Copyright 1999 -- Robert Baer Jr PROLOGUE Ever imagine what the world would be like if it had "gone to the birds?" IT HAS! In BirdWorld! This is the continuing story of Robin Mallory, loving wife, devoted mother and radio talk show personality. How does she stay on top of everything? We'll ask "Chipper" Birdwell, Robin's father! BirdWorld -- "The Two Traitors" We approach Chipper's tree and see him out on his front perch. "Hello there!" the old bird yells down to us,"I'm so glad you came! Have I got something to tell you!" He takes flight and perchs on a lower branch. "Yesterday the secret location of BirdWorld was almost revealed to the outside world! Well, I getting ahead of myself, let me start from the beginning, yesterday, my Robin received an urgent phone call from the BirdWorld Council President, Miles Milner. He asked her to get her husband and Thrush Limbird and meet him in his office immediately! Soon, the three birds arrived at his office, waiting inside was Miles and Officer Kip Canary. "Sit down, everyone," Miles said with a touch of distress in his voice,"there is a crisis going on that affects the very existance of BirdWorld! It's about councilman Fred Kite, he'd not been seen anywhere in almost a week, so I sent Officer Canary to his birdhouse to check on him. Kip, why don't you tell them what you found there." "Well," Kip Canary explained,"the door was locked, but since we feared that he had come to harm, my policebirds and I broke down the door. Inside, we found that the place was nearly empty, except for a small book laying on the floor and an envelope taped to the wall. We opened the envelope and inside was a letter written by Fred saying he was resigning from the council! Then we examined the book on the floor, in it was a few jotted notes, and a crude map that was titled 'The Outside World." We found one other object on the floor, one of Kenneth Starling's business cards! One last observation. On the front wall, there was the word REVENGE spray painted in red!" Miles started to pace and said,"we believe that both Fred Kite and Kenneth Starling have secretly flown through the portal into the outside world. We also believe that those two angry birds may be plotting to somehow take over control of BirdWorld, they may even be attempting to get some humans to help them! Robin, Joe, Thrush, you three know the outside world better than any other birds here, we need you to go to the outside world, find Fred and Kenneth and stop them from succeeding in their evil plans! Robin, contact our friends Otto and that Dinosaur fellow, perhaps they can help you find them faster." "Mr Milner," Robin said,"I don't think the Computer Dinosaur could help us much in this situation, but Otto's electronic tracking abilities may be our best hope for locating and returning those two vultures!" "Agreed!" Miles shouted,"now, there's no time to lose, you better get moving!" That being said, the three birds flew out the office window. After stopping by the radio station to borrow three radio backpacks, the three birds flew towards the portal. Robin called Otto on her radio and in a flash, the mighty German Shepard was waiting for them on the other side. "Otto," Robin asked,"can you scan the immediate area and find Fred and Kenneth?" "Robin," Otto explained,"if they were humans or other large animals, they might be easier to find. Birds are numerous in this world, and these two that you're searching for don't seem to have any distinguishing characteristics that will 'stand out' in a standard scan." "Wait a minute!" Robin replied,"more than likely, no matter where they are, they'll be together! Just locate where a kite and a starling are together and that will probably be the place they're hiding!" "That's brilliant!" Thrush exclaimed. "An excellent idea, my dear!" Joe replied. "Alright," Otto said slowly turning his head,"hey, I have something! There's a kite and a starling very close to each other in that direction. My scan indicates that they're located in a house!" "He's with humans!" Joe yelled. "Oh no!" Thrush said,"they must be telling them where the portal is!" "We have to move fast!" Robin said excitedly,"but we also just can't rush in there, we have to be careful...." "Right!" Otto said,"why don't we find out what's happaning first? I'll use my long range listening device to eavesdrop on what they're saying in the house, perhaps that will tell us how many secrets have been revealed. I'll turn on my external speakers so we all can hear!" Otto turned his head slightly and began picking up voices coming from the house. "Why are you holding us in this cage?" one voice muttered. "That sounds like Kenneth!" Robin said. "Yeah, don't you get it, you dumb human! We can work together and take over BirdWorld, we'll show you where it is!" "And that sounds like Fred Kite, that little twerp!" Thrush chirped. "Quiet," Joe told his friends,"let's listen to what they're saying!" The picked up transmission continued with another, unfamiliar voice saying,"Shut up you stupid birds! What do I care about your fantasies? You two talking birds are going to make me rich! I have some talent scout friends of mine coming over here in a few minutes, and you talking birds are going to impress them a lot!" "And what if we refuse to talk?" Kenneth shouted. "Besides," Fred yelled strongly,"you promised to ....." "I promised you two birds anything to get my hands on you! You'll either talk and sing for my guests, or I'll take your cage to the river and drown you in it!" "You're a mindless savage!" Fred protested. "No, I'm a businessman! And if what you say in true about a city with more talking birds in it, I can always find more if you two won't cooperate with me, right? Now, sit in your cage and SHUT UP! Time for me to fix dinner." "We're starving, what was we having?" Kenneth chirped happily. "WE aren't eating anything! I'm going to have a microwave meal, YOU are going to eat birdseed." "Birdseed? YUCK!!!!" Fred shouted. "You'll eat it or starve! Your choice!" Then loud stomping was heard, like the sounds a man makes walking across a room. "Now what do we do?" Joe asked,"that human is not only holding them captive, but he's having friends coming over to show them off! We have to rescue them!" "Rescue them?" Thrush asked angerly,"they're getting what they deserve! Let's leave them at the mercy of the humans!" "NO!" Robin yelled,"we can't do that! We have to get them out of there, they may tell them the location of the portal!" "I could transport them both out of there now!" Otto said,"then we can take them back to BirdWorld!" "Wait," Robin said,"if we do that, it'll look like they escaped, and the mean human will go looking for them and possibly find the portal by accident!" "Well, then what do we do?" Joe wondered outloud. "WE ATTACK!!!!!" said a loud voice. "Oh no!" Robin said as she looked up in the sky towards the house,"that was Wild Bill! He must've followed us out into the real world!" "He's flying fast towards that front open window!" Thrush exclaimed. "He's moving too fast, I can't get a fix on him to transport him back!" Otto barked. "No time for a plan now!" Robin said as she turned to Otto,"you'll have to transport all of us into the house now!" In a instant, and with a loud BOOM!!! Otto and the three birds were in the living room of the house, just in time to see Wild Bill fly through the window and land on the human's back and begin pecking him wildly! The human grabbed a frying pan and began swinging it all around, trying to hit the deranged bluejay! As he turned toward the cage, the man saw the German Shepard standing near the birdcage. "Get out of here, mutt, or I'll pound you too!" Otto growled and said,"I think you need a time out, mister!" With that, Otto lifted his front foot, and activated his sonic wave generator. This made the entire house shake and caused the angry human fall to the floor and "roll" out the front door. "Quickly!" Otto said to his bird friends,"we need to leave now, and I have an idea that will stop this human from coming after us!" The angry human had just stood up outside when his talent scout friends arrived. "Ladies and Gentlemen!" the man told them,"inside my humble home are a group of talking birds and even one talking dog! You simply must see them perform!" "Hubert!" one of the talent scouts said coldly,"this act better be good! We came on short notice and we don't like wild goose chases!" So the group, two men carrying briefcases and a lady carrying a cell phone in her hand, came into the house with Hubert following behind. "Don't you see them? Can you hear them talking to each other?" Hubert asked as he passed through the front door. "Is this some sort of a joke?" one of the men muttered. "Hubert! Explain this!" the lady questioned. Hubert looked into the living room and couldn't believe his eyes! There were birds and dogs in the room alright, there was two chickens, a turkey, three ducks and some Saint Bernard puppies sitting around on all the living room furniture! "Wait a minute!" Hubert mumbled in complete shock,"where's the starling and the kite? Where's that German Shepard, he pushed me out of the house with some sort of earthquake weapon! Why aren't any of you animals talking? I'll find that city full of talking birds, that's what I'll do! .... " While Hubert continued to mutter sheer nonsense, the three talent scouts just shook their heads. The lady made a cell phone call, and in a few minutes, a white truck with the letters,"HAPPYDALE MENTAL HOSPITAL" on it arrived on the scene. Two men in white uniforms removed Hubert from the house and into the truck, then drove away! "Poor Hubert," the lady said sadly,"his mind has finally snapped!" As the three talent scouts drove away, Otto turned off his invisibility shield. "That was a great idea, Otto!" Robin giggled. "Now, no one will believe that crackpot!" Thrush laughed. Joe was watching Fred and Kenneth, who had been tied up securely by Wild Bill. "I still think you should've let me peck that goon some more!" Wild Bill said,"oh well, can I peck these two idiots, Robin?" "No Wild Bill!" Robin scolded,"we need to return Fred and Kenneth to BirdWorld so they can face trial and punishment there." "Look, you guys," Fred said sweetly,"let us go, and we'll let you ALL in on our takeover, why we could conquer BirdWorld just with the furry creature alone!" "This furry creature isn't going to conquer anyplace!" Otto barked,"and any more suggestions like that and I'll be tempted to eat you both!" "You wouldn't dare!" Kenneth snorted. Otto turned, showed his big teeth as he growled and said,"Just give me a reason, you traitors!" This made Fred and Kenneth very nervous, they even began to shake! "Ok, Otto, let's go home!" Robin said calmly, and in an instant, the entire group was standing in front of the BirdWorld Council building. Miles Milner and Officer Kip Canary were standing outside when that heard the loud BOOM!! of the transporter activation. "So, I see your mission was successful!" Miles said with a smile, "and were we right about their intentions?" "Yes sir!" Robin said,"they found a human and tried to talk him into helping them conquer BirdWorld!" "That's a lie!" Kenneth protested,"they have no proof!" "We have plenty of proof!" Thrush said happily,"Ok, Otto, show them!" Otto turned his head toward a white wall and said, "watch the wall, everyone, my internal video/audio recorder will show you our entire journey!" Miles and Officer Kip gasped with surprise as they watched the recorded images, and heard the two birds 'confess their crimes' with their own voices. "I've seen enough!" Miles said with rage,"you two bird brains almost gave away our most carefully guarded secret, and not only that, you were plotting treason! Officer, take these two away or I'll be tempted to peck them like Wild Bill wanted to!" As Officer Kip led them away, Fred turned to Robin and said,"this is all your fault, you ambitious female! I'll get even with you if it's the last thing I do!" That's when Wild Bill said,"oh, shut up and eat!" and stuffed a large mealworm into Fred's beak! Miles looked at the group and said,"Robin, you and your friends have once more saved BirdWorld! We will be forever in your debt..." "Mr Milner, sir," Robin replied,"this was a team effort, Joe, Thrush, Otto, and yes, even Wild Bill were all a part of this operation, they all deserve the credit for a job well done!" "Well then, I decree that tommorrow, you and your friends will be honored in a public ceremony in the town square!" Miles shouted with glee,"you are all heroes! Again!" "Oh BOY!!!!!" Wild Bill said as he patted Miles on the back,"does that mean we can have a key to the city? By the way, what lock does a key to the city fit? Can I have copies made so I can put it on my keychain? Why does chewing gum always stick to the roof of my beak? Why is the sky blue and the grass green?" Everyone laughed as Wild Bill continued to pepper Miles Milner with questions! Sometimes I wonder if that bluejay is from ANOTHER outside world! Oh well, so there will be a public ceremony later today to salute Robin, Joe, Thrush, Otto and Wild Bill. Tell you what, the ceremory is in a few hours and I want to attend. If you come back here tommorrow, I'll tell you all about it, OK? I have a feeling there's going to be a few surprises in store for my Robin! Bye for now, I have to get ready to leave. ------------------------------------------------------------------