“Even Richard?” Wasn’t used to White willingly sitting things out these days.
Reader nodded. “He wanted to be sure that the rabbits didn’t cause issues. Plus, I don’t think the rest of the team would have left if he hadn’t gone—everyone wanted to remain until Richard pointed out that you guys would probably need aerial support.”
“Besides,” Chuckie added, “there were a lot of bunnies that needed help running for the shuttles. On the plus side, the ship has enough shuttles that a full evacuation of all personnel and passengers is possible, even if quarters were at capacity. So, we got a few more down here to do evacuation.”
“Good thinking, especially on the getting out of here. Ten minutes ago, everyone still being here would have made us very upset. Now, it just means fewer people to brief at this moment and more to brief later.” Donned my Recap Girl cape and did a fast update. “So, we now want to know what happened to the tree people. Grumpy, you’re up.”
“I moved them. For their safety.”
“Moved them where?” Jeff asked, not all that nicely.
“We got most of the story while you were talking to the King of the Sea Serpents,” Tim said. “Once Grumpy and Dopey combined, they decided to go save the galaxy, one system at a time. So, they started close to home. There were only two planets with life, this one and its sister. The sister had the tree people on it. This one has the sea serpents. Grumpy liked the tree people, Dopey didn’t. Dopey liked the sea serpents, Grumpy didn’t. They fought about how to help the two planets, but couldn’t agree.”
“So they ripped themselves apart,” Reader finished, sarcasm knob set to well past eleven, “and then decided to try to destroy the others’ preferred people. Dopey initially created the whatever you were in—”
“I thought of it as the Habitrail From Hell.”
“Totally fitting, girlfriend. Anyway, supposedly that was made to protect the sea serpents. While he was, you know, raining down fire on the tree people.”
“I managed to get them to the next nearest planet,” Grumpy said. “But they can’t survive there too much longer. The soil is wrong and the air is worse.”
“Then take them home,” Jeff said. “Put them back where they were.”
“We can’t,” Chuckie said.
“Excuse me?” Jeff asked. “Why not?”
Chuckie sighed. “Grumpy and Dopey destroyed that planet. It’s a lifeless husk now. The only planet in this system left that has and is likely capable of sustaining life is this one. And that’s not all.”
“Oh, I can’t wait,” Jeff said. “What’s the rest, Chuck?”
“The rest is our real problem,” Chuckie said. “As in the problem for all of us on the Distant Voyager. If this world is a black world, and the world that the tree people are from is now a dead world, how do we get the one thing we desperately need in order to get out of here? How do we get chlorophyll?”
CHAPTER 42
WE ALL STARED AT each other for a few long seconds. Then I looked down. “SuperBun? You told us there was chlorophyll.”
SuperBun admitted that he’d also lied about this. Though he’d thought that Dopey could have provided what we’d wanted. Possibly.
Saw some angry expressions. “He’s a freaking rabbit and he was trying to protect his people while also not letting Dopey kill us. Back off on the glaring. Christopher, that goes triple for you.”
“Whatever,” Christopher muttered. “Sorry that Chuck’s really good point stressed me out.”
“We need to deal with the tree people first,” Jeff said firmly. “Once they’re taken care of, then we can worry about ourselves.”
Felt all kinds of proud. Despite what Hixxx might think, Jeff was definitely and always the right leader for the job, whatever that job might be.
“They have no world,” Chuckie said. “And taking them onto our ship isn’t going to help them, either.”
“Then bring them here,” Hixxx said as he rejoined the air breathers. We didn’t need to move closer—his voice definitely carried and it was clear he could hear all of us easily. “See if our soil will accommodate. If not, if they drink of our water, they will become one with our planet.”
“Is that true for everyone?” I asked. “Because while none of us have drunk any, I don’t think, we have been drenched by watering elephants, and I know the rabbits have had to drink the water here to survive. Does that mean we can’t leave?”
“No,” Hixxx said. “It means that you can come here easily, and live here, if you need to.”
“Thank you,” Jeff said. “While I hope that none of us will be in that situation, we appreciate the offer. My people were refugees—to have any world open itself to others is a wonderful thing.”
“It is the right thing,” Hixxx said. “To offer welcome. Not to be invaded.”
“Speaking of invaders, Dopey, why didn’t you mess with the rabbits like you did the other Earth animals?”
He muttered something.
“What?” I asked. “Didn’t catch that.”
“They were Grumpy’s favorites and I . . . I didn’t want to hurt them.”
She looked at him in surprise, which, on half a face, was weird to see. “You did that . . . for me?”
“Yes,” he admitted. “I . . . I’m sorry. I’ve . . . missed you.”
She took his hand in hers. “I’ve missed you, too.”
My music changed to “Two Hearts Beat as One” by U2, but I’d already figured it out. Finally. “Good! Then let’s get these two crazy kids back together.”
This earned me shocked looks from everyone. “May I ask why you feel this is a good idea?” Hixxx asked, clearly speaking for everyone.
“Because they aren’t whole. They aren’t superconsciousnesses anymore, but they aren’t people, either. People have a hard time functioning without half of themselves. And, while I’m sure they were meddling when they were whole and as one, the real problems started when they split. Get them joined again, see the normal version of this combination come back, and then it can help, versus hinder or harm.”
“We do not trust them,” Hixxx said. “I am sure you can understand why.”
“I can, indeed. Which is why you’re not going to have to police them. Yo, Sandy! I know you’re out there watching us, dude. Time to make the grand appearance and all that jazz.”
Sure enough, there was a whirling around us and Sandy formed. “You called, Kitty?”
“I did. We’ve solved most of your little problem here. Now we need you to help out and help us fix the last parts.”
He opened his mouth, to protest most likely. Put up the paw. He closed his mouth. No matter what, the One True FLOTUS Power was awesome.
“You and yours will help rejoin Grumpy and Dopey. You and yours will, without fuss, muss, or stalling, transport all the tree people from wherever the hell Grumpy stashed them to this planet, immediately. You and yours will ensure that said tree people can and are willing to join with Hixxx and his people. If they are not willing, then you and yours will figure out how to revive their planet and put them back.”