With one eye on the Shovel and Burn bozos (wish I had more pics to toon of THEM!), I ventured deeper into the caverns that formed the base of the JoyTech smokestacks. There were maybe a dozen pools in all, some bubbling, some still.

I’d already guessed that this must be some sort of geothermal energy project. Halogen lights were strung up along the ceiling like someone had put time and effort into setting them up like that. Each pool was equipped with pipes and sensors going in and out.

Actually, they kind of reminded me of Aurora there, in that white hospital bed, all hooked up to machines and tubes.

The other thing I couldn’t help but notice was this rumbling noise, and a vibration coming from beneath me. I figured there must be levels below this one, but then, at the far end of the cavernous area, I came to a truck supporting some kind of machine. I can only describe the machine as looking a hell of a lot like a drill, only small and futuristic, like something out of Armageddon (lame ref, I know!).

I was still staring at the drill when the GeoTherm team clocked in. All of a sudden, a sliding metal door at the far end of the cavern opened, and a team of science-types in white lab coats spilled in, arguing noisily amongst themselves.

Not wanting to waste the element of surprise, I ran at them, reaching into my jacket as I did. Suddenly, I had six scientists calming pointing handguns at me.

Now I know why the Shovel and Burn guys are so jumpy.

I skidded to a stop in front of the group, producing from my pocket one very scared white lab rat.

That got their attention.

“Where did you get that rat?” One woman demanded, and then they were all talking very loudly, firing (excuse the pun) questions at me and arguing with each other. Who in their right minds would give these people guns, I wondered.

Then one man’s voice stood out among all the others. “On the ground!” he was screaming. “Get on the ground!”

Ah crap.

Mrs. Brisby began scrambling up my arm towards my pocket. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t let these scientists take me down, or get their hands on Mrs. Brisby. I needed answers, but how could I fight six hysterical people with guns?

“Hit the dirt!” yelled the guy who watched too many movies. He glared at me fiercely through his safety goggles.

I shook my head, “Can’t do it.”

That’s when I got shot in the foot.

When I came to, the first thing I saw was a bare light bulb swinging over my head, like something had just hit it.

I could feel Mrs. Brisby’s little heart beating wildly in my pocket. I went to move but my hands were tied behind me, strapped to the chair I was sitting on.

My head felt roughly like the time me and Aurora stole Jerry’s Jameson and drank the whole bottle before passing out at the Blood River lookout point.
I tried to get a decent look around, but my mask was sort of sideways on my face and I couldn’t see much. I was definitely in some kind of windowless, unfinished basement. Below the swinging light bulb I could see old wooden shapes, crisscrossed in chains.

I silently willed Mrs. Brisby to take pictures, document everything.

Then I heard a voice say, “Suspect 7 is awake, sir.”

There was a crackle of static, then the room swam around me and I must have conked out again because the next thing I knew, someone was adjusting my mask on my face and whispering, “wake up,” over and over.

I blinked. The man standing in front of me stood back and smiled. “I do have to apologize about the circumstances of our meeting,” he said pleasantly. “The basement setting, all these ancient contraptions. You’d think we brought you here to torture you!” He giggled.

The giggle was creepy. The guy was creepier. He looked like something out of A Clockwork Orange. His clothes did, anyway. He had a perfectly hairless head, no-color eyes, and a long, dark scar running down his forehead.

“Why did you bring me here?”

He laughed. “Only to talk, S7, only to talk! You don’t mind if I call you S7, do you? A bit of a pet name we have for you, yes?” He nodded in a very self-satisfied way. “You need not reply! You need not say anything. Only listen, S7, and listen well.”

As he spoke, I began to struggle with the restrains binding my wrists. I tried to be discreet about it, but then I noticed two guys on either side of the door leading out of the dungeon. One of them was holding the walkie-talkie; the other, a gun.

They both shook their heads at me very slightly, and I stopped struggling. Mr. Giggles seemed not to notice the exchange.

“I fulfill a very unique function on behalf of my employers,” he was saying. “Do you know what that is, S7?” He didn’t wait to see if I had an answer.

“I manage problems, and I turn them into non-problems. I see a threat, and I turn it into an asset. Do you see what I’m saying?”

“You work for JoyTech!” I blurted out, and stupidly, tried to jump out of my chair, which resulted in me tipping over on to my back. My head hit the dirt floor with a thump.

Mr. Giggles came and stood over me, his expression unperturbed. “Thusfar, Suspect 7, I’ve managed to turn your role as a potential threat into that of an asset.

“Each time you have brought something to light that ran the risk of reflecting unpleasantly upon my employers, I have made it blossom into an opportunity to for us promote our role as environmental stewards.

“Indirectly, you have participated in earning my employers acclaim as green thinking pioneers.”

I think at this point I made some grunting sounds and writhed around on the floor a bit.

“Hardly what you had in mind, I know,” his voice dripped with sympathy. “And unfortunately, my employers don’t see you in quite the same positive light that I do,” he paused and sighed heavily. “They’re concerned, S7. They’re deeply concerned that you are on the cusp of becoming more trouble than you’re worth.”

He walked a circle around me, tapping his chin as if deep in thought. I gave one last heave at my restraints and felt something snap, silently.

Suddenly, Mr. Giggles crouched down, bringing his mouth to my ear.

It was only then that I noticed the blood on the collar of his shirt.

Check this out. Toon-FX now has this app that lets you toon video! It’s super simple to just take regular video clips and turn them into sweet animations. Mrs. Brisby thinks it’s cool, anyway, which is why she agreed to star in my first tooned vid.

At some points in life, you really need a friend. Even if all they do is get you out of your own toonified head. Now I’ve got a new friend. And I’ll be the first to admit that I was feeling pretty sorry for myself in the friend department when she came along.

I think I’m going to call her Mrs. Brisby, like the mouse from The Secret of NIMH. She seems to think it’s funny. Seriously.

Mrs. Brisby is the coolest little creature ever. She’s super smart, really friendly, and, like I said, she takes pictures and send them to my cell phone.

I’m guessing that she must have been part of an experiment involving putting little cameras in rats’ brains? I didn’t know that was possible, but she is definitely, definitely the one sending the pictures. When she wants to eat something, she sends me a picture of it. When she wants to take a closer look at something she can’t get at, she does the same thing.

She took a picture of me laughing at Flight of the Conchords, and now she sends me that pic whenever she thinks something’s funny. For example – me trying to look tough. That got a big laugh.

The messed-up thing I can’t get over is the reasoning behind turning her into a super-rat. I’m guessing it was not to make her into a cool pet. I’ve found so far that when I try to talk to her, she tries to find ways to respond. But when I ask her about the lab, she turns her back on me.

The only time she’s responded so far is when I asked her about the other rats at JoyTech. Then she sent me an image of a tray full of dead rats. Then she acted really busy shredding some newspaper I put in a box for her.

Poor Mrs. Brisby.

One thing’s for sure. I can’t let the rest of those animals stay caged up at JoyTech. But I can’t just set them free, either. It’s not going to be easy for them to start new lives.

So I’ve made a decision. I’m going to tell Aurora what I’ve seen. And I’m going to ask for her help. We don’t have to be friends, but she’s got all these connections in activism communities, and I need her help. Maybe there’s some way this thing can be resolved safely, without the influence of a ‘masked adventurer.’

All photos tooned using Toon-Photo!

Photo tooning courtesy of the increasingly awesome Toon-FX.