CHAPTER 46
We had been told by one of Tubthumper and Chumbawumba’s cousins that poaching of Elephants had been taking place on a regular basis in a certain location in Botswana, south of our current whereabouts.
We wanted to go there, as this seemed to be a hot spot for the nefarious activity that we wanted to put an end to. Our intention was that our appearance there in support of our Elephant friends would become known far and wide, leading to the gradual — or, preferably, immediate — cessation of poaching.
The problem was logistics. How to get there? It was about 1,500 miles from Tanzania, where we were at that time situated in Central Africa, to Botswana, which is in the southern part of Africa. We could be airlifted there by the Zenia Zephyr and the Fast Forward & Back, but those vehicles only carry eight average-sized passengers (including the pilot). To get even a small fraction of our group there, it would take hundreds if not thousands of round trips. That would take a long time, and attract a lot of attention. We wanted to get busy with our work right away, and we wanted to launch a surprise offensive rather than a massive ‘Botswana Air Drop.’
One option was that we could simply begin a long trek to that destination on foot. This would take a good while, but an advantage of it would be that we would be bound to run into opportunities along the way (in the Congo, Angola, and Zambia) where we could begin our anti-poaching activities prior to our arrival in Botswana.
That was a feasible option, but we wanted to have as great an impact as possible as quickly as we could. The sooner we put a stop to poaching, the more lives we could save. And the worst of the poaching was occurring in Botswana. So, how could we get our full force there quickly? Was there a way?
It was Alexis who came up with the solution to our dilemma. “Albert,” she asked, “Is it possible, using the Compressor/Decompressor, to continue shrinking an animal beyond the point where they are a little larger than a bread basket?”
The question alone was enough for Albert to see what Alexis was driving at. “If I can re-program the Compressor/Decompressor to keep on compressing past that cutoff point, down to a certain size . . .” he pondered out loud, rubbing his chin with a widening smile, “. . . we can fit half of the animals in the Zephyr, and the other half in the Fast Forward & Back!”
“Just how small could you make us?” Ooga the Gorilla asked.
“There’s no limit to how small, Ooga,” Albert answered. “That is, there’s no theoretical or mathematical limit to how small you could become. It’s possible to shrink you down to microscopic size, even. However, that would not be practical. After all, if you continued to be shrunk to the point of being microscopic, I would not be able to find you again so as to be able to grow you back to your accustomed size once we reach our destination in Botswana.”
“What if the pilot was also shrunk?” asked Terri. “If the pilot were the size of a grain of sand, he would be easily able to see the other sand-grain-sized animals, right?”
“Sure, but how would I then wield the Compressor/Decompressor to enlarge them back to their proper dimensions?” Albert asked. “It would be much too large and heavy for me. Even piloting the vehicle would be impossible, as I would not be able to reach and control the levers and buttons on the Zephyr.”
“Oh, that’s right; I hadn’t thought about that,” the flying Lizard said.
“I could, indeed, reduce all passengers down to, say, the size of a fingernail, though, and we could all travel together,” Albert said. “On arrival, the process would simply need to be reversed after we disembark, and all the animals would be returned to their normal size.”
After a brief discussion, all agreed that this was the way to go. It was the only way that all of us could get to Botswana quickly. Ironically, more time would be spent in the process of first shrinking (compressing) and later de-shrinking (decompressing) us than the flight itself would take: a few hours to pass the Compressor/Decompressor wand over every animal as opposed to a flight of about an hour-and-a-half.
We decided to begin the process immediately, land near Five Dunes that night, and then go through the Decompression process first thing the next morning, with the first wave of animals being decompressed first, then the second wave, and so on. In this way, the humans and Alexis, Rovette and myself and the Wolves and Ostriches could start out almost immediately, as the rest were still being processed (getting enlarged, or decompressed, back to their full size and potential).
Ooga the Gorilla, having prehensile arms (thus being able to grip and control the Compressor/Decompressor device), would be able to take over the decompressing operations after Albert had decompressed him.
Each group, each wave, could then arrive to rejoin us by the time they were needed.
One thing needed to be done first, though, before this plan could be implemented.
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