Gravity Rises (S2)

HW: Part Nine

The sun shone merrily down on the adventurers as they trekked through the snowy forest. Too merrily, in Ford's opinion.

Dipper weaved between the minotaurs, chatting up a storm. Goodness, did this child ever stop moving? Ford caught occasional snippets of what he was saying, too, and it sounded like he was talking about anything and everything. How great the forest was, how excited he was to see the UFO, how important it was for him to get pictures and remember everything so he could tell Mabel. "Oh! Right! Pictures!" He scurried over to Ford and begged him to take a picture of him and Andrew.

"Andrew?" Ford asked.

Dipper pointed to the minotaur pulling the sledge. "Yeah! Please?"

Ford sighed. "Dipper, we're kind of in a hurry here."

"Oh, come on," Dipper said. "It won't take that long!"

Ford looked to the minotaur, this Andrew, helplessly. Andrew just shrugged.

So Ford took the picture, though not without some eye rolling. Dipper and Andrew got into position and stopped walking long enough for Ford to snap the photograph. Then they got moving again. "See, Grunkle Ford?" Dipper said. "No time at all!"

"'No time at all' would be instantaneous, and that was not," Ford replied. Dipper gave him an unimpressed look that Ford found shockingly reminiscent of Lee before scampering off to talk to Andrew and the other minotaurs again.

Ford didn't join in any of the conversations. Back in the day, he would've jumped at the chance to talk to any supernatural creature, including minotaurs, but now. . . well, he just couldn't find it in him anymore. He was still interested, of course, but throwing yourself into a life-or-death rescue attempt had a funny way of rearranging your priorities. Ford hardly even thought of researching the minotaurs when he could barely breathe with anxiety over this expedition.

Not to mention the anxiety that Lee might be long dead.

Ford shook the thought from his mind. He kept his stun gun at the ready, expecting the Order to pop out from behind a tree at any moment. The longer they went with no sign of the Order, the more restless Ford got. Did it really take them this long to get organized? Or were they waiting at Crash Site Omega to ambush them? He supposed the Order rarely tried to capture people who could fight back, but if Bill really wanted to stop them from opening the portal, wouldn't he have sent Order members to the Museum a long time ago?

The anxiety tripled when they reached Crash Site Omega, only to find the surrounding area completely deserted. "Well, this is great, then!" Dipper said. "Right? We can get the fuel as fast as possible and just get out of here!"

Ford shook his head mutely. They were on their way, he just knew it. Maybe it was a stroke of good fortune that the Pines beat them to the UFO. He thought perhaps the Order was already inside the UFO, but a glance over the surrounding snow showed that it was undisturbed.

Well, whatever happened, they had to get the fuel and get out. Dipper was right about that.

"Okay," he said. "Let's head inside. The sledge won't fit, so we'll have to leave someone out here to guard it. Two people, preferably. The rest of you, take a barrel and let's go. The entrance is at the top of that hill." He paused. "Please."

Dipper grinned at him, which made Ford feel more happy with himself than he would've liked to admit. The boy had that effect — he made everyone around him want to be nicer. Even someone as businesslike as Ford.

Andrew took over from there, choosing the two minotaurs who would stay outside and throwing a barrel over his shoulder. There were eight drums total, which worked out perfectly with Ford's instructions. Each was thick metal and carried up to fifty-five gallons of liquid; Ford felt a little pang of jealousy as he saw how easily the minotaurs carried them. And if his memory served him correctly, they'd still be able to lift them even after filling them with fuel.