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Clyden paused at the top of the ladder, under the grate, barely visible in this deep twilight sort of illumination. "Hold on, I gotta smash through this. The grating's supposed to discourage Eaters while the miners clean off the exhaust deposits- AACK!"

A hairy, slimy tentacle had slipped through between the bars of the grate and coiled around Clyden's neck. So much for the grate discouraging the Eaters!

Clyden quickly blasted off the tentacle. The stub withdrew amidst growls of pain and anger from the monster above.

Clyden unwrapped the tentacle from his neck. "Why must everybody go for my neck?!" Then he dropped it into the shaft. It bounced off George's head on the way down, sending a shiver down George's spine.

As Clyden pushed up on the grate, he fretted, "Well, I am sure all this noise will attract the other Eaters!. That one's tentacle will grow back soon enough. The Eaters are a lot like starfish, in more ways than one."

George thought about the Eaters. "Boy, I thought I had a bad job at the mines, digging out the pure fuel rocks. At least I didn't have to come up here and clean the deposits!"

"Yup, I guess the Governor didn't think you were loyal enough to let you in on his little secret, that he has that ore processor," Clyden said. "And that's probably why you were not lucky enough to get that job."

From his position several rungs below, Billy Boy commented, "And those loyal miners weren't even allowed to carry blasters when they came up here to work!"

Clyden soon pushed off the grating. "Look how flimsy this grate is. I don't know how many times we had to replace it because of the Eaters. I think it really didn't help much except to give those miners a false sense of security, so they could concentrate better on cleaning the exhaust. But then, they probably didn't much care, since they did it  for Gov. Xavier, after all."

Poised on the top rung, Clyden gave some final advice. "Okay, here we go. Remember, Diggers, come out shooting! Its' hard to see much of anything in that gloom, so just blast anywhere, and try not to hit me! I'll be the one running around like a chicken with its head chopped off, looking for that grappling line I hung down the side of the moat- Here goes!"

True to his own advice, Clyden popped out of the vent shaft, his own blaster blazing away. He stumbled into the smoky, cloud-filled moat, mentally picturing where the rope should be.

Some Eaters snarled and growled at the blaster fire, and at the smell of dinner. Their commotion drew more Eaters, hoping for a good meal.

George was the next one to jump out, also blasting like crazy. He strained his eyes to see in the dense grey atmosphere. He thought he saw a giant patch of thicker darkness directly ahead, so he swivelled from it while he blasted away at it. Not far from his position, he could hear Clyden trip over some stones and mutter wrathful complaints.

The howls and growls all about him, some very closeby, filled George with dread. "Did you find it yet??" he asked.

"Did I sound like I found it yet?" Clyden's voice grumbled back.

When Billy Boy came up, no sooner was he out the hole, then he cried out, "Help! Something's got me!!"

"Well, use your blaster and shoot it!" Clyden yelled back to him, still shooting away with his own weapon.

George heard Billy Boy doing just that, but it didn't seem to be helping him any. "It won't let go!"

George took a chance and aimed in the direction he heard his friend's voice come from. He blasted and blasted, fearing he might hit Billy Boy, but thinking it might be better than being ripped apart and eaten alive.

Suddenly, Clyden called out in the dark, "I found it! Now you two quit horsing around and get over here and cover me while I climb out."

Geoge saw a shape lunge his way. He almost fired upon it, until he saw it was Billy Boy. "Thanks, George, you saved my life! But he's plenty mad now- Listen to that Eater cuss you out!"

They hurried over toward Clyden's voice, who called to them again and again. "C'mon, let's get moving, guys!" Their blasters worked overtime, sometimes eliciting a cry of pain from one of the foul creatures, followed by a bellow of rage.

Clyden had already started climbing up the rope. "I can't wait here all day for you two clowns..." he grumbled. He managed to hang onto the rope and climb with one hand while still blasting away with his blaster in his other hand.

George and Billy Boy finally located the steep wall of the moat. They felt about for the hanging rope.

The wall reached very high, so that the Eaters could not escape from here. The fearsome monsters were big and even fast, but they definitely were not meant to be agile climbers. Only on rare occasion could one of them find a way out, usually by standing on top of a mob of them during a feeding frenzy, and thus being able to reach the rim of the moat and pull itself out with its limbs. Its tentacles, however, while strong and able to stretch high to the top of the moat, were too weak to pull any of the heavy creatures out of its prison by themselves, unless the Eater had a foothold on the ledge.

George felt the rope sway from Clyden clinging to it. He held it steady for Clyden. George and Billy Boy kept their backs to the wall, and kept their blasters zapping nonstop, keeping the Eaters at bay.

Clyden yelled down to them, "Okay, I made it! Now you two hustle! You know the Eaters are always hungry, and I bet they like your smell so they must be exceptionally famished by now, anticipating you."

From his perch high overhead, at the top of the moat, Clyden continued blasting away into the dark.

Billy Boy said to George, "You go 'head, and I'll make sure they keep away from you!"

"No, no, you go first," argued George. "One already tasted you- Better climb like a spider before it comes back for more-"

Billy Boy nodded. It would be foolish for them to stand down here discussing who goes first while the Eaters were coming for them. He took the line and hoisted himself up it.

George kept his blaster busy meanwhile. He hated to be alone in this dark with those Eaters! Whoa- that one sounded just next to him! He turned and fired toward the sound. He felt surrounded. Stay calm, stay brave- Billy Boy will soon be out of the trench and it will be your turn, George- His breath came in short gasps as he thought how long it was taking- What if an Eater had already picked Billy Boy off the rope, and George didn't hear his yells over the noise of the blasters and Eaters roaring, and he waited while all the time the Eaters readied to gang up on him? What if- what if--

His anxiety grew into panic, and George let out a whimper. "Hold on, I'm right behind you-"

He took the grappling line in his hands and wrapped his limbs about it, scrambling like a frantic hunted animal. Oh no, he could hear the rope stretching and straining from his added miner's weight--

Clyden shouted down to George, "McCleer, what are you doing? Billy Boob's not up yet- You'll snap the line!"

But George wasn't letting go. He whined a desperate prayer to Jesus and then he felt something take hold of his shoulders! Oh no! He tried to pull free but he could not escape- And then he was yanked by whatever had him upward, and out of the moat.

Clyden and Billy Boy held onto George until they had him all the way out of the moat. Clyden tossed George onto the solid rocky ground above. "Sheesh, McCleer, ya almost got both yourself killed and Billy Boob as well. What're ya doing??"

George lay on the ground, gasping in fright. "Sorry, Billy Boy- I- I tried to be noble, and insisted you go before me, and look what happened- I panicked! It was like when they almost threw me to the Eaters before!"

"Who doesn't get the willies from them and panic?" Clyden wanted to know. "But you gotta control your fears! Sheesh! It's good Billy Boy gave it an extra effort and made it up here before you woulda broke the line. Then when he got up here, we had to fire at the Eaters and risk our necks reaching down into the dark at the same time to pull your ugly butt up here to safety!!"

All three worked on catching their breath. George got back up and stood with them peering over the edge into the gloom under their feet. The Eaters shouted and screamed at them, and several exploring tentacles shot out of the darkness, and one of them nearly snagged George's ankle.

Clyden pulled him back in time, and the three of them decided to keep a healthy distance from the edge after that. "Just like old times, eh, McCleer? I still gotta make sure they don't drag you down to them for a meal."

"Yeah, the good ol' days... like that day when you rescued me from the Eeaters and then you and Xavier made me a miner!" George bitterly recalled.

"Oh, the sun- After being in the mines all that time- It is too bright!" Billy Boy shielded his eyes. His companions winced from the sunshine as well.

Clyden said, "It'll sure take some getting used to."

"At least we won't ever have to dig again!" sighed George.

"Yeah, digging is pretty boring and routine, isn't it," agreed Clyden. "And then, as in my case, I had to pretend to love that weasel Gov. Xavier, so nobody'd suspect a thing, until we made our move. But it's not all bad, being a miner. Look at our bodies! Very strong, very powerful! Cool!" He looked over his own body in the sunshine. "I like it- Well, except for the slow but eventual eunuchization factor as a result of the transformation..."

A new fear gripped George. He frowned. "The what factor? You're kidding, right?"

Billy Boy, a miner for more time than the others, shook his head. "You haven't been a miner long enough to notice, George, but, sadly, no, he's not kidding."

George scowled. "Clyden, you- you're a- a-" Now he felt rage for being made into this-

Clyden changed the subject. "Hey, we aren't out of danger yet, you know. We gotta keep hustling. Come over here-" He led them over to a pile of boulders.

Billy Boy and George followed, curious.

Billy Boy thanked Clyden for helping them escape. "I especially appreciate that you did not, once you were out of the moat, run off and leave us on our own against the Eaters down there."

Clyden laughed. "Yeah, I see you guys have a high opinion of me, to think I would. But no wonder, I did stick ya both in the mines." He let out a laugh. "But we are all in this together now. We are on the same team, ya know. That is, if you want to help me dethrone the King in Sparkle City, and want to help me follow my plan to completion." He moved aside some rocks at the base of the boulder pile, to reveal two small rolls of thin, almost transparent material, that looked like a plastic wrap of some kind. Also with the rolls there sat a sack filled to overflowing with rations, as if prepared for a long trip.

Clyden took one of the rolls and began to wind its material around himself.

"What's that stuff?" inquired George.

"Camo-wrap," was the answer, as Clyden continued the process of wrapping it all around himself. "Military grade. Very expensive. Very rare. Gov. Xavier wanted some for some reason, so I know guys who know guys, and we smuggled some to this world. And then I swiped two rolls from the stash I got him for my own Plan B. You insisted on bringing along Billy Boob, but I did not know you would be insisting on that at the time I prepared for Plan B, so I can only hope we have enough for all of us."

But it turned out they had more than enough, and some to spare.

Once they were covered in it, their body-heat activated the camo-wrap's special properties. The opaque fabric rapidly changed its color to match the surrounding rocky landscape full of reds and greys and blues.

"This is great stuff," Clyden said. "It makes us into miner chameleons. When they come and see we're gone, and they hunt for us, we can blend in with the environment. And the camo-wrap masks our heat signatures as well. Neat, huh?"

He picked up the sack of K-rations and started jogging at a brisk speed.

"What about our footprints, though?" asked Billy Boy.

"Billy Boob, look at this ground. It's so rocky, what kind of footprints do you think we are going to make?"

"So what's the plan?" George wanted to know. "We go back to Sparkle City and try to kick Xavier out of office, or what? And then you can take over, eh?"

"I already tried that; it didn't work. No. While I would very much like to do that, McCleer, I have another idea. Granted, my Plan B is not as satisfying to me as my original one, but beggars can't be choosey. Heck, that should be obvious. I had to partner up with you, didn't I?"

George and Billy Boy galloped to keep pace with Clyden. "So where are we going, then? That's not the way back to the city," George pointed out.

"Less talk, more walk- or run, I should say," he replied. "Hurry it up. You two move slower than a bunch of old guys in walkers!"

George looked to Billy Boy and shrugged at Clyden's non-answer. He grumbled, "He was like this all through our time plotting our escape, 248- I mean Billy Boy. Clyden thought I would take advantage of the knowledge of the plan and try it without him. I guess he wants to be a man of mystery."

"Yeah, yeah, that's me. I'm keeping quiet now, too, for that reason. I don't want you to do it and leave me out in the cold. I want to have the satisfaction of being the one doing something to take down Gov. Xavier. I don't care one way or another at this point if they put me in his place- and I am sure they won't. But at least I can get him back for the way he treated me!! It's best for my plan if ya wanna come with me, but if ya don't, that's okay, too. It's up to you. You're no longer really needed."

George asked Billy Boy, "What do you think? Shall we accompany him?"

"Why not- at least for now." Billy Boy asked Clyden, "No. 360, I mean, Mr. Clyden, what about the so-called illegal house church you said I pastored? How are they, since the time I was taken and I have been in the mines?"

"And what about Mrs. McCleer, Nina?" demanded George. "How's my wife? You never did give me a straight answer about her."

Clyden snarled, "How should I know? I've been with you guys in the mines the past few weeks- Hey, whoa now! I see something- Stop moving and try to make like a rock so we aren't noticed. The camo-wrap may help us blend in with our background, but if we are still walking about and in motion, they may notice our blurry shapes as we walk, causind a slight moving distortion which just might catch their attention."

The three of them crouched down and tried to resemble boulders.

Four aircars zoomed across the sky. Clyden's sharp eyes, always scouting the ground and the sky behind their backs as well as in front of them, as they ran across the land, had spotted the aircars long before the aircraft got near enough for their pilots to see them.

The skycars flew overhead and past them, and on into the distance.

The gang of prison escapees stood up once more and resumed their running. Clyden told them, "You two probably already figured it out, that they're looking for us. They know we escaped, so now we must be careful!"

(c) drk 2012