For three hours the little planes dumped the cocktail on the giant worm. For three hours the Colonel and the little girl drove the length of it watching for signs of a breakdown; but noticed none. Lydia worked the Jeep's radio and relayed information to her Grandfather. The crop dusters dove to empty their payloads, landed, refilled and went up again.

The worm quivered with every hit, its massive folds jiggling and wriggling. It didn't move. It didn't die.

"We'll never kill it." The Colonel groaned. "Never."

"Kinda looks that way, doesn't it, Sir?" The Jeep's driver said.

Lydia ignored them and kept instructing her Grandfather and Widow Carlisle. She tugged the Colonel's jacket hem as she pulled the radio earphones aside. "Grandpa says to recon… recon…"

"Reconnoiter?" He asked gently. He found himself becoming fond of the young girl. She was, in his eyes, quite a marvel as she relayed information to her grandfather.

"Yeah, on the runway. They're all coming in for one last payload." She smiled as the Jeeps took off at his wave. For all his bluster Colonel Wilcox was a lot like her Grandpa. She liked him for that.

Jeeps backed away from the worm and wound their way back to the runway. The planes landed, each one looking as haggard as their pilots. Tankers moved in to fill the reservoirs. Even the Elegant Widow Carlisle looked tired as she joined Lydia and the Colonel. Charlie just looked like Charlie as he ambled away from his plane.

Widow Carlisle sighed. "We've only got enough for one more pass, Colonel Wilcox." She looked toward the worm quivering pinkly in the moonlight. "We were so sure."

The Colonel patted her shoulder. "It was a good idea, based on facts that supported it." He looked at Charlie. "You've done good work, and I appreciate it."

Charlie rubbed his eyes. "Not good enough. Not hardly." He finally looked tired.

"Extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary solutions. Given that our standard attacks weren't working, it was worth a try."

"Sir!" The Jeep driver pointed at the worm. "What's it doing, Sir?"

They spun around to look. The worm quivered and shuddered and rocked.

"Dang thing's trying to move on" Charlie ran for his plane, Widow Carlisle behind him.

Lydia grabbed up the radio gear and Colonel Wilcox waved at the other Jeeps. Soldiers and Jeeps scattered, tankers rushed off the runway and the planes lined up for take off.

As they lifted off the tarmac the small planes headed high into the sky to their appointed position for their last pass at the heaving worm.

Little Lydia worked the radio. "Column One, GO!"

The first column buzzed the worm. Before the alcohol mist they'd dropped had a chance to land the next wave followed, then the next and the next and finally the last.

Nothing happened.

"Grandpa, Grandpa. It's stopped." Lydia spoke in a whisper.

Her Grandfather's voice crackled back at her. "Stopped what, Grandbaby?"

"It's not doing anything. It's just sitting there." She answered.

"Oh…my…God…" The Jeep driver whispered.

Colonel Wilcox grabbed the radio receiver. "Commander? Do you see that? Do you see…" He dropped the receiver and stared. His stomach twisted in on itself and tried to bore its way out his backbone.