"It´s utterly quiet her, don´t you think?" Meternagel whispered.
"I think it´s always like that out here." Dudley shrugged and got up from his knees. "And it makes sense I mean the planet is more or less dead."

"I don´t mean that." Meternagel pointed at a brown rock. It was a simple boulder like the ones that were lying everywhere around the little group of 15 people. It actually reminded Dudley of a potato.
"The stones here, they all look like skulls. All of them."

Dudley made a complete spin around himself trying to get a look at every rock that was scattered at the former field they were on. But actually, all of them just looked like somber stones. Dudley asked himself from where they came. He couldn´t remember that back then there were so many boulders in Petropolis and the surrounding area.

Maybe the first lizard attack was the reason for that? Was it debris from former buildings now covered with brown dust and sand? Mute remnants of a civilization that was destroyed before having the chance to achieve greatness. Or before having the chance to destroy themselves.

"Hey, uhm, Mr. Puppy?" A young dog tapped his shoulder. It was Annabel, one of the teens he had encountered back then when he searched for Nick. Dudley couldn't help himself, usually, he was less than fond of the group that basically bullied his son. But Annabel was different, she didn't give him the feeling that she was so bad.

"Yes, what is it?" He stiffened up in an attempt to radiate more authority.
"I just wanted to ask… about these clouds there that are approaching us." She pointed towards the sky at the sharp edge of a black cloud wall that like a time-frozen avalanche approached them.
"Shouldn't we get back home before this reaches us?"

"No this is according to plan actually." Isaac more or less materialized next to them. "We do need this lightning storm. The narrow bandwidth signal we sent out should look like a noise peak produced by lighting."
"And that means…?" said Annabel confused.
"I really cannot break it down more." Isaac shrugged.

"He means it helps hiding the signal." Dudley intervened before Isaac added something insulting to something complex.
"Ah okay… But doesn´t it get dangerous inside a storm?"
"We have a few lighting rods, don't worry." The girl seemed calmed by this answer. She nodded and said a quick "Thank you." Before going back to the rat girl he had also seen before. Contrary to Annabel, he had no good feeling about that girl.

"Okay, checkup people, how is everything progressing?" Powers turned to the five people around him and eyed them. "Isaac is…"
"Emergency signal is ready and waiting to be sent." The scientist said and checked a revolver which he just loaded.

"Thanks and the ammo?"
"Everything is loaded and just needs to be distributed. Keswick will later handle that task."
"A..A..Already over it." Keswick grabbed a heap of guns from a black crate and started walking.
"Splendid. Meternagel, how is the setting up of the lightning rods doing?"
"Well Captain, we just have one of the four up." The pilot admitted sheepishly. "The ground is mostly too sandy."

The Captain looked around for a moment before giving his pilot an annoyed stare. "Of course it is, have you not expected that?"
"Hey don´t blame me, I just have a bunch of kids and I am no geologist." Meternagel replied defensively.

"So you say the children's corps is no good?" Sneered Isaac gleefully.
"Yes, four literal babies aren´t good at putting up lighting rods, Isaac." Meternagel rolled his eyes.
"John… one of them is my son and they aren´t infants." Dudley said. "I´ll take care of it Sly, Meternagel can take my post."

"And I´ll help him." A tired-looking René stepped next to Dudley and smiled. The dog replied with a sympathetic "You look like trash man, you should have stayed home."
"No chance, I want to see that with my own eyes. That kind of shit you probably just see once in a lifetime… Nobody was ever so crazy to let himself drop down in a torpedo."

"You just want to see Ryan falling to his probable death." Dudley laughed and gave him a nudge.
"Would I be a piece of shit if I said yes?"
"Gentleman, focus." Powers said sternly. "René you go to the shuttle and rest. Dudley you go and take care of the rods… and take the elder wolf guy with you."

"Do I…" Dudley didn´t bother to finish the sentence. The look Powers gave him already had the answer in it. "On my way." He said and immediately jogged to the group that was comprised of three teenagers. They were hanging around next to the shuttle which was used to fetch the payload. Dudley once again thought about the plan and shivered a little about the idea.

"Okay quit talking guys... The storm is approaching." He said and was eyed critically by the teens.
"So?" The rat girl asked with a tone of voice full of so much sass that it felt like it had collected over an unnaturally long timespan, at least for a teenager.
"So…? What do you mean by so?" He asked. "You are here to help, and believe me if we hadn't had so many wounded or malnourished I sure as hell wouldn't have taken you here."

"Fine I…"
"Helena…" A dark voice cut the girl short right before more of the teenage anger could leak "You Tim and Annabel grab that rod over there and bring it to the crater back there."
The girl turned around with a start and looked up into the face of Rob. She needed a moment to shake off the confusion and recollect the sass for her tone. "Ugh, fine!"

"Very good." Rob said with the sound of a parent that would afterwards reward the kid with a piece of candy. As soon as the kids left though his demeanor changed. "Well… you are not good with kids, are you?"

"I haven't had closer contact with someone younger than me for about 500 years." Dudley retorts drily. "But I remember that approaching them from the shadows from behind is also not the best way to handle them."

Rob chuckled a little. "If you say so." He looked up and right through Dudley. "Nick, you are also not here to talk to… uhm…"
Dudley followed Rob's gaze and saw that Nick was talking to Kate who looked entertained by the conversation with his son. Meanwhile, Nick looked a little too insecure for Dudley's liking. After Rob's call, Nick jumped around and joined the other teens.

"He sometimes makes me wonder…" Rob mumbled.
"At least he's talking to people… although I wish it would be his peers." Dudley sighed.
"Another thing on the to-do list." Rob turned back and then pointed at the metal pipes lying next to them. "Anyway, help me grab one of the rods."

The two of them worked for a while in silence. They put up the first rod in the time the teens arrived at their destination and were about to raise the second as the wind started giving them a taste of what would come.

"Steady there…" Rob said as he almost tripped.
"I am, don't worry." Dudley replied calmly and straightened the pole. With a quick yank, he rammed it into the ground. "There, it should stick."
"Not a minute too early." Rob looked into the sky. A shadow of worry laid itself on his face. "I got to admit, I don't feel well being out in that storm."

"Hey, me neither." Dudley also looked into the sky. The edge of the cloud wall was dangerously close and the thunder had become well audible. He averted his gaze from the sky and then at the pole in front of him.
"Do you think this will work?" The wolf commented his eying of the poles.
"The rods? Yes, seen them, used them. About the rest… we are running out of options Rob. We either die here or with our hands in our laps."

"I know I know." The wolf took a deep breath. "But did you… you seem so composed about the whole deal. Are you so used to… desperate situation?"
"I got to admit, I got my fair share. You kind of get used to the pressure. But… It never been so personal." He bend down and grabbed a hand full of dirt. "I lived here for the most important part of my life and now... I still can remember the time I wanted to leave the planet."

"I got to admit, I've seen the casting show." Rob eyed him looking at the dirt in his hand. "For a trash fan like me, it was a feast."
"I bet." Dudley chuckled. "When I remember it feels like I'm watching a different person." He slowly let the dirt trickle out of his hand. "You know what's really funny… A while ago I gave up believing that I could return and now… Look where we are."

"That… sounds rough man…" Rob meant and Dudley couldn't avoid the feeling that this was an honest remark.
"I'll be okay… Although this whole deal is, peculiar." The dog turned around and pointed at a pile of rubble next to a dried-up lake. "I mean, if I am correct that's Goose Lake. I spent a summer with some friends there back when I was as old as Nick."

"Are you really okay?" Rob said and laid a hand on his shoulder as he watched Dudley staring longingly at the dry remains of his childhood.
"We… don't have time." Dudley slowly stated and walked away from the wolf. He had more important things to do than to talk about his feelings with Rob. Even though the guy had something about him that made Dudley talkative. He couldn't figure out what it was and right now he also didn't care.

The lightning rods were up, now it was time for the last mission briefing and he knew that even without Powers calling everybody to him at this moment. The human cleared his throat and started speaking, it wasn't the first speech of the day, the translator was switched on all the time by now.

"Last time people, remember, as soon as the stuff drops down, we load it into the shuttle. The kids and Meternagel and everyone we can fit will fly then back to base. The rest of us will try to get to the extraction point on foot. Don't be fooled, the enemy is most probably sensing that something is afoot. Our time window will be small." Powers investigated the faces of the people and realized that they might not liked the word 'try' so much.

"I am looking forward to see you all safe and sound at the base tonight." He quickly added and then looked at the sky. "What would you say Isaac?"

"The instruments show high electric field strength." Isaac replied. "Ready as soon as the first lighting hits close to us."
Powers was inhaling to say something but nature interjected with a violently loud own statement
The first of many lightings hit a rod and as it did so, Powers just gestured over to Isaac.

Isaac nodded and pushed the button on a device that had a little antenna dish on it not bigger than a football. After this, exactly nothing happened for a while.
"That´s it, no hologram or something?" Annabel asked confused.

"This is a distress signal, simple as shit." René tried to explain before Isaac could interject his thoughts. "It's just there so that someone hears it. And the way we tweaked it, just the desired receiver should hear it."
"Ah now it makes sense." Smiled Annabel and nodded gratefully towards the engineer.

"Quiet now, can you hear that?" Rob interjected and the crowd listened quietly. Indeed there was a subtle whistle-like sound that got loud very quick. Dudley opened his mouth and wanted to warn everyone. Screaming something like 'Take cover!' but before he could even breathe in three loud detonation sounds drowned out every other sound.

"To the pods" A voice called through the dust that now veiled the whole plain. Dudley carefully walked through a fog so thick that he could barely see his feet would he look down.
The first thing he stumbled upon wasn't one of the pods though. "Nick, it's you." He said and grabbed his son by the shoulder. The boy seemed a little lost as to where he should go right now.
"Da..Dudley, do you have any idea where…"

"Just follow me close… I think I do." He replied sounding reassuring. Together they stepped through the dust for a little while longer collecting a few more people on their way. In the end, a polonaise made of him, Nick, Meternagel, Snaptrap, and Helena arrived at one of the so-called pods.

Although the word pod was wrongly chosen, torpedo was the etymologically right term. Meliha's idea was simple but genius. The Leviathan had no shuttles left but a lot of torpedoes and without the explosive inside she was able to make some pretty safe landing pods. Although safe had to be taken with a grain of salt. It was safe for freight but for a life form, it was probably a dice toss.

The more surprising it was to Dudley sending down Ryan for medical support was suggested. Usually the doctor never walked away from his station more than 50 meters which was approximately the distance to the bar on deck 10 he frequented. Also Ryan was never the one who liked to use his skills on Dudley, always complaining that he is 'not a vet!' What exactly did Casey do to make him agree to this plan?

Dudley wiped away the dust of the little window that usually gave the viewer a look at the anti-matter chamber inside. Dudley was ready to see freight or Ryan inside but instead he looked into the eyes of the initiator of the torpedo idea, and she was waving and smiling out of her confined space. "Meliha… what…?"

"Ah it's so great that you didn't let us wait." She said as soon as the whole group had pried open the metal lid. "That was quite the bumpy right I got to tell."
"I thought you…"
"Ah come on, I know you could probably need another engineer down here." She laughed and gave him a nudge.
"And the ship, how's the Leviathan." From all people it was Meternagel who asked the most concerned question.

"Hehe, we found an old ship graveyard at the edge of this system and after some smelting, we could repair the most important things. Just low on energy." She grinned a grin so wide that it would impress most crocodiles. "The alloys we found were maybe things we used two or three millennia ago but we could get them to a standard that…" She finally stopped as she realized that there were more people around here than just Dudley and Meternagel. She immediately started squealing as she saw the aliens around her.

"Oh god! How cute!" she stepped out of her capsule and started pinching Snaptrap in his cheek.
"I… I´m not okay with that." The rat said and did nothing to defend himself from the enthusiastic pincher.

"Meliha get your hands off him." Dudley said and handed her some things that were inside the torpedo with her. "Do you see the lights back there?" The fog had thinned and the bright lights of the shuttle could tear through them. "Go there and talk to the captain. The rest of you, help to unload."

A storm of hands quickly began to empty the pod and as soon as it was empty the same hands started disassembling what was left of the torpedo salvaging every part until only the crater from the impact was left. Dudley placed the last parts into the shuttle and looked to the other pods.

One other was already gone and the other was almost empty. Dudley tried to estimate the rest mass that needed to be put into the shuttle and then knew he needed to talk to Powers.
"Sly." He said as he stepped to the captain that was monitoring the disassemblement efforts. "I think we don't have space left."

"Agreed." Powers nodded without moving his eyes away from the last pod. "What are you suggesting?"
"I take a small team and detonate the last torpedo while you take the rest and leave." Dudley explained with military brevity.

"Fine, what do the long-range scanners say?" Powers called out loud and received an answer from Meternagel. "Eerily calm out here, nothing on it."
"Odd, I don't like that. Pick a few people and then hurry. I got to talk to Isaac and Meliha… they said something about a plan."

"Aye aye." Dudley said and like a ghost suddenly Kate has appeared.
"You probably will need someone who has an idea what he does when it comes to explosions." She grinned and was then joined by René who joined her side.
"Yeah you need me."

"No you go home and rest." Dudley immediately ordered.
"Ah come on, riding home in a tin can? I´m not a damn sardine. A little explosion and then an old fashioned run. It's basically like a rest."
"I…" Dudley sighed and then gave up. "Fine, but let´s hurry then."

"Hey uhm…" Rob lifted his voice behind Dudley and instantly brought the dog's teeth together. If someone had put wheat grains between his teeth before he would have received a fine flour. "The shuttle is basically full so I wanted to ask if I can join you here."

"I am surprised about your courage." The tick chuckled.
"Courage?" He enquired smiling friendly.
"Two men fighting over one woman you know…"
"Oh that…" Rob was about to elaborate as Powers yelled to them from the shuttle.

"Stop standing around! Start your firework." He saluted quickly and then the shuttle doors closed. The shuttle needed a short moment before disappearing on the horizon and the little group used that time to wire up the rests of the torpedo. A quick fireball later the little group readied to leave.

Dudley looked one last time into the black sky. Lightning was still hitting the rods from time to time but the intensity has ceased a while ago.
"What about the lighting rods?" Rob asked as he tied his shoes.
"No, that won't be necessary." René answered. "Just low tech stuff."

"I'm fine with that." Rob stood up and stretched. "So are we…"
He slowly fell silent as his gaze rested on Dudley who had put both arms into the air. "Move slowly and get your hands up." The dog whispered. He had discovered it just a moment ago. And it was no use to fighting here. How should you even fight an enormous ship that just poked its belly out of the cloud cover?

The group stood still in the middle of the plain and Dudley's brain tried to think of something to get out of the situation. Standing on a figurative cliff and being forced to jump wasn't a completely new experience for him although he preferred blind odds over an enemy's mercy.

But the futility of the circumstances was as exposed as they were right now. So they stood there with their heads and arms pointing upwards and waited for the lizards' reaction.
"I´ll get help…" Kate said and slapped her own wrist just to disappear in thin air in the next second.

"She can do that… Can you do that, can we do that?!" Rob asked in panic as he tried to understand where she had gone.
"'She' can yes." Dudley sighed hoping that Kate would get someone or at least tell someone.
'I´m sorry Nick, Kitty. I failed you.' Where his last words before bright light embraced them.

-Author's note: Hey you reached the end of the chapter, hope you liked it. Quite the predicament the group got themselves into, how will they get out? What do you think? Anyway, I try to have the next chapter up a little sooner. See you soon and of course, stay tuned-