Austen said, “There’s a hatch that is open on top of it - or rather on its bottom.”
Derek yelled, “Everyone climb like your life depends on it!” Everybody climbed up to the bottom of the ship and went running to the open hatch with Will still leading the way. Qworn was smiling like this was some kind of game and he knew this planet.
The ship was huge - bigger than two football fields - but they could not tell for sure that it was a ship. It was upside down and had several feet of dirt lying on top of it, no doubt from many, many years of being there on the planet untouched by anyone other than Mother Nature with quite a few bushes.
The captains pulled their lasers out of their holsters and began firing at the spiders. The spiders had no trouble climbing up on the ship. They were many, and they were coming up at the same spot.
As Austen was shooting he yelled, “Get in now!” Qworn jumped in first and then Noah followed him.
Will shouted, “We don’t know what’s in there! There could be something dangerous inside!”
That is when everybody yelled at him to get inside anyway. Will jumped in like he was jumping off a diving board. He actually held his nose when he jumped. Derek told his son to get in and leave the puppy outside. Kirk told his father that there was no way he was leaving the pup outside.
Derek was still shooting with one hand at the spiders that had him surrounded, and with the other hand he knocked the puppy out of Kirk’s arms. Then he pushed his son through the open hatch. Just when they thought that it was going to be too late, Austen pushed Derek into the opening.
Derek landed on his back right on the floor, which was actually a ceiling, and let out a cry. As he opened his eyes, a puppy landed right on his face. Just as he pushed the puppy off him, the light disappeared. Austen had landed right on top of Derek with all of his weight. Derek let out another scream! Austen thanked him for the soft landing and then apologized as he rolled off his brother.
A spider web came through the opening, pinning Derek. The web just kept on coming. When it finally ended, Derek said in a muffled voice, “Is it over, because I don’t think I can take any more of this." He hurt in places he didn’t even know he had.
Qworn pulled his knife out and walked over to Derek. Austen said, “Quit acting like a baby.”
Noah said, “At least the spiders are too big to get in here.”
Will said, “And that’s a good thing?” Qworn cut the web off Captain Derek with his knife. Austen ordered everybody to find some light so they could close the hatch and not be left in total darkness. The kids started looking around to find some sort of switch or something.
Kirk was holding the puppy in his arms. He could feel her heart racing. He felt so sorry for her living on this savage planet. He took some of the silicone webbing and put it in a container to save. He even thought he had enough for the ship now.
Just then the lights came on and everything started to power up on the ship. Austen said, “Wow!” as his brother agreed. He added, “Nice ship,” as he was checking out an upside down console. It was too high to touch, however.
Derek asked aloud to nobody in particular, “I wonder what language this is?”
Everybody turned to Qworn, but he just shrugged his shoulders and said he didn’t know.
Derek said, “We need to get the science team over here and …” The two captains looked at each other with panic in their eyes. They immediately grabbed their walkies and started calling the other teams to warn them and to find out if anybody else was having trouble like with the spiders.
Soon eight different voices were on the walkies at the same time. Nobody could understand what anybody was saying. Captain Austen shouted over his walkie, “¡Cállate!” Everything went silent as Austen turned to Qworn and asked, “I thought you said that this planet was safe?”
Noah said, “No dad, he said that the only thing on this planet that was dangerous was …”
Austen said loudly, “¡Silencio!” and you could tell he was frustrated.
Derek said to Qworn, “You know you could have told us how big these snakes, cats, and spiders were!”
Qworn said that he didn’t think it was important. To his people meat is meat. Will said, “Great, we’re all going to die.” That is when everybody shouted, “Shut-up!”
Captain Derek was talking to Dale and learned about his adventure with the snakes that were as big as buses. Derek asked him where he was, and Dale responded by letting the captain know that he and his team were about half a click from the ship. Derek was glad and told Dale to keep going and to call back to the ship the rest of his team that he had left at the lake.
Austen after a while said, “Well, that’s everybody but us, JR and Kim, and the Lizardians.” Derek smiled and said that he liked that. He looked at Qworn for his approval. Qworn just shrugged his shoulders. Austen got back on the walkie and called his brother, “JR, you OK?”
JR answered, “Yeah, never better, but after hearing about everybody’s excitement, Kim and I are heading back now.” He had his arm around Kim, but she felt uncomfortable. She would have rather been with Derek. This was the straw she had drawn to get his attention - maybe.
Austen said, “Drop Kim off at the One-Oh-One and then check on the Lizardians to make sure they are all OK.” JR could not believe his brother had given him an order - especially that particular order.
JR and Qworn said at the same time, “They don’t need any help.” Qworn reached over, took Austen’s walkie, and said, “Jinx, you owe me a ssssoda.” He was smiling as if he had just won a contest.
Everyone on the strange new ship was laughing. JR did not think it was funny or cute. He said over the walkie, “OK, Qworn, give the nice walkie back to the adults now.”
Austen said to Qworn, “Your English is getting pretty good, Little Buddy.” Qworn smiled and gave Austen back the walkie. Austen said, “Go ahead, Bro.” JR said that he could see the ship, so Kim could make it on her own. He would go hunt the lizard people down, but he was not happy about it.
It didn’t take long for JR to track down the hunting party, but when he arrived, he was a little confused. He saw one lizard standing just outside of what appeared to be quicksand. The lizard had an arm grip with a fellow lizard whose feet were in the quicksand and he had an arm grip with a lizard whose legs were in the quicksand. It went on and on until the last lizard only had his head above the quicksand. JR knew that there was a lizard missing and probably under the quicksand. He was bemused by this.
Apparently the Lizardians had managed to find some quicksand, and they were caught in it. The only thing that seemed to be saving them was the same lizard-chain they had used when they landed on this planet. JR figured that the unseen lizard was probably dead. He ran over to the only lizard standing on land and grabbed his arm. With all his strength, he managed to pull everybody out of the quicksand. The last lizard was covered in sand and he was limp. He wasn’t breathing.
All of the Lizardians were looking to JR for help. JR said, “You have to be kidding. I am not giving him mouth to snout!” Then it occurred to him that he could do one thing. He walked over to the limp lizard, got down on his knees and with great effort brought his fist down hard on the lizard’s chest. All the lizards gasped and reached for their knives as the limp lizard spat out quicksand and started breathing again.
All of the other Lizardians stood around JR and started talking in their language. JR couldn’t understand them. To him it sounded like a tire with a big leak in it. Then it occurred to him to use his walkie. He told his brother to hand the walkie to Qworn. He then asked Qworn what his buddies were chanting. He wished he had a Rosette Stone to beat them with over their heads. Qworn told JR that they were calling him King. JR said, “Tell me something I don’t already know.” Then JR turned around and said, “Alright you meatheads, let’s go home.”