Jamie glanced at the thing behind us and shuddered.

It made sense. The rotter had been made of dead material. It would not be that simple to dispatch an undead foe.

On the plus side, though, it meant Sovirox wouldn't be quite so angry at us for killing his mate.

ET floated behind us, glowing finger raised, prepared to use his power if something happened. The trouble was, I didn't know if he'd be able to stop our enemy. Spike swam ahead, watching for danger from that end.

I'd never gone swimming in a swamp before. Not something I'd recommend. The 'carbonated' mold infested liquid we'd crossed to get to the main throne room, that had been bad enough, but now weird smelling algae stuck to us. Sometimes alien leeches would even sucker onto our bodies.

Roy kept picking them off us, and himself.

Up until this point, Charlie had kept his distance, not even following us into the throne room. I thought he had aquaphobia until he suddenly came drifting down the tunnel like a ghost.

Once we'd had a good scream, he asked, "Did you find the cure?"

I nodded. "Xetgupa is after us! Go!"

Charlie flitted back the way he came.

Fighting water that gushed down like a waterfall, I and the others rushed up the dark waterlogged, extinguished torch lined corridor with Gertie's pod and our newfound treasures, climbed through the trapdoor. Roy and the two Qulpari had to help us with the pod.

"At least we're going through this place fast," Pete groaned. "I'm disowning my nose and tastebuds."

Charlie hovered over something at the edge of the dais.

Right before the relatively cleaner waters lay one of those bug fish things, whimpering and half beached. It had lost a fin, and sustained other injuries.

Jamie stopped to examine its wounds. "You poor thing! What happened to you?"

The fish let out a pitiful sealion bark.

My girlfriend gave me a hopeful look. "Elliott. You got some kind of plant powers, don't you?"

I swallowed. "Maybe?"

I glanced back at the waterfall. "There's no time! I know it's sad, but we're going to have to leave it like it is!"

She seemed undeterred. "How long will it really take? I saw how fast you grew that plant for Yatgibi." She rubbed her neck, perhaps remembering how the judge alien had shot her with a tracking probe.

"That was before ET's friends drained me, remember?" I kept looking back. "We really don't—"

ET gave me a look that said I could do it.

He turned his back on me, using his powers to raise the stone trapdoor back in place, buying us more time.

I knelt beside the injured creature. "Jamie, I don't know how helpful I really can be..."

"Try. If you can grow huge plants, you can do this."

I placed my hand on the rubbery dolphin skin of the fish thing's dorsal, closing my eyes as I tried willing healing energy through my fingers. A difficult challenge, changing mental gears from hateful withering to loving growth. After being so focused on the negative, my subconscious resisted the effort. But Jamie took my other hand and squeezed, allowing some of those mental barriers to fall away.

"You can do this, Elliott. I believe in you."

Energy sparked from my fingertips. Jamie placed a palm on the helpless creature, and the sparking developed into a both-hands -on-an-electric-fence sensation.

The fish thing's body took on an eerie interior glow, like a huge Glow Worm toy, or a light at the bottom of a swimming pool at night. The creature's fins regrew, its wounds clearing up. Whatever we had done with this alien life form seemed to be beyond a mere healing, for once sufficiently healthy, a strange transformation took place, its flesh, once rubbery and dolphin like, taking on the appearance of fresh cabbage, ridged with something resembling ivy, long, glowing strands of a bean sprout like substance radiated out into the water.

I tried to ignore Spike's smug grinning.

Roy gawked for a moment. "Okay, that was amazing, and Greenpeace thanks you, but didn't you say someone was coming after us?"

Jamie stared at me in worriment. "That trapdoor won't stop him?"

"I...Don't know. He's right. We probably should run."

"I don't see why we couldn't have just grabbed the ring off the skeleton," Pete argued.

"It probably would have grabbed you. Plus, did you see how fast it was moving?"

He gulped. "It was just an idea. Anyways, I thought you killed that mushroom guy with the pink stuff."

"I thought I did too."

"Then what was that?"

"I...dunno."

"Does that mean your cure doesn't work?"

"No, I mean, I don't think so. You saw the carvings. When that slime thing was alive, they swiped samples from him, and used that to make the cure. Alive or not, we'll still have something."

We rushed into the clearer, non-swampy water, again deriving our air from the mouths of fish, especially our recently healed aquatic friend. Jamie and Pete both complained that I somehow should have made the creature grow snorkel masks for us to wear instead of forcing us to kiss it again, but to be honest, the cabbagey thing tasted cleaner than the others.

A few backwards glances told me our fearful escape hadn't been unjustified. Already a black ooze came bubbling up around the trapdoor like a struck oil vein. We hurried onward, frog kicking through lengths of submerged tunnel.

Pete panicked, nearly drowned, but we rushed him to an air pocket, and he calmed down enough to get a second wind.

Our new water dwelling friend proved exceedingly helpful in moving us along, offering us speedy lifts to the entrance. We gave him thankful hugs before leaving the water.

Up we dashed with Gertie's pod, to the staircase area of the meeting hall, where Tiffrid eagerly awaited us.

Vadful and Norenio were absent. When I asked, Tiffrid informed me the female had taken the large bird outside to attend to its bathroom needs.

"I'll be relieved myself once we're out of here," Roy quipped.

Charlie flew back and forth from us to the corridor leading outside and back, trying to give us a hint.

I stared back at the submerged tunnel. A dark inky cloud spread from the depths.

Pete hadn't been wrong about using the hoop to clear up the fungus pads. Our enemy's black cloud caused the white mold to shrink and disappear like grease droplets in a pool of soap.

Jamie shuddered. "I don't like the look of that."

Roy rushed Gertie up the steps. "Neither do I. C'mon, let's go while the going is good."

"Quick, ET!" Pete cried. "Use The Force and bring down that tunnel!"

Spike furrowed his brow, puzzled.

ET shook his head. "I...cannot."

Pete's face flushed red. "And why the hell not?"

"I'm afraid it would injure the Yazwejos."

Spike nodded in agreement. "We must not hurt them."

"Ugh!" Pete groaned. "For crying out loud! You're going to let us get killed to save a few crummy fish?"

ET gave him a look that said yes. Well, you know, they did help us to breathe earlier...

"I'd kill for a stick of dynamite. Boom! I'd have this whole building closed off."

"I am glad you do not have that in your possession."

The dolphin-bug creatures attacked the rapidly expanding cloud of black mold like a school of catfish with pound of fish food. They went into a feeding frenzy, giving the water a boiling appearance as they swarmed over each other to sample the new exotic food.

Thinking we'd end up with a pool of fat contented fish and a very dead mold man, I stopped to watch.

It didn't work quite that well in our favor. The black stuff bloated the fish in sickly ways, leaving them floating belly up, or splitting open at seams, filled to the bursting with white fungal matter like a zombie ant.

Roy tugged on my arm, but after witnessing that sight, I needed no further encouragement to run.

"Wait!" Jamie protested. "What about the poor thing we rescued?"

Roy scowled at a fish creature bobbing upside down in the water. With all the pointy fungal growths emerging from its body, it fairly resembled the ball end of a chain mace. "Sorry, kid. If he's still alive, he's toast. C'mon."

She looked sad. "That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair." Noticing a tear rolling down her cheek, he just sighed. "Look. We don't have an aquarium, or pumping equipment or time."

She gave him a reluctant nod, rushing up the tunnel. ET and Spike hurriedly scampered after.

Charlie kept acting like a pace car, hanging back, tail frantically waving us forward.

Roy took over the controls on Gertie's pod, forcing it into speeds which Spike said exceeded the manufacturer's limits.

"We can apologize to the manufacturers when we get out of this place alive," Roy countered, maintaining a rapid speed.

We rammed straight into the big fat body of the mutant albino penguin, prompting a string of angry squawks and dog barks from its nasty looking beak.

Tiffrid tripped and fell on his face. Pete stumbled over the nennop's tail.

Noting our panic, and a rumbling sound from below the stairs, the blind bird creature dove through an adjoining corridor, never to be seen again.

We bolted for the entrance, grabbed our packs, came flying outside like we had an army of alligators nipping at our heels. I bumped into Vadful's flank, knocked a piece of fruit out of Norenio's hands.

The moment we reached the dirt half trail along the shore, the machinery suspending Gertie's pod gave out, and she went crashing to the ground.

I rushed to check on her, opened the lid.

My sister looked even weaker than before, and super tired. "Owww...what happened?"

"We were trying to rush you away from Xetgupa, and your pod stopped floating."

"I...thought Xetgupa was dead."

"I thought he was too, but something happened...Are you all right? Did that fall hurt you?"

She shook her head. No spinal injuries, apparently. "I'm fine. Just got shook up a little. This thing has thick padding."

"Then why'd you say ow?"

Gertie gave a faint chuckle. "After a fall like that, I felt like I had to say something." She held up ET's computer. "This did hurt when it hit me in the face though."

We tried to check in with our friends again. No signal.

Roy's lips tightened as he stared at the crumbling building. "All right. I don't want to hang out here any longer than we have to. Where are these...gallons of Pepto Bismol you keep talking about?"

I stared. "What?"

He looked irritated. "You know, the slime. The pink stuff. Where are you hiding it at?"

"I don't know."

Roy's face turned pink. "What do you mean, I don't know! We went through this whole ordeal to save your sister, and that pink stuff so far is our only hope!...Do you want Gertie to die?"

"No!" I fought down a sob. "I was sleepwalking when I found it! I...just don't remember! We've been wandering around and around in this...coral land for hours! How am I supposed to remember all that? I don't even know how to leave this place!"

Jamie rubbed her forehead in frustration. "You and your sleepwalking."

"Gertie's going to die, and it's all his fault," Pete growled, barely audible.

I bit my tongue, pretending I didn't hear him. My anger had been the cause of all this mess to begin with.

Tiffrid muttered something to Roy, urging him to be kind. Roy took some calming breaths. "Try."

I gave him a hesitant nod.

With ET's help, we retraced our steps back to the general area of our old campsite, but it didn't help. I asked Charlie, but he only flew over the coral, took a brief aerial survey, and came back with a clueless shrug.

Out of ideas, I pointed in a direction I thought I might have been.

Of course, now Gertie's pod didn't float.

"Great," Roy grumped. "How are we going to move this thing now?"

Spike extended some pieces from the pod, transforming it into sort of an oversized roller suitcase with all terrain wheels. We all took turns pulling it along. Norenio did try hitching the pod to Vadful, which worked for a time, but then he'd get irritated and shrug off the equipment, tossing Gertie sideways, so we'd have to take over.

We hiked.

I told ET about how I'd seen Xetgupa die, saw his skeleton. "How is it possible that his hoop can fly around and cause us trouble? Does the hoop automatically seek out the dead and bring them to life? If so, would that mean we don't have to run from this guy?...I mean, he still seemed dangerous, but..."

He gave it serious thought. "I believe...her lifeforce may have somehow bonded with the hoop. This makes her all the more deadly because destroying her body is not going to be enough, we will actually need to find a way to destroy the hoop itself."

"One thing at a time," Jamie suggested.

I nodded. "Let's worry about that after we save Gertie."

I tried my best to locate the place, but my best wasn't good enough. I immediately found myself stumbling down a hill into an unfamiliar looking gully.

"Elliott," Roy groaned. "Are you certain this is the way to place?"

"...No."

Pete leaned against a giant coral. "Why are we even following him? He's obviously an idiot!"

"Hey!" I yelled. "You take that back!"

Spike raised his hands like he wanted to use power on us. Tiffrid put a hand on his shoulder and just fixed me with a piercing stare.

I took some deep breaths and calmed myself. A little, at least.

Pete crossed his arms. "Then where's this lake of pink stuff you keep yammering about?"

"We wouldn't have gone this way if someone had a better idea!" I slumped down on a rock, becoming annoyed when it moved beneath me. "ET told me to forget where Ihyokxa was, so I forgot it."

Roy sighed and leaned on Vadful. Norenio picked leeches off his body, then Jamie when she spotted some on her neck.

ET sat down next to me. "I have a memory recovery technique that may help..."

Open to any suggestion at this point, I went along with his idea and let him teach me how to meditate.

Spike, in the meantime, at last got a signal, informing our friends of what happened, warning them about Xetgupa.

Meditation didn't help. I only ended up getting us lost more.

"He did sleepwalk to find the place, right?" Jamie shook her head. "If only I had some mind reading power."

Pete laughed bitterly. "Probably wouldn't find anything there."

"I don't think this is the way," Charlie said. "Of course I wasn't present when you discovered the lake of that...substance."

"At least we're away from that thing." Pete looked glumly at Gertie's pod. "Even if she's probably going to die."

Tiffrid put a hand on the boy's shoulder, but he brushed it away.

"You must be more optimistic," Spike said.

"Yeah? Easy for you to say!"

"I understand your feelings. I have lost loved ones myself. Still...I do not feel this one's time is come."

Pete got mad, kicked one of the coral plants, which caused a shower of gravelly debris. He sighed, scowling at the object dangling from his neck. "I didn't see any maps in that place. All we got is this dumb spoon compass that would be useful if we could actually read it, and knew what cardinal direction anything was!"

ET consulted a computer and frowned. "That compass is not pointing true magnetic south."

"Don't you mean north?"

"No."

That made him think. "Hmmm."

"Plate tectonics?"

ET showed me his computer. Since we'd explored some areas previously, we had actual maps of some regions. A square symbol showed us a completely different direction for 'true south.'

Roy stared at the monitor. "So the polarity shifted. All that means is that this thing is really old, right?"

I furrowed my brow in puzzlement. "Wouldn't the needle just start pointing the other way when the poles changed?"

"Hell, I don't know, I'm not a geologist. It was just an idea."

Pete clenched and unclenched his fists. "Why don't we just use your regular compass and get us out of here? Elliott here obviously can't find the place..."

ET looked disappointed. "You...Do not wish to help Gertie?"

The question made him change his tune. "I...didn't say that! But, I mean, we're lost! What's this compass good for anyway?"

Spike examined the inscription on the bottom of the compass. "This...is the tool the ancients used to locate Ihyokxa."

Since Pete had difficulty reading the device, Spike took it from him, leading us back the way we came.

We kept picking leeches off our skin. Pete complained that one even got inside his pants. I'll spare you the details on that one.

ET checked in with Colzest and Tolmina. Nothing new. ET warned them to be on the lookout for Xetgupa, just in case our enemy resurfaced.

The ladle compass took us on an unfamiliar trail, more often than not cluttered with thorny or otherwise irritating plants. Gertie's pod got stuck numerous times, and we'd have to lift it over rocks and other objects. ET and his alien friends helped considerably with this, but after awhile they got tired, so we had to carry it the old fashioned way.

In addition to her karate skills, Jamie, being pretty strong, helped a lot with the lifting, better than I could. It surprised me, but I guess she'd do anything for Gertie.

ET tried to coach me into levitating it myself, but in between the nosebleeds and being drained of power, I couldn't keep her in the air very long, and, worse than that, accidentally flipped my sister upside down.

Lucky for her, no broken bones, just a couple bruises. Still, nobody wanted me to try it again. I resorted to merely using my power to boost my arms and legs as I lifted the normal way.

Nothing brings a couple together like parenting, especially in trying times. For this reason, when it briefly wasn't their turn to pull Gertie's pod, Roy and Norenio would hold hands, or Roy would wrap Norenio's tail around his fingers. They stayed close together as they helped us. Their nennop, pleased with the development, occupied himself with playing a jaunty traveling tune on the musical instrument we'd found. Jamie, when she held my hand, acted like she hadn't gotten the idea from them.

Pete continued giving Gertie a running Travelogue of the places we were going through, but admitted there wasn't much to see "Unless you're a big fan of coral."

At long last, I sighted large quantities of those land shrimp things again, which, I could only hope, would lead to our destination.

But then Gertie started coughing and wouldn't stop. I feared the worst. "I shouldn't have opened her pod."

"Oh no," Pete whispered. "Not again!...She can't die!" To me: "You told us this place looks familiar! Where is the lake?" And when I didn't respond fast enough, "C'mon think! Your sister's life's at stake!'"

My eyes blurred with tears. "Don't you think I know that! It was dark! I have no idea. Maybe Charlie knows something."

Charlie did another fly-over, but he came back with nothing.

Losing patience, and having familiarized himself with its workings, Pete snatched the compass from Spike, running on up ahead.

A minute or so later, he shouted, "Hey, guys! I found it!"

But then came screaming.

"Dammit!" Roy gritted his teeth. "I bet that's the mushroom guy. I knew we'd been making too much noise."

Fortunately for us, Pete hadn't gone far, and he left shoe prints and broken twigs and stuff in his wake.

We found Pete writhing on the dirt, in distress, but not serious distress.

Apparently the land shrimp, being a little possessive of their turf, had decided to dogpile Pete to the ground, getting all over his hair and face and into his clothing. "Hey! Ugh! Stop that! Gross!"

Seeing him unhurt, we all laughed. The land shrimp got scared by our presence, scattering away. Charlie danced in the air with an amused look on his face.

Pete groaned, stood up, brushing bugs out of his hair, sleeves and pants. "Very funny, you guys. Those things almost killed me!"

Jamie smirked. "Right."

"Well, the important thing is, we found it." Pete pointed to the lake of pink ooze.

We found no evidence of Xetgupa's old body, the one that had attacked me earlier. I guess, without the hoop, nothing held back the forces of time, so his skeleton decayed into nothing.

"Quick! Let's...give her the stuff!"

I rushed to the pod, slid open the lid, but it was too late.

Gertie lay motionless on the cushions, staring glassy eyed at the sky, her chest unmoving. I wept, clutching her hand. "No!"

Roy and Norenio both checked my sister, consulted ET. They exchanged sorrowful looks. Tiffrid bowed his head.

The man put his hand on my shoulder. "We tried. We knew this was going to be a fifty fifty shot." He started crying too. "I'm sorry." He hugged me.

Jamie, noticing Gertie's condition, threw her arms around me, crying on my shoulder. Even Norenio was making whimpering puppy dog sounds, Roy comforting her the best he could.

"No! This can't be it!" Pete yelled, grabbing Gertie's hand. "Wake up!" He shook her. "Breathe, damn you!"

"Pete," Roy scolded.

"We haven't tried the pink stuff yet!" Pete picked my sister up, or tried to, anyway.

"She's gone. Leave her alone."

Pete ignored the man, pressed his ear to Gertie's chest, attempted CPR.

"Hey! Knock it off! What in the hell you think you're doing? She's dead!"

"The stuff is right here! We can save her!"

"And I'm telling you it's too late!"

Pete tried to lift my sister again.

"Hey!" Roy became livid. "Leave the dead girl alone! I'm not going to ask again!"

"She's not dead, you asshole!"

This time when Pete tried to move Gertie, Roy shoved him to the ground.

Pete came within an inch of cracking his skull on a rock, but Spike held out his hand, using his power to stop the boy's fall.

Roy rubbed his face. "Lord, what am I doing? I swore I would never strike a child!"

With tears in his eyes, Pete brushed himself off and got up. "Just like my old man," he croaked. He ran away.

"Hey!" Roy shouted, jogging after him. "I'm sorry!" And when Pete kept running, "You're right! I'm a jerk! That's what I got a nennop for!"

Tiffrid didn't respond to this, but Norenio nodded.

I sighed, standing at the head of what I then could only describe as Gertie's casket, trying to think up an eulogy for her.

Jamie held my hand. "I'm going to miss her."

"Me too."

ET took my other hand, bowed his head.

Spike joined hands with him and Tiffrid, Tiffrid with Norenio and Charlie. Well, Charlie's fin.

Vadful let out a heavy breath, settled on the ground, mooed mournfully.

ET crooned a low, dirge like melody. It must have been a popular tune, for Spike, Tiffrid, and even Norenio knew the words. Charlie, well, he hummed.

I didn't see the harm in joining in, humming, at least. I didn't know the words either. The giant bird warbled along with us, though he couldn't really hold a tune.

An electric jolt traveled through me. Gertie's body rose into the air, above the pod/casket.

I gave ET a questioning look, but then I kinda got the idea: Bidding my sister bon voyage.

Gertie's lifeless body slowly drifted through the air, away from us, toward the gurgling pink pond.

All this did not escape Roy's notice. Having apparently given up his chase, the man came rushing back into the clearing. "Whoa! Hey! Just a damn minute! Put her back!"

Spike hissed at him like a tomcat, continued crooning. Gertie's body drifted further out.

Roy stammered a protest, but it was half hearted. "Aw jeez. Maybe I'm the one having a hard time letting her go." He wiped his eyes. "Guess she would have wanted it this way..."

We drew close to the shore, still humming and singing. Gertie's limp form floated down at level with the slimy glop, then sunk below the surface.

Any time you drop something into a liquid, there's bubbles, just displaced air popping back up. A rock will create bubbles, and so will a dead body. As ET and his alien friends released Gertie from their 'levitation spell,' many such bubbles rose. We watched sadly as the bubbles dissipated, nothing more disturbing the placid surface of the pond with the exception of a few scuttling bugs, or a piece of falling coral.

"She was so young!" Roy moaned. "It's hardly fair!" He let in a shuddering breath. The man was just barely keeping it together. "I mean, okay, kids die all the time, they fall off trees, get cancer, get hit by a bus...but Lord, why her?" He went all blubbery on his alien girlfriend.

I felt numb, hollow inside without my sister. With Mom, Dad and Michael all literally light years away, my sister was my only real tie I had left to my family, the earth, and everything that mattered. Jamie, although nice, wasn't blood. It just wasn't the same.

I kept staring, zombie like, at the interior of the pod, the communicator, the computer, those stupid dolls Pete had given her, regretting everything I'd ever done, maybe even meeting ET in the first place. I had been the main one at fault, but we wouldn't have been in the situation at all, had I remained on earth.

I marched right up to ET and said it to his face. The words came up like bile. "I wish I never met you. If I'd only stayed away, and let those government people take you, my sister wouldn't have died."

ET didn't speak, just gave me a sad grandmotherly look that seemed to say 'Well, if that's you really feel about me...'

I truly didn't wish ill upon ET, I just felt sad and didn't know what to do. I cried on his shoulder, letting him hug me back.

Jamie tugged my sleeve. "Elliott!"

I ignored her, too depressed to care about much of anything anymore.

"Elliott!"

I'm sick of games, I thought. When she tugged on my sleeve again, I practically yelled at her. "What!"

"Never mind! I'll go check it myself!"

I watched, bleary eyed, as she dove into the slimy lake. "Check on what?"

A moment later, she dragged my gasping sister back to shore.