CHAPTER 6
Terra doctor. I knew that was a mis-hear on the part of Marmalade, but it made me think: A ‘Terra doctor’ would be an earth doctor—a physician for the earth. He or she would heal the earth when it got sick. We don’t need those now because time, mainly, has healed all those wounds that humans had inflicted on the planet.
“What about harm done in the past?” I proposed. “With another Arodnap—a new one, which Albert could build for us—we could go back in time, get a Pterodactyl as a companion for Drako, and then use our knowledge of what would then be viewed as the future to prevent many of the catastrophes that occurred later . . . I mean, in the past. Our past, that is, but their future.”
“So this is our situation,” Stripes said, “Provided we get another time & space vehicle—that is to say, if Albert can and will build another one: Drako wants a Pterodactyl and she wants to see Yookie again, and Tubthumper wants to see her brother Chumbawumba again. So the first question is . . . where to get a Pterodactyl?”
“The show that I watched said a large flock of them—” Tubthumper began, but was interrupted by Drako:
“Remember: Pterodactyls are Lizards, not Birds. So it wasn’t a flock of Pterodactyls, it was a lounge of Pterodactyls.”
“OK, then, smartyscales: A lounge of Pterodactyls lived in Solnhofen Limestone, Germany, before they went extinct,” Tubthumper informed the group.
“Then let’s go un-extinct them!” Drako said.
“Remember, animals: It’s not only about where, but also about when,” I said. “When did the Pterodactyls live there, Tubthumper?”
“Oh, about 150 million years ago, give or take a few million years,” she answered, matter-of-factly, and then started munching placidly on a bale of hay.
“150 million years!” I exclaimed. “We have never gone back further than a few hundred years. Well, in for a pound, in for a megaton, as they say. Or—”
“Whatever,” Stripes interrupted. “It sounds like we’re going to Germany for the Pterodactyl, then Australia to visit the Koala Bear, followed by India, and finally Africa.”
“India?” I asked, but was glad to hear it included as part of our proposed itinerary. I was glad I didn’t have to bring it up myself—and get teased about it, that is.
“Of course India,” Stripes said, with a bit of a purr in his voice. “After all, that’s where Rovette is, right?”
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