Gah school.

My excuse for not writing anything yet.

NAME: Nathan Moore (Dr.)

AGE: 25

FAVORITE THING TO DO: Study animals

HOME: A small apartment in the city (any city)

APPEARANCE: Average height, skinny, permanently messy light brown hair, frameless glasses, hazel eyes

Now I go to read the other comments before I write so that I know what is going on.

I'll join!

Name: Sophia Hart, Nickname: Fia

Age: 14

Appearence: Medium length wavy brown hair, big warm brown eyes, small nose with freckles, 5"3'.

Personality: Quiet, but not shy. Clever. Smiles a lot.

Likes to: Read

Home: Orphanage

I'll post later!

O-kay, here goes.

-=Dr. Nathan Moore=-

It started in a museum. Strange how these things happen, isn't it?

I was standing there, looking at a painting of a dodo bird, thinking how its wings were probably longer, and then there he was, standing right next to me.

He was dressed all in black. That was the first thing I noticed, and it was pretty strange, because the museum must have been at least a hundred degrees. It was like he was immune to the heat that coaxed gallons of sweat out of the rest of us, just standing there in a black coat and long pants without a crease.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" It took me a second to realize he was talking to me. I turned away from the dodo and looked at him. His eyes were hidden behind steel-gray glasses, but his face was turned toward me.

"It certainly is," I said.

"Pity there are no more."

"I only wish."

There was silence. I turned back to the painting. Then the man said from behind me, "What would you say if I told you there are still some left in existence?"

I looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. He stared back silently. He certainly didn't look like he was joking.

"There aren't," I told him. "It's awful, but it's true."

"What if I told you there were?" he pressed.

I frowned back at him. "I would tell you to prove it."

He nods. "What I expected."

Then why was he asking me? I turned back to the painting, trying to hide my annoyance, and a little trepidation. I certainly wasn't scared of him, but he was creeping me out a little.

"Dr. Moore."

I spun back to him. "How do you know my name?"

He held out something to me. An envelope. "Please take this."

I snatched it from his hand and resisted the urge to throw it in his face. "What to do you want?"

He smiled as if my question was amusing. "Nothing, yet. The question is, what do you want?"

I crammed the envelope into my pants pocket. "Get out before I call the police."

He nodded and raised a hand, as if in farewell. I glared at him. Then he turned and walked away down the sweltering corridor. I watched him go, debating whether to call the police anyway.

I decided not to. I mean, any society has its weirdos.

That was my first mistake.

I dumped the contents of the envelope out on my desk. Three things fell out. The first was a feather. I picked it up, then set it down again. It was only an average feather. The second was a photograph. I flipped it over and there, displayed sharply against a background of leafy foliage, was a dodo bird.

I stared at the picture for a second, but then I dismissed that, too, and set it down. People could do anything with a computer and printer these days. Most likely this was some prank to make me look like an idiot. I picked up the last object---a paper rectangle---and flipped it over. Typed neatly in black were the words:

Johnny Westlove

F.R.E.A.K.

Free Real Extinct Animals, 'Kay?

Written underneath the typed words in dark blue ink was a phone number. I stared at that phone number for a second. Then I threw the card on the desk, checked to make sure the doors and windows were locked, and went to bed.

-=-

So yeah.

My idea is that FREAK tries to recruit him, but he ends up joining the SMoSEA.

Spammy says urat. You rat. I'm not a rat.

I changed my mind. Theo does not HAVE to write the next part. Though it would be nice, waiting for him will slow down this thread. JtSF

Sophia~

At 6 o’clock on Thursday morning, a very loud alarm was
ringing in the girls’ dormitory of Blanchet Orphanage. All around me, the other
girls were starting to yawn and get out of bed. I had secretly been up late
reading, so I waited until the last ring of the alarm, and then sat up on the
side of my bed. I stretched my arms above my head and yawned, and then stumbled
into the bathroom, and over to the sink. I splashed cold water in my face and
then pulled a worn pair of jeans and a tee shirt from the shelf next to my bed.
I was running late, so I quickly threw on my clothes, ran a brush through my
hair, and messily made my bed. I was careful to make sure that the book I had
been reading last night was safely concealed under my pillow, as well as my miniature
alarm clock which I sometime used to wake up early and sneak into the library
to read. I had just finished when my friend Helen poked her head in the door. “Hurry
up Fia!” she said with an exasperated tone. “We’re going to be late!” “I’m coming!”
I said, and then followed her out the door. When we walked into the dining room
Ms. Blanchet (whom the orphanage was named for) was waiting for us. “You’re
late. Your food is getting cold.” She looked disdainfully down her nose at us. “Don’t
make a habit of this,” she said, and then turned on her heel and left the room.
Helen and I looked at each other in relief, and then hurried to eat our breakfast.
 

***

The walk to school was usually boring with nothing out of
the ordinary. Today, the neighborhood surrounding the orphanage was still prim
and proper, and as we got closer to the school, the same shopkeepers that we
saw every morning were opening up at their normal times, but as we walked
through school gates I noticed a small table with a box on it that said, "Put your name in the box
and win a job at ????!" “Helen, look at this,” I said. She came over and
stood next to me to read the sign. “Are you going to do it?” she asked. “Of
course I am!  Anything to get out of the
orphanage and away from Ms. Blanchet.” I filled out one of the slips that was
sitting on the table next to the box, and then pushed it in. “Well, what are
you waiting for?” I asked Helen who was still hovering a few feet away. “I don’t
think I’m going to do it,” she said. “You never know what you could get.” “Suit
yourself,” I said.

***

A muffled jingle was coming from beneath my pillow. My mini
alarm. I reached under and turned it off. 
It was 4:30 in the morning. I had precisely an hour and a half until I
had to be back in bed, pretending to be asleep. I grabbed my flashlight and the
book that I had finished, and crept out of room. I headed for the library.
Because my schedule didn’t have much free time that I could use for reading, I
made my own, by waking early or staying up late. I knew that I could get in BIG
trouble with Ms. Blanchet, but I highly doubted that I would be caught. Even
before my parent’s fatal car crash six years ago, I would startle them because
they wouldn’t hear me walk into the room. Now, at the orphanage, I had put this
skill to much better use, and still had never been caught. I slid the finished
book back onto the shelf and began searching for a new one.
 I had just settled into one the comfy
chairs, and started the new book I had selected, when the door swung open. I
looked up into the angry face of Ms. Blanchet. My mouth dropped open. “What do
you think you’re doing, Miss Hart?” she said with an icy tone. “I-I...um…” I
stuttered before she interrupted me. “You think you can just waltz around here
breaking the rule left and right?! First you and your little friend were late
to breakfast yesterday morning, and now this! I suspect this is not you first
time at this either.” Her voice had changed from icy to quivering with rage. “Explain
yourself, and then I can assure you that you will be severely punished!” I
opened my mouth to reply, when a voice came from the door way. “I apologize for interrupting
this lovely little scene, but I’m afraid that Miss Sophia Hart will be coming
with me.” Ms. Blanchet and I turned to see a man standing in the door way. “Who
are you?” I asked him. “And why do you think that I will be going anywhere with
you?” He smiled. “Of course. Questions. I work for Secret Museum of Supposedly Extinct Animals, AKA, SMoSEA. I’ve come to take
you to your new job. You did apply didn’t you?” “What,” I said, “are you talking
about?” and then I remembered. The box I put my name in outside school.  He must have seen it on my face, because he
said, “I knew you were a clever girl. Now come along. Is there anything you
would like to grab before we leave?” I gulped and turned to look at Ms.
Blanchet, who was still standing open mouthed, and then ran out the door to
collect my things. I was back in two minute flat, considering that I didn’t
have much to pack. “All ready then?” the man asked. I nodded. “Well, we had
best be on our way then. Mr. X doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” “Who’s Mr. X?”
I asked. “You’ll see,” he said mysteriously.  He turned for the door and I started to follow,
when Ms. Blanchet finally snapped to, and said, “Wait a moment, she’s not going
anywhere!” “I’m afraid she is,” said the man. “Goodbye!”  I walked out of the orphanage without a
backwards glance, and into my new life.

**************************************************************

I'll let one of you introduce my charrie to the others so I don't mess anything up.

-=Dr. Nathan Moore=-

I landed hard, but the ground was fairly soft and I was pretty sure I hadn't broken anything.

The helicopter lifted off, the girl clinging to the ladder, looking confused and close to tears. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I was pretty sure it was bigger than me.

One of the men wearing the orange reflective armband the girl had described grabbed my arm.

"I'm an agent of FREAK," he said. "We've got to get you out of here."

"I'm not going anywhere with you people!"

"We're not going to hurt you," he soothed. "We need to get you somewhere safe. The Museum is trying to take you."

"What Museum?"

"Come with me. We'll explain everything."

I yanked my arm away. "Explain now."

He looked at me like, Who would even want this trash?

"Short version: Extinct animals alive. Museum bad. Capturing animals. We set them free. Got it?"

"Oh, no." I was backing away from his so fast I tripped. "What is going on? There are no extinct animals alive, or they wouldn't be extinct."

He looked at me. "But that's just the point," he said quietly. "They aren't."

"Not extinct?" I ran up against my back door. "Of course they are. There aren't any left."

"There are. We can prove it."

"Look, what do you want from me?" I was confused, scared, angry. I had been violated and almost kidnapped my two different sides. It was obvious to me that there was something going on between the two organizations. Why was I an asset?

He smiled. "Your knowledge, Dr. Moore. Only your knowledge."

I frowned. "Knowledge of what?"

"What else? Animals."

I just stared at him. I'm afraid I probably looked stupid.

"Come with us."

I stared at him and tried to see what was going on in his head. Obviously, none of these people were going to leave alone. I needed to at least find out what was going on.

"Okay, you got me," I finally decided. "I'll come with you. On the condition that I can come back home after a talk."

He grinned at me and grabbed my arm. "We'll see."

A few more men emerged from the woods and steered me into the trees. I didn't have much choice. I went with them.

-==-

Dr. X~

An agent of FREAK.  I sighed.  I knew I should have come with the recruits to the mission.  I didn't because I had a huge zit on my forehead that didn't need to be shown to the public, but I really should have just chanced it.

I picked up the ID card to examine it.  The picture looked almost like the Shy/Zaia I saw before me, except the ID Shy was dressed all in black.  "You're his daughter!" I screamed, "How could I let his daughter in!"  Herbert looked up.  Herbert seemed to be very into the history of the SMoSEA already.  "What?" he asked.

"We've been infiltrated by my own niece!" I screamed.

Sparky ran in.  "Dr. X, I've heard an agent of FREAK got in.  Is everyone okay?"  

Everyone in the  room just looked at everyone else in an exasperated manner.  "Fry, please take Shy to the cell in the basement and bring me the key."