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CHAPTER 19 – Friend or Fiend

Hearing elevator music on the way to your doom really messes with your mind.

With a loud hiss, the elevator doors slid open at the rear of the car. Ziro and the others turned quickly around and cautiously ventured into a darkened control room, lit by a scattering of dimly glowing buttons and dials. After a few steps, a line of soft floor lamps self- activated to illuminate a path to the center of the room. Thick coils of wires crisscrossed the floor ending in a tower of components and computer screens.
“No bug bots,” Streak expressed with a sigh, “that’s good.”

The elevator doors shut behind them and Streak fired a round of plasma into the controls, disabling them. “That ought to keep them out for awhile. So, now that we’re alone…what’s the plan?” he asked boldly.

Black didn’t share the other’s optimism. “You’re never alone on enemy territory. I’ll bet my tail we’re being watched even now.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Ziro said decidedly, “Keep your ears up and spread out. Let’s see what we can learn about this place while we have the chance.”

This made Black smile – the kid had smarts.

The squad did as they were told, scanning the walls, floor and control panels for any new information about their enemy. At first, they didn’t find much beyond a few locked doors, leftover robotic limbs and a dozen or so empty grub cans. But it was what Ziro found lying on a large slanted desk that was the most helpful of all. It was here, a series of technical schematics and detailed blueprints for a variety of robotic creations were spread out. Ziro recognized a few designs immediately.

“Hey guys, check this out,” Ziro called out, drawing his squad over to the table. He studied the designs with great interest. According to the prints the large beetle transports were named Scarabs, the small harvesters were called Gleaners. In addition to these, there were some he hadn’t recognized at all; Octopods, Incognitos and Rhinotromps among others. Notes were hastily scribbled on the blueprints listing future enhancements to the designs and stamped in the corner was the number of units that had been approved for production.

Ziro began to read the orders aloud, “500 Octopods, 250 Skarabs. 1500 Gleaners…”

Demo whistled in response. “That’s an awful lot of bugs if you ask me. You still think the General is behind this?”

“Can you think of anyone else?” Black replied.

CLANK! CLANK! BUZZZ!

A series of loud metallic impacts and squealing saws resounded across the room from the elevator shaft. Everyone looked up in time to see the bulging imprints of the horde of bugs forcing their way through the elevator doors.

“Blast,” Demo groaned, “That didn’t take long. They’re coming through.”

“Positions everyone,” Ziro shouted. “If it’s a fight they want, we’ll be ready.” The squad took cover and targeted the elevator doors as the bugs continued their assault on the control room. It was only a matter of time before the swarm would spill in and overtake them. Despite overwhelming odds, the squad waited for the inevitable to occur.

All at once, a second door on the far side of the room slid open and a slender rat entered the scene. Instinctively the squad turned their weapons on the new arrival to defend themselves.

“Wait! Don’t shoots, Comandee,” the sudden stranger begged, frantically waving his scrawny paws in the air. The nervous white lab rat stepped into full light. Ziro recognized his long black rubber gloves and iconic goggles instantly. It was Enzo…or Axel…wearing a bizarre metal helmet.

“What are you doing here?” Ziro asked, somewhat baffled by the unexpected appearance of the eccentric scientist.

The white rat held up a claw, “One moments, me friends. I thinks I can disables the bugs.”

Ziro watched with keen interest as their friend rushed to a nearby terminal and frantically typed a sequence of commands into the computer. Within seconds, the lights flickered off and the pounding at the door subsided. For a moment everything was dark, then the power returned and all was still. The bugs were gone. The squad breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“I believes that shoulds do it,” said the rat.

“How did you do that?” Streak wondered in amazement.

“Powers failure,” the rat giggled, “it resets their memory.”

“Brilliant,” Ziro said hesitantly, still unsure of which rat he was talking to. “But how exactly did you know where to find us?”

“Yeah, and what’s with the creepy hat, Enzo?” Streak asked, the first to venture a guess as to which brother they were dealing with. A pair of lights flashed atop the rat’s helmet. For all practical purposes it looked little more than a metal gelatin mold connected to a nest of haphazard wires and bulbs.

“It’s Axel, actually, and it was you whos found me. My brother never leaves zee simulations room.” Axel explained with a friendly smile. “My apologies for the rude welcomes. I must admits I wasn’t expectings you to comes.”

“Expectings…er…expecting us?” Demo replied. “You mean this is your place?”

“Indeeds. You likes, yes?” Axel said, waving his paws around.

Ziro couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But what about the army of bugs…and the Liwans? Do you mean to say all of them belong to…”

Axel raised his hand, somewhat sheepishly. “Me,” He chuckled. It was a warm and friendly chuckle; not at all like the kind you might expect an evil scientist to have. Ziro was completely caught off guard by the response. The rat he had once thought he knew so well had clearly gone beyond the boundaries of the Colony’s code of ethics. Mixing mice with machine was strictly forbidden.

“But…but…how could you?” Ziro asked.

“I have a dreams too, Comandee. My mechanical enhancements will save lives one day. The Liwans are a smalls but necessary part of the experimentals process. Out here, beyond the restrictions of the Colony rules, I have freedoms to explore my full potentials.”

“Power without limitations,” Black repeated with a frown, “That’s the Dark Union mantra. So you’re working for them now, is that it?”

What should have been an insult didn’t seem to bother Axel in the least. “Research comes with a price. It matters little to me who pays for it. I makes them sap booms… they gives me everything I needs.”

“Traitor,” Black spat. He was disgusted with the rat. Black had spent the majority of his career trying to eliminate the last vestiges of the Dark Union and here was one of their own openly aiding the enemy. It was enough to make him sick.

“You’re making a mistake, Axel,” Ziro reasoned, “The Dark Union can’t be trusted. Besides, Nightshade will be reporting our findings back to the Burrow. Soon, the entire Mech Mice army will be on your doorstep.”

At this, Axel clasped his hands in giddy delight, as if he were merely playing a game of hide and seek with his friends and was about to reveal the brilliance of his new hiding place to them.

“Which is why I wear this hat,” Axel said confidently.

“What? So you can look as crazy as you sound when they haul you away?” Streak boasted.

“Somethings like that. Watch…” Axel pressed a button on a handheld remote and the wrist communicator on Ziro’s arm began to ring. It was the General calling. Ziro cautiously eyed the button, then pressed it…and a holographic image of the General soon stood before them. As Axel spoke, the holograph of the General mimicked Axel’s words, somehow being controlled by the funky helmet on Axel’s head.

“You sees…voice activateds. By controlling the communications…I control the movements of the entire Mech Mice forces…impressive, no? I’m afraids Nightshade’s message won’t makes it to the Burrow todays.”

Ziro was dismayed. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “How did you do that?”

“You forgets I has created manys of the communications tools your squids use. I simply intercept any signals necessaries to keep zee squids away from the Liwans. Whenevers the real General wanted recon to the north I would justs…”

“…change the mission order before it got to me,” Black deduced aloud. “I’ll bet you even changed my field reports to keep the General off your track as well. No wonder we didn’t have any squads up here to stop you. And all this time I thought the General was in on it…it was you all along.”

A light went on in Ziro’s head, “That would explain why my mission orders were erased back at Liwa too. It was you who sent the Alpha squad to arrest us…wasn’t it? Not the real General. You didn’t want us snooping around.”

Axel (and by proxy the holographic General) was quick to speak up, “Ding and ding. Right agains. It was quite funs, actuallies. Like a chess games, no?”

“Games?” Black growled, he had heard enough. “Your games are putting real mice in danger. Our best squad died out there tonight because of you…by one of your mechanical abominations no less.”

“An unfortunates, but necessary, casualty,” Axel explained without showing the slightest bit of emotion. He casually removed his quirky hat and set it aside. “I couldn’t haves the best squid…uh…how you puts it…snoopings around. After alls, they might have founds this…”

Axel approached a cylindrical pedestal behind the center console in the room and depressed a few buttons on the side of the device. The pedestal spun a quarter turn to the right and a small hatch opened in the top raising a cylindrical glass container from its center. A blinding blue light shone from the container forcing Ziro and the rest of his squad to look away. He had never seen the item before, but even so…he knew exactly what it was.

“A shard of starfall?” Ziro muttered in disbelief.

“Yes,” Axel beamed, his goggles protecting his vision from the extraordinary power of the light. “Said to contains the secrets of lifes and the universe within.”

“The stolen shard. After all these seasons, it’s finally resurfaced.” Black marveled at the sight. “That shard belonged to the Nee-wom tribe. Where did you find it?”

“Is only a smalls piece of the shard…mind yous…on loans froms my benefactors,” Axel said coldly. “With the power of the starfall, I can finally power my designs – all of my designs.”

“It will never work, Axel. You’re nothing but a villain,” Demo shouted.

“For now, perhaps. But one day, my designs will change the world. History will see me in a different light. One day, nots a villain…a visionary.”

Black had heard enough. “Why I ought ta…” he said, lowering his shoulders and preparing to lunge at Axel. The lanky scientist remained calm and in control, he didn’t even twitch a whisker. He simple raised the glass container and smiled devilishly.

“Ah, ah, ah, Colonels…I wouldn’ts try that if I was yous. We wouldn’t wants anything to accidentally happens to the shards, no?”

Black held his ground. Despite being outnumbered, he knew Axel held the upper paw in this battle. The shard was far too important to the Colony to put at risk.

With the press of a button on his remote Axel beckoned a trio of small spider-like robots, which popped out of the floor and scurried over between the squad and Axel. In no time flat, the spiders spun a web of sticky red goo around the four squad members, tying them together. When they were finished the three bugs returned to Axel’s side and awaited further instructions.

He set his remote down on a control panel and produced a miniscule bead of amberized sap from his lab pocket. He held it out for everyone to see and said simply,

“A demonstrations of what is to comes, yes?”

He casually tossed the tiny bead of sap at one of his own spider creatures and quickly ducked behind a control panel. The bead exploded on impact, erupting in smoke and fire and flinging smoldering chunks of the once loyal drone all over the room. The other two drones watched the catastrophe, but when it was over they dutifully turned their attention back toward Axel.

“Booms!” Axel chuckled at the destruction of his own robot. “Is fun, no? Imagines the General’s surprise whens we drops thousands of the larger booms on the Burrow tonight.”

Axel wore a mile wide grin that spoke volumes, revealing his true nature for what it was. He was losing his mind.

“You’re insane,” Ziro stated. “The Mech Mice are peace keepers, protectors of the shards.”

“No!” Axel shouted forcefully, raising his voice. “The colony is nothings more then a prisons to limit the shard’s true potentials. The real crimes is keepings such powers from being fully explored.”

Ziro couldn’t stand to see Axel like this. It didn’t seem right. He tried desperately to reason with the rat. “At what cost? Bombing the Burrow will destroy the Academy and kill innocent mice…our friends…your brother.”

Then, in something of a trance, Axel repeated a phrase Colonel Black had heard long ago.

“Sometimes, it is necessaries to kills the old ways, before a new order cans be resurrected.”

Then without so much as a grin he picked up his remote, pressed a button and nodded to the team.

“Booms voyage,” he said.

The remaining pair of spider-bots flared their fangs and scurried back toward Ziro and the team. The bites from their needle sharp incisors were only felt momentarily before the tranquilizing effects took place. The last thing Ziro saw before everything went dark was a frantic Axel scrambling for the door clutching the shard.

I would also recommend reading ActionScript for Multiplayer Games and Virtual Worlds. This book includes the blueprint for creating your own virtual world.

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CHAPTER 18 – Last One Out

If there was one thing Ziro had learned in the field, it was that having your cover blown could mean the difference between a hero’s welcome and a spear in your neck…or in this case, a sudden kick to the head.

Unfortunately, the Liwan towering over them was tragically convinced that the Mech Mice were here to harm the slaves, not save them. And he had a menacing pair of heavy, mechanical legs that he wasn’t afraid to use. In one mighty leap, he launched himself down at his declared ‘intruders’.

Before the Liwan could land a knock-out blow, Demo lunged forward and managed to catch one of the bionic feet, throwing him off balance, crashing to the ground.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” Ziro shouted as the Liwan pulled himself up off the floor. “We’re here to help!” Completely ignoring Ziro, the Liwan launched himself straight at Demos chest. Using his defensive training, Demo expertly absorbed the hit, rolling backwards and using his legs to thrust his attacker off. For all the skill of the move, it was poorly aimed as the Liwan’s body flew directly into the stacked bombs. The pile toppled. Everyone cringed as the bricks clattered loudly against the metal floor, completely exposing the squad to the entire factory. The element of surprise was officially gone.

“Oh crumbs,” Demo said sheepishly.

Shouts rang out from all across the factory as Liwans left their posts to join their comrade in attacking the Mech Mice intruders.

Colonel Black got a certain twinkle in his eyes. “Roll up your sleeves, boys. There’s going to be some black eyes.” The seasoned soldier rushed forward and snatched up a length of discarded chain from the floor. He charged at a couple of attacking Liwans.

“Stand down!” both Liwans said in unison.

“Stand down yourselves,” Black replied, spinning around with surprising speed. The chain whipped across the attackers shins, knocking both clear off their feet.

Inspired by the Colonel, Streak rushed at another Liwan and attempted a karate kick in his gut. Instead, the Liwan blocked the kick with his robotic arm. Streak ricocheted off. Before the Liwan could get to where Streak landed, Demo came barreling into the fight. He landed a vicious uppercut punch to the Liwan’s chin that lifted him clear off his feet.

Ziro side-stepped his own attacker and elbowed him in the back of the neck. Then grabbing the mouse’s tail, he dove into the path of another Liwan, tripping him with it.

Despite the squad’s early success, the sheer number of Liwans bearing down on them made it clear that they wouldn’t be keeping this advantage much longer. Demo was really the only one who could match the cybernetic mice’s strength. As he exchanged punches and generally tossed opponents into one another, Streak took up position behind him, plunking the Liwans in the head with whatever loose parts he could find lying around.

“There’s no quit in them,” Black said admiringly, keeping his group of attackers at bay with his swinging his length of chain. “They keep coming back like robots.”

Nightshade was still furiously working on his wrist communicator, seemingly oblivious to the battle raging around him.

“Shade! We could use you about now,” Ziro yelled while snatching up a loose plank of wood. He turned to face the imposing figure of a Liwan with a pair of menacing pincher arms mounted on his back. Dodging the first arm, he spun passed the second and cracked the plank over the Liwan’s head. The rather heavyset brown mouse shook off the hit easily, then surprised Ziro by simply belly flopping on top of the young commander. Ziro was quick, however, managing to scramble out of Liwan’s death grip. He hopped on the heavy mouse’s back and gripped him in a headlock.

“A little help!” Ziro shouted to Nightshade again.

“Almost..,” Nightshade said, holding up a claw. “If you could try and hold your subject still, I need to intercept his helmet signal.”

“Wha-?” Ziro gasped. Hold the Liwan still? He was holding on for life! The chubby mouse flailed all four arms about wildly, trying to strip Ziro off his back. All the thrashing kept bashing Ziro’s chin against the Liwan’s metal helmet.

“And…. we’ve got it,” Nightshade said. “Be right back.”

“Right… hmph… no problem,” Ziro managed to say between head bangs. Unable to shake Ziro, the Liwan took the next best approach – he fell on him. The big mouse landed on Ziro with all his weight which would have certainly crushed him if not for the reinforced armor. Even so, the impact knocked the wind out of him.

The Liwan rolled off and got back up, dragging Ziro by his tail he lifted him up, letting him dangle like a ragdoll.

“Attaaaaaack!” a small voice yelled out over the battle sounds. Ziro twirled around until he caught sight of the tiny pup who had just spoken. He gasped, recognizing the two feisty brothers from Liwa.

“Take that!” one of the pups yelled, hurling his tiny spear at the Liwan holding Ziro. But another Liwan stepped in front of the throw, plucking the spear out of the air with his mechanized arm, and snapping it easily like the twig it was.

“Don’t let ‘em take you alive, Ziro!” Toli shouted bravely, as he kicked and scratched at the knees of the Liwan. There was no letup in these boys.

“Stand down!” both Liwans commanded in unison, shoving the pups aside roughly. Tal cracked his head against one of the bombs and went down hard.

Ziro shook with rage, but his struggles only managed to spin him helplessly by his tail. As he spun, he watched with surprise as Nightshade finally returned to his aid… with blaster raised, aimed indiscriminately at him, the Liwans, the bombs.

“No ‘Shade! The bombs! Don’t fire!” Ziro shouted.

Too late. Nightshade pulled the trigger. Both Liwans fell limp to the ground.

Ziro scrambled to his feet and looked about the room as, one by one, every Liwan within range of Nightshades blaster collapsed in heaps.

“What’d you just do?” Ziro asked, realizing that no plasma had ever shot from Nightshade’s blaster.

“Overloaded the system,” Nightshade said simply, patting his blaster. “The heavy signal activity jamming our communications was coming to and from the Liwan helmets. Once I isolated the signal frequency, I set my blaster’s audible to inject an impossible sequence of – ”

“Yeah, yeah,” Streak interrupted, clearly troubled by the sight of the motionless Liwan laying at his feet. “But are they… dead?”

“No, but I suspect their helmet’s mind-control functions are.”

“Mind control… That would explain a few things,” Black said tapping the darkened lights on one of the Liwan helmets. The Liwan let out a groan, then started to sit up. Everyone took a step back.

“Who are you?” the Liwan asked looking confused. His left eye visor was shattered off.

Ziro hurried over and addressed the Liwan. “We’re Mech Mice. We’re here to rescue you.”

“Where’s my family? Are they safe?” the confused mouse continued, looking around with his exposed eye.

“Slow down,” Ziro said. “The Liwan village is fine. I’m sure we’ll get you back to your family. What’s you name?”

The mouse took a deep breath. “My name is Gibb. Gibb Barkin.”

Hearing the Liwan’s voice, Toli looked up from his attempts to help his dizzy brother sit up. “Dad? Is… is that you?” He let go of Tal and scrambled over to join Ziro.

The big mouse blinked and squinted at the pup who was pressing in at him for a closer look.

“It is you, Dad!” Toli exclaimed, jumping up and down. “Tal, we found him! We found him! It’s us, Dad! Tal and Toli.”

The little pup threw himself around his father’s neck and then raced back over to his brother to help bring him into the joyful reunion.

Ziro smiled and offered a paw to Tal’s father, but something suddenly snapped in the Liwan and he immediately reached up to grab his helmet. “Get this off me,” the Liwan said, tugging on the device. “Get it off!” His voice sounded panicked now. Even with the strength of his robotic arm, the helmet didn’t budge; it was attached firmly to the neck collar.

“Calm down. We can help. Streak, give me a hand here,” Ziro said reaching out carefully. As he did, the lights on the crest of the helmet began to blink, slowly at first, then faster.

“Hurry!” the Liwan said, “It’s getting louder! It’s aghhhh!”

“I think I’ve got it. Just hold still,” Ziro tried to calm the mouse while he and Streak were fumbling to loosen what looked to be a latch.

“Allow me, Commander,” Nightshade said, handing off his blaster to Streak. As he did, the Liwan’s eye flickered. Faster than anyone could react, his robotic arm’s shot forward grabbed Nightshade by the throat.

“Stand down!” the Liwan demanded, his eye suddenly blank.

“The blaster!” Nightshade struggled to say to Streak. But before Streak could raise it, the Liwan’s arm flashed across and knocked Streak down, sending the blaster skittering far out of reach.

Whatever Nightshade’s blaster had accomplished was only temporary. The helmets had rebooted and the Mech Mice were now completely trapped. Even Demo was incapacitated now; held in the vice-like grip of a Liwan’s pincher arms.

“Take them for processing,” Tal’s father said, turning to carry Nightshade away.

“Nobody’s going anywhere!” a squeaky voice shouted. Nightshade looked up to see Tal and Toli struggling together to lift the lost blaster. Toli pulled the trigger and the silent signal blanked their father’s helmet. He dropped Nightshade and collapsed.

“Boys! Here!” Nightshade said reaching a hand out to the pups. They tossed the blaster as hard as they could. Rearmed with the blaster, Nightshade made quick work of the rest of the Liwan slaves while the two pups rushed to their father’s aid.

As their father awoke, Toli took out a pocketknife and jabbed it into the joint where the helmet met the collar. Electricity sparked out from the collar, shocking the pup. He fell backward as the collar lock released, dropping open from around their father’s neck. Tal pulled the helmet off and both boys looked into their father’s eyes for the first time.

“Am I…?” Gibb asked, feeling around his uncovered head. He stopped to squint up at the the two beaming faces above him. “Are you…?”

“Dad!” the pups yelled in unison and threw their arms around their father’s neck, squeezing him tight.

Using the pups technique, Ziro, Streak, Black and Nightshade quickly moved throughout the ranks of the rebooted Liwans, removing their helmets. Soon the entire slave force was free.

“Ears up, everyone!” Ziro commanded. “We have to evacuate immediately. This place is not safe.”

Turning to Nightshade and Demo, he pointed towards the tunnel entrance doors. “We need that opened.” Nightshade hurried over to see what he could do with the control panel, while Demo kicked about at the sealed door, trying to see if there was any way to force it open.

Watching the effort, Gibb stepped forward carrying Tal and Toli. But before he could set his pups down to help, another Liwan pushed his way to the front. “Allow me, Mr. G,” the bigger mouse insisted. “The way I see it, a dad’s got to take care of his pups first. My, they sure turned out handsome, the two of them. Reminds me of two of my second cousins on my mother’s side…”

“Please,” Gibb said, interrupting the story. “The door. It’s all yours, Yaku.”

Yaku refocused himself, motioning for everyone to step back. He flexed his bionic arm and took aim, punching his metal fist directly through the center of the spiraled door. Gripping the small opening he’d created, Yaku tugged back the doorlock. Demo joined in, pulling with him until they’d widened it enough for a mouse to climb through.

“Who’s ready to leave?” Gibb shouted triumphantly to the rest of his fellow slaves.

No one had to be asked twice. Nightshade helped the two pups through, then climbed over and assisted the others as they began hopping through the hole and out into the darkened tunnel.

The escape was going smoothly, until a starfield of tiny red lights started appearing out of the darkness above them.

Demo looked up and groaned, “Oh crumbs!”

The red sky was falling now as disengaged beetles dropped from the lower charging cells, landing with ominous thuds against the factory floor. The mechanical menaces quickly locked on to the escaping mice and surged toward them.

“Go! Go! Go!” Ziro yelled, urging the last of the Liwans out as the beetles bore down.

Ziro’s squad instinctively formed a perimeter of defense to engage the enemy.

“We can’t let them get into the tunnel,” Black barked.

Ziro knew what the Colonel meant – the unarmed Liwans would be sitting ducks. He rushed to the door and shoved Gibb through, yelling his order to Nightshade, “Lead them to safety! We’ll buy you time!”

As soon as Gibb was clear of the door, Demo let go and the doorlock shut tightly, separating Nightshade and the Liwans from the factory. Ziro aimed his blaster at the control panel and fired. The plasma blast sent the circuitry up in smoke with a spray of sparks.

“Chief, how do we hold these things off?!” Streak called out, aiming his blaster nervously in preparation of the first beetle that got near enough. “One bad shot and this whole place will blow!”

The beetles already seemed aware of that threat too. Instead of attacking with their blasters, their back shells raised to reveal pairs of buzz saw-wielding arms.

Demo grabbed the first non-explosive items he could find near him (wooden crates) and heaved them out into the oncoming horde. Each crate would smash three or four of them; barely even slowing the advancing lines behind them as their saws chewed the wood easily.

“Look!” Black said, pointing clear across to the opposite side of the room. “Another door.” Sure enough, Black had spotted what appeared to be doors for an elevator shaft.

“Run for it?” Streak asked.

“Coming through,” Demo yelled, rushing headlong into the tide of oncoming beetles. Streak grabbed hold of Demo’s suit and swung himself up onto the shoulders as the heavy mouse pounded a path to the elevator doors for the squad to follow.

At the first opportunity, Streak leaped off Demo and raced ahead to the elevator, punching viciously at the elevator’s call button. “Come on! Come on! Why do these things always take so long?”

The doors were barely yawning open as the squad arrived. Streak pushed past the doors to reach the controls first. The others dove in behind him with Demo, still engaging the onslaught of approaching beetles, arriving last. That’s when the harsh reality hit everyone at the same time: there was no way the bulky XR suit was escaping through the elevator with them.

“Demo, get out! You gotta leave it!” Ziro yelled.

The big mouse looked pained, but there was no use arguing. Hitting the release control he jumped out of his beloved suit. It wobbled momentarily behind him then collapsed face down, a whisker’s width from the elevator. Streak slammed the ‘Door Close’ button as the beetles raced toward them. At the last possible moment, Demo reached out and activated the suit’s jump jets. The last thing Demo saw before the doors shut were the flames roasting a few unlucky beetles. A horrendous racket of clanging metal and squealing saws were heard through the shut doors.

“At least it went out with a fight,” Demo said, trying to keep his voice from cracking.

The battle sounds faded as the elevator lifted them away to safety… or something worse.

CHAPTER 17 – A Sticky Situation

Happening again? Ziro found it hard to believe anyone had ever seen what he was seeing before.

The Liwan men were not merely captives, or even slaves. They were walking experiments.

Tight metal collars had been fitted around their necks. Out of the collars a metal plate extended up and over between their ears, ending in a wide diamond shape at the browline. Black lenses hung from either side, hiding their eyes. A row of red lights ran the length of the skull plate, rising and falling as some kind of level readout.

Most shocking of all were the “alterations” many of them had received. Some had mechanical arms or legs, others were fitted with larger, more unusual components extending from units attached to their backs. All worked steadily at their assigned tasks on the factory floor. Their unkempt fur was drenched in sweat and matted with globs of sticky red sap.

“Cybernetic slaves,” Nightshade solemnly observed.

Ziro rubbed his own arm, imagining the horror of having it replaced. Shuddering, he turned to Black, “You said you’ve seen this before? What exactly are we dealing with here, Colonel?”

“Verminion,” Black replied darkly. “I’d bet my tail on it.”

Demo scratched his head and said, “Uh… but…isn’t he dead?”

“Of course he’s dead. My squad, Venom, made sure of it when we got the chance,” Black said. “Almost forty seasons ago.”

Streak gawked. “Then how could he still be alive?” He quickly added, “I mean, ‘cause you killed him… Not ‘cause you’re both so old.”

The Colonel narrowed his eyes at the young mouse, scrunching his bushy eyebrows low.

“Evil never really dies,” Black replied, deep in thought. “It just takes new form. The meshing of mouse with machine was Verminion’s obsession. The remnant of the Dark Union seems to be continuing his twisted schemes.”

Ziro’s squad had learned about Verminion and the Dark Union at the Academy, but most mice considered it to be the stuff of spook stories. Legends of war – not real. Certainly not the living nightmare they were witnessing now.

“Commander,” Nightshade said. “I’ve got visuals on the transport beetles that passed us in the tunnel.” He pointed through the crates to a loading dock along the right wall of the room. A row of ten or more of the large flying beetle units stood in a neat line. One of the Liwan slaves was helping the recent arrivals back into their designated positions.

Once they were in place, the large beetle units began folding their legs to lower themselves to the ground. Their back wing shields raised to allow the smaller harvester units to methodically disengage from their compartments and exit; filing past the Liwan slave who scanned them for inventory count. After being counted, the units marched in line to a pump station that extracted their stolen sap.

When the process completed, Ziro’s squad watched in amazement as the harvester beetles set course for the Hive walls. Soon they were scaling up and across the weave of support beams on the walls and ceiling, sorting themselves into empty honeycomb shaped cells. Once settled, the bugs lights shut off. It was then that everyone realized that the entire ceiling was covered with hundreds of the hibernating bug bots.

Streak breathed out a low whistle. “I sure hope they take long naps.”

Ziro couldn’t agree more. But he couldn’t let that distract him. He looked out across the strange facility and turned to Nightshade. “What do you see in all this?”

The observant mouse cleared his throat and ran down the checklist of facts, motioning to supporting evidence. “Stolen sap. Heated vats. Precision temperature gauges and…” he pointed to the lettering painted on one of the nearby crates and read, “Boiling Chips. Crucial to prevent the sap from becoming superheated and boiling over. Operated by Liwan sap farmers. Implied alliance with ‘Dark Union’.” He nodded back to the insignia painted across the door lock. “It is my deduction that we are looking at a state-of-the-art sap refinery.”

“A sap refinery?” Colonel Black huffed. “Doesn’t sound like the kind of deal Vermion would be bothering with. I don’t get it.”

“Even evil’s got to eat,” Demo stated plainly. “And it goes great on walnut bread.”

“Whoa! Check that out, guys,” Streak said, pointing out to one of the glass pipes at the top of a vat. It was starting to glow a brilliant yellow. Golden liquid was slowly rising through it. A Liwan standing watch on a platform had noticed it too. He waved his arms to workers below, then hurried over and tapped on the glass, eyeing the contents carefully through his shaded goggles. Satisfied with what he’d seen, the mouse gripped a nozzle wheel and began turning it slowly. Steam sprayed around him as the yellow liquid sloshed it’s way down the length of pipe to where another group of workers waited.

Nightshade focused his binoculars on the distant assembly, “Fascinating. Looks like metal molds; a six-sided design.”

As the liquid poured out of the pipes, a mouse stationed at each mold began stirring the contents with slotted paddles. A larger mouse with a tank mounted to his back stepped forward and squirted a blood-red liquid into the mixes. When the concoction had just about reached the tops of the molds, the first team of mice stepped back to let another team, wearing vapor masks and cooling tanks, rush forward and blast the sides of the molds with their frosty steam.

“Clear the way,” said one of the Liwans with a pair of high-arching pincher arms extending from his back. In their grip he was holding a round, metal object. Stepping forward, he slowly lowered the item onto the surface of the cooling liquid, then stepped back.

“Hey, why are they putting a beetle bot into the sap?” Demo said.

“It is curious,” Nightshade confirmed. “This may pose a much more serious problem.”

“I know. That’s gonna totally ruin the flavor.”

Nightshade ignored the comment and began feverishly typing on his communicator. He’d already guessed what would happen next.

“The molds are combining,” Ziro noted, watching as the Liwans worked crankshafts to rotate both molds until they faced each other, then slid on tracks to compress together. It took some effort and a few mice with special pry bar attachments to get the molds to separate. When they did, a large sap brick rolled out. The freezer mice blasted it again with a final round of chill. When they had finished, the liquid’s original golden color had dulled to the foggy amber. A red light blinked silently from within it’s core, giving the eerie effect of a heartbeat. A Liwan pointed a device at the light and it stopped beating.

“Hate to tell you, Big Guy, but that’s no snack,” Streak said to Demo.

“No,” Nightshade interjected, looking up from his calculations, “It’s a bomb.”

“Now that sounds more like Verminion,” Black said.

Streak glanced nervously at the brick stack he was crouched next to and leaned back.

“Whoa momma!” Demo exclaimed, suddenly much more interested in the bricks, “Exploding chow. How big a blast are we talking?”

“Records have shown that in some cases, entire trees have been known to explode when their sap was struck by lightning. I suspect, with refining, it’d be possible to enhance sap’s natural volatility three-fold… possibly more.”

Ziro did a quick count of bricks he could see stacked throughout the facility. “There must be at least a thousand of these stored in here.” Nobody wanted to ask what kind of damage that might translate to. Bottom-line, they were deadly.

Black furrowed his brow. “I only know two reasons to make this many bombs,” he said ominously. “Starting wars… and ending them.”

“We’ve got to warn Burrow Command,” Ziro said.

Black shook his head. “Hatchet can’t be trusted. I still have my suspicions about him. For all we know, he’s the one behind this operation.”

Ziro considered the dilemma then turned to Nightshade. “Then we need to reach someone we can trust. Any chance you could sneak a message straight to Axel and Enzo?”

“Bypassing the central switchboard? Hmmm… there’s a chance.” Nightshade replied. “One problem. All outgoing communications have been jammed ever since we got here.”

“Keep trying,” Ziro urged. “As for the rest of us, we need to find a way to shut this sweat shop down without blowing everyone up in the process.” He cast a warning look at Demo.

“Got it. No boom in the room. So what’s our plan?”

“Get down!” Nightshade hissed, dropping flat to the ground. No one had to ask why. By now, everyone could hear the growing hum coming from the tunnel door. A second later, the door spun open and a lone transport beetle flew in to join the others.

Peeking out from their hiding spot, Nightshade watched as the harvester units disembarked and marched to unload their stolen liquid, just as the previous arrivals had. But something about the way the Liwan inventory controller was acting caught his eye. When Nightshade glanced back to the transport beetle he noticed that two of it’s harvester units seemed to be stuck inside their compartments.

“Odd,” Nightshade said, zooming in with his binoculars on the peculiar malfunctioned units. “Those don’t look like…”

Before he could finish saying it, two furry brown balls suddenly sprouted arms and popped out of their holes, leaping away from the transport, flashing tiny spears. The Liwan mouse pups scampered quickly, finding a relatively safe hiding place behind a stack of cylindrical containers.

“Oh dear. Commander, I think we may have a serious problem,” Nightshade said, turning back to his squad. No one responded. It was as if they were temporarily frozen. That’s when he saw the flash of something big leaping impossibly high to atop the stack of bombs directly in front of them.

A deep, loud voice shouted down at them, “Intruders, stand down!”