"Dipper ! Dipper, please wake up! "
Dipper heard his sister's voice as though it was coming from the end of a tunnel. Slowly he opened his eyes.
Mabel exhaled. "Oh, thank goodness you're okay!"
"Yeah, I'm okay, "Dipper mumbled, putting his hands flat on the floor to push himself up. "Mabel, are you?"
His sister nodded, but grimaced.
Sitting up, Dipper looked around. They were in—some child's room, it seemed, there were toys scattered about, and two beds on opposite sides of the room.
"What is this place?" Dipper wondered aloud.
"Ah, hello, children. I hope that you find your environment satisfactory. "
The twins looked up to see a man in a long robe. He stood about seven feet tall, Dipper guessed, with white pupil-less eyes and a bush of white hair on his head.
Dipper scrambled to his feet. "Who are you? Where are our friends? "
"Ah, do not worry. They are quite safe. I have dealt with the Guardians before. As for who I am, you may call me the Collector. "
Dipper and Mabel looked at each other. This was the guy the Guardians had been telling them about.
"Let us out of here, you—" Mabel started to say as she charged toward the man. Electricity crackled as she hit some kind of force field and was thrown back into the room.
"Mabel!" Dipper cried, running to his sister. Glaring up at the Collector he demanded, "Why have you brought us up here? "
"Well, I would very much have preferred to have you by yourselves, without ze Guardians." The Collector said. "I have never seen a male and female of the human species who looked so much alike. "
Mabel groaned and sat up, holding her head. "You've never seen twins before? Where have you been, mister? "
"Twins, you say? Eenteresting. " The Collector turned to make his way down the hall way that crossed in front of the force field. "Enjoy your stay. It will be fascinating watching you grow up. "
Dipper went as close to the force field as he dared and looked out. They were in some sort of cylindrical structure—around and above them were several more "cells" like theirs, in which he could see numerous other creatures.
"Oh my gosh—the multi-bear! Manataur guy !"
Mabel got up and came to Dipper's side, careful not to touch the force field again. "Oh, my gosh—look at all those—creature things! Dip, we've got to get out of here and get them all to their homes!"
Dipper nodded. "The trouble is, how do we get out of here—and how do we find our friends?"
In another section of the ship, the Guardians and McGucket were in a far less furnished, darker cell.
Gamora went over to McGucket, who had sat down by the wall, taken his spectacles off and put his head in his hands.
"It'll be all right, Mr. McGucket—we'll get out of here and find the kids. " Gamora assured him.
The older man didn't look up. "If anything happens to them, I'll never forgive myself. "
"I am Groot." Groot said in a soothing tone, placing a bark-covered hand on McGucket's back.
"Thank you, big fella." McGucket said, looking up at him. "An' you, too, miss. I just don't know how we're gonna get outta here. "
Drax grabbed the bars of the cell. "I shall bend these apart."
Rocket was looking around at the cell walls. "Don't do that, muscle brain, you'll probably set off some kind of alarm or something."
Drax turned and looked at Rocket. McGucket tried to figure out if the muscular green man was angry or not, but then he said, "To the best of my knowledge, Rocket, the brain is not considered a muscle, nor are there any in it. "
McGucket stood up, came over to Rocket and knelt down so that he could look the Guardian in the eye. "Where d' ya suppose th' controls fer this alarm'd be, if'n there was one? "
Rocket grinned and raised an eyebrow. "I like where you're goin' with this, McGucket." He said.
He looked around the cell, then went over to the bars and looked around the room.
"So, you like electronic stuff, Mr. McGucket?" Quill asked from his seat on the floor.
"Y'could say that." The older man answered him, feeling around one of the cell walls for a hidden door of some sort that would reveal the alarm controls. "I've—built a few mechanical things in my day. If Rocket 'er I c'n find the controls for the alarm, he 'r I c'n likely disarm it an' we can get out of here and find those kids. "
In their own cell, Dipper was sitting on the floor. He was chewing on his left forefinger knuckle, and with the other hand he was rubbing the "Big Dipper" birthmark on his forehead. Mabel had noticed over the past year that her twin brother had gotten into the habit of doing the latter as well as chewing on things when he was thinking.
Mabel was looking around the room. It had been furnished with random things—the beds, baby blocks, a race car set, a couple of dolls.
I wonder if the Collector guy ever had any kids? She thought, flopping on her back on one of the beds.
Looking up at the ceiling, she figured that it was maybe eight feet above them. It was made of dull metal from the look of it, and was smooth, except for—
"Dipping sauce!" she cried, sitting up.
Her brother shook his head and blinked hard, as if having trouble pulling himself away from his thoughts. "What's wrong, Mabel? "
"Nothing's wrong—" his sister answered, pointing up. "I think that I just found our way out of here. "
