Animorphs - The Unknown Part 12

Chapter 22.

The Gardens is a combination zoo and amus.e.m.e.nt park. The two sections are separate, of course. Roller coasters and b.u.mper cars on one side of an artificial lagoon, and animal habitats on the other.

I've spent lots of time at the zoo part of The Gardens. I've spent very little time on the rides. I don't like roller coasters.

From the air it all looks smaller than it does from the ground. Down on the ground, walking along the pink-and-green concrete walkways, it seems endless. But from the air in owl morph, you can see how the pathways curve inside each other like a circular maze. You can see the edges of the park and the world beyond The Gardens.

You can see the endless neon golden arches and Best Western hotels and water slides and putt-putt golf courses.

Of course, in owl morph you can even see the mice cowering down inside the dark bushes. In owl morph there isn't much you can't see.

The Gardens at night is two very different halves. Down below us, the tigers were prowling the limits of their wooded, moat-ringed habitat. And the camels were dozing. And the sea lions were huddled together on their blue-painted concrete island. And the monkeys were sleeping and fussing and occasionally picking bugs out of their ears and eating them.

Over in the amus.e.m.e.nt park, however, it was a flas.h.i.+ng neon extravaganza. The Tilt-a-Whirl was a blaze of blue; the merry-go-round was red and yellow; the roller coasters were wild dragons of racing sequential lights.

I saw a flas.h.!.+ It was the log ride. They shoot photographs of the people in the logs as they fall down the final drop. I heard screams of giddy excitement and fake fear.

In addition to having wonderful eyes, owls can hear a mosquito's wings beating from ten feet away. Tobias was not so lucky. He didn't have an owl morph, so he was his usual red-tailed self. Red-tails don't see or fly well at night.

Wait a minute! Flashbulbs at the log ride?

'Hey! There are people down there! There aren't supposed to be people. The people aren't supposed to be here till eight o'clock!'

'lf they're here, then the Yeerks are here, too,' Rachel said grimly. 'What are they doing here? I thought you said the sign-up sheet at the base said eight o'clock!'

'Actually, it said nineteen hundred hours. But that's eight. Right?'

'Uh, no,' Marco said. 'Oh, man, these guys have been here for an hour already! The Yeerks may have already infested their targets!'

'Are those the right guys down there? Are they Zone Ninety-one guys?' I wondered aloud.

Jake kept his tone carefully neutral, not wanting to make me feel bad. 'There are a lot of sort of twenty- and thirty-year-old guys down there with short hair. Definitely a military-looking crowd. '

I had put it all together very early that morning. The Gardens occasionally leases out the entire amus.e.m.e.nt park to private groups. Especially on slow nights like Sundays.

Zone 91 had leased the park for its soldiers and their families. Of course, on the reservation they were not listed as "Zone 91." They were listed as "Gondor Industries."

I'd spent the day researching on the Internet, just to be totally sure. There was no Gondor Industries. It was a fake corporation. I was totally prepared and proud of myself for being so smart.

Unfortunately, the hour we should have had to prepare was already gone. All because I could not read military time.

'So who's back at Zone Ninety-one guarding the Toilet From Outer s.p.a.ce, I wonder?' Marco asked.

'l'm sure there are still plenty of guys back there,' Jake said, 'and in any case, that's not our problem. Our problem is we have zero time to figure out the rest of the Yeerk plan. All we know is that they may be attempting to use this night to infest several members of the Zone Ninety-one force. But where? Where in all this big amus.e.m.e.nt park would they do it?'

No time! And it was my screwup. Myscrewup. Oh, man, I had totally messed up. Now innocent men and women might be turned into Controllers because of my stupidity!

Think! Where? Where would the Yeerks try it? 'Two possible places,' I said. 'They need someplace where they can grab people without being seen, right? The log ride is dark inside. Or the House of Horrors Ride. Those are the only two places.'

'Okay. We split up,' Jake said tersely.

'Ca.s.sie, you and Marco come with me for the log ride. Rachel, Tobias, and Ax check out the House of Horrors.'

We split into two separate groups. Jake, Marco, and I flew swiftly toward the log ride, me cursing myself the whole time. 'How could I have been so dumb?'

'You weren't dumb,' Jake said. 'We wouldn't even have known about this if you hadn't figured it out.'

'For future reference, all you have to do is subtract twelve,' Marco said.

'Huh?'

'To translate military time. Just subtract twelve.' Then, as an afterthought he added, 'Duh.'

The log ride was made to look like a mountain. Of course it was really just cement and fake bushes, but it was kind of convincing. We landed on top of it.

'Now what?' Marco asked. 'We need to get inside. Can we fly in?'

'Yes, but if we're in owl morph we won't be able to do anything much except flap our wings,' Jake pointed out. 'We need to get human again.'

We demorphed as fast as we could and a few minutes later we were climbing down the side of the fake cement mountain, wearing our morphing outfits. And no shoes. Fortunately, at The Gardens people dress even more strangely than that. Some people turned to stare, but not for very long.

The lines were short since the only people in the park were a thousand or so people from Zone 91. Some had brought their kids, so we fit in okay, even though most of the people in line were older guys with short hair and neatly trimmed mustaches.

Into the log ride we went. We took a log, me and Jake in the front, Marco behind us, and a man and woman behind him in the last seat.

The log slipped along the water channel toward the chain lift.

"This would be fun if it wasn't a matter of life and death," Marco said. "I love the log ride. Not as good as the coaster, of course. But the big splash at the end is cool."

"That voice!" someone said. "I know that voice!"

I turned around and looked to see who was talking. To my complete horror, I found myself making eye contact with none other than Captain Torrelli, our interrogator from Zone 91. And at just that moment, the log hit the chain lift and engaged with a loud CHUNK!

"You!" the captain said.

Marco turned around. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Jake asked.

CLANKCLANKCLANKCLANKCLANKCLANK! Up the slope we went, pressed back into our damp seats.

"You are under arrest!" Captain Torreli said.

"Honey, what is going on?" his date asked.

"Yeah, what is going on?" Jake asked me.

"It's the guy from Zone Ninety-one," I whispered in Jake's ear. "He's recognized me and Marco."

"Uh-oh."

"None of you better move!" the captain said.

And at that point we reached the top of the lift. For a second we were poised there. Then the log tipped forward and gravity took over.

"Ahhhhhh!" the captain's date yelled.

"Ahhhhhh!" I yelled because I hate thrill rides.

"You two are mine1." the captain yelled.

And down we went.

WHOOOOOOOs.h.!.+.

Then . . . spuh-LOOOOOs.h.!.+

Water everywhere! The log careened along the narrow channel past big fake models of a logging camp dominated by some great big plaster Paul Bunyan thing.

"If the Yeerks are going to strike, they'll do it in the tunnel up ahead," Jake whispered. "It's like a tunnel of love thing. Real dark."

I wanted to ask how he knew about a tunnel of love. But I stuck to business. "Either way, we need to bail out there. Otherwise we'll never lose the captain."

Marco turned back in his seat, draping his arm over the part.i.tion between him and the captain. "You know, I don't think you can really arrest us. I mean, you're military police, right? And this is not a military base."

The captain glowered. He whipped a cell phone from his jacket pocket and punched in a number. "h.e.l.lo? Gardens security? This is Captain Torrelli, security code number eight-seven-two-niner-niner. I need -"

"Good work, Marco," Jake said, rolling his eyes.

"This really complicates things," I whispered.

"Here comes the tunnel," Jake said. "Get ready."

The log boat banged through a doorway into total, absolute darkness.

"Now!" Jake hissed.

I stood up. I turned left. Nothing but darkness. I turned right. Just as dark. Not dark like in-your-room dark when you sleep at night. This was dark like you might as well be blind.

I stepped off the boat, trusting everything to luck.

Chapter 23.

Never trust anything to luck.

My foot didn't touch anything. I tried to pull back, but it was too late. I pitched forward.

"Aaaahhh!"

SPLAs.h.!.+ Water up to my waist! BANG! The side of the channel. "Owww! My head!" I slipped and fell face-first in the water. I felt the current carry me away.

Then Marco's voice: "Ooof! Owww!"

"You kids aren't going to get away that easy!"

PUH-LOOOs.h.!.+ "Aaarg!"

"Owww!"

"Hey! Watch where you're driving that boat!"

BONK!.

A hand grabbed me! I swung a clenched fist.

"Oww! I need that shoulder!" Jake yelled.

"Sorry!"

"You kids stop where you are!"

Suddenly, there were lights! Lights everywhere! I had been swept along in the current back out of the tunnel. I was back in the night air again, gazing up at neon and incandescence.

I stood up. But the current was too strong. It swept my feet out from under me. I fell and floated.

Behind me, another log boat filled with crew-cut guys. Between me and that boat, three heads bobbed in the water: Jake, Marco, and a really angry Captain Torrelli.

"Ca.s.sie! Climb out!"

"Oh, no, this is insane!" Marco moaned.

"You kids are gonna do time for this, I swear it!" Captain Torrelli yelled.

b.u.mPb.u.mPb.u.mP. SQUUUEEEEEEGEEE!.

I was sc.r.a.ped along a sharp turn. I tried to grab the lip of the boat channel and pull myself out, but I was too weak and the force of the water was too strong.

What to do? I couldn't morph. There were witnesses. I'd just have to float along until...