Serialization of the Novella "Quedly Dake and His Quest to Conquer the Globe" — Chapter 2 of 25
From Book 3 of the Trilogy “Taterskin & The Eco Defenders”
“Taterskin! Alexis! The Arodnap is missing! Somebody has stolen it!” Stripes told us. Marmalade shook her head in agreement with her friend’s statement, eyes wide and tail swishing back-and-forth.
If you have not read the first two volumes of this trilogy, the Arodnap is an eVTOL (Electric Vertical TakeOff and Landing aircraft, somewhat like a combination airplane/helicopter) time-traveling vehicle that was invented, designed, and created by Albert.
“Missing? For how long? When did you discover this?” Albert inquired, puzzled that somebody might have stolen his “baby” (he had no actual children of his own).
“I don’t know how long it’s been,” Stripes answered, “but we were just at your workshop, and saw that the Arodnap was gone. We asked the three others besides you who know how to fly it if they knew anything about where it could be, and they said no, but to search for you to see if maybe you had it or knew where it was. Once I saw you here, I knew that whoever took it was not one of our human friends or Ooga the Gorilla, the only other one of us animals who can fly the Arodnap (having prehensile arms and all).”
“What about the Androcles?” Albert wanted to know.
“The Androcles is still there,” Marmalade answered.
“That’s odd,” Albert mused. “So whoever took the Arodnap must have acted alone, otherwise both of our aircraft would be gone.”
“Yes, and it must have been either a human or some type of monkey, like a gorilla,” I added. You see, the thief had to be someone with the ability to fly (someone who had prehensile arms, that is). Dogs and cats and most other animals aren’t able to manipulate the craft’s controls.
“Maybe it was Ooga,” Albert said. “He’s always playing jokes. He could have taken the Arodnap out for a joy ride.”
Ooga is our friend, a Gorilla; he’s the only non-human animal that can and has been taught to fly the eVTOLs (so far, anyway)
“Nope, it wasn’t him,” Stripes responded. “As I thought I mentioned, we saw him on the way here, and when I told him the Arodnap was gone, he was fit to be tied.”
“Hey, look, here comes Ooga now, along with Chumbawumba and Tubthumper!” I said.
Chumbawumba and Tubthumper are brother and sister African Elephants.
It was a good thing that all of this occurred during the annual get-together of the Eco Defenders. As our mission of solving all problems on earth had been accomplished (we thought, anyway), we had disbanded and moved back to our homes (Yookie the Koala Bear and Rinky the Duckbilled Platypus to Australia; Tubthumper and Chumbawumba, Rory the Lion, as well as Yukyuk the Chuckling Hyena and other animals to Africa, etc.), but we still made sure to all get together each year in the Spring to relive old times and catch up on each other’s lives.
We chatted briefly, and our conclusion was shared with the Elephants and the Gorilla that a lone human or Gorilla-type creature must have made off with the Arodnap.
“Well, one thing I can tell you, it wasn’t a Gorilla,” Ooga said.
“Why do you say that, Ooga?” I asked.
“A Gorilla wouldn’t do something like that,” Ooga replied. “It must have been a human. It’s in their blood, I think, to be sneaky and steal things. Gorillas are honorable creatures.”
We looked at Albert to see what his reaction to that assertion would be. Albert just looked a little sad for a moment, but said nothing in refutation of Ooga’s aspersions against humans, and then looked searchingly at Alexis. It seemed as if the African Gray Parrot could read his thoughts, and she gave an almost imperceptible nod of her beak.
“Alright, gang, Alexis and I have something to show you. We’ve been working on it for some time, and wanted to keep it secret until it was completely finished, but—”
“What is it?” Marmalade blurted out.
“Something that should at least give us a clue as to who the slack-jawed miscreant that stole the Arodnap is,” Alexis answered.
“Chumbawumba,” Albert said, “Will you blare your trumpet to call the reset of the gang to our gathering place?”
Chumbawumba wasted no time in letting out an ear-piercing, almost deafening blast, which somehow simultaneously sounded like both a low and high pitched report that was audible for many miles around. Come to think of it, it was a bit like a very loud bagpipe, with its low monotonous drone note and upper-register melody above it.
“Thank you,” Albert said, after removing his hands from over his years. “Now, Stripes (and Marmalade, of course), will you please go to the gathering place at the river’s edge and relay the news to everyone when they arrive to meet us at my workshop?”
Stripes didn’t answer; he simply turned tail and trotted off lake-ward, with Marmalade still perched on his back, pressed tightly to the nape of her “big brother’s” neck.
The rest of us, in less of a hurry, aimed our feet toward the shop and trudged determinedly in that direction. Then I remembered what I had told my family.
“I’ll meet you there, gang, I’m going to try to catch my family, because I told them to wait where I left them, and I don’t know if they will go to the gathering place or not.”
“All right, Taterskin, we’ll see you all at the shop soon,” Albert and Alexis said, in unison. It was amazing how “in tune” or “on the same wavelength” my friend Albert and his right-shoulder companion Alexis always were.
The previous chapter can be found here.
The next chapter can be found here.
Book 1 of Taterskin & The Eco Defenders, “Wonders Never Cease,” can be found here.
Book 2 of Taterskin & The Eco Defenders, “Tell It To Future Generations,” can be found here.
Book 3 of Taterskin & The Eco Defenders, “Quedly Dake and His Quest to Conquer the Globe,” can be found here.
