PART FIVE

The gym teacher saw Phil panting and puffing. "Okay, Phil, you can go now. Only try to use the time to study or something."

"Or something," Phil whispered and then said aloud, "Sure. I...will."

The boy trotted off from the football game toward the jar. "Barry." He found it open and on its side. Phil tossed the jar. Phil, nervous and jumpy, headed for the locker room area. He stopped and looked at a man who was at a drain. The man started a machine and smoke went into the vent. Phil looked at it.

The second exterminator came out of the school to this man. "That should do it then. How about a lunch break?"

"Leave it?"

"Yes, in a few minutes time, any pests will be dead."

"All right, if you say so."

"All we have to do is come back, shut it off, and clean out anything dead inside--and anything alive in there is dead...very dead."

"Let's go then. I'm starved."

Phil heard this and watched them leave. "Barry!" Phil tore the device away from the vent and shut it off. "Barry, you may have gotten away from me, but I don't want you dead." He ran into the school and found another device which he pulled away from the drain and shut. All he knew was he wanted to save Barry if he could despite what he had wanted to use the little boy for.

In the circular drain, Dan blinked. The mist seemed to him to have thinned slightly. He sat up and although he could hardly breath, he decided to try to stand. He did so slowly and saw some thin rays of light sneaking through the mist. Dan moved that way. Something made him stagger. No--someone. Mark...Mark and Betty were in here with him.

Phil ran to another exterminating machine near the lunchroom and from the hall, could see the two men drinking coffee within it. He shut down the device.

Dan helped Mark and Betty down from the vent. All were coughing but they were outside and there was no sign of giants. "Let's get back to the..."

"Dan, Fitzhugh calling. Fitzhugh calling Dan. Dan?"

"Fitzhugh," Dan took his radio off his belt and opened it, looking up for any giants, "Go ahead, Fitzhugh."

"I've got Barry and we're back at the ship."

He was very happy to hear Fitzhugh was all right and even happier that the man had managed to rescue Barry, probably single handedly. Fitzhugh was surprising that way. He could come through when the chips were down and just when no one expected him to. "What?"

"I wish you could all get back here. It was the..."

"Not now, Fitz," Dan called. An SID car pulled up to the school. "We're on our way." Dan lead Betty and Mark to a shrub as far away from the school as they could get--which wasn't far.

Mark only realized what the arrival of the car meant, "Oh great. Just what we need."

Betty wiped tears from the mist, away as Kobick stepped out of the car, "Oh no. Kobick again!"

"And Greyson," Mark reported.

Kobick lowered Steve and Valerie down to the ground to a row of plants. Val said, "These are the ones we ran through."

"Or planted," Kobick insisted, bent over to talk to them.

"Kobick, use your head. Would we lead you to them if we did!" Steve yelled at him.

Dan heard and squinted, "He has Steve and Valerie!"

Kobick answered, "It would throw suspicion off you."

"Greyson, who was it who saved your life once before? Yeah, remember..." Steve read Greyson's guilt easily enough. Greyson was about to be killed by his own sergeant when Steve warned him. Greyson looked away from Steve. "...and you Kobick...who helped you save the city? You know where they're meeting tonight. Grab them and let us go."

Greyson said, "We can't let you go this time, Burton. I don't think you have anything to do with the drugs but we still have to round your people up."

"Thanks a lot," Val sounded sincere until she added, "..for nothing."

Kobick looked closer to them, "You'll at least be with us tonight when we do round them up--to tell us if you've seen any of them near those vicious things."

"Imagine planting the drugs right here in the commons area so no one would look here," Val told Steve.

"Pretty smart," he said, "But also kind of...dangerous."

Dan whispered, "C'mon--someone say where you're meeting them."

Steve looked at Kobick's face, "Okay, we'll be with you at that baseball park. If what you said about quite a few kids dying from this stuff is true and I'm sure it is...you can depend on us to help stop it."

"Thanks Steve," Dan smiled.

Kobick wrapped his hand around the pair and put them in a blue cage, "I do this with remorse."

"Cut the bull, Kobick," Steve looked out at him as Kobick held them up to his face, which filled the cage wire-window.

Greyson kept silent, knowing the little people not to be the menace they were once made out to be. But it was his job to capture them, like it or not--and he always did his job--whether he liked it or not.

Dan waited until the giants retreated to the car and the car zoomed away. "You two fit for movement?" They both nodded. They looked out that the attention the giant teens had given to the SID car had waned. The teens soon dispersed. "Let's get back to the ship. Kobick will soon have some men take those plants away."

Mark looked at him, "I doubt it. Not until after tonight. If he did, that would ruin the whole thing. If a kid dies today, that'll be okay with that one. Just as long as all goes well tonight."

Betty looked at them both, "What about tonight. We've got to be there too. To help Steve and Val."

"Let's go," ordered Dan, "We'll figure it out at the ship."

Night came---Phil followed Farley and Cohen toward the baseball park. The night seemed to drag on and on after they told him that the suppliers would be real upset over not having Barry. The two boys were now on their way to tell this to Mr. Big, whoever that was.

The night came relatively fast for the others from Spindrift. Preparing for a rescue which seemed impossible took up all their time. Dan lead Betty, Mark, Fitzhugh, and Barry past a wire fence to the dugout area. They hid behind a bench support.

On the field a dark car sat as if it belonged there. A spider in a trap. Mark pointed it out to Dan with infra-red binoculars. "It's them all right. Now all we have to do is wait for Kobick to show."

Dan grunted, "Where is he anyway?"

Fitzhugh placed himself in between the two men, "Actually this is the first time we want him to come."

Dan turned to him, still tired and annoyed, "Thanks for pointing that out, Fitzhugh." Fitzhugh cowered back. Dan's smile made him return. "Sorry, Fitz, just worried about Steve and Valerie."

"Quite understandable."

Betty looked to the left, "Giants. Two of them."

Along the fence the shadowy figures of Cohen and Farley moved along casually. The pair came out onto the field and moved at the parked car.

"Where are the police?" Fitzhugh asked. "...when you need them." They all looked at him, aware he had been a con man on Earth. Barry smiled.

"I don't know where they are," Dan said disgusted, "We can't help Steve and Valerie unless..."

Mark opened a suitcase into which he had long ago placed a small radio like device he fashioned out of old spare parts from tape recorder and worn radios. He put it on a large, flat rock. Mark had an ear jack plugged into it and an antenna was attached and spinning. "Listen..." He turned up the volume so they could all hear.

The car door opened and a voice within said, "Where are the little people? Do you have them?"

"Cohen..." Farley nodded.

"Here," Cohen took out Steve and Valerie and displayed them in his palm, "But shouldn't we wait for our dealer to show."

"It's time you knew, Cohen," Farley smiled, "I am the dealer."

Fitzhugh gasped, "Did you hear that? They have Steve and Valerie!"

Barry gulped, "It must've been a trap set by Inspector Kobick and Lt. Greyson."

"One of those kids must be helping them," Betty frowned, "That changes our plans."

Dan corrected, "No, it doesn't. Same plan, different car. Everyone ready?"

Betty took a position near the suitcase device. Dan, Mark, Barry, and Fitzhugh ran out to a base, then scattered. Dan and Barry met at a half-bat, which was cracked in two, discarded onto the field. Mark and Fitzhugh ran directly to the back of car and hid at the massive tire. Cohen thought he saw movement but ignored it.

Farley said, "All right, so you can give us the stuff right here. It's weighs so little we can carry loads of it back with us."

Mark unfastened his backpack and gave Fitzhugh a metal rod, "Hold this." He took out the scope device which they used to see into windows that were very high up. He started to attach the metal rod to it, "Hold it tight now." Mark made Fitzhugh hold the scope while he attached the new piece.

Betty turned the antenna toward a new direction. She opened her radio, "Dan. Dan. Giant coming from the left. He's almost behind you."

Dan moved Barry over the bat to hide behind its curve. "Stay down."

Barry saw the giant, "Dan, it's the boy who had me..."

"Just stay down!"

"Phil!" Barry called upward, as quietly as possible. "Phil!"

"Barry, stop!" Dan ordered.

Phil looked down at the two of them. Dan was on the other side of the bat, the side closest to Phil, "Run Barry!"

"No," the boy bent down closer, "No, I won't harm you."

"Phil, look, Cohen and Farley have two of our friends. Can you get them?" Dan hopped over the bat to Barry.

"Barry...I...I'll try." Phil stood and walked away.

Dan looked at Barry, whose eyes followed the giant boy, "That was a stupid move."

Barry followed Phil's movement, "Do you think he'll help us?"

"Let us help Mark and Fitzhugh, what do you say?"

"You don't think he'll help us," Barry figured.

"Just come on," Dan pulled his arm and they both jumped over the bat and ran through the dirt to the other wheel. At the back tire, Mark and Fitzhugh have set up the scope. Mark sends it up to the top of the tire which was out of their reach. He turns a new knob he put on the scope. The rod goes over to the tire's air nozzle and attaches to the cover. It unscrews it.

"Dan, the other side," Barry tells him, "The tire is low enough to reach."

"Yeah," Dan said, grabbed the hatchet and the rope shooter which could launch rope upward fast. Barry followed Dan to the other tire. They are at the back of the car. Dan looked out from under the car and saw Farley, Cohen, and the head of a giant man which stuck out of the car.

Barry asked, "Clear?"

"No. It'll be risky but--we have to."

Quietly and without moving fast, the two walk out to the air nozzle. Dan turned the cover off using the hatchet, then he looked at Barry, "Watch them, Bar, not me."

"Sorry."

The four Earthlings at the car were unaware Phil was watching them--he was hiding at the back of the car.

The man in the car laughed loudly. Betty winced and took off her earphones. "Farley, you are funny. Turn them over to the SID. Those fools?"

Cohen became very nervous, "Why, we could even do it for you."

The giant man took hold of Steve and Val and dropped them into a cage of his own. "No, no. You know nothing about their knowledge. They know our future. They can make it happen. Weapons, new drug mixtures, spaceships. Why there is no end to what they can tell us. We can soon rule this country, eventually with their power the planet."

Val smirked, "And I suppose after that you'll want to fly to Earth and make a stab at the universe to rule all that too!"

The man laughed again, "Not right away."

"Just how are you going to make us tell you all this?" Steve grew mad.

"We have ways. Don't we Farley?"

"I don't care who is hurt. They're yours. Just let me have my stuff to sell."

Dan held the hatchet into the metal nozzle of the tire, letting the air out. "There. This car isn't going anywhere."

"What about the front tires?" Barry looked to the front.

"No need," he answered and ran to Mark, "Done?"

"Done," Mark lowered the scope device down, "Now we..." He saw Phil's huge sneakers, "Giant!"

Barry noticed, "It's all right. He's with us."

Dan put a hand on Mark's shoulder, "He's going to help us--I hope."

"I don't feel safe here," Fitzhugh came from behind the tire and under the car.

Betty called in as low a voice as possible, "Dan, two or three cars pulling up. By the sound of it, on the other side of the car, away from the side Mark and Fitz were on."

Mark nodded and tried to see under the car to the other side, "Kobick."

Farley put three bags of white powder in his jacket. Cohen eyed the cage on the man's lap as the man sat back down into the car's front seat. Another voice from inside the dark car said, "Hey, does this car feel kind of low to you?"

"Yes, it's the weight of these two," the man in the front laughed.

"Oh, what a riot," Val quipped, "Bring on the real torture, please."

"No, I mean it. It doesn't feel right."

"Oh, I'll check the tires." The man, who wore a business suit, stood out of the car, still holding the cage.

"RUN! RUN!" Dan saw this man's feet on the other side. The four ran from that direction. At a base, Dan pointed, "Okay, get to the bat."

Phil saw his chance. He eyed the cage and dashed out. He easily managed to snatch it from the man's hand. Val and Steve fell. Phil ran for his life past third base. The man took out a gun but Cohen grabbed his arm, "You'll have every pig in the area here!"

"Silencer," the man explained. He pulled away and aimed as Phil ran. "I see him perfectly." He started to pull the trigger when Cohen grabbed his arm again and moved it away from the aim.

Phil, running, tripped over a rock and fell. The cage flew up into the air with Valerie yelling for her life. And who could blame her? It started downward but Phil saw it and jumped up with his hands out and he caught it. Placing it down, he opened the cage door, "Go, get out."

Steve held Val's arm, "Dizzy?"

"No," she almost passed out and fell.

Steve held her around the waist, "Come on."

Val looked up at the boy, "Thanks---whoever you are."

"No time to explain," Phil told them, "You must run and get out of here as fast as you can."

Val and Steve tried to run but they had trouble. Betty heard all this on the sound detector of the device. She picked up her radio, "Dan, they're free. They're okay."

"They are but these kids aren't."

"It's their own fault," Fitzhugh scolds.

The giant pushed Cohen onto the ground, "Now for you--then I'll get that other thieving punk."

"Kobick, where are you?" Mark panted.

Cohen stood brazenly, "You better not. The police are here."

The man aimed but then turned all around to look, mockingly saying, "Where? Where?"

Cohen pushed the man and ran off. The man took aim at Cohen's back. Farley yelled, "Don't. I'll get him!"

Cohen kicked up dirt as he ran past the four Earth humans at the half-bat. Dan looked, "Farley!" The dealer ran at them, blindly. "Help me move it." Mark, Barry, and Fitzhugh slide the bat in front of the running boy--with Dan directing. Dan saw the giant approaching fast and he knew the bat and boy would collide. Then the boy would fall--most likely onto their present spot.

This is what happened. Dan saw him cascade down at them. "Scatter! Get clear!"

Farley ran onto it and tripped as Phil before him. Cohen ran clear but Phil grabbed him. "What's going on?"

"I just saved your life. Now let's get out of here." The pair fled.

Farley recovered and went back to the car. The man was angry, "You fool. I'm going to..." he raised his gun to the boy's head.

"No!"

Betty listened as Steve and Valerie joined her, "Crazy maniac isn't he? He can't wait to kill a kid."

"The others? Where are the others?" Steve had one concern now: getting all his people out of here safely.

"Hey, the police are coming!" The other voice yelled out.

The man pushed Farley away and jumped into the car, "Let's get lost!"

At the radio device, Dan, Mark, Barry and Fitzhugh were greeted by Valerie and Steve. They calmed down the happy reunion and listened. Mark smiled as they listened, "Boy, does that guy have a surprise coming."

They heard the tires screech on the front but the back tires weren't moving. By now, Kobick, Greyson, and men surrounded the car with spotlights and guns. Greyson held Farley.

"They were going to kill me."

Greyson took out the white powder bags from Farley's coat, "Weren't you going to do the same to other kids? Huh, son?"

Kobick used a megaphone and yelled, "Come out with your hands up and your guns down."

Val mocked him, "Just like Kobick to say something cliche."

The tires stopped screeching and the car fell to silence except for one voice.

"I told you we had a flat."

The seven Earth people laughed.

Epilogue

Barry stood on a high rock surrounded by long ferns near a thick tree. He stared up at the brilliant sky full of bright stars. He was so involved in it that he didn't notice Steve climbed up behind him. "What're you thinking about?"

"Oh, back home. How similar people are."

Steve watched the boy rather than the stars Barry still stuck his eyes to, "Yes."

"You know, they do have a choice Steve."

"Sure they do but sometimes, they're lead astray by evil things," Steve added, "Look at Phil, deep down he knew what he was doing was wrong and he finally took a stand against it. Maybe it was what you said to him."

"What will happen to him?"

"I heard Kobick say he was going to be rehabilitated of his own free will. He just walked into a police station and said he needed help. Farley, well, he's a different story."

"You know, I just keep thinking of how many others there are that allow their lives to just wither away."

"Well, Barry," Steve began to watch the stars in the sky, too, "...you can't let the ones that are lost drag you down, too. If you do, you'll end up not much better off than they. All you have to do is think about the ones that are saved. Think of them."

Steve patted Barry's shoulder and left his arm around the boy's back, "Sure is nice up there."

Barry smiled and looked at him, "It is but...it's getting nicer and nicer here, too."

LAND OF THE GIANTS

The Danger of School