Part Five-Fitzhugh's Nightmare

"Mister Fitzhugh. Mister Alexander Fitzhugh?"

"Yes, it is, Mister Fitzhugh."

"So that's the name he goes by now."

"Oh no. No, no. That's the name I've given him."

Voices from the darkness. Fitzhugh found himself in a swivel chair. His own size chair. A glaring, bright light was above him. Another light was behind dais which held many figures. They seemed Earth sized. "How...how did you get me back here?"

"How do you answer the charges?"

Fitzhugh thought he recognized the voice, "You. Jim? Jim Phelps?"

"Yes, it is me. It's been a long time. And don't say my real name again, Fitzhugh. Understand? Don't answer. Answer the charges."

"What? What charges?" Fitzhugh cowered.

A light revealed Paras, an agent Fitzhugh knew but not well. Paras said, "Of stealing the money we consigned for you to bring to London."

"That was my mission. I had the money. I was about to deliver to Rollin Hand and Barney Collier in London when our ship crashed."

"Do not lie," Phelps said, walking closer to him from the darkness, "Isn't the truth that you stole it from us?"

"No, no. You knew the plan. Why, it was your own. We...we had to make it look like a robbery--the man I took it from obtained it illegally. He was a criminal...he stole from the US government...the taxpayers."

"Isn't the truth, Alex, that once you got your greedy, little paws on all that delicious green money, you were going to keep it."

It was not really a question but something Fitzhugh heard as a statement. Paras continued, "...and that you sabotaged the Spindrift. Sent it into a time-space warp which we already knew the position of. That is the truth, isn't it?"

"No, no, no. None of that is. None!"

"Only you figured on getting out of it--in some other country...some other time perhaps."

"No!" Fitzhugh stood.

"Sit down!" Phelps' voice boomed. Fitzhugh sat down right away.

"You were undercover for us," the red-blonde haired Casey added, "You were to fool the ring of men and women that kept undermining our economy."

"And..." a familiar voice from another shadowy figure began, "Once shipwrecked you continued to allow your friends and fellow companions to go on thinking your true identity was a thief, a con artist, a..."

"Before I joined IMF, I really was," Fitzhugh pleaded.

"Fitzhugh, do not mention IMF again," Barney spat.

The voice before Barney belonged to Barry, who was now revealed by a light that went on. "Sentence him."

Another light went on to show Dan. "He made us trust him. He played a role, lied to us!"

Valerie. "He betrayed us!'

Mark. "He masqueraded as our friend!"

Betty. "He was never truthful with us!"

Steve. "Sentence is ostracism. Forever."

Jim walked closer to Fitzhugh. "Do you know what that means? Total aloneness. You'll be sent back."

"Back?" Fitzhugh sat, watching Jim circle all around him as they spoke. "Back where?"

"To the land," Jim circled, "But by yourself. You'll have no companions, no Dan, no Steve...your captain, no Mark, no little boy Barry, no girls, not even your dog. Why, Fitzhugh, you won't even have any giants around to talk to. And what greater hell can there be, I ask you, for a con man to have than for him to be in a world with no one. Totally alone. The only one on the planet--you, yourself, and you."

The six little people all said in unison, "Send him! He was never one of us anyway! Send him! Send him now!"

"NO!" Fitzhugh felt his chair rise up on a stall, then remove itself from the floor. He saw it propelled through the greenish ball that lead the Spindrift to the land of the giants in the first place. Fitzhugh wouldn't be alone. He jumped off his chair.

Fitzhugh landed feet first on a street. He was fine, physically. Yet the world he was on was dark. The few street lights he saw, suddenly dimmed. The lights of the city went out one by one. The cars were gone. The people were gone. They were giants but Fitzhugh couldn't even hear their footsteps. They weren't invisible--they weren't there any more.

Spindrift: that's home now. He searched for it. He couldn't find the forest the ship rested in. The darkness grew around him. Fitzhugh walked aimlessly. The darkness covered him. He continued to walk and walk. He would do so until he either fell asleep or...died. Time seemed to go on and on. His shoes seemed to wear out as he moved across the giant land, alone, as they had said. There was no sign of life anywhere. He wandered in and out of the darkness, no one around at all. He seemed to go like this for hours-reaching into days, into weeks, months, years...he wasn't sure that without anyone to interact with, that he, or others for that matter, had a personality. After time, Fitzhugh felt old, very old and gray. He gave up.

Dull lights shot his head. Fitzhugh found a curb. He was on a street. Had he ever left the one he landed on? His eyes focused on a red figure he saw fall from the sky and land. Another terror?

"Captain? Captain Burton? Is that you? Steve?" At first, he couldn't be sure but then as he focused his eyes he was positive. He had found the one person on this and any other planet that could make him feel safe: Steve Burton was here. Fitzhugh moved closer to wake him from his own nightmare, knowing fully that what transpired before this was his own such nightmare. His friends here could never condemn him.

Part Six-Mark's Nightmare

After Mark talked with Valerie by radio, warning her away from Spindrift, he found himself avoiding image less Giants. He could hear them walking along the sidewalk near the alley he travelled across. He walked and walked, running at one point from the meow of a gigantic cat. After a sizzling effect there seemed to be instant light. He wasn't sure how long he travelled but he was sure it wasn't long enough for him to see dawn. After that sizzling effect, dawn was just what Mark saw. He hurried back toward the ship. Valerie and Betty were there, both in older outfits. Betty was opening a straight pin while Val had a hair pin.

Steve was there also. He wore a white button down shirt. Mark's shirt. Mark approached them, "Hey, what's the idea, Steve, why are you wearing..." it was then he noticed his own clothes. He was sporting Steve's red flight jacket and trousers. Mark was too stunned to comment but he found himself drawn into the others' conversation.

"Valerie," Betty interjected, "Mark is our captain. The kind of trouble we're in, there can be only one man in charge."

"Really," Steve snootily puffed out, "I didn't exactly have plan a mutiny."

Val smiled, "Why not? A little mutiny would be fun."

Mark put his hand to his head, "Enough of this silly talk. We have work to do."

"Like getting that gun?"

"No, like helping me," a voice said.

From behind them, a blonde Earth girl came walking into the camp, parting the bushes. Mark was startled, "Marna? How?"

"You. You invited me, silly. You are the leader here," she smiled blankly, "You said it would be okay. Isn't it?"

"Yes, Marna," meekly Mark put out, "But I thought..."

Val and Betty screamed. Two giants bent over the ship, scooping it up and Betty and Valerie with it. One picked up the ship and held it high while the other dropped Valerie and Betty inside. Mark saw Steve run and turned to face Marna. She stood dumbly, her eyes expressionless--out of sync with her permanent smiling mouth. Mark couldn't bear her face. He ran into the forest, avoiding the giants she worked for. He ran headlong into Dan who grabbed him by the collar, "You fool!"

"Dan! Let go!"

Dan smacked him, backhanded. Mark fell back onto a leafy, moss covered rock. "You stupid fool!" Mark tried to get up but Dan wouldn't let him. Dan leaned his arms onto Mark's shoulders, holding him down. "Do you know what you've done? Because of you the ship is gone, the girls are captured, Barry is dead..."

"Dead? What?"

"Yes, you refused to operate because you didn't know how and you told Brule the wrong way into the park. You see, you didn't trust him at all."

Dan related more tales to the prone Mark--how Fitzhugh was arrested for the murder of a boy that Zerpant actually did. Later when Fitzhugh was caught again--by Doctor Murad--Fitzhugh was electrocuted for the crime--in a toaster. As Dan spoke, Mark could see the reenactment of their deaths before his eyes. Dan yelled, "And me? Look at me!"

Mark saw down Dan's right leg--there was no leg where there should have been one. From the knee down, there was nothing. Mark knew what happened. The anella pin that enabled Kobick's anella pinpointer devices to track all anella had been used to mend Dan's leg back on Earth. Anella in side his leg had to come out or all of them would have been caught. "Dan! Dan, you didn't have to!"

"Steve made better choices than you! He should have been captain, not you!"

Mark heard it reverberate over and over, "Not you! Not you! Not you! NOT YOU!"

As if on cue, Steve emerged from the forest overgrowth, "YOU! I'm gonna kill you! You are the reason we're all dead!" He had the match stick razor blade hatchet in his hand. He raised it and Mark rolled off the rock and ran. He normally wouldn't run but his confusion and sweaty fear were getting the better of him.

Mark ran blindly into the night. Yes, it was night once more, somehow. He ran but stopped short. A muzzle of a propped up, giant revolver was pointed at him. Steve, dressed in Mark's clothes and now sporting his black vest as well, was behind Dan, laughing. "Cut it!"

Steve cut a rope rigging which was hooked up to the gun's catch mechanism. Steve chopped twice and the last thing Mark heard was a loud bang. Something whizzed past him. Mark flung himself back--off a ledge he didn't know was there. Mark fell and fell, landing in a patch of flowers. He stood up quickly, finding himself in the front garden of a giant house. A house he passed before. Marna was in there. Behind the thick wooden fence. Mark saw that it was nearly dawn again. He looked at his clothes: the brown leather jacket over the black sweatshirt. His own clothes of the present day and time. Shaking his head as the sun peeked up, Mark began his search for the others from Spindrift. He tried not to let it upset him that Marna was still lost to him.

Part Seven-Kobick's Nightmare

Inspector Kobick of the SID was asleep in his bed at his middle class home. He drowsed awake, blinking. He tried to refocus his vision. There seemed to be blurry images not far away. Was he dreaming? Panic alerted him as he found he couldn't sit up, off his back. Crouched around him on top of his blanket were tiny people. He saw two small women, both pretty. The one with short hair held a thumb tack over his left side. The one with longer darker hair held a nail on the other side of his chest. He saw that little boy with a cork screw standing very near to his neck. And the fat one--the one the boy called Fitzhugh--was on the other side to his right--with a hat pin aimed also at his neck. Mark Wilson stood near the girl with long red hair, holding a sparking thermal gun. Poised on his own stomach, Kobick could see Dan Erickson holding a two pronged steak knife at his belly. All of them smiled viciously as if enjoying their mission of murder.

Kobick felt tiny movements up his left side. Steve Burton himself, in a gray tee shirt strode up Kobick's chest, holding his own blood stained weapon--a giant fork. He stopped triumphantly to gaze at his victim, his prey, lying helpless. Kobick thought he looked as a mountain climber looked once on top the mountain--conquering the great heights.

The giant man forced himself to speak through his fear, "What have you done to me, you little monster?"

Steve smiled arrogantly, "You mean the reason you can't move. It's one of your own drugs. But don't worry, it's in common use here. It will allow us to have some fun first. You're going to be out for awhile--at least you'd better hope you'll be out when we start what we're going to do."

"Out--like forever," Mark Wilson laughed pompously.

"Enough talk," Dan spat, "Let's finish him."

"Some of us have curari?"

"Yes, captain," Valerie smirked, "Let's torment him as he has tormented all of us."

"Okay," Burton yelled, "NOW!"

Kobick heard a mass shriek that sounded like a wild creature attacking him, he knew it was the group sounding as if it were one. In his fever like delirium, Kobick rolled off his bed and landed on the floor, feeling movements within his blanket. Then stabbing pains. Kobick blacked out.

It was getting darker in the forest. Somehow the little people transported his body into the forest--a park to him. He was on his back in his night clothes and without his spectacles. Burton was on him again. Wilson beside him had the gun, "Open wide."

Before Kobick could react, Burton dropped a pill into his mouth. The two Earthmen chuckled as they scurried off the giant face--down his ear. How degrading they were--to march across his body, use his face as a ladder, and his...wait! Something was very wrong. He heard laughs--their laughter all around him. He couldn't see even one of them now but he heard their whispering and most of all he heard and felt their laughter. He had no time to dwell on it. Kobick abandoned his clothing. He felt his head go beneath his shirt, his feet rose up into his trousers. He blacked out once more.

Kobick came to, dressed in a white rag in an almost diaper fashion. He was now a little person. He stared around him in horror. The park was, indeed, a jungle to him.

"It's better than death, isn't it?" Steve laughed at him, "I've always wanted to do this." He came forward to a shocked Kobick and punched his jaw. Kobick went reeling back and fell, confused.

Fitzhugh was there to face him once he recovered and stood, "Now you'll know how it feels, Inspector. Inspector, hah, Inspector Dumbbell."

The seven of them were there but they began to move away. Kobick asked, "Where...where are you all going?"

"Back to camp," Dan answered as if Kobick should have known the answer.

"Let me come with you!"

Steve laughed and moved closer again, "You? Back at our ship? Are you kidding?"

Betty smiled, close to Steve's shoulder, "That's the last place we'd want you at."

"But...but you can't just leave me here."

"Oh," Mark said in his patronizing style, "But we can."

"You can put me somewhere safe. Not near your camp. Please. Another place."

Valerie walked up to him, passing Steve and Betty, who took no notice. She looked Kobick in the face and went up to Steve, "Steve, he's right. We can't leave him out here. There's all those buggies and big bad wolves and thingees..."

Kobick thought she sounded sympathetic and serious. "Yes. I mean no, you can't. Bugs..."

Val looked at Kobick again, "Maybe I can suggest a place." She walked and as she did she pulled Kobick's arm. When they stopped she prodded him, "Here." She stood him in front of an open cage trap. Everyone laughed. Kobick felt embarrassed, belittled, and left out.

"You don't deserve to come to our camp," Barry said, adding, "...sir," with a sarcastic edge. He scooped up Chipper, his little dog. "Come on, boy, we have to go home, now."

Steve brought his face up to Kobick's, "Besides, you wouldn't want to be cooped up with tiny murderers, would you?"

"Let's go already," Mark spouted impatiently. The group moved off.

Kobick made a move to follow but Fitzhugh put a hand to his chest and shoved. The former giant fell over a twig. The others turned around to watch. They laughed. Everyone walked away as Kobick, on his back, yelled, "You can't treat me like this! It...it's...it's less than human! Come back! Come back! Come back!" As he yelled, a lock of his hair sprung forward onto his forehead.

The chirping of the crickets grew louder. Kobick became hungry. He saw images moving in the dark. A giant, fanged, foaming dog. A cat's clawed paw. A preying mantis moving in with razor sharp legs. A black widow spider crawling onto the twig near him. Kobick moved upward. A giant boa constrictor curled to him. He ran. A giant bear trap snapped shut near his feet. He saw a toy doll in it, a toy doll that resembled him. The doll cut in two and then he heard the laughter of Valerie, Barry, and Betty from somewhere in the jungle. He ran but a giant net fell over him and he sprawled to the ground once more. He turned onto his back.

"Sergeant Arnak! It's me! Inspector Kobick! Don't you recognize me?"

Sergeant Geido joined Arnak, towering over Kobick. "Of course we do. Do you think we're blind, not to notice your features." He looked at Arnak and they shared a private joke-smile. "Don't you notice Burton's and the others' features?" Kobick came out from under the net. "Good, then..." Geido threw a smoke bomb.

"Whaaa?" Kobick gagged as the smoke around him rose. "What are you doing, Sergeant Geido!"

Arnak took out a butterfly net, "But you see Inspector, you're a little person now and our orders from the Council are to apprehend little people no matter what planet they are from!"

"Tell them...uh..gggrrhhh, tell them it's me!" Kobick managed to choke out.

Arnak curled his lip, "Frankly Inspector, they already know you're one of them. The Council has suspected your traitorship to the little people for some time."

"That's ridiculous, Sergeant Arnak!"

Arnak reached for him but Kobick ran from his former underlings. He saw a giant foot. Above him, Sergeant Karf held a transmitter device and he heard a booming voice which hurt his ears, "He's here! That pin on his diaper must be anella!"

Valerie's laughs joined those of Dan and Fitzhugh. Kobick fled as if in a nightmare. He saw toadstools and they sprayed dust at him as if they were squeezed. He raised his arms and backed up from them but it was too late. Kobick ran and managed to find his way out of the jungle which was so alive with danger for him.

But he ran blindly. He didn't see the bricks beneath him, nor the edge of the giant built-in swimming pool. He ran over them and plunged into a blue darkness. The pool was empty of water. Kobick spun. He awoke with a start.

Kobick found himself in his seat behind his desk in the office at SID headquarters. This was not surprising: he often slept in his chair overnight. He had done so many times before in contemplation on how to capture Burton and the others from the group he wanted badly. Now, he waited out the hours before Dr. Burger would return to lead him into the forest to the little people spaceship. Those little people. He had quite a file on them. He couldn't figure it out: were they menaces or just victims who made bad mistakes?

There were murders: an optometrist named Murtrah, Captain Ashem of the Security Police, Dr. Kraal, Professor Gorn--and this one we know Wilson was involved in somehow despite his clearance of Gorn's assistant Zoral's murder. Yet somehow other information he had didn't fit--they had saved a hobo framed of murder, ditto Martin Reed who would have been executed if they hasn't intervened. They also seemed somehow involved in the clearance of Inidu the magician and the capture of the culprit--the murderer Enog. Perhaps these incidents were just flukes to throw him off the trail. No, they had risked their lives dearly to help the people they came across. That could not be all for just a red herring to throw me off the track, Kobick figured. Even so--they could not roam around this country freely--doing so even now--when most citizens were under the scrutiny of the Supreme Council--even him.

While he had a file on the Earth people--the Council had a file on him---and his defeats by them. It didn't matter if the little people were good natured or not--he had a job to do and he had to do it no matter what he thought, no matter his feelings or the truth about them: tiny killer invaders or lost innocents with hearts of gold. He had to find them and give them to the state. They had to be watched, studied, given their place in this government, no matter how undignified that place would be. And to serve this government, this society, even this planet they HAD to share their knowledge with me...us. For them not to do so would be depriving our people of advancement. It was selfish or them not to.

What was that? Kobick saw his lamp move--ever so slightly. No? Yes. It did move. One of the little beggars must be sliding down the cord. He jumped. The lamp fell to the floor. He caught movement at a vent. Kobick kicked it in. He saw a blurry object dash under the door, so he opened it quickly and grabbed a stack of books from a shelf and tossed them into the hallway. He slammed the door shut. Something stepped across his shoe! Someone moved up his leg, under his pants! Kobick began to wildly hit his own leg, his pockets on his pants and jacket. The cage on his desk had a ripped hole in its side.

Kobick saw movement at the window--a crack in it. He ran to it and shoved a pointer across the window sill. Something caught his eye running beneath the coat hanger rack. He kicked it and dumped it over. It hit the window, cracking it further. Something ran behind the file cabinet. Kobick grabbed the pointer and struck out at the space behind the cabinet.

The door opened. Kobick stopped himself within inches of hitting Sergeant Eson with the pointer. "You!"

Eson breathed out, "Can I help you, sir?"

He and others may have seen his entire outburst, on some hidden camera perhaps. Hidden in his office. Yes, that was like them to do that. They were against him, too.

Kobick turned to the desk, dropping the pointer. Who was the savage now? He laughed, then spotted the cage on his desk. There was no rip in the side, no tear. The lamp was in place. Kobick picked it up and smashed it to the wall. Eson flinched. Tonight, at least, Kobick realized, the little people were never even in the room. "Clean this place up, Sergeant."

Eson began to, "Yes sir." He was a loyal sergeant, perhaps the most loyal. So loyal in fact, that if he was the only one who knew about this odd behavior tonight--he would report this to the Supreme ones. The Council would not take it lightly. At worst, they would put him on trial, at the least, they'd send him away on Special Assignment--away from the little people. He'd request one that involved Earthlings though--there were other reports of other little people---or were there? Weren't there? He couldn't remember just yet.

Kobick realized he was out of his nightmare. He had been out of it since falling into that imaginary giant swimming pool. His fear of the little people was no dream. It was for real. A real nightmare for him. And he'd make it their nightmare, too. But somehow it just wouldn't seem the same.