19) --- University Of Maryland, Jurrasic Park ------------------------- "Evolution Doesn't Take Prisoners" -- lizard MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15 8:59 pm. Philip was in his dorm early, since he had wanted to catch up with his sleep. For once, he didn't have any major projects due, and he hoped that tonight would be rather quiet. "What does one do with so much free time?" he mused out loud. Just then, the phone rang. Philip answered it. "Hello?" "Hi, this is Joy, from 330? Are you interested in doing a scene? One of my actors couldn't make it, and your name was on the list, so..." "Yeah, I might. When is rehearsal?" Philip got out his scheduler. "Rehearsal is tonight and tomorrow night to 10:00, and the scene is Wendsday at 3." Philip looked at his watch. 9:00. "Could you hold on for a moment?" "Ok." Philip looked at his schedule book. Yep, both programs were done, and the studying for the Statistics exam could be easily squeezed in. Philip returned to the phone. "Ok, I'm in!" "Great! Can you be there by 10?" "Yeah, I can." "Thanks, see you there," and she hung up. Philip packed up his bag. he though to himself, "Strange how time seems to fill itself," he chuckled to himself as he left the dorm. "I must be addicted to stress or something..." Five minutes later, he was at the Worcester computer lab. Sitting down at a NeXTstation, he noticed Aerianne sitting one over. She did the same, and waved him over. "Hi, Phil!" "Hi, Aeri! What'cha doing?" "Writing another paper." "Another? I thought you were done with them for that class!" "Of course not," she chuckled. "This is a *honors* class, and they're very into the 'paper thing'." "Of course." Philip sat down and logged on. "What are you doing up here, anyway? Didn't you finish your programs?" "Yeah, I did, but I managed to get myself roped into a 330 scene, and it's at ten, so I decided to kill some time." "A 330 scene? That's great!" "Thanks, I'm glad you feel that way." "When do rehearsals start?" "I have one tonight and one tomorrow, at 10." "Philip..." she said, with a concerned look on her face. "Yeah, Yeah, I know, I know, 'Is It Safe?'" "Phil..." she replied with a stern look. "Ok, Ok, Ok," he said, mock-cringing. "I'll let you escort me home, 'Marge'" he sarcasmed. Aerianne laughed. "Silly," she waved him back up. "You're right though, I'm mother henning a bit. Just be careful," she said as he packed up to leave. "Don't worry. What could happen?" Philip exited the lab. * * * * After the 330 rehearsal, Philip returned to the lab. Aeri noticed him enter, and got up. "Phil!" "Hi, Aeri," Philip went over to her station, and looked at the terminal. "You almost done?" "Yep." A few clicks and drags, and the file was on its way to the printer. She logged out and gathered up her stuff. On the way out, she picked up the history paper. Philip held her bag as she pulled on her dark blue trenchcoat. "Your bag, Madame?" he french butlered. "Thank you very much," she smiled as she took the bag back. They went outside into the cold night. As they walked back to their dorm, Philip offered an open bag of chips to Aerianne. "Dorito?" "Sure!" Aerianne took an handful and began munching. "Where'd you get them?" "From our 330 scene director." "Oh, what's the scene like?" she continued to munch, unknowingly catching the attention of something not human... Back at FOWL's biosci monitoring room, a lone gleepian tech was monitoring the various creatures movements through their eyes and ears, as well as the radio transponders indicating their positions. One monitor caught his attention, and he zoomed the image. he thought as he saw Philip and Aerianne walking. With his teke, he switched off the 'HUNTING INSTINCT OVERRIDE' for the closest creatures. <<>> "Wait a second..." Aerianne stopped, and turned around. "Did you you hear something?" "I don't think so....LOOK OUT!" yelled Philip as something darted out of the bushes, something big, brown, fast, and scaly. "Whatthehell?" replied Aerianne as Philip shoved her out of the path of the oncoming reptile. Reptiles that Philip recognized. "Raptors? How? Who?" he blurted, taking a good look as the Velociraptors ran past them and turned around to attack again. Aerianne grabbed his arm. "Never mind that, we've got to run!" "You know, you may be right," he responded as they broke into a run. "Where to?" he yelled as the Raptors took up the chase. "Tawes!" Aerianne yelled back as they ran up the hill towards the Tawes Fine Arts building. "It's the closest!" The two darted across Campus Road, barely avoiding the oncoming late night traffic. Most of the raptors simply leaped over the oncoming traffic in pursuit of their quarry. Aerianne and Philip dashed across the small plaza between Tawes and Anne Arundle Hall. They could hear the raptors right behind them, and therefore they decided to skip the usual five small steps and go for one large step, putting them right in front of the lobby doors. Aerianne, the first one there, opened the first door she came across, and tossed Philip inside as he arrived. She then joined him as she slammed the door closed on a raptor and dropped to the floor. From their position on the floor, they could hear the first raptor hit the door with a . They caught their breath as the raptors prowled outside, hissing. "What were those things?" gasped Aerianne. "_Velociraptor Rapensis_, although from its size it would seem to be a cross between _Rapensis_ and _Utahraptor_," replied Philip, much in the same state as Aerianne. "Although I don't want to know _how_ they got here and why..." "How do you know about them?" "I read 'Jurassic Park'." "What?" "Nevermind," sighed Philip. "Well," she said, getting up, "At least they can't get inside..." "Ummm, I'm not so sure about that..," he said as he rose. "In the movie and the book, they were able to open doors..." A sudden noise caught their attention. Philip's eyes widened as one door opened of its own accord. "Althoughinthiscasethehandicappedentrancemightdoinapinch! RUN!" Philip and Aerianne darted around the corner and down the short hall to the Pulgiese Theatre. The raptors were momentarily stopped by the double doors, but it was enough; the humans made it to the stairwell and to the ground floor before the raptors entered the hall itself. A few quick turns and dashes later, they were in the ET hallway, and they began trying doors. "Damn! Locked!" Philip swore. "Maybe not," remarked Aerianne as she turned the corner to the loading doors. Philip followed her to the shop door, where she kneeled and pulled a set of lockpicks out of her trenchcoat pocket. Philip blinked. "Where'd you get those?" "Rebecca loaned them to me," she replied offhandedly as she worked on the lock. "Keep an eye out for them." "Um, yeah," he said, looking down the long hall towards the tv studios. This hall was wider than the ET hall, and there was a lot more ceiling space for a raptor to jump in if it so chose. Philip was not comforted. "How long?" he asked. "Shhh....be quiet!" she whispered, concentrating. Philip shut up. He could now hear the raptors approaching. "Aeri!!!" he hissed. The sound was getting closer. "Hold on! I'm almost there!" Louder. "There! Got it!" The raptors turned the corner, and saw him. The one in the lead ran for him. "Good, great!" yelled Philip, as he hauled the door open and shoved Aerianne inside before slamming the door behind him. The raptor turned and skidded, trying to adjust; it slipped and impacted hard on Bill Brandwien's office door. The two pulled down some ladders to form a crude barricade across the now-unlocked door. Aerianne and Philip took stock of the situation as the raptors tried to get in through the barricade. "Well, we can't stay here all night, and I doubt David would appreciate them on the _Brighton_ set..." Aerianne started. "And we can't sneak out..." "...so we're going to have to fight them to get out." "Excuse me?" This was not a good sign. "Is there anything else you can remember about the raptors?" she asked as she began to work on the tool closet lock. "Well, they can handle low electrical shocks, have six inch killing spurs on the feet, strong claws, hunt in packs, have hundreds of shearing teeth, are carnivorous, and they are no fun at parties," he responded as she opened the cabinet and began to work on the power tool cabinet. "Anything else?" She opened the cabinet, and then returned to the tool cabinet. "Not that I can recall," he replied. "Now what?" he asked her as she got several objects from the shelves. "Take these," said Aerianne as she handed him a matte knife and a Makita with a drill bit, "just in case." "Oh, joy, hand-to-hand with raptors in Tawes," he deadpanned as he 'holstered' the makita and placed the matte knife in his sweatshirt pocket. "Now, you start setting up stuff here, and I'll prepare something else on mainstage just in case," she continued. Pulling a ladder over to reach the tool deck, she climbed up and began to work on the final cabinet. Meanwhile, Philip began to shift the equipment around on the shop floor and plug things in. Finally, Aerianne came down the ladder with a pair of cable cutters. "I don't even want to _think_ what you're planning to use that for," Philip commented as he was unbolting the chopsaw. "No, it's for something else," she said as she opened the door to the stage proper and went onstage. Philip went up the stairs to the paint deck and brought down several cans of latex and opened them. He then pulled several good sized pieces of two by four and laid them out, as well as several pieces of square tube steel. "I wish National Players were still here, then we could borrow their props," he said to himself as Aerianne re-entered from the stage, gently propping open doors for quick closing. "Why?" she asked as she got a pair of gloves and goggles for herself and Philip. "So we could borrow the maces they had for _Romeo & Juliet_," he answered as he accepted and put the gloves and goggles on. "I figure you would like them, at least," he continued. Aerianne smiled, and then picked up the square tube steel. "Why don't we use the Arc Welder?" she asked, as she swung the steel experimentally. "No, we don't have enough time. Those raptors are getting impatient." Indeed, the raptors were beginning to shove aside the barrier. Suddenly, he came up with a thought. "Now *there's* a concept!" Philip exclaimed, as he headed over to the shop's Arc Welder. "I thought you just said that we didn't have time?" "To build them, yes. To _kill_ *them*, no!" he said as he pulled the arc welder over and plugged it in. Taking a face mask, he handed another to Aeri, took the control rod in one hand and handed the ground source to her. "But you said that they can handle shocks." "Not this high," he said as he turned it on. The welder started with a hum. "Ready?" he asked. "Ready," Aerianne replied, nodding. "CLEAR!" In the biolab, the Gleepian watched as the two humans set up a crude barrier across the door, and made preparations to try to kill the Raptors. the tech thought to himself. He readied to boost the adrenalin dose on the Lead Raptor. Then, he noticed something. One of the humans was pulling out a low, red box with cables. "What's this?" the gleepian said out loud. He watched as the male handed one of the cables to the female, and then they approached the raptor. "What are they..." the gleepian was cut off as a sudden electrical pulse ripped through the raptor, shorting out its electronics, and incedentially killing it. "No!" yelled the tech as the image from that raptor turned to snow. he panicked. He boosted the adrenalin levels in the other raptors. "Well, that was... fun..." Philip commented as the raptor dropped dead. "Now what?" commented Aeri as she lifted her face shield and wrinkled her nose at the smell. "Wait until the other ones break through?" offered Philip. Aeri shrugged in response. Suddenly, the raptors stiffened as nanopumps within their bodies began cranking out adrenalin. Moving as one, the raptors charged the barricade, and broke through. "Well, _thank you_ for giving them suggestions, Philip Moyer!", she said as she dropped into a combat stance with the two pieces of steel in her hands. Philip, flinging aside the arc welder controls, picked up a bucket of paint and moved it in a quick arc, sending a river of burnt umber towards the raptors. The paint hit them, and some of the raptors were temporarily blinded. Aerianne then went into action. Flying into the midst of the throng, she used the square tube steel to parry and block the raptor's claws and teeth, while at the same time attempting to cave in their heads with successive blows. Philip, not one for these Shampoo tactics, opted for his other method. Flinging another can of paint at the raptors, he managed to completely blind at least two of them. Making a quick dash for the now dehinged chop saw, he picked it up and pulled the trigger. Acting more like a giant 16" circular saw now than a stationary chop saw, the steel carbide-tipped blade made quick work of the raptor's hands, and then the neck of the raptor itself. Philip turned on the other raptors and repeated the process. Aerianne, making progress against the third raptor, failed to notice another one come at her from the side. As she went for the killing blow, the other's talons dug into her shoulder. "AARRGH!!!" she cried out through clenched teeth. She collapsed to her knees. The raptor moved in for the kill. "Aeri!" Running over to the raptor, Philip rammed the blade into its back, severing the spinal cord. The raptor keeled over. Philip swung the saw menacingly towards the remaining raptors, keeping them back as Aerianne got to her feet. The raptors backed up as Philip advanced. One of the raptors, backing up too far, got its foot tangled in an extension cord. As it moved further back, the movement pulled the cord out of the wall socket. The blade, its source of power interrupted, spun down and stopped. The raptor made its version of a smile (lots and lots of teeth), and advanced. "Quick, go to plan B!" Aerianne said as she prepared to drive off the raptors, even through her pain. "Plan B? I thought we were making this up as we went along!" yelled Philip as he threw down the chop saw. Making a run for the table saw, he turned it on and raised the blade. Moving it between them and the Raptors, he shoved it directly into their path. The one in the front was buckled over onto the saw, and onto its blade in particular. Philip and Aeri retreated through the stage doors, closing them behind them. They wouldn't stop the raptors, but they would at least slow them down. The two humans ran towards the fly gallery. Philip looked up and gulped. "You're planning to go up there, I see..." 68 feet was nothing to sneeze at. "Well, I don't think they can jump up there," she said, preparing to climb the spiral staircase to the loading rail. "No, but there is one problem." Philip mentioned. "What?" Aerianne turned towards him. "I can't handle heights. 20 feet's my limit..." he said apologetically. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" Philip shrugged. "Never mind, just get over here." Aerianne pulled Philip over to one lineset that had been emptied of its stage weights. She handed him a web safety harness. "Put this on," she said distractedly, as she picked up the cable cutters that she had left there. "Uh, why?" Philip responded as he did so. "Simple. You're bait. Don't look at me in that tone of voice," she said to Philip's 'Oh-my-god-she-must-be-crazy' look. "I _am_ leaving you a weapon," she continued as she handed him the pneumatic nail gun that she had preset, as well as several extra strips of sixteen penny nails. "Just stand on the carriage base, and aim towards the door." She clipped the harness onto the sides of the carriage. "I'll take care of the rest." "Er, ok," he mumbled, as she checked him over one last time. Philip could hear the raptors finally getting through the last of the shop doors. Aeri picked up the cable cutters, turned, and began to run up the stairs two steps at a time. Which is pretty impressive when you realize that this was a _spiral_ staircase that was almost seventy feet tall. But Philip had no time to marvel at this stunning display of stamina, since there were still four raptors to take care of. Raising the nail gun and pulling back the safety with his left hand, he pulled the trigger. A sixteen penny nail flew through the air and hit the stage door. Needless to say, the raptors were unimpressed. They continued to approach. Philip panicked. Pulling the trigger wildly, he launched nail after nail, sending accelerated pieces of steel across the backstage. Incredibly enough, some of the nails actually hit their intended targets, creating very picturesque puncture wounds that slowed them down. But it still didn't stop them. Meanwhile, up on the loading rail, Aerianne watched as the raptors withstood Philip's assault. What she was about to do depended on split second timing. If she went early, the raptors would be able to dodge. If she went late, well, Philip's death would be her fault. She blocked the thought from her mind as she readied the cable cutters around the lineset's rope. She looked down. Just as the raptors were an arm's length of making Philip their midnight snack, Aerianne cut the rope. The loaded batten, which had been held in check by the pinlock, was suddenly free to move. And it did. Philip yelped and dropped the gun as the counterweight carriage suddenly flew up of its own accord. Momentarily surprised by this sudden movement, the Raptors moved backwards. Big mistake. The loaded batten roared downwards, being pulled by 60 pounds of bottom batten and almost 100 pounds of painted muslin, as well as the 60 pounds of top batten. It hit the stage floor hard, and one raptor was flattened by the impact of the batten on its back. The other three were now pinned under several hundred square feet of unbleached painted muslin, which they tried to escape. Back at the top of the lineset, Aerianne was helping Philip out of the counterweight carriage. Needless to say, Philip was upset. "Whatthehellwasthatallabout?!?!Youtryingtokillmeorsomething?!?!" he yelled at Aerianne, who was now looking over the loading rail to the stage floor. "We'll talk about it later! Now throw!" So saying, she picked up a ten pound stage weight and threw it towards the closest raptor-shaped lump in the muslin. It hit, creating a irregular red blotch on the muslin. Philip, getting the hint, picked up several more stage weights and sent them to the floor. Before long, the drop began to resemble a Jackson Pollock painting instead of a sky drop. One raptor tried to make a comeback by ripping the muslin and climbing out, but Aeri was ready. The last stage weight hit it directly between the eyes. It fell over, quite dead. Philip and Aerianne made their way down the spiral staircase down to the stage floor. Along the way, Philip made his position quite clear. "What the _HELL_ were you thinking, Aerianne? I don't care _what_ you've seen at the TAS meetings, but this is real life, not anime!" "LOOK, Philip!" she retorted, turning around and facing him. "You were the one who was all of a sudden afraid of heights! I was fully ready to be the bait! I had planned it that way, but when you said that wouldn't be able to handle the height, I had to think fast. It was either you go the fast way up, or us both becoming raptor chow!" Philip moved back at this verbal diatribe. Aerianne turned down the stairs in a huff. Realizing that he had made a serious error (doubting someone), Philip caught up to her, caught her shoulder, and apologized. "I... I didn't know...I'm sorry..." he said to her quietly. "I should have waited until I calmed down to ask you why...." Aerianne appeared to be placated by this, but not taking any chances, Philip attempted to clear the air a little with some humor. "Well, I guess we'd better start cleaning up. I don't think David would be pleased to have bloodstains in the shop." "I don't think so," replied Aerianne, some of her humor returning. They reached the stage floor, and looked over the carnage they had wrought. "Damn. We're going to need some help cleaning this...Phil, you call Gordo and Rufus, and I'll open up the shop doors." "Gotcha." One phone call and five minutes later, Gordo and Rufus entered the warzone/shop. Gordo looked over the devastation. "I see that you two have been... enjoying yourselves?" "Gordo!" Philip exclaimed, embarrassed. Gordo just chuckled. Rufus moved over to one of the corpses and looked it over. "Would it be ok if I took a couple of these back?" he said, looking up at Philip, who was wiping off the table saw. "I'd like to learn more about them" "Take them back to the dorm? What, you're going to store them in the refrigerator or something?" "No, I mean to the lab," Rufus responded. Philip pondered for a moment, and then answered. "Sure, go ahead. I don't think you'll find them much use anymore, except for the bargain bin at Giant." "Thanks...Um, how _will_ I get them back to the lab?" he asked, seriously. "Well," added Philip, "There's the shop truck, but I don't have the keys...Although," he said, turning towards Aerianne, who was helping Gordo as they carried a raptor offstage. "Hey, Aeri!" he called out. "Do you think those 'picks of yours could start a truck?" "Let's find out," she smiled as she put the raptor body on the ground. Philip moved to help Gordo as Aerianne went outside to open the truck. They carried the last two bodies offstage, and then got to work on the drop. "What about the pipe battens?" commented Gordo, as he and Philip folded the bloodstained drop, which had been detached from the battens. "Oh, don't worry about them. David won't notice they're missing until the next hang." "Ah." 20) --- Hellicott Hall ------------------------------------------------ "Be it ever so crumbled, There's no place like home." --BJ The next day, after classes, Philip headed over to the Engineering building to see what Rufus had learned. A section of the lab building had been partitioned off to serve as Rufus's own personal lab, a fact that pleased the instructors to _no_ end, seeing as it was a _large_ section. Stopping at the Engineering Taco Bell to get a quick dinner, Philip then made his way to Rufus's section. When he arrived, he could see Gordo, Rufus, and Aerianne standing around a stainless-steel lab table, 'appropriated' from the Chemistry Building. A single light hung over the table, illuminating the form resting on it. Aerianne noticed him and waived him over. "The nearest that I can figure," said Rufus as they stood around the lab table where one of the dead raptors lay, dissected, "is that this is a _genetically bred_ creature, made from DNA samples taken from the stomachs of dead mosquitoes and other biting insects from the late Jurrasic period." "You read the book, didn't you?" Philip said, smug in his deduction. "What book?" Philip blinked. He waived Rufus to go on. "Anyway, as I was doing my analysis, I noticed something strange in the cranial region, as well as around several glands. Intrigued, I looked further." Rufus moved over the raptor, and pulled something that had been attached on the inside of the skull. It came loose with an organic ripping sound, as various fibers tore loose. He held it up, and the small bead with its various interface wires, as thin as human hair, glittered in the light. Philip whistled. Aerianne and Gordo, for their part, wondered why Philip was whistling. "Cyberware?" Rufus nodded. "Great, just great," he muttered. "Velociraptors with cyberware... when did my life turn into fanfic?" "I'm not sure, Philip," answered Aerianne. "Either back at the Bagel Place, the crash into the Atrium, or the Raptor attack last night." Philip grumbled. "So, who could have done this?" asked Gordo, finally entering the conversation. "I do not believe that _any_ modern nation today has the capabilities to reproduce the raptors or to develop the cyberware." "The only people that _I_ could even closely think could do this would be the WDF, but they're at least several dimensions and timezones away," Philip commented ruefully. "No, I found this." Rufus pulled over a magnifier with a light, and placed it so that one side of the bead was magnified. VRMK1 ATTACK UNIT TRANSMITTER ARRAY SERIAL NO. 000100 MNFCTRD ON 7/1/93 PROPERTY OF: FOWL "So you believe that _FOWL_ is responsible for the campus attacks?" asked Gordo. Aerianne and Philip gave him a 'No, DUH!' look that could have vaporized tritanium. "Admittedly, the evidence would seem to bear that out," he recovered, "But now, how do we find their staging point?" "I _was_ able to make a receiver from the transmitters," started Rufus. "Receiver?" Philip asked in an 'exsqueeze me' voice. "Yes," he continued, "and I pinpointed the transmission location." He pulled over a campus map and unfolded it. He pointed at one building. "Here." "The Animal Sciences building," Philip observed. "Well, now that we know where they're coming from, we can make sure that the attacks stop _now_," Aerianne stated. "But we're going to need something a little more effective and portable than nail guns, and with a lot more punch, as well." "And what about that 'CVR' that you were working on? If we are going into the 'Raptor's Den', as it were, I do not believe that I would want to be without some form of Physical Protection," added Gordo. "It should be ready by Thursday," answered Rufus, "although I'm still having trouble with the Cyclone powerplant..." "HoldonHoldonHoldon!" interjected Philip. "Are you suggesting that _we_ actually attack _them_? In their BASE?" "Well, who would _you_ suggest? I don't suppose you have a direct line to the Otaku Group, do you?" Aerianne sarcasmed. "Well, no...," admitted Philip. Thinking quickly, he came upon an idea. It was a crazy one, and one that he was hoping would not be possible, but it was their best bet. "But if a hunch of mine is correct, we just might have the next best thing. Gordo, hand me that student phone directory." Gordo did so. Philip opened it, and flipped through it. Skipping 'A', 'B', and 'C', he checked under 'D', and found (unfortunately) the name he was looking for. His face fell. "Yep, they exist." He closed he book, and turned to Aerianne. "Do you think you could take time off from your dance class to help me meet some people?" "Yeah,.. I guess...Where will we meet them?" "Hellicott Hall." The day after, Philip and Aerianne made their way up Stadium Drive towards the high-rise dorms. Philip was not exactly in the best of moods, and Aerianne was trying to discern why. "You still haven't explained to me _why_ these guys you're meeting should be enough to doubt your hold on reality," she started. "Look," he stopped, turning to Aerianne. "You remember when Daniel Dukke and Ferdinand Fox came to the rescue at the Bagel Place?" "Yeah... As I recall, you weren't too pleased that they existed. Beats me _why_..." "EXACTLY. They _SHOULDN'T_ exist! They're the creation of a cartoonist who works down at the Closet of Comics! They shouldn't even be _close_ to existing!" Philip gestured wildly. "Do you realize what this means? It means either _someone's_ using a HoloDECstation without Gryphon's permission, or that I'm losing my grip on reality! Now, which do _you_ think is more probable?!?" "Phil, calm down!" she said as she pinned his arms to his sides. "You're over-acting!" Philip took some deep breaths, and calmed down. "Now, whether they should or shouldn't exist isn't the point anymore. They _do_ exist, and that's all that matters, ok?" She looked into Philip's eyes. "Ok?" Philip nodded. "Yeah, ok," he responded, finally calmed down. A bit of his usual smile returned to his face. "Anyway, I'll admit I've always wanted to meet these guys..." They started up the hill again. Eventually, they arrived at the Ellicott Hall doors. Aerianne looked up. "Um, Philip?" "Yeah?" "Did the weatherman say anything about flash thunderstorms today?" "Huh?" Philip looked up. A dark thundercloud hovered over the dorm. The fact that it was a sunny day over the rest of the campus deterred the cloud not one bit. Philip shrugged. "Oh, that's just dramatic license... Pay it no mind," he said as he pulled out the student directory from his backpack, and dialed a number listed therein. The campus phone box next to the door rang a few times, then it was picked up. "Hello?" a voice on the other side answered. "Hi, is this BJ I'm speaking to?" Philip asked. "Yep! Is there anything I can do for you?" BJ replied. "Well, I was wondering if I could meet your friends on the sixth floor and talk to you about something..." Philip asked, hoping that this would work. "Sure! I'll buzz you in, and I'll be right down." BJ hung up the phone, and the door buzzed as it unlocked. Aerianne opened the door and followed him in. The lobby of Ellicott hall looked pretty boring, as lobbies of dorms go. Pseudo-wood panelling covered the cinder-block walls, and a RA's desk sat across from the elevators, with student mailboxes flanking the desk on either side. Aerianne and Philip stood in the middle of the lobby, feeling out of place. They were used to buildings a little bit more well-tended than this dorm. Eventually, a short student came out of the descending elevator. He looked rather, well, ordinary; just a loose, untucked button-down shirt and a pair of jeans defined his character. That and the rather interesting cowlick in the front of his hair that wouldn't go away. "Hi! Name's BJ, glad to meet you," the person said as he shook Philip's hand. "Hi! I'm Philip, and this is Aerianne," he replied, introducing the personage next to him. Aerianne waved, and said "Hi!" "Ah," BJ raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as they got into the elevator. "So, what is it that you wanted to ask?" he said as the ancient travel device began to move upward. "Well, you know those assaults that have been going on lately?" "Yeah, what about them?" BJ asked, becoming interested. "Well, Aerianne and I found out who was behind them, and we're going to try to stop them; but we're sort of understaffed at the moment." "But why are you coming to us? Wouldn't this be more appropriate for say, Daniel Dukke and Ferdinand Fox?" BJ commented as a joke, not noticing Philip's sudden reaction to the names he had spoken, nor Aerianne's attempt to keep Philip from fainting. "Well, you see, the situation is _unique_, to say the least...." Aerianne began to say, but Philip cut her off as he recovered. "And we think we can pull this off _without_ their help." Philip flatly stated. "Well, we can talk about it in more detail once you meet the guys," BJ said as the elevator stopped on the sixth floor. The sixth floor. Philip and Aeri waited in the floor's lounge as BJ went to get his friends. "See, Philip, that wasn't _that_ bad," Aerianne said with a smile. "He seemed perfectly normal..." "He _is_ normal... It's his _friends_ I'm concerned about," he said, which drew a questioning glance from Aeri. And once they entered, Aerianne _saw_ what he was concerned about. The first to arrive was BJ, whom they had already met. The next to arrive was a short, blonde, flattopped person in a preppie sweater and slacks, who introduced himself. "Johnathan Q. Peabody III, and I don't see _why_ you came to this hell-hole of a dormatory. Why my father could..." "Aw, giv it ah rest, Spud!" announced the tall redneck who entered next. "Ah don't need-- Well, Hell-LO, gorjeous!" he said as he came over to where Aeri and Philip were sitting. Aerianne turned to Philip with a panicked look. "Name's Jim Hooligan, pleezed to meet'cher!" he continued, moving closer. "Please forgive me for my companion's ill behaviour," said the fourth as he entered and interposed himself between the drooling Jim and the put-off Aerianne. "Jim is usually quite well-behaved when he's hasn't had his daily dose of alcoholic beverage." "_Daily_ dose?" Aerianne asked. "Unfortunate, but true," he chuckled, which Aerianne, much to her (and Philip's) surprise, joined in. Perhaps it was the fact that these educated words were coming from one who looked more like a Punk-Rocker- From-Hell which made him so incongrous, but they both took a liking to the man immediately. And finally, there came Horse. A six-foot-four, well-built, orange-haired man clad in a black sleeveless t-shirt, black jeans, cowboy boots, and sunglasses. "So, _you're_ the guy who wants to talk to us?" he asked, pointing to Philip. Once the group was assembled (or "heathen mob", as some might put it), Philip detailed what had gone before, and what Philip was hoping of the Hellicot Hallers. Needless to say, their reactions were not favorable. "Uh Uh, No way," said Horse, still not convinced of Philip's sanity concerning his plan. "No way in #$!@ am I going to risk life and limb, especially for _this_ campus. I have enough trouble with Sarge!" "But Horse," Philip continued to plead, "It's the chance of a lifetime! All the chaos and carnage you can stomach, and for a good cause!" "Now, Mr. Moyer, it is not like my colleague is not one to turn away from a night of glorious mayhem," Shaggy said. "It is just that he is still in doubt of the prospects of our little group _returning_ from your planned assault on the forces of evil," he chuckled. "Is there anything we can offer you?" asked Aerianne. As one, the assembled HHers turned to look at her. "NO," she said forcefully. They sighed, and returned to their original positions. "Anything _else_?" "Well, a six pack or two would be nice," mentioned Horse as an idle musing. "Well, then I promise that for every Velociraptor you kill, you will get a 6-pack." "WE'LL DO IT!" the HHers chorused. "WHAT?!?!" exclaimed Philip. "Aeri, did you have to promise them _that_?" Philip asked as they walked back to the Engineering Building. "Why?" "Well, we're sort of underage..." "Jeeze, Philip! I didn't say _we'd_ get them the beer... I think Gordo's old enough to buy it..." "But still..." "Philip, you don't need to worry about it...everything's under control," she smiled. Philip snorted. "Since _when_?" Aerianne chuckled, and they walked back to the lab to make preperations. 21) --- Bring 'Em Back Alive ------------------------------------------ "What the hell is that for?" "Kinemasochistics. You wouldn't believe the project we've got." -- Mark and ReRob SATURDAY, NOVEMEBER 20 Philip and Aerianne made their way to the engineering building. It was starting to turn dark, and they wanted to be inside and ready before the Velociraptor attacks began. "Are they ready?" asked Philip anxiously as they entered the lab. "Yes, they are," Rufus said with more than a hint of pride. He gestured over to a spotlighted area, where three motorcycles stood. "Only three?" Philip asked. "Well, don't forget, I _am_ an engineering major... We have these things called 'Labs'?" "Oh yeah... sorry." "No problem." Philip turned to look at the motorcycles again. "So, which ones did you make?" asked Aerianne, as she walked over to the light. "I've built a Battler, a Sabre, and a Lite. I wanted some practice building all three types. I've also made enough CVR for us four, as well as the members of Hellicott Hall." "Cool," stated Philip as Gordo came into the room. "But what do you have for the powerplant?" "Well, seeing as this world has no equvalent to protoculture, and that current fusion reactor technology has not reached the break-even point, Rufus here has opted for a standard unleaded gasoline engine," stated Gordo before Rufus could talk. "Er, yes, Gordo, that's right... that also means that you don't have any true flight mode, and that the power level is decreased..." "That's fine by me," stated Aerianne as she walked towards a partition, carrying a bag with armor. "We won't need flight in those closed quarters." She stepped behind it and began to change. * * * * * "Ok, I'm ready," said Aerianne as she stepped from behind the partition. Philip's jaw dropped. She was wearing CVR, yes, but it was _custom_ CVR adjusted to match her form exactly, painted a nice deep iridescent blue with red, black, and white accents. Quite frankly, it was breathtaking, and Philip said as much (or _didn't_, as the case may be). "I do believe that you have taken Philip's breath away," stated Gordo with a grin. Aeriane just smiled, while Philip just stared. Finally, his brain figured out how to control his mouth again, and he cleared his throat and smiled, embarrasingly. "Er... Shoulda realized that this was another principle of TBGTSTUAKA: 'Female armor always looks better than male armor,'" he said by way of apology. "Is that a compliment?" she said with an evil gleam in her eye. Philip gulped. "Uh, yeah, I guess..." "Good! I was hoping you would like it," she said with a wink before she turned to examine her Cyclone. Philip blinked, confused. He shook his head to clear it, and then turned to check out his Cyclone before the Hellicott Hall crew got there. By the time the HH crew arrived, Philip and Gordo had finished suiting up in their CVR. When they turned to greet the new arrivals, Philip noticed that the group had expanded some since their last meeting. He also noticed that Rufus recongized one of the individuals in question. "Hey, Lugnutz! Glad you could make it!" exclaimed Rufus as he made his way over to the group. "You _know_ him?" asked Philip incredulously. "Sure I do! We have the same Mech. Eng. lab!" "A mechanic named 'Lugnutz'?" asked Aerianne as she came over. The HH group didn't reply, but just started drooling heavily. "Will you _stop_ that?" she replied, exasperated; but the HHer's did no such thing. With a shake of her head, she walked over to the Sabre, got on it and revved it up. Before the HHer's could react, she had thrown it into gear, accellerated towards them, and had snap-transformed into Battloid mode. "I said 'stop that', _understand_?" And to punctuate her comment, she deployed a humming CADS blade with a KA-SHING! The assembled group shut their mouths so fast that one could hear their teeth collide. Aerianne nodded curtly, retracted the blade, and guestured for Philip to take the floor. "Er... thank you, Aerianne," Philip replied. "Ok... Rufus, if you could demonstrate the CVR?" The next few minutes were taken up as Rufus demonstrated the proper donning and doffing of the CVR. Most of those assembled had no problems, but one or two had some problems. Iggy was _dwarfed_ by the armor he was given; Sarge had troubles getting his head into the helmet and his tail into one CVR leg. Finally, however, the group was ready. Except for one thing. "What are we gonna do for weapons?" asked Horse. "You aint just gonna give us whatever you have lyin' around!" "Here Horse, hold this," Rufus said as he handed the Carrot-topped Barbarian a fully loaded M-16 rifle. Philip raised his eyebrows. He didn't know Rufus _had_ any of those just "lyin' around". Philip moved to protest, but then he caught Horse's demonic grin, and thought better of it. Once the group was fully outfitted (or with as much as they had), they made their way down the street to the Animal Sciences building. Aerianne was wearing her Cyclone as power armor, and Philip and Horse were similarly "clothed". The rest were wearing CVR. Philip tried the doors, one at a time. "Locked solid," he muttered after he had tried the last pair. "Hold on, let me try," said Aerianne as she collapsed her Cyclone, dismounted, and pulled out her lockpicks. In short order, she had picked the lock on the main door and opened it. Rufus immediately entered next, and disarmed the building's security alarm. "I'd ask you later where you learned that, but I'm not sure I want to know," whispered Philip through his helmet-comm. He got a chuckle from Rufus, and a hasty "shhh!" from Aerianne. They made their way into the building, and turned down a hall. "According to the plans I borrowed from Physical Plant, the animal labs are on the other side of the building," Rufus commented. "We'll need to work our way through the halls until we get there." "Understood," murmured Aerianne as she peeked around a hall corner. "All clear," she said as she motioned the others forward. Deep in the sublevels of FOWL's biosci lab, various gleepian technicians worked on their own little projects, breeding more raptors, and performing research. They did so in relative calm because they were _certain_ that their security systems would deal with any intruders. Even if the police alarm was disabled, the system would still operate; in fact, that was one of the conditions that would trigger the security system. And besides, with the type of system that they had, it would be better if there was no police involvement. The dead bodies would be hard to explain. The group continued their way down an abandoned hallway. The classroom doors were unlocked and they checked each room. "Empty, same as the rest," reported Rufus as he and Gordo exited the last one in the hall. "Well, you'd sorta figure that since the building hasn't been _opened_ yet," Horse commented sarcastically from within his Lite Cyclone. It still rankled him that Philip and Aeri had gotten the heavier-armored Cyclones. "Well, my dear Horse, that would make it an _excellent_ staging point for the enemy, wouldn't it?" replied Shaggy, who was standing next to him. Horse just grumbled, and turned his attention towards where Jim and Lugnutz were checking another room. They didn't notice the two pairs of eyes glowing in the moonlight behind them. The attack came without warning. The velociraptors raced past Shaggy and knocked Horse over, sending him sprawling. Fortunately, he was protected from the Raptor's spurs by his armor, and once he got up, he opened fire with his M-16. Its bullets chewed into the raptor's hide, and it went down. The other raptor took several shots but didn't fall. Snarling, it turned and raced towards Aerianne. "Aeri, LOOK OU--" Philip's cry was cut off as Aeri efficiently sliced off the Raptor's head with a CADS blade. The raptor's body fell to the ground with a sickening *Whump!*. "Stay alert, everyone," Aerianne muttered. They continued their way down the hall. They continued their way to the other side of the building. Aside from the first two raptors that they had dispatched, they encountered no resistance. "Huh," was all Horse had to say as they looked into the empty breeding room. "I _told_ you this was a stupid idea!" he said as turned on Philip. "There's nothing here!" "But there _were_ raptors here!" Philip attempted to reply. "So, they're all over the #$@% campus! What does _that_ prove?" "Hold _on_, you two," commanded Aerianne as she made her way between the two. "We've traced the Raptor signals to here, so they've got to be coming from here. They're just not coming from this floor." "Huh?" asked Philip and Horse at the same time. "Just look over there," Aerianne pointed. On the far wall, a large panel had been opened by Rufus and Lugnutz. It opened directly onto a flight of stairs. "Excuse me, Rufus," asked Gordo as the ertzatz commando squad made their way down the empty stairwell. "I was wondering.. What _was_ the serial number on that transmitter unit that you appropriated from that deceased Velociraptor?" Rufus thought for a moment, and then replied, "I think it was one hundred... why?" "Ah, just as I thought... Thank you for your assistance, Rufus!" And Gordo hurriedly made his way towards the front of the formation, leaving a confused Rufus in his wake. Gordo got to the front in time to see them clustered around a blast door closing off a short hallway that led from the bottom of the stairwell. "This _definitely_ wasn't in the plans," commented Rufus as he finally caught up with them. Lugnutz had already started to cut down the door with a portable oxyacetlyne torch that he had brought with him. "Philip... A cursory evaluation of Velociraptor capabilities indicates a _distinct_ tactical deficiency..." "In other words, Gordo..." Aerianne asked. "We're outnumbered." stated Philip as Lugnutz finished cutting down the blast door. They stepped back as it fell forward, revealing behind it many, many Raptors, smiling. <<>> "GET DOWN!" Philip yelled as he raised his arm to fire. Amazingly enough, they listened and hit the floor as he fired two missles. They rocketed towards the advancing line of raptors and detonated, sending whole raptors and bits of raptor flying backwards into the horde. "CHARGE!" yelled Aerianne, taking the initiative as she dove into the fray, CADS blades humming. Philip thought as he charged in as well, carried along by Aeri's emotional momentum. The rest of the group charged in as well, laying in suppressive fire with their M-16's and other weapons. Horse, for one, was doing quite well with the battle axe that he had brought along, while Iggy was rolling under the Raptors, firing upwards wildly. The basic tactic was to shoot everything that moved, so the group proceeded along the hall in a rough circle so that no one would end up hitting one of their own. Unfortunately, this meant that Philip and Aerianne ended up in the front of the formation, and took the brunt of the attack. Aerianne seemed not to care. She raced between the raptors, her blades slicing into them. She seemed to know exactly where to cut; many of the dinosaurs fell once she encountered them. She was a one- woman killing machine, deadly and precise. Philip, on the other hand, was still trying to get used to the _idea_ of combat itself. He fired on every raptor he could see with his M-16, rapidly changing clips of ammo whenever it ran out. He actually did a signifigant amount of damage, although most of it was to the walls and floor. He was just about to change another clip when he saw that ten raptors had ganged up, and were about to charge Aerianne. She was busy going one-on-one with another raptor and didn't notice them approach, claws outstretched... "NOOOO!" he yelled as he dropped his rifle and ran towards Aeri, body-checking her out of the way before she had a chance to protest. Unfortunately, this now left _him_ to face the brunt of the attack. Saying a silent (and _very_ rushed) prayer, he popped the chest covers on his Cyclone and launched all twelve of his minimissles. Amazingly, they all hit their targets, sending the group of ten raptors to the great beyond in under ten seconds, as well as taking out the one that Aerianne had originally been tangling with and one that Horse had been grappling with. Neither of them thanked him, they just contined to fight the raptors. But that was ok, because Philip was too busy to accept a reply, anyway. The group continued to battle their way down the hall, taking out any raptor that came in their way. Eventually, the flow of raptors decreased as more and more of them were taken out; and soon it died completely, leaving them standing knee-deep in dead raptor bodies. "I think I'm going to be _seeek_," Philip said in a bad Ren voice as he looked over the carnage. "Save it for later," replied Aerianne as she, Horse, and Lugnutz moved towards the end of the hall, where another blast door had fallen during the fight. With CADS blade, torch, and human muscle, they pulled the door down. Revealing another door several feet further, with a huge FOWL logo on it. "Philip, if you will do the honors?" gestured Aerianne as she and the rest of the group moved to either side of the door, hugging the wall. "Er, ok..." he said as he raised his other arm and sighted on the logo. "All right, NOBODY MOVE!" yelled Aerianne as they blasted down the last door. Techs scattered everywhere as the squad came and took up covering positions. "What the... GLEEPIANS?!?" Philip exclaimed. "What the hell is going on?" he asked as the green, floating, one-eyed aliens ran to hide. "Who?" asked Gordo as he and some of the others tried to block the exits. "I'll tell you later! Try to stop them!" But it was too late. The techs had fled to point unknown, and an unknown voice had begun to count down. No one needed to be told what it meant. "Ok, _now_ what, O fearless leader?" asked Shaggy sarcastically. Philip looked around, wondering for the tenth time that day how he had gotten into this. "We'd better get out of here. If that counter's doing what I think it's doing, the explosion should wreck the equipment enough to keep them from making any more raptors with 'ware." "We can't do that!" interjected Rufus. "Why not?" "Look at this stuff!" he gestured to the equipment around them. "We could _use_ it, we've _gotta_ take it with us!" He seemed to be very insistant in his demands, but Philip protested. "How the heck are we going to carry all this stuff out?! Or are you proposing we freeze time or somethi--" "Hey, what about us?" yelled a form hidden in one of the cages. The group turned at the sound and stared. "What the @#$!?" Horse stated eloquently. "Let us out, please!" the second pleaded. "Yeah, 'cause we're not too eager to become stir-fry," the third said sarcastically. "_Sentient_ Velociraptors?" asked Aerianne incredulously. Rufus nodded his head, while Philip groaned. "Philip, I doubt that that will assist out current situation any," Gordo stated with his usual Grin(tm). "I know, but it make me feel better." He hit his helmeted head for a few more times, and then stopped with a sigh. "Ok... Horse, you and the gang gather up anything Rufus thinks he can use. Aeri, Gordo, work at getting that cage open." The people assembled began to work. "And hurry! We only have..." "5 minutes, zero seconds" the voice said. "5 minutes left!" Philip exclaimed. "I said that." the voice replied, peeved. Once released, the three raptors actually proved to be a great help in determining what Rufus did and didn't need. The gleepian techs who had grown and taught them had never _truly_ known the full capabilities of their progeny. The first one pulled out a set of hoverpads, while the second helped Rufus with the selection of equipment and the third helped with the loading. Finally, with a last mournful look on the part of Rufus and the Raptors, the group made their way out of the lab posthaste, just as the voice was counting "Two minutes". They navigated the charnel house and stairway with difficulty, taking out a precious minute and a half, but once they were back on level flooring they ran for the exit. They cleared the outer perimiter just as the building's voice said "Zero". The building erupted in an agony of flame, sending bits of window glass and interior decorating through the air. Several of those assembled turned to shield themselves, and then they all looked at the Animal Sciences building as it burned to the ground. "Looks like Physical Plant's got their work cut out for them," muttered Philip. And there was _much_ rejoicing. Yay. LATER THAT NIGHT Philip sat apart from the general merrymaking on the Denton "beach", deep in thought. Aerianne, who had decided to abstain from the alcohol that the others were imbibing, walked over to where he was and sat next to him. "Why aren't you joining them?" asked Aerianne. "Well," he said, ticking off points with his fingers, "I don't like parties of that type, I don't like alcohol in general, I'm bleeding from multiple scratches, I'm hurt in several places I didn't even know existed, I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm bruised... And on top of all that, I feel F.I.N.E..." "Fucked-up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional," the two chorused solemnly, after which they chuckled. Philip yawned. "I second that emotion," Aerianne said with a yawn. "Thanks," she said as she leaned against Philip's shoulder "For what?" Philip asked, confused. "Saving my life," she said as she closed her eyes. "Uh... you're welcome," Philip said. But he wasn't heard, because Aerianne had fallen asleep.