It started to rain Telallamorphs. They appeared out of mid-air, most of them were wearing nurses’ hats, and as soon as they hit the floor, they would rush off to tend to one of the casualties. Helix’s wounds looked the most serious. When she saw the horrible gash on the husky’s side, Stella started to cry. At first she thought that he wasn’t breathing, but he whimpered when Stella buried her head in his fur. The Telallamorph physicians ushered Stella aside and bound the wound in a blanket of Morphplast.
“He’ll live to chew again!” one of them said before a number of Telallamorphs covered the dog and teleported him to hospital.
The Telallamorph physicians did much the same for their prince, but not before he assured Stella that he had suffered worse, although he couldn’t mask the groan as a group of nurses carried him to his legs.
There was nothing the Telallamorphs could do about Tom, though. He was lying prone on the marble, with the mind-squeezer still attached to his head. His eyes were wide open, but he was staring up at nothing. Stella could only look on, totally helpless, as the Telallamorphs stretched his limbs to his side, so at least he looked more comfortable.
All this happened before Doctor Dodds had managed to wheeze his way to the top of the pyramid. When she saw his bald head and walrus moustache, Stella thought she had never been happier to see anyone in her life. She ran into her uncle’s arms.
Hugging her close for a moment, Doctor Dodds said, “Time for hellos in a moment. Lots of mess to be tidied up.” But he paused, noticing the pendant that Stella was still clutching in her hand. “You’ve found your little star again, then. Best not let it out of your sight. At least until we leave here, eh,” he said, nodding his head towards the Doom Gate, with the Greddylick’s arm reaching out of it in a silent warning.
“They say Prince Fawcus and Helix are going to be fine, but what about Tom?” Stella asked Dodds, who was already striding towards the boy’s inert form. “I don’t even know where Wendell is.”
“I’m here,” a voice whispered behind her.
Stella moved to speak to him.
“Don’t turn around. I’m naked!” Wendell whined. “What about Tom, is he going to be all right?”
“I don’t know,” Stella replied. “Uncle Dodds is looking at him.”
Doctor Dodds was knelt beside Tom on the floor. He had somehow opened up the top of the mind-squeezer, revealing an intricate set of cogs, and was prodding at them with what looked like a revolving fork.
“Here we go,” Dodds murmured to himself. The cogs sparked into motion, and the mind-squeezer started to hum. “Come on, Tom. Let’s get you back to us.”
Stella knelt on the other side of Tom, silently urging him to wake up.
After what seemed like an hour, but was in reality about half a minute, Tom’s eyes flickered open.
“Stella!” He reached out to her and tried to drag himself up. “I’m sorry, Stella,” he said. “I should have trusted you.” His eyes focused on Doctor Dodds. “I should have trusted you all.”
“It’s all right, Tom,” Stella said. “We’re all okay.”
Tom eased back, but his face looked puzzled. “I think I’m seeing stars,” he murmured.
Stella followed Tom’s gaze behind her and spotted the cloud of glitter that was Wendell, who gave an embarrassed squeak.
“No, that’s Wendell.”
Just before he lost consciousness again, Tom asked, “Why doesn’t he have any clothes on?”