CommandoBob
AbstractArt
It was well after dark when the newest and possibly last member of Team K.I.S.S. entered the darken building that served as the headquarters of his new teammates. CommandoBob was in disguise, leaving his face paint and ghillie suit at home, and dressed in a drab, gray uniform with red badges. Not red badges of courage, but red badges of warning. He was a janitor.
He made his way through the building acting like a janitor was expected to act. Head hung low, not looking up, pushing a broom or dust mop or wet mop. He didnt really expect to meet anyone, but you could never be too sure. Nor did he think that even if did meet anyone that his presence would be question. After all, when did normal janitors work? When no one else did.
Since this was a scouting mission he tried to piece together which hallway lead where and what room did what. He found lots of information, but was not quite able to get a clear picture of what was going on. He knew that three other teams exisited, TNT, MIA and Doughnut, but even after going through the trash he wasnt sure of everything. K.I.S.S. was at war with TNT and sortof friendly to the other two. One team leader had thrown a hissy fit over something or other and another team leader had just got a copy of C3C.
The office of POTKISS was easy to find, but the door was locked. The other administrative offices were also easy to find, even if their titles were a bit unusual. <Well,> he thought, <what do you expect from a bunch of idiots? Normality?>
Towards the end of his cleaning rounds he found the room he was looking for, the Department of General Musing. It looked more like a cheap bar, with sitting booths along the wall, tables in the middle and a small raised stage area in the far corner. In just a few minutes the area was policed but not pristine, since it would take major work for that to happen. Once the floor area was tidied up he went on stage planning to center the microphones and resnake the cables.
Stepping onto the stage triggered a sensor and the lights suddenly began to glow on the stage area. Turning around he also saw several small cameras come down from the ceiling and focus on the stage and then on him. By now the stage lights were bright enough that he could not see beyond the first row of chairs. He took a step backwards and the sound of that step was greatly magnified. Even the sound system was turned on.
CommandoBob stood still, his mind racing. No voices were yelling for him and there was no sound of movement beyond the lights. He decided to take a chance and stepped to the closest mic.
Hello? Is anyone there? Is this thing on? Test, test, one, two, three, test, test. Hello?
As the silence lingered unbroken he debated his options. This was supposed to be a scouting meeting, but he was prepared for more than that. He spied an electronic keyboard that had been hidden in the earlier darkness on the stage. As he walked to it he removed a small package from his pants pocket. The package has several small wires attached to it. Reaching the keyboard he unplugged some cables, examined their ends, and was able make his wires attach to those cables. He placed the package on the keyboard and made some adjustments to it. He chose 1, then 2 and then set the timer for 20.
<You dont have to do this,> he thought. <You can still leave and no one will be the wiser. Keep pretending to be a janitor and no one will ever figure it out.>
<But you have only one chance to make a good first impression and what you have planned may fail. Can you risk that?>
He hesitated.
<If I fail, then I fail grandly!> he decided and punched the button. The counter quickly went from 20 to 19, and then 18.
He strode to the microphone and said, loudly, clearly and rather slowly, Hello. I am CommandoBob. I would like to re-sing two songs for you.
And the music began.
He made his way through the building acting like a janitor was expected to act. Head hung low, not looking up, pushing a broom or dust mop or wet mop. He didnt really expect to meet anyone, but you could never be too sure. Nor did he think that even if did meet anyone that his presence would be question. After all, when did normal janitors work? When no one else did.
Since this was a scouting mission he tried to piece together which hallway lead where and what room did what. He found lots of information, but was not quite able to get a clear picture of what was going on. He knew that three other teams exisited, TNT, MIA and Doughnut, but even after going through the trash he wasnt sure of everything. K.I.S.S. was at war with TNT and sortof friendly to the other two. One team leader had thrown a hissy fit over something or other and another team leader had just got a copy of C3C.
The office of POTKISS was easy to find, but the door was locked. The other administrative offices were also easy to find, even if their titles were a bit unusual. <Well,> he thought, <what do you expect from a bunch of idiots? Normality?>
Towards the end of his cleaning rounds he found the room he was looking for, the Department of General Musing. It looked more like a cheap bar, with sitting booths along the wall, tables in the middle and a small raised stage area in the far corner. In just a few minutes the area was policed but not pristine, since it would take major work for that to happen. Once the floor area was tidied up he went on stage planning to center the microphones and resnake the cables.
Stepping onto the stage triggered a sensor and the lights suddenly began to glow on the stage area. Turning around he also saw several small cameras come down from the ceiling and focus on the stage and then on him. By now the stage lights were bright enough that he could not see beyond the first row of chairs. He took a step backwards and the sound of that step was greatly magnified. Even the sound system was turned on.
CommandoBob stood still, his mind racing. No voices were yelling for him and there was no sound of movement beyond the lights. He decided to take a chance and stepped to the closest mic.
Hello? Is anyone there? Is this thing on? Test, test, one, two, three, test, test. Hello?
As the silence lingered unbroken he debated his options. This was supposed to be a scouting meeting, but he was prepared for more than that. He spied an electronic keyboard that had been hidden in the earlier darkness on the stage. As he walked to it he removed a small package from his pants pocket. The package has several small wires attached to it. Reaching the keyboard he unplugged some cables, examined their ends, and was able make his wires attach to those cables. He placed the package on the keyboard and made some adjustments to it. He chose 1, then 2 and then set the timer for 20.
<You dont have to do this,> he thought. <You can still leave and no one will be the wiser. Keep pretending to be a janitor and no one will ever figure it out.>
<But you have only one chance to make a good first impression and what you have planned may fail. Can you risk that?>
He hesitated.
<If I fail, then I fail grandly!> he decided and punched the button. The counter quickly went from 20 to 19, and then 18.
He strode to the microphone and said, loudly, clearly and rather slowly, Hello. I am CommandoBob. I would like to re-sing two songs for you.
And the music began.
What a Grand Entrance! Welcome to the team!!!!! 
<= Bugs
(Iowa boy and all).
