Impossible Dreamers

Chapter 30 (degtwi-nay): Happiness and Invention

'You know, the thick black liquid that comes out of the ground. Not mud. The valuable stuff.'

'Oil?'

'That's the one. Have they got any of that?'

'We can't find any,' Sleech said.

'Metals?'

'A bit, your Flintiness. But not very much.' Sleech had a hope that the strange word 'flintiness' would distract Tyro from the questions.

'Hmm,' said Tyro.

'They do have trees,' Sleech added.

'Trees?'

'Yes, there are forests in the Grabble lands which we are beginning to cut down. The wood will be useful. It is clear that the Grabblers were very stupid, or they would have done this themselves long ago.'

'Yes, yes. Well that's something.' Tyro looked like he was trying to remember something. 'What about that other stuff?' he said at last.

'Which other stuff?'

'I don't know. Oh yes, there's another sort of black stuff, isn't there. Lumps of it. You can burn it.'

'Coal?'

'Yes, that fellow. Have they got any of him?'

'Once again, Great Tyro, we can't find any. We have dug lots of holes all over the place. Or rather, we have got them to dig the holes, under our supervision, of course. We will keep looking. If there is anything valuable there, we will have it, eventually.'

'Hmm. Maybe they've hidden it,' Tyro said.

'I don't think so, O Finder of Finders,' Sleech said. 'They show no sign of having used such things.'

'Then how could they have done anything? How did they make anything? How did they sell things to one another? What's more, how did they manage to come up with the ... the things?

'The things?

'The things for flying. The bracelets.' Tyro hesitated, suddenly remembering that he had invented the aerial bracelets. 'Without me telling them about my invention, that I invented, all on my own, I mean.'

'Ah, yes,' said Sleech. 'That is one thing that they do have. Or, at least, they did have.'

'What?'

'The stuff that gives power to the aerial bracelets,' Sleech said. 'They had a pile of the stuff, which we have used to make some more bracelets for our Guardians. Unfortunately, they don't work as well as the Grabbler bracelets. And now we have run out.'

'Why don't you just make some more?' Tyro said.

'Because...' Sleech hesitated.

'Yes?'

'We are working hard on that, but it takes some time,' Sleech said. It would have been more accurate to say: 'We have no idea where it comes from, or how to make it.' Of course, since Tyro said he had invented aerial bracelets, you would think he would know how to get hold of this stuff. But somehow Sleech didn't think it was worth asking him about that.

'The Grabblers pretended,' Sleech continued, 'that they used some sort of herb, that it was all to do with plants. Clearly that was just a lie to divert us from the real truth.'

'Oh yes,' said Tyro. 'It's nothing to do with any herb. Herb? What a preposterous idea. That stuff they had – the stuff to make the bracelets work – that was stuff that I made. Yes. They came here and stole it from me. In the night. And now I've ... forgotten how I made it. Actually, I made some notes about how to make the stuff. Where are they?' Tyro started looking in his pockets. He pulled out the aerial bracelet that he had put there before, and looked at it again with disgust. Then he looked in his other pockets, dropping pencils and small, wooden figures of himself all over the floor. Sleech moved towards the throne, and started to pick the dropped objects up, but Tyro waved him back with his hand. Eventually, Tyro gave up the search in his pockets, and spoke. 'You see! The Grabblers have stolen my notes as well,' he said.