Cal ran over to his father. He found him cutting duct tape from the wrists of Melissa. He was right. The void had belonged to her. Well, this knocked out another goal for the loop.

“How the hell did you know I needed to be rescued? Wait, is that Cal? You look young.” Melissa had spotted him.

“Yes, it’s me, and we didn’t. I knew about the Gryalth hideout from a previous loop, and we decided it was time to investigate it.” Cal heard Frank approaching behind him.

“That gas is something terrible.” Andy coughed as he spoke.

“Yeah, it is. It knocked me on my ass. Why is there a giant plant man with you?” Her eyes had moved to Frank as he set Andy down on the ground.

“Hello Melissa, this is Frank. I’m Andy in a kid’s body, in case you don’t recognize me. Time for you to make a choice, though. You can either come with us on our escape and be confined to our base for a bit, or you can risk the wrath of the Gryalth. We will probably be vanishing for most of the rest of this loop. So you will be their primary target if you choose that option.”

“Fuck, dammit, I had other plans, but no, you’re right. Do you care if my grandpa comes as well? I won’t if he can’t!” Her voice was tinged with annoyance.

“Of course, he can come, and you will be welcome to leave after we set up a transport to the location you want to be dropped off at,” Andy said.

“Alright, yeah, I’ll come along for now. Better you than an alien hit squad, I suppose.” Her head turned to the side as a car came squealing into the parking lot. It came to a stop near them, and an old man hopped out.

“Everything okay, Melissa? I very much hope so because I don’t think I can win a fight with the tree.” The old man asked.

“Yes, Gramps, everything is fine. Somehow, I was rescued by a few other people in the loops, and they have so kindly invited us to stay with them for a bit. I don’t think we have much of a choice, considering the chaos I caused. I still can’t believe the snatchers were just the aliens.” She said.

“Alright, enough talk; we’ve got some work to do before anyone comes snooping after what happened here. Frank crushed the cars. We didn’t think this one, though, but we can’t leave it here for someone to trace to us. Sorry about your van Stan.” Andy was interrupted.

“Wait, let me get my stuff out of the car before anyone crushes anything.” Melissa’s Grandfather yelled out.

“Yeah, fair, Stan, grab anything you want from the van as well. Melissa’s grandfather, what’s your name anyway?” Andy asked.

“Harold.”

“I’ll help Harold get his things through the crack. Frank, you stay here with Stan and Cal. Guys, we need the cars crushed enough to get them through the crack. Frank, I believe in you. Melissa, you’re with me.” Everyone went to work without questions.

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Cal looked over at the plant, dressed in his wrestling outfit. “You think you can handle this, Frank? It’s a pretty big van.”

“No human vehicle can stand against the might of my trunks!” Frank bellowed and started smashing the second Stan gave him the all the clear. To Frank’s credit, it only took him ten minutes to get the cars small enough that they could be moved through the cracks. His growing strength continued to impress Cal.

“Alright, anyone needs anything else before we close the crack?” Cal asked the assembled group of people and animals.

“Hmm, I think we should trash the building.” One of the capybaras said, resulting in several starting to agree. Cal even heard one of them shout to burn it down.

“Frank agrees. Destroy the building!” Frank finished his statement with a roar.

“Well, it would send a message. I’m just not sure that’s a message we should be sending.” Andy’s eyes moved to Cal and Stan.

“Fuck it, I say we destroy it. We’re likely on camera inside the building anyway. We aren’t really planning on sticking around the planet in this loop anyway. At least this will give us an idea of what happens if we use early overwhelming force.” Cal gave in to the destruction idea. He wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but it sure was a cathartic one.

“Alright then, Albert, take the boys and get some explosives ready. Frank, can you tell Andrew we will need him out here? He knows far more about explosives than I do, and we will want to pack the building correctly if we want it totally gone.” Andy said.

“Got it, boss. Come on, boys, let’s get some of the special stuff we’ve been working on.” Albert signaled for his fellow capybaras to follow him as he left the room. Frank followed after them.

“So, we sure this is a good idea?” Stan asked the remaining four.

“Look, I barely know you guys, not including the years we spent together on Mars, but I’m always in favor of explosions.” Melissa was smiling in complete contrast to her grandfather's frown.

“I don’t know enough to really give my opinion. If you all think it’s best, go ahead,” Harold said.

Before any further conversation could continue, Frank returned with an annoyed-looking Andrew. “You want to blow up what?” He asked, the annoyance having moved from his face to his voice.

“We want to see what happens when we destroy a Gryalth hideout. Don’t be a spoilsport, Drew.” Andy answered.

Andrew’s face went from annoyed to angry. “Do not call me Drew. You may like shortened names, but I hate them. Just make sure you put one of Albert’s special explosives in each room in the basement and lower floors. Put one of the big ones in the stairwell and elevator. It should destroy it entirely. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a trip to Ethel’s realm planned to test out how well I can traverse these places.” Andrew finished with a grumpy sigh and left the room just as the capybaras returned.

They headed back through the crack to the hotel, and Andy laid out the plan. The capybaras and Frank moved quickly through the building, placing the explosives. Albert followed behind them, properly aligning them and setting up the timers.

“Alright, everyone, back through this place is going to go up in.” Albert paused to check his watch. “Fourty-two seconds.” He finished with multiple looks of panic around him.

“NEXT TIME LONGER!” Andy yelled at the capybara as they all rushed back through. Cal closed the crack behind them.

Slowly, the crack zipped itself back shut. With the last two inches to go, they heard a cacophony of explosions through it, and the color of the crack shifted from black to bright orange and froze open where it was. It seemed stuck.

“Ugh, that seems like it might be a problem,” Cal said.