"Not quite waist deep at the worst, then." said Keith.

"Thickness might result in us getting stuck, but it wouldn't be impossible to extract ourselves given the equipment I have in the backpack." said Jahv.

Davy chewed his lower lip. He trusted Jahv, but the stories had been told for years. There was one question that had always bugged him. "Any idea what could cause this place?"

"Soil seems to be unusually unstable. Apparently this was once part of the same pond where we go swimming." said Jahv. "It broke off from it, but somehow still receives water from it, just enough to maintain it as mud, mixed with the soil. It's weird, but not dangerous."

"And your little brother Keyro is going to land right in it." said Keith, trying not to laugh. "Welcome to Earth. SPLAT!"

"In fact, he'll probably be arriving quite soon." said Jahv.

"I've been meaning to ask you something ever since we met." said Davy. "Just how much stuff do you have in that backpack, and how did you get it all in there?"

"The inside is exponentially larger than the outside." replied Jahv. "Just like my home."

"But how's that possible?" asked Davy.

"Heads up, guys!" said Keith. "I think you're going to have to get your explanation later! Something's happening!"

A high-pitched wail started to come seemingly out of nowhere. Davy had been through this once before and was already holding his ears. Jahv had reached up to cover his antennae. The wail grew so loud that, even Davy, who was ready for it, found it painful. Keith was on his knees holding his ears. Then a light started to appear, right in mid air, about twelve feet above the mud.

Jahv was instantly concerned. "He's too high! He's too high up!"

"Pray for a soft landing!" yelled Davy, almost unable to hear his own voice.

Then, as when Jahv had first appeared, there was a crack of thunder, and the light seemed to explode. What felt like a gust of wind knocked the three boys backwards. The light was gone, the wail had stopped — and something made a very loud, deep SPLAT in the mud.

Keith was shaking his head. "Brother, you guys sure know how to make an entrance. Every dog for two miles must be deaf by now."

"No time for that!" said Jahv, sounding panicked. "Keyro is out there, and he's stuck!"

Indeed, something was flapping around in the mud, clearly unable to extricate itself.

"I warned you about this place!" said Davy rather sharply.

"Give it a rest, Davy." replied Keith. "Anything'd get stuck in deep mud coming in from a height like that. Let's get out there and get him. This could be fun."

"Fun?!" exclaimed Davy.

Keith turned back with a slight grin. "Have I mentioned that my 'dad' is also a neat freak? He once whupped me for getting grass stains on my pants. This is the opportunity of a lifetime!" Keith took three steps into the mud and it was already halfway up to his knees. The grin on his face turned downright silly. "Cool." he remarked.

"Need I remind you that we're on a rescue mission here?" said Jahv, who was already marching out even further towards his mud-covered brother, having taken just enough time to remove his large boots.

"Not that you don't have a point." Davy gave up and followed. He had to admit, the mud felt very weird, squishing between his toes and climbing up his legs, even under the coveralls, as he headed out into the deeper area where Keyro had landed. But it felt kind of fun, too. And the ground at the bottom felt stable enough.

"Whoops!" exclaimed Keith, who apparently hit a slippery spot and went flying backwards. Davy caught up to him and pulled him out. About all of Keith that wasn't plastered with mud at this point was his face and part of his chest.

"Thanks." said Keith. "Boy, my old man would be so pissed off if he saw me looking like this."

"That's why you're enjoying it, aren't you?" remarked Davy.

"Oh, come on, tell me this isn't fun." said Keith.

"Okay, it is, but we've still got an alien to rescue." replied Davy, managing to grin nonetheless.

As it turned out, it was Jahv who reached the mud-covered being first. He gently lifted Keyro to his feet and spoke to him in those strange bursts of static that were their language. Keyro seemed to be about the same height, and Davy and Keith assumed as such that he was probably about the same age, as their younger friend Martin. That was about all they could determine about the boy, too. He was trying to wipe his eyes clear of the mud, but given that his hands were just as plastered, that wasn't proving to be very successful.

It was at that moment that Martin rode up on his bicycle. He was wearing his swim shorts, and had tied his shirt to the handlebars.

"Hey, you guys! What happened to you!?" he called.

"Alien retrieval." said Davy.

Martin did a quick headcount and noticed the second pair of antennae. "Is that what all that noise was about? I was at the pond and I saw this bright light and crack of thunder."

"Yeah, we've got another one." said Keith.

"We also have a problem." said Jahv. "He says he's rather thoroughly stuck, and I don't think we can get enough leverage in here to boost him out."

"Must've been the landing." said Keith.

"He says his boots are full of mud and the fasteners are jammed." explained Jahv.

"Would another person help?" asked Davy. "we could get Martin out here."

"Hey, Martin!" called Keith. "Get out here! We need help!"

Martin shook his head. "I'm not coming out there! My mom and dad would have a fit if I got that muddy!"

"For pete's sake, you can clean up in the pond! Our newest arrival is stuck in his own boots!" yelled Keith. "We gotta drag him out."

"Wait." said Jahv. "Martin, do you see my backpack?"

Martin looked around. "Yes, here it is!"

"Look inside." said Jahv. "You may have to rummage around a bit. There should be a long length of red-colored cord in there with a weight on the end. Find it."

Martin opened the backpack. "How much stuff you got in here? I don't have this much stuff in my entire closet!" He shifted dozens of items around, and finally saw the red-colored rope. He pulled it out. "Is this it?"

"Yes!" called Jahv. "Unwrap the rope, and throw the weighted end out this way."

"There's no way he can get it out this far." whispered Keith. "He's not strong enough."

"He won't have to be. The weight is aerodynamically designed." replied Jahv, just as the weight splattered into the mud right in front of them.

"Did you see that throw?" yelped Martin. "Wow!" The boy had a huge grin.

"Very impressive." said Jahv. "Now tie the other end off around a tree. As strong a knot as you can make."

"How dependent are we on his knot-tying abilities?" asked Keith.

"Not very." replied Jahv. "The cord is self-adhesive. Doesn't stick to anything else, but put a knot in it, and that knot will stay put until you use the molecular reverser attached to the weighted end on it."

Martin had found a good strong tree and had wrapped the rope around it and tied a large, strange knot in the rope. "Okay!"

"We're going to have to guide Keyro in." said Jahv. "He's not strong enough to overcome the pull of the mud on his boots."

With Davy and Keith bracing Keyro on either side, and Jahv pulling from the front and keeping a hand on the rope, while Martin held the rope from shore, which essentially he didn't need to do, but none of the others wanted to make him feel useless, the newest alien arrival was slowly dragged to shore. Finally, four mud-covered youngsters slogged out of the thick morass of mud.

"That was great!" laughed Keith. "We're gonna have to do that sometime when we're not rescuing somebody."

"It was fun, wasn't it?" said Davy.

"But — " said Keith, speaking seriously but with a wicked grin on his face, "we owe our rescue to Martin! Let's all give him a big hug!"