“I don’t suppose there’s anything in ‘fairy’ size,” commented Peri frumpishly from her little bunk made up in the bedside-table drawer.
“Afraid not,” replied Matilda, laughing. “They probably didn’t have any fresh wings.”
“Very funny,” said Peri with a smirk. “I’ll just have to get by with what I’ve got on, but if they start to smell, don’t blame me.”
Matilda held her nose. “Well, I wasn’t going to mention it, but . . . ,” she laughed.
Peri flew over to her shoulder and pinched her ear. “Yow!” shouted Matilda. “I suppose I deserved that.” She began dressing in her new clothes as soon as she had finished the chocolate and drink with a quiet burp.
At last they were ready and walked to the lift.
“Where do you wish to go?” asked the voice as the stepped into the glass cube.
“To the entrance foyer, please,” said Matilda.
“Very well. Entrance foyer coming up,” replied the voice and, in no time at all, the doors opened with a ‘Ping!” to show the foyer with its ‘Zithium’ display surrounded by Reptors. Bolgobin was pacing backwards and forwards with his hands behind his back. His white robe was covered in food from breakfast.
“Ah, there you are,” he said as he spotted them. “I was worried when I didn’t see you in the dining room.”
“I thought I’d try a change of diet,” said Matilda with a grin.
“Mm-m-m, well we’d better get on our way,” said Bolgobin. “Our vehicle is out the front.”
They walked down the glass passageway and through the dissolving door. A line of small golf carts stood on the tiled forecourt. It was a bright, sunny day outside.
“Here it is, our transport for the day,” said Bolgobin proudly. “Like everything else on Laboria, it runs on Zithium,” he added as he lifted the bonnet of the first cart. Matilda looked over his shoulder and saw a small glass globe containing a piece of the rich ruby-red ore about the size of a marble. It gave off a dazzling light of its own.
“Hop in,” ordered Bolgobin as he closed the bonnet, “and we’ll be on our way.”
He jumped into the driver’s seat and, when Matilda was seated with Peri on her shoulder, he pressed a button. The engine started with a soft whirr. Bolgobin pushed his foot down on the accelerator pedal.
Suddenly the cart shot backwards and crashed into the other vehicles. There was an almighty bang and crunching sounds as each cart was pushed into the one behind. When Matilda looked back she saw a jumble of carts with bumps and scrapes, all along the forecourt.
“Oh, no!” wailed Bolgobin. “That’s the end of me. I keep forgetting to put it in forward gear. What will the Wizard say when he hears about this? What will he do to me?” There was fear in the little man’s voice.
Feeling his fear, Matilda thought quickly and said, “Don’t worry, Bolgobin. He’ll never know it was you. Let me into the driver’s seat.” They swapped places. “Now we can tell the Wizard that you were giving me a driving lesson and I bombed out. He’d never abuse a guest.”
“You’d really do that for me?” said Bolgobin in amazement.
“Of course,” replied Matilda. “What are friends for? Now, show me how this thing works. I’ll drive and you tell me where to go.”
Bolgobin happily gave Matilda a quick lesson on the instruments, which were very simple, and they were soon motoring off towards the city.
Chapter 12
Tour Of The City
A wide tree-lined boulevard led down to the city from the Wizard’s cave. Her hair flying behind in the breeze, Matilda was enjoying her first experience of driving a vehicle as she sped down towards the city. Peri, sitting on the back seat, was not so enthusiastic. Bolgobin had his eyes tightly shut as he sat beside her.
“Make sure you stop when you reach the first crossroad,” he told her as he took a peek at the trees whizzing by. “It’s that pedal on your left.”
With a screech of brakes and a wobble, Matilda did as she was told.
“You’d better slow down from here on,” Bolgobin informed her. “We have Traffic Reptors you know. Now we turn right here to go into the centre of the city.”
Matilda set off at a slow pace, not only because she didn’t want to be pulled up by the Reptors but also because she wanted to take in the sights. The roads were carefully cobbled and the clean white buildings along them shone in the sunlight. It was pretty and tidy, with neatly-kept parks spaced between the buildings. The people wandered slowly about looking happy and relaxed. Matilda noticed that most of the citizens of Laboria seemed to be small, like Bolgobin. There weren’t many carts on the road and, when she asked why, Bolgobin explained.
“Zithium is so valuable that we have to use as little as we can on transport. The only people permitted to have motorised carts are the Wizard’s officials and some taxis for the population to use on long trips. Our citizens know that we have to produce things to be happy so they walk most of the time to save our Zithium. You’ll see what I mean as we go. There are signs up everywhere to remind us of the importance of production.”
Sure enough Matilda saw large posters on the sides of the road, billboards at the entrance to parks and neon signs on the tops of buildings, all saying the same thing –
“LABORIANS – THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS IS WEALTH
PRODUCE, PRODUCE, PRODUCE”
Each sign had a picture of the Zithium display they had seen in the Wizard’s foyer.
“Mm-m-m,” said Matilda. “Talk about brainwashing. Do all of the people believe that?”
“Oh, yes,” replied Bolgobin. “We believe all of the Wizard’s commands. We couldn’t do anything else. And you can see that the people are very happy as a result.”
Matilda’s curiosity had been stirred – and she was a very curious person. When she noticed several taller people in the crowds passing by, she asked who they were.
“Oh, they’re aliens from lands far away. We call them Strangees. They come here by boat to share in our happiness. But they must first do ten years in the Zithium mines and can only join us fully when they have agreed to follow our rules. Otherwise they are vaporised. The strange thing is that they don’t seem to live for very long after they come to the city. The Wizard says that they must have shorter lives in the lands they come from.”
“Vaporised?!” shouted Matilda. Peri nearly fell off her seat.
“Yes. Everybody accepts it. If you cannot add to the wealth of the empire then you are of no use and the Wizard’s cobra, Hermalkin, vaporises you,” Bolgobin informed her. “It’s fair for everyone.”
“Remind me to behave myself, Peri,” Matilda shouted.
“We’d better hurry,” said Bolgobin, looking at his watch. “The Wizard told me that I must have you back in your room by 2 o’clock. Turn left at the next crossroads and we can have lunch while I show you the Amusement Park.”
To reach the Amusement Park they had to pass through the centre of the city. Here the buildings were much taller and contained attractive-looking shops – hundreds of them. People were bustling about, loaded with shopping bags.
“Oh, if only I had some money,” cried Matilda, “I could spend a whole day here – and I mean spend.”
“You don’t need money,” Bolgobin informed her. “You are the guest of the Wizard. You can have anything you want for free.”
Matilda’s eyes boggled. “You’re not serious are you?’ she croaked.
“Of course I am,” replied Bolgobin. “We’ll come down another day to do some shopping if you’d like.”
“LIKE?!” shouted Matilda. “Just let me loose. That’s awesome.”
“I take it that the same applies to me,” said Peri with a pout.
“Of course,” replied Bolgobin. “Now let’s get moving. Take the next turn right.”
Chapter 13
The Amusement Park
They soon left the buildings of the city behind and were out in the countryside. It was quite beautiful. Lush rainfore
st lined the road and multi-coloured birds flew across in front of the cart. At last they came out of the forest and there, in front of them, was the largest Amusement Park they had ever seen. They could see hundreds of people lined up at the entrance and hear the shouts of glee from the people taking the rides inside.
“Once again, WOW!” commented Matilda. “It’s humungous.”
“Yes,” Bolgobin informed her, “it covers more than 200 hectares. Just drive straight in through those gates. We don’t have to line up for tickets.”
Matilda steered the cart inside and pulled up in front of a large map showing all of the rides and entertainment available in the park. The map had four sections – a white section for Easy Rides, blue for Exciting, orange for Extreme and red for Ultra-Extreme.
Looking at his watch again, Bolgobin said, “You’ll only have time for one ride today, I’m afraid. But we’ll come back another day and you can really enjoy yourselves.”
Matilda looked at the map. “Mm-m-m,” she muttered thoughtfully. “Then I’ll have to go for one of the Ultra-Extreme rides.”
“How did I know you’d say that,” exclaimed Peri.
“The ‘Waterfall Adventure’ sounds good,” Matilda decided. “I’ll try that. I could do with a cool swim”
“After that we’ll have lunch – if your stomach can still hold down food after the ride,” chuckled Bolgobin with one of his donkey laughs.
They hopped onto a monorail that went around the park and dropped people off at the various rides. By the time they reached the Ultra-Extreme area they were the only ones left in their carriage.
“Not many people are brave enough to handle these rides,” noted Bolgobin.
“Add me to that list,” said Peri.
“Well, it looks like I do it alone,” declared Matilda as they disembarked at a station with the sign ‘Waterfall Adventure’ and a picture of a huge waterfall. They walked towards the entrance to the ride, which was a long dark tunnel.
“Peri and I will go down to where the ride finishes,” stated Bolgobin. “We’ll meet you there and carry you to lunch . . . if you survive.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” mumbled Matilda, her stomach full of butterflies as she entered the tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel was an attendant. He zipped her into a waterproof bag, like a sleeping bag with arm-holes, then helped her into a small, round, inflatable tube. When he had strapped her in with a seat-belt she was pushed into a stream of water and was on her way.
It seemed pretty harmless to begin with and Matilda grew in confidence but, gradually, the speed of the water increased as she raced down the tunnel. There was a sudden surge of water and she felt herself being lifted towards the roof so that, eventually, she was upside down, then right side up and upside down again. She continued to corkscrew her way down the tunnel until her stomach seemed to be in her mouth.
Just when she thought she couldn’t take any more, she burst into sunlight as the stream of water jetted out of the side of a canyon to a river below. For several seconds she was in mid-air, and then she dropped like a stone into the river. Under she went and was swirled around in the torrent until she thought she would run out of breath. Eventually she bobbed back to the surface to see a series of rapids ahead with rocks sticking out of the water. “Uh, oh,” she thought, “out of the frying pan and into the fire” - which wasn’t very appropriate considering her circumstances.
Matilda shot towards the rocks but, miraculously, just as she was about to hit a rock head-on, the current would spin her around so that she skidded safely past. This continued for several minutes and she was also tossed under the water every few metres so that she was continually gasping for breath just before she went under again. At last she flew through a chute, was tossed into the air, and landed in a large pool where the water was moving much more slowly.
“Ah, over at last,” thought Matilda. “But where is the waterfall?”
At that precise moment she heard the thunder of falling water. Looking down the river, she saw that it seemed to end about a hundred meters ahead – just where the loud noise was coming from; and to make matters worse, as she was watching, a large mirror rose into the sky in front of her, showing exactly what she was heading for. It reflected a monstrous waterfall with its water tumbling to craggy rocks below.
Survival mode kicked in and Matilda struggled against the flow of the river, trying to steer herself to the bank. It was hopeless. With her heart thumping, she closed her eyes as she was pushed over the edge of the waterfall.
“This is it,” she thought. “The end. Finish. Gone. No more Matilda.”
She felt herself falling, the water washing over her as she dropped. She braced herself for the crash into the rocks. Nothing! She hit the water below and went under once again. The rocks had been an optical illusion – there were no rocks! She saw this when a geyser of water picked her up and lifted her high into the air, spinning her around in circles. She could see the whole park from the top of the water spout. It moved towards a sandy beach, gradually dropping down, until it deposited her on land. An attendant helped her out of the tube and the suit. Peri flew over to her, and Bolgobin tripped over and fell onto the sand as he rushed towards her.
“Magnificent!” he shouted as he climbed to his feet. “We watched the whole thing on television. You were wonderful.”
“You were very brave,” whispered Peri into her ear. “And very stupid.”
“Yes,” agreed Matilda, “I don’t think I’ll be doing that again soon. But it was exciting.”
“Let’s go for lunch, and celebrate,” shouted Bolgobin.
Chapter 14
Few Home Truths
They caught the monorail and hopped off at the station marked “FOOD COURT”. Families were sitting around at tables enjoying their meals. As soon as Matilda appeared, everybody stood and clapped.
“They all watched your ride on television,” Bolgobin informed her and pointed to a large television screen. “Not many people are brave enough to try the Ultra-Extreme rides so its extra entertainment for them.”
“If I’d known I was going on television I would have dressed better,” smiled Matilda.
They moved to a table and Matilda looked around at the food stalls. It seemed that every meal imaginable was available except . . .
“I would love some fish and chips,” said Matilda.
Bolgobin’s response was immediate. “Oh, no,” he said in a shocked voice. “You can have almost anything else but seafood is forbidden.”
“Why?” asked Matilda, raising her eyebrows. “I would have thought there’d be lots of fish in the sea around the island.”
“That’s true,” agreed Bolgobin, “but the Wizard has banned seafood. We can’t even swim in the sea. He says that we need to preserve our oceans. He’s very worried about interfering with nature and says that the sea is sacred. And what the Wizard says is law.”
“Okay,” said Matilda, not wishing to break any law no matter how silly it seemed. “I’ll have a hamburger, with a chocolate milkshake and two doughnuts, please. What about you Peri?”
“Nothing, thanks. I’ll have a sip of your milkshake.”
Bolgobin rushed off to collect the food.
“Strange, don’t you think?” Matilda asked Peri.
“I told you that I had a funny feeling about this place right from the start,” replied Peri. “I think it’s time you started asking a few more questions.”
Bolgobin returned with the food, carried by two waiters. His own plate was piled high with lasagne, mashed potato, French fries, salad and bread rolls. He also had a glass of cola and three slices of chocolate cake. No wonder he was such a roly-poly He began shovelling the food into his mouth, much of it joining the breakfast stains on the front of his robe.
Peri sipped on the milkshake while Matilda tucked into her hamburger, then looked up and asked, “Where is all of this food grown?”
Not pausing with his eating an
d spraying bits of food across the table, Bolgobin replied, “On the south side of the island, where the volcanic soil is very rich. We have no trouble growing any crop we like. Our factories are on the north side where the volcanic rock is harder. They produce everything we need.”
“But who works in the fields and the factories? It seems that most of the people are in the city enjoying themselves,” said Matilda.
“Oh, no,” answered Bolgobin. “Everybody works. The people you see are taking their break. Everybody works hard, sixteen hours a day for three weeks, growing crops or producing goods in the factories and then they have a week off. It works very well.”
“And what happens on the eastern side of the island?” asked Matilda.
Bolgobin looked up nervously. “That’s out of bounds. You must never go there. The Wizard says that it is the home of the Nature Spirits. If we upset them by trespassing on their homeland we will be cursed and our rich life will disappear. Nobody dares go to that side of the volcano.”
“Doesn’t the Wizard have a spell to take care of the spirits?” enquired Matilda innocently.
“The Wizard never interferes with nature,” replied Bolgobin solemnly. “It would ruin everything,” then added anxiously, “I’ve probably told you too much. The Wizard told me not to discuss things with you, just to keep you happy.”
“Is that so,” said Matilda suspiciously.
“Oh, dear, there I’ve gone and done it again – opened my big mouth,” cried Bolgobin with tears in his eyes.
“Don’t worry, my friend,” said Matilda. “We won’t say anything to hurt you. It’s between the three of us and nobody else.”
“Thank you,” replied Bolgobin, relaxing. Then he looked at his watch again. “We must be going. I have to get you back by 2 p.m. We’ll come here again another day. There’s so much more to see.”
“That would be wonderful,” said Matilda as they headed back to the monorail.
Chapter 15
The Air Raid
Matilda had a lot to think about as she steered the cart back into the city. She didn’t for a second believe everything the Wizard told the people. Why couldn’t they eat seafood? What was really on the eastern side of the island? Nature Spirits – I don’t think so! She decided to chance one more question.