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	WHATHWACK! Elli's pickaxe hit the cavern wall, fragments of rock cascaded down, throwing up dust, and casing the whole wall to shake. Elli coughed and swung again, knocking more rocks lose. After a few more whacks the rocks that began falling, rolling down knocking more lose and raising a new cloud of dust. Elli gave the wall one last good smack. The last of the rocks fell revealing a large uneven hole. She wiped sweat from her eyes and ducked though the opening. 
	On the other side was a long straight tunnel. Elli squinted into the blackness She couldn’t see where it ended. She slowly began to walk into the darkness, running her hand along the rough stone wall. Her fingers found something sticking out of the wall; she fumbled for a second in the darkness until she found the switch for her headlight. She flicked it and the tunnel was flooded with yellow light. She leaned close to examine the object. It was black wrought iron, slightly rusted. It was fixed to the wall with three screws. She ran her hands along the curved metal, examining the uneven welding that held it together. 
	The sound of scattering rock came from the cavern. Elli spun around shining her light towards the tunnel entrance. 
 	“Elli!” a voice called out of the darkness, 
 	“Here!” she called back moving forward. 
	“Oh good you’ve broken the wall, that took forever. Now we’re finally getting somewhere!” A tall figure stepped carefully into the tunnel. Elli caught him in the beam of her light, illuminating his dark red hair and icy blue eyes. He shielded his face, squinting at her.
 	“Elli! Lower your light you clumsy oaf!”  
	“Sorry Micah,” she grumbled adjusting her light.
	Micah moved into the tunnel examining the walls and running his hands over the smooth floor. Elli watched him closely; he seemed so sure of himself. 
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She wondered for the hundredth time if he actually knew what he was doing. 
Slowly Micah stood up looking slowly around him then back at Elli. 
 	“This place is definitely manmade but it is very old, made with shovels or some kind of crude drilling devise,” he informed her, sounding extremely superior. 
 	“That’s great but why would anyone want a tunnel though a mountain? Seems like a waste of energy to me.”  
	Micah looked irritated, “I’ve no idea why the tunnel’s here, but the point is, it is here, and it’s exactly what we need, so let’s go!” With that he turned on his heel and walked purposefully into the tunnel. 
	Elli rolled her eyes. She hated Micah but he was her only hope of getting home. Slowly, and with more caution, she moved farther into the dark tunnel. 
	In spite of her discomfort and annoyance Elli could hardly forget that without Micah she would not be alive. She had been born almost a half a galaxy away. Her home planet was called Waj. It was big and beautiful and full of life, quite unlike the empty, forgotten planet they had crashed on. Elli had been on a space shuttle returning home from college where she had been for the last five years. The journey had only just started when there was a malfunction in one of the engine rooms. Half the shuttle exploded, leaving hundreds of terrified passengers fighting to get to the limited number of escape pods. 
	Elli had been running in terror through the smoke filled passages trying in vain to find a pod that hadn’t blasted off. She realized that all the pods were gone and, giving herself up for dead, had sunk to the floor sobbing in terror. Suddenly a hand had grabbed her and dragged her into a pod she hadn’t noticed though the smoke. 
      As the pod blasted off, she remained on the floor still sobbing but in relief instead of fear. When she finally recovered it didn’t take her long to realize that 
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the pod was damaged and completely out of control. She sprang up and did her best to help her mysterious savior harness the rough pod. 
      Their efforts were not entirely in vain. As the pod hurtled toward the small, unknown planet they managed to find the backup emergency landing gear. She could remember clearly the intense heat and horrible dropping sensation of crashing though the atmosphere and the huge bone jarring crash as they smashed into the ground. 
	“Elli! Quit daydreaming and get down here. The tunnel’s blocked. What are you doing anyway?” Elli felt a stab of annoyance. For weeks Micah had been running her ragged, yelling at her and telling her what to do. He was trying to find a certain kind of metal to repair the pod. Elli had serious doubts about this plan but she didn’t know what else she could do. 
      Slowly she walked toward Micah. She came to a halt next to him. The tunnel ahead of them seemed to have caved in, huge chunks of rock blocked their way. The whole thing looked very unstable. “Right, Elli go and grab the picks. If we start now we could get this cleared in about three or four days.”
	“Micah, are you sure there’s any point in doing this?” Elli interrupted sharply. She was tired of digging and clearing rock. The thought of four more days of hard labor made her want to collapse. Micah looked extremely angry. 
	“Of course there’s a point in doing this! If we can find enough of the right kind of metal I can repair the pod and we can get off this dismal rock of a planet! I’ve explained this to you too many times!” 
      Elli’s temper flared. The stupid idiot really thought he knew everything. She was only helping to humor him; she didn’t really think the pod could be repaired. She hadn’t minded so much at first but enough was enough. 


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      “Yes I know all that, you’ve been yelling about it for ages but I think the whole idea is completely insane. Even if you could repair the pod how do you know we can find the right kind of metal, plus how would you make it usable?” 
      Micah rounded on Elli the intense anger in his face surprised her. “I can repair any ship I want!” he began to rant. “I am perfectly capable of refining the metal so keep your mouth shut or I’ll leave you behind when I get the pod fixed!” 
      Elli’s temper was stretched to the breaking point. She hated Micah, his 
arrogance and temper and the way he treated her like a stupid child. She was tired of being pushed around. 
	“You are completely insane,” she declared. Micah opened his mouth to retaliate, but Elli cut across him. “I’ve been clearing rock and digging and mucking around in these infernal caverns for weeks and what thanks do I get? You yell at me and tell me to work faster. You lose your temper at the tiniest things. This crazy scheme of yours is not going to work and I am tired of wasting my time with it. You can do it yourself!” With that she turned and walked away. Her mind was spinning. She was relived to be done with it. But Micah’s plan, crazy as it was, had been a small light of hope. Without it the world seemed a bit darker.
	She was almost around the curve of the tunnel when she heard a soft click, she froze, slowly she turned, and Micah stood at the other end of the tunnel pointing a beam gun straight at her chest. 
	“Come back here now,” he growled raising the deadly weapon. Elli stood her ground glaring at the gun and trying to contain her fear. She didn’t know if Micah could really shoot her, but she wasn’t taking any chances. 
	“Are you going to shoot me then?” she asked trying to sound mocking. “ If you kill me I won’t be able to work. You’ll never get anything done.” Micah shrugged and lowered the gun so it was pointing at her leg. 
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      “I can always injure you,” he said menacingly. “Then you wouldn’t be able to get away, but I could give you painkillers so you could work.” His eyes were wild; he seemed to revel in the idea, so satisfied with his genius. 
      Now Elli was really scared. Desperation seemed to have awakened a new side of Micah. He seemed prepared to do anything to achieve his goal. His eyes glinted maniacally. He really would do it, Elli realized. He really would injure her to keep her from getting away. He really would keep her drugged and force her to work. 
       “You’d do all that so you can continue your hopeless attempt to get off this planet? Even if you did succeed what would be that point if I had to be worked to death so you could survive?” 
      Micah gave her a long look. “When I do succeed, if you are dead it will not be in vain. You don’t realize it Elli but I have to get off this planet. It’s not just about me. It’s about justice being served! Hundreds of people have been killed and it is my job to avenge them. Your death would only be a necessary sacrifice!” 
	He’s gone mad, Elli thought. He was completely insane, dangerous and insane and he was going to kill her one way or another. She figured it was better if she went down fighting.
	She ran at Micah. He shot at her but missed. She threw herself at him, knocking him to the ground. He shot again but the shot ricocheted off the wall and shot back at them. Elli leapt back just in time. The shot hit Micah straight in the chest. His whole body shook. He flailed his arms gasping for air. All at once he was still. Tentatively, Elli crawled over and checked his pulse. She couldn’t feel anything. 
	Elli sat back in shock. She had hated Micah but she had never wanted him to die. She sat for a long time, arms wrapped around her knees, staring at the 

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inert body. She half expected him to leap up and start yelling at her, asking her why she wasn’t working. 
	Elli thought of his family. He had never mentioned them but somewhere out there he had a mother and father, maybe brothers and sisters. She realized she didn’t even know where he was from or what he’d been doing on the spaceshuttle. 
	She wasn’t sure how long she sat in the tunnel, maybe an hour or maybe a day. When she climbed out of the cavern where they had been working it was night.  A soft breeze brushed past her face as she looked down over the sandy beach and huge rolling ocean below. Elli stood on the edge of the cliff till the sun began rising. 
      Slowly she made her way back into the tunnel. She knelt beside Micah’s body. His eyes were still open, staring unseeingly at the tunnel ceiling. Gently Elli lids his eyelids down. 
      With great difficulty she carried his body out of the tunnel and through the cavern. She dragged his body down the rocky cliff and across the sand. With a great heave Elli pushed Micah’s body into the rushing tide. The body was pushed back and forth by the foamy water, drifting farther and farther out to sea. Elli watched until he slipped under for the last time. She stood there trembling, overcome by exhaustion. She lay down on the sand and was soon fast asleep. 
      Elli woke to a loud humming noise. Looking up she saw a large space ship flying down toward her. She felt a burst of joy then she remembered Micah. If only he had just waited. Tears gathered in her eyes as she watched the ship settle onto the sand. 
      The end