O's duel arm guns smoked as Puss brushed off the remains of the dead mutts. "Thanks, amigo," he said to O. The robot nodded.
Hopefully, the time machine would be easy to find, but Puss knew this wouldn't be the case. Trudam had extremely high tech security, so if they even found it, it would be a miracle if they were able to operate it or get past Trudam's recognition systems.
They explored the entire building and picked it apart top to bottom; all three stories. Nothing.
As they were searching Trudam's master bedroom, Puss sighed. "We're never going to find this thing, are we?" O was at work scanning the room with his sensors, looking for any sign of the machine.
"Nothing behind the bed," O reported, his eyes shining red beams onto the walls. His head rotated.
"Nothing in the bathroom."
Then, O beeped rapidly, his eyes flashing. "There's something here, Señor Puss. In the wall." Puss' face lit up.
"Blow it apart, then." O obeyed and immediately reduced the wall to rubble with his weapons.
And there it was; a tall contraption in the shape of an obelisk. Puss and O stepped through the hole in the wall and admired the thing for a few moments. Then they noticed the security lock on the machine's door.
Puss groaned.
"Do not fret," O said. "I am able to crack over one hundred kinds of locks." He walked over to the lock and analyzed it, then turned to Puss sheepishly.
"I can't crack it. I've never seen a lock this advanced before." Puss groaned.
"Well, what kind of lock is it?"
"It requires a six-letter authorization code, and then facial recognition."
"Well, for the facial part, we can just bring Trudam's head up here. But how are we going to figure out the code? It could be anything."
"I am scanning my databases now for possible inputs. Scan complete. There are approximately 308,915,776 possible combinations."
Puss cussed again. "Ugh, what could it be?"
"Maybe 'Alantr'?" O guessed.
"No," Puss replied. "Too obvious." He racked his brain, thinking of possibilities. Then, a far-fetched but possible answer made its way into his mind.
He walked over to the lock and punched in "LOEDFS." Lu omni elipsor, de flori skala. Scars' last words.
The lock turned green and said in a robotic female voice, "Authorization code accepted."
Puss pumped his fist in celebration, and then said to O quickly, "Go get Trudam. Or his head."
In thirty seconds, the robot had returned with Trudam's decapitated head. He held the bloody thing up to the sensor, and it beeped, turning green again.
"Facial recognition accepted. Welcome, Alan James Trudam." The door opened, and they hurried in before it slammed shut again.
The control panel was complicated; there was no doubting that. All war tech had been.
Puss stared at the controls and buttons, trying to figure out which ones to flip and press.
O pointed at a lever. "That, I believe, is the power switch." Puss pushed it forward and sure enough, the machine came to life. O gestured at a red button.
"That's the gas," he said confidently. Puss slowly pressed it and suddenly the machine shot forward, propelling Puss and O backwards. This was faster than either of them had ever gone before.
"HOLY SHI-" Puss started to scream before the machine screeched to a halt. They froze for a moment, and then opened the door. Puss' eyes grew wide. He knew where they were, but he never thought he'd be back.
San Lorenzo.
YOU ARE READING
Scars (Part II of J.H. White's Puss in Boots)
ActionAfter the events of "J.H. White's Puss in Boots," Puss has to leap back into action after his wife Kitty Softpaws is murdered at the hands of mercenaries led by Scars, a terrifying new villain in the Shrek world. However, as Scars' past unfolds and...
