Begin:
This scared me for a moment. Nobody had ever doubted my prowess as an ISA agent. Then I rolled my eyes. It was probably nothing, just a mission to boost ISA’s reputation and up the Directors paycheck. Not that Director was totally greedy or anything, but his children were spoiled little brats and always tried to shine in the light of their dad’s glory, and spend all his money. “What is it, Director?” I giggled. Mike and Macy nudged each other and did a little eyebrow dance together. “Your mother is dead,” the Director spat sarcastically.
“Hey, Director, chill!” I teased, looking meaningfully at Mike and Macy.
“You won’t be telling me to “chill” after you hear the news. The “your mother is dead” part was just something to give you a tiny taste of what this news is going to be like,” he growled, moodily.
“Spit it out! You want us to die of suspense?” Macy laughed sarcastically.
“Books are taking over the world..” The Director mumbled..... And then he fainted.
Hello. My code name is Gim. You may call me that. I just saved the world... from books...
Let me start from the beginning. I work for the ISA, Investigation/Inspectors of Suspicious Activity, a sort of branch from the CIA. We have stealth skills and high-tech devices excelled by none in the world., and the most awesome ever director. Around here, he’s called- Director. Pretty creative, huh? I came up with it, like I came up with the most good ideas in every ISA class. They picked me because I have the second highest IQ in the world, and had the ideal body frame to be stealthy. [Frankly, the guy with the highest IQ is a total WIMP] My friends all call me Ms. Macho.
A basic brief: I hate pink, love black, love cats, hate noisy old dogs, love ISA, hate.. normal civilians. Or, at least, normal civilians trying to communicate with me. They’re all like “Aren’t you so pretty, I’ve never seen you around before.” or “How come I don’t see you much?”
It’s just because I work for the ISA.! My job prevents me from communicating much with the “world” but I like that. my mom calls me her little gray black wolf, meaning that I’m a loner. Saying that I’m a big black wolf also would be more accurate, but you get the point. Unless you have a super low IQ. Like my little brother, who for security reasons is going to be called Bob. Yeah, Bob. Got a problem? No? Good. Back on topic,
Bob is a junior ISA member, because he’s underage, 3 years younger than the normal minimum age, 15. The only reason why they let him on is because in the hopes(rather futile ones) that he’ll turn out like me. Oh yeah, I forgot to say. I’m eighteen. Been working for the ISA for about three years, I guess. Now that you know a lot about me (almost too much to be comfortable with), let me begin. Wow, that was a long intro for such a laconic kid like me. I always surprise myself with what I can do.
Now it was kind of a normal day, I did the usual super easy workout that I do every day. The Director checked on me and quizzed me on the normal stuff, (organic chemistry, tae kwon do techniques, you get the point.) I aced it as usual, and it all went as usual. Until lunch. I was eating in the big ol cafeteria with Mike and Macy, my best friends, and eating this awesome tasting spinach and cheese quiche, while Mike and Macy had this chunky clam chowder inside crunchy, golden sourdough bread bowls. The heavenly aroma drifted past my nose, and my sense of smell was overwhelmed by the heavenly flavor. Then the Director burst in the huge scarlet doors of the cafeteria, startling us all. Director assumed a dramatic pose and wriggled his arms through the air in an attempt to look theatrical, but actually making himself look like one of those idiotic mimes you see in old movies.
“I have some tragic news for you, Gim, and I think it will lead to the hardest and most thrilling mission you have ever accomplished before,” he proudly announced “At least the hardest mission you will ever attempt to accomplish,” he corrected.
This scared me for a moment. Nobody had ever doubted my prowess as an ISA agent. Then I rolled my eyes. It was probably nothing, just a mission to boost ISA’s reputation and up the Directors paycheck. Not that Director was totally greedy or anything, but his children were spoiled little brats and always tried to shine in the light of their dad’s glory, and spend all his money. “What is it, Director?” I giggled. Mike and Macy nudged each other and did a little eyebrow dance together. “Your mother is dead,” the Director spat sarcastically.
“Hey, Director, chill!” I teased, looking meaningfully at Mike and Macy.
“You won’t be telling me to “chill” after you hear the news. The “your mother is dead” part was just something to give you a tiny taste of what this news is going to be like,” he growled, moodily.
“Spit it out! You want us to die of suspense?” Macy laughed sarcastically.
“Books are taking over the world..” The Director mumbled..... And then he fainted.
First, everybody paused. Then they started giggling at this comical display. But after the first few seconds, my high IQ brain kicked in, The Director was serious.“Mike, Macy, do you realize what this means? The Director NEVER EVER EVER FAINTS IN THE CAFETERIA! This is real. But.. I don’t get it. How can a few pieces of paper with a cardboard cover take over the world? And we know the Director isn’t insane, he always acts like this.”
It was only then did a few fellow agents go to help the Director up. After few glasses of cold water later, the Director was fully conscious. “MMFGHHHDUMPHHHWATAHHHONNMEEEHHH” he said.
I was shocked. To the normal person, this might seem like gibberish, but I had been part of a conductive study on unintentional phrases. This was the language of Mindi. But backwards. As I attempted to translate, I noticed a code. HEMNO HATAWH PMUDHGFM., meaning “skrulls” “transform” and “Louisa M. Alcott” Have any of you listeners read comic books? Have you heard of Skrulls? Well, for those ignorant normal people, they are green creatures with super broad chins, pointy ears, and shape-shifting capabilities. They try to take over the world by morphing and copying the form of existing humans, taking their place, and eventually conquering the world. Only by killing them may you reveal their true original form, just like in the comics. The books pretended to be inanimate objects. but as more and more were made and more and more cluttered up bookshelves, they would, by mass and brute force, attempt and probably succeed to take over the world, by dropping themselves upon toes and heads and giving tiny yet painful paper-cuts. They could then take the DNA from the blood and shape-shift. They used telekinesis as their mode of transportation. (This is why you should by an iPad or Kindle instead..)
Now all this information started to come together. I understood the part about skrulls, and transforming. The last thing to translate was “Louisa M. Alcott.” Louisa M. Alcott was the author of famous book, Little Women, and later on, Little Men. And I had just accidentally discovered the meaning.. The books would conquer the world by impersonating children. Nobody is going to kill little children to figure out if they are actually books. I, the brilliant genius, had figured out all but one detail: What would I do next?
To be Continued..
