They were gone.

All of them.

Flicker still found it hard to believe. One day, the bunnies had been there
to stay, and then next... in came Teral, spouting orders the way he always
did, without any kind of explanation, or at least without any that made
sense. "Why do you want to build a tunnel all the way out there?" "Because
it's too close as it is! [chitter]"

But he *was* their warren leader, so they had the bunnies dig a huge long
tunnel to the edge of the park. And then they herded them into this great
huge cage thing. And then... they were gone. Set free, or at least transfered
to more amicable masters.

Flicker hoped they were happy. She'd gotten to like them, in a strange sort
of way. Not like those Spam-eaters. [shudder] But you couldn't talk to them
for any length of time and still think they were evil.

The warren seemed so quiet. Which was odd, since the bunnies had never made
much noise.

Security didn't really know what to do, anymore -- their main reason for
existance was gone. There was still generic guard duty, and they were 
changing and improving the warren defenses, but it was mostly busy work,
and they were even running out of that. Teral had hinted about operations
against bunny holdings in the city... but nothing had materialized. He was
still playing with his new toys.

So here she was, wandering aimlessly through the halls in full uniform,
trying to look like she knew what she was doing... 

"Excuse me!"

Flicker turned, to see a squirrel staring at her from a largish doorway. She
gave the barest little flicker of acknowledgement, and the squirrel motioned
her inside. She followed... it wasn't like she had anything *else* to do.

She squinted as her eyes struggled to adjust to the blinding glare inside
the room. Blinding compared to the hallways, anyway. The other squirrel
grabbed her paw and led her through a series of twisty (but well lit) little
passages that she was pretty sure weren't supposed to exist.

"What is this place?" she chittered, as they passed chamber after empty
chamber. And some non-empty chambers. And a bunch of squirrels that she'd
never seen before, and she thought she'd seen everyone. Frith, this place
was like a whole other warren!

"Science! [flick]" her guide squeaked, "Come on! [flick] You'll love this!"

"What? What's going on?"

"You'll see! [bounce] It'll be fun!" Well, she certainly *hoped* so.

They came out into a tiny room... well, large, but relatively tiny, compared
to the rest of what she'd just seen. And there, standing right in front of
her, was Teral himself, *and* Zira, head of Science. Flicker [saluteflicked],
earning a grin from the warren leader.

"So... you actually found someone?" Teral said to Zira. "Someone 
volunteered?"

"Yep!" Flicker's guide said. Zira nodded. Teral turned to Flicker.

"You volunteered for this?" 

Flicker blinked.

"Do you want to back out?" Zira asked.

Flicker blinked, and gave a tiny little twitch of her tail.

Teral stared at her for a few seconds longer, then [shrugflicked], bounced
180 degrees, and scurried off on other business.

"Er..." Flicker started.

"Don't worry," Zira said, placing a paw on her shoulder, "It's just a 
 psychological experiment. We need you to fill out a survey. [flick] I told
 Sam here to find someone who looked bored."

Flicker grimaced. "Was it that obvious? [chitter]"

"You betcha," Sam said, giggling, "Don't worry, it's a fun survey!"

"Sure," Flicker said.

"Hmm?"

"Yeah, I'll do it. [flick]"

Zira smiled, and guided her to a small chamber by the side separated with an
airtight seal. A sign by the door read 'Danger -- Biohazard Area'. 

"You'll take it in here, we don't want you distracted. [flick]" she saw
Flicker reading the sign, and laughed. "Don't worry about that, this was
supposed to be used as an isolation chamber for working with viruses and
things, but we didn't bring any with us so it's just been sitting there.
[flick] We don't have many private chambers, I'm afraid." She opened the
door, revealing a normal looking room with a table and a cushion to sit on.
"See? No viruses."

Flicker giggled nervously. "Sorry, I feel really silly... what's the test
about, anyway?"

"It's not a test, just a questionairre. [flick] No wrong answers." Zira
smiled evilly. "Some puzzles, too, and *those* have wrong answers. But we'll
keep you anonymous if you like. And if you get enough of them right, well...
we're always looking for bright squirrels." Flicker sighed -- as if she was
smart enough to be a mentat -- and walked into the room, curled up on the
cushion, and opened up the questionairre.

"Feel free to help yourself to some nuts if you get hungry," Zira said, "Now
I'll leave you alone. Remember -- answer honestly. [flick] We don't want
biased results." With that, she shut the door, which hissed shut and sealed.
Flicker started, but then sat back down. Of course the door sealed, that's
what this place was designed for.

Now... the test...

"What is your name?" Well, that was easy enough. F-L-I-K-E-R. Er, no. There
was a C in there somewhere, she was almost certain. [chitter] Hmm... she
reached to the bowl and grabbed an acorn. Thinking was hungry work. [flick]

Outside the chamber, Sam looked at the door, then turned to Zira and started
giggling uncontrollably.

"Stop that!" she scolded him, "It's airtight, not soundproof."

"I'm sor-[giggle] I'm sorry. [snurK!]" Sam screwed up his face, and lashed
his tail wildly, and managed to get himself under control. He continued in
a whisper "She actually fell for it! Hee hee hee..."

Zira shrugged, and smiled slightly. "They don't pick Security for their
brains. [flick] They pick them to follow orders. If I've pegged her right,
she'll be at that for days. [flick] Long enough for any infections to show
up on a blood test." 

Zira sighed. "I really hope she comes up clean. [chitter]"

Sam stared at her incredulously. "You don't --"

"Do you know how *long* it's been since I've had an almond?"

==---------
Teral Acorn