As the shiny, serrated pincers opened up, a smaller, softer pair of jaws shaped like a flattened beak revealed themselves and opened up. “Hey how long are we staying here?”

In response to the noise, several threads tensed up and were plucked like strings on a guitar, forming a voice in which the timing of each vibration could only be heard in the position that the noise was intended for. Otherwise, it was a scratchy noise not dissimilar to a cicada. “Who knows? As long as it takes.”

“How do we even get out?” The cockroach inquired.

“Well I seem to have enough energy for several hundred years which should be enough time for that wall to degrade hehehe.” The tent began spreading the threads which had been used in the pole such that all threads were now evenly distributed across the entire rock like layer.

“Well, is it time for hibernation?” The already faint heartbeat of the cockroach grew fainter.

“Well… There is the possibility that they know we’re going to hibernate.” The worm began falling limp.

“Yeah but what are the chances of that?” The rock like layer carefully began to shrink.

“Well if we compare losing energy and being caught hibernating…” The cockroach’s heart began to beat faster in panic.

“That’s never gonna happen.” The worm kept slowing its heartbeat down.

“Well why’d they come here anyways? Because if they’re here for us, they’re definitely going to break through the shell soon!” The cockroach began twitching its legs.

“Probably spotted Alejandros while he was doing something I guess. None of the moles ever go on the surface and only Alejandros has the balls to go on the surface.” The ex-ball of cotton candy, ex-tent like creature, ex-pancake finally became a rock.

“Well it could’ve been Senny’s holes! Or the obscene amount of concrete around us! I mean just look at it, anybody could tell there’s been a disturbance here! There’s even a tunnel leading right to us!” The cockroach’s legs were now visibly running as it was suspended from the air.

“Hey! You think my concrete home would get spotted? Unless they were looking for it, nobody would really find it!” The rock suddenly jerked and embedded itself into the surrounding wall.

In a response to the direct accusation, the soft creature with interlocking plates running down the entire length of its body opened up a slit at the very front. “Yeah my tunnels too! You think there’s just a massive hole for them to see? I cover them up with trash!”

“Yeah well the surrounding wasteland is just as colorful as me! My shell is exactly the same color as what I eat and what I eat is exactly what’s around us! We’re the same color!” The cockroach began jerking itself up and down.

“Yeah and there are plenty of holes around here! Nobody notices a new hole here and there! But what they will notice is a moving cockroach running around!” The worm began wriggling uncomfortably.

“Well what’s done is done. Am I right Alejandros? Senny? How about we just stay awake for a bit longer?“ The threads wrapped around then and constrained them.

“Hey! Remember how we don’t have that much energy? Yeah we don’t hoard energy like you!” The cockroach began slowly down its movements.

“Yeah but hibernation takes barely any energy! You can do it when you’re out of energy!” With that, the worm began directing the cockroach’s emotion towards the rock like creature while standing by the sidelines.

“That’s just throwing away energy! How about you stay awake since you have so much energy!” The cockroach hatched a devious plan to conserve its own energy.

“Fine!” With that the two creatures stiffened up while the shelled worm curled around stalk that contained a dense sphere of energy within it’s bulb and the roach sunk its legs that were tipped off with sickles into it as well.

“Ah what lazy bums they are! They expect me to do all the work for them! Look at them just frozen in time without a care in the world! I mean what if I just ditched them! Well I mean, if I ditched one of them then I’d have to ditch the other too though. Then the world would become an awfully lonely place…”

“I guess I should take a short nap. I’ll let myself wake the moment anything stirs.”

--Outside--

“Hey boss! We’re back with the crane!”

“Great, lets lift this sphere of concrete back to base!”

“You sure there’s something in there boss?”

“Yeah, remember those readings we got? We got some shapes that look like a cockroach! I’m definitely not risking opening up a hole! What if we lose it! I’ve already double checked and there’s another weird centipede thing!”

“Great! Imagine the things we can do! A living being which can live in high radiation!”

--Inside--

“Guys… Guys! Wake up! I feel nauseous. Aggghhh… What is this feeling.” The rock began to convulse.

The legs that had stabbed themselves into the threads spasmed as they started up while worm tightened up like a python attempting to constrict its prey.

“Huh? Feels like a piece of trash is shifting! But wait what!? We’re in the concrete! Hey you know how they could move us like this?” The cockroach began immediately relating to it’s experiences travelling through loose pieces of trash.

“Agh…” The rock moaned some more.

“Senny how about you?” The cockroach turned to the worm below it.

“Don’t look at me. I just dig holes! Since there are no holes to dig, I'm going back to sleep!” The worm shifted slightly, then lay still.

“Hey! Are you ok!” The cockroach, being the only one conscious, grew worried.

“Yeah… Just tell me when this is over… I don’t like this feeling…” With that, the threads stiffened and they were al traped.

“Well darn. Guess we’re dead. We’re on a forever shifting piece of trash that only that sick guy knows and the guy who digs holes doesn’t know. Dude only cares about his metal man.” The cockroach complained endlessly while alone.

“I mean, look at him, poor guy’s never moved at all in his life. Just eating trash and leaving behind that powdered stuff that looks like cement. Over the years, water’s soaked down and glued the powder together into cement basically and all this sad worm over here knows how to do is eat it. I mean, imagine eating someone else’s leftovers!”

“I mean I’d understand it if it was some lavish meal, but I mean just look at him! Eats that filthy powder! What’s even the point! We just eat sludge! I eat plastic because I add it to my shell! But Senny just eats the powder for the sake of eating powder! That lazy mushroom just eats trash because he gets high off it! Purely for enjoyment!”

“Then again, those guys must be really bored! I mean just look at them! One’s smoking and getting high and the other is eating powder! How bored and lonely do you have to be! There’s a whole wide world for them to explore! Whole chapters to monologue!”

“God! I think I understand him now when he says he feels sick! Feels like I’m falling forever! I know what I said but it’s actually been a long time!”

“Woaaahhh! Darn we stopped falling but we stopped forwards? How’s that work? What?”

“Hey! Hey! You two! Well I mean, Senny can’t really contribute… But hey! Wake up! We’ve stopped falling!” The cockroach suddenly panicked, struggling endlessly against the threads which suspended him in place like a bug in a spider’s net.

“Whaa? Oh I guess we did st~ahhh we continued! Why…” The insides of the rock began spasming like the inside of a lung and fell limp.

“Nooo! I had questions! Don’t you love it when I ask you stuff! Why...!” The cockroach continued shaking the threads around it.

“Hey we stopped moving again! Senny! Sleepy head! Wake up! Wha~ why are we getting jolted around!? This isn’t fu~ahhh~n” The cockroach too, got nauseous.

“Ah? What are you two so nauseous about? I feel great! Ahhhh what a great day! Let’s go dig a hole!” Bright and cheerful, the worm forgot entirely about the situation it was in.

“Senny… Remember? That wall!” The cockroach reached for the worm’s head to shake, but its legs were too short.

“Ah… so what do we do now again? Weren’t we hibernating?” The worm’s heartbeat began to return.

“... Hey guys… I’m back, I’m guessing we got transported. Must’ve lifted our whole bunker up.” The rock finally regained consciousness after the movement had stopped.

“Well where are we! How do we get out!” The cockroach began moving its legs wildly once more.

“I’m guessing we don’t… Ah well, we’re stuck. I mean really stuck. Like we’re probably already in some cage already. Just wait for them to crack these walls down.” The rock lay as still as a rock.