Part One and a Half--Chipper's Nightmare

Chipper's nightmare is worth mentioning but not in detail. It was very similar to Barry's nightmare. The major difference was that he kept having nightmarish visions of Barry leaving him. Other than the stray giant cat that attacked the dog, Chipper's nightmare was akin to Barry's.

Part Two-Betty's Nightmare

Inside Spindrift's passenger compartment, Betty put the finishing touches on Dan's sling. He had hurt his shoulder escaping Dr. Burger's probing walking cane. The giant had come very close to the camp but he left, no explanation could come to him as to why. Probably Andre's doing. "There. That ought to hold."

Dan looked at her from the red chair and smiled, "Feels better already. Thanks." He stood to go out.

"Wait," Betty thumbs through a medical book, "It prescribes at least five minutes rest."

Dan smirked, "Okay, okay. I give in. But only for five minutes." Dan sat back and closed his eyes.

Betty quietly recollected all the galley dinner utensils from the floor. When Burger hit the ship, her collection had spilled all over. She was storing them in one box so that they would be easy to find if the ship was ever in flight again--something they were hoping would happen very soon after the device were working properly..

Finishing, she carried the box outside, nearly colliding with Fitzhugh, who was carrying a box of his own. He lets her pass. Betty stopped him, "Where'd Steve take off to?"

"He went after Valerie and Barry."

"Are they in trouble?"

"I don't think so. Look, this is heavy. Can I go in now?"

As Fitzhugh did so, Betty called after him, "Steve hasn't ordered us to load up the ship yet."

Fitzhugh rolled his eyes and pretended he didn't hear. Betty decided to heave the box down to the stream and clean the plates. Upon arriving in the clearing of foliage, she felt tired. To refresh her, she moved to the edge of the stream to throw water on her face. She knelt down but two eyes stared up at her through the haze of water. A titanic sneaker rose up and made ready to strike. Betty turned to run but slow motion, multi colored lights hit her, making her run as if in a dream. She strained to move. The snake uncoiled out of the stream, mouth open. It dove for Betty but the lights made her vanish. The snake hit the ground, face first.

The church was an old one. Not dilapidated, just old. It reminded Betty of a church they experienced in Ekman's ghost town of toys. Only this church had plenty of activity as cars and limos were parked outside and people hurried in, dressed in tuxedos and best Sunday dress. She knew none of these people but she began to follow them into the church vestibule. A hurrying woman, reminding Betty of Valerie's secretary, Miss Smitty, nearly knocked her down. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I really must hurry inside. But in your condition...anyhow I many congratulations." The woman sped off into one of the church pus.

Betty became aware of herself. She was undeniably pregnant. Her eyes widened until she realized it must be Steve's baby. It had to be. She slowly walked into the church. She kept walking toward the front of the walkway, to the front of the altar. There she could see two figures, a bride and a groom with their backs to her. A familiar voice was making them take their vows. Betty felt happy as if in a dream of her own making. She always cried at weddings. The figures grew closer as she neared them. The bride turned to stare fully at Betty. It was Valerie Ames Scott, who then smiled at seeing her.

It was a smile that didn't feel right to Betty, who was demeaned by it. She naturally figured the groom to be Mark but she wasn't sure. An Earth sized Andre was dressed as a minister, wearing glasses, and ignoring her. Then the groom turned to gloat in her direction. Steve Burton gave a half crooked smile. All along he and Valerie were teasing her and play acting. fooling her into a false sense of friendship. Betty felt her stomach even as her legs gave out. The church tilted and dropped upward. Betty's back hit a soft couch like pad.

She was in a completely white room with surgical table, lights, and instruments all around. A window frame floated on what should have been a wall. The world was white. Figures of people moved to and fro--all dressed in white doctor outfits--all readying knives, magnifying glasses, stirrups. Betty found her arms and legs were strapped down so tightly she couldn't move them. Her arms were to her sides. A very familiar face came toward her and looked directly into her eyes. "Betty, you all right?"

"Mark, thank God," she choked out, "Did you see?"

"Yes, well, don't you worry, Betty," Mark patted her arm, "We'll get them back. They're plotting against us even now. They want to kill us," he leaned close and whispered. "But don't you worry, not to worry, we'll kill them tonight." His voice rose, "Kill them! Kill them!" He grabbed a scalpel nearby a giant one and waved it like a sword. Which is what it became.

Betty was crying in uncontrolled sobs, terror wracking her body. "Mark, who's baby am I carrying? Is it yours? I know it's not possible but how can the baby be...be Steve's if he is marrying Valerie?"

Mark paid no attention, "It'll make you feel better. Hey, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. Just for you. I'll kill Steve first." Mark moved out, past the moving doctors and nurses who continued their pattern of work--without getting anything accomplished.

"Mark, wait! Come back! Get me out of here!" Betty felt spasms. The baby was coming--ready to be born. "Whose baby am I carrying?"

A giant face looked in the window that wasn't a real window. "MINE." It was Kobick's face and voice. "Remember when we were alone in my office? Well."

Betty screamed through Kobick's horrid, loud laughter. This couldn't be. None of it was true. She rejected all of what she heard. Around her the doctors and nurses made a circle, hovering over her with masks guarding their faces. The few near her took their masks off.

They were her friends.

Barry with a knife and drill, "Now I get my revenge!"

Valerie with a fork, "Oh Betty, you are such an innocent little fool. You and Mark, what a laugh." She added her laughter to that of Barry and Kobick.

Steve had a giant pin, "I'm ready too. I want to pin the diapers on."

"Just save her appendix for me," Barry's eyes told of his fascination with this malice.

Betty screamed again and kicked a foot up as far as she could. She kicked against Steve, moving the bed she was on. It toppled. She found herself in her old uniform in front of a rusted and crack filled Spindrift, long since covered over by vines, weeds, and other growth. Cobwebs seemed to form a drapery over the open doorway. Rust littered the side of the hull. The lighting frames near the windows hung off and showed cracks. The top bubble on the ship was smashed in. But to Betty this was home. She didn't seem to register the condition of the ship. She put her arms out. She was free, she was not having a baby, and her friends were all around. Steve and Mark. They were on either side. Mark yelled, "I say we continue working."

"I didn't tell you to risk all of us," Steve tried to grab him through Betty.

Fitzhugh and Valerie. Val said, "Quick, Fitzhugh, get your gun!"

"No, my money," Fitzhugh squealed.

Val tried to push past him to get to the Spindrift hallway door. "I'll get it and shoot you. You ate all our food."

The four began a physical fight all around Betty, frequently drawing her into it, pounding each other. No one seemed to hear her protests or her attempts at making peace. Betty broke free of them just as Barry came out of the ship's cobwebbed doorway, separating it with his arms.

"You're not my mother! You'll never take me home! Don't think you can replace her!" A gun came up from his side. He aimed at Betty, who turned quickly toward him at the sound of his voice.

Betty saw the gun aiming directly at her. She turned back the other way and started to run. It became a slow motion run again, while the others fought on in a speeded up motion. A shot rang out, echoing. Betty fell, having tripped over a vine. Se fell into what seemed to be a pit. From the sheer blackness inside it, huge indescribable things reached for her.

She landed on soft hay. She blinked awake some hours later. Her eyes adjusted to the waking world. The smell made her feel alive. Was this the waking world? It felt like it, smelled like it. She felt hay beneath her and spied gigantic wooden structures above her. She didn't know how she arrived and made her way out of the funny lights but she was at the giants' stable area. This was where people learned to ride horses--some rode show horses, training themselves and the animals to do tricks, jumps over wooden planks, and hurtles. Betty stood, brushed herself off and watched from behind a wooden piece of fence-the bottom of a huge wooden pole. A giant rider came in on an immense horse. She was back to normality. Or as near as one could get on this planet. A rider who was seventy feet tall aback a forty foot horse, which was as long as the female rider was tall, was normality for the land of the giants.