“Ho'Dawn a sec,” Nehemiah tried to follow. “Way Xactly?... diDis Study go down.”

“It was not limited to one location,” Pawq’Gendi Lawphted a smile into Apollo’jet=forKed doubt: certain teeth urgently bowed thi$~Way-n`thaT#ch. All surfaces were brassy. “The collect*Hive had stations near the Can’Awry islands, Cost-a Reekaw, i$tampbul, Bang’loaDish, Pawpaw guiNaiL, & MonGoaLeapa.”

Anika’s olive eyes engorged like salad with dressing. “Was there a Headquarters? Did you strike any success?”

“RemarKayBellyyy... but, I can’t be revealing specific Compounds or exchanges,” ZaBias attested. “Techniques were akin to Cybernetics, but in those days we dubbed it Flushcamp MiNEurSing. Only the MonGaoliCamp couldn’t circumvent the main hurdles - (cold climate curtailed aspects of ricochet). Now Operation Immersion Cart was attempting to fuse three separate criterion: Conform intent to substance; forgo mere numeric-switch responses to Re-embody swirls of ambiguous perspirations, into tighter ‘packets’. All while categorizing & preserving fibers of any Ex-$it-stenchill fertility: That way language-based code imprinted on hardware-tablets, could cross-reference brushINfluences coalescing from multiple Implanters’ desire-wheels, & assist clarity of generated structures.”

“Leaves a lot of room for things to go wrong,” framed Jerome, ~*squinting*~

Gland Pluuck nodded + Heavily. “Our Team had constructed a sorTent^membrane of CliniCore-hAmberKite near a crevice dispensiNatural puffs of bromine. Inside we hooked Tourmaline rods into tubs of Antimony & iodine, which branched halfway to the center of the chamber, tumbling aGate saucers plated with the dual-image of a racing cheetah and a flipping acrobat. These twenty-four heavy gongs, we dubbed Paw*dallions. The whirlygig motions pumped a plasma static all through the chamois-linen tent drenched in ethanol. They could only be handled with mittens. The research groups staved off harmful radiation & pressure, primarily with Wolframite suits & helm.”

“Is Wolfram an invention too?” Traci nearly screeched.

“Correct,” gemDiip-chords thrummed. “A heavier alloy or blend of Tungsten-mango'Knees.”

Liam raked his coils to one side in astonishment. “If all dat don’t make my head spin…”

“The entire room WAS spinning during live trials, I assure you,” claimed G>P

“Bet that was a controversial decision,” Trent reasoned. “But i like how they held nothing back.”

Muurz masticated a bottom lip emphatically, finding hew’mourn lips clumsily crowded, as it mulled how controversy always seemed to be embedded at the very spine of resplendent Achievement. “To our astonishment, this process DID manage to stabilize the first blurry, tangible-Graphics. But some of the crystals bursTubs with output. Progress went sort of sideways from then on. The two operatives inside the chamber not only forgot part of themselves, but could no longer distinguish between each other... We treated it as a fluke anomaly, repaired the damage, & repeated the trial with only a single volunteer. This time, the Subject funneled textures we intended to conjure, without backlash - but it was merely a lure into a domain we dismissed. We were not skeptics of immeasurable reverBrush loops, but cognizant life was an unexpected matter altogether. All the while our mechanical charTotems began monitoring feedback readings of charge during inactive hours = inexplicably forced to align into heaps of Sacred Geometry.”

“Does that mean like 3D printing?” wondered Trent. “We could have... like all the food we want.”

“A major possibility,” coiled G>P>A, trying not to ripPulLaugh spout snorTank. (this was why the agent always seems so dour). “The program superiors would not call off the endeavor just as things were becoming so inspiring! Altho we discovered gossamer tendrils could be bullied into displaying secrets of Weaving & drilling, ropier ones exploded into furious Needles, much like porcupines, raiDrilling & upbraiding us. ~)># What we laTERmed Slyphiiz {all manner of misty, PropellingWads}* - began popping out to warn us about encroaching upon their Territory.”

~ “That sounds like the unpopular form of celestial Watchers...!” - blurTrixi. Such lore was the reason she ever affixed the arching halo round her cerebrum.

“That might depend on one’s mood or mindset - to me they seemed as self-righteous Farmers. Historically, you hear akin to them such as banshee, troll, pixie, phoenix & ValCrease: Sphinxen sh8pe~BenDoors. And until you come into contact with the Gorgonic Weave-djirin’ Chariot, you haven’t ever begged for you sanity. (Word to the wise, don't mess with funguShRubs arranGEOmetrically appealing, since those are party patches we aren'Typically invited to). They claimed our exploration was too divisive of Membrane to adjust to luxury at such penetrative integration; it should cause us to meet Gratification before appreciation of laboring through flaws to access states of harmony; regardless the mental carnage incurred to staff, our Sponsors couldn’t imagine how there could be major drawbacks to rapid advancement. Our shot-calling Captains were treated harshest of ALL, when the next commanDead phase was to cultivate goLiMEdiators whose only responsibility was to serve as hyper-critical posts of Selective Conduit - that was regarded as slavery of immobilized hopes.”

“What’da... Syl`feats do to 'em?” Liam quaked quietly.

“Into our Throngs they carved...” zLAW’brushed the side of its jaw, stringently. “Numerical Voids. - which for the Leading Horde meant positive childhood memories became redacted, itchy blobs of recall. If inequality was formerly somehow justified by our donors, in sheer minutes their charming affections rabidly dissolved & swallowed theiRationale.” She rubbed a hand all over her burly nose, & curtailed a twitch into a capsized whine. “Be flexible with your paths, because things get tough & rumble after your school Days are whisked away like cheap armor.”

All 5 kids appeared haunted before their Time.

“For my group, we wouldn’t recognize our homelands if we walked amidst the very terrain...” continued the Assistant. “While others had alchemical deliberations fragmented in our minds’ eye. Some neareSTructuring Rods & Pods can no longer assemble machinery or list higher than f.o.u.r. That means no interpreting sprawling data, nor handling currency. I am constantly looking for a way to help us un-Earth abilities that were dislocated. In fact, I’ve heard of an aquatic Scrapbook of sorts: called Splash’knit. Looks like a mossy amethyst sundial with extra disks & elastic meshing. Could be the tool to help me regain dislodged memories.”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Trent questioned, “Where would anyone find something like that?”

“Should actually be very close by,” Holp’gem claimed, strolling around between Liam & Tracey, noticing she remained the only tense child around the table; the rest had succumbed to some kind of awe or veneration. “A few hall-birdies chirp that around Graduation time, a selecTroop from town goes out toward the Caribbean Delta to fetch party gear & supplies.”

“Right on,” Jerome confirmed. “That tradition started about dozen years ago. Mainly upper-classmen negotiate with the Coastal cruisers before each Barn-acre gathering.”

Lawp-muze pressed palms together. “Delight~Fold. Then I looked into those SeaSkiMerchants online listing of wares, I saw the Splash’knit is still currently active among inventory, & made a reservation. They’re charging nearly four-hundred dollar$, which i will supply - if any of you can pull some strings to scout along with that bayou Trip.”

Liam had an onset of nausea by this display of behavior he considered dishonorable from an authority figure. He also had an aversion to certain light intensities, & he could almost swear he kept glimpsing this lady’s pupils scamper thru spurts of East-we$tum<*$ling!_>. %~ Otherwise he would have tried to snitch about this ‘secretive Task,’ later on down the road.

“Why don’t you go on your own time?” Trixi stabbed.

Between flashes of brain freeze, Zabeya pivoted her head in paranoid glances. “Prefer not to risk my job engaging illicit behavior.”

“Oh,” the girl relented, realizing it was maybe the only viable reason that could be given, aside from poor health.

But ’nika almost snarled at Trix. “You’re such a cynical bee-otch.” They had been jealously at each other’s necks for several seasons now.

The TraXcie entwined her fingers, quietly. “I’m Pru-Dent,” she pronounced, as if slamming a binder. “But i feel our teach has straight-forward reason,” Trix merrily sufficed, hoping to make the old woman feel welcome. There was no way she actually honored the motives of someone so desperate - this sinking mistrust was the only thing she managed to disguise from Phlawk’gemdi.

Tit for tat, one thing Flock geMino hack-hid gathered about Tracey, that her own intuition sat clueless, were gene patterns unfurling about 2/5ths trinket-viper (or that is sort of a guSTaiNet) notoriously good for possessing reFLEXiBolTray to stay one step ahead of a ploy, and impossible to hypnotize or mislead. This was because they had innate acting skills of the succubi branch. Of course, VlawP had no need for (real)ationships with Residew*bloods... even if sometimes desiring such.

“Thanks for hearing me out,” Their Patron layered like jam. “I would be super grateful for the help ~ Do I have any takers?”

Anika offered without hesitation, & a second later, Jerome felt up to the task, so long as a solid form of payment would be involved. (As much as Grandy Muur predicted from the elder domineering types). The Foreigner hadn’t offered finances up front, because it wanted them to oblige partially from a spirit of adventure: but at this point GemDiip extended 400 dollars a pop upon return.

Upon hearing that, Trent volunteered as well. G>P>A smelled down into the boy’s ill-equipped mechanics as to Why - his gall bladder was drenched in a fuzzy foam, signaling extended portions of banality crisis. It didn’t exactly take sharp senses to realize how sheltered he was wiTHick syrups crusting upon his cell-linings like that. GrandMAPlucked at some, loosening a few glands. Then a Tug of acridity suddenly distracted the CrysTravailed’s throat-puddle towards someone else’s body - it was Dreaded danger mounting; {^>thorns within Jerome scraped the valves of his system RAW.} Immediately he was resigning the endeavor off to Trent. Oh well: At least reDrop boy had something of leprechaun luck & BaneboWrists therewith!

The foreigner clucked inaudibly that Jerome was a little skittish & carefree like the Satyd -- thus unlikely to induce any imPortali*Traits soon no matter the Pachyderm reach of confidence -- but upon the clipboard, drug out a critical note of Anika’s Envirometric sc@le of plowTent*skiiOwl...

When a translucent green streak <`!*_~_%_`@*> jettisoned in front of Plaw-HOl’z mole-ickular chin unsuspectingly, which jolted her up from preoccupations with Charter identifying. “Ms. ’Gendi,” a watery voice, evoked. “I’d appreciate if you’d wrap it up over there.” The speaker holding her at laser-point from behind his desk, was the head instructor, Kevin Crabfable, a svelte but muffin-hipped man with silver-threaded hair sprouting out of a plaid-green vest.

Gland’gem flinched, and only gave a hesitant turn in response. Students observed with a peal of giggling. “All due respect sir, I wasn’t aware the bell had-”

She halted as she saw Crabfable waggle a bundle of Topic sheets into the air. “How about passing these out while my screen is loading?”

Before the request could be answered it was shorn away by a shrieking alarm, & a deliberately-doddering pupil scooted through the class door. With a sideways glance at the truant, Kevin let the pile slap against the desk’s surface & then flushed his frizzy scalp as he re-engaged the computer Display.

Ignoring trivial interruptions, Gemuurz quickly dumped a wad of 4 hundred-bills into Anika’s backpack for safe-keeping. “By the way,” La’Muuz nearly slipped into a silken voice: “Your district witCH/emist is inexplicably accompanying the campaign, after retreating into homeschool some 4 years hence. Report how Rubecca remarks & behaves: you can each receive a second round of cash.”

Nika clapped. “Fliest. Teacher. Eva.”

Jerome rolled his sun-beached eyes, and bragged: “I can earn that in a week, all while staying safe on the Ferry docks - Suckers.”

That was all the RealMoulder could remain for, having to march along to minor duties in order to keep up appearances. VlawP became engaged in a mental task the Class could not observe. While matching papers to names absently, the whirring Mind coiled its shoulder-blade vines through silent spindles of X-@-W sequences, out to some Cohorts: ”We won’t have to remove a section of the Ruby’-skinned to sedate the fiBrew. I’ve inched closer to eluciDating the Cubix-Confiner predicament: Valkrub*bead$ shower down onto the Sparky $trapezoid, which ignites the Frac’taPoultry, alarms the Pain-leahn-Tallo’gist, who tracks down & reApplants those Smelliscoff~Shields.”

Two accomplices responded, despite being occupied aboard the AnthRobic Ziggurat: preening Lean birds, & about to start screening a reflective session with a Floral#masked dolphin. Such activities were mundane rehab maintenance of seasons late. Xooq-fyMoBriidl & Sajnuca’piiq were exulting at the opening development: “May the Smudgelick BoiLeap’hawks take root. -_}# It shan’t take another Milleniquartz to glue-$hack ourselves alongside the Cast-g’Oil StaGchew’layards of B’weave$phinqiiLautcharm.”

The Visitors’ roughly recalled how to pilot a vessel & recognize sylph-entangLink energy hubbubs, but were nursing each grievance of aforementioned skill disorientation: their former wits had been plagued to flaking away like an ancient painting, despite all the blending efforts once majestically iincorporated. Things once second-nature, like recognizing anatomy functions & regulating their internal temperature, were difficult now - among other things such as distorted spatial distances. Key reasons behind why they weren’t in position to contest for items or craft raw materials.

They were all keen on recruits who could diversify pioneering exploits - but it required a delicate initiation, one that had to be voluntary.

As Zbendi continued reuniting previous worksheets to their proper owners, she periodically returned to the table of students she had provoked restless: catching spurts of excited speculation involving the enigma of Ruby, homeschool, defense mechanisms, ghosTrauMasKink, hiking/hunting, marsh wildlife, convoluted reports from history & neglected codes, bundling into potential for parallel universes.

GlandGem shivered - it had done a fine job of lacing succulent juices down over their imaginations.

Liam was asking, “You guys haVisited da Olive tree exhibit over cLoquat Fount at the museum, righ? With the scuBeam*gear encryption bouta lost village of Swyong’xe & 4 departed Tribes of Gauzechorviv: what if dis Biz connected somehow?”

“Seems far-fetched at first glance,” conTrent'plated. “But maybe not when accounting for how long the planet & Galaxy have been around.”

This comment reminded Ol’ muur that Becca was highly in=tune with the solar systeMotion. Perhaps, rather than rely on spies, it was best to displace her Security measure & test whether she was no more than a mooching BootlickeRepeaToe.

“The most pressing question we might ask is,” TrayXe@ was announcing, “Has ’Gendi professed the entire Agenda here? I mean... haven’t you people ever heard of a sob story? I’ve never heard of flushcampiNursing as a term for Cybernetics. Could be withholding info.”