Serialization of the Novella "Quedly Dake and His Quest to Conquer the Globe" — Chapter 3 of 25
From Book 3 of the Trilogy “Taterskin & The Eco Defenders”
Once we had all gathered at the workshop, Albert and Alexis stepped forward (well, Albert stepped forward with Alexis perched on his right shoulder).
“Thanks for coming so quickly, everyone,” Albert said. “If you haven’t already heard, the Arodnap is missing. It has been stolen, apparently. We need to find it, and return it here. We don’t know what the thief has in mind, but it may be that these odd phenomena we are experiencing are connected with something he (I’m assuming it’s a he) has done.”
“What makes you assume it was stolen?” Drako Pogona the Bearded Dragon asked.
“Because everyone who knows how to fly it (that we know of) is here in our midst, namely Ravelle X, Chapawee, Ooga, and myself.”
In case you haven’t read the earlier volumes in the Taterskin trilogy, Ravelle X is a former slave who was rescued by the Eco Defenders just prior to the beginning of what would have been the American Civil War had the Eco Defenders not prevented that conflict from happening. Chapawee is a Lakota Woman who they saved from what would have been the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 (which, again, the Eco Defenders prevented).“So how are we going to go about figuring out who stole it, and where they are now?” Jowls Behemoth the Hippopotamus asked.
“Yeah, they could be anywhere by now,” Ocero Puddleby the Rhinoceros added.
“And anywhen,” Rory the Lion noted.
Apropos of nothing, Yukyuk the Hyena chuckled.
We all looked at her, to see if she would explain the reason for her mirth, but she just looked embarrassed and gazed out the window, whistling an old Toto song (Africa) under her breath.
“To answer your question,” Albert said, “I believe we (Alexis and I) will be able to find out not only who stole it, but also where they went (and to when they went — that is, to which year they traveled).”
“How?” Yookie the Koala Bear wanted to know.
“Alexis and I have been working on The OmniMagister,” Albert answered, rather opaquely.
“What’s an Omelet Magician?” Terri the Pterodactyl blurted out, “A newfangled egg fryer?”
“No, Terri, Albert said OmniMagister, not ‘Omelet Magician’” Alexis answered slowly, enunciating each syllable very precisely, then ruffling her feathers and giving them a shake.
“All down but nine; set ‘em up on the other alley, pard” Rinky the Duck-billed Platypus said.
“OmniMagister is Latin for ‘All-teaching’,” Albert explained. “What Alexis and I have wrought is a device that instantly answers any question you ask it, no matter how obscure the query.”
“How does it do that?” Falcona the Peregrine Falcon wanted to know.
“The OmniMagister continually scours all historical data; it has access to data on everything that has occurred in the past—”
“What if they traveled into the future? There would be no record of it,” Ooga inquired.
“They didn’t,” Albert answered.
“How do you know they didn’t?” Ooga persisted.
“Because before we started working on this project, I altered the Arodnap’s software (and the Androcles’, too) so that they can only travel backward in time, never forward.”
“Why?” Rory asked.
“For this very reason,” Alexis replied.
We all thought about that for a few seconds, and were glad that Albert and Alexis had thought of that contingency.
“So ... are you ready to find out who stole the Arodnap?” Albert asked us.
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.
