Escape from the Pipe Men!

by Mary G. Thompson

  “I don’t know. Don’t worry! I’ll find a way to get us out of this!” I sat up in my pit. I found that I wasn’t really hurt. The tightness of the creature’s grip had kept me from knocking around too much. There were only a few places where the legs had cut into my skin. “Hey, you!” I called up to them. “Why did you do this? Why do you want us?”

  The froms hummed at each other. I wanted to cover my ears, but I didn’t want them to see that it bothered me.

  “Well?” I shouted. “We didn’t do anything to you!”

  One of them landed in front of me, having jumped so quickly that I hadn’t even seen it. Without meaning to, I gasped and pressed my back against the wall. Then it reached one of its legs around and came back with the tablet, typing quickly.

  You are not from the space flight systems. You have escaped from the Masters’ zoo.

  My heart sank. “You can’t take us back! Please, they’ll . . . I don’t know what they’ll do. I have to find the Hottini. You can’t take us back!”

  We are not taking you back. You are worth a great deal on the market.

  “On the market? What market?” But I remembered what Ip had said. Why hadn’t I remembered it sooner?

  Exotic creatures from planets only reached by portal. Very expensive to buy from the Masters. All three of its eyes examined me. It took the tablet back with two legs and stared at me a second longer. Then it jumped, and both it and its friend were gone.

  “What did it tell you?” came Becky’s voice.

  I sighed and leaned back against the smooth metal wall of the pit, closing my eyes. “They’re going to sell us. Zoo people are worth a lot of money.”

  “I thought it was nice.” I heard sobs in her voice.

  “I did too,” I said. “I should have realized how much we’d stick out. I’m sorry, Becky. It’s my fault.” How could I have gotten her into this?

  All I heard was her sobbing.

  “Look, I’m going to get us out of this. I just . . .” I stared up and around me. The walls of the pit were perfectly smooth. There was nothing to grab on to at all. I ran my hand along the wall. It was faintly warm. “I just wish I could jump up thirty eyes,” I said, too softly for Becky to hear.

  Fourteen

  I SMASHED AGAINST THE WALL of the pit, then rolled along the bottom. I tried to stop myself, but there was nothing to hold on to. “I think we’re moving!” I called. But we couldn’t be taking off. We’d never get back to O-thul-ba. I’d never see my parents again. Dad would die.

  The ship gave another roll. This wasn’t how the ship I’d seen before had taken off. It had risen gracefully into the sky. Something had to be wrong. Then we were tipping. I was rolling toward the top of the pit!

  “Becky! Roll out of the pit! Roll out now!” We were stable for a second. Horizontal. I crawled along the wall that was now the floor. I went as fast as I could, but it was slippery. I tried pushing myself and sliding. “Slide!” I cried. “Becky, can you hear me? Slide!” I was making progress now, almost to the edge. Then the ship tipped ever so slightly, and I started slipping back. I clawed at the walls, but it didn’t do any good. I kept slipping.

  “Ryan!” Becky appeared at the top of the pit, hanging on to the edge.

  “Stay there! Don’t let go!”

  “I’m trying!”

  I reached out both arms and legs and jammed them against the sides, stopping myself. With all my limbs outstretched, I could just barely hold on. But I knew I couldn’t do it for long. My arms were already aching, and the ship kept tilting slowly backward. It was like they’d gotten control again, and the walls were just too slippery. I pressed as hard as I could, but I couldn’t hold myself in place.

  Suddenly, the ship rolled forward. I fell out of the pit headfirst, flying past Becky. She was struggling to hold on to the thin barrier between what I now saw were two of several pits with openings in a row across the floor. Things were rolling out of the other pits, round and square items wrapped in Pipe Man fabric. One knocked into me. I braced myself to fall more but realized that I was not moving. I was floating. Weightless.

  Becky was still trying to hang on to the edge of the pits, but her legs were now kicking up in the air.

  “Just let go!” I called.

  “We’re going to fall again!”

  I knew she was probably right. I didn’t think we were supposed to be weightless. “Just let go, and we’ll get out of this room, so we can’t fall into the pits.”

  She let go and floated upward toward me, kicking, trying to right herself.

  The ship was not completely right side up again, but it was getting closer. I saw only one exit, but through it, I also saw the many legs of weightless froms. They were kicking around wildly, as if they were just as unprepared for this as we were. A terrible screeching noise was coming from their legs.

  I caught Becky’s arm and helped twist her so we were both upright relative to the floor and the pits below. “I think we should go now. They can’t run while they’re weightless. We’ll push off against the walls.”

  “What if they catch us?” One of her tears floated up into the air.

  I held on to her hand. “They’re not going to hurt us. We’re worth a lot of money. Okay?”

  She nodded.

  I knew we didn’t have time to waste. By kicking out one of my legs, I could just reach a wall. I pushed. Slowly, we floated toward the opposite wall. “Okay, push that way,” I said, pointing back into the room. “We’ll end up going the other way, toward the exit.”

  Becky nodded.

  We both pushed, and it worked. One more push, and we were through the door. It was chaos. The noise was deafening. The bug froms were crashing into each other, flying in all directions. As we came out, several looked at us. They jostled against each other, trying to propel in our direction.

  I pushed as hard as I could against the doorway, trying to send us down the wall, but instead we floated toward the edge of the balcony and the mass of swarming froms. A few more seconds and we’d be over the giant open bay, many long levels below us. I grabbed the railing that separated the balcony from the bay and held on. Becky had the balcony in one hand and my hand in the other. The creatures were all around us, humming.

  All at once, the humming got even louder. Air whooshed around me, as if the froms were crashing even more violently against each other. Over it all, I heard a clomping sound, like a giant was plodding slowly down the passage.

  “It’s a doggie!” said Becky.

  I followed where she was looking. It was twice as big as I was and walked on four legs. On each foot it wore a large, heavy boot that seemed to take quite a bit of effort to lift and move. The boots must have been holding the creature down, because it labored slowly along the balcony toward us, unaffected by the weightlessness. On top of the four legs was a doglike body, long and thick and muscled, layered with a see-through covering like a rain poncho. Its head was wide and sat on a long neck, but it had only two lidless eyes, a thin nose, and a mouth at the bottom of its face. Its whole body was covered in something like hair, but the strands were much thicker than any hair I’d ever seen. It almost looked like Pipe Man fabric that had been dyed a deep blue and cut into strips. The strange blue hair flapped calmly as the Hottini kept walking toward us.

  “Don’t call it a doggie,” I whispered. “Remember what Ip told us.”

  The Hottini reached us and stopped in front of where we were hanging on. “Come,” it said. Its voice was low and clear. Its deep purple eyes looked directly into mine.

  I pulled myself forward, using my arms to drag Becky and me back over the railing.

  The Hottini barked something I didn’t understand.

  Suddenly, we dropped.

  “Ah!” Becky landed on her side, but quickly sat up, looking unhurt.

  I landed on my face, and my nose and head hurt, but I also managed to sit up.

  The six-legged froms were bouncing, swarming haphazardly on the balcony and in the bay below
us.

  “Are you saving us?” asked Becky, looking up at the Hottini.

  It stared back at her. It seemed to be smiling a little, but after what had just happened, I wasn’t ready to trust anyone. I reached for Becky and helped her up, holding her close to me.

  “My sibling asked if you’re saving us. That’s what I want to know too.”

  “Saving you, yes,” said the Hottini. It tilted its head almost imperceptibly forward. “Stupid froms trust Xaxor swarm.” It turned back the way it had come and began walking, now much more lightly than before, though it was still wearing the heavy boots.

  Becky and I followed. I just had to hope that if the Hottini were going to betray us, too, they knew how much money we were worth.

  “I know it was stupid, honored Hottini,” I said. “I didn’t know what to do. Ip got stuck in the passage with the Masters.”

  “Ip explained the situation,” said the Hottini. “It wished us to inform you that it is back on Earth and the Masters know nothing.”

  “He says Ip got away,” I said to Becky. Then, to the Hottini, “Thank you for saving us, honored Hottini.”

  The Xaxor had mostly recovered from the shock of having the gravity back on. They were filling the balcony around us, but they opened a path to make room for us to go through. None of them made a move to stop us.

  The Hottini nodded slightly here and there to the right and left, as if politely greeting acquaintances, but the Xaxor glared back menacingly. All three eyes of all the hundreds of Xaxor were watching us. There was now very little of their awful music.

  After a while, we came to a door that led off from the balcony. Here the passage was free of Xaxor, and much narrower. I was just about to ask where we were going, when we turned a corner and I couldn’t help but stop and gasp.

  We were in a space dock, where a small ship was sitting, guarded by several more Hottini. But this was not what made me stop. The space dock ended with a window. Through it, I saw the planet beneath us. Its blue oceans were broken by thick clouds, and large land masses glowed.

  “Do you see that, Becky? It’s O-thul-ba. We’re in space!”

  “It’s so pretty!”

  “It is. You know what, I bet we’re the first Earth people to ever see this.”

  Fifteen

  “COME,” SAID THE HOTTINI who had rescued us.

  We walked forward, toward the ship and the window. I stared at the planet and the stars that lit up the sky. I wanted to take in every little detail, but there was no time. The Hottini led us up a ramp and into the belly of the ship.

  Inside, there were no windows. There was barely enough room for the six Hottini in the cabin with us, so that we had to squeeze against a padded wall. The Hottini were all dressed the same as the first one, in clear coverings through which I could see their thick blue hair. All had purple eyes, although the shades ranged from light to dark. Once I was packed in with them, I became aware of a unique scent, like a mixture of spices. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but it tickled my nose.

  I felt a jolt as we lifted off the floor, and then Becky and I were thrust into the wall. The Hottini were less affected by the change and barely appeared to brace their feet. Before I’d gotten used to the movement, I fell away from the wall again.

  Becky fell forward, but I caught her before she could knock into the nearest Hottini. The ramp lowered out of the cabin and clanged as it hit the floor below.

  “Are we on the doggie ship?” asked Becky.

  “I think so. Remember, say their name right and be polite. If you don’t know what to say, let me talk.”

  Becky frowned, but didn’t talk back.

  The Hottini began filing down the ramp, heavy boots clanging. One remained with us. I thought it was the same one who had come for us, but I couldn’t be sure.

  “Follow,” it said.

  I made sure my backpack was securely on my shoulders and Becky’s hand was securely in mine, and then followed the Hottini down the ramp. The aroma in the main ship was still spicy, though not quite as strong. As I stepped off the ramp, I saw to my right a window much like the one in the Xaxor ship, but smaller. Through it I could still see the planet and the stars. The Xaxor ship itself was nowhere in sight.

  The Hottini space dock was much smaller than the Xaxor one. There was barely enough room for the Hottini to walk single file along the edge of the ship.

  “How do you land in here?” I asked.

  “We navigate better than the rest,” said the Hottini. “Follow.” It waited for the others to file through a low, wide door, then led us through. We were in a narrow hall, again just wide enough for one Hottini to pass.

  “Where are we going?”

  “The captain will deal with you.” The Hottini suddenly stopped and turned its head to stare at the wall to our right. A few seconds passed. Then a piece of the wall disappeared in a flash of light, and the Hottini calmly walked into the space.

  We followed it into what turned out to be a cylinder, big enough for maybe three Hottini. The wall reappeared in front of us, and the floor began to shake. We seemed to be going up. The wall disappeared again, but instead of a passage, we were now in front of a large room with its own window. Through the window, I saw that the planet was now farther away and getting smaller.

  A single Hottini stood in front of the window, looking out. It was dressed differently than the others. Its covering was not see-through, but was a deep black like on TV. Everything was covered but its head. The blue hair on its head was slicked back, so that its ears appeared to stick up. They were sharp and pointy and twitched as the Hottini turned around to face us. Its eyes were the very deepest purple.

  “You are Ry-an and Beck-y,” said the Hottini in black, looking straight at me.

  I raised my arms up and nudged Becky with my foot. She got the picture and raised her arms too. We brought them down together.

  “Yes, honored Hottini captain,” I said, praying I was pronouncing it right.

  “I am Grav-e.” He nodded at me very, very slightly.

  “Gravy?” Becky whispered.

  “That’s right, Becky. The captain’s name is Grav-e.” I tried to give her my meanest look without making it obvious.

  She giggled.

  Grav-e growled something in their language. Suddenly the other one was behind us, wrapping a front leg around Becky’s waist.

  She screamed.

  The Hottini pulled her away from me, holding her in midair.

  “Ow! Stop!” Becky kicked her legs, and the Hottini wrapped one of his hind legs around them. He seemed to have no trouble at all standing on just two legs, one front and one hind.

  I raised my arms again. “We are infinitely sorry. Becky is too young to understand.” No, she wasn’t. Why couldn’t she just keep it together? I struggled to keep my face calm.

  Grav-e turned back to the window. The planet was now a tiny speck in the distance, but I could still see its sun, though it was also growing smaller. “It took three hundred years of space flight to travel home, before the Masters built the tunnels,” he said. I couldn’t interpret his tone. It sounded flat, as if he’d forgotten about the insult. Yet the other one still held Becky in his grip.

  She had stopped struggling and was now letting the tears roll down her face.

  I kept my arms raised high. “What tunnels, honored Grav-e?”

  “Large portals the Masters have cut through space using their knowledge of bok. They have built tunnels from O-thul-ba to our planet and between other places of their choosing. They do not tell us where all the tunnels are.” Grav-e paused for a few seconds.

  I wanted to lower my arms, but the ritual was only to be done facing the person of honor. Now that Grav-e had turned away, I couldn’t finish it without insult.

  “Watch,” he said.

  Suddenly, the sun and stars in the window were gone. There was total blackness. More seconds went by.

  Becky and the other Hottini were both silent, also watching the window
.

  Grav-e turned back to me.

  I brought my arms down swiftly and bowed forward.

  “You have a calculator.”

  How did he know? I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing.

  “You cannot hide such a powerful device from us.” Grav-e turned the rest of his body away from the window so that he was facing me straight on. Behind him, the view was still completely dark. “We have saved you. Now you will give the calculator to us.” He pulled one foot out of his boot, a much smaller boot than the gravity boots the others had been wearing. The naked foot had many fingers, and they curled toward me like a hand.

  I heard footsteps behind me. I did not need to look to know that there were more Hottini out there, preventing my escape. As if I could go anywhere while they had me on a spaceship. Plus, they had saved us. I didn’t have much of a choice.

  I pulled my backpack around my shoulders and dug in it for the calculator. It was buried below the food and water, but appeared unharmed. I reached in and pulled it out. Grav-e did not move, so I walked forward and placed it in his foot.

  Grav-e sat down abruptly on his haunches and pulled his other front leg out of his boot. It turned out to also have fingers. I counted eight on each foot. “Explain.”

  “I don’t know a lot,” I said. “All I know is how to get from one door to another. You push this.” I took it from him and pushed the place on the top that was supposed to show the starting grid. Lines flashed across the screen, but it didn’t show anything coherent. “I don’t know what it does out here where there are no doors.” I handed the calculator back to Grav-e.

  Abruptly, the screen went off. I reached over and pushed the spot on the top again, but nothing happened. I picked it up out of Grav-e’s feet. The screen came on by itself, lines flashing incoherently.

  Grav-e turned his whole head to face me and nodded slightly. It was the same respectful-looking nod that the other Hottini had given to the Xaxor. It didn’t make me feel better.

  “It has an imprint,” said Grav-e.

  The Hottini holding Becky was giving me the same look. I now saw four others in the doorway, still, but watching me. Becky was crying a little, but she didn’t look hurt.