Chapter Three: Separate Plans

"I need to round up some of my workers," said Vertagus. "I'm the only scientist I know of in this general area, but I know some electrical engineers who can be very helpful to us. Meanwhile, you can use the sensors on your shuttle cruiser to locate the nearest platinum and gold deposits. We'll need about twenty kilograms of platinum, and fifteen kilograms of gold."

Penn set Vertagus down on the ground, and he scampered off.

"Well, we're off and running!" said Penn. "As soon as Vertragus returns with the other Lillitopian workers, we can begin work on the artificial wormhole generator."

"Some of us don't want to leave here," said Mace.

"I second that!" said Sapphire. "If we stay, we can force them to worship us as gods!"

"We're stuck here for close to a week," said Penn. "So you can have them worship you all they want as long as we're still here."

"Who made you the team leader?" Mace asked.

"One of us has to take charge," said Felicity. "It might as well be Penn."

Penn went inside the shuttle cruiser. Felicity followed him.

"The sensors are still functioning," said Penn, we need to locate the mineral deposits Vertragus requested." Penn manipulated the control console, and did the sensor scan. Blue clusters of light showed up on the screen.

"Those blue clusters indicate gold and platinum nearby," said Penn. "According to this readout, they're only a couple of kilometers from us."

"How deep are the deposits?" Felicity asked.

"Only about two or three feet underground," Penn answered.

"How could those minerals be so plentiful and easy to find?" Felicity asked. "I thought they were supposed to be rare."

"This planet is a version of Earth in a parallel reality where human life never evolved," Penn explained. "The criminals who were miniaturized and sent here never developed technology beyond a Bronze Age level of development, so they probably had no use for rare Earth metals. In normal human history, ancient societies dug up as much of those elements as they could in ancient times, that's why they became so hard to find during modern times."

"I doubt we'll be able to get Mace and Sapphire to help us dig up the gold and platinum," said Felicity. "So we'll probably have to do it ourselves."

"Tegan and Lazaro will help us," said Penn. "It will take us half a day to get there, dig up the minerals, and get back."

"Are we leaving now?" Felicity asked.

"Yes, I think we should." said Penn. "We could actually leave Mace and Sapphire here to wait for Vertagus to get back while we're gone, knowing they wouldn't go with us any way."

"So it will seem part of the plan," said Felicity. "That's smart thinking. But what will we use as shovels?"

"The replicator can take care of that," said Penn. "I can look up a pattern right now and have the replicator make four of them."

"Aren't you worried about using up too much of the shuttle cruiser's power?" Felicity asked.

"We don't have a choice," said Penn. "We need those tools right now. I'm downloading the coordinates of those mineral deposits on my GPS device, then I'll replicate the shovels."

One by one, the replicator made shovels materialize. Felicity grabbed each one as it was replicated. When all four were made, she took them outside.

Penn replicated some carbon fiber bags, and followed her.

"Four of us need to go dig up some gold and platinum," said Penn. "I've got four carbon fiber bags to hold the minerals, this material is a thousand times stronger than titanium. Mace and Sapphire, I'm assuming you don't want to come with us, so you can stay here and wait for Vertragus to return."

"And whatever you do, don't swallow any of the Lillitopians!" said Felicity.

Penn, Felicity, Lazaro and Tegan took their shovels and followed Penn to the site where the rare minerals were located. Once they were out of sight in the distance, Vertragus returned with about a hundred Lillitopians. They were carrying supplies, such as copper wire and small metal tools.

"I think we should have them build statues of us while the others are gone," said Sapphire.

"That's a great idea!" said Mace. "Vertragus, can you and your followers construct statues of myself and Sapphire to pay tribute to us?"

"Yes, that won't be a problem," said Vertragus. "You're not the first normal-sized people to arrive here, and we've built statues of them before."

"What material did you use?" Mace asked.

"We used marble," said Vertragus. "There's a quarry not far from here, would you like life-sized statues of yourselves?"

"Yes," Mace replied. "How long will it take you to bring two blocks of marble back here?"

"If you help us, it won't take long at all, maybe a couple of hours," said Vertragus.

"That's your job," said Mace.

"Maybe you should help them, Mace." said Sapphire. "It would take too long for them to bring it here themselves, look how tiny they are!"

"Okay, but you stay here," said Mace. "One of us has to watch the shuttle cruiser."

"Okay!" said Sapphire.

Mace turned and followed Vertragus to the marble quarry.

Meanwhile, Penn and the other cadets were almost to the site of the mineral deposits. Penn held his cell phone out, and the GPS narrowed down the destination.

"We're almost there," said Penn, "I told you it wouldn't take long to get here."

After about another dozen meters, Penn said, "We dig right here!"

The four of them began digging.

Meanwhile, Mace and the Lillitopians had reached the marble quarry site. There were about a dozen blocks of marble large enough to be made into statues of normal sized people.

There were two large wheel barrows big enough to fit one of the marble blocks on. Each wheel barrow was made of bronze, with bronze wheels and axles.

"You guys built these wheel barrows?" Mace asked.

"Yes, they took a lot of work," said Vertragus.

"Penn may want to utilize these for other things," said Mace.

"If you load the marble blocks, we'll pull the wheel barrows," said Vertragus.

Mace walked one of the blocks over to the wheel barrow, turning one corner, then the other, then the first corner, until he had the marble block right up against the wheel barrow. He was strong enough to lift the marble block onto the wheel barrow, then did the same with the other marble block on the other wheel barrow.

"Thank you so much," said Vertragus. "That alone would have taken us hours of work."

"I can pull one of the wheel barrows," said Mace, "you guys pull the other one, and try to keep up."

Meanwhile, at the site where Penn and the other cadets were digging for gold, They had found enough gold and platinum to fill their bags with as much as they could carry.

"I think we're going to have to make multiple trips," said Penn. "My sack is filled with as much as I can carry. Vertragus said we need twenty kilograms of platinum, and almost that much gold."

"This is as much as I can carry," said Tegan.

"We'd better head back, and check on Mace and Sapphire." said Penn.

Mace arrived at the shuttle cruiser with the wheel barrow containing the marble block. Sapphire was inside the shuttle cruiser. Mace entered and said, "I brought my marble block, Vertragus and the others are behind with your block of marble."

"Don't you mean you brought my block of marble?" Sapphire asked. "You should cherish me just as much as the Lillitopians!"

"Yeah, of course!" said Mace. "I meant to say, I brought your block of marble. It should be about ten minutes or so before the Lillitopians bring my block of marble here, so we have time to talk before Penn and the others get back."

"Talk about what?" Sapphire asked.

"I think if we're ever going to get back to our own reality," said Mace, "we should construct a homing beacon that can transmit a signal back to the space academy."

"I thought you wanted to stay here," Sapphire asked, "I wasn't planning on leaving. If they build an artificial wormhole generator, I'm staying behind."

"We can't let Penn and the others find out I sabotaged this mission," said Mace. "If we make it look like we want to build a beacon, it won't arouse suspicion."

"And then we can stay here when they leave?" Sapphire asked.

"Exactly!" said Mace. "We'll just say we want to leave last, and activate the controls of the wormhole generator to send the others back to our home reality, then we'll just stay here!"

"That sounds like a plan!" said Sapphire.

Soon, Penn and the others arrived with the rare Earth minerals.

"What's that?" Penn asked, referring to the wheel barrow.

"The Lillitopians made it," said Mace. "There are two of them, the other one is almost here, it's being pulled by the tiny people."

"It's perfect!" said Penn. "We could use it to bring more gold and platinum that Vertragus needs for the circuitry of the wormhole generator. What is that block of marble for?"

"It's mine," said Sapphire. "The tiny people are going to pay tribute to my beauty by building a statue in my honor."

"We can't waste resources like that," said Penn. "We need all the Lillitopians working on the wormhole generator!"

"I've been thinking about that," said Mace. "I think it would make more sense to build a homing beacon, it would be less work, and quicker than building a wormhole generator."

"Let's take it to a vote," said Penn. "Who wants to build a beacon instead of a wormhole generator?"

Mace, Sapphire and Tegan raised their hands.

"I think a beacon sounds like a good idea," said Tegan.

Okay, you three can work on the homing beacon!" said Penn.

Mace, Sapphire, and Tegan comprised the group building the beacon, while Penn, Felicity and Lazaro were to build the artificial wormhole generator.

To Be Continued!