(Photo by Larry Combs)

I have undergone the painstaking process of converting the script of the Boilertown saga into a book format. Three weeks later I’m past the hundred page point and I’m having a great time finding clever new ways of filling the pages. Granted, this particular portion of the story is pretty much pulled out of Super Mario Bros.

Deep down underground in the pipes of Boilertown, barely visible in the darkness, shades of rust and algae were dimly lit by the phosphorescent glow of various plant and animal life. Fenmore LeMerde and Ms Marlybone trekked farther out of Boilertown, the place that held them captive for so long. No one one could say they would miss it much.

They were in a smallish tunnel compared to the ones that he was in previously. This one was only thirty feet high. Fenmore LeMerde looked toward the ceiling and watched a shadow bulge and loom overhead as a creature lumbered toward them from the opposite direction. It had a sharp beak-like snout, a wide brow, and a heavily horned head. The eyes were tiny, beady, and black. “What is that thing?” he asked tilting his head sideways and squinted his eyes for a better view. What they witnessed wholly defied logic. Even for Boilertown.

“And why is it on the ceiling?” Ms Marlybone instinctively pulled out her ray run. Fenmore LeMerde followed in suit. The bulky body of the beast came into view, sturdily reinforced with oval shaped armored plates, ribbed and ridged with rows of horns along the sides of the large outer shell. The clubbed and barbed tail whipped at them and smashed into the ceiling. Pieces of pipe plummeted. “Ahh!” Fenmore LeMerde started and shot up at the small-brained brute. The laser blast ricocheted off the armored body only angering it. Looking down at the offender it blinked it’s beady black eyes. Then the head and all four short stumpy legs withdrew into the shell. Just like that it dropped. Ms Marlybone shot him a look wordlessly calling him an idiot as the shell alone reaching at least fifteen feet in diameter came crashing to the sewer floor. Fenmore LeMerde held down his top hat and put away his pistol. “Duck!” he hollered and they split off, diving into the edges of the tunnel, laid down, and shrank in as far as they could. They sucked in their chests and stomachs and dared not breathe as the shell spun and hurtled toward them, bouncing off the sewer walls. The spikes sent sparks sailing with every impact. It missed the two of them by mere millimeters. Once the shell roared past, gaining momentum with the downward slope, Fenmore LeMerde stood up and dusted himself off. He offered a hand to Ms Marlybone and helped her up as well. All the while she gave him that look. “What,” Fenmore LeMerde said.

“Really?” The shell crashed and boomed as it bounced and slid careening around the corner and out of view. Something snarled as it hurtled toward another obstacle as it continued on its perilous trajectory.

“How was I supposed to know that was going to happen?”