Our Summer Vacation...

[radgeek]

"I need to be in two places at once," Olivia said to Jo.  "You know your magnetic geeky stuff so you can erase the tapes as me.  Meanwhile I'll be in the rec room drinking coffee and securing an alibi.  I'll show you a safe place to morph and a few pointers on how to be more like me.  Like drop your accent and stop smiling."

The plan sounded fine to Jo.  "Well thought out.  But I don't have an accent."

"Yes, you do.  I can't think of a way to use anyone else."

[warren_bearclaw]

The mini bookstore was filled with all manner of things to read on a long trip. Lots of romance, mystery, and adventure novels, a few biographies and things like that, and several novelty books. He actually found one titled, "UFO's for Dummies". He would have fallen on the floor laughing if he didn't want to cause a scene... or make a connection between him and aliens. He sneaked a peek out of the shop. Jo and Olivia were already headed down a hallway, Kristen was out of sight, and Chad was looking at a large map of the building. Very smart....

Sean sat on a bench way out in the back. They were supposed to  board a bus to drive them back to the city, but that didn't seem like a good idea. Or on second thought... maybe that wasn't such a bad idea after all....

[Josh (J)]

Chad was bored of staring at the map. Well, after he realized where he needed to go, he sighed, looked around, and walked away briskly. A few minutes later, he was at his destination. Now for the rest to arrive...

[radgeek]

Jo morphed Ms. Rush one more time before using a key to enter the surveillance room to erase the tapes.
"Hello Olivia," a guard said.  "What brings you to this area?"
No smiling, put the "R" at the end of words where they belong, get the sing-song cadence of of my voice.  "The boss asked me to get some tapes from today."
"I have them ready for you here," he said.  "I'm glad you run them up stairs for me its a lot of steps."
"Your welcome," Jo said as flatly as those two words could be said.
"All right there you are," he said after giving Jo the tapes.
"Thank you," she said still flat and still wondering if she sounded like an idiot.
She erased the tapes and left them on the desk of Ms. Rush's boss then demorphed and bought a cup of tea before meeting Mr. Black in parking lot D.

Olivia sat in the rec room with the other agents.  She had to stay at work but gave Jo her phone number and hoped that was enough.

[warren_bearclaw]

Brian didn't notice when Chad left, or at least not right away. He'd been thumbing through a guide to Caribbean wildlife. Maybe that was a little too conspicuous, but it was the only thing slightly interesting to look at. He then went to the register and bought a candy bar before leaving and heading to the far west exit. After standing at the bus stop for five minutes or so, he trotted of to the D lot. Tarry flew up at the same time and landed on a light pole. "Good, we're all here!"

"No one was followed? Or made any new friends along the way?" Sean asked, with a smile. "Good. Now, I know this will sound weird, but we need to get on the bus taking us back to the High School."

"What?!? Really?" Brian began. "But..."

"I know, I know... it's crazy, but no one from the school suspects us. At worst, the saw you guys with the parrot, but that can just be a funny story. Remember, none of them are Controllers, so they won't - or shouldn't - suspect anything. Oh, sorry. Chad, can you explain to Kristen what she needs to know? Thanks, son.  ...No talking on the bus. Sleep, or something. But don't talk."

[Josh (J)]

OOC: I am so itching to morph. I don't think Chad is. Drat him.

"Uh...sure," Chad said and made a little face. He'd have to go and explain what he could to Kristen. "So, exactly what do you want to know about this whole weird thing? I mean, I could say it all, but that would be a waste of time. What exactly do you want to know?"

[radgeek]

"Mr. Black, I have Ms. Rush's number," Jo explained.  "She has to stay here and work."

[warren_bearclaw]

"Um.. I'm gonna demorph now... maybe that will explain some for ya." Brian began to do so. He was done in about a minute, and was wearing shirt that was three sizes too big.

"That's just kinda creepy, Brian." In response to Olivia, he said, "Oh, that makes sense. I sure hope we can count on her to hold it together. This isn't exactly normal craziness."

[Hawkgirl]

Kristin felt so much better once she was reunited with her new companions.  One girl alone in a parking lot was very suspicious looking.  Kristin was about to question Chad about what was going on when she watched "Davey" become a teenage boy again.  Her eyes widened at the transformation.

"Woah!  That was so cool...and weird...but mostly cool!  And I knew your name wasn't Davey!"

Kristin picked up her suitcase and started heading toward the bus with Chad.

"So, what is this about aliens and Controllers?  I think I got enough of an explanation of morphing with Brian's display back there but I still don't understand about the whole alien aspect of what is going on."

[radgeek]

"Oh, where to start?" Jo said with a smile.  It was nice to have another girl her age to talk to.  "Alien slugs called Yeerks go into people's brains and control them.  That what we call controllers, a human that has no more control of their actions.  Tarry, our bird friend, is trapped in a morph that he was in for more the two hours.  After that you get stuck or something.  He's a good guy fighting the Yeerks called an Andalite.  The only way we no to check for controllers so far is by following them around for three days to see if they return to the Yeerk pool.  The slugs must leave their host to get nutrition from the pool every three days.  And as Brian's demonstration shows we can't morph clothing."

[Josh (J)]

OOC: So much for Chad explaining it.

[Hawkgirl]

Kristin was shocked.  "Wow.  So you're telling me that little slugs can crawl into our brains and control us?  We can't let that happen!  We have to do something!  We can't just sit by and watch as the entire human race is enslaved!"

[warren_bearclaw]

"Yeah, it's a little worse than taking final exams. I'm kinda surprised... you're taking this pretty well, Kristen. I didn't believe it until Chad here became a crab. It was pretty dang gross... Oh, and sorry about hiding my real name, by the way, though I bet you understand now." Brian took the shirt he'd borrowed off and handed it back to Mr. Black.

Sean held the shirt up and looked hard at it. It was just a little weird taking it now, but he really wasn't sure why...

As the group got in line to board the bus, Brian whispered back, "Hey, wait a minute... what are going to do about Tarry?"

[Hawkgirl]

"Yeah, I understand BRIAN," Kristin said jokingly, emphasizing his name.  She put her suitcase in the suitcase compartment and headed for the stairs to the bus.  "I think I've freaked out enough today and ran around like a lunatic so much that I'm too exhausted to freak out any more."

Kristin was about to mount the stairs when Brian asked about Tarry.  Kristin stopped before getting on the bus and whispered back, "I work at the zoo so it would be understandable if I found a parrot in a place where a parrot shouldn't be and I brought it to the zoo.  Maybe, if Tarry can act injured, it would make even more sense.  People would just think I was going to bring him to the zoo to heal.  Of course, I wouldn't actually bring him to the zoo...."

[radgeek]

"He can't stay at my farm," Jo said.  "I don't know how the other animals will react."