Miskit led the two children deep into the bowels of the house, then into a large room with a very large robot beside some kind of display in the middle. "This is our command center. It's where we have our mission briefings," she said as they descended a short staircase. "Our main computer is hooked up to this holographic display. We can access anything in our databanks at the touch of a button." She pushed a button and a holographic image of their current area flickered into existence. "This is a map of Gondoa Mountain, where we are now. It also shows every life form in the same space."

The image zoomed in to show some of the same eight-legged horrors that Emily and Navin had encountered when they first arrived. "There," Miskit said, pointing. "That's the creature carrying your mother. It's heading north toward Morley's Cave. If—"

"Say it ain't so, Chief!" Cogsley interrupted. "Don't tell me we're working for the munchkins now!"

"Emily is our captain now," Miskit said.

"She's just a kid!"

"Kid or not, this was Silas' last order. You're really gonna defy him now?" She and Cogsley glared at each other, then Cogsley humph-ed and stomped into a corner.

"Miskit," Emily interjected, "you said she was headed toward Morley's Cave, right?"

"Right."

Emily pointed. "Well, there's a tunnel that could take us straight there. We can take and head them off before they escape."

"That's not just any tunnel, kid," Cogsley said. "That's the Gauntlet! See those things in the walls?" Emily nodded. "Those are rakers."

"What are rakers?" she asked.

"They're some of the most ferocious underground dwellers on Alledia," Morrie explained. "They're basically masses of tentacles and teeth that will eat anything they can catch. Going through there on foot can mean certain death."

Emily looked at Navin, then at the assembled robots. "What other options do we have?"

"The Albatross," Cogsley said, turning around. "You can take the Albatross through the Gauntlet."

"The Albatross?" Miskit was alarmed. "Are you nuts? That jalopy hasn't flown in years!"

Cogsley pointed a stubby finger at her. "You just get ready for takeoff and let me worry about getting it running." He turned on his heel and walked away.

"Can we trust him?" Emily asked Miskit quietly.

"He can be a pain in the butt," Miskit said, "but he's the most honest, hardest-working robot I know." They followed him down into what was obviously the hangar, and what Miskit had said earlier was no exaggeration. Everything was covered in a layer of dust an inch thick, and the Albatross's lemon-yellow paint and sky-blue trim were barely recognizable. While Cogsley opened a panel on the aircraft and began working on it, Miskit motioned for Emily to follow her over to a crate. "Help me open this chest," she said. "Ready?" Emily nodded, and Mis-kit started counting down. "One…two…three!"

They lifted the lid and a thick cloud of dust puffed up, making Emily scramble backward, covering her face. Miskit, being a robot, was unaffected. "I hope these still work," she said, looking at the smaller cases inside the chest. Emily, satisfied the dust had settled enough, rejoined her. Miskit opened one of the cases. "Looks like I only have two tranquilizer darts." She looked at Emily. "We'll have to make every shot count."

"What do we do after it's sedated?" the girl asked.

Miskit pulled out a three-foot missile comprised of a thick wood shaft and jagged metal head. "We harpoon the thing and drag it to a stop."

"There," Cogsley said, closing the panel. "She's good as new." He turned to Emily and Navin, adopting a drill sergeant voice. "Listen here, runts! Miskit's gonna need a copilot, and neither me or Bottle here—" he thumbed at the big robot behind him "—can go on account of us being too heavy. That means one of you midgets has to fly this bucket. Who's it gonna be?"

Emily spoke first. "Navin's too young. I'll do it."

Navin was immediately opposed. "What?!" She looked at him. "If I'm too young, then so are you! Besides, you know I'm better than you at this stuff."

Emily's face became serious. "That's in video games, Navin," she said. "This is real."

"So!?" Navin adopted his begging puppy face. "Please, Em! Please let me fly the plane!"

Emily groaned and facepalmed. "Fine."

"Really?"

"Are you jokers finished?" Cogsley asked shortly. They nodded and he climbed the ladder that led onto the Albatross's wing. "You've got the harpoon cannon and the tranq rifle, right?" he asked Miskit, who nodded. "Then you'll probably need this too." He handed her the ray gun she'd used to rescue Emily and Navin from the elf. "To fend off the rakers." He looked at her seriously. "Be swift. Don't pause to think, or you're spare parts."

"Right." Emily and Navin climbed in, and Navin took the copilot's seat next to Miskit while Emily climbed in the back. "Do you understand how these controls work?" Miskit asked Navin.

"I think so," Navin said. "They look pretty simple." If an H-wheel with two buttons and a D-pad, a speed dial and two pedals weren't simple, he didn't know what was.

"You're all clear," Cogsley called. "Start her up!"

Miskit timidly flipped switches and pushed buttons, hoping the ancient flying machine would start up. She gasped and smiled when she heard the aircraft's onboard generator hum, then the twin engines whir up. In minutes, the old thing was ready for takeoff. The hangar door opened. Slowly applying pressure, she and Navin powered the engines up and the Albatross was airborne. She flipped another switch to retract the landing gear, they tilted forward and exited the hangar. Making a few circles around the cavern to build up airspeed, they bank-ed toward a hole in the wall.

"There's the tunnel!" Miskit had to shout to be heard over the whining engines and wind. They entered the tunnel. "Okay, Navin, I need you on the controls. I'm going to repel the rakers to give us a clear path. Just do your best to avoid the walls and move as quickly as possible." She hopped in the back beside Emily, picked up the ray gun and charged it up. "They'll attack from all sides, so get ready," she told Emily. "Here they come."

Hundreds of enormous lengths of flexible, writhing flesh extended from the walls, ceiling and floor of the cave, the loud buzzing of the Albatross alerting the rakers to the presence of possible prey. They moved sluggishly. "They're so slow," Navin observed.

"We must be just waking them up," Miskit said. "If we move fast enough, we won't have to deal with them."

"Miskit, below us!" Emily shouted.

Miskit leaned over Emily's side of the plane, aimed her ray gun and fired. The bolts of electric energy raced toward the approaching tentacle, sizzling as they went, then spread out and crackled across on impact. She twisted, firing furiously at the arms reaching greedily for them from every direction. Every tentacle hit retreated, sizzling and crackling as the stunning energy from the ray gun forced them back. She turned and shouted, "Emily, watch out!"

Emily whirled to see a serrated tentacle zooming toward her. She ducked just in the nick of time: If she'd been a second slower, her head would have been skewered. She felt the displaced air ruffle her hair as the tentacle rushed past.

Miskit rapidly fired at it several times, but misfortune had decided to accompany her aim in that instant and she missed. The tentacle snapped like a whip, knocking the ray gun from her hands. Miskit watched in dismay as the weapon fell down toward the ground, then cried out in alarm as that same tentacle wrapped around her and lifted her out of the plane. "Emily!" she shouted.

The girl wasted no time. Acting on instinct, she charged up her amulet and sent out a bolt of energy. The instant it hit the tentacle, the fleshy appendage released Miskit and retreated back toward its hole. Emily reached out as Miskit fell past and grabbed her hand. "Gotcha!" She pulled the pink rabbit into the aircraft. "Are you okay?"

"I think so, yes," Miskit nodded.

"Hey, guys," Navin interrupted, "it's getting a little crowded up here." So many tentacles were filling the cavern that the light from the other end was dimming. He gripped the controls tighter. "Hold on!" He shoved the throttle up to full, making the engines whine. The fuselage creaked and groaned with the stress of maneuvers it wasn't meant to handle at such high speeds as Navin wove through the grasping tentacles. But even his best efforts weren't enough to avoid them all.

Enter his sister. Emily charged up and lashed out at dozens of approaching arms, forcing them back. She noticed the drain from her own reserves as she zapped tentacles again and again. "Get us out of here, Navin," she said. "I can't keep this up much longer!"

Navin focused all his attention on avoiding the thickening tentacles. He stomped down on the pedal under his foot, the overdrive. Seconds later, the aircraft burst out of the cave, tentacles spilling so thickly out of the hole that one might have mistaken for a patch of fur from a distance.

"Good work, Navin!" Miskit praised. She turned on the radio.

Back in the house's command center, Morrie stood next to the speaker as it crackled. "We're through the Gauntlet!" Miskit's voice was jubilant.

"They made it!" Morrie exclaimed.

"How far are we from the arthropods? Over."

Morrie and Cogsley consulted the holomap. "They're right on top of it," Cogsley said.

"You're right on top of it. Over," Morrie relayed.

"He says we're over it," Miskit said. Navin throttled down and banked sharply toward the ground.

"I see it!" Emily shouted. "There's more than one, and they're moving fast!" In fact, there were five, and wherever they were racing to was anyone's guess.

"Navin, take us down," Miskit ordered. "But be careful."

Navin nodded and eased the Albatross downward, throttling down accordingly. When they were about fifty feet above the arachnopods, Emily shouted, "Look!" An arm was sticking out of one of the ventilation holes of one of the creatures and waving frantically. "There's Mom!"

"I'll get the tranq rifle," Miskit said. She hopped into the backseat and snatched up the weapon, broke it at the hinge. "I hope this works," she said to herself as she loaded the round. "Okay Navin, hold her steady." She took aim and pulled the trigger. The hiss of compressed air and quiet pop of the exiting round indicated that the gun worked. The needle pierced the arachnopod's skin, deep enough to hold it there as the green fluid drained. After ten seconds, the creature was still going. "Something's wrong. It should have been affected immediately." A thought struck her, and she closed the vial case and brushed thick dust off the lid. Her eyes widened in horror at the label: Vitamin Supplements.

"Miskit," Emily said, "you okay?"

Miskit jerked, and nodded rapidly. "Oh yeah, everything's just perfect!"

"Navin, get the harpoon ready," Emily ordered. Navin grabbed the harpoon gun.

"Wait!" Miskit snapped.

"What's wrong?" Navin asked.

"Just wait." She turned to his sister. "Emily, let me drive." Emily nodded, and they quickly swapped places. Miskit took a tight hold of the wheel. "Okay, all set. You ready, Navin?"

Navin nodded. Miskit banked the plane gentle to the right to give him a clear shot. He aimed, took three deep breaths, and felt the weapon kick against his shoulder when he pulled the trigger. The harpoon raced toward the arachnopod, and punched through its skin two seconds later. Inside the creature, Karen yelped and jumped back from the shaft's sudden appearance, and the arachnopod shrieked.

The winch spool whirred as the line unwound, then thunked when the cable ran out. The aircraft jerked forward. That ugly animal apparently had tremendous strength. Miskit pulled back on the control column and the engines tilted accordingly, whining with the strain of trying to move in the opposite direction. But they were barely slowing down. "Why isn't it working!?" Emily shouted.

"I messed up!" Miskit shot back.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I brought the wrong darts!" Emily glanced to the box next to her, then back at the beasts only feet below. "I have to cut the rope!" Miskit said. She looked back. "Emily?" The girl stepped onto the edge of the cockpit. "Hey! What are you doing!?" Emily didn't answer, or even look back, before leaping. "No!"

Emily felt her feet leave solid support and she fell into space. The fall was only a dozen feet or so, but landing on something that was round and moving would be tricky. The instant she left the plane, she remembered the amulet around her neck. It read her presence and activated, gently lowering her down on lines of energy. Seconds later, she stood on the back of one of the arachnopods. She looked ahead at the one that held her mother, then at the head of the one she rode. She focused on the point just behind its tentacles and threw a lasso of energy around it like a collar.

The creature screamed, the energy bolts piercing its skin like spurs, and increased its speed in an attempt to escape. Using the energy lasso like reigns, she guided the monster alongside the one they'd speared. "Emily!" Karen cried, reaching out through a hole.

"Mom!" Emily reached back. "Grab my hand!" They reached across the gap, and soon their hands were linked. "Now pull!"

And Karen did. Both pulling against each other would increase the likelihood of getting her out and decrease the time it took to do so. They were pulling with for all they were worth. Karen's other shoulder was almost free when she grunted as a sharp pain suddenly erupted just above her ankle.

Miskit and Navin sat in the Albatross, watching the struggle anxiously. Their attention was suddenly drawn back to the aircraft by a tentacle wrapping around their port wing. "Look out!" Miskit yelled. The tentacle pulled down and the plane leaned. She turned the steering wheel and the engines tilted correspondingly, trying to keep the aircraft level. Navin cried out in alarm.

Karen turned her head toward the plane. "Navin."

"Mom, hurry!" Emily urged.

"Emily, go help your brother!" Karen told her.

"But you're almost out!"

"I can't move." She looked pleadingly at her daughter. "Emily, please go."

Emily was on the verge of tears, glancing back and forth from the plane and her mother. Finally, at her mother's pleading look, she nodded. "I'll come back for. I promise." Their hands left each other, and Karen gave Emily a small smile of encouragement as the arachnopod carrying her veered off. Emily wiped her nose, then focused on her new task. Releasing her mount, she leapt off its back and levitated up to the plane. Two arachnopods had latched into the aircraft now, one on each wing, and were trying to pull it down. One of them shrieked at her approach. She reached out fingers of energy that grabbed the monsters' tentacles, lowered herself into the cabin, and threw her arms around Navin's neck.

Navin and Miskit watched in wonder as blades of energy diced and minced the tentacles that threatened to pull them out of the air, then the energy exploded and both arachnopods beneath them screamed in pain and fear. Miskit flinched.

"Are you okay?" Emily asked Navin, and he nodded. "Miskit, get back on the wheel!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Miskit answered.

"Hey, guys," Navin said, "there's a forest ahead!" Emily and Miskit both look, and Miskit's eyes went wide as saucers.

"It's the end of the line! We need to cut the rope now!"

"No!" Emily was immediately opposed. "We need to stay with Mom!"

"Are you stupid or blind!?" Miskit snapped. "If we stay attached, we'll be pulled right into those trees! Somebody, take the wheel!" Emily did. Miskit drew a knife, leapt over the windshield, dove onto the winch spool and immediately started sawing at the rope. It didn't take long before the fraying line snapped and the aircraft pitched slightly as the strain was relieved. "Now pull up!" Miskit ordered. "Pull up!" Emily and Navin both pulled as hard as they could on the controls, and the engines whined as they tried to lift their load.

They almost cleared the treetops, but not quite. They bulled between two and Miskit was knocked off the nose of the plane and sent flying toward the tail. She managed to grab the backrest of the cabin before she reached the vertical stabilizer and was cut in half. They crash-ed through several more trees before one destroyed their starboard engine and sheared off that wing. They fell through the trees, the one remaining engine unable to do anything as far as keeping them airborne. Luckily, they hit the ground on a slope and slid down it until they hit a large tree head-on. Emily and Navin came out of it with bruised foreheads and bloody noses, but Miskit had been thrown from the plane and smashed against the tree, then clunked headfirst onto the hood of the aircraft.

"Miskit?" Navin asked.

Emily looked to her left and saw the arachnopods clicking up a nearby hill. "Navin, stay here," she said. She didn't wait for Navin's reply.

"What?" He barely got the word out before she jumped over the side. "Emily, wait!" She ignored him, and as she began scaling the slope the arachnopods had ascended, the sky opened up.