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The tower was about half built, and if it got any bigger we didn't know if @Candi Wolfe's plan was going to work. Which is why the "accident" happened when it did. I'm just relieved no one was hurt.

It was going to be a big job. Candi's Volvo, Joyce, suggested just hooking a chain to it and pulling it down, but she tends to overestimate her strength. But that got us thinking, who are the biggest, most powerful creatures we know?

Of course, @JJ Cricket came to mind, whose campus rampages had abated but still left pathways crashed through the forest that were easy to follow. And we were sure that seismic cricket activity at that level was sure to attract the @Level 8 Bouncy House. And as a group, the @Bimpliboos are like an unstoppable wave. So we put the word out to @Rather Large Rabbit and @Precious Lamb, and even @Oyster Ray was enticed to return and join the party.

So at midnight, they all converged. We lured JJ Cricket with a pickup truck full of compost from the cafeteria, then shoveled great heaps of it beneath the half-built tower. Then we removed ourselves to safe distance and watched the fun.

I had never been a fan of Kaiju movies, but now I see the appeal. JJ Cricket wreaked havoc on the structure, soon joined by ranks of Bimpliboos and the bouncy house, while Oyster Ray sped around in the air, raining down his "Pearls of Wisdom" with pinpoint precision. Precious Lamb hung back with us, along with that big rabbit drinking something out of a bottle in a brown paper bag.

When the dust cleared and we were sure there was no unintended property damage or physical injury, it was clear our team of mutant animals and sapient amusement installations had done their job completely. Not only was the tower demolished, but all of G-LUV's subsidiary construction contractor's equipment and vehicles as well. JJ Cricket was still crunching on the engine of the backhoe when we left.

Will this slow G-LUV down? They still have 12 more towers in the Tri-city area. Candi and I might have weekends busy for awhile.

It was to be the night of the big takeover. The jolly gents of the Chloroform Kidz had accepted me as one of their own, even giving me a seat on their noxious council as they counted the money from their petty extortion rackets and planned bigger and bigger crimes. They were one night from taking control of the streets from the local hayseed authorities--one night from making the Tri-cities their own.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS. EVERYBODY DOWN. HANDS IN THE AIR."

Chains and tire irons and handguns and automatic weapons clatter to the floor.

The local authorities may have been backwater, but the Chloroform Kidz--their minds addled from inhaling the cocktail of psycho-toxic chemicals they collected from the watershed surrounding the school--failed to see just how big the picture was.

"FIRST GROUP. MOVE TOWARDS THE VANS."

Zip ties zipped around wrists. Punks strong-armed into the Black Marias.

They won't be having their day in court at the city or the county. Their clairvoyant profiles shifted outside the spectrum of the local justice system, and this was clearly our jurisdiction.

"WATCH THE MANDALA. DO NOT CLOSE YOUR EYES"

Bodies become still. And obedient.

They hadn't considered that they'd caught the attention of the Psy Corps. They hadn't considered that one of their own might be an undercover Psy Cop. They hadn't considered that they might be way out of their league.

"Aw, Jimmy Twomugs! You two-timing snitch! You're gonna--"

A tiny twitch in my right hand as I initiate a vasovagal attack with my mind.The leader of the Chloraform Kidz hits the pavement.

"Officer Tina, remove this thug to the van, please."

"Yes sir, Agent Twomugs."

I am afraid of that something "big" is going to "go down" in the woods about the strange effects around the science building. I am afraid of it because that is what Larry Moon, Skunk Detective, told me when I saw him in the alley by the dumpster. He has been doing lots of undercover work all winter long and I can tell it is taking a toll on that old skunk. "You are not a kit anymore you know!" is what I told him because I discovered that is what you call a young skunk. But Larry Moon, Skunk Detective, says he has no choice because he is about Justice. I just hope that old skunk doesn't get in over his head! And then he told me he's old enough to look after himself. He can be a salty skunk sometimes.

I almost didn't put it all together. There were so many moving parts, so many loose ends.... It just seemed like a bunch of unconnected bad stuff happening. The increasingly mutated wildlife on campus, the rise in gang activity, the student disappearances and the sinister G-LUV substations (not to mention their on-air programming - ugh!). With so many bad things going on you get numb and start accepting it all as business as usual. And grand unified conspiracy theories are for paranoid kooks, right?

Then I was accidentally cc'ed on an email. Part of my internship at G-LUV is answering the main email inbox. info@gluv. It means going through it and deleting spam and forwarding things on to the right departments. I don't even know who gets them, since there's never anybody here at their office.

But somebody included the info@ address on this response:

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RE: RE: RE: FWD: Environmental Impact Study cA-Hxv

|>Psyhigh water sample cA-Hxv (LAB) at .99999% optimal. Plaque Crystallization Levels are peaked.
|>Transmission of terminal directive indicated.

look at that substrate! the signal's going to sail right through it. and the boys in the socio dept say we've likely reached full saturation of the population vector. we're ready to flip the switch as soon as tower #13 is operational.

ttfn!
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The WATER. Coming out of the Science Lab. @Marthew17's run off. First the animals drank it, then the Chloroform Kids got ahold of it. All the weird effects... and it's some kind of... conduit... for the G-LUV signal? For a "terminal directive?" That sounds plenty ominous. Terrific.

@Candi Wolfe and I have been keeping an eye on the construction site for Tower 13. It's on the edge of campus nearest the Science Lab. And it's almost finished.

Candi says she's got a plan.

I had a great time meeting up with the Chloroform Kidz. The president of the club, Herschel, held court in the back room at the arcade in the strip mall. He and the vice president and his cabinet all wore black cloaks and face masks attached to an air pump. It gave off a strong smell of chlorine.

"BROTHERS AND SISTERS, A PARTICLE WISHES TO BOND WITH US," they say together in their plastic masks.

"Solvent, Reagent, Anesthetic" says everybody else in the room.

"BRING THE PARTICLE FORWARD."

A couple of club members walk me to the president. I notice he has one of those masks in his hands. He puts it on my face.

I woke up next to the dumpster in back of the arcade. The Chloroform Kidz were revving their muscle cars and "pumping the bass."

"Hey c'mon Particle. Let's go commit crimes."

yeah boi they always looking for new recruits, @Jimmy Twomugs. meet me at the arcade at the pet co mall at midnight tonight and i'll hook u up!

Yes, I just transferred from Out of Town, and at my old school I was one tough hombre let me tell you. Where can I make the acquaintance of these “Chloroform Kidz” @Twister Givens? They seem like my kind of gents.

My internship at G-LUV has gotten much more interesting... since I uncovered their network of soul-destroying transmission substations.

Sitting alone, day after day, in the soundproof, dust-free reception area of their otherwise unmanned and fully automated local office, I began to understand how to interpret some of the strange codes and symbols that appeared on the G-LUV dashboard screen. Longitude and latitude coordinates were easy to figure out, but the ARRRG (Automated Ratings, Reach, and Reaction Graph) was far more sinister than I originally suspected.

I'd been jotting down the geo-coordinates for weeks, and @Candi Wolfe and I have been taking weekend road trips in her self-possessed Volvo named Joyce to visit each one of them. The trips have been fun, taking us up into the hills and farmland all within a day's drive. Sometimes we pack lunches, and sometimes we find some creaky old hamburger stand out in the boonies.

It turns out the substations encircle the entire tri-city area in a regular tridecagon. That is, for those of you not paying attention in Arcane Geometry class, a 13-pointed star.

Well, it will be a 13 pointed star, once the last of the substations gets built. Currently there are just 12.

Candi's been doing the math (she pays even better attention in Arcane Geometry than I do) and the graphing, which ended up looking very much like the ARRRG map at work. Transposing those graphs onto a map of local news events, there is a direct correlation of gang reports involving the Chloroform Kids, Witchfinder GPS users, and other unexplained acts of violence at all the places where the connecting lines intersect.

And if you draw a line right through the center of the star? You guessed it--Psyhigh.

There's already an obvious symphony of violence and destruction directly related to the placement of these G-LUV substations. But what will happen when they build that 13th location? What will happen when the loop is closed? What is G-LUV really transmitting? Who is behind it?

I think I understand now why their office is unmanned.

PEST REMOVAL UPDATE from Panther & Bear Psychic Pest Removal Service.

My cell is getting cramped! Dr. Akron's rescue mission did not got as intended, and it wasn't long before he tumbled through the trap door in the ceiling right on top of me. That smug little Ahuizotl looked in at us and grinned. Dr. Akron will not be receiving a bonus this quarter.

Turns out this little cell was really a cage. The walls dropped and revealed bars all around. There was the Ahuizotl, the first time I got a good look at it, standing on all fours with its smooth rubbery dog body, its oddly scrunched up human face, human hands where its paws should be, and its long tail snaking up, the human hand on the end of it grabbing big envelope stuffed full of money.

Handing the envelope to the vile creature was a chimp in a business suit. There were four of them there, chatting with each other in oooks and eeeps. Our cage was then lifted up by some kind of crane and placed on a tiny rail car. We headed down a tunnel, lit up with a string of bulbs. That's where I'm writing this from now.

At least Dr. Akron had the foresight to bring along more tiny pencils and a little pads of paper from the motels we've been staying at. Looks like it's time for plan C.

Sincerely,

Jimbo Hawkins
Panther & Bear Psychic Pest Removal Service
"We take care of pesky pests!"