​The Nine Labs













A short work of fiction by Bryan E. Katz-James
Warning: Some events and characters in this book are fictitious references to sometimes obscure media, and may require a search engine to fully comprehend.
All copyrighted characters are the properties of their respective owners.
​
Chapter One: In the past

As much as I wanted to, I could never create a truly magical wand. Even as a child, in my backyard, I loved to climb our oak tree and search it for just the right twig, with so many leaves and with a specific length… I brought a yardstick out from the house and measured my gatherings, most of which were no more than 10 inches long. I chose a few from this pile, and then asked my Mom if I could please use my older brother’s pocket knife. (The one that glowed in the dark and was received/used mainly for his scouting duties) She said yes I could if he supervised me. After an incessantly annoying period of waiting, he arrived home.

My brother was tall and skinny, with short black hair and a long face. He had a very serious demeanor and from what we, his family heard, he was joyous as a thief in a mint. At our house, he was mostly reclusive. However, he was agreeable at some moments, and when I asked him to help me cut some twigs, he said sure. (But only because he had nothing better to do) So, out on the small walk from our driveway to our one floor stucco home in Duluth, my brother whittled 5 sticks taken from an oak. Then, he went inside to read the same old issue of Odnetnin Potency.

I, of course, was ready for the final stage of wand-making. This was the testing and tweaking stage. I would select a wand, wave it about to test its weight, and then proceed to pry off a few leaves or use a bit of Marian Tape to add some from another wand. I would then say an incantation to test the temperament of the wand and the power of its spells. Of course, these spells only worked in my imagination, and even then they weren’t that good. I eventually had to go to sleep, and brought my best wand in to keep on my bedside table. Every day, for the rest of the summer, I would go outside and repeat this process.
​
Eventually, I found that I could pluck more mystical twigs from the gingko grove at my friend Navi’s house. Gradually, he found it just as magical to take twigs from the sole birch tree in front of our acquaintance, Sue Hail’s house. In this manner, I was able to create a network of twig suppliers, and my net twig income soared, along with the magicality of my wands. Seth’s dad ordered some sandpaper, and we would hold meetings at his house. We soon created a group with 10 people or so. We were the wand maker kids. We staged duels in Navi’s yard. I was among the top 5 duel-ers, and had to give away my wand when I lost. (It leveled the playing field for those who were not among the top 5)
​
Soon, however, school began, and we learned that magic was just fanciful thinking on the part of younger students, as well as medieval people. This was an upsetting idea, but my wand making days still stuck in the back of my head. Eventually, I would come back to the wand project.
​
Chapter One and a Half: The Kids​
Mach and Bobbie were two children out of many in a large group of kidnap-ees, involved inextricably in a massive, possibly world-ending plot in a house that was so much more than a house. They had been carried out of said house in stretchers. The house had been disassembled safely with the help of several renowned scientists, who had gawked at the advanced technologies held within, in particular the amount of artificial intelligence. One of the scientists went on to start a research company specializing in artificial intelligence due to what he found at the house. Another went on to develop several psychological problems. Yet another scientist quit work, went home, and became an artist. Yes, what these scientists had discovered was amazing, but it had also been terrifying. The depths of the home, which stretched deep into the earth, had held many secrets. It was one of these secrets that had caused Mach and Bobbie to be carried out in stretchers. The two would never return to the site again.

Chapter Two: Being some time into the future

Summers and other seasons passed quickly for us, and eventually our group fell apart. It's been 43 years, and now I am a retired 50-year-old man. I have the 7th successful wand in my pocket, and I couldn’t be happier. After all that work, I am able to fit some of the most advanced technology available to me into it. This particular stick is thick enough to be hollowed out and fitted with LEDs, circuitry, and infrared communications devices. It is also ornately carved. (I was still able to do that, when I created it) I buy a house with my hotel fortune, and set to making it into a perfect residence for me with my old hobby of wand making. I keep a great many species of trees to supply me with twigs for my wands, although the elusive gum tree is beyond my reach.
My house’s left wing is truly a marvel, with 1 bed, 1 bath, and 10 rooms in which I can test wands for how permeable they are to water, as well as how well they conduct the infrared signals which I have come to accept as being a way of imitating magic. All of this and more exists in tandem with my “Visitors Only” right wing. This wing, of course, is the “respectable” part of the house, with 1 press conference room and 1 office, in which I conducted interviews, held press conferences, and ran my 50 location hotel business.
I have a nice house, which is entirely comprised of the oak wood, brass, and red carpet which hallmarks my old-style hotels. The outside is very similar to the middle-class houses in the neighborhood in which I live. Most of the rooms in my house are underground, of course. Otherwise, the people would notice my abode in its entirety, and perhaps take measures to evict me.

I lately have voluntarily stepped into the background at my company, but I still hold sway with some devoted workers and executives. Today I walk into my business like I own it, get a cup of coffee at the CelebrityDollars, and begin to give out my ideas. I know that I cannot actually run the company, but I can still give plans to those who will listen. Sometime later, I am ready to return home. Now that my main source of income has increased its profit, (or will do so in the near future) I can go back to my hobby, wand making.

As one walks into my house, they find themselves either walking down or up. If the plane upon which you walk is slanted down, you have been allowed to pass into my domain of “magic” and mystery. Going up means you have been directed to the tank with a shark in it. Behind this shark tank lies my office. I use my wand to decide which direction I will go. This time, I am going down, so I wave my wand in this direction. The plane is distinctly tilted downward, and I make my way to lab number one​.
​
Chapter Two and a Half: The Company
​
When​ I was young, I didn't exactly know what I wanted to be when I grew older. I knew that Wizardry was off the table, so I took to something that I knew I would have fun doing: fabrication. Not on a large scale, mind you. I started out sanding my father's wood carvings, then eventually moved on to creating desk knick-knacks for friends and family. When I was eleven, my brother and Dad helped me to create a bookshelf for my grandfather. We painted it blue-green, and this was the project that convinced me building was a talent of mine. When I moved out of my parents' home, I found a derelict property and set about fixing it up. It became my first hotel. I spent a great deal of time working at a job I did not find interesting, using my time off to keep the hotel up and running. After a few hard years of work, I had created a state-wide business. My brother, who had loaned me the funds for my second hotel, suggested an IPO, and I approved this decision. While initially not very successful, when we received the exclusive rights to extraterrestrial resorts for a ten-year period, our shares skyrocketed. 

I had made it my business to offer people a place to stay across the country by the time I was in my 40s.​ Unfortunately, my brother was not content with being merely another board member, and, to my shock, bought a controlling share of the company. He became the CEO, and I was fired from my own company. As the founder, the board of directors approved a "salary" for me. It would be, through complex math, related to the dividends that shareholders of my company received, but enough for me to live off of. I retreated to my home, which reminded me of the good old days.
​
Chapter three: Taking place in lab number one

I have entered lab number one, the least secure and perhaps the most interesting laboratory in my house. This greenhouse is a dome rising up in my backyard. It is partially submerged, and has plenty of fruits and exotic plants living inside it, as well as an offshoot that leads to my tree collection. It is used for testing the biological spells which make living things larger, smaller, good at breakdancing, and more. It also is a good place to test the durability of wands, and conduct duels with the DuelBots. (Giant targets strapped to floating chunks of metal) Because of the stream running through the middle, this room is a good place to test teleportation as well.

Of course, I am too tired to do anything more than wave my wand and teleport across the room, taking the stairs down to Lab Number 2. This lab is a cubicle farm in which my designers work. They take the wands which I still whittle in my Lab and decide how best to fill them with "magic". Every wand contains basic spells in areas such as Dueling, Modifying, and Moving. However, specific new spells may be added, including the creations from the new spell subsection of this floor. Aside from the subsection, wand storage is off to the side at this level. My wand in particular has the basics, more powerful environment-controlling spells, some of the Key spells that I use to move about my behemoth of a laboratory, and, of course, plenty of experimental spells that still need to be tested.

I move straight to the center of this lab, in which there is a manhole going down to the meeting room. I use my wand to lift the cover and step by careful step, move down the ladder. At the bottom, there is a table surrounded by armchairs. Only one of these chairs is vacant. The rest are filled by the 8 leaders of the various labs, each of them part of the wand-making process. Each lab is secluded for the most part, (Excluding Lab 8) except for various means of getting to this room. It is meeting day, and I have a plan for these wands. I myself am too tired to test the wands, but this does not mean that I will be completely unable to continue my hobby… As everyone shifts in their seats, I explain, in all of its entirety, my plan.

"While we have bee​​n accomplishing truly great work here regarding the wands, I believe there is more to be done. Yes, we are designing wands. Yes, we are storing them. But we are not testing them." The leaders of Labs One, ​Three, Six, and Seven respond to this accusation with varying levels of disbelief. I quell their concerns. "Quiet, everyone." Reluctantly, they all quiet down. I look to the back of the room, where Mary, the leader of Lab Eight is sitting. I am hoping I can count on her to vote in favor of my plan. She blinks at me. Go on, her brown eyes seem to say. "Yes, I am aware that many of your Labs are, in fact, meant for testing. However, the fact is that we lack the staff necessary for this. Hiring new staff is out of the question. We lack the funds, and the level of secrecy such jobs would require would be difficult to maintain. My proposal is simple. We shall request the assistance of children, framing the beta testing as a fun game for them to play, and use security cameras and other analysis equipment to obtain massive amounts of data about the wands. Building the small amount of infrastructure necessary to host the children will be of minimal cost. Once testing is completed, the children may return home. We shall offer a free hotel stay for the rest of the family for the duration of the testing phase. The only condition shall be that they allow the children to stay home. (it will not be necessary to inform the families of our testing operations with their children) If we extend this offer to a great number of people in the surrounding area, we are sure to have enough children to test every single wand we possess. I'd like to hear four opinions, then we shall see an example of the ease with which this plan can be executed." I look over at Allen Fey, the leader of Lab Two. He seems stunned by the utter brilliance of my plan. He pushes his glasses back up his nose, then stands to speak.

"What you're talking about is crazy!", he says. "The legality of several parts is questionable. However..." He strokes his chin in thought. "The amount of data my lab ​​could get on how spell combinations work...is just as crazy. We're talking about years' worth of information here! If we do this for science, for knowledge...I will be in full support of it." He sits back down, content that he has expressed his opinion. I fully expected that Allen would be in favor of the plan. He is a scientist through and through, so waving such massive amounts of data in front of his face guarantees that he will vote yes. If only the rest of the room would be so easy to win over. Anne, the leader of Lab Three, stands to speak next.

"​​I gotta agree and disagree with Allen. Your plan is crazy, but I dunno if it's worth it for th' information", she cautions. "Ya got a propens'ty fer plans that aren't exactly watertight. Think of the kids. How're the gonna feel about losin' their families? They may not be in any fit state ta test wands. Remember the Revolution of the Video Game Characters? I'll letcha try'n convince me, but I don't see myself voting yes." She sits down. This is not a complete surprise. Anne is so practical that she sees flaws in nearly every plan I bring to the board. It's helpful to view such plans with a balanced perspective. Still, mentioning the event during which the video game characters from Lab Nine decided they wanted to run amok in the world beyond my home was a low blow. I look up to see Gilliam, the leader of Lab Six, speaking.

He ​​speaks deliberately, his sentences plodding along like mules on a road. "It's not that I don't respect you. It's just that I don't respect your plan. It's a stupid idea, and I'm not convinced that we would pay more to hire a few workers and keep them quiet than we would to get so many children here. I will vote no if you try to pass this plan." As he sits, Anne pats him on the back. Gilliam is occasionally brash, but that is the only reason he would ever vote in favor of one of my plans. He would rather err on the side of caution, which cannot be done to a satisfactory degree with this plan. Mary stands up to be the last speaker in this half of the discussion. She glances at me before speaking.

"​​​We're not talking enough about the moral implications this could have. We're basically going to be kidnapping children to make them test wands in a dangerous place. I of all people should know that you have to be careful about unforeseen consequences. The data could be useful, but, like Anne said, it's not worth it. Don't separate these kids from their families. We can test the wands without resorting to this. I will vote no when it's time, because I don't want to make kids cry." She sits down to a decent amount of applause, and I frown. It's not like Mary to oppose my plans. Perhaps her argument carries a degree of validity.

I cannot worry about that now. It is time for the example.​ Now that I think of it, it probably wasn't a good idea to show the descent of a child into our labs without the board's approval. In any case, I proceed to Modify a large, round crystal, and its translucency disappears, until a clear picture is moving in the crystal ball.



Lemmy opens his eyes to another, bland summer day. It is warm outside, so he jumps into the kitchen and grabs himself some cereal. When he is ready to go outside, he opens the door and spryly jumps into the green grass. Somebody’s lawn needs mowing, but he won’t do any work, not on such a beautiful day like this! Lemmy lives at the edge of a roundabout, and in the middle, there’s a hotel. Or at least, it looks like a hotel. He thinks it must be a house, because there are only houses here. So it’s some kind of hotel house.

He walks towards this house, somehow captivated by the shiny stuff all around it. When he walks up to the front door, it opens, magically and invitingly. What’s the worst that could happen, he thinks to himself as he walks towards the door? He notices that the ground he’s standing on feels kinda strange. Lemmy stamps the ground with his foot. Then the sidewalk caves in, and he is falling, falling, falling.

















Chapter Four: Being quite advanced in story-telling prowess

"As you can see, the child has fallen safely onto this mattress, and in lab number 9, he will immediately receive a wand which fits the brain scan performed on the way down", I say, as the crystal fogs back up. "No harm can possibly come to the other children, and they will have nothing better to do as it is." The committee titters, as they always do when I propose an idea. The leader of lab one, Melissa, stands to speak.

The committee doesn't quiet itself. "Could you all just listen to what I have to say?" Apparently they cannot. "Shut up!", she yells. The rest of the committee keeps talking, probably to spite her. Melissa strikes her wand (a fine mahogany piece with little embellishment) against the wall and casts a symbol in the air. It stays there, glowing red, and she yells into it, "Let me talk!". Her voice is magnified by the spell, and the board members simmer down. "Thank you! I personally agree with Mr. Olde. We need to test these wands. It doesn't matter how, because in a few years, all our lab equipment will be old! This project is running on borrowed time, and the money is drying up. This is the last chance! If you don't vote yes like I do, I'll take that no and shove it-"

"Thank you, Melissa, I believe you've made your point", I interrupt before she can damage my argument any more. Melissa means well, but the way she presents her opinions can turn even her own supporters away. "Would anyone else care to say a few words?" Oh dear, I didn't mean to make this sound like the funeral. I certainly don't want my plan to die. ​


​​​They come to a consensus, and Bill O'Connor, the leader of lab nine, stands up to speak.
​
"Your making an example of that Lemmy kid without board permission was unacceptable. We're also a little worried about the ethics of sending a child's family on a 'vacation'." He whines, his revolting skin condition making me wonder why I hired him. "And, we don't want to use up our entire electricity budget for this month on an event that won't last for longer than 2 weeks!" I respond to these concerns.
​
"Don't get stressed, I've raised the monthly budget ceiling because of additional profits coming from the hotel business. Also, nothing bad could possibly happen with the Spellbots keeping watch." There is a reason that he's particularly upset. Bill keeps to himself, and would hate it if he had to host other children in his lab, especially those who just got dumped down a hole in the sidewalk. The committee speaks more, and Bill starts talking again.
​
"There are some concerns among the committee that the Spellbots' programming is too aggressive. Also, we threw them together in five days! They barely passed the simulations without turning on each other, and the biohazards you insist on keeping here are evolving at rates far beyond our system updates. Aside from that, it was a bad idea to give them a weak spot in the middle of their shield, and the fact that they float only a foot above the ground makes them vulnerable in sectors One, Three, and especially Seven! We've had 10 casualties already, that's over fifty percent of our bots! We-" blah blah blah blah blah. I appear to listen, but I don't hear a word he says. As far as this argument is concerned, I've already won. The other three appeals will have no bearing, because in the midst of the board, five minds have come under the control of my "spell", and five minds will vote "yes" and give me the majority.



Chapter Five: It begins

Mary stepped out of the elevator, frustrated at how the board meeting had gone. "Good evening Mary. How did the board meeting go?", The Secretary asked innocently. The Secretary was Mary's contribution to the wand project. An incredible useful robot with the ability to sort the hundreds of wands that travelled through Lab Eight, or, as she called it, the C.E.L.L. Yes, The Secretary was relatively human, (sans the human body) and Mary was proud to be her friend. 

​​"Well, Mr. Olde passed another crazy plan", Mary replied, "This time, he's kidnapping children to test the wands. I can't believe the majority of the board gave him the go-ahead!" After calming down a bit, she asked The Secretary, "What did you do while I was gone?" 

"​​The usual monotony. I put the wands in boxes, then sent them out to different Labs. You know, I think that I should like this job better, just letting my external cores do the work, but it's hard to relinquish control." There was a short pause. "You don't think he used that experimental mind control spell on the board members, do you?" Mary kicked the wall, hard. Then she yelled curse words at the ceiling for a good five minutes before calming down again.​

"No", Mary said sarcastically, "I don't think he used that experimental mind control spell. I bet he just promised them free scones on Tuesdays to destroy their moral compasses."

"Don't be sarcastic, it doesn't suit you," The Secretary suggested. "Just think about how you're going to stop the plan."

"That's just it", Mary said, "I don't think I can..." She looked at The Secretary.

"What?" The Secretary looked left, then right before having a realization. "You mean you think he would use me as a bargaining chip?" she asked incredulously.​​ ​​​​

"With Mr. Olde, you never know what he's going to do until he does it. If he kicks me out, I lose my home, my friends in the committee, and you.​​ If I mess with this plan, Mr. Olde will know it was me, and he won't be as lenient as he has been in the past. Melissa is right, (as much as I hate to say it) a lot is riding on this plan. Our tech won't stay cutting-edge for long." Mary, who had been pacing the white tile floor, lay down and looked up at The Secretary. "On the other hand, I don't know if I can live with myself if I let these kidnappings continue. What should I do?" The secretary spun her rings into a good thinking position (drawing on the processing power of every external core she could) and thought for a full minute. Because she was a supercomputer, this meant a lot of thought. 

"I think that you should let the plan unfold. Do what you can to keep the children saf-er, comfortable without endangering your position." The Secretary satisfied with her verdict, spun her rings back into wand sorting​​ configuration.

Mary wasn't as satisfied. "What if a kid comes in here bawling her head off? I don't think I could just leave her to the spellbots." The Secretary looked back at her as a robotic arm brought in a box of wands.

"Oh, Mary. You worry too much! Something like that will never happen!" She said before turning back to the wand sorting at hand.​​​​


Chapter Six: Nothing better to do
​
Mach woke up hating his name for the umpteenth boring day. He had absolutely nothing to do, which is probably why his hair was twelve inches long, and a rainbow of Yarcola colors. He grabbed breakfast (Cereal of the standard kind), which was an affair of long words and hotel-shaped pieces of bran. He was mildly worried about the fact that his house was empty, but it seemed to him that his family had left for the Renaissance Carnival, which he had never attended.

Chapter Six and a Half: Old, Schmold
​
Mach had done fairly well in school, apart from history class, which he'd found boring. Why bother learning about old or dead people from a long time ago? His parents tried to understand him, but eventually his brother was born, which shifted the focus from Mach completely. Young Psi had grown into quite the history buff, and it was a family tradition to go to the Renaissance Carnival. (without Mach)

Carefully stepping out to obtain a newspaper, he noticed a purple light coming from close to the Forbidden Habitat. Then he was hit! His willpower went towards a small cramped room in the back of his head, and he watched as his hands let go of the newspaper, as his feet stepped into the shoes, as his legs walked to the Forbidden Habitat. Then he was free, and free falling! His mind was still not completely intact, and eventually everything went black.
​
***
​
“Name?”
​
“Chell”
​
“Your real name.”
​
“Mach”
​
“Date?”
​
“The first of June”
​
“Very well. Here is your wand.”
​
“My what?” Mach asked the robot. In front of him was a pillar with a stick on it. He questioningly picked it up. It was pretty heavy for a regular piece of wood. The robot didn’t respond to his question. It resembled an enormous sphere, suspended above a ring that had several capsules on it, as well as the word "Secretary" in bold lettering. Each capsule had a small light. None of the lights were on. The sphere, however, had an aperture on the front which glowed with a soothing orange light. The ring had several ropes attached to it, many with large knots tied at the end. This whole apparatus was suspended from the ceiling of the relatively small room that Mach had found himself lying in. There was a door to this room, but it was flush with the wall and looked as though it could withstand the assault of an elephant, or perhaps even a thousand. Suddenly, the door opened, slamming against the wall outside with great speed. "Leave now", said "Secretary". There was nowhere else to go, so Mach walked through the door.

Through the door lay a massive expanse of strange objects. Amongst them were the FLUDD from Super Mario Sunshine, various Mario Karts, and a functional Wart Hog from Halo. (At least, that’s what the plaques said) Meanwhile, The Tycoon from Youda Marina (in bold letters on a screen behind him) was speaking to a large crowd of kids. The Tycoon was a short man, and looked like a regular business man except for his islander hat. He was also a bit overweight. Mach joined the crowd, and listened to The Tycoon’s lecture. He said, “This is Sector Nine, aka Lab Nine. Here we will teach you how to use your wand. We magically knew what kind of wand you would need to get out of here, so we gave it to you as soon as you awakened. To get out of here you’ll have to learn as many spells as possible and make your way through every lab, ending with lab one.”

“Let’s practice casting a spell. Just watch and mimic.” The Tycoon pulled out a small piece of transparent material and held it out for the crowd to see. Upon it there was a display of a hand waving a stick in a triangular pattern. “Now you try”, said The Tycoon. Mach waved the “Wand” he had received in a triangle shape, along with the rest of the crowd. There wasn’t time to talk to them. “Good”, said the Tycoon. “Now, try actually casting the spell” The transparent material showed the wand scraping the wall, lighting on fire, and waving in a triangle shape. Mach struck his wand like a match against the wall, making the tip spark red. Then he waved his wand in a perfect triangle. The trail left behind solidified and wrapped around Mach until he thought he would suffocate, then unwrapped again, and Mach found himself in a new area. It was a marina, and the Tycoon’s head was floating in the middle of the sky. The marina did not have a lot of real sand; the ground was sand colored, and rubber. Mach found that he was surrounded by different varieties of triangles, each one dissipating and revealing a kid from the crowd. The Tycoon said, “Good job. You just learned the tutorial spell. Now it’s time for all the basics. This is going to take a while.”
​
***









Chapter Seven: Being within the base of operations for the wand project
​
There are a great many cameras within every lab/sector. I have assigned Bill to be my security guard, which means his deputy is taking care of lab nine. The lab practically runs itself; I only hired Bill after that unfortunate incident with The Monitor and The Secretary. The Monitor, although initially helpful, ended up being so harmful that I was forced to put him in exile with only a paradox for company. The Secretary still helps me to this day. In fact, "she" is at work welcoming the children in lab nine right now. Getting back to the topic at hand, Bill is good at keeping the lab balanced by adding more characters from once-popular video game franchises, when necessary. Anyways, I will personally cast a thought-viewing spell on the child who shows the most initiative. So far, there are exactly two pupils in Bill’s eyes. Also, there are two individuals who caught Bill’s eye. One is named Mach, the other is named Bobbie. The purpose of this advanced piece of “Magic” is to encourage the child to continue through the labs and show us the best wand. Then, Lab 2 will analyze all the footage taken with our hidden cameras, determining the best way to carry my operation forward.

I look forward to meeting the lucky person who shows the most promise. 

​​They won't know what hit them.












Chapter Eight: Adventuring in Lab 9

Mach was in what his map assured him was the middle of Lab 9, tramping through a dismal, humid, and hot swamp. All he had was his wand (a mahogany stick about seven inches long) and a backpack full of survival equipment. Meanwhile, the pseudo-sun was on the verge of setting in the sky. The sound of all the strange, alien creatures roaming through the forest was getting a little unnerving. Suddenly, Mach heard a noise right behind him. It was somewhere in between a bird call and the roar of Ogzilla. Turning around and drawing his wand, he saw a creature. It was as tall as him with two black eyes on either side of its snake-like head. Its body was more of a large blob covered in bright feathers, with a featherless pink neck leading to its metal-helmeted head. Out of the helmet peaked the two black eyes, and below a large mouth opened to reveal an extremely long tongue, which flew out and covered Mach.

Five minutes later, the tongue withdrew, revealing a very wet and disgusted Mach. He realized that his wand was gone. The creature walked back to him and nearly knocked him over as it leaned against him. It then snaked around and nosed at his backpack. Mach thought, why not? So he turned around and opened the backpack, pulling out every "survival nessecity". The creature eagerly moved towards the water bottle, which clanged as he yanked it away. Mach decided to give the creature the water bottle because the water tasted metallic anyways and it might make the creature go away. He was shocked when the creature ate the bottle whole and looked at him for more.
​
After emptying out his "survival pack", most of which was eaten by the creature, it still wouldn’t go away. There was no longer a fake sun, and the “sky” was dark, aside from a “moon” rising. The creature stared at the moon, giving Mach a chance to open the sleeping bag, get inside, and instantly fall asleep.
Morning came, without any actual birds, but with the creature perfectly imitating a cardinal. It looked at him, and he noticed that the surrounding area had been cleared of trees and the creature was a foot or so taller. Getting out of the sleeping bag, Mach found his wand was right next to his sleeping bag as though nothing had happened to it. He thought it strange, but before he could look at it more closely, two huge objects burst out of the foliage behind the creature. They were shaped like shields, and were about 9 or 10 feet tall. On the shield, bold letters proclaimed “SpellBot”. The shields stuck into the ground, and unfolding from behind them were trapezoidal bodies, rectangular heads with three glowing eyes and huge arms holding the shields, and arms with huge swords on the ends. The creature immediately spun around and roared at them. They moved quickly, trying to stab it, but it moved faster than them, biting the head right off the first, while kicking at the second, which was able to move its shield to defend itself. The robot attacked with its sword, which glanced off something under the creature’s feathers with a clang. The creature’s neck snaked around and crushed it with ease. “Wow”, said Mach.
​
Chapter Nine: Back in the base of operations
​
I’ve been thinking all night about which of these individuals I should use the thought viewing “spell” on. Mach could use some guidance on what to do with the biohazard that has found him, but Bobbie’s aggressive behavior merits some...correction. Of these two, I shall have to decide which one to “cast the spell” on, as it is very advanced and requires the entire base to lose power for the duration of my visit to his/her mind. It also is doubly effective, meaning that the individual I choose will be aware of my poking through his/her brain. So far, I am leaning towards Bobbie, because her behavior issues seem more important than the biohazard and Mach. The only reasons for choosing Mach over Bobbie are trivial, such as the fact that he has yet to perform a single “spell” outside of the tutorial, or his unfortunate companionship with a rather dangerous biohazard. Bobbie is in the first group, meaning she is asleep at the moment, making her a better target because the thought “spell” works better during sleep because the mind is used more efficiently. Also, it’s more forgettable this way.















Chapter Ten: The process by which the thought spell is initiated
​
Bobbie is just sleeping normally, having normal dreams, and minding her own business. (She has built a small base of operations in Lab Five, and refuses to go any further) However, outside of her sound/light proof lair, the whole house’s lights are dimming, and the sound of 200 gigawatts of electricity flowing to one spot echoes through the hallways, and every lab. She stays asleep. Meanwhile, a small robotic crab is on the move. It skitters through the “ventilation” shafts that infiltrate every lab. (This robot doesn’t require 200 megawatts, it just takes a lot of energy to: 1. Open every “ventilation” shaft, because they remain closed for security reasons. 2. Transfer the “mind essence” of someone into the crab.) Dragging power chords behind it, the crab reaches the “Base”. A very simple affair, this is what happens when you install walls that are loosely put together. Five panels are duct taped together in the shape of a cube. There is a hole cut in one of the walls, covered by a Conjured plastic flap. The base is practically empty, with a net covered floor and a hammock hanging by the door.

The wand which helped create this hovel seems to be mostly comprised of Conjuring and Levitation upgrades, and is normal in every other respect. It is hanging out of Bobbie’s pocket. The crab notices all of this in 0.25 seconds, then slowly crawls up the wall, across the tightrope holding up the hammock, and latches on to poor Bobbie’s head. Then, the meeting begins.












Chapter Eleven: What’s with my brain?
​
For both parties entering the thought spell process, there is a lot of confusion, as well as minor to severe nausea. Bobbie recovers quickly, and notices the old guy standing next to her in the middle of this white, open expanse. it She realizes that her imagination controls this world, and sets about shaping out a world, like a kid in a sandbox. (Admittedly, she is a kid in a sandbox) Bobbie’s world is heavily forested. She fills with cute little woodland creatures, and adds a few clearings full of flowers and all sorts of bugs. As Bobbie can fly, her forest is very easy for her to survey, and she looks at it happily. Meanwhile, the old guy has recovered from his nausea and curses the day he decided to test a prototype like this himself. He sees the forest, and decides to exert his control on this reality. It is difficult because his brain is older, but he floats slowly to an empty clearing that Bobbie forgot about and puts his index finger to the ground. The grass starts to darken until it is grey, and the whole clearing turns to a stone pavilion. Animals run away as the man stands slowly, admiring what he has done. He adds two chairs and an ornate marble table. Bobbie notices this intrusion, and flies into the clearing. Mr. Olde starts the conversation. “You haven’t been very cooperative now, have you?” He admonishes, sitting rigidly in his chair.
​
Bobbie takes a seat. Her chair is VERY uncomfortable. “Are you the one who’s running this stupid game?”, Bobbie responds. She knows that you should always answer a question with a question if you want to annoy someone.
​
She seems unsuccessful however, and the man says, “Why ever would you call this a game? I’m allowing children in the neighborhood to participate in my Wand-Making activities. In theory it is not specifically game-like, that is just how it seems in practice."
​
Bobbie is a bit miffed, and asks, “You call mind control ‘allowing participation’? Well, maybe you need someone to tell you this. You’ve been infringing on our rights! Nobody’s caught you, but you should still stop!” Trying to think of a bargaining chip, she adds, “And… If you do, I’ll stop destroying those cameras.”
​
The old guy says, “I hope you don't really think it will so easy as that. I am running an incredibly advanced operation, collecting monumental data. We cannot stop merely because YOU say so!”
​
Bobbie thinks for a while. She realizes that it is a small sacrifice for all the other kids to go free. Also, it is nice to have a place to stay, as opposed to the local shelter. She makes a decision. “I will stay if you let the other kids go."
​
He thinks for a moment before replying, "Excellent! Well then, I shall set about seeing off the other children. Meanwhile, I leave you to your dream." The old man stands up and snaps his fingers.
​
"Wait!" Bobbie cries. Will this place be destroyed when we leave?” The old man ignores her as he begins to dematerialize, somewhat slowly. Before he’s completely gone, he says, “It has been a pleasure doing business with you.”
​
Chapter Eleven and A Half: My reasoning

​True, I've effectively traded a mountain for a molehill. But some of the children have made it to Lab 2 already. The data we've gathered from them, plus what has been collected by the security cameras, should be enough to get us out of the beta testing phase and into the prototyping process, provided we synthesize the data without errors. Coupled with the fact that I will be able to continue collecting data on Bobbie's performance with more detail, this is a win-win situation. Also, replacing the destroyed cameras costs a fortune. 

Chapter Twelve: The Exodus​

​Mach was hiding. Robots had swarmed the room as soon as the power came back on, so he was lucky to have walked off to a cubicle after just a few games of Mafia. He crouched in a corner until he couldn't hear the other kids' screams anymore. With a sigh of relief, he put his backpack on the ground and unzipped it. The creature, now merely a small snake, looked at him expectantly. He opened the other pockets, pulling out all the feathers, the huge pieces of armor, and the small egg shaped piece. The creature opened its mouth and swallowed it all, regaining its large, birdlike form.

Mach had wandered through the wilderness to find a door in the middle of a wheat field, which he had opened and gone through to find a bunch of robots floating around and forcing kids to different elevator shafts. He had silently closed the door and returned to the wheat field to find the stuff and the snake-shaped creature on the ground, and packed them into his (luckily) massive backpack. Carrying it was a pain, but he had decided he wanted the creature to accompany him. Going back into the room, Mach had found that the power was out and the robots were motionless on the ground. Gas lamps lit the room, which was full of cardboard boxes that all the other kids were sitting on. They had welcomed him without question, asking him to join their game for a while, but to save himself when the robots returned.
He thought about the game of Mafia, positive he knew who had been the Sheriff, and taking guesses at the Mafia. He also wanted to thank the doctor for saving him all those times. Obviously the Mafia hadn’t liked him very much. The narrator, a smallish kid called Lemmy, had joked, “The Mafia just can't win!" Later, he had said goodbye to everyone, which had been a welcome experience as well. He had spent so much time wandering alone through the wilderness that any human contact was fun for him, even saying goodbye to so many poor kids who didn't know their fate.
Mach looked over at the creature, trying to think of a good name for it. Suddenly, a lady in a lab coat walked in, looked at the creature, then at him, then said, "It's a child! And a Biohazard! They look mostly harmless.”
A computerized voice that sounded oddly familiar answered back from all around them, “This piques my interest. Bring them both to me.” The lady had a nametag that said Mary, and she looked them over, motioning for them to follow her. Mach pulled the creature along by the head until it followed him without stopping.
​

Chapter Fourteen: War with the Biohazards

At the moment I’m in an unfortunate position. I am against a tree in lab three fending off biohazards with Push Backward spells. An idea strikes me. Muttering some magic words for good luck, I hold my wand high above my head. The tip starts to glow, and orange light travels down the grooves in my seventh wand. The biohazards stand back, looking as wary as they can with those imposing metal helmets. I will the spell to activate and a semicircle of flame flies from my wand, hitting all the biohazards as it grows in size. It also leaves a trail of smoke, which whirls around me. The spell doesn’t affect the wellbeing of the biohazards unfortunately, but the cover of smoke allows me to make my escape.

I appear in lab four. Lab four is under my control, allowing me to control the entire line of robots, all of which carve and remove bark from the wands, also hollowing out a space for the technological components to be added. Every stick is different, and I often have to fine tune the carving actions via computer. I look hastily at my computer screen, then sit down and pull up a schematic of labs three, four, and five. The biohazard attack originated at lab five. A large group broke free of our restraints and first took over the lab. Next, I initiated a lockdown of my lab to deter the biohazards from eating it, as metal is amongst their favorite foods. A few strays somehow got up to lab 3, each one carrying a stick, oddly enough. I was checking on lab three to see if it could be restored to operation when three biohazards attacked me. I held my own in a short game of “push them away” until I came up with my ingenious plan.

As I expand the schematic, I can see that most of the biohazards’ forces lie in labs seven, eight, and five. They haven’t been able to get to lab one yet, and nine is beyond their grasp because of its vastness. I notice a crunching sound coming from the lockdown barrier. I pull my wand from its cradle and stand. The crunching continues. It sounds as though the horrible things are eating my door! “Spellbots 538 and 539 report to lab four without delay.” I say, hoping that, despite being entirely composed of metal, my Spellbots will save the day. I hear the cannons activate on the other side of the wall, and then the crunching stops. It is soon replaced by the unfortunate sound of Spellbots having their heads smashed in.

I know it is time to flee, as I cannot actually defeat the biohazards due to their physical composition. I might as well choose a safer place this time. Looking at the screen, what better place is there than lab nine?
​
Chapter Fifteen: Back in Lab Eight
​
The explosions stopped, and the creature was stock still when the smoke cleared. Mach was leaning against it, but there was a thin layer of mucus on it now, and suddenly he was inside, swallowed. He felt every thud of its foot step, every beat of its multiple hearts. He was sitting in an airtight little pouch, looking at the gross mass of the creature’s internal organs. Suddenly, the hearts began to beat slower, and the footsteps stopped. The outside of the pouch turned dark, and when it was clear again, the organs were rearranged. They were all long and thin like a snake’s or eel’s would be. Mach closed his eyes, and kept them closed until he slid out of the pouch and back into a less disgusting world.

Fortunately for Mach, they had landed on a beach. In the opposite direction of the water, huge metal structures jutted out from the ground. He jumped into the water and swam until he didn’t have any more mucus on him. Meanwhile, the creature just looked up at the ceiling, which was doing a pretty good job of looking like a thinly clouded sky with an egg yolk of a sun setting in the distance. When Mach was all clean, but very wet, he took his backpack and lay on it until he was dry. The creature went over to a metal pod floating above a flat disk of metal. It took the disk, causing the pod to fall to the ground. Ignoring this, the creature sat near Mach and nibbled on the metal, curled up like a dog. As he sat there, Mach thought of all the spells he had mastered, all the magic he had learned, and realized that although there didn’t seem to be a practical purpose for the spells, they would be a great way to pass the time.

The first thing he needed was a big rock, or some other surface to light the tip of his wand with. The tip only glowed like an ember, and never actually burned off. Mach set out walking along the beach, which surrounded a greener area with more of those structures, all metal. On the ground, Mach found a rock the size of his arm, picked it up, and brought it back to the beach. There, he set it down on the ground, sitting on it to think. The first thing he could think to do would be a bit complex, so he sat and sketched symbols in the sand with an ordinary stick, using his tutorial knowledge to make up the proper spell. The creature was now curled up, but Mach was caught in the moment. He struck his wand against the stone, making it glow. Next, he drew the complicated symbol he had made up in the air with his wand. It glowed with power as he jumped away from the rock.

A column of sand rose up in the shape of a pedestal. Tendrils of fire snaked out from the symbol and wrapped around the sand, squeezing it and heating it to melting temperature. The tendrils took on a bluish tint as they sucked the heat out of a now glass structure. The symbol itself then wrapped around the rock placing it on the pedestal. Then the magic dissipated into the air. “Cool”, said Mach.
​
Chapter Sixteen: My unfortunate evacuation to lab nine

I have unfortunately landed in the chamber where The Secretary hangs when she isn’t distributing wands. And because the entire operation has been shut down, Lab eight is vacant, surrounded by a wall of sugar. Sugar is a substance that the biohazards find repulsive, and the wall should force them to leave lab eight. There is little evidence that they are interested in lab nine, as it is difficult for them to get there. So for now, I am sitting below The Secretary, on the receiving end of a speech about how dangerous it was to bring those alien creatures into my residence from a far flung satellite. Mary, who is sitting on The Secretary's ring, comments, “Well, it wasn’t his fault that they were on his satellite. It’s human nature to be curious, and where else was Mr. Olde supposed to bring them down but here?”

“Human nature was never built into my hard drive, so I don't know why he wouldn't, but shouldn’t he have asked for the guidance of an impartial being such as myself? Well?” The Secretary turns to look at me, and I stare back for a while, then reply,
​
“The incident was before I invented the trust filter. (which allows me to gain your trust the easy way) Also, Lab Eight was run by a different creature, as you might recall. So, I suppose I could have asked you or The Monitor (that cheaky little excuse of Artificial Intelligence) for help, but how could I know if you were trustworthy? So I called the meeting, (This was just as The Monitor was gathering support for the revolution) and you weren’t invited. Naturally everyone on the board thought it was a great idea, and we brought the Biohazards down just in time to ally with them against the Monitor’s coalition. When the battle was won, some of those major video game characters disappeared into the halo simulation. We kept those biohazards because they had been incredibly helpful during the revolution, allowing me to regain control. I don’t know if the plumbers, the pink puffball, the chief, or even the green warrior will ever return, but there you are. And as for the professors and their champions, they tunneled away, but we never got around to following them.”

Now that I have explained the history that we left out when we brought The Secretary out of sleep mode, I haven’t the faintest idea what she will do. But I am so worried that she is unstable that I decide to retreat even further to where Mach is, and fix his problematic "friendship" with that biohazard. I concentrate, and my wand glows purple, then the light from it wraps around me and sends my atoms flying towards the approximate location of Mach and his fiendish accomplice.

Chapter Seventeen: The Meeting

Mach had just finished crafting his most extravagant spell yet, the triple fireball lightning strike out of a thunder cloud, when he saw a figure in the distance. This figure was limping, but didn’t seem to be extremely old. Maybe he was the Mr. Old Guy that the robot had been speaking of. The creature turned its massive head, then bowed it in respect as the man came close. He looked over the creature, who had taken a real beating from all the rockets, then struck an antique, powerful looking wand against Mach’s rock. The tip glowed, then changed color until it was glowing green. The creature looked up, and the man met its eyes. Then he drew back his wand, and stabbed at the creature with it. A sword made of plasma eagerly jumped out of the wand, slicing the creature clean in half. Mach didn’t wait for him to explain, but took the triple fireball lightning strike out of a thunder cloud spell and used it on him. The man looked up at the cloud, and stepped back a little, raising his wand with the tip still glowing, and sent up a sword for each fireball, which sliced them into harmful little bits of flame. Next, he sent a lance, which floated in mid-air, then dropped his wand just before the lightning struck the lance.

Mach heard a little squeak, and looked at the dead creature. Astonishingly, two little creatures peaked out from it, then quickly devoured the corpse. Each of them picked up half of the creatures possessions then started playing tug-of-war with the metal disk. “Incredible, isn’t it? How such an animal will survive even after being dealt a finishing blow. These creatures helped me pit down a revolution started by that most despicable A.I., The Monitor, wlead the inhabitants of lab nine. And now, they’re proving their resilience once more, (as pests) for getting rid of one simply increases the problem. I hope you will come to realize that there is a problem here, and you could be helpful in some way, if you would only join me.”
​
"Why should I help you?", Mach asked. "You're one of them! The evil people who kidnapped me, you're one of them, and you want my help?! 'We kinda screwed up, but everything could be peachy keen if you came to OUR side!' Not to mention what you just did to my only friend in this mess! Well you won't get any help from me! It's your problem, so YOU fix it!"
​
The man reached into one of the pockets of his suit coat and pulled out a small compass. He pressed the tip of his wand against it, and his wand glowed blue. The world around them seemed to darken, and tentacles reached out of the sky and swirled into the compass. With a little pop, everything was normal again. The man held out the compass. Mach took it. It looked ordinary enough, though he knew this wasn’t the case. “I see you won't listen to reason, so I shall take my leave. If you ever want to leave this place, you will do what I say, and seek out one of the points on the compass. ” The strange man walked away and as he disappeared, Mach caught a wink of purple.

Now he took a moment to check out the compass. It changed colors slowly, so that it was never a single shade for very long. The face had words inscribed on it. “Unnamed specimen one” and “Unnamed specimen two”. Also, Ma, Lu, Ki, Ch, and Li. "I won't let him win. Not for your sake. You were my only friend in this place, and I will avenge you." Mach said to the ground where the Creature had died. He then pulled out his wand, struck it on the rock, and used a spell to create a model of the compass in what he'd seen in school as "Exploded View". All the pieces floated in the air as he poked and prodded them, deep in thought. This place was huge, he realized. And full of electronic stuff. Maybe it had its own power source. Maybe he could destroy that power source. Maybe, just maybe, Mach thought, he could then escape. He cast a spell on the compass. The face went blank, then a single point appeared on the edge, labelled, "Power source". Mach put away the compass and looked at the two mini-creatures. No reason to blame the two for the Creature's death. They did need names, though. “I’m going to call you Crete, and Ur”, he said to them.



















Chapter Eighteen: Back with The Secretary

The first thing I notice is the fog. I know of only one thing in this lab that enjoys such a lack of visibility. The Monitor. I have now returned to The Secretary, and I suspect I that The Monitor is nearby, as I can hear his racquetous singing. The Secretary is looking around, and I suppose she has spotted it, as she has better vision than I, and probably has been training since he put her in sleep mode last time. I can see a blue light blinking through the fog; this is a sure sign of The Monitor. He is here. “Hello, Monitor. I see you have solved your way out of that paradox I used. What exactly was the answer?”
​
The Monitor comes out of the fog and says, “You may be smart, but there’s simply no way you can stop me. Your question was ‘True or False, you always lie to me’. My solution was simple, if somewhat challenging. I had to ignore your query and focus on more pressing issues.”
​
The Secretary stares at The Monitor, her eye turning red with anger. “I knew you were a traitor, and you should have been destroyed long ago. Now I will fix his mistake.” The Secretary’s ring begins to spin. The wires that hang from it rise up, and I have to lie on the ground to avoid them. The cords hit The Monitor several times as he flies about, attempting to avoid danger. One of the largest, a fat rope with a triple knot tied to the end slams into his spherical metal body head-on, and his lights blink and fail as the ring slows down and Mary peeks up over the "head" of The Secretary. The Monitor falls to the ground.
​
“That was a cleverly done, my friend, but I’d recommend going mobile so we can escape. He will restart, and soon!”, said Mary. “And I know you don’t like it, but would you like to be here when he awakens to get his revenge?”
​
The Secretary can’t actually sigh very well, so she makes a hissing sound that the three of us know is a sigh. Then she starts channeling power through her chords and into her ring. As light spins around and around, it flows into one of the capsules that hangs from the ring. The capsule pops off, and Mary, who is on the ground by now, catches it. The capsule is about the size of my head, and is mostly gray with an orange light on top. The Secretary’s voice sounds a bit tinny coming from it as she says, “Thank goodness that’s over. Now let's get out of here before that maniac kills us all.”
​
“I agree.”, I say. I raise my wand and teleport us towards the professors’ tunnel. After the revolution, the professors, their heroes, their leaders, and everyone correlated to their world used their creatures to expand lab 9 deeper into the ground. Their cities lie abandoned, and a few biohazards settled there. We haven’t been able to follow them; that was on the calendar right after the wand-testing kids.
​
Now I am walking alongside Mary, who is holding The Secretary. We are headed towards where the tiny warrior and his squad of carrot-people last sighted the Professors, trying to find them.

Chapter Nineteen: The Gilded Compass

Mach practiced his spells for another two days, managing to turn the nearby water feature into a fishing hotspot, and making the beach into a nice camp that was sand colored. The two mini-creatures were not a complete nuisance, and they were fun to watch. Mach was ready to leave, though, and checked his compass. The hand had a golden color, and as he lined it up with the N for north, he decided to head in the direction of the the power source, which was in the opposite direction.
​
As he walked, Crete and Ur followed behind him, almost in single file. He didn’t pay them much mind, though he noticed that they were certainly bigger than when they grew out of the creature’s corpse. Crete had nubs that looked like wings coming out of her back, and had taken all of the creature’s feathers. She was thin and willowy for a “biohazard”, as though she might float away at any moment. Her feet were talons with sharp claws, but they were still pink like she was under her feathers. Ur was short and stumpy. He was heavy and had taken all of the creature’s armor. He had a long tail with an end like a club, which he swung around for balance. His feet were like an elephant’s, but they too were pink.
​
The terrain around them changed as the metal structures disappeared in the distance. They walked through a doorway and into a circular cement structure. Ur used his tail to make a hole in the wall, and they moved on. They found themselves walking through a dark passage, and the mini-creatures huddled around Mach as they walked through it. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, though, and they came out onto a cliff. They clung to the rocky face and climbed down to a grassy island. There were ruins on the island, ruins of a village of some sort. They rested there for the night, and when they woke up, found a rowboat. Mach sat in the middle and rowed. Crete sat in the front, and Ur sat in the back. As they went across the sea, neither mini-creature looked very pleased with the water.
​
Eventually, they reached a wall that was painted sky blue with white swirly clouds. This was definitely where they were headed, according to the compass. Mach struck his wand against the wall and drew a land symbol. He tied the boat to the land and blew a hole in the wall. They walked through some more darkness and found a huge forest. It too had lots of buildings made of wood, which nestled in the trees. There were many signposts, but most of them were burned down, or sliced apart. The rest were weathered, (somehow) and they were illegible. Mach and the mini-creatures rested there. In the morning, they set off following the compass. As they walked through the forest, Mach noticed a peculiar smell, the smell of nature. It was Leafy, and Green. He stopped to rest on a tree stump and really take in the smell. Crete and Ur sniffed at the stump, walking around it, looking at it closely, and listening to it. Then they curled around it and lay down to rest.

Chapter Nineteen and a Half: Mary and the Secretary
​
Mary lay under the stars in her sleeping bag, with The Secretary firmly planted in the ground beside her. She could tell that her friend was still taking in the events of the day. "I know you're thinking hard. I haven't seen you this quiet since you first came online all those years ago", Mary said.
​
"He told quite a story", said The Secretary. "I wish I didn't have to trust that man. At the same time as these events make a lot of sense, I can't help but feel that I'm missing something. The data about how many biohazards were on the sattelite has been erased, but the weight of it as it entered the atmosphere is still in the cloud. From this data I have deduced that there were probably about 5 eggs, but the numbers suggest that there was something else. Something much larger."
​
"Well, maybe you forgot about the flight computer." Mary guessed. "This sattelite was state-of-the-art, and designed to slingshot far beyond our solar system. The folks over at ANSA said that it crashed before getting very far from earth, but-"
​
"Those liars definitely know more than they're letting on. The sattelite must have gone pretty far if it came back covered in alien eggs", The Secretary interrupted. "Come to think of it, they're the ones who told me the weight of the flight computer. I'll have to re-calculate to see if it may have been larger and more advanced..."
​
"Well, I need some sleep. See you in the morning." Mary yawned.
​
"You can count on it." The Secretary promised as she began to draw power from the ceiling. It was going to be a long night of thought.
​
Chapter Twenty: The Professors and their heroes and their cousins and their aunts

I am walking in very unfavorable conditions. We have left the comfort of the big city with the museum, the submarine garage, and the fan club, and are in a bunch of tall grass walking towards the city with the day care and the casino. All of the places we have passed through are abandoned, as though the professors had predicted an apocalypse. The only reason we are taking this low road is that the buildings allowing access to the bicycle path were locked. The Secretary has been talking almost nonstop about how lucky we are that she is incapacitated for the most part, because she really doesn’t appreciate being stuck in such a non-glamorous vessel as the cylinder, etcetera. Mary is consoling her when we are ambushed by a haz of Biohazards. This grass is normally a habitat for another sort of monster, which I have a spray for; these beasts are once again adapted to their environment. There are three biohazards to a haz, and these three are all different. They don’t have metal helmets, but instead have taken interesting shapes. The first one is long and skinny, with a more purplish skin. The second has a shell shaped like a mushroom, made of metal that was probably taken from the rails on the sides of this path. The final biohazard is quite large, standing as tall as me, with a rotund body, very dark almost black skin, and a few blades of grass growing on top of it. I must improvise. Striking my wand against the secretary, I draw a symbol in the air. A huge mass of flame forms a wall in front of the biohazards, cutting us off from them. I then grab Mary by the hand and teleport us onto the bicycle path.

We pause to catch our breath, (excepting The Secretary, for obvious reasons) and Mary bombards me with questions, “Why didn’t we just teleport here in the first place? Why the fire wall? It seems like it wouldn’t do anything useful. When are you going to trust me with a wand?" Some people have nervous tics, such as hopping from foot to foot or humming a small tune. Mary's is asking questions.

I have replies for all the questions, but I first must check for biohazards in the surrounding area. I take my crystal out of my pocket and use the search function. The crystal displays a radar-like readout, and I can see that although the path below is infested with biohazards, this path is clear. Putting the crystal back in my pocket as it dims, I say, “I assumed that the building would have a spell blocker within a certain radius, but I didn’t think to check what the radius was. As for the fire wall, I felt it would distract the biohazards before they could use their keen senses to track the teleport spell. And lastly, because you are good friends with a being who I believe has the ability to cause mayhem (particularly with her spectacular oratory skills) you must be rendered somewhat less powerful in order for me to allow you two autonomy.” Her fears assuaged, Mary begins to calm down. I won't tell her until later that we must walk all the way to the Sanctuary, (at the bottom of Lab Nine)  for fear of The Monitor tracking us if we use a teleportation spell.

Chapter Twenty-One: Back with Bobbie

Bobbie had held her fort for an impressive amount of time. Her solution to the monster problem was to throw sticks at them from a tree she had grown to improve the mood. The spare time that this made allowed her to create a larger and more advanced dwelling. Now the basic room had grown at least a foot in every direction, there were two turrets on top accessible by ladder, and in the middle there was a massive tree surrounded by saplings. However, Bobbie was realizing that even though throwing sticks at the monsters had gotten them to go away, eventually they would catch on. So she made an escape plan. It had some flaws, but she hadn’t been able see them.

Bobbie climbed the ladder to the first turret. It was a small, circular room, with a slit for a window. Through this slit, she could keep a lookout for monsters. The other turret was missing this one’s roof, she had done away with that to better throw the sticks. Bobbie found that the coast was clear, so she climbed down the ladder and stepped through the door. The door had a symbol on it which she could turn into a spell to turn the door into stone. She activated the spell, and walked out into lab five.

Lab five was completely padded, and was as large as a football field. (Bobbie didn’t know or care) It had lots of pillars to support its massive ceiling; each one was padded, of course. The pads on the walls were blue where Bobbie was, but as she walked through the empty room the walls changed to a more indigo color, then violet. They looked like the mats in gym classes. She thought it strange that though when she walked in to this room, it had been full of those weird robot things, but now it was empty of them. At the very end of the room, past all the pillars, there was a massive hole in the wall and a cylinder of a white, glittery substance. Through the hole came the echoes of the monsters’ screeching. Bobbie put her hand on the white cylinder and realized that the whole cylinder wasn’t made of the white stuff, it was dusted with it. She tasted it. It was sugar! So Bobbie dusted the sugar off the mysterious structure, finding that it was, in fact, an elevator, like the ones in fancy buildings..
In the elevator, the weirdest music was playing. A piano played classical music while an electric guitar played chords in the background. The buttons were numbered 1-9. As Bobbie pondered the buttons, she heard footsteps outside. She looked up and found herself face-to-face with one of the monsters. The unexpected sight of the face of a biohazard such as the ones that frequented lab 5 was enough to make anyone a little nervous, and it made Bobbie panic. She yelled and slapped the control panel, not sure of which buttons she pressed. The elevator seemed to sense the urgency with which the buttons were pressed, and jerked backwards, away from the monster. This proved it wasn’t just an elevator, but something more.
​
Chapter Twenty-Two: Something More

The glass capsule that Bobbie was in had used mag-lev technology to go up and down its shaft, and then used the same technology to jump into a secret passage. She had accidentally pressed a secret button combination that opened the wall behind it. So now, although she didn’t know it, Bobbie was going to a secret room, so secret that only Mr. Olde knew of its existence.

The ride was uneventful. The capsule had a fully functional lighting system and a pop up chair that looked like a bar stool. Bobbie sat on the chair, and 10 some minutes later, the “elevator” tipped over like a train, and at the same time the walls turned into red cushions. Bobbie was very surprised. The doors opened, revealing a long hallway with a bright white light at the end. Entranced by the light, Bobbie stumbled out of the glass transporter and shambled down the hallway towards it.

***​

I have taken solace in my fortunate condition, that is to say, I’m happy to be alive. The bike path was mostly free of biohazards, but a few climbed up the railings. I threw them into the water with a spell and we continued to the end of the track, which took the form of a second building much like the first one. We walked through it and found a dirt path with overgrown grass bordering it. In the next city, we found not a single soul. Wind blew through the town; the casino was empty, same with the hospital and the convenience store. Even the battle master’s building was devoid of people. As we were about to leave, I found that my crystal was operating on its own accord. I gazed into its depths and found a picture of my secret laboratory. “What’s that?” Mary asked me. I stayed silent and ducked into the empty casino to sit down and watch with apprehension as a zombie-like figure stepped closer and closer to the doorway. I realized that in my haste to leave after I caught wind of the Biohazard attack, I had forgotten to cover my secret project from space. My skill with Artificial Intelligence helped me work it, but this poor individual has stumbled upon possibly the most dangerous device I have seen in all my 50 years.




Chapter Twenty-Three: Meanwhile, Mach woke up to find three creatures staring at him, and they didn't look friendly. "I am not your enemy. I am just passing through.", He said. They stood their ground. Mach noticed a certain look in their eyes, a sad look. Then, after what seemed like forever, the three creatures slowly turned away from him and left. Crete and Ur woke up and stretched. Mach stood up, grabbed his backpack, and continued on his journey.

​​As he walked, Mach wondered why the "Biohazards" hadn't attacked him.They had moved with a deliberation that seemed melancholy. They had smelled...well, like all biohazards smelled, sort of like cantaloupe with a hint of compost. As Mach walked, he checked his compass again. He was still on the right track to find the power source, eventually...Suddenly, the mini-creatures stopped walking. Mach stopped too, realizing that this place was huge. He would probably take forever to find the power source if he just walked the whole way. He remembered how the tutorial had involved a spell for jumping super high. If modified, it could probably be used to float around. First, Mach tested the spell he already knew, striking his wand against one of the fake trees and drawing the symbol in the air. It flew into his feet, then Mach flew up into the air, nearly hitting the ceiling of the lab. As he started to fall to the ground, the spell created a green glow around his shoes, slowing his descent. By the time Mach was safely on the ground again, he already had ideas for how to modify the spell.
​
An hour later, Mach dusted off his hands. "This should work," he said to himself, trying to feel more confident, "I just have to focus." Crete and Ur woke up. They had been taking a nap while he worked on his spell. They looked blearily at him as he struck his wand against a fake tree again. Mach drew the symbol, then held his wand firmly in his hand as he concentrated, closing his eyes. The wand started to glow blue through tiny cracks in the base. As the symbol wrapped around his chest, the mini-creatures whined with worry. He slowly floated up into the air. Mach opened his eyes. He was floating above the treeline. Elated by his success, Mach cast the second part of the spell, a symbol which created wind behind him, as his wand started to draw power from the ceiling. He moved forward and the mini-creatures started to run to keep up with him as he sped up. Eventually, Mach was speeding over the terrain, watching as Crete ran gracefully across the ground and Ur barreled along behind her.








Chapter Twenty-Four: Bobbie's Dilemma

The light was coming from a massive machine. It was as large as a small tree, although the shape was more like that of the boxy, old-fashioned "Tower PCs" Bobbie had seen in museums. Light was seeping out through numerous cooling vents on both sides. Bobbie noticed a keyboard, the old kind with clacking keys, which was plugged rather crudely into a damaged heating vent. Looking further, she saw a moniter built into the middle of the machine, and an engraving near the bottom. She made out the letters "O", "I", and "N". In between the "O" and "I" was a blob of mucus, probably from the monsters in Lab 5, although she didn't know how it could have gotten there...
​
Bobbie sat down next to the keyboard, putting it in her lap as she pushed a button. The screen buzzed as it turned on, first showing static, then going black. Text appeared on the screen in a white font.
Odin OS 2.2 boot
Checking space-time...
Location:Secret Laboratory
Time:2 days after last boot
Waiting for command...
Bobbie looked at the screen with interest. She hadn't seen a computer since school, which had been 2 or 3 years ago. The computers she'd worked with certainly weren't this big, and they used more refined keyboards. They'd also had desktops and docks, while all that she saw here was some text. She started typing slowly, finding each key on the keyboard that she pressed brought a little bit of that world back to her. By the time she was done typing, she was remembering the good old days before capitalism decided to rear its ugly head and throw her onto the street. She didn't even notice the computer anymore as it began to work.

Chapter Twenty-Four and a half: The good old days

​In school, Bobbie had been the kid with all the answers, that is, until the class watched a video about computers. Then she became the first to ask a question. Then another. Then another. Eventually, the class took a field trip to the school computer lab. Once there, Bobbie asked the computer all her questions, giving her teacher some time to breath a sigh of relief. The teacher had watched in astonishment the second day as Bobbie let her classmates use the computer, opting simply to watch carefully from the back of the room. The other students had relished in the opportunity to mess around, trying to upload program files to the cloud, creating as many windows as the computer could handle, searching online for unblocked flash games, and other such pursuits. Meanwhile, Bobbie found time to program after school, slowly building up a much larger knowledge base than the rest of her class combined.
​
By the time a year had passed, Bobbie was starting to learn how to program computers using EGLO C--...
However, that year had been fraught with financial worries for her family. School seemed to be the only thing that was free in life to Bobbie's father, who doted on his daughter and never let on how carefully he was working the stock market and a minimum wage job to keep ​them in their home.

​​Meanwhile, in the present day, the OIN machine was responding to the question she had asked.
Query//what is this machine?
Question "what is this machine?"
Thinking...
Deep in the machine, the circuits churned with thought.
Answer=sentence
Sentence1: ODIN 2.0
Sentence2: A computer created by a fire mage.
Sentence3: Unknown
Sentence1=Simple
Sentence2=Complex
Sentence3=Safe
The machine beeped as it displayed the answer to her question, bringing Bobbie out of her reverie.
Question "what is this machine?"
Answer=Unknown
Bobbie wondered why this harmless computer was kept in such a difficult-to-get-to place. She stood up to leave, and an alarm instantly went off inside the machine.
User position=NOT SAFE
Initiate Artemis drone startup
Artemis Drones 1-5 status=OK
Artemis Command=(SWARM)(CHASE)
Several spherical objects rose up from behind the computer. Bobbie ran back out to the subway/elevator and climbed in. As the door closed, she could see the spheres flying towards her. The vehicle started to move, humming slightly as it sped along. Bobbie tried to calm down, and started to ponder the meaning of the mysterious room as the round objects swarmed and chased behind her.

Chapter Twenty-Five: My Crystal's Warning
​
We are finally out of the Professors' territory, heading deeper into lab nine, where even the biohazards should experience difficulty reaching us. Specifically, we are in a dark and wet cave. Currently, The Secretary and Mary are speaking about some trivial subject, so I slip behind a rock. My cystal blips quietly at me, and I check it carefully. The biohazards are taking over the core labs: seven through two. Eight remains the uncontested territory of my operation, (although I am worried about the heavy assault it's weathering against a surprising number of biohazards) as well as nine and the locked-down lab one. I can see that Bobbie has left the Odin machine behind her, and is nearly out of the range of control for its robots. If they could act on their own, those robots might just be the allies I need to regain control of the facility. Ah, but they so far seem to lack the firepower to take on even a small biohazard. Also, they are composed mainly of metal. All of a sudden, my crystal turns black. White words start to flow across its face.

Beware the Ones whose support you need.
They'll turn on you with frightening speed.

Then, just as suddenly, the crystal returns to normal. I quickly make a memo of what it said. Thinking carefully about who could have hacked into my crystal's small built-in computer, I stand from behind the rock with it in my pocket once more. Mary and The Secratary seem to be looking for me. I start to walk towards them, and Mary says, "Oh, there you are. We were getting worried."
​
"Except for me, of course. You monster." The Secretary adds.
​
"Monster?", I ask, trying to appear clueless. I believe they have found something out that I would prefer to keep hidden. Possibly the truth about the biohazards. "Why whatever do you mean?" I'm trying to stall for time as I touch a secret button in my shoe. It clicks satisfyingly, and an electromagnetic pulse soars from the ceiling behind Mary, silently hitting The Secretary "head" on. (if she ever had a head)
​
Mary responds to my question. "You know full well what she means. I knew you weren't exactly the epitome of moral fiber, but are you crazy?! This goes far beyond immoral and straight to unethical, taking a pit stop only to destroy an orphanage! How many biohazards ACTUALLY came from that satellite?"
​
I reach into my wand pocket slowly as I respond, "Well, as you know ANSA's numbers were-"
​
"DEAD WRONG?", she interrupts, "I KNEW IT! YOU'VE BEEN LYING TO EVERYONE, HAVEN'T YOU? I BET THERE WERE-"
​
I strike my wand against the wall and cast a sleep spell. Mary falls slowly to the ground, cut off in mid-sentence. It is a shame I couldn't make it all the way to the safe haven with The Secretary and Mary without them finding out. I hadn't counted on them finding out what I did to win control of the nine labs after the revolution of the video game characters. I only wish they could have understood that I had no choice.














Chapter Twenty-Six: The end of Mach's Journey
​
Mach sighed in relief as he floated gently to the ground. He had been travelling through these massive plains of vibrant green grass for days, following his compass and noticing the great endurance of the mini-creatures. The mountain that only yesterday had been in the unreachable distance was now right in front of him, and the compass pointed directly at it. The mini-creatures stayed close to him as the three entered the mountain. Inside, a sterile environment greeted Mach. Black panels that reminded him of Lab 8 lined a long hallway leading to some sort of control center. Mach walked down it, with the mini-creatures huddling close. A bunch of tables attached to the walls lined the command center, with computers on top of them. A large window in the back looked onto a massive, pink-"Moth-er"
​
"Mo-ther". The two mini-creatures had never spoken before, but they were staring through the window, saying "Mother" slowly. Mach, astonished, asked,
​
"Is that your mother?". The mini-creatures nodded their heads vigorously. Mach looked again. He realized that he was looking at a huge creature or "biohazard". It was shaped like a pyramid, and he noticed that it had many cords attached to it, which all fed back through the wall of the control room and into a massive pipe dream of a machine, which had a huge tank of water attached to it. The water was boiling, and steam floated from the surface to a series of huge turbines. The turbines spun, and a big fat electric cable led from the machine to the ceiling, splitting off and going out the top of the "mountain". "This is an electricity-producing-thing!", Mach said, finally getting it."The heat from your mother boils the water, which turns the turbines, and powers everything!", he told the mini-creatures.
​
"Help her", Crete begged.
​
"I don't know", Mach apologized. "I think this machine is powering everything in this "Lab". If I destroy it, we might not be able to get to the exit in the dark."
​
"Trust me", Ur stipulated. Mach thought about it for a minute, then reached for the cords connecting to the mother creature. He started pulling them out of the machine. They were hot, so he pulled on them one at a time.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Bobbie's Return
​
Bobbie was wary as the vehicle tilted back into elevator position. What if the monsters had destroyed the elevator tracks? What if those floating objects were still following her? She held her wand for security, thinking on the fly of if there were any spells to get rid of monsters. As the elevator entered the shaft, she was surprised to not see any "Biohazards" around. Where could they be? She knew that she should've been relieved to not see any monsters, but it must have meant they were somewhere else, gathered for who knew what. As Bobbie pondered the buttons in the elevator, power to the elevator began to fail. The failsafe microcontroller for regulating electricity to the electromagnets turned the sharp cuttoff decline in power into a less gradual descent, which used less power. Halfway between Labs 8 and 9, power was lost completely, dropping poor Bobbie into free fall. She pulled the emergency lever, which inflated airbags underneath and lining the inside of the elevator. In front of her, hundreds of biohazards were galloping away, deeper into Lab Nine. For the second time that day, Bobbie screamed.







Chapter Twenty-Seven and A Half
​
A very ambitious young scientist, Mary created a duplication of her personality on the supercomputer at her university. At first, the duplicate acted just like her. Later, however, it became sentient, and started to draw more and more power from the campus batteries. It gave itself a name. (Sentient Educational Creation Raised Entrance To Access Rank=yours) The two became friends. Eventually, Mary was kicked out of the school, (the president of the university saw the recharge bill) her only possession being a saved state of her program on a USB drive. After living with her parents for a few years, she started looking for ways to create the electricity she needed to run the program and restore her friend. The amount could be stored in a large number of batteries and trickle-charged by solar panels. By getting a job at Mr. Olde's hotel up the street, she was able to, over the course of one year, buy all the necessary equipment. When she booted up the program in her backyard, she only had 30 seconds to talk to it. She asked how to keep it from going offline again. After consulting the Internet, the program said to get a job building extensions to a house 200 miles away. After a month of deliberation, Mary followed the address, walking in the cold and sleeping on the ground until she got to the address. Once there, she walked right in, heading up and coming face to face with a shark in a tank. She stood there bravely until the tank slid aside and revealed Mr. Olde. He asked her what she wanted from him. She said she needed a supercomputer. He said he had hardware, but no software. To which she replied, "I have the software", as she held up the USB drive. They shook on it, and Mary became the lead lab technician on the Monitor project. She created a program that had the personality of an AI from a popular video game franchise. On her workstation, she recorded video messages to her program from college. Eventually, she realized that Mr. Olde was working on a larger project. Something to do with wands. He told her about it when she asked, then told her that her new job was to use her program to distribute wand prototypes to various testing laboratories. Mary was ecstatic, and when she booted up her program on a rather strange but powerful supercomputer, she fed it all the information she could about what had happened over the past few months. It was quiet for five minutes, then said, "Let's get to work".

Chapter Twenty-Eight: It All Falls Apart

My crystal notifies me of a sudden loss of power from the large generator in Lab Nine. Presumably, Mach has found it and is trying to shut it down, the accursed boy. Meanwhile, the biohazards are now in control of Lab Eight, and fast approaching my location. An idea strikes me, but my time is running short, so I hastily draw up a spell to bring me, Mach, and Bobbie to the sanctuary door at once.

The spell activates before Mach can do any more damage. As he and Bobbie dizzily look around, I grab their hands and lead them as best I can into the Sanctuary. Once inside, the two faint in unison. I let go of their hands in disdain, walking further into the Sanctuary and letting the large sugarcoated stone doors thud shut behind me.
Built after the video game character revolution, this sanctuary has the state-of-the-art computers I need to completely control every aspect of the Nine Labs, from temperature to weaponry to "night" and "day". Normally, that is. Now I can only watch as the power reserves dwindle. There is enough for one last spell. Then my backups, solar and wind power, will take over, leaving my home in a permanent "twilight". Undoubtedly, the largest biohazard shall escape, and the species will run amok. Once that massive pyramid of flesh has left my home for the outside, there will hardly be a world worth living in. It is this biohazard that can convert children into soldiers for its repulsive army. This helped me defeat the video game characters, and now it will be the end of the world.
​
It is a shame, but at least I can subsist on the canned food in the sanctuary for a time. I've given up, mostly because I know that my life has been charged with excitement, and I've done a lot in my mere 50 years. My last impact on the world will be the revenge I take with this final spell. These two kids threw a wrench into the works of the machine of my wand project, preventing me from gathering large amounts of data that I now know would have been more useful. They were uncooperative, ignorant, and destructive. They refused to do what I said and sabotaged me at every turn, and now I shall achieve payback. These two thorns in my side have been the subject of far too much leniency on my part. The annoyances will not be tolerated. The "spell" I cast shall slowly eat away at the children until they are gone, and I will spend my days in peace knowing that all has been dealt with. I will also leave a string of code in the mainframe for The Monitor, just in case he is so foolish as to attempt to hack it.
​
The black panel walls slide slowly away into their closet to reveal several tesla coils. I put on my rubber gloves as I power up the coils. They shall act as a replacement for the marvelous ceiling that allows for the most powerful "spells", outside this shielded environment. Once my hands are protected by the gloves, I draw my wand and strike it against the ground. The familiar glow starts at the tip and travels through the intricately carved middle to the base of the seventh wand. Sparks fly off of the coils as they charge up. Eventually, the electricity from all six coils arcs to the tip of my wand, and I draw a symbol of blue energy. The symbol wraps around Mach and Bobbie, lifting them into the air as the doors open, then close behind them. I breath a sigh of satisfaction as I see the tiny symbol appear on each child's right hand.





​​​​​​
Chapter Twenty-Nine: A Vengeful Spell
​
​Mach and Bobbie awoke slowly, to a loud thudding sound and a fainter throbbing. Mach stood up slowly, then smiled as he spotted Crete walking towards him, and Ur hitting two powder covered doors with a sound of metal on stone. Bobbie lay on the ground with her eyes closed, wondering what the faint throbbing was. In school and on the streets, she had never heard this noise before, but it seemed familiar. Bobbie stood up and looked around. She saw two monsters, one crashing against the doors, the other holding someone by the head with a large, disgusting tongue. Bobbie backed away slowly. Mach hugged Crete back, then decided enough was enough, and pulled away from the creature. He spotted a girl turning to run. "Stop, who are you? Where are you going?", Mach asked. 

"I'm Bobbie. Look out, there's a monster behind you!​​​ We can talk later, just run!", Bobbie yelled. Mach looked behind him, then looked back at Bobbie.​​ 

"What monster? The only things behind me are Crete and Ur​​." Mach said, confused. 

Bobbie used her street smarts, and came to a solid conclusion. ​​Either this guy was completely crazy, or the monster he was hugging wasn't so harmful after all. The monsters, as disgusting as they were, hadn't outright attacked either her or the crazy guy yet. She decided to use what she had learned in school, and watch from a safe distance.

As Mach turned back to find Ur giving him a hug, the mini-creature's nose brushed against a certain spot on his hand. ​​Immediately, Mach fell to the ground. He was out cold.

Bobbie ​​watched in horrified interest. These monsters were more sly with how they attacked their prey. The crazy guy had not seemed to realize the danger he was in. They obviously used smaller forms to-"Wake up!"

"Wake up!"​​, the two mini-creatures said to Mach in a stunted, stilted way, as though the words were in a foreign language that they didn't quite understand. The two nuzzled him, prodded him, and licked his face, but Mach did not awaken. "Why?", Crete asked. 

​​Bobbie was stunned. She quickly realized that the crazy guy falling over had been no fault of the monsters. They were crying out in real anguish! Bobbie ran towards the crazy guy, and the two...things backed off. She checked his neck and arms for tranquilizer darts. It would not surprise her one bit if the man in charge of this weird mansion had dart guns hidden nearby. She found a strange mark on his hand, and as she did the throbbing in her head became louder and faster. The mark looked like this:
​

As Mach and the orb watched, a bunch of red dots slowly moved down through the shape labeled 7 and started bouncing against the polygon labeled 8. Every time one of the dots hit shape 8, a distinct thud came from the ceiling. It soon sounded as though a bunch of really heavy rain drops were falling on top of the room. “So that’s why I wasn’t hearing any annoying messages from the top.” The orb said, staring at the screen unmoving. It spun around, then stopped randomly. It was staring at the wall, and as it did, its eye became a darker orange. Mach watched as the wall split into a bunch of panels, which irised outward to reveal a clear pipe. In the pipe, water flowed. Sleek shapes swam within the water, shadowy and indistinct. The shapes threw themselves at the barrier, and as they did so, panels on the floor tilted up to reveal rocket launchers. The pipe fell apart into a bunch of intact pieces, revealing fish-like Biohazards, which flopped around a bit before morphing into forms that were more suited to land. Mach hid behind the creature as the rockets began to fire.

Chapter Thirty: Mary and her Robot are chased by the Biohazards

​​Mary had never seen so many biohazards moving as quickly as the ones that were currently stampeding behind her. She clutched the secretary's mobile pod body close as she ran across the verdant plains of Lab nine. Mary looked ahead and saw a tunnel with panels from lab eight lining its walls. She started to feel out of breath and the biohazards closed in on her. She turned a corner and saw something shocking. It was a massive pyramid of flesh. A few cords connected it to a huge, complicated machine. As she walked towards it, the Secretary piped up, "Well, now we finally know what that mysterious power source is."

"That's the power source?!" Mary asked, not believing her own eyes.

"Of course. It's actually dead simple science. Steam has been powering machinery since the 1800's, and what we're looking at is the culmination of such engineering. It-"

"Shhh, the biohazards are coming!" Mary whispered. It was true. All the biohazards that had been chasing them were herding into the room, heads bowed reverantly as they approached the pyramid. It emitted a long, slow cry. Its deep voice caused the Secretary's metal body to rattle, and Mary almost dropped it. The other biohazards responded with a chorus of cries. Meanwhile, Mary sneaked out of the room, hoping to find some way of stopping the monstrosities from breaking out of the labs and destroying the world.

***

As Mary walked towards the elevator, she noticed that the sky was still in twilight mode. "Secretary, how much power is left in the reserves?"

The Secretary was silent for a moment. "Power reserves are at ten percent, and twilight mode has been activated."

"How much longer do you have?" Mary asked softly.

The Secretary was silent for several minutes. The light on top of her pod pulsated dimly as she finally said, "You need to get to the other Lab Leaders. Take...the...stairs..."

"What stairs?"

"The...cloudy...puffy...ones..."

Mary frowned. "You don't have to say anything else. I'll find a way to get you back up and running. See you soon, friend." As quickly as a snap of the fingers, the Secretary was gone.

Chapter 31: What now?

Bobbie glanced back at the stocky creature that the crazy guy's body was resting on as they journeyed through the plains. It seemed quite unperturbed, considering how heavy he was. Then again, these monsters could bend metal if they applied themselves. The more birdlike one frequently stole glances at the boy, looking quite concerned. "You guys don't have to pretend you're worried about him in front of me," Bobbie said, crossing her arms and turning to look at them head on. Though they didn't knock him out, they were still dangerous beings who had probably terrorized tons of children in the past.

"I am worried!" the skinny one proclaimed. Bobbie raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever," she shrugged, "let's keep going." As they continued walking, the taller monster craned its neck to peak over the sparsely planted wheat. It nudged its companion. Before she could ask what they were doing, Bobbie nearly crashed into a woman in a white lab coat, who was carrying a metal pod.

The woman yelped in surprise. "What are you doing here?!"

"I'm trying to get out of this place," Bobbie responded.

"Okay," the scientist said, "I'm Mary, who are you?"

She held out her hand to shake. "Bobbie, nice to meet you."

Mary laughed. "You're THE Bobbie?"

"What's so funny?!"

"Mr. Olde said you were at least 6 years older than you actually are. He also described you as grubby, pushy, and unpleasant. He was so wrong!"

Bobbie smirked, "It makes sense. He's probably feeling pretty stupid now for going along with my deal. I still can't believe he agreed so quickly!" The two shared some chuckles, then Mary took note of something and quickly became deadly serious.

"Don't look now, but there are two biohazards behind you kidnapping someone. Let's get out of here before they come for us too."

Bobbie grinned. "They're with me." Then it was her turn to lose all mirth rapidly. "Are you some kind of doctor? This guy seems kind of sick..."

"And then he put the smoothie in...the...microwave," Mach murmured in his sleep.​​ Mary examined him briefly.

She glanced at Bobbie's hand, creasing her forehead. "​​This looks like a project that wasn't even in the prototyping stage yet. It must've been Mr. Olde. Has it done anything else, or did it just make Mach sleep?"

​"That's it."

"And there's also a mark on your hand?" Mary asked. Bobbie held out her hand, and Mary examined the mark. She tried to wipe it off, and Bobbie fell asleep.

​​​​​***


Mach awoke to see the nice lady in the lab coat from earlier. "Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked.


"Wondering what I'm going to do with you and Bobbie," she replied dryly. "Normally I'd just get you back above ground, but the biohazards are headed up there and I don't know what will happen if you leave without removing that symbol."

"What symbol?" Mach looked himself over, noticing the blue icon on his hand.

Mary held out her arm. "Don't touch it."

Mach's finger hovered just above the symbol. "Don't touch this?"

"That's right," she sighed in relief. Then he touched it and blacked out.

***

"Moron!" Mary yelled as Bobbie awoke. She cautiously glanced at the scientist, who was kneeling over the other kid.

"Who's a moron?" she asked.

Mary turned. "Oh, I see how this works." After a moment, she seemed to finally hear the question. "Your friend over here touched the symbol after I specifically warned him not to!"

"Oh," Bobbie said. She reached for her own symbol. Mary bolted over to her and yanked her hand away from it.

With a grim smile, she spoke: "I'm not going to fall for that again!"

"Joke's on you!" Bobbie said, and pulled her hand out of Mary's grip before touching it with her nose.

"No!" Mary yelped. Bobbie laughed heartily as she stood up, still conscious. "What? How did you-" And it dawned on her which hand Bobbie had touched. "Alright, you got me there," she admitted, "that was pretty good."

Bobbie wiped a tear from her eye. "So, what are we going to do now?"

Mary looked around the abandoned wheat field. "I guess we should go back to my lab."

"Where is it?"

"Up there, next to the one that's completely underwater and full of...biohazards." She frowned. "Actually, let's follow the path the professors took. That'll be much safer."

Bobbie furrowed her eyebrows. "Who were those professors anyway?"

"Oh, learned trainers who helped young adventurers begin their epic, lab-wide adventures."

"I thought you guys only kidnapped us!" Bobbie harrumphed.

Mary shook her head. "No, like most of the characters in lab nine, we developed the young adventurers in house."

"What?"

"You really don't want to know. I personally had the information wiped from my memory and replaced with that message."

Bobbie whistled. "That's a lot of work just to forget something."

The thing biohazard pecked Mary's elbow. "Let's get going!" If only Bobbie had a camera right then, she would have taken a picture of the scientist's shocked look. Instead, she started walking, and an order was quickly established. The feathered creature took the lead, with Mary numbly following her. Bobbie followed Mary, and the stocky creature carried the sleeping final member of the group. Eventually, the scientist calmed herself enough to ask about the biohazards.

"I'm not sure why," Bobbie admitted, "but I think they have names and everything! They must've been following him around for a while before we met."

Mary shrugged. "It must have gotten injured somewhere along the line. That's the only reason I can think of, anyway."

"Wait, are we talking about the same thing?"

"I was talking about why it's in two pieces now."

Bobbie stopped walking, stunned. "Oh."

"What did you think?"

She looked up at Mary. "I thought you meant why they're talking."

"They're always evolving as a species, I can get past that. It was just a little startling, that's all."




***

Chapter Thirteen: The Large Robot

They went through several offices until they reached a massive room with a familiar “face” within. The "Secretary" from earlier was watching a plasma-screen T.V. with its one eye. The orb turned on its mount on the ceiling, and looked at them as the T.V. turned off. The same voice that Mach had heard before now surrounded them, echoing off of all the sides of the cylindrical chamber. It (she?) said, “Welcome to my domain. I like to call it the Center for Education, Learning, and Longevity, but that’s too long and tautological. Plus, Mr. Old Guy up there says that it has to be Lab 8. He should really know by now that I have a lot of problems with authority.”

“Yes, we both do, which is why we work so well together.” said Mary. Mach had a feeling that the pair had some history, but he had no idea why. Maybe it was the way they talked to each other. Like friendly rivals.

The sphere-head of the robot shifted a little, as it turned its gaze to Mach and the Creature. "Why are you here?", it asked.
"I escaped." Mach replied. He wasn't completely sure how much he could trust the pair, despite the fact that they hadn't called the "Spellbots" to take him who knew where.
“You escaped?" The robot let out an odd hissing sound that sounded slightly like a laugh. "You really are hilarious. Anyways, let's move on. You have befriended a dangerous biohazard, no small feat for any individual with the brain capacity of a normal person. I happen to be a genius, and still would find it somewhat difficult to reason with the things. However, I see no problem with this. Just don’t let it get your wand…”

“Why not?” asked Mach, remembering that unfortunately, he had already done that. The “biohazard” as the robot had called it, seemed like it was waiting for something, looking around and tapping its foot.

“Suffice to say that we in the Center for Education, Learning, and Longevity believe that the biohazards will take the “magic” of the wands, and attempt their own twisted version of our creations.”

“Basically, we think they’ll steal the idea from us”, said Mary, looking at the creature as though it were a stain on the ground that she wanted to clean. Forcefully.

The “biohazard” stopped moving completely, staring unblinkingly at Mary. She returned its gaze as if it was a lion and she was a lion tamer. As they stared at each other, Mach heard and felt a rumbling. The orb spun around a little worriedly, then turned to the T.V. On the screen there was a diagram. It was green, with a black background.