After getting a liquid that reminded of water, and gasping for air
a few minutes Darren slowly recovered. Olivia still looked
chocked when she said:
"Darren, how on Earth... How on Bleep's moon, could you find us?
You must be more psychic than me!"
"I... ", Darren begun, then he gasped for some more air, "I saw when
the aliens flew away with you Olivia."
"But how did you know that they flew to Bleep? How did you even
know that Bleep existed?"
"I was born on Bleep! Really, you didn't think that talking dragons
are born on Earth?"
"No", Olivia lied, "But how did you know that we were on the moon?"
"I didn't. I was aiming for Bleep, but missed it slightly. It is
very hard to change direction in the thin plasma outside the
planets. Fortunately I had swallowed two tubes of compressed oxygen
before I left Earth, else I might had suffocated."
"Since, you are from the neighborhood, do you know what is best to
eat here?", Jesper broke in.
"Yes, you should look for purpur oval fruits. One of them keep me
appeased for weeks. However, they are rarely seen, but remember, in
places where you least expect to find them you don't."
"You do?", Jesper corrected.
"No, that is what so special about them... You don't find them there."
"Oh!", Oliva said.
"Oh!", Jesper said.
"I guess it's better if I help you find the fruits since I have a
keen scent for them", Darren said and started to walk to the
west.
After 10 minutes of walking, Darren suddenly stopped. He lowered his
head, almost all the way down to Jesper and Olivia, and whispered:
"We'd better walk back. Else THEY might see us."
" THEY??", Olivia whispered.
"The Bleepic women. They have enslaved the aboriginals on Bleep-Moon.
In front of us is a blue lemon plantation, where the aboriginal
people work as slaves to make blue lemon drinks for the Bleepic
people."
Olivia was silent for a while, then she whispered:
"We must help the Bleep-Moonic people to raise from slavery.
Darren, can't you scare away the slave-driver?"
For the first time since Olivia and Jesper met him, Darren looked
terrified. The big dragon stammered out:
"Me! Oh, no! Not me, no way. These ladies are bad. Real bad. If they
saw me they would beat me black and blue, especially my tender
nose. They aren't afraid of anything. Well, except 'barbers'."
"What are 'barbers'?", Olivia asked.
"A very rare, seldom seen, animal. They are small and totally harmless.
They are called barbers because they are so hairy, and always
look like they just came from the barber shop."
"Why are the Bleepic women afraid of them?", Jesper asked.
"Well, to understand that, you must understand women."
"Oh! So, in other words; It is one of the great unsolved mysteries of
Universe."
"Yap!"
"Well, let's solve a simpler problem instead; how to
free the slaves. Before I work out a plan I must ask
you a question Darren. Is it possible to throw the
barbers from here to the plantation?"
"Yeah, but you should not do that! If you do, they get
even more rare.", Darren said.
He then looked down to the ground and whispered with
shame in his voice:
"Furthermore, you should not play soccer with them, even
if you are a boy dragon on summer vacation...."
"Darren!", Olivia said and gave Darren an accusing look.
"Now I have worked out the plan to free the slaves", Jesper
interrupted, "For that we need 10 barbers, 14 chairs or stools,
a lot of red berries and some glue. Oliva, you capture the
barbers, Darren you build the stools and I fix the glue and
the berries."
Oliva, who knew that it wasn't any use to questioning Jesper,
begun to walk back to the space-craft where she had seen the
barbers. Darren begun to saw down a huge tree
with his sharp tail. He then started to turn the tree into 14
stools. Jesper sat down on a stone. He put his hand in his left
pocket and took up a tube of glue.
He looked at his right pocket, a pocket that was filled
with red berries, and smiled.
He still felt smart, he reckoned that the helium had a prolonging
effect of his temporary intelligence boast.
He then closed his eyes.
Two hours later Darren's tail begun to be very sore, but the 14
primitive stools were completed. Two minutes after Darren
was done Oliva came
staggering back, with a sack on her back. She looked exhausted as
she said:
"Well, Jesper. I finally have captured the 10 barbers. What to do
now?"
Jesper woke up after his nap, stood up and walked to Olivia and
Darren. He decided to let them know about his fantastic plan:
"My plan is this. We lay down these disgusting red berries", Jesper
begun and held up a handful of berries.
"Ah, vomit-berries!", Darren interrupted.
"Yeah, vomit-berries. We lay them in a line that are heading towards
the plantation. Then Oliva opens her sack and the barbers come out
and follow the line of berries to the plantation. When the Bleppic
women see the barbers they will start screaming, and try to climb
up on a height, to get away from the barbers."
"Climb up on what?? There is nothing to climb up to on the plantation!",
Olivia protested.
"I know, there is nothing there now. But that's where Darren comes in.
He will come as their savior from distress, and give them stools
to stand on. Stools with glue, or should I say 'fast acting super glue',
on top. A glue strong enough to keep the women stuck on the stools
for a long time."
"Brilliant!", Olivia said.
"It can't fail.", Darren added.
"I know. It can't fail.", Jesper proudly established.
Since Jesper could see no point in waiting, they immediately started
to put the plan into action. Jesper, who loved woodwork insisted
on putting the glue on the stools himself. Olivia put the berries
in a line, so the barbers would find their way to the plantation.
Since, she yesterday had put candies in a line to find her way out of
a cave, this caused a bad case of déjà vue for her.
Darren then, after strict instructions from Jesper not to pile
the stools, carried all 14 stools around the area, to the back end of
the plantation. A while later Oliva opened the sack and the barbers
climbed out. One might have suspected that the strong sunshine would
have blinded the barbers, but helped by their huge fringes,
the sun didn't bother them much.
They soon started to sniff. Just as Jesper had predicted, they
picked up the scent for the vomit-berries, and started to walk
to the plantation.