Chapter Four: Statues and Copper Ore

Vertragus was standing at the feet of the cadets. "We need to get more copper to make wires for the generators, and there is a desposit not far from here where we can find some natural magnets," said Vertragus. "If some of the normal sized cadets accompanied me, we could get it done a lot faster."

"How far is the nearest copper mine?" Penn asked.

"About two kilometers, in the opposite direction as the site where you found the platinum and gold," said Vertagus. "Half of my men can go with me to the copper mine, while the others go to the site where they can find natural magnets."

"Couldn't we replicate some of this stuff?" Penn asked.

"That uses up too much power," said Vertragus. "We need to conserve the replicator and only use it when absolutely necessary. We're going to need the onboard computers from the shuttle cruiser to power the artificial wormhole generator, and it requires too much power for the shuttle cruiser to power up the wormhole generator alone."

"Will anyone volunteer to go with Vertragus to retrieve more copper?" Penn asked.

"Lillitopian scum should do it themselves," said Mace.

"Yeah!" said Sapphire. "We should treat them like slaves and make them do everything!"

"I agree with Mace and Sapphire," said Tegan. "I think they should treat us like gods!"

"You three can stay with the shuttle cruiser, then." said Penn.

"I'll go with you to get the copper," said Lazaro.

"Thanks for volunteering, Lazaro," said Penn.

Penn and Lazaro got the two wheelbarrows, and pushed them in the direction of the copper mines. Felicity walked in stride with Penn, while Vertagus and a group of Lillitopians followed them. The Lillitopians split up into two groups, one group went with Vertagus and the cadets, while the others went to collect natural magnets. When they were out of visual range, Mace clapped his hands together.

"They're gone! Now we can have the slaves build our statues!"

"Get to work, Lillitopian scum!" said Sapphire.

There were several dozen Lillitopians with tools, they began to construct scaffolding around the base of each of the two blocks of marble.

"I wish they would make a statue of me!" said Tegan.

"Once they're done with ours, they can start on yours," said Sapphire.

Meanwhile, when Penn, Felicity and Lazaro reached the copper mine, they realized they were too small to fit inside the tunnels.

"I didn't realize the tunnels were so small," said Felicity.

"I and the other Lillitopians can carry out loads of copper, we just need you three to load it onto the wheel barrows," said Vertragus.

A dozen Lillitopians went into the mine, and a dozen more exited with copper ore. There were enough of them that there was a steady stream of Lillitopians exiting with more ore after others had gone back inside the tunnels.

The three cadets picked up the copper ore and transferred it into the wheel barrows.

Back at the shuttle cruiser, Mace and Sapphire looked satisfied with the progress on their statues. The scaffolding was already put in place, astride all four sides of the marble blocks.

"How was all that scaffolding assembled so quickly?" Mace asked.

One of the tiny people replied, "There have been other giants we were forced to build statues for, and we have held onto the scaffolding in case others like you arrived here."

The scaffolding was chest high to the cadets, so Sapphire grabbed a random Lillitopian and shoved him into her mouth. Tegan grabbed him from inside Sapphire's mouth and pulled him out.

"Hey!" said Tegan. "I don't mind dominating these people, but let's not resort to canibalism!"

"But it would be fun to send Lillitopian scum crashing to the depths of my teenage belly!" said Sapphire, and both Sapphire and Mace burst out laughing. Tegan set the tiny person back on the scaffolding where Sapphire had gotten him.

Meanwhile, back at the copper mine, the wheel barrows were almost full.

"Vertragus," said Penn, "the wheel barrows are almost full!"

"Good!" said Vertragus. "The other Lillitopians should be arriving with the natural magnets any time now!"

Just then, the other Lillitopian workers arrived from over the horizon with the natural magnets they had collected.

"When we get back to the shuttle cruiser," said Vertragus, "We can process this copper ore and shape it into copper wiring to build the generators. The multiple aqueducts will come in handy, we can use them to construct a hydroelectric power plant."

As Penn and the other cadets made their way back to the shuttle cruiser, Mace and Sapphire were posing for their statues. The crude out line of their faces could be seen at the top of each marble block.

"They sure work quickly," said Tegan. "Like industrious little ants, slaving away for their masters!"

"When their masters are as attractive as Mace and me, that motivates them!" said Sapphire.

To Be Continued!