Voyage To The Centre Of The Spy

An Explosive Situation

Having established that the shrunken villains were at the bottom of Alex's stomach, the spies dashed right back to WOOHP, whereupon Alex was rushed straight to the medical bay for a complete examination. Sam and Clover stood supportively on either side of the examination table that Alex was told to lie on with her top rolled up to show her bare stomach. All three of them were feeling a bit apprehensive as the WOOHP scientists carefully ran the ultrasound scanner over Alex's belly, trying to establish the exact location of the micro-sub that was trapped at the bottom of Alex's tummy.

"Hey, that tickles!" complained Alex as the scientist ran the scanner over her belly again. "Is this really necessary, Jerry? I mean it's not like I'm pregnant or anything!"

"Sorry Alex," said Jerry, "but I can assure you this is the best way to establish the exact position of the micro-sub so we may attempt a successful extraction."

There was a sudden and urgent cry from one of the scientists standing by the computer monitors as the data from the ultrasound scan came through.

"I think we've found it, sir!" He pushed a few buttons on his keyboard and the large holographic image appeared, showing the interior of Alex's stomach.

"Ew, gross!" blanched Clover at the sight of some undigested pizza that Alex had eaten earlier that day.

Ignoring her own feelings of revulsion, Sam looked closely at the holographic screen, before pointing excitedly with her finger. "There it is! We've found them okay."

Everybody followed the direction of Sam's finger and sure enough, they could see the micro-sub lying right at the bottom of the stomach. Through its small windows, a couple of tiny figures could be seen shouting and waving fists at one another.

"Those two sure don't look happy about their predicament," smirked Clover.

"Well it's no laughing matter, Clover," said Jerry seriously. "Jim Band's report indicated that this micro-sub is nuclear-powered. At the moment the sub's force-shield is preventing the stomach acids from penetrating the hull. But if the power should fail and the acid breaks through..."

"Then it could cause the nuclear-power cell to explode, resulting in a scaled down nuclear explosion," completed Sam fearfully as the implications of this began to sink in.

"Um, just how scaled down would this explosion be?" asked Alex apprehensively.

"Not enough to cause no harm, I'm afraid," said jerry. "The explosion would be enough to level the whole of WOOHP HQ!"

Alex gulped. "Okay, so I've swallowed a bomb powerful enough to blast me and everyone here to kingdom come. No pressure then."

"Don't worry, Alex," said Clover supportively. "We won't let you get blown to smithereens. Promise!"

"We better get that sub out of your stomach and fast!" added Sam resolutely. "Jerry, do you still have the micro-sub that we used to defeat Vomesa before?"

"Indeed we do," replied Jerry, catching onto Sam's plan of action. "We've had it refitted a bit since you girls last used it, just in case we discovered anything like this happening again. It has improved shielding to protect from stomach acids and a pair of robotic arms which could be used to get hold of the villains' own sub and haul it away."

"Then that'll be our way in," said Sam. "Clover and I can go down there and extract the sub before its shields have a chance to fail."

"You mean we're going to go into Alex's intestines as well?" remarked Clover with a pout. "Oh, this is going to be one utterly gross mission. Err, no offence, Alex."

"None taken," said Alex, remembering how revolted she felt when she and the others once voyaged through Jerry's own internal organs during their first encounter with Vomesa.

"We've no other choice, Clover," said Sam firmly. "If we don't get that sub out in time... Well, I guess the consequences don't bear thinking about."

******

It took over an hour to fuel and prepare the micro-sub that Sam and Clover would be using, but at last the vessel was all prepared in the WOOHP laboratory. The brilliant scientists of WOOHP worked vigorously at the controls of Vomesa's old shrinking machine, ready to commence the miniaturisation process as soon as the sub's crew were aboard. The door to the laboratory opened and Jerry and the girls strode in and made their way over to the sub. Sam and Clover had each donned a Jet Amphibious Flight Suit, having already been briefed about the course they would have to steer the micro-sub in order to reach Alex's stomach.

"Are you sure these suits will be able to stand up to all that acid once we get in there, Jerr?" asked Clover, who understandably did not relish the prospect of being eaten away in her own best friend's tummy.

"They will, but only for a limited time," answered Jerry. "They should last a maximum of 15 minutes, after which the acid will quickly eat through. We've packed a couple of spare suits in the sub, along with some gadgets which you two might find helpful in there. We'll also stay in constant radio contact with you, so if there's a problem, you can inform us right away."

"Well in that case, I guess we better get onboard then," said Sam.

"Just be careful, girls," said Alex earnestly. "I sure don't want you two to end up floating around in my belly for the rest of my days."

"Don't worry, Alex, everything will be fine," said Clover as she and Sam pulled Alex into a farewell group hug. "We'll be in and out before you know it, you'll see."

As the girls quickly finished saying their goodbyes, Sam and Clover walked up the steps to the micro-sub's entry hatch and clambered into the vessel's main control cabin. As soon as the hatch was closed and securely locked, the two girls sat down on the command seats in front of the steering controls and strapped themselves in, while outside, the WOOHP scientists activated the shrinking ray, which bathed the entire sub with an intense beam of purple energy. Within seconds, the submarine and its occupants began to shrink until they were smaller than the size of a tiny orange pip. Once the shrinking ray was safely powered down, one of the scientists moved over to the sub and knelt down, a pair of tiny tongs in his hand. Using the tongs, he carefully picked up the miniaturised sub and put it into a liquid-filled syringe, before walking over to Alex, who had been told to occupy a semi-reclined couch.

"All ready, Alex?" asked Jerry as another scientist cleaned Alex's arm with a swab.

"As ready as I'll ever be, Jerry," said Alex nervously, having never been that keen on injections.

Satisfied, Jerry nodded to the scientist holding the syringe. In response, the scientist pushed the needle of the syringe into Alex's arm and began to press the plunger, emptying the contents into Alex's vein. Inside the sub, Clover activated the thruster controls and the tiny vehicle, already being pushed forward by the plunger, began to shoot through the needle shaft.

"Well, here we go again!" yelled Sam as she and Clover were pushed back into their seats by the terrific g-force and the sub began its journey to the centre of Alex's body.