"What's that?" exclaimed Lloyd Floyd "I don't know", said his best friend, Moe Schmoe. The two were staring at an ugly gray box in the middle of the schoolyard. They were done with lunch first, so they were alone in the schoolyard. Lloyd was tall, played soccer, and laughed a lot. He liked everyone in his grade, except someone named Dylan, who doesn't even come into the story. He wore glasses, and his best friends were Moe and Paolo. Lloyd had saved Moe once, but that's a different story. Moe was similar. He had just come to the school that year. He was tall, wore glasses, and had dark hair, but he also wore a high-tech green watch that had lots of buttons on it. He was 11, when everyone else in his grade was 10. "I bet it's for garbage, but how did it get here, and why is it just sitting there? It should be out back with the garbage cans," Moe said. "Well, it must be important because those look like metal latches on the doors" said Lloyd. He was right. There were heavy looking steel latches on the doors leading inside it, but they seemed unlocked. "I forgot to throw my napkin away, so let's open it up so I can throw it away" They opened it up, and sure enough, there was an ugly pile of smelly garbage in there. Lloyd threw it in. Before they closed the doors Moe suddenly said, "Wait! You just threw my retainer in there!". Moe had put his retainer in his napkin, as usual, and he had forgotten to take it out, which happened occasionally. "I'm sorry, I'll help you find it" The two looked at each other, sighed, and went inside.

"Not over here" "Nor here" "Hey I found it!", Moe put his retainer back inside his mouth. "Good" he said. Suddenly, the doors closed behind them, leaving them in complete darkness. "Not good", Lloyd said, "Definitely not good. I think were goin' to a garbage truck". A sudden lurch made them lose their balance and fall into the garbage. "Let's find the doors and hope that we can open it from the inside!". So they got up, and carefully felt their way towards the door. They began going. But they kept going. And going. And going. "Geez, I don't remember this thing being so long", said Lloyd, thinking as he kept going. "Me too", said Moe, walking behind Lloyd. Suddenly Lloyd bumped into door, which caused him to stop, which caused Moe to bump into Lloyd, as this was in the dark, which caused both to fall over onto the smelly floor of garbage. "Hey! What are you doing, Lloyd?", Moe said. "I found the door. But it sure doesn't feel like the door to me. It's some kind of heavy plastic, not a thin layer of metal", Lloyd said, feeling for a doorknob or latch. He found button, and pushed it. The door slid up like space-age door would. "Wow", they said breathlessly and in uniform, looking at of all things, the ceiling of the room they had just stepped into, and then slowly began looking down to the floor "Either the sanitation department had a HUGE raise in funding, or this is definitely not New York City.", said Lloyd.

They had stepped into a big, shiny, chrome-colored room. It had a rectangular shape, and a sunroof. It had florescent lights on the sides of the room, and scientific blueprints hanging on the wall. But that is not what they found most unusual. The thing that they found most unusual was that, sitting in chairs, typing on computers, were velociraptors with lab suits on.

The dinosaurs stared at the humans. The humans stared at the dinosaurs. Suddenly, everyone, dinosaurs and humans alike, broke out into a panic. Everyone ran around the room, dinosaurs screaming "HUMANS!!!!!!!", and humans screaming "DINOSAURS!!!!!!!". Suddenly, A T-rex wearing a suit and tie came in and bellowed "CEASE!". Everyone stopped short and looked at the T-Rex. "Everyone, we are predators. These intruders are prey. What do we do, everyone?", the T-Rex yelled. "Ummmmm, we can explain!" said Lloyd. "Eat them! Eat them!", the raptors began to chant. "No you idiots! We capture! Not kill!", the T-rex said. There was silence for a moment "Oh", the raptors finally said. There was a split second more silence, and then the raptors yelled and started to run towards the two. Now some of you have heard of the Periodic Table of Elements. Adults, you have probably memorized the wretched thing filled with gibberish. It is supposed to have all of the things that make up this very universe, but I found something that it doesn't include. It doesn't list the element of surprise. The element of surprise, as you know, is when you are so surprised you can't do something for a second or two. The raptors had the advantage of the element of surprise over the two, but after a second, the two recovered and they ran away, which is not very affective against dinosaurs that are made for chasing and hunting, while you are someone who is made for sitting on the couch watching T.V.

However, the two did have better quick-reflexes than they did, and as they ran down hallways they knocked over things that would slow them down. As they were running, they saw red lights start to flash, an alarm sound, and a voice over an intercom said, "ALL GUARDS REPORT TO THE FIRST-FLOOR CORRIDOR IN SECTOR B5. INTRUDERS ARE ON THE LOOSE AND MUST BE STOPPED. CLOSE ALL DOORS AND ENTRYWAYS. ARM YOURSELF AND BE PREPARED". "If that boss was a T-Rex, I don't want to think what the guards could be," said Moe, "Spinosaur-ouses?". "I hope not", said Lloyd, knocking over a trashcan and remembering Jurassic Park III. Suddenly, a dark figure came out of nowhere and collided with them, knocking them into a storage room, and the door closed. The storage room was dark, and they heard an angry mob run by the room. Then a light flicked on, revealing what was knocked in with them.

It was another dinosaur, except it was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. The two were about to scream, but the dinosaur held their mouths closed. "Shhhhhh! If you scream, we'll all die a horrible and painful death. I'm Thorin, and I'm here to- Oh, come off it! If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead right now," The two realized that the new dinosaur, a celophysis, was intending to help, which is what they needed. Lloyd nodded to Moe, and they both relaxed. "That's better," continued Thorin, "Anyway, how did you humans get into the dinosaur world?". "Well, see we were in a dumpster-like thing, and we got lost in it, and we came out into this place", said Lloyd. "Then we got chased by those raptors, and then you saved us. How did we get here, anyway?", Moe finished. "I think I know. First, we have to break out of the Pyramid, which is where you came in", said Thorin. "How are we gonna do that?", asked Moe. "The same way I got in, of course. When I saw that something was passing through the inter-dimensional gate, I knew that I needed to get it. Anyway, the same way I got in was the air conditioning system. I lead a string to that vent up there", Thorin pointed up at a vent that was large enough to crawl through. "Cool," said Lloyd " We're gonna be spies!".

However, Lloyd did not find it amusing to follow the string that seemed to lead them through an endless system of filthy, dangerous passages. "Thorin, is this the most direct route to the outside of this so-called Pyramid?", asked Moe after some time. "Not necessarily. However, it is the most direct route to my home, which is one of the highest security buildings in this world", said Thorin. "Works fine with me", said Lloyd, bringing up the rear. Finally, they saw a fan that looked like it had been chewed out of the wall, and an opening appeared. Oddly enough, the atmosphere seemed to be the exact same as on earth. In fact, it had the same trees kinds of trees, plants, and animals (except dinosaurs replaced humans). "Now I have to hide you. Put these on and pretend you're a horse". He was pointing to a big sheet, a knight's helmet, and two pairs of rubber dinosaur feet.

"Lloyd," began Moe, "Yea?" Lloyd replied as they walked down the streets of the city, "If someone at lunch had said that pretty soon we'd be walking around pretending to be a horse, I would have said they were crazy". "Me too", said Lloyd. A nudge from Thorin made them stop talking. A stegosaurus stopped to talk to Thorin. "Hello, Thorin. What are those two?", said the stegosaurus. "Oh. Those are my nephews in-law. We have to go to an early movie, so we gotta get moving. They insist on wearing that because they say if they walk without it that they will get bored of walking". "Oh. Sorry to bother you. Good-bye Thorin and…um….what's their names? And did they really let them into the office?", said the stegosaurus. "Their names are, um, Mark and John. They were let into the office because it was Bring An Obscure Relative To Work day", replied Thorin slowly, trying to answer the questions without arousing suspicion. "Well, nice meeting you, Mark and John", said the stegosaurus. "Our names are Lloyd and Moe!", cried Moe indignantly as soon as the stegosaurus was out of earshot. "Oh now you tell me", said Thorin as they walked on to his apartment.

"All right, here we are!," said Thorin, walking in front of a large, abandoned-looking building, "It looks uninhabited because only residents can get in". Thorin got out a key and opened the doors. As they walked through the empty lobby, two T-rexes jumped out and said "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! WHO ARE THOSE TWO?", bellowed one. "They are my nephews in-law. They can go through", said Thorin calmly, looking for the right key to call the elevator to the floor. The two T-rexes looked apologetic and disappointed. "Now that the security is raised, no one is even trying to break in. It gets very boring", said the other with a British accent as both returned to their place behind the doors. They didn't question the costume. Thorin also used a key to go to his floor (instead of buttons, the elevator had keyholes. He lived on floor 58, and there were abut 70 floors), and into his apartment. His apartment wasn't big. It had a small kitchen and bathroom. It had a living room mixed with a bedroom The bathroom contained a shower, sink, and a toilet (it was specially shaped so that a dinosaur's tail could fit somewhere) The kitchen contained a sink, refrigerator, oven/stove, and a microwave. The living/bedroom contained a twin-sized bed, desk, computer (the brand was Fenceway, and it ran with Boxes XP), TV, desk chair, and a couch. It reminded Lloyd of a hotel room. Moe decided Thorin was a typical dinosaur The friends threw off the disguise and sat on the twin-sized bed. "Tight security", commented Moe. "Please explain all we have gone through," asked Lloyd, "I have no clue what's going on". "Me neither", said Moe.

"Well I suppose I should first explain how you got here," said Thorin, "You see, these planets are in different Dimensions. Every now and then, maybe once every year, the Dimensions get too close, and there is an occurrence of an Inter-Dimensional storm. During a storm like that, you have the opportunity to cross Dimensions. A typical storm lasts 24 hours, or one day. If you cross Dimensions and aren't able to get back before the 24 hours are up, you will be stuck in the other Dimension until another storm occurs. You happened to find on of the many hidden paths to this Dimension. We have to find the exact door you came through in 24, or 20, to be exact, hours otherwise you'll be stuck here for a very, very long time," Moe set his watch to go off in exactly 20 hours. He knew that if the next time his watch sounded and they weren't on earth, they'd be stuck. "Now about the Pyramid," Thorin continued, "The Pyramid was built after we got here. Oh, wait, you don't know how we got here, because you probably believe that idiotic theory about a comet hitting the earth and us not adapting to it. Well, a comet did hit the earth, but I didn't kill us all. Firstly, a rather large meteoroid didn't cause it. It was caused by a humongous Dimensional storm. All animals on the ground and in the sea were transported to this Dimension, while the birds were safe up in the trees, watching from above the trees. The skeletons your kind found were already there because there were naturally dead bodies that had recently been killed, and they were covered in the radioactivity. The Pyramid was naturally there, we just renovated it so that it would be state-of-the-art, and we used it as town hall and housing for the WWR&D (World Wide Research & Development) ever since. The animals are the same because they evolved the same way. Anyway, I'm a lawyer in the city of C.R.R. C.R.R stands for City of Reptilian Residents. If you ask me, the city needs a new name. I'm an average citizen". "Just like I thought", thought Moe. "The planet we're on is called Postrassic, which is a time period as well, it comes after the Jurassic period. Any questions?".

The two friends looked at each other. Lloyd shook his head, and Moe shook his head. "No", said Lloyd. "O.K. Let's get some good sleep, as we're going to break into the Pyramid again tomorrow and try to find your door", said Thorin. "Ummmmm, Thorin, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but two humans can't fit on a twin-sized bed, much less two humans and a small dinosaur", said Lloyd. "I was hoping you wouldn't bring up the subject" said Thorin sadly.

"Get off my side of the bed!" "What do you mean, your side of the bed? The whole bed is my side of the bed, because it's my bed!" Lloyd and Thorin had been arguing for quite a while, and they were trying to do so over Moe's loud snores. Moe had immediately predicted someone would get stuck in this situation, so he had instantaneously, ingeniously, said, "I call the couch!". Lloyd would have done the same thing, but he was stating the problem at that moment. "That's it! I'm going to the bathtub! And go to the bathtub he did. He put the pillow that he took over the drain, lay down, and went to sleep.

* * *

Moe yawned and got off the sofa. He was starting off in a good mood. He saw that his comrades were both asleep. His stomach growled as he realized that he hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday. He walked to the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator. "Of course. I'm living with a carnivore. I should've known". As you may have anticipated, literally everything had to do with poultry. He saw meat cereal, meat-flavored liquid, plain meat, meat waffles, bacon, sausage, and a bunch of stuff that was more unordinary than you ever thought possible. He took out the cereal and the liquid. The meat cereal said on the box: Watch as the meat juice magically rehydrates the cereal!. "Sounds good" said Moe. Understand that Moe was really hungry and just waking up, so his logical conscience wasn't active, and his judgment of what is so gross you should toss your cookies over. If both were active (and he was very lucky they weren't) his logical conscience would be saying "Don't even think about eating that! You'll toss your cookies!" and his judgment would have made him toss his cookies anyway at the sight of it and the sentence about what happened when you pored meat juice on it. However, he ate two and a half bowls not even realizing what he was doing. By the time he was simply waiting for his comrades to get up, he was wondering why he was so full. Thorin woke up next. "Hi. Did you eat yet?", he asked. "I was wondering the same question. All I know is that last night I was really hungry, and this morning I'm full", replied Moe. "How unusual. I'm going to eat now, anyway. What does Lloyd like?". "Um, let's see, bacon, sausage, and chicken", Moe said, trying to recall some of the things he'd seen in the refrigerator. "Okay", said Thorin. "Where is Lloyd?", asked Moe. "Um, I think he's sleeping in the bathtub. All I know is he said 'That's it! I'm going to the bathtub', and then he went somewhere with my pillow", Thorin said, making bacon, sausage, and waffles. Moe looked in the bathroom. Sure enough, he found that Lloyd was sleeping in the bathtub. He saw that his friend was not going to be awake for at least an hour, and each hour was an hour away from the Dimensional storm ending for a year. He woke him up with Thorin's alarm clock. "The alligators are at large!", he cried, and then looked up. "Sorry", he said. "That's O.K. Thorin has almost finished your breakfast" said Moe. Actually, Thorin had finished it. After they had finished breakfast (Moe was curious what was on dinosaur television, so he had watched some news), "O.K, let's try to figure out where you came from!", said Thorin. "Yea!", Lloyd and Moe cheered. "But first, I have to do my shift at the office, otherwise everyone will be suspecting me. So, on with the costume!", Thorin said optimistically, even though it seemed there was nothing to be optimistic about, according to Lloyd and Moe.

The streets were empty except for an occasional walker. Lloyd thought he almost didn't need a disguise. It had never occurred to Lloyd how empty C.R.R was. You had a sphere, about hundred feet in diameter around you that you could see in and then it was nothing but fog all around you around you. However, Lloyd had been the back end of the horse last time, so he hadn't noticed. The fog made him feel uneasy and unsafe. "Thorin," he whispered, as if the street were filled with hiding criminals, "why is this city so empty and foggy?". "It's been this way ever since a bio-bomb accidentally hit it. I forgot to tell you about it. It was very scary" was all Thorin said in a quiet voice. If you compared it with how he had talked to the stegosaurus yesterday, it would seem that it had suddenly hit him, too, even though he had lived here for so long. This made Thorin and Lloyd silent, and listening to them talking, Moe had suddenly realized this too, and then they were all silent on the way to the office.

When they all got into the building (it looked like a replica of Thorin's building from the outside, but the lobby was nicer and there was a triceratops receptionist in the middle of the of the room). Thorin let out a breath, as if the emptiness was a burden that he had just set down. "In the years since the bio-bomb, I had never noticed how empty this city really is. I'll explain the bio-bomb after I talk with the receptionist", Thorin said. Lloyd nodded quietly. "Hello, Thorin. I'll get your key", the receptionist. "It's a really small world here, isn't it?", Thorin said. The receptionist looked up but didn't answer. "I mean, we all know everyone's names, and we are housed in the third largest city in the world", The receptionist looked for the key faster, as if she did not want to here what Thorin was saying. "You know why? Because this city had a population of about 5,700,000, and now it has about 40. All because of the Pyramid's big mistake of the Biogenetic Bomb", said Thorin calmly, although stressing out the receptionist. She was so stressed out she didn't notice Thorin's 'nephews'. "Here you are, Thorin. Now move along now, you don't want to be late!", the receptionist said shakily, as if she was trying to be casual, although she wasn't doing a good job. They walked over to the elevators, and Thorin began to explain the great disaster. "The bio-bomb was a project of the WWR&D. It would kill all living things in the area, but the landscape and structures would stay the same, leaving them free to capture. So they launched it out of the top of the pyramid, aiming for a secure area, but the researchers had not completely researched the guidance system. It launched straight up into the air, and didn't turn. The researchers knew that it would hit Town Square, which would bomb the whole city, so they evacuated the city. All of the people still living in the city didn't know what was going on. The bio-bomb exploded, and everyone was instantly nothing more than dust. All the people that are still living here were on a business trip, or on vacation. Most moved out, and this has been a ghost town ever since. No one moved in, and this city went down the drain faster than water could. The city has no mayor; all of us have made a small government. We're really shut out, all the way out here". Lloyd thought really hard about that. Moe could tell because he didn't focus on anyone or anything. The elevator reached floor 105. They took off the costume. Moe's ears popped because of the air pressure up there. There were rows and rows of vacant desks. Lloyd added an imaginary photo of different kinds of dinosaurs sitting at these desks to his deep thinking. Thorin sat down in his desk and began filing papers or typing papers. Lloyd sat down at a desk and wrote down a series of chained thoughts that contained some of Thorin's stories, his own experiences, and some hypotheses. Moe sat on another desk, trying to play pinball on a Fenceway computer. Every now and then, Moe would check his watch to see how long they had before the gate to their dimension closed. Moe didn't mind being on Postrassic, he liked it, in fact. But he liked his home better, and one of the reasons was that he knew how to use Windows ME, not Boxes XP, which was harder to use because even though dinosaurs spoke English, they didn't have the same writing system. Lloyd was trying to make sense of the dinosaurs and their history, which wasn't working out. Thorin was trying to get one more paper into one stuffed folder, but it just wouldn't fit because he forgot to bring his box of bungee cords. Finally, a loud buzz from the intercom indicated quittin' time. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehah!", yelled Thorin like a cowboy, bolting towards the elevator, while Lloyd and Moe struggled with the costume. "We're going out the back this time, I don't feel like distracting the receptionist" "Um, Thorin, what's the back?" asked Lloyd, who had stopped thinking. "Carry the costume and follow me." Thorin walked towards the elevator bank.

Thorin pried open one of the elevator doors, "They took out the elevator, and now this shaft leads all the way to the basement", he said . He called a dumbwaiter. There was a humming noise, and the door opened. There were about 10 parachute backpacks inside. He took 3 backpacks out, and put the costume in. "You aren't serious!", said Moe. "I built a fall-breaker, so even if the parachute fails, you'll survive. I've done it before. It's fun!", said Thorin in his optimistic voice. There was a small metal platform leading halfway through the shaft. There was a small box with a red button and a green light on one side it. The light was on. "I hope you're right", said Lloyd, looking down the endless black shaft. "Moe, you go first. Lloyd, you go second, and I'm going last so that neither of you chicken out. When you get to the bottom, push the green button, and then the person above waits for that light to turn on,", He indicated the small box's light, "and then the person above pushes the red button and the light will go out. If you ignore that rule, you will most likely flatten the person who jumped before you. When you are falling, at one point I painted the walls blue with white polka dots. At that point, pull the red string. The parachute acts like an airbag on a car. Do it too early, and the parachute will open and fail to early, and you will land hard on the breaker. Do it too late, and the parachute will open and fail too late, and you will land hard on the breaker. You won't die, but it will be very painful and you will be injured,", he said, closing the elevator doors. "You may go, Moe", Thorin finished. Moe moaned and walked to the edge and pressed the red button. There was a beep! and the green light went out. Moe stood still for a second, and jumped off. "Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!", he yelled as he disappeared into the darkness. "See? Told you it would be fun", Thorin said. For a minute, there was silence. Then the green light came on and there was a beep! "Moe made it. Your turn, Lloyd", Lloyd stepped to the edge and pushed the red button. There was a beep! and the green light went out. Lloyd thought for a second about this. He had that feeling a bit like what you might feel like when you are in line for a roller coaster that you haven't ridden before and you realize that you might get sick on it. It's a little late for reconsidering, he thought as he jumped down the 104-story jump down to the 1st floor lobby.

If Thorin asked me to do that I would just stand there for the rest of my life looking down the unfathomable darkness, and occasionally look back at Thorin trying to express, "Can't there be a different way?". As the air rushed by him, he found that he liked the feeling. However, he didn't want to end up as a pancake at the bottom of the shaft, so he looked down the shaft for there to be a ring of blue with whit polka dots. He saw it coming at least 20 stories up, as the colors really stood out against the ugly gray color that also applied to the air conditioning system in the Pyramid. He pulled the red tab at the end of the string just as he hit the line and jerked his head up to watch. A big yellow semi-sphere rose up, stopping him right over the breaker, which was made of the same rubbery material as the parachute, which snapped back into the backpack right after deployment. "Cool!", said a voice behind him. It was Moe, and he had a look of awe on his face. "Wasn't that fun?", asked Moe "I'll say", said Lloyd. He walked onto the platform Moe was standing on. There was another box, except it had a red light and a green button. Lloyd pushed the green button, there was a beep! and the red light came on. They waited. Suddenly, there was a blur, and they saw the semi-sphere snap back into Thorin's backpack. He took their backpacks with a friendly, "Hello. Did you like it?". "Yeah. We loved it" Lloyd said as Thorin walked towards the other end of the dumbwaiter. He pressed a button, there was a humming noise, and the door opened. He put the rest of the backpacks inside, and took out the costume. "Good," he said, "Now let's do our break-in" he said mischievously.

The two threw off the costume and hid it under a trashcan. "Now let's see. I left the string in the shaft, if you didn't notice. Now follow me", said Thorin said. He climbed on top of a bench and jumped into the shaft. "We have 4 hours left," said Moe at some point in the shaft, "so let's speed up". It worked. They came out in the same storage room as they had escaped from. Lloyd turned on the light. "Anyone have a plan?", he asked. Moe and Thorin stopped short. "I thought Moe had a plan", said Thorin. "I thought Lloyd had a plan", said Moe. "I thought Thorin had a plan", said Lloyd. All three sat down, wondering how they could have been so stupid. "Well, now what?", asked Moe. "We think of a plan, or we'll have a year at the very least to figure out a plan", said Thorin. Lloyd looked up and saw spare lab coats hanging on the wall. "I think," he said, "I have an plan".

"O.K. The coast is clear", said Thorin, listening to the vibrations of the door. The three friends, notice I didn't write 'The two friends and their comrade', left the closet. The plan was for Lloyd and Moe to try to retrace their steps to the right door, then the two humans would go through, and then Thorin would go home. However, they weren't as lucky as they'd hoped. "Put the tools in your lab coats in your real pockets. We might need them", suggested Thorin. All three did so. Suddenly, two dinosaurs with guns, in their undershirts and under shorts, said, "Freeze! Those are the guys that stole our uniforms!".

"Uh oh", said Moe. Suddenly, the crowd that had chased them yesterday thundered around the corner with torches and shouts. "Run!", bellowed Lloyd. They ran and ran. The crowd seemed to have an endless supply of energy. The three ran into a room with bars lining the doorway. The crowd slammed the door shut. They had walked straight into a jail cell.

"How stupid can we get?", said Thorin, leaning against the bars. All there was in the cell was a bench. The walls were made of brick. The two humans were sitting on the bench. "I'm hungry," Moe, said, "It's almost lunchtime". This did not help Lloyd's troubles. It was almost right after lunch in which the Inter-Dimensional storm started, after all. A Maiasaura walked over with a tray of water and bread. "Here you are," it said, "It's your lunch". It placed the tray inside and walked away. Lloyd took a piece of bread and stared sadly at it. Moe instantly detected something was wrong. "What's wrong, Lloyd?", he asked. "Oh, do you remember my last birthday party?", Lloyd asked. "Sure. The one where we were all busy, and the cake burned?", Moe said. "Well, my mom said that next year, I'd have a much better meal. I didn't think that that meal would be bread and water", he said. Moe looked at the mortar holding the bricks together knowing that they couldn't break through, and then the water that was in a pitcher, and suddenly he had a spark of an idea, as if the water and mortar were flint and steel, that went away as quickly as it had come. If I could make that spark a fire, we would have a way out. The only way for him to re-create that spark was to do what he was doing before he got that spark, which was to look at the mortar, and then the water. He got it, but it went away again. So he did it again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Soon his cellmates saw what he was doing. They watched as he looked at the water and mortar over and over again, when he finally made a fire of an idea. "Guys, I know how to get out", he said. "How?", Lloyd and Thorin asked. "Water dissolves mortar! It's simple. We put that bench as an inclined plane up against the wall," Lloyd and Thorin did so, "and line the bottom with the bread," They did so again, "Now pour water on the mortar above the bench, and squeeze the water out of the bread and into the pitcher, and start the process over again". His invention worked, but time was wasting, and they needed to use something even faster. When the mortar was worn down to about an eighth of an inch, Moe said, "New plan, everyone. Pick up the bench and use it as a battering ram!", he said. He went over and helped pick it up. They stepped back, and ran forward. They heard a satisfying crack as the mortar gave way; leaving a hole about as big as the airshaft they had climbed through.

They ran to the path they were originally followed. The mob spotted them immediately and ran after them again. They saw the door. They ran faster and faster. Then they opened and shut the door, and there was a lurch as they closed it. Probably the mob had crashed into the door. Suddenly, it was quiet, as if the mob had disappeared. A flashlight flicked on. They were facing the inside of the Earth-side door, and there was no latch on the inside. "Thorin, could you bust that open for us?", asked Lloyd; very cheery that he was now safe on Earth. "Sure", said Thorin, and broke the doors clean off their hinges. They were out back with the garbage, where the dumpster was supposed to be. "Well, farewell, my friends. It's the beginning of the end", said Thorin as he turned to go home. However, he was facing a metal wall. "Or maybe," Lloyd said as Moe's watch started beeping, indicating that the Dimensional Storm had ended, "it's just the beginning".

The End (?)

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