Little Dipper

Unidentified Flying Uh-oh!

"Watch your step there. Okay, one more. This one's a bit bigger, so hang onto my hand and one...two..three!" Ford lifted Dipper over the gap between stepping stones. "Not much longer now. How are you holding up?"

"I'm doing great!" Dipper grinned and looked behind him, where Bill was distracted by a fish in the river. "Bill, come on!"

"Eh, okay." He stepped on the stones, joining them shortly. "Flying would've been faster, you know."

"Let's avoid using your power too much. Just in case of trouble." Ford said, walking on with Bill and Dipper following.

"Good idea." Bill nodded as they climbed up a hill. "So? Where is it?"

Ford turned to him. "We're here."

"Uh...there's nothing here, Ford." Bill raised an eyebrow.

"Think again. Try using your Sight." Ford suggested, pointing towards the cliffs. "When were those formed? I did say earlier."

Bill turned to the cliffs and brought his hands up to his face in a triangle shape, focusing on the history of the cliff's shape. Then he gasped and looked down. "We're ON it?!"

Ford pushed a rock aside and revealed a hatch, which he then opened. "Here we are."

"Let's go in!" Dipper said, excitedly taking out his camera and taking a picture.

"Camera away, we gotta climb. Not much space to fly with this gap." Bill took the camera and put it in his bag. "Ford, you go first. Dipper, you next. I'll close the hatch behind us, keep anyone from falling in by accident."

"Alright." Ford adjusted his bag and climbed down the ladder. "Wait, wait, wait...okay, now you can come down, Dipper."

"Slowly, now." Bill said, helping Dipper inside. "Got the ladder?"

"Uh-huh." Dipper nodded, climbing down after Ford.

Bill waited until there was more than enough space for him before he climbed in and followed them down, closing the hatch behind him. His body's yellow glow lit up the dark cavernous place as they reached the bottom and he jumped off and flew down below them as soon as he had enough space to.

"Thanks, Bill!" Dipper said as Ford got down and held up his arms to get Dipper down off the ladder. "Whoa...it sure is dark down here. And big!"

"Quietly, now." Bill coaxed him. "We don't know if there's anything left to wake up, but better safe than sorry. Remember the shapeshifter?"

"Funny enough, I found his egg in here." Ford commented.

"Whoooooa, really?" Dipper gasped.

"I think they were studying it." Ford shrugged and walked on. "Come along, then. The adhesive we need is this way."

"What made the spaceship crash?" Dipper asked as they walked into a brighter-lit area. "The barrier?"

"Well, there's the tricky question. Did its crash cause the Weirdness Barrier, or did the Weirdness Barrier attract it and cause the crash? I've been trying to figure that out for years."

Bill paused to look at some writing on the wall. "Something escaped...something they were studying. Maybe the Shapeshifter's parent? My guess is that they managed to beat it, but the crash killed them. Maybe the creature they were studying caused the crash."

"Maybe. Ah, here we are!" Ford ran into the next room, unaware he passed through a dim glowing line of red light.

"Ohh, shapes! These are...uhm...octagons!" Dipper walked over to them and started to reach for one.

"Wait." Ford grabbed his hand. "We need to be VERY careful with this. We'll use the magnet guns I packed to collect the pieces and then--"

They heard a loud sound and Bill looked over his shoulder to see a round object coming their way. "Ohhh, shoot. We got trouble!"

"Run!" Ford grabbed Dipper and ran through a doorway, Bill following right behind.

"What IS that?!" Dipper asked as they ran.

"A security drone! We must've tripped a silent alarm! I didn't realize they were still active!" Ford explained as they ducked an attack from the drone.

"Well, how do we beat it?" Bill asked.

"Uh, uhm...shoot, what was it...I saw a manual thirty years ago! Something about not showing fear?" Ford held Dipper tighter as another blast fired.

"Right. That should be eas—fuck!" Bill pressed against the wall as the pillar they were hiding behind was fried. "We need to run!"

Ford nodded and picked Dipper up, running for it. The machine gave chase, not letting up in the slightest.