Solid Frodo: Hobbit Espionage Action

Chapter 5: Damn! Meryl!

Someone dressed in a terrorist outfit came up in the green vision. "Who are you?" she asked. Then she paused and said, "Oh...you’re the Hobbits from the prison."

"Right!" Pippin exclaimed, happy to have his race remembered. "You’re Meryl, right?"

"How did you get this number?"

Frodo answered, "The ArmsTech President gave it to us. He said you had the card keys to stop the launch."

"Oh, he did give me a card, but only one."

The Hobbits looked at each other. "Maybe it’s a magic Dwarven key," Sam suggested. "They always made stuff like that."

"Could be," Frodo said, remembering the map to the Lonely Mountain Bilbo had left him in Bag End that had moon letters that could only be read under the proper phase of the moon, in the right season.

"A...dwarf key?" Meryl asked. "It’s just a card. There should be three of them."

"Well," Frodo explained, "if it is a Dwarven key, it might have special properties...say, it might change shape under a full moon or something like that."

"Oh...OK...I guess," Meryl said uncertainly.

"Anyway," Merry said, "the president said we should contact Dr. Emmerich too. Said he could help us stop this Metal Gear thing."

"Oh, how is the president by the way?" Meryl asked.

Pippin slumped deeply. "He died."

"What?!" Meryl shouted.

"It was a heartytack, just like the DARPA Chief," Sam explained.

"I think it’s really suspicious," Frodo said. "Two Big People having heart attacks so close together? And Dr. Hunter was really fidgety about it too."

"That is strange," Meryl agreed. "Well...I can help you get to Dr. Emmerich. He should be safe, he’s in the basement of the nuclear warhead storage building. I have a level 5 card, so I can open the cargo doors to get you out of that building."

"Where are the doors?"

"They’re in the tank hanger."

"Tank? I didn’t see any tanks," Sam commented.

Meryl blinked. "You didn’t see the tanks?!"

Frodo said, "You know, we still don’t know what a FA-MAS is except that it shoots things. Tell us what your tanks look like."

"Oh, er, OK. They’re very big...have tracks instead of tires...and a long cannon on the front."

The Hobbits thought for a long moment, then Sam brightened. "The Oliphaunts! She’s talking about all the metal Oliphaunts!"

Meryl was silent for a long time. "You thought they were...elephants? I guess they sort of look like elephants, kinda...a little bit...if you squint...really hard...and you’re drunk...."

The Hobbits all looked at her with rather unimpressed expressions. "You’re almost as bad as the Colonel," Sam muttered.

Meryl frowned. "He’s my uncle you know."

Frodo nudged Sam before he had a chance to reply. Then he said, "You have to remember we’re strangers here, Meryl. We aren’t used to machines."

Meryl’s frown deepened. "OK, I’ll try to keep that in mind. Anyway, go to the tank hanger and I’ll open the door for you."

"Thank you," Frodo answered. Meryl nodded and cut the line.

Sam was upset. "I’d just like to see her deal with Oliphaunts and Ringwraiths and dragons."

Frodo just patted his shoulder, and then they all got up and made their way to the elevator. They stopped by at a room that their new card opened, and inside were some items. Just before they moved to pick up the items, the Colonel called.

"There are infrared lasers there. If you trip one, guards will come running. You should find a way to see the lasers so you know where not to walk."

"Lasers?" Pippin asked.

"They’re like invisible lights. Your thermal goggles should be able to see them, because they are infrared. Also, they will show up in smoke."

"Oh," Merry said, "I’d rather smoke than put on that infernal Morgul device any day."

"However you want," the Colonel sighed, then went off line.

Merry lit up his pipe, and blew some smoke in the direction of the back wall. Indeed, red lines of fire showed up where the smoke hit, and the Hobbits could see the lines originated from some small eyes one either side of the wall.

"I wouldn’t want to touch them even if they is just light," Sam said with a shudder.

"Me neither," Pippin agreed. "But, you’re the shortest, so you should have the easiest time getting under the fire lines."

"Ahhhhh, guh," Sam muttered, then crawled under the lowest line to grab the two items. When he crawled back, Merry started to put out his pipe but Sam swiped it and took a few puffs. "Only fair," he said, referring to his having to get close to the fire lines.

"Fine," Merry grumbled, "just don’t use it all. I don’t have an unlimited supply."

While Sam and Merry were arguing, Pippin and Frodo examined the items. One turned out to be a FA-MAS...they recognized it because it was the same weapon Meryl had in the prison. The FA-MAS was quite a bit more artillery than one Hobbit could handle, as it was quite long. Merry or Pippin might have been able to use it, but not properly. The other item had the same symbols on it as the FA-MAS, so they assumed that item was a magazine of FA-MAS bullets.

"Should we keep it?" Pippin asked.

Frodo scratched his chin. "I don’t know. It looks like it would take two of us to operate it."

Pippin shrugged. "Well, our pockets seem to have limitless space, so even if we don’t use it, we could have it just in case."

"Good idea. Merry, would you take this and put it in your pocket?"

Merry turned from his careful observation of Sam and how much pipeweed he was using. "That?! That’s bigger than you are, Frodo!"

Frodo huffed. "It is not."

Merry smiled. "Well, nearly. I’ll take it, but it looks way too big for me." So he pulled the FA-MAS over to himself and tucked it neatly in a pocket, then took the clip and pocketed that. Then he held his hand out for his pipe, and reluctantly Sam returned it.

After that, the Hobbits carefully made their way to the elevator and pressed the triangle with the point up. Shortly they reached the floor with the Oliphaunts. When they walked out of the elevator, Pippin dragged them over to a door that had a familiar mark on it. It was one of the symbols they had a password card for, so they went in. They heard snoring, so as quietly as a Hobbit can, Pippin tip toed in and grabbed the item box without waking the guard. Then he tip toed back out, and the door closed.

Upon opening the box, the Hobbits discovered a long, thin cylinder. They were totally clueless as to what it was, so resolved to ask next time they felt any compelling, overwhelming need to contact Colonel Campbell.

As the neared what must have been the cargo doors, for where there once was a wall there now gaped a huge hallway, Meryl contacted them. "That’s the hallway to the next building. There are infrared sensors inside that if you trip, it will fill the room with gas. There are several, and they move, so you should be careful. Oh, and you should go upstairs too, there’s a mine detector in one of the rooms."

"Thanks," Frodo replied.

"Oh hey, real quick, what’s this?" Pippin asked, holding up the long cylinder.

Meryl answered, "That’s a SOCOM suppresser. You can attach it to the end of your SOCOM pistol and then it won’t make any noise or flash when you fire."

"Oh hey, that’s pretty convenient!" Pippin immediately attached the suppresser, which made the SOCOM almost as long as his arm. Meryl snickered at the sight.

"I can use this just fine, thank you," Pippin sniffed. "It’s a little heavy, but Hobbits have exceptional aim."

"OK," Meryl said, still smiling. "Go get the Mine Detector, then come down to the cargo doors, OK?" Then she signed off.

The Hobbits figured that the mine detector would be a good thing to have, since the Colonel had warned them that sometimes these terrorists hid explosives in the ground, so they carefully made their way up the stairs. There was a guard near the door they wanted, so Merry pulled out a stun grenade and made sure the rest knew he was going to use it. When they all nodded, he pulled the pin and tossed it, then they all covered their eyes and ears. There was a loud noise, and then a soft thunk. They quickly looked and saw the guard on the floor. They ran past him and into the door, grabbing the box containing the mine detector, and happily adding another ration to their stash.

Unfortunately, they didn’t stop to think about the fact that the flash-bang grenade, once the stun wore off, would alert the guards to their presence, so they were surprised when alarms went off and their radar jammed. For a tense instant they were at a loss, but then Frodo pulled the cardboard box out of Pippin’s pocket and he and Sam hid under it while Merry and Pippin found some shadows to hide in. A guard came in the room, looking for intruders. Merry and Pippin remained motionless in the shadows while the guard looked at the box. "Huh, it’s just a box," he said, then left the room.

Shortly thereafter the alarm stopped and the radar unjammed. They still had to get past the guard...so this time, instead of using a stun grenade, Pippin and Merry tackled him and whipped him with the broadsides of their blades until he was out. Then they ran away as fast as they could, before the guard woke up. The guard raised the alarm a second time and they ducked into another room, but this time no one searched it and they were safe.

As soon as the radar cleared, they returned to the first floor and walked a little way into the cargo door hallway. They looked at each other...this time they were fairly certain Merry’s pipe smoke wouldn’t work quite as well, as they could see the infrared eyes moving up and down along the walls. So one of them had to wear the thermal goggles.

"Not me!" Merry declared, totally unwilling to put what he still felt was a device full of evil sorcery on his head.

Frodo handed the goggles to Pippin, since he was the only other Hobbit big enough to wear it without it falling off. He reluctantly took the goggles and put them on, only willing to do it since he had been assured that it wasn’t really a Palantír. He started...it was a lot like Merry had said, all the Hobbits looked like they were made of fire. But he could see the fire lines very clearly. They weren’t moving very fast, so he easily made his way across, then motioned for each Hobbit to come over in turn, telling them when to stop, and when to move forward. Shortly all four Hobbits were safely across the fire lines, and next to another huge door.

The giant door behind them had a symbol on it matching one of their password cards, so they used it and the door opened out onto a vast snow field. The Hobbits were not concerned in the slightest for their bare feet, since they were naturally insulated. They had walked in snow colder than this before. So they all went through the door.

Go on to Chapter 6