"Thank goodness I always carry an extra flare with me." Torque said as she activated a flare as she and Harley made their way through the dark tunnel. "They sure do come in handy, especially since those Plutarkians have a nasty habit of keeping us Martians out of electricity most of the time."

Harley, who was growing weaker, paused for a moment to catch her breath. Torque turned around to see her gasping for air.

"Hang in there Harley." she said as she tried to comfort her friend. "We'll make it through this somehow."

"There's no use." Harley said sadly. "You know what the Plutarkians told us, that there were no Martian survivors after the Plutarkian war was over."

"They say that mars is dead, and that nothing will ever be able to live there again." Harley sighed. "What really is the point of living anymore?"

"So that we can provide free slave labor for the butchers who murdered our friends and loved ones."

Torque looked at Harley. The years of abuse at the hands of the Plutarkians had beaten her down physically and mentally. She had once held out hope that they would be freed one day, but that hope faded as time went on.

"What are we going to do now?" Harley asked tearfully. "We have nothing, no home, no family, nothing."

"All we have is this miserable existence."

Harley's lamenting was interrupted by a gruff male voice.

"Who's there!" the voice called from the shadows.

"Oh no!" Harley exclaimed. "They've found us."

The figure approached the two females slowly. The figure turned out to be a large, purple-skinned humanoid male. His head was bald and he had a large brass colored earring in one ear. He was fully dressed in armor similar to that worn by warriors of ancient Greece or Rome. His arms and legs showed numerous battle scars.

"Who are you?" Torque asked in a shaky voice.

"I am called Jupitus, and I am formerly of the planet Jupiter." he answered. "I am the last of my civilization."

"My civilization was destroyed by the Plutarkians and what survivors were left were sent to this wretched moon to work as slaves to benefit Plutarkian industry."

"I managed to escape and I roamed the galaxy for many years, working as a freelance mercenary." Jupitus explained. "I returned here to learn the fate of the rest of my kind."

"But I was too late, by the time I returned to this moon, they were all dead."

"I soon learned that they were replaced by Martians." Jupitus said. "It was then I decided to help ensure that what happened to my kind would not happen to anyone else."

"I set up camp in this abandoned mine and I helped many Martians escape from this accursed place."

"I sent many back to their home world."

"You mean, there are still Martian mice on mars?" Torque asked.

"Yes, quite a few in fact."

"Then you got to help us." Torque said. "We've escaped from the Plutarkians and we need help in getting back home."

"Say no more." Jupitus responded. "I've been able to avoid detection by the Plutarkians for all of these years because I am a shape-shifter."

"It is the result of an individual genetic mutation."

Jupitus then transformed himself to look like a Plutarkian soldier.

"Amazing!" Torque exclaimed. "You even smell like one!"

"I would steal one of their spaceships and use it to transport Martians from their villages." "If I was ever questioned, I would just say that I was taking the Martians to another Plutarkian waste moon to work when in reality I was taking them home."

"I've heard about a lot of Martians just disappearing from this planet without a trace, but I thought that they just had died, but it was you." Torque said in awe.

"Wait a minute." Harley asked. "How do you know that we can trust you?"

"For all we know, you might be a patrol officer placed out here to prevent Martians from escaping."

"Believe me, I despise the Plutarkians and anything that I can do to stop them, I will do it." Jupitus replied.

"Fortunately, I have just returned from an expedition and the spaceship is located directly behind these cliffs." Jupitus said. "Quickly, follow me."

"You think we can trust this guy?" Harley whispered to Torque.

"What do we have to lose?" Torque answered.

The two then quietly followed Jupitus to what they hoped would be an escape from their present lives of misery and despair.