Later that morning, the elderly couple arrived at the Goblin Fountain smiling and ready to begin the next chapter of their story, as if the hard part was behind them and the rest would be easy.
Kibi wondered if it had something to do with recent events on Ghost Island.
“The next eight years of our lives were more fun than any monkey mammal deserves to have,” Jimox began with a gleam in his eyes.
Teina nodded. “We started with landing circles — we didn’t want space ships parking just anywhere, dripping space-oil or whatever.” She grinned at her audience and they howled or honked with laughter, Boro most of all.
Seeing that Teina was almost blue from speaking, Jimox took over. “And every time we started something, a ship would appear with just the right tools, supplies, helpers, and knowledge. With the landing circles, it was reptiles with surveying equipment, and they knew just how big the circles should be.”
Teina snickered. “We actually did one before they got here, and it looked like a lumpy frog!”
Kolarrr’ka clucked and Mati grinned.
Jimox smiled. “Since Forestland had the biggest landing circle, big enough for a life-monitor ship, we made the nearby snack bar into a supply depot, and we changed a little storeroom into an office.”
Teina grinned at the memory.
“And less than an hour after we decided to do that, and were just sweeping
NEBADOR Book Eight: Witness 167
up leaves and talking about it, ships landed and supply cabinets came floating out!”
Rini chuckled. “That confused us about Nebador for a while, but now we understand.”
Teina smiled at the freckled lad. “Then The Roofers came!” she announced.
“That’s why the buildings are more than two centuries old, and still good, except the ones we lost in the quake.”
“And when they saw us picking through fourteen-year-old canned food
. . .” Teina began, but had to stop and rest.
Jimox made sure his partner was okay before continuing. “They showed up with cabinets full of food, and gardeners lined up with rakes and shovels, ready to work in our gardens, which were just little weed patches then, with a few edible weeds.”
Teina laughed, but regretted it and nearly turned blue.
“And they’ve kept all the nutrition cabinets stocked ever since,” Jimox soon went on, “with plenty of foods we like, and stuff for everyone in the Nebador Services. But we still went scrounging and picking through what was left from our civilization, just because a can of tekle fruit, or sweet goma beans, when we found a good one, would bring back memories from our childhoods like nothing else could.”
Teina swallowed. “But the day came when we couldn’t find any more good ones.”
“About a hundred years ago,” Jimox explained with a note of sadness.
After a break for snacks and medicine, the couple was eager to continue.
Jimox began. “We snuck into the big restaurant in Olde Towne, to make it into a museum, when no one was watching so we could work alone.”
Arantiloria, currently in her purple-haired human form, laughed deeply.
The furry monkey mammals both grinned.
“We barely got it ready . . .” Teina began, then swallowed and looked at Jimox.
“. . . before the first ship landed, right outside the front door, with art works from all over the planet for us to sort out.”
NEBADOR Book Eight: Witness 168
The entire audience chuckled or clucked.
“They apologized . . .” Teina said.
“. . . for doing it without asking us,” Jimox explained, “but it was all stuff that was in danger of being ruined by leaky roofs — mostly paintings and books.”
“We weren’t angry,” Teina said.
“How could we be? There they were, paintings so famous we remembered seeing pictures of them when we were children. A few were already damaged.
The specialists on the ship explained that Westron had the best climate for keeping the rest in good shape — warm and dry.”
“They wanted us to go with them to museums and galleries . . .” Teina began, but had to stop and catch her breath.
“. . . and sometimes we did,” Jimox picked up the story, “especially to places like our home town in the north. But working through huge museums full of musty old paintings in far-away lands can get pretty boring for young monkey mammals!”
Most of the audience nodded with understanding.
“Next we cleaned out souvenir shops for meeting rooms . . .” Teina shared.
“Hauled in stacks of mattresses from hotels around here to make hostels
. . .” Jimox added.
“And turned a quiet corner of Forestland into a meditation area,” Teina said, then had to stop and concentrate on breathing for a minute.
“But the fun part,” Jimox said as he rubbed his partner’s back, “was all the toys and adventures!”
Teina sparkled. “Wagons, bicycles, tricycles, pedal cars . . .”
“Beach balls, plastic bowling pins, and a thousand other outdoor toys!”
“Little row boats and canoes . . .”
“Similand never had any of that stuff,” Jimox explained. “It was mostly high-tech so people would pay money to get in.”
“Nebador didn’t need high-tech,” Teina continued the thought. “Nebador people needed a break from flying starships and working on star stations!”
The six Transport Service crew members all nodded vigorously.
“But the very most fun . . .”
Teina grinned, guessing what Jimox was about to say.
NEBADOR Book Eight: Witness 169
“You want to share it?” he asked, looking at her.
She shook her head.
“The most fun for us — and it took us about twenty years to get them all done — was creeping through the old rides and figuring out how to make them into real, live adventures, even though most of them didn’t work anymore.”
“Nebador technicians restored a couple that had some historical importance,” Teina managed to say.
Mati
nodded.
“And a few,” Jimox continued, “work about like they used to . . .”
Boro
grinned.
“. . . but many of them are very different now, much more challenging and
— if you’re not prepared — dangerous.”
Ashley smiled and nodded knowingly.
The old couple took a nap, but were back as soon as they awoke.
Brora didn’t look pleased.
“All the crews and specialists, who came to help in any way, knew we had to learn the language of Nebador,” Jimox began, “so each one gave us a new word or two. After a few years, we were speaking it, and didn’t even notice when the ones who spoke our language weren’t there. It’s amazing how different a word can sound from mammal to avian to insect.”
“We
know,” Ashley muttered, rolling her eyes.
Teina grinned at the young furless monkey mammal. “Tell them about the music!” she begged, turning to Jimox.
“Oh, yeah. Our collection of good deep-cycle batteries was down to almost nothing, and it was hard to keep even a little music box going while we worked. But of course someone noticed, and a ship showed up with little matter-energy converters.”
Teina smiled. “We loved to dance back then, nothing fancy, just moving our feet and tails to a good beat.”
“So it didn’t take us long to rig up background music and sound effects in about a dozen places, and a big music box at the dance floor in each land, with a huge collection of music to choose from.”
NEBADOR Book Eight: Witness 170
“And?” Teina coaxed.
“Oh, and we put tumbling mats on each dance floor so everyone could use them without hurting themselves.”
“And?” Teina prodded urgently.
“Oh yeah, and video players in four different theaters so Nebador people could watch our old movies.”
Teina stuck out her tongue at Jimox, then turned to the listeners. “And so we could watch them for the first time in about twenty years!”
After several visitors compared favorite movies with the elderly hosts, Jimox got a far-away look in his eyes.
“What?” Teina asked, looking at him.
“I was just remembering Kasssor-k’m.”
Teina nodded. “We need to go visit him, even though he says he prefers to be alone.”
After a long moment of silence had passed, the couple remembered their audience. “By the time we got those matter-energy converters, Siminia Three Planet Station was a very busy place,” Jimox explained.
“Yeah!” Teina verified. “Eight, sometimes twenty ships a day!”
“We loved seeing all those scientists, navigators, educators — the cream of the cream of the universe — all coming here to ride tricycles and throw beach balls . . .”
The audience chuckled.
“. . . but even though we had lots of help with little things, we were still the Station Hosts On Duty, all day, all night, every day, and we were about to DIE
of exhaustion!”
“It was our own fault,” Teina muttered.
Jimox nodded. “It was our baby, and we just never thought we’d want any help . . .”
“Until we started falling down when we were supposed to be directing a ship to a landing circle,” Teina said softly.
Several listeners moaned with sympathy.
“But Nebador did the right thing,” Jimox went on. “They waited for us to ask for help. I mean, we were the planetary prince and princess!”
NEBADOR Book Eight: Witness 171
Teina grinned at her partner.
“So this technician — a lizard setting up music and video players — asked where we wanted the extra matter-energy converters and other spare stuff, so we picked out a little storeroom in Olde Towne . . .”
“Then he asked if . . .” Teina tried to say, but had to stop and cough deeply.
“He asked if we’d like some monitors so we could see anywhere in the station, and the whole animal-proof fence.”
Teina nodded while coughing, and managed to sputter out, “We danced with joy!”
“That storeroom was our first control room,” Jimox said, “but we soon moved it to the tower in Fairy Castle.”
“And the lizard stayed . . .”
“And became our dearest friend. We loved the control room, with windows that looked out in every direction, but didn’t want to sit there all the time — we wanted to be out talking to people, stocking the nutrition cabinets, and checking the music players. We asked him to be an assistant host about a year later. He always did everything just the way we taught him, and we soon trusted him with everything! ”