'What are you doing with a shrinking potion?' I ask Sameth.
I could hear his dry lips cracking in what I suspected was a ghastly smile.
'It was merely a precaution, in case we started to lose that last match...'
Molly laughed. 'So you were going to shrink their entire team?'
'No, of course not,' Sameth argued. 'There's only enough here for one person.' He was staring at Alistair.
'You're not shrinking me! This place will fall apart if I move, you've all agreed on that!'
'It won't, not if we have Jake helping us.' The Elf winced; he'd forgotten about his nagging wounds for a moment. 'We need you to conjure several heavy-duty support beams to prop this mess up before we make our move.'
'I'm not doing it!' Alistair repeated, though we just ignored him this time.
'It doesn't sound as bad as I'd thought it would be then. I'm not a master engineer, though, where do I place them?'
Sameth was trying to show us several load bearing points, but getting frustrated whenever Molly walked the wrong way.
'Are you sure?' I ask.
'About which part?' The Elf answered back.
The massive beams were bright white, allowing us to see each other again.
'Done,' I confirm, inspecting each beam for the slightest sign of weakness. 'We probably should have tried this plan earlier.'
I smiled at my handiwork, but it soon faded at the sight of ruined Runeball armour. 'Who is that? Alistair, you're closest, can you read their name off the back?'
He shook his head, subtly. 'It could be anyone. Baltar was right behind me though...'
'He didn't deserve this.' I mutter.
'No one does.' Molly agreed.
She didn't seem too upset; none of them did. Those born on Titan's Reach seemed to be used to this spiral of death, but for me, it was all new.
'Molly, you take this to Alistair.' Sameth instructed, passing her the small white sachet. If he hadn't told me what it was, I'd have mistaken it for a salt packet.
'You sly devil! You'd have gotten away with that in the game, wouldn't you?' Molly laughed, shaking her head. 'The leadership would have been too stunned to have tried blaming anyone. And the fans, all they care about is being entertained; they would have loved it.'
I couldn't disagree. 'It would have been fun to watch.'
'This...is the only way, and it's effects aren't too permanent.' Sameth explained.
Alistair keyed on that last part. 'What do you mean by "not too permanent?"'
'There may, or may not be some lasting side effects.'
'What side effects?'
'You'll find out soon enough.' Molly chuckled, pouring the liquid contents down the giant's throat. She had to hold both hands over his mouth to ensure he drank it all.
'Swallow it all, or it won't work properly!' Sameth insisted.
Alistair seemed to like the sound of that even less. He calmed himself down, drinking the rest in one gulp.
I could barely comprehend what was happening to the giant. The molecules in his body were shrinking as I'd expected, only not all at once. It started with his legs, mutating them to the extent that they seemed even smaller than those of a child.
'Come on, what have you done to me?' He squealed, staring at them in shock, and then as soon as he looked up, the rest of his body shrank as well.
'Oh, wow.' Molly said.
'I don't feel right.' Alistair complained, grabbing for her hand. His tiny baby-sized fingers being too small to slot into hers.
She laughed again. 'I bet you don't.'
With the giant's head being stuck at its original size; I couldn't help but liken his appearance to a lollypop.
'There we go.' Sameth confirmed, smiling tightly.
Without the giant wedge that was Alistair holding the place together, the beams I'd set up were already struggling under the immense weight. 'I can't hold these forever. Molly, you get the big guy out now, before he starts to regrow.'
She picked him up, carrying him with his head flush against her shoulder. 'This is so weird.' She noted, unable to take her eyes off Alistair. For all the potion had done to shrink his body, it had still left the man's sagging skin at the same size.
I smiled. 'Weird is an understatement.'
'Don't laugh.' The giant said in a warped voice; the pitch was sounding so high that I found it hard to believe he'd been the one talking. 'I'm never going to live this one down, am I?'
My eyes were streaming with tears, and I felt as though I was giving myself a hernia from trying not to laugh. 'Please, stop talking before I bring this place down on us.' I manage to say.
'It looks clear up here,' Molly said, taking in long breaths as she hoovered up the air with her lungs. 'This feels... Baltar, where did you come from?'
I exchanged a glance with the Elf. 'Baltar?'
'Molly, what's happening up there?'
Instead of replying right away, I saw her crawling back towards the tiny opening, still carrying Alistair. 'The guards are back again.' She whispered eventually.
'Is Baltar okay?'
She nodded, trying not to say too much in case she gave away our location.
Only me and Sameth were left inside now; that we knew of anyway, and we couldn't sit still any longer. 'I'm getting you out; but I have to warn you, this is going to hurt.'
Sameth was in so much agony; he dug his sharp nails into my hand when I tried to wrench him free. I should have found a way to cut the piece of rebar from underneath before moving him, but we didn't have the time for that.
'It's okay; we'll get you patched up when we get out of here, promise.'
The plaster coated ceiling was already groaning in protest; small hairline fractures in slabs of stone were tearing further still to become full-blown cracks. I wasn't tiring, but I wouldn't be able to hold back the force of gravity forever.
I looked at Sameth and then to Molly. 'When I say go, we run. Understand?'
They all nodded.
'On three,' I added. 'One, two...'
Debris began crashing down all around us. We'd made it to the surface, at least I thought we had. The sky was grey; an impenetrable dusty vale that we were struggling to see through.
As I crested the top of a steep incline with Sameth's arm linked in mine, my eyes shot open at the sight of ten guards. They were already charging for us, skipping across the broken landscape without any notion of how much danger they were in, and then the ground gave way beneath them.
I felt terrible; after all, we might have known them. 'Should we see how far the guards fell?'
Molly looked dejected; I knew she'd understand, but I was taken aback when she shook her head. 'As much as I'd like to help them; we still don't know how the mind control works.'
'Which way?' Baltar interrupted, with his voice cutting clear through the eerily quiet landscape.
'Don't you know? You've been up here longer than we have?' Molly answered back with just as much venom.
'Everything looks different now!' He argued.
'Wait, do you hear that?' I ask, someone was speaking nearby, though I couldn't see who it was.
The talking grew louder, the further we walked until I felt glass shattering a little under my feet and we saw it. It was a television unit of all things.
The lady was a news reporter, and she was warning citizens to stay vigilant.
'I guess we're newsworthy.' Sameth grunted.
Molly gestured for him to be quiet. 'She isn't reporting on us.'
We couldn't exactly turn up the volume, so we all crouched around the broken screen like people sitting around a campfire.
'Green Grove camp was set fire to last night; with the majority of its prisoners having escaped, including these two who are believed to be the instigators behind this tragedy.' The broadcaster pointed at their images without displaying any sign of emotion, though we could only make out one figure. The section of the screen showing the other person was utterly blank, with flickering bands of pixels flashing across every few seconds.
'Violet!'