Guybrush had just finished telling Wally the whole story. "You didn't see anything like that?" he asked.
"Not at all," said Wally. And he told Guybrush what had happened to him and Elaine.
Guybrush didn't know what to make of it. "She actually went in there and talked to them? Doesn't sound smart." He fiddled with some of Boss Hog's controls, not doing anything.
"How else are we going to find out how the portal stones work?" said Wally. He'd jumped out of his chair and was now pacing the floor. "I'll bet the monkey you saw is connected to the portal stones."
"How?"
"Who knows?"
The terrain flew underneath them in a blur. Guybrush fiddled. Wally paced. Guybrush suddenly spoke up. "Where'd you find the paper?" he asked.
"There was a stack down in the hold," said Wally. He stopped, and darted forward, staring at the radarscope. "They've stopped moving!"
Guybrush armed Boss Hog's weapons as Wally slipped into the copilot's seat beside him. The ground was beginning to rise and fall steeply beneath them as they flew into the mountain range. "Ready?" said Guybrush.
The radarscope blip vanished.
"What?" said Guybrush. "Where'd they go?" He hit the radarscope screen, but it remained blank. "Have they gone?"
"Better be prepared for anything," said Wally.
They were coming to a looming wall of craggy stone, several hundred feet high. Guybrush started slowing down. The vegetation had thinned out beneath them, and there was absolutely no sign of any spacecraft, even a sleek black one like they'd seen on Pael.
One feature stood out; an almost round, pitch black cave opening. Slightly in front of it there was a patch of colour on the rocks. As they flew closer, the patch resolved itself. It was a body, crumpled flat on the rocks.
Elaine.
Guybrush screamed forward, hitting the brakes at the last second. Boss Hog, plunging at suicidal speed toward the cliff face, leaned backward with the effort of holding in momentum. The landing struts hit stone. Somehow, they skidded to a stop.
Immediately Guybrush and Wally leapt from their seats. They ran down the corridor, scrambled up the ladder, and down the outer edge of Boss Hog. Guybrush leapt to earth and ran toward Elaine.
She was lying flat on her back, eyes closed, arms spreadeagled. Guybrush couldn't see any injuries. He held an ear over her mouth, watched her chest rise and fall, and pulled back one eyelid.
"The Governor's unconscious," said Wally. "We've got to get her back on board."
"Okay, okay," said Guybrush. After several abortive attempts to pull her along the ground, he finally managed to get her into a fireman's lift. With her limp body hanging over his shoulder, Guybrush staggered up the ladder and into Boss Hog.
"Where should we put her?" he said, once they were inside.
"We don't know what's happened to her yet," said Wally. "Better not leave her alone."
"Marko might attack at any minute," Guybrush pointed out.
They were silent.
"The cockpit," they said in unison. They entered the cockpit, Guybrush laying Elaine's body gingerly on the metal floor behind the pilot's chair. He sat down.
They looked at the open cave mouth. "They must have gone inside," said Guybrush
"Do we go in?" asked Wally.
Guybrush looked back at Elaine. If only she could tell them what was going on...
"Yes," he said.