said Cloudier, thinking aloud.
âOh, shush, Clouds,â said her mother.
They looked again through the wheelhouse window and there was Claude, crashing a fist into one of the smaller rocks, which was smashed to smithereens by the blow. Again some of the pieces flew straight up into the air, and some fell to the ground.
âItâs Liken,â said Cloudier, quietly.
âWhatâs that?â asked the Captain, tearing his eyes away from the tigerâs heroics.
âItâs Liken that makes the rocks float â like inside the main balloon.â
âStall me engines, youâre right!â said the Captain. âIâve never seen it grow naturally, but it can be nothing else. How strange the world is!â
âWhen have you been inside the main â¦?â asked Ms Huntley, but she was interrupted, as the great shape of Claude came rushing back towards them. They watched in awe as he thumped through the air directly in front of the Galloon, smashing a few remaining small rocks as he went. He roared, and even over the rain and thunder, they felt the power of his voice.
MISSED ONE
They all felt it, like a message being projected on a wall inside their minds. For Cloudier, it appeared in a strong, tombstone script, as if carved in stone. She marvelled at the feeling of it so much that she almost forgot to pay attention to the meaning.
âMissed one what?â she asked of the world in general.
Claude came to a dead stop crouched on the deck of the Galloon, as if he were a sprinter at the start of the race. He somehow managed to avoid all the lines and debris. One fist was raised towards the wheelhouse, and they were amazed to see it had Stanley in it. He was plopped gently onto the poopdeck in front of the wheelhouse, then Claude collapsed in a heap, as if exhausted.
âMissed one rock,â said Stanley, pointing upwards towards the main balloon, before flopping to the ground, bedraggled and spent.
Cloudier followed his finger, and saw a shard of rock, perhaps as big as a horse, floating upwards between the deck and the balloon. A few hands were standing around, jaws agape at the sight of their giant lucky mascot sprawled headlong on the deck, and a few more were watching the rise of the rock splinter. It was shaped like an ancient hand axe, and Cloudier knew that when it reached the balloon it would cut through it just as effectively as any axe. She grabbed a Squeaking Tube, and turned its little dial to âBroadcastâ.
It was strange to hear her own voice echoing all around the Great Galloon. Especially as what it was saying was this:
âThe Galloon is going down. We are about to crash land in the Darts. All hands to brace positions. BRACE! BRACE! BRACE!â
âWell done, dear,â said her mother as she crawled under the control console in the wheelhouse and put her head between her knees. âSuch presence of mind.â
âOh, shush, Mother,â said Cloudier, secretly proud of herself.
In Stanleyâs bedroom a few minutes before, Rasmussen had been screwing the back cover back on to the Examinator. She had switched a few wires around, and tightened a couple of connections, as she had read about in
The Little Adventurerâs Guide to Electrickery
. Then she had taken out some bits of hay and poo that Nora had obviously left in there on one of the occasions when he had been let loose in Stanleyâs room. Now, she hoped, she would be able to choose who she spoke to and who she heard rather than relying on chance.
She sat in front of the machine and began to twiddle the dial marked âTwiddle This Oneâ, which was usually used only to make the voice of Stanleyâs mother sound clearer if she was a little faint. But now the machine had a much greater range of frequencies available to it, and Rasmussen began to listen carefully as a series of voices dribbled out of the mesh.
â⦠welcome to super sounds of the
âOh, shush, Clouds,â said her mother.
They looked again through the wheelhouse window and there was Claude, crashing a fist into one of the smaller rocks, which was smashed to smithereens by the blow. Again some of the pieces flew straight up into the air, and some fell to the ground.
âItâs Liken,â said Cloudier, quietly.
âWhatâs that?â asked the Captain, tearing his eyes away from the tigerâs heroics.
âItâs Liken that makes the rocks float â like inside the main balloon.â
âStall me engines, youâre right!â said the Captain. âIâve never seen it grow naturally, but it can be nothing else. How strange the world is!â
âWhen have you been inside the main â¦?â asked Ms Huntley, but she was interrupted, as the great shape of Claude came rushing back towards them. They watched in awe as he thumped through the air directly in front of the Galloon, smashing a few remaining small rocks as he went. He roared, and even over the rain and thunder, they felt the power of his voice.
MISSED ONE
They all felt it, like a message being projected on a wall inside their minds. For Cloudier, it appeared in a strong, tombstone script, as if carved in stone. She marvelled at the feeling of it so much that she almost forgot to pay attention to the meaning.
âMissed one what?â she asked of the world in general.
Claude came to a dead stop crouched on the deck of the Galloon, as if he were a sprinter at the start of the race. He somehow managed to avoid all the lines and debris. One fist was raised towards the wheelhouse, and they were amazed to see it had Stanley in it. He was plopped gently onto the poopdeck in front of the wheelhouse, then Claude collapsed in a heap, as if exhausted.
âMissed one rock,â said Stanley, pointing upwards towards the main balloon, before flopping to the ground, bedraggled and spent.
Cloudier followed his finger, and saw a shard of rock, perhaps as big as a horse, floating upwards between the deck and the balloon. A few hands were standing around, jaws agape at the sight of their giant lucky mascot sprawled headlong on the deck, and a few more were watching the rise of the rock splinter. It was shaped like an ancient hand axe, and Cloudier knew that when it reached the balloon it would cut through it just as effectively as any axe. She grabbed a Squeaking Tube, and turned its little dial to âBroadcastâ.
It was strange to hear her own voice echoing all around the Great Galloon. Especially as what it was saying was this:
âThe Galloon is going down. We are about to crash land in the Darts. All hands to brace positions. BRACE! BRACE! BRACE!â
âWell done, dear,â said her mother as she crawled under the control console in the wheelhouse and put her head between her knees. âSuch presence of mind.â
âOh, shush, Mother,â said Cloudier, secretly proud of herself.
In Stanleyâs bedroom a few minutes before, Rasmussen had been screwing the back cover back on to the Examinator. She had switched a few wires around, and tightened a couple of connections, as she had read about in
The Little Adventurerâs Guide to Electrickery
. Then she had taken out some bits of hay and poo that Nora had obviously left in there on one of the occasions when he had been let loose in Stanleyâs room. Now, she hoped, she would be able to choose who she spoke to and who she heard rather than relying on chance.
She sat in front of the machine and began to twiddle the dial marked âTwiddle This Oneâ, which was usually used only to make the voice of Stanleyâs mother sound clearer if she was a little faint. But now the machine had a much greater range of frequencies available to it, and Rasmussen began to listen carefully as a series of voices dribbled out of the mesh.
â⦠welcome to super sounds of the
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