Episode 2: The Floating Forest
The shadowy figure was gone, and with it the glowing lantern. The three friends stood on the shivering clouds in the gathering dusk, hardly knowing what to do.
But Luna, after a moment, lifted her chin. "All is not lost," she said. "There may be another way to find the Crystal — without the lantern at all." She turned to Emil and Tom. "May I come with you? I know this planet better than anyone, and I think I know who can help us."
"Of course!" said Emil. "We wouldn't dream of going without you. Who can help?"
"The Sky Whales," said Luna, her eyes lifting toward the heavens. "Great, gentle creatures, each one as big as a mountain, made entirely of soft glowing mist. They migrate through the upper layers of Nimbus-9, drifting from sky to sky. They are ancient and wise, and they see everything that happens upon our world. If anyone knows where the Core Crystal has gone, it will be the Sky Whales."
Tom's eyes shone. "Whales made of mist! Then let's go and ask them!"
"It won't be easy," Luna warned. "To reach the heights where the whales swim, we must first cross the Floating Forest. And the Floating Forest is... a tricky place."
"Tricky how?" asked Emil.
Luna gave a small, nervous smile. "You'll see."
They climbed aboard the cozy red tomato-ship, and Emil flew them up through the pink and lavender mists until, at last, the Floating Forest came into view — and both friends gasped.
It was a forest unlike any other. The trees did not grow up from the ground, for there was no ground — they simply floated, hundreds of them, hanging in the open sky. And they grew upside-down, their roots reaching up into the clouds above and their leafy branches dangling below. They drifted and turned slowly in the misty air, glowing softly in shades of silver and green.
"It's beautiful," breathed Tom.
"It is," agreed Luna. "But beware. In the Floating Forest, gravity shifts every ten minutes. One moment 'down' is below you — and the next, without warning, 'down' becomes up, and everything that isn't holding on tight goes tumbling the other way." She looked at them seriously. "We must cross quickly, and we must always — always — keep hold of something solid."
So they landed the ship on a broad floating root and set out carefully on foot, bouncing and clambering from tree to tree. For a while, all went well. They held onto roots and branches, and they made good progress through the drifting silver wood.
But Tom, in his excitement, bounced a little too far ahead — and a little too high.
"Tom, wait!" Emil called. "Stay close, the gravity could—"
He was too late.
There came a strange shimmering whoooosh, and suddenly the air all around Tom began to swirl. He had bounced straight into a Gravity Vortex — a spinning pocket where gravity had gone all wrong, twisting round and round on itself. Tom was caught up at once, lifted off the branch and spun helplessly upward, tumbling head over tail in a whirl of glittering mist.
"Emiiiil!" he cried, spinning faster and faster. "Help! I can't get down — or up — or anywhere!"
"Hold on, Tom! I'm coming!" Emil shouted.
But the vortex was too wide to reach across, and if Emil stepped into it himself, he'd only be spun away too. He needed something longer — something that could reach right in and pull Tom out.
And then he had it. "The grappling hook!"
Emil dashed back to the tomato-ship. The cozy little vessel had a special tool for tricky moments just like this — a tomato-vine grappling hook, a long, strong, curling green vine that could shoot out and grab hold of things. Emil aimed carefully at his spinning friend, took a deep breath, and fired.
Fwip! The green vine uncoiled through the air, stretching long and far, straight into the heart of the swirling vortex. Tom flung out his little arms and caught it tight.
"I've got it! I've got it!" he squeaked.
"Hold on with everything you've got!" Emil cried, and he began to reel the vine back in — hand over hand, slow and steady, drawing Tom out of the spinning vortex inch by inch. The vortex whirled and tugged, trying to keep its catch, but the tomato-vine held strong. With one last great pull, Tom popped free of the swirling pocket and tumbled safely down into Emil's waiting arms.
"Oof!" The two friends rolled in a heap, and then Tom threw his little arms around Emil's neck.
"You saved me!" he gasped. "Oh, Emil — I thought I'd be spinning forever!"
"I'd never let that happen," said Emil warmly, hugging him back. "Are you all right?"
"A bit dizzy," Tom admitted, "but quite all right. Thank you, Emil."
Luna bounced over, breathless with relief. "That was bravely done — both of you. But come — we mustn't linger. The gravity will shift again any moment."
They hurried on. And just as they reached the far edge of the forest, Luna spotted something tucked behind a curtain of dangling roots — a dark opening in a great floating boulder.
"A cave," she murmured. "I've never seen this one before. The vortex must have shifted the trees and uncovered it."
Curious, the three of them crept inside. And there, on the cave walls, they found something astonishing: ancient carvings, glowing faintly with a soft inner light, telling a story in pictures older than anyone could remember.
Emil held up a small light, and they followed the carvings along the wall. The first pictures showed the great glowing Core Crystal, resting safe at the heart of Nimbus-9, with the clouds firm and happy all around it. But the later carvings told a darker tale. They showed a sinister figure in a long, tattered cloak — sneaking, scheming, and at last stealing the Crystal away.
Beneath the figure was carved a single name.
"The Duster," Luna read aloud, and a shiver ran through her. "I've heard whispers of that name, long ago — an old legend. A rogue cloud-pirate, they said, who sailed the skies long before my time, stealing whatever he pleased." Her voice dropped. "I always thought it was just a story to frighten little cloudlings. But these carvings..."
"They show The Duster stealing the Crystal," Emil finished grimly. "So the legend is real. And it seems he's come back — and the shadowy figure who stole your lantern might be him, or one of his crew."
"Then now we have a name," said Tom firmly. "The Duster. That's who we're after."
They felt a new spark of hope. At last, they had a real lead — a true clue to follow. And the Sky Whales, just above them now, might know exactly where The Duster had taken the Crystal.
They hurried out of the cave and gazed up into the highest skies, searching for the great misty shapes of the whales.
And there they were — enormous, glowing, gentle, drifting through the clouds far above, just as Luna had promised. The friends' hearts soared at the sight.
But something was wrong.
The Sky Whales were not drifting calmly. They were fleeing. Their great misty bodies trembled and faded, and one by one they were thinning into wisps, scattering in every direction, vanishing away into the open sky as if something had badly, terribly frightened them.
"No," Luna whispered, her face pale. "No, no — the whales are vanishing! They're being scared away! Something is frightening them off!"
Emil stared up at the disappearing whales, his heart sinking. Their one hope of answers — their one wise, gentle guide to the Crystal — was slipping away before their very eyes.
"Quickly!" Emil cried. "We have to reach one before they're all gone! But what in the skies could frighten away creatures as great as that?"
And as the last of the Sky Whales flickered and faded into the dusk, a cold shadow seemed to pass over the clouds of Nimbus-9...
To be continued in Episode 3...