“Hey!” she yelped.
He silenced her with a finger to her lips, then pointed up. A drone with a sweeping spotlight flew across the driveway ahead of them.
Their rescue mission had nearly ended as soon as it had begun. They’d have to be careful from here on out. Which is going to be difficult, considering Milo’s dressed like Big Bird.
“About your clothes…” said Lucy.
Without hesitation Milo stripped off his raincoat and trousers, revealing a pair of khakis and a black fleece jacket. Although he’d be soaked in seconds, he was much less likely to be seen. Lucy handed him her purple scarf and he wrapped it around his head like a balaclava.
Slipping in and out of the trees, they made their way towards the centre of the orchard. Milo scanned the skies, pulling Lucy this way or that to avoid detection. At last, they reached the thick grove of sticky pines surrounding the geodesic dome.
Milo and Lucy ducked through the undergrowth to the edge of the grove, then hid behind a heavy indigo tree branch. The white dome glowed in the darkness, illuminated by dim lights. Today, the smoke emanating from the pipe on the top of the futuristic building was a pale blue colour, rather than pink.
Guess they’re working on some new experimental monstrosity.
A stocky man stood watch on the grated porch, an earpiece snaking along his soft chin. Mr Murl. Of course Fisher’s most heinous henchman was guarding the entrance. Instead of a suit and tie, he wore a set of black military-style tactical gear. What’s he up to?
“Are you sure this is the right place?” Milo whispered. “It’s not nearly big enough to house a secret lab.”
“It’s in there,” said Lucy. “Trust me.”
“How do we get past Murl?” Milo lamented. “They’re probably experimenting on Thingus as we speak.”
CRACKKKKK! A bolt of lightning struck the orchard about thirty metres north. Lucy and Milo jumped in alarm.
“What was that?” Unnerved, Murl stalked off his post towards the treeline. “You sure that’s just normal lightning?” He paused, listening to someone on his earpiece. “Send a drone,” he barked, then turned back towards the dome.
Dratsicle sticks.
Milo’s teeth chattered. How long could they wait out here before he got hypothermia?
Come on. Think, Lucita! There’s gotta be a way past this slugmunch.
MYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW WWWWWNNGGRRRRR.
A high-pitched wail, like the cry of a demonic baby, rang out from the area where the lightning had struck.
“Is that a cat?” Murl said to whoever was on the other end of the line.
MWWWOOOOOWOWWWWWWW WWRRRR! The yowl sounded again, louder and more insistent.
“Cats make that noise?” whispered Milo.
“It’s called caterwauling,” said Lucy. “They do it when they’re fighting over territory and stuff. They don’t normally come out in the rain, though.” She remembered the local weatherman morphing into a feline just the other day. “I’ll bet it’s not really a cat, though.”
“You think it’s a Pretender?”
Lucy nodded, feeling a tremendous rush of relief at finally being able to speak about such things with her friend. “Maybe they’re coming for Thingus.”
Milo’s expression looked somewhere between heartened and horrified.
I hope the Pretenders are here. We could use all the help we can get.
“I’m telling you,” Murl snarled, “that ain’t no normal cat.” He pulled a high-tech-looking tranquilliser gun from its holster and took off into the trees.
“Let’s go,” said Lucy.
Quickly, the kids raced over to the entrance to the geodesic structure. Milo yanked on the heavy door, but it wouldn’t budge.
Lucy pointed to the number pad on the wall. “You need a code to get in.”
“A code?” Milo ripped the scarf off his head and threw it on the ground. “What are we supposed to do now?”
“Relax, Fish.”
“Relax? Thingus is in danger and there’s nothing we can do and you want me to relax? If we don’t—”
“I’ve got the code right here.” Lucy waved her unicorn notebook in front of his face.
Milo stopped pacing. “You do?” He threw his arms round her. “You’re a superhero.”
Blushing, Lucy punched the numbers into the keypad. It beeped, and with a CLICK the heavy door opened.
“I’ll never doubt you again,” said Milo, hustling through the doorway.
“I want that in writing.” Lucy snatched up her scarf and slipped inside, bracing herself for Mr Fisher’s latest house of horrors.
Subterranean Science
Milo burst into the small white dome and gasped at what resembled the aftermath of a bubblegum explosion: the smooth white floor and curved geodesic walls were spattered with streaks of pink goo. Clearly, Thingus had been here, and he’d struggled mightily against his captors.
The dome wasn’t a laboratory, but rather an entrance chamber containing nothing but a set of three silver elevator doors. The call buttons pointed in only one direction: down.
“I guess the secret lab is more of an underground lair,” said Lucy.
“Don’t call my dad’s lab a lair.”
They headed into the middle elevator, which was also covered in smears of pink goo. Thingus must be so frightened, worried Milo. If only his father knew that the shapeshifter wasn’t a monster, none of this would be happening. I wonder if Dad’s scared, too. Then he remembered seeing photos of his father out lion hunting in Mozambique. He hadn’t seemed scared then.
The buttons on the elevator wall indicated there were three floors below ground: “minus one”, “minus two” and “minus three”. Milo pushed “minus one”, and the elevator began to whirr. We’re coming for you, Thingus.
“What do we do if they catch us?” asked Lucy.
“We could tell the truth. Maybe my dad would let Thingus go?”
“As much as I’d like to believe that, do you really think it would work?”
Milo didn’t respond. They both knew the answer.
The elevator doors opened with a DUNG, revealing a dank hall with walls composed of multicoloured stones arranged in swirling patterns.
“This is like the tunnel under the factory,” whispered Lucy. “Where we found the missing people.”
They were rather far from the factory now, but Milo remembered that
