Sunday, June 19, 2005

Ghostopia, Chapter 33: Spooks, Spooks, Spooks

A collective You Can't Be Serious rose around the room. Even Kat had both eyebrows raised.
"Right after this meeting, I hear you ask?" Mortie said, a sly smile creeping up his face. "Exactly."
Everyone listened intently. "Go on."
"I've done my homework, you see, and I know for a fact that our Lower Level Office is at Level 94. I've also found out that they're rearranging the place tonight for some weekend conference. Tonight's our best chance - those fools are asking for it, with the mess that place is in."
Fletcher flicked his coloured fingernails, frowning. "Don't you have a floorplan or something?"
"Like I said," Mortie coolly fished out a tattered piece of paper. "I've done my homework. Pass it round for all to see."
It was a blueprint sketch of the office. There were four floors in total, and the records were kept in the third. It looked pretty unremarkale for a place that was supposed to be holding one of the only four things that would prevent them from escaping.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Amelia said. "I've worked there before. Though they don't have any built-in security features, they've Spooks guarding the place."
"Spooks, eh? How many?"
"Two on each floor - eight, usually. But there could always be more, if they're rearranging like you said."
"Or less."
"I'm not sure if we want to do this right away, if there're as many as eight Spooks there."
A short pause lingered.
"Question, please," Darren suddenly raised his hand, surprising the rest. "How powerful are those Spooks?"
Kat squinted. "Is that a trick question?"
"No, seriously. What's so scary about those Spooks?"
"So you have yet to feel the wrath of a Spook," Mortie smiled in a way that made Darren feel uncomfortable. "Spooks, apart from being the henchmen of the authorities, are in fact all Ghosts who came here through suicide. Each year, a hundred Ghosts from Unprotected Ghostopia are drafted to become Spooks, irregardless of age, gender, health, or anything else."
"These new Spooks are then given a Supernatural - powers that enables them to kill others the way they killed themselves. For instance, a Spook who poisoned himself to death would have the ability to poison others."

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