“Chase them away!” the Director shouted again. “They are vermin! They are here to destroy you! Chase them away!”
As always, the Flyboys jumped to do her bidding without question. There were maybe sixty left, and as one they shot out their wings and took to the air.
“Uh,” said Nudge, watching.
Yes. Oops. No one had turned off the electric net. Sixty Flyboys rose quickly upward, and sixty Flyboys instantly shorted out when they hit the net. They fell to the ground in perfect unison.
“That was poor planning on her part,” Total observed, and I nodded.
Bam! Bam! Bam! I heard the squeal of an engine outside, and then bone-rattling thumps against the tall gates. The people outside were trying to drive a vehicle through, trying to break down the gates.
125
Westfield, England
The regional director of this School looked over the tops of his glasses. “Holloway? What’s that noise outside?”
His assistant moved to a window. A look of alarm passed over his face. “It seems to be some kind of demonstration, sir,” he said.
“Demonstration? What the devil do you mean?” The regional director moved to the window. What he saw made his mouth open in astonishment. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people were protesting outside the School’s gates. They were...they looked almost like children. But that didn’t make sense.
“Is this some antinuclear demonstration?” he asked Holloway. “Do they have signs? Perhaps we should call security.”
Holloway listened at the window. The roars outside became more distinct. “Save the flock! Destroy Itex! Save the world! Destroy Itex!”
The two men stared at each other. “How could they possibly know we’re an arm of Itex?” the regional director asked.
Crash! A softball-sized rock flew through their window, showering them with glass shards.
Now they could hear the chanting clearly:
“We want...what’s ours!
“You belong...behind bars!
“Itex is an evil giant!
“Us kids ain’t buyin’ it!”
The regional director looked at Holloway, who had several scratches from flying glass. “Call security.”
Martinslijn, Netherlands
Edda Engels looked up from her lab bench and listened. Odd sounds were coming in the window. She went to investigate, only to dodge a heavy glass bottle, tipped with a burning rag. Wha? Was that a Molotov cocktail?
Boom! It exploded just as Edda dove beneath her desk. What was going on? Outside, it sounded like hundreds, maybe more, were surrounding her lab. What were they saying?
“You’ve ruined our water and our air!
“You’re evil and you just don’t care!
“Fang is right: the time has come
“For us kids to claim our home!”
Who was Fang? Edda wondered. And more important, how could she get out of here? The fire was spreading.
Woetens, Australia