PART TWO

"You see, I was right!" Fitzhugh gasped. The hairy rodent towered over them. They remained very still. The fat, furry body moved swiftly as it charged. The four turned and ran down the second new opening. Fitzhugh lagged behind the other three, "Wait for me!" The rat came at him. It was then he remembered his flashlight that Dan gave him. He turned and shone it into the rat's eyes. It stopped, hissing. Fitzhugh kept it on the thing as he ran through a very dirty vent. He slipped on excess water and fell. "Ohhhhohhhohhh!" He slid out of a square shaped duct and into a room, onto his butt. It was a wooden floor. Dan, Betty, and Mark look down at him.

Betty pulled him up, "Shh, quiet, Fitzhugh."

"Okay begin," said a skinny, bearded giant band teacher. A band, made up of teenagers, began to play a classical piece.

Fitzhugh found himself caught up in it. He closed his eyes. "Ahhh."

Dan said, "Good. They won't hear us. Let's go."

"What?" Fitzhugh looked at him.

Dan pulled the man. Betty and Mark followed them around a gray stone wall and out an open wooden door, the door, thick as can be. In a wide hallway, Dan said, "We're going to have to watch out for teachers on hall duty."

"Dan, if we could find one of those shop classes we may..." Mark stopped. He was thinking of getting parts for their spaceship which still needed repairing. "No, Barry comes first."

Dan nodded, ignoring his first thought, "If only we had a plan of the school. You know like the main office would hand out."

Mark looked down the huge hall which seemed to extend into infinity, "Only which way is the main office?"

"Mark, Betty, go down that hall. Fitzhugh, you come with me on the turn," Dan checked his wrist watch, "The classes might change soon."

Betty and Mark go down the hall while Fitzhugh and Dan, carefully followed the wall, and turned around a tiled wall into a new corridor. Betty and Mark stopped at a classroom door, miles high. Mark looked at it, "Can we fit under?"

"Sure," Betty dropped to her knees, "See." She looked into the room.

Mark watched the hall as she checked. "Anything?" "No, let's try the next one," Betty rejoined Mark and they ran across the wide hall to the frame of the next door. Looking under they saw a huge class of students being taught by a middle aged giant woman. Some students were asleep and some were near sleep.

"I don't see anyone that looks like that boy," Mark whispered, "Let's go."

Elsewhere, Dan closed his radio, "No go from Steve yet. Let's keep moving." He and Fitzhugh walked down a hall that was tiled on each side. They turned a corner and stopped, looking overhead. A young woman giant stood with her back slouched against a wall, reading a book in her hands. Dan whispered, "She's on hall duty."

Fitzhugh says, "We'll never get past."

Suddenly, the giant walked toward them, not taking her eyes off the book. The two turn to run but a giant boy with a cowboy hat on and a blonde girl in a mid-drift approached.

"Do you two have a pass?"

"I do," the girl said, opening her pocketbook, "Let me find it..."

"Now," Dan ran from the corner.

"Now?" Fitzhugh shrugged, did a double take and followed, "Now!" He ran past the sneakers of the two students. He joined Dan at an adjacent corner and the two hide at a wooden bathroom door.

"Your teacher's name better be on it, too."

"It is," droned the boy, removing his sunglasses.

Dan looked back, "The coast is clear. Come on!"

Fitzhugh nodded, "Wait! Someone's coming out of the bathroom!" They dash to the back of the wall as the door swung open toward them, threatening to crush them! They back up against the wall as much as possible, the tiles behind their backs. Fitzhugh blinks nervously as the door comes at them. He closes his eyes as it bangs. A wall bumper with just enough room to allow Dan and Fitzhugh room, stopped the door. A giant boy, relieved, struts out, adjusts his pants, and moves off.

Dan puffed, "The guy that designed this place ought to be shot."

Fitzhugh peered out, "It's clear again." They dashed out, down a new hall and past an exit door. "Dan, look!" He pointed to a large sectioned off, glass windowed office, "That must be the main office."

"Could be. Let's take a look," Dan instructed. He ran out, across an intersection and stopped at a beige wall.

Fitzhugh followed again and started to say something, "I..." when a giant woman, this one much older, exited the office. He and Dan leaned on the wall as she stopped. She ripped out papers from a notebook and flung them to the floor nearby.

"Useless trash, bah!" She moved on, her high heels clicking away.

Dan shrugged, "A secretary maybe."

Fitzhugh chanced looking at the papers, "Dan, the jackpot! A diagram of the school like you asked for, remember?"

Dan smiled as he read it, "Yeah."

Fitzhugh's gaze wandered off with the giant lady, "A lady who works here so long, as that one obviously has, wouldn't need it." "Yeah, right. I'll try to memorize it. Keep a look out."

Nervously, Fitzhugh looked about, "Don't take too long."

Searching some more, Betty and Mark ran from a classroom door to under a heater. Mark puffed, "No luck thus far but we've got to keep looking."

"That looks like an intersection to some ore halls," Betty burst out.

Mark looked at her, smiling, "Got your breath?"

"Huh-uh," Betty swallowed, "And ready..."

"C'mon then," he took her hand and they ran.

They ran under the heater but they didn't get very far. Betty saw two black shoes stomp in front of them as they were about to run from under the heater's cover. "Oh, Mark!" They back up against the wall under the heater.

A teacher with a large partially bald head marched the hallway. Following against the wall, the two slipped past the heels of the nosey looking man, who surveyed the opposite hallway. Passing him, they scurried over to a class door.

Mark opens a mail slot on the older style door and looked in, "No good. I think we'd have better luck if we split up."

"No Mark. One of us captured is enough," Betty warned, "We have to stick together."

"Have it your way," he said and pointed, "Try that one." They fled to another door and slipped under.

A very tall, lanky woman stood from a desk cluttered with objects. In a screeching voice she said, "This next poem is by a very, very famous writer. Called..."

Near the door in a student desk-seat, a girl cried, "Mrs. Osem, look! By the door!"

Mark called, "Let's get out!"

A chorus of, "little people," filled the room.

Osem took her pointer off the black board and slapped it down at Mark and Betty! They moved toward the door and it missed. They slid under it but the pointer followed. It moved back and forth. Betty gasped but Mark pulled her toward a vent.

As Osem furiously attacked the under door, she never thought to open the door. Her bending down made her skirt go up and her class became alive with laughter at the sight of her underwear from behind. "All right, class, calm down. It was only a mouse."

"Not from where I'm sitting," one boy called out.

Osem opened the door and looked out. At a vent, Betty and Mark watched her. She scanned the hall. Mark whispered, "Don't move."

After what seemed hours, Osem finally retreated back into her classroom. Betty released a long breath, "You think she'll report us?"

"I don't know. I do know she got a better look at us than to think we were mice."

Outside, Steve and Valerie ran through a bed of plants and flowers to stop at a wooden enclosure, opened at one side. Val whispered, "This is the commons area, I guess." They crouched down.

"Yes. Look." Steve pointed up to a large group of young girls and boys smoking rolled up cigarettes. "Apparently the giants have a drug problem, too."

"Which I bet they blame us for." Val looked outward.

"Why so pessimistic?"

"They blame us for everything else," Val stared into his eyes, "...from pollution to riots to gas pains."

Steve shot her a look. "They're busy so let's be too and try for the vent Dan told us about."

"What about the rats," Val inquired, then became humor-filled, "Not them," she nodded at the giant smokers, "...the real ones."

Before Steve could answer, a black Special Investigations Department car pulled up and a familiar figure shot out of it, flanked by four men. A man in a tie and suit came out of the school to help the newcomers round up the juvenile smokers. Another giant came out of a blue SID car. Val and Steve could hear the teens spout a chant of, "Filthy pigs!"

Val squinted and guessed even before she saw him, "Not Kobick...!"

"Him again," Steve puffed, "All we need."

Val stretched her body up so she could see better. "And that other one...looks like Lt. Greyson."

"Keep down!" Steve poked her head down.

The SID men tossed a number of the students into the cars as another one arrived. The man in the suit told them, "Yes, I'm the Principal here. My name's Henn. You handled this one well. No siren, no alarms, no gunshots..."

Kobick frowned, not appreciating the sarcasm, "Very funny, Mister Principal. I'm well aware of your concern over the publicity but I did it so as not to scare these..." he groped for a word, "...kids."

Henn asked, "What will happen to them?"

Greyson came closer to him, "Well, Mr. Henn, you know that as well as I do. Jail for awhile, programs, rehab, the usual and then...back out here to start all over..." Greyson was more humane in approach than Kobick and his monotone voice put people at ease unlike Kobick's continually threatening, loud manner.

"We want the pusher," Kobick waved a fist, "The one or ones behind it all. Perhaps, the little people..."

"I told you so," Val mocked.

"I did hope you'd resist saying that," Steve whispered without looking at her.

Henn laughed, "Little people..you can't be serious...you don't think..."

"The drug incidents do correspond to their sightings," Kobick intoned.

Greyson offset him, "However, we do not have definite proof."

"Are you done here?"

Kobick smiled, "For now we are."

"Eager to be rid of us?" Greyson asked.

"In all honesty, yes."

"We'd better wait here for a awhile," Steve ordered. Val frowned but sat cross legged near some plants. She figured she could use the rest.

Dan and Fitzhugh could have used a rest, too but that was what they were hardly going to get. They crawled under to a door and under a slant vent that was in it. They looked up at a large stairway section which went up and split to two stairs and ended above into two halls. Dan nodded, "We haven't thought of something. Suppose he went upstairs?"

"You don't mean you intend to..."

"Come on."

"Up there?" Fitzhugh's eyes wandered upward, wondering if he could.

"Yes, where else? Besides..." Dan patted his friend's stomach, "...you could use the exercise..." He ran to a step and reached up. He climbed up and turned to see Fitzhugh gallantly trying to follow him. He helped pull him over the edge. Dan puffed and stood up, "Look, there's quite a few more, Fitz, maybe you should..."

"No," Fitzhugh waved, "For Barry, I can make them."

"Well, okay, if you're sure," Dan said and then started up. After getting up it, he reached out and pulled Fitzhugh's arms up--with Fitzhugh attached. "Good."

In the hallway they were in, Mark and Betty checked the last classroom. A giant boy with a hall pass stomped by them at the door. Mark pointed quickly, "We'll run across that field to the other side of the school. There's a wall there connected to the main area. It's clear. Now!" They ran out over a flat, open cement walk which was good for running. At a curb, Mark yelled, "Jump!" They hopped off it and ran across a field to a small tree to them which was really just a small sprout to Giants. "Let's catch our breath."

"Don't you mean so I can...can...catch mine..." she said and then saw his look of protest, "Tactfully put by you of course..." Mark smiled at her comment. She was always so honest and straight forward. A screech of tires made them look skyward to see a hot-red colored sports car skid around the front of the school's main drive through entrance. Betty puffed and finally caught her breath, "These kids sure get away with a lot."

"As did the kids in the 60's, the 70's and the 80's back home on Earth."

"Yes, and probably will do so in the 90's."

"Hopefully we can find that out first hand since we don't plan to be on this planet for that decade."

"Oh," Betty smiled, "Only this decade?"

Dan and Fitzhugh reached the first platform. Fitzhugh didn't look up anymore, "Are we on the second floor?"

"No, Fitzhugh," Dan calmed him, "We still have to go up that way." He showed him the steps split off and they would go up one of the sides to the second floor.

"Oooooohhhh."

"Come on, hop to it," Dan happily encouraged him and patted his arm, "Give it your spunk!"

Suddenly without warning, the bells rang. Fitzhugh yelled, "Forty five minutes! They're over!"

Dan looked around for some cover, "We'll never reach the top before they get here!" He peered up to the sound of giants coming from all directions. He ran to the first step going up from the platform level. "Here!"

"We'll be crushed!"

"No, Fitzhugh, lie down!" Dan pulled him down. They laid down against the wall of the step. "Stay put!"

"But..."

"Shut up!" Dan flattened himself against the step wall and found that the top of the step had its own platform which stuck out slightly. It could give them some cover. They heard the steps of the giants walking up the stairs! Dan winced as huge feet trumped by. Fitzhugh saw huge feet coming down, stepping from above. A forest of legs paraded all around them. They saw boots, sneakers, sandals, high heeled shoes, slip on shoes, and more variety than they cared to remember. Dan had his head near Fitzhugh's as they faced each other, lying opposite, head to head. "It should be over soon." He saw Fitzhugh tighten his lips to not say a word. Fitzhugh closed his eyes. Dan wanted to do the same but he was too scared to.

Outside, Betty and Mark stayed down as the teens passed. Betty looked to Mark, both among giant leaves near the tree.

A few stragglers passed Fitzhugh and Dan. Just as they suspected the last giant had bounced past, down or up, another would appear from above or below and cause them to lose their Adam's apple in their throats all over again. Dan looked out after the bell rang again but had to duck back down to avoid the high heel of a giant girl.

Mark, outside, looked at his watch, "It's over. The bell should have rang by now."

"Let's get out of here then."

"No, wait. Give it a minute."

At the steps, Dan pulled Fitzhugh's sleeve and the man came up, "Now!"

"Again with the now!" Fitzhugh joked but he appreciated Dan's warnings and that the man wouldn't just leave him in these very dire circumstances. They race to the step top and then began to climb upward.

Betty and Mark ran to another curb outside and jumped up, Mark helping Betty. A monster automobile came skidding past them, making them move faster. They raced to an entrance to a new hall.

In some classroom, the blonde boy who took Barry, sat. He was not listening to his teacher go on and on about politics and rule by the few. The boy peered into his loose leaf and saw Barry lying in the binder. "You--Philip--why aren't you paying attention?" The gray haired teacher came up to his desk, "What have you in there?"

All eyes were on the book. "Nothing."

"You haven't been listening since you walked in here. What're you hiding?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The man smiled grimly. "Very well. I'll see for myself!" He opened the loose leaf quickly but only saw blank papers. "I...uhh...I could've sworn I saw...sorry Philip."

Phil gulped. Why push him today? "It's okay, Mr. Jerad."

The teacher turned and walked up to the blackboard. As everyone settled down from laughing and chattering, Phil looked on the floor. Barry was hiding at three thick textbooks lying near the loose leaf on the desk. Phil put his hand around the books toward him. Barry backed up from it but backed right into Phil's other hand. He was enclosed by it. Phil stared only at his teacher. He then put Barry into an empty cigarette box in his desk and took the box out and put it into his shirt pocket. Barry leaned on a cigarette and noticed it was hollow. Inside, was what looked like rolled up seeds.

Steve and Valerie knelt by the edge of the commons area. There were two teens, male and female, who sat in front of the vent they had to get into. The boy had long blonde hair and the girl was a filthy mess. The girl took out plastic and Val noticed it had white powder in it. She shook herself to confront the problem of Barry. "So Steve, how do we get in?"

Steve grabbed her hand, "I'll show you." They walked under a parked car to the side of the two giants who sat on the wood benches. At the other side of the wall was an alley between two other walls and at the end of the alley were four doors. "There."

Val warned, "Giants!" Four boys emerged from two of those doors. They seemed younger than the others.

A tall, neat looking boy said, "Now we play fair and square."

"Me and my pal play no other way."

Val quipped, "They've sure mastered the English language."

"Sure, Robac, sure."

"Let's start," a smaller, black haired boy said and the game of handball began.

"Now what?" Val bent down again, "Where do we go in?"

Steve smirked, "Well, even these pros muff up once in awhile. Are you game?"

"Welllll, they'll see us." Val smiled back at him, "They're sure to see us." No answer. "...however...I'm game."

"The next clear shot then."

Val frowned, "I'm just worried about their clear shots."

The four boys who played handball were very good at it. Steve watched from the corner of the alley, "They're not making any mistakes." The sound of the ball being hit against the wall and their hands began to dull the pair of Earth humans.

"At this rate, we could be here all day."

Steve checked his watch, "We have about forty minutes till the next period."

"You mean this handball game had periods, like hockey?"

Suddenly, the popping sound of the flying ball stopped. Robac, the red headed boy, laughed, "You messed up, Jadarn!"

"That means we serve."

"No, we serve," Val said as she and Steve ran along the wall, the wall away from the boys but also opposite them.

Robac said, "Come on, give me the ball." The shorter boy picked it up and handed it to Robac while Valerie and Steve ran. Robac served. Val screamed as the rubber ball bounced in front of them. Jadarn hit it next as it came to him and it bounced above their heads.

Steve pulled Val's hand, "Don't stop!"

The third boy hit the ball and it smashed behind Val. Steve pulled her toward a curb. The last boy hit the ball and then Robac hit it.

Steve gasped, "Watch it!"

Robac hit the ball too low and just as Steve and Val stopped running to jump up the curb toward the four doors, the bouncing ball flew toward both little people.