Taterskin & The Eco Defenders: Book 2, Chapter 17
Book 2 ("Tell It to Future Generations"), Chapter 17 of 56
CHAPTER 17
Albert and Ravelle and we animals said goodbye to the Horses who had collaborated with us, and climbed aboard the Zephyr and the Androcles. Albert and Ooga set the location on their GPS/CPS modules to Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and the year to 1890.
As the Pterodactyl flies, it’s only about 1,500 miles from Charleston, South Carolina to Wounded Knee, South Dakota, which is a scosh north of the Nebraska border.
We took our time on this leg of the trip, and so it lasted about an hour-and-a-half. We flew over several States, but spent the most time above Tennessee, Missouri, and Nebraska. Once we got to Nebraska, the wind became whippingly strong, and our vehicles had to fly at a rakish angle into the blustery air currents to stay on track — otherwise we would have been pushed off course by the tremendous gusts that constantly buffeted us.
Figuring that the best defense was a good offense, Albert finally lost patience and sped up in an attempt to overpower the wind. Ooga thought Albert was pulling a fast one on him (no pun intended) — trying to get a head start in a race — so Ooga picked up the pace, too. This shaved a few minutes off our flight time, but again caused a noticeably abrupt deceleration when the vehicles’ “air brakes” (reverse thrust) kicked in as we neared our destination.
We came to a standstill in midair over Wounded Knee, hovering, shortly after crossing the Nebraska/South Dakota border. The good thing was that the wind had stopped as soon as we crossed that imaginary line, as if the wind dared not cross the border from Nebraska into the Dakotas.
The time then advanced 29 years forward, from 1861 to 1890. Our time-lapse view of the land below us showed the activities of the Native Americans and the soldiers.
We jetted forward about a quarter of a mile, so as to stash our JNG vehicles behind a grassy knoll. As our crafts were almost completely silent and well above the people below, none of them had looked up and discovered us. Had they done so, they would have thought they were seeing things — after all, the Wright Brothers didn’t fly their experimental airplane at Kitty Hawk until 1903, thirteen years later.
We descended, disembarked, and gathered in a circle. During the entire trip, Albert and Alexis, especially, had been telling Ravelle about who we (The Eco Defenders) were, what we had accomplished thus far, and what we had planned for the rest of this ‘tour.’ Albert had given Ravelle a Doolittle Auto-Interpreter, which he found every bit as fascinating a piece of machinery as the JNGs themselves.
Experimenting with the various language settings on his Doolittle, Ravelle first listened in on what the Mammals were saying (the type of animal that most of us Eco Defenders are), then to the Lizards and Birds, in turn. He was confused, though, why he only heard Alexis and Falcona with the Doolittle set on Birdian language, but heard both Drako and Terri with it set on Reptilian.
“Master Albert” —
“It’s plain old Albert. Please call me Albert, no ‘Master’ jazz,” the pilot said.
“All right, Albert. Jazz? What’s ‘jazz’?”
“Oh, yeah ... that comes later. Never mind the ‘jazz’ jazz.”
“OK. What I wanted to say, Albert, was: I think there’s a malfunction in my Doolittle.”
“What makes you think so?”
“When I have it set to the Birdian language, I only hear Alexis and Falcona, and when I have it set on Reptilian, I hear not only Drako but also Terri.”
Like most people (and many animals, too), Ravelle had assumed Terri was a bird. This was a reasonable mistake to make, as Terri had wings and flew. Some were of the opinion that Pterodactyls had more of a right to be called a Bird than an Ostrich does, who can’t fly worth beans, with its little flipper-wings. After all, what is a bird but a creature with wings that flies?
Alexis got a kick out of this species confusion, and told the animals what Ravelle had said. They all started laughing in their own inimitable ways. Terri had been daydreaming and was only half paying attention, at best.
“Hey, Terri, Ravelle thinks you’re a Bird!”
That snapped her out of her reverie.
“What?!? Another blind or uncannily unobservant person?!? What’s wrong with you? I’m a flying Lizard, hence a Reptile.”
In an aside to Alexis, Ravelle asked if that was true. Alexis assured him that yes, Terri was a Reptile, not a Bird.
“Then I take it back; the Doolittle is working fine. I was mistaken,” Ravelle said. “I beg your pardon, Terri, but I had never seen a creature like you until you arrived at the plantation.”
“Harummph,” was the only response Terri gave.
“That’s something you’ll need to remember when you get to pilot one of these JNGs,” Albert said. “Always trust your instruments.”
“Trust my Instruments?”
“Yes, pilots need to know that and remember it. For example, when your Doolittle lets you understand an animal when it is set to Reptilian, that animal, even if it has wings and can fly, is a Reptile.”
“Me? Pilot one of these?”
“Sure; I’ll teach you before we leave for our next locale.”
Taterskin & The Eco Defenders (in paperback, kindle, or hardcover) is available here.