With a sudden, lurching rush of displaced air, from the obelisk of brick and glass that stood towering and mighty at the centre of its emerald moat, a great rectangle of lacquered wood flew open, and, without warning, one of Them came out.

Nothing could prepare the survivors for the sight of the menacingly stark, ridged whiteness of the Sole, crashing down onto the crazy-paving runway, narrowly missing the shoddily concealed entrances to their subterranean sanctuaries.

Almost as soon as the silhouette of the oblivious intruder vanished toward the Outside World, an even greater threat approached. It started as a low hum, reverberating across the soil from far away; perhaps the other side of the obelisk, but before long, the foreboding, gaudy yellow body of the Cutter was heading straight towards them, ever faster, until…

Sitting astride the powerful, roaring lawnmower, whistling a catchy pop chorus and waving his son off to school, Jim couldn’t have heard the teeny-weeny little ant screams if he’d tried.