BACKSTAGE CREW
Written by TheFanfox in 2010

Standing across the street from the building, she stared at it, hardly believing she was in this position. That the CV she'd submitted had been seen as good, let alone been read in the first place. That out of the ten individuals chosen to go to interview she'd been the one they'd chosen, that they'd given the job to. That today was her first day, and the day she'd find out which show she'd been assigned to. That advice section on writing a good CV had obviously helped, but she was amazed they'd thought her interesting enough to employ.

Crossing the road she reflected once more on how strange it had been that the job advertisement hadn't actually contained the name of the show. It had been clear that although she'd be a part-time member of a few shows, she'd be an almost full-time member of only the one main one that had been described vaguely in the advertisement and the text for the show had contained 'must be fun-loving and possibly a little bit crazy in addition to knowing their stuff'. She didn't know about crazy as such, but she was certainly fun-loving and definitely knew her stuff. She had a degree in Media Studies to prove it, the result of three years spent in another town doing the coursework. It couldn't be too bad though she reckoned as she came to the door of the studios, the advert had also mentioned it was aimed at an older teen to young adult audience. That meant it would be interesting and fun... right?

Pushing through the door she paused slightly at a full-length mirror that was just inside the foyer. Not bad she thought, as she examined her sandy fur striped with darker bands down her back and arms and her finely combed black hair, cropped short into a pixie cut for her new job. She turned to one side, examining her profile and bust (which was noticeable, but not magnificent by any means) then the other way to reflect on how soft the fur on her large ears looked now she'd started using that new fur conditioner specially tailored for sensitive areas such as ear and tail fur. She wore a purple vest top and a tight but not form-fitted pair of black trousers, underneath her black trousers was the same sandy fur marked with the darker bands and under her top a finely fluffy mass of white fur that stuck out at the very top of the collar of the shirt. She really had matured well over the past few years from the small shy little Sand Cat she'd once been, always so nervous, so paranoid. University had suited her well, and made her so much more confident. She grinned into the mirror, showing off her small sharp teeth as she thought of how flustered her old bullies had been once she'd come back...

"Cara Aurata I presume?"

She jumped and spun round quickly; standing behind her was a blue lizard girl, obviously trying to keep herself from smirking at Cara's momentary panic. She was wearing a smart black skirt and an even smarter white shirt with a nametag pinned to the right-hand pocket, and gave off a general air of professionalism but with a slightly mischievous nature lurking underneath it. As Cara watched the girl's tail twitch at the end she suddenly remembered she'd been asked a question.

"Oh! Oh... yes, yes I am," she replied.

"Our new recruit," the lizard smiled, in her Southern accent. "My name is Bluu, nice to meet you." She shook Cara's hand, then caught the smile playing about the corner of the cat's mouth. "I know, I know. Just call me Blue, everyone else does and I've long since stopped trying to stop them."

"Right," Cara laughed. "Sorry, I just... are you here to tell me where I'm going? What show I'll be working on?"

Blue's eyes widened. "You don't know?"

Cara shook her head and Blue frowned.

"I think I need a word with a certain someone about withholding crucial information," she muttered. "But if that's the way it's got to be, I won't risk spoiling their surprise for you... Yes, I'll take you to where you need to be. And maybe introduce you to the other people you'll be working with if there's time to. Follow me."

She turned and walked towards the far side of the foyer, and Cara followed her through a pair of double doors painted red and marked with a sign "STAFF ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT!" As they passed several office doors and a door Cara could feel the butterflies starting in her stomach. She was excited to finally be here, to finally have a job doing what she'd always wanted to. She'd shown all the people who had called her lazy or accused her of doing a 'doss course'. She'd worked hard to get here, and planned to continue. Blue stopped in front of doors to a lift shaft and Cara stopped too, just behind and to one side of the blue lizard girl.

"We've got to ride the lift down from here," Blue said, pressing the call button. "Do you really not know which show you applied to work for?"

"No, I don't," Cara said. "I found it a little strange but... I wanted so much to work in television and it was the only job going. I'd have lost the room I'm renting if I hadn't found work immediately."

Blue just nodded softly, and they both boarded the lift in silence. The doors shut in front of them and as the lift descended Cara kept her pale blue eyes on the lighted numbers going down.

"You don't sound like you're from around here," Blue commented.

"I'm not. I used to live in the UK, but my family moved over a few years ago," Cara said. "I've not yet lost my East Midlands accent completely."

"How does living here compare to where you grew up then?" Blue asked, with a grin.

Cara smiled. "I love it here, but I do miss the views I used to get from the hills back home. You could see for miles when you got to the top of the biggest one - we called it Miner's Peak because of the old shack halfway up it. We used to think it was the opening of a mineshaft until we went to check it out." She grinned and paced round, turning to face Blue with her back to the door. "But the view was awesome. You could see the three nearby towns and even as far as the beach and the sea on a clear day. I always meant to take a camera up there one day to catch all the glitters of the glass windows and the startling blue of the sea on a really, really nice day." She sighed with the happy memory as Blue laughed good-naturedly at the younger girl's enthusiastic reply to the question.

"Sounds like a nice place, you should show us that photo some time," she said.

Cara's face fell. "I never got the chance in the end. The shack collapsed one day and the entire hill was closed while they worked on removing it. By the time it was finally safe again we'd already moved overseas."

"Oh," Blue seemed sorry to have brought it up and an awkward silence threatened, Cara quickly shook her head.

"No, don't worry, it's fine!" she said, with a grin. "I'll get back there one day and get that photo," she stopped and showed her teeth in a bigger grin. "Then I can show you all when I get back, right?"

Suddenly the doors opened behind Cara and she spun round, somehow knowing that this first sight would go down as extremely important in her memories. Her first sight of the studio door, which would tell her exactly where she'd be spending her time in work and the people she would meet. As she saw the metal door at the end of the short corridor and the cog in the triangular logo above the red WELCOME she felt her heart begin to race, and suddenly she was seventeen years old again, and panicking about what on earth was going to do now that she'd been put forward by some people she'd thought were friends and wondering how she could get out of it if she was chosen...

"What's wrong?" Blue asked, seeing Cara's face.

Cara shook her head, she couldn't let anyone see that was scared. She was backstage crew, not a contestant! She'd be safe! Alright, so Blue had also been a contestant in the second series but she had probably agreed to be. She was the girlfriend of the presenter of the game show for god's sake! It was totally different to her situation. Cara forced herself to take a deep breath. In, Out. She told herself that she'd be fine. Fine... Fine. Yeah.

"I'm alright," she said.

"I'm sorry you weren't told it was Industrial Zone," Blue said, as she led the way out. "I think Alex was leaning on the people doing the interviews for new staff not to tell anyone so it'd be a surprise."

"I don't suppose that's a good sign for me," Cara said, slightly more nervously than she'd intended. She could feel the tip of her tail twitching and tried to stop it, it always twitched when she got really nervous or got stuck in a situation she saw no way out of. It was embarrassing, she couldn't show her nerves... she didn't know the backstage crew well enough yet to trust them to not take advantage of them.
    
"I'm going to have a word with him about it," the lizard girl said, frowning. "It's obviously been more than just a surprise for you."

Cara blushed as they reached the door. "I've no idea what you mean."

"You don't need to pretend you're not nervous Cara," Blue said, as she pushed the door open. "It's normal, we understand. Especially when you had no idea about the show you'd be working on."

Cara just shook her head and walked into the room past the door, which contained two benches and a table at one end and had three other doors besides the one she'd just come through, one being a double door, leading out of the room, and then turned around to look at Blue, trying her best to look sturdy and sure, despite the fact her tail was betraying this ruse.

"I'm not scared!" she protested.

"Oh, so she's a bold one is she? That's a good sign!"

Cara's ears pricked up at the familiar voice, remembering it from many broadcasts, downloads retrieved over the wi-fi at university and watched secretly in her room in the dark, a voice she'd never dreamed she'd hear for real. Sure enough seated on a sofa in the area that Cara assumed was usually reserved for the contestants before they played was the tall red lupine she'd seen taking round team after team, taking pleasure from watching them lose but equally feeling sorry for those who got a large messy gunging. He was out of his normal yellow drawstring trousers she'd seen him wearing on the show and instead wore a very comfortable looking pair of black jeans and a fashionable checked red and white button up shirt. He stood up as Blue walked up to him, and Cara averted her gaze as she hugged and kissed him.

"Or maybe not bold enough to watch Blue and me kiss," Alex said, as he detached himself from Blue. "So, welcome to the team Cara. Sorry about not letting on which show you'd be working on but it makes it more interesting that way." He shot a cheeky grin towards at Blue and then pretended to cower slightly away from her stormy glare.

Cara just nodded, trying not to look at Alex. The location, the fact she was face-to-face with someone she'd been slightly in awe of yet scared of for a few years, what this show was all about... this was bringing back some bad memories, which were seriously clouding her excitement at having found work. About the time when she'd almost...

"You'll be given a tour of the camera runs and the set of course, so you know what to expect," Alex had gone on, either ignoring or unaware of Cara's unease. "And you'll have a chance to meet everyone at the welcome do tonight."

"The what?" Cara asked, looking up finally.

"The welcome party," Blue said. "We have one every time a new crew member joins us. We have music, food, dancing and it's a great way to get to meet and sometimes know everyone involved behind the scenes."

"Oh, right," Cara said, and she managed a small grin. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Alex grinned back at her. "Anyway, we've got things to do. Someone should have come to give you the tour but..." he waved his paw to symbolise the fact that he had no idea where said person was. "Do you mind waiting here until they arrive?"

"Erm, yeah, no problem." Cara nodded. "Just as long as I can stay in here to wait." She laughed nervously.

Alex gave her a wicked grin, guessing exactly what she was concerned about if she was made to wait elsewhere in the IZ studio. "Don't worry, the machines on set are all empty right now. You're not about to get gunged just yet."

Cara nodded, hoping he was joking about the 'yet' and walked past the couple and lay down along the bench on her back, her tail hanging off the side. She closed her eyes and rested her hands interlocked with each other on her stomach, listening as she breathed in and out as the other two left. When she heard the door close she opened her eyes and sat up, looking around the room. There was a TV screen in one corner of the room and she walked over to it, grabbing the stand and pulling it closer to the benches. She checked the DVD player and found that there was still a DVD loaded in it, marked IZ: S3Ep2. She chewed her bottom lip and her finger hovered over the TV's ON button as she tried to decide if she should watch the DVD, which from the code that had been written on it in that red marker pen, was likely to be the second episode of the third series. She'd obviously seen episodes of Industrial Zone before, watching and re-watching the downloads until one night when she'd lost her entire download library thanks to a roommate's 'accidental' dropping of something heavy onto the laptop she'd had the videos stored on, breaking it. Then she'd not been able to watch the latest series' first, second or third episodes which had been broadcast again only a few days ago in a sort of 'catch up' marathon... so this one would be new for her. She looked over her shoulder, ears swivelling slightly on her head as she listened for footsteps or any sign of someone else approaching. Nothing. That meant she might even have some time to familiarise herself with any changes to the format. Learn everything she could, because she had a feeling that as much as she'd hope for it, Alex's remark about her not getting gunged 'yet' was not a joke. She pushed the DVD back into the machine and turned on the television, seating herself on the sofa as the DVD started to play from the point where it'd obviously been stopped mid-way during the last time it had been played.

She watched as Alex asked something of a green slime coated puppy girl, and she her nodding furiously. The camera followed her as she took up a position by a lever, and with a grin, pulled it. The camera switched to the view of a male, a feline although a different species to her, sat inside a booth tensing up nervously. Suddenly a thick pour of gunge hit him from above, doming and slapping over him fiercely as he bowed forward and had the gunge directed over his shoulders as the camera quickly had a few second shot of the three girl team-mates laughing. As the picture switched back to the cat boy he leaned back slightly into the stream of gunge just as another two shot out and hit him from both sides, causing him to yelp as the yellow and blue gunk mixed into a murky green and Cara to jump. She quickly hit pause, and stared at the frozen picture on the screen, gunge hitting the cat from three directions and she shivered. She could almost feel the heavy clinging feel of the gunge on her own fur, which was now standing up involuntarily with the adrenaline now flooding her system. It was like that incident of two years ago all over again... when her so-called 'friends' had put her up for the show and she'd almost...

Suddenly there was the sound of a voice from one of the other corridors, and Cara's ears could hear the sound growing closer. She got up onto her feet, tensed up. Who was that? Could it be the one that was meant to give her 'the tour'? Or was Blue or Alex coming back?

The door opened and Cara relaxed slightly as a green feathered avian walked through, wearing a pair of dark blue shorts, red sneakers and a short sleeved white top with a button undone at the top, exposing a few white feathers. He had a headset around his neck, carried a clipboard with several sheets of paper clipped to it, which he was staring intensely at and had his head feather spiked up into a rather cool-looking hairdo. Cara watched him distractedly check his clipboard before he looked up and his eyes widen slightly as he saw her.

"Oh, you're here already?" he asked, looking a bit surprised. "What time is...?" he checked his wristwatch. "Oh! Oh hell, I'm late again!" He put his clipboard on the table. "Sorry about that. I'm Ander, I'm a Research Assistant." He offered his winged hand and Cara shook it, all the time staring at his purple eyes. Ander blinked at her, confused.

"Is something wrong?" he asked. "Do I have something on my face?" He felt his face and beak with his hands, but Cara shook her head.

"I was just thinking how nicely your eyes suit you, with your green feathers and.." she answered, before blushing slightly. "Ignore me, I'm a bit overwhelmed by the revelation of working on such a..." she paused, trying to find the right word.

"Such a popular yet risky television show?" Ander laughed.

"I guess!" Cara replied, laughing too. "Such a shock to find out I'd applied to be working on a show that I secretly pretended not to be that interested in."

"Everyone's interested in this show in some way Cara," Ander remarked. "It's impossible not to be really. Some people find it funny, others find it a threat to 'decent programming' on television and others..." he blushed and cleared his throat. "Yeah."

"It's alright, they didn't believe me anyway," Cara sighed, remembering the teasing she'd gotten when she'd freaked out upon finding out that her friends had put her up. "Anyway, are you here to give me this tour?"

"Yes! Yes, sorry again," Ander laughed nervously, running his hand over his spiky feather hair awkwardly. "Let's get started then, this way." He strode past her towards the double doors at the other end of the room, and Cara followed.

As he pulled open the door her eyes wandered down to his tail, consisting of three long green feather tipped with the same purple his eyes had been. When Ander turned his head to look round at her and beckoned she found herself thinking "He's rather cute!" but she quickly cleared her head of this thought. He was a part of the IZ backstage crew, something she had yet to be. Until she knew that she was accepted she made up her mind not to trust anyone... even if they were an extremely cute green parakeet with amazing purple eyes. She followed him through the doors and prepared herself for any funny business...

Following Ander through the camera run between two of the 'areas' of the Zone a little later, Cara was beginning to get tired of being so wary and jumpy. Despite her being prepared for an ambush Ander had acted perfectly normally, if a little bit scatter-brained sometimes. Mind you, if the way he acted when he'd first met her was anything to go by he was naturally that way... it was sort of sweet really and Cara found herself trusting him more and more with each sentence he said to her. She couldn't help herself, it wasn't just his cuteness or his eyes anymore, it was his slightly geeky, but truly lovely personality. He just seemed so... innocent. Cara really found herself warming to him. But something still bugged her about him, and she just had to ask him... even if it would seem a bit rude to do so.

"So, what species are you anyway?" she asked, getting the question out. "Sorry," she said, when he turned round, confused. "I was never very good at telling parakeet species apart from one another." She gave an awkward laugh, hoping that she hadn't offended him.

"I'm an Alexandrine Parakeet," he said, then noticed her expression. "Oh don't worry, I do get asked that question by more people than you might think you know. And I have problems telling apart the canine species... and some feline."

Cara saw his grin on the reddish beak he owned and smiled back as she got what he was saying to her. "I'm an African Sand Cat," she replied.

"Good, I didn't know how to ask you!" Ander admitted, with a laugh. "Thankfully you asked me first so that made it much easier for me!"

"I'm just a very helpful person," Cara grinned, as Ander led her through a door into the Research Lab part of the set.

As Ander closed the door behind them Cara's eyes were instantly drawn to the large piece of machinery in the centre of the clearing they'd just emerged into. It was hard for them not to be against the white, sterile walls behind it (although half the lights were off so it appeared a bit darker than it did when being used during the show). A large spherical object covered with lights that blinked and twinkled during the show but right now were dimmed, it was supported by those three legs that had never seemed to look strong enough to support the sphere at all, never mind the height it did hold it at, with the metallic chair, marked with stains of old gunge, directly under the pipe sticking from the bottom. Cara flinched as Ander put his hand on her shoulder.

"Amazing isn't it?" he asked her, and she could see his eyes were lit up at the sight of the Pod.

"Sort of," Cara frowned slightly, trying to back away a bit and remove Ander's feathered hand from her shoulder. He tightened his grip on her however and she felt herself beginning to worry again.

"Oh come on, there's no 'sort of' about this thing Cara!" he said. "Every single person who has ever been on that seat has taken a fantastic gunging, and each one enjoyed it immensely. The Pod is one of my favourites of all the machines on the set."

"Oh, that's... nice," Cara said, finally peeling Ander's hand off of her. "I don't think I have a favourite as such."

"You will," Ander said. "You can't help it after a while. Could be that you work on maintaining one machine more than others. Could be you think it provides the greatest entertainment... Or it could be that it was the one you had your first gunge experience in." He gave a small laugh to himself.

"Erm... yeah," Cara shifted awkwardly. She didn't like where this seemed be going.

Suddenly Ander's beeper went off, making both of them jump. He took it out quickly, fumbling with it as he stopped it beeping and checked it. He hissed something under his breath and looked up at Cara.

"I've got to go sort something out in the office," he said, his voice and manner showing his annoyance at being called away. "Won't take me long. You'll be fine here for a bit won't you?"

"Erm, sure," Cara said, twitching her tail tip slightly. "What do you have to do?"

"Just something to do with paperwork that needs sending, it's a long story," Ander said, with a dismissive wave of his feathered hand. "I'll be back as soon as I can, and then we can finish the tour and I'll take you to meet the computer ROB."

"Not literally the computer?" Cara laughed, thinking he meant the guy who voiced ROB.

"Oh no, it's traditional to introduce you to the actual character of ROB," Ander said, with no trace of humour or sarcasm. "It's a lot more interesting you see. Anyway, take a seat. I'll be right back." He headed towards the hidden entrance to the camera run. "Oh, and don't touch anything. Who knows what would happen?" he laughed and slipped through the door.

Cara sighed and looked around. The only chair in the area seemed to be the one under the Pod and she wasn't going to sit there, no way... even if she was slightly curious right now. She sank down by a wall and stared across the room at the little doors and the walls. This really was a well designed set, even more amazing in real life. And it had been pretty good as it was seen on the screen. They must have had some talented set designers working on this set... and the others she'd already seen with Ander. Must be a pain to clean up though when the contestants came through dripping with all manners and colours of gunge coating them... Come to think of it, this 'tour' was meant to.... What had Alex said? Help her know 'what to expect'... could it be that there was a surprise at the end of it for her? Were all Ander's little hints really him trying to warn her about something? They could easily be, he did seem the sort of nice guy who'd want to give her a chance to avoid it...But there was no way she was going to be gunged, no way. Or at least she'd not make it easy for them... did she really want to wait to find out what they wanted to do at the end of the tour? She stood up and looked around, backing away from the Pod and keeping an eye on the doors. Suddenly an alarm went off, making the room flash red and booming out around her, the sound bouncing off the walls and echoing like mad. Her eyes darted round and she heard running coming from the camera run passage, this could be it. The surprise. Well she wasn't going to stay put in one place to wait for it! She turned on her heel and sprinted for the nearest door at the end of the room, she burst through just as she heard another door open and heard a cry of shock from behind her.

"Wait a minute!" they cried. "Who are you? Where are you going?" the voice grew angrier. "Come back here you!"

Cara didn't respond, she just kept running through down the corridor behind the door and burst through another door. The room was in near darkness, and she could barely make out the furniture in the room. There seemed to be several tables dotted around, stacked high with messy piles of paper and scientific equipment and set against the far wall was what looked like a tall and thin cupboard, one door half-open. She'd obviously run into a room made up to look like a basic laboratory... She wondered idly about what sort of game would be played in here, but then she heard the footsteps of whoever was behind her approaching the door to the room slowly. She darted towards the far side of the room, using her arms to swing herself round the tables, trying hard not to knock anything off or break anything (although from the looks she snuck at the tables as she passed them, a little more mess would make little difference really) so as not to impede her progress. It was difficult in the near-darkness though and as she accidentally brushed off a glass flask and heard it smash behind her she flinched visibly. It didn't stop her from running though. Reaching the cupboard she pulled at the doors, finding only the half-open one would move. She turned herself sideways and squeezed in quickly, trying not to catch her tail on the side, as the entrance to the room was opened slowly. She grabbed the half-door and pulled it shut, to hide inside the cupboard. It was only when the door clicked upon shutting that she realised she should have looked a little more closely at the 'cupboard'. It might have been set up as a scientific testing area, so a cupboard built of plastic could be feasible... but very few cupboards seemed to be clear as well as plastic. She pushed at the doors and surely enough they'd locked on her. She was stuck inside of the 'cupboard'.

"Ah, there you are! Got you now."

Cara could now see the silhouette of her pursuer halfway across the room, and apparently staring right at her. The shadow retreated back across the room and fumbled about the wall for a moment. He must have hit a light switch because suddenly the lights in the room blinked into life with tiny clinks as they did so. Cara blinked a bit, then cautiously opened an eye to see what she'd gotten herself into, even though she'd already guessed and it didn't fill her with joy. As she'd thought, the 'cupboard' was really a cubicle set into the wall, with the sides lined with wood and the front split into two half-doors to make it look like a cupboard. The doors and front however were obviously made of Perspex and she could clearly see the lock that had triggered itself when she'd closed the door... on the outside of the tank. There was no way out except from someone outside the tank...

As there was a clatter from the room in front of her Cara looked up, to see a canid approaching, having accidentally just pushed one of the slightly less loaded tables forward a little. She shrunk back nervously and almost fell backwards when she collided with the heavy metal seat welded to the floor in the tank behind her. This wasn't looking good for her, she was trapped now. And this canine guy could easily flip a switch and gunge her right now, and give her the 'surprise'...

"Hang on, you're Cara aren't you?" the canid asked, as he reached the door.

Cara nodded slowly, keeping her eyes on this dark-furred guy and trying to control her breathing so her heart could stop racing so fast.

"I'm Cliff," said the canid, then his face broke into a smile. "Looks like you've gotten yourself into a right situation there. Why'd you run?"

"I... erm..." Cara stuttered, looking at her feet embarrassed. "I'm sorry, it's just... the alarm suddenly went off and I... I, erm..."

"... You panicked?" Cliff asked, then waved a hand. "Oh don't worry about it. It's your first day and Ander didn't exactly help, leaving you on set while he went to file those papers we've told him to file every day for the past week... I mean, I assume that's what he was called off to do?" he asked and sighed when she nodded. "He can be so forgetful at times... anyway me and some other backstage crew were fixing the system that triggers that alarm and it accidentally went off, I was going round to cut it off when I saw you running across set and thought that some kid had broken in. If you had been I'd be filling up that tank right now with gunge!" he laughed but stopped when he saw Cara's expression. "Oh come on, I'm joking. Really. I'm not heartless; I can see how much you don't want that to happen."

Cara gulped slightly in an effort to swallow the terror clogging her throat up. It didn't help much. "Can you let me out then? Only..." she gave a sickly grin to Cliff. "Even if there's nothing up there," she pointed up towards the plastic capped pipe she knew was up there, even if she dare not look at it. "Being inside here is making me far too nervous for my own good."

Cliff nodded and squeezed the centre of the lock, twisting it round to unlock the half-door Cara had entered by and she pushed it open, sliding out and standing behind Cliff as he let the lock go again. She sighed in relief to be free again.

"Thank you so much," she said, with the same sickly grin plastered to her face although now it showed traces of relief and appreciation as well. "I don't think I could have handled being inside a gunge tank too much longer."

"You do seem rather high-strung to be a crew member working for a gunge show," Cliff frowned. "Didn't you know...?"

"No, I didn't know the job was for Industrial Zone. Blue said Alex had made them keep it from the interviewees," Cara answered.

"Sounds like Alex," Cliff said, rolling his eyes. "He really can be a little too cocky at times... takes far too much pleasure out of making people squirm a little." he frowned for a moment. "Mind you, most of us do here." he confessed finally with a laugh. "Then again, we're all able to keep each other in check with the testing."

"Testing?" Cara asked, somehow feeling she shouldn't really as she might not like the answer he'd give her.

"Testing of the machines," Cliff grinned. "You be surprised how often we have to fix them... and how often we sometimes just need to make sure they're still working with someone deserving on the inside of them."

"Right, thought so," Cara gulped.

Suddenly there the sound of the alarm and the flashing red light shut off and a leopard poked her head around the door, looking annoyed. Her eyes looked around the room and rested on Cliff, who she was obviously looking for.

"Cliff, you said you were going to turn it off! I've just had to because you kept us... oh!" she stopped as she saw Cara. "Playing security guard again Cliff?" she teased.

"I had to make sure Karen," Cliff shot back, before putting an arm around Cara. "But this time it's not an intruder, it's just Cara Aurata, our newbie."

"The student?" Karen asked, curiously, stepping into the room and coming closer to examine Cara, staring at her in a way that made the young Sand Cat twitch. Karen seemed to be seeing right into her as well as seeing the dark banded sandy fur that covered her. Karen's own fur was a darker sandy colour with the dark brown spotted markings of her species and vivid golden eyes that somehow blended with her fur yet stood out. She wore all black, a simple shirt and trouser number marked with the show's logo. "Yes, Cara Aurata. I read your CV you know. Impressive enough on the theory, but you'll need some practical experience you know." She smiled back almost innocently, but Cara had caught that hint in the tone of her voice.

"Somehow I want to avoid that sort of experience for as long as I possibly can," Cara replied, trying to keep her voice level. Karen stared at her but Cliff burst out laughing.

"Well then I hope you can give us a run for our money," he said, patting her shoulder in a friendly way. "It's nice to see people enjoying a gunging, but it'd be a different type of fun to get the adrenaline pumping by having to chase them down first!" he stopped laughing slowly. "Ah... I think toni-"

Karen cleared her throat and Cliff snapped his mouth shut quickly, causing Cara to look between them. Karen was giving Cliff an impatient glare and Cliff looked awkward and was trying to avoid the eyes of both the feline girls. Cara ducked out from under his arm and turned to them.

"I won't ask what he was about to say," she sighed. "I'm not supposed to know right?" She nodded slowly and turned back towards the door back to the first room. "I've got to wait for Ander, and I suppose you've both got to get back to work too?" She set off towards the door without waiting for the answer.

"Yes, I suppose we should, that system needs re-connecting now that we had to disconnect it," Cliff said, as he began to walk towards the door and Karen felt into line behind him. "But it was nice to meet you Cara, we'll see each other again at the party later okay?"

"Right," Cara nodded, before waving at them as the two crew members went over to another hidden door in the set's wall.

Walking back towards where Ander had left her she grinned as she saw him now back, looking for her, his body language giving it away that he was a bit baffled and maybe a little nervous about her vanishing. She waved at him as he finally spotted her, and jogged over to him, looking apologetic.

"I told you to wait for me here!" Ander cried, sounding a little stressed and hurt. Cara's face fell and she looked at her feet, her ears dropping a little. "Where did you go?"

"The alarm system went off," Cara told him. "I panicked when I heard someone running down the camera run to come and cut it off and I just legged it to another room." she gave her nervous grin to him again. "I'm way too jumpy, it's just... everything about this place."

"What's wrong with this place?" Ander asked, confused.

"It's a long story Ander, I don't want to bore you with it," Cara replied, her voice a little firmer than she'd intended.

"But, Cara," Ander said, putting his hand on her arm. "How can I know what's going on in your mind if you won't tell me what happened and why being here makes you so nervous?"

"I said it was a long story, Ander," Cara hissed, her tail not so much twitching as thrashing at the end now. "Maybe sometime, but not now." she saw him look at his feet and her voice softened. "I'm sorry Ander. I do like you really, I just... don't feel comfortable discussing what happened." She looked away then felt his hand tighten its grip on her arm, but in a comforting way.

"Don't worry about it Cara. We've all got things we'd prefer not to remember or have to re-live," he said, with a soft grin as she looked up into his face. "You'll tell me when you're ready right?" His smile grew as she nodded back at him. "Good to know. I'm sure it's an interesting story, and I'll do everything I can to help you get over whatever happened in it." He removed his hand from her arm. "Now come on, before we've got to go back to the green room for the party, we've still got ROB for you to meet!"

"Wait, what?" she asked, shocked.

"Meeting ROB, I told you before, it's a tradition!" Ander said, seemingly impatient at what he assumed was a stupid question.

"No, before that," Cara said, waving her hands in front of her. "The party is here? As in; in the studio?" She pointed down at the floor as she said this.

Ander's beak fell open slightly and his eyes widened and Cara realised from his expression that not only was the party taking part in the studio, but it had been planned as yet another surprise for her, as the new backstage crewmember and the party's centre of attention. However, obviously Cara wasn't meant to know or find this out in advance. She smirked slightly at the parakeet's obvious horror and slight distress at having let it slip out.

"You blabber-beak," she teased. "Maybe I should let someone else know you told me?"

"Sorry, sorry!" he cried, flailing his hands about in front of him. "Please don't tell the others! It was an accident..." he drew off. "Please Cara, pretend like I never said anything. I'd rather not go home messy tonight."

Cara laughed. "I was kidding Ander," she said. "Relax!" She paused. "Wow, I sound like I belong here!" She laughed again and Ander joined in.

"Well you do!" he said. "Why else would they have given you the job if you wouldn't fit right in?" He grinned as she stopped laughing, as she actually wondered why. "They wouldn't have, that's why." he concluded with a nod. "Tonight you'll be welcomed in for as long as you work here. And let's hope that's a long time." He smiled gently at her, looking into her eyes just as she looked into his again, but then they both looked away quickly embarrassed. "Erm, yes. Let's go see ROB shall we?" he said.

"Yeah, let's," Cara said, clearing her throat then beckoning him to go ahead. "Lead the way sir."


A few hours later she was being led back downstairs by Ander, towards the green room. She'd been shown around the place by Ander and enjoyed every moment, bar the few where she'd been trapped inside the gunge tank cupboard in the Research Lab area. She'd even enjoyed meeting ROB, despite the computer's grumpiness and apparent indifference to her joining the team. After that Ander had taken her upstairs to the offices and the staff changing rooms to get her what he referred to as the backstage crew's 'official uniform' although it was just the same shirt she'd seen Karen wearing earlier as well as another pair of black trousers which she'd left upstairs with her purple top as she was already wearing a suitable pair. Now it was time for the party. Ander had said that the official story was that he was going to lead her to a coach where the others would be so they could go to the party venue, but of course they both knew that it was a lie thanks to Ander's slip earlier. So now Cara prepared herself to act surprised as they reached the bottom of the stairs and Ander held the door open for her.

As she walked in she caught sight of the tables with food heaped on them and the fact the benches and TV stand had been pushed to one side, the walls were decorated with balloons and banners and the lights had been slightly dimmed. She heard Ander close the door behind her and looked around the room.

"Huh?" she asked, pretending to be confused.

"Here she is!" came a voice and both Cara and Ander turned to see Alex striding towards the young Sand Cat. "We thought we'd save ourselves a trip and have the party here instead."

From around the room doors opened and various anthros surged in, all wearing casual every day clothes and none of them looking like they would do if they were working. Cara recognised Cliff and Karen who were coming forward to greet her and standing back to let others have a go at saying hi first respectively and Blue who had come from the door Alex had entered by just behind him. She put her arms around the red wolf from behind and leant her chin on his right shoulder to peer over it, as she nuzzled his neck slightly Cara realised that they must have been together for a while to be able to be that comfortable with each other in public. Ander came up behind her, a sandwich in his hand.

"Right, all here?" Alex asked the crowd, and smiled when they nodded. "Then, let's have a good time!" He pressed a button and music stared blaring from the speakers dotted around the room and the crowd instantly began to disperse from around Cara.

Cara peeled herself away from the remains of the crowd and went to get some food, as she reached for a slice of the chocolate cake Cliff appeared by her and shook his head.

"Don't eat too much of the sickly stuff Cara," he advised, taking her hand and guiding it instead to a plate of cupcakes. "You never know what could happen." He drew off mysteriously, giving her a glance she was obviously meant to translate.

"What?" she asked, confused. "What are you trying to say?"

Cliff opened his mouth, but looking over his shoulder he closed it again. He merely shrugged and peeled away from the table, vanishing into the crowd before Cara could stop him. She frowned but decided to take his advice and picked up a sandwich and a cupcake instead of the heavy slice of chocolate fudge cake she'd been going for before. As she turned she saw Blue seated at one of the benches, staring her way and wondered if Cliff had seen this and that was why he hadn't told her more. Maybe. She spied Ander beckoning and walked over slowly, taking a bite from her sandwich as she did.

Everyone looked round as she passed them and she was aware again that it was unnerving her how interested they all seemed to be. A few of them kept their faces straight and said hi as she passed but others gave her some disturbing smirks and she was more aware than ever how close she probably was to having to experience something she'd spent years trying to avoid. She took a mental deep breath as she made herself concentrate only on Ander in front of her and decided to herself that now she had the job she wouldn't be able to avoid it, so it might as well be best to take it whenever and however they dealt it to her.


Two hours later they were all sitting on or around the benches, talking about things. Cara had been sat in the middle of the left hand side bench and was still busy being asked questions about who she was, what she did and why she'd applied for the job she'd gotten in the first place. In other words, her entire life. So far though no one had asked about if she was looking forward to possibly getting gunged and she hoped no one would, as she wasn't sure that she knew how to answer 'correctly'. Suddenly Alex stood up again and raised his hands up to indicate everyone should be quiet, silence fell so suddenly that it seemed unreal. Almost as if they'd been waiting for this. Cara felt her fur prickle up again on the back of her neck.

"Well, I have to say to everyone welcome to the party!" Alex said, looking around at everyone. "As I'm sure you'll know by now, we have a new recruit to our little team. Someone else to spread the madness that comes with working here on this show to. Cara, stand up so everyone can see you." He motioned for her to stand and she struggled up to her feet from the wooden bench, smiling uncertainly as everyone turned to look at her and waved or clapped her and hoping that she didn't look as awkward as she felt right now. "It's been a while since we had someone new and I hope you'll all make Cara Aurata feel welcome during her time here." he nodded as everyone murmured their agreement, then suddenly his expression grew a little more sinister. "I also hope it hasn't been so long ago since last time that you can't remember what we did to our last newbie during their welcome party."

As Cara looked round in alarm she felt her arms being grabbed by the two bear guys who had been seated either side of her as they stood up too, she cried out and struggled as the crowd sitting around the bench got to their feet and parted and let the two crewmembers drag her reluctantly forwards towards the centre of the room, Alex following on behind them, with Blue not far behind and Ander still seated on the other bench chewing his beak nervously.

"Now, I suppose you knew that it was coming eventually didn't you Cara?" Alex grinned at her, as he walked round in front of them. "It makes sense for the initiation of a new backstage crew member of a show like this to be a messy one after all. And it makes more sense to get that first gunging straight away."

Cara started to twist some more in the grip of the two holding her prisoner. She might have known it'd happen tonight! She should have at least, all the hints had been there! She was the only one dressed in her uniform, people had been staring at her all night, warnings from Ander and Cliff, and even Cliff's near slip of the tongue about 'tonight'. Of course they were going to gunge her tonight, at the welcome party!

Alex motioned for all the other crew members to stand up and then led the way towards the double doors of the set, Cara and the two holding her following on just behind. She reluctantly walked with them after realising that it was no use to struggle in their grip, they'd managed to get her and now it was looking likely that the time to face her fear of gunging was nigh. She could hear the other crewmembers behind them all whispering excitedly at the thought of the event they were about to witness and as she looked down to the floor she couldn't stop the awkward grin appearing on her face. Unbelievable to think it was really happening to her, to the same Sand Cat who had once spent a day locked in her room refusing to come out when her roommate and her best friend had applied for her to be a contestant on this very show for a joke. That had been three years ago, but she'd spent at least thirteen trying to avoid any sort of mess or gunge. All thanks to what had happened to a very young innocent little Sand Kitten one hot summer's day at camp... Mind you, under that familiar pang of fear that knotted around her racing heart was something else... could it possibly be that she was slightly excited about the thought of getting gunged and even more, totally covered in one of the famous Industrial Zone machines? Didn't people say the quickest way to get over a fear was to face it head-on? If so... well, if anything could cure her it'd be these gunge machines. She'd really get to face this fear 'head-on'... literally.

"Ah, here we are," Alex's voice pierced through the thoughts swirling in her head as she was pulled to a halt. "Cara, I hope you're ready for this." He chuckled as she forced herself to look up at what he was making her face.

The lights were half off but she recognised the shape of the machine. Capsule shaped, white, and mounted on rails, she gave a nervous and defeated sigh as she recognised the machine that was the Shuttle. She sagged slightly against the two holding her arms, but she didn't try to pull away. Blue walked up to her and put her hand under Cara's chin, tipping the young Sand Cat's head to look up at her.

"I'm sure you've realised by now that you're not going to escape this initiation," Blue smiled, as Cara gulped slightly and nodded to her. "You're going in and you're not going to have a chance to avoid the gunging like a contestant in the show might. Once you're settled in, we're turning it on. All you have to do is sit back and take it."

"We've just filled it with freshly made gunge," Karen sniggered from behind Cara. "Thick, slimy, lukewarm gunge. Just for you."

Cara squirmed slightly when she heard this, but tried not to show how scared and tense the situation was making her. She wanted to try and save face at least before it happened and she lost all her dignity.

Karen continued. "And Cliff has attached some straps to the seat to hold you tight while it's gunking all over you." she grinned. "Isn't that nice?"

Oh screw saving face! "This isn't fair!" Cara protested as she allowed her nerves to get the better of her finally. "No chance to avoid it? Straps on the chair to hold me down? No, no! I can't, please! At least give me a fighting chance here!"

Her eyes darted around the room to look at everyone in her sight, as she said this. She could feel her heart beginning to pound faster again and knew that she had lost the battle to appear cool, calm and unflustered by what they had planned for her. Blue removed her hand from under Cara's chin and turned to Alex, she seemed to have something on her mind as she walked back towards him.

"We do want to initiate you straight away Cara. But you know," she said slowly turning to Alex. "Just putting her in right now seems a bit too quick. A bit like we're reaching the climax of the evening too soon by gunging her straight away. Especially since with fresh slime it won't have had the chance to properly cool down yet for that maximum experience for her, I mean Karen just said it was probably lukewarm." She grinned at Cara's slightly hopeful expression. "What do you think Alex?"

Alex started to pace back and forth, eyes closed and muttering as if he were thinking. Cara almost laughed, it was an act. This entire thing was being staged deliberately for some reason. There was going to be a twist in the tail of this gunging after all. As he continued to pace Cara bit her lip to stop herself giggling, the others obviously wanted her to act reluctant even if she was beginning to find one part of it rather funny. Eventually Alex stopped, a grin on his face and his eyes lit up.

"You're right Blue, we need to let each the contents of each one of those tanks up there cool down, and do something to get everyone a little more worked up for the main event," he said to her, then he looked slowly towards Cara. "And I have an idea of how. Follow me you three." He pointed at Cara and the two holding her arms then said to the others. "We'll be back in a minute and I'll clue you all in. Promise."

As Alex headed towards another doorway Cara was frogmarched after him by the crew holding her arms, she wished that they'd not grip her so tightly, it was beginning to hurt now. Alex wrenched the door open, with a little bit of the drama he'd put into doing the same thing on the show, he fumbled round the side for a moment before turning on the lights in the room. Cara let out a groan as she saw the clear plastic booth in the room, with its plastic 'armchair' fastened to the wall so it was suspended a little off the floor, and the three pipes pointing into it. She dragged her feet slightly as she was led over to it, then attempted to pull herself free as Alex began to fumble with the door. When he was done, he opened it and turned round to face her.

"I'd save your energy Cara," he grinned. "You're going to need all of it in a minute!" He swung the door fully open and stood out of the way as the two ursines pushed her forwards into the booth. Using years of experience of doing the same thing on the show he quickly pushed it shut and bolted it before she'd even had the chance of turning back round. He watched her sigh and push herself up onto the seat before burying her face in her hands in defeat. "But don't worry. You just rest in here for a minute or so. We'll be back for you shortly. I promise!" he called as he followed the two bears out of the room. He stopped by the doorframe and hovered on the edge of the door for a moment before clicking off the main light, leaving only a spotlight over the booth lit. He gave her one last parting grin before he closed the door to the room entirely.

Sitting there in the chair Cara blinked and looked from side to side for a few seconds before realising that thanks to the spotlight she could see very little past the plastic walls of the booth she was in, so she stopped and slumped slightly on the chair, her elbows resting on the arms of the chair and her hands dangling off the ends. She looked down to the floor below her too, metallic and dirty-looking, but still her brain wouldn't let her dare to take a peek up. She wasn't entirely sure if Alex had had this one filled with gunge as well, being as how it was obviously in the plan to leave her here while he explained whatever plan he'd 'just come up with' to the rest of the crew who seemed genuinely unsure about what it was. Except Blue obviously. Blue certainly knew what was going on just as much as the red wolf presenter did, it seemed that those two were a great team. But then again she knew from watching some of the first two series of Industrial Zone that they both wouldn't pass up a chance to get the other messy. Cara thought for a few seconds then smirked slightly, her tail swishing maliciously. Could she maybe use it to her advantage at all? Maybe she could; if she wasn't so nice. Damn. She'd have to see if her niceness was overridden by the instinct to flee anyway she could when she was let in on what Alex's 'plan' was for her...

As the seconds passed she began to get a little bored waiting, the boredom overcoming her nerves for the moment. She sat up properly and began to kick her feet back and forth, putting more and more energy behind each arc of her legs until she accidentally kicked the underside of the seat, which made her jump slightly as she thought something was about to happen. She relaxed after a few seconds when she realised it had just been her foot. She shook her head at herself.

"Silly kitten," she muttered to herself. "Nothing'll happen unless they've come back in to watch it. You know that it makes sense they'd do it like that." She sighed lightly, then heard the door opening again. She looked up quickly and saw Alex's silhouette in the doorframe, just before he turned the lights back on and she was forced to blink a few times until the pupils of her eyes had a chance to dilate and she could see him properly again.

"Had a nice rest in there?" he asked her almost cheekily, a grin plastered across his muzzle. When she just rolled her eyes he walked right up to the front of the booth. "You'll be pleased to know that your eventual gunging has been delayed for now. But for how long is up to you." When Cara looked confused he said "I'll explain. Cliff came to me earlier with an idea that he got when he met you earlier and helped you out of a sticky situation," he paused as Cara flushed slightly at the memory of her panic. "His idea was that we let you have a few minutes head start to escape into the set or the 'Industrial Zone facility', then the rest of us come in to try and locate and capture you before you're taken to your fate." He stopped and regarded her surprised yet eager expression. "You seem keen on that idea Cara, but don't think this means you're off the hook as far as the gunging goes. I did make sure to lock all the exits from the studio as well as the camera runs before the party began you know. You've only got the set you see on camera during the show to run around in and hide from us."

Cara laughed. "That should be enough to at least keep away for a good long time. Or at least enough time to make me at least feel better about the fact that I tried to get away from the gunging," she sighed and scratched her ear absently. "I'm still not looking forward to getting gunged though. You just had to pick one of the worst machines didn't you?" She glared at him and he laughed.

"Everyone has to have a go of a big one on their first day. It wouldn't be too fair to the rest of us to let you have it easy your first time," he said, shrugging. "I'm not as soft in real life as I am on the television unfortunately. Oh, and you might want to do this barefoot so we can get to the main event as quickly as possible once you've been apprehended by us." And Cara bent down to pull off the socks and shoes she was wearing, discarding them on the floor of the booth.  Anyway," he undid the lock and swung the door open, "you have five minutes. Better get running Cara the Sand Cat."

Suddenly the screen in the room burst into life, with a countdown already heading towards 4 minutes 50 seconds. Cara shot one look at Alex's grin and then flung herself off the chair and shot past him, not daring to look back at the wolf's face as she shot through the door and back into the clearing in the Processing Wing, stopping for a moment. The Shuttle was now open but there was no sign of anyone else. They'd probably been sent in ahead of her Cara realised and suddenly she knew that it was going to be harder than she'd thought to keep away from getting gunged. There'd been over twenty people at the party and as large as the set was... she looked up to see that half a minute had already elapsed and she knew she couldn't waste anymore time. She dashed for the stairs and climbed them two steps at a time, then dashed through the open door and down the corridor. She had no idea where she was heading to, but didn't reckon it made much of a difference. She wasn't expected or allowed to escape, but she had to go somewhere. No matter what she did she was going to end up back in the Processing Wing though, strapped into the seat of the Shuttle while they all watched her getting totally gunged. And somehow the fact that everyone would be watching it happen to her? That scared her a lot more than the possibility of the gunging. In fact, it scared her a hell of a lot more than the inevitable gunging did. She wondered if, as she emerged into the starting room of the show, she'd been fearing the wrong thing for so many years just because of what had happened. Shaking her head and hearing the faint bleeps as the timer counted down she ran for the door to the green room, just to see if Alex really had locked them all in for the duration of this little game of Cat and Mouse. It was tightly locked as she tried it and she kicked it lightly in frustration. She'd have to duck into one of the areas quickly.

She ran for the nearest set of doors, which were another double door set. As she came through them she managed to catch the tip of her toes on the slightly raised ledge and went flying, landing in a heap in the corridor just past it. She sprawled on the floor for a few seconds, stunned, before the bleeping of the timer brought her back to reality. She rolled onto her side and clutched the arm she'd gone down on in pain, before noticing that things were sticking out of the walls and pointing down into the corridor. She stood up to examine one a little better, each one was a pipe and each one ended in a nozzle. She felt her blood run a little cold, and looked behind her to decide whether she should go back. Deciding that she might as well press forward she prepared herself, then broke into a sprint down the length of the corridor still holding her bruised arm with her other hand, shoulders slightly up and head slightly down as she prepared herself for it in case any of the nozzles began to spray forth a type of thin gunky nastiness. As she reached the other side she found herself still clean and turned round to look at the strange corridor, reckoning that the nozzles must just be there for show. She turned back to the area that she found herself in, half-lit like all the other rooms, and recognised the Storage Area from Ander's earlier tour. She walked forwards down the corridor formed by the containers until she came to the t-junction. She looked left and right, trying to decide which way she should go.

"One minute to go!" a voice suddenly boomed from above her. "If you've not hidden yet you'd better get a move on Cara!" And it laughed before the speakers shut off with a quiet but audible click. Cara looked up at the ceiling and hissed in response.

She sprinted right as the bleeping grew a little more insistent and kept running until she came to a dead end. She looked around briefly then saw a pile of crates, stacked high with one on top stood upright, and although it wouldn't be tall enough for most species to fit inside, it was just big enough for a small feline of a species like hers to crouch within. She tested out her bruised arm and decided that it was strong enough still to help her climb up. She leapt up onto the first low box and used her arms to pull herself up from crate to crate, all the time hearing the bleeps growing in volume as they passed the twenty second marker. Eventually she was up, and saw that half the back of the crate had been wrenched off, leaving a hole big enough for her to squeeze into. She ducked down and entered head first, arching her back to pull more of herself in until she was fitted snug inside, able to see the corridor she'd just come down by a little hole in the front of the box. She heard the bleeps stop and suddenly the lights came on, the alarms around the base flashing orange and red as a set of loud and frequent blares sounded around the base.

"Right people, you know what's happening," came Alex's voice from the speakers again over the blaring noise. "Cara's escaped from where she was being held, and she needs bringing back to the Shuttle for her initiation. She'll be on the set somewhere, as long as she hasn't somehow found a way out of the building I didn't anticipate." he laughed and then cleared his throat. "So I'm counting on you all to show no mercy if you find her! On your marks, get set... GO!"

The alarms and the blaring stopped at that moment and Cara started to listen out for any signs of someone approaching, her large ears twitching back and forth as she tried to slow and steady her breathing so as not to make it obvious there was someone inside the crate she was in. It was a bit cramped even for her and her legs were already getting tired under her, growing a little cold and sore as the blood flow was slightly restricted. She waited, growing more and more nervous by the minute, as she anticipated someone appearing at any moment. Maybe they'd even find a way behind her and manage to sneak up quietly to be able to grab her tail and pull her out from her hiding spot... no, that was ridiculous. She might be small and outnumbered, but her sense of hearing was greatly improved by having her large pointed ears. She just wished that she could stop them scraping along the top of the crate, she didn't particularly want splinters in the tips of her ears.

After what seemed like ages, but was probably only ten minutes she was growing restless. Maybe she should keep moving? It might make her harder to find, and it would break the tedium after all... Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard a clatter as something was kicked across the stone textured floor and then a voice in a hissing whisper. Cara guessed that there were two or more of the crew approaching her position and she shifted her position slightly by bringing her legs in front of her so she was sitting on the floor of the crate; her legs were still squashed but Cara could feel the feeling returning to them slowly. Just before she could unwedge them to get back into her crouching position two figures came into her view, looking as if they were trying to be as quiet as possible. The bunny girl was twitching her ears to listen and the canine guy was looking from side to side, as he accidentally knocked the corner of an oil drum she turned to him and sighed.

"You're so clumsy!" she hissed. "She'll hear us coming!"

"I'm sorry!" he whispered back, although not as quietly. "You're sure she is around here though?"

She grinned and combed one of her long ears. "My ears never lie Bruce. Never. I heard her shifting around before we came around this corner, sounds as if she might be inside one of these containers." She swung her hand round to indicate the drums and crates that made up the end of the corridor. The canine sighed.

"There's several!" he said, walking over to one and grimacing at the contents. "And I think we'd better be careful which ones we stick a hand into."

She nodded and began searching each barrel down the left hand side while Bruce began on the crate to the right of the pile Cara was currently on top of. She watched them carefully until he disappeared from the range of sight she had from inside, then she kept her eyes on her as she twitched her ears to listen for her. Cara dared not move, not even her ears as the bunny girl continued to hunt for her. Then suddenly there was a sound from behind her that sounded like someone was climbing up the pile of crates, Cara shifted quickly into a crouch again and saw the bunny girl turn her way. She saw her silently pointing towards the crate on top and Cara knew that the guy was about to come up behind her and try to grab her... it was then that she noticed the catches on the top of the crate's inside, holding the front on. She quickly raised her hands and slid them open then kicked open the front drawing a startled cry from the canid as she fell forwards out of the crate and pushed off from the edge with her legs, jumping forwards and hitting the ground running quickly before the rabbit could respond. She put her head down and ran forwards as fast as she could, hearing the two crew members behind her on her tail. She saw an opening between two large metal crates and dived for it, scraping herself on the floor, but dragging herself into the passage before the other two reached her. She quickly crawled along it and found herself on the other side of the long unbroken wall. She grinned and ran for it, looking for somewhere else to hide while still making sure no one was sneaking up on her.

She eventually slowed down and started to pad softly across the floor, her paws now aching from running across the rough surface. Maybe hiding in the Storage Area hadn't been such a hot idea after all she pondered... maybe it was time to escape elsewhere. The Undersea Area? The Hangar? Or back to the Processing Wing? She decided to go down to the Undersea Area, it would at least be warmer there and a bit murkier which might make her harder to see... but then the same went for anyone hunting her, especially crew like Cliff who were furred, feather or had skin in dark colours. But she'd worry about that later, when she got down there. First of all she had to make it. If she remembered what Ander had shown her right there would be a door to the corridor somewhere around here, then it was a case of going through a hatch and down some stairs, which she sincerely hoped would be lit so she didn't end up falling down them.

She crept along the side of the crate constructed corridor, trying to keep to the shadows (at least the black IZ shirt and trousers were good for something) as she snuck along. She came to a crossroads, and down the passage directly ahead was the door she was looking for, the one Ander had pointed out during the tour. She stopped before she crossed, and cautiously peered around the corner, ducking back when she saw a paw coming around the corner. She quickly ducked down behind a box and another cat walked across, eyes and head moving from side to side as they swept. After they'd gone past Cara waited another minute, then broke cover to make a dash for it. She flew across the crossroads and fiddled quickly with the handle of the door, flinching as it squealed open on hinges that obviously hadn't been oiled or greased for a long time. She slipped through as soon as it was open wide enough for her to get past and paced down the corridor until she saw a hatch, and grabbed the valve handle to open it quickly. Fortunately it had been left unlocked and she was easily able to swing it open and duck inside quickly, a few lights had been turned on around the stairwell but Cara still picked where she put her feet carefully as she descended, holding onto the handrail all the time and crouching slightly to keep herself a little more out of sight. Eventually after a long time she reached the bottom of the stairs and walked out softly into the Undersea Area, feeling the warm clamminess making her sweat slightly under her fur. Her species might have originated from a warm place, but she'd spent all her life living elsewhere. She just wasn't used to this sort of thing...

She tiptoed towards the door on the far side of the room and found that mercifully open too, swinging it back to reveal the rusty corridor and the openings that would usually be pouring with gunk right now. All the same, as she padded down the corridor, she kept well out of their range just in case someone was watching (although if they really were hunting her that was hardly fair) and decided to play a little joke on her. Just as she reached the end of the corridor, a crack in front of her that she hadn't seen burst into life and she stumbled back as her foot and lower leg were caught under the pour, heart pounding as it shut off again. She held up her leg and watched the yellow gunge oozing and dripping off it in thick lumps and shuddered. It was encasing her leg, running down through the fur and chilling the skin underneath. It felt oddly heavy and was gloopy and clingy to her fur in a way water could or should never be. She used her hands to wipe her leg down, shuddering inwardly as it stuck to her palms too, then looked up at the crack in the ceiling that had suddenly turned on just as she passed under it. Either someone WAS watching or else she'd triggered a trap. She moved forward again cautiously and scooted around it to get into the main area, letting out a sigh of relief. She heard running and cursed. Of course someone would have heard that! Now they were coming to see who it was! She had to get behind cover quickly, and looked around to see a vague shadowy shape that looked rectangular a few feet away from where she was standing now.

She raced across the strangely shaped room and hid behind the shape, which as she got close to it turned out to be a piece of metallic junk (maybe a locker?) just as a door burst open and a shadowy figure looked around the room. Cara slowly started to creep round to the side of the piece of junk, where a vent lay torn off the wall. As she moved round the figure crept slowly towards the rusty corridor and Cara grinned, thinking she was in the clear... then her foot collided with something, sending it rattling across the floor and into the wall. The figure turned and Cara scrambled for the vent quickly, stumbling and flailing her arms to keep her balance as she ran. She heard whoever it was behind her heading her way and quickly dived for the vent, wriggling inside quickly and crawling as fast as she possibly could down the vent shaft. She heard someone stick their head into the vent and gasp, then a clunk as they followed her. She sped up quickly, and saw a dim light from the other end. As she got to the end she caught sight of what was below the end of the shaft and quickly gripped the edge before she fell forwards. Just below the end of the shaft was one of the vats of gunge that the show had dotted all over the place. Most of the others she'd seen today had been covered, but obviously they'd had this one uncovered hoping she'd be going too fast to stop herself falling in head-first. The clatter from behind her told her that she might still be if she didn't think of someway to get out of the shaft without jumping before the crew member behind her caught up to her. She tried to look around the dark room for some way out, but then she felt a hand on one of her legs and she squeaked loudly.

"Shh! Cara, it's me!" came a whisper from the shaft behind her.

"Wha...? Ander?" she asked. "Is that you?"

"Of course it is!" he hissed, then his other hand grabbed her other leg. "Listen, I knew this trap was here. I think it was Blue's idea, she hoped you'd fall in." he giggled nervously. "I came down here though to make sure you didn't fall in. Now relax for a moment and I'll help you out of here the way we came in."

Cara nodded and pushed herself back into the shaft with her arms as Ander started to backtrack and pull her after him. "I suppose now you'll call for backup to help get me back upstairs right?" she asked with a helpless sigh.

Ander stopped for a moment and was quiet. "We'll talk about that when we're out of this vent shaft," he replied finally and then carried on pulling her out.

Two minutes later he yanked her out of the shaft and she landed on the metallic floor on her stomach, at his feet. As she looked up at his face, shadows stretching across her body, he bent down and grabbed her arm to pull her to her feet.

"I suppose this is when you report I'm caught right?" Cara asked him, looking into his soft yet vividly purple eyes. "Then someone can help you take me back to the Processing Wing to..." she drew off as what she was about to say caught in her throat.

"... To get you totally trashed in the Shuttle?" Ander finished and Cara shuddered as she could only sense the smile in his voice for the lights were too dim for her to see his face properly. "I should do, but it might take a minute or so for someone to arrive. If you were to slip away when my back was turned..." he let the sentence hang in the air, as he turned around.

Cara pulled her arm out of his grasp and then turned to go, as Ander pulled out a phone. Suddenly she turned back to him and hugged him tightly, making the parakeet squawk in surprise and something else that sounded like he didn't really mind it all that much. She nuzzled the side of his face with her muzzle and giggled in his ear hole.

"Thanks Ander," she said, before letting go, backing away then spinning on her heel to run across the room to the door that Ander had entered the room from before they'd both gone into the vent shaft.

She flew through the door, swinging it closed as she ran and feeling her bare paw pads thumping on the floor as she continued to sprint. She was beginning to get rather tired now, and knew she'd have to find somewhere to hide so she could rest for a bit. Hoping that no one was ahead of her and that the backup hadn't arrived on Ander's side of the area yet she ducked under a roll top door that was jammed halfway up and got behind some lockers that were just about pulled away from the wall. She flopped to the ground in a sitting position as she reached an alcove in the wall behind the lockers, panting as quietly as she could as she tried to get her breath back and gingerly holding first one then the other foot in the air to try and stop them stinging so much. She heard voices from outside and feet pounding down the corridor. She shifted back further into the darkness and hoped that if anyone did come into the room they'd think the lockers weren't far enough forward for anyone to squeeze behind. Because really if they looked this time she'd be done for, there was no way out and even if Ander was with them he wouldn't be able to let her go again in front of the others. The feet ran past the room and Cara decided that they were the backup he'd called, she wondered if maybe she should go now and chance someone seeing her come out, but then she heard the voices coming back and knew that if she moved now they'd definitely find her. She would just have to stay here, and she quickly got to her feet so she could go as far back behind the lockers as was possible. Just as she'd slotted herself in so close to the wall that it was almost touching her nose, she heard two people enter the room she was in. The lights blinked on fully as they began to search, looking behind pipes and under tables and stuff. Cara grit her teeth in far and prayed they wouldn't find her. Please don't see the space behind the lockers, please don't look here... eventually she heard them exiting.

"Not in this one," she heard Ander say, and Cara smirked hoping that if either of the two had seen the space she was hiding in, it was her favourite parakeet. He'd have ignored it, she knew.

"Come on, let's carry on this way," someone else replied, as the footsteps walked away. "She can't have gone too far in, there's a dead end down this passage. She'll never get past us." They all laughed and Cara carefully shuffled herself sideways and out from behind the lockers. She slowly walked forward and stuck her head out from under the door, looking down the passage to see the shadows of a group of the crew walking away and recognising which one was Ander by the shape of his tail as it swished from side to side. She grinned as she thought of what dipping that tail in gunge would do to it, then crawled back out into the corridor and ran back to the entrance of the Underwater level.

She carried on walking, wondering what to do now, then had an idea. She lightly jogged forward down the corridor until she came to a spot on the wall where she recalled there being the hidden entrance to a camera run and pulled at it, annoyed to find that Alex really had locked them too. She tugged another time, really putting her back into it, and suddenly it came open as whatever was holding it locked snapped, causing her to pull her hands back so as not to get them hit or squashed by the door. Unfortunately it also clanged loudly off the wall, and she ran inside quickly, flying up the spiral staircase inside before someone could come and investigate the noise the door had made. As she emerged on the next floor she ran for another door nearby that she knew led out into the set.

"Hey!"

Cara turned, pausing for a second. Lurking in the camera run and looking just as shocked to see Cara as Cara was to see her was Karen, her large dark fur rimmed eyes wide and her mouth slightly open. She quickly recovered though and approached, a malicious grin on her face.

"You're not meant to be in here," she said, with a chuckle. "You're cheating you know. I'll have to tell the others when I take you back to the Processing Wing for your gunging."

Cara gave a nervous laugh as she backed towards the door, which fortunately unlocked from inside by way of a simple twist handle. "Anything goes when you're running for your life Karen. Sorry to disappoint you but," she paused and then rearranged her face into an expression of confidence she didn't quite have going on inside her as she reached round and grabbed the handle. "I've no intention of going back right this second!"

She grabbed the handle and twisted it down, pushing back a second later as Karen ran at her. Cara fell back with the door, just about keeping herself upright and dashed forwards, just avoiding Karen's hand on her shirt collar. She could hear Karen recovering quickly though and chasing her.

"Come back here Cara! It's time for you to be strapped in and taken for a ride in our craft!" Karen shouted from behind her, laughing evilly. "What's wrong? I'm not going to hurt you!"

"I'm not letting you gunge me just yet Karen!" Cara laughed, before grabbing a metal strut support and using it to swing herself around a corner. "You or anyone else! I'm not ready to be strapped in for a one-way ride while you all watch!"

Karen had been slightly surprised by Cara's tactic but had quickly recovered and was now back on her tail. Cara knew she'd have to act quickly if she was to avoid capture. She had a head start gained from running first and the manoeuvre she'd just pulled but she knew that Karen had a longer stride than her and in a few minutes the leopard would catch her. There'd be no getting away then. She looked around her, the walls curving round into the ceiling and down again painted black in the corridor around her. The Hangar! The final of the four surrounding areas of the Industrial Zone set!

She saw an open door coming up and ran at it, slipping through and shutting the door behind her. She slid the bolt over and leapt back as  Karen shoulder slammed into the door on the other side. Cara backed away as the door shook again.

"Open this door Cara!" Karen shouted from the other side. "Make it quick and easy for me and yourself. I'll get in eventually you know. There's always a way to open a locked door here from outside. Every crew member has to be able to just in case something goes wrong during the show, so whether you let me in or not I'll get in there!" Cara heard her step back. "You've got ten seconds, then I'm coming in. Ten, nine, eight..."

Cara turned around to look around the room, half lit up. She saw the other vat of gunge, also uncovered as the last one had been. Over the vat was a conveyer belt that stretched back into the wall. It was a way out, but it was risky. She ran her hand along the walls in the dark side of the room, looking for anything else but coming up short.

"...Two, one!" the leopard girl finished counting. "Right, I'm coming in!" Cara heard the sound of something being slotted into a hole in the door and saw that the bolt was slowly being pushed back. She flinched as she realised she had no choice but the try and get down the conveyer belt. She raced over and hefted herself up. She suddenly noticed that the half of the vat at the front was actually covered by the vat's metallic cover and she grinned. She hauled herself up on it and stood up as she turned to face the end of the conveyer. There was a gap between the edge of the cover and the conveyer and Cara realised she'd have to jump. She gathered her courage and prepared to jump, and then bolted forward as the door started trying to be kicked open again, the bolt almost but not quite out of the slot to the side of the door. She jumped as the crash of the door came as Karen finally kicked it open, and spread her arms out as she prepared to crash land on the belt. She hit it with her stomach and slid back a little, feeling her legs dip under the surface of the gunge. She squawked as her legs sank slowly into the gungy pool and gripped the belt, kicking her legs as she dragged herself up. She didn't wait to look back at Karen as she dashed forward, pushing herself upright with her hands as she disappeared behind the black plastic curtain strips.

Her feet slipped slightly as she ran, but the ridges separating the belt sections gave her a good enough grip to carry on without her falling over entirely. As she ran she saw a passage leading off the belt, and sped up to get to it. However just before she got to it there was a mechanical noise and the floor under her began to move, at first slowly but growing faster as the system warmed up. Karen had turned the belt on! And Cara knew that the chair attached to the belt would eventually come round and force her backwards into the vat, if she didn't slip up first. She sped up and managed to get a hand on the edge of the passageway, which from the feel of it was likely to be another vent shaft. She flung her other hand forward but missed, as she tried again she heard a clank and looked up to see the chair a little distance away from her but moving closer. She felt her palm grip the side and started to pull herself forward, running as fast as she could, all the time sensing the chair moving towards her. It was almost upon her, no choice, she had to chance a leap! She took a deep breath and leapt diagonally, catching her side on the edge of where the vent shaft met the conveyer corridor, but landing on the floor in the vent. She felt a whoosh of air as the chair shot past her feet and tail, and knew that she had to keep moving. She got to her feet then realised that because they were gunge coated they'd likely not support her in running so she crawled forward as fast as she could.

Eventually she stopped at a cylindrical shaped part down the passage and looked down at her legs. They were still dripping with the thick lime green slime that had been inside the vat, she wiped her legs down again, surprised that she didn't mentally or physically shudder at the feeling on her palms this time as the slime piled up and lapped over the backs of her hands and her wrists. She held up her left hand and watched the slime slowly ooze through her fingers and shivered, but in a different way to how she was used to feeling about gunge and it covering her. She still reckoned that mis-timing the jump and dipping her legs into the gunge was a stupid move though. Not least because, she now realised as she looked down the passage she'd come from, the gunge was leaving a shiny trail down the corridor wherever she went now. She got back onto her hands and knees and carried on down the passage to see where it would finally come out and where she'd end up now.


Kicking at the vent cover she flinched slightly as it clattered to the floor but stuck her head out anyway, to look around. No one around that she could see. She wriggled forward and slid out of the vent shaft before standing up and shaking one of her legs again to rid it of a clinging bit of sludge. She looked around and walked forward, ears swivelling as she listened for lurking crew members. She could hear someone but they sounded like they were a little distance away, so she pressed forward down the corridor. Eventually she came out into the central hub of the area and her ears and face fell. She was looking at the still open dome of the Shuttle. She was back in the Processing Wing area! She'd gone round a big circle and all she had to show for it were a few sightings of her by crewmembers, three chases, gunge covered legs and the rapid drumming of her heartbeat. She couldn't help staring at the large gunge machine, wondering what it would feel like when she was finally put in it. Strapped, restrained, unable to escape... and then big streams of cold gunge released all over her. How long had she been 'escaped' for now? It seemed like such a long time since Alex had told her about Cliff's idea for the hunt, but it probably wasn't all that long ago. It had probably been long enough for the 'fresh gunge' to cool right down to a perfectly cool temperature though, and that was what was going to be tipped all over her. She tried to imagine what it would feel like and felt a fear band tighten round her heart again but it wasn't as restrictive as she was used to feeling. That confused her slightly...

"Hurry up, we need to keep checking!" came a voice from another corridor leading off from the main room and growing louder as the voice's owner got closer to the central hub of the Processing Wing. "What if she comes back and we miss her?"

"She won't come back!" the other voice protested and Cara recognised Cliff's voice. "I might have met her first of all when she accidentally got herself locked inside one of the gunge machines, but I don't think she's silly enough to come back here deliberately! She'd be nearer to her eventual destination!" He gave a single laugh of mirth.

Cara quickly looked around, trying to think. Where should she hide? Did she have time to duck into a room, or was there somewhere here she could hide? And would it be obvious if she did? Should she try and hide in the last place they'd expect? And if so, where WAS that place? As she looked around her eyes looked up slightly and she got it. The last place they'd expect her to hide was in the cockpit of the Shuttle, in the very place that she was meant to be running from, the place they were trying to get her back to. She bit her lip slightly, but made her mind up, running forward for the steps and flying up them towards the cockpit. She climbed up on top of the Shuttle and dropped in, standing on the seat then ducking down inside as Cliff and the other person came into the main room. Cara dropped her feet to the floor and slid forward, tucking herself under the console in front of her. She listened as the footsteps walked around the Shuttle and then grew quieter and quieter as they moved out of the area, Cara allowed herself a smug grin.

"Too close," she laughed to herself.

It was then that she heard the sound of the motors that opened the dome moving, she looked up quickly to see that it was closing! She cried out and wriggled upwards, trying to get out from under the console. Managing to struggle to her feet she tried to dart out of the front, but suddenly a hand appeared to hold her back. As she pushed against it furiously, it pushed her right back  and she fell into the chair. Cara shook her head and looked up as the hand waved as the dome slid closed. She snarled. She'd recognised that hand... how dare he do this to her now after what he'd previously done to HELP her! She slammed her own hands on the console in front of her in anger.

"Ander!" she shouted, furious. "Ander you snake! Let me out of here!"

She heard the green parakeet boy chuckle. "I'm sorry Cara, I really am. But you should have known better than to duck inside the very thing you were trying to avoid to hide! I'm part of the team against you, I had to take my chance!" The dome around her made his voice sound very echoey.

"Ander, I thought we were friends!" Cara cried, pushing against the black dome above her in a slight panic. "Ander, don't do this to me! Please don't!" She pounded her palms against the plastic and saw the dim outline as Ander leant over her. She heard him sigh sadly.

"I've got no choice Cara. I did you a favour once today," he paused, then his voice took on a slightly more malicious yet apologetic tone. "I can't do it again. Now, you stay right there. I'll just go fetch the others and then we can get on with the main event." He laughed as he pulled away from the dome.

"Ander! Come back here, Ander! Don't get the others! Please don't!" she pounded on the plastic as she heard him jump from the platform to the ground and run off. "Ander? ANDER!" she slumped back into the seat and put her face into her hands, shaking her head. "Oh hell. This is it. Game over. I lose." She laughed defeatedly to herself and let her hands flump down to her sides.


Ten minutes later she was still sitting there when a tapping from above her made her jump, she looked up to see a dim outline waving at her.

"Alright in there Cara?" Alex asked, and she could hear the glee in his voice. She twitched her ears nervously and cleared her throat before she answered.

"Of course I am," she replied, then give a little laugh. "At least the chair in here's a bit more comfortable than most on the set." She smiled almost apologetically as he laughed back.

"Well, so far most of the others are still missing from the crowd, but Ander reassures me that they should all know you're back in captivity by now." Alex explained when he'd stopped laughing. "They'll all be here shortly. Then we can finally get your initiation out of the way okay?"

Cara nodded silently, pressing her palms against the dome again and then banging them against it with frustration. Alex just laughed again and disappeared from sight. It was hard to see a lot through this dim black dome, unless something got really close to it and even then she only saw the outline of whatever or whoever it was. As she stood up awkwardly to press her nose against the glass she saw another outline appear, this time obviously Ander. He too put his face close to the dome, and she could just about see where his face ended and his beak began.

"Are you okay?" he asked, and he sounded concerned. Cara sighed and slumped back onto the chair. He made a hmmm noise. "Are you angry with me Cara?" He sounded worried and gave a nervous laugh. Cara realised that whatever he'd just done to her, he did it purely because it was his job, and not out of any malicious intent and Cara couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him because he obviously felt a little guilty about having locked her in the cockpit to await her fate. She wouldn't let him know that she felt sorry for him though.

"Of course I am, you're the one who locked me in here!" she exclaimed. "You've caught me for the others to gunge me!" she said with a laugh. "But we can discuss the revenge you be getting from me after I'm done here. Right?" she asked and she heard him laugh again then audibly gulp.

She could hear more people coming into range of the Shuttle and talking excitedly about the event, and she shifted slightly in the seat as the volume around her began to grow. She gave a rattling sigh as she trembled at the same time and drew her legs up to hug them, Ander was now in the front of the dome and continuing to look down at her.

"You're not looking forward to this are you?" he asked.

"Tell me the truth Ander," Cara asked, knowing that she had to at least ask. "Have they filled all the tanks around me to the brim? Am I really about to experience this machine at full strength?" She whimpered slightly, but continued to look at the parakeet's outline.

Ander thought about this and clicked his beak. "Sorry Cara, but that would be telling. Plus, if I did," he left off and giggled. "I'd get in trouble."

Cara laughed too. "You'd be in trouble anyway if I'd told Alex about you helping me earlier, or your slip during the tour," she paused and stuck her tongue out at him, even if she knew he couldn't see it. "Blabber-beak Ander."

Ander just gave another bark of nervous laughter and then sat up, moving his face away from the dome. Cara just about made out that he was looking to the side and automatically turned to look too, before she remembered about the limited vision she got inside the cockpit of the Shuttle. Suddenly Ander pushed himself up off of the front of the dome and disappeared from sight, walking towards the steps. Cara looked puzzled, wondering if he'd been called away until she realised the fact that the noise level in the room had dropped rather dramatically. She gulped and shivered in her seat. This was it.

"Now then," Blue's voice sounded clearly although a little echoey to Cara. "I hope you've all enjoyed yourself tonight. We've had music, we've had dancing, we've had food, and even a little party game for you all. And of course, you all got to meet our new recruit."

There was a general murmuring from the crew and Cara found herself smiling. It had been a good night, even with the surprise initiation gunging announcement and the amount of time she'd had to spend running, jumping or hiding from everyone else. The crowd quietened again and then Alex spoke to them all.

"Of course, speaking of our new recruit, you might be wondering where she is," he said, and some of the crew laughed quietly. "Well, of course we've provided a lot for you tonight, but we still have the main event to come! Cara's initiation into our crew; and of course that means we're going to gunge her!" The crowd cheered and Cara felt her fur prickle nervously. "So, without further ado..."

There was a click suddenly and then a hiss as the dome rose up again, the usual clouds of special effect steam not being utilised like they usually were. Cara shrunk down in the seat as the faces of Alex, Blue and strangely Ander came into view beside her, as the first two walked forward she tried to smile but it came out more like a very scared grimace.

"Well, you led us a fair chase Cara," Alex said as he listed off the exploits she'd gotten up to while on the run. "Hiding in crates, running up a conveyer, almost ending up falling into Blue's little vat trap and breaking the lock on one of the camera run hidden doors." He drew off sternly and Cara laughed nervously. "I'd say you've earned yourself this."

He motioned for her to shuffle right back in the seat, then put his hands to the back of the seat and flipped over a v-shaped belt with a buckle where the point should be at the bottom. As he put it over her shoulders and rested the buckle on her chest, Blue reached down and  pulled up a vertical belt hanging from the bottom of the seat and brought it up. She clicked it into the buckle and then both of them pulled it tight against Cara, effectively binding her in place. She twitched her hands, half wanting to unclip the buckle again but... she didn't. She knew that no matter what she did she was going to get gunged here. That and she was exhausted from the 'party game' as Blue had put it earlier. At this point it'd be much easier for everyone if she remained sitting here, strapped in. So instead she just closed her eyes and sat back slightly, controlling her breathing. She could hear an excited babble of voices from the crowd and as she opened her eyes again she just about caught sight of the edge of the capped off pipe above her head, and she automatically flattened her ears to her head before realising that Blue, Ander and Alex were still there. She quickly looked forward, following their gaze and she noticed that a screen on the far wall had turned on again, allowing the crowd to get a better view of her. Great, not only was she getting totally gunked, it was on big screen television too. She groaned, closing her eyes and resting her head on the very back of the seat. Alex patted her on the shoulder in a reassuring way.

"Don't worry, it won't be bad as you think," he said, then paused. "But then again it could be much worse." He turned and walked away from the cockpit with Blue and Ander towards the edge of the platform, throwing his arms up with a smirk on his muzzle. Cara put her hands over her face and bit her lower lip quickly. She knew what was coming.

"She's locked in!" Alex declared and the crowd gave a whoop. "I'd say we'd better turn on the machine before she gets loose again. Ander, want to do the honours?"

Cara looked up for a moment to see that Ander was looking slightly reluctant but not surprised and realised that the honour of pressing the button must go to the one who successfully caught her. No wonder he had let her go before she reflected as he looked over to her. She gave him a sickly grin and shrugged her shoulders, and he gave a nod before heading towards the button to turn it on. Cara watched him until he stood behind the console and then closed her eyes, ready for it as she'd ever be.

"Countdown!" Blue shouted, and Cara could almost imagine her holding her hand up counting off the numbers. "Five, four, three, two..." there was a pause. "One! Gunge her Ander!"

She heard Ander's feathered palm slap down on the button with more force than she'd guessed he'd have used judging by his earlier reluctance, then heard the whine of a high-pitched siren start up from above her. She only just had enough time to duck forwards slightly and put her hand to her forehead before the four nozzle arrangement behind and above her and the seat spluttered into life, sending a wave of thick cold yellow gunge down her back and over her shoulders. She grit her teeth so as not to scream as she felt it becoming more powerful and start to lap up her naked neck which was unprotected by hair thanks to the fact she'd had it cropped so short, the flow lessening and growing in strength to splash up and down her and she couldn't help it when a giggle came from her mouth. Really, it was ridiculous what was happening! She was sitting in a gunge machine, getting gunged! It was ludicrous! The gunge was pooling behind her now, drizzling off of the seat onto the floor and forming a pool, while long slimy tracks were running down the front of the black crew t-shirt, being renewed and multiplied every time the pours splashed back over her shoulders with each wave up her.

Suddenly they shut off and instead a jet shot at her from the panel just in front of her and she jumped back upright with a yelp as it slapped into her chin and over her stomach and chest, coating it with the same yellow gunge as the ones behind her, but a dirtier colour of it. Keeping her hands in place over her forehead, she slowly moved her arms round to the stream and squeaked as she felt the gunk slap onto the banded fur and cling to and gently pull at it while it ran down to the elbows. There was a sound from above her and she looked up just in time to get hit face-first with the first bit of foam that had started to pour down in fluffy globs. She looked forward again, shaking her head as it was rapidly coated with the foam. She shook her hands off too, accidentally getting them caught in the jet from the front which made her flinch. As the front jet shut off suddenly too, leaving her legs submerged up to just under the knee. Cara made herself sit still, facing down for the foam jets to blanket her, twitching her ears every now and then to stop any going down them and shaking her head to shift the build-up every few seconds.

Eventually she heard the hissing above stop and she sat up, using her hands to scrape the foam off of her hair where it had stuck, making the waist deep level she was sat in (which was more the top covering of foam than gunge) ripple around her. As she blinked and wondered if that was it her question was answered with a deeper, louder, more industrial blare and the flash of two red lights. As she gave a small laugh of defeat and put her ears down, she knew that it had seemed to be too easy of a gunging. Suddenly everything went a little darker as a shadow fell over her and then the gunge from above hit her head, pushing it down with the force of the pour, but the belt held her in place so she didn't slide forward in the seat. The gunge was thick and mud-like, so it didn't dome out but rather hit her and slid down over her entire body, covering her in its slimy embrace. It was sticking to her in a way that was much worse than the yellow and dirty yellow gunge had before and she could feel it plastering her short black hair to her head and piling on top of itself before it ran down over her head and face, which she tried to clear off with her hands but gave up when she realised it was futile and instead dropped them back into her lap, shaking her head from side to side to get it as covered as possible.

She suddenly felt the jet in front start up again at the same time as the four behind her started to shoot their wave over her again and she sagged slightly, her shoulders shaking with silent and helpless laughter, in the seat, knowing that she was truly experiencing the full Industrial Zone-style gunging courtesy of the Shuttle gunge machine. The strange thing was she was totally loving it, being blasted and coated with cold gunge from top, front and back. She moved her arms around, clearing away some of the foam that still floated on top and moved her head to one side long enough to wipe one eye clear and see that it was red gunge slopping onto her from the top tank and by now the level was halfway between her waist and chest and a murky yellow brown from the mixing of the colours. She closed her eye again as she felt gunge start to pour down that side of her head and over her face again and straightened up to catch the rest of it, even though now the top tank's pour was slowing down and she was able to get her head up again. Eventually it slowed to a drizzle as the jet in front started to dip down in its arc over her lap then the floor and her feet and the four behind her slapped over her head and shoulders before stopping too, eventually only a few lumps of slime were dripping from above and she knew it was probably finally over. She raised her hands above the chest-high level, flicking excess gunge off of them and wiped her face off, shivering as some gunge found its way down inside her t-shirt collar. She raised her ears up and flicked them, spending globs of gunk flying either side of her.

"Watch out Cara! You almost got me!"

Cara flinched and turned to the side to see Alex there, one arm shielding his face, a grin on his face, with Ander lurking just behind him looking concerned and as if he was trying not to laugh all at the same time. Alex did laugh when he saw the expression on her just-wiped down face.

"Forget we were here?" he asked, and Cara nodded embarrassed. "I'm not surprised. For someone who made such an effort to get away you seemed to enjoy that a bit too much!" Cara flicked a handful of the gunk at him and he ducked back. "Hey hang on! We've still got to get you out of there!"

"I can do it," Cara said, before reaching down to the gunge-covered and half-submerged buckle and undoing it, letting the bottom drop under the surface with a plop that splashed gunk up the front of the already gunge covered shirt and throwing the v-shape backwards sending an arc of gunge that peppered some drops over her face and hair. She then put her hands under the gunge, feeling the viscous liquid sucking at her arms and used her hands to push herself up into a standing position. Big long ribbons of slime rolled down her now ruined uniform and the few under it tickled her fur as it ran through it, making her shudder slightly.

"Well, I'd say you took that very well," Alex said, then turned back to the crowd of crew members, stepping safely out of Cara's reach. "What do you say people? Give her a cheer!"

The crew members started to clap and cheer and Cara grinned as she wiped away a line of slime that was making a track down her relatively clean face. That wasn't so bad after all, what had she been so scared of? She laughed to herself, then her eyes went to Ander who was turned around to watch Alex and a sneaky plan came into her head...

"Now then, if we can get someone to..." there was a splat and a yell from behind Alex and he stopped talking as he turned round to see what was happening. Cara had climbed onto the seat and had leant over as much she could and now had Ander in a slimy bear hug and was trying to drag him into the pool of gunge now filling the cockpit of the Shuttle.

"Come on Ander, I said I'd have my revenge!" she cried, smearing a slimy hand over his left cheek as he squawked and flapped to escape her arms. "You're coming in!"

"Cara! I said I didn't want to... Cara, let me go!" Ander flapped furiously, his face a picture of nerves. "Cara! Let me..." he stopped as he finally lost his balance and Cara dragged him into the pool of gunge, hitting the surface with a noise that was half splash and half splat. As he stood up to his waist in the stuff Cara got him round the shoulders, her hands re-slimed, and tried to push him down further into it as he cried out and struggled. Alex laughed.

"Well there we go," he said to the crowd. "Now I think we're all a little happy!" he laughed and continued. "As I was saying before, can someone turn on the showers in the women's changing room for Cara to get cleaned up? And you'd better get the men's ones turned on too for Ander." He turned back round to watch the two fighting and jumped back, going down the steps a little as Ander finally lost his footing, sending a little ripple of gunk over the edge of the cockpit, and was pushed into the slime up to his neck, Cara now smearing handfuls of gunk into his spiky feathered hair while crouching into the mix herself. The parakeet relented to her, giggling as she rubbed the stuff over him almost lovingly, disguising his natural green plumage.

---

Stepping under the showerhead Cara immediately felt the heavy clinging gunk fall away from her fur and clothes in big lumps and breathed a sigh of relief. She was afraid that it'd never completely wash out, but then she supposed the crew at Industrial Zone knew what they were doing when it came to nasty-looking and feeling slime that was easy to just rinse off. Turning her back to the shower and stepping fully under, tipping her head back she heard splashes as the gunk that was in her hair was washed away and she smiled, scrubbing her ears clean too. She'd stepped straight into the shower fully-clothed, knowing that it was the quickest way to rinse off her uniform as well as herself. Eventually though she peeled off the wet top from her top half and then undid her bra too after giving that a quick once-over to reach the fur on her chest. It was mostly clean but there were some slimy tracks of gunge down her front and her back so she twisted under the shower to remove them, then removed the clothes from her lower half too, totally scrubbing down every part of herself. When she was done she switched off the water, shook herself then pretended to wring out her tail before giggling to herself. She gathered up her clothes before proceeding to the fur drier and standing in the alcove, turning round slowly as the blasts of warm air ruffled and dried her fur back to full fluffiness. Exiting into the changing room she saw her bag there with a separate plastic one for her wet clothes and one of the show's black bikini sets with a note attached. She picked it up and read it:

"Got your clothes for you. Take the bikini set instead of underwear, as I assume you never brought a spare pair (why would you? You never knew you'd be getting gunged on your first day of work!). One thing though, don't tell anyone else I nicked them. I'm not supposed to go in the women's clothes cupboard!

Ander"

She laughed at the final sentence and shook out the bottoms before slipping them on quickly, along with the top and dressing before someone could enter and discover what Ander had done. Slipping her wet things into the plastic bag and putting them inside her regular bag she walked out of the changing rooms to meet Ander, who was now in his crew uniform. He walked over to her and pointed his finger at her face.

"You just had to pull me in with you!" he said, with a grin. "Didn't you?" he asked.

Cara laughed and shrugged. "What was I supposed to do Ander? You locked me in there for the gunging and then you stood really nearby, those cute green feathers looking so nice and far too clean. I had to pull you in and mess you up as revenge!" They both laughed then.

"Fair enough!" Ander said, then admitted. "It was the last thing I expected though really. As Alex said, you seemed to enjoy it immensely."

"I did strangely," Cara said, thinking about it. "Really odd. Never ever thought I'd enjoy being gunged after..." she drew off and put her hand over her mouth. Ander looked at her and frowned.

"Come on Cara, you've beaten one aspect of your fear today," he said. "Why can't you just tell me what happened?"

Cara looked at him, and his purple eyes so serious for once and found herself removing her paw and sighing. "Only if you don't tell anyone else Ander. Promise me?"

Ander nodded and grabbed her hand with his. "I promise I will not tell a single soul else what you're about to tell me." he paused. "Unless you want me to of course."

"Good, I hope you'll be less of a blabber-beak with this secret," she teased and led him over to where the benches were still pushed against the wall and sat down on one. "You see, thirteen years ago I went to a summer camp with my local church. It was a fun event mostly. We did arts and crafts, swimming, sports. T was a lot of fun for me. But then on the final night the camp supervisors put on a stage show." her eyes unfocused slightly as she drifted back into her memory. "There was a lot going on that night. Mostly karaoke contests and such, but then the finale came." she paused. "And they brought one out. It was the first one I'd ever seen but I knew I didn't want to go inside it..."

"A gunge tank?" Ander asked and Cara nodded. "What happened then? Did they get you inside it?"

Cara nodded again. "The guy on stage saw me and beckoned to come onstage. I shook my head and backed off, but he came forwards for me. I turned and ran but..." she paused. "The crowd didn't want me to leave either. They grabbed hold of me, pulled me back towards the stage. Back towards the guy and he grabbed me and put me into the tank while I protested." she flinched as she closed her eyes remembering. "I remember pounding with my hands on the door screaming 'Let me out! Let me out!'" and she mimed pounding on a flat surface in front of her. "But he ignored me, got the crowd to count down with him. Five, four, three, two, one... and then he yanked down the chain and I was blasted down with a vat of custard falling on me." Cara shivered and hugged herself. "Ever since then I've been a bit twitchy about gunge and being gunged... but I still loved watching the gunge shows even if I denied it and hid it from everyone else."

She fell silent then felt an arm around her as Ander gave her a hug. "No wonder you've been acting strangely all day." he said. "You found yourself unable to escape from something you've been trying to for years."

Cara nodded. "Mind you, the gunging I received today managed to help me over it for now." she laughed. "Just don't tell the others. They'll want to gunge me again if they hear."

"Or both of us at once," Ander sighed. "Do you know that everyone thinks we're going to get together now?" he laughed. "Can you imagine?"

"Yeah," Cara laughed. "I like you, but not in that way. No offence." She tapped his beak with a finger and poked her tongue out at him.

"None taken," Ander said, before patting her shoulder and standing. "I'll give you a lift home if you want though?"

Cara smiled at this green parakeet. Just one of the new friends she'd made today in what had been a day far removed from anything ordinary. She nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks Blabber-beak," she laughed.

Ander rolled his eyes. "You're going to keep calling me that now aren't you?"

"Yep!" Cara grinned. "I won't call you it in the company of the others though as long as you keep my story a secret, deal?"

"Deal."