CRASH! There was a crashing noise in Miles's bedroom.

"Vat vuz dat?" he asked himself.

Miles got up from the couch. The television show that he was watching, "The Adventures of the STUP Trio: Stupidman, Stupendousman, and Stupefiedman," was really boring.

Miles painfully picked up the remote control and turned the television off. His arm ached horribly. He dragged himself up the stairs groaning and choking.

He opened the door to his room.

There was a silver package in the middle of the room.

Miles approached the package with caution.

There was an envelope taped to the package.

Miles opened the envelope.

"You have received a genuine mole tooth. Use it wisely, and it will be safe. To start, press the red button," he read.

Miles looked at the package. There was a red button on one side.

He pressed it.

There was a horrible screeching sound. Miles covered his ears and closed his eyes.

The noise ceased. Miles carefully opened his eyes. In front of him was no longer a silver package but a giant tooth.

The tooth was engraved with a large picture of a bantam rooster and the words, "The Bantam Mole Tooth."

Underneath the words was a red button with the word "PRESS" on it.

He pressed it.

There was a brilliant flash of blue light and everything swirled around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around....

Miles woke up.

He found himself in a submarine.

He stood up and tripped over a small silver package.

Looks familiar, he thought. Maybe it'll get me out of here.

Miles opened the package. Inside were a map, a book, and a note. Miles loved maps. So instantly he grabbed the map.

Miles glanced at the title first.

"Cal-a-mar-ia? Calamaria? I don't think there really is such a country! Oh, well," he said to himself.

He looked at the cities and regions on the map.

"Barrier City? Dull Drums? Reef Home? Fishy Dudes?! Vithencot?"

Miles didn't think any of them were real cities.

He put the map away and pulled out the book.

Rules and Regulations of the United Democracy of Calamaria was the title. It seemed boring to Miles. He put it away and reached for the note.

"Welcome to Calamaria, Miles! You will enjoy your stay here at Calamaria," it simply stated.

Miles put the note away and sat down on the chair in the cockpit. The only room was the cockpit.

"I sure am hungry!" he said.

The moment the words left his mouth, a trapdoor opened in the ceiling. A suspended tray lowered with a menu and an order form on it.

"Huh?!" exclaimed Miles.

He glanced through the menu and marked the items he wanted on the order form. He placed them both on the tray and pressed the green button on it.

A few minutes later, the tray came back down with the pizzas and the milk he ordered.

After he ate, Miles decided to go somewhere. He chose Barrier City.

He followed the map.

After a few minutes, he reached a little house.

A tremendous sign extended far above the house.

It said: "LOST? NOT ANYMORE! JUST PARK HERE."

Miles parked the submarine where indicated.

A little fat alien man hopped out of the house. He knocked on the door of the submarine.

Miles was afraid to open the door because he might drown.

The man yanked the door open.

Miles screamed. But he didn't drown. He could breathe the water.

"Welcome to Vithencot!" said the little man.

"What is Calamaria?" asked Miles.

"Calamaria is a planet, of course!"

"Does everybody around here look like you?"

"Of course not! We have people from many planets!"

"Can you tell me the way to Barrier City?"

The little man paused. Then he said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you who I am. I'm the Wither Man!"

"Huh?" said Miles.

"I make all travelers around here wither and die! Ha ha! Oh, by the way, Barrier City's over there in that direction. Ha ha ha! Hee hee! Ha! Hee! Hi! Ho! Hoo! Heh heh heh! You better get going! And if ye's still 'round 'ere, me's gonna mek ye vither und die! Ha ha ha!"

Miles frantically closed the door to his submarine.

And he took off into the vast ocean.

Miles drove the submarine in the direction that the crazy Wither Man had told him to.

Soon he reached a town.

The submarine came to a stop.

Miles got out. There was a bunch of little people. They were running up to him.

"Yar! You're in Dull Drums! Nobody's allowed in Dull Drums! We Lilliputians make sure no one does! So get out!" said the man in front in an unusually loud voice.

"Psst! Wrong story!" said Miles.

"Huh? Oh. Oops!" said the head Lilliputian and they scattered away in all directions.

Suddenly a duckling came waddling out of the bushes.

It knocked on the door of the submarine.

Miles opened it.

"Hi! Hi! Hi! I'm Quack! The other swans call me the Ugly Cygnet because I don't look like them. Can I stay with you? Huh? Please? Huh?" said the duckling.

"Hello. I don't think you are a swan. You look like a duckling," said Miles.

"I am?" asked Quack.

Miles said, "And you can stay with me. I'm going to Barrier City."

Up in the distance, Miles could see a floating city.

Miles and Quack drove up to Barrier City.

Barrier City had two communities: the surface community and the underwater community.

They parked at the official parking lot of Barrier City.

They saw two large insects walking down a street. One was a flea and the other a stinkbug.

"Hello! I'm the Selling Flea. This is my friend the Stinkbug. Would you like to buy something?"

Miles replied, "No, thank you."

Suddenly, a flower pot fell out of a window and hit the flea.

"Ow! My leg! Help me!"

There was a screeching siren.

Miles looked up. A policeman was riding down the street on a klopfoe.

A klopfoe is a funny animal. It can shift the shape of its body to another shape.

The policeman could shift more. He was Officer Shift. His body was like jelly.

"Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Filthy!" said said said said said, er, screamed Shift.

The klopfoe screeched to a halt. Shift turned off the klopfoe's siren.

"Heh! Who did this? Who? Who hurt the flea's leg? Huh? Speak up!"

"It wa--," began Miles.

"Ha!" interrupted the policeman.

"Bu--," began the Stinkbug.

"That's enough!"

"Huh?" said Quack.

"Ha! You're all guilty! Into the dungeon you go!" shouted Officer Shift.

He pressed a button on the wall. The sidewalk opened under their feet. Miles, Quack, and the Stinkbug fell and fell and fell....

They fell into a small cell with barred doorways and windows.

In the corner was an old lady.

Her face and hands were green with warts. She was wearing a black outfit. In her hands was a broom.

"Yah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah!" she shrieked. "I'm a witch!"

Miles, Quack, and the Stinkbug screamed in unison.

The witch got on her broom.

"You and you and you need to rescue Time and Season, the two ambassadors who make time run accurately and change the seasons. Right now, time is nothing. Clocks run wild. It is spring all the time! You must rescue them, or else! They are lost. The Calamarian Transport that they used to travel to Krypton broke and fell to the bottom of the ocean. Many people say they fell into the Castle Under the Ground. They are somewhere under the ground past Reef Home and Fishy Dudes. Past the Trench of Terror! I have a gift for you! Then, I'll be gone!" said the witch.

The witch threw a small container at them.

Then she flew around the room and out the barred window.

Miles looked down at the container. It was labeled, "Radioactive Liquid Calcite."

They heard footsteps from outside. It was Officer Shift.

"You're innocent! Up the stairs!" he said.

Miles, Quack, and the Stinkbug marched up the stairs.

The Stinkbug said, "I'll volunteer to go with you. The adventure sounds interesting."

They got on Miles's submarine.

Miles checked the map. He saw where the Trench of Terror was. He found the Castle Under the Ground, too.

Off they went in the submarine.

They passed Reef Home and Fishy Dudes.

I wonder what the Trench of Terror will be like, wondered Miles.

Up ahead Miles saw a deep trench lurking.

It seemed horrifying.

"Aye, asphyxiant marbles!" he said to himself.

A black monster leaped out of the trench.

Everybody screamed.

The submarine crashed into the monster. The monster fell into the trench. And so did the submarine.

Everybody screamed again.

Miles drove the submarine out of the trench.

Several monsters followed them.

After several miles though, the monsters gave up.

Soon they reached a sign and a deep hole.

The sign said, "Come down here to reach the Castle Under the Ground."

Miles drove the submarine into the hole.

A moment later, they reached a cave. In the cave was a beautiful white castle.

Miles knocked on the front door, expecting the two ambassadors.

Instead of the ambassadors, Miles met a mole. It was missing a front tooth, and a picture of a bantam rooster was on its fur.

"Hello. I am the Bantam Mole. What can I do for you?"

"I know where your missing tooth is," said Miles.

"It's not missing. I know where it is. But I want it back," said the Bantam Mole. "You need some radioactive liquid calcite. I'm afraid I've run out."

Miles pulled the container that the witch had given him out of his pocket.

"I have some! But where are the ambassadors?" said Miles.

The Bantam Mole spoke, "They went to Krypton a few weeks ago. They never came back. You can't rescue them until I have my tooth back. The tooth is too big for you to carry it here. Pour a few drops of the calcite on the tooth. Then press the button and hold out your hand. When you arrive at Calamaria, the tooth will be in your hand."

"But how do I get back?" asked Miles.

"Just touch this crystal," said the mole. "When you come back, I'll be right here. Your friends outside will be here. Just hurry. Good-by!"

Miles touched the crystal.

"Kíkzokiyeya bðkk œkækikiko jêve klø kíkje mÿmmke. Çÿkji ãkaba hïx!"

Miles heard a voice. It was his brother, Joe. Joe was learning a new language, Kirxzkakange. He sounded horrible.

"Kékstak ìkte lála! Vat's dat?!" shouted Joe.

"That is the Bantam Mole Tooth!" said Miles.

Joe looked at the tooth.

"Huh? Duh, me dunno!"

Miles sprinkled a few drops of the radioactive liquid calcite on the mole tooth and pressed the button.

There was a flash of blue light.

And Joe was gone.

Miles looked around him.

There was the Castle Under the Ground.

"Welcome back!" said the Bantam Mole.

Miles gave him the tooth that he was now holding in his hand.

"Drive the submarine a few kilometers in that direction. Park in the parking lot and rent a Transport," said the mole.

Miles met the Stinkbug and Quack outside.

And off they went in the direction indicated by the mole.

"So...we're on our way to Krypton, right?" said the Stinkbug.

"Right!" responded Miles.

The Calamarian Transport that they had rented dipped down into the Pre-Launch Tube.

The Transport fell a kilometer toward the core.

Then it stopped. The launching machine turned the Transport up.

Miles looked out the watershield at the stars.

A few seconds later, the launching machine thrust the Transport into Calamarian orbit.

Miles landed the craft on the neighboring planet of Krypton in the official parking lot.

A walking, talking wooden cabinet approached the Transport.

"Hello. I am the King's cabinet. May I help you?" it said.

"Hi. Do you know where the ambassadors Time and Season are?" asked Miles.

"I know nothing. You should ask the King. He knows all. Follow me. The King will answer your questions."

The cabinet led them to a mansion.

It was the King's mansion. An empty throne sat in the very large room in front, which served as a waiting room, a dining room, and a lobby.

"ALL HAIL KING FRIDAY XIII, SUPREME RULER OF THE KINGDOM OF KRYPTON AND EMPEROR OF THE WIDESPREAD REALM OF KRYPTON!"

A fat, stocky king stepped out of a door and sat down on the throne.

"Sit down!" said King Friday.

"Um, excuse me, Your Highness, but I would like to know where the ambassadors Time and Season are," stated Miles.

"That I don't know. Why don't you ask the Banana-Musician. He knows all."

"Huh? But your cabinet said that you know all."

"True. But it also said that it knew nothing at all. So you expect it to be true about me knowing everything? I only know a few things," said Friday.

"Uh...um...."

Miles, the Stinkbug, and Quack were on their way to the Banana-Musician.

They had rented a Kryptonian Scootertracker. It was a slender vehicle that levitates and speeds by on a magnetic track.

Suddenly a little boy hopped into the road, er, track.

"I'm Rex Things! I wreck things!" said the boy.

"He's Rex Things. He wrecks things. And I reckon Rex Things wrecks things," said Miles to the Stinkbug.

"We've no time at all for tongue twisters!" said the Stinkbug angrily.

"Right!" said Quack, the Ugly Cygnet.

"I'm sorry if I wreck your scootertracker, but I wreck things!" said Rex.

"We've heard that already!" said Miles.

A few minutes later, the expected happened.

Rex Things, who wrecked things, wrecked the scootertracker.

"Oh, no!" gasped Rex Things, who wrecked things, the thing-wrecker that wrecked the scootertracker thing.

"You wrecked our scootertracker!" yelled Miles.

Rex ran off into the woods.

Suddenly, a giant metal man hopped onto the track.

"I am Chromium the Great! I am made of chromium. I turn things into chromium. Move before I turn you into chromium!"

And so they moved.

Soon they came to a little hut.

Weird blue lights were flashing inside.

Miles decided to take a look.

A sign hung above the door which swung sideways as the wind blew.

The sign, not the door.

The sign read: Watch a movie! Free!

Miles opened the door.

"Welcome! I'm the Discarding Bin. Please watch the movie. Radioactive light waves will contaminate your brain. After the movie, discard your brains in the Discarding Bin. That's me. I eat brains for food," said the large trash can behind the door.

Miles, the Stinkbug, and Quack sat down on some chairs.

And the movie began.

It was a boring movie.

This is a paragraph explaining about what happened during the movie. Miles snored. Quack snored. The Stinkbug stunk. Miles yawned. Quack yawned. The Stinkbug said, "Bor-...." Miles burped. Quack sneezed. Miles said, "Ges-...." The Stinkbug said, "...ring!" Miles sneezed, then started to say something, but stopped. The Stinkbug snored. Quack coughed. Miles fell asleep. Quack bonked the Stinkbug on the head. The Stinkbug bonked Miles on the head. Miles choked on a fly. Quack bonked Miles on the head. The mad scientist in the movie said, "You die!" Miles turned red. Quack coughed. Miles turned blue. Quack sneezed. Miles coughed and turned yellow. The Stinkbug belched loudly. Miles turned green. Quack belched. Miles turned orange. The Stinkbug said nothing. Quack snored. The Stinkbug said, "Nothing!" Quack snored. Miles turned purple. Quack burped. Miles grew bright green spots on his purple face. Quack exhaled. "Pah!" Miles screamed as the fly flew out of his mouth and into the Stinkbug's potato chip bag. The Stinkbug said, "Huh?" Quack belched. The Stinkbug ate a wet potato chip. Quack screamed. The Stinkbug said, "Tastes like a fly!" Miles gasped. And the movie ended.

"Did you like the movie? Please discard your contaminated brains," said the Discarding Bin.

"Huh? We didn't watch the movie!" protested Miles.

"Congratulations! You didn't watch the movie. Please take this bag and leave!"

A bag fell out of the ceiling.

Miles grabbed the bag and left.

They walked on foot toward the jungle that King Friday had indicated.

Suddenly a big beeper hopped onto the track.

"I am a sound beeper. I am lost. Do you know where I am?" it said.

Miles pulled the Calamarian map out of his pocket. On the back was a map of Krypton.

"You're on Scooter Track #456 at Point Sigma-448," said Miles.

"Thank you!" said the beeper and hopped off the track.

"I'm confused!" said the Stinkbug.

"Huh? Confused?" asked Quack.

Miles had dumped them off to confusion.

Now Miles was alone.

Miles walked on alone, confused.

Suddenly, a decagon hopped onto the road.

"Hi! I'm the Decagon! Are you looking for the Banana-Musician?" it said.

"Yes," said Miles.

"Follow me!" said the Decagon walking off into the jungle.

Miles followed the Decagon to an old man playing a large musical instrument that looked like a giant banana.

"Excuse me. Do you know where the ambassadors Time and Season are?" asked Miles.

"Sure I do! They're staying with me! Heh heh! They like it here so much that they don't want to go back to Calamaria! They want you to tell everyone back on Calamaria that they don't want to come back!" said the Banana-Musician.

And so it was that Time and Season never came back to Calamaria and that time and seasons were messed up on Calamaria. But our story doesn't end here. What ever happened to Miles?

Aa alpha

Bb beta

Gg gamma

Dd delta

Ee epsilon

Zz zeta

Hh eta

Qq theta

Ii iota

Kk kappa

Ll lambda

Mm mu

Nn nu

Xx xi

Oo omicron

Pp pi

Rr rho

Ss sigma

Tt tau

Uu upsilon

Ff phi

Cc chi

Yy psi

Ww omega

What ever happened to Miles? Well, he went back to Earth, in one piece.

"Cool!" said Miles's brother, Joe, as Miles suddenly appeared back in his bedroom. "Where have you been?"

"To Calamaria!" said Miles smiling. Then he added, "And Krypton!"

"Krypton?!" exclaimed Joe.

CRACK! BREAK! MELT! BURP! BOOM! The roof blew off. Hovering above them was a giant alien spaceship.

"What the heck is that?" exclaimed Joe loudly, very frightened at the sight.

A door under the spaceship opened.

"Ækschkaike kâghymhha!" said an alien voice.

"Hey! They speak Kirxzkakange! Çÿkji Þáfyia!" said Joe.

The alien replied.

After a short conversation, Joe turned to Miles and said, "Ìrszka kãngga hîkkite dë-káctaxhi! He wants us to travel to his home planet Káctax!"

With great reluctance, Miles stepped onto the spaceship with Joe.

A tiny alien man led them to a room.

He told Joe that that room was their bedroom for the trip to Káctax.

"Nice room!" said Miles.

They were to sleep on beds that, when not in use, folded up into the wall. There were books on shelves of almost every language in the universe. Out of the two hundred thirty-seven books, only three were in English. Joe found twenty books in Kirxzkakange. There was a door leading to a bathroom, too.

Miles pulled out the first English book. Only it wasn't a book written in English. It was a French book. The title was a single word that had the same meaning in both English and French: Bulldozer.

Miles pulled out the second book. It's title was A Handbook to Particles of the Atom. Miles sat down on his bed and started reading.

The bed folded up into the wall with him in it.

"Help! Help!" screamed Miles.

The bed unfolded itself.

Miles continued reading his book, but on the floor.

The little alien man entered the room and told Joe that they were going to take off to Káctax soon.

"Protons! Positron! Murray Gell-Mann! Flavors! Quarks! Up! Down! Sideways! Strange!" said Miles to himself.

It was time for dinner.

A tray came out of the slit in the wall. There was a menu on it.

"There was one like this on the submarine back on Calamaria!" exclaimed Miles.

Miles ordered the Calamarian Delight, a specialty on Calamaria that he had tasted and enjoyed.

Joe ordered the Káctaxian Delight.

Miles learned from Joe that the alien man's name was Keekrk.

The food came.

It was delicious.

"Which one is the fastest: a neutrino, an infrared ray, or a photon?" Miles asked Joe.

"Uh...an infrared ray?" guessed Joe.

"Nope! They are all the same speed!" replied Miles.

Miles swallowed a yinka puff, a puff made from the Calamarian yinka plant. The Calamarians were vegetarians.

"Up, down, strange, charm, top, bottom, or truth, beauty. Strange!"

"Stop yelling about all that 'strange' stuff!" said Joe, annoyed.

Miles ignored him.

"Pork! Cork! Fork! Zork!" said Miles. "W-particle! Gluon! Glue-on! Yak! Photon! Proton! Positron! Yak! Eat pizza! He lacks yaks! Cuckoo!"

Miles swallowed another yinka puff.

He was close to finishing the thick book.

Miles finished reading the particle handbook.

It was a very exciting book.

Miles couldn't wait to read the other book in English.

He walked quickly over to the bookshelf and put A Handbook to Particles of the Atom back on the shelf.

Miles pulled out the book next to it.

"The Neverending Story," he read to himself, "by Michael Ende."

Interesting title, thought Miles.

"Bastian Balthazar Bux!" said Miles. "What a loser! What a stinker!"

But he didn't think that the book stunk.

Actually the book did stink. It was a very old, smelly book. It had been published in 1997. Now it was 2055. 2055. Anno Domini twenty hundred fifty-five years. Earth years, that is.

But it was a good book.

It was printed in two colors: dark green and maroon. On its cover were two snakes. They were biting each other's tail, forming an oval. Inside the oval was the title: The Neverending Story. At the beginning of each chapter there was a large beautifully engrossed letter to begin the first word of the first sentence of the first paragraph of the first page of each chapter.

"What a stinker! What a cheese! What a smell! What a stink!" said Miles. "What a melon! What a chunk! What a cheese! What a dump! What a...."

"What a virgule! What a sphygmomanometer! What a plateau! What a pi-meson! What a stereoscope! What the heck?!" exclaimed Miles.

"Hello, Miles!" said Joe. He was holding a big melon.

"What's that for?!" exclaimed Miles, confused.

"It's a gift from Keekrk! It's not a melon. It's a Káctaxian container! Wonder what's inside it?!"

"Speaking of gifts, I never did open that bag the Discarding Bin gave me!" exclaimed Miles.

Miles pulled the bag out of his pocket.

Inside was a note.

Dear Miles:

If you have read this before it is too late, do not come aboard the alien spaceship. It is headed for the horrible planet of Káctax. A dangerous life form lives there. It is only known as "the Sigma Xi." It is very dangerous. Its symbol is SX. Anyone who touches the Sigma Xi disappears. Perhaps forever.

Your Calamarian friend,

The Discarding Bin

"Sigma Xi?" asked Miles confused.

"Let's open the melon," said Miles.

They opened the melon-shaped container.

Inside was nothing.

"That's weird!" said Miles.

There was a crashing sound.

Keekrk immediately appeared at the door.

He told Joe that they had landed on Káctax.

"We're there! We've landed on Káctax!" said Joe happily.

"Káctax! Káctax! Káctax! Káctax! Káctax! Káctax! Káctax! Káctax!" they chanted.

Keekrk led them to a familiar door.

It was the door they had first entered nearly four weeks ago.

Keekrk opened the door.

Through the door they could see a long hallway. Really long.

They walked down the hallway for a mile and a half.

Long. Really long.

They walked fifteen miles.

Then they came to a door.

There was a symbol on the door.

But before Miles could read it, Keekrk opened the door.

Miles and Joe walked through the doorway.

The door slammed behind them.

Loud. Really loud.

"Aye! Me ears!" screamed Miles, painfully covering his ears.

Keekrk was gone.

"Huh? Where'd he go?" asked Joe, suddenly noticing the disappearance of their only friend on this strange planet. He wasn't even sure if this building, if it was one, was a building on Káctax or a space station.

And little did they know that Keekrk wasn't even their friend.

They were inside another long (really long) hallway.

"Long! Really long!" said Miles.

They trudged on for about two miles when they reached another door.

It was then that Miles saw what the symbol was on the first door. It was the same symbol on this door: SX.

"Oh, no! The Sigma Xi! We've entered the headquarters of the Sigma Xi!" said Miles.

Joe gulped.

"S-Sigma Xi?! What is the Sigma Xi?! Sounds scary!" said Joe, frightened.

The door opened.

No one was there.

"Spooky!" said Miles. He sighed. The Sigma Xi wasn't there.

Spookier was the small, octagonal room behind the door. Each one of its eight walls had a door on it.

Even spookier was the sign hanging from the ceiling.

Miles had finished The Neverending Story a few days ago.

The story was nothing like the story they were in.

The Neverending Story was nothing like The Bantam Mole Tooth.

"This is scary!" said Miles.

The sign read: PICK A DOOR. ANY DOOR.

"Which door?" asked Joe.

"You pick!" said Miles.

Joe opened the second door on the right.

"Joe? Joe! Where are you, Joe?" asked Miles, frightened.

Joe had disappeared.

The door swung back and forth on its metal hinges. The door was metal.

It creaked as it swung.

Miles walked through the doorway into the pure darkness behind it.

There was a swirling flash of blue light.

The blue light disappeared. Miles was in a white room. There were four walls. Miles found that he was leaning on one.

Leaning against the wall across from Miles was Joe.

"Hey, Joe!" said Miles.

Joe didn't seem to notice him.

Miles sighed.

There was a purple door on the wall on Miles's right. It was covered with green spots.

There was a green door on the wall on Miles's left. It was covered with purple spots.

Miles himself was purple with green spots.

"Spooky!" said Miles to himself and to Joe, who didn't seem to be listening at all.

The green door with the purple spots opened.

The purple door with the green spots opened.

Miles's eyes opened.

"It's him!" said Joe, suddenly waking up.

"It's he!" said Miles.

And it was he. Keekrk, that is.

Keekrk walked into the room, followed by nothing.

The voice of the nothing spoke.

The nothing was nothing. It looked like nothing. But it seemed like an invisible person.

"I am the SIGMA XI!" screamed the nothing.

The voice was definitely from the invisible something beside Keekrk.

"You have come here for a reason. You thought your home planet was boring!" said the Sigma Xi.

There was a sudden silence.

Then the Sigma Xi continued.

"Very well then! You are here to stay forever. That is if you do not leave. But you cannot leave. No one escapes from the empire of the Superior Sigma Xi!"

"Keekrk here thought the same as you many years ago. He thought his home planet, Ghorkmudia was boring. I know all! I know if you really think your home planet is boring. I know all! I send some of my past captives to other planets to pick up people like you! Then you come here. Half of you meet your doom. The other half works for me, the Sigma Xi! We have just built blasters to pick up people and transport them more quickly. You two are the last people to come here by means of normal Káctaxian spaceship. One of you will meet your doom. The other will be my slave. I will transport you to another room. There will be two doors. Behind one is my dungeon. Behind the other is doom. You will have one hour to agree with each other which one to go through. After one hour, you will both go through the doors simultaneously. If one of you goes in without the other going through the other door at the same time, you both receive doom! If you wait more than one hour, you both receive doom! Understand?"

There was another flash of blue light.

And there were two doors. One was purple; one was green.

After forty-seven minutes and thirty-four seconds, Miles walked through the purple door, and Joe walked through the green door.

Miles saw nothing. Suddenly the room lit up in colors. In the center of the room was the Sigma Xi.

Suddenly the Sigma Xi changed. Now, instead of being invisible normally, the Sigma Xi transformed all that was behind him into inverse colors. A color's inverse color is the light color that it would combine with to produce white light.

The Sigma Xi leaped at Miles.

Prologue? Why is this prologue at the end? We don't know. Do you know?

"Every day is a boring day!" said Miles dejectedly.

He sat down on the couch to watch is his favorite television show. And even it was boring.

Suddenly he heard a loud noise upstairs.

It sounded like something falling through the roof.

Miles disappeared a long time ago. Joe and Keekrk remain slaves of the Sigma Xi. The Sigma Xi remains the ruler of Káctax. Calamaria remains without Time and Season. Krypton remains with Time and Season. The author of this story, Chunky Cheez, will write another story about the Sigma Xi.