He peeked through the brush every now and then to check if it was clear. He feared that the hydrants could be closing in on him.
* *
But after a while, he got tired. He tried to move but couldn’t free himself from the mud. He was stuck and was slowly sinking. He tried not to panic and give himself away. But he began to sink, and continued to sink down in some kind of a hole, until he was completely gone.
CHAPTER 14
Elvira
HYDRA SUNK FAST—his body was completely covered with mud when he spiraled down the hole. He struggled and wriggled until he finally freed himself and found himself floating in another body of water. A lagoon.
Bewildered, he looked around and found that he was in the clearest water that he had ever seen. He shook himself like a dog, expelling the remaining mud from his body. An oasis under the stream—I must have wandered into some exotic place.
Unlike the Mohegan River, this place was clean and didn’t have any manmade trash around. The habitat was full of different vegetations, rock formations, and several varieties of fish and other organisms. The place was full of vibrant colors—it’s picture perfect!
Hydra swam around, exploring the area and enjoying the newfound place—the gooey mud now gone from his body. The fish and other water creatures milled around him in a curious fashion as if they had never seen this species before. Some of the fish nipped his body like he might be a meal. Suddenly, a school of fish swarmed in to nibble on Hydra…
(“Stop it! Hi-hi-hi! Stop it! Ha-ha-ha!”)
Hydra quickly swam to the other side of the lagoon, giggling all the way. He was laughing but was annoyed at the same time. The school of fish seemed like they wanted to continue following him right out of the water.
(“Stop!”)
Hydra stopped and cocked his head when he heard a voice.
(“This is not the way to treat a guest!”)
Hydra couldn’t figure it out but the fish certainly reacted to the voice. They immediately stopped chasing him—they retreated and swam away in a tight formation—all except one, who seemed very keen on checking out Hydra.
The sparkling silver-colored fish was about fourteen inches long, had an amicable charm and was staring right at him.
(“Hi there!”) said the fish. ("Are you alright?")
(“Hi!”) Hydra replied with his own thought. He was still wary of talking to strangers. So much had been happening that it was hard for him to trust anyone. It would help if Pluggo were around, but he wasn’t, and that made Hydra feel vulnerable.
(“A talking fish. So what’s your story, friend fish?”) Hydra asked, a bit sarcastically.
(“My name is SF1. Don’t be afraid. We’re the guardians of this place. I see that you got in here by accident.”)
(“Err… yes. I was chasing this butterfly and I fell and sank into a hole.”) Hydra fibbed.
(“We’ll, that happens. Would you like a tour? Or do you want to go back where you came from?”)
(“Err… I think I’d rather see the place. Which way do we go?”) Hydra answered quickly. He certainly didn’t want to see those SyDogs again.
(“Don’t worry buddy. You’re in good hands. Reading your thoughts tell me that you’re a good fellow with good intentions. Follow me.”) SF1 summoned Hydra.
(“By the way, SF stands for Silver Fish. As I told you, there are ten of us here. We may look ordinary but we have special powers to defend this place.”)
Hydra nodded but was overwhelmed by all the frenzy going on around him.
(“And what kind of power do you guys possess?”)
(“I refuse to answer such question as I will leave ourselves and this place vulnerable if I tell you. Let’s just say the power is enough to protect this place.”) continued SF1.
Hydra was impressed by SF1’s honesty and frankness. He was so polite and refined that Hydra did not want to inquire any more about private matters.
SF1 showed Hydra all the attractions of the lagoon, particularly the huge rock formations and the giant and colorful corrals. Its beauty and natural settings and unspoiled scenery captivated Hydra. The varieties of fish, more subdued and well behaved this time, also added to the scenic setting. Their scales reflected a rainbow of colors as they swam around the lagoon. Hydra was impressed and was grateful to be escorted by a cordial host like SF1.
(“This is such a beautiful place, SF1. What else can you show me?”) Hydra asked.
Suddenly, SF1 darted upwards, towards the surface—Hydra followed him.
“SPLASSSSSSSSHHHHH!”
Hydra broke the surface and flopped over on his back and floated, waiting for SF1 to do the same. His eyes squinted at the strange looking sky. It was bright blue, with wisps of clouds. But it looked unreal, like a theatrical prop—a dreamy manmade world. It was beautiful but it was fake. He was so mesmerized by these new surroundings that he momentarily forgot about SF1.
("What a weird place SF1. What do you call this place? SF1?")
Hydra looked around for SF1 but realized that he was gone. He submerged and looked frantically for his new friend but he couldn’t find him. He resurfaced again, his mind racing.
He swam to the shoal and climbed out, shook the excess water from himself and started to explore his surroundings. The place looked like a perfect little world, with everything carefully drawn into place. It looked like an abandoned movie studio with trees and rock formations around—every sound echoing as you move about.
Sure, Hydra was looking around but he was also keeping a wary eye for the Sydogs—who could be anywhere—lurking and ready to attack.
He walked and glided a few more paces, halfway expecting to see fake birds flying around the fake sky. He walked towards a cave that was in the distance. As he got closer, he heard a faint noise.
“PLUNK! PLUNK! PLUNK!”
It sounded like somebody was mixing something in a big hollow pot. For a moment, he thought it might be a witch but continued approaching the cave anyway. It was dark inside the cave, except for a flicker of light coming from a corner. Hydra stopped to let his eyes adjust to the darkness, but he quickly dropped to the ground as a large group of noisy bats flew above his head on their way out of the cave. Now he wasn't sure if that was real or fake.
Hydra picked himself up from the ground and proceeded towards the light. The light was flickering as he stepped closer to the room. The light was actually coming through a door that was propped open—it was coming from a computer monitor.
Inside was a dimly lighted room illuminated only by the flickering lights of old computer monitors salvaged from Dellarama, an island south of Guerlin City, purely made up of old computer junks from the past decades.
Several monitors of different sizes, sits on top of a huge desk, it's light coming on and off from static. A figure sat in front of the desk, cast only by its silhouette and seemed to be waiting for somebody.
“Come in, Hydra,” the voice said.
Hydra stepped back.
“It’z okay. SF1 told me that you were coming. He didn’t bother to zhow you around anymore zince he’z got other things to do. In any case, we know you are able to find your way around. That’s pretty clear,” she said, turning around to face him.
Hydra was taken aback by such a lovely creature.
“Hi. My name iz Elvira. Welcome to Genoa.” Elvira said. Elvira was tall, youthful, and stunning, and surrounded by a special aura. Clearly, she was very smart. She had this cute exotic accent that charmed anyone she talked to. She substitutes the letter 'z' for 's' when she talks.
“Genoa? What kind of a name is that?” Hydra replied.
“Genoa is a name given to thiz place by my great, great grandfather, Dr. Stanizlaw Woolf. He waz a gifted scientist who invented lotz of gadgetz, different kindz of machineriez, and stuffz like Zuper Fire Hydrantz—like you.” Elvira smiled and pointed to Hydra proudly like they've known each other before.
"Come again?" Hydra asked. At first, he couldn't understand what Elvir
a said. But he followed through.
Hydra didn’t know what to say. How could that be? When that Voice gave us life? He was also smitten by Elvira's endearing smile.
"The year waz 2788 and World War V or the Great War had just ended. The world waz so much different than it iz today. With the proliferation of zuper computerz, Man had become very advanced. Zoon, computers actually made other computers. It came to a point where everything went out of control. This iz a long story but I’ll try to give you the short version,” Elvira said as she continued her narration.
Hydra realized that there were many things he didn’t know, and the gravity of the story shocked him. He was determined to hear it all but Elvira interrupted the story to get a cup of soup from the pot on the stove situated in one corner of the room. That was the noise Hydra had heard outside—Elvira was mixing a pot of soup—no witches here. Me and my imagination, Hydra thought.
She came back with a cup of soup in her hand, slowly blowing across the top of the liquid. Hydra noticed the computer monitors on top of the desk. They were security monitors that act as a lookout for each corner of Genoa. It was obvious that Elvira had seen Hydra approaching the cave.
“Sorry, I didn’t offer you any zoup but I know you’re not the zoup kind.”
“Try me,” Hydra said smiling.
“Hmm… believe me, I know. Let’s get down to businezz…”
Elvira sat down opposite Hydra, seemingly more serious this time. She continued.
“There has been a lot of advancement in the decadez since the year 2000—the year of the Internet 'bust,' az zome people have called it. But it waz also the start of a revolution that produced such things az cloning, modified DNAs, customized babies, and advance robotics. There were many other innovations, all revolving around new technologiez and new energy sourcez. But az uzual, Man creates and, unknowingly, destroyz hiz own creation and destiny. The uzual issuez like religion, politics, egos, and many other trivial things contributed to the society’s demise. I don’t think we will ever learn how to live together until we perzistently rezolve our differences. After World War V, there waz an international law proclaiming that the Old World Order—the way the world was before 2000—waz to be reeztablished. The new law stated that all inventionz after 2000 were to be deztroyed. This was due to Man’s tendency to create unparalleled weapons of deztruction. However, zome good scientists, my great grandfather among them, were against thiz new law. They thought it was being fostered by an left-wing underground group."
Hydra listened intently but kept his eyes on the monitors. He couldn’t help his feelings of anticipation.
“Relative to you,” Elvira continued, “waz the invention of Zuper Fire Hydrantz. These were highly intelligent hydrantz with robotic and zuper powerz. They were installed in various ztreet cornerz and looked like ordinary fire hydrantz. But they were designed to do more than help put out firez. These hydrantz didn’t need firemen to operate them. They could fly, and put out firez by themselves, depending on how they were programmed. Unfortunately, they were also zupposed to be destroyed under the new law. The idea of the law waz to return everything back to basics—when life waz much zimpler. Dr. Woolf then decided to design fire hydrantz using antique bodiez, such as yourz. It became hiz pet project and he called it ‘FancyCrazyHydrantz’ or FCH, mocking hiz original Super Fire Hydrants. He made hundreds of FCH but hid them from the authoritiez. Although, he has been dead for a long time, he waz able to devize a way with the help of super computerz to keep communicating with hiz creations.”
Hydra jumped up, shaking all over. "He is the Voice?"
“Yez, he iz the Voice. Zit down. There’z more.”
Hydra sank back to his seat.
“During thiz time, there was a prophecy that a ‘figure’ will be born and will create more trouble for mankind. That’z why I am here. I am rezuming my great grandfather’z work. There had been a zmear campaign to discredit him, and a lot of his scientific documents were lost. However, a few followerz were able to save some of his writings. And that’s what I’m doing now—I'm rummaging through all of hiz old CDs and looking for cluez about thiz figure. I waz lucky to find an old computer in Dellrama—these are the only computerz that can read theze CDs," Elvira continued.
Hydra looked at the computer screen with Dr. Woolf’s writings.
“If my hunch iz right, the figure could be already in proximity and getting ready to mount a campaign to attack a city. Her first initial target will be Guerlin City a.k.a. New York Zity from the year 2000. From my last research, I learned that her main power would be derived from fire. She iz able to manipulate and control fire through sheer will. Dr. Woolf found out about thiz ahead of time with the use of zuper computerz that studied the probabilities of the future. He quickly revived the FancyCrazyHydrantz project. And az planned, they would be ztealth fire hydrantz, unnoticed by the authoritiez. Hydra, your opportunity to help iz now. You must help me destroy this figure before it’z too late. We have to determine the identity and the exact location of thiz villain. I already found the correct disk, but zome forces have jumbled the password, and zo far, I haven’t been able to crack it.”
“Show me, maybe I can help,” Hydra replied.
Elvira inserted the disk, and the computer asked for a password.
There were spaces for ten characters in the first row and an additional ten in the second row as was being shown in the monitor.
“Have you tried cracking it?” Hydra asked.
“I’ve tried everything but no luck. I need a fresh approach to tackle this. I could connect thiz to my new computer and put a tracer on it but this computer is zo old it’s not even compatible with the new onez.”
“For all you know, the answer could be just under our noses,” exclaimed Hydra. “Hmm… why don’t you type that—NOSE,” said Hydra.
Elvira typed N-O-S-E.
It didn’t work.
“Try it with small letters.”
Elvira typed it again.
“It worked, Hydra! You’re brilliant!”
The second row of spaces spelled 'FIRE.'
“Now what’s relative to NOSE?” asked Hydra.
“Hmm… EYES?”
“No. It’s got to be closer. Try SMELL. Don’t forget—small letters.”
Elvira quickly typed the letters, s-m-e-l-l.
“Bingo! We got it.”
The second line spelled, 'fireeba.'
“Fireeba! That'z it! That'z the name of the figure." Elvira said. The monitor showed ‘Congratulations. Welcome to Dr. Woolf’s Domain.’ There was also a word 'SEARCH,' with a box besides it and Elvira typed in the name 'fireeba.'
“Bingo!” Elvira exclaimed as she exchanged a high-five with Hydra.
The monitor displayed pages after pages of information about Fireeba. Now all they needed to do was to pinpoint her location. Elvira typed, 'fireeba home,' and the computer began to hum and search.
Hydra glanced at the security monitors above the counter. Something was moving their way.
“Hey Elvira, are you expecting somebody?”
“No.”
Right then, the door swung open, and Sheriff Meet, his cohorts, and the SyDogs entered the room.
“GIT ‘IM!” yelled the sherrif.
Elvira quickly grabbed a pouch of the disks and threw them to Hydra.
"Catch Hydra!" Elvira yelled. She pushed a button under the desk and like a spontaneous earthquake, the floor split and separated, creating a wide chasm between her and Hydra and the intruders. The quake-like tremor sent Sheriff Meet and his cohorts to the floor. Elvira was reaching for another button when Hydra stopped her.
“Wait!” Hydra said—his eyes glued to the search results on the monitor. The SyDogs were ready to jump over the chasm so Elvira pushed the button anyway.
“I’ll zee you on the Metro!” Elvira yelled, while she pushed another button, locking the computer.
Hydra just shot her a puzzled look.
“SWOOOOOOOMMPPPP! SWOO
OOOOOMMPPPP!”
Hydra and Elvira sank were out of sight.
CHAPTER 15
Hydra’s Back
“HYDRA!”
“HYDRA!”
“Hydra! It’s me Pluggo! Can you hear me?”
“Huh? What happened? Elvira? Where’s Elvira?
“Hydra, listen to me. Who’s Elvira? You fell out of the sky minutes ago. Luckily we found you, as we happened to be exploring this side of the stream with Veeda and some friends. What happened?”
Hydra lay with his eyes half-closed. But he sat suddenly, still dazed from his fall.
“Elvira!” he exclaimed. But all he saw were all those eyes staring at him—Pluggo, Veeda, the ducks, the sparrows, and other birds.
“Get some rest Hydra. Maybe it will come back to you. We’ll talk again later when you’re feeling better,” Pluggo said.
Alright guys! Leave him alone,” Veeda ordered, shooing off the birds.
They left Hydra alone to give him some rest.
* *
After a while, Pluggo approached Hydra again.
“We’ll, I guess you can talk now. There’s no one else around. So tell me what happened,” Pluggo said.
Hydra sat up. He was still feeling bewildered and subdued. He didn’t say another word until he grabbed Pluggo by the nozzle and held him, making sure that he was real. Finally, certain that this was reality; he started to blurt out the entire story about everything that happened to him since he left Pluggo with Veeda and the birds.
Pluggo listened, wide-eyed, as Hydra recounted his story in detail.
“You flew? That must have been a dream. What makes you so sure it is real?”
“Pluggo, there were things I learned from Elvira that will prove it,” Hydra said. “Turn around.”
Pluggo turned his back to Hydra.
Hydra was right.
“Right there, at the back of your head is a slit discreetly positioned so no one would notice it. This is where those special disks are inserted to program Super Fire Hydrants.”
“Let me see yours,” Pluggo said.
Hydra turned around, and Pluggo said, “You’ve got one too!”
“There’s another thing that I have to show you,” Hydra said as he pulled out a pouch. It contained all the disks that Elvira passed on to him before he escaped through the hole.