The two puppets were led up the stairs by Captain Laser who stopped on the next floor and threw open a latched door. Inside there was a large room with four beds.
‘These are your beds for now, boys. You can choose whichever one you want. Wookby, zztô huh wanji oioi ?’
‘Busta oo zztô tak,’ he immediately said, pointing at the bed near the window.
‘Stoffel, he says he’ll take the bed near the window. Which one do you want?’
‘I’ll take this one,’ Stoffel said and playfully fell onto the bed closest to the door.
The room was large and though not equipped for children, it was immediately intriguing to the puppets as it was filled with all the captain’s nautical paraphernalia like compasses, miniature ships, wooden ship’s wheels, model lighthouses, starfish, shells, marine telescopes and nautical clocks. Most of the things were lying on the large table that stood in the center of the room. In silence Buster circled the table, staring at all the wondrous things that lay before him. Captain Laser watched him closely.
‘Busta, wanji tak oioi? he said as Buster circled the table for the second time.
‘Woah,’ he said breathlessly, not looking up at the captain. He stopped in front of the telescope and said, ‘Pompie tik wink,’ pointing at it.
‘Your father has one of these? Wanji pompie ai huh?’ the captain asked carefully.
‘Kinji vor nô,’ he said, his lip starting to tremble again.
‘There, there,’ the captain said coming forward and putting his hand on his shoulder. ‘We’ll find them. Honju, kinji ah ah.’
Meanwhile back on dry land, at CIA headquarters to be exact, Marla Longshot was being prepped for a mission of her own. Under the watchful eye of Vice-president, Nancy Drool and with only Agents Richard’s and Jeffries in the room, she was sworn to secrecy and ordained as one of their own for the task at hand.
‘Your mission,’ Ms Drool said in a too low voice, clenching her teeth as she spoke ‘is to stay as close as possible to Captain Laser and that little puppet he so preciously protects.’ Miss Longshot stared up at her, eyes open wide and cautiously nodded.
‘I want to receive daily detailed reports of everything going on in that lighthouse but most of all, and this I cannot emphasize enough,’ she said, holding on to Marla’s attentive eyes, ‘remain professional at all times. I’ve seen the effect the Captain has on women. Quite frankly, I don’t see what the fuss is all about. He looks good in white, so what? So do I.’
Marla could feel her cheeks redden and really hoped no-one could see it. Agent Richards stepped forward and said, ‘Ma’am, if I may,’ nodding to the vice president. He went on to tell her that the security of the country was now squarely in her hands. Marla Longshot’s ultimate goal would not only be to find the White House but also to keep a watchful eye on Captain Laser.
‘So you need me to spy?’ she said in an innocent voice that traveled freely through the air.
Agent Richards cleared his throat and said, ‘Spy is such a strong word. We prefer to call it observing, watching, taking notice, looking, discerning, making out, …’
‘No!’ the vice president exclaimed. ‘We have to be professional.’
‘Detect!’ Agent Jeffries quickly said.
‘Like a detective?’ Marla said enthusiastically.
‘Yes, like a detective looking for clues,’ Ms Drool repeated feigning enthusiasm. ‘Find the clues and let us know what you find. That’s all you have to do. Every night, when all have gone to bed and you’re alone in your room, text, Whatsapp, Zoom-call, email, send smoke signals, whatever, just let us know what you have found. Give us your clues, understand?’
Marla agreed to their plan, saying that she only had the puppets’ welfare in mind and of course, she wanted to serve her country. In exchange, Ms Drool agreed that for now, the existence of the world’s last-standing endangered Shabbit and its whereabouts would be kept a secret and out of the press.
The truth of the matter was, she really did have the puppets’ welfare in mind but she was curious about Captain Laser. She had never met anyone like him before and his whole lifestyle intrigued her no end. He lived in a lighthouse for goodness sake. How fascinating and totally cool was that? As the helicopter started descended, its sights set on the helipad of the red and white lighthouse, Marla clapped her cheeks with both hands to release the warmth that had risen in them yet again.
THE NEXT PART IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND IS NOT FINALIZED YET.
She arrived at the lighthouse and the Captain was surprised saying that he was expecting someone qualified in the medical field to help him as this is what he requested from the president. She tells him that she was selected after she volunteered for the position. He finds out she is actually a qualified nurse. During the Buster operation, he mutters something under sedation which sounds like he’s calling for his mother. Marla comforts him and says, ‘Mémé Wookby, mémé.’ The captain is impressed and remarks, ‘So you’ve already picked up some Siminese?’ She responds embarrassingly and asks, ‘I know I probably pronounced that totally incorrectly’ to which he answers, ‘No, no, it sounded very good to me.’ She blushes at his compliment but feels guilty leading him on like this.
So while he has Buster’s mouth wide open, the captain takes a pair of tweezers and as he touches a part of the left side of his tongue, the tweezers suddenly disappear, nowhere to be found. They both search everywhere but to no avail. The captain fetches a very powerful light and micro camera and starts to scan the surrounding area ending up in Buster’s mouth again. He suddenly sees a spec in the area where he last used the tweezers. As he zooms in, he accidentally touches his tongue again, this time the camera disappears. Off he goes again and comes back with another micro camera. Marla stares at him in puzzlement, wondering what he is up to but this time he is super careful. It is hooked up to a large screen and he zooms in on the two specs on the left side of Buster’s tongue. As the lens comes into focus, they both look up at the big screen with astonishment. There, lying next to each other on the side of Buster’s tongue is the tweezer and the camera, in their perfect forms, just ridiculously, microscopically small. They have to keep Buster under for a little while longer while the captain takes to the computer, searching the internet for answers.
He finds an answer and discovers that Buster has a rare condition, discovered in the 18th century known as Reformidant-manet-parva that has to do with the saliva in a particular species, that through a chemical reaction, can reduce anything that it comes into contact with by a ratio of 1:500. Furthermore, he finds out that subjects that have this condition usually possess two stomachs, two esophagi and swallowing systems, which are totally normal – the second, much smaller stomach serves as a ‘catch-all’ as a result of the reformidant condition. The captain sets up x-ray equipment and discovers it’s true, Buster does indeed have two stomachs. The size of the one on the left is about an eighth of the normal one and is the ‘catch all’. He and Marla get excited but he is concerned as he doesn’t know how he will be able to retrieve the objects as anything he uses will be reduced merely by the saliva touching it. He goes back to Buster and with the camera and a dropper containing water, helps him to swallow the two instruments. Now, he says to Marla, at least he knows where they are until he is able to retrieve them again.
For the next few days, Marla plays baby sitter to the two puppets as the Captain is in his workshop building a cylindrical gizmo, large enough to take a small puppet. After about a week, Buster is once again put under and placed into the large gizmo. It turns out to be a highly sophisticated microscope x-ray machine. This time there are four large screens hooked up to the gizmo as Buster’s ‘catch-all’ stomach is the point of focus. On the large screen, Buster’s stomach is seen as it comes into focus and the camera starts zooming in, starting at the top part of the stomach, moving down. He sees something like a crumpled up paper bag with a whole bunch of strings attached to it and slowly says, ‘It’s the parachute!’ As the camera moves, another familiar-looking shape suddenly comes into focus. The captain stops the microscope and starts to zoom in on the object. In a few seconds, both the captain and Marla are awe struck. In front of them, lies a perfect silhouette of the world’s most famous building. They have just found the White House!