13 A Hero’s Reception

Chapter Thirteen A Hero's Reception "Foggy, can you go back in after him, please?" asked Finn. "Who knows what he's getting up to in there." "On it, young Finn," said Foggy. He started to dive back into the tunnel, when suddenly Jern burst out onto the surface. "Jeez, you jamokes sure like to talk," said the bug. "Flap gums. Chew the fat. Flip the burgers." "Please, Jern," said Abigail. "Get out of the way." "Why, you going after Sergeant-at-Arms Vale Gil?" he laughed. "Yes!" shouted Finn. "Now please move. We need to get in there." "Sure thing," said the beetle. "But you're not getting back in there anytime soon."

Following the beetle, one at a time, were ninety-seven of his closest friends, all scurrying out to the surface. Ten minutes went by before the stream finally ended. "Okay, here I go," said Foggy. "No, wait," said Abigail. "Vale could be anywhere in there by now. If you go in, then we'll have lost two of you." "What is that jamoke even doing back in there?" said Jern.

"No idea," said Finn. "But Abigail is right. The best thing we can do is get back to the pod and get it ready to fly out of here. We can't stand around and wait for Saphrite to notice us again and send her antibodies. We won't leave without Vale, but let's give him time to get himself out of there first." The troop ran back to the explorer pod. The antibody ants had done a number on it. The outside was heavily scratched. But there were no cracks in the windshield, and when Abigail powered on the pod, there was no doubt it would be able to take off. "Let's fly it over to the belly button," said Elias. "So if Vale gets out, we can grab him and go." "You mean, when he gets out," said Finn. But truth be told, they were all worried. Abigail launched the pod and flew it toward the tunnel. But before it got even halfway there, an enormous claw rose from the ground. It swatted at the pod, knocking it off course and bouncing it off the hard ground. Or, off Saphrite's hard hide. The explorers looked up to find Saphrite's giant, yellow eye looking right at them.

"She definitely knows we're here," said Abigail. She pulled up on the levers, but Saphrite's claw swiped again, knocking the pod back down to the ground where it skidded to a stop. Abigail tried to lift off again, but Saphrite caught the pod in her paw like a baseball. "What do we do?" said Abigail. "Every time I try to outmaneuver her, she's quicker than our ship." BOOM! Saphrite slammed the pod to the ground, just beside the belly button. The bugs, scared to be caught up in Saphrite's rage, all scattered. "Okay, it's okay," said Elias. "Let's just think."

"Yes," said Foggy. "We just need to put our heads together and puzzle this out." CRACK! Saphrite began to squeeze the pod, pressing it down into the ground. She was trying to crack the pod open like an egg. CRACK! CRACKCRACKCRACK! "That does not sound good," said Finn. "I don't know how much more of this the ship can take!" said Abigail. CRACK! WHOOOOOP! An alarm began to sound on the explorer pod. The ship was going to break open any second. "Think!" Finn said to himself. "Think. There has to be a way out of this." "I don't think there is," said Elias. Suddenly, there was a strange cry from Saphrite's belly button. "BWWWAAAAAIIIINNNNSSSS!" A hand poked out of the belly button. It was followed by an arm, and then another arm. It looked like a zombie climbing out of its grave. "BWWWAAAAAIIIINNNNNNSSS!!" came the voice again.

Vale's head poked out of the belly button. And just a second later, he leapt to the surface of the planet. On his back, holding on with all four of his arms, was the alien who had greeted them in the first stomach. "Hey, guys!" shouted Vale. "I'm back. Thanks for waiting. Remember this guy? The zombie guy? Guess what? Turns out his name is Elav. That's like my name backward. Hey, are you guys okay? You look worried. Were you worried about me? Oh, that's so sweet." The explorers were all stunned. They couldn't think of a single thing to say, even as Saphrite continued swatting at their ship. "I'm just kidding," said Vale. "I know you're really worried about the pod. One sec. Elav, give me a hand?"