By Chris Bishop

PART 2

“A Snowball’s chance…”

Doctor Fawn assigned a private room to the Mogwai, where they played with whatever they could get their paws on – papers, pencils, books, plastic bottles, whatever had the brightest colours attracted them the most. They were a noisy bunch when they were all chattering about, and so in an attempt to keep them quiet, Fawn had a TV set installed for them. The biggest one he could find on Cloudbase. It did attract their attention, and for a little while, they were a little quieter, sitting in front of the television and watching whatever was displayed on the screen. They weren’t that difficult to please – they would watch anything – but they obviously had a marked preference for anything that had bright and vivid colours and loud sounds.

The fascination for the Mogwai quickly spread through sickbay. Nurses and doctors, curious about them, found the time for a quick visit to check on them, and see what they were all about. Female staff, most noticeably, found them cute, without any exception. It was also interesting for Fawn to note that not one of the visitors seemed to have ever seen Mogwai – or heard about them - before. Not even a nurse who came directly from Shanghai could remember any reference to the small creature in Chinese culture – not even a mythic one. Which didn’t surprise Harmony in the least, since she had not heard of them herself before receiving her cousin’s letter and being confronted with Gizmo – even though, apparently, the small animal had been in her family for some generations.

Mogwai were still a total mystery; so far, research on Worldnet had not turned up any satisfactory explanation of their existence. Neither had Fawn’s tests; he still couldn’t relate them to any other species on Earth. It was as if they had literally fallen from the sky at some point in history, the knowledge of their existence being closely guarded by a very small number of people so well and so jealously that they remained a total secret to an unsuspecting world at large. Fawn did, however, discover that their physiology was quite unique. And each discovery made the Mogwai even more outlandish than before.

Fawn was busy in the laboratory, examining the last blood sample he had taken from the Mogwai when new visitors came to see the creatures.

“Hello, Doc. How are our little fellows doing today?”

Fawn gave a sigh, leaving his microscope to turn on his seat and address the two Spectrum officers who had entered his lab. Captain Grey and Captain Ochre were standing in the doorway, each carrying a sports bag, and watching at him expectantly. The doctor threw his pen onto the counter.

“Oh, they’re fine. I suppose you came to get a look at them too?”

“That easy to guess, uh?” Ochre asked with a broad smile.

Fawn rolled his eyes. “Do you have any idea how many curious onlookers have come in since I received these little creatures yesterday? First, it was the doctors and nurses, then personnel from all over Cloudbase. That’s without mentioning the Angels and some of the other captains who come to visit them – fairly regularly, might I add. You two are the last of the senior staff to come.” He left his seat. “If you’d care to follow me...”

Fawn walked out of the lab, followed by the two captains; he guided them to a remote private room and opened the door. The three men entered the dimly-lit room, which had been adapted for the Mogwai’s needs. They were seated on a large, thick duvet spread out on the floor. Gizmo and Midget were installed in front of the TV set, watching a show about car chases, while Snowball and the three others were playing a little further away with pans and cans, beating on them with sticks in a less than harmonious way.

“I had to restrict access to the Mogwai,” Fawn explained as the door slid closed behind him, and Grey and Ochre, fascinated, slowly crouched to get a better view of the small animals. “Not only because it was hindering my staff’s work, but also in case seeing so many strangers would distress the Mogwai. Fortunately, as it turned out, they are very sociable creatures. They don’t seem in the least disturbed by so many visitors.”

“The Angels didn’t lie,” Grey said with a smile. “They are rather cute. Which is the one Harmony received?”

“Gizmo is one of the two sitting in front of the TV. The larger of the two,” Fawn explained, pointing to the two small creatures in question. “He’s the quieter one too. He doesn’t seem to like playing with the others. We called the smaller one with him Midget. He seemed to have attached himself to Gizmo. Maybe because he senses he’s their ‘father’ or something…” He waved to the other, more turbulent Mogwai. “The others don’t seem to feel the same toward Gizmo, however. Most of the time, they ignore him. Snowball seems to have become their natural leader. Scarlet refers to the others as ‘The Three Stooges’.”

“I thought he had given them the Marx Brothers’ names,” Grey retorted.

“Frankly, Captain Grey – I doubt if Captain Scarlet knows the difference between the Marx Brothers and the Stooges.”

Ochre chuckled. “That’s Scarlet for you. No movie or television knowledge whatsoever…”

Fawn raised a brow. “I’m rather surprised you didn’t come sooner, Captain Ochre. Knowing you, I fully expected an earlier visit from you – considering that you’re the one who delivered the box containing the first Mogwai from the courier plane to the Amber Room…”

Ochre grimaced, as he and Grey stood up to face the doctor. “The Angels told you that detail, huh?”

“How could you let that one slip by you?” Grey asked, elbowing his fellow officer. “You’re getting old, Ochre…”

“I’m younger than you,” Ochre retorted. He nodded toward Fawn. “I would have come sooner, Doc… But duty got in the way. So when Grey suggested that we drop in for a quick visit on our way to the pool…” He lifted his bag to emphasise the point, “…I thought it was a good opportunity.”

“You didn’t hear anything coming from that box, Captain?” Fawn asked.

“Not a peep,” Ochre answered with a shrug. “How could I guess there was an animal in there?”

“Mmm… and the Angels told me there weren’t any ventilation holes in it, through which Gizmo could have breathed. I don’t understand how he was able to survive the trip from China to our HQ in London, and then from there to Cloudbase. It must have taken days.”

“That sounds impossible,” Grey noted with a frown.

“It should be impossible. But obviously, that animal did it.” Fawn sighed again. “Well, I guess that’s a new mystery to add to their account… There’s so much about these ‘Mogwai’ that I don’t understand. Least of all, their way of procreating.”

A banging sound and a sharp yell coming behind made him turn towards the TV set. Gizmo and Midget were still sitting in front of it, but there also were two of the other Mogwai. Gizmo was rubbing the side of his head, moaning miserably, with Midget obviously busy trying to comfort him and the two others cooing with what sounded like laughter. There was a pan lying on the floor at their feet, right next to Gizmo.

“Oh, for God’s sake, what happened there?”

Fawn rushed to Gizmo, followed by both Ochre and Grey, and the three men crouched down next to the little animal. The way he was glaring at the two laughing Mogwai was an indisputable accusation of what had happened. Ochre put down his bag and picked up the pan, before grimly looking over at the TV screen, where there was a fist-fight going on.

“No fair, guys,” Grey said to the still laughing Mogwai. “You could have hurt him badly with a trick like that!”

“They’re obviously easily influenced,” Ochre remarked. “Much like small children. TV violence… that could be a bad influence on weak minds.”

“Hey! I grew up with that kind of show!” Grey protested.

“So?”

“He has a cut, but it doesn’t seem too serious,” Fawn remarked, while examining a small wound Gizmo had behind one of his large ears. “I’d better put some iodine on this, to make sure it won’t get infected.” He picked Gizmo up and carefully stashed him under his white jacket, and stood up, while a protesting Midget was hanging on to his boots, as if unwilling to let his friend go.

“Easy, little fellow… I won’t hurt him. I’ll bring him back to you as soon as I’m done. Grey, would you get him off me? I have to go and I can’t run the risk of stepping on him – or dragging him all the way into the corridor.”

Putting his bag down, Grey reached for the still agitated Midget and gently unhooked him from Fawn’s boot. He held on to him, much like a small baby, while Fawn left the room, the door closing on him, with Gizmo hidden under his vest. Ochre was glaring at the two Mogwai who were still obviously laughing their heads off.

“Bad boys, bad!” he snapped at them. “I can appreciate a good joke as much as the next guy, but what you two did was mean!”

“Easy, Rick,” Grey said with an amused smile. “They probably don’t understand.”

“If they are laughing so hard, you can damned well be sure that they do understand, Brad,” Ochre muttered.

Grey put down the now calmer Midget onto the duvet, sighing. “You’re such a big kid, arguing with animals… Come on, let’s check on that little fellow and then move on to the pool.”

“Right,” Ochre said, rising to his feet with Grey, both of them picking up their bags. “Or we won’t have any time left before we’re back on duty… We still have some preparations to make for the Halloween celebration. Have you talked to the colonel about it?”

“Sure did – but he wants a full review of exactly what you’re planning to do. I don’t know why, but he told me he doesn’t want to have any surprises from you during that little party of yours. Almost his exact words.”

“Why is he so suspicious?” Ochre noted with an almost offended expression. “Doesn’t he trust me?”

“Quite frankly, Rick?” Grey grinned broadly, pushing the button for the door to open in front of them. “I don’t think he does.” Both men prepared to leave and turned one last time to look into the room. The three Mogwai in front of the TV were looking expectantly at them, still gibbering. “Be good, boys. You’ll have your friend back shortly.”

With that, Grey and Ochre left the room, the door sliding shut behind them.

They failed to notice that two of the remaining Mogwai were now missing from the duvet where they had been playing minutes earlier…

* * *

“Hi, Edward. We heard there had been some kind of accident with Gizmo?”

In his laboratory, Doctor Fawn snorted disdainfully on hearing the voice coming from behind him. He was leaning over Gizmo, still treating the cut behind his ear.

“Nothing that antiseptic and a few stitches won’t take care of, Captain Scarlet.” He glanced over his shoulder to watch as Scarlet, followed by Captain Blue, entered the room. “Don’t tell me Ochre and Grey called you and that you ran all the way down here when you heard the news!”

Scarlet looked at him in confusion. “Actually, one of your nurses told us, as we were looking for you,” he explained. “What’s this about Ochre and Grey?”

Fawn shrugged and turned to his small patient. “They were here when the incident occurred. You just missed them by a couple of minutes. They came to check that Gizmo was all right, and went on their way to the pool.”

“Glad to hear everything is all right, though.” Scarlet approached and looked down at the examination table, where the small Mogwai was seated; the latter didn’t seem too traumatised by the fact that Fawn was carefully stitching the base of his ear. “Hi there, Giz!”

“Hi, Paul!” The Mogwai’s voice was jovial enough; he smiled broadly at the sight of his tall red-clad friend. Blue, standing next to Scarlet, chuckled.

“Don’t let the colonel hear you calling him that, Gizmo,” he said, jerking his thumb in Scarlet’s direction. “That could cause you a whole lot of trouble…”

“Gizmo in trouble?” Gizmo seemed to inquire, tilting his head to one side. At which Fawn protested slightly.

“Now, keep quiet a minute or two more, Gizmo,” the doctor reprimanded gently, but in a stern voice. “It’s almost done now.”

“What exactly did happen, Doctor?” Blue asked.

“Apparently, Gizmo was attacked by one of the other Mogwai.”

“Attacked?” There was an alarmed tone to Scarlet’s voice. Then he growled, “Snowball?”

“No… one of the Three Stooges. He hit him with a pan. I don’t know why, but apparently, they thought it was a very funny thing to do at the time. They couldn’t stop laughing.”

“Laughing?”

“At least that’s what it sounded like, Captain Blue. I asked one of the nurses to remove any dangerous objects from the room. If they start hitting each other, it may cause some trouble…” Fawn straightened up, looking down with satisfaction as his handiwork. “Now, then, Gizmo. As good as new.” He moved to pick up the small animal and his hand accidentally brushed against the lamp set on the side of the table. As a precaution, he had pushed the light away from Gizmo, so the Mogwai wouldn’t be touched by it. As a result of his unintentional gesture, the lamp moved, and the light hit Gizmo straight on. There was a loud shrilling cry from the Mogwai as his eyes opened wide with pain and horror. He seemed fly off the table, like a streak of light – and an astounded Scarlet found himself holding the shivering little animal, who had literally jumped into his arms as if looking for his protection.

“Hey, Doctor, be careful!” he automatically told Fawn off. “You know that these creatures are sensitive to light!”

“No kidding,” Fawn mumbled. He killed the light instantly and motioned to Scarlet. “Put him there. I want to examine him.”

Gently, using comforting words, Scarlet put the Mogwai down onto the examination table, and Fawn leaned over again to check on him. He shook his head after a moment. “Pupils are dilated, but there doesn’t seem to be any damage… Hold on, there’s a little bit of singed fur here.” He pointed to a little dark spot marking the otherwise snow-white part of Gizmo’s coat. The mark was no bigger than his thumb. “Well, they are sensitive to bright light, that much is right,” Fawn remarked. “And that was only a brief exposure. I can only imagine what a long exposure would do to them…”

“What strange creatures these Mogwai are,” Blue noted sombrely, his eyes not leaving Gizmo who seemed to have grown calmer now.

“They’re getting more mysterious by the minute,” Fawn agreed. “I’ve examined many samples of blood taken from each individual. They’re nothing like any other blood samples I’ve encountered before. They’re as unique as you are, Captain Scarlet.”

“Are they really?” Scarlet replied, raising a brow.

“Actually, I should say that Gizmo is as unique as you are,” Fawn corrected. “The other five Mogwai share a similar kind of blood – even Groucho, who was born from one of them. As for Gizmo – even though he is the parent – his blood is different. I still have to make further tests, but… there is definitely something peculiar about him.”

“Could that be the reason he doesn’t seem to get along with the others?” Scarlet asked. “They sense he’s different from them?”

“Could be. Midget is the only one who seems to like him. Although his blood is similar to the others.”

“Or maybe it’s him who doesn’t like the others, for whatever reason,” Blue pointed out, still looking meaningfully at Gizmo. “He really seemed to have taken a liking to you, Scarlet.”

“We ‘unique’ types have to stick together,” Scarlet grinned, gently patting the small Mogwai. “Isn’t that true, Giz?”

“Is true!” Gizmo replied, as if he had understood the question.

“What a pair!” Blue grinned back, exchanging a mocking wink with Fawn.

“Excuse me, Doctor Fawn?” The three men turned around to see one of the sickbay nurses hovering in the doorway. She was the nurse whom Fawn had instructed earlier to remove the pans and other objects which could be used as weapons by the Mogwai. She was showing all the signs of being very uncomfortable.

“Yes, what is it, Nurse Lawford?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt you, Doctor,” she started awkwardly, “but it looks like there’s two of the little creatures missing from the room where we put them.”

Fawn blinked. “Missing? You mean, they’re not in the room anymore?”

“That’s what I mean. I looked around with another nurse… if they’re hiding in there, they’re hiding very well.”

“They didn’t take advantage of the open door to get out?” Fawn asked. He was concerned that, considering the obvious sensitivity of the Mogwai for bright light, the missing specimens would get hurt if they were wandering around in sickbay – or anywhere on Cloudbase, where there was plenty of bright light around.

“No, doctor, I’m certain of that.” Nurse Lawford answered his question, shaking her head. “We made very sure that nothing would get through the door.”

“Where can they be?” a puzzled Blue asked. “Surely they can’t have gotten far…”

“That’s the last thing we need,” grumbled Scarlet. “Launching a grand scale search for those missing Mogwai...” He paused a second, as a thought suddenly came to his mind, and turned to the nurse. “Which ones are missing?”

“The white one, Captain,” she answered. “And one of the three bigger specimens.”

“Snowball,” Scarlet snorted. “I should have known he would be the one causing trouble…”

“You just don’t like that one,” Blue retorted. “Because he bit you.”

“No, it’s my instinct telling me that one is trouble…”

“Trouble,” confirmed Gizmo.

“With a capital ‘T’. See, even Gizmo agrees.”

“Yeah, and I will give credence to a animal we know nothing about and who, as far as we can tell, probably doesn’t have a brain larger than a dog’s…”

“All right, that’s enough,” Fawn protested irritably, seeing Scarlet getting ready to defend his furry friend. “We have better things to do than argue amongst ourselves. Now, how did those Mogwai get out of that room, without suffering from the bright light in the corridor? If we figure that one out, maybe we can find out where they are…”

“The last time I saw all of them together, Doctor,” Nurse Lawford pointed out, “was before Captain Ochre and Captain Grey’s visit.”

“I was with Grey and Ochre when they went into the room,” Fawn remarked. “And all the Mogwai were there. Then I had to leave with Gizmo, because…” He stopped suddenly, as realisation dawned on him. He looked up at Scarlet and Blue. “That’s when they got out.”

“Into the corridor?” Scarlet said with a frown. “Without protection from the light?”

“Ochre and Grey each had a sports bag with them,” Fawn continued quickly. “They put them on the floor when we went to check on Gizmo. Our missing Mogwai could have stowed away in those…”

“They would have done that?” a doubtful Blue asked.

“Don’t underestimate their intelligence, Captain Blue. They were looking for a way out of the room all day. They might have seized that otherwise unhoped-for opportunity…”

“Where are Ochre and Grey now?” Scarlet asked.

“Well, they told me they were going to the pool.” Fawn’s jaw literally dropped as he pronounced those words. He went pale. And Scarlet and Blue with him. “My God! The pool!”

“Oh no!” murmured Scarlet.

“Oh no!” repeated Gizmo. His expression was a perfect mirror of the humans surrounding him.

“Nurse Lawford, take Gizmo with you,” Fawn ordered the nurse, rushing to the door, followed by Scarlet and Blue. “Keep hold of him, don’t put him with the others right now, and for God’s sake don’t let him or any of the others wander away!”

“Y-yes, doctor,” the nurse answered, accepting the small animal Scarlet hurriedly pushed into her arms.

“Scarlet, Blue, come with me, quick, to the pool. Try to contact Grey and Ochre, and see if the missing Mogwai are with them. We have to get up there before something catastrophic happens!”

“Oh, I have a bad feeling about this…” Blue muttered as he lowered his cap microphone to make the ordered call. “I have a horrible feeling about this…”

* * *

While running all the way to the sports centre, situated on Deck B, just above sickbay, Scarlet and Blue were unable to raise either Ochre or Grey. There was a fair chance that, if they were already at the pool, they had discarded their caps and maybe even their uniforms, so their personal communicators would be automatically disabled. By the time they came to that realisation, the two captains were rushing up the stairs leading to the storey above, with Fawn following a few metres behind – while he was in good physical shape, the Cloudbase medical chief was a long way from equalling the captains’ peak of fitness. It was no use him trying to keep up with them, so he simply followed, as quickly as he could.

When they reach the top of the stairs, Blue stopped in front of a wall-mounted intercom and punched a number into it, in a last attempt to contact Ochre and Grey, while Scarlet continued towards the pool.

“Captain Ochre! Captain Grey!” Blue barked, his voice reverberating through all the speakers in the sports centre. “This is Captain Blue! This is an emergency! Contact me immediately!”

He waited a few seconds, but there was no response, and that both irritated and worried Blue at the same time. “Ochre! Grey! Please, acknowledge! Use the nearest intercom! I’m on my way to the pool!” He left the intercom just as Fawn arrived by his side and together, they rushed behind Scarlet.

The latter had arrived in front of the door leading directly to the pool, when finally the voice of Captain Grey was heard through the speakers: “This is Captain Grey, acknowledging Captain Blue’s call…”

Scarlet used the intercom next to the door. “Grey, why didn’t you answer before?” he called angrily into it, his message relayed only to the room on the other side. “What is it?”

“We had a… small problem,” the voice of Grey answered from the small speaker.

With an impending sense of doom, Scarlet pressed the opening button and the door slid open before him, just as Blue and an out-of-breath Fawn reached him. They nearly barrelled into Grey, whom they found standing in the doorway, with an abashed look on his features. He was soaked from head to foot, still in his uniform, but without his tunic and boots.

“We have been busy,” he explained apologetically.

“Busy?” Scarlet repeated with perplexity. He brushed Grey aside and entered, with Fawn and Blue in tow, and took a couple of steps into the large, dimly-lit room. “What could possibly have… happened…”

He stopped in his tracks; his jaw hit the floor and he opened wide eyes at the sight offering itself to him. Behind him, he heard Fawn’s gasp of surprise and Blue’s muttered curse.

All around the empty pool, was a multitude of little brown and white creatures, oblivious to the presence of the three men who had just entered to discover them. All too busy playing happily with each other.

Mogwai everywhere… cooing, singing, chattering, doing what Mogwai did best.

And seated on the floor, in the middle of them all, was Captain Ochre, as soaked as Grey himself was, with a sulking and defeated expression on his grim face, ignoring all the noise around him as if it didn’t affect him at all.

Scarlet slapped his forehead in complete disarray.

He was already hearing Colonel White’s yelling…

* * *

“HOW many are there?!”

Scarlet fought not to roll his eyes. He knew that his angry commander had heard him very well the first time.

“One hundred and four, sir. Counting the previous six.”

“ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR?!” Up until now, Colonel White had tried to remain as dignified as possible as the official reports from his officers had slowly revealed the situation to him. Ochre and Grey were still dripping wet as they stood to attention in front of him, and it was all Blue could do not to openly laugh. And it was no laughing matter at all – at least in White’s point of view. Now it was too much even for him to stay calm. He jumped to his feet, slapping the top of his desk. The sound resonated through the entire control room. All the captains automatically straightened themselves – especially Ochre and Grey. Lieutenant Green, who had wisely retreated to the other end of his computer, lowered his head and pretended not to be there. As for Doctor Fawn, seated on the lone stool next to the colonel’s rounded desk, he was hanging his head, and holding it as if he had a terrible headache.

“We are lucky there aren’t more of them, Colonel,” Scarlet continued stoically, as White rounded his desk. “If not for Captains Ochre and Grey’s speedy action…”

“If not for these bloody fools, we wouldn’t be STUCK with ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR blasted little furry creatures to begin with!” White exploded, cutting off Scarlet’s protests. He came to stand before Ochre and Grey and – if possible – they stood even more rigidly. More than that, and they will bend backwards, Blue observed.

“Tell me at what point exactly you realised you each had one of these creatures in your bags,” White said between clenched teeth.

“When we opened them, sir,” Ochre answered truthfully.

“And not for one instant, did you realise that your bags were a little heavier than before you arrived in sickbay?”

“No, sir,” both Ochre and Grey replied.

“And not a sound from the bags either?”

“The Mogwai were very quiet, sir,” Grey said. “It was as if they wanted to go there and didn’t want to be found out. When we opened the bags in the locker room, they… made a run for it.”

“Before we realised, they were dashing out of the locker room and toward the pool,” Ochre continued. “They’re incredibly fast on those little feet of theirs, Colonel. We were unable to catch them. Well… not before they were actually able to jump into the pool.”

“And then what?” White snapped angrily.

Ochre closed his eyes and sighed. “We removed our tunics and boots and jumped in to get them out of the water as soon as possible. We’d heard about the effect water has on them.”

“But it was already too late,” Grey pursued. “By the time we put the two Mogwai on the floor… there were furry balls popping out of them…”

“Yes, all right,” an annoyed White interrupted. “I already know how that happens…”

“There were so many… All we could do is keep them away from the water and remove the balls that had already fallen into the pool. As quickly as we could. But there were so many, there was only so much we could do, Colonel, it was almost impossible…” Grey sighed in turn, lowering his head. “I’m sorry, sir. We blew it.”

White’s eyes burned hotter with barely contained anger; he huffed his frustration and turned away, muttering to himself. Grey and Ochre briefly exchanged a miserable glance. There was no way to know now how the colonel would react and what he would do to punish them.

“Under the circumstances, I believe you did your best.” White’s words took everyone aback. The Spectrum commander turned on his heels to face them. Frustration was still obvious in his stern face, but he was obviously calming down by the second. “I should assign you to clean up after this mess, gentlemen – by cleaning up these creatures’ own mess…”

Blue nearly strangled himself forcing the laugh down his throat when he heard that; he had the good sense to keep as straight an expression as he could. Grey and Ochre looked pale and very uncomfortable at the thought, but they were relieved to see White waving the thought away.

“But that wouldn’t serve anything or anyone. Right now, we have to make sure that it will never happen again.”

“Yes, sir, Colonel White, sir,” Grey and Ochre agreed heartily.

“Those… one hundred and four Mogwai…” White grimaced, pronouncing the number, as he turned to Captain Scarlet. “They are all accounted for, I hope?”

“Yes, sir. None of them is missing. They have been… herded into the auditorium.”

“We have put security guards in charge of surveillance,” Blue added. “They won’t be able to get out of there without being spotted.”

“Are they all in the auditorium?”

“Not exactly, no,” Doctor Fawn then intervened, causing White to turn to him with an annoyed look. “I asked to keep Gizmo in sickbay – along with the three others who are still there and Snowball, who we found amongst his… new-found friends. AND with two of those, as well. I still want to perform a few tests.”

“Snowball, yes…” White mumbled. “Well, it would appear, Captain Scarlet, that your instinct was right about that little pest.”

“Sir.”

“Doctor, make sure that those creatures can’t leave sickbay from now on,” White said, turning to Fawn. “I don’t want any more of those creatures running freely around Cloudbase.” He gave a loud huff. “One hundred and four Mogwai… I’m sure Harmony’s cousin won’t agree to take the whole tribe… Have we been able to reach him, Lieutenant?” he added turning to Green, seated at his station.

“Er… Still nothing, sir,” Green answered, a little awkwardly. “Spectrum Intelligence is still trying to identify at which Shaolin Temple he’s residing. Apparently, the Temple is reluctant to provide an accurate list of their members… There’s a lot of ‘Brother Huangs’ amongst the monks.”

“Keep Spectrum Intelligence at it,” White growled. “Make it top priority.”

“S.I.G., sir.”

“And if any of those loudmouths at SI should inquire about the reason why we’re interested in a monk of the Shaolin Temple, tell them it’s classified,” White continued, returning to his seat. “I won’t have Agent Conners sticking his big nose into this… I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of being able to make a laughing-stock of Cloudbase staff.” He sat down slowly at his desk, rolling his eyes upward. “One hundred and four Mogwai…” he repeated in an irate tone. “Now how the bloody hell can we get rid of them?”

“Midnight Snack…”

Snowball knew that the Mogwai were meant to be stronger.

And his instinct was telling him that, in order to get stronger, they needed to eat… His stomach was always crying out in the middle of the night, demanding nourishment right then and there, and he just knew that this was for a special purpose. Because all the other Mogwai were like him, and fervently wanted to eat, long after the sun had set – after midnight. They were all crying for food, but the humans were ignoring them. They would not accede to their demands. Snowball suspected that they had a good reason for that.

The humans feared the Mogwai, and didn’t want them to grow stronger.

That was because of Gizmo… Somehow he had warned the humans off. He had told them not to feed the Mogwai during the night.

Snowball HATED Gizmo… he wasn’t like the other Mogwai. He didn’t want to be fed after midnight, and was the only one not to cry for food. He had the humans’ trust and they liked him – much more than they liked the other Mogwai.

Especially that red-clad, tall, dark-haired man they called Scarlet.

Snowball hated Scarlet even more than he hated Gizmo. He didn’t like the way the human looked at him – as if he suspected that the white Mogwai was up to something. And indeed, he was right. Snowball had found a way to trick the humans. All of them.

Before he had been taken away from the auditorium, Snowball had given his instructions to the others. They considered him to be their leader, so they had listened to him with utmost attention. They would do as they were told.

It was a simple and easy plan.

The humans were feeding the Mogwai regularly – only, they were making sure they didn’t give them anything after midnight. Mogwai were ravenous creatures, so they normally ate everything they were given right away. Snowball had instructed the others not to eat all they received – but to hide some of it – and wait. Wait until after midnight. Wait until their stomachs cried out and demanded food. Wait until they were unable to wait anymore.

And then the Mogwai would eat – and would become different – stronger.

He and the others in the sickbay room would do the same, of course. He had already explained his plan to them. There was just one small problem…

Gizmo.

He had his eyes on them all the time, checking Snowball more precisely, obviously suspecting something, like his human friend did. He posed a threat. He was a spy for the humans. He might alert them. Ah, to get rid of Gizmo would make things so much easier.

It could also provide – a diversion.

That’s when Snowball conceived his second plan… and conveyed it to the others.

* * *

Fawn had put in long hours for the last few days, trying to learn more about the Mogwai, and up until now, had not been able to find out much about them. That was probably what made them so interesting, to the point that he couldn’t stop studying them. For Fawn, it was a curiosity very similar to the one he had felt when he had started studying the Mysterons’ capacities – and Scarlet’s case in particular. Both cases were a constant and undying source of scientific fascination – and Fawn, first and foremost, was a man of science, coupled with being a damned good doctor.

It was late in the evening, when Doctor Fawn came to see the Mogwai in the room where they had been left, bringing Midget back with him. As soon as the little Mogwai was put on the floor, he broke into a run and went to join Gizmo, who, as usual, was seated a short distance from the others, watching the show on the television. No matter that the older Mogwai didn’t seem to get on with the others, he still enjoyed watching the same shows as they did. Actually, Fawn assumed that whatever was presented on the screen, they would like watching it. Of course, they had their preferences, depending on their personalities. Gizmo, for example, would get absorbed in anything involving music – but he had also sat through an old action-packed war movie the night before – so engrossed was he that he didn’t even notice that the other Mogwai had fallen asleep long before the movie finished.

The following morning, Gizmo had only the name ‘Rambo’ on his lips. Fawn felt certain that it wasn’t the first time the Mogwai had seen that movie – and that he would happily watch it a thousand times more.

Gizmo was glad to see Midget come back, and welcomed him accordingly, moving over a little bit on the cushion he was sitting on to make some room for his smaller companion. Midget was the only one of his peers with which Gizmo got on; the little Mogwai was, indeed, very similar in character to Gizmo. He was gentle, playful in a quiet kind of way, and affectionate. He liked human company. Not like the other Mogwai.

“All right, little fellow,” Fawn said with a warm smile at the delightful scene of Gizmo and Midget cuddling together, “I think that will be all for you today…” His words apparently went unnoticed, as the two Mogwai were already enraptured by the show. Fawn glanced at the TV with curiosity, just in time to see the words “Quincy, M.D.” appear on the screen. Another one of those old medical show re-runs, he reflected inwardly.

“Well, whose turn will it be this time?” Fawn looked around at his feet. He needed one of the new Mogwai, born the same morning at the pool. He had personally found two whom he knew he would easily recognise. One of them had a dark patch of fur on the top of his head. He found it, seated right in front of the TV set, completely absorbed in the show. “I think you’re elected, ‘Quincy’,” Fawn declared. He crouched down to take the small animal in his arms. The latter protested loudly and put on a struggle, but he was evidently no match for Fawn.

“Hey! Calm down, little one! I won’t hurt you. I just want to do some tests on you… See how different you are from all your ‘brothers’ – or ‘fathers’, whatever.”

Fawn walked out of the room with the Mogwai still protesting. Snowball followed him with mean eyes, until the door closed. Then he turned to his three companions, seated with him. They whispered for a time in low tones, now oblivious to the show on the television.

Gizmo was watching them with attention, suspicious of their behaviour. Experience had taught the older Mogwai that he should distrust the majority of his peers; he knew they were trouble, and forever up to something bad. And amongst them, there was always one, worse than the others, more malevolent and cruel – hating humans and wanting to hurt them. One with a strong enough personality, who would become their leader. And it was always through that leader that trouble came. Snowball was that Mogwai.

Gizmo tried to look inconspicuous, turning his attention to the TV screen, but still watching the conspiratorial Mogwai with interest. He saw Groucho leaving the small group and walking toward the filing cabinet leaning on the wall. Gizmo followed him with his eyes, and watched as the Mogwai patiently climbed the cabinet.

Once on the top, Groucho was able to reach the air vent. Gizmo saw him push the grating slightly ajar and slip into the opening. Gizmo gasped in surprise; the other Mogwai had probably unscrewed the grating previously, at some time during the day. They were planning another escape – and Groucho was the first one to go.

Well, he wasn’t going to go anywhere without surveillance!

Gizmo left Midget’s side. The small Mogwai was already so engrossed in the show that he didn’t seem to notice his companion leaving him.

Gizmo slowly started climbing the cabinet. He didn’t look behind, and hence didn’t noticed the way Snowball was staring at him, screwing up his eyes, a faint smile on his pursed lips.

Gizmo slipped inside the vent, silently following Groucho.

Behind him, Snowball watched him disappear, and chuckled evilly. From under the duvet he was seated on, he brought out the food he and the others had hidden from the guards. The other Mogwai gathered around, smacking their lips with anticipation.

Snowball looked up at the time displayed on the TV set’s clock.

02:35 hours.

“Yum-yum…”

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity, the trail for Groucho brought Gizmo to a new, darkened room. He stumbled out of the air vent and fell to land with a big huff on the surface of a bed. He shook his head, protesting against the high step and looked around with curiosity.

He was in a relatively large room, where six beds, covered with gel-like mattresses, were set in two rows, each attached to an electronic panel built into the walls against which they were resting. There were sets of projectors embedded in the ceiling, with multicoloured lights moving in quiet motion, at the rhythm of a relaxing, humming sound. The lights were set very low, so it didn’t cause any trouble at all to Gizmo who looked around with some kind of awe in his big eyes.

Unbeknown to Gizmo, he had ended up in the sickbay auxiliary Room of Sleep.

He jumped off the bed to the floor and explored, looking around with curiosity and some worry. There was no trace of his quarry so far, but he had a feeling Groucho could be hiding somewhere in this place.

He head a faint sound coming from one corner of the room. He turned around, his ears erect, listening intently. He heard the whisper of a Mogwai’s voice.

“Groucho?”

He wasn’t surprised that his call went unanswered and that now he could hear only silence. Gizmo gave a grunt of annoyance and walked towards where he had heard the voice. He would find Groucho, and whether he wanted it or not, the other Mogwai would come back with him to the room where he would stay quietly and not cause any more trouble.

A sound coming from behind made him stop – like something falling to the ground and a gasp in a small voice. Gizmo turned around to see what it was.

“Gotcha!”

Then there was the sound of running feet and when Gizmo turned once again, it was to see the door slide open and closed immediately. He rushed to it, suddenly sensing that there was something afoot. He reached the door but even though he was able to jump to touch the controls, the ‘open’ button refused to work.

The lights overhead became brighter and started flashing in a more rapid motion.

Gizmo looked up in growing concern and shivered, suddenly realising he had walked into a trap.

He gave a loud, terrified squeal.

* * *

Doctor Fawn was busy analysing a blood sample from his new Mogwai when he heard hurried footsteps approaching the door, and a voice calling his name. He turned from his microscope in time to see one of the security guards assigned to the Mogwai’s surveillance skidding to a stop in the doorway.

“Doctor! We have a problem! One of the Mogwai has crept into the Room of Sleep and activated the lights mechanism!”

“How did he pass you, if you were keeping watch in front of their room?” Fawn asked with a deep frown. He left his stool, grumbling with annoyance. These Mogwai were hard to keep in place. The minute he took his eyes off them, they got into trouble. He had to find a way to minimise their movements.

He left the room, following the guard, the door sliding shut behind him. The Mogwai he had dubbed ‘Quincy’ was looking rather grim in his cage, where Fawn had temporarily put him, and was glaring daggers at the closed door. He didn’t like the bars enclosing him, that restricted, too-small place. It was undignified.

The Mogwai growled. He hated Fawn for having locked him up that way. He would find a way to avenge himself… That he promised.

His eyes fell on the three small oranges the physician had left on his desk, and the Mogwai grunted approvingly; his hunger had grown, in the last few minutes, and had transformed into a craving. He licked his lips, as his small hands went through the bars and struggled to reach the fruits.

His fingers closed on the nearest orange and pulled it inside the cage.

The Mogwai devoured it greedily, zest, pulp and seeds, without any distinction, the juice spilling on his coat.

The clock was showing 03:15.

* * *

It was pure coincidence that Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue arrived in sickbay two minutes later; they had been sharing the late evening duty shift in the Control Room and had just been relieved by Captains Ochre and Magenta. Scarlet had insisted on paying a visit to Gizmo, and Blue had reluctantly agreed to follow – he was more eager to find Symphony, who had just left her duty shift in Angel One at three. But Scarlet had somehow managed to convince him to come with him; Blue knew his friend had grown attached to the little Mogwai, but more than that, he was convinced that Scarlet considered himself somehow responsible for what had happened to Gizmo. If not for that first glass of water, the other Mogwai would never have been born in the first place. That was taking responsibility to the extreme, Blue reflected, but he knew that nothing he could say would convince Scarlet to the contrary. So he simply let it slide.

As soon as they walked into sickbay, both Scarlet and Blue realised that something was happening, when they saw Fawn exit his lab, to follow a security guard almost at a run.

“Is something wrong?” Blue asked.

“One of the Mogwai is trapped in the sickbay Room of Sleep. Don’t ask me how he got in there.”

Scarlet and Blue followed suit. Fawn and the guard stopped in front of a door, at the end of the corridor; the doctor pressed the button, but nothing happened.

“I tried earlier,” explained the guard. “The controls wouldn’t respond.”

Blue crouched in front of the controls and examined them. The steel panel covering them was loose, and a few wires were showing from underneath. Blue sniffed; he could definitely detect a burning smell coming from behind the panel.

“Short-circuit, maybe,” he noted, getting to his feet.

“Short-circuit?” Scarlet repeated dubiously. “Why does that panel looks like it’s been removed and badly put back?”

“An explosion inside might have dislodged it,” Blue suggested.

“Or the Mogwai tampered with it to get inside,” Fawn retorted. He was still standing in front of the door and was looking through the porthole to see inside. The lights he was seeing were a good indication that the Room of Sleep systems had been powered up, as the guard had told him earlier. He grunted with humour. “I’m sure he must be regretting his curiosity… Those flashing lights must not be comfortable for him… Ah, here he is. I can see him.”

Scarlet came up next to Fawn and looked too; he could see the little Mogwai, standing in the middle of the room, between the two rows of beds, frozen into place by the fear of the bright and coloured lights flashing all around him, and trembling. He didn’t seem sure where he should be going to escape.

The Mogwai half-turned toward the door and Scarlet’s eyes opened wide when he recognised him.

“That’s Gizmo!”

“What?” a surprised Fawn repeated, looking through the porthole again. “Are you sure?”

“Yes I’m sure. Gizmo’s right eye is surrounded by a patch of white fur. He’s the only Mogwai with that distinctive mark. That’s Gizmo.”

“My God…” murmured Fawn. “Indeed it is. How did he get in there?”

“Never mind that. Those lights are getting brighter. They might hurt him!” Scarlet punched the intercom button and shouted into it, hoping that, unlike the door controls, it would work.

“Gizmo! Can you hear me?” Through the porthole, he saw the ears of the Mogwai moving, and Gizmo looking around to search where the familiar voice was coming from. “The door, Gizmo! Look at the door!”

Gizmo turned around and saw Scarlet’s face through the porthole; the Mogwai’s face seemed to illuminate with hope. He began to babble profusely, in that language that nobody – except perhaps Harmony – could understand. Scarlet shook his head.

“Hide yourself, Gizmo. We’ll be getting you out of there in no time…”

But Gizmo shook his head, and continued to talk, as if protesting loudly.

“Hide from the lights!” Scarlet shouted again, irate that the Mogwai would not obey. “They’ll burn you! Do as I say, Gizmo! I’m coming to get you!”

Gizmo seemed to shrug it off then he turned to walk towards of one of the beds set against the wall. Figuring out the Mogwai had finally understood and was obeying him, Scarlet turned to the control panel. He pushed the button, just in case it would now work.

“No go,” Blue commented. “Maybe we can force the door open?”

“Those doors are magnetic, that might be difficult,” replied Scarlet. “Let’s check under that panel first.”

It was rather easy to remove the plate, as it came loose almost as soon as Blue put his fingers around it to pull it off. A mass of tangled wires and circuitry appeared before their eyes, some of them burned and melted, and still smoking; a smell of burned rubber escaped through the open panel.

“What a mess,” murmured Scarlet. “I wonder what happened for it to be in such a state?”

“There’s two loose wires,” announced Blue. “Those red ones there? They look like they belong to each other.”

“They do indeed,” Scarlet said. “Maybe that’s what caused the short-circuit…” Cautiously, he reached out to the bare end of one of the wires, taking good care not to touch anything else. He barely grazed it.

A violent flash exploded from the control panel and he yelped, removing his hand, and stepping backward under the electric shock he had felt. There was a stinging pain in the tips of his fingers, and the rest of his hand, right through his wrist, felt numb. Blue was immediately by his side.

“Careful!” the American captain urged, looking in concern at his friend’s injured hand. “You know what electricity might do to you! What did you do?”

“Nothing!” Scarlet heatedly defended himself. “That blasted thing simply…”

Another flash, more violent than the previous one, interrupted him and flames erupted from inside the panel. A loud sizzling sound was heard coming from the wall and suddenly…

All the lights in the Room of Sleep flashed to full, blinding intensity, accompanied by loud explosions. The wall trembled and the door to the room was shaken off its support, the porthole window cracking and shattering under the violence of the blast. Everyone threw themselves against the wall to avoid the flames emerging from the opening. The first seconds of surprise past, Scarlet opened eyes wide with dismay, staring at the smoke coming out through the porthole and the slight gap that had now appeared between the door and its frame.

“Gizmo!”

He jumped to the door, followed by Blue and the two of them struggled together to pull it open. It slid grudgingly, grinding as it did. It took a few seconds. When the space was sufficient enough to let him through, Scarlet slipped into the room.

The built-in fire extinguishers in the walls and ceiling had already started spraying their foam by the time the captains had been able to open the door, so most of the fire had already had been taken care of. The smoke in the room wasn’t very dense, so they were able to see the total devastation in the room. Walls and floor had all been blackened by the intensity of the flames. Some of the beds were still burning, their electronic devices sizzling. The lighting systems were completely destroyed, cables hanging loosely from the shattered ceiling. Pieces of wreckage were lying everywhere.

Captain Blue and Doctor Fawn had entered in turn. With a portable fire extinguisher, Blue was taking care of the remaining small fires, while Scarlet was searching around, turning over everything that was lying on the floor, hoping – without really expecting – that Gizmo had somehow survived the explosion.

“Gizmo?” he called, looking with hopelessness at the surrounding devastation. “Gizmo, where are you, little fellow? Answer me!”

“Paul…”

Scarlet turned around at the sound of Blue’s low call. His colleague had just turned over the ruins of a ceiling panel he had just extinguished. Fawn and Scarlet approached, and looked down at what the American captain was grimly looking at.