Zorgamazoo by Robert Paul Weston Page B

moment for taking control.
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    So half of them suddenly stood in a row,
like dancers in some sort of musical show.
They spread out their tentacles, weaving them all
with the others beside them, creating a wall.
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    Then they came forward, inch after inch,
enclosing their prey in a sinister pinch.
So Morty and Winnie and all of the rest,
were hemmed in a corner, compacted, compressed.
    They were forced in a clumsy, uncomfortable pose,
being elbow to elbow to shoulder to nose;
and being so crowded, so awkwardly crammed,
they couldn’t fight back. They were thoroughly jammed!
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    Then the Octomabots, who were still in the air,
could pluck up their prey without even a care.
In this way, the creatures were quickly re-caught,
in spite of how bravely their battle was fought.
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    The Behemoth, at last, was the only one left;
but even with all his incredible heft,
he couldn’t fight back; his chances were slim.
There were simply too many—even for him!
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    So alas, my good reader, the battle was done,
and the Octomabots had clumsily won.
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    The creatures of Earth, I’m sorry to say,
were locked up again, without any delay.
The bolts were refastened, the cages refilled,
and Morty, of course, wasn’t terribly thrilled.
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    Once more, he was hunched on the floor of his cell,
and wondering: Where was Katrina Katrell?!
    Understandably, Morty was all in a huff.
“Adventures!” he grumbled. “Enough is enough!”
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    Then the entranceway door, it opened up wide,
and Dullbert came wearily strolling inside.
He stood for a moment, one hand on his hip,
the other one thoughtfully tapping his lip.
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    He took a step forward and finally spoke.
“So, you tried to escape? Oh, please! What a joke.
There’s no way to leave here, or didn’t you know?
We’re up on the moon! There’s nowhere to go!”
He’s right, Morty thought, feeling thoroughly beat,
beset by a feeling of utter defeat.
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    He puffed out a rather disheartening sigh.
While Winnie (as usual) started to cry.
But just as she started to sob in her cell,
her tears were cut short by the toll of a bell.
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    It resounded like thunder. It rang and it rang.
It chimed with a terrible, desperate clang!!
Hearing it, Dullbert was suddenly tense.
“The alarms?” he exclaimed. “That doesn’t make sense!”
    He examined his cages, dismayed and distraught.
There’s one of them missing! he suddenly thought.
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    To Morty he said, “Hey you, with the fur.
That girl who you came with, what happened to her?”
He went to his bank of surveillance displays,
showing dungeons and cells in an intricate maze.
“He let out a shriek as he peered at the screen:
    He stabbed at some buttons (he pushed quite a few),
and the Hoarder of Boredom split open in two,
revealing Katrina, who cowered inside.
She had nowhere to go. She had nowhere to hide.
But amid all those wires and Graylian gear,
all that anyone saw was the luminous sphere.
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    You see, my good reader, that circle of glass,
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was filling with billows of colorful gas!
    Where once it was filled with a nebulous gray,
the Tedium Steam was all washing away.
It was being replaced with the colorful threads,
of a gas made of glittering yellows and reds;
and not only those, but a great many more,
more colors than anyone’s thought of before!
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    There was olive and orange and lavender, too!
There was purple and puce and cerulean blue!
There was violet, vermillion, viridian-green!
More colors, I’d say, than you’ve ever seen!
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    They were blindingly bright, seeming never to cease:
There was burgundy, lilac, and even cerise,
all mingling with others (like aquamarine),
swirling and whirling inside the machine!
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    Dullbert just stood there in shock and dismay,
He was utterly stunned, didn’t know what to say.
He whimpered and waggled his Graylian head.
“You didn’t!” he cried. “You