[Teal]

Whee, some more... Anyways. I'll edit this post and put the rest of the chapter in when it's done. I'm nearly there, so... bear with me...


Seven

Pru was fast asleep. She was curled up on the floor in the corner of a bare, otherwise empty cell, a thick collar round her neck and similarly-styled wristlets gracing her powerful arms. Jas exchanged a look with Skan, then went up to the cell; he was dismayed to find it had a combination lock.
“Damn,” he muttered. “How we goin’ ter get her out…?”
Skan caught Jas’ arm just as the younger slig was about to try to break the glass front to the cell. “The front’s probably alarmed, so don’ try ter get in that way…” he frowned. “Give Drek a shout. Mebbe Jark’ll be able ter open it.”
Sure enough, ten seconds after describing the problem the cell stood open. Jas crouched next to Pru, and gently patted her cheek. “Hey Pru… wakey wakey, Prudence…” he called, softly. “C’mon Pru… a li’l action would be nice…”
Skan shook his head. “She’s still sedated. I’ll go see if I can find somethin’ ter wake her up…”
“Any response…?” Drek asked.
Jas sighed. “No. Skan reckons she’s drugged.”
“Hm,” Drek clicked his tongue. “Hang on Jask… wassat, Hak…?” There was the murmur of voices in the background. “Hak says is she wearin’ anythin’ unusual…?”
“Like…?”
“Well, anythin’.”
“Um… well, she’s got a collar on…? An’… well, they’re kinda like cuffs… on her wrists. Like that?”
“Yeah, they sound about right,” came Hak’s bass rumble. “I’ve been told about them. They’re new – act direct on th’nervous system. They ain’t in general use yet, but they’re kinda like adjustable sedatives. Put ‘em on a prisoner an’ yer can move ‘em about easier. An’ it’s easier an’ faster’n tryin’ ter shoot ‘em if they make a run fer it… frack, they wouldn’ be runnin’ nowhere wi’ them on…”
“So… what do I do? Jus’ take ‘em off her?”
“See a switch on th’collar…?”
“Yep.”
“Turn it off. Then give ‘er time ter wake up. If yer jus’ take ‘em off yer’d be more likely ter kill ‘er.”
“Got it. Thanks, Hak…”
A few tense minutes passed. Then…
“Who hit me…?” Pru mumbled, raising a hand to rub her temples.
Jas gave a relieved laugh. “Well, least yer awake now…”
“Jaskie…?” She smiled, woozily. “Took yer time, didn’t yer…?”
He laughed, faintly, and lightly touched her snout with his, affectionately. “Well, we did have ter find yer…”
“We?” she echoed, frowning, pushing herself into a more upright position.
Skan put his head round the open cell-door, and scowled. “Come on, Short-Arse, yer can gas wi’ yer missus later!” he said, sharply. “I want ter get out o’ here!”
Jas shrugged, bounced to his feet. “Yeah, I think we all do… c’mon Pru, let’s get a shift on…”
Pru pushed herself to her knees, and winced. “Why do I feel so damned tired allofasudden…?” she groaned, propping herself up against the wall.
Jas gave her a look. “Yer been under electronic sedation fer an age,” he replied, hand poised to open the channel to Drek. “It’ll take a while fer yer nerves ter recover, I guess,” he shrugged, then flicked his radio. “Hey, Drek…”
“Found ‘er yet?” Drek’s disembodied voice asked.
“Yes! We got her. But we got no idea how ter get out!”
“Oh,” Jas could very nearly see the old slig scratching his muzzle and frowning. “I’d forgotten that. Yer can’t jus’ walk out wi’ yer lady friend, after all… uhm. There anythin’ yer can use ter make a distraction…?”
Jas shook his head. “Nuh-uh. Least, nothin’ that springs directly ter mind. ‘Sides, once they realise she’s out there’s goin’ ter be guards everywhere an’ we’ll never get out…” he sighed. “Any ideas, Drek…?”
“Sorry kid.”
Skan padded over. “Y’know… I’ve been thinkin’…”
Jas gave him a shocked look.
Skan scowled. “First time was vaguely amusing, that time was jus’ annoying an’ if yer do it again an’ I’ll put yer lights out,” he snapped. “Now, if yer’ll lemme explain…?”
Jas sniggered behind his hand but nodded.
Skan gave him a supplementary baleful scowl. “I thought if we let the livestock out it’d be enough of a distraction ter get out. ‘Sides, they’ll have ter round it all up after, which’ll keep ‘em busy fer a few hours, an’ they mightn’t realise we rescued yer missus…”
Jas gave him an approving look. “Hey, yeah! You hear that, Drek?”
“I heard. An’ I reckon it’d work, y’know…” Drek sounded eager. “We got transport arranged too, so we’ll wait jus’ round the corner from the labs. Come find us when yer out.”
“Who we lookin’ fer?”
“Just us three,” a laugh. “Jus look out fer Hak an’ we’ll be nearby…”
“Okay then…” Jas took a breath. “Keep yer fingers crossed fer us…”
“Heh. Will do, Shortie…” There was a muted click as Drek closed the channel.
Jas looked over to Skan. “Best give li’l Aalu ter Pru. Jus’ in case anythin’ happens,” he said, expecting his pack-mate to be glad to relinquish the infant.
Skan surprised him by sticking his nose in the air and snapping, icily; “I am capable o’ carryin’ her, y’know…”
Jas shrugged, but couldn’t help grinning. “Whatever…” He clicked into the holding pens, and gave the ranks of cages a speculative look. “May well be a good idea, but how we going to do this without gettin’ eaten ourselves…?” he asked, dryly, exchanging a look with Skan.
Skan narrowed his eyes, stared at the violently hissing young scrab in the cage next to them. Then looked at Pru. “How fast can yer run, miss?” he asked, a thoughtful frown on his face.
“Pretty fast. Why?”
“If we let the smaller livestock out… yer could let these ones out an’ run after us,” he jerked a thumb at the bigger carnivores snarling horribly next to them.
“Hm,” Pru replied, arms folded. “I dunno if I like the sound o’ that…”
“Well…” Jas shrugged. “May be the only chance we got…”
Pru snorted. “All right, all right…” she waved her hands. “Yer better get a shift on. I’ll foller yer by scent…”
Jas gave her a thankful smile, and turned to the first cage – the lock was simple enough, just yank down the lever and the door would fall open. He glanced back at Skan. “Yer ready?”
Skan nodded once, tightly. “As I’ll ever be…” he replied, rearranging his arms around Aalu a little.
Jas took a deep breath and shot him a grin, then marched decisively to the first cage and hauled on the lever…
Half a dozen fuzzles and a meetle took a dive for freedom. Jas gave a hoot of laughter and took off at a sprint, banging cages open as he ran, turning the floor into a living carpet of bodies.
Skan was running behind him, trying to both open cages and not let Aalu pick up too many of the little animals, although she did manage to snag a fuzzle, which purred until, in a typically infant manner, she tried to chew it. Then it yipped and startled her, so she dropped it. She whimpered and tried to reach it, scrambling half out of Skan’s arms and over his shoulder…
He grumbled and told her to stop wriggling, sharply rearranging his arms and pulling her back where she was meant to be…
So an infant slig voice rapidly joined in with the general mayhem, rising in a mournful wail over the hubbub the freed lab-animals were making. At least, until Skan, tiring of Aalu’s noisy warbling in his ear, snatched up another fuzzle and handed it to her. She remembered not to chew this one...


Xek opened one eye and scowled; something had woken him up, and he was still tired, dammit… hang on – he lifted his head, frowned. That… noise… the one that’d woken him – a dull bang-bang-bang on the heavy door to the labs. He frowned at it, flicked the switch to move the camera round and activate the microphone…
“Don’ jus’ sit there an’ gawp!” Skan’s voice blared out of the speakers, startling him bolt upright. “Get this fracking door open! Some damned fool left the livestock cages open and when we went ter fix the last thing they all got out! Get the damned door open now!!”
Startled and still half-asleep, Xek didn’t stop to think what’d happen if he opened the doors, never waited for the camera to finish tracking round to give him a look inside the complex – just slammed a palm on the switch. The door squealed in its tracks and ground back, slowly…
Jas and Skan skidded out of the widening gap and fled down the corridor, hotly pursued by the young scrab. Xek never noticed the delicate little bundle in the older slig’s arms – he was too busy trying to fend off the first of the pair of paramites that had lunged for him… He kicked it away with a howl of fear and only just managed to smash a fist into the alarm klaxon before it lunged at him again and knocked him into the bank of monitors on the desk…

Jas and Skan were running hell for leather down the corridor, the scrab still hard on their heels.
“I knew it was a dumb idea!” Jas yelled back at Skan, more frustrated at being unable to shake the hissing creature than particularly angry.
“Frack, yer agreed ter it!” Skan snapped in reply. “If yer wanted ter wuss out yer shoulda said somethin’!”
There was a low hur-hur-hur and next second a voice like a thundercloud called, idly. “Where yer goin’, lads…?”
They both staggered to a stop – there was Hak, the struggling scrab held lightly in his massive hands.
“Good job yer picked a li’l ‘un,” the huge brute commented, as the creature threshed futilely in his hands and screamed its frustration at the other two sligs. Jark had his head cocked and was watching it, a vague smile on his face, presumably associating the creature with the huge alpha that had taken his arm.
Jas clattered over, grinning. “I forgot yer’d be here…” he said, looking at the young scrab and pulling a face. “Yer got my mask wi’ yer…?”
Drek nodded and handed it over. “As if we’d forget somethin’ like that…” he said, dryly. Then looked up to see Skan mooching over, and gave a hoot of laughter. “Aw, Skan turned nursemaid, hey…?”
There was another honk of derisive laughter from Jark, and Hak cracked a grin. Skan glowered at all three of them, blackly. “The next one o’ yer lot what laughs,” he growled, absently cradling the infant closer. “Is gettin’ his head kicked in. Got that?”
Drek chuckled. “All right, Skan, no need to overreact… Jas, where’s yer lady-friend…?”
“Right here,” a soft voice replied from the shadows directly behind Hak.
The smaller sligs all startled, span to look at Pru laughing silently at them; Hak just blinked back over his shoulder. “Oh, there yer are,” he commented, and turned back to Drek. “Reckon it’s safe ter let this bolshie munchkin go, now?”
Drek glanced down the corridor, back toward the labs and the general hubbub forming there; a sizeable pack had just clattered round the corner, as well, and loped past, swapping annoyed mutterings. Drek smiled, idly. “Yeah, let it go, Hak. Jus’… make sure yer point it in the right direction…”

[ May 01, 2001: Message edited by: Teal ]