Suddenly I heard a whirring sound. I looked down the hall, then back. It was one of those electric carts, like a golf cart. It was coming toward us.
'Just act natural,' Cassie hissed. Marco slipped out and she slammed the door on Big Jim. 'As long as it isn't a security guy, we're probably okay.'
The cart came up to us. Its driver was a man wearing a stained, tan lab coat over his jeans. In the back of the cart were two large white plastic buckets full of something brown and horrible-smelling. 'Hey, you're Cassie, right? The doc's kid? How's it going?'
'Fine,' Cassie said. She waved casually, and the man drove right on past.
'That was easy,' Rachel said. 'He didn't even seem to care that we're back here.'
'Well, where next?' Cassie wondered. We were at a four-way corner. There were blank, white-painted hallways in all directions. An electric golf cart was parked there, too.
'What are we near?' I asked.
Cassie thought for a moment. 'Okay, that walkway leads to the outer exhibits. That one leads to the offices and storage facilities. These two go around the main building exhibits. We're close to… let me see… um, bats and snakes that way. The jaguar and the dolphin tank that way.'
Rachel started down the hallway to our right. 'Dolphins. I love dolphins.'
'Wait,' Cassie said, trotting after her. 'What are we going to do with dolphin morphs?'
'I think we should go out to the big exhibits,' Marco said. 'Let's get serious about this. We need firepower. Come on.'
'Let's stick together,' I said as Marco started down the hall. I reached out to grab him before he got too far away.
And that's when the voice yelled, 'Hey! Hey, you! What are you kids doing back here?' I saw a guy in a brown uniform.
'Security!' Cassie yelped. 'Oh, man, they'll take us all in to the office. They'll call my mom. I do not want to explain this to her.'
'Split up!' I said, trying to sound like a leader. 'Just like at the construction site: One guy can't get us all!'
'This guy looks like my grandfather,' Rachel said. 'Not like that Hork-Bajir that was after us.'
'You kids hold on!'
'Oh, man. Oh, man,' Cassie said. With that, she took off down one hallway. Rachel and Tobias went after her.
Marco was already twenty yards down the other hall, the one that led out to the large exhibits. I ran to catch up.
The guard reached the corner. I saw him glance toward Tobias and the girls. Then he looked at me and Marco. I guess Marco and I looked more suspicious, because he chose us.
'Stop! You kids better stop!'
'Let's grab the golf cart!' Marco said.
'Steal a golf cart?'
'If we don't take it, that guard will.'
'Good point.'
We jumped in the cart. Marco slid behind the wheel. He turned the key to 'on.' He looked at me.
'Just like driving bumper cars, right?' 'Only you try
He put his foot down on the pedal. The electric motor made a whirring sound, and we took off.
Straight toward the wall. Bam!
'Hey, try steering,' I yelled.
We backed up and took off again. We picked up speed. Enough to pull away from the guard, but when I looked back, he was still jogging after us.
'He's going to have a heart attack,' I said.
'Which way?'
'What?'
'Which way?'
I turned around to face forward. We had reached a 'T' corner. 'Right!' I yelled. Naturally, Marco turned left. I nearly fell out.
Almost immediately, we reached another corner. This time Marco did choose right. And I did fall out of the cart.
I hit the linoleum and rolled. Then I was up and racing to catch the cart. 'What are you doing?' Marco demanded when he saw me. 'Quit playing around.' I just gave him a dirty look and climbed back in. 'I think we lost the guard,' Marco said.
'I'm fine, thanks for asking,' I said. 'Just a few bruises. Maybe a cracked skull. Nothing serious.'
'Where do you think we are?'
'I think we are in the longest tunnel I've ever seen,' I said. It was more and more like a tunnel now. The floor was still linoleum and the walls were still whitewashed, but the lights were getting more spread out, so you definitely had the feeling you were underground.
'I wonder if they caught the others,' Marco said. 'Now do you see why it's crazy to think we can beat the Yeerks? I mean, come on: We can barely beat zoo security.'
'We haven't beat anyone yet,' I said grimly. 'Look!'
Way up ahead, there were two guys in brown uniforms.
'Maybe they don't know who we are,' Marco suggested. 'They might think we're regular employees.'
'Maybe. But not if they get a good look at us.' I pointed. 'There's a turnoff. Take it.'
We turned. At the same time, the guards started yelling. The side corridor grew narrow. Too narrow for the golf cart.
'Ditch it!'
I jumped out. Marco jumped after me. We could hear the guards' footsteps as they ran down the main tunnel. These guys were in better shape than the old man. These guys could run.
The corridor ended abruptly. There were two doors, one a little to the left, one a little farther to the right. They were labeled P-201 and P-203. No help at all.
'Pick a door,' Marco said.
I took a deep breath, 'Door number one.' I opened P-201. A blast of fresh air hit me. Sunlight blinded me. I blinked, trying to get my eyes to adjust.
The rhinoceros blinked, too.
'Ahhhh!' I yelled.
'Ahhhh!' Marco yelled.
We jumped back and slammed the door.
'Wrong door!' Marco said.
'Definitely wrong!' I agreed.
'Hey, you kids! Stop right there!'
The guards were just at the end of the corridor. 'Gotta try door number two!' I said. 'Do it!'
We opened the door and ran through.
There were trees all around us. Trees and grass. We were in the shade. Sunlight filtered down through the leaves. Just ahead the bushes gave way to open grass.
'Where are we?' Marco asked.
'Like I know?'
We worked our way through some bushes, keeping a careful eye out in all directions. We didn't see any animals. Just some birds up in the trees.
'Hey, there are people!' Marco said. He dropped down behind a bush and pointed.
There were people lined up behind a railing. They were high up. Or else we were low down. I parted the bushes to get a better look. The people were leaning against a railing at the top of a high concrete wall. They couldn't see us because of the bushes. But they were definitely all staring at something.
'We're definitely in one of the habitats,' I said. 'Those are people looking at… at whatever is in here with us.
