Escape from Kreludor: Part Four

10:26 PM NST

Virtupets Space Station

Sadie froze in her seat, amazed at the words she had just heard. He wasn't serious. It wasn't possible. That Pirate Shoyru could not possibly have filled in the blanks of that impossibly hard message in just a minute. No one she knew could do that. Nobody. And there were real brains in the Resistance. He was lying. He had to be.

The Electric Ixi whirled around in her chair. She saw Zinc, the Pirate Shoyru, standing there, holding out the piece of paper. She stared at him as she took it.

"Thanks," she whispered. And for the first time, she saw Zinc smile. It was a real smile, where it showed real happiness. The Shoyru went back to his seat, and took the paper away from his friend Prozzie. Sadie glanced down at the paper. She smiled too. This Zinc sure was somebody. He had gotten the message, and it made perfect sense. She looked back at Zinc, who was acting as if he never done anything at all.

SS Quadrant 835

10:32 PM NST

Virtupets Space Station

"That's amazing, Zinc! I mean, this is unbelievable!" Lucifer the Bori said, scanning the paper. The missing words had been filled out, all by an amateur at codework. Lucifer, the head of the Resistance, had even hired the top code-breakers in Neopia and none of them had found it out so far. The missing message now stated:

"Resistance? Resistance? We need your help! Dr. Sloth has got a new plan. He's got spies everywhere. He's going to - and then - he's got this gun - aiming - it at everyone. Help Resistance! Need your help! We're at Terror Mountain. Something about rockets to Mining Corp. Help!"

"One problem," Sadie said. Zinc glanced at her. What had he done wrong? It turned out that it wasn't Zinc's fault at all. "There are still words in there that we don't even have parts of, where Tracker the Lupe was explaining what he had heard about the plan while being wrestled around by those mutants. How are we supposed to figure that out?"

Zinc thought for a moment. Think like Sloth…think like Sloth…hmmm…why would he need a gun? He didn't know the use for a gun. Maybe this Tracker guy was mistaken. Perhaps it was a gun, but a…

"It's the Ray!" he suddenly shouted. The others turned to look at him. He was surprised at himself. He hadn't even fully figured it out before he said it. "The gun…maybe it was actually the Lab Ray. If he's aiming it … oh no…He's going to mutate all of those kidnapped Neopets! It's got to be just horrible! We've got to get out there now. But how did he get the Ray to the moon? Must've done something weird… And the Mining Corp. … that's his headquarters, obviously. Wait a sec. Sadie, did you already crack the code from the Bookstore?"

The others were stunned. They just stared at him. All of a sudden, Zinc had made almost everything clear. Sadie was the first one to move, by turning back to her computer as she repeatedly tried to break the code. Meanwhile, Prozzie and Lucifer were congratulating the Pirate Shoyru.

SS Quadrant 835

10:33 PM NST

Virtupets Space Station

Grooming Parlour…hmmm…well, she had figured out what M.C. was. It was easy; Mining Corp. Grooming Parlour was probably codeword for Mining Corp. And shoes…why would Sloth need shoes? Stop thinking literally, Sadie told herself. Shoes…shoes…start at the beginning, Sadie. Order. Okay. What did order mean? It wasn't a book or anything like that; the trailers Zinc mentioned might have been the order. What did Sloth need trailers anyway? The answer came to her quickly. To carry something. And the shoes. Shoes? Sadie thought hard. Sloth wasn't going to outsmart her. Not yet.

* * *

Resistance Loading Dock

6:18 AM NST

Virtupets Space Station

Zinc walked alone in the cold hallway as he headed towards the secret, special loading dock for the Resistance. They had stayed up late last night, working on the code and trying to learn more about Sloth's plan. He remembered Sadie's concentrated face. She was thinking hard about what the shoes were. When he had left last night shortly before midnight, she was still thinking.

Now Sadie was going to the Mining Corp. with another agent. Crash something-or-other. They were leaving in an hour. No one else was to be on the rocket. Nobody at all. It was a top-secret mission to bring back the Neopets that were taken from the concert and from other places.

Sadie and Crash Whatever would be leaving in an hour to go to the Corp.

So would Zinc.

* * *

Rocket Ship 203

7:25 AM NST

Virtupets Space Station

"Ready for countdown sequence?"

"Ready for countdown sequence. Starting now: Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Blast off!"

The rocket rumbled inside the garage of the dock before its jets came one and the rocket was thrust forward with such power that they were lifted out, into space.

"H.Q. this is Crash Teeth, the Tooth Faerie has flown. Repeat, the Tooth Faerie has flown."

"Tooth Faerie?"

"Look, Sadie, we have to have a codeword for the ship, okay? I'm turning off the radio now, if they need to get us they'll call emergency. I'm ready for you to take control Agent Sadie."

"Thanks Crash. Agent Sadie has now taken control of the rocket. Repeat, Agent Sadie is now in control. Give me the directions, Crash, we need to get there fast. Moving up current 3 speed to 9.8 speed. Gaining speed…now at 9.8 speed, over."

The rocket flew faster as it streamed through the air. Two passengers sat in the cockpit of the rocket, serious and ready to fight if needed. They were aware that there were only two Neopets on the rocket.

The third passenger was hidden in the trash tank.

* * *

Rocket Ship 203

8:07 AM NST

Space

"How in Fyora's name did you get here?!" Sadie shouted.

Zinc didn't even cringe. He walked towards them and brushed the tiny bit of trash off him. Crash, the Kougra, snorted while trying to hold in laughter as he took control of the steering.

"I'm just glad you didn't have a lot of trash in there, because if you did, you'd be even more angry because I'd smell like dung or worse," Zinc replied. As he did so, Crash started laughing as he drove. Sadie glared at Crash, who stopped laughing, before she took controls again. Zinc sat down behind her and asked,

"How long till we get there?"

"This isn't some sort of game, Zinc. Just be quiet and wait. About 5 minutes. When we get there, we're going to have our work cut out for us. Turn the radio back on, Crash," Sadie answered, not looking away from the controls and the window. The Kougra reached out and pressed the Radio On button.

"H.Q. this is the Tooth Faerie reporting in with Crash Teeth. We are 4.5 minutes away from Kreludor. We have Zinc with us, over," he said. There was a crackling noise, and then,

"We hear you. Tell Zinc he's in trouble when he gets back, over." Zinc smiled in spite of himself and brushed off the remaining, clinging trash. Crash was about to replace the radio back when there was another crackling noise.

"Good luck."

* * *

Somewhere on the face of Kreludor

8:12 AM NST

Kreludor

It was quiet.

They were on Kreludor, and the rocket was hidden well. Zinc was doing flips in the air, it helped that the gravitational pull was much less then on Neopia. Sadie cleared her throat and Zinc stopped quickly. Sadie pointed to a large structure about 2 minutes away.

"That's the Mining Corp. Ever wonder why Sloth's head is there? Now you know. Let's go. Zinc, behind me. Crash, you bring up the rear." In a moment, Sadie had scurried away and was dodging from rock to rock, hiding. The Shoyru shrugged and followed her.

Near back entrance of Kreludan Mining Corp.

8:14 AM NST

Kreludor

"Okay, we're here. You need to crawl through the ventilation, this is where we get all the information from. We're looking for Sloth, the main controls to the Corp., and the captured Neopets. If you find anything, use your radio. Here Zinc, take my extra one. When we get into the main circuit, they'll be many directions and tunnels. I'm going right. Crash goes to the left. Zinc, you go straight. Remember, make a noise and you're dead," Sadie instructed, before vanishing into the small, metal tunnel. Crash waited as Zinc just stood there. Crash coughed and pointed at the ventilation.

"Oh!" Zinc said, and quickly entered the tunnel. The Kougra rolled his eyes and followed the Pirate into the ventilation.

Ventilation Systems of the Mining Corp.

8:20 AM NST

Kreludor

Sadie had been crawling through the tunnels for awhile, and she hadn't seen anything. A few mutated Neopets fighting over a can of Neocola, a mutated Grundo snoring on a broken down sofa, nothing exciting. Sadie flipped out her tracking device. Luckily, an earlier agent who had gone in here had gotten Sloth on the radar. Sadie typed in "Scum Brain AKA Dr. Frank Sloth" and a red dot appeared on the screen. It was just a little bit ahead. Sadie glanced around to make sure no one was following her, before getting on her stomach and moving forward silently.

Ventilation Systems of the Mining Corp.

8:23 AM NST

Kreludor

It's freezing in here! Zinc thought as he moved through the tunnel. You'd have to really care about being an agent to want to do this. Zinc continued moving. How was he supposed to find anything? He didn't know where Sloth might be, or the captured Neopets. How was he supposed to recognize a main control system? Crash and Sadie probably have gadgets, Zinc thought grimly as he continued moving.

He soon heard computer noises and voices. They seemed to be arguing over something. Zinc moved up a little and then peered through a vent and looked into the room.

It was a circular room, with a wide window covering one half of it. The window seemed to be facing some big, bulky thing but Zinc couldn't tell very well, it wasn't lit up. Inside the room, there was a large row of controls. Buttons, levers, and little flashing lights were everywhere. A big, ugly yellow Skeith was fighting with a Mutant Grundo. Zinc listened carefully as they continued to yell at each other:

"Get away, you big stupid lump! You don't have any brains and you wouldn't be able to read to save your life! Now get outta my way, I need to do my job!"

"You great oaf! You ain't got enough brains to do that anyway, so why are you yellin' at me! You don't need to do nothing up here, all you do is watch Neopets get turned into great mutants like me! So shout ya trap!"

"Shout my trap? Wow, you really are a smart one. I think you meant shut my trap, right brainless? In any case, don't talk to me that way, Gragon! I've got my authority then you ever will! Ever since you blew that case over on Terror Mountain, you've been nothing! All you had to do was get a dumb Lupe and a Ruki. Instead, you kill the Lupe and leave the Ruki there because you beat 'im up too badly! And as if that isn't enough, you started that fight in the Mess Hall yesterday! I saw you stuff that pastie in Crack's nose!"

"You just don't like me, or appre…appreac…appreciate my skills! You weren't even made into a mutant; that shows what our magnificent master thinks of you!"

"Yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

"Now go away so I can do my job!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

And with that, the mutant Grundo left, and Zinc was stunned.

Ventilation Systems of the Mining Corp.

8:25 AM NST

Kreludor

Crash moved faster, breathing heavily. They were after them. They had heard him. Crash stumbled in the tunnel, causing him to roll through the ventilation. He got back up before getting to his feet and running. Crawling wasn't going to help now. He heard them. They were only a few meters behind now. Crash came to a dead end. He fought with the vent at the end of the tunnel. There was no time. He couldn't get it open. He had to get it open. He could hear them. He looked back, they saw him…and he saw them. He wanted to cry out, call for help, but the voice was stuck in his throat. Get open…get open…he struggled with the vent's lock, it wouldn't open. He slammed himself into the vent and it broke, and the Kougra went sailing through it. He hit the ground…and didn't move.

To be continued...