Nearly an hour passes. Outside the sealed chamber, the team lies sprawled across the rubble-strewn floor, waiting, very impatiently.
Lula and Penelo can't sit still. They pace in opposite directions, sharing increasingly unhinged theories about what exactly Pip might be doing in the Earth Mother's chambers.
"What if she's got, like, six sets of... you know," Penelo whispers, pointing warily at her own crotch.
"What if she doesn't even have one? What if she's just... sand down there, and he's just..."
"Please don't finish that sentence," Veena groans.
"What if he's stuck?" Penelo's eyes go wide with genuine horror. "What if she just absorbed him? What if he's a grain now?"
"He is not a grain, Penelo," Lula scoffs. "He'd be like... little metal pellets."
"You don't know that! Did you see her thighs?! They've probably crushed him to powder!"
"Please!" Veena begs them. "My sanity!"
"I'm just saying, we should have a contingency plan," Penelo finishes with a shrug.
