back in her chair and thought about these two. Total strangers, never knowing each other until now, when they met when disaster struck. She looked at the Prozzie kid. He looked like he had fun a lot, but he knew when something was serious. Probably the middle child. Sadie looked back towards Zinc. She looked at his eyes. She was taken back by what she saw there.

     He wasn't a serious, rude kid like he had seemed to be. But what had happened had changed him, had changed all of them. Zippy lost his best friend to some workers for that scum Sloth. Lucifer had been under harder demand for sending out agents for protection. Prozzie had been going out to hear the music, she heard, that he had taken his little sister along too. He had lost his sibling. But so had Zinc. But it was if…it was if the loss was greater to Zinc. Like he'd never make it out if they couldn't find out what happened to his brother Tornado. Why was Zinc different then all those other Neopets? Why Zinc?

          Zinc felt the heavy stare of somebody. He glanced over at Lucifer. But the Bori was asking Prozzie questions, and Zippy was listening. That left the Ixi agent. Zinc glanced up and saw the Electric Ixi give him a puzzling stare while she was deep in thought. Zinc shifted uncomfortably. He didn't like being on display. It was getting annoying. They had spent about 15 minutes in here and they hadn't done a thing towards getting the kidnapped people from the concert back. He had to do something. He banged his fist on the table. They all stopped to look at him.

     "There are Neopets out there being tortured or zapped into mutants for Cabbage Head and his minions out there! You heard our story. We'll help you in anyway possible to get those guys back. Tell me everything you know. I'll act right away, I won't hesitate."

          Sadie stared at Zinc. How did he have that control of will? To know what he wanted to do and do it. He didn't waste time thinking about the pros and cons of each. He didn't stop to wonder which was better for him. He was doing the better thing for others. Which was how Sadie should have been thinking. It still racked her mind. It was her fault. It was her fault. She should have pressed the stupid button sooner.

     It was her fault Tracker was dead.

SS Quadrant 835

10:24 PM NST

Virtual Space Station

"Ready?"

     "Ready."

     "Let's go for it."

     Prozzie and Zinc walked along the quiet, metal hallways of the Resistance area of the Space Station. The quadrants were silent, no sound coming from them. There were no more workers, no more members patrolling the hallways. A single, fluorescent light ran down the center of the ceiling. It was the only light. It kept going and going…but it still shone bright.

     They had been called down to the special quadrant. Sadie had seemed unhappy about it when they had discussed it at their meeting earlier. But Lucifer had decided that the two Neopets might be helpful. Zippy was still at the Station, for his safety, but he was no longer helping out with the returning of kidnapped Neopets.

     "C'mon," Prozzie said, interrupting Zinc's thoughts. "Let's go, we're supposed to be there in a minute." The Nimmo started leaping, his feet pushing off the ground with amazing strength and sending him flying through the air and easily landing on his feet again. Zinc leaped into the air and swiftly beat his wings to catch up.

     They arrived at the quadrant only a few seconds late, but Sadie eyed them coldly. She handed them each a piece of paper with writing and turned away to work on a computer.

     "Where's Lucifer?" Zinc asked. Sadie didn't answer, and he glanced at Prozzie for support. But he was already looking at the paper and concentrating. As he looking down, Sadie said,

     "Try to fill in the missing blanks. The transmission was shaky. We really need to know what it says. I'm working on that message from the bookstore. Don't ask how I know. The Resistance can figure out anything it wants if they put their mind to it." Prozzie had looked up at Sadie's back and gaped but Zinc kept reading the paper. What did all the blanks mean? He hated these dumb puzzles. He was about to push it away when he remembered Tornado doing one of these puzzles with him. His little brother's hint was: "Don't try just staring at them, Zinc. They're not going to form themselves. Think of words you know that have those letters. The answers will come easily." Then he had just decided not to do it, he had not wanted to do the puzzle. Now it mattered.

     He concentrated on them, thinking of words he knew. Suddenly, the message was clear.

     "Sadie," he said, getting up. "I've figured it out."

To be continued...