White Worms

The BeefSub slid for what seemed like an eternity down the slimy trench of the Groupers gullet. Awash in slime and green sauce, the windows of the sub were nearly impossible to see out of. The crew could only see small glimpses of the walls of the slimy cave as they rushed further downward. "Hold on!" Cpt Ingleman bellowed as the submarine teetered over, and then dropped off a steep ledge into what would surely be the Groupers stomach.

The sub slammed down hard as it hit the bottom and skidded to a squishy stop deep inside the belly of the Grouper. Several of the crew were knocked unconscious in the fall and now groggily raised their heads. Two had broken arms and one a broken leg from the large gimballed stove in the galley, which had dislodged from the wall and nearly crushed beefchunk Jagerson. "My leg!" he cried in his thick German beef accent. As other crew members rushed to help Jagerson, the captain and rest peered out smeared windows.

The stomach of the Grouper looked soft and wet, but was bubbly with what could only be presumed to be stomach acid. The acid bubbles popped and sizzled in what looked like a sickly yellow fog that smelled like stale nachos. It appeared this slimy acid dungeon would be the final resting place of the burrito submarine. Cpt Ingleman realized that unless they found a way out soon, the acid inside the Groupers stomach would soon damage the subs hull beyond repair, and their chances of escape would be zero. "Don the bio suits we're going out there!" he yelled to remaining uninjured crew. "We have search for a way out before the hull gets damaged by the acid. The suits wont last long in these conditions so we need to be quick about it!"

The crew quickly dressed in their bio hazard suits which made them look a little like spacemen. These ultra thick suits would protect them for a short period of time against the burning acid. As each chunk finished putting on his suit, he signaled to the captain that he was ready to depart. The sub had come to rest on its port side so they scrambled to climb out of the starboard hatch and into the fog. They found, as their boots squished into the Groupers stomach lining, that the acid was about a foot and a half deep and did indeed smell oddly like stale nachos. "Follow me chunks." said the Cpt as they headed North out into the fog.

They walked nearly a mile in the stale yellow fog with no sign of anything except more fog, and the captain was beginning to worry about the condition of their suits. "If we don't find something soon we're going to have to head back." he said. The crew grumblingly agreed as their situation now indeed looked more dire. At this point they heard a loud pop. First one, and then several more, and then lots more. The crew looked around startled and several reached for their toothpick harpoon guns. Ahead of them in the fog they could now see hundreds of blinking eyes, and as the fog cleared they could make out spindly white forms. More appeared with popping sounds as they seemed to be sucking on the stomach lining beneath the fog and acid. The forms began hoping towards them and soon they found themselves completely surrounded by tall white worms.

The worms were ghostly white and had big holes for mouths. Their skin was smooth and looked entirely unaffected by the bubbling acid all around them. One worm in particular was extraordinarly long and wore a blue headband around his brow. As the captain took several steps back the tall worm hopped towards him and in a strangely childish voice said
"Tapeworm, tapeworm, I am a tapeworm."
"Ok..." the captain said slightly confused. "And what is your name? Mine is Cpt Ingleman of the burrito submarine BeefSub."
"Tapeworm, tapeworm, I am a tapeworm." the tall worm repeated, which was this time echoed in hundreds by the other worms standing around the beefchunks.
"Uh ok...can you tell me where we are? Our sub was swallowed and we need to get out before the acid destroys our ship." said the captain.
"Grouper, grouper, this is a grouper." replied the head worm.
"Yes, I know, but where in the grouper are we?" Sensing that the worm was not in possession of the most powerful alien intellect the captain answered with a hint of impatience.
"Grouper, grouper, this is a grouper." responded the worm again.
"Yes, I know that, but where speci...nevermind" the captain said with a sigh.
"How long have you been here?" he asked.
"Long time, long time, weve been here a long time." the worm said.
"Great. Now that doesn't speak well for us now does it?" said the captain sounding exasperrated.
"Long time, long time, you'll be here a long time." the worms echoed.

The captain, annoyed with the time wasted with the worms turned back towards the ship and ordered the men to follow him. "Strange that they dont make the Grouper sick, and unfortunate they are not of more help" he thought to himself as the beefchunks trudged forward. "If only there was a way to make the Grouper sick we might actually be able to get out of here...Ive got it!" the captain cried suddenly full of energy. "Hurry men! Back the ship I have an idea. We've got to make the Grouper sick" he shouted.

When men reached the ship the captain rushed inside and ordered the chief engineer to follow him. "I need you to release the cheese waste from the cheese drive motors." he said. "If we can get enough of that radioactive cheese into the Groupers stomach it just might be enough to make him ill!" "But sir!" the engineer said. "If we release all of the cheese the engines wont turn!" "I know." said the captain "but its our only chance." With that, the men opened the exhaust valves to full and pulled a large lever that began to jetison radioactive cheese from the cheese drives into the Groupers stomach. As the cheese spilled out it caused the smell to turn to stale nachos and cheese. The only thing for the crew to do now was wait and hope the Grouper would find the cheese more sickly than the tapeworms.