TEEN: - Ongoing The Weather Makers of the Wonder Planet (Non-Pokemon: Futago Hime)(PG)

[The Big Al]

Hooray for rewrites. :kawaii:

Chapter 1: BLINDSIDED!

It was a daily ritual in Drop Castle. The castle residents and staff would line up to receive the morning mail. This particular morning was no exception with a line stretching down the hall of Beavers, Aquarians, Riri, and Humans. They tapped their feet and periodically checked their watches as they waited semi-patiently.

The line moved ahead in spurts as the postman handed the parcels to their recipients. The Avian postman handed a package to a larger Beaver maid and poked his head out of the open window of the mailroom. “Who’s next?” he asked.

A boy and girl in their mid to late teens walked up to the window. They were dressed in the uniforms of engineers: The boy wearing a knee-length coat and a tall, conical hat with a wide brim and the girl wearing a blue, almost full-length dress with a dark blue shawl over her shoulders and a blue bandana tied around the back of her head. They were Aquarians, appearing human aside from the five pairs of gills slits in the sides of their necks and webbed hands. The fairly tall and average figured pair both had silky, cerulean blue hair the boy kept in a neat Princeton cut and the girl let cascade down her back and the bangs covered one of her silver eyes.

“Ophelia…” the girl said.

“…and Lee,” the boy said.

The seagull-like man looked in their cubby holes and brought them a single envelope. “There’s nothing for you, Ophelia, but you got a letter from the Windmill Kingdom, Lee.”

“Thanks,” Lee said as he took it.

The amphibious humanoids walked away as the next person in line walked up to the window. As they walked down the hall, Lee took out his utility knife and sliced the top of the envelope open with the larger blade. He pulled out the neatly folded paper inside and opened it.

“Who’s it from?” Ophelia asked her twin brother.

“It’s from Nicole,” Lee replied. “We’ve been pen pals for a couple years. She observes the weather like we do and we often tell each other about what’s going on in our countries weather-wise.”

He turned his attention to the letter and his mouth bent into a confused frown and his brow furrowed as he read it.

“What is it?” Ophelia asked, furrowing her brow in response.

“She says it hasn’t rained in her area in more than a week,” Lee answered. “There’s barely been as much as a cloud in the sky and is asking if something is wrong with our equipment.”

“We’ve been producing clouds like normal,” Ophelia thought out loud.

“I know,” Lee said. “I should bring this to the chief’s attention.”

* * *​

Queen Yamul was in her office attending to her duties. As a Beaver, she resembled her race’s namesake except for her tail which was rounder and covered in the same fine, beige fur that covered her entire body. She was of the larger variety as well standing at almost human stature while those of the smaller variety were closer in size to the actual animal. It was a normal day with no official functions or planned visits from foreign dignitaries, so she forewent her iconic, formal wears in favor of a navy blue jacket over a white, silk blouse and navy straight skirt that was more comfortable while keeping an air of professionalism.

Be comfortable would be a necessity this day looked as it looked to be particularly busy. Her desk was stacked high with binders each holding an issue requiring her attention, so she worked diligently. She hardly had time to enjoy the copious amount of bright, early spring sunshine pouring in through the large bay windows behind her or the gentle babble of water flowing up the six transparent columns evenly spaced around her oval-shaped office as she read over one binder after another and signed them when she was done.

After signing one of the proposals and placing it in a tray labeled “out” she took a moment to reach behind the pair reading glasses perched on the bridge of her muzzle and massage her dark, beady eyes that were already feeling fatigue. She reached for another like she had several times already that morning. However, a pair of chimes came from a panel set into the top of her stained oak desk. She pressed a button next to a red, blinking light and stated, “Queen Yamul.”

“Ma’am,” a male voice said over the speaker, “your daughter wishes to see you.”

“Send her in,” Yamul replied casually. She removed her reading glasses and set them down on the table. It was about time she took a little break anyway. She had unconsciously sunk into a slouch as she worked, so she sat up and instinctively pulled down on her blouse to straighten it.

The double doors at the opposite end of the otherwise unfurnished office parted with the faint hiss of hydraulics. A dainty, mostly human looking girl in her mid-teens wearing a white, nautical-style dress stepped in. She dipped in a delicate curtsy before saying “Good morning, Mother” in her soft, gentle voice.

“Good morning, Milro,” Yamul replied warmly.

“We missed you at breakfast,” Milro said.

“I had a lot of work for the day, so I decided to start early.” Yamul surveyed the clutter covering her desk. “The more they say we’re becoming a paperless society, the more paperwork I find on my desk.” She heaved a heavy sigh and replaced her reading glasses back on the her muzzle. She could not really afford to stop. “There’s nothing I can do but push your way through sometimes. It’s something you’ll find out when you become queen.”

“Oh.” The beige Beaver ears nestled in Milro’s sandy-colored hair drooped over and she shied her brown eyes away. The inevitable day the Drop Kingdom would turn to her as its ruler was something she preferred to not think about. It almost always led to her lack of confidence in her abilities as a leader.

She again dipped in a curtsy. “I’m sorry for bothering you then.”

“It’s alright,” Yamul said as she opened another binder. “I’m…”

She was interrupted by another pair of chimes. She pressed the button and replied, “Queen Yamul.”

“I’m sorry for disturbing you again, Ma’am” the voice apologized. “However, Prince Auler and Princess Sophie of the Windmill Kingdom are here to see you.”

Yamul furrowed her brow upon hearing this. “Why would they be here?” she thought out loud. She then asked Milro, “Did you invite them?”

“No.” Milro shook her head.

“I told them you were busy,” the voice added, “but they say that it’s urgent.”

Yamul shrugged and closed the binder. “Send them in then.”

The doors parted and the two oldest children of the Windmill Kingdom’s royal family walked in. Like Milro, they were half Human and half one of the animal-like races who inhabited the Wonder Planet. They also appeared mostly human aside from the long, floppy ears covered in fine, pink fur hanging down from the sides of their heads and resting on their shoulders signifying their Doggel heritage.

Milro noticed the two were dressed in their formal wears. Auler was wearing a sleeveless, robe-like coat with a cloud pattern over a purple jacket and slacks and Sophie was wearing a purple jacket and indigo cloak over a large, white skirt and her dome shaped crown was perched on her head. Whatever they were here for, she suspected it was not a social visit.

Auler was a young man in his late teens with forest green hair. He removed his boxy crown and bowed graciously. “Thank you for seeing us, Your Majesty,” he said.

Sophie was about Milro’s age with wavy, mint-colored hair. She dipped in an elegant curtsy. “Yes, thank you very much.”

“Our friends from the Windmill Kingdom are always welcome here,” Yamul said politely. “What can I do for you?”

The two siblings glanced at one another and their sapphire eyes sank slightly with worry.

“It’s actually not us,” Auler said in a more solemn tone.

The two stepped away from each other. Seeing nothing, Yamul stood up to look over the edge of her desk. Between them was a diminutive man from the Tanetane Kingdom. He wore a uniform similar in design to the Drop Kingdom workers only kelly green instead of deep sky blue. Though, it was hard to tell with all the dried mud caked on him.

“Can you give me one more lift-dane?” the ten centimeter tall man asked.

“Sure.” Sophie bent down and held her delicate, gloved hand next to the floor so he could climb on. She then lifted him to Yamul’s desk.

The Tanetane person leaped off and reached into his satchel. He pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Yamul. “I’m afraid I bring terrible news from the Tanetane Kingdom-dane.”

Yamul delicately took the tiny sheet of paper and rummaged through her desk drawer for her text magnifier. She placed the letter under the black, rectangular device and peered through the eyepiece to read what had to say.

The letter read:

Dear Queen Yamul of the Drop Kingdom,

At the time I’m writing this dispatch, it has been raining across the Tanetane Kingdom for more than two days straight. The rivers are already starting to rise and we fear landslides could start in the mountainous areas. Why is this happening and can you stop it?

Sincerely,
King King of the Tanetane Kingdom

“That was written five days ago-dane,” the messenger added. “I tried to come here directly but all the routes into the Drop Kingdom have become impassable-dane. I had to make why way into the Windmill Kingdom and Prince Auler and Princess Sophie agree to bring me here immediately-dane.”

“We were glad we could help,” Auler replied. He then turned to Yamul. “We passed over the Tanetane Kingdom on our way here,” he said gravely. “It’s still raining and all the rivers have left their banks. It won’t be long before the water starts threatening their lower lying villages. Something has to be done.”

Yamul bobbed her head in agreement. “Something most certainly will be.”

She pressed a button on the panel. “Get me the Cloud Management Room,” she ordered sharply.

* * *​

The Drop Kingdom was responsible for making the clouds and rain for the Wonder Planet and the Cloud Management Room was the control center for their operations. The huge room took up most of the space inside the onion dome atop the castle’s main tower and took on a bell shape. A massive blue cylinder housing components of the Cloud Generation Device rose up through the center of the floor with a huge, transparent pipe leading from it up through the pinnacle of the ceiling. Workstations were spaced along the circular wall with various displays representing the vitals of the Cloud Generation Device as well as other information important to operations. The room was dimly lit with no windows to let in ‘natural’ light, leaving the lamps of the workstations and the soft, blue glow coming from the pipe to provide elimination.

It was quiet day for the engineers. The board was green, so they were spending their time on other projects.

One of the engineers was reading the day’s paper when he noticed a story out of the Jewelry Kingdom. He turned to his colleague sitting at the station next him. “Hey,” the brown-haired half-Beaver said in hushed voice, “Hog Hell struck again.”

“Another silver theft?” The blond Aquarian girl turned to face him.

“Yeah,” the half-Beaver replied. “They struck in Garnet Town this time. They stole ten one kilogram ingots of silver. However, they left gold bullion, precious gems, and even platinum behind.”

“I don’t get it,” the Aquarian said. “Why are they stealing silver and leaving the gold and other more valuable stuff.”

“Who knows?” the half-Beaver said and turned his attention back to the paper. “Maybe they’re making chrome for their bikes.”

A larger Beaver woman sitting at another work station was playing a game where she slid two white fighters from side to side at the bottom of the screen and try to shoot down insect like enemies dive bombing her. She just finished off the latest wave when chimes started coming from the chief’s station.

She hit a button and everything on the screen disappeared except for the multicolored stars scrolling downwards in front of the blackness and the word ‘PAUSED’ appeared in the center. She turned to the chief’s station where a smaller Beaver with course, reddish-brown fur was sleeping in the chair. “Hey, Chief,” she called out. “You got a call coming in.”

The chief slowly opened one of his dark, beady eyes partially. The chimes came again from his station. He lazily kicked a button with his heel. “Spigot,” he yawned.

“SPIGOT!” Yamul’s voice boomed from the speaker. Spigot was so shocked by the sudden noise he leapt out of his chair and landed on the floor with a thud. “In my office NOW!”

Spigot slowly raised his quivering hand to grab the edge of his station and pulled himself up shakily. “I’ll be right down,” he replied with a stiff salute.

He turned away and saw all the engineers staring in his direction with eyes wide open in shock. “As you were,” he ordered and the other resumed their activities.

He picked up his hat and replaced it on his head. He then turned to a smaller, beige furred Beaver with bangs sticking out from under her bandana. “Emily, you have the machine,” he said as he left.

“Will do, Chief,” Emily replied.

She watched him until he left and the doors slid shut behind him before heaving a sigh. “Well this can’t be good,” she said dully.

“Why?” a young Aquarian man sitting at the workstation next to her asked.

“The only time anyone even acknowledges our existence up here is when something goes wrong,” Emily said in response. “And I haven’t heard Queen Yamul that pissed off since the Crisis of the Sunny Kingdom.”

“So, be afraid?” the steel gray haired youth asked.

“Be very afraid,” Emily corrected.

* * *​

Spigot wasted no time getting down to Yamul’s office. There was only one reason why she would call him down with such rage: a hydrological disaster had hit somewhere. He stopped at a door where an Aquarian guard wearing fatigues and patrol cap in an oceanic camouflage pattern was standing at ease.

“Have any idea where what’s going on?” Spigot asked the soldier.

“I do not know, sir,” the blue-haired man answered stiffly. “Prince Auler and Princess Sophie of the Windmill Kingdom came here saying they had urgent business, sir.”

“Thank you, Gunny,” Spigot replied.

The guard pressed a button on the wall next to him. “Chief Spigot is here,” he reported.

“Send him in,” Yamul’s voice said sternly through the speaker.

The guard pressed another button and the doors parted for Spigot to walk in.

“You bellowed?” he asked timidly.

Spigot immediately noticed Auler and Sophie like the guard had said. Had it hit in the Windmill Kingdom? That would not be so bad. However, he saw the Tanetane person standing on the desk. He bit his tongue to keep from cursing. The Tanetane Kingdom was the last place he wanted to hear bad news from.

“Would you care to explain this?” Yamul asked as she handed him the letter.

Spigot pulled a magnifying glass out of his side pocket and read the letter through it. “What the hell?” he exclaimed after reading it, “two days?”

“And that was written five days ago with no change,” Yamul added coolly.

Spigot looked up to Yamul staring down on him coldly. The queen of the Drop Kingdom was someone not to be crossed. She was short by Human standards at a meter and half, but her robust physique more than made up for it to make her naturally intimidating. He had found rarely found himself in this position and never found it comfortable.

Spigot gulped dryly as his neck felt like it doubled in girth. “I-It w-wasn’t us,” he stammered. “The Cloud Generation Device has been running perfectly.”

“How do you explain what is happening in the Tanetane Kingdom, then?” Auler asked.

“I don’t know,” Spigot said plainly. “Perhaps it was a problem at your end.”

“Father ordered a check of the Windmill Network to see if that might be the case,” Auler said. “However, there haven’t been any apparent problems.”

“There’re also numerous factors that determine our weather patterns we have no control over,” Spigot said. “For all we know it’s an extreme meteorological fluke.”

It had to be some fluke to be raining continuously over one country for a week. Still, he had no mechanical answer.

“What should be done then-dane?” the messenger asked.

“There’s nothing that can’t really be done,” Spigot said. “You’ll just have until this blows over.”

“We can’t wait until it blows over-dane!” the messenger snarled, clenching his fist. “Our fields are underwater and our villages will soon be next.”

“I’m afraid I can’t help you,” Spigot stated. “If you will excuse me, I have a machine to attend to.” He turned on his heels and walked out of the room.

Milro watched as the doors slid shut behind him. She then turned to the messenger. Looking at him more closely she saw that he was gaunt from malnourishment and his eyelids were sagging from lack of sleep. He had risked life and limb to bring the message to the Drop Kingdom. His country was in dire straits, and it seemed like nothing could be done to help them.

She could not accept that. There had to be something they could do. They might not be able to stop the rain, but they could protect their villages from the floodwaters.

“Mother,” she said softly.

“What is it, Milro?” Yamul asked.

Milro paused before continuing. She had always been hesitant to ask of her mother, no matter how important it was or how polite she was asking it. She quickly found the courage to speak and continued, “There has to be something we can do to help the Tanetane Kingdom. Even if we can’t stop the rain, we do have technology for diverting floodwaters here in the Drop Kingdom. We could use it to protect their villages from the flooding until this rain blows over like Mr. Spigot said.”

Yamul nodded and smiled gently. “Excellent thinking, Milro,” she said. “However, we’ll need permission from King King to bring our equipment into his country.” She then looked at the paperwork on her desk and sighed as she braced her head in her hand. “Unfortunately, I’m swamped here.” Her face then lit up with an idea. “Why don’t you go, Milro?”

“Me?!” Milro exclaimed.

“Why not?” Yamul replied. “You’re about the same age as I was when I took my first diplomatic assignment. It’ll be the perfect chance to get your feet wet if you forgive the pun.”

“Thank you,” Milro cheered. She then caught self and said in a more subdued state, “I mean, thank you for giving me this opportunity, Mother. I won’t disappoint you.”

“We can take you there in my racer,” Auler said.

“It would be our pleasure!” Sophie chimed in blissfully.

“Thank you, you two,” Milro replied cheerfully.

* * *​

Spigot stormed back into the Cloud Management Room. Everyone turned to face him as he walked in.

“Well,” an engineer asked, “what’s going on?”

“I just learned there’s flooding in the Tanetane Kingdom,” Spigot growled.

“I told you this wouldn’t good,” Emily announced.

“No kidding,” another engineer added in dismay. “Has anyone died?”

“I don’t know,” Spigot said. “All I know is that it’s been raining down there for a week.”

“WEEK?!” the engineers all exclaimed at once.

“Week?” Lee repeated to himself, thinking of what Nicole had wrote him.

“You’d think we would have seen something in our weather observations,” a Beaver engineer said. She then glared at Lee sitting at the meteorology station along with a few others.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Lee shot back. “Our weather observations only cover the Drop Kingdom and not even all of it. Sinker Swamp is a blind spot thanks to Geronita which happens to be our border with the Tanetane Kingdom.”

“I know whose weather observations would pick this up,” Spigot snarled.

“And here we go.” Emily rolled her eyes.

“Those idiots in the Sunny Kingdom were supposed to keep us informed of any weather anomalies,” he said as he jumped into his chair.

He typed in a series of keys to open a channel with the Sunny Kingdom. The orange, six-rayed sun that served as their emblem appeared on the largest screen of his workstation and was soon replaced by the image of a Nyamal worker. The Nyamal appeared to be Siamese with a dark brown mask covering most of his face with pale gray fur around the edges.

Spigot was expecting to see the wrinkled, gray face of Omendo, the Sunny Kingdom’s chief science officer. “Who are you and where’s Omendo?” he asked.

“Omendo is out with the flu,” the Nyamal replied coolly. “My name is Khan and I am serving as head of the Sunny Kingdom’s weather observations in his place until her returns.”

“Alright, Khan,” Spigot said, “maybe you can answer my questions.”

“What do you want to know?” Khan asked with that same coolness to his voice.

“Well for starters,” Spigot said calmly before jumped up in his chair and screaming, “WHAT IN HELL IS HAPPENING IN THE TANETANE KINGDOM?!”

With a feline screech, Khan leapt out of his chair and grabbed onto the back, digging his claws into the upholstery. He straightened the small, round eyeglasses on the bridge of his muzzle as they had fallen cockeyed. “There’s no need to yell,” he hissed in response as he got back in the chair. “We have been aware of the situation in the Tanetane Kingdom,” he said with the coolness returning.

“Why weren’t we informed?” Spigot demanded. “I thought we had an agreement after the Crisis that you would keep us informed about any weather anomalies.”

“We do,” Khan said. “However, we have determined this is not a weather anomaly. The Blessing of the Sun is normal and I assume the Cloud Generation Device is functioning normally as well.”

“Yes,” Spigot said, sitting back down in his chair.

“Then it is merely an unusual weather pattern,” Khan said.

“We’d still like to see your data,” Spigot said.

“I am afraid that is classified information,” Khan said. “Now, if there is nothing else, good day.”

Khan pressed a button on his end and his image was replaced by the Sunny Kingdom’s emblem.

“Get back here, you bean counter!” Spigot roared, jumping back into a standing position. “I’m not done with you yet!”

“You know, Chief,” Emily said, “there’s a saying that you gather more flies with honey and then with vinegar.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Spigot snapped at her.

Emily scowled. “Frank,” she barked, “hold him.”

“Okay, Emily,” a smaller, male Beaver grabbed Spigot and pulled him off the chair.

Emily hopped into the chair and contacted the Sunny Kingdom again. While she waited for a response, she licked her fingers and pulled them through his bangs to even them out. “You just got to know how to talk to these people.”

“This ought to be rich,” an engineer said to no one in particular.

Khan’s face again appeared on the screen. “What do you want now?” he said in a more irritated tone.

“High sugah,” Emily said, injecting a drawl into her speech. “Ah just wanna apologahze for mah chief’s rudeness. He doesn’t lahke nasty surprahses this early in the mornin’.”

“Let go of me, Franklin,” Spigot’s voice could be heard saying over the speaker on Khan’s end along with the sounds of struggling.

Emily turned to the two and shouted, “I said hold him!”

“I’m trying,” Franklin whined, “but he’s slipperier than a greased eel.”

Emily turned back to Khan. “He jus’ needs a cup of coffee,” she said before turning away and putting her hand over her mouth so Khan couldn’t hear her say, “and about a half dozen tranquilizers,” then turned back to Khan, “and he’ll be as rahght as rain. In the meantahme, could you be a deauh and send us your weathuh data for little, ol’ me.” She finished by batting her eyes.

“No,” Khan said flatly.

“What?!” Emily exclaimed.

“You suck!” an engineer shouted.

“Shut up!” Emily shot back.

“Quit wasting my time.” Khan closed the channel again.

Spigot finally wrenched himself out of Franklin’s grasp. “I saw that coming.”

“You know,” Franklin thought out loud in his slow, plodding voice, “for the country that is supposed to light the planet, the Sunny Kingdom sure likes to keep people in the dark.”

“They’ve always been that way,” Spigot said in response. “They knew the Blessing of the Sun dying from the start of the Crisis but left the rest of the planet to suffer the side effects without explanation. As much as they claim otherwise, it seems nothing has changed.”

“What’ll we do now?” an engineer asked.

“The Windmill Kingdom is checking their Windmill Network to for problems,” Spigot said. “We might as well do the same with the Cloud Generation Device. I want the machinery and computer system to be looked over thoroughly. Manually measure the hydro flux if you have to. If there is a problem, I want to know about it.”

“Yes, sir,” the engineers replied.

He then turned to Lee. “I also want up-to-date information from all our weather observation posts,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” Lee said. “Also, Chief, a friend of mine in the Windmill Kingdom has said they haven’t been getting any rain. Perhaps…”

“I know. There’s too much rain and too little rain,” Spigot said dismissively. “It’s business as usual. We can’t seem to satisfy anyone.”

Chimes came from Spigot’s station. Emily pushed a button and replied, “Cloud Management Room.”

“Is Spigot there?” Yamul’s voice asked.

Spigot walked over to the station and said, “Yes.”

“I want you back down in my office immediately,” Yamul said.

Spigot furrowed his brow and looked to Emily. She could only shrug in confusion.

“I’ll be right down,” Spigot said. “I wonder what it could be now.”

“Knowing our luck,” Franklin said, “it’s a hailstorm in the Jewelry Kingdom.”

“Thank you for that brilliant ray of sunshine, Franklin,” Spigot said as he walked towards the doors. “The next time I feel like being depressed, I’ll call you.”

“And here I had such high hopes for the day,” Emily sighed.

* * *​

The first thing Spigot noticed as he walked into Yamul’s office was Milro had changed her clothes. She was now wearing the long-sleeved, pale blue bodice, large, white skirt, and blue, raindrop-shaped hat that made up her formal gown.

“Is there something else you want, Ma’am?” Spigot asked Yamul.

“Milro has come up with the plan to help the people of the Tanetane Kingdom deal with the flooding,” Yamul said. “We’ll send down our flood control equipment to protect their villages.”

That explained Milro’s change in clothes. She was probably going to be heading to the Tanetane Kingdom to ask for permission to bring Drop Kingdom equipment in.

“Biba. Knock yourselves out,” Spigot said. “What does this have to do with me?”

“You’re going with them,” Yamul said.

Spigot’s jaw dropped upon hearing this. “With all due respect, I’m an engineer, not a steward.”

“We need permission from King King,” Yamul stated. “As chief engineer for the Cloud Generation Device and Hydrometeor Czar, you’re the best choice to explain our intentions.”

“I’m not a P.I.O. either!” Spigot exclaimed. “They hate me down there! I have more enemies in the Tanetane Kingdom than I care to count!”

“Then you should see this as an opportunity,” Yamul said. “It’ll give you a chance to mend some broken bridges. You’re going, Spigot, and that’s final.”

Spigot opened his mouth to protest. However, between Yamul’s glare and his inability to mount an argument, he heaved a sigh in defeat and saluted. “Yes, Ma’am.”

 

[The Big Al]

Chapter 2: No Good Deed

They took off for the Tanetane Kingdom in Auler’s racer. Milro was excited about going on her first mission. It was a sign her mother had faith in her abilities and gave her a chance to prove she was ready for the day she would take the throne. However, as they rose up into the sky and headed south, she felt the proverbial butterflies in her stomach. The elation was wearing off and she realized the scope of the issue she was about to face and wondered if she was really ready to face it.

She looked behind them at Drop Castle. It was a complex of white, cylindrical towers with blue onion domed roofs in the center of its expansive, multi-level moat. The two smaller towers sat on either side of the larger, central tower. Water spilled over the brim of the central tower’s base into the moat and cascaded down spillways into the lower levels making the structure look as much like a fountain as a building. A cloud formed over the top of the central tower and quickly expanded before being carried off by the wind.

Surrounding the castle was the capital of Saginaw City on the southern edge of a circular harbor with the blue expanse of the great Northern Ocean beyond extending to the Line of Obscurity. Buildings of the same design as the castle only on a much smaller scale were clustered on polygons of land formed by the network of canals crisscrossing through the city. Gondolas and amphibious motor vehicles cruised down the canals while pedestrians made their way on the sidewalks and bridges.

The capital was in turn surrounded by the rolling countryside of Ottawa Province and the canals were fed by the river of the same name. Streams and small rivers came down from the mountains and converged into this mighty river that snaked between the forests, meadows and fields.

It was early spring in the Drop Kingdom which was more like winter in the other countries. The branches of the deciduous trees were bare and there were a few piles of dirty snow on the yellow grass and bare fields. A more uncomfortable sign of the season was the brisk north wind carrying a sharp chill and the heavy smell of salt off the ocean.

Auler shivered as another gust passed over the open hull suspended under the cigar-shaped envelope of his airship. “Cold enough for you?” he chattered.

“We’re a cold country,” Milro replied. “However, this was a particularly hard winter and the northern areas are experiencing an extended cold snap.”

“Now I know why people say the people Drop Kingdom have antifreeze for blood.” Auler shivered some more.

As they were carried south by the wind, the seasons seemed to change. The countryside became greener and the air became warmer and more pleasant.

Milro felt more and more apprehensive as they went. She turned to the one surefire way she had to calm her nerves: art. She took out a sketch pad and pencil from a satchel she brought with her and began sketching. They were passing over a huge meadow covered in the vibrant colors of spring blossoms.

“Spring is such a beautiful time of time of year,” she mused aloud. “Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Spigot?”

She turned to the chief engineer who was where he had been since they took off. He was sitting in the very back and glaring indigently at some object only seen by him. Milro half expected a tiny storm cloud to fly up and start raining on the Beaver.

“Mr. Spigot?” Milro repeated to snap him out of it, “Are you all right?”

“I was just thinking about this situation,” Spigot grumbled. “Five years after the Crisis and here we are with trouble again in the Tanetane Kingdom of all places.”

He looked to the messenger who only afforded him an indignant glance.

“You had to be exaggerating in Yamul’s office,” Auler chimed in. “The relationship being your two countries can’t be that bad.”

“I wish I was,” Spigot said in response. “The relationship between the Drop Kingdom and the Tanetane Kingdom makes the rivalry between your country and the Jewelry Kingdom look like lover’s quarrel in comparison. There is a deep, personal hatred between our countries. We just kept it out of the public eyes. Unfortunately, this incident has probably only made matters worse.”

He then turned to Milro. “You should be ready for them to refuse our help.”

“Why?” Milro exclaimed, taken aback by Spigot’s harsh prediction.

“Because they’d rather die than accept our help,” Spigot said flatly.

Milro felt the apprehension return with added intensity. The severe scowl he had scrunched his face into said he was completely serious about his prediction. It felt like her heart was about to leap out of her chest when Auler announced, “We’re approaching the Tanetane Kingdom.”

Everyone faced forward and gasped. The clouds that had been paralleling them expanded horizontally and coalesced until they formed a wall extending as far as the eye could see in either direction. As the Wonder Planet was hollow and the ground curved up with distance, the clouds did the same, taking on the shape of a slight, almost sinister smile.

“To think all of that is made of tiny little droplets of water almost too small to see,” Sophie thought out loud.

Milro stowed her sketch pad in her satchel and joined Sophie and Auler in putting on ponchos as they flew under the cloud deck.

The change was abrupt and dramatic. The bright, warm light from the Blessing of the Sun vanished and was replaced by the dim, gray drab under the ceiling of clouds. Rain started to fall and quickly gained intensity as it pelted the envelope. The air was raw and soggy. The wind tried to tear the warmth from them with every gust.

Milro had been to the Tanetane Kingdom a few times in her life. It was a beautiful country that was lush and green with fields of crops and dense forests. However, the land below seemed washed out and dull. Her heart sunk seeing such a majestic kingdom in this state.

Eventually, the silhouette of the Mother Tree emerged from the rain and fog. The mother of all plants in the Wonder Planet and castle of the Tanetane Kingdom was gigantic. Its girth was more than the area of some of the villages sounding it and it dwarfed everything in sight of it.

Fortunately in this case, the people of the Tanetane Kingdom had a healthy respect for water. They built their actual villages well away from the water’s edge. The space between was used for parks and fields. However, the water was slowly creeping in on the clusters of mushroom-like buildings after submerging hectares upon hectares of the ‘buffer’ protecting them. Probably in their wildest dreams the people of the Tanetane Kingdom never thought the water could reach this far.

They looked down and saw they were passing over a gaping body of muddy, turbulent water. Auler shuddered at the sight.

“Is something wrong?” Milro asked.

“Big Brother doesn’t like water that much,” Sophie replied blissfully.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Auler said uneasily.

“Oh.” Milro returned her attention to the water below them. “I don’t remember a lake being near the Mother Tree,” she thought out loud.

“That’s not a lake,” Spigot said dully. “That’s the river.”

Milro gasped. This torrent was the gentle river that passed near the Mother Tree. She looked at the shores and saw Tanetane people and Molmos building a wall of sandbags around a village the water was drawing near.

Milro heaved a depressed sigh. Her apprehension was replaced with dread and despair. This all seemed too big and she feared not even the Drop Kingdom’s technology could help them. Her offer of aid could be nothing but a fool’s errand.

She then felt a hand rest gently on her shoulder. She looked back and saw it belonged to Sophie. “Don’t give up hope, Milro,” she said warmly. “Everything will work out in the end. You’re here to help these people and they need to see a confident princess offering them aid.”

Sophie reminded Milro of the wind. She seemed so free and did not let herself to be weighed down with worry. She always seemed to see the light at the end of even the longest, darkest tunnels and there were times she envied the princess of the Windmill Kingdom.

She managed a small but genuine smile and nodded.

Auler released gas from the envelope and they descended gently to the ground in front of the Mother Tree. Spigot was the first to leap out. His webbed feet landed in the spongy mud and sank slightly.

He surveyed the scene. The rain was falling at a moderate pace to make a constant droning sound. It was not a drizzle, but it was not a deluge either. However, if it had been like this nonstop for week, they had to be approaching a meter. If the entire country was like this, the water table must have long since been filled to the brim. He sniffed the air and detected the distinct odor of musk, mold, and mildew. The Tanetane Kingdom was rotting after a week of constantly moist air being trapped over it.

“I hate flooding,” he groaned. “It’s the biggest pain as far as weather-related disasters go. It lasts the longest, covers the most area, kills the most people, and leaves the biggest mess. Give me a tornado any day. At least it has the decency to be over and done with within minutes.”

Auler helped Milro and Sophie out of his racer when the large doors in the Mother Tree’s massive trunk pushed open. The princesses of the Tanetane Kingdom and their brothers, Princes Solo and Coco, came out. The eleven girls looked almost identical to the point of even wearing matching white and green dresses and tiny flower pots as headgear. The only way to tell them apart was by hair color, though identifying them individually was still a challenge even with that.

“Auler, Milro, Sophie,” the cobalt blue haired Ichele, their de facto leader, started and the rest of the girls joined in saying, “welcome to the Tanetane Kingdom.”

“At least, we wish we could say welcome,” Solo said solemnly. “However, welcoming someone is usually a good thing and there’s very little good here right now.”

“Are these the Drips everyone’s been talking about?” Coco asked Julia.

His siblings gasped at what came from their youngest brother’s mouth.

The mint haired Julia pulled him over and whispered into the little boy’s ear, “Remember when I told you there are some words and phrases commoners use that are unbecoming if a royal uses it? That’s one of them.”

“Oh,” Coco replied. “Sorry, Big Uglies.”

“Charming,” Spigot said dully.

“What are you doing here, Spigot?” a voice snapped.

Spigot flinched upon hearing it as he recognized it immediately. “Please God, no. Of all the people I was hoping to avoid,” he groaned.

He looked up and saw the owner of the voice. It belonged to a Molmo, a mole-like people with chocolate brown fur and beady eyes. He was dressed in a uniform like the messenger and Spigot recognized him all too well.

“You gone deaf?” the Molmo yelled. “I asked what you’re doing here.”

“I heard you just fine, unfortunately,” Spigot snapped in response.

“Who’s he?” Auler asked.

“Remember when I said I had more enemies here than I cared to count?” Spigot said dully. “He’s the Big Kahuna of them all, Administrator Axe.”

“We’re here to help your country,” Sophie announced cheerfully.

“Heh, I bet,” Spigot scoffed.

“Just shut up and take us to His Royal Shortiness,” Spigot grumbled indignantly. “I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here.”

Axe stepped aside and walked alongside Spigot as they all entered the Mother Tree.

Milro had never been inside the Mother Tree before. They entered what she assumed was the grand hall, but she had to duck because the ceiling was no more than a meter and half high and her skirt brushed against the sides. She felt like a giant as she was eye level with the highest of multiple balconies where rows of small doors opened up to the corridor. There were a few, tiny Tanetane people standing on the balconies and watched while she, Auler, and Sophie made their way through.

Along with being cramped, the hall was dark with only luminescent mushrooms growing next to each door providing a faint, blue light. The air was heavy with the earthy smell of wood as the halls and chambers were carved into the trunk wood. It seemed more like a tunnel with the rough, unfinished texture of the walls.

It was completely alien to her compared to the hallways of Drop Castle. They were bright with LED lights hanging down from the ceiling and floor to ceiling windows that let in the sunlight. They also gave the sense of the Drop Kingdom’s technology and closeness to water with tunnels of transparent aluminum passing under the moat and transparent pipes running along the ceilings transporting water throughout the castle. This hall seemed just as endemic to the Tanetane Kingdom, rough and simple.

Although strange, it was far more pleasant than what was outside. It was warm and dry and the droning of the rain quickly faded to nothing.

Milro could only imagine how nerve wracking it had to be for the people of the Tanetane Kingdom. They had spent a week listening to the endless droning, smelling the stench, and watching the river close on their homes. She remembered what Spigot had said and Axe’s reaction. She wondered if they were so mad in both senses of the word they would not have any interest in what they had to say.

She looked back to Auler and Sophie. Sophie was wearing a big grin and looking around as she seemed to be absorbing their surroundings. Auler was more straight-faced, looking forward. She got the sense he wanted to get this over with and leave the country and its water as soon as possible.

She looked forward. Spigot and Axe were still walking alongside one another at the front. Their faces were hidden from Milro’s view by the brims of their hats and not a word was being exchanged, but she knew they were looking towards one another and were probably exchanging mean expressions. Thankfully, they reached the throne room and the two disengaged and Axe walked over to stand beside King.

Milro and the others could stand up straight and the ceiling in the throne room was twice as tall as the hallway. The room was also more brightly lit with a large chandelier covered in burning candles hanging down above them. The wood smell still remained as did Milro’s feeling of being huge as she came to stand beside a balcony filled with Tanetane people at the same level of her knees.

Sitting on his throne was King King. He was a tiny man with a thick, gray mustache over his lip and beady, blue eyes. A cylindrical hat taller than him sat on his head with a tiny sprout sticking out of the top. His wife, Queen Flower, sat by his side and their thirteen children sat down in their seats.

“I can take your ponchos,” a Molmo steward said as they handed him their raingear.

Spigot removed his hat and bowed graciously. “Greetings, King King,” he said. “I am Spigot, chief engineer for the Cloud Generation Device.”

“Good morning, Your Majesty.” Auler bowed and Sophie and Milro curtsied.

“Baxter!” a woman called out as the messenger walked in. She ran up and hugged the man, not even caring he was covered in mud.

“I see you got my message-dane,” King said. “Are you here to tell us you will stop the rain-dane?”

“Uh…” Spigot exhaled, scratching the back of his head as he knew his answer would not be accepted well by the crowd. “No.”

As he predicted, the throne room erupted into angry shouts. “Now here me out,” he shouted them down. “There’s nothing we can do about the rain. The Cloud Generation Device is in perfect working order as is the Windmill Network.”

“Why are you here then-dane?” King said, letting a little irritation seep into his voice.

“While we can’t stop the rain, we can save your villages from the flooding,” Spigot explained. “Our country has portable pumps we use to divert floodwaters around an area. With your permission, we could get them down here and running by tomorrow morning.”

The crowd erupted into cheers. However, a shrill voice shouted over the din. “What about our fields?!” she shouted. It was a woman in the balcony. “We can’t start planting until the floodwaters recede.”

“There’s always one,” Spigot muttered angrily under his breath. “You’ll just have to wait it out,” he said as politely as he could muster with a forced grin.

“That’s unacceptable,” the woman shot back. “Our livelihoods depend on getting the seeds in the ground within the next couple of weeks. Your country makes the rain, so make it stop raining.”

Spigot’s smile dropped into a frustrated scowl. “It’s not that simple,” he shot back. “We can’t just snap our fingers and change the weather.”

“She has a point, though,” Axe said. “You expect us to just sit back and watch you try to save our villages? This is our kingdom.”

“Ah…The old Tantane Kingdom pride finally rears its ugly head,” Spigot spat. “It’s the Crisis of the Sunny Kingdom all over again.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if you Drips did your job right,” Axe growled.

“That’s it,” Spigot snarled. He grabbed Axe by the coat and slammed him against the wall to the ruckus cheers of the crowd.

“ENOUGH-DANE!!!” King roared and pounded the butt of his staff on the floor. “I will not have this in my throne room-dane! We’re all civilized people here-dane. Let’s act like it-dane.”

A din erupted as people started arguing about letting the equipment come in or not among other things. Milro felt like everything was spiraling out of control. Her first assignment for the Drop Kingdom was sinking into chaos.

“Please,” she pleaded to get them to listen. “You have to understand there’s...there’s nothing we can do!”

At that moment she felt a strange energy come over her. It felt gentle, like the mist off a crashing wave as it permeated her body. Her eyes happened to fall on the drop-shaped ornament on the top of Spigot’s hat which was at her eye level and then above her a split second later. ‘Is Mr. Spigot getting taller?’ she thought.

However, it was not just Spigot. The entire room was getting larger, or, more accurately, it was her…shrinking. She was so frightened she could not even scream and she shrank to be as tall as Spigot and then shorter than him. She wondered if it would ever stop and how small she would be when it did. Thankfully, the energy subsided and she stopped at roughly the same height as a Tanetane person.

“Milro,” Auler called out. He and Sophie had also shrunk. “What just happened?” he asked, trying his best to hide his terror from his voice.

“I-I don’t know,” Milro replied helplessly.

“Fine then!” Spigot, who now towered over them, shoved his muzzle into Axe’s snout and jabbed at the Molmo’s chest with his index finger. “If you’re pride is so important to you, then you can take it to your watery grave. It’s no fur off my back. But, I’m not going to stand around here and be insulted anymore.”

He turned back to where he expected Milro to be. “Princess Milro,” he snapped, “we’re leaving.”

However, no one was there. “What the…” he exclaimed in bewilderment. He then looked around the throne room. “Princess Milro, Prine Auler, Princess Sophie, where did you go?”

“We’re down here,” Milro called out.

Spigot looked down to see them. “Oh, there you are. For a second I…” He stopped in midsentence and his eyes opened as wide as they could as what he was seeing registered in his brain. He screamed, “OH MYGOD!!!”

His eyes rolled back into his head and he began to teeter. Milro held her eyes shut, plastered her ears against her scalp, and tightened her body as she prepared for the inevitable impact of Spigot falling. Sure enough, Spigot fell and, at her size, Milro felt the quake he created upon hitting the ground. When the shaking stopped, she gingerly opened one eye and lifted the corresponding ear. Spigot was sprawled out on the floor, passed out.

* * *​

The sensation to Spigot telling him he had regained consciousness was his nose itching and the foul smell of smelling salts. He opened his eyes and as they slowly came into focus he saw Axe was holding a bottle under his nose. “Get that crap out of my face,” Spigot groaned as he pushed himself up into the sitting position.

He rubbed the back of his head which was throbbing from the fall. “I just had the worst nightmare,” he said. “I dreamt I went down to the Tanetane Kingdom and Princess Milro had shrunk down to the size of Tanetane person and…” His eyes happened to fall upon the prince and princesses standing at only ten centimeters tall. “Damn,” he groaned.

“Uh…” King drew out as he tried to think of what to say. “Can we discuss this in private-dane?”

* * *​

King led them to the observatory at the very top of the tree. The lone artificial structure was spacious even by Human standards with large windows in the cylindrical wall. There were wide sills under the windows and several shelves as well to hold pots containing sprouts of various kinds. The Mother Tree’s trunk was still of the size of a normal adult tree and served as the room’s central column. Tables and chairs for Tanetnae people were set on a platform around it and chairs for other races were suspended from the ceiling by vines.

“Alight, King King,” Spigot said, trying hard to hide his irritation, “you mind explaining what happened down there?”

“I’m afraid the prince and princesses have been cursed by the Mother Tree-dane,” King said gravely.

“Cursed,” the three reduced royals gasped.

“Cursed? CURSED?!” Spigot huffed. “You have no idea what cursing is! But I’ll give you a lesson in thirty seconds if they aren’t restored immediately!”

“You don’t understand-dane!” King exclaimed. “This validates my worst fear-dane.”

“What’s that, Father?” the blond-haired Harney asked.

“Since this rain started, the Mother Tree has stopped making seeds-dane,” King explained. “I believe she senses there is something wrong about the rain-dane.”

“What?” Auler asked.

“I don’t know-dane,” King said helplessly. “However, the rain must be stopped-dane. When you said you couldn’t stop the rain, she was angered and cursed you-dane.”

“Well, undo it!” Spigot demanded.

“I’m afraid I can’t-dane,” King conceded. “Only the Mother Tree can lift the curse and if it isn’t lifted by dawn tomorrow, it becomes permanent-dane.”

Everyone gasped.

“You mean we’ll be stuck like this forever?” Auler exclaimed.

King nodded his head solemnly.

“What do we have to do to convince her to lift the curse?” Milro asked.

“You must put a stop to this rain-dane,” King said.

“But I’m an engineer, not a warlock,” Spigot stated. “When I said I can stop the rain, I literally mean I can’t.”

“Then I’m afraid there is nothing we can do about this-dane,” King said gravely.

There was nothing to be said about the matter after that. They returned to Auler’s racer after Spigot asked for a crate. As they came out, a wooden crate was sitting in front of the door. Spigot slammed his body into it as he pushed it through the mud towards the racer.

“’…you should see this as an opportunity,’ she said,” he complained as he strained against the box. “’It’ll give you a chance to mend some broken bridges.’ Well it worked out just dandy, didn’t it?”

He lifted the crate over his head and tossed it into the hull. “This is why I never became a humanitarian. As my grandfather always said, ‘no good deed goes unpunished.’”

“What an enchanted world you live in,” Axe mused aloud.

“Shut up!” Spigot spat.

“Well, have fun explaining this one to Queen Yamul,” Axe said smugly and expelled a fit of indulgent laughter as he walked back into the Mother Tree.

“Needle-nosed prick,” Spigot muttered under his breath after the door closed. “I’d like to punch him in that smug face of his.”

“There has to be something we can do about this,” Auler demanded.

“Perhaps we should ask Fine and Rein for help,” Sophie suggested.

“No!” Spigot exclaimed. “Hell no! There’s no way I’m letting the most unprincess-like princesses in the history of the Wonder Planet anywhere near something as delicate as the weather!”

* * *​

Somewhere the Sunny Kingdom, Fine and Rein sneezed loudly.

* * *​

“They’d probably just make things worse,” Spigot continued. “And I’ll be damned if I ask the Sunny Kingdom for help.”

“I don’t get why the Mother Tree is so disturbed by the rain.” Sophie held out her hand and let a drop land in her palm. “It’s just water, right?”

“I’m not sure,” Spigot said. He did the same to let several drops collect in his palm and smelled them to only smell water. “There is something weird about all this though. The rain shouldn’t be this intense, this constant, cover this much area, and last this long all at once.”

Milro stared out at what was happening around them. She felt like she had not just failed them, but her mother and the Drop Kingdom as well. She even failed her friends. What she had hoped would be the confidence builder she needed was a harsh confirmation she was unprepared for the throne.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a very soft voice to Auler and Sophie. “This happened to you because of me. I said there was nothing we could do and the Mother Tree cursed us because of it.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Milro,” Auler replied. “The Windmill Kingdom is just as responsible in distributing the clouds as the Drop Kingdom.”

“So much for my first diplomatic assignment,” Milro sighed. “I don’t think that could have gone any worse.”

“The Tanetane Kingdom was not exactly a good place to start out,” Spigot said. “They’re a bunch of unreasonable pricks.” He then looked up at the Mother Tree. “Even the plants!” he shouted and shook his fist. “We should get going.”

He gently picked up Sophie and Milro so they could sit on his arm. He reached for Auler and the prince of the Windmill Kingdom backed up.

“Are you sure that’s necessary?” Auler asked.

“Can you get in by yourself?” Spigot asked in response.

Auler looked at his racer. Compared to him, it was the size the Windmill Kingdom’s flagship. He would need climbing gear to get in. “No,” he sighed.

Without a word, Spigot picked him up. He placed him on his arm between the girls and climbed into the racer. He set them down on the floor of the hull and climbed onto the crate to grasp the controls.

“Can you fly my racer?” Auler asked.

“The controls aren’t too dissimilar from those of the Drop Kingdom’s aircraft,” Spigot said as he started the airship. Some ballast water released from the belly and they slowly rose off the ground. The spiral-shaped drive on the back of the hull whirred to life, propelling them forward.

“It’s good to see something is under control,” Spigot said as he turned to the north.

 

[The Big Al]

Chapter 3: Other Options

The Cloud Management Room, which had been quiet just hours before, was abuzz with activity and filled with the din of conversation as the engineers performed a full machine check. Every workstation was occupied and many more engineers were gathered around opened bulkheads in the machine itself. Even more engineers were coming and going between the Cloud Management Room and the machinery rooms below.

Emily and Franklin were looking at a monitor in one of the bulkheads displaying a diagram of the machinery in a green wireframe. The names of components were listed to the side with green checks next to each of them. “It’s like I told you,” Franklin said, “everything is in working order, from the seawater intake pumps to the distributor. We even checked the solar panels, the electrolysis tanks, and the computer system.”

A blond half-Beaver walked up to them. “We finished the manual check of the machinery,” she reported.

“Were there any problems?” Emily asked.

“Well,” the engineer said, “we discovered the crew has a bad habit.” She produced a jar filled with wads of chewed gum and shook it to illustrate they were dry with the jingling.

Emily stuck her tongue out at the jar of colorful wads in disgust. “Anything mechanically wrong?” she clarified.

“No,” the half-Beaver said. “Everything looks good down there.”

Ophelia walked in holding a pad. “We just completed calculating the flux out of the distributor,” she reported. “It’s within the normal range for this time of year.”

“That settles it then,” Emily said, closing the bulkhead. “Whatever is happening in the Tanetane Kingdom, it has nothing to do with our equipment. I give the Cloud Generation Device a clean bill of health.”

The doors parted and an Avian man and woman stepped in. They wore the uniforms of Windmill Kingdom engineers which were identical to those worn by the Drop Kingdom engineers except purple and the woman’s headgear was a mobcap instead of a bandana. The hawk-like woman took a folded piece of paper from her side pocket and asked, “Who’s in charge here?”

“I am,” Emily answered.

“I have a dispatch from the Windmill Kingdom regarding the status of the Windmill Network.” She handed Emily the paper.

“Perfect timing: We just completed evaluating our equipment,” Emily said as she took the paper and started reading it.

The paper read:

Urgent dispatch to Drop Kingdom Cloud Generation Service:

Windmill Network system check completed

All windmills working within normal parameters

Request sitrep on Cloud Generation Device

Windmill Network Observation Ministry

P.S. Wireless communication with Drop Kingdom impossible due to interference of unknown origin

“If it’s neither of our countries’ equipment,” Franklin said, “that leaves the meteorological.”

“Print up a brief of our findings for…” Emily trailed off.

“Danielle,” the woman said.

“Matthew,” her swallow-like companion added.

“Thanks,” Emily said. “…for Danielle and Matthew to take back to the Windmill Kingdom. Just basically tell them the Cloud Generation Device is working as it should. I’ll see what Lee has found on the meteorology front.”

Lee was sitting at the radio trying to see how far south he could contact anyone. He adjusted the tuner and announced into the microphone, “Attention all operators, attention all operators: This is Rain Base. If you’re south of Churchill, I want you to give a holler.”

“This is…Bogman82 in Carol…own,” a terribly garbled voice came over the speaker. “Can…hear me?”

“I’m picking you up, Bogman, but just barely,” Lee answered.

“I’m…able to get a sig…out,” the voice reported through the static. “…some kind of interference…Sinker Swamp. I…get through to…south.”

“Figures,” Lee sighed and shook his head. “Can you tell me what the clouds are doing down there?”

“What the…are doing?” the voice repeated. “They’re…normally. There’s…build…the south…”

Lee filled in the blanks with his mind. “Alright,” he said. “Rain Base out.”

“What’s the weather doing?” Emily asked.

“You might as well ask me to describe the face of a painting through a pinprick only letting me see the torso,” Lee replied in frustration. “On top of that, there’s interference coming out of Sinker Swamp. I can’t get through to anyone south of Caroline Town and they’re barely coming through. Geronita probably put up wide-band jammers.”

Emily exhaled a grunt in frustration. “It’s officially spring now,” she snarled. “Mean, Green, and not so Lean has crawled out of the mud to mess with us for another warm season.” She sighed. “There are days I hate this job.”

“With the information I do have, the weather patterns are normal for this time of year. The wind direction and speed are typical, and the cloud formation is typical with possibly some unusual build-up on the very southern edge of my circle of knowledge.” Lee said. “However, I got a letter from an acquaintance in the Windmill Kingdom. She said it hadn’t rained in her area for the same amount of time it’s been raining constantly in the Tanetane Kingdom.”

Emily’s mouth bent into a frown and his furrowed her brow as she mulled over this discovery. “Interesting,” she thought out loud. She turned to the Avians who were getting a message from Franklin. “Hey, Danielle, has it been unusually dry in the Windmill Kingdom?”

“It has been come to think of it,” Danielle replied. “The skies have been almost completely clear for about a week.”

“That could be the answer,” Lee said. “Something is causing the clouds to dump all their rain over the Tanetane Kingdom.”

“Any idea what could cause that?” Emily asked.

“It could be a number of things,” Lee replied. “However, I don’t have the information needed to give you an accurate guess.”

Crackling suddenly came from Emily’s walky-talky. She pulled out the device and extended the antenna. “Cloud Management Room: Emily speaking,” she answered,

“I just reached you now?” Spigot’s voice complained from the speaker. “I’m halfway into the country.”

“It seems Geronita has set up jammers this year,” Emily answered.

“That’s all we need,” Spigot grumbled, slapping his forehead with his free hand and slouching over the controls. “Is there anything that can go right today?” he asked tiredly.

“Well,” Emily said, “both the Cloud Generation Device and Windmill Network are in perfect working order. How did things go in the Tanetane Kingdom?” Emily asked.

Spigot looked back at Milro and the others. “We ran into a ‘small’ problem,” Spigot said, stumbling over his words. “They didn’t accept our offer and we’re headed back.”

“Was it a slaughter?” Emily asked.

“You have no idea,” Spigot replied tiredly. “Listen, I’m going to make a stop at Peanut Lake before heading to Saginaw City. Don’t tell Queen Yamul we’re coming back.”

“Is something wrong?” Emily asked.

“Just follow my orders,” Spigot barked.

“Will do, Chief,” Emily replied.

“Spigot, out.” Spigot turned off his radio and slipped it back into his pocket.

“Why don’t you want my mother to know of this?” Milro asked.

“You have to ask?” Spigot exclaimed. “If Queen Yamul finds out about this, she’ll kill me! Or, worse, fire me!”

“I think you’re exaggerating just a little,” Milro said, trying to keep from giggling.

“Regardless, I prefer to deal with this damn curse without her breathing down my neck,” Spigot said.

“What’s at Peanut Lake?” Auler asked.

“Someone who might have a solution,” Spigot replied.

He flew them around a peak and they came into view of a valley filled with lakes. He pulled on the rip cord to release gas and they descended toward a patch of spruces. The branches of the evergreens brushed against the racer as he came near the ground. The racer came down a little more roughly than Auler’s landing as it lurched when the hull touched the ground.

Spigot pushed his hat back it was thrown askew by the impact. “I’ve never been good at landings,” he complained.

He jumped off the crate. “Alright, everybody out.” He picked up the royals and carried them out of the racer.

“I hope this isn’t what my future holds,” Auler grumbled. “I don’t like being carried. I don’t like being ten centimeters tall, period.”

“Don’t fret about it so much, Big Brother,” Sophie said, waving her hand dismissively. “Try think about the advantages.”

“What advantages?” Auler asked.

“Well.” Sophie paused and rested her cheek in her hand to ponder. “We’ll have an edge on our brothers and sisters when we play hide-and-seek.”

Auler heaved an exasperated sigh.

“You won’t have to worry about it if I have to anything to say about it,” Spigot broke in.

They followed him as he walked out of the woods and onto a hill overlooking a large lake. It actually looked more like two lakes that had merged into one. Buildings were clustered along the shore and huge mansions were set back into the forest at the end of winding paths. Yachts and sailboats were docked in marinas and majestic house boats were moored to the shore. The only spoiling the picturesque seen was the trees sitting bare and the grass was yellow.

“Peanut Lake I presume?” Auler said.

“You presume correctly,” Spigot answered.

“It’s gorgeous,” Sophie gasped.

“You should see it in June during the Catalpa Bloom Festival,” Milro replied. “The landscape is deep green speckled by clusters white flowers.”

“Those mansions are huge,” Auler observed. “Who lives here?”

“Industrial tycoons, big wigs in Parliament, people who make in an hour what I make in a year,” Spigot said. “Peanut Lake is the home of the Drop Kingdom’s rich and powerful. It’s close enough to Saginaw City without being in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the capital.”

“It makes sense when you about it,” Sophie mused.

“That’s all fine and good,” Auler said impatiently, “but who’s here that’ll supposedly help us?”

“I think you mean Dr. McChi,” Milro speculated.

Spigot nodded. “He’s studied a wide variety of medical fields. If there’s a medical solution to this, he’d know about it.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Auler shouted as he started bounding down a tiny ravine in the hillside.

“Hold it,” Spigot called after him.

Auler stopped and looked back to him. “What?”

“Don’t you think you’d be noticed in town?” Spigot asked rhetorically.

“Oh yeah,” Auler said, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin. “How do we get to him then?”

Spigot took off his hat.

Auler paused to think of what he meant. It suddenly came to him and he backed up, waving his hands wildly in front of him. “No,” he exclaimed. It’s bad enough I have to be carried. I’m not riding under your hat.”

“It won’t be that bad, Big Brother,” Sophie said as Spigot lifted her up to his head and she stepped off into the fur.

Auler sighed and shook his head. “I’m liking this less and less every minute.”

Spigot picked up Auler and Milro and placed them next to Sophie before covering them all with his hat. It was a tight space as the three had to stand and there was a slight odor of sweat.

“I knew I’d find a use for these traffic cones,” Spigot mused allowed. “Is everyone comfortable?”

“As much as we could be considering,” Milro answered.

Spigot walked casually into town. It was very unlike the capital with much less buildings and more open space and actual streets as opposed to canals. It was also far less busy with less pedestrians and motor vehicles about. Spigot quickly sank into the crowd anyway. He was even ready to tip his hat to an attractive Beaver woman he walked past before he thought better of it.

He came to a lot with a century oak in the middle. McChi and his colleagues were Riri, an arboreal people who resembled squirrels about the same size as Spigot. They preferred making their homes and businesses in large trees rather than conventional buildings with the doors at the top. McChi’s office was no different.

Planks were arranged to make stairs winding up the trunk to the door. The oak was not nearly as huge as the Mother Tree, but it still had to be at least ten meters across and was taller than most of the buildings adjacent to it with the bare branches extending out in every direction. At the bottom of the stairs was a sign stating ‘McChi M.D. et al. Specialists in Rodent Health.’

Spigot climbed the stairs to the door and walked in. He was greeted by a waiting room on the other side. There were several seats arranged along the wall all sitting empty. The interior walls were trunk wood like the Mother Tree’s, but they were cut square and dark from a stain finish and did not have a smell. There were also electric lamps fashioned like lanterns complete with an orange, flame-shaped bulb suspended from the ceiling filling the room with warm light. A Riri woman dressed in a yellow nurse’s tunic and a white apron was sitting in the next room behind a large, glass window looking into the waiting room. She looked up from the computer where she was working when the bell rang announcing Spigot’s entrance.

“Must be a slow day,” Spigot mused.

“It’s that time of year,” the Riri replied. “We’re between viruses and it’s not yet allergy season. Can I help you?”

“I’m assuming Dr. McChi is available then,” Spigot said. “I need to see him immediately.”

“It might be a slow day, but we still require appointments,” the receptionist stated.

“It regards the princess,” Spigot clarified.

“The princess?!” the receptionist exclaimed. She then looked into the room. “Where is she?”

Spigot heaved a sigh. “I guess it’s a good thing no one else is here,” he said dully. “Brace yourself.”

He removed his hat, revealing the three reduced royals perched on his head.

The receptionist stared at them slack jawed for a couple seconds before calling back, “Dr. McChi, you’re not going to believe this one.”

“I highly doubt that, Melody,” a voice said from the hall behind her. “I have an extremely opened mind.”

An older Riri man dressed in a white coat walked out from behind a partition. A modest mustache sat under his nose and a set of eyeglasses on its bridge. He stopped when he saw Spigot before taking a few ginger steps forward, squinting as if he did not believe what his eyes were telling him.

“That’s pretty unbelievable,” he managed to say.

“Are you going to gawk or examine?” Spigot asked flatly.

“Come in,” McChi replied, throwing his head back to illustrate it.

He took them into the one of the rooms. It was fairly small with an examination bed covered by a paper sheet, counter filled with drawers, and couple small chairs as the only furniture. The walls were covered in diagrams displaying the organs systems of mostly Beavers and Riri. McChi lowered the room’s lamp with a crank so it was just above his head.

“How did this happen?” McChi asked.

“The Mother Tree,” Spigot answered as he helped the royals step onto the examination bed. “We went down to the Tanetane Kingdom on a diplomatic mission and she did this to them when we said we couldn’t give them what they wanted.”

“At least this is go-around didn’t involve stitches,” McChi mused. “There were times I thought I should go down to save the time.”

“I would have rather gone a few rounds with Axe,” Spigot said. “I came here hoping you could help us.”

“Let me take a look?” McChi said.

He took out his smallest and most delicate instruments to measure their vitals. The royals were worried at first as the massive man got near them, but he was as delicate as a fairy with his touch. He listened to their hearts, both for rhythm and pace and their breathing.

When he was finished, he looked to Spigot. “It seems like they are unharmed,” he reported.

“Unharmed? UNHARMED?!” Spigot huffed. “They’re ten centimeters tall! How can you call that unharmed?!”

“Aside from their miniaturization, they’re perfectly healthy,” McChi explained. “There’s hearts and lungs are functioning normally. You aren’t in any pain or feel sick?” he asked them.

“No,” Milro said.

“I’m fine,” Sophie answered.

McChi shrugged in acceptance. His mouth then cracked into an indulged grin.

“What?” Spigot asked.

“I just thought how I had long heard of the magical powers of the Mother Tree, but I never thought I’d see the effects first hand,” McChi replied giddily.

“I’m so glad I could accommodate you,” Spigot said, not bothering to feign enthusiasm. “Can you restore them?”

“I tend to steer clear of magic,” McChi said. “My best suggestion is convince the Mother Tree to undo it.”

“Unfortunately, she’s asking the impossible,” Spigot sighed. “She wants us to stop the rain covering the Tanetane Kingdom.”

“What if we could give them something else?” Milro mused aloud.

“Like what?” Auler asked.

“They have no idea why this is happening to them,” Milro explained. “They might be angry because don’t understand and are taking the frustration out on us. If we could find out what is happening, they might be satisfied with answers and the Mother Tree will restore us.”

“It’s as good an idea as any,” Spigot conceded. He stared off into space, thinking of what was happening. “I’m curious as what’s going on myself.”

“Something tells me the Hurricane will fly again,” McChi thought out loud.

“The Hurricane?” Auler repeated inquisitively.

“Back during the Crisis, the Sunny Kingdom refused to release their weather data,” Spigot answered. “The Drop Kingdom created a super airship covered in sensing instruments to gather the weather data for ourselves and we named it the Hurricane. It’s probably our best tool for learning what is happening over the Tanetane Kingdom.”

“I never heard of any of this,” Milro said.

“It wasn’t exactly done with the blessing of the crown,” Spigot admitted. “It was a black project between the engineering core and aviation service. We violated the airspace of every other country and broke just about every treaty in the book in our endeavor. The queen needed total deniability.”

“Yet you know about it?” Auler asked McChi.

“I was a medic for the team,” McChi answered.

“Then let’s get this airship,” Sophie said.

“We’re first going to need a crew,” Spigot said.

He pulled out his walky-talky. “Emily, come in,” he said.

“Emily here,” Emily’s voice came over the radio. “Mind explaining what’s going on?”

“Not over an open channel,” Spigot said. “Listen, I need the twins, Bret, Tammy, Franklin, and you to pick us up at Peanut Lake on the way to Snow Mountain. We’re reactivating that.”

“That?” Emily gasped as she instantly realized what Spigot was insinuating. “What happened down there to bring you to this?”

“You’ll find out when you get here,” Spigot said.

* * *​

Bret and Lee were walking through one of the underwater tunnels towards the cafeteria. Bret was an engineer in his late teens with a flame red mullet and emerald green eyes. He was a half-Beaver with brown, furry ears sticking out of slits in his hat and his identically colored tail hanged down from the end of his spine. His jacket was not nearly as long as Lee’s duster as it came only to the top of his thighs and the bottom of his untucked shirt peeked out from under it but his uniform was otherwise the same.

Drop Castle’s moat was seawater habitat. Numerous species of fish and aquatic invertebrates swam through the water or hid in alcoves formed by the coral formations and rocks on the floor. The Blessing of the Sun, directly overhead, shined through the water, creating a shimmering effect inside the tunnel.

“I heard there was some excitement this morning,” Bret said.

“There’s apparently flooding in the Tanetane Kingdom,” Lee explained. “Spigot headed down there to offer aid with Princess Milro. He’s on his way back, but he’s acting weird and doesn’t want Queen Yamul to know.”

“He probably got his tail kicked by some ‘old friends,’” Bret joked.

“What pissed me off was how that feline in the Sunny Kingdom treated us when we asked for their weather data,” Lee growled. “You would think the Crisis would have taught them to have at least a little humility. Yet there they float, still believing their God’s gift to the universe.”

“Well, you know they need all that hot air to keep the Sunny Kingdom aloft,” Bret replied jokingly.

The two cracked grins and exhaled laughs.

Crackling came over Lee’s walky-talky. He pulled it out and answered, “Lee,” as straight-faced as he could at the moment.

“Lee, are you with anyone?” Emily’s voice asked over the speaker.

“Yeah,” Lee replied, “Bret and I were headed to the cafeteria for lunch.”

“You better get it to go,” Emily said. “Spigot wants us at Peanut Lake A.S.A.P.”

“Who’re us?” Lee asked.

“You two, me, Ophelia, Tammy, and Frank,” Emily said. “Everyone else is already headed to the garage.”

“Oh no,” Bret moaned. “Not Tammy.”

“We’ll be there in a couple minutes,” Lee told Emily, ignoring Bret.

“Why would he want us at Peanut Lake?” Bret asked.

“I told you he’s been acting weird,” Lee said.

* * *​

Spigot waited at the base of McChi’s office. A white and blue station wagon rounded the corner and pulled up to the lot. The vehicle was low to the ground and like all other motor vehicles in the Drop Kingdom had a pair of propellers on the back for travelling through water. On the front doors was the curled drop shape that served as the Drop Kingdom’s emblem to signify it was a government vehicle. The whirring fuel cell engine fell silent and the doors opened.

The first out was Tammy from the driver’s seat. She was a larger Beaver even taller than Yamul and much more muscular. The sleeves of her uniform and the dress underneath were rolled up almost to her elbows to show off her beefy forearms and she wore fingerless, leather gloves on her large hands. The others piled out and came to stand in front the vehicle.

Spigot pulled out his pocket watch and saw it was approaching noon. He had a little more than eighteen hours before the curse became permanent. “Took you long enough,” he scolded.

“We’re here regardless,” Emily said. “Can you tell us what’s going on now?”

“Not here,” Spigot said in a low, hushed voice as if he did not want any passerby to hear. “Let’s go to the outskirts of town to discuss this.”

“What about Princess Milro and the others?” Ophelia asked, looking around.

“She and the prince and princess of the Windmill Kingdom will be there,” Spigot said with a weak grin.

They piled back into the station wagon. Tammy was the driver and Ophelia sat on the passenger side with Spigot between them and the others squeezed into the back. Tammy drove them out of town into a small forest where they all got out.

“What’s gotten into you, Chief?” Emily asked with more irritation in her voice, “and where’s the princess?”

Lee crossed his arms. “I’m starting to wonder if something happened to them down there.”

Spigot felt a cold sweat come over him. Even though they would have to know, there was always the sense of dread of being found out.

“Like what, they were shrunk?” Bret joked.

The engineers snorted into a laughing fit.

Spigot laughed weakly before admitting, “That’s exactly what happened.”

The engineers stopped laughing immediately.

“You know I was being sarcastic, right?” Bret said sheepishly. “I said that because it was the most ridiculous thing I could think of.”

“I know,” Spigot said despairingly.

“So, you’re not joking?” Lee asked worriedly.

“They’re about this big,” Spigot said, holding his hands with roughly ten centimeters of vertical space between them and then pointed to his hat, “and hiding in my hat.”

He removed his hat to reveal the tiny royals perched on his head. The six engineers stared at the three with eyes opened as big as they could. If their jaws had not been attached to their skulls, they would have fallen to the ground. Milro could empathize with the engineers’ bewilderment as she was still finding it hard to accept what had happened to them was real.

Lee forced a weak laugh to break the uncomfortable silence.

“Maybe we should look on the bright side,” Bret suggested.

“There’s a bright side?” the other engineers asked.

“Well,” Bret mused aloud as he stroked his chin, “Prince Pump as a kid shorter than him again.”

The other exhaled a groan in exasperation. Tammy slapped him upside the head so hard he staggered forward and his hat flew off.

“Yow,” Bret yelped and instinctively grabbed the back of his stinging head. “What was that for?”

“This is serious,” Tammy shot back, getting into the half-Beaver’s face. “We don’t need your jokes.”

“I know this is serious,” Bret whimpered. “I joke about serious stuff so I can better handle it.”

“And you wonder why people consider you insufferable,” Tammy growled.

Lee changed the subject by asking, “What the hell happened?”

“The Mother Tree happened,” Spigot growled as he lowered Milro and the others to the ground. “She wasn’t happy with our offer and shrank them to voice her malcontent."

“Why didn’t you tell Queen Yamul?” Emily exclaimed.

“Think,” Spigot said flatly.

Lee, Ophelia, and Bret pictured them taking Milro to Yamul. They see the queen of the Drop Kingdom staring in dismay at her tiny daughter standing on her desk before glaring at them and vaporizing Bret from under his hat with red lasers from her eyes. “This is not good,” the three whimpered.

“Why did you drag us into this?” Bret snapped. “Seven people can only keep a secret if six of them are dead, and we know which six are on the chopping block.”

“I need to find a way to convince the Mother Tree to restore them before dawn on the spell on them become permanent,” Spigot said.

“What?!” the six engineers exclaimed.

“That’s why I need you six,” Spigot barked. “She demanded we stop the rain. However, since that’s impossible, we’re going to gather information on what’s going on and offer it as a compromise.”

“That explains why you want to drag the Hurricane out of mothballs,” Emily said. “Why us?”

“You shouldn’t have to ask,” Bret said confidently and thrust his chest out. “In such an emergency, he needs the best people at what they do.”

“No,” Spigot corrected. “I chose you because I know for a fact the queen doesn’t know you, so you won’t be missed.”

Bret’s confident grin melted off his face and his sank into a slumping posture.

“Open mouth: insert foot,” Tammy teased.

“I thought she knew Lee and Ophelia,” Emily asked Spigot.

“Queen Yamul never met us personally,” Lee said. “She wouldn’t realize we’re absent.”

“She might notice you and Princess Milro aren’t back,” Franklin said.

“She’ll figure we’re staying in the Tanetane Kingdom,” Spigot said. “Geronita might have even done us a favor as she’s provided a cover for not making contact. Now get back in the car and let’s get going,” he ordered. “We’re on a ticking clock.”

The six engineers look at each other. “Like we have anything better to do.” Ophelia shrugged.

“Actually…” Bret trailed off.

“Get in the car.” Tammy grabbed him by the jacket collar and pulled him to the station wagon.

They all piled in and drove off.

 

[The Big Al]

Chapter 4: A Fateful Encounter with a Dust Devil

The route to Snow Mountain took them through the plains of the Drop Kingdom’s central regions between the lake-dotted north and swampy south. It was farmland with bare fields extending as far as the eye could see with the isolated homestead here and there. Wherever roads crossed, there was a small cluster of civilization that served as a town. Spring was more evident in this region as trees had green nubs that were buds ready to burst or even the first emerging leaves and the grass and the few fields left fallow were green instead of yellow.

It was a lonely trip. Outside of the towns, seeing another motor vehicle was a rarity. Use to the hustle and bustle of the city, the engineers felt almost like they were alone in this rural area where it seemed like the population density would be measured in kilometers per person.

The engineers had been quiet since leaving Peanut Lake. It was an uncomfortable quiet that choked the atmosphere inside the cabin. It felt like everyone had something they wanted to say, but couldn’t put it to words and elected to maintain the silence. The only thing to be heard was the whir of the motor and clicking and clacking of the wheels going over cracks in the road.

They tried to put their minds off what had happened to Milro, Auler, and Sophie and finding a way to restore them had been put squarely on their shoulders. Tammy focused on the road, facing forward with only glances to the rear view mirrors and the speedometer as the needle stayed around 120 km/h. Ophelia, Lee, and Bret stared blankly out of the windows at the landscape they were passing by. Spigot, Emily, and Franklin were sitting in the center seats, so they stared forward.

Milro, Auler, and Sophie were sitting on the dashboard in front of Ophelia. Although the young engineers tried to resist the urge, they occasionally shot them an uncomfortable glance. This made them feel even more uneasy about their predicament.

Sophie finally broke the silence suffocating them. “Why don’t we play a game of I Spy to pass the time?” she suggested, clapping her hands together giddily. “Now, let’s see.” She paused for a second to look around and ponder of what to use. “I spy with my little eye something starting with the letter ‘f.’”

“Fields,” the engineers said simultaneously.

“Uh…a bit obvious, huh?” Sophie said sheepishly. “Alright, then. I spy with my little eye something starting with the letter ‘m.’”

“More fields.”

Sophie furrowed her brow and pondered for a second. “This one should be a challenge. I spy with my little eye something starting with the letter ‘e.’”

“Even more fields,” the engineers said tiredly.

“This isn’t exactly the region to play I Spy,” Milro said.

“I guess you’re right,” Sophie replied disappointedly. “I just wanted to get our minds off what’s happened to us. We’re not going to succeed if we’re so busy fretting about it,”

“Where does the Mother Tree get off just shrinking our princess like that?” Bret huffed to no one in particular. “It seems like everyone in this world treats the Drop Kingdom like their punching bag.”

“It’s because the rest of the planet is bunch of ignorant hicks,” Spigot grumbled. “They think we’re a bunch of witches and wizards who use magic to make the weather, not the scientists and engineers using technology we really are.”

“The hats probably don’t help.” Lee picked up his hat that was sitting on his lap.

“Regardless,” Spigot continued, “they believe we have some control over the weather or at least we should.”

“I still can’t believe you dragged us into this,” Emily snapped. “This has ‘snowball’ written all over it and you put us in the middle of it. What happens if the Mother Tree is not satisfied with your compromise?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Spigot grumbled.

“Meaning he has no clue,” Franklin said dully.

“Notice how he’s also using inclusive pronouns like we’re in it just as deep as he is,” Tammy pointed out.

“They say misery loves company,” Spigot replied.

“Speaking of company,” Sophie said, “mind telling us who you are?”

“Meet Ophelia and Lee Pryor, Bret Greene, Tammy Frost, Emily Pearce, and Franklin Santiago,” Spigot said, pointing to each engineer as he gave their name. “You guys obviously know Princess Milro and Prince Auler and Princess Sophie from the Windmill Kingdom.”

“Pleased to meet you all,” Milro said, dipping in a slight curtsy.

“Likewise,” Emily replied, “despite the circumstances.”

“While I said I picked them because Queen Yamul wouldn’t notice their missing,” Spigot said, “they are a very talented group with skills we’ll need to run the Hurricane and investigate what’s happening over the Tanetane Kingdom.”

Tammy noticed they were approaching a lone party store alongside the road to their left. “How about a pit stop?” she suggested. “We don’t have any supplies for our little adventure and I think everyone could use the opportunity to stretch.”

“Alright,” Spigot replied. “Let’s just make it quick.”

Tammy crossed the opposite lane and turned left into the party store’s dirt parking lot. It was like most party stores, a relatively small box of a building with huge windows covered in colorful advertisements and mostly foodstuffs. A bright yellow sign on a pole as well as the awning over the door announced “Wine-Liquor-Beer-Lotto.”

The engineers got out of the station wagon. They stretched and walked around a little to work the stiffness out of their legs.

“Tammy, Emily, Franklin, and I will get some food for the flight,” Spigot said. “The rest of you watch the car.”

“Okay,” Ophelia said.

She sat down in the passenger’s seat and cranked down the window before cranking the driver’s window down. “Get some cross ventilation in here.”

Bret leaned his back against the station wagon and Lee crossed his arms on the opposite side.

The two surveyed the landscape. It seemed almost desolate with the huge fields still nothing but massive areas of bare ground. Everyone thought of the bountiful harvests that come from farms. However, this early in the season, they rivaled deserts in their barrenness.

The wind was a little chilly though not nearly as cold as further north. The ground seemed to radiate heat between gusts, however to moderate the air. The air was very dry and the wind held a smell of topsoil dust. Bret kicked at the pale brown soil of the lot and a cloud of dust erupted into the air and slowly swirled away in the gentle wind.

He looked back to the field on the opposite side of the road. It apparently had not been plowed yet as it lacked the lines gouged into the others. He noticed something new in the distance. A slender column of dust slowly moved across the field as it swirled around in a tight circle.

“Hey, weatherman,” Bret said to Lee, “have any idea what that thing is?”

Lee squinted and stared at it. “That’s a dust devil,” he said.

“A dust devil?” Bret repeated inquisitively.

“Yeah,” Lee said. “The ground absorbs energy from the Blessing of the Sun and it warms the air just above it. As it warms, the air rises. The rising air can spin up into tiny cyclones and dust devils are born.” He then paused. “They’re rare in the Drop Kingdom because the ground has so much moisture which evaporates and dissipates heat. I think it hasn’t been raining here either. You can see how dry the ground is.”

“The Drop Kingdom suffering from a drought,” Ophelia mused. “What’s wrong with this picture?”

“What’s right with this picture might be the better question,” Lee said. “There’s something up with all this.”

“Could the Mother Tree be right?” Milro thought out loud.

“Right about what?” Ophelia asked.

“King King said the Mother Tree is spooked about the rain down there so much she’s stopped producing seeds,” Milro replied. “That’s the reason why she shrunk us.”

“It’s too bad we can’t just get the weather data from Sunny Kingdom,” Bret complained. “It would save time.”

“I doubt the Sunny Kingdom’s data would help us at this point anyway,” Lee said. “All they care about is the end result of the weather, temperatures, wind speed and direction, and precipitation totals to diagnose the health of the Blessing of the Sun. How they come about is no concern of theirs. As far as they’re concerned, the weather is a two dimensional condition near the ground like a sheet of foil.”

“Of course it’s not, right?” Bret asked rhetorically.

“Of course,” Lee replied anyway. “Weather is the state of the entire atmosphere. It’s a four dimensional condition and what we’re after is up there where the real weather happens.”

Lee pointed to a fluffy cloud drifting across the sky almost directly overhead. “Take a look at that cloud. That cloud is a region in the atmosphere where water vapor spontaneously condenses into liquid water droplets. While we’re sitting here, those water droplets are collecting on the surfaces of aerosols to form raindrops. For some reason, all the water in these clouds is being wrung out over the Tanetane Kingdom. If we want to figure out what it is, we have to get into the clouds and find it.”

Lee stopped and thought over what he just said. ‘Could that be it?’ he thought. ‘Could an excess of aerosols be the culprit?’ He had heard of shooting and spraying aerosols into clouds to induce rain. It was a very plausible hypothesis. ‘We need to make sure though. The Mother Tree might not accept hard evidence let alone untested speculation.’

“It sounds like you know a lot about the weather,” Sophie said. “Perhaps you could answer a question I’ve always had.”

“What is it?” Ophelia asked.

“Why do our countries make the weather?” Sophie asked.

“You could write a doctoral thesis on the answer,” Ophelia said. “Basically, because of the Wonder Planet is hollow, we don’t have natural processes found on terrestrial worlds. Because the sun is in the center, we don’t have unequal energy distribution that usually drives the weather. That’s why the Meramera Kingdom generates heat, to create a temperature imbalance. The Wonder Planet also doesn’t rotate, so your country generates the global wind pattern.”

“What about the clouds?” Sophie asked.

“That’s a little more complicated,” Lee said, looking in the station wagon. “Due to the nature of the atmosphere in the Wonder Planet, free convection and therefore natural cloud formation is nearly impossible. Aside from the clouds we make, only mechanical lifting can lead to cloud formation. We’ll actually see an example of that at Snow Mountain where moist air off the Bay of Adamant is forced to rise by the mountains and forms snow clouds.”

“Does that answer your question, Princess Sophie?” Ophelia asked.

“Yes,” Sophie replied. “Thank you.”

“There’s certain more to it than nursery rhyme we learned as little kids,” Auler commented.

Everyone returned to watching the dust devil along with others forming on the field. They did not realize a dust devil was swirling towards them. The vortex blew over the station wagon and through the open windows. It was about as strong as a stiff gust, but it threw choking sand and dirt at them. The engineers turned their faces away from the stinging barrage. Milro, Auler, and Sophie were caught by the winds and blown out the window before Ophelia could even react. She opened the door and practically fell out of the station wagon. She vainly grabbed at them as the dust devil lifted them several meters into the air.

“Sophie, Milro,” Auler shouted over the wind, “grab hold.”

The three royals grabbed each others’ hands as the swirling winds kept them aloft above the maelstrom of dust below them.

Ophelia watched despairingly as they were carried away. “Oh no! And it’s my fault too!” she moaned.

Lee and Bret jumped back into the station wagon. Lee started the engine and slammed his foot into the accelerator. The vehicle flew over the road and barreled across the field after the dust devil, throwing tremendous amounts of dust into the air behind it.

“Wait for me!” Ophelia called after them. “You can’t leave me here to explain this to Spigot.”

“Explain what?” Spigot asked as he and the others came out of the store carrying several cloth bags and a cooler.

Ophelia turned to them, forcing a lopsided grin. “Well…”

A few seconds later, the quiet of the countryside was broken by Spigot screaming.

Lee drove them across the field after the dust devil. Bret looked around the back of the passenger’s seat at the dust devil squarely in the windshield. However, it was not alone as he saw another nearby.

He patted the Aquarian’s shoulder. “Hey, Lee, are sure this is the one?”

“Yeah,” Lee replied, not bothering to look away.

“Well, I think it might be that one,” Bret said. He pointed to one just to the left.

Lee looked towards the other dust devil. He then saw two to their right. Even the one he was tailing was actually two that turned and spun away in opposite directions. The entire field was covered in dust devils and they all looked like the ones that picked up Milro and the others.

“Crap,” Lee snapped.

He slammed on the brakes. The Station Wagon stopped abruptly and was enveloped by its own dust. The two got out and looked around desperately. All around them were dust devils forming and decaying. They felt pits form in their stomachs as even if the royals survived the fall, finding them would be like finding very tiny needles in a very huge haystack.

“Why did you stop?” Spigot called out as the others ran towards them.

“Let me guess,” Tammy huffed, “you lost them.”

“’Lost’ is such a strong word,” Bret said helplessly.

“This day keeps getting better and better,” Emily groaned.

“I don’t believe this,” Spigot practically sobbed. His face scrunched into an angry scowl and he shot a glare at the young engineers. “Well, what are you waiting for?” he snapped. He jabbed at the air in front of him. “Go find them!”

“Yes, sir.” The engineers ran off in different directions.

“What are you doing?!” Spigot shouted at them.

“We’re going to look for Princess Milro and the others,” Emily answered.

“Bounding all over the place like giant monsters?” Spigot asked rhetorically.

The engineers looked at each other and said, “Oh.”

The got down on all fours and started crawling around the dirt.

* * *​

The dust devil finally deposited Milro, Auler, and Sophie on the ground gently before decaying away completely. They took a second to get their bearings and see where they had landed. There was nothing by sun baked topsoil and rocks for to them seemed like kilometers in every direction. It looked like a vast desert with no distinguishing landmarks.

“Where are Spigot and the others?” Sophie asked.

Auler squinted and held his hand above his eyes to shield them from the sunlight. Unfortunately, the color the Drop Kingdom chose for its uniforms and vehicles blended in well with the sky. The mirages did not help as they distorted anything too far away. However, he saw movement very far away. It was the engineers.

“There they are!” he exclaimed and pointed.

“Where?” Milro asked as she looked in the general direction Auler was pointing.

“They’re hard to make out unless they move, but they’re there.”

Milro felt her heart sink. They were hours away at their foot speed and it would take the engineers even longer to comb the huge field. Even with their exceptionally sensitive hearing and smell, the Beavers and Aquarians would never hear their small voices or pick up their scent from anymore than 50 meters at best.

“They’ll never find us,” she cried despairingly.

* * *​

Unnoticed by the engineers and the royals, the farmer owning the field stepped out of the screen porch of his homestead. The heavyset Human wearing a plaid, flannel shirt and blue, denim overalls stretched and then squinted when he saw the engineers crawling around his field. He removed his baseball cap and scratched the bare, tanned skin on the top of his balding head wondering what engineers would want with his field. He shook his head as he could think of nothing or a reason to care and lumbered to the adjacent barn. His work for the afternoon would scare them off anyway.

He opened the heavy doors and walked in. His main tractor was parked in the dark interior facing out. He opened the cab of the boxy, red machine and pulled himself in. He turned the ignition and the engine whirred to life. He drove it out into the barnyard where there was a large plow with set upon set of sharp, heavy wheels waiting to tear into the soil.

* * *​

“What should we do?” Auler asked desperately. “Should we try and reach them or wait for them to reach us?”

“It’ll take so long either way,” Milro said in a downtrodden tone.

She then looked to the Blessing of the Sun. It was already waning in the afternoon. Granted, they had the whole night too, but she did not know how long Spigot would need to find out what was going on. Every minute spent looking for them was a minute not spent investigating the rain.

“We should get going right now then,” Sophie announced. “It’ll be faster if we try and get closer to them.”

Before Auler and Milro could answer, they were knocked off balance a sudden tremor.

“What’s going on?” Auler asked as the ground continued to quake. “Is it a groundquake?”

Milro happened to look towards the farmhouse and barn. The tractor was heading straight for them with the plow wheels extending a dozen meters to either side. “Worse! It’s a tractor!” she shouted. “Run for your lives!”

Auler and Sophie looked back at the titanic machine tearing up soil and throwing up a gigantic cloud of dust behind it. They jumped to their feet and began running before they hit the ground. They ran as fast as they could, but their clothing was heavy and cumbersome, designed to look regal in the ballroom or audience chamber, not for running.

“It’s too wide to get off to the edge,” Auler huffed, “and we’ll never outrun it. We’re doomed.”

Milro’s mind was racing. She remembered her mother teaching her when she was very young there was no such thing as a no win scenario if you think about all the possibilities. Between poundings of her heart and her panting breath, inspiration struck.

“We need to get under the tractor,” she panted.

“What?!” Auler yelled as well as he could but it came out more like a wheeze. “Certain death is under the tractor.”

“If we can get into the undercarriage, we’ll be safe,” Milro explained. “Spigot and the others will hear the tractor and make it stop. We can then get their attention.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Sophie chimed in.

“How do we get in there?” Auler asked.

Milro looked back to the tractor. A wire hanged down to their level. “We can grab that.”

* * *​

“Princess Milro,” Lee whispered as he crawled along dusty ground.

He did not trust his sight to find them first, so he was concentrating on what his other senses were telling him. His senses of hearing and smell were magnitudes more sensitive than a normal Human’s. He even had electroreceptors speckling his face that could pick up on the electrical impulses from muscles. However, they were all coming up empty. He looked back and noticed he had barely gone thirty meters from the station wagon and sighed.

“How big do you figure this field is?” he asked Emily next to him. “Ten Hectares? Twenty?”

“Less talking more searching,” Emily shot back. “They’re around here somewhere.”

The ground began to rumble and the sound of metal clanging and whining was slowly rising in volume. Bret’s ears flicked at the faint sound. “What’s that?” he asked.

“The farmer must be plowing the field,” Franklin answered.

“Oh,” Bret said and went back to searching.

It took a split second for the engineers to connect the dots in their minds. They looked at each other and at the tractor tearing across the field.

“Oh my God!” Emily shrieked. “It’ll kill them!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” Spigot barked, “Ophelia, Lee, stop that tractor by any means necessary. The rest of you get searching double time.”

“Right away, chief,” the engineers replied. Ophelia and Lee took off towards the tractor while the others crawled over the field as fast as they could.

* * *​

The tractor lumbered over Milro, Auler, and Sophie. They were under its shadow and between its massive wheels. The whir of the electric motor reverberated off the tires and undercarriage sounding like a swarm of angry hornet circling overhead. The low hanging wire was coming towards them. Auler grabbed hold of the rubber tube covering it and pulled himself into a sitting position with his legs straddling the cable. He then helped Milro and Sophie climb onto it. The wire bucked and swung as the tractor clattered along, threatening to throw them to the ground where the plow wheels would soon reach them. They held on for dear life and hoped the engineers would stop their wild ride soon.

As Milro had guessed, Ophelia and Lee were in a dead run towards the tractor. Lee took out his badge and held it open in the air. “Federal agents: stop your machine,” he yelled as loud as he could.

The tractor went over a hump in the soil and came down hard. The jolt knocked Sophie off the cable and back on the ground.

“SOPHIE!!!” Auler screamed as he watched the plow wheels approach her.

Sophie looked back at the sharp wheels ripping into the soil as they came towards her and screamed herself.

Lee jumped onto the tractor and pounded his fist on the cab door. “I said stop your machine,” he yelled angrily.

The farmer recoiled in shock and shut the machine down without a second thought. The plow came to a stop a few centimeters from Sophie. Milro and Auler jumped off the cable and ran to her.

“Are you alright?” Auler asked as he embraced his sister.

“I’m fine big brother,” Sophie replied, still trying to catch her breath. “Everything turned out like Milro said. Look.”

They came around the tractor’s back wheel and saw Ophelia standing there. Lee jumped off the tractor as the farmer got out of the cab.

“What the hell are you kids doing?” the farmer fumed.

“We’re federal agents,” Lee said, holding up his badge.

“Let me see that.” The farmer grabbed his badge and held it in his hand. It was heavy, suggesting it was real. “They keep hiring younger and younger people as engineers.”

He handed Lee back his badge. “Why would the Cloud Generation Service want me to stop plowing my field?”

Lee looked back to Ophelia. “It kind of hard to explain…” she said weakly.

The farmer crossed his arms and glared at the two suspiciously.

“You see we’re studying the differing rates of insolation of various surfaces,” Lee forced out. “We were studying unplowed topsoil and the dust your tractor was kicking up would contaminate the sample.”

“How long will this take?” the farmer asked.

“How do we get their attention without the farmer noticing?” Auler asked.

“I have an idea,” Sophie piped up.

She took out her compact and opened it. Using the mirror, she reflected sunlight into Ophelia’s eye. She winced at the light hitting her eye and looked towards the source. The royals waved and jumped up and down when they saw she was looking in their direction. She almost jumped for joy seeing them, but she caught herself and walked casually to the back.

“Where are you going?” the farmer asked.

“I’m just admiring your tractor,” Ophelia replied as she came to stand next to the back wheel. “It’s a wonderful machine.”

“I’m glad you agree little lady,” the farmer said proudly. “I built her myself from a kit I bought for the Catalogue.”

Ophelia inched her foot closer to the three royals. Her shoes were ballet flats like other female engineers aside from the smaller Beavers who went barefoot. The slippers had white ribbons on the toe box held by blue, raindrop-shaped ornaments. Her baggy knickers came down below her hem and were held tight around her ankle by an elastic band sewn into them and she wore white stockings.

“Climb on,” she whispered. “Make sure you’re up under the hem.”

“Climb up your skirt and cling to your underwear?” Auler gasped in dismay. “That’s indecent.”

“Just do it,” Ophelia snapped, making sure to keep her voice in a whisper.

Milro and Sophie climbed up and grabbed as much of the cotton fabric as they could to hang on. Auler heaved a sigh. “Altezza, please find it in your heart to forgive me that my first intimate contact with a woman will be this engineer,” he sobbed and climbed on with the princesses. He screwed his eyes shut and kept his head down.

Ophelia heaved an exasperated sigh and shook her head.

“The ground heats up and heats the air above it, causing it to rise,” Lee explained to the farmer. “That’s how the dust devils form.”

“I’ve never seen dust devils like this here,” the farmer said. “It’s been drier than a bone lately. I wanted to hold off on plowing until the next rain, but the Mrs. insisted. You would happen to know why we aren’t getting rain.”

“That’s what we’re investigating,” Lee said.

Ophelia walked up to Lee. “I think we have what we came for,” she whispered to Lee. “Let’s move on.”

“We do?” Lee asked.

Ophelia nodded.

“Well, it looks like we’re done here,” Lee said to the farmer. “We’ll let you get back to your plowing.”

“I’m glad to be of help,” the farmer said as they walked away.

“Where are they?” Lee asked in a hushed voice.

“They’re clinging to my drawers,” Ophelia whispered.

Lee raised an intrigued eyebrow.

“It was the only place I could think of,” Ophelia said in her defense. “The farmer would have noticed me putting them in my pocket.”

The two walked back to the station wagon. Ophelia did her best to walk casually without moving her leg the royals were clinging to too much. The others were still searching the on the ground.

“We found them,” Ophelia announced.

“You did?” The others jumped to their feet.

Ophelia lifted her skirt to reveal them still clinging to her underwear. Milro and Sophie jumped off. Sophie patted Auler on the back who still had his eyes closed. “You can get off now, Big Brother.”

“Unless you like it there,” Ophelia teased.

Auler opened his eyes and jumped off too.

“Now that that’s over, let’s get going,” Spigot said.

Ophelia swept the tiny royals up in her slender hands and sat in the passenger seat. The others took their previous seats and Tammy drove off.

* * *​

As they headed west, the farms became smaller and less numerous and the woods became vaster. They were on a rise and the once flat, straight road rose and fell with the hilly terrain and curved. The trees went from full deciduous forest to mixed forest to full conifer forest. Through the branches of white pines, they eventually saw the ghostly image of Snow Mountain emerge from the hazy veil of the sky.

“I thought we’d never get here,” Spigot sighed in relief. “It should be all downhill from here if you forgive the pun.”

A droning broke the calm of the forest, sounding like a swarm of giant insects approaching them. Dozens of large motorcycles shot out from around a corner in the opposite direction. Tammy slammed on the brakes in a panic and brought them to a sudden stop. The bikes raced past them, filling the air with the racket of their combustion engines and the stench of bio-diesel exhaust.

The riders were all Bubu, a pig-like people from the Jewelry Kingdom. They were a stout race with bulging guts they often left exposed to show off the pearl wedged into their navel. The flabby, pink riders dressed in denim and leather laughed and grunted as they raced past.

One of the bikes had a pole supporting a flag. The flag was black with a pig’s grinning skull over crossbones and a red, gothic, capital “H” on either side.

They were soon gone and their racket was fading to nothing. The engineers jumped out of the car and looked back at the departing bikers.

“What are that many Bubu doing here?” Ophelia exclaimed.

“Judging by their colors,” Lee said, “I’d say they’re Hog Hell.”

“Hog Hell?!” Franklin yelped, “in the Drop Kingdom?!”

The bikers came back into view from behind a hill and turned off the road into the woods.

“We should go after them,” Tammy said.

“Us?!” Bret snapped. “Why us?!”

“We’re here,” Lee said. “We can’t just let them run roughshod over our country.”

“Damn straight,” Tammy concurred.

They got back into the station wagon and Tammy backed them up to where the bikers had entered the woods. The engineers got out of the vehicle and looked at the tire treads leading into the shadowy woods.

“We’ll be lucky to be airborne by dawn at this rate,” Spigot sighed. “Ophelia, Franklin, watch the car.”

“I’m fine with that,” Franklin said. “I’m not ready to throw myself into the jaws of the most infamous criminal gang in the Wonder Planet.”

“Everyone has their service pistols, right?” Spigot asked.

The engineers nodded.

“Then let’s rattle their cage and get this over with,” Spigot said.

He led the way as they walked gingerly into the forest.

 

[The Big Al]

Chapter 5: Hogs and a Hurricane

The five engineers walked slowly between the slim trunks of white pines. The branches covered in long, soft needles blocked out much of the Blessing of the Sun, shrouding the forest floor in mooted light with an occasional pool of unhindered light here and there. The mat of needles covering the ground muffled their footsteps they made carefully.

Nothing but silence met their ears. It was not like the awkward silence in the station wagon that choked the atmosphere like a noxious gas. This silence was terrifying, coiling around them like a snake waiting to strike. Woods should be filled with the song and fluttering of birds and the chatter and scurrying of squirrels among other sounds. However, they were quiet and hidden from sight.

Like darkness, silence instills a primal fear. It is not what you can see or hear that is most frightening, but what you cannot and is left up to your imagination. The absence of normal background noise only heightens the mind’s alertness as something has everything else scared and you know you should be too.

The silence was made all the more unsettling by their quarry. Between the racket of their bikes and their boisterous demeanor on the road, it was hard to imagine they would now make no noise. The only explanation was they did not want to be found in the woods and could be lying in wait for anyone who could disturb them.

Fortunately, the silence was broken. They heard hushed voices. There was a clearing at the bottom of a small bluff where the bikers had gathered. The engineers got down on their stomachs and crawled to the edge to watch them.

There were twenty human-sized, swine-like men. Nineteen motorcycles and a motorized tricycle attached to a trailer were parked in a line near them. They remembered all the bikers were alone on their motorcycles on the road, meaning they were all there in front of them. The engineers heaved a sigh of relief as that meant there were no unwelcome surprises lurking in the woods.

There attire was typical bikers. Their pants were either denim or leather and black, leather jackets with or without sleeves over t-shirts or muscle shirts all exposing their pearl adorned navels. A few had spiked pads on their shoulders and all of them wore black, Kaiser-style helmets with a sharp, silver spike on top and the same, gothic “H” on the sides.

One of them was standing away from the rest and looking towards them. What caught the engineers’ attention was his pearl was black unlike the white pearls of the others. “Just calm down,” he barked, sending the others into silence. “It was just one car.”

“But it had government markings, Head Hog,” another Bubu said nervously. “What if they’re onto our arrangement?”

“This is the last meeting,” the one alone, apparently called Head Hog and the leader, said. “We give them the silver and they give us our purchase and we never have to set a tire in the Drop Kingdom again.”

“I guess we know why they were stealing silver,” Lee whispered.

“But what is this arrangement they’re talking about?” Emily asked.

“Where are they,” yet another Bubu grumbled.

“They’ll be here,” Head Hog said.

Rumbling rose over the quiet of the woods. An amphibious pickup truck drove out of the woods into the clearing. It turned around and backed up towards the bikers. The vehicle was jet black with windows so tinted it was impossible to see inside. The engineers felt their hearts quicken as they realized they were witnessing a black market deal. They gulped dryly and tried to lay even flatter against the ground as they watched.

The doors opened and the occupants exited the vehicle. They were Walruses, a Drop Kingdom people who resembled their namesake but were no bigger than smaller Beavers. Most of the beige-skinned, flabby people were dressed in pale yellow, double-breasted tunics and tinted goggles over their eyes. One was dressed in a red and black checkered, flannel shirt and a stocking cap and one of the stubby tusks hanging down from his large, upper lip was a gold cap.

The Walrus in the flannel shirt waddled up to the Bubu. “Good of you to come, Deg,” Head Hog greeted him.

“Do you have our final payment?” Deg asked.

A Bubu handed Head Hog a large, leather brief case. He opened it to reveal ten bars of silver in two rows of five behind straps. “Ten one kilo ingots of sterling silver,” he said. “Though, I still don’t understand why you insisted on silver. We could have easily gotten you the same weight in gold bullion.”

“We have more use for the silver,” Deg replied.

“Now, where’s our purchase?” Head Hog asked.

“Get out the crates,” Deg told his fellow Walruses.

They pushed several wooden crates out of the truck bed and onto the ground. Head Hog wedged a crowbar under the top of one of them and pulled the top off. He reached in and pulled out something that made all the engineers gasp.

He was holding a sonic rifle. The long, narrow gun had a handle as well as a shoulder rest for the butt. A parabolic dish and resonator ended the slender, steel gray barrel. Head Hog held it as if he was taking aim with the shoulder rest against his shoulder, his right hand on the handle and his left holding the black body.

“Sonic rifles,” Deg explained, “unlike weapons that propel solid projectiles with compressed gas or combustion, Drop Kingdom weaponry fires a coherent beam of ultrasonic waves that makes it effective both on land and underwater. They’re unhindered by any known form of armor or protection. They have two settings, stun and kill, but I suspect that last feature is academic to you.”

“A marvelous weapon,” Head Hog said in satisfaction as he examined it.

“Seems to be a lot of trouble to get their hands on some guns,” Bret mused aloud.

“Firearms are illegal in the Jewelry Kingdom,” Spigot stated in a hushed voice.

“Aren’t you glad we came?” Lee asked. “We just blew the silver theft case and a gun smuggling ring wide open.”

“That’s good and all,” Tammy said, “but what do we do about it?”

“We can’t let them take those guns back to the Jewelry Kingdom,” Spigot insisted. “They’d be practically unstoppable with that kind of firepower.”

Bret backed up and his foot hit a twig that snapped. The Walruses and Bubu picked up their heads and looked to them.

“Oops,” Bret said weakly.

“It’s the feds!” a Walrus yelled.

“I told you that car would come after us,” the Bubu who mentioned them stated.

“So what?” Head Hog scoffed. “We’ll just use ‘em for target practice.”

He picked up the rifle and fired a blue beam surrounded by white rings. The beam hit a pine tree behind the engineers. The bark exploded off and the wood underneath splintered and buckled. The tree collapsed on its weakened trunk and fell to the ground with a loud crash.

* * *​

Ophelia and Franklin jumped as the sound of the crash reached them at the road.

“Did you hear that?” Franklin exclaimed.

“I sure did,” Ophelia replied.

The two reached into their uniforms and pulled out pistols similar in design to the rifles and ran into the woods. Auler, Milro, and Sophie watched from inside the station wagon as they disappeared from view.

“What’s going on?” Sophie asked worriedly.

“I don’t know,” Auler said, “but I think we should hide.”

He jumped down from the dashboard and got under the passenger’s seat. Sophie and Milro followed. They did not know what was happening, but if it had to be bad if Ophelia and Franklin thought they had to abandon them for it.

* * *​

Spigot and his engineers ran for cover under a hail of blue beams. Several other Bubu had grabbed rifles and joined Head Hog in trying to shoot them. They were inaccurate as they fired wildly into the pines, but one lucky hit would mean a gruesome end as was running through their minds. The sonic beams at the kill setting did their damage by sending shockwaves through the body that tore tissue and liquefied bone. A hit to the head or torso was almost guaranteed to be fatal.

The Walruses wasted no time leaving. They threw the briefcase in the cab and piled into their truck. Tammy and Lee tried to go after them as they tore out of the clearing and into the woods, but they were stopped by the fire fight.

They returned fire with stun beams from their pistols and dove into the underbrush. Bret shot one of the Bubu and he crumpled over like a deflating balloon. At the stun setting, the beam made shockwaves strong enough to overwhelm the nervous system and render the target unconscious without damaging tissue. More bikers followed as the engineers got a chance to aim with their shots.

“How many is that?” Lee asked as he downed another.

“Six,” Bret answered.

Tammy got off two shots in quick succession. Each hit a Bubu and they fell to the ground. “Make it eight,” she said.

Another rifle beam hit the side of the bluff, causing an explosion of dust and pebbles. The ground gave under Emily and she tumbled to the ground below. She shook her head in a daze and saw that her pistol had fallen more than a meter from her. She snapped her head back to a Bubu taking aim for her. Her body froze as her mind came up blank with how to escape this one. However, a blue beam struck him square in the chest and he fell over.

Emily looked up to see Ophelia and Franklin standing on the ledge above her. Ophelia fired off three shots and three Bubu collapsed. Franklin slid down the hill and threw Emily her pistol.

“Having fun without us?” Ophelia asked.

Lee dropped another Bubu. “What makes you think that?”

Now outnumbered, the Bubu dropped their rifles and ran for their bikes. They jumped on and started their engines. They drove off into the woods leaving the dwindling sound of their engines behind them.

Head Hog had been loading crates onto the trailer during the chaos. He jumped on the tricycle and started the engine.

“Their leader is making a break for it with the rifles,” Lee reported upon hearing the droning of the engine.

“Ophelia,” Spigot said, “take care of the trailer and that tricycle.”

Ophelia set her pistol to kill and took aim. She fired and hit the coupler connecting the trailer to the tricycle. It exploded into shards and the two were separated. She then shot out one of the tires, throwing Head Hog off it when it abruptly stopped. She then shot the crates, blowing them apart and sending their contents flying in every direction.

Head Hog got to his feet and slung the rifle he was carrying across his body with its strap. He grabbed an armload of rifles and ran into the woods.

“Where’s he going?” Franklin asked.

“To our station wagon!” Spigot exclaimed. “We’re all here, meaning it’s unguarded!”

“Tammy, Bret,” Spigot barked, “stop him before he gets to the station wagon and finds Princess Milro and the others.”

* * *​

Head Hog wheezed and panted as he ran out of the woods. He stopped to catch his breath and saw the station wagon sitting along the side of the road. He took the rifle slung across him and fired at the driver’s side window, shattering it. The royals withdrew further under the seat as glass flew through the cabin.

Head Hog threw the rifles in with a couple falling to the floor in front of the royals. He quickly unlocked the door and got in. He took out his knife and cut open the steering column to take out wires and start hardwiring the vehicle.

The royals could only hide and not dare to make a noise. For the first time, they realized just how helpless their new size made them. Not knowing if the engineers could save them this time, they could only hope for a miracle. However, that hope dwindled as the motor whirred to life.

Head Hog grabbed the steering wheel and faced forward. He looked up in time for Tammy to jump out in front of the station wagon. He grimaced at the Beaver and slammed his foot into the accelerator. Expecting to lurch forward and run over her, everyone was shocked when the station wagon tilted up. Tammy had picked up the front end off the ground and the forward wheels were spinning in thin air.

Head Hog’s shock wore off just in time for him to feel the muzzle of a sonic pistol be shoved in the side of his fleshy head. “Put it in park and get out,” Bret ordered.

Head Hog complied and open the door to fell out of the station wagon onto the pavement. Bret took his rifle forced him to the ground as gunpoint.

“Put the station wagon down and get some rope to tie him up,” Bret said.

Tammy gently set the station wagon down on the gravel of the shoulder. She walked to the back grabbed some cord to hogtie Head Hog’s arms and legs together against his back.

Spigot, Emily, and Franklin ran out of the woods with their weapons ready. However, they returned their pistols to their concealed holsters and heaved a sigh of relief seeing Head Hog subdued.

“Thank you, God,” Spigot said.

* * *​

Tammy threw Head Hog into the pile of hogtied bikers the others had made of the unconscious Bubu. Some of them started to stir as the stun wore off and Head Hog landed on them.

“I feel like I just went on the mother of all benders,” a Bubu groaned.

He looked up at the mass of the blue that eventually came into focus as the engineers.

“I called the local sheriff,” Lee reported. “They’ll be sending someone out soon and I told them we can’t wait for them.”

“Good,” Spigot said. He then turned to the Bubu. “A bunch of foreigners without as much as a single passport between them but crates of contraband, I wouldn’t put money on your acquittal. We wish we could stick around for the fun, but we’re on a schedule. Have a nice incarceration.”

“Don’t think this means anything,” Head Hog yelled after the departing engineers. “We’ll get out of this, and when we do, you’ll be at the top of our ‘to do’ list.”

“Blow it out your hind end,” Tammy shot back.

* * *​

They returned to the station wagon being watched by Emily, Franklin, and Bret. “That’s it for the distractions,” Spigot declared as he walked back onto the road. “From now ‘til dawn, you will sleep, eat, and drink the rain over the Tanetane Kingdom. Now let’s get to Snow Mountain. I want to complete our flyover before dusk.”

“It’s safe now,” Ophelia said into the station wagon.

Milro, Auler, and Sophie gingerly emerged from under the seat. “Who was that guy?” Auler asked, unable to completely hide the quiver his in voice.

“They’re of no concern now,” Spigot said.

“I’m more interested in those Walruses,” Lee said. “Why would they specifically want silver?”

“Who cares?” Spigot asked rhetorically. “It has nothing to do with the flooding in the Tanetane Kingdom and therefore is no concern of ours.”

“I can’t shake the feeling that that isn’t necessarily true,” Lee mused aloud.

They drove the rest of the way to Snow Mountain at a much slower pace. The wind blasted in through the shattered window and Ophelia had to shield the royals from being blown out the cabin. They finally drove into Fort Yellowknife, a small collection of buildings at the base of Snow Mountain.

Tammy parked them next to a large balloon hangar. Since the station wagon had been hardwired, the ignition did not work and she had to turn off the motor by pulling out a fist full of wires.

“Brilliant,” Spigot said dully.

He got out and went in to get them a balloon to travel up to the summit. The other engineers and royals waited in the station wagon.

“This is not going to end well,” Bret said dully. “Look at everything that’s happened to us and that was just the trip to the starting line.”

“Fortunately, we’re going into the air now,” Ophelia said. “I doubt anything can happen up there.”

“I can’t believe this is happening to me,” Auler complained as he paced across the dashboard like a restless animal would pace its cage. “We’ve been blown away by a little dust devil, almost killed by a tractor, and now almost kidnapped by accident.”

“We know,” Milro replied.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt so helpless in my life,” Auler continued. “Not even the depths of the Crisis made me feel weak as I feel now.”

“You need to calm down,” Sophie said casually. “We’re not going to get anywhere obsessing about what’s happened to us.”

“We’re going to get into trouble if we don’t acknowledge it,” he snapped.

Sophie backed away in shock from his outburst. Auler felt a pit formed in his stomach seeing his sister frightened.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a more subdued tone. “It’s just…this has made me all the more aware of a problem I’ve always had. I’ve always felt like the odd prince out. Everyone talks about how cool Shade is and how handsome Bright is. I feel like I’m living in their shadows. I’m a great pilot, but I’m not a swashbuckling hero or a charismatic heartthrob everyone expects a prince to be. Now that this has happened to me, it’ll only get worse.”

“I know how you feel,” Milro said in a small voice. “I look to my mother and everything she’s done as queen. She’s seen the Drop Kingdom through the Crisis and into an era of technological and culture flowering. I fear more than anything else that I could never live up to her legacy and what’s happened would make it worse as well. Could you imagine if I had to rule the Drop Kingdom at this size?”

Auler coughed a laugh. “It makes my worries seem petty when I compare it to yours. Still, I’d prefer to be my normal size and not have to worry about being blown halfway across the country every time I step out of the castle.”

“I got a balloon,” Spigot announced as he walked back to the station wagon. “Let’s get moving.”

“You’ll have to hide in my pocket,” Ophelia said to the reduced royals.

“It’s better than where we have been,” Auler commented.

They each walked up onto Ophelia’s hand and slid into her large skirt pocket. The cavity was empty and the fabric was flexible to let them get into a comfortable position. Auler mentally sighed in relief that the inner side was opaque.

The engineers put on earmuffs, scarves, and gloves as they boarded the small, simple hot air balloon Spigot had procured. Lee pulled the burner cord and flames shot up into the envelope blue envelope. The balloon lifted off the ground and began its climb into the atmosphere. The air got colder and thinner as they ascended and snowflakes began falling gently through the air as they approached the elevation of the summit some two kilometers above the ground.

They rose above the summit to see it was a flat like a table top shrouded in snow clouds. Lee pulled the rip cord slightly to release hot air and stop their ascent. Tammy turned on a small propeller motor on the side that pushed them over the summit.

Feeling their ascent stop, the royals climbed up peek out of Ophelia’s pocket. Everyone could see the mist of their breath blow out from their mouths and noses. Sophie held out her hand and caught a snowflake that was almost as big as her balm.

They passed over a large collection of igloos. Scores of what looked like giant, white furballs were walking around the snowfield and areas where the snow had been cleared away from the ice. Many were hauling blocks of ice and large, blue fish on sleds pulled by large, brown yaks. Others were cutting holes in the ice with square saws or sitting on the water’s edge with fishing rods holding lines in the water.

“Who are they?” Auler asked.

“They’re called Monjara,” Spigot answered. “They live in Churchill Town down there. They harvest the ice and umauma from the lake under the snowfield.”

Away from town was a huge, rectangular building on one end of a long, narrow, raised area. Spigot said, “Land there.” Lee pulled the rip cord to begin their descent and Tammy guided them towards it. The balloon touched down and everyone hopped out.

On the ground, they could take in the landscape in all its bleakness. It was well removed from the settlement known as Churchill Town that looked like nothing but tiny lumps in the distance. Everything was stark white under a blanket of snow kept fresh by the flakes falling from the puffy clouds drifting over the summit. The sky seemed more brilliantly blue here and the Blessing of the Sun had a more definite yellow tint to it. Perhaps it was because they were higher in elevation or their eyes had something truly white to compare them too.

It was cold, but not bitterly cold like it could be in the depths of winter. The wind whistled across the desolate landscape, blowing the powdery snow into drifts like sand dunes in the desert. The engineers knew the conditions on this mountain, even this time of year, could be much worse with winds howling at hurricane force, cold that would give you frostbite in minutes, and white out conditions. It was a break they would gladly take, especially after their fortunes so far on this mission.

The building they had landed next to was a massive box with huge doors in the front. Next to them, as if to give a comparison, was mandoor that was tiny in comparison. Spigot took out a key and unlocked the door. Tammy pushed it open and they filed in.

The interior was warmer, but still rather cold for indoors. They took off their gear and Ophelia helped the royals out of her pocket and onto her shoulder. The interior was completely hollow with a few rooms along the edges. However, what caught everyone’s eyes was the colossal object sitting in the center.

“Wow,” Bret gasped. “Is this it?”

“Yup,” Spigot said. “Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the H.M.A. Hurricane.”

“It’s huge,” Auler exclaimed and he did not think it was just because of his diminutive size. Looking at the engineers who seemed like towering giants to him being dwarfed by this machine made him realize just how small he was. He got a chance to see the Luna Queen, the Moon Kingdom’s flagship, up close once. It was the largest of the flagships, looking like a cruiser meant to sail the seas, but instead cruised the skies. He thought it was the largest airship in the Wonder Planet. However, this likely held that distinction.

Its dimensions were staggering. The cylindrical fuselage had to be more than 35 meters long and well over a story tall. It ended in the front with a snub nose under a bank of windshields and a long boon at the bottom and off to the right in the front and tapered to a point in the back with three foils arranged with one on the top and two on the sides at right angles to it. A pair of wings was attached to the bottom of the fuselage giving it a span of more than 30 meters. On either wing were two massive propeller engines each with four blades each almost as long as a grown man was tall. Even the landing gears had to be at least a meter across and the belly was high enough off the ground a grown man would barely have to duck to walk under it.

Aside from its size, the Hurricane was a rather unassuming craft. Its hull was steel gray with dark solar panels on the top of the wings and fuselage. There were no markings indicating its designation or country of origin. They figured it was because it was a black project the designers did not want to advertize where it came from. It also lacked something common to all airships.

“This thing is an airship?” Auler asked. “How can it fly without an envelope?”

“With those,” Spigot said, pointing to the wings. “This ship flies using the aerodynamic shape of the wings like a bird. It makes the airship less prone to wind shear and allows for greater speed and maneuverability.”

“With these bad boys this thing must leave in the fastest racer zeppelins in the dust,” Bret mused about the massive engines.

“They’d be lucky to keep up with the dust,” Spigot said proudly. “We got her up to seven hundred fifty kilometers per hour during one of the test flights.”

“Definitely cool,” Bret said, his mouth pealing into an indulged smile. “And I get to pilot her. How does she handle?”

“The controls are basically the same as conventional airships,” Spigot answered. “She’s more responsive, so you need to be gentler. It also needs to accelerate to takeoff speed on the ground and slow down when it lands, so it needs a long, flat strip of land to take off and land.”

Ophelia led them up the ladder leading to the door into the fuselage. She pushed it open and looked around as she walked in. The interior was crowded with objects covered in dusty sheets. She flipped a switch to make the line of LED lights running the length of the ceiling come on and provide better light.

She pulled off a nearby sheet causing dust to explode into the air. She coughed on the choking dust and waved her hand at the air to try to fan it away. What was under the sheet was a workstation similar to that in the Cloud Management Room with a few screens, and a keyboard. A radio set was next to it and two chairs in the same design as blue, drop-shaped chairs used in the castle were bolted to the floor at them. There were two more workstations on either side of the passageway into the cockpit and a chair next to a tube coming out of the floor on an incline towards the front and the wall had numerous cylindrical objects.

“What are those?” Sophie asked.

Tammy took one of the objects off the wall and examined it. “It’s a dropsonde,” she answered. “It’s launched through that tube and parachutes to the ground. Its instruments record temperature, moisture content, and air pressure and we can track its movements to determine the wind speed and direction.”

“This thing must have every weather-sensing you could possibly need,” Ophelia said to no one in particular. “It has C and X-band Doppler radar in all three right planes, an anemometer that breaks wind velocity into its directional components, thermometers, barometers, and hygrometers of course, and even something to sense aerosol concentrations.”

“The Hurricane was built to be a mobile weather lab,” Spigot said. “We needed it to be thorough.”

There were also some modest amenities. There was a bunk bed off to one side and a mini-fridge next to it. Four chairs were arranged around a table behind the first workstation and radio set and couch on the opposite side.

Emily counted the seats and assumed there were two in the cockpit. “How many people make up a typical crew?” she asked suspiciously.

“Eleven,” Spigot admitted. “A full crew is a pilot, a copilot, three meteorologists, a mission commander, a navigator, a radio operator, an in-flight mechanic and a computer specialist. However, I didn’t want to use more than one station wagon getting here. We don’t need a radio operator as we’ll be running silent, I can double as the navigator and mission commander, and Lee and Ophelia and take turns doubling as the meteorologists and copilot.”

“You expect one of us to handle all this,” Ophelia whined.

“I’ll play you for who gets to be copilot during the first half,” Lee said tauntingly.

“You’re on,” Ophelia said eagerly.

“Rock, paper, scissors,” the two said at once. Ophelia kept her fist in a ball while Lee opened his hand.

“Paper beats rock,” Lee taunted, putting his hand over Ophelia’s fist.

“Damn,” Ophelia cursed under her breath.

“Now that that’s settled, we need to do a system check and fuel the plane. This thing hasn’t seen the skies in more than five years,” Spigot said. “Hurry up and get to work.”

Lee and Bret quickly descended the stairs and ran over to the hydrogen pump. Lee grabbed the hose and dragged it to the panel on the underbelly near the rear. He opened the panel and slid the nozzle into the hole behind it until the collar of the hose was secure. He turned a lever clockwise around the collar and light on the nozzle went from red to green. He pushed a button next to the hole and yelled back to Bret, “We’re hooked up and sealed. Start pumping.”

Bret twisted a large spigot on the pump’s controls and the sound of flowing gas came from the hose as it jumped from the sudden increase in pressure in it.

“The tank should take about fifteen minutes to fill,” Bret said. “Let’s make sure this thing is ready to fly.”

The engineers quickly checked the Hurricane. They made sure the landing gear tires were properly pressurized, the lubricant was good, and electrical system was working as it should among other things. After a few minor adjustments and topping off some fluids, the Hurricane was ready for the sky.

Tammy entered a control room and opened the main hangar doors. A rush of cold air blew into the hangar through the widening gap. As if on cue, the pump shut off with a loud clack as the tank was full. Lee undid the connection and threw the hose off to the side and closed the panel. Everyone piled into the plain and prepared for takeoff.

Bret and Lee entered the cockpit. It was a cramped space with two chairs in front of an extensive bank and controls and instruments and another one in back for an observer. The cockpit also had several embellishments. The chairs in the cockpit had leopard print upholstery, there was a pair of giant, fuzzy, red dice with white dots hanging from the ceiling, and a dancing hula doll was stuck on the dashboard.

“I’m liking this airship more and more,” Bret mused aloud.

“You would,” Lee commented snidely.

The two sat down in their seats and strapped in. Bret started the four engines and they began spinning their blades. The Hurricane slowly pulled out of the hangar and into the snow outside. Once they were out, Spigot pressed a button on the wall and the hangar doors behind them closed.

Bret grabbed a receiver hanging from the ceiling. “Hello, hello, this is your captain speaking,” he said over it. “Anyone with any business here, speak now or forever hold your peace. We’re departing now.” He replaced the receiver to its holder.

“I think I just realized something,” Franklin said weakly.

“What?” Emily asked.

“I don’t like flying in airships like this,” Franklin said uneasily. “We haven’t even taken off and my palms are sweaty, but stomach is doing cartwheels, and my brain is obsessed with thoughts of me plummeting to my death.”

“That sounds like you don’t like flying,” Emily said as-a-matter-of-factly. “You were okay in the balloon.”

“That’s because a balloon is lighter than air and is supposed to float,” Franklin said dully. “I’m not even sure I understand what’ll keep this thing aloft.”

“Let’s this show airborne,” Bret shouted eagerly and shoved the throttle to full.

The propellers began spinning faster and faster until they looked like disks. The Hurricane pulled forward and quickly gained speed. The snow path ahead was bumpy thanks to the land under it and gave the tires enough traction to accelerate forward. The Hurricane seemed to be lighter on its landing gears as they gained speed until it finally lifted into the air. The landing gears retracted into their holds and the airship rose higher into the air.

“Now this is flying,” Bret said with satisfaction. “Did we lose anyone back there?”

“Yeah,” Franklin said weakly. “My stomach and my sanity are still in the hangar.”

“Well, they’ll miss one hell of a trip,” Bret said. “Next stop: the Tanetane Kingdom.”

 

[alster08]

This is very interesting and different. I look foward to more. VM me when you post a new chapter.

 

[The Big Al]

Chapter 6: A Little Adventure

The Hurricane flew through the clouds over the Tanetane Kingdom. Its running lights, three white lamps on the centerline of the underbelly and another on the top of the tail foil, a red lamp on the left wing tip, and a green lamp on the right, made the clouds around them seem to glow around it. The skeleton crew worked diligently managing the data coming in from the airship’s numerous sensors in hopes of finding answers to what was happening below them hidden among the water droplets.

* * *​

Nina put two large platters piled high with colorful sugar cookies on the two tables her sisters were sitting at in the observatory. “Bon appétit,” she said.

“Thanks, Nina,” Saya said.

“Now we flip the coin,” Gorchel said as she took one and bit into it.

Nina’s cooking was hit or miss. She sometimes made great sweets, and sometimes she made things that were completely awful. The only way to tell was to try. Fortunately, this was a hit as the cookie was delightfully sweet.

“It’s safe,” Gorchel announced.

Everyone began plucking cookies from the piles and pouring tea. However, Julia was missing. Nina looked around the observatory and saw her sitting at one of the large windows.

Julia was staring out at the grayness outside. The Mother Tree was tall enough the very top would be shrouded by some of lower hanging clouds. When the ceiling was higher, it provided the best view of the surrounding area. It was same sight that had been there since this all started. The countryside seemed washed out and dull under the blanket of gray clouds with the only difference being the muddy river was a little wider than the day before.

“You know staring at it won’t change anything, Julia,” Nina said to her mint-haired sibling.

“I was just thinking of Auler, Milro, and Sophie,” Julia replied to her teal-haired sister distantly. “I don’t think what the Mother Tree did to them was fair.”

“It’s not fair that our entire country is drowning,” Nursya retorted.

“Honestly,” Harney snapped at her red-haired sister. “Can’t you at least entertain the idea that Mr. Spigot was telling the truth and they had nothing to do with this?”

“They make the rain and wind, don’t they?” Nursya shot back at the blond.

“That doesn’t mean they have control over where it goes!” Harney snapped.

“STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU!” Ichele yelled, bolting to her feet and slamming her gloved fist on the tabletop. “Arguing isn’t going to help our people.”

“Besides,” Shiyon yawned, “how can anyone sleep with you yelling all the time?”

“It’s about the only thing that keeps you awake,” Julia remarked to her purple-haired sibling. “I’m going to the library. There might be real answers there.”

“We’re going to leave too,” Gorchel said as Loloa and Quarry got up with her.

* * *​

Two Molmo workers were standing on a hill overlooking the Mother Tree, the surrounding villages, and the turbulent river nearby. They were doing survey work to determine how much the river had widened since the day before. Each day it had increased in width. They could tell instantly as it was closer to the wall of sandbags being constructed between it and the villages. However, it seemed the water was rising faster than the sandbags were being laid and a day would come when it would top them if things continued like they were. They preferred not to think of what would happen then.

They instead did their duty. They set up their tripod directly over a stake in the ground so their position was precisely the same from day to day. As one made adjustments, the other looked up at the drab gray sky above them.

“I wonder if we’ll ever see the Blessing of the Sun again,” he mused.

“It’ll blow over,” his partner replied. “The weather can’t stay like this forever. I’m worried the change won’t come in time for the villages.”

The worker went back to looking at the sky. After staring at nothing by clouds for more than a week, he had realized they were never exactly alike. The clouds had dips and buckers and there were even small clumps of clouds below the main ceiling. Before, he only recognized the most basic differences between the flat, broad, blanketing clouds like the ones over them now; the puffy, white clouds that drifted through the skies on summer afternoons; and the clouds that looked like thin wisps. However, even this one kind of clouds seemed to have characteristics that varied over time.

A low droning rose up over the sound of the rain. It gained in volume and pitch as it seemed to be approaching them from the north. Both workers looked up and saw a glow in the clouds. The center of the glow was white with red on the edge to their right and green to their left. The glow moved through the clouds at such speed within a couple seconds it was passing overhead of them with the droning reaching its peak suggesting the two were from the same source. A couple seconds later both were gone.

“What was that?” the worker using the equipment asked.

“I don’t know,” the other said, “but we should inform King King.”

The two ran to the Mother Tree. Gorchel, Loloa, and Quarry were at the door as they came in. They panted and gulped for air to catch their breath and braced their arms on their knees.

“What’s wrong,” Quarry asked.

“We saw a strange glow in the sky while we were gauging width of the river,” one of the workers gasped. “It was accompanied by a weird droning and it moved faster than anything I ever saw before. It was there than gone in a couple seconds.”

“We’re going to report it to King King after we catch our breath,” the other added.

“A strange glow,” Loloa mused. “I wonder what it could be.”

“I think I know what it is,” Quarry said coyly as her mouth bent into a lopsided grin. “It’s a U.F.O.”

“A U.F.O.?” Gorchel and Quarry repeated inquisitively.

“An unidentified flying object,” Quarry said. “Aliens use them to fly through space.”

“Aliens?” Gorchel cried, hugging each other in fright.

Quarry’s grin grew even more lopsided and her face took on a sinister expression. “Yes. I’ve read all about them. They come from a strange, distant planet,” she in a low threatening tone. “No one knows what they look like exactly, but they look like nothing in the Wonder Planet.”

“That’s hard to believe,” Loloa said. “We have everything from Humans with gills slits like sharks to Guntsu who are living rock.”

“Regardless, they come here in weird spaceships that fill the sky with mysterious light,” Quarry continued. “They abduct unsuspecting people and animals to do horrible experiments on to further their evil agenda.”

Her pink-haired sisters trembled and backed to a wall as they listened. “Th-That’s impossible,” Gorchel stammered to her green-haired sibling. “There’s no such thing as aliens. Besides, the Moon Kingdom would catch them when they enter through the Spring of Stars.”

“How do you know they haven’t infiltrated the Moon Kingdom’s government?” Quarry asked sinisterly.

“You’re letting your imagination run away with you,” Loloa said in response. “It’s probably just an airship.”

“What airship could move fast enough to be there and gone in a manner of seconds?” Quarry replied.

“Perhaps we should get the others and check it out,” Gorchel suggested. “There has to be a reasonable explanation.”

“I’ll go get Julia,” Loloa said.

“I’m telling you they’re aliens,” Quarry yelled after them.

* * *​

The castle library was a cavern gouged out of the trunk like most of its halls and rooms, but it was much larger. The shelves were actually ridges of the remaining wood with alcoves carved into them for books to sit. Several candlelit chandeliers were suspended from the ceiling and candles sat on every table to provide plenty of light.

Julia rummaged through the alcoves for books on weather. She found an almanac and took it to a table. She opened the dusty book and began skimming through it. She had found its entry on spring weather and began reading it in detail.

‘During the spring, the land of the Drop Kingdom warms faster than the water surrounding it,’ she read. ‘This causes the wind to come out of the north and carries the clouds generated in the Drop Kingdom over the Tanetane Kingdom first.’

She sat back in her seat and pondered. “So, the clouds pass over us first,” she thought out loud.

“Julia,” Loloa called out as she walked in. Her voice echoed off the walls.

“Be quiet,” Julia shot back, keeping her voice hushed, “this is a library.”

“Sorry,” Loloa said in much softer voice. “A couple of workers saw a strange glow in the sky. Quarry insists it’s an alien craft as it was moving too fast to be a Wonder Planet airship.”

“Aliens,” Julia scoffed, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. “Leave it to Quarry to come up with the most unlikely explanation.”

“That what Gorchel said,” Loloa replied. “We’re going to check it out, you want to come?”

“Might as well,” Julia said with a casual shrug.

She closed the almanac and took it back to its shelf.

Saya ran wearing a poncho the same color as her indigo hair with a built-in shawl and hood. “I’m glad I caught you two,” she said. “Gorchel told me you wanted to go out and investigate those lights. It’s the perfect chance to give you guys my latest project. Since it started raining, I’ve been working on ponchos for all of this including the boys.”

“They’re so cute,” Loloa squealed giddily as Saya handed her a pink poncho. “She even made them the same color as our hair so we can tell which belongs to whom. You always seem to make just what we need and make them look good.”

“My work is fifty percent necessity and fifty percent aesthetics,” Saya said. “Here’s yours, Julia.”

She threw Julia a mint-colored poncho. Julia caught it and slipped it on. The fabric was light and flexible, but it felt like it would be waterproof and keep the wind and cold out too.

“Thanks,” Julia said. “Now let’s check out those strange lights.”

* * *​

The eleven sisters and Solo garbed in their color coded ponchos headed out into the rain. The ponchos were waterproof as the rain drops beaded on the fabric and slid off. The wind and cold were also blocked. It felt a little stuffy in them, but it was much better than being soaked and chilled.

“This work wonderfully,” Ichele commented. “Thank you, Saya.”

“You’re welcome as always,” Saya replied graciously.

Joiner took off in a dead run. She ran for the stake the workers had been surveying from and shouted “first.” The others did not respond as they walked to where their midnight blue-hair sister was waiting.

“You know this wasn’t a race,” Ichele pointed out as they joined her at the stake.

Harney looked back to see Shiyon lagging behind. She was wiggling her feet into the mud with each step, seeming to enjoy them sinking in the drenched ground. Harney heaved an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. “It might not be a foot race, but that doesn’t mean you can dawdle, Shiyon.”

“Okay,” Shiyon replied lazily as she started to walk normally. She muttered under her breath, “killjoy.”

“So, this is where the workers said they saw the lights,” Ichele said.

“They said they were gauging the width of the river,” Gorchel replied. “This stake is the location they do it from.”

“I wonder if it has something to do with the rain,” Julia thought out loud.

“I doubt it,” Gorchel said. “We would have heard about before now.”

“I don’t see why we came here,” Quarry complained. “If they found this location interesting, they would have landed.”

“Where would you search, then, Knower of the Minds of Aliens?” Nina taunted.

“I don’t see why they’d be here in the Tanetane Kingdom anyway,” Saya said. “We’re simple, low-tech farmers.”

“Farmers are the favorite target of aliens,” Quarry replied.

Ichele opened her mouth and was about to reply when they heard a low droning. It built in volume and pitch and the glow in the sky appeared to the west of them. It raced over them, the droning reaching its peak in volume and pitch as it passed overhead. In a couple seconds the glow was gone behind the veil of rain and fog and droning faded away to nothing.

Nursya coughed a laugh. “So much for them not returning to this spot,” she scoffed.

“They must be scouting the kingdom,” Quarry retorted.

“Have you ever thought it could be (gasp) a Wonder Planet airship,” Ichele said with mocking shock. “The Windmill Kingdom and the Drop Kingdom are now aware of what’s happening here. They might be investigating the rain.”

“It could be an experimental airship that can fly extremely fast,” Gorchel added. “While it might be more interesting to think they’re aliens, it’s also the least likely explanation. You need to accept too many assumptions.”

“I guess you’re right,” Quarry sighed in disappointment.

“Besides,” Ichele said, “even if they were aliens; we can’t do anything about them if they don’t land.”

Gasping and uneven fluttering came from behind them. A Butterfly struggled to stay airborne as he flew to them. “Princess Julia,” he gasped, “I’m so glad I found you.”

“What is it?” Julia asked as the blue-winged insect landed.

“It’s terrible,” he panted. “My flock lives in a meadow about two and a half kilometers upstream from here. The levee holding back the river has developed several holes the water is pouring out of. They’ve been getting bigger and more of them keep appearing. We’re afraid the river will break through and flood us out.”

“Aren’t you evacuating?” Ichele asked.

“Yes, but the rain has soaked our wings and we’re having a hard time keeping ourselves aloft, let alone carry our caterpillars to safety,” he reported. “We need help to move everyone to higher ground.”

“Loloa, Saya,” Ichele ordered, “go back to the Mother Tree and get all the help you can. Everyone else, come with me. Solo, carry…”

“Gabriel,” the Butterfly replied.

“Thanks. Carry Gabriel,” Ichele said.

“Why me?” Solo exclaimed.

“Because you’re the youngest here and male,” Ichele barked.

“I preferred it when you all doted on me,” Solo muttered under his breath.

He picked up Gabriel so he could ride piggyback as they followed the river upstream. They all ran like Joiner this time. Even Shiyon did not dawdle as they knew time was a luxury the Butterflies could not afford.

* * *​

The meadow was in a shallow basin between the levee holding back the frothy river and a forest. The yellow and brown remains of last year’s flowers poked up through the water already covering the ground. As Michael had described, several spouts of muddy water were arcing from the levee. Amongst all this brown were flecks of color as the Butterflies tried their best to carry wailing, multicolored caterpillars out of the meadow. Loloa and Saya with several Molmo and Tanetane workers came running towards the meadow.

“Everyone,” Ichele said, “get the Butterflies and their caterpillars and take them to higher ground.” She looked around and saw a nearby hill. She pointed at it and said, “Take them to the top of that hill.”

Everyone leapt into the water covering the field and picked up Butterflies and caterpillars. They carried them to the top of the hill overlooking the meadow. The water was rising at a noticeable rate as the rain and leaks filled the basin with water. They worked with increasing urgency to gather the insects in the relative safety of the hilltop.

The water had reached a depth where Julia had to wade through it. The water was cold and slimy with the mud and silt suspended in it. Normally, she would not dare enter such filthy water, but this was an emergency and even a princess had to do her part to ensure the safety of the people. Fortunately, the Butterflies did not live in structures but took shelter on the undersides of leaves. That meant searching for everyone would be quick and easy and most everyone had been evacuated.

Julia had had a close relationship with the Butterflies since she was a very little girl. Ever since she learned they were responsible for pollinating the flowers to make seeds, nuts, fruits, and berries, she worked closely with them and she had come be known as a friend to many flocks. Although she had never met this particular flock before, she would do anything to help them if for nothing else how vital they were to the Tanetane Kingdom.

She looked for caterpillars who might still be waiting for rescue when she came across the flock’s queen. She had gold wings that were larger and more elaborate than the others in the flock. She was clearly tired as her eyes and antennae were drooping and she was heaving every breath. In her arms were two caterpillars crying so hard their faces were bright red and their voices had long since gone hoarse.

“Is anyone left?” Julia asked.

“These two are the last caterpillars,” the queen answered. “I think everyone else has made it to higher ground.”

A Molmo worker walked up. “I can take them,” she said.

“Thank you,” the queen said as she handed them to the worker. “Can you do anything to save the meadow?”

The worker sighed and shook her head. “They said the levee is too badly compromised. It’s not a matter of if it will fail but when and they suspect it could be a matter of minutes.”

“My flock has lived in this meadow for generations,” the queen said. “I can’t believe I would see us forced from it.”

A loud rumbling filled the air. The spouts of water coming from the levee arced higher and farther through the air and several more joined them. The worked placed Julia and the queen on her shoulder and quickly made it to the hilltop where everyone else was standing there watching.

They joined them in waiting and watching for the inevitable. There was a growing anticipation which seemed surreal as they were waiting for the complete destruction of the meadow. Finally, the section of the levee buckled and the water did not even give it time to collapse before it poured into the meadow. The violent torrent blew rocks and dirt into the meadow as it tore even more of the levee away. The water rushed in as a wave, mowing down the remains of plants. It finally crashed into the side of the hill, throwing froth onto the onlookers. Within seconds, the meadow was just another part of the river.

The Butterflies stood in silent shock. They seemed entranced by the muddy water swirling in what had been their home. They did not even have the wherewithal to weep at the fact everything they knew was gone. The workers and royals were just as silent as they tried to come to grips with what they had just witnessed.

The only ones making a sound were the caterpillars crying. Julia knelt down and picked one up to rock it. “There, there, little one,” she said in a comforting tone. “You’re safe now.”

“Is she?” Nursya snapped. “Are any of us? How long before what happened here happens to the entire Tanetane Kingdom?”

 

[The Big Al]

Chapter 7: Stratonimbus

Jewelry Castle’s ballroom was perhaps the most majestic of all the castles. The floor was smoothed, multicolored marble with platforms that turned slowly. The walls and ceiling were adorned with gold and colorful gems and a massive crystal suspended from the pinnacle of the ceiling turned slowly, casting the spectrum over everything.

Couples danced a slow, graceful waltz and elegant music played by a string quartette wafted through the air. Among them were Auler and Altezza. The very petite princess of the Jewelry Kingdom was best known for her huge, blond rat’s nest of a hairdo adorned with a huge, pale blue gem. Her large dress was primarily white with a thick, red stripe on the front and colorful, vertical stripes ran down her balloon-like skirt. A pink sash was also held onto the skirt by gem-adorned, gold fasteners.

Altezza looked to him with her emerald green eyes and smiled gently. Auler could not feel happier than when he was in her company. He felt like he was dancing on clouds.

His foot came down and he heard a splash. The two looked down and saw the floor was covered with about a centimeter of water. The quartette stopped playing and everyone stopped dancing. The room filled with hushed murmurs as everyone looked for where the water was coming from.

The water was coming from the main doors. They suddenly burst open and a torrent of water poured into the balloon. Everyone ran, but the wave of water swept them up. The water slammed into Auler and Altezza and pulled them away from each other.

“Auler!” Altezza cried out.

“Altezza!” Auler called out as water lapped down his throat.

“Auler!” Altezza cried out once more before disappearing under the turbulent water.

“Altezza!” Auler shouted before he felt himself being pulled under.

* * *​

Auler bolted into a sitting position. His breathing was choppy, his heart was racing, and a cold sweat covered his body. He quickly looked around him. He was lying on the bottom bunk of the Hurricane’s bed and ten centimeters tall. His breathing and heart rate slowed and normalized as he realized it was only a dream. The dulled droning of the propeller blades chopping at the air assured him he was well removed from any water.

He must have fallen asleep shortly after they took off. He and Sophie had been awake for more than a day. After everything that had happened to them, this was the first chance they had to nod off.

He stood up which felt a little strange. The mattress was far from the softest, but at his size the piece of foam on top made it feel like he was standing on several layers of pillows. Once he got his feet under him, he stretched.

Sophie was sleeping soundly not too far from him. Judging by the content smile on her face, she was far better world than Auler just left. He smiled warmly at the thought of innocent dreams she must be in and draped his coat over her.

He walked as best he could across the mattress to a porthole. It was just low enough he could grab the edge and pull himself up. He gazed out and saw they were passing over yellow sand dunes under an aurora-filled, white night sky. “We’re flying over the Moon Kingdom,” he observed.

“We just finished our flyover,” Tammy replied.

“Now we can start making sense of all the data we’ve gathered,” Ophelia said.

She sat down at the workstation to the right of the opening to the cockpit. The computer had been creating mosaics with the data points. Overlaid onto a map of the Tanetane Kingdom or arranged into charts, she could look at any set of conditions she needed.

Milro was watching Emily and Franklin play ten card gin. As the in-flight mechanic and computer specialist, they had little to do unless something went wrong. Spigot had been drawing their course on a map with a black grease pencil using their location as indicated by a display over the table. They had traveled south down the center of the Tanetane Kingdom, then traveled northwest so they could bisect the country west to east, went northwest again, went east yet again across the border between the Tanetane Kingdom and the Drop Kingdom, and finally traveled back southeast to where they were over the Moon Kingdom. Tammy had also been deploying dropsondes and he marked their location with an “X.”

Emily placed the nine of diamonds on the discard pile. Franklin picked it up and placed a card face down. “Gin,” he said as he placed the seven, eight, and nine of diamonds, the two, three, four, and five of clubs, and the jacks of hearts, spades, and clubs.

“I still lead by hands,” Emily retorted.

“Want to play again?” Franklin asked tauntingly.

Emily collected up the cards and started shuffling.

Milro returned her attention to Ophelia who was toggling through maps and charts. The Aquarian girl slumped over in her chair and massaged her temples.

“Is something wrong?” Milro asked out of concern.

“No,” Ophelia replied dully. “It’s just that this is a lot more complicated than I thought it would be, especially with only working on it. We’ve unfortunately started looking at this a week in and the rain has heavily contaminated the atmosphere. It’s going to be hard to separate the causes from the symptoms.”

Bret and Lee were in the cockpit, guiding the Hurricane wherever Spigot told them to. They got a front row seat to everything they flew over. Though they were mostly flying through the clouds covering the Tanetane Kingdom, they also flew over the craggy Meridian Mountains that divided the Tanetane Kingdom from the Windmill Kingdom, the blue expanse of the Eastern Ocean, and now the yellow dunes of the Moon Kingdom’s high desert.

“Look at that, Lee,” Bret said in awe, “all that sand and not a sign of water.”

“It makes my gills itch just thinking about it,” Lee said uncomfortably.

“I thought your gills sealed shut while on land to prevent water loss,” Bret said.

“That doesn’t stop us from dehydrating like anyone else,” Lee said.

“Let’s talk about some water to get your mind off it then,” Bret suggested. “It was weird we’re coming out of those clouds. They just fade away to nothing. I’ve been flying since I was eight and I’ve never seen anything like it to that degree.”

“It’s like they’ve been exhausted all at once,” Lee said. “I’m telling you something is causing the clouds to drop all their rain over the Tanetane Kingdom. That’s got to be what’s going on.”

“We’re going to need proof if we’re to convince the Mother Tree to restore Princess Milro and the others,” Bret said.

“I’m going see if Ophelia has found anything,” Lee said. “Will you be okay on your own?”

“I’ll be fine,” Bret replied.

Lee walked into the main cabin and saw Ophelia staring at the screen in front of her tiredly. “Having fun?” he asked.

Ophelia sat back in her chair, crossed her arms, and sighed as she stared at the screen with a more indignant expression. “I’d have better luck finding a needle in a hay stack.”

“Might I suggest checking the aerosol counts?” Lee said casually.

Ophelia slapped her forehead. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“You’re a mesoscale dynamics specialist,” Lee answered, “I’m a cloud physicist.”

“Then you should have been here for the start,” Ophelia said.

“We needed to rule out other possible factors,” Lee said. “You’re better suited to that. Besides, you lost.”

Ophelia shot him a glare with her lip curled indignantly to one side. She sat up and started typing. The map of the Tanetane Kingdom appeared and a yellow and orange square appeared over it. Spigot noticed the two and walked over to the workstation.

“What are you looking at?” Spigot asked.

“I have a hypothesis that the clouds are dropping all of their precipitable water because by an overabundance of hygroscopic particles in the atmosphere,” Lee said. “They would cause rain drop formation to accelerate and…”

“…and the clouds would precipitate out over the Tanetane Kingdom,” Ophelia completed his thought. “It looks like that could be the case as these numbers do look unusually high, especially in the north and central regions. However, we don’t know if this normal or not for the Tanetane Kingdom.”

“Do you have the archive of the Drop Kingdom’s weather?” Lee asked.

Ophelia unzipped her shawl pocket and pulled out a flash drive. “I never leave the castle without it,” she answered. “It’s as current as this morning.”

She plugged the flash drive into the computer and loaded it. After a couple seconds the map expanded out to include the mitten-shaped peninsula that was the Drop Kingdom and covered it in a teal to pea green square.

“Since we can assume conditions are normal over the Drop Kingdom aside from being abnormally dry, we can extrapolate what the aerosol count should be over the Tanetane Kingdom,” Lee said. “I can then run a simple arithmetic program to find the difference between the actual and normal.”

“You mentioned aerosols at the party store,” Milro said. “What are they?”

“They’re tiny solid particles floating in the atmosphere,” Ophelia said. “They can be dust, soot, microscopic organisms, and a number of other things.”

“Water has a very hard time forming drops on its own,” Lee said. “So, it gathers on aerosols. The more aerosols in the air, the faster raindrops form.”

“Could just this be the cause?” Tammy asked as she walked over to the two. “I thought there were numerous factors that determine the weather pattern.”

“That doesn’t mean one change can’t have a significant effect,” Ophelia said. “The large scale pattern is normal for this time of year. The wind direction and speed takes the clouds over the Tanetane Kingdom first during the spring. The smaller scale patterns are being driven by processes related the rain suggesting any differences are symptoms. About the only thing left is the behavior of the cloud droplets and this is our best bet.”

She started the extrapolation program. Using various types of data, it tried to guess what the aerosol count should be given the aerosol counts in the Drop Kingdom. After a few seconds, the square lengthened into a rectangle to cover the Tanetane Kingdom in the same greens.

Ophelia bobbed her head as she absorbed. “You’re right, Lee,” she said. “The aerosol count shouldn’t be that high.”

“I’ll run a program to see just how much it’s risen and if there’s a pattern to it,” Lee said. “If there’s a clear tapering pattern towards the south, the aerosols are most likely driving the precipitation.”

He sat down at the other station and typed the simple mathematic equation of the actual minus the hypothetical. The screen zoomed back in on the Tanetane Kingdom and went blank aside from the borders and the word ‘Processing…’ appeared on the screen. Anxious tension filled the cabin as they waited. Everyone gathered around the workstation behind Lee. Auler even shook Sophie gently to wake her up and Emily picked them up and carried them to the workstation where they stood next to Milro. They all watched anxiously for what the computer would produce.

“What’s going on,” Bret asked as it got quiet in the cabin.

“Just fly the plane,” Spigot shot back.

Bret shrugged and returned his attention to piloting.

The display generated a square over the Tanetane Kingdom that was more orange to the north and shifted through the spectrum through to almost pea green around the southern borders.

“Look at that,” Lee said in satisfaction. “The aerosols are most abnormally high in the north and taper off towards the south like I said. That’s it. The rain over the Tanetane Kingdom must be caused by an unusually high concentration of aerosols.”

“It doesn’t look like that big a deal,” Tammy said. “It’s just a difference of a couple dozen parts per billionth.”

“Our work deals with parts per billionth,” Lee said. “This small change could be the other side of the tipping point between normal weather and the Tanetane Kingdom receiving all the rain meant for the Wonder Planet.”

“Then let’s take this to King King and the Mother Tree,” Spigot said. “Hopefully, they’ll be reasonable and accept this as a compromise.”

Lee got up from his workstation and started to walk back into cockpit. He then stopped and said quietly to Ophelia, “The question remains of why the aerosols are abnormally high.”

“I’m going to be looking into that,” Ophelia whispered. “There’s something very suspicious about all this.”

Lee walked back into the cockpit and sat down.

“Did you find the smoking gun?” Bret asked.

“I hope so,” Lee replied as he strapped in. “We’re heading back to the Tanetane Kingdom.”

He and Bret turned them around to head north again.

* * *​

Unknown to the crew of the Hurricane, they were being watched. Khan had been monitoring them once and a while since they took off from Snow Mountain in the Sunny Kingdom’s observation room. He at first found it curious from an airship to take off from such a remote location and at such speed. However, watching their crisscrossing course over the Tanetane Kingdom he realized they were somehow investigating the rain for themselves. Now they were heading back north to probably give their findings to Queen Yamul.

“Damn those meddlesome rodents,” he fumed. “Why cannot they take a hint and leave well enough alone.”

His part in the plan was to keep the Nyamals in the Sunny Kingdom from looking too closely at what was happening in the Tanetane Kingdom. That was easy as Nyamals were for the most part lazy and easily distracted. He was one of the rare exceptions.

Simply calling it a natural phenomenon was enough to keep them from investigating further. Even if they had not had the good fortune of Omendo coming down with the flu at the perfect time, he could have easily misled them. Their job was to watch for weather anomalies related to problems with the Blessing of the Sun and they did not pursue anything else.

However, it was the Drop Kingdom who they really needed to keep in the dark. They were a naturally distrustful people and had a nasty habit of poking around where they didn’t belong. He had hoped the lack of problems with their machinery would have been enough to keep them away, but it apparently was not.

Depending on what they could find, they might have found out about the cloud seeding and could take their findings straight to Yamal. She would then investigate further and find them out before they could make their move. He had to tell them.

He punched a key and the display changed to temperature readings of some random region. He got out of his chair and said to another Nyamal, “I have business elsewhere. Expect me back tomorrow morning.”

“Where are you going?” the tabby asked.

“I’m meeting with some associates,” Khan said honestly. “We have important, personal business you don’t need to worry about.”

“Okay,” the Nyamal said. “Before you go, are you sure we should keep our data from the Drop Kingdom? Even if what’s happening in the Tanetane Kingdom is a natural phenomenon, it wouldn’t hurt to let them look.”

Khan felt a cold sweat spread over him. The other Nyamals were starting to get more suspicious as the rain continued over the Tanetane Kingdom. However, he knew exactly how to get him off this train of thought.

“You think that?” Khan shot back. “Do you not realize what they would do with it?”

“Well…” the Nyamal started to say.

Khan cut him off. “They would raise the alarm that something is wrong. They would bring our job performance into suspect. They would say we should care about all weather events. Do you want to be bogged down with analyzing every single weather event? Do you want to have all that work put on us?”

“Work-nyam?” the Nyamal yawned and rubbed his eyes that began to droop like the rest of his body. “Just mentioning the ‘w’ word makes me sleepy-nyam.”

“Then you understand why we cannot just give our data to the Drop Kingdom whenever they ask?” Khan said.

“Yes-nyam,” the Nyamal replied tiredly.

“Good,” Khan replied.

* * *​

The Hurricane passed back under the clouds over the Tanetane Kingdom. Dusk was approaching and it seemed even darker and duller than earlier that day. The ground looked more like a black silhouette compared to the bluish-gray skies above it. Here and there, there was speck of light from a settlement.

They were approaching the Mother Tree and Bret looked at the ground below them. “Uh oh,” he said to himself.

“What?” Lee asked.

“There’s nowhere to land,” Bret said.

Spigot walked into the cockpit and climbed up on Lee’s lap to peer out. There was a long stretch of darkness near the Mother Tree. It was on the other side it her from the river, so he knew it was solid ground, at least as solid as ground was in the Tanetane Kingdom at this point.

“Land there,” he said.

“Right, I’m just going to land the biggest airship in the Wonder Planet at twilight in IFR conditions on a runway that doesn’t exist,” Bret said with weakly feigned enthusiasm. “No sweat.”

“You’re constantly bragging about how you’re the best pilot in the Drop Kingdom,” Lee replied. “Here’s your chance to prove it.”

“We have to get down there anyway,” Bret said with a shrug.

The two began landing procedures. It was unlike landing standard airships where you simply release gas to reduce buoyancy. Like with taking off, they had to contend with their speed only this time coming to a stop from it. Bret throttled down to begin their deceleration and pushed his steering yoke forward to make the plane begin to descend gently. They extended the landing gears and instinctively brought the nose up so the landing gears under the wings would touch down first. Everyone waited for the lurch that would come when the landing gears touched the ground which came. Bret eased the nose down until its landing gears also touched the ground. Lee and Bret looked to each other and heaved a sigh of relief.

Everyone was settling in for the landing when the landing gears under the left wing rode up a rock to cause the Hurricane to tip before coming back down with a bounce on the shocks. Spigot popped back into the cockpit to snap, “What the hell is going on.”

“I was afraid of this,” Bret panicked as he grasped the steering yoke to keep it from ripping out of his hands. “The ground wasn’t as flat as we hoped.”

The nose landing gears hit a rock this time, causing the plane to tip up. Spigot slipped as the angle increased and rolled backwards the length of the cabin into the back wall. “Maybe I should have asked the Sunny Kingdom Princesses after all,” he groaned.

The Hurricane dropped back onto its landing gears, bouncing a little as the shocks absorbed the impact. Bret and Lee were thrown forward in their seats as they kept their hands tightly gripped on their yokes. Lee looked at the lights of a village and noticed despite the bumps, they were still traveling fairly fast.

“Is it just me, or are we not slowing down that much?” Lee asked.

“Terrific,” Bret snarled. “This airship was designed to take off and land on snow. The tires aren’t gripping the wet grass that well.”

Lee looked up and saw the Mother Tree straight ahead and filling the windshields. “You better thing of something fast, because we’re heading straight for the Mother Tree!” he screamed.

“What?” Bret looked up and saw the massive tree they were heading for. “Oh crap!”

He pulled the emergency break and the tires immediately stopped. The Hurricane began to decelerate faster and Bret and Lee heaved a sigh of relief. However, the tail of the plane swung to the left and they started to slide sideways towards the Mother Tree like a giant car on an icy hill. They finally came to rest with the left wing tip almost touching the bark of the Mother Tree.

“I was scared too, Frank,” Emily wheezed with Franklin having wrapped himself around her torso, “but I can’t breathe.”

Bret and Lee undid their harnesses and tried to get up. However, their legs were so shaky they fell on the floor between their chairs.

“Mr. Greene, Mr. Pryor, are you two alright?” Milro asked as she ran into the cockpit.

Before they could answer, Sophie walked in and blissfully said, “That was a great landing, you two. Mr. Spigot is comparing it to that of an albatross.”

Bret and Lee exhaled low groans in response.

“Bret, you suck,” Tammy snapped. “You almost got us killed.”

“I’d like to see you land a sixty-five ton airship on wet grass in the dark,” Bret shot back. “My skills are probably what saved us.”

“Why you smug little…” Tammy snarled. “I outta…”

“You outta what…” Bret taunted.

Tammy slammed Bret into the wall with her left forearm on his neck and holding his left arm behind him in a right hand that easily wrapped around his wrist.

“I think you missed your calling,” Bret said through gritted teeth as she was holding arm so it was pulling on his shoulder and his neck was being squeezed between the wall and her arm. Both were becoming painful. “With a choke hold like this, you would have made one hell of a cop.”

“Knock it off!” Emily barked.

“Yeah,” Spigot added. “This equipment’s expensive.”

Emily shot Spigot a disgusted glance and walked away shaking her head.

“You’re dislocating my shoulder,” Bret complained.

“Then admit you suck at flying,” Tammy said.

“Alright, you suck at flying,” Bret replied.

“Not funny,” Tammy grumbled and pulled on his arm harder.

“Lee, do something about this before she actually hurts him,” Emily insisted.

Lee shrugged and walked up behind Tammy. His electrorecptors not only let him locate animals by the electrical impulses in their muscles, but he could also detect their electric field in detail when he was near enough. He could find the point in their field where he could disrupt it with his own and render them helpless or even unconscious. He grabbed Tammy at a point on her left shoulder at the very base of her neck and pinched it. Her body seized before collapsing to the ground with a loud thud.

“That’s not what I meant!” Emily exclaimed.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Lee replied.

“Simple and to the point,” Spigot said. “I like it.”

Bret peeled himself off the wall and rotated his arm in its cuff to make sure the aching appendage was still properly attached. “You’ve got to teach me how to do that,” he said.

“Grow electroreceptors and we’ll talk,” Lee replied.

* * *​

Meanwhile, a large crowd had gathered around the Hurricane. King, the princesses, and a large contingency of soldiers had joined villagers in examining the strange object that almost crashed into the Mother Tree.

“I told you it was a U.F.O.” Quarry gloated to her sisters.

“That doesn’t mean they’re aliens,” Ichele shot back.

A few onlookers approached the titan of a craft to examine it closer. It was like nothing they had ever seen before. It was bigger than anything they had ever seen come from the sky and had no envelope like an airship. A couple civilians got close enough to touch a tire and run away in case something happened.

The soldiers were in line with their cork guns at the ready. “What should we do-dane?” a soldier asked.

“What we always do to things we don’t know and can’t understand-dane.” King yelled, “Shoot it-dane!”

“The object is opening-dane!” someone shouted.

“Hold your fire-dane!” King barked.

The ladder extended from under the door where it was stored. They stopped when the platform locked into place. The stairs then descended slowly. Everyone ran back a meter or so as they touched the mud.

A door then opened to let white light pour out of the interior. Everyone watched spellbound as two figures appeared in the doorway. Bret and Lee stepped onto the platform.

“Take us to your leader,” Bret said in a monotone.

Lee held up his right hand with his index and middle finger and his ring and pinky finger paired together. “We come in peace.”

“That’s not fair,” Bret complained. “You can do that and you have webs between your fingers.” He held up his hand to show he couldn’t make both pairs at the same time.

A wave of disappointed groans arose from the crowd.

“It’s just Drop Kingdom engineers,” a Molmo spat.

“I told you,” Ichele gloated.

The engineers climbed down the stairs and stood in a line. Tammy was massaging her shoulder where Lee pinched her and still seemed off balance. Spigot came with the royals to stand in the middle. The crowd had already begun to disperse, leaving King, his family, and Axe.

“I’m back to have the prince and princesses restored,” Spigot said.

“It’s still raining,” Axe said in response.

“I have a compromise,” Spigot said. “I can’t stop the rain, but my crew has discovered the cause.”

“These people-dane?” King asked as he eyed them suspiciously. “They’re children-dane.”

“Is this supposed to be some sick joke?” Axe snarled. “Our kingdom is drowning and you leave the investigation in the hands of bunch of teenagers? They almost crashed that monstrosity into the Mother Tree.”

“But we do know the cause,” Lee said. “There is an overabundance of hygroscopic aerosols in the cloud bearing region of the atmosphere causing the clouds to prematurely precipitate.”

“Say what?” Axe asked.

“There’s crud in the air making the clouds rain in the Tanetane Kingdom,” Ophelia clarified.

“A likely story,” Axe scoffed.

“But, he’s telling the truth,” Julia stated. “The clouds pass over the Tanetane Kingdom first, so…”

“I’m not amused, Spigot!” King shouted, cutting Julia off. “You come back here, almost crash this contraption into the Mother Tree, show that you’ve put our fates in the hands of these youngsters, give us an excuse, and now you want the curse to be lifted-dane? This is an insult-dane!”

He and King turned to walk into the Mother Tree. Spigot followed them.

“Please,” Spigot pleaded. “I swear this is the best I can do. Have a heart.”

The engineers watched as they disappeared into the Mother Tree and the doors closed behind them. They were unaware of a prying eye in a distant tree. A helidoll was sitting on a branch, and peering through the leaves. The android was human-shaped with silver chrome covering most of his body and his head was designed like an art deco-style helmet. On his back was a cylindrical motor with two blades folded down over it. The ‘eyes’ in his mask-like face turned into an orange, intrigued look as the camera between them focused in on Milro and Emily in the pool of light pouring out of the door.

“The boss might find this interesting,” the robot said in his high-pitched, electronic voice.

He leapt from branch and shouted, “Copter-bot: Flight Mode.”

The top of the motor extended on a tall stalk and the blades unfolded and began spinning. He took flight and flew into the gloom still undetected.

“Where do they get off calling us children?” Emily huffed. “Only Bret and the twins are under twenty.”

“Aside from Spigot, you’re oldest of us at twenty-three,” Franklin said. “It's just how their generation is. When they were our age, they trusted no one over thirty. Now they don’t trust anyone under thirty.”

“So much for the great compromise,” Lee said dully. “Who wants to be the one to break this to Queen Yamul?”

A scream filled the air from above. Everyone turned their attention skyward to try to find the source.

“Slow down! Slow it down!” a male voice screamed.

“I’m trying,” a female voice panicked, “but the throttle is stuck.”

“That’s because your foot is on the accelerator,” the male voice snapped.

“Oopse,” the female voice said sheepishly.

“I’M GONNA DIE!!!” the male voice screamed.

Something darted out of the clouds and flew into the foliage of the Mother Tree before they could make out what it was.

“Ha,” Bret laughed, pointing at the others. “And you all thought my landing sucked.”

“Shut up, Bret,” Tammy snapped at him. “Are they okay?”

“How should I know,” Bret said.

He looked back at the hole in the leaves left by the object. Something darted out and latched on his head. Bret got his wits about him to see a pair of eyes staring at him. He instinctively screamed and whatever it was did the same.

The two began exchanging screams until Tammy roared, “Knock it off!”

Bret pulled it off his face. It was a smaller, male Doggel. The sky blue-furred, spaniel-like man was dressed in a Windmill Kingdom engineer’s uniform. He looked to the ground and darted down to belly flop the wet grass.

“Terra Firma!” he cried. “How I love you.” He started kissing the ground until he spat out a wad of mud. “You taste like dirt, but I still love you.”

The Drop engineers stared at him and then looked to each other. Bret spun his index finger around the side of his head.

“Help!” a voice cried out from the tree.

The engineers took out their flashlights and shined them in the hole. A half-Doggel woman with long, blond hair held in a pony tail by a large, purple bow and wearing an engineer’s uniform was hanging onto the hull of an airship. The craft was much like Auler’s racer but the envelope had been run through by a branch.

“Someone help me!” the half-Doggel cried out again. “I’m going to fall.”

“Oh my God!” The Doggel yelped, leaping to his feet. “Lady Nicole!”

The half-Doggel lost her grip and plummeted to the ground screaming.

 

[The Big Al]

Chapter 8: DAM IT!

The half-Doggel fell helplessly. However, instead of hitting the ground, she was caught by a pair of arms that gently cradled her to stop her fall. She gingerly opened her big, baby blue eyes which had been screwed shut during her fall. She looked up and saw that Lee was the one holding her.

“Thank God,” the Doggel said in relief. “Lady Claudette would have killed me if something happened to you.”

Lee looked down and felt a strange sensation come over him when he looked into her eyes still wide and quivering from shock. He felt like his head was suddenly lighter like a balloon and his legs felt as if the ground under him seemed less solid like he was standing on the clouds above them. His heart felt like it was in his throat, pounding against his gills which had turned red and seemed hot because they were full of blood.

She was a very attractive young woman about his age. Her figure was pleasantly average and her face was pretty and smooth. Her long ears were particularly fluffy with soft, pink fur covering them.

Her cheeks also flushed as she looked up at him. “Thank you,” she said softly.

“You’re welcome,” Lee replied uneasily as he set her feet down on the ground.

“What’s happened to Lee?” Bret asked as they watched. “He looks like he’s getting sick.”

“He’s not getting sick,” Ophelia shot back. “I think he’s infatuated with the young lady.”

“What?” Bret exclaimed.

“I’m sorry you had to catch me,” the half-Doggel said sheepishly. “I’m afraid I’m not very good at flying.”

“We had a rough landing too,” Lee said.

“Then allow me to introduce myself,” the half-Doggel said and dipped in introductory curtsy. “I’m Nicole Marquette.”

Lee immediately recognized her name as his pen pal. They had never met in person or even exchanged portraits, so they did not know what each other looked like. He never even stopped to think of what she looked like.

He felt more comfortable that he knew her and even felt a little excited he was meeting his longtime pen pal in person. “Nicole Marquette?” he asked. “I’m Lee Pryor.”

“Lee Pryor?” Nicole repeated in astonishment. “Not Lee Pryor, my pen pal?”

Lee nodded.

Nicole combined a gasp and a giggle and clapped her hands together. “Small world, isn’t it? Who would think we’d end up in the Tanetane Kingdom at the same time?”

“Yup, small world,” Lee said.

“But, where are my manners.” Nicole said. She held her opened palm in the direction of the Doggle. “Meet my colleague, Alex Ljungqvist.”

“Call me Al,” Alex said.

“You said Nicole was a lady earlier,” Ophelia said to Alex. “Is she a noble?”

“Is she a noble?” Alex repeated like Ophelia had asked the naturally obvious. “Nicole Marquette is the only daughter of Claudette Marquette, Grand Duchess of the Pasture Land Duchy, and Princess Sophie’s favorite lady in waiting.”

“A grand duchess?” Lee exclaimed. “You never wrote anything about that.”

“I’m not a duchess yet,” Nicole said.

“Still, you’re a high-ranking noble,” Lee said. “What brings you here to the Tanetane Kingdom?”

“We’re looking for Prince Auler and Princess Sophie,” Alex answered. “They haven’t returned from their business in the Drop Kingdom and we thought of searching the Tanetane Kingdom since that was the reason for their journey. Interesting a bunch of Drop Kingdom engineers are here as well. You haven’t seen them, have you?”

The Drop Kingdom engineers looked to each other. “Did you bring a healthy suspension of disbelief?” Bret asked the two.

“Why?” Alex asked.

“Look down,” Tammy said.

The two followed Tammy’s finger down to the shrunken royals.

“Hi, Nicole,” Sophie said, waving blissfully. “How’s the weather up there?”

“Prince Auler, Princesses Sophie,” Alex gasped, “what’s happened to you?”

“That,” Bret said, pointing to the Mother Tree. “She got pissed because we can’t stop the rain and shrank them for it.”

“Uh-huh,” Alex exhaled, nodding. “See ya.” He spread his ears like wings and flew off.

“Where are you going?” Nicole asked.

“Back to the Windmill Kingdom,” Alex answered. “I’ve got to break the news to King Randa.”

“DON’T!” Lee, Ophelia, and Bret jumped up and grabbed Alex by the tail, taking him to the ground.

“Let go of my tail,” Alexa snapped at them.

“We can’t let King Randa know about this,” Bret pleaded, picking Alex up by his jacket. “He’ll tell Queen Yamul.”

“This is bad why?” Alex asked in an uninterested tone.

“If Queen Yamul finds out her daughter has been shrunk by a plant with an attitude problem, it’ll make her angry,” Bret said. He brought Alex so close to his face their noses almost touched. “You wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.”

“Does this feel uncomfortably close to you?” Alex asked.

“We’re working on restoring them,” Ophelia said.

“How?” Nicole asked.

“Step into our office, and we’ll explain,” Lee said.

They got into the Hurricane where they spread out through the cabin. Ophelia and Nicole set the children of the Tanetane royal family down on the couch while the others took seats. Tammy closed the door to shut out the soggy cold and give them privacy.

“I guess we should finish our introductions,” Ophelia said. “I’m Ophelia. Lee and I are twin brother and sister.”

“I see the resemblance,” Nicole said.

“These are Emily Pearce, Franklin Santiago, Tammy Frost, and Bret Greene.” Ophelia held her opened palm in the direction of the owner of each name.

“We were drafted by our chief to investigate the rain using this airship,” Lee said. “We were hoping the Tanetane Kingdom would accept knowing the cause as a compromise, but that didn’t work out like we planned.”

“Do you know the cause?” Nicole asked.

“We believe it has to do with abnormally high amounts of aerosols,” Lee said.

“But of course,” Nicole said in response as the proverbial light bulb went off in her head. “That would explain the rain here and the lack of rain throughout the rest of the Wonder Planet. Your Cloud Generation Device isn’t creating excess clouds, and the Windmill Network isn’t creating an abnormal wind pattern. However, if the aerosols are causing raindrops to form faster, they would drop all their potential precipitation over the Tanetane Kingdom.”

“That’s right,” Lee said, feeling elated she understood. “There’s even a clear tapering pattern with higher concentrations to the north and lower concentrations to the south.”

“That really ties the rain to the aerosols,” Nicole said. She then asked giddily like she was about to reach the point in a mystery novel when everything was revealed, “Do you know the source of the aerosols?”

“Sadly, no,” Lee said to both their disappointment. “That’s what we’ll be looking into next.”

“Can I help?” Nicole asked. “I’ve read a lot on weather.”

“We’d be glad to have you,” Lee said.

The others watched the two. They were almost afraid to speak and interrupt their conversation. The two seemed to be talking like they had finally found someone who spoke their language and wanted to trade the ideas they had held because they never had anyone who could understand them.

Bret, however, was getting irritated by this. “Alright, that’s it,” he declared. He got up and grabbed Lee by the jacket collar and pulled him out of the Hurricane and down the stairs to the muddy ground.

“What are you doing?” Lee snapped and threw Bret’s arm off him.

“I thought we were friends,” Bret said, acting wounded. “Yet you’ve been holding out on me.”

“How?” Lee asked.

“You had a hot, affluent pen pal all this time and you never told me,” Bret answered.

“She never told me she was a noble and I didn’t know what she looked like,” Lee said helplessly. “We just share an interest in weather.”

“It makes me think if I should start a correspondence with a girl from the Windmill Kingdom,” Bret mused allowed. “How did you meet?”

“It started during the summer after the Crisis ended,” Lee said. “She was caught in a freak hailstorm and wrote Queen Yamul asking why it happened. She didn’t know, so she passed it off to the staff, and it worked its way down to me. I answered saying the Meramera Kingdom’s Blessed Flames were weakened during the Crisis and the upper atmosphere was still unusually cold at the time.”

“Were you right?” Bret asked.

“Well, hail forms in the subfreezing portions of thunderheads and our upper air profiles showed the upper atmosphere was unusually cold that year,” Lee said. “Although I can’t say for certain, it’s likely the case.”

“How could I doubt you?” Bret asked rhetorically. “I forgot you were born clutching a thermometer in one hand a barometer in the other.”

“Regardless,” Lee said, “she asked more questions about the weather and I was curious about the weather in the Windmill Kingdom. Before we knew it, we were pan pals exchanging letters on a regular basis.”

The doors in the Mother Tree burst open, putting an end to their conversation. Spigot was still tailing King who was visibly annoyed. He turned around and snapped at Spigot, “Have they been restored to normal size yet-dane?”

Spigot looked to Lee and Bret. They shook their heads in reply. “No?” he said as a sheepish question.

“Then the Mother Tree is not satisfied-dane,” King stated. “Good night-dane.” He walked back into the Mother Tree and the doors closed behind him.

Spigot turned on his heels and walked back towards the Hurricane. “Get back in the airship,” he barked as he passed Lee and Bret. He climbed up the ladder with the two following.

“How did it go?” Emily asked as he stepped inside.

“Like explaining the light bulb to cavemen,” Spigot growled in response. “Prepare for takeoff.”

“What are we going to do now?” Ophelia asked.

“Whatever comes to mind,” Spigot growled. “We know the cause, so we might able to compile a timeline over even figure out how to stop it. We still have almost twelve hours and we’ll spend every second of them finding a solution if we have to.”

“What happens in twelve hours?” Alex asked.

“Dawn comes over the Mother Tree and the curse on Princess Milro and the others becomes permanent,” Spigot answered. “Who are you?”

“What?!” Nicole and Alex exclaimed.

“You have to do something,” Alex demanded.

Bret happened to look out a porthole and saw a light bouncing towards them. A Molmo worker carrying a lantern was in a dead run towards the Mother Tree. “I wonder why he’s in a rush,” Bret thought out loud.

“I don’t care,” Spigot snapped. “If he’s not carrying something that will stop the rain, it’s no concern of ours.”

Bret opened the door and watched the worker run to the doors in the Mother Tree and knock. “Hey,” Bret called out, “what’s going on?”

“We’re in big trouble,” the worker panicked. “There’s a leak in the dam holding back the northern reservoir. It could collapse at anytime and flood the entire valley below.”

“Where?” Bret asked.

The Molmo pointed towards a path through the forest. “That way,” he said.

“Thanks,” Bret said. He looked back to the others in the Hurricane. “There’s dam breach.”

“Then let’s get moving,” Emily barked. “They might need our help.

The engineers practically jumped out of the Hurricane and ran in the direction the worker had pointed. They pulled out their flashlights and shined them ahead through the darkness.

“Where are you going?” Spigot called after them.

“Water management is part of our mission,” Emily stated. “It’s our duty to assist against hydrologic disasters.”

“I swear, this country is like quicksand,” Spigot grumbled as he ran after them. “No matter how hard you try, it never lets you go.”

The doors in the Mother Tree finally opened and King came out. “What’s going on-dane?” he asked.

“There’s a breach in the northern reservoir’s dam,” the worker reported.

King turned back to Axe and barked, “Send a team to the northern reservoir at once-dane.”

“I think you already have one,” the Molmo said.

* * *​

The engineers ran through the darkness. The light projected by their flashlights bounced across the path ahead of them. They were running down a dirt path through woods. The path suddenly opened up and they were subjected to the deafening roar of what sounded like a waterfall. They shined their flashlights on a huge wall of earth nearby and the geyser of water exploding from it.

“That’s more than a leak,” Lee stated.

“More like a full blown rupture,” Bret added.

A muscular Tanetane worker was watching the water arcing over them. “Drop Kingdom engineers,” he said when he noticed them, “that’s just what I need-dane.”

“What’s happening?” Spigot asked, yelling to be heard over the roaring water.

“Water started leaking out of the dam and then it just started blasting water-dane,” the worker answered as loud as he could. “We’ve tried to plug the breach-dane, but the pressure is so great it blows away anything we put in it-dane.”

“This is not good,” Spigot said dully. “There must have been a weakness in the dam and the increased pressure from the excess water broke through. However, that’s not the worst part.”

“What’s the worst part?” Bret asked, almost afraid to.

“The water is tearing material from the walls of the hole, making it bigger,” Spigot answered. “It’s weakening the entire structure and it’ll collapse if the water isn’t stopped.”

“What’s the capacity of this reservoir?” Emily asked.

“A hundred million kiloliters-dane ,” the worker said.

“Oh my God,” Spigot gasped. “That’s enough water to flood an entire township under a meter of water.”

“Can’t you release water from the reservoir?” Emily asked the worker.

“We’ve opened all our spillways-dane,” the worker answered, “but the water is coming in faster than we can get rid of it.”

“What is it-dane?” King asked as he and some others arrived.

“That leak is going to collapse the entire dam,” Spigot reported. “You need to evacuate everyone from low lying areas downstream.”

“See to it-dane,” King said a worker.

Lee stared at the water arcing from the dam. There were several boils forming on the dam as well, indicative of more weaknesses in the wall. It was weakening by the minute. He turned his attention back to the main rupture and an idea struck him. He grabbed Ophelia by the arm and dragged her up the hill next to the dam to the top.

Ophelia finally wrenched her arm from Lee’s hand. “What’s gotten into you?”

“I think I know how we can plug the breach,” Lee answered. “We have to go for a little swim.” He jumped into the dark water.

Ophelia looked around helplessly. After hesitating for a couple seconds, she dove in after Lee.

Upon entering the water, Ophelia and Lee’s bodies made the transition from land to underwater. The increase in pressure triggered muscles in their necks that closed off their tracheas and opened the passageways to their gill slits and the cells keeping the gills sealed opened to let them begin pumping water and exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide between their blood and the water. Their nictitating membranes spread over their eyes and their sinuses closed off to protect them from the water. Within seconds, they had completely transformed from terrestrial and aquatic.

Ophelia dove to follow Lee towards the bottom, sweeping her webbed hands in broad strokes to propel herself. The walls of the lake were sheer cliffs going almost straight down to the bottom. It must have been a huge gash in the land they dammed up and let water fill it. The water was fresh as she could tell by its dull taste and her body was forcing out extra water through her gills and pores to maintain her blood salinity.

She swam down to be abreast with Lee. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“I thought that if they can’t plug from the outside because of the pressure…” Lee said.

“…we could plug it from the inside using the pressure to hold the plug in place like the door of an airlock,” Ophelia completed thought. “You’re a genius.”

“All we need is a rock, preferably big and round,” Lee said. He shined his flashlight along the bed. There were several rocks, but none of them looked big enough or round enough. The light then fell on a large, relatively round rock relatively close to the breach. “That one looks like it would do the trick.”

“It’s too big for us to move,” Ophelia said.

“I’ll get the others,” Lee said and swam toward the surface.

Everyone had gathered on the edge of the reservoir. They stared into the dark water where they knew the twins had disappeared into. They could see nothing in the blackness, not even the light from their flashlights. Auler reluctantly joined his sister and Milro on water’s edge as everyone tried to figure what the twins were doing.

“How long can they stay down there-dane?” King asked.

“If this was salt water, indefinitely so long as the there is dissolved oxygen,” Spigot answered. “Since it’s freshwater, they can probably stay under for several hours.”

Lee’s head poked up from the water’s surface. “We found something to plug the dam from this side,” he said, “but we’ll need everyone to move it.”

“You heard him,” Spigot barked. “Get in the water.”

The Drop Kingdom engineers leapt into the water and disappeared under the surface. They swam down to where Ophelia was next to the boulder. They planted their feet on the rock bed and began pushing against the car-sized rock.

“Good luck,” Nicole said as she and the others waited to see what happened.

The soil under Auler suddenly gave way. He fell into the water and flailed helplessly in the water before sinking under the surface. “BIG BROTHER!” Sophie shrieked in terror Milro thought she’d never here from her. “He can’t swim!”

“What?” Milro exclaimed.

She looked back to where Auler had gone under and a few bubbles were floating to the surface. Before she had a chance to think better of it, she leapt into the water. She grabbed Auler and pulled him to the surface. He coughed up water as she floated him to the shore and couple of Tanetane pulled him onto the shore. They then helped her onto land.

“Big Brother,” Sophie cried as she cradled his head and he started gulping for air. His breathing slowly became normal to everyone’s relief.

Down at the boulder, the engineers pushed with all the strength they could muster. However, the massive rock would not budge. Ophelia finally collapsed against it.

“It’s no use,” she panted. “It’s too heavy and my body is putting too much effort into handling the freshwater.”

The others collapsed as well. Lee saw a smaller rock and slender tree trunk not too far from them. “…but ‘give me a lever big enough, and I can move the world,’” he thought out loud.

He tapped Tammy on the shoulder and pointed to the rock and trunk. She nodded and they swam over to bring them to the boulder. Tammy wedged the trunk under the boulder and Lee placed the rock under the trunk.

Spigot, Emily, and Franklin pushed on the boulder while the others pushed down on the lever. The fear that the trunk could snap made it into their minds as pushed. However, the boulder turned over and its momentum combined with the suction of the breach carried it straight into the hole.

It stopped in the breach, fitting snuggly into it. The current stopped suddenly, and the roar of rushing water was replaced by silence. The engineers took a moment to give each other a thumbs-up before heading to the surface. They broke the surface to cheers and applause.

Bret climbed out of the water and declared, “No one dams like the Drop Kingdom.”

Lee climbed on shore to stand in front of Nicole. “That was brilliant thinking,” she said warmly, “sealing the breach from the inside.”

“Well,” Lee said sheepishly, looking away and rubbing his head as his gills flushed again.

“Don’t be so modest,” Tammy slapped him playfully on the back. “It was your idea.”

“You were also the one who thought of the lever,” Ophelia added.

“You’re as kind and brilliant as I thought you were from your letters,” Nicole said.

Lee gulped dryly. His heart raced as he tried to think of something to say. He wanted to tell her, as silly as it sounded considering they just met in person, he had feelings for her. However, he had never been one to wear his feelings on his sleeve and was usually reserved and he felt embarrassed confessing in front of everyone.

“Like it means anything,” Axe shouted, putting all attention on him. “So you fixed the leak for now. The rain is still coming down, the water is still putting undue stress on the dam, and we’re all still in danger. What are you going to do about that, Spigot?”

“Axe,” Spigot barked.

“What?” Axe shot back.

Spigot swung around and slammed his right fist into the side of Axe’s face, putting his full weight into it. Axe was spun around by the force and collapsed to the ground. “Shut…up!” Spigot snarled through his tightly clenched teeth.

“You enjoyed that,” Emily said condescendingly.

“Emily, how can you suggest I’m capable of something so unprofessional and self-serving?” Spigot shot back.

Emily simply shot him a scolding glare.

“You can’t imagine how much I enjoyed it,” Spigot conceded.

* * *​

Copter-bot flew over the marshy expanse of Sinker Swamp. It was already dark, making how remote and undeveloped this region was apparent as there were only a few clusters of light amongst the dark landscape. The light of the Full Moon was paltry compared to that of the Blessing of the Sun, but it kept the night from being completely dark. It was possible to make out the several lakes pocking the area with dense forest covering the swampy land between them.

He came over a large, elongated lake with a long island in the middle. A bridge linked it to the shore and several ramshackle buildings of poorly assembled wood clustered on one end of the island with much of it still open ground. Much of the island was bright lit by light from lamps on the top of wooden posts.

Mingling around the compound were several dozen Gators wearing olive green fatigues. The Gators were hulking, alligator-like people of stature and bulk that easily dwarfed Humans and Beavers. Their scaly skin was an even darker shade of green than their attire, making them almost invisible in the dim light. Many of them were brandishing sonic rifles slung over their shoulders and pistols on their belts.

Copter-bot descended to the ground and shouted “Copter-bot: Ground Mode.” His blades stopped turning and folded down as the stalk retracted. He planted his feet on the ground and ran towards a derelict riverboat beached on the island.

He ran up a gangplank onto the bottom deck. However, a large, alligator snapping turtle was sleeping in the middle of the weathered, wooden floor. He stopped suddenly and began to step gingerly towards the sleeping reptile. He stepped over it when its eye popped open.

What had been the riverboat’s ballroom was filled with computers and a large table in the middle was covered in maps and charts. Walruses were sitting at the computers and Gators and Bullfrogs, a race resembling their namesake only almost the size of humans, were gathered around the table. Everyone looked up when they heard Copter-bot scream from the outside, “Down, turtle. Bad, turtle. Let go of my foot.”

Copter-bot hopped into the room with the snapping turtle gripping his foot tightly in its jaws. A female Bullfrog barked, “Snap, go lay down!”

The snapping turtle, apparently called Snap, let go of Copter-bot’s leg and lumbered out of the room. “Thank you, Geronita,” Copter-bot said.

“Why are you back?” Geronita asked in her low, hoarse voice.

“I have a report,” Copter-bot declared and saluted. “Milro is in the Tanetane Kingdom.”

Geronita walked around the table. Her bulbous, alabaster gut bounced slightly with every step. Her legs were short and think ending in webbed feet with three long, bony toes. Her arms were spindly in comparison but also ended in webbed hands with two long fingers and a thumb. Aside from her belly and chin which were white, her skin was lime green and smooth. Her eyes bulged from the sides of her head above her wide mouth that seemed to pull the bottom of her face forward.

“I thought I sent you down to monitor our progress in transforming the Tanetane Kingdom!” she yelled at him. “Not the travel arrangements of the rodent’s spawn.”

“But…” Copter-bot started to say.

“You bionic boob,” Geronita roared, grabbing him by the neck, “I should melt you down for scrap!”

“I came back because something’s happened to her,” Copter-bot whimpered.

“Unless she has fallen deathly ill, I don’t care,” Geronita shot back.

“You might care about this.” Copter-bot walked over to the computer where Deg was sitting. He pulled open his mouthpiece to reveal a cord he plugged in. Footage appeared on the screen in front of them.

Geronita, Deg, and number of others in the room gathered around the screen to see his footage. A peregrine falcon-like Avian woman wearing a black halter top dress fluttered down from a balcony to join them. Copter-bot brought them to the point where he was observing the engineers.

Deg immediately recognized them. “Those are the engineers that almost busted our last silver shipment from Hog Hell!” he exclaimed.

“Where’s Milro?” Geronita asked. “All I see is a bunch of engineers.”

Copter-bot zoomed in the picture so they could see Milro. She was standing next to Emily, giving a good comparison of her size. “Interesting,” Deg managed to say in response.

“So,” Geronita though out loud, stroking her white chin, “Yamul’s precious little girl is no bigger than a Tanetane.”

“How did that happen?” the Avian asked.

“I don’t care,” Geronita declared. “This could be a golden opportunity.”

“How so?” Deg asked.

“Milro is in such a helpless state, in a foreign country, and protected by only a handful of Yamul’s flunkies,” Geronita said. “She’s prime for capture.”

“Why would want to capture her?” the Avian asked.

“Think my, dear Talia,” Geronita said as her wide mouth formed into a sinister grin. “With her daughter as my prisoner, Yamul wouldn’t dare move against me. She’d surrender the Cloud Generation Device to me and with it the Wonder Planet will be mine.” She dissolved in a fit of maniacal laughter than come off more as croaking.

She stopped suddenly and turned to Gator. “Major,” she croaked, “send a team down to the Tanetane Kingdom to capture Milro now. I want her brought here alive.”

“Yes, Geronita,” the Gator replied.

“Also,” Geronita instructed, “if any of Yamul’s lackeys gets in the way, they’re to be eliminated with extreme prejudice.” She strained the word “extreme” as she dragged her finger across her throat as if it was knife slitting it.

 

[The Big Al]

Chapter 9: When It Rains, It Pours

Ophelia and Franklin sulked into the cabin of the Hurricane and fell into the nearest seats. Aside from Sophie and Milro admiring a small, pink flower Sophie had saved from nearly being engulfed by the swelling river, the cabin was empty.

Everyone had divided up in groups and went about projects helping the people of the Tanetane Kingdom and in preparation of their next move. The two had just finished helping sure up the barrier surrounding the villages. Moving dirt without even the paltry luxury of a shovel was exhausting, especially after moving that boulder so late at night.

“You want a drink?” Franklin panted.

“Sure, as long as it has caffeine in it,” Ophelia replied tiredly.

Franklin opened the mini-fridge and rummaged through the contents. He pulled out a glass bottle. “How about some Chug-Chug Cola?”

“Sounds good to me,” Ophelia said. “I could use something that ‘kicks like a train.’”

Franklin handed her the bottle and she wedged the metal cap under her oversized upper incisor to twist it off and spit it in a small bin. As she put the bottle to her lips and upended to let the fizzy, sweet soda flow into her mouth, she looked around the cabin. “Where’s Bret?” she asked after finishing a gulp. “I thought he was staying with the Hurricane.”

“He said he had to take a leak,” Sophie reported. She then rested head against her index finger and mused aloud, “Though, I don’t know how he can take a leak anywhere or where he’d take it.”

Ophelia and Franklin looked at each other. They wanted to tell her that’s not what Bret meant, but it was a subject one did not bring up in the presence of royalty, much less with royalty.

Auler coughed hoarsely as he came out of the cockpit. “Are you feeling alright?” Sophie asked as he walked by.

“I’m fine,” Auler replied hoarsely. “My throat’s just sore.”

Milro and Sophie leapt off the table. Despite it being the height of a five story building compared to them, they landed delicately on the floor. As they learned from their ride in the dust devil, they were so small and light, the air cushioned them. They felt like they were drifting down more than falling.

“I forgot to thank you for saving my life, Milro,” Auler said. “I have to admit I never thought you were all that athletic.”

“I might not be good at track and sports,” Milro said. “However, I am half Beaver. Swimming comes naturally.”

“Lucky you,” Auler muttered under his breath.

“Why didn’t you tell us you couldn’t swim?” Milro asked.

“You never asked,” Auler shot back.

“It’s no big deal,” Milro said, placing her hand on his shoulder. “When this is over, I can teach you to swim.”

“Forget it,” Auler snapped, wrenching his shoulder out of her hand. “Aquarians swim, I fly.”

He stormed towards the door. He did not even look at Spigot as he passed him. He hopped down the steps to the ground and walked into the night.

“Let me guess,” Spigot said, “the fact he can’t swim.”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into Big Brother,” Sophie said worriedly. “I’ve never seen him like this.”

“You have to understand Prince Auler is entering that stage of his life where he’s going from being a boy to a young man,” Spigot said. “It’s a time when we want to believe we’re invincible. Being shrunk and reminded he can’t swim the hard way has been extremely unsettling to him. Just leave him alone for now.”

Spigot was about to close the door when he heard someone shout, “Wait!” Several dozen Butterflies flew in, many of them carrying caterpillars. Julia also hopped up the stairs and into the cabin. The Butterflies set down wherever they could plant their feet and gently put down the sleeping caterpillars.

“What’s gotten into Auler?” Julia asked. “He looked real mad about something.”

“It’s a long story,” Spigot replied. “Mind telling me why they’re all here?”

The saffron winged Queen fluttered down to Milro and Sophie. She curtsied and said, “Your Majesties, my flock has been forced from our field by the flooding and there are no other vacant fields we can find. As the princesses of your countries, I’m asking if you could find us a home in the Drop Kingdom or the Windmill Kingdom. I’ve heard both your kingdoms have plenty of meadows where we could settle.”

“We don’t really have the final say,” Milro said. “Even the royal family has to defer to local leaders about something like this.”

The queen’s mouth and antennae sank into a tired frown betraying her disappointment as Milro explained.

“But we can certainly speak to them on your behalf,” Milro added when she saw her reaction. “I’m sure we can find a place for you.”

“That would be appreciated,” the queen said, curtsying again and flutter up to others on the table.

“I wonder if they’re just the first wave of refugees that will be forced from the Tanetane Kingdom by the flooding,” Milro said to Sophie. “A few subsistence pollinators aren’t that much of a problem, but entire races might be uprooted and try to make a living elsewhere. We could be looking at a real crisis if they try to settle in countries that intentionally limit job opportunities.”

“They’re also on a ticking clock,” Spigot said. “If the Tanetane Kingdom doesn’t get seeds in the ground by the end of the month, they’ll lose the entire year. They’ll need a good week or two of dry weather to let the river levels go down, so they’re running out of time.”

* * *​

Nicole and Lee were walking back with some water samples they had taken from the reservoir. It was as clear as water was at the moment in the Tanetane Kingdom. Whatever the aerosols were in the clouds, they were coming down with the rain. Fortunately, Emily knew how to rig up a poor man’s mass spectrometer that might give them an idea of what it was exactly. That would help them greatly in finding the source as well as a way to stop it.

It was truly dark. The Blessing of the Sun had gone into eclipse and the sky was a black void above them. Not even the light from the stars or Full Moon could reach them and the undeveloped country produced little light of its own. Everything was hidden perfectly from sight behind the black veil outside of what came under the bluish-white light from the flashlights.

The two were quiet as they walked back to the Hurricane. However, something finally accorded to Lee to say. “So you’re a lady in waiting,” he said. “Why do you wear the uniform of an engineer?”

“I’m an engineer as well,” Nicole replied. “When Princess Sophie doesn’t need my services, which is often, I help with overseeing the Windmill Network. King Randa agreed to let me when I made the proposal to place weather vanes on the top of every windmill to measure the flux through the blades. It makes for a better diagnosis of the state of the network than trying to calculate the relationship between all the rotation speeds.”

Lee gave an astonished whistle. “I honestly have to say I haven’t done anything like that,” he replied. “Why are you even a lady in waiting then? It sounds like being an engineer is your real passion.”

Nicole stopped and sighed. “Being a lady in waiting was my mother’s idea,” she said solemnly. Realizing how it could be taken she added hastily, “Not that I don’t like being one of Princess Sophie’s ladies in waiting. She’s a terrific person and it’s wonderful to be around her.” She then sank back to a more solemn tone. “However, it was a move to put a ball and chain on me.”

“Why?” Lee asked.

Nicole sat down on a nearby rock and Lee joined her. “I’m an only child and Mother had me late in her childbearing life,” Nicole explained. “I’m only sixteen, but she’s already over fifty. That means carrying on the family legacy has been placed squarely on my shoulders. She wants me to be as dignified and politically connected as possible, and she looks down at my study of weather as she sees it as below me. She figured being a lady in waiting would help me become for dignified and make political connections as well as fill so much of my time I couldn’t study weather.”

“You’re preaching to the choir,” Lee said. “Ophelia and I have had our fair share parent troubles. We had even worse than you had in fact. I bet you couldn’t tell, but Ophelia and I were perspective billionaires, but we gave it all up to wear these uniforms.”

“Really?” Nicole gasped. “What happened?”

“Our father is one of the wealthiest industrialists in the Drop Kingdom,” Lee said in a low, hushed voice as he gazed down at some imaginary image. “Our mother was Spigot’s predecessor. During the Crisis, the Cloud Generation Device constantly broke down, sometimes with catastrophic and tragic results. In perhaps the worst of them, our mother was caught in an explosion.”

“Oh God,” Nicole gasped, “did she…”

Lee nodded to answer. “However, she didn’t die instantly. They got her to the hospital, but she was too badly injured. All they could was to make her comfortable until she succumbed to the injuries.”

He turned to Nicole. “It took her ten hours to die,” he said like he was protesting the fairness of it, “ten long, agonizing hours she would have spent in unimaginable pain if they hadn’t doped her up so much morphine she didn’t even know which way was up,” His voice took on a gravelly quality as he was fighting a lump forming in his throat. Nicole sat there and listened, almost afraid to speak during his narration.

“Her death and especially its gruesome nature devastated our father. He forbade us from joining the Cloud Generation Service fearing we would suffer a similar fate. However, when we turned sixteen and could join the service, we heard the call. He was enraged by our decision and disowned and disinherited us. We haven’t spoken since.”

“That’s horrible,” Nicole finally managed to say. “Why didn’t you never saying anything in your letters?”

“Probably for the same reason you never wrote anything about your position to me,” Lee replied. “I didn’t want to burden you with my troubles. Our letters were meant to discuss the weather after all, and it’s not like we could help each other.”

“I guess you’re right,” Nicole conceded. She took Lee’s hand gently in hers. “What you did was very admirable, though,” she said softly. “I’ve met so many men who have taken the money over heeding the call to serve their country.”

Lee looked to her and closed his hand. “Thank you,” he said, forcing a smile. “I guess we’re kindred spirits in more ways than one.”

They brought their faces to one another. Nicole closed her eyes and slightly parsed her lips. Lee coiled back when he realized what was about to happen. He was not ready to take it that far in one night. His mind ran through possible excuses. “I better get these samples back to the Hurricane,” he said and hastily got up to leave.

Nicole watched as he ran into the night. She planted her hands on her hips and sighed. “I guess that’s what I get for going after the shy type,” she said to herself.

She got up and started walking down the path when she saw a patch of light move across the sky.

“What’s that?” she mused aloud.

* * *​

A small, olive drab blimp landed in a clearing, its floodlight casting a circle of bright light on the ground. Two Gators and a Bullfrog leapt out of the boxy, open hull. The rifles the Gators were holding had flashlights mounted on them they shined around the area. The Bullfrog grabbed a brass birdcage and looked around.

“This area seems secure,” one of the Gators reported.

“Man, it’s cold,” the other complained. Being ectothermic, they had no way to regulate their body temperature. They could not sweat to cool off and their bodies produced no heat to warm up. They were whatever temperature their surroundings were. Cold was more bothersome as it made them sluggish, not something they wanted to be on a mission of this nature. However, they had no choice.

“We’ll make this quick,” the Bullfrog said. “You two occupy the engineers while I capture Milro.”

* * *​

It took Bret a while, but he finally found a place he could take his ‘leak’ in peace. He took care of business behind a tree and headed back to the Hurricane, shining his flashlight in front of him. He whistled a tune as he walked along to keep away the silence.

He heard a crack in the darkness. While the typical response for Humans would be to shine their light in that direction, he instead turned off his flashlight to veil everything in complete darkness and concentrated on his sensitive ears to listen for more noise. There was definitely something lurking in the area as he heard the footsteps in the muddy soil.

“Hello?” he said.

A response came in the form of a blue sonic beam streaking out of the darkness and missing him by about a meter. Bret instinctively whipped out his sonic pistol and fired several shots in quick succession in the general direction the beam came from.

He tried to make out anything in the blue flashes. However, he saw nothing. His heart pounded against his ribs as he pointed his pistol in different directions. ‘Aside from us,’ he thought, ‘who would have sonic weapons down here?’

Another beam burst into existence. This one was mere centimeters from him. It was close enough he could feel the minute shockwaves that bled from the beam ripping the air around it. It was an unsettling sensation as it hit the ground and blasted chunks of drenched dirt into the air.

Bret responded with a couple more shots into the darkness before running away. He ran into the woods towards the Hurricane. He only had his senses of hearing and touch to guide him, but he dared not use his flashlight as it would give away his location to the mysterious shooter or even shooters.

* * *​

Despite Spigot’s advice, Milro and Sophie left to find Auler. They got some lanterns and umbrellas and began searching. They search the villages, but found no sign of him. He was in fact well outside of the cluster of civilization around the Mother Tree when they found him.

He was sitting on a rock, holding his head low. “Are you alright, Big Brother?” Sophie asked.

“No,” Auler admitted. “I can’t swim and now I’m ten centimeters tall which looks like I’ll be forever.”

“You’re also going to catch cold if you stay out here,” Milro said. “Come back to the Hurricane.”

Auler looked away and scowled in response.

“Spigot explained how you’re feeling,” Sophie said. “We understand you want to feel invincible. That might be hard now, but you have to have faith that we’ll be restored to normal.”

“Lee and Nicole will back with the water samples any minute,” Milro said. “We can figure out how to stop the rain.”

Auler’s mouth peeled into a grin and he let escape a silly laugh. “What a fool I’ve been?” he said sheepishly. “I’m the prince of the Windmill Kingdom. I shouldn’t be moping around. Let’s see what they’ve found.”

“Now that’s the spirit,” Sophie cheered.

A bright, bluish-white light suddenly shined on them. Milro looked up, shielding her eyes and the direct light and saw that the light was coming from a flashlight held by the Bullfrog. Before they could react he had scooped them up in his webbed hand and lifted them up to his eye level.

“Well, well,” he said through an indulged grin, “it looks like I got a three for one deal.” He opened the door of the birdcage and threw them in before slamming it shut behind them.

* * *​

Bret ran out of the woods and found relief in the lights speckling the ground and the Hurricane sitting in front of the Mother Tree. “Hey!” he called out. “Help! Someone’s using me for target practice!”

Tammy had been working on a makeshift runway by blowing up rocks with her pistol. She looked up at the blackness where Bret’s voice was coming from. “Turn on your flashlight!” she shouted.

“What part of ‘someone’s using me for target practice’ don’t you understand?” Bret shot back.

A beam shot from behind Bret and hit the ground several meters behind him. Tammy and Emily who had been checking the Hurricane pulled out their pistols and pointed them at the blackness. Bret ran into the dim light from the villages practically collapsed on the steps of the Hurricane. “Safe,” he said.

A Beam shot towards them and hit the ground not too far from them. Emily and Tammy responded with several shots in the general direction. Spigot ran out, holding his pistol.

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

“There’s someone taking shots at us,” Tammy reported.

“Who’s firing sonic weapons?” Lee asked as he ran out of the darkness.

“We don’t know,” Emily said. She then eyed Bret suspiciously.

“Don’t look at me!” Bret snapped. “They just started firing at me. I have no idea who they are.”

Another beam hit the Hurricane, dispersing across its aluminum hull. Ophelia and Franklin looked out the door. “What hit us?” Ophelia exclaimed.

“Sonic beam,” Spigot said. “Someone’s taking potshots at us. They’re hiding in the dark.”

“I’ll fix that,” Ophelia growled. She grabbed a flare gun and pointed it at the blackness above. She fired a white flare into the sky. It shot through the clouds before going off, lighting up the entire sky and everything below. The two Gators were standing on the other side of village, wincing at the sudden increase of light.

“Gators?” Spigot exclaimed. “What are Gators doing here?”

“Shooting at us,” Bret spat.

“I say we return the favor.” Tammy pulled out her pistol.

The Bullfrog ran out of the forest and immediately turned his attention skyward. “What the hell is that?”

“A flare,” one of the Gators growled. “They shot one up.”

“Well, I got Milro plus the prince and princess of the Windmill Kingdom too,” the Bullfrog said. “Let’s get out of here.”

Bret flicked his ears as he just barely heard them. “They have the prince and princesses?” he exclaimed.

Franklin got a pair of binoculars and focused them on the Bullfrog. The royals were trapped in the birdcage he was holding. “They do,” he reported.

“Then what are you standing around for?” Spigot yelled. “GET THEM!”

The others pulled out their pistols and took aim on the fleeing Gators and Bullfrog.

“NO!” Spigot shouted. “You might hit Princess Milro and the others.”

“It’s never easy, is it?” Bret grumbled. The engineers ran into the woods after them.

* * *​

“Lady Nicole,” Alex called out into the night as he flew through the darkness and shined his flashlight ahead of him. He paused to listen, but only the drumming of the rain returned to his ear. “Where could she have gone?” he growled. “Duchess Claudette made me promise I would see to her safety, but she’s not making it easy.”

“Is that you, Alex?” Nicole asked. She emerged from a row of bushes.

“Where have you been?” Alex asked a scolding manner.

“I was talking with Lee and then he left and I saw a strange light in the sky,” Nicole answered.

“Well, I’m about ready to leave this country for someplace warm and dry,” Alex said tiredly.

“But, I found something,” Nicole replied. “It’s this way.”

Alex heaved an exasperated sigh. “It better be good,” he grumbled.

She led him to the clearing where the blimp was parked. It was just buoyant enough to float about a dozen centimeters off the ground and was tied to nearby tree. Its floodlight was still lit, casting light on the grass.

“It’s an airship, so what?” Alex said dully. “The Drop Kingdom engineers have a more interesting one back near the Mother Tree. It’s even enclosed and heated.”

“Aren’t you curious as to who it belongs to?” Nicole asked.

“Not in the least,” Alex answered flatly.

They heard loud rustling and twigs snapping coming from the woods. In a panic, the two engineers looked around for cover and climbed into the back of the blimp covered by a canvas tarp. The Gators and Bullfrog ran out of the woods and leapt into the hull. Nicole and Alex peeked out from under the tarp and watched as they prepared to takeoff, helpless to stop them or escape.

The Gators took out large knifes and cut the rope tethering them to the tree as well as ropes holding sandbags they had been using for ballast. The heavy bags fell into the mud with a plop. They cut sandbags until the blimp began to slowly rise into the night sky.

The engineers burst from the woods to see the blimp rising. Ophelia ran faster and leap into the hull. The others stopped when reached where they could do the same because the blimp was already too high to jump in. They could only watch as the airship rose higher into the blackness.

Without realizing she was alone, Ophelia threw a wild punch into the long snout of one of the Gators. He was momentarily stunned, giving her an opportunity to pick him up and throw him into the other Gator readying his rifle. The two bulky, reptilian men fell into a corner of the hull, fumbling the rifle over the side.

She then turned her attention to the Bullfrog still holding the cage and the royals. She narrowed her eyes and bent her mouth into an angered frown. The amphibian man backed up until he was against the controls as she slowly stepped towards him, his bulbous eyes quivering in fear. “Duh-don’t hurt me!” he blubbered.

“Then hand them over,” Ophelia growled angrily.

The Bullfrog noticed one of the Gators had gotten to his feet behind Ophelia and was holding his knife ready to plunge it into her shoulder. “Alright,” he said, trying to hide he knew about the coming attack.

Ophelia felt the surge of electricity emitted by the Gator as he raised the knife. She sidestepped to the right and grabbed his chunky arm. She slammed his wrist against the side until he let go of the knife and it fell overboard. She then elbowed him hard in the chest. He doubled over and staggered back.

Ophelia and the other Gator went for the remaining rifle. She had the handle end and wrestled it from him. The Gator punched her in the face with a right jab. Her head snapped to the side and she staggered back. Her head seemed to spin as she was momentarily dazed.

She fell against the wooden divider separating the opened front of the hull from the back covered by the tarp. She propped herself up on it and her face was right next to where Nicole and Alex had been watching from a small opening under the tarp. They disappeared from view as the Gator grabbed Ophelia and lifted her over his head.

“Please,” Milro pleaded, “don’t do it!”

The Gator’s toothy mouth formed into a sadistic grin upon hearing her plea. He threw Ophelia overboard to plummet to the ground. The three royals could only watch helplessly as she fell out of view and her terrified scream fade.

The engineers on the ground saw her be thrown off. “I’ve got you!” Bret yelled as he got under her and held out his arms to catch her. However, she landed on the back of his shoulders and the two hit the ground with a thud.

Ophelia rubbed her hind end as it stung from the fall. However, she was none the worse for wear. “Thank you,” she said to Bret whom she was sitting on.

“Don’t mention it,” Bret strained to say. “Now get off.”

“We in big trouble,” Ophelia panicked as she stood up. “Not only do they have the prince and princesses, but Nicole and Al are trapped in their blimp too.”

“What?” Lee exclaimed as turned his attention to the blimp. The thought of shooting a hole in the envelope crossed his mind, but the fall would probably gravely injure everyone onboard. There was nothing they could do for them.

“Damn,” the Bullfrog muttered as he saw her get up.

The royals heaved a sigh of relief as they got a view as well. At least she was safe. However, they were not so lucky as the Bullfrog placed them under the controls.

The Gator Ophelia had elbowed was still sprawled out in a corner. He was wheezing for breath and holding his chest. The other Gator tried to help him up, but he could not stand.

The Bullfrog started the propeller engineers that pushed them forward as they rose into the clouds. He took one more look at the engineers watching them helplessly. He cracked an indulged grin as they rose into the cloud deck.

Nicole and Alex pulled up the tarp on the left side to see. They were passing through the clouds that covered everything exposed with water droplets. They then left the clouds into the clear night sky.

The sight was eerie. The clouds were like a sea of mist, pale yellow in color under the light of the Full Moon. After looking up and seeing a black void, it was odd it see stars in the midnight blue sky.

They headed north as they could tell by the movement of the subtle patterns in the cloud tops. After several minutes, the clouds abruptly dropped off from bow to stern. The landscape below was thick woods between dark lakes. Lights were scarce, suggesting they were over a mostly underdeveloped region. The blimp began to skin towards the ground.

The two panicked when they saw they where sinking towards a lake. However, land came back into view as they touched down.

The Gator was still having hard time breathing. “I think that Aquarian cracked or broken several of his ribs,” the other said.

“Get him to the infirmary,” the Bullfrog said. He picked up the cage and looked at the shrunken royals smugly as they cowered in the opposite side. “I’ll take Milro and these two to Geronita.”

“Geronita?” Milro gasped. “I should have known.”

The Bullfrog did not answer. He hopped out of the blimp and walked towards the compound on the far end of the island. The injured Gator threw his arm across the other’s shoulder as he supported him. The two hobbled away from the blimp as well.

Nicole and Alex slipped out from under the tarp into the open front. They peered over the controls at the departing men. “This is a fine mess you’ve gotten us into,” Alex sneered.

“I’m sorry,” Nicole whimpered.

She looked around them. They were on an island in a large lake surrounded by forests. The chirping of crickets was joined by other calls of nocturnal creatures. The air was very warm and sticky with humidity with the slight smell of decaying vegetation. Noseeums danced in swarms under the lights from the lamps concentrated over the compound, leaving where they were relatively dark. “Where are we?” she asked.

“From the look of the natives,” Alex said, “I’d say we’re in the southern Drop Kingdom.”

“The Drop Kingdom?” Nicole explained, but kept her voice hushed. “Why would citizens of the Drop Kingdom kidnap their own princess and throw an engineer overboard so gleefully?”

“Things aren’t that simple here,” Alex answered. “I’ve heard the people in the south hate Saginaw City with a passion. There are even some groups here dedicated to the violent overthrow of Queen Yamul and the parliament. They must have found out what happened to Princess Milro somehow and saw their opportunity.”

“We have to save them,” Nicole stated.

“How?” Alex snapped. “There’re only two of us unarmed against who knows how many of them armed to their plentiful teeth.”

“We just have to grab them and escape,” Nicole said.

“Easier said than done,” Alex retorted.

“I’m telling you we’re in serious trouble,” a voice said.

Nicole and Alex sank down to hide.

Khan was talking with Deg as they walked past towards Khan’s airship. “The Drop Kingdom engineers know about the cloud seeding,” Khan explained worriedly. “They’re going to bring their findings to Yamul and she’ll link it back to you.”

“Don’t worry,” Deg replied dismissively. “By this time tomorrow, Yamul can know everything and it won’t do her any good. Besides, they didn’t go to Saginaw City; they went to the Tanetane Kingdom.”

“We still need to act now,” Khan insisted.

They’re voices faded as they walked away from the blimp. Nicole and Alex peaked up to see the two departing.

“They’re responsible for the rain?” Nicole asked rhetorically.

“Seems that way,” Alex said. “Now, how are we supposed to get them and go?”

“You fly out and grab Princess Sophie and the others,” Nicole said quietly. “We’ll then fly away. Hopefully, we’ll be out of reach before they realize what’s happened and can do anything about it.”

Alex narrowed his eyes and scowled at hearing this plan. It put him in the most danger. However, he had no argument against it. He could fly more easily than she could and would not be as easily noticed. “Alright,” he said.

The Bullfrog was still looking away. After a moment’s hesitation, he darted towards him. He banked around him, ripping the cage from his hands. By the time he turned around, Alex flying into a night as Nicole was running away.

“Doggels?” he exclaimed. He then screamed, “There are Doggels here and they have Milro!”

“We have to deal with the Windmill Kingdom too?” Khan complained.

“Stop them!” Deg shouted. “They can’t be allowed to escape!”

While Nicole could fly like Alex, she had a much harder time getting in the air. Being larger, with roughly the same-sized ears, she needed a running start to get airborne and even then she was slow and cumbersome in flight. Still, it was their only means of escape. She finally had enough speed and jumped into the air. The two did not even bother to look back the island. They were only thinking of getting back to the Tanetane Kingdom and telling the others what they found.

Nicole suddenly felt someone grab her arm roughly. She looked back and saw that Talia had her. Alex looked behind him only to run into Copter-bot who grabbed him and the cage. The two flew down to where several Gators, Bullfrogs, and Walruses were standing.

“Excellent,” Deg said, chuckling. “Take Milro and the chikuwa-eared ones to Geronita.”

* * *​

The engineers sulked back to the Hurricane. Ophelia shifted her jaw around to make sure the punch hadn’t broken it. It was fine, though she would probably have a horrible bruise on the side of her face for a while and it throbbed all the same. Her rump was also sore, but nothing was broken. Bret was slouching a bit as his shoulders ached from her falling on him.

“Are you two alright?” Lee asked.

“We’ll live,” Ophelia and Bret said at the same time.

“This is bad,” Spigot panicked. “You know they’ve taken them to Geronita. Who knows what that psychopath will do to them?”

King and many others had gathered around the Hurricane by the time they reached it, curious about the commotion. “What’s happened-dane?” King asked.

“Some of Geronita’s goons captured Prince Auler, and Princesses Milro and Sophie as well as Nicole and Alex,” Spigot answered tiredly. “They probably took them back to her stronghold in Sinker Swamp.”

Ophelia plopped down on the steps. “I think it’s a safe bet to say Geronita is responsible for what’s happening here.”

“What makes you think that?” Franklin asked.

“The only ones who know about Princess Milro and the others in the Drop Kingdom are us, Dr. McChi and his nurse,” Ophelia said. “None of us told anyone and I doubt the doc did either. That means she must have learned about it when they were down here in the Tanetane Kingdom and the only reason she’d have eyes and ears here if she was monitoring things. The aerosols are also concentrated in the north, suggesting they originate very close to if not over Sinker Swamp. There’re too many pieces that fit together for it just to be a coincidence.”

“Why would this Geronita want to flood my country-dane?” King asked.

“Because she’s bat crap crazy,” Bret said. “This is the same woman who attacked the royal family for telling her to shut up.”

“We need to rescue them,” Spigot stated.

“We?” Emily exclaimed. “What you mean ‘we’? We’re engineers, not counter-insurgents.”

“Yeah,” Lee chimed in. “There’re only seven of us, and Sinker Swamp could be the Wonder Planet’s biggest deathtrap.”

“We should leave this to the military,” Ophelia suggested.

“The military wouldn’t make a move until first light,” Spigot stated. “By that time the curse would be permanent. Besides, if she’s screwing around with my clouds and want to personally thank her.”

 

[The Big Al]

Chapter 10: Geronita the Deranged

Nicole, Alex and the royals were taken to the largest hangar in the compound. Scores of Gators were standing in rows with a corridor running the length of the cavernous building between them. At the opposite end of the corridor was Geronita. She walked towards them as they were brought to the center.

“So nice to meet you all,” she said, her voice echoing off the wooden wall and corrugated metal roof.

Alex coughed a sarcastic laugh. “The feeling’s not mutual,” he scoffed

A Walrus ran up and handed Deg a clipboard. “The last cloud seeding wave is complete, Deg,” he reported.

“Deg?” Milro repeated. “The engineers said a group of Walruses led by a man named Deg was dealing weapons to Hog Hell in exchange for silver.”

“We needed the silver to make silver iodide,” Deg replied.

“So that’s how they’ve been doing it?” Nicole mused allowed. “They’ve been seeding the clouds with silver iodide.”

“What’s silver iodide?” Sophie asked.

“It has a chemical with a very similar structure to water ice and water droplets readily form raindrops around it,” Nicole explained sternly. “It’s the preferred chemical for cloud seeding.”

“Why would you seed the clouds?” Sophie asked Geronita.

“To make it rain in the Tanetane Kingdom, of course,” Geronita answered.

“That was nice,” Sophie said blissfully. “Though, I think you overdid it.”

Geronita let her jaw drop. “You little airhead,” she snapped, “I’m making it rain in the Tanetane Kingdom to flood it.”

The royals and engineers gasped. “Why?” Milro pleaded. “The people of the Tanetane Kingdom are suffering. Some are already considering leaving and others could die.”

“It’s a little experiment in preparation for our big plan,” Deg said smugly.

“What plan is that?” Alex asked.

“Since you’re not going to leave this island alive, I might as well tell you,” Geronita said. She started to pace as she explained, “When the Wonder Planet was created, seven countries were founded to make the planet habitable for all its citizens.”

“Right,” Nicole said.

Geronita stopped, jabbed her finger at them, and roared, “WRONG! They made it habitable for endotherms while herps like us are regulated to small enclaves like this swamp. Well, not anymore.”

“What are you planning to do?” Milro asked fearfully.

“I’m going to commandeer the Cloud Generation Device and set it to maximum capacity,” Geronita announced. “The increased precipitation will transform the landmass to swampland like this. I’ll end the rule of mammals of usher in a new era of amphibian domination with me as empress of the Wonder…or should I say…Swamp Planet.”

“You’re mad!” Alex stated. “Your plan won’t even work. You’re not turning the Tanetane Kingdom into a swamp; you’re turning it into a lake.”

“Shut up!” Geronita snapped. “Lock them in the brig with the others. I’m through listening to them.”

The Gators shoved Nicole and Alex back towards the door. Geronita watched, smirking at them. However, the proverbial light bulb went off in her head and she took on a cruel grin.

“Wait,” she said, her voice practically slithering from her throat. “Bring me Milro.”

The gator holding the cage opened the door for a Bullfrog to reach in. Auler jumped in front of Milro. The Bullfrog swatted him aside and grabbed her. He took her to Geronita. Geronita swiped Milro and held her on her open palm.

“What are you going to do to me?” Milro asked fearfully, unable to keep from trembling.

“I’ve got a special place for you,” Geronita said with a sly grin.

* * *​

Nicole and Alex were brought to a long, narrow building. Inside were cells on either side filled with purple-furred, skunk-like people. Many were asleep, but a few looked up as they were brought in. The Gator sitting at the table at the opposite end grabbed a set of keys from a hook and opened a cell door.

Alex and Nicole were shoved in the cell. Auler and Sophie were placed on a hook in the wall. The Gator slammed the door shut and locked its large lock before returning to the table.

Nicole looked around their cell. It was rather small and like everything else was made of wood and corrugated metal. It was rather flimsy for a jail, but was enough to hold them. A sink and toilet were in one corner and along the opposite wall were two wooden planks she guessed were meant as beds held in place by metal chains.

Lying on the beds were a larger Doggel man with brown fur and a thin, black mustache and a smaller Doggel woman. They both wore engineer uniforms. They were dirty and scuffed like they had been in a struggle.

The man sat up and Nicole recognized him immediately. “Otto?” she exclaimed.

“Bonnie?” Alex asked when he saw the woman. “How did you two get here?”

“Lady Nicole?” Otto exclaimed as his eyes widened. “How did they get you?”

“We asked first,” Alex replied.

“King Randa sent us to investigate the rain over the Tanetane Kingdom,” Otto explained. “We decided to check out Sinker Swamp because it was just upwind. We caught these people spraying silver iodide into the atmosphere and they shot us down. They captured us and locked us in here so we couldn’t tell anyone.”

“We kind of stowed away on one of their blimps,” Alex answered. “Who would’ve thought we’d all end up as cellmates?”

“Indeed,” Otto said, “it seems not even being held captive by despots can keep me away from you, Lady Nicole.”

Nicole frowned. “We already went through this,” he said forcefully. “Our relationship is over.”

“Besides, this isn’t the best place to open old wounds,” Alex added.

Bonnie noticed Auler and Sophie in the cage. “Prince Auler, Princess Sophie,” she exclaimed, “what happened to you?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” Auler answered.

“Well, it’s not like we’re going anywhere,” Bonnie replied.

Khan, Deg and several herps were watching as the six introduced themselves. Auler looked down at Khan. “I can’t believe King Truth would support this psychopath.”

“You think that imbecile supports this?” Khan got out before bursting into a fit of laughter so hard it made his eyes water and was joined by the others. “He does not even know I am here.”

Auler was taken aback by Khan’s response, especially to use such an insult to describe his own king.

“Geronita needed someone to keep the Totem Cone observers distracted and the rest of the planet in the dark,” Khan said coolly. “I was happy to oblige…for a price.”

He joined the others as they walked out of the brig.

* * *​

Geronita put Milro in another cage and took her under the water of the lake to a small building on its bed. It had a small airlock to drain the water before entering the single room that made up the rest of its interior. Geronita flipped a switch to turn on a light that provided paltry illumination. It was Spartan with a set of bars dividing it in half and only having the basic accommodations.

“What is this place?” Milro asked.

“This was home,” Geronita answered. “You’re mother locked me in here.”

* * * * *​

Thirteen years ago, Geronita had been considered a menace throughout the Drop Kingdom. She would sing day in and day out, but her loud, hoarse voice was irritating if not painful to listen to. Despite repeated demands for her to stop, she kept on singing. Eventually, Yamul had to step in and force her to. Geronita took this personally and in a rage decided to take her frustration out on the royal family.

After dusk on a summer evening when the skies over the Drop Kingdom had transitioned to the darkness of night, Geronita snuck towards the castle. She climbed onto the balcony of Milro’s bedroom as the young princess would be her target. She took out a glass cutter from her hooded cape and scored a circle in the glass and gently knocked it out so she could catch it and set it down. Milro’s ears were not just for decoration as they afforded the same super hearing as Beavers.

She reached in and undid the lock to slowly open the door. She crept into the darkened room. It was filled mostly with painting supplies and pictures while crude, were very good for a three year old. Milro was asleep in her bed, unaware of Gerointa.

Geronita came to loom over her. However, as she was about to slap her hand over her mouth and snatch her, a powerful hand grabbed her by the neck. She looked up and saw that it was Yamul who had her by the throat. Without a word, Yamul threw across the room into the doors.

Geronita slumped over like a ragdoll before she got her wits about her again. She barely got to her feet in time for Yamul slug her in the head. She staggered into the comparatively bright hallway. A sharp pain shot through her face and the rest of her throbbed.

She collected herself to mount a counter as Yamul stormed towards her. She threw her fist in a wild punch that Yamul caught in her hands. She grasped Geronita’s fist and began to crush her fingers. She punched Geronita with her free hand and sent her to the ground.

Two guards ran down the hall to the commotion. “Pick her up,” Yamul ordered them. They picked up Geronita whose lip was already starting to swell. It did not stop her from curling it in indignation at Yamul.

“You must be dumber than a box of rocks,” Yamul snarled. “I tell you to stop singing and you respond by trying to attack my daughter?”

“Mama?” Milro asked tiredly. She stood in the doorway, rubbing her sleepy eyes and clutching her stuffed stingray. “Mama, what’s going on?”

“It’s nothing, Milro, go back to bed,” Yamul said gently. “Mama’s working.”

Milro walked back into her room and the doors slid shut.

Yamul turned back to Geronita. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Yeah,” Geronita spat. “Go to Hell, rodent.”

Yamul scowled at Geronita. “You made a big mistake going after my only child,” she said angrily.

“What are you going to do?” Geronita taunted. “Throw me in prison? I’ll enjoy the captive audience.”

“I wouldn’t inflict you on even the convicted,” Yamul said. “No, I have a special place for you.”

* * *​

Yamul had a special cell built on the bed of a lake in the middle of Sinker Swamp. There, she personally watched them as they locked Geronita up. Geronita shouted as they locked the door, “You can’t do this to me!”

“Think of it this way,” Yamul said coldly, “you can sing to your heart’s content now. No one can hear you.”

“Singing isn’t worth anything without an audience,” Geronita shot back.

“Tough,” Yamul spat as she left with the detention detail.

Geronita watched as they disappeared into the airlock. The sum of her rage boiled from deep within her to the surface. She bellowed a bestial roar of hatred at Yamul, the Drop Kingdom, the Wonder Planet, and whatever god might be watching for what had been done to her.

* * * * *​

“I was locked in this hellhole for ten years,” Geronita snarled. “Once a month they brought a supply of field rations, but aside from that I was alone. I finally broke free and made Sinker Swamp my own as I will do with the Drop Kingdom and the entire Wonder Planet.”

“Why bring me here?” Milro asked.

“Because I have a flare for the ironic,” Geronita answered coyly. “I don’t intend to kill your family, but capture them and throw in here starting with you. You can then watch my rise to glory from the pit she cast me into.”

She hung the cage on a hook. “By this time tomorrow I’ll have the complete set.”

Milro watched as she walked into the airlock and closed the hatch behind her. She finally conceded to the despair. It looked like she was truly doomed now. There was no quick thinking that could get her out of this and Spigot and his people were unlikely to come in with the last minute save. There were only a few hours before dawn would come over the Mother Tree and spell on her as well as Auler and Sophie would become permanent, but that seemed trivial compared to the reign of terror Geronita would bring upon the Wonder Planet. It all seemed hopeless. She collapsed to her knees and although she was not brought to tears, she could not help but heave a heavy sigh in defeat.

* * *​

The Hurricane flew over Sinker Swamp. Its crew looked down at the expanse of wetland with solemn expressions. The swamp below that seemed to go on forever filled them with dread more than any other place in the Wonder Planet. The darkened landscape was speckled by isolated clusters of light where there was what could be called civilization and they knew in those towns were people who hated them despite having never meant them but simply because of the uniform they wore and even the species they were. Yet, it was there they had to go.

Tammy looked away from her porthole. “How long before dawn?”

Spigot took out his pocket watch and checked. It was quarter past one in the Saginaw City which was roughly an hour ahead of the Mother Tree. “A little less than six hours,” he reported.

“We’ve already spent three up here,” Emily said tiredly. “We’re not going to get anywhere up here.”

“Agreed,” Spigot said. He walked into the cockpit where Bret and Ophelia were piloting. “Find a place to land. We’re going to search for Geronita on foot.”

Bret gulped dryly. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“No,” Spigot answered, “but we have no choice.”

“Okay, Boss,” Bret said uneasily.

He turned his attention to the ground below. There were not many places that could serve as a suitable landing site. Unfortunately, the Hurricane could not land in water, so the lakes were out of the question. His best bet would be a long beach which he saw on the shore of a nearby lake.

Bret and Ophelia brought them down and landed on what they expected to be sand. However, it proved to be tightly packed dirt as they touched down a little harder than expected. Still, the Hurricane slowed to a stop without incident.

Lee looked out a porthole at the darkness. “I don’t see the rampaging herp hoard,” he said. “I’m guessing this isn’t Geronita’s base.”

“We should still able to find someone who knows,” Spigot said.

“Do you think they’ll tell us before or after they bite our heads off?” Franklin asked sarcastically.

Spigot did not honor Franklin’s question with the reply. He simply opened the door as the stairs extended to the ground. He descended the stairs and onto the ground. He was surprised to find it firm and stamped it a few times to make sure.

“What’s wrong, Boss?” Emily asked as she and others disembarked.

“This ground is hard,” Spigot said. “Sinker Swamp is so named because almost all of it is very soft sand.”

Lee picked up a clump of dirt and held in his hand. He crushed it into powder and rubbed it between his fingers. “This is dried clay,” he said. “Perhaps someone spread it to have firm space.”

“Who would do that?” Bret asked.

“Perhaps whoever lives there,” Tammy suggested as she flashed in flashlight in the direction of village on the lakeshore.

The village was barely even a village as it was just a dozen buildings. All of them were designed to resemble giant mushrooms. However, they were built to the scale of a smaller Beaver given the size of the doors and height of the windows. It was completely dark and silent. The surrounding kudzu had also started to creep in like it had not been cut back in a while.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this?” Lee said uneasily.

“I think this is a village of Skusku,” Spigot said. “They’re one of the few mammalian people to live in the swamp.”

Ophelia looked into one of the homes. The interior was in disarray as if there had been a struggle. Furniture was overturned and furnishings were shattered on the floor.

“Make that ‘was’,” she said. “This place is abandoned and by the looks of things, it was not voluntary.”

Bret’s light happened to shine on a large boot print in the soil. “Judging by this print, they were either taken away by clowns or Gators.”

“Geronita,” Spigot sneered. “We should keep looking.”

“Where to next?” Emily asked.

“I saw lights on the shore of a lake on the other side of the woods,” Tammy said.

They shined their lights down a lonely path through the woods. The trees growing around it had intertwined their moss covered branches so that even in the day it was probably dark as night underneath. The engineers gulped dryly as they gingerly walked down the dirt path, shining their flashlight every which way in case they might catch something.

* * *​

“And that’s basically what happened,” Auler said to complete his explanation of what had happened to them over the past day.

Otto bobbed he head as he absorbed what he had been told. “That’s quite a problem,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re in no position to help you?”

Alex was hanging on the bars of the cell door as it was the only place he could find in the cramped cell he felt comfortable. He looked around the building. A cylindrical duct ran the length of the hall with fluorescent lights on either side. In each cell were between two to four of the skunk-like people who were mostly asleep. The prisoners looked to have not been abused and aside from the stench of body odor, it was relatively clean. They were still prisoners of a madwoman bent on world domination, but he could imagine worse.

“Who are the purple people,” he asked.

“They’re called Skusku,” Bonnie replied. “They live in the swamp. They said before Geronita started cloud seeding, the Gators rounded them up from a certain radius around this base so they could not contact Saginaw City.”

“They said there’s no escaping this island,” Otto said solemnly. “Even if we could get out of this cell, Talia and Copter-bot patrol the skies, and the Gators patrol the waters.”

“Our only hope if for Lee and his friends to save us,” Nicole said wishfully. “Ophelia saw us in the balloon, so they know we’re in this swamp.”

“Wait a minute,” Otto interjected. “Who’s Lee?”

“He’s a good looking Aquarian engineer we met in the Tanetane Kingdom,” Alex said. “Nicole literally fell for him.”

“What?” Otto exclaimed.

“He’s very kind soul,” Nicole said fondly. “He and his twin sister gave up their family fortune to serve the Drop Kingdom. He even saved countless lives in the Tanetane Kingdom with his quick ingenuity.”

Otto let his jaw drop upon hearing this.

“Don’t let it get to you, big guy” Alex said. “If it’s any consolation, his sister is cute.”

“Right now, they’re probably do everything they can to get to us,” Nicole said.

“Hopefully they can save us and put a stop to Geronita,” Bonnie said. “Otherwise, no place might be safe from her.”

* * *​

The Drop Kingdom engineers walked down the path. Around them were the sounds of the night as crickets chirped and owls hooted to make their presence known. The sound gave comfort as it meant there was nothing out of the ordinary waiting in the shadows for them.

They kept their focus ahead of them. There was no telling what was at the end of the path. For all they knew, it was Geronita’s base and her forces were lying in wait for them.

Bret looked up and was almost blinded by a bright light in a tree. “What is that?” he yelped as he shielded his eyes.

Spigot looked up. “Moonshiner’s light,” he answered.

“Oh,” Bret said. It took a few seconds for it to sink in. “A moonshiner’s light!” he exclaimed. “We’re all gonna die!”

“Shut up,” Tammy forced through her tightly clenched teeth as she slapped her hand over his mouth. “Do you want them to hear us?”

Bret shook his head in response.

“It’s not nearly as bad as it looks,” Spigot said.

“We’re uniformed government employees in a moonshiner’s territory,” Emily stated. “That looks pretty damn bad.”

“We’re not ATF,” Spigot said. “Engineers happened to frequent moonshiner shacks when I started.”

“And you call our generation a bunch of party animals,” Lee retorted.

“As long as we don’t cause trouble, they’ll leave us alone,” Spigot said.

“One can hope,” Franklin added.

They emerged from the woods to see a single shack on stilts in front of them. The wooden structure looked dilapidated and ramshackle. An old boat gangplank led to the porch and squares of corrugated metal were propped up over the windows. Light could be seen in the windows and door and the air carried the din of business and the smell of liquor.

“We’ve got to ask directions in there?” Emily asked despairingly.

“Come on,” Spigot grumbled.

They walked in and everything fell silent. Several Gators, Bullfrogs, and the odd member of other races native and not native to the Drop Kingdom turned to them. The engineers felt their blood run cold. Their hands were already itching to grab their pistols in case of a fight.

“Welcome, strangers,” the Gator man behind the bar said warmly. “Can I interest you in some spirits?”

“We’re just passing through and want a chance to rest,” Spigot replied. “We don’t want any trouble.”

“Then you’re welcome here,” the barkeep replied. “Make yourselves at home.”

Lee and Bret sat down at the bar. Behind the barkeep were several bottles filled with a clear liquid. They guessed it was white whiskey.

“What’ll you two have?” the barkeep asked.

“Do you have anything without alcohol?” Lee asked.

The barkeep frowned upon hearing this. “You can go stick your head in the lake.”

“What are you doing?” Bret snapped at him.

“I’m not legal for another thirteen months and you’re the designated driver,” Lee stated.

“Killjoy,” Bret murmured.

Lee saw a sign stating, ‘crawfish: $1 each.’ He took out a ten dollar bill and said, “I’ll have ten crawfish.”

Spigot sat down with the others at a table. They looked around at the crowd. There were about two dozen people besides them. Many were already bleary eyed as they were approaching last call if the shack recognized the tradition.

Ruckus cheers erupted from one end of the room. A particularly muscular Gator man and Bearbear man were arm wrestling. The reptilian man was pushing is ursine opponent’s arm down towards the table with one last heave slammed it down.

The other Gators cheered as he jumped to his feet and yelled, “Yeah!” He followed it up by saying, “I’m Geronita’s best soldier! There’s not an endotherm in the Wonder Planet that can beat me!”

Tammy got up and walked towards the table where he was sitting. “Tammy,” Ophelia called after her in a hushed voice, “what are you doing?”

“He made a challenge and I’m going to accept it,” Tammy answered. “Besides, he works for Geronita and I might be able to get the location of her base out of him.”

The barkeep put a plate of ten crawfish down in front of Lee. Bret stared wide-eyed at the plate of large crustaceans. “Those are crawfish, they’re almost as big as lobsters,” he said. “What are they? Radioactive?”

Lee reached in his side pocket and pulled out a Geiger counter. He held the main box in one hand as he waved the sensor wand over the crawfish with the other. The Geiger counter made a seldom tick, but no more than you would expect from the normal environment. Lee returned the Geiger counter to his pocket and grabbed a crawfish.

“You carry a Geiger counter,” Bret managed to say.

“Well, yeah,” Lee replied. “You never know when you need to check for radiation.”

After a pause, Bret said, “You’re a geek.”

“I’m a geek with a girlfriend,” Lee corrected.

“And she’s a geek too,” Bret added. “She’s a good looking, high status geek, but a geek nonetheless.” He put his elbow on the bar so he could brace his cheek on his fist and grumble indignantly, “Some guys have all the luck.”

Lee broke off the back half of the crawfish’s shell and pulled out the meat with his teeth.

The Gator man sat back down and clumsily chugged a mug of beer. Some of the foamy beverage splashed out of his mouth as he upended it. He slammed the empty mug down and belched loudly to finish his drink.

“So you think there’s no endotherm that can beat you?” Tammy asked him. “I beg to differ.”

“Is that a challenge, rodent?” the man replied. He looked up at her with eyes clearly clouded by about a half a dozen too many.

Tammy sat down and smacked her elbow down on the table hard enough it made the empty mugs on it rattle. “Let’s wrestle.”

The man did the same and the two grabbed each other’s hand and began pushing against one another. Many of the occupants got up to watch. For almost a minute the two were even. However, Tammy began to feel her arm weaken. The man saw this and began pushing harder. Tammy tried to fight him, but he slowly brought her arm against the table.

He jumped up to ruckus cheers and declared, “Not even Yamul’s flunkies can beat me!”

“How about I have a go?” Ophelia said.

The man exhaled a loud laugh and was joined by the others. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” He turned to Lee and Bret. “Are you two such cowards you’d leave this delicate Saginese belle to fight your battles?”

“Who are you calling ‘delicate’?!” Ophelia huffed. “Are we wrestling or not?!”

The man coughed a laugh. “I’ll break that twig you dare call an arm in two!”

The two sat down and locked hands. They started and the man began to push Ophelia’s arm down. However, before he could slam it on the table, she began to push his back up to the starting pushing and then down to her side. He strained to stop her, but Ophelia slammed his hand on the table. The other occupants gasped at this.

“YOU CHEATED!” the man roared angrily. He threw the table aside and grabbed Ophelia by the shoulders of her dress to lift her off the ground. “You used some Aquarian trick!”

The barkeep hopped over the bar and took the man by the shoulder. “Put her down!” he demanded.

“Back off, old man,” the Gator snapped at him.

Lee slid off his stool and slowly walked up to the man. Using the same technique he used to incapacitate Tammy, he pinched the man. He immediately lost the strength to hold Ophelia and slumped over on the ground.

Tammy picked the man off the ground as he regained consciousness and threw him into a chair. “Enough playing around, we’re looking for Geronita!” she stated. “Where’s her base?”

The other Gators and Bullfrogs took notice and got to their feet. The other occupants quickly left the building and the barkeep dove behind the bar as they slowly surrounded the engineers. The seven bunched together as the dozen or so herps drew closer.

“Any ideas?” Franklin asked.

“Yeah!” Tammy grabbed the man and threw him into two others. The three fell sprawling onto the floor. “Kick their butts.”

The herps charged at them and were met with flying fists and kicking feet as the engineers defended themselves. It was a hectic scrum as the engineers tried to avoid attacks while delivering their own. It was hard to keep track of one another as they were too busy taking on the group that outnumbered them almost two to one. Fortunately, the herps were drunk and their fighting was clumsy, but their strength and numbers were still a challenge to the engineers.

A Bullfrog man grabbed a wooden chair and broke it over Tammy’s back. She barely flinched from the sneak attack and glared angrily at him. He backed up, but she grabbed him and threw him through a window. She turned into time for a Gator to punch her in the mouth.

A Gator man got out a sonic rifle at the same time Emily got out her pistol. She fired instantly with barely a thought and the reptilian man crumbled to the floor. She picked up the rifle and removed herself from the scrum. The others saw this and ducked away.

Sonic rifles had a variable spread when fired on stun and she set it to the widest setting. Before the occupants could do anything, she fired a wide shot that dropped them all. The other engineers and the barkeep slowly out from under their cover to see the oddly quiet room.

“I wonder if these hicks even know of that feature,” Emily mused allowed. “Is everyone alright?”

Tammy wiped a spot of blood that had trickled down her lip. “I’m fine.”

“My shack,” the barkeep said in dismay.

“We’re sorry, sir,” Lee apologized.

“I don’t blame you guys,” the barkeep said. “I blame Geronita and her insane rhetoric riling these disloyal idiots.”

“You don’t support Geronita?” Spigot asked.

“Hell no,” the barkeep declared. “I’m completely loyal to Her Royal Majesty Queen Yamul and the dutifully elected parliament. Not all ectotherms support that Usurper Geronita.”

“Terrific,” Spigot practically laughed, “a loyalist moonshiner.”

“Everyone has their faults,” the barkeep replied.

“Usurper?” Ophelia repeated inquisitively.

“You probably haven’t heard,” the barkeep said. “Geronita is planning an attack on Saginaw City at dawn. She intends to take command of the Cloud Generation Device and make the whole planet a swamp. She’s been seeding clouds headed for the Tanetane Kingdom for the past week or so as an experiment.”

The engineers gasped. “That explains a lot,” Lee said.

“We’ve got to stop her,” Spigot stated. “Where’s her base?”

“Shouldn’t we go to Saginaw City and warn them?” Bret asked. “It’d be a lot safer.”

Spigot took out his pocket watch and showed them that it was almost two. “We don’t have time. Sunrise over Saginaw City is in four hours. The closest we can get to Saginaw City with the Hurricane is an emergency landing strip at Peanut Lkae and by the time we got a vehicle and drove to Saginaw City, Geronita would be starting her attack.”

“I don’t know if we really have to fear this,” Lee said. “Drop Castle is a fortress. They’d cut her down before she got to the second bridge.”

“You’re forgetting this is Geronita,” Spigot said in reponse. “She’ll use whatever dirty trick she has. She might have even captured Princess Milro to use against Queen Yamul. It’s up to us to stop her.”

“How do you plan on defeating her?” the barkeep asked. “She’ll be attacking with a thousand Gators completely loyal to her.”

“We don’t have to defeat her,” Spigot said. “We just have to ground her troops and I have a plan.”

“Well, her base is on an island in a lake about three kilometers upriver from here,” the barkeep said. He grabbed a set of keys from one of the unconscious Gators and threw them to Ophelia. “Those are to the middle airboat barked on the shore outside.”

“Thanks,” Ophelia said.

“I’m happy to serve Her Majesty,” the barkeep said.

“Hold it,” Tammy interjected. “How do we know this isn’t a trap?”

“I’ve come to know when a man is lying,” Spigot replied. “He isn’t.”

“You might also want to take this,” the barkeep threw Tammy a small jar filled with tiny, gray balls. “Geronita has been rounding up the local Skusku so they won’t get word to Saginaw City of the attack. Give them those. They’ll know what to do with them. I’d help you myself, but I’m just a simple moonshiner and would probably slow you down. Just know there are people in this swamp who are on your side.”

The seven engineers left the shack. The interior was in shambles with tables and chairs overturned and broken. The barkeep began putting those still intact back on their feet. He looked to the unconscious group. “I expect all of you to pay for this, you poor green trash.”

 

[The Big Al]

Chapter 11: The Surprise Reversed

Ophelia drove the airboat upriver to where the barkeep said Geronita’s base was. She sat in the elevated driver’s chair with the rudder in one hand the throttle in the other. The others were crowded together on the deck of the small, shallow boat.

The boat was quick as it practically bounced on the surface of the water. However, it was also noisy to the point of irritation. The bio-diesel engine made a horrible racket and the large blades had to displace so much air, even if was so loud they could barely hear themselves think. When they saw lights, Ophelia cut the throttle back to almost nothing to quiet the noise. The sounds of the swamp again enveloped them. She puttered them into a mess of cattails and around a meander to see Geronita’s base right where the barkeep had told them it would be.

“Score on for the moonshiner,” Lee said. “You said you had a plan, Boss. Mind cluing us in?”

“Yeah. How are we supposed to stop them without defeating them?” Bret asked woefully.

“All we have to do is sabotage their airships,” Spigot said. “Without them, they’re just bunch of malcontents. We can also kill two birds with one stone. In the ensuing chaos, we’ll grab the prince and princesses and hightail it to the Tanetane Kingdom with evidence they’re responsible. Hopefully, the Mother Tree will accept that and return them to normal before dawn.”

“How will we sabotage their airships?” Ophelia asked.

“We find them and somehow make them unusable,” Spigot answered. “Whether we slash the envelopes or cut them free, they won’t be able to fly them.”

“The question that remains is how we get in there,” Emily said.

“It’s simple,” Spigot said. “One of us will go back to the Hurricane and fly it here. They’ll let themselves be captured. They’ll be taken to wherever they’re holding the prince and princesses as well as Lady Nicole and Alex. In the meantime, the rest of us will sneak onto the island while they’re distracted and kill the electricity.”

“Great,” Bret said with feigned enthusiasm. “Who’s going to be the lamb thrown to the slaughter?”

“Well, they’re going to have to be able fly the Hurricane,” Emily said.

“Uh-huh,” Bret replied.

“It’s preferable that they’re not Aquarian since they’re more useful getting to the island,” Ophelia added.

“Good point,” Bret said.

“It would also help if they were scrawny, so they’d be more apt to lock them up instead of kill them on sight,” Tammy added.

“That’s right,” Bret declared. “They should be a pilot, not an Aquarian, and scrawny.”

He looked up and saw the others staring at him with sly grins. “Why are you looking at me?” he asked fearfully and let his ears droop over.

“Who here fits our criteria?” Spigot asked.

“Bret,” the others said at once.

Bret gulped dryly.

* * *​

A Skusku man in the cell opposite the Windmill Engineers sat up in bed and stretched. He looked into the cell across the hall with bleary eyes that slowly came into focus. When he saw that the number of engineers had doubled, he woke the others in his cell.

“Hey,” he said as they sat up, “they caught two more of the Purple Gang.”

“You’re one to talk,” Alex shot back.

“Sorry,” the man said. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Daniel.”

“This is Nicole, Otto, Bonnie, and I’m Al,” Alex said. He did not mention Auler and Sophie as he hoped they went unnoticed from over there.

“I’m surprised they managed to grab four Windmill Kingdom engineers,” Daniel said as he rest his head again the wall of his cell. “What brought all of you to our swamp?”

“Geronita’s cloud seeding,” Otto answered. “It’s wreaking havoc in the Tanetane Kingdom.”

“She probably told you it’s just the beginning,” Daniel said.

Nicole nodded and then grimaced at the thought of how callously Geronita had talked about turning the Wonder Planet into a swamp. “How could Geronita be that cruel? She acts like they’re not even people.”

“As far as she’s concerned, they’re not,” Daniel said. “She has a deep hatred for endotherms and considers them beneath ectotherms. She’s surrounded herself with people that think like her and that’s how she took over Sinker Swamp.”

“Why would Queen Yamul even allow that?” Otto asked. “She’s far from a stupid woman and the Drop Kingdom has more resources than any other country.”

“All of that’s useless down here,” Daniel answered. “Just about everything sinks into the sand. There’s no point in building roads or railroad tracks as they’d break up almost immediately and towns are severely limited in size. Sinker Swamp is the back country and well removed from Queen Yamul’s power base. Saginaw City is also widely hated here, making cooperation from the locals difficult to acquire. The result is the one place Geronita can build her enclave without being harassed.”

The conversation was brought to a close by the sound of droning growing in volume. Outside, people gathered in the open space made by the U-shaped compound of buildings. The Hurricane descended towards the ground with its bright landing lamp shining down on the island.

The huge airship touched down on the end of the island and rolled to a stop close to the compound. It then began to taxi as it turned around to face the way it came and slowly backed up into the compound. Gators and Bullfrogs readied sonic rifles as the stairs descended to the ground.

The distraction was perfect. Everyone at the compound was paying attention to the strange airship. They were completely unaware the other engineers had snuck onto the island. They hid where they could and watched as the herps and Walruses gathered around the Hurricane.

The door opened and Bret stepped out with his hands in the air. “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” he said hastily.

“Get down here,” Geronita snapped.

“Sure thing, just stop pointing your guns at me,” Bret said.

“Stand down,” Geronita ordered.

The others obeyed and lowered their weapons.

Bret walked down the stairs with his hands still in the air. Once he set his feet on the ground, a Gator reached under his coat and took his pistol from its holster.

“Why are you here?” Geronita growled.

“My airship is low on fuel and I was hoping you had hydrogen gas to spare,” Bret answered as he slowly lowered his hands.

“Lock him in the brig,” Geronita snapped.

“Hey,” Bret yelped as the Gators shoved him away.

The others watched as a small crowd led Bret away. They also familiarized themselves with their surroundings on their targets. They had the good fortune of hiding between the main hangar and the armory. They could easily sneak into the hangar and do their damage. The brig was going to be more of a problem as Bret was led to a building on the other side of the compound.

“So far so good,” Spigot whispered. “We’ll give Bret a few minutes before we cut the power.”

He turned to the others. “Tammy and Lee, swim around the island to the brig. By the time you get there, Bret should have dealt with the guards inside and you can take care of the guards outside. Franklin and Emily will cut the power. Ophelia and I will sabotage their airships. We then all break for the Hurricane, overpowering any opposition, and lift off.”

“Okay,” the five engineers said.

* * *​

The Gators shoved Bret into the Brig. Several Skusku sat up as the crowd made their way down the narrow hallway. The guard at the end grabbed the keys and unlocked the door to Daniel’s cell so Bret could be pushed in.

“Hey!” Daniel yelped. “It’s crowded in here already!”

“Shut up,” the guard snapped and returned to his seat.

The others left and the brig fell silent. Bret looked to the guard who returned to his chair and laid his feet on the table. “There’s only one here,” he said quietly to himself. “That should make things easier.”

“That caught you too, Bret?” Alex asked tiredly. “So much for our gallant heroes from the Drop Kingdom.”

“Don’t count us out just yet,” Bret said. “I bear gifts.”

He took out the jar the barkeep had given them. “Smell balls,” Daniel exclaimed, barely able to keep his voice below a whisper. “You’re a godsend.”

“Wait, who is he?” Otto asked.

“I guess we can have a quick introduction,” Alex interjected. “Bonnie and Otto meet Bret Greene. Bret, meet Bonnie Hofer and Otto Jaeger.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Bret said quietly. “If you excuse me, I have a jail break to engineer.”

He watched the guard nod off to sleep. He waited until he was absolutely sure the man was out before reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a hex key. “This is Emily’s lucky hex key. She said she has yet to meet a lock it can’t pick.” He slid it into the lock of his cell and began fiddling with it.

* * *​

Emily and Franklin crept around the compound as they searched for the main power box. They hid behind crates and barrels to keep out of sight and tried to remain in shadow as much as possible. They, or anyone on the island for that matter, had not bothered to look away from what they were doing to the sky above them.

The weather was changing over Sinker Swamp. The clouds had been building into towers several kilometers tall and loomed over the swamp. The wind had picked up from the south, however it carried a colder airmass as rain cooled air from the Tanetane Kingdom was starting to intrude into Sinker Swamp. The sky finally made its transformation impossible to ignore as a long rumble of thunder rolled through the sky. Emily and Franklin looked up to see the towering thunderheads with lighting flashing within them.

“What’s going on?” Franklin asked.

“I don’t have the slightest clue,” Emily replied. “It’s no concern of ours anyway. We need to find that power box.”

Franklin noticed a box on a nearby building with several wires leading from it. He tapped Emily on the shoulder and pointed it out to her. They slinked to it as a couple of Gators walked passed. The two engineers remained unnoticed as the reptiles walked away.

Emily opened the box. The only thing inside was a lever with a bright red handle in the up position. She reached up to grab it and pulled it down. Almost instantly the island was plunged into darkness. “That should do it,” she said.

They turned and saw Copter-bot looming over them. “What are you doing here?” he asked suspiciously.

Emily instinctively grabbed a flathead screwdriver and a socket wrench and leapt on Copter-bot. She moved so fast around he could not even try to grab her. He staggered back a step as she jumped off him.

He coughed a laugh. “That didn’t even hurt,” he scoffed and banged his fist on his chest. The jolt caused all the bolts and screws in his body to work their way lose and fall to the ground. He fell apart into a pile of pieces on the ground. Emily blew on her tools and spun them on her fingers before returning them to their place.

“You suck,” Copter-bot spat.

“Let me guess,” Franklin said in an almost scolding tone, “you were one of those kids who the first thing you would do with a new toy was take it apart to see how it works.”

“My parents didn’t even bother to assemble anything for Christmas because they knew I’d have the most fun putting it together myself,” Emily said. “Let’s go.”

“You can’t leave me like this!” Copter-bot yelled after the two.

* * *​

Spigot and Ophelia snuck into the now darkened hangar. They took out flashlights and shined them around the cavernous room. Ten troop carriers and a couple scouts were lined up along the walls. They were dark green in color and their envelopes were half filled as the pumps stopped when the power was cut.

The hangar was abandoned as those working left when they lost power. Spigot and Ophelia wasted no time getting to work, shutting off their flashlights to cloak themselves in darkness and work off hearing and touch. They climbed onto the airships and used their knives to slash long holes in the envelopes and unfastened the cables holding them. Within ten minutes, they had rendered all of the troop carriers grounded.

Lightning flashed outside and thunder echoed off the roof. A gust of wind blasted into the hangar, noticeably cooler than the hot, sticky airmass they had greeted them when they first arrived in Sinker Swamp. Ophelia took a handheld weather sensor from under her uniform and held it in the air to get some measurements. She feared the weather was about to change for the very worse.

The small device beeped and Ophelia read the glowing, green screen. The temperature was only nine-teen when it had to have been in the mid-twenties when they first arrived. They air was still rather moist and the pressure had fallen. She could not get the wind from inside the hangar, but the creaking of the hangar as the wind buffeted it suggested it was out of the south and quite brisk.

“What is it?” Spigot asked.

“We could be in for some very nasty weather,” Ophelia replied.

She turned her flashlight back on and searched one of the scouts. “What are you doing now?” Spigot asked.

“I’m looking for a smoking gun,” Ophelia replied. “We’ll need evidence to back up our story to the Mother Tree.”

“Good thinking,” Spigot said. “Just be quick about it.”

Ophelia’s light fell on a cluster of small, metal tubes on the side of the scout. She pulled out one and smelled the open end. She recognized the smell immediately. “I thought so,” she said to herself. She then turned to Spigot and stated, “It’s silver iodide. They must have been using it to seed the clouds headed to the Tanetane Kingdom.”

“Good work,” Spigot replied. “The Mother Tree will be very interested in hearing about this.”

* * *​

Tammy and Lee emerged from the lake behind the brig. Almost as soon as they were out of the water the sky lit up bright blue with lighting thunder cracked into a deafening roar that decayed into a rumble. The clouds had engulfed the sky above them and a downpour suddenly spread over the island.

“Uh oh,” Lee murmured.

“What?” Tammy asked.

“I’m not sure, but I think Geronita might have changed the weather in a way she wasn’t planning to,” Lee answered as he looked up in the sky. “The airmass from the Tanetane Kingdom is spreading out into neighboring countries. Between the lack of sunlight and latent cooling, it’s colder than the surrounding air.”

“So?” Tammy asked as she drew her pistol and slinked along the wall of the brig.

“So, colder air is heavier and displaces warmer air up,” Lee explained. “It’s like what happens at Snow Mountain, only instead of a mountain of rock, it’s a mountain of denser air. It’s causing mechanical lift and has generated this thunderstorm and probably more all across the swamp.”

“It’s just some rain and thunder,” Tammy said in response. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Lee replied as he looked up at the angry sky above them.

* * *​

Bret gave it one more twist as the lock clicked as the door swung open slightly. “There,” he said with a degree of satisfaction. He looked up to the others. “I need everyone to make some noise to wake up Sleeping Ugly over there.”

The Skusku started banging on their cell doors and shouting. The guard woke with such a start he fell over in his chair. He grabbed his rifle and stormed down the hallway. “Alright!” he yelled. “Everybody shut up!”

“When you we get fed around here?” Bret asked indignantly. “I’m starving.”

The guard came to stand right in front of Bret’s cell. “That especially goes for you, traffic cone.”

“Can I say just one more thing?” Bret asked.

“What?” the guard growled.

“My cell door is unlocked,” Bret said flatly.

He kicked the door and it swung straight into the guard. Startled, he dropped his rifle and Bret lunged for it. The two collided and the rifle squirted out to slide several meters down the cement floor.

The guard got to his feet, but Bret jumped on his back. He wrapped his arm around the reptile’s neck and began squeezing as hard as he could. “What are you doing?” Alex asked as he watched Bret hang on for dear life.

“I’m trying to cut the circulation off to his brain,” Bret replied as the guard tried to grab him.

“What brain?” Alex shouted.

The guard could not reach Bret. He instead smashed him against the wall. Bret groaned as he hit is already aching shoulder. The guard smashed him into the wall again and then again before Bret slipped off him.

The guard grabbed the rifle and took aim on Bret. “Say your prayers,” he said. However, a blue flash came from behind him and he crumpled over.

Standing behind him were Tammy with her pistol in hand and Lee. Bret heaved a sigh of relief. “Next time, you’re bait,” he wheezed.

“Will you live?” Lee asked as he helped Bret to his feet.

“Me, probably; shoulder…” Bret paused and winced as pain shot through his back. “…questionable.”

“Let’s get everyone out of here,” Tammy interjected as she grabbed the keys and threw them to Lee.

Lee unlocked the door to the cell holding Nicole and the others. Nicole practically leapt out and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you,” she practically cooed. “I knew you’d save us.”

“You’re expecting me to hug you, are you?” Bret asked Tammy.

“Are you sure we can’t leave him behind?” Tammy asked Lee.

“Shut up,” Bret snapped.

“We’re in terrible trouble,” Nicole said. “These people have been seeding the clouds the Tanetane Kingdom and plan use the Cloud Generation Device to turn the entire planet into a swamp.”

“That’s nuts even for Geronita,” Bret replied.

“We’re taking care of it,” Lee said. “The others are grounding her attack plan and we should get out of here and back to the Hurricane.”

Tammy shined her light into the cage Sophie and Auler were still trapped in. “Where’s Princess Milro?”

“I don’t know,” Bret replied. “I thought they were all going to be here.”

“Geronita said she had a special place for Princess Milro,” Alex said. “Where is beyond me.”

“Terrific,” Tammy scoffed. “She could be anywhere in this godforsaken swamp.”

“Actually,” Lee interjected as he picked up and pocketed the hex key, “she’s probably in the lake surrounding the island. I remember that Geronita was imprisoned in a lake with a big island in it.”

“Then you and I should go back in the lake and start searching,” Tammy said.

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled so loudly it shook the building. The rain was pelting the metal roof, sounding like a stampede galloping on it. Everyone felt a pit form in their stomach as the weather was turning more violent by the minute.

“On second thought,” Tammy said with a bit of unease to her voice, “you and Nicole should get to the Hurricane and figure out what’s going on. Bret and I will save Princess Milro.”

“Why is it I’ve got to do the most dangerous things?” Bret whined.

“Shut up and move out,” Tammy growled. She grabbed Bret by the jacket collar and dragged him out of the brig.

“If you let all of us out,” Daniel said, “we can create one hell of a distraction.”

“What can you do?” Nicole asked.

“Trust us,” Daniel replied slyly as he rattled the smell balls in the jar.

* * *​

Geronita stood on the lower deck of the riverboat and stared at the energy sky. Blue lightning danced through the clouds and thunder rumbled above them over the pounding rain. She had not been planning on this and it came at the most inopportune time as they were preparing to launch.

She turned to Deg and Khan watching the storm next to her. “What the hell is going on?” she snapped. “I wanted it to rain in the Tanetane Kingdom, not here.”

“I don’t know,” Deg snapped back. “You brought me here to seed clouds and I seeded clouds.”

Geronita turned her attention and scowl to Khan.

“Don’t look at me,” Khan exclaimed. “I don’t know a thing but atmospheric dynamics. I just compare numbers on the screen to averages.”

Geronita raised her hand at the two to get them to flinch away. She then slapped her forehead and heaved an exasperated sigh. “This is what I get from trusting mammals.”

The lights came on, flooding the compound with illumination.

“About time something was done right,” Geronita grumbled.

She looked out and saw Spigot and Ophelia running through the deluge towards the Hurricane. “Engineers?” she exclaimed. “There are engineers on base! Capture them now!”

“The Skusku are also loose along with those Windmill Kingdom engineers we captured,” Khan pointed out.

“Geronita!” a Gator man shouted as he ran from the hangar. “All the airships have been sabotaged. Their envelopes have been slashed and cables holding them have been untied. We won’t be able to lift off in time.”

“Damn Yamul!” Geronita roared and pounded her fist on the railing. “She somehow knew of this sent a commando team to sabotage us.”

“The men are also getting lethargic from the cold,” the man reported.

Geronita tried to find something to say. At the cusp of her rise to power everything was being torn asunder. She finally pounded both of her fists on the rail and snapped, “No! I won’t have this happen. Round up the Skusku and engineers.”

“Yes Ma’am.” The man saluted.

Gators converged on the escapees from the brig. They drew their rifles and backed them against a building.

“What do we do now?” Alex asked.

“Now’s the time to put these little jewels to work,” Daniel said.

He took a smell ball from the jar and held it up. The Gators stopped and took notice when they saw it.

“Yeah,” Daniel said with a sly grin. “You guys know what’s next.”

Daniel popped the ball in his mouth and bit it before swallowing. He turned around so the soldiers were at his back. He could feel it building inside him and was about ready. He straightened his tail straight up and a cloud of gray gas exploded from its base. The guards reared up and ran away screaming from the expanding cloud.

Daniel spun around in a jump to face the fleeing reptiles. “Yeah!” he shouted after them. “How do you like me now?”

He turned back to the others. The engineers were dumbstruck as they faced forward with mouths hanging open. “What?” Daniel asked.

Lee snapped back to his senses when he detected electrical impulses coming at them from above. He pushed Nicole to the ground just in time for Talia to slash at the air where they had been standing. The Avian woman ran her rapier across the concrete, throwing up sparks before planting her feet and facing them.

“We’ll take care of the Gators,” Daniel said. “Have fun with this one.”

The Skusku ran towards the bridge, taking smell balls from the jar. Neither Talia nor the engineers paid them any mind as they were focused on each other. “Why are you doing this?” Nicole asked.

“The same reason Copter-bot, Khan, and the Walruses are,” Talia answered. “Geronita is paying me handsomely to be an enforcer.”

“You don’t even care that her plan will put everyone in jeopardy including other Avians?” Nicole shot back.

“I’m a mercenary,” Talia replied coolly. “It goes with the territory.”

“Maybe you’ll be more interested to know this storm was caused by your boss’ carelessness,” Lee said coldly. “She didn’t realize forcing the weather pattern into such an unnatural state has caused imbalances the atmosphere will correct with storms like this. She’s in over her head.”

“Spare me your scientific jargon,” Talia snapped, cutting him off. “All I care about is I’m being paid to do what Geronita says, and Geronita says you’re going back to the brig.”

Thunder cracked into deafening roar. Talia momentarily let her guard down to protect her ears from the boom. Lee saw his chance and nerve pinched her shoulder before she could recover. She collapsed in his arms and he cradled her.

“We’ll throw her in the brig with the guard,” Lee said.

* * *​

Tammy and Bret dove under the lake. The water was murky and the darkness of night made searching by eye even more difficult. They switched on flashlights and swung the beams across their field of vision. It took them a couple minutes, but they found the dome on the bed.

There was no one outside guarding it. Tammy made sure as she examined the bed closely to see if anyone had buried themselves in it. Bret began to work on the pad to open the airlock.

Inside, a single Gator man was guarding Milro. He threw his knife at the tabletop so the large blade would embed itself in wood and pull it up to do throw it once again. Milro was looking away, so only the thud of the blade going made her aware of what the guard was doing.

Her mind was elsewhere. She was thinking of her family and the other people in the castle unaware Geronita was about to attack. ‘Some princess I am,’ she thought woefully. ‘Not only did I get myself cursed, but Auler and Sophie too. Now we’re all trapped by Geronita who will destroy the entire Wonder Planet and I’m powerless to stop her.’

The sound of water flowing into the airlock caught both their attention. The guard stood up and grabbed his rifle. The outer door opened and closed with a couple of clunks and the water began to drain out. The guard opened the door to see Bret standing in front of him.

“Hi,” Bret said woodenly. “My name is Bret Greene and I’m here to save Princess Milro from your scaly butt.”

“Over my dead body, endo…” The guard was interrupted by Tammy slamming the door in his face.

He fell backwards and lost his rifle. Tammy stunned him before he could recover. “Don’t tempt us,” she snapped.

Milro jumped to feet in pure elation at the sight of the two engineers. She almost could not believe they were actually there. “Mr. Greene, Miss Frost, you’re here!”

“Yeah,” Bret said. “We brought the whole gang.”

“What about Auler, Sophie, and the Windmill Kingdom engineers?” Milro asked. “Geronita locked them up on the island.”

“We already got them loose, and sabotaged Geronita’s attack,” Tammy replied. “We just need to get you and we can get out of here.”

Bret yanked at the heavy lock to the sell. He reached into his pocket, but realized he dropped the hex keys and Lee picked it up. “We need the key,” he said to Tammy.

Tammy sighed and set her pistol to kill. She took aim on the lock and gave Bret just enough time to jump out of the way before blasting it. The blue beam shattered the lock and the door swung open.

“Mind giving a little warning first?” Bret snapped.

“Shut up and grab Princess Milro,” Tammy shot back.

* * *​

Everyone else had boarded the Hurricane. Between the storm and the Skusku, the island was in chaos and few paid attention to them. Lee, Ophelia, and Nicole were examining the various readouts at the meteorology stations.

They took particular interest of what the radars were telling them. The radar beam was bouncing off the larger raindrops and grapple in the clouds and returning to the receiver. The computer manifested it as a spectrum of bright colors with shades of blue, green, and yellow representing the light to moderate rain and shades of orange, red, and magenta representing the heavy rain and grapple.

Horizontally, the storm was long line stretching across the swamp like a fence. It was where the rain-cooled air from the Tanetane Kingdom had collided with the polar air from the northern Drop Kingdom and both were shoving the warm, moist air over the swamp up. The storms were in fact a visible representation of where those airmasses were vying for supremacy.

However, it was in the profiles that the three found the most reason to worry. The storms above them rose almost twenty kilometers into the sky. They were heavy with moisture with rain and grapple in their cores. However, no hail had been falling.

“Chief,” Ophelia called out. “I think you should see this.”

“What is it?” Spigot asked as he walked over to her workstation.

“The radar is indicating ice in these storms,” Ophelia explained as she pointed to the large area of red and magenta in the heart of the storm. “However, we haven’t been seeing any hailstones. They’re melting on the way down.”

“What are you getting at?” Spigot asked. He was confused with why Ophelia found this so important.

“They’re melting completely on the way down,” Nicole added. “That’s cooling the air in the storm. The colder air is heavier and we could have a large amount of air displaced downwards.”

“That could make flying out of here a problem,” Otto added.

“Like it wasn’t bad enough already,” Franklin groaned. “Where’re Bret and Tammy?”

“There!” Emily exclaimed as the two jumped out of the water and ran for the Hurricane. They practically fell up the stairs and into the cabin.

“We got Princess Milro,” Tammy panted. “Let’s get out of this place and never return.”

“You’re telling me,” Lee said. “These storms are itching to put down downdrafts. We need to take off now.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Bret said. He turned to Otto and asked, “You’re a pilot, right?”

“Yes,” Otto replied.

“You’re now my co-pilot,” Bret stated. “Let’s get this bird in the air.”

Alex poked his head out the door. Daniel and a few others were chasing some soldiers past the Hurricane. “Hey,” he shouted to get their attention.

“What?” Daniel asked as they stopped.

“The weather’s about to get real nasty,” Alex said. “You and your friends should find some substantial shelter.”

Daniel looked up at the sky and had to agree. “Let’s get everyone out of here,” he said to the others with him.

Alex closed the door and the stairs began to retract.

Bret and Otto quickly strapped themselves in and began starting the Hurricane’s engines. Otto grabbed one of the fuzzy dice and heaved an exasperated sigh. However, a flash of lightning and rumble of thunder snapped him back to the task at hand. He and Bret completed their startup procedure and the Hurricane came to life.

Geronita heard the propellers begin to spin. “What the…” she trailed off as the four propellers on the airship span faster and faster until they appeared to meld into disks. “Why’s that thing starting up?”

“Geronita!” A Gator called out. “They’ve taken Milro.”

“She must be on that airship,” Geronita snarled. She then bellowed over the storm, “STOP IT! DON’T LET IT TAKE OFF!”

The Hurricane began to pull forward. Bret brought the throttle to full and the propellers pulled them along faster and faster to their take off speed. No one could catch them as they sped down the island.

Copter-bot was in the process of reassembling himself. He tightened a screw in his wrist and twisted his hand around to make sure it was working properly. His head was still detached and reading his instruction manual. He watched the hand twist from side to side and the fingers touch each other. The hand then gave the thumbs up.

“Alright,” Copter-bot said to himself. “Now to attach the head.”

As he read, the Hurricane rolled past. Its wing landing gear ran over his body, crushing it to pieces. Copter-bot stared dumbstruck at his flattened, broken body. His swear filter went off to cover up the profanity he so wished to shout at the top of his oral transmitter.

The Hurricane raced towards the end of the island. However, it lifted off its landing gears and flew into the turbulent sky before hitting the water. “We’re airborne,” Bret announced as he felt them free from the ground. However, they were being buffeted by the winds and he had a hard time keeping them steady.

“Now head south and out from under these storms,” Lee shouted from the cabin.

A red light started flashing on the controls along with a beeping. “What’s that?” Otto asked.

“It’s someone going for a missile lock,” Bret replied. He turned on the rear view monitor. He zoomed in to Geronita aiming straight at them with a shoulder mounted rocket launcher. “Oh, you got to be kidding me!”

Geronita brought the fleeing Hurricane into sights. She didn’t care about anything else now. Her attack, her plans, her men, even the weather were of no consequence anymore. Her ego and madness had taken over; driving her to one goal, kill Milro.

“You won’t get away from me this time, Milro,” she snarled more like an animal than a person. “Mama can’t save you now, and her flunkies certainly won’t. I’ll kill you all in one fell swoop. If I can have nothing else, I will have my revenge.”

The launcher almost had a lock when the running lights of the Hurricane disappeared behind what looked like a falling curtain. Geronita lowered her weapon to see what it was. A huge column of rain was falling from the clouds and spread out as it hit the lake. It raced towards them at incredible speed. Everyone turned to face the wall of rain and air about to run them over.

Geronita’s lucidity returned in time for her to mutter, “Et tu, tempestas.”

The wind hit the compound with violent force. Geronita was tossed back with her followers by the incredible gust. The rickety buildings were torn to shreds by the wind. Even the old river boat was torn apart by the violent wind and the barrage of debris it threw into the beached vessel.

No one on the Hurricane saw this onslaught. They were instead more focused on making it out from under the storms themselves. They were blown at from every direction as air tried to find places to fill. All of a sudden, it stopped.

An odd calm settled over the Hurricane as only the droning the engines could be heard. Lee looked closely at his radar screen as he waited for the latest update. It came with them outside the brighter colors of the storms.

“We did it,” he muttered. He then cheered, “We did it! We escaped the storm.”

The others made their elation known as they cheered and yipped. Bret roared “Yeah!” an raised his fist to give Otto a fist bump.

Otto coiled from him. “Why are you about to punch me?” he asked.

“No, I’m not going to punch you,” Bret tried to explain. It’s a…you know what? Forget it.”

Lee pulled out his pocket watch. It was five o’clock their time. “Hey, we only have about two hour before dawn over the Mother Tree.”

“Now that Geronita’s operation is no more,” Ophelia said, “the rains over the Tanetane Kingdom will stop.”

“Then let’s get moving,” Spigot ordered. “Set course for the Mother Tree, Bret!”

“Yes sir,” Bret replied.

Spigot sat back in his chair. For the first time since being called down to Yamul’s office, he felt at peace. He leaned back in his chair and heaved a sigh of relief as the Hurricane raced towards its destination.