Boss Marlot was on the war path. Her hands with sore from whipping, her voice hoarse from screaming, her blood pressure through the roof. The slaves were also tired of the whipping, screaming and bleeding. There was little to be done though. The Elder ordered Marlot to go to bed and to give the slaves a rest. There was no progress being made on the mill project. It was a fabulous idea, a way for the Ark to grind corn and produce better quality food. However, there was simply no wood coming down from the north to provide the raw materials needed for the project.
There were rumours flying around the Ark as to why the logging team had stopped sending their wood from the forests of the north. It was known that Eli had been complaining about the tough working conditions and the dangers involved in working outside the safety of the Ark. Yet the Elder had ignored his concerns. Still, there had been nobody from the logging team that had come to report any problems. The Elder was worried, not least because the delay was holding up the mill project.
The people of the Ark worked fast and adapted quickly to new technological advances. The sundial allowed to greater working efficiencies, the apples from the apple trees were nutritious and healthy, and the slaves provided by the Overseer worked quietly and efficiently. Those with logical minds were methodically planning and experimenting with the artefacts that had been recovered. There was confidence that in the near future the Ark's best and brightest might find a use for the radio, though it was felt further technological advances were needed. Whilst the nerds worked at the radio, many of the other Ark residents were trying to figure out how the Overseer managed to get his daughter-girlfriends into the family way, so to speak. Though they weren't making much progress, they were having a great deal of fun with their experiments.
For the first time that she could remember, Flora woke up in her quarters feeling happy and content. As a hero of the Ark, she was allowed more space and amenities. As her husband was also a hero of the work, it meant the quarters they shared together were larger and more luxurious than even the Elder's accommodation. Flora wondered where Craig was and debated with herself whether to go and look for him. She looked around at her room, which was filled with trinkets and memories, but also kept tidy and clean thanks to her husband. She felt cosy and safe there in the darkness. Craig would return soon enough she thought. She decided that she would stay in bed. After all, there was nowhere else she'd rather be.
Craig, Gramslinger and Steve were gathered outside the Elder's private quarters as they had been ordered to. All four heroes had been ordered to report there, though Craig explained that he felt Flora would benefit from catching up on her sleep. The Elder told them of the situation, which most of the residents were already well aware of, but then began to whisper in hushed tones about conspiracy. He suspected that Eli, leader of the logging committee, was up to no good. Eli was ambitious and had few friends outside of the men under his command. Steve asked what they were to do. The Elder gave them their orders: they were to investigate the logging station and bring it back into working order, killing Eli if necessary. The men exchanged looks of grim determination. They knew their mission was a dangerous one and that they may end the day by killing a powerful man.
Steve, Gramslinger and Craig discussed their plan of action. Firstly, they decided that they would need the toughest guy in the Ark to support them on their mission - Elvis. This seemed to be a wise decision, after all his mutation gave him crocodile skin and a huge amount of strength, but to mention his natural mean streak and love of brawling. Yet they had not accounted for one added complication: Elvis was a good friend of Eli's and saw him as the Ark's next leader-in-waiting.
Flora was wakened from her sleep by the gentle kicking of her husband as he softly pummelled her rib cage with his size eleven Doc Martens. "Time to get up my sweet", he cooed, throwing her formal rags over her head. "We have an important and dangerous mission", he began to report, ending with the explanation that Elvis would be accompanying them on the trip so they would have nothing to worry about if violence did break out. Flora was greatly frustrated at being left out of the mission briefing with the Elder. She worried that the party would next be going on missions without her, leaving her abandoned and alone. She felt agitated, low on self-esteem and short of confidence. "Stop being such a stupid moron", Craig told her, "I would never leave you!" Flora was not convinced, "Well what about that Rose from the Other Ark? You seemed very keen to get her back here!" Craig had no answer to this, other than to say "I haven't got time to reassure you, now put your rags on you great nit!"
It was some twenty minutes into their journey, with the Ark fading from view behind them, that Craig explained the mission to Elvis. He and Flora had not been on speaking terms, creating an air of tension in the group. The reaction of Elvis to the news did little to relax the group, though the party did start to become less concerned about Craig and Flora's domestic tiff. Elvis was devastated to hear that the logging team had not reported it. He told the party that Eli was the Ark's great saviour and that they must all hurry forwards to rescue Eli and his men. Steve, not sensing the tone, said "We'll probably have to kill Eli because he's turned against the Ark". Flora smacked her forehead with her hand, whilst Craig and Gramslinger both gulped. Eli turned to Steve and yellowed "WHAT?!"
The theory that Eli had turned against the Ark did not go down well with Elvis. He insisted that Eli would not do such a thing and that the Elder must be mad to suspect such a loyal and brilliant man such as Eli. Craig explained that hopefully there was some reasonable explanation for the logging team's silence, but that if it came to it, then Elvis must be prepared to take him down. Elvis stated that: "My loyalty is to the Ark, but so is Eli's, I'm sure it was must be some kind of mix-up." That would have to do for now, Craig sensed, knowing that Elvis still believed in Eli.
More crumbling ruins lay between the Ark and it's northern logging station, which lay to the south-west of Add N-Lee. The party trudged on in silence following their discussion. That silence was eventually broken by a curious sound, which gradually became a deafening roar. Steve broke off from the others to spy through a burnt out building at a sight in the eastern fields that amazed and captivated him. The roar was coming from a hell-driver, a huge mechanical construct of spikes and flames. Who was controlling the machine Steve could not tell, but what the hell-driver was fighting was impossible to miss. Dozens of giant spiders were throwing themselves at the machine, impaling themselves on the spikes as they spat acid towards the driver.
Craig and the others soon joined Steve in the building and were equally astounded by the spectacle. Gramslinger noticed that the hell-driver was not alone, and that in fact there several other hell-drivers further to the East. Each of these constructs were fighting a spider battle of their own. This was not a lone battle, but an all out war between species. Steve went to jump down and join in the night, but was dragged back by Flora. "Are you crazy?!" she hissed, "you can't fight them, you'll be killed, and what for? None of them are our enemies!" The disappointment on Steve's face was obvious, though he accepted the reason in her words. Gramslinger begged Craig to let them stay and watch the fighting, but reluctantly accepted that they had a mission to do and that spectacle would have to wait.
As the party continued their journey northwards, the stench of rot in the air became almost overpowering. The usual countermeasures were deployed, though this time both Gramslinger and Craig had masks that had been fashioned by Steve. Flora, looking down her nose through her gas mask at her teammates. "Why are you wearing your underwear over your heads?" she enquired. Craig felt it best not to correct her by pointing out it was not his own underwear he was wearing, and instead let Steve explain the effectiveness of his invention. Steve was quick to reassure Flora that Gramslinger and Craig had provided the underwear, leaving him merely to form the pants and panties into effective mask filters. He asked Flora if she wished for him to make one for her. She did not.
It was a beautiful area that lay to the south of the Ark's lumber yard. Acres of glassified fields shone brightly in the afternoon sun, almost blinding the party at times. It gave the area a sense of unreality, with nature seemingly breaking the laws of physics to produce a delicate surface for that party to carefully navigate. How felled trees were transported back to the Ark through this route was something that none in the party considered. They already have enough on their minds thinking of the upcoming confrontation.
Had the party been able to check the sundial back at the Ark, they would have discovered that they reached the lumber yard at around two in the afternoon. The yard was quiet still, in contrast to the noise and bustle of a standard working day. There was no sign of struggle as they entered through the large, imposing gates that lay open at the front of the yard. However, once inside they discovered what had happened to Eli and his men.
Placed strategically around the lumber yard, armed with clubs and other melee weapons, were Eli's men. They made for an intimidating fight. Though not as intimidating as Elvis the half-man-half crocodile. The mere sight of the monster made the lumberjacks nervous, despite their superior numbers. "Where is Eli?" roared Elvis. It was then that Eli made his presence known, as he stepped onto the large threshing machine in the middle of the yard. "Here I am old friend", he said, trying to sound confident as he clutched a vial of deadly sap poison. Should he be attacked then the aggressor would find themselves with a nasty surprise.
Elvis went to run towards the threshing machine, only to find Flora pulling at his right arm. "Wait!" she pleaded, "don't you see it's a trap?" Elvis scoffed and ran to the thresher, with Flora literally dragging behind him. She lay exhausted in the dirt and Elvis climbed the machine to embrace his old friend. The two men hugged and caught up on recent events. Eli had spent the last few months at the logging site, meaning he had not seen Elvis in quite some time.
As this reunion was taking place, a short, middle-aged, balding but suspiciously flexible man minced his way towards the party. Gramslinger was intrigued, though Craig and Steve were simply bemused. The man stood in front of the party, then immediately did the splits. "Hello darlings," he greeted them, "simply wondrous to see you, isn't it?" They stood in silence, though Steve eventually muttered "What is this fa..." Her words were cut off as the man interrupted her to say "The name is Albutt, Albutt Cheesebruh". Albutt again did the splits. It was going to be a long day.
Flora got to her feet and shouted at Eli: "Get down from there... or else!" Eli, annoyed at being interrupted by a little twerp, shouted down at Flora "Oh hi, aren't you a little lady? Are you here to fight me?" He burst into laughter. Dismissing the idea of being physically bested by a girl, he boasted down to her: "Tell you what, I bet you can't push me into this threshing machine!" He stood atop the machine, flexing his muscles, showing off his large frame, which wasn't quite as muscular and impressive as he imagined himself to be in his head. Elvis stood next to him, and erupted into a fit of laughter at his friend's outrageous behaviour. Flora did not feel beaten and deflated, as one might expect, instead she merely sat herself down and vowed to bide her time until the moment was right.
Craig listened to Albutt as he laid out the demands of the loggers. They seemed reasonable enough demands. They wanted slaves to be sent to work under them to do the more dangerous and backbreaking of tasks, and they wanted an increase of rations. Craig decided to accept the terms, and informed Albutt that the slaves and supplies would be sent on as soon as the men went back to work. Albutt seemed a reasonable, if rather peculiar man. His assless chaps certainly were rather queer looking. The other men waited patiently to hear what Albutt would say, though they looked hopeful of a peaceful resolution to the stand-off.
Albutt danced and twirled his way towards the threshing machine. He started to gush as he told Eli "I've just been speaking to that man over there, that one there you see with the cat ears, oh isn't he gaw-juss? Yes he's just gaww-juss. Anyway, he said to me that the Elder accepts our demands and that we can go back to work." Eli seemed shocked, he hadn't planned for the Elder to accept his terms. He could only stroke his chin and manage to say "I see", before he was sent flying in the air towards the deadly blades of the threshing machine, which were just starting to spin into action. In all the commotion, no-one had noticed that the threshing machine had fired into action. As Eli went flying to his doom, he spun round to see the force that had propelled him to his death. It was Flora. She had been able to push him into the threshing machine after all. Eli, unwilling to meet his death without first avenging it, threw the vial of tree poison into Flora's direction. The vial smashed in her face, splashing her shapely mouth, button nose and baby blue eyes with corrosive acid.
Flora screamed in agony, though her pain was somewhat less than Eli's as he was chopped into tiny pieces by the spinning blades of the threshing machine. Elvis roared in anger after witnessing his friend's demise. Flora had proved that she could push Eli into the threshing machine, but at what cost? Chaos ensued, though Flora was to witness none of it as she passed out to the pain of her burning facial tissue.
When Flora awoke, gently roused to consciousness by her husband's frantic shaking of her shoulders, she found everyone had gathered around her. Elvis looked furious, Craig looked terribly concerned, whilst everyone else seemed shocked. Gramslinger cried out "Her face! It's even uglier than before!" Craig dismissed the statement, insisting that her face looked beautiful, though Flora noted that he used the past tense. Flora was less concerned about her appearance than of the mission, and asked the men when they would be returning to work. Albutt reassured her, "Don't worry darling, I'm in charge of all these strapping young men here now, and I insist they go straight back to work - immediately." The loggers grumbled as they returned to their work duties. The little rebellion was over.
Elvis snapped at Flora, "Well you've killed a great man. Now every time you look in a mirror you can be reminded of what an ugly murderer you are!" Elvis then stormed off. Craig reassured his wife that she would remain beautiful in his eyes no matter what acid melted her face. He told her "Every part of you is beautiful, from your dainty little feet up to your... err, lovely neck, yeah". Flora groaned, her face must really be ruined. It certainly felt extremely painful. It had been a tough learning experience for her. She shouted towards Elvis: "But he said I couldn't push him into the threshing machine and I was just showing him that I could." Perhaps she hadn't learned any lessons after all.
It was a quiet journey back to the Ark as the members of the party reflected on their thoughts. Steve pondered how he could improve the efficiency of the underwear masks. Elvis angrily thought of how stupid and senseless Eli's death had been. Flora thought that surely her handsome husband would leave her now rather than stay loyal to a woman with half a face. Gramslinger thought that he hadn't had much to do this episode. Craig thought back to the beautiful Rose of the Other Ark and said to himself that if given the chance he'd taken Flora with her acid scarred face than Rose's breathtaking beauty every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.