Zander was on human-watch when Robin awoke. Robin groaned slowly, and tried to move his hand to rub his eyes, but it wouldn't move. His eyes instantly flicked open, and he thrashed against the restraints, managing to make the bed hop on its castors, but not budging the straps a bit. "Hey, stop it!" Zander said, yawning and stretching as he woke up, "You'll break something!" Robin ignored him and kept trying to escape, "If you don't stop we'll have to sedate you again or something! [chitterflick]" "What's all this noise?" Khyron asked, pushing through the curtains, "Oh, he's awake." "Let me out, tree-rats, or I'll... um, I'll like sing. Really loud." Neither of the squirrels seemed terribly impressed. "You won't like it..." "Now now," Khyron said, leaping up onto the machine (Zander wasn't sure exactly what it was for, but it was a convenient place to stand while talking to the human, went 'ping' reassuringly every few seconds, and had a wonderful array of LEDs that flashed in seemingly random patterns), "There's no need for anything like that, Mr... Locksley, is it?" "I told you, I don't trust you! Take me home!" Khyron's eyes widened in shock. "What are you talking about?" Zander asked, "We didn't push you into this. [flick] You volunteered, remember?" "Yeah, but I backed out when I saw what kind of a dump you rodents ran. You think I'm going to let you --" "Dump?" Zander asked, lashing his tail back and forth, "What are you calling a 'dump'? This entire warren is *still* two decades ahead of human construction techniques. [flick] And two *centuries* ahead of the rickety wooden shacks you humans usually use." He wrinkled his nose in disgust and shuddered. "Yeah, so like in twenty years we'll all fix our own plumbing with duct tape and silly putty. And even if I was going to change my mind I wouldn't after you shot me." "What is he talking about?" Khyron asked Zander, bristling. "What *are* you talking about?" Zander asked, looking confused. "You shot me! Hello, Chit, I was there, remember? You like totally blew me away with those little like guns of yours! "I'm not Chit, I'm Zander, I drove you back from... oh, wait. [grinflick] I bet I know what this is." "Fine, you watched while he shot me. Either way you'll --" "Calm down," Zander said, flicking his tail in a soothing pattern, "No one shot you." "Oh sure, I just decided to take a little nap on the floor under that like stupid carnival ride entrace of yours..." "We parked in lot E," Zander said, "and I gave you something to cloud your memory so you wouldn't be able to locate the entrance. So that we can let you go. [flick]" "I don't remember taking any..." Robin paused. "Anyway, It like didn't work, furface, I remember it all just fine." "Well, of *course* you remember *something*. [giggle] Why don't you tell me about it?" "Hey, like, wait a minute. You said you can let me go, right?" "Yeah, I guess so..." Zander sort of drooped, and gave a pathetic little flick, "You're not getting cold paws, are you?" "Actually," Khyron said, startling a bit when Robin and Zander turned to look. "Er..." "What is it? [flick?]" Zander asked. "Actually," Khyron said, puffing himself up and getting into lecture postion, "We can't let you go, right now, because we've already started the conversion. You need constant medical attention in case of complications. [flick] "Theoretically, we could take you to a human medical facility, but they'd be as likely to kill you as help you. The only other *safe* place to take you would be to Doctor Snug Fuzz, and I don't think you'd enjoy that very much. [amusedflick] We could try to reverse the infection..." "But?" Zander prompted, looking worried. "But it's almost certainly too late. [flick] By now the virus has infected at least a few cells in most of your body tissues, and even if we injected you with antibunnies to eliminate the virus currently in your bloodstream -- and it's a resistant strain, so the chances of doing even that much aren't good -- we'd only be putting off the inevitable. [flick] And making it more dangerous when it finally occured, I should add. "So I'm afraid it's really to late to abort, Mr. Locksley. But don't worry, I'm the foremost expert on the squirrelvirus. [preenflick]" "And the bunnyvirus is, like, the same thing. More or less. [flick]" Zander added. "So tell me about this dream you had..." * * * Later, Zander wandered the halls of the subwarren, looking for Chit, to tell how it had gone. But no one had seen him since he dashed out on Khyron... except Chirp, when he'd told her to get someone to help watch the human. But she hadn't seen where he'd gone. It wasn't a very big subwarren, though, and before too long there was only one place left. "Oh, great," Zander chittered, "He's being melodramatic again." And he unlocked the chain on the recieving area doors, and crept inside. The room was dark. Zander walked along the wall until the transport loomed in front of him, then carefully made his way around it to the door and turned on the roof light. Sure enough, there was Chit, brooding in the corner. Typical. [sigh] "Chit," Zander said, "Wake up..." "I'm awake, Zander," he said quietly, not moving, "What do you want?" "I think he believes us," Zander said, scurrying across the floor so that they wouldn't have to yell through the echoes, "I think he bought it. [flick] He bought it! [bounce!]" "Really?" Chit lifted his head off the floor. "Cool." It dropped back down. "I said everything you told me... it went perfect. [proudflick] I was there, so they didn't have to come get me, and Khyron spoke up right on cue. Almost like he knew what was going on. [giggle]" "I'm sure he does," Chit sighed, "He's not an idiot. I hope he isn't too angry about it, I probably should have told him." "You think? Nah, he was clueless. [grinflick] Oh yeah, there was one thing I left out... I didn't say that tranq guns didn't exist, I just sort of implied it and said we were using lasers. Just in case he runs into them on his own, you know. [flick]" "Hmm." "You don't mind do you? }:(" "No, it was probably a good idea," Chit said. Zander grinned. "So, I guess we're back on track. [sigh]" "What's wrong, Chit? [chitter]" "Oh, nothing. Memories, Zander, that's all." Zander wrinkled his nose. "You're weird, Chit. I'm not going to be like that when I get old, am I?" "We can only hope," Chit said solemnly. Then grinned. == Chit