text: You close your eyes and take a long, deep breath.
  
  "Well?" says Andrea. "Are you coming, Sandra?"
  
  You open your eyes. "Of course, Andrea. Esmeralda, can you get the bag of air tanks, please?"
  
  "Certainly, Mistress Sandra," says Esmeralda. She scuttles to the bag and picks it up with one claw.
  
  Still holding the nozzle of her gun to 97364 Ocean-Hill's helmet, Andrea says: "Okay, Jove, I think you should lead the way now. We need a ship out of the city, so if you'll be a dear and take us in that direction, that'd be lovely."
  
  "I will direct you to the port region of the city, where you can get a ship," says 97364 Ocean-Hill's translator, "but that is as far as I am willing to go. You'll have to figure out how to fly one of our space ships yourself."
  
  "Very well. My ex-boyfriend is a pilot and knows something about the layout of your people's craft. He explained a lot to me when we were together. I'm sure we'll be fine once we set you on your way."
  
  Your party skirts the remains of the robot sentinel and goes through the doorway.
  
  97364 Ocean-Hill directs the group to a long metal tube that snakes its way up a wide, circular shaft and connects at various points to other tubes in a rootlike network. "There is a transport that goes through this tube system to all parts of the city. It should be but a moment for me to contact it."
  
  With Andrea's gun still trained on the Jovian's head, 97364 Ocean-Hill scurries to the white tube and presses in a square depression with a his burned hand. Soon a rectangular section of the tube slides up, revealing a glowing, padded room. 97364 Ocean-Hill enters, followed by Andrea, you, and Esmeralda. 97364 Ocean-Hill makes an adjustment on a dial just inside the doorway and you suddenly feel a ton of weight pressing down on you as the transport accelerates upwards at several Gs. You and Andrea have to lean against the walls for support, but 97364 Ocean-Hill and Esmeralda don't seem to mind the added gravities. After a few minutes, the transport stops and the door slides open, but you notice that you still feel heavy.
  
  "Come this way," says 97364 Ocean-Hill, scurrying forward on his squat legs.
  
  Andrea, you and Esmeralda follow.
  
  You're in a giant space that looks like a glowing white aircraft hanger. The floor slopes up the further it gets from you and merges into the far wall, which appears to curve outward like the inner part of a giant wheel. You realize this must be just inside the outer rim of the Jovian city. Lining the outer wall are spherical ships sitting in front of large, square, silver doors.
  
  Soon your party is standing just outside the metallic hull of one of the space ships. 97364 Ocean-Hill presses a depression in its side and the doors slide open and a ramp protrudes out like a tongue. "As I have said before, I will go no farther than this. I refuse to be your hostage any longer. If you wish to kill me, you can, but that will surely bring war onto your people throughout the solar system."
  
  "You were willing to come this far with us," says Andrea. "What makes you so sure I can't convince you to come along with us?"
  
  "My people have been monitoring our progress all this time, Andrea Laughlin. They have valued my life enough to allow your party to make it to this point. None of us wishes to start a war if it can be averted."
  
  "I see. And once we've let you go then all your security forces come down on us like the fist of God! Is that it?"
  
  "Go in the ship, all of you. We will give a...how do your kind put it? A running start. I just hope for the sake of both of our people that this act does not lead to war."
  
  Andrea pulls the barrel of her gun off of 97364 Ocean-Hill and points it into the air. She slowly makes her way up the ramp and you and Esmeralda follow. Once you are all inside the doors close and you are all sealed away from the outside city. Andrea, strained by the higher gravity as much as you are, pants as she slowly works her way to the back of the ship.
  
  You follow and enter a small cockpit. There appear to be no seats or handrails or even a control board, but only a small green octagon near the floor on the far wall. Within each corner of the octagon is a metal button.
  
  "Where are we supposed to sit?" you ask.
  
  "I don't believe the Jovians have any seats in their ships," replies Esmeralda.
  
  "She's right, Sandra," says Andrea. "Did you notice all the metal on our Jovian friends' underside?"
  
  "Isn't that armor?" you ask.
  
  "No, my girl. Those are electromagnets that help hold him to the metal floor when he's in Mercurian gravity. They also serve to keep those creatures glued to one spot when they're flying around in their spaceships."
  
  Andrea smiles at the control display. "This should be easy, kids," she continues. "John always told me that the Jovians modeled their ship controls after the ones used by the Martians. Apparently, the Martians were the ones who introduced the inhabitants of Jupiter to space travel in the first place. Guess when you're from a heavy-gravity world, flight is something of an afterthought." She gets down on her knees and presses the two top buttons within the octagon, then presses the next set down, then the next. She does this move twice and then does it from bottom to top. "Think that's based on some old religious ritual the Martians have."
  
  Nothing happens.
  
  "Jovians only have one hand," you point out.
  
  "It's supposed to bring up the damn control lever!"
  
  "Yes, but the Jovians can't do that move."
  
  Andrea looks to the bag of air tanks Esmeralda his holding. "Here, Esmeralda, give me that bag if you will."
  
  "I'd hate to think what you have in mind, Andrea," says Esmeralda, handing the bag over to Andrea.
  
  "Do you two have any better ideas?"
  
  > No Clue. Hope Andrea Knows What the Hell She's Doing.
  Andrea takes the bag of air tanks by one end and swings it into the green face of the octagon. You're surprised to see the green surface light up like a televisor screen and reveal the image of the ship bay. Flickering in and out of the image is a green grid pattern.
  
  "I told you I know what I'm doing," says Andrea, a smug smile on her face.
  
  "What now?" you ask.
  
  Andrea frowns. "That's funny. The control lever was supposed to come up right about now."
  
  You're suddenly jolted and roll across the floor as the ship begins moving forward. Esmeralda grabs you and tries her best to hold you steady, but suddenly the ship hurtles out of a now-open bay door and into the vacuum of space.
  
  > Voyage into the Great Unknown
  It's been two days since the Jovian craft left the city. Two days with no food or water or even a means of controlling your journey.
  
  Only air tanks.
  
  Soon even those start to run out.
  
  The star field on the screen is unchanging, but you're pretty sure the craft was flung away from the sun.
  
  Weightless, you lay cradled in Esmeralda's arms-- tired, hungry, parched, and devoid of hope. You have your suit heater on high but you still feel a deep chill biting into your flesh. Also, you've long since soiled yourself and the stench is becoming unbearable inside your helmet. The dryness in your throat has turned into a burning. Over time, that burning has spread throughout your insides. The only things you have to distract you from the pain ravaging your body are conversations with Esmeralda and your memories.
  
  You think about your mother and father. It's as if you hated and loved them at the same time. They weren't saints but they weren't devils, either. They were just people. Sad, lonely, flawed people. Now that there seems to be no hope of rescue, you find it easy to forgive them for their mistakes-- even when they were cruel to you. You're glad you at least tried to avenge their murders. It's hard to tell if they would have been proud of your actions. Probably not. They may not have been the most ideal of Catholics, but they didn't approve of murder.
  
  Andrea's limp form floats listlessly through the cockpit, her short black hair swaying like gossamer strands of spider silk. She killed herself yesterday by removing her helmet and asphyxiating in the frigid Jovian atmosphere.
  
  You realize she was sensible to quickly end her life. The only alternative is a slow, painful death.
  
  You look into Esmeralda's warm, pink eyes. "Esse, remember what you did to those horrible men on Lozano's island when they were trying to kill me?"
  
  "Yes, dear."
  
  "I know you'd hate to have to do this...but could you snap my neck too?"
  
  "Yes, dear."
  
  You smile at her. "Esse, you are the best robot ever."
  
  She kills you so quickly, you hardly even register the pain.
  
  The End