Iapetus Saves Albuquerque

The son of Iapetus grabbed a few meteoroids of his former foe, and threw them at Cyber-Iapetus. The mechanical monster turned to see where the minor attack originated. The young monster gave a roar of challenge to the cybernetic weapon system.

The distraction allowed Iapetus to make a full out attack. He swept the legs out from under the weapon system. Once the weapon was on the ground, Iapetus jumped on top of it, and began pounding on the weak spots.

The young monster rushed over to where his father wrestled with his mechanical rival. The weapon system saw the rush and launched some missiles at him with its good hand. Further, the shoulder doors open and began firing at the elder Iapetus.

With the mechanical monster pinned beneath him, Iapetus avoided the bullets as they fired into the air. The missiles did strike the son of Iapetus, but did little damage to the young beast. Nevertheless, Cyber-Iapetus sent several more waves of missiles at the oncoming young monster.

The missiles hit their mark as the young monster kicked a hole into the side of the mechanical beast. At this, the storyteller rushed towards the fighting monsters. The others were too surprised by this development that they were too late to stop the rushing man.

The two monsters continued to wrestle with the weapon system as the storyteller ran up to them. However, they held the weapon still to allow the man to enter the created hole. Once inside, he managed to shut down the system.

Further, once inside he removed the weapon system's remaining munitions. Thus, even if it returned to auto-protect mode, it would have no missiles or bullets at its disposal. It had already depleted its fire breathing reservoir.

The storyteller exited Cyber-Iapetus and the two monsters briefly relaxed. However, there were still things remaining to be done. The aliens were still lurking somewhere.

Out of the sand, a craft emerged. Before it rose too high, the son of Iapetus jumped upon it. The weight of the young monster forced the craft to the ground. It tried and tried to shake off the monster, but was not successful.

The storyteller walked calmly over to where the alien craft sat. Again the others could do nothing to stop him. The alien craft door opened, and the Iapetian entered. The door closed behind him.

The young monster got off the craft. The alien ship took off, but landed near the Humvee where the other three men remained. The door opened, and the storyteller beckoned the three men to join him. Reluctantly, all three joined him -- even Captain Cheever.

Communication among the group was difficult. The aliens were not able to make sounds to speak any human language. However, they could enter information into a machine that could make the sounds for language. Fortunately, the aliens learned some human languages before setting out to encounter the humans.

The spoken words by the men would enter into a device which transformed it into a form available to the aliens. Thus, communication was slow but it was possible.

"We demand the return of our ambassador," stated the alien captain.

"Sorry, but that is impossible," replied Captain Cheever.

"Please explain," the alien responded.

"With all due respect, the alien craft crashed," answered Captain Cheever. "There were no survivors."

"Do you know that?" whispered Dr. Maland.

"I have information not publicly available," responded the military man.

"Please elaborate," the alien urged.

"As you know, our air is toxic to your people," began Captain Cheever. "The crash landing breached the protective suit of the pilot. Thus, your ambassador perished shortly after the crash. Further, he decomposed quite rapidly under the exposure of our air. This all happened before we could get to him."

"That is indeed distressing," stated the alien. "What is the status of his ship?"

"It was beyond salvage. Most of the wreckage was taken to a secure location, but it is simply a pile of twisted metals," stated Captain Cheever.

"Are there any remnants of our ambassador?" asked the alien.

"The remains of your comrade were photographed in their discovered state but have not lasted his time on earth," explained Captain Cheever. "These images may be made available to you if you demand proof of my words."

"You have defeated us and our Sletfernian Sand Monster in a fair fight," replied the alien captain. "We are in no position to make any demands. In fact, you may punish us in whatever manner you see fit."

"Our people are not a punitive people," responded Captain Cheever. "We are sympathetic for your cause. While your actions might not be completely forgiven, I will speak on your behalf. We will attempt to make this right."

"Very well spoken human," replied the alien. "What is our next step?"

"Let these civilians off," answered Captain Cheever "and I will make the necessary arrangements."

"But..." begged Dr. Maland and Dr. Plate.

"Agreed," replied the aliens as they herded the men out of the ship.

The three men stood there and watched the ship take off with Captain Cheever aboard. There was nothing that they could do to take that trip. They looked around and had to determine what they were going to do. The rental car was quite a distance away, and Captain Cheever did not leave the keys to the Humvee behind.

As they stood there, the two giant monsters approached. The storyteller climbed upon the tail of the son of Iapetus. Dr. Maland and Dr. Plate followed this lead. The young monster carefully took the men to the rental car.

The three men entered the car as the two monsters walked south towards the gulf. The men discussed it and drove back to where the mechanical weapon system sat.

Dr. Plate grabbed several meteoroids. These pieces of a former giant creature would provide a great deal of interesting study material for the astronomer and his cohorts.

The storyteller climbed aboard the greatly damaged Cyber-Iapetus. He powered it up and left the area into it. With the holes in the armor, he would not be able to follow the Iapetian family. He would have to find some other way to get the weapon system to his island home. Nonetheless, he began steering it towards Florida.

Dr. Maland waited until everyone had finished their tasks. He asked Dr. Plate where he wanted to go. While his truck was in Santa Fe, he was fine with going to Albuquerque. Thus, the two men headed to the city that Iapetus had just saved. From there, they headed home.