DURING FREE TIME after lunch, Tazzmar, Cali and I had taken to swimming a bit.
We wouldn't go out far at all, only waded in up to our knees or a bit higher.
But we often liked to splash each other and make each other fall down-who doesn't?
Unfortunately, our giggles weren't heard and
approved by all. We thought this a harmless game, but apparently Branston thought
otherwise.
Friday afternoon, he heard our laughter and stormed
across camp to find us all floating on our backs in the water seeing faces in
the clouds. Furious at us, he began to scream and squawk. Seeing as I was farthest
from the shore, he aimed his anger at me.
"Get to the shore, now! All of you! I want you,
Polayo, to accompany me to my office for a little talk."
Nervously, I glanced around at my buddies. They
all shrugged mournfully, as if saying 'good luck.' I managed to get myself out
of the water, and dripped the whole way up to his office.
I sat down in the chair-it was familiar now-and
prepared myself for the verbal abuse.
He opened his mouth grimly. "Now, Polayo, I'm
very disappointed-" he cut off as the phone rang.
"For you, Branston!" called the cloud Kau, his
secretary. "The caller says it is an emergency!"
"All right, I'll take it!" he snapped moodily,
and walked outside where the phone was.
Alone in his office? I couldn't pass this opportunity
up, could I?
I walked around to the other side of the desk,
the side he would normally have sat at. Piles of papers were stacked everywhere,
but there was a sheet of paper that looked particularly interesting.
Dear Doctor
Sloth,
The
camp is running fabulously. There are three pets currently participating in
the 'camp', but the other five are already for your taking. Or they will be
in a few days, they seem to refuse to eat the sludge you gave me that will make
them have more reactions to the ray, but I'm sure eventually they'll give in.
The
three at the camp are a bit of a problem, though. On the first day I found the
faerie Aisha you're after-Polayo, I believe it is-right at the turn off to cabin
thirteen. When I went there yesterday to retrieve the spare key for my office
to give to you, it was missing-even the notebook and pen you gave me. I think
that one of the pets has it. This will change everything!
If
one of the pets has it, they have access not only to my office but also to all
the confidential files. Putting Cabin Thirteen on the map was digging our own
grave. I know the map was originally made for you, but my secretary had the
bright idea of giving a copy to each campers when the arrived.
What
should I do, Sloth? These three pets aren't nearly ready for the ray yet, and
it will take an army to convince them to eat the sludge. Particularly that Polayo...
--Branston
My mouth hung open when I finished reading the
letter to Doctor Sloth from Branston. Aghast, I put it down.
This was all some...plot? What were they going
to do to us? This ray?
Realising that this must have been an old copy
of a letter, I searched through the piles for a reply. Finding one, I read it
quickly as I heard Branston finishing up his call.
Branston,
Continue
with the plan. They may have the key to the files, but all that the files contain
are info on certain people. We have written down nowhere-except in our private
correspondences-the real plan. And I'm assuming you keep these in highly confidential
places, am I correct?
Contact
me as soon as the first group is ready for the ray. The sludge is definitely
a requirement for the ray, it will only have a minor effect otherwise.
I'm
not planning on putting the faerie Aisha under the ray, she's too special to
be put under such a simple machine, especially in its testing stage. No, Polayo
will be saved for something much, much worse...
--Doctor
Sloth
My mouth must have literally hung open as I read
the letters. Gaping, I put the letters back down on the desk and sat down in
my chair again just as Branston came back in.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," he apologised. "What
were you in here for again?"
"I was swimming-" I said, and he interrupted
me.
"Never mind that, go enjoy the rest of your afternoon.
Just don't go in the water again, for your own safety." He nodded at me as I
stood up and made for the oak door.
I made a promise to myself to come back with
the key-I had and check the files. I knew I'd promised Tazz I wouldn't do anything
stupid, but this was a matter of life and death-for us, for the 'first set'
whoever they were, and possibly for Neopia.
I ran toward our cabin where I knew I'd find
them, and told them everything.
But the fact I was going back must have slipped
my mind.
I'd gotten tons of letters-four or five from
Omni and Ev each-and each of them went into a special envelope. That next weekend-my
second weekend at Camp Neko-I received a special package with a card from both
of them.
For surviving two weeks, it read, and
I pulled the item out of the box.
It was a box of chocolates, each a different
shape that symbolised something we'd all done together. For example, one was
a raindrop for the time we'd had to run from the grooming parlour to our house
in the biggest rainstorm Neopia had ever experienced. We'd gotten soaked, but
we still talked about it.
I laughed as I ate them, sharing one or two with
Cali and Tazz, but mostly saving them for me.
After dinner that night, and after popping a
few of the candies into my mouth, I remembered what I'd promised myself more
than a week ago. My eyes flickered nervously toward my trunk where the key lay,
and I took a long, sighing breath.
"I'm really tired, you guys. Cali and Tazz, you
can both go and have fun tonight if you want, I think I'm just gonna retire
early."
It was hard to lie to them, but I knew I had
to do it. After they were gone, I fished the key out of my trunk and, with shaking
hands, placed it around my neck. Swallowing once, I stepped out of the cabin
into the cool evening air.
I dashed from the cabin to the main offices,
my feet crunching on gravel as I went. Finally, I reached it to find the secretary
packing up. Before she left, I asked her.
"Is Branston still in his office?"
"No, dear, he leaves quite early on Saturdays.
Believes he deserves it," she walked off, her hooves clacking on the ground
as I silently cheered to myself.
With Branston gone, that didn't only mean I was
able to go in right away, it also meant I had no worry about him coming back.
I padded up the creaky steps to the door and,
inserting the golden key in the lock, stepped inside. Inside Branston's office
it was dark, but my flashlight lit everything that was needed to be lit. At
first I just shuffled around the papers on the desk, but most of them were order
forms and things of no importance. Then I went over to the tall filing cabinet
in the corner.
I tried to first drawer-locked. I yanked on it
a few more times before I decided that maybe the key to the office would work
here, too. Inserting it in the slot, I heard a little click and, smiling, I
opened the drawer.
There were hundreds of file folders all lined
up, but this drawer seemed of no interest. They were much like the files on
his desk, ordering and security info.
I unlocked the next drawer and found something
much more satisfying.
The first folder was labeled Design. I
lifted it out of the drawer and opened it, letting the papers fall onto my lap.
The first was a messy, smudgy sketch of something-it was too smudgy to figure
out just what it was. Then there was the same sketch, but in a much cleaner
state. Aghast, I let my flashlight fall from my hand in amazement.
It was a ray-some sort of ray-aimed at a lab
chair of some sort. The inside of the ray was filled with large gears and shapes
that seemed such a horrendously horrible idea I felt sick to my stomach.
The sheet of paper had some writing at the bottom.
It read this:
The Ray
Doctor
Sloth's newest concoction-something he would like to call simply the
ray. The ray is still in its youngest testing stage, but will soon be
the machine to dominate Neopia. When the ray has been tested, a new
version-a much larger version-will be made. But it will take a long
time for the ray to be tested-Sloth is currently collecting pets to
test it on at the moment.
|
I gulped, and put this folder next to me. Taking
out the next folder, labeled Plan, I read the first page with horror.
Camp Neko was a camp designed to collect pets
for testing out Sloth's new ray. Unfortunately, not as many pets as hoped signed
up, but it is certainly enough for the first stage of testing. Each pet will
be, at a time when they would willingly give up, abducted and brought to the
holding area. In the holding area, each pet will be forced to eat the Grendish
Sludge, a sludge that will make each pet have more of a reaction to the ray.
This stage of testing is hoping to make sure that the ray works, then a new
ray will be built, pets captured, and tested to see if the ray works just as
well without the sludge. Branston the Eyrie is in charge of this year's pet
gathering.
I took a deep breath and put it down. I'd found
out all I needed to know. And now-now I had to do something. I took all the
files I'd need and dashed away from the office, back to the cabin. Tomorrow
I'd tell Cali and Tazz, and then we'd figure out how to do something. Sometimes
I can't believe what I get myself into.
To be continued... | 
