"Now watch out," Chirp said, "They come down fast."

"You've used it before?" Chit said, trying to consciously stop himself from
fidgeting. He stared at the chute the transport would come down... and tried
to imagine it coming to a graceful halt near the center of the room, rather
than exploding or careening out of control, killing them all.

"Once. [flick]" Chirp was operating the door controls, peering into the tiny
screen that gave a sort of view of the outside. She was one of the scouts
Kara had chosen to bring into this, an expert in something that Chit hadn't
really paid attention to. He'd been able to concentrate less and less since
he'd gotten word that Robin had been picked up on schedule...

That hadn't been the point of no return. For that matter, this wasn't *quite*
the point of no return... but it was long, long past the point of being very
annoying to return, which was probably the only thing that kept him going.

"They're coming! [flick!]" A slight whirr was followed by a gradually
increasing growl... and a wall of black painted metal careened out of the
chute and spun out of control until it slammed into the padding on the
opposite wall.

"[chitter]"

"Told ya."

The door slid open, and Chit squinted at the glare. But... was that...

"Wow. Totally cool delivery system. Hiya, squirrelies. We there, furface?"

Chit couldn't say anything. He'd been in the warren so long... he'd forgotten
how *big* humans were. They didn't look nearly so large on TV.

"Yeah, Rob" Zander said, peering over the top of the transport before
scrambling onto the roof, "We're here." He took a deep breath and collapsed.

"Um, hi." Chit said, "Welcome to UCirc." He just concentrated on getting the
information out... "Um..."

"Hi. You're like Chit, right?"

[[
((Aa: Anything you want to make of the phoetic resembelance between Chit and
>another, Old English word in common use today is your own call. Some will note
>that Robin's sentence here lends itself very easily to that mental subsitiution;

Actually, it doesn't. "You're like shit"? Who says that?

Really, I don't see why you guys are so obsessed with this... maybe it's a dialect thing, but I don't think I could ever mistake the two. "Cht" sounds
*nothing* like "shee-it". Not even the same number of syllables. }:)
]]

[[
>Chit [flicked] yes, then realised the human would be clueless. 

Unlikely, considering his background. He usually nods.
]]

"I'm Chit, yes."

They both stared at each other for a while.

"We should get started right away," Chit said, "We're not really set up to
handle humans here. So if you'll follow me quietly I'll take you to, er, the
infirmary."

"Yeah," Robin said, looking... nervous?

Chit bolted for the door and managed, just barely, to stop instead of running
until he reached a dead end or the surface... he could imagine the fear like
some sort of vile liquid soaked through his body like a sopping wet sponge,
where even the slightest pressure would send it spurting out all over the
floor. [giggle] Ah metaphors.

"Come on," Chit said, stepping out into the hallway. This entrance and the
subcomplex around it had originally been used for capturing human vehicles,
and since the drivers tended to be human, was scaled accordingly.

It was also completely unused... with Loren's return the transport project
had been frozen in the interest of warren security, and after the
(classified, but widely known) incident with Busheytail a
no-humans-in-the-warren policy had been instituted. So, along with all other
human-scale entrances, it was strictly off limits.

But it had been a long time since Chit had worried about Security's
cameras... and by now they had such a reputation for unreliability that it
was unlikely they'd send someone to investigate what might once have been
considered an extremely suspicious series of failures.

[[
>((Do you play much _Paranoia_, Aaron?))
No, but I read the sourcebooks.
]]

But plan B was to blast anyone who came snooping around. With tranqs, since it made it less likely Loren would hunt them to the ends of the earth.

"Um, Robin?" Chit said, "Just duck through the door and follow me, and I'll
show you to the infirmary. [flick]" That they'd set up in the staging area.

Robin looked at the walls, waterstained from months of slow seepage from
the surface. He looked at the tiny pipes that festooned odd corners of 
the corridor, like some demented final work of the Mad Plumbers from
Lilliput, but less professionally joined. He observed the cleverly festooned
wiring over his head, some of it clearly nibbled through and rejoined without
the benefit of electrical tape...

"Are you sure you know what you're doin', furface?"

"Yes."

"'Cause I'm not."

"Trust me. [grin]"

Robin looked down at Chit, and glanced back at the van. "This doesn't look
like much of a James Bond outfit."

"[shrugflick] We aren't brits. So are you coming, or not?"

Robin stood there, fidgeting. "No way. Take me back like right now."

[[
>Now, Chit may not have been the greatest shot in the world, but it isn't hard
>to hit the broadside of a human. He didn't hesitate.

Hmm. I need something here, but this is wrong... he wasn't *planning*
on zapping Robin. It's sort of a panicked reactiopn, but I can't use the
old "he felt a surge of rage/fear" because it's the kind of panic where you
do something stupid without thinking, not where you're overcome with emotion.

It's sort of the point that he didn't notice what he was doing 'till it was over.

How do you get that across?
]]

Now, Chit may not have been the greatest shot in the world, but it isn't hard
to hit the broadside of a human, even if you aren't really aiming as such.

Robin felt a lot of rapid pinpricks. He realised belatedly that Chit
had something that looked like a small, pointy stick in his paws;
and suddenly there were a lot of blurry Chits scampering on the floor, 
all [chittering] in not quite unison.

Robin may have been a crack shot with a crossbow, but it isn't easy to hit a squirrel, particularly not with several dozen tranq darts in you.

The bolt thudded into the wall, and Robin leaped forwards, hands in popping
position... and landed unconscious in the doorway, several feet short.

"I thought he was a volunteer," Zander chittered.

"He was," Chit said.

"That was *evil*, Chit." Chirp said, backing away.

"Yes," Chit said, tossing his weapon aside and creeping forwards to make sure
the human was still alive.

"Hey, watch it! How are we going to explain it if you break that gun!
[chatter]" She loped over and snagged it. "I'd better handle the weapons.
[flick]"

Yeah, he was alive. No real danger, not like human tranqs. And no harm done,
yet. [shudder]

"Should I get the professor?" Zander asked, quietly.

"No," Chit said. "we'll..." We'll what, wait for him to wake up and say no
again? Send him back to Massachusetts? Write the whole thing off as a loss?
[angryflick]

"Yeah," Chit said, "Get him. I want it done before he wakes up." A shiver ran
down his body to the tip of his tail. "I think we can still save this."