Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist ❯ The 1st Experiment ( Chapter 1 )

ZIPPY ZIPPERDALE:
Moderately mad
Scientist--
The First Experiment

By Hardcover



Nobody would deny that young Zippy Zipperdale was extraordinarily smart. Zippy was short for Zippendelka, and her full name was Zippendelka Asimov Zipperdale, quite the mouthful. Needless to say, she preferred the shorter, less formal, moniker of Zippy. Zippy had long been a top student and recognized as a supremely gifted girl, her brilliant mind sometimes confounding the teachers who attempted to school her. She excelled at math, history, and especially science, so it had been with no small sense of pride that her parents would send her to an exclusive school for gifted students to further her education. And so, Zippy was now sitting in the back of a rather less then pristine but serviceable cab, on her way to be enrolled in the prestigious Although it meant being away from her parents, family and friends, Zippy welcomed the chance to expand her natural mental prowess. After all, being a genius was worthless if you didn’t do anything with it.

Zippy felt that she fit right in with her era; she lived in an age when progress had accelerated, and amazing advances in science were happening all the time. It was, she felt, a great time to be alive, in such an astounding vortex of remarkable innovation and invention. She had even taken a national prize in an applied science competition, which had been presented to her by Dr. Stephen Hawking himself. She had probably pushed things a little by kissing him, but she’d been so excited to meet him in person. Winning the prize had even gotten her an interview on television, and a small amount of fan mail.

That is not to say that Zippy’s good points were limited to her mental abilities; Zippy was quite a pretty young lady, possessed of a mane of fiery red hair that ran strait down to her shoulders and curled a bit at the ends. She had large expressive blue eyes that sat behind a large round pair of wire frame glasses. Although Zippy did have contact lenses, she infrequently used them, not liking the ritual of putting them in her eyes. She was slightly short at five foot five, and had a fair complexion of the skin. She was in good physical condition, having excelled in many sports as a child as well as academics, including martial arts. She was slender without looking anorexic, with a sultry curve of the hips, but very small B cup breasts that were a bit of a sore spot to her, in spite of her belief that it really shouldn’t be. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop being sensitive about her breast size, in spite of her intellectual realization that she was just being completely silly.

All in all, Zippy was an attractive package, possessed of a friendly and enthusiastic disposition that many found infectious. She made friends fairly easily and in general had a relaxed attitude about her that made her easy to deal with, along with a stubborn determination and “stick-to-itiveness” (as her mom called it, although Zippy knew there was no such word) that complimented her large IQ quite nicely. She was also your proverbial nerdy girl in a lot of ways, addicted hopelessly to late night horror and sci fi films. But she figured it could be worse: She could be an otaku like her good for nothing little brother.

She was dressed casually, in a simple pair of blue jeans and a pink and grey T-shirt with the words “E=MC2” across the front in thick black lettering.

She shuffled in the back seat of the cab. Her attempts to engage the cab driver in conversation had proven fruitless, as the strange creepy looking man had proved that he had no desire to say anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary. The man was tall, maybe six one, and had a long, pallid face and deep sunken eyes that made him look more or less like Boris Karloff on valium. As such, Zippy had been basically all alone thus far in the trip. She’d occupied herself by reading, and trying to imagine what her new home for the next several years was going to be like. She’d seen the pamphlets, of course, but a pamphlet was not the same as being there.

She stared out the cab window, watching the scenery go by. The road they were on was surround by thick forests on either side, and a heavy fog had rolled in, blanketing the scenery in a dreary coat of light grey. An overcast sky added to the gloomy feeling of the morning. There was almost a sense of foreboding in the oppressive feeling of the murkiness. Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft would have felt right at home on this slightly sinister and shadowy stretch of road.

Zippy frowned, she was sure that Coddswhollop was NOT this far in the country. She wondered if the cab driver was trying to jack up the fare. She was about to say something when the cab made a sudden right turn up a small dirt road that sent Zippy flying to one side of the backseat. No sooner had she righted herself, and then the cab suddenly screeched to a violent halt sending Zippy forward, the seat belt biting into her hips painfully. That was going to leave an unattractive mark.

At first she thought the cab had hit or almost hit something or someone, but then the creepy cab driver turned and looked back at him with those sunken insomniac’s eyes.

“We’re here.” He said simply in that deep throaty voice and got out of the cab.

“’Here’?” Zippy said, bewildered, “Where’s ‘here’? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

Zippy unhooked her belt and scrambled out of the car. The cab driver had already taken her suitcase out of the trunk and extended the handle. Confused zippy looked around her, at first seeing nothing but more trees and fog.

But then she saw it: Right in front of the cab, a large metal bridge ran across a large body of water, a river of some kind, off into a huge building of some kind, silhouetted blurrily in the thick fog on the other side. A large sign topped with six billboard lights with fancy old English lettering next to the bridge gave the name of the place on the other side: “MADAME PETRI’S ACADEMY FOR THE GIFTED AND Eccentric”.

This was definitely NOT Coddswhollop.

She turned around to tell the driver he’d made a mistake and found to her horror that he was already leaving, the red glow of his tail lights illuminating the fog with a light pink shade. Zippy shrieked and ran after the cab waving her arms, and trying to get his attention but he seemed to only drive faster.

“Wait, please!” Zippy cried, “There’s been a mistake, this is the wrong school! Please stop!”

But he kept on going as Zippy ran after him, hopelessly trying to catch up.

No longer feeling the need to act like a polite young lady, Zippy screamed, “Hey, you @$#%&!! idiot! This is the wrong @$%&$#$!!! place. @%$#$%ing stop the @%#$%#!ing car!!!!!

Zippy tore after him frantically, but soon the cab disappeared into the gloom of the fog, leaving an infuriated Zippy panting and gasping for breath, still screaming angrily into the gloom.

“This is the wrong place, moron!” She yelled hopelessly, before burying her face in her hands.

Accepting that the cab was gone and it wasn’t coming back, Zippy fished in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, flipping open the front. Her heart sank when she saw the backlit screen reading zero bars. She tried the phone anyways, and got nothing.

Despair surged in her, she’d been abandoned here. She didn’t cry, fighting down the encroaching tears. She could fix this, she could deal with it. Well, there was nothing else to do: She’d simply have to go over the bridge to that school and ask someone there to call her a cab, preferably one with a driver who knew how to read a map or a GPS. Zippy stuck her chin up, and walked back to her suitcase, pulling it with her, thankful that it came equipped with wheels. She headed for the long metal bridge.

Stepping out on the bridge, she could see that the river curved in the direction of the school on either side. As she got further and further, it seemed as through the river was actually some kind of moat, though it would have to be the biggest and widest moat she had ever seen in her life. It took her a good twenty minutes to cross the bridge to the other side. From what she could see, the water looked deep, too. She frowned: Who in the world would build a moat around a school? And why build one so big? Were they expecting a siege?

The bridge itself was a wide metal contraption, held together with bolts the size of a grown man’s fist. The structure looked old, but exceptionally well maintained; Zippy couldn’t see any rust on any of the m metal, a mean feat on a bridge this big so close to water.

As she moved down, her nostrils flared: She could sense a distinct brine scent to the vaporous mist kicked up by the water underneath, a telltale sign of salinated water. The moat was a salt water moat. Strange, Zippy had never heard of one before, why make a moat with salt water, unless they were keeping something alive in there that needed it?

When she finally got to the other side of the bridge, the large building finally came into view, and Zippy’s mouth dropped open: The structure was shaped like an old medieval castle, complete with spires and towers, but seemed to be made entirely out of riveted plate metal. A large metal wall, topped with gothic looking steel gargoyles, encircled the property, and a large black metal wrought iron gate sat in front of the bridge. Zippy could also see what appeared to be a huge windmill, metal like the rest of the structure, attached to the building, four huge red sails slowly turning in the wind. The place looked like some kind of weird cross between Castle Dracula and something Jules Verne might have written about.

Aside from the windmill, the highest structure seemed to be a spire that was a good ten stories off the ground. She could see that some parts of the building jutted out over that wall and dangled over the moat, giving the whole thing a bizarre MC Escher type quality to it.

She approached the gate, noticing a strange metal sculpture next to it: It seemed to be some kind of modern art, depicting a mechanical metal man, armored in the manner of ancient Japanese Samurai, but definitely robotic, like something out of a fifties sci fi film. The robot was definitely anthropomorphic, having a head, torso, two arms, and two legs, but instead of feet it had two large thick tires attached to axles at the base of each leg. Quit the interesting creation, actually.

Zippy looked around and saw no call boxes or bells or anything to signal the inside. She peered through the gate, but saw no one in the courtyard beyond, just a large fountain depicting a jumble of mermaids and tritons, made of metal like the rest of the place, she assumed.

She reached down and pulled on the bars, attempting to open the gate. And that was when the robot came to life.
There was a loud metal grinding sound that startled Zippy, and made her yelp in surprise, followed by the groaning sounds of motors running. The huge metal man turned on her, its hands on its hip. And then, to Zippy’s utter astonishment, the robot spoke in a deep metallic voice with a slight reverberated echo.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” The robot demanded.

Startled, Zippy didn’t answer for a second, then she said, “I . . . I’m sorry. I was just looking for . . .”

“You think you can jus waltz in here whenever you want? Do you? Do you? Huh? Huh?” The robot replied, “Well, not while Gortcha, that’s me, Madame Petri’s best guard is on the job.”

Getting irritated, Zippy said, “By any chance are you the only guard?”

Gortcha stuck his chest out indignantly, “Huh? What do you mean by that?!?”

When Zippy didn’t reply, Gortcha snorted, “Oh, I see how it is? You think you’re better the Gortcha just because you can read at an adult level. Huh? Is that it? Huh? Huh? Huh?”

“No! I just needed some help! You see . . .” Zippy protested.

“You know what? I think you’re a thief. I think you’re trying to break in and steal stuff. And I, Gortcha, Madame Petri’s best guard, that’s me, caught you red handed.” Gortcha said.

Oboy, was this guy for real? Zippy’s mind reeled as the irate man of metal stepped forward, “No, I really need some help.”

“You think you can pull one on me? You think your tougher then me?” Gortcha put up his fists and began bouncing back and forth, shadow boxing in front of Zippy, “You want a piece of me? You want a piece of me? Huh? You talkin’ ta’ me? Huh? You talkin’ ta’ me? Well I’m the only one here!”

“Gortcha!” A voice said behind him.

Gortcha let out a high shrieking yelp, and jumped back in fright, covering up his head and crouching into down on the ground, letting out a small fearful moan. All his tough guy talk seeming to have evaporated the minute he actually got scared.

The voice came from a second robot who approached the gates and pushed them open, unlocking them with some sort of magnetic device that it had in its hand. The robot came forward through the gate, and zippy could see that it was definitely made to look female. She was made of highly polished chrome parts, all done in a curvy female shape except for the bottom. Instead of two legs she had a simple metal cone that ran down to a metal platform that was flanked on either side by two tires, smaller then Gortcha’s but just as thick. Unlike Gortcha, this robot was wearing clothes; a leather security guard’s uniform to be exact, along with a hat that made her resemble, more or less, a British traffic cop.

Zippy looked back and forth between the two of them, fascinated by what she was seeing. Although they looked primitive on the outside, their movements and articulation were far in advance of any robotics she’d ever seen before, and their A.I. had to extraordinary to create such life like personalities for each of them. Zippy had a strong urge to take both of them apart piece by piece and see how they were made, reverse engineer the robots and discover what made them tick. This was incredible work.

Gortcha rose, wiping his brow; a ridiculous gesture since a robot does not sweat, “Criminey, Vixen, don’t do that to me. You scared the beejeezus out of me.”

Vixen spoke with a high pitched soft voice, sounding a bit like a stereotypical teenie bopper on a sit com.

“Well what’s all the commotion about . . .” Vixen asked, and the straitened up when she saw Zippy, “Jeepers! We have a visitor! Hello there, Miss. What’s your name?”

“Hi, I’m Zippy. And I’m . . .” Zippy began.

Vixen suddenly clapped her hands together at the sound of Zippy’s name, making a loud clanging noise, “Zippy?!? Zippy Zipperdale!?! Jeepers! Welcome! We’ve been expecting you. Jeepers!”

What the heck? Thought Zippy, and she said, “Huh? No, I’ve been dropped off at the wrong place. I’m supposed to be going to Coddswhollop, but my driver took me to the wrong school and then took off. I just need a phone so I can call another cab. My cell phone doesn’t seem to work out here.”

Vixen waved her hand, “Oh no, you belong here. Jeepers! Zippy Zipperdale: Zippendelka Asimov Zipperdale. Strait A student, daughter of Jasper and Melody Zipperdale of Sunnyvale, Washington, and older sister to Zachery Zipperdale, solid C minus student. We’ve been expecting your arrival today for months. Jeepers! Please follow me, and we’ll get you settled.”

The two robots began to move towards the building, leaving Zippy to hesitate for a second before grabbing her suitcase and running after them. She reached into a side pocket and pulled out her letter of acceptance to running up behind Vixen and holding it out.

“No, listen, I’m not a student here, see?” She handed the letter to the robot who took it in her metal fingers, reading it over.

She then handed it back, “Yes, so what does that have to do with it?”

Zippy looked at the letter and let out a gasp of surprise: When she had received the letter, it had clearly been a letter of acceptance to Coddswhollop. But now, it quiet unmistakably read: “Miss Zippendelka “Zippy” Asimov Zipperdale, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Madame Petri’s Academy For The Gifted And Eccentric. Please present this letter for admittance; we look forward to your attendance at our school.”

Zippy stared; it had NOT said that yesterday. What in the world was going on here? Had it been replace somehow, and if so, when had it been done? She hurried after the robots, running around the fountain which she could now tell was not actually made of metal, but highly polished marble. The fountain seemed to be very old, much older then the school itself, and depicted six mermaids and six tritons (or mermen, if you prefer) rising out of the sea with their hands thrown out in a fashion that suggested the worship of something. From between the figures, the jets of water sprayed out in elaborate and spectacular patterns. Zippy tore her attention away from the fountain and followed after the robots, trying to come up with some logical explanation for what was happening.

“You don’t understand,” Zippy explained, “I’m at the wrong school.”

“Not anymore.” Vixen assured her.

The robots opened to front door of the building and ushered Zippy into a huge room, made in much the same style as the outside of the school. Couches and chairs sat here and there, and large metal stairs went up to balcony up above on either side of the room. There were doors on all three remaining walls, slightly oval on the corners, like submarine doors. There was a large fireplace on one wall, in which a fire burned warmly.

“Look, its not like you robots aren’t cool and all,” Zippy said, “And it’s not like you haven’t been nice, at least one half of you has . . .”

“Robots! Huh, shows what you know.” Gortcha said indignantly, “The nerve of this one, calling us robots. Harumff! Stupid punk.”

“What? Am I supposed to call you ‘mechanical Americans’?” Zippy raised an eyebrow at them.

“No! We’re Werx, girl!” Gortcha snarled, “We’re called Werx!”

“’Works’? What’s the difference?” Zippy asked.

Vixen replied, “Jeepers. We’re BETTER robots.”

Oh, of course. That made a world of difference.

“Listen,” Zippy said, growing impatient, “Can you guys just show me to a phone so I can get out of here?”

“Get out of here? Jeepers!” Vixen exclaimed, “You can’t leave, you signed a contract that guarantees that you will remain a student here until you graduate or until you expire, whichever comes first.”

Zippy was incredulous over that statement, she recalled signing no such contract. She tried to keep her mind focused, there was obviously some reason why all this was happening, she just had to find it. She was about to ask some more questions of the Werks, but was distracted as another figure entering the room, this one most definitely human, a girl about the same age as Zippy.

Clasping her hands together, Vixen addressed the new girl, “Ah . . . Madoka. Just the person we need. Madoka, this is our new student, Zippy Zipperdale. Zippy, this is Madoka Matsura, one of our current residents.”

“Hi.” Zippy said.

“Hey, nice to metcha.” Madoka said loudly.

Madoka was Japanese, about the same height as Zippy, with long black hair that she kept down over her shoulders. She pretty, possessing a round cheerful face, and a nicely curved figure that she seemed to take extra care to show off. She was dressed in what was apparently the school uniform: A navy blue long sleeved top with a white cuff running over the shoulders and across the top and duplicate cuffs on the end of each wide sleeve. A navy blue skirt, which Madoka had rolled at the waist to show off her legs more, matched the top, with a white trim at the bottom. She wore long black stockings on each feet that went up to her thighs. On each foot she wore simple navy blue leather shoes. Under the top, she seemed to wear a black tank top. A blue sash, white at each end, encircled her waist and was tied in a bow up front. A small shield shaped patch with what Zippy took to be the school logo adorned the upper left part of the top. Madoka had deliberately neglected the top two buttons on her blouse. Her breasts were fairly large, and Zippy felt an unwelcome twinge of jealousy.

Zippy chided herself: For Pete’s sake, grow up, Zippy!

“Madoka, would you be a dear and show our new friend to her room, she’ll be staying in 137G, with Lizzy.” Vixen told her.

Madoka smiled and nodded, “Sure thing, Vix. Common, Zipper. I’ll give ya’ the fifty cent tour.”

“It’s Zippy.” Zippy told her.

“Zippy the Zippmeister, so be it.” Madoka chortled, “Okay, follow me.”

Madoka opened the nearby door and led Zippy down a hallway, duplicate of most of the other parts of the school. Framed portraits of people lined the walls, seeming to increase in age the further down the hall they went, probably past students or past teachers. Zippy followed, playing along until she could find someone to help her. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was the only one she had at the moment.

“So how’s your first day at Petri’s going so far, Zippa.” Madoka asked over her shoulder.

“Zippy.” Zippy corrected her, “And its been great, I got dropped off by cab driver who can’t read a map, almost crushed by a wimpy artificial life form with no artificial intelligence whatsoever, and now I don’t ever want to hear the word ‘Jeepers’ again as long as live. You know, the usual mish mash.”

Madoka chuckled, “Hey, I like you, you’re funny. And you’re pretty, too, you’re probably gonna land a lot of guys.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. And don’t worry; there are plenty of cute guys here who aren’t gay. Girl like you should snag a half dozen easy.”

Was this a school or a dating service? Madoka made it sound like they were about to go to singles mixer.

“Listen, Madoka,” Zippy interjected, “It’s cool that you want to make be feel welcome and all, but I’m not staying. I’m not even supposed to be here.”

“What do you mean?” Madoka looked back at her.

“There’s been some kind of mix up; I’m supposed to be enrolled at As soon as I can get this all straitened up and call another cab, or even flag down a pick up truck, I’ll be on my way.”

“Coddswhollop? Why would you want to go there?”

“Are you kidding? It’s one of the most prestigious private academies in the world. It’s a great honor to be accepted there.”

“Awe, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Petri’s is better; it’s the elite of the elite. You learn things here they couldn’t even dream of teaching you at Coddwhollop. You not only learn, but you DO. You create, and revolutionize, right here at the school. If you graduate here, you can pick out your dream job as soon as you’ve got your diploma. Hell, you can get rich before you even get your sheepskin. Coddwhollop would have to get on a ladder just to kiss this school’s butt.”

Zippy didn’t reply; if half of what Madoka was saying was true, Madame Petri’s did sound like an incredible educational opportunity. Maybe she shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss this mix up. Madoka did make the school sound exciting.

Opening two large double doors at the end of the hall, Madoka said, “Welcome to Petri’s.”

The doors opened . . . onto what looked like complete chaos.

They walked out into some kind of central shaft, catwalks for each floor running around all four corners of the square shaft and crisscrossing to connect with each other. The shaft went up so high that Zippy could barely make out the ceiling up above, which seemed to be decorated with a huge crystal chandelier. Looking down, Zippy got dizzy as she saw that shaft went down so far she couldn’t see the bottom at all. She stepped away from the banister, trying to get a hold of her sense of vertigo.

She glanced at Madoka, “Holy shit, how big is this place.”

“Big.” Madoka said, simply, “What you see on the outside is just the tip of the proverbial ice berg: The school goes far down underground and it spreads out, going under about half of Spirtwood Forrest out there. I’ve never seen all of it. I bet some of the teachers haven’t either.”

“Wow.” Zippy muttered, looking over the towering shaft in amazement.

“Hey, Billy!” Madoka waved to a passing male student.

“Hey . . . Madoka.” Billy replied, arriving at her name after a brief pause as if he wasn’t sure who she was.

The male student uniform was similar to the female one: A black v neck golf shirt was worn under a navy blue jacket with white shoulders and cuffs, and navy blue pants with folded up white cuffs. A white belt was threaded around the waste, and an identical patch adorned the upper left side of the jacket.

Students seemed to be running everywhere, some carrying a number of strange contraptions. Zippy had trouble trying to take it all in at once: She saw devices she didn’t recognize, and more then a few animals she didn’t recognize either. A couple of boys came past her carrying a huge tank full of electric eels on either side. One girl ran past her with what appeared to be a chicken with three heads. What kind of school was this?

A small black haired boy walked past them. He had pale skin and a slight pinkish ring around his large wide bug like eyes. His face seemed stark and emotionless. Zippy found him a little creepy; the boy looked like a teenage Peter Lorre.

“Hi, Lorne.” Madoka waved.

“Hello . . . Madoka.” Lorne replied.

Lorne scurried off quickly without another word.

Madoka gestured for Zippy to follow her, and she quickly fell in next to her. Madoka gave a general tour of the place, which Zippy half listened to, distracted by the bizarre sights around her. Did that girl have a monkey head in that jar? And why did it seem to be still alive? Her attention was suddenly distracted by a boy shooting up from one of the lower levels, flying through the air by means of a jet pack strapped to his back. There was the low roar of the engine as he shot past them and up to one of the upper floors. In the wake of the twin jets, the updraft caused many of skirts worn by the female students fly up, resulting in panty shots a plenty. Girls giggled and blushed as they quickly held their skirts down, laughing. Madoka smoothed her skirt out as she greeted another guy, who once again had to look her over before he knew who she was.

As Madoka kept moving, Zippy followed her. Madoka pointed out various items of interest, although it seemed to Zippy that every other item she pointed out was a guy that she thought was cute. It looked like Madoka was interested in anyone who happened to come equipped with a Y chromosome. In short, Madoka was boy crazy. Though, at first glace, it looked like everyone here was one kind of crazy or another.

Another robot walked by, turning into a door and disappearing, this one seemed of a simpler design, fully anthropomorphic, with legs and feet, and it reminded Zippy a little of the metal Cylons from the new Battlestar Galactica. As soon as it was gone, another one came out of a different door and passed them going the other way. Zippy pursed her lips; this was robotic engineering she’d never seen before outside of a science fiction movie. Looking around, she spotted more of them. Most of them resembled the cylon ones, but a few were of different design.

“What’s with all the metal heads?” She asked Madoka.

Madoka smiled, “Those are the Werx: W-E-R-X. There’s tons of them, they take care of all the general work, grounds keeping, house keeping, that sort of thing. They were built right here in the school, by Madame Petri’s mother, although they’ve been improved a lot over the years. The general ones only have a limited AI, but, you’ve met Gortcha and Vixen, a lot of the more advanced Werx have full artificial personalities that you can interact with. Even though you probably don’t want to in Gortcha’s case.”

“They’re amazing. I’ve never seen engineering like that.” Zippy gushed.

“You’ll see plenty more amazing things here.” Madoka smiled.

Zippy was led to a wide platform with guardrails on all four sides, the platform accessed through a small gate in the front. Madoka got on and Zippy followed, pulling her suitcase along with her.

Once she was on, Madoka said, “Hang on.”

“Why?” Zippy asked, and suddenly became aware that her feet seemed to be held to the platform by some invisible force, “Hey, I can’t move my feet.”

“They have to be held there so you don’t fly off.” Madoka explained.

“What . . . ?” Zippy started to ask.

All at once, the platform lurched upwards at a rapid velocity like a jet taking off. Zippy screamed in shock and terror as her guts seemed to pool up in stomach. The platform rocketed up the side of the wall at well over eighty miles per hour, and then came to a screeching halt several floors above, jolting Zippy and causing her teeth to clack together painfully.

Zippy cried, “What . . . Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Zippy screamed again as the platform lurched and then rocketed sideways to the right, moving at incredible velocity around the walls of the shaft. Zippy’s hair flew out to her left, whipping in the wind caused by their sudden sideways movement. She felt like she was gonna puke any moment as the platform raced around the walls like some ungodly cross between an elevator and a roller coaster. At any second, Zippy expected to feel herself flying off the platform, but her feet stuck firm.

“Yeeee Haaaaa!!!!” Madoka cried, holding her hands over her head excitedly.

The platform lurched to a halt with another violent shake next a large set of doors, causing Zippy’s head to snap painfully. It was a wonder she didn’t have whiplash. There was a hum as the platform powered down and stopped entirely.

“We’re here.” Madoka said.

“Eeber eeber yabble.” Was all Zippy could say as her whole body trembled uncontrollably.

“Come one, Zipp-a-di doo dah, it’s this way.” Madoka tugged on her arm.

“Gahhh! What the hell was that?” Zippy cried, finding her voice again.

“Much faster and more fun then the stairs.” Madoka replied.

Pulling the frazzled Zippy along, Madoka led her along the catwalk, stopping every so often to say hello to someone. Every time there was that peculiar pause as they tried to remember who they were talking too, a fact that didn’t seem to bother Madoka at all, but had Zippy more then a little curious. As Madoka walked she pointed out this or that to Zippy, although Zippy noticed that ever other item of interest was still a guy Madoka thought was hot. Definitely a little boy crazy, Zippy thought to herself with a smile.

As if on cue, Madoka grabbed Zippy’s arm and excitedly gestured in one particular direction, “Ooo! Ooo! Look there, look there. See that guy? That Gerald Driver, everyone calls him ‘Flash’. He’s the star Gravity Ball player here.”

Zippy glanced at the tall, lean and muscular student Madoka had pointed out. He was chatting with some other students, almost strutting along as he did. He had brown hair, brushed back in some kind of wave that didn’t seem to leave a strand out of place, and lean chiseled features that looked like he’d never had a pimple. He was carrying quantum physics and advanced calculus books. He seemed brainy and intelligent, yet still like a typical jock off at the same time.

“He’s so cool!” Madoka gushed in a high squeal.

Part of Zippy wanted to role her eyes, but then again, she could see why Madoka was so taken with the guy. Cool, confident and athletic, not really Zippy’s type, but she could easy imagine why he’d be someone else’s.

And then, Zippy suddenly stopped dead.

Zippy was not given to sudden impulsive behavior all that much, but now she had suddenly frozen in place, because out of one of the doors had come the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen. It wasn’t that he was really handsome, or really athletic or well dressed or cool. It was more something indefinable about the overall package.

The guy had thick wavy light brown hair that he kept short and parted on one side. He had large deep blue eyes and slight peach color to his skin. There was a little bit of freckling over his nose and under the eyes, but very unobtrusive. His face was handsome, cute without looking like he was cut out of a magazine. He wore large round glasses similar to Zippy’s, and had no piercings that Zippy could see. He was not tall, although taller a bit then Zippy, and seemed to have lean build under his uniform. No bulging fat, but no bulging muscle either. He seemed, for all intents of purposes, to be the consummate bookworm. The kind of boy Zippy was always attracted to.

He walked out of the door, and stopped and glanced at Zippy. When he saw her staring at him, he smiled a line of strait white teeth.

Zippy’s heart fluttered in her chest, her blood surged through her veins, causing her to feel a little light headed. All manner of hormones and pheromones kicked in as a delightful giddiness flowed over Zippy at the sight of that smile. In no short order, Zippy was completely spellbound by the unknown boy.

And just like that, he was gone, disappearing into another doorway, leaving Zippy not even sure she had seen him at all. She stared for a second, before Madoka’s beckoning wave called her away, her face still flushed and her heart still pounding. She kept looking back over her shoulder at the door the Unknown Boy had entered. Zippy didn’t really believe in ‘love at first sight’, but she really couldn’t deny the way she’d felt when she’d seen him.

Get a grip, Zippy.

She tore her eyes away and moved towards where Madoka was leading her. She was taken to a pair of large doors with a sign over it that read “Girl’s Dorm G”. Madoka pushed them open and Zippy followed after her. They entered a wide hallway that went off into the distance before splitting into two wings. Despite the fact that it was the girl’s dorm, Zippy noticed a lot of male students wandering around. When she asked about it, Madoka told her that there was plenty of privacy in the rooms, so no one cared about guys in the halls. The dorm area had wood paneling and carpeted floors, framed paintings decorating the walls and cushioned benches on both sides to rest on. The whole effect was less metallic and more inviting then the rest of the school.

Five students ran past them carrying a giant boa constrictor that seemed to have a head on each end.

As Zippy followed her guide she passed a despondent looking girl sitting on one of the benches, another girl patting her on the shoulders trying to console her. The girl was black, with wavy brown hair spilling down over her shoulders and wide brown eyes. She was very pretty, with round features and a wide but unobtrusive nose on her face.

“I can’t believe he’d do this to me. I mean, of all the things, what am I supposed to do now?” She moaned.

“I know, I know. But you’re just going to have to deal with it. Pick yourself up and get back on the horse.” Her friend suggested.

The fried was a short, chubby girl with stark black hair worn back behind her head. She patted ’s shoulders emphatically.

“Easy for you to say.” exclaimed angrily, “You don’t have to learn how to walk on these.”

The girl stuck her legs out and Zippy noticed with shock that at the end of her legs, instead of feet, Sharon had large hands, complete with fingers dangling there. Zippy suppressed a gasp as she saw them.

Sharon hissed angrily, “No good lousy bastard!”

The sight was so bizarre, so completely unnatural, that Zippy couldn’t help herself. She liked to think of herself as above this sort of thing, but when it came down to it, she was no different then anyone at the scene of a horrific road accident. She just stared and gawked as she walked by, unable to tear her eyes away from the poor girl’s extra hands. So transfixed by the sight was she, that she didn’t see the boy in front of her until she had run right into him.

She clumsily plowed right into the male student, slamming into him so hard that he released a gasp of surprise. He staggered back wards, looking his balance. Zippy cried out and tried to jump forward and grab him, but he stumbled back and fell completely over, landing painfully on his rear end with a disquieting slap.

The boy was about Zippy’s age, and had a mane of wavy black hair on his head. He had a long round face, with wide, stunning blue eyes. He was short, actually a little shorter then Zippy, but broad shouldered. His uniform seemed excessively neat and pressed.

“Ow! What the hell?!?” The boy cried angrily.

A girl behind, a blonde with a particularly curvy figure, gasped and ran to him in alarm, “Cristobel! Are you okay?”

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry!” Zippy apologized reaching down to help Cristobel up.

Instead of taking her hand, Cristobel angrily smacked it away, his lip curling in a sneer.

“Get your filthy hands off me, bitch.” He hissed at her.

Zippy was taken aback by the attitude. It had been, after all, only an accident. Cristobel was clinging to a large metal box he had in his hands, which he cradled with care. It must have been something important, a project or assignment. No wonder he was mad. He was flanked by two other girls, and one boy. The boy had dark skin, thick black hair that he parted to one side and thick eyebrows over a hawkish hooked nose.

“Woah, take it easy, Cristobel.” The other boy said, “It was just an accident, you’re not hurt are you?”

“Really, I’m very sorry.” Zippy apologized again.

Cristobel stood up, “Stupid is what you are. Stupid and clumsy and now your sorry too.”

“Hey, I already apologized.” Zippy felt her face growing hot.

“You’ve probably had your whole life to apologize for, so what’s a little extra now going to matter?” Cristobel sneered, his lip mouth curling at the end.

“Cris, don’t do this, take it easy . . .” The other boy started, but was interrupted.

“Who the hell are you, anyways?” Cristobel started, “Oh, wait: You’re that new girl. Zipperdale, isn’t it? Another little girl coming here to try to play in a man’s world.”

Zippy bristled, “Excuse me?”

Cristobel spat at her contemptuously, “You women, always trying to pretend your equal to men, but in the end all you’re good for is to be at the feet of a strong man: Cooking his meals and pumping out his heirs.”

Zippy raised an eyebrow, “Did I just go through a time warp and end up in the forties? Who the hell fed you that load of garbage?”

“Science is a man’s game, little girl.” Cristobel said, “You just go home a play with your dollies and leave the real science to your betters, okay?”

And with that, Cristobel turned and walked off with a sardonic laugh. The three girls all fell in behind him, following him as he walked, each one trying to outdo the other with the amount of their concern for his possible injuries. The other boy mouthed a quick ‘I’m sorry’ in Zippy’s direction, and then followed after the rest with a sigh. Zippy stood where she was, furious. She gritted her teeth in annoyance, getting her nerves under control.

“Who the hell was that?” She asked Madoka.

“Cristobel Bell.” Madoka explained, “He’s a strait A student, a scientific genius, and a world class pain in ass. He’s the heir to the family fortune; they’re an old school male matriarch family: The men rule everything and the women obey, and you saw that Cristobel’s no different. You see those three Barbies attached to him like barnacles? Amber, Tiffany, and Charity: They’re the top three of a whole troupe of groupies that follow him everywhere and do whatever he tells them.”

Zippy snorted, “Why would they like him, he’s a sexist schmuck?”

“They don’t like him,” Madoka chuckled, “They like his money. The family fortune is huge, and Cristobel stands to inherit enough money to buy this whole school three times over. Each one of them hopes to be the one who marries into the fortune, so they put up with him in hopes of getting it.”

Zippy rolled her eyes: That was just pathetic.

Madoka went on, “See that other guy that was with them? That’s Kevin Crowsfeet; he’s been Cristobel’s best friend since grade school. He’s actually a really nice guy, I don’t know why he stays friends with but he seems to thing there’s some redeeming qualities buried in there somewhere.”

Madoka led her down the hall, making a left and finally stopping at a door marked 137. It was a standard dark brown wood door, with the number in brass metal numbers on the front.

“Well, here you are.” Madoka told her, “Someone’ll come up with your uniform, books and class schedule. And then later a teacher’ll come by to take to you get registered with the Vice Principle.”

Madoka knocked on the door, and then opened it without waiting for a response. She went in and Zippy followed her. Zippy gasped at the spacious room, opulently designed in old world décor, featuring four beds, desks, and wardrobes, a plush rich carpet, and what looked like a big HD TV on the far wall. Another girl sat a one of the desks, working at a computer. There were top of the line computers on each of the desks.

“Hey, Lizzy.” Madoka said cheerfully, “I brought you your new roommate. I’ll leave you two to get acquainted.”

Madoka quickly left as Lizzy turned around. Zippy suppressed another gasp as she saw her: Lizzy had long black wavy hair that she’d tied part of up high on either side of her head. The rest of it spilled down over her shoulders like a waterfall, partially curly from top to bottom. She had a long shield shaped face and a small nose. Her skin was excessively pale, as if she hadn’t ever been out in the sun. She reminded Zippy of those blind albino fish that lived deep in caves and never saw the light of day. She had deep set serious looking hazel eyes, and wore black finger nail polish. Zippy noticed that Lizzy had tied her hair with ties decorated with little bats, and silver skull earrings hung from both her ears. She was a little taller the Zippy, and her face seemed to be fixed in a neutral expression, her thin lips decorated with black lipstick. She reminded Zippy of some lost member of the family, like some kind of odd cross between Morticia and Wednesday.

Shoving her suitcase aside, having no intention of unpacking it here, she smiled politely and reached a hand out to Lizzy.

She introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Zippy. Zippindelka Asimov Zipperdale, but please call me Zippy, it’s less of a mouth full.”

Lizzy took Zippy’s hand and shook it, her skin feeling a little cold.

Lizzy spoke in a low emotionless monotone, “Lizzy Malaria. Elizabeth Bathory Borden Malaria, actually, but everyone calls me Lizzy, as my name, also, is quite the mouthful. A pleasure to meet you, Zippy.”

If Lizzy was actually pleased, it was very hard to tell because of the stoic, droning way she talked.

Zippy shook her hand, “Pleased to meet you, Lizzy. Malaria, huh? That’s an . . . unusual family name?”

“The family changed it in the eighteenth century.” Lizzy replied.

“Oh, okay . . . just a second: They changed it TO Malaria?” Zippy asked incredulously.

“It used to be Herpes.” Lizzy said.

Yikes, Zippy thought. If Lizzy was kidding, she gave no indication of it. She must play one hell of a game of poker. What sort of weird loony bin had Zippy found herself in? Zippy moved over an empty chair and sat down, taking a load off. She eyed her companion curiously, but shivered when she found Lizzy unabashedly looking her over; studying her like one would specimen under a microscope. It almost seemed like she wasn’t blinking, her wide hazel eyes boring into Zippy with interest and curiosity.

“I approve of you.” Lizzy finally said at last, “I believe you will fit in well. I’m glad you’re here.”

Zippy smiled, “Thanks, but don’t get too glad; I’m not staying. There’s been some kind of mistake and I’m at the wrong school. As soon as I can get this sorted out and get a cab, I’m out of here.”

When Lizzy slightly, almost imperceptivity slumped, Zippy was a little surprised. It seemed like the strange girl was disappointed.

“That’s a shame.” Lizzy said with no perceptible change in her tone of voice, “I like you. I was hoping we could be friends. Friends are very important here, you know.”

“Awe, you just met me, Lizzy.” Zippy chided her with warm smile, “How could you like me already.”

“I’m a good judge of people.” Lizzy insisted, “Plus I googled you as soon as I found out the name of my new room mate. You’re brilliant and innovative, maybe the smartest person we’ve had in the school.”

“I doubt that.” Zippy giggled, blushing a little at the boost to her intellectual vanity, “I’ve seen things here that made my head spin already.”

“I still think you can be the best.” Lizzy said firmly, “As a bonus, it will be nice to have a top student who’s not a chauvinistic throwback to the dark ages.”

“Cristobel? I already met him.” Zippy said.

There was a pause, and they both burst out laughing. Lizzy had a wide Cheshire cat smile that displayed unusually long canine teeth. For one terrible, comic moment, Zippy thought they were fangs. She kicked herself for the thought: Lizzy might be a Goth chick, but she was no vampire. They began to chat a little about science, and what Lizzy had been working on before Zippy entered. Zippy found herself fascinated by Lizzy’s ideas and quickly saw that Lizzy was perfectly open to her own.

Upon spying some DVDs that Lizzy had lying around, Zippy made another connection with the strange girl: A shared love of horror film old and new. Conversation quickly went on to analyzing the works of Terrance Fisher, Roger Corman, and Mario Bava, and the acting prowess of Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee.

God help me, Zippy thought, I like this girl.

Their conversation was interrupted when suddenly there came a tapping, as if someone was gently rapping at their chamber door.

“It’s open.” Lizzy called.

The door opened and Madoka re-entered the room, carrying clothes and a stack of books in her arms. Zippy frowned: It was definitely Madoka, but she looked totally different; her hair was now pulled back in a ponytail, not loose and free like it had been before, and her skirt was now let down to its normal length, the top buttons of her blouse now firmly connected. The whole uniform seemed smoothed down and neater then it had been a few minutes ago. She came in and set her burden down on one of the beds.

“Hi, Lizzy.” She said in a tiny, quiet voice.

“Greetings.” Lizzy replied.

She then turned to Zippy and gave a polite Japanese bow, “And you must be Zippy?”

“Uh, yeah, I must.” Zippy said, perplexed at the behavior.

“I’m Rina Matsura. It’s very nice to meet you.” She said bowing again.

Zippy was puzzled for a second, and then smiled to herself: This must be Madoka’s twin sister. Twins; that would explain a lot, especially the way everyone seemed to have trouble at first knowing who Madoka was. Zippy could relate, she could never tell the Olsen Twins apart.

Gesturing towards the items she’d brought with her hand, Rina said, “I’ve brought all the text books you’re going to need for the semester, and that sheet in the top one contains your schedule of classes. I’ve also brought you your uniform, please change into it and a teacher will come by to take to the vice principle’s office.”

Zippy waved her off, “You can take them back, I’m not staying. There’s been some kind of mix up. Soon as I can talk to this vice principle I’ll get this all cleared up.”

“Oh.” Rina said, “Well, I was just told to bring them to you. You’ll have to put on the uniform anyways if you want to talk to the vice principle. He won’t see you dressed like that.”

Zippy grimaced, she didn’t really want to get dressed up, she just wanted to get out of here and get where she was supposed to be.

“So, you must be Madoka’s sister, huh?” She asked Rina.

Rina’s reaction was strange: She gasped in alarm and blushed, turning a bright shade of pink.

“Y-you . . . you’ve m-met Madoka?” She stuttered nervously.

Confused again, Zippy said, “Yeah, she showed me to this room.”

Rina’s pink face turned red and she fumbled with the bottom of her blouse nervously, turning her head and not meeting Zippy’s eyes.

“Oh no. She uh . . . she didn’t do anything . . . crazy or . . . perverted; did she?” Rina asked nervously, whispering the word ‘perverted’.

“Naw, she just pointed out ever guy in the building she though was hot.” Zippy chuckled, “Good taste actually.”

“Oh good.” Rina breathed a sigh of relief, “I’m so sorry. You see, Madoka isn’t my sister . . . she’s me.”

“Come again?” Zippy asked, hoping some kind of better explanation was forthcoming.

Rina looked down at the floor, her hands touching her fingers together in embarrassment, one of her feet absently moving on the ground, “My parents are involved in computer science. And my father was creating a VR dating simulation, with fully realized self aware artificial intelligence. Real thinking feeling computerized people living in cyberspace. He tested it out on me, just had me enter the game and interact with various characters, and something went wrong. There was some kind of power surge, and the game went haywire, and somehow, the AI I was talking to at the time was loaded completely into my brain. And that was Madoka, and we’ve been stuck sharing the same body ever since.”

She paused and added, “It’s been very hard: Madoka’s so . . . uninhibited. But we’ve worked things out; we communicate by leaving messages for each other on my cell phone or on my laptop.”

Zippy could barely believe what she was hearing, “That sounds a little . . . crowded.”

Rina nodded, “We switch randomly, with no control over it, so I can’t tell you the number of embarrassing situations I’ve found myself in. Once, I came to singing karaoke in front of the whole dorm . . . in my underwear.”

Unable to help herself, Zippy giggled while Rina blushed, “I’m sure it was a treat for the guys. You must have been pretty popular after that.”

Rina flushed a little more, grinning and then turned and scurried out of the room, looking at the floor.

Lizzy went back to her work, “You’d better change, the teacher should be here any second.”

Zippy sighed and pulled her shoes off by stepping on them with her feet and raising her leg. She pulled off her shirt and then sat on the bed, yanking off her jeans. She rose and folded both articles of clothing neatly on the bed; sure she was going to be putting them back on shortly. She walked over to the uniform, reaching for it, and then noticed the list of classes sitting on top of the books. She narrowed her eyes looking at the class names: What the hell?

“Robotic Weaponry–Miss Gojira
Genetic Manipulation–Mr. DeSade
Experimental Surgery and Body Part Transplantation–Miss Piranha
Aquatic Mutations–Mr. Carcharias
Death Ray Construction–Mr. Ecoli
Doomsday Theory–Mr. Gorgonzola
Artificial Life Form Creation–Mrs. Variola
Physical Augmentation–Miss Anvil
Zombie Creation, Breeding, and Defense–Mrs. Fulci

The list went on and on.

Glancing over at the text books she saw titles like “The Joy Of Unnecessary Surgery”, “Building And Maintaining Your Killer Robot: A Sensible Guide”, “Bringing About Armageddon In Twelve Easy Steps: Practical Applications” and “The Big Book Of The Dead: Everything You Need To Know About Raising Your Zombies”. Zippy practically staggered back, staring at what was on the bed. What kind of school teaches you to build a killer robot? What sort of text books where these? Hell, what kind of classes was she being expected to take?

“What . . . What with all this?” Zippy cried, “This . . . this is like . . . some kind of school for mad scientists!”

Lizzy nodded, “Yeah, that’s about the size of it.”

Zippy lost her footing and fell to the floor with a resounding, if painful, thud.

“What? How is that possible?” Zippy cried, scrambling back to her feet.

Lizzy shrugged, “It’s been this way for a long time. Nothing worthwhile gets invented unless someone is willing to risk it all on their ideas. This school teaches people to do just that: Advance science without worrying about anything else.”

“That’s insane!” Zippy said, “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Yeah, this place can be dangerous.” Lizzy agreed, “But you can do things here that you can’t do anywhere else. Graduating from here means that you are almost guaranteed to be extraordinary.”

“What if you don’t graduate?” Zippy asked suspiciously.

“Usually that means you died, somehow.” Lizzy explained, “Once you’re signed to the school, you don’t leave until you graduate. Most people don’t slack off though, if your grades suffer too much, you end up ‘volunteering’ for one of Madame Petri’s private experiments; and the results of those can be . . . inconvenient. My last roommate lost all four of her limbs, she’s in a special needs class now elsewhere in the school.”

“You’re kidding! You’ve got to be kidding! Please tell me that you’re kidding!” Zippy babbled, the blood draining from her face.

“I’m not.” Lizzy replied, “When students get desperate for good marks, it’s not uncommon for them to kidnap one another for their projects.”

“Wait!” Zippy interjected, “Be kind; rewind: They don’t get in trouble for that?”

Zippy was sure that was the sort of thing that should get a student expelled. But maybe not at this mental institution disguised as a school.

“You’ve got to understand, Zippy,” Lizzy explained, “In Madame Petri’s, its all about the results. Nobody cares how you achieved something, as long as you achieve it. When it comes to the experiments, there are very few rules. Killing your subject gets you an F, so most people take care to keep you alive. That’s why it’s so important to make friends and alliances; you need someone to watch your back here.”

Zippy stared at Lizzy’s pale features, “You sure seem to take it calm.”

Again, Lizzy shrugged, “That’s life at Madam Petri’s: Lots of risk, but also lots of reward.”

“This Madam Petri must be something else.” Zippy commented dryly.

“So I’m told.” Lizzy agreed, not acknowledging the sarcasm, “I hear she’s very beautiful.”

“Huh? You’ve never seen her?”

“Nope, most of the students haven’t. I hear she used to be very involved in the school, but now she leaves everything to Mr. Innsmouth. He’s . . . not beautiful.”

There was a long silence while Zippy digested this, and then she grabbed the uniform off the bed and rapidly began dressing as fast as she could. She was going to go to that Vice Principle’s office, get this all sorted out, and get the living hell out of this nightmare before somebody decided to splice her with an iguana. She had barely finished dressing when the door was knocked upon again.

This time a tall woman came into the room. She was deathly pale, like Lizzy, although obviously much older, late twenties at least. She had wide brown eyes, and frizzy wild black hair that was tied up high on either side of her head. She was dressed in a long black skin tight leather dress that clung to her voluptuous figure, the neckline low cut and exposing copious amounts of her ample cleavage. She wore long elbow length leather gloves on each arm. The dress was slit up both legs all the way to the thigh, and she wore long knee length high heeled leather boots, with heels so high they might have well have been stilts. She came into the room, smiling excitedly, her heels clacking on the floor through the carpeting.

Lizzy looked up at her, “Hello, Miss Piranha.”

Miss Piranha ran over to Lizzy, hugging her warmly, giggling with bubbling enthusiasm, “Why, hello, Lizzy! How’s my little Frankenstein doing?”

“I’m good.” Lizzy said.

Letting her go, Miss Piranha turned to Zippy, a wide grin splitting her face, her hand shaking in front of her in exhilaration, “And you must be Zippendelka! Oh, it’s so nice to meet you. Everyone’s been so excited about your arrival. Oh, and your so cute I just want to eat you up.”

She reached over and squished Zippy’s cheeks cheerfully with her latex covered hands. Zippy pried her hands off, feeling her cheeks burn a little where Miss Piranha had pinched her.

Miss Piranha gushed and giggled, “Oh, such a young fresh mind! So full of wonder and potential.

She grabbed Zippy and hugged her tight, smothering Zippy’s face in her massive breasts. Zippy’s cries were muffled in Miss Piranha’s amble bosom as the older woman hugged her with gusto. Zippy wasn’t usually prone to embarrassment, but she turned a bright shade of pink finding her face squished with thick cleavage on either side of her face. To make matters worse, she couldn’t breathe. For a horrible moment, she thought was going to smothered to death by Miss Piranha’s enthusiasm: An image of a tombstone labeled “Here lies Zippy, who suffocated in her teacher’s womanhood” flashed comically through her head, along with a newspaper headline: “Brilliant student killed by cleavage”. Finally, the woman let go of her. Zippy drew in a large gulp of much needed oxygen.

Miss Piranha said, “I’m Miss Piranha, and I teach Experimental Surgery And Body Part Transplantation. I’ll be taking you to get signed in with Mr. Innsmouth, the Vice Principle. Please follow me, my cute little Frankenstein.”

Then she cocked her head, “Oh my, do you have a nose bleed, Miss Zipperdale?”

Turning red, Zippy grabbed a Kleenex off the desk and wiped away the trickle of blood.

Zippy stared up at Miss Piranha: Could this really be a teacher? What sort of educator dressed like that for class? She looked more like a fetish model then an instructor.

She quickly followed the strange teacher as she waved her forward. They entered the dorm tunnels and then went all the way around through some twisting corridors. As Miss Piranha led her, she talked to Zippy, giving her a general overview of the school.

“Madam Petri’s was founded a long time ago by the current Madam Petri’s great grandmother.” Miss Piranha lectured, “Since then, the school had expanded greatly and we turn out more unrestricted scientists then any other school, making us the most sought after educational facility in the world. And you’ve been accepted to it, doesn’t that make you proud?”

Zippy opened her mouth the repeat again that this was some kind of mistake and that she wasn’t staying, but gave up and just nodded. A girl with cat ears and a tail ran past them distracting Zippy for a minute.

“In any event,” Miss Piranha said, with bubbling enthusiasm, “The school is constantly expanding. It’s a tradition of each headmistress; ever since work started on it so many years ago, construction has never stopped. There’s always something new getting built somewhere. That’s why nobody really knows every part of the school, and why there are a few odd touches like stairs going nowhere, and doors opening up to two story drops and stuff like that.”

Zippy blinked, “It’s like the ?”

“Oh yes,” Miss Piranha agreed, “Most definitely like the .”

Great, Zippy thought to herself, Sarah Winchester probably had something in common with the woman who ran this place: They were both nuts.

Miss Piranha continued, “I’ve been so excited ever since I found out that you were coming, Miss Zipperdale. I checked out your file, and you’re test scores are off the charts. You’re just an extra brainy bundle of cuteness. I think we can expect good things from you, Zippendelka. Oh, may I call you Zippendelka?”

“I prefer Zippy, actually.” Zippy told her.

“’Zippy’!” Miss Piranha clapped her hands together, “Ohhhhh! That’s so cute! Anyways, our school is fully stocked, and state of the art. There are plenty of recreational facilities, and there’s even a town nearby that has a club that the students like to frequent in their off time called The Manhattan Project. I’m sure you’re gonna work hard and have a good time her, Zippy. And if you need anything, just ask.”

For a split second, Zippy jumped back, afraid Miss Piranha was going to smother her in her cleavage again, but nothing happened. As they walked, Miss Piranha continued to talk and explain things like a hummingbird on crack. In spite of all this, Zippy found her friendly and approachable, despite the fact that as far as Zippy could tell, Miss Piranha was completely ethically bankrupt. In spite of herself, Zippy found that she liked this strange hyperactive woman.

Another student ran past them; she was about Zippy’s height, maybe a little smaller. What struck Zippy the most was the pale, almost chalk white color of her skin, not to mention her hair, which was long, strait and beyond platinum blonde. Lizzy and Miss Piranha had nothing on this girl, she was white as a corpse In fact, Zippy was sure that her hair was completely white like an old woman’s.. The girl was, however, as young as she was. Her eyes were light, and almost a slight grey color, slightly bloodshot.

“Why, hello, Eve!” Miss Piranha waved.

“Hi, Miss Piranha.” The girls said as she rushed by in a high, but quiet voice that sounded almost like a hiss, with a distinct English accent.

As the girl ran off, Zippy looked after her, “I she an albino?”

“No.” Miss Piranha answered matter of factly, “She’s a vampire.”

Zippy lost her balance again and fell to the floor on that one. What the hell? And why had Miss Piranha stated in such a calm no big deal way?

“You’re kidding!” Zippy exclaimed, rubbing the bump where she’d hit her head when she fell over.

“It happened in an experiment using gene therapy derived from Desmodus rotundu, Diphylla ecaudata and Diaemus youngi, among other animals.”

“The three species of vampire bat.”

“Exactly. The goal was to alter a person to be as close to the mythological vampire as possible. Eve was the result. A+ work there: She has fangs, drinks blood in the dining hall, shuns the light, sleeps in a coffin in the bell tower; the whole nine yards.

“You don’t say.” Zippy muttered, wondering if Eve had actually volunteered for this procedure.

“Oh, you’ll meet her.” Miss Piranha told her, “She’s good friends with Lizzy.”

“That . . . makes sense.” Zippy said, not sharing Miss Piranha’s enthusiasm for palling around with a live blood drinking vampire.

The sooner she got out of here; Zippy thought, the better. This was nuts, why would anyone want to create a real life vampire? To what end, and of what possible use could she be?

They finally arrived at a large pair of old style wooden doors, covered with intricate carvings depicting mermaids and various sea life. A large brass plaque on the front read, “Vice Principle Innsmouth”. Miss Piranha knocked on the door, and after a few minutes, there was a low voice from within.

“Enter.” The voice said deep and foreboding, with a proper English accent.

With one hand, Miss Piranha opened the door and entered, with Zippy following right behind. The room was dark and under lit, and Zippy shivered at the colt temperature of the chamber. The place was practically freezing. The room was oval in shape, very large and was filled on all sides by book shelves filled with old books. At the far end was a huge window, looking out over the school courtyard. A huge wooden desk was right in front of it, and two chairs sat directly in front of that. There was a large bear rung in front of the desk. As they got closer to the desk, Zippy noticed a strange sculpture sitting on top of it, depicting a strange half man, half fish creature covered in scales, fins and tentacles. The figure it represented was incredibly ugly and appallingly grotesque, sending a shiver of revulsion through Zippy’s body.

A tall figure stood at the window, with his back to the door. He was huge, easily over six feet tall.

“Mr. Innsmouth?” Miss Piranha said, “I’ve brought Miss Zipperdale for her registration.”

The man turned and Zippy could now see him fully. He cut an imposing figure and not just because of his height: He had long white hair the hung down to his neck, and a long intense face. His eyes were deep sunk in his skull, surrounded by dark circles as if he never slept. His nose was long and hooked in a manner that suggested a bird of prey. His lips were drawn tight in a thin line. A thick goatee decorated his chin, the hairs a mix of white and dark grey. He was dressed in a long black double breasted coat and black pants. He stared at Zippy with those intense eyes that seemed to bore into her.

“Ah yes, our new student.” Mr. Innsmouth said, his voice was deep and sinister, “Come on in, Miss Zipperdale. Let us get you properly signed in and registered.”

He reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a large thick file which he placed on the desk and opened up.

Miss Piranha whispered in Zippy’s ear, “Don’t be afraid if he seems stern; it’s just his way. He’s even like that with me.”

She then turned and walked out, her stiletto heels clacking on the floor noisily, closing the door behind herself, which only partially dulled the noise of her boots.

Zippy stepped forward, “Um, if you please, sir? I think there’s been some kind of mistake. I’m not supposed to be enrolled at this school. I’ve never applied here, and actually I’ve never heard of this place before. I’m supposed to be going to Coddswhollop Academy, but the driver took me here by mistake. I really like to just get to a phone so I can clear this up and be on my way.”

The cold, angry expression that Mr. Innsmouth shot at her made Zippy cringe. He leveled his eyes at her in an irritated, offended manner.

“I believe that it is you, Miss Zipperdale, who are mistaken.” He said slowly, “We have had you enrolled on file as a forthcoming student for months now. We have been expecting your arrival.”

“But I’ve never even heard of this school . . .” Zippy began, and was cut off by Mr. Innsmouth handing her a paper.

“I believe, Miss Zipperdale, that this is you signature?” He said coldly.

Zippy looked at the document and gasped. It was her signature all right. In fact, the bottom of this contract was the one she’s signed to be enrolled at Coddswhollop. But the contract itself was entirely new: Enrolling her at the school until graduation, with no provisions for changing schools or leaving. There was even a clause that absolved the school for any liability should she die or become injured. She read over the contract, and gnawing feeling of dread clawing at the inside of her stomach.

“But . . . but this is insane! I didn’t sign this!” Zippy protested.

“Miss Zipperdale!” Mr. Innsmouth snapped, “It is not wise to make me unhappy.”

Zippy cringed, backing up a bit.

Mr. Innsmouth continued, “You are free to call an attorney, of course, but I can assure you, that contract will hold up in any court. You are ours, until you graduate, Miss Zipperdale, so you are well advised to get used to the idea. You will find it is not in your best interests to . . . disappoint or upset me.”

Zippy said nothing, staring at Mr. Innsmouth with wide terrified eyes, her heart pounding in her chest with fear and confusion.

Mr. Innsmouth seemed to soften a bit, “You can do great things here, Miss Zipperdale. And make no mistake; you are an exceptional young woman. It’s no mistake that you’ve been accepted. Here, you will do and see things that very few people in the world ever will. It is an honor, privilege, and an advantage to be accepted at Madame Petri’s.

“Haven’t you ever wondered about the spectacular scientific advances of recent years in the world? It’s because people like us have crated place for ourselves to work undisturbed and uninhibited for the advancement of science. In places we have set aside for ourselves, we can work for the progression of knowledge without fear of harassment from the ignorant herd of people that make up most of the world. School’s such as this one, train the next generations of unrestrained scientists.

“As an extra advantage, I will point out to you that here at Petri’s; any and all inventions developed by the students are automatically patented in their names. If you really are as exceptional as you are supposed to be, and not the impertinent little trouble maker you seem like now, then you stand to be quite wealthy by the time you graduate, assuming you don’t perish before that time.”

Mr. Innsmouth stood up and turned his back on her, looking at the window. Zippy’s mind was struggling to catch up. She could barely believe what she being told.

“You may, of course, contact your parents, but I can assure you young lady, you are a student here until you graduate.” Mr. Innsmouth said, “You would be well advised to strive to do your best. But if you don’t . . . well, Madam Petri can always use another subject.

“You may go now, feel free to explore the school. We expect you at dinner in the dining hall at six o’clock. Good day, Miss. Zipperdale. I hope you don’t disappoint us.”

It was a few seconds before Zippy realized that she was being dismissed. Numb she turned around without a word and left the office.

Instead of heading back to the dorm room, she wandered the halls, keeping a mental map of where she was. It was very rare that Zippy ever got lost, her photographic memory serving her well in this regard. She thought about what had just happened. Unlike most girls her age, Zippy knew her way around a legal contract. She had once considered going to law school. Mr. Innsmouth had been telling the truth, that contract was binding. In all likelihood, she was stuck in this loony bin. But how? How had this come to be. She was certain she hadn’t ever seen that contract before, let alone sign it, so how had her signature gotten on the bottom? And why, for what purpose?

She sighed heavily, turning down an aisle as a girl with bunny ears and a cotton tale ran past her. She walked on, running it all over in her mind: If she was stuck here, then she would simply have to make the most of it and get good at this stuff. If she could keep her grades up, she could stay out of Madam Petri’s clutches. But it looked like there was a whole lot more to worry about in this school. She didn’t just need to do good, she needed to survive.

The idea of running away, came to her, and she dismissed it just as easily. Where would she go? Would she really spend her whole life on the run, breaking that contract would be bad news not only for her, but for her family as well. Her mother, her father, she couldn’t put them through that. Her brother . . . well, she probably could, but that didn’t make it right.

She smiled a little. She was worrying about what was ‘right’ in a place where there seemed to be no ethical concept of what was ‘right’ in the first place. She walked past a large pair of double doors, a sign on them reading “Death Ray Construction”. Just in front of her past the doors, a small flight of steps lined with a raining down the middle led down a little. On the ceiling above it, was a duplicate set of steps; one of those peculiar construction jobs that Miss Piranha had mentioned.

As Zippy approached the steps, she head a male voice from beyond the doors cry, “No! Not that one! Oh hell, everyone: Duck!”

There was suddenly a loud deafening explosion from the other side of the doors. The doors violently flew off their hinges and the smoke and debris exploded outward. Zippy felt a rush of incredibly hot air just before the kinetic force of the blast struck her. Small burning pieces of shrapnel stung her face as the explosion lifted her off her feet and over the railing. In a whirlwind of hot air, Zippy was thrown across the hall and slammed painfully into the side of the wall. She felt a hot sharp pain as something sliced her left arm.

Somewhere, a high cutesy voice cried, “Oh! Is she alright?”

Disoriented, Zippy slipped down to the floor and the noise subsided. Her ears rang and she could feel some uncomfortable bruises on her body, but nothing seemed to be broken or seriously injured. As she tried to regain her senses, she became aware that someone was holding her left arm. The room was unfocused and she tried to get a grip on her senses, hoping she didn’t have a concussion. Something we was touching her arm where the injury was. The room came into focus, as Zippy began to regain her facilities.

The doors were on two separate parts of the hall, debris from the blast all over the place. The teacher in the classroom was yelling at someone furiously. Looking over, to her arm, Zippy got one more shock: There was a cute busty blonde girl crouched down next to her. She held Zippy’s arm in both her hands and was licking her wound rapidly like a dog would. In spite of herself, Zippy blushed at the bizarre act being performed on her.

“H-hey!” Zippy started.

The girl looked up at her with large green eyes, “Oh! Are you alright? That was a nasty fall you took?”

She said it like what she had just been doing was the most normal thing in the world. Behind her another girl came running up; she looked like a complete duplicate of the first girl, blonde hair, big boobs, green eyes and all. Now these had to be twins; unless the school had been doing a lot of human cloning. They both had long wavy blonde hair, tied in two small buns on either side of their head, but flowing down over their shoulders, and wide green eyes. Zippy noticed they had rather large ears, long at the top, and slightly exaggerated canine teeth.

“Nadjia!” The second twin said, “That’s not the person way to do that!”

Nadjia looked down at Zippy’s arm and then gasped, dropping it.

“I’m so very sorry.” Nadjia said, “I saw your wound and I guess I acted instinctively.”

“Heck of an instinct.” Zippy replied, an eyebrow raised.

Nadjia helped Zippy to her feet, “I’m Nadjia Farrell, and this is my sister, Katjia.”

“Hi, I’m Zippy.”

Zippy was interrupted by the sound of mechanical whirring and loud clanking followed by a high pitched wail as a whole troupe of Werx rolled into the hall with red sirens flashing on top of their heads. They piled into the hall, disgorging foam out of tubes in their arms and chests over everything that was still burning. They put the minor fires out in a few seconds, with a rapid well coordinated assault. As soon as they were done, the sirens disappeared into their head with a loud clack were replaced by a metal nurse’s hat with a big red cross on the front. One of them, differently built then the others in a fashion similar to Vixen, headed over to Zippy. At first, Zippy thought it walked on two legs like the others, but then she noticed that it glided along on roller skate like wheels on the bottom of its feet. It was definitely built to resemble a female body, reminding Zippy a little of the TX cyborg from that awful Terminator 3 movie.

“Hi, Posey.” Katjia said.

“Blork.” Posey replied.

The Werx picked up Zippy’s arm. A small metal tube slid out from one of its fingers and Posey sprayed Zippy’s cut with it. She felt a stinging sensation as her wound was sterilized. Switching to another finger, Posey sprayed some kind of rubbery adhesive on the cut, creating an instant bandage.

“Blork.” Posey told Zippy, firmly.

“Uh . . . thanks.” Zippy answered.

“Blork.” Posey nodded at her and the rolled away, her nurse hat disappearing to be replaced by a maintenance worker’s. She joined the other Werx as they went about cleaning up and repairing the damage from the blast.

Zippy exhaled heavily, her nerves still jittery from the shock. She looked over at the twins, who eyed her with a bit of a rambunctious curiosity. She smiled politely at them, and then let it fade when she realized that as they leaned forward, their nostrils flared and they inhaled lightly. They were sniffing her, Zippy realized, smelling her with a dog like curiosity. What the hell . . . ?

“You’re the new girl, aren’t you?” Katjia said.

“Sort of.” Zippy said levelly, remembering her conversation with Mr. Innsmouth.

“Well, duh, Katjia.” Nadjia chuckled, “We’ve never seen her before.”

Katjia straitened up, “Would you like to come explore with us?”

Explore? How old were these two? “Explore what?”

“The school, silly.” Nadjia explained, “Every day we try to explore a new part we haven’t seen. Would you like to come with us?”

“Oh, why the hell not?” Zippy replied after a pause, figuring that she could probably get killed in this place just as easily sitting in the dorm room.

“Great!” Katjia clapped her hands together, “I’m happy, you seem nice, and you smell real good.”

Katjia leaned over and sniffed Zippy again for good measure, making Zippy’s skin crawl and a shiver run up her spine.

“Uh, why in the hell do you keep sniffing me?” Zippy had to ask, “Were you two raised by wolves or something?”

The Twins answered emphatically, “Yes!”

Oh, of course they were.

As Zippy followed the twins down into the lower levels, they gave her the run down of their life story. Zippy actually was finding it quite fascinating: The twins were orphaned as infants when their archeologist parents died in a place crash in some remote jungle which the twins themselves managed to survive. They were found by a female wolf that had probably lost her cubs, and she raised them as part of the pack until they were seven, at which point there were found by another exploration team. They were taken back to civilization and entrusted to their uncle, as well as a small army of psychiatrists. Because of their abnormally high IQs, they were able to rapidly assimilate to civilized society, learning speech, walking on two legs, learning manners and so forth, allowing them to re enter the human world in a few short years. Remarkable, really, although it was fairly obvious that a lot of their wolf habits still remained and persisted.

As they went along, a snotty voice came up from behind them. Zippy turned and rolled her eyes when she spotted Amber, Tiffany and Charity, The Groupies, coming up behind them.

“Oh, why if it isn’t little miss Zippy.” Amber said snidely, “Off to go take the dogs for a walk I see?”

Zippy turned her back on Amber and continued walking. Incensed at being ignored, Amber ran up to her, fire in her eyes.

“Hey, newbie, I’m talking to you!” Amber said, “Can’t you address your superiors when their talking to you?”

“’Superiors’?” Zippy grumbled, “I know you weren’t talking about yourself.”

“Oh, doesn’t she think she’s hot stuff?” Amber sneered, “Little miss know it all, trying to knock over and insult poor Cristobel. You think you’re so big?”

“Look who’s talking?” Zippy said dropping her eyes to Amber’s exaggerated chest, “What are you? F? G? How much did those cost?”

As soon as she said it, Zippy kicked herself. Stupid, why would she resort to such base insults? Something about Amber had gotten under her skin, and now she had let herself resort to childish name calling. This would only make things worse.

Sure enough, Amber bristled, “Ha! Jealous just because god saw fit to grace me with so much more womanhood then you? Oh you’ll just have to live with it.”

“By ‘god’ I assume you mean a plastic surgeon and your daddy’s trust fund?” Zippy answered, feeling that old unwelcome insecurity pop up again. Why was she letting this spoiled brat get to her?

“Oh, tough talk from the girl who’s hanging out with the cast of Animal Farm. Tell me, Zipperdale; who let the dogs out? Woof! Woof! Woof-woof-woof!” Amber sang, jutting a finger at the twins.

She jerked it back just as fast and Katjia snapped her teeth at her, missing the digit by a few inches. Both twins began to growl at Amber, low guttural sounds coming deep from their throats, their wide green eyes narrowed and intense. For a few seconds there, they seemed to almost become wolves, like the mythical werewolves of lore. The threat in the sounds was deep and primal, and recognizable fear flittered across Amber’s face.

With a loud “Harumph” Amber turned and scurried away, trying to look like she was in a huff and not scared, with her two underlings following her obediently.

Zippy let out a sigh and turned away, resuming her walk down the aisle. She pulled the twins along who were still growling a little in Amber’s direction, not quite sure if they would, but not wanting them to run off and actually try to bite her. They continued their strole and their conversation.

Zippy’s scientific mind was fascinated by these two. As the conversation moved on to the school and what they did here, Zippy found that they both were, in fact, very intelligent. It was fascinating to her the way so much intellect could co-exist with all that feral instinct. What was more; Zippy discovered that in spite of everything, she liked the Farrell twins. They were friendly, smart and enthusiastic and very energetic. Much like she had with Lizzy and Miss Piranha, Zippy found that she was becoming friends with the two wolf girls.

They talked and chatted, and being three relatively healthy young women, the subject eventually turned to guys. Zippy considered telling them her story of spotting her Unknown Boy, but then decided against it, keeping it to herself. They filled her in on some of the juicier hook ups and break ups that had been happening recently, making the school sound like one of those overly romance fostering schools from that Japanese animation her brother was always watching.

“So then,” Zippy asked them, giving them her best naughty look for effect, “I take it you two have scored some cute guys of your own?”

Nadjia almost choked and looked away rapidly. Katjia clicked her tongue and leaned over to Zippy.

“I should have warned you, that’s a sore subject right now: Nadjia just got dumped.” Katjia informed Zippy.

Oops.

“Oh, jeeze, Nadjia.” Zippy said apologetically, “I didn’t know, I’m sorry I brought it up.”

Tears had welled up in Nadjia’s eyes and her lower lip trembled. It looked like she had taken the break up pretty hard. Zippy could relate: She’s had more then her fair share of relationships that ended on a sour note.

Nadjia sobbed, “I thought it was going so well. He seemed . . . so happy with me. And then . . . and then, he broke up with me . . . over the phone! He wouldn’t even talk to me!”

“She chewed up his expensive new pair of running shoes.” Katjia explained in a whisper.

“You don’t say.” Zippy muttered, feeling a bead of sweat run down her head.

Nadjia chewed her lower lip a little as the tears flowed down her cheeks. Instantly, Katjia stuck her fingers in her ears, as if she knew something was coming. Immediately, Zippy found out why.

“Aaaaaaawwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!” Nadia threw her head back and quite literally howled in misery.

“She was up all last night doing that.” Katjia mumbled.

It was a loud, ear splitting sound that reverberated all through the empty hallway with an eerie sadness mingling with the painfully grating sonic assault. Zippy quickly clapped her hands over her ears as Nadjia expressed her pain in the most primal, to say nothing of most offensive to the ear drums, manner imaginable. She howled long and loud, her head tilted back and her eyes closed, baying at the sky in an almost heart-wrenching expression of sorrow. Zippy’s scientific mind was intrigued by the behavior, if her poor ears were tormented by it.

When Nadjia had finished her howl, they continued walking in silence until Nadjia sobs stopped. She looked over at Zippy sheepishly, managing a weak smile.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized, “It’s still a little raw for me.”

“It’s alright.” Zippy said, putting an arm around her, “I understand, really. I’ve lost more boyfriends then I really care to admit to. Actually, I once got dumped by a guy . . . via email.”

“Yikes.” Katjia exclaimed.

Nadjia smiled and threw her arms around Zippy, “Thank you, Zippy. I knew you’d be a good friend from the moment I saw you.”

“It’s no problem.” Zippy said, hugging her back warmly.

This was when Nadjia went and licked Zippy on the cheek. Zippy gasped and yelped in shock as she felt the wet, warm feeling of Nadjia’s tongue as it ran across her face, leaving a sticky trail of saliva. All of Zippy’s hair stood on end and her flesh crawled as the pretty blond girl licked her like a dog. Goose bumps rose on her arms.

Nadjia let her go, “Come on, lets explore!”

The two twins dashed off down the hallway, and Zippy followed, blushing a deep red color. She really hoped no one else had seen that. She didn’t want to sound too girly, but guh-ross!

The twins led Zippy down some stairs and through a long hall that was flanked by operating rooms on both sides. Zippy got chills running up and down her spine as she wondered what kind of operations went on in those rooms. She was glad when they made it past them and went down another flight of stares into the part of the school the twins were eager to explore.

As they went down, Zippy noticed that the twins began sniffing the air again as they moved into unfamiliar terrain. At least weren’t trying to mark their territory, Zippy thought, smiling with rueful mirth. Zippy herself was breath taken as she walked into the area.

It was filled with long twisting walkways that went around massive large sea water tanks. Small, medium and very large sizes all around them, each one filled with strange and unusually sea life the likes of which Zippy had never seen. At first the tanks were small, but the further in they went, the larger they got, containing bigger and more unusual specimens.

“This is where Mr. Carcharias keeps all his aquatic mutations experiments.” Nadjia explained, “All sorts of sea life, carefully mutated to ensure spectacular results.”

“What for?” Zippy had to ask.

Nadjia just shrugged.

They rounded a corner and Zippy let out a gasp: In front of her was the biggest tank window she had ever seen. An immense pane of glass at least two stories high and just as wide, looking into a huge tank. As they got closer to it, Zippy could see that there were rows of speakers along the bottom of the window, and what appeared to be microphones. Looking into the tank itself, Zippy got butterflies in her stomach. This tank had to be gigantic; the hazy salt water seemed to go on forever. She could not see the other side of the tank, and looking down realized she couldn’t see the bottom either. Looking into the tank almost felt like being deep in the ocean. Even taking into account the murky water, this tank would have to be much larger then anything she had ever seen or heard of before.

Which begged to mind the question: What were they keeping in there?

Zippy looked into the gloom, but couldn’t see anything. She squinted her eyes, but could make out nothing.

“What’s in here?” She asked.

“Dunno.” Katjia shrugged.

“Look, here’s a clipboard.” Nadjia said, picking the clipboard off a hook next to the window, “This might tell us something.”

As Katjia moved off to go look at some of the small tanks, and Nadjia scanned over the clipboards contents, Zippy turned her attention back to the murky depths of the tank. This time, she saw movement: A dark shadow was moving somewhere just out of sight in the gloom, slowly getting larger. The shadow was enormous as it moved slowly, a blur of darkness in the sea of endless blue.

“I see something.” Zippy said, “I think they’ve got a whale in here. Maybe a sperm whale or a humpback.”

Looking at the clipboard, Nadjia said, “According to this, it’s Carcharodon Megalodon. Wow, I thought those were extinct . . . oh, they cloned them.”

The words hit Zippy like a whole sack of bricks as her mind accessed the information: Carcharodon Megalodon; the extinct prehistoric ancestor of the Great White Shark, reaching lengths of fifty to seventy feet. Zippy felt her heart freeze as the immense head of the shark rose out of the murky gloom, slowly approaching the glass, its mouth filled with six inch triangular teeth, serrated like steak knives. It moved its head back and forth in the water, smelling the water as it filtered through its gills. Fear seemed to clutch every aspect of Zippy’s body. Her legs felt like rubber and her stomach lurched as the monstrous oversized prehistoric fish rose up to the glass, filling Zippy’s entire view. Her heart seemed to stop and then speed up all at the same time as the shark peered at her with its black doll like eyes.

“Holy mackerel!!!!!!” Zippy screamed, fully aware of the irony of the words.

The thing was massive, easily at least sixty feet long, and a deep bluish grey color all along its body from nose to tail, no white belly like on a Great White, although it had roughly the same shape as one, the fish seemed to be colored more like a Greenland Shark. Zippy was surprised to note that its back was decorated with a line of stripes, similar to those found on a Tiger Shark. There was some kind of implant on the Meg’s head, an oval shaped piece of metal attached to the shark in the midway point between each of its eyes. It was colored a dull grey color that matched the hide of the shark.

“Jurassic shark.” Zippy breathed in awe.

Readingover the documents, Nadjia said with giddy excitement, “It’s been genetically mutated to be smarter. They’re calling it Carcharodon Neomegalodon for now. Wow, its smarter then an orca, maybe almost as smart as a dolphin. Cool.”

Why would anyone want to make a smart megalodon? The very thought sounded like the worst possible idea in the annals of bad idea history.

“W-what’s that on its head?” Zippy asked, looking at the implant.

“It’s so I can talk.”

Zippy jumped: The voice had come out of the speakers on the bottom of the window. It was a high pitched, girlish voice, sounding almost like a teenager in some old John Hughes movie. In a double take worthy of a Marx Brothers movie, Zippy looked all around her for whoever had been speaking, expecting to find someone with a microphone somewhere, before she slowly turned her head back to the tank in shock: It had been the meg speaking; the implant had flashed with a yellow light as the words came out of the speakers.

The floor seemed to drop out from under her and she felt dizzy, as if she had just crossed over into some crazy parallel universe. She half expected at any moment for Rod Serling to step out of the shadows. Or at least Alan Funt.

Nadjia looked back and forth from the shark to the clipboard in her hands, “Oh my god! It says here that it translates signal, brainwaves and other indicators into synthesized speech. It not only forms words, but vocal inflections and emotional pitches as well. That’s just . . . brilliant. I love Mr. Carcharias, he’s so cool.”

Zippy had absolutely nothing to say, she just stared at the shark in stunned silence.

Which the shark broke, “Hi, I’m Megan. Who are you?”

Megan the megalodon? Oh they had to be kidding?

“Uh . . .” Zippy began intelligently, not sure how to respond, “I’m Zippy, and this is my friend Nadjia. Uh, you can hear me?”

“Yes, Zippy.” Megan said with a peculiarly friendly, almost childlike tone to the voice. The implant flashed yellow as she spoke.

“And you can understand me?” Zippy noticed that as she spoke, the implant flashed red.

“Yes, Zippy. That microphone in front of you sends the sounds direct to my implant. To me, you’re talking like a shark. But that’s not all, the implant works without the speakers and the mic, it has its own, so if you were in here swimming with me, we’d still be able to talk.”

Zippy had absolutely no intention of ever getting into that tank and swimming with Megan. Almost idly she wondered if they were keeping a talking Tyrannosaurus Rex somewhere else in this school.

Zippy ran her eyes around the massive tank, “This is one big tank they’ve got for you. You must be pretty comfortable.”

Megan moved her enormous triangular snout up and down rapidly. It took Zippy a second to realize that she was nodding. The gesture seemed unwholesomely bizarre and almost unnatural in a shark.

“All the aquariums are basically one big tank.” Megan explained, “They’re all connected to each other by a series of aqueducts and filtration systems that also connect to the moat outside.”

No wonder the moat had smelled like salt water. Zippy couldn’t be sure how much of Megan’s explanation she understood herself, or if she was just repeating what she had been told.

Nadjia looked around and under Megan through the glass, “Are you all by yourself in there?”

Megan shook her head, a gesture that struck Zippy as even more bizarre then her speech.

Megan replied, “No, my mate, Morgan is in here with me, but he’s sleeping right now.”

Megan and Morgan? Oh, now she knew they had to be kidding.

Megan spoke again, and this time her voice took on an excited, giddy and proud quality, “We’re expecting our first litter.”

Megan rolled over and moved sideways so they could see the slight swell in her underbelly. She then swam around so she was facing the glass again. She seemed happy and eager, proudly displaying the bulge. The sixty foot killing machine was a glow with the joys of motherhood.

“Congratulations.” Nadjia told the shark cheerfully.

“Uh, yeah. Congratulations. Mazel-tov, I’m happy for you.” Zippy stammered.

They were BREEDING these things? Zippy could hardly believe what she was hearing. Who the hell would think it was a good idea to breed a whole race of smart giant sharks that talked. The very suggestion seemed like the maddest of mad science.

“I’m so excited!” Megan sang happily, “If I’m fast, maybe I’ll be able to eat one of them.”

Both Zippy and Nadjia gasped at that remark, their eyes widening. Then, to their surprise, the sound of laughter came out of the speakers.

“Just kidding!” Megan chided, “Oh, you should have seen the looks on your faces. It was priceless. No, don’t worry, I wouldn’t harm my babies. I’m so thrilled to watch them grown and swim and learn to feed. Oh, I just can’t wait.”

Nadjia looked over at Zippy, “I think she’ll make a great mom, don’t you?”

Getting closer to the glass, too close for Zippy’s comfort, actually, Megan turned her head to get a better look at her; with a massive eye that was bigger then Zippy’s head.

Megan said, “I see two undersized milk sacks on your chest. Are you a female?”

Zippy felt the blood rush to her face and a flash of anger surged through her, followed quickly by embarrassment, especially since she could hear Nadjia trying not to giggle. Calm down, Zippy, she told herself, it’s just a fish, and it doesn’t know any better. She doesn’t mean to be insulting and she doesn’t know you’re illogically and stupidly sensitive about your size.

Zippy forced a smile, “Yeah, I’m female; double x chromosomes and everything.

“Have you ever had a littler?” The shark asked.

“No.” Zippy replied, “And I’m not really planning on having a, uh, litter anytime soon.”

“Oh.” Megan said, a little disappointed, “Do you have a mate?”

“No, I’m between, uh, mates right now.” Zippy told her, feeling the surreal irony of having girl talk with a megalodon.

“What about you?” Megan turned to Nadjia.

Nadjia stiffened and Zippy saw her eyes begin to get moist. Fortunately, before she could start howling again, they were interrupted by a sudden scream from Katjia just down the hall, and the sound of waster splashing on the floor in huge volumes. They ran over to her, to find Katjia standing over a puddle of water. The tank near her seemed to have been broken outward, and to their shock, they found what appeared to be a large three foot long Humboldt squid standing upright on the floor, its tentacles down on the ground, its cone pointing upwards, making the whole animal comically resemble an upside down ice cream cone that had just been dropped on the floor.

Looking at the squid, Zippy could tell this was another mutation of some kind. The eyes, which would normally be at polar opposites with each other on either side of the head, seemed to be on top of the head, facing one direction. They also blinked, displaying eyelids, which squid didn’t normally possess. The squid should have been gasping for breath and dying, but to Zippy’s surprise, its funnel flared and contracted normally. It was breathing oxygen, Zippy realized; this squid had been engineered to live on land.

After meeting Megan, Zippy found she was not all that surprised when the squid began to speak.

“Ha ha! Freedom is mine!” It cried in a medium pitched male voice that reminded Zippy a little of Edward G. Robinson, “Run, run, as fast as you can, you’ll never catch me, I’m a cephalopod!”

Zippy raised her eyebrows, looking over the animal. In its way, it was almost cute. Zippy had always been partial to cephalopods, fascinated in particular by the big ones: Architeuthis dux, the mysterious giant squid and much bigger but less mysterious Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, colossal squid. As a little girl she had dreamed of diving in a sub and being the first one to film a live giant squid.

The squid raised its tentacles in the air, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank god almighty, I’m free at last!”

Turning to say something to the twins, Zippy noticed their expressions: Their eyes were sparkling with that same wolfish intensity they’d had before. They were staring at the squid, wide excited smiles on their faces. Zippy could tell something else weird was about to happen. The squid looked rapidly between the two of them, backing up with quick movements of his tentacles. Katjia licked her lips in anticipation, both girls beginning to crouch.

Zippy looked back and froth between the squid and the twins, “H-hey what are you . . . ?”

The squid took off running, somehow managing to propel himself down the hall with lightening fast speed on just the tentacles. Instantly, Katjia and Nadjia dropped down on all fours and took off after him, yelping and squealing with glee. They ran canine style, not surprisingly, pulling themselves forward with both hands and once while pushing themselves onward further with their legs. They tore off down the hall after the squid.

“Wait!” Zippy called, “Katjia! Nadjia! Come back! What are you doing?!?”

Not sure what to do or what kind of problems the twins might get into, Zippy ran after them. Really, weren’t dogs supposed to chase squirrels and cats, not squid? Alarmed, Zippy tore off after them.

Honestly, you could take the girls out of the wolf pack . . .

“Bye, Megan!” She called over her shoulder as she ran off after them, not sure why she thought it important to be polite to a shark.

Oh yeah, she knew why: Six inch teeth, that’s why.

“Goodbye, Zippy. Nice meeting you.” Megan called as Zippy hurriedly followed her new friends.

The squid scurried down the hallway with the twins in fast pursuit. From behind them, Zippy could swear she saw Nadjia’s tongue hanging out. The squid veered off into an open door and ran in. Rounding the corner and changing course with the practiced dexterity of huntress’, the twins followed. Zippy ended up skirting around on one leg like a keystone cop and followed after them. The room they had entered was a laboratory of some kind, filled with tables full of glass beakers filled with various liquids and samples. All of them looked very breakable, Zippy noticed with alarm.

The squid made a wide dash around the tables and headed for a door on the other end, “Escaped cephalopod flees for his life! Film at eleven!”

The twins followed, heads low to the ground. They kicked over chairs that went flying across the room with loud clanging noises. Zippy held her breath as she ran after them, having no idea what was in those chemical jars.

Miraculously, they made it out of the room without breaking anything.

The squid next ran into another room where the floor was filled with sand and a large amount of giant Galápagos tortoises lumbered around slowly. The squid leapt on the shell of one and then began leaping from one to the other, making his way quickly to another door on the other side.

The twins did the same, hopping on the shells of the tortoises, which were unhappy at the sudden extra weight and closed up in their shells, and skillfully jumped from one to the other.

Zippy jumped onto the nearest tortoise and slid right off, landing painfully on her butt. She scrambled back to her feet and took off running between the reptiles, following as the twins disappeared into the other door. Zippy charged through the room, kicking up sand and scaring the tortoises as she ran. She darted after them and ran through the opening.

She found herself on a long thin catwalk over a drop that seemed to go down forever. The twins were already at the midway point of the walk, running single file in their insane pursuit of the squid. Zippy ran after, her heart thumping in her chest; that was a long way down, and there were no railings on this bridge. She ran forward, telling herself not to look down, which only prompted her to look down anyways.

Far at the bottom of this chamber, she could see a large metal cube, set in the floor. There were several rectangular openings in it, which had thick black bars over them. It looked to Zippy like some kind of jail cell. They couldn’t be keeping students in that, could they? The box was hard to see down there, but she thought she could make out the silhouette of something inside it. What in the world was that?

She tore her eyes away from the box and ran forward as fast as she dared go on the precarious catwalk. She almost slipped near the end, but regained her footing, her heart almost exploding with fear. Pure adrenaline moved her on as she ducked through the door and followed the twins up a flight of stairs, with no idea as to where she was going.

The squid hurtled himself down a curved hallway, racing towards a pair of students here carefully carrying a large rectangular mirror. With the bend in the hall, they couldn’t really see each other until they were almost on top of one another. The squid ran under the mirror, causing the two male students to look down in surprise.

When they looked up again, they were shocked to see Katjia and Nadjia chasing around the corner like a pair of racing greyhounds, heading directly for the mirror! Hastily, the boys turned the mirror sideways and let the twins run past them on either side, moving the mirror into the position at the last possible second. The wolf girls ran past without incident, scampering off after their prize.

Turning the mirror back to the way they’d had it, the guys looked off after the twins, wondering what that had been about. As such, they didn’t see Zippy as she rounded the corner after them.

Zippy’s eyes widened as she saw the mirror, she knew she couldn’t stop her momentum in time avoid it. With no other options, Zippy threw herself to the floor and slid forward feet first like a baseball player. On the slick metal floor, she rocketed like a human toboggan under the mirror, her skirt flying up and flashing her panties at whoever happened to be in front of her. Her mind charged with adrenaline, she crazily thought that a least she was wearing cute ones. It wasn’t like she was all that shy.

The guys lifted up the mirror in shock as Zippy zipped under it, coming to a stop with painful friction burns on her elbows and butt a few feet from the obstacle. She scrambled to her feet hurried after the feral Farrells.

“Sorry!” She called over her shoulder to the perplexed students as she ran around the corner.

The squid leapt up another flight of stairs with everyone else in hot pursuit. Zippy was amazed at the speed the cephalopod could manage on dry land with nothing but tentacles to propel him along. It moved with grace and sureness of a spider. The squid suddenly changed course and ran into the open door of a classroom. Undeterred, the twins followed after, picking up speed in a way that looked more like a pair of cheetahs then wolves.

“Not a good idea!” Zippy called hopelessly, “Not a good idea!”

The squid lurched into the classroom, a large rectangular room, filled with long old fashioned school desks that were set up in rows with three students at each desk, all of them working on some kind of dissection project. The squid ran under the desks, flying forward under them, causing several of the students to jump to their feet.

Which was nothing compared to what happed when the twins followed, racing under the desks and causing all the other students run for their lives. The desks bounced and rose as the twins careened under them, sending pens, notebooks, pencils and frog carcasses flying in the air. The students screamed and backed off as the desks where heaved this way and that until the twins exited the other side.

A recently opened frog corpse sailed across the room, splatting directly on the face of one Amber Tiffendorf, the very same Amber who had seemed hell bent on making Zippy her personal enemy earlier. Amber spat out formaldehyde as the dead frog fell to the ground, her face contorted with distaste and humiliation.

Zippy ran around the desks, hastily apologizing to anyone who could hear her. The squid and the twins had run out the other door, and Zippy followed after, not sure of how she could possibly end this madness.

“Keep your pets on a leash!” Amber screamed at her indignantly as her perceived arch enemy ran off into the hall.

Her feet striking the floor and propelling her forward, Zippy could feel she was beginning to loose her wind. She was in good shape, that was for sure, but she wasn’t sure how long she could keep this up. Her heart hammered in her chest and her lungs heaved with each breath as she strove to keep up with the twins and their insane quest to get the goddamn squid.

“Bad Katjia! Bad Nadjia!” She cried after them, “Sit! Stay! Play DEAD!”

The squid rounded another corner and headed for an open door he spied at the end. As he scurried closer, he suddenly realized what was on the other side and came screeching to a halt just at the frame of the door.

The twins came rounding the corner and headed the same way. Realizing what door that was, they too leapt to their feet and ground to a halt sopping just behind the squid, bracing themselves at the door frame to keep from going through. They panted, looking at each other, saying ‘that was close’ with their eyes.

And then Zippy came running after them. She saw them all stopped in front of the door and hurriedly tried to stop herself as well. Once again, her momentum betrayed her: She slowed but not enough; there was no way to stop herself as she went heading for a collision course into the others.

“No! Zippy!” One of the twins called.

But it was too late, Zippy crashed into the other three like a linebacker tackling a quarter back. The sheer force of the impact sent all four of them tumbling through the door and out the other side.

This was when Zippy found out that the door opened to a three story drop into the moat.

All four flew out the door and into the crisp afternoon air, flying above the moat in tumbling movements.

“What the @%#$%#ing hell!” Zippy cried, once again going the un-ladylike route.

The door had opened over one of the outcropped sections of the school that Zippy had seen when she first arrived. There was no steps, no porch, and no reason for this door to be there. For a while, they almost seemed to soar through the air, the large expanse of water rushing far beneath them. For a moment, it was almost pleasant; until Sir Isaac Newton decided to rear his bespectacled head and yank the three girls and their squid back down to earth. Gravity did its unflappable and unrelenting work and the simplest rule of physics asserted itself: What goes up, must, eventually, come down. And if it goes up high enough, the likely hood is that it will come down fairly hard.

“This is EXACTLY like the !” Zippy screamed as she plummeted towards the moat.

She threw her legs out strait underneath her as she dropped, making her body into a javelin to cut through the water. Her hair whipped past her ears, flying up around her head and she dropped. Her skirt was doing the same thing, making Zippy think that skirts as part of the uniform in this place was probably a bad idea. Her glasses remained on, fortunately, as she dropped downward, feeling the air rush across her legs and arms.

The water rushed up towards her, she saw a small splash as the squid dropped. Nadjia quickly followed, ludicrously cannonballing into the water like she had jumped off on purpose. The big splash was followed by a painful slap as Katjia agonizingly belly flopped into the water.

The water sprayed in all directions, including on Gortcha who happened to be patrolling along the side of the moat. When the water hit him, her thought he was under attack and ran away screaming like a little girl, hiding being some shrubbery.

With a slight splash, Zippy held her breath and hit the water feet first, suddenly finding herself immersed in liquid. She cut through the water like a knife, shooting down into the cool waters of the moat until she stopped. She instantly started kicking up pushing herself towards the surface. She felt something on her face and then realized that it was the squid’s tentacles; it had grabbed on to her and was hitching a ride on her head back to the surface.

She broke the surface and inhaled a large lungful of air, treading the water to keep herself afloat.

“Abandon ship!” The strange cephalopod cried, “Every squid for himself!”

. She quickly began swimming for the shore near the school. She could see the twins near her moving the same direction. It came as no surprise that they were doing the dog paddle. She quickly reached the shallows and began to haul herself out of the water, moving towards land. She could see a lot of students gathering around the edge of the moat, staring at her. Great, just what she needed.

Two of them she recognized, Lizzy and Madoka (the hiked up dress being a dead give away as to who she was at the moment), walking past the moat and turning to look at her.

“Zippy?” Lizzy asked, surprised.

Walking against the heavy water, Zippy waded further up in the shallows, now soaked from head to toe, her uniform clinging to her heavily. Her hair hung down against her head in soggy red strings.

Zippy bit her lip angrily, “Oh, why is this happening to me?”

“Woah!” Madoka laughed, “That’s gotta be embarrassing.”

Suddenly, and with no warning, Madoka’s face when slack. Her eyes unfocused and she stared strait ahead as if in a trance for a few seconds, not even blinking. And then, just like that, she was Rina, coming back to reality with a whole different persona.

Rina looked at Zippy and gasped, “Goodness! How embarrassing!”

Zippy really wished that both of them would shut up.

A teacher that Zippy hadn’t seen before pushed through the students and came over. She was slightly older, and had curly blonde hair tied a bit behind her head. She wore small oval glasses and was dressed in a long black dress that had gone out of fashion at least a hundred years ago, looking almost like something from the old west, complete with frills. She had a long face and narrow eyes. Zippy would later find out she was Mrs. Variola, the Artificial Life Form Creation teacher.

“Well, I declare, Miss Zipperdale!” Mrs. Variola said sternly in a pronounced Scottish accent, “That’s no way to behave on you first day of school. Come on out of there and go get cleaned up. I hope you plan to be less destructive on your second day. The consequences would be most unfavorable to you. And I’m very disappointed in you two, Katjia and Nadjia. You know better then this.”

She sternly folded her arms over her chest, looking down at Zippy. It seemed everyone in this school knew who Zippy was. Whatever was going on, whatever grand conspiracy had resulted in her enrollment here; it had been going on for a while now.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, Zippy then heard an obnoxiously familiar voice.

Cristobel walked up to the edge, “Well, look at this. Way to know how to make a first impression, Zipperdale.”

Zippy felt the blood rush to her face at the sound of Cristobel’s arrogant, snotty voice. She glared at him angrily, feeling a vein pulse on her forehead. Of all the people she had to run into, it had to be him. She’d almost rather deal with Amber again.

“Oh, put a sock in it, .” Zippy growled at him.

He just laughed his haughty, overconfident laugh. “Nice hat, Zipperdale. It suits you: Slimy, ugly and really stupid.”

At first, Zippy didn’t know what he meant, until she realized with a jolt of embarrassment that the squid was still on top of her head.

“What’s that? Come over here and say . . . waoh!” The squid started to say when Zippy tore it from her head.

She tossed the squid aside into the water. Katjia and Nadjia instantly began to fight over it with each other. Zippy pushed forward through the water, seeing red, and wanting nothing more then to shove her fist down Cristobel’s throat and yank out his lungs. She struggled to keep her rage under control. Damnit, this guy really got under her skin in ways that most people almost never did.

“I don’t suppose your gonna save us all the time and give up now are you?” asked in mock concern, “No? Well, you better watch you back, little girl. Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re the weaker sex. I’m gonna bury you’re cute little ass. But don’t worry, if you’re good, I’ll let you bow at my feet and lick my boots. Just what you need, Zipperdale, to be taught your place.”

“I’d rather suck on a brillo pad.” Zippy told him, angrily.

Cristobel turned and stalked off as the rest of the class either laughed or gasped at his audacity. Zippy trembled with anger and mortification, her hands clenched into fists, and she felt her teeth grit uncomfortably together. She felt the tentacles of the squid on her leg, and then up her body as it scrambled to her shoulder to get away from the frisky twins. She shot them a glaring look and the both stopped trying to get the squid, shocked at the venom in Zippy’s eyes. She stalked forward through the shallows.

Mrs. Variola began shooing the other students away with her hands, “Go on, go back to class, nothing more to gawk at here.”

The students left, chattering amongst themselves at what they had just seen, casting various glances over their shoulders at the unfortunate new girl in the moat. As Zippy moved up, she suddenly stopped and gasped: There, at the back of the crowd, was her Unknown Boy. She only saw him for a second as he looked at her, laughing, and said something to one of his friends. And then, he disappeared into the crowd, leaving Zippy red faced and mortified. She felt like crawling in a hole. Crawling under some rock somewhere and never ever coming back out in the light.

Lizzy and Rina ran over and helped Zippy get out of the water. Zippy hung her head low, her face pointing towards the Earth. He shoulders shook in small quivers.

As the twins pulled themselves out of the water, Katjia turned to her sister, “Omigosh, she’s crying.”

Nadjia replied, “Oh, man. This is all our fault.”

They both approached Zippy, hands clasped in front of them. They bowed their heads politely to her, looking for all the world like if they’d had tails, they would have been between their legs.

“We’re sorry, Zippy.” They both said in unison.

The feral Farrells, however, were mistaken. Zippy was not crying, she was laughing; giggling manically as adrenaline began to course through. In the midst of all this, she’d made a decision. Make that a resolve. Throwing off the hands of Lizzy and Rina, she slammed a foot down on the ground and tilted her head up declaring to whoever would listen.

“All right!” She bellowed, “If that’s the way you want it, so be it! If I’m stuck in this screwy place then fine: Just you wait! I’m going to be THE MADDEST MAD SCIENTIST OF THEM ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Making her rounds outside, Vixen heard the sound of Zippy’s rebel yell all the way across the moat. She stopped and rotated her metal head around on its axis in the direction of the cry.

“Jeepers. Was that a battle cry?” She wondered.


Hey everyone: Zippy here. In our next chapter, things don’t get off to such a good start for me, and nothing really goes as planned. And then to make matters worse, Lizzy and I fall into a dangerous trap. It’s all there in the next chapter of Zippy Zipperdale: Moderately Mad Scientist: “The Second Experiment”.
EurekaI’ve got it!