OLD TIMER – with Teresa and Johnny Highpitch go to the moon in order to secure the mysterious Compound X
OX – Is caught stealing Compound X, and in the resulting struggle, brought the ceiling down on top of everyone.
There was only darkness and silence.
Then, there was a slight hissing sound.
“Give me a light,” said Teresa. Johnny cracked open the emergency light on his suit’s belt. Looming over them was Ox; his fierce muscles the only thing preventing the large pile of boulders from crushing them all. Old Timer was lying by Ox’s feet. Teresa crawled over and pushed her hands on top of a small tear in Old Timer’s suit.
“Tape!” she shouted. “Hurry!” Johnny complied, pulling the sealant from his belt. After a few tense seconds, they mended the rip, but Old Timer was still unconscious.
“So, now what?” asked Johnny. “We only have so much air, and our large friend here has only so much strength.” He didn’t mention the fact that Ox could easily kill them both if they were not in this predicament.
Teresa picked up the ray gun. “Don’t lose hope yet,” she said. She started to take apart the gun and pulled out various items from her suit pockets. After fifteen minutes of tinkering in dim lights, Teresa presented them with a strange looking contraption.
“I’ve increased the output on the ray gun,” explained Teresa. “It may be abl to burn a tunnel through the rubble. Unfortunately, I don’t know how long it will last before the battery dies.”
“We’ve got no other choice but to try,” said Johnny. “We need to get Old Timer back to the saucer as fast as possible.”
“Please hurry,” rasped Ox. “It’s getting awfully heavy.”
“But which way should I start? I don’t remember which way was the entrance,” said Teresa.
Johnny pressed his helmeted head against the wall and pounded the wall. “There’s a hollow area, maybe 10 meters away.”
With that, Teresa turned on the device, and they watched as it started to shoot rays that melted through the rock. Teresa carefully aimed the device until it burned a hole just large enough for Ox to fit into. She ducked down into the hole in the wall and let the device burn further and further into the rumble.
When there was enough room, Johnny entered the makeshift tunnel, dragging along the unconscious Old Timer. That left Ox alone, carrying the weight of the ceiling on top of him. He hesitated, thinking of the two thugs crushed to death, before squeezing into the tunnel after Johnny; the collapsing rocks sealing the tunnel after him.
They slowly edged their way through the tunnel. They could feel the raw heat from Teresa’s device through their suits. It seemed like an eternity crawling in the cramp tunnel, until, suddenly, the device died. Teresa and Johnny grasped at the wall, trying to tear it down with their gloved hands. Johnny squeezed in front of Teresa and put his shoulder into breaking down the wall.
On his third try, the wall caved in, and they found themselves in tunnel leading to the entrance to the mine. They were soon met by the local authorities, who helped Johnny bind Ox before he could get away. Teresa immediately took Old Timer back to their saucer. Once inside, she took him out of the suit, and placed him in the medical bay. She placed an oxygen mask over his face and watched the sensors report that his condition was stable.
Johnny brought in Ox, sat him down, and stripped out of his spacesuit. He went into the cockpit and started the saucer’s engine. The craft lurched upward, and soon they were making their way back to the planet.
Ox sat quietly, staring at the heavy-duty handcuffs clamped onto his wrists. He had made no attempt at escape since the cave-in. He knew that he had failed his master in stealing the precious Compound X, and even if he did escape, there would be nothing but punishment awaiting his return. He was much safer in jail than he was a free man.
But as the saucer was completing re-entry into the planet’s atmosphere, Ox had a new thought. Clearly, his captors were extremely intelligent, far smarter than him at least. When they got back to their base, they would surely interrogate Ox, and sooner or later, Ox would incidentally mention something of importance that would lead them to his master.
This sort of mistake was unforgivable, and the only punishment was death. Ox realized with a fury that he had to get free. There was a small hope that his master would give him a second chance, but he had to act quickly before he compounded his troubles.
With a tug of his superior muscles, the handcuffs snapped into two. He silently stalked throughout the saucer until came about Teresa, still tending the unconscious Old Timer. Ox rushed her, and before she could open her mouth, he knocked her out. He then made his way to the front of the ship, towards the cockpit area.
Johnny Highpitch turned as the door behind him opened. Being agile, he was able to jump out of the way as Ox lunge towards him. Unfortunately, this was exactly what Ox wanted. His large hands ripped into the controls, tearing it apart.
“Stop!” shouted Johnny. “You don’t know what you’re doing!” Johnny tried to pull Ox away from the saucer’s control, but to no avail. He dodged one of Ox’s blows and punched him in the stomach. It felt like punching a wall.
Ox grabbed ahold of Johnny and threw him into the wall. Ox took one look back at the trashed controls and then fled the cockpit, leaving a unconscious Johnny as the ground behind grew larger and larger in the windshield as the saucer plummeted to the ground.
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Written by J M Emmons. The story and all characters are copyrighted by J M Emmons.
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