His place looks clean and tidy. Most of his research stuff is gone, as is to be expected, but much like me, Simon has a habit of hiding things away for safekeeping.
The back of the fridge contains several bottles of what I guess look like takeout sauce. I know that they are not takeout sauce. They are the most potent samples of his formulas. One of them is a primer, then you have the activator that has to be mixed with something, and of course the third one is the returner, but that one has a question mark on it.
I don’t really want to drink any of this, but at this point I am one of the last people I know to try. Veronica and Simon were fine, so it stands to reason I will be too.
I need to turn myself into something capable of holding things, something agile and stealthy. That way I can sneak into the facility and free Simon from Veronica’s evil clutches. Or I could turn her into a cat again. That would be incredibly funny.
I am standing in Simon’s kitchen with a grin on my face as I contemplate the options. What I’m holding has to represent the best chance of vengeance for sure.
It’s not as simple as just using this stuff, though. If I go near that building in recognizable form, they’ll just snatch me up. I need to sneak in as an animal. Cats are probably out, though I bet Veronica would hate that so much it is almost worth doing.
I need some kind of animal tissue to use as an activating agent. So it’s a trip to the zoo for me. I’m looking for something that can be stealthy, but also agile, and won’t look out of place in a research context.
“Ma’am, please stop trying to lure the monkeys over,” one of the attendants says as I attempt to get some of the spider monkeys to pay attention to me. They’re apparently full-on nuts, which is annoying. All I need is a little monkey fur and I’ll be swinging from whatever ceilings I like.
I turn to the zookeeper, who is probably very nice when not dealing with members of the public.
“Can we pet any of the animals? Maybe a lion?”
“No, ma’am. We cannot pet the lions. These are wild animals who deserve to be respected.”
“Of course. I respect the animals deeply,” I say. “Sorry. I just thought perhaps there were one or two exhibits.”
“There’s the children’s petting zoo. You can pet the rabbits.”
Rabbits.
Hm. I hadn’t considered a rabbit.
“Are there just rabbits?”
“There’s goats and chickens too.”
Hm. I don’t know that anybody ever broke into a secure facility as a chicken or a goat. I may have to rethink this plan entirely.
* * *
Simon
Three unconscious men are lying on the floor of my lab, a couple of them leaking slowly in unpleasant ways.
“You’re going to have to use more than three,” I tell Veronica when she returns. I give her some credit for bravery for coming in person and not sending another set of guards to do her dirty work for her.
“I have a gun,” she says.
“Good for you.”
“I am prepared to have you chained and then beaten,” she says. “But it would be easier if you just gave me what I wanted.”
“It would be easier if you let me go, and put your money into something else. You could drum up shareholder enthusiasmfor so many things. I know you don’t care about this tech in particular.”
“We’re pitching to the military and the government, but I can’t show them something that doesn’t work.”
I knew it. I knew she wasn’t trying to sell gerbils who were also hamsters to children. This has always been about secret government contracts. I thought I might be able to convince her to keep this proprietary, but Veronica is always going to follow the money.
“I’ll torture you if I have to.”
“You can if you like, but there’s no evidence that it works. Then again, there’s no evidence anything you are currently trying to sell works, is there? That’s very embarrassing for you.”
