The Wonders Of Vast Emptiness

Chapter Nine: Where the Earthmen Go

The large men carried Sam and Dr. Twolson through many large rooms, down several staircases, delicately, but in a rough manner. On top of this, Sam also noticed that the deeper they went, the more the castle stank, like old cabbage. Finally, they were thrown in a cell, much like a jail. Sam then saw a man that was even scarier than Freddie, or the leader. "See you at sundown," he said in a dark voice, with a little bit of glee in it.

That settled it. They had to leave, or they would be executed very soon. Luckily, for the next few hours, both Sam and Dr. Twolson had been given a meal beforehand at the feast, otherwise they probably would have starved to death. Every now and again, the large men or just one of them would look at them, and unlock the door temporarily for what they called 'tasks'. Now, if you've ever done the dishes or perhaps even cleaned the sinks and whatnot, you probably know what tasks are.

However, take your worst one and multiply it by about a million. Both of them had to endure the excruciating weight of carrying many sacks of food up to the main room. If they dropped it, or even complained once, they were given a rough smack to the head. Another one was just as beastly as the last, where they had to crank a massive water-wheel by hand, and this big bloody wooden thing was so old and so creaky, sometimes it would barely go at all.

Another thing they soon found out to their cost was that they could not drink the water from the water-wheel straight. You see, Sam was absolutely and totally parched at one precise moment, and he scooped over to get a drink. The second large man looked over, and smacked him very roughly. "Filth!" he yelled. "Do not poison the leader's water!" They were each given water, in a filthy pan, but if one's throat was as dry by now as Dr. Twolson's or Sam's, then they wouldn't care either.

Around 7 hours after this whole mess, they found another prisoner and quickly made friends with them. His name was Bilius, and he had been in the deep, dark prison for as long as he could physically remember. "Oy, it doesn't get too bad after a while. They've kept me here for around 15 years. Doesn't matter though, I've just lost track of time," Bilius explained to them, and Sam was full of questions.

"Do you know how to escape?" he asked, while all three of them were eating their thin breakfast. Bilius dropped his spoon, just by hearing the thought. "OI! Are you out of your mind? You would be caught right on the spot and be plopped right down here again with all of the rats and spiders. Thank gosh it cured my arachnophobia though."

He continued with his meal afterwards, and not a word of breaking out was mentioned again.

Something good that did result from this, however, was Sam long forgot about the blood in Tlio thing, as he was plagued with the many tasks a day he had to endure. Another thing beastly about this entire experience was that both of them (Dr. Twolson and Sam) were getting thinner, it was because the meals they were given were not sufficient for a boy that hadn't finished growing yet, and whereas for Dr. Twolson, he was used to a nice crumpet and tea every day.

Another thing that was relieving, as I do not want you to think or believe that the rest of this story is misery, was that Dr. Twolson and Sam weren't going to be executed at all. You see, the leader was very corrupt and evil, but he didn't see any fun in just chopping off people's heads with a guillotine.

That would mean, if he killed all of his prisoners, he would have nobody in particular to do the dirty work for him. Therefore, it was quite the scene whenever somebody suggested that one of them would get executed. That was what had happened one day when one of the large men had gotten their toe broken by Sam dropping one of the sacks. "That little bugger should be executed by morning!" he shouted.

"Do you ever wonder why I hired you? Sometimes, even I don't, as your stupidity is so high at certain points that I can't even believe it! Do you know what would happen? I would have no people to do the work for me. I am old, and I don't particularly enjoy tugging massive sacks of food, or grinding that ancient water-wheel, or even taking out the flaming trash!"

He was in such a rage, in fact, when he flung his arms up, he knocked a boiling hot cup of chamomile tea onto the large man. "AGGGHHHHHH!!" shouted the man, as he frantically took off his shirt, to stop the getting of frightful third-degree burns.

There was no more talking about an execution, and the man had to mend his burns from the tea. But now we must get back to Sam and Dr. Twolson. One day, Sam saw a slight crack in the jail cell. He had an idea. The filthy dish in which the water was delivered was made of stainless steel. Making sure the guards or the men weren't watching, he took the pan and banged it against the wall.

To Sam's surprise, a bigger crack emerged. Another thing that he knew was that one of his tasks was going outside and planting all of the vegetables and beans and everything, and he was 100% sure that past this wall, led to the garden, and that meant an exit.

Dr. Twolson was sleeping, as for many days and many nights he hadn't had sufficient amounts of food, and this meant that he had very low energy levels. Sam woke him up, and told him what he had found. "Err, are you sure you aren't hallucinating? Happened to me a few times. Isn't very jolly." "No, I'm sure. This leads directly to the garden. I can hear the close pitter-patter of the rain."

It took quite a bit of convincing (and poking) to get Dr. Twolson drifted away from his very deep sleep, but eventually the two looked upon the wall. He made another crack in the wall, and another. Soon, they had a hole big enough for both of them to climb through.

They both did so, and cautiously looked around for any type of security. When they found none, they scaled the fence, by first making sure it wasn't electric by tossing a pinecone at it. After that, they took off into the streets of Tlio.