“What the hell happened? What took you so long? Steve and Dan tricked me and then they escaped. I shouldn't have trusted them!”, an angry Thorg said to Berna.
“Well,” Berna replied in an almost maternal tone to Thorg. “It took me a long time to figure out where we were and where I left the STM. If you recall you're the one who transported us...”
“...and if would have taken me with you, we would have found the STM a lot quicker.”, Thorg interrupted in an ever angrier tone.
Berna stood up and stepped closer to Thorg, looking down at him with her arms crossed. She smiled and replied, “You're kind of bossy for a little man, Thorg. Watch how you talk to me!”
“I—I'm sorry Berna,” Thorg said with a lot more humility. “J-just restore me and w-we can figure things out...”
Ignoring Thorg, Berna knelt down again looked around the floor again. “Where are you guys hiding? Come out....”
Suddenly she saw Steve and Dan in the shadows at the against the wall and looked directly at them with a smile. With a sweet voice she said to them. “Come over here guys...the jig is up! Your ship never took off...so time has been altered.”
She looked at the tiny men with a look of defeat and continued, “There is no reason for you to remain tiny...I need to restore you to keep the timeline from getting even more contaminated.”
Steve and Dan looked at each other with a look of victory and walked about 6 or 8 inches before a kneeling Berna. Before they had a chance to say anything she grabbed Steve and Dan with each of her hands and stood up.
Suddenly Steve and Dan realized that they were tricked and found themselves in the clutches of a very angry woman. Feeling a tight grip on their tiny frames they both gasped for air as Berna starting yelling at them.
“You little men really messed everything up now!”, Berna growled. “What the hell are we supposed to do now...what damage will happen now that the timeline has been damaged?"
Berna carried her tiny prisoners to a table and dropped roughly as she went back to get Thorg and the briefcase. When she came back, she placed tiny Thorg near her other tiny captives and he looked down at Steve and Dan with contempt.
“You guys will be real sorry when Berna restores me”, Thorg said to them. Thorg went over and kicked Steve while he was down trying to recover from Berna's manhandling.
Berna left for a few minutes and when she returned all three tiny men were standing next to the mysterious briefcase. Steve and Dan had recovered and gave angry looks back at Thorg.
“Okay, Berna, we get it....you're angry!”, Steve said to her. “We did what we had to do to help our friends. After you restore ALL of us to normal height we can work together to figure this out.”
“No my little friends, like Thorg said earlier....you are to remain this size forever”, Berna replied.
“Yep,” little Thorg added. “That's the price you paid for doing....”
“Thorg”, Berna said as she looked down at him. “You have to stay tiny also...sorry!”
“What!”, Thorg said in a confused tone. “Why?”
“Damage control!”, Berna replied in a eerily calm voice. “The timeline has been contaminated so now I have to focus on minimizing the damage”.
“I guess you can call it...Plan B”, she added with a slight smile. "I need to have full control of this, Thorg...and I can't allow you to interfere."
All three tiny men looked up at Berna in confusion....and then at each other.
Steve looked up at Berna and asked “...and could you share what 'Plan B' is with us?”
Berna looked down at Steve in a maternal matter, almost as if she was talking to a small child and explained, “Well since the seven people who ended up in the 'Land of the Giants' didn't up there, I can still remove them from Earth and at least the timeline here will be okay”.
“Wait a second,” Dan said, “Are you saying you are going to kidnap each of the seven people..."
At that point Berna looked down at Steve and Dan and she reached over to open the briefcase. As she opened the briefcare she said mysteriously, “Well, I already have three of you."
“You mean two”, Steve said as he pointed to himself and Dan.
“No...it's three”, she corrected as picked up another tiny person from the briefcase and placed him gently next to Steve and Dan.
To Steve and Dan's horror...it was a terrified and disoriented Fitzhugh!
“Three of you....plus a briefcase full of cash!”, Berna added with a giggle.
The now four tiny prisoners all looked at each other in a state of confusion as Berna picked up her STM and they all disappeared in a flash!
End of Chapter 4