Time To Take Action

       "TEN THOUSAND TWINKEYS?!?" shouted Louis.

       Kalindra just glared. "That is what I said." Whatever gunk was on those tentacles was putrid stuff. Kalindra wiped her face off on a towel that would need to be incinerated afterward.

       "What should we do?" asked Oriana, bewildered. "Should we pay the ransom?"

       "Should we?!? How the hell *can* we?" wailed Louis.

       Kryn spoke up. "Hijack a Hostess truck." Everyone just looked at the black unicorn.

       "You know, that might work," commented the raccoon.

       "How are you ever going to find a Hostess truck?" sneered Kalindra. "Can you make them come when called?"

       "Well, can you think of anything better, fox?" retorted Kyri.

       "I am not a fox," seethed Kalindra. Both Naldantis and Lythandi began to glare at Kyri. "And I'll tell you this. I am not going to let a slimy tentacle threaten my Klizatch and get away with it."

       "Hold on here folks. Calm down," said Thrysten as she stepped between the Velans and the unicorns. "I want Foxers back as much as you want Brian. Arguing is not going to help them."

       Sora supported Thrysten. "She's right. There are enough of us here, maybe we can pursue both plans."

       Suddenly, the blue fox stepped to the center of the group and cleared his throat. "We do not know anything about this horror that is holding Brian and Foxeris. Considering that they have not yet returned of their own accord, we would be wise to consider it a formidable enemy," the fox growled softly. "Zen?" asked Serin pointedly.

       The cloud of nanites inverted. "Ahem, Yes. I'll see what I can find out."

       The IH laughed. Scheming for untold eons (or was that two weeks?) left one ravenously hungry. A few Twinkies would make a well deserved snack. The IH oozed drool from various orifices. In addition, the task of retrieving the Twinkies would serve to keep the life forms on the other side of the tenuous interdimensional rip too busy to think of repairing it.

       The IH got down to the business at hand. It now had two life forms at its disposal. Its next task was to modify the control networks of the two life forms so that they would execute the next phase of its plan.

       The mind of the ex-archmage was protected by powerful mental shields. To another telepath, piercing his unwilling mind would be like trying to penetrate solid steel doors a foot thick. The IH unwrapped the mind as if it was removing the aluminum foil wrapper from a chocolate Easter egg.

       The mind of the natural fold walker was another thing altogether. So well protected that his mind actually nullified ambient mental fields, Foxeris's mind was more like a blast-hardened command center, protected by yards of concrete and steel. Like a master gem cutter shaping a diamond, the IH split open Foxeris's shields with one sharp blow.

       The minds of his captives lay open. The IH set to work with the blissful sounds of its captives' screams of agony ringing in its ears.

       Zen decided to risk sending a small contingent to keep track of the two humans. Twenty nanites each the size of a grain of sand flew back through the rip. Five more set up a signal relay system, flitting back and forth across the rip with data packets. What Zen saw was enough to send the main body into nervous fits, forming clouds with random shifting geometrical patterns.

       The atmosphere was dark, dank, hot, and oppressive. The stench was so bad, Zen began to fear that some of the compounds were corroding his chemical receptors. Zen could make out some sort of a cavern with a mass of tentacles occupying most of the open space. At least, Zen suspected it was a cavern. The walls glistened and wavered almost as if they too were alive. Zen suspected that the grotesque forms with changing patterns of light on their surfaces must be biomechanical devices of some sort. Ball lightning danced from floor to ceiling and back again. Sometimes a tentacle would bat at one of the electrical oddities or twist and reshape the glowing devices.

       The ball lightning played merry hell with Zen's EM communication systems, while point to point short range laser communication was disrupted by the murky air in the cavern. The nanites didn't have time to survey any more. They were barely able to find the unconscious bodies of Brian and Foxeris held tight within the mass of writhing tentacles before the nanites fell under attack. Practically omniscient in its own domain, the IH would catch each nanite between two tentacle tips and fry it with an arc of electricity. Only six nanites reached safe haven within the bodies of Brian and Foxeris. The stranded nanites could do nothing but wait until it was possible to contact the main body again.

       Everyone watched as the cloud swirled turbulently. There was a gasp as the cloud exploded in a starburst pattern, them recoalesced lower to the ground. If a cloud could look shaken and disheartened, Zen was doing it.

       "Well, what happened?" asked Lythandi impatiently.

       "I found them. They are alive. Then I was destroyed. That's all I know," said Zen.

       Everyone stood in shocked silence for a moment.

       "Let's split up. Those who want to can stay here and try to attack the tentacle," decided Josh. "However, I think I know how we can get the Twinkies." The raccoon blushed a little. "I know where there is a Hostess bakery."

       The black unicorn grinned. It was not a nice expression. "I will help you get the Twinkies. Then I think I'll cook up a little surprise for our malodorous friend. If he decides to eat one of those Twinkies, it will be the last thing he ever does," asserted the ex-assassin with a pound of his fist on the table. When Kryn withdrew his hand, a dagger remained, embedded in the tabletop.

       "We need to travel quickly!" urged the raccoon. "We probably have less than forty five minutes left to get the ten thousand Twinkies. The bakery is quite a ways from here."

       "Where's Nutsy?" asked Louis. "We could use one of his holes to get there quickly," he explained. He looked around and called again. "Nutsy!"

       Faehlyn touched Josh's shoulder to get his attention. After a brief exchange, Josh called to Louis. "He disappeared. Faeh saw Nusty and Lan Louis wander off before the tentacle appeared. She has no idea where they went to."

       "I'll find them!" announced Sora. "Besides, I need the practice flying." With a great effort and much flapping of leathery wings, Sora managed to lift off the ground. Gaining altitude too slowly, she brushed the top of the nearest oak as she began her search of the park. "I'm OK!" she called. "Don't worry, I'll find them before anything happens to them."

       Kalindra and Louis exchanged worried looks. The blue fox cleared his throat again. With a meaningful nod to the rest of the group, the fox silently indicated that he would look after Nutsy, Lan Louis, *and* Sora. He too disappeared.

       "Let's GO!" urged the raccoon again. "The bakery is a long ways away. I think we're going to need all the paws we can get to pull this raid off."

       "Well, if Nutsy's gone, it looks like we'll have to take the van. Can any of you drive?" Louis asked. Seven heads shook no. "Oh boy. Looks like I'm driving. Everybody, to the van!" The crew split up. Louis, Josh, Faehlyn, Oriana, Kryn, Kyri, and finally Naldantis piled into the minivan. Thrysten and Kalindra remained behind to examine the magical aspects of the interdimensional rip. Zen and Lythandi stayed to look at the physical aspects.

       Inside the van, the passengers jostled for position. Oriana grabbed shotgun and got stuck with a map and a raccoon on her lap. The rest piled in the back. Louis gunned the motor and the van departed in a cloud of dust.