aweitz@cam.org (Kralk) wrote:
>     Kralk came to in a metal-lined tunnel.  Well, he admitted, being a
>devilbunny does has its advantages.  Night vision being one of them.
>What would have been impenetrable darkness was rendered into simple
>dimness.
>
>      Hmmm.  These look like airducts.  I hope they come out somewhere.
>
>      Kralk crawled forward.
>
>TBC
>(over to you, Teral)

"So where are they?"

"I don't know," the medsquirrel replied, shrugging, "They recovered after a
 few hours and left. I didn't see any reason to stop them."

"They never reported back to security," Teral replied, twitching nervously,
"so I figured they were still here. Damn it! [flick] We're short enough on
experienced personnel already, without squirrels just disap--" 

Suddenly, a huge cloud of dust coughed out of an air vent, filling the
room with slowly settling dust. "Frith!" the medsquirrel said, "I thought
you said you had those cleaned up! This is the third time this has happened
in the last--"

"The third time?" Teral asked, tail flicking, "Why didn't you report it?"

"We've been busy, ever since you and Chris decided to shoot each other up! 
 But these kinds of unsanitary conditions can cost lives! [flick]"

"I'll get on it right away!"

---

This can cost lives, all right, but not in the way he thinks, Teral thought
as he ran towards maintenance. It had taken weeks to clean out the 
ventilation system -- and now it was worse then before! They must have missed
some hidden breeding site... he shuddered to think of dustbunnies massing
in the walls, ready to pout out at any second to devour them all and take
back the warren... 

"Don't worry," the tech squirrel in charge said, "It's just cement dust. Part
of one of the lower levels collapsed."

"And how do you know they can't breed in cement dust?" Teral asked, "We can't
 take the chance. Get a team together! [flick]"

--

The modern squirrel dusting team bore a little resemblance to the ill-fated
first expeditions. The main weapon against the dusty menace was still the
trusty three-squirrel mini-hoover, but it was backed up with a trio of
dustbusters to siphon up loose dust as they passed. There was still a single
vanilla-sprayer, just in case. And Teral still lead the team.

He had hoovering down to a science -- forget the normal background dust, the
smaller one-squirrel vacs would take care of that. Concentrate on the
clusters of dust that signified a breeding colony, and the webs that trapped
dust and could act as a catalyst. He saw it as a measure of his skill that
since he'd started cleaning the vents, not a single squirrel had been 
attacked by a dustbunny. That no squirrel had *ever* been attacked by a
dustbunny simply meant that he'd started in time.

He had to admit, though, that the cement dust was particularly non-
threatening. It irritated the eyes and throat, and coated everything, but
it didnt' seem to be breeding at all. He sighed and prepared to give the
order to head back, and send a couple one-squirrel teams to sweep it all up
later... but decided they'd better check out the source of the dust first.
This was relatively new dust, and might simply not have had the time to
begin transformation.

The vanilla sprayer, with the only really portable weapon, climbed down
the shaft first, followed by the dustbusters and the mini-hoover last of
all. Teral looked around.

This level was dark, lacking the ambient light from the vents that 
illuminated the upper levels, since most of the warren on this level 
consisted of storerooms. After a brief moment of thought, Teral ordered
the lamps lit, since it was unlikely that there'd be any mobile forms yet.
It was more important to find the breeding clusters before they developed.

The dust was thicker here, but still not terribly threatening. Then they
came to a place where the tunnel was blocked, ending in a random jumble of
cement and rock. Teral sighed. "I guess you were right. This has to be the
source, and I don't see any signs that it's building up. Just schedule some
teams to clean all this junk up and lets head back."

"What's that?" one of the squirrels in the back asked. Teral whirled, and
saw a flicker of movement down a side tunnel. He ran forwards, the pair of
squirrels struggling to roll the heavy machine along at a decent pace. They
skidded around the corner and followed the dustbunny, which rapidly outpaced 
them.

The tunnel ended, like the last one, in a collapse. This one, however, was
only a tear in the metal siding with dirt and rock pouring through, and the
tunnel wasn't completely obscured. There was no way the vacuum was going to
fit through, though.

Teral checked the map, and grinned. "We'll wait here," he chittered softly, 
"There's no other way out of that section." They doused the lights and 
crouched behind the dirt pile, paw on the hoover button.

Sure enough, there was a dark flicker of movement, a tentative sniff, and
the bunny hopped out into the tunnel. In a second the lights came one, and
Teral pounced with the hoover's nozzle. A hit!

The dustbunny stuck to the nozzle with a thump, and hung there struggling,
pinned by the suction. Teral bashed it against the wall to try to break up
its structure. The dustbusters attacked, sucking at its fur.

Fur? Yep, the bunny had brown and chrome fur... oops!

"Hey, that's Kralk's bunny," one of the techs said, turning off his 
dustbuster.

"Grab him, and lets get him back," Teral said, "Kralk's probably wondering
where he is." He lowered the nozzle, bunny still attached. The hoover shut 
off, but the squirrels pounced and grabbed the rabbit before it could get 
away.

For a second, Teral swore he saw sharp claws and fangs, dripping venom...
but then the rabbit stopped struggling and cowered, quivering. It had to
be his imagination -- this was an ordinary rabbit, after all.

Of course, Loren had always said that there were no ordinary rabbits...

After a bit of looking they found an appropriate container (a spare vaccuum 
bag) and dragged the bunny back with them. It took five of them to lift it 
up the shaft, but somehow they managed.

They got some pretty strange looks as they dragged their burden down the 
halls to Kralk's room, though.

--

Kralk looked up as they entered his chamber. Teral was amazed -- he'd heard
Kralk's report on his condition, and the report from the squirrels on the
burrowing team, but it was still hard to believe that the former half-bunny
was now fully human.

"I see you found my experimental subject," he said.

"Well... yes, we did," Teral answered, indicating the sack. Kralk took it
and transferred the bunny inside to a waiting cage. "Where'd you get the
cage?"

"I knew you'd find him sooner or later," Kralk replied. "I can't tell you
how much this means to me."

-------------------------------------------
Teral Acorn     Warren leader, UCirc Warren
                President, SAADB