They woke up the next morning ready to travel except for Ted and Yillan who had a slight buzz going on. Lyra pressed a button on the sleeping orb and it reverted to its original spherical form. Matt left his hut with his staff in hand and looked at the purple sky

“We ready to go now?” he asked

“Yeah, once they clean up their beds we are,” said Lyra

“Oh, really it is not my fault that I have a headache you know, these things happen. Give me a min won’t you.”

“It is your fault,” she replied coldly, “I will give you a minute though.”

“Guys, let’s try to get along, we have to fight some space guys later and it would be best if we are not fighting each other before then.”

“I agree, our chances of success would greatly be diminished if you squabble amongst yourselves,” the robot voice stated.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I will get the tent don’t worry.”

“I am not in any position to ever worry, Ted. I will, of course, attempt to not worry.”

Ted and Yillan got their tent back into the sphere and the group went down the winding mushroom staircase. It was a rather long walk to the nearest farm on the planet and Matt had no form of transport to offer except for walking. So walk they did, they walked till they left the mushroom forest and then further across the grassy fields till they reached a farm. The farm was a large blue shape on the ground, like half a sphere placed onto the fields. Close to the farm, some animals were grassing, quite similar to cows thought Jack, if it weren’t for them having four horns and being twice the size of a normal cow, although who could say what the size of a normal cow was anyway. As they neared the farmhouse an older-looking man came storming out with a pitchfork in hand.

“Where do you think you are going!” he screamed, “This is my farm, you can go bother someone else!”

“Hello, I am Matt the magnificent, I would like to allow you the honour of speaking to me for a minute!”

“Oh, really, Matt came to visit. Now that I know who you are you can scram and leave me in peace!”

“I would like to inform you that the Space Legion is coming to Mattland and they won’t take kindly to old men with pitchforks!”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Oh, really the Space Legion coming here? What is a Mattland anyway, are you an idiot, this is Gerdon and you know it, you scoundrel! And if any dumb Legion comes down here I will show them the welcoming side of my fork here!” he screamed pointing his pitchfork, which shone a bright red at them.

“Calm down, we just wanted to talk and if possible come up with a defence plan, we will leave you alone if you don’t want any help against them.”

“Mmmh, how do you know these Space People guys are coming here anyway? It sounds fishy to me, you just want to take my cattle from me?”

“It’s the Space Legion and our scans have confirmed that they are coming, you can ask Glen here.”

“I can confirm that foreign ships are headed towards Mattland or Gerdon as you call it.”

“Ohh, okay so now you want me to believe an old can?” answered the old man, “Now listen either you give me a good reason for listening to you or I will give you the same taste those space guys will get if they decide to come here.”

“Hey, hey no need to point that thing at us. These guys don’t know how to talk to people anyway, a bunch of scoundrels if you ask me, especially that girl,” said Ted, “now listen. First, why would we come all the way out here to tell you some lies, secondly even if you attacked us with your pitchfork there are six of us and we are all armed so it wouldn’t help you at all, and lastly would you care for a drink?”

“Ah drink does sound nice,” he said, “you know you gotta be on guard against people around here, they could steal from you the scoundrels. You don’t know the struggle of picking up straw with a laser pitchfork, it really adds some unique challenges to the whole business.”

“I can only imagine, although I was never much of a farmer myself.”

“If you were, you would know the struggle.” They walked together into the old man’s house who opened the door for them and directed them to sit down.

“Yillan I know you got a second bottle around somewhere, come take it out now.”

“Fine! Just this once, can’t believe I have to share this.” Ted, Yillan and the farmer started drinking together while the rest waited and looked around the house.

“So, my name is Tredge,” the farmer said, “How can I help you?”

“As my friends here mentioned before we are trying to get everyone together to fight back against the Space Legion.”

“Ummm, do they want to come to my farm?”

“Well, yes. Presumably, they are in it to take over the planet, the Empire has sent us to gather the people around Matt.”

“Around Matt, he is quite annoying you know, but he knows not to get near my farm. At least he usually does,” the man seemed deep in thought.

“Did somebody say my name!” screamed Matt nearly jumping on the table, “so you finally decided to join us, we will blast these guys back into space, they won’t be able to touch your farm don’t you worry.”

“Alright, alright, I will get everyone else to come. Where do you suggest we gather?”

“Let’s say the plains to the west, that’s where my friends parked their ship.”

“Alright, we will see each other then. I will get the straw out for the animals first and then get the other people to come.”

“I will see you there then,” said Matt, “let’s go, everyone! We will go to the meeting spot right now!”

They left the farmhouse together and after walking a couple of steps they noticed smoke rising behind the farmhouse and a scream. “Ahhhhhh, every time! Is it so difficult to move straw around? Whoever came up with this thing doesn’t know anything about farming.”