“What was that sound then?”

He pulled the blanket that he was using to cover his bottom half off and wrapped it around the pipe.

“I just tripped.”

He pulled on the blanket to no obvious effect. He tried again and, with a crack and a small hiss the top portion of the pipe became dislodged from the bottom and a small trickle of water escaped out of the opening. He breathed a large sigh of relief.

“And what was that crack.”

Jamez kneeled down and put his face against the pipe, desperate to be hydrated once more. When he was thoroughly satisfied he responded, “Nothing, I just broke a limb.”

“What? Are you okay?”

“No, yeah, I’m fine. It was a minor limb.”

Jamez pushed the pipe back into its proper position and then sized it up. It ran all the way from the ground up to a small hole in the top covering of the hut. There were small metal connections between it and the only solid wall in the hut.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” He wrapped the blanket around one of the connections and pulled himself up. Holding himself there, he swung the blanket around the next connection and pulled himself up further until finally he was to the very top. He pulled on the sides of the hole to make it large enough to fit him through and then proceeded to climb out onto the top of the hut. It was just strong enough to hold his weight.

He replaced the blanket around his waste and put his hands on his hips to survey the small alleyway below him, between huts. There was no one in sight on either side, but there was one monk pacing there, just underneath him.

After considering the jump for a significant amount of time, he jumped down and landed just behind the monk. With one swipe of his arm, the monk was out cold. He smiled and disrobed the monk so that he would have something to wear. He was surprised to find that this was the very same monk he hat originally met when he had arrived.

Covering the scantily clad monk with the blanket, he covered his face with the hood and peered nervously into the street outside. He literally did a double take when he saw what was there in the center. It was what Jamez could only describe as a spaceship, even though it happened to be nowhere near space.

It was large, silver, and oddly perfect looking, with not a scratch on it. There were two engine things on either side that were emitting noxious chemicals into the air and were swiveling side-to-side and up and down, seemingly of their own accord. All of the monks were filing onto the ship.

Eventually, the last few stragglers jumped onto it as the ramp began to close and the ship began to rise very slowly. Quickly, Jamez scrambled into the nearest hut, and then to the next, and then to the next-there they were! All of his things! Heck yes!

Very quickly, Jamez grabbed his belt and pulled off a small, grey item. Pressing a red button on the side, he chucked it at the ship. It collided with a small clunk and stuck in place.

He just stood there for a moment in the completely desolate settlement, watching the ship as it went.

“Lentesko,” Jamez finally said into the earpiece, “The monks just left the settlement, I installed a tracking device onto their transport, though, so can you get on tracking that?”

“Can do, Jamez, good job. Lay low until we can get you a helicopter out of there.”

“Alright. How long’s that gonna be?”

“Long enough.”

“Nice.”