On the following day, the original station hosts seemed to have more energy than ever before. They came to the Goblin Fountain early and ate breakfast with Brora before anyone else gathered.
Kolarrr’ka, Ashley, and T’sss’lisss arrived next, from the Forestland Hostel, and a few minutes later the crew of the Manessa Kwi staggered into Castleland, yawning and stretching.
Teina, a few breakfast crumbs lingering around her mouth, grinned at them.
Jimox began the day’s story. “Okay, so some aliens landed in a flying saucer that was really a flying ball, and it turned out they didn’t want to suck out all our juices . . .”
Teina chuckled, then lapsed into coughing.
Everyone
waited.
Once Teina was settled, Jimox went on. “We told them it was okay if they blew up every dam on the planet, just not Pine Canyon. They agreed not to touch Pine Canyon. Then we thought they’d go away.”
Teina smiled, holding in a funny thought, but managed to avoid the temptation to laugh or talk again.
“They didn’t go away,” Jimox continued, smiling at Teina.
Teina, still holding in a grin, shook her head to verify.
“They offered us medical exams, told us we were eating too much low-fiber canned food, that we couldn’t have children, and a few other things we already
NEBADOR Book Eight: Witness 152
knew.”
Teina finally cracked a smile.
“And then they dropped a huge bomb on us.”
Jimox and Teina both looked around at the expectant faces of their listeners.
“They told us we were the planetary prince and princess of Siminia Three, and that they would do nothing, absolutely nothing, anywhere on our planet, unless it was okay with us.”
The station hosts had known this part of the story was coming, but the crew of the Manessa Kwi, and the three young Education Service students, sat with open mouths trying to understand.
“So all those years, bok . . .” Kolarrr’ka began.
Mati frowned. “Being alone after the plague . . .”
“Scrounging for food . . .” Kibi said with a shiver.
“Running from wild dogs . . .” Ilika said, frowning.
“Helping millionsss of ghossstsss . . .” T’sss’lisss remembered, tightening her coils.
Rini squirmed. “Not knowing why you were alive . . .”
“Fixing up Similand . . .” Boro added.
A long moment of silence lingered, so the elderly couple looked at the one guest who hadn’t yet spoken.
Ashley swallowed, then whispered one word. “Training.”
Teina smiled and nodded.
After everyone had absorbed what the pair had just revealed, Jimox continued. “At first we were afraid they were going to expect us to make big decisions about huge projects right away. You know, which dams to blow up, things like that.”
Teina nodded with wide eyes.
“But they knew we needed lots of time to get used to the idea, so they didn’t push anything.”
Teina swallowed to get ready to speak. “We started wishing they would push something.”
NEBADOR Book Eight: Witness 153
Jimox nodded. “They stayed in their ship, and wouldn’t even walk around unless we invited them to!”
Many of the listeners chuckled.
“So we were forced to start thinking, and making some decisions about what we wanted out of the situation.”
Teina snuggled close to Jimox and buried her face in his white fur.
“Children,” she mumbled.
Jimox held her close as he explained. “We lived in the very best place on the planet for children — or anyone — to come and play to their hearts’
content. But we couldn’t have any of our own. It only took us about a week to realize what we wanted to do.”
Teina peeked out and nodded, but her eyes were moist and she didn’t try to speak.
“We offered to make Similand into a place where anyone in the whole universe who wanted to play or relax could come. We didn’t know the proper term for it at the time, but we were offering to create Siminia Three Planet Station, the place where any project, anywhere on the planet or in the solar system, starts and ends with relaxing, re-supplying ships, planning, training sessions, and lots of just plain fun.”
At that moment, a reptile zoomed by cranking the pedals of a small, three-wheeled, personal transportation device.
An ursine loped along behind. “I’ll meet you at the World Tree!”
Jimox and Teina both grinned with happiness.