Scene 1. Tennis
After returning from her visit to The Professor Lilly busies herself finding all of her notes for the ‘new technology’’. She then reads over her notes and prepares some new drawings to send to The Factory for fabrication. She also wants to find out if the technicians at the factory were able to get her ‘wireless communicator’ working. She has some ideas about combing the ‘wireless communicator with the ‘telephone amplifier’ to send telephone voice signals without wires. She would like to speak with Ellie directly but she has not yet been given direct access so she is still passing written notes through Otto.
She then walks to the commissary and meets the warrant officer for lunch. Their conversation is cheerful and avoids sensitive subjects. They boast to each other about tennis exploits. And after lunch they retire to the tennis courts for what has become their almost daily routine. Finally the young fox-woman warrant officer introduces herself, “Lilly, I know your name, but please call me ‘Lois’.” Lilly laughs, “You will always be The Warrant Officer to me!" "You are my first friend in the Army, the solder boy is my second, although I worry a bit about him,” “and I am not counting The General." "I am not yet sure if he is my friend.”
Word gets out about their games and soon they have spectators. “Okay you slugs, you want to watch, how about a game!” Lilly pulls two figures out of the crowd, Otto and the private. “You know how to play doubles don’t you?” The two nod and the crowd provides two more rackets. After some nervous beginnings, the games get going. The private and Otto have clearly played tennis before and join right in.
Lilly eventually stops the game, “What fun!" "Thanks for the game!" "But we all have to get back to work.” Everyone nods and shakes on the great time, the private and Otto are still staring at Lilly. Guys, that warrant officer, Lois, is much cuter than I am!
Lilly and Otto walk together back to The Facility. Otto remarks, “I got some of your parts back from The Factory this morning.” “I’ll go and get them.”
Lilly reflects, Already? Boy! The Factory is fast! Or maybe we have some sort of priority there?
Lilly walks to the field toward the large construct. Oliver is head down over the engine. He does not look up at her approach.
Otto wheels out a large cart piled with boxes, Lilly turns and stares, “All of this is for me?”
“Yes,” Otto responds with a smile. Otto helps Lilly unload the cart and Lilly opens the first box. It is a completed ‘wireless communicator’ and a completed ‘telephone amplifier’. Included in the box are diagrams for interconnections between them, provided by The Factory technicians. Wow, those guys are smart. I wonder if Ellie did this? In another box are the engine castings Lilly designed for lighter engine weight. Maybe I can strike up a conversation with Oliver if I show him these.
Lilly picks up two of the castings and walks over to Oliver. He does not look up, even when she walks up right next to him. “Oliver, I have fabricated some engine parts that might help you with the weight reduction.” “Would you like to give them a try?”
Oliver bolts up, kicking the parts from Lilly’s grasp out into the field. He then screams, turns and runs over to Otto, beating on him, screaming, “SKREEEEE!” Oliver then turns and runs from the field towards the offices, screaming incoherently.
Lilly walks over to Otto, “That isn’t exactly the reaction I expected.”
Otto frowns, “I did.”
Scene 2. Oliver
The two agree that something has been up with Oliver since Lilly’s arrival at The Base. Both are concerned that he might injure or destroy himself if not stopped. Lilly is suddenly panicked, Am I about to lose the only other dreamer I have met so far?
She falls on all four hooves, to her quadruped form, and gallops off at high speed after Oliver. She runs through the office and shop areas, no Oliver. He can’t escape from here, the guards would not let him out of The Facility in his condition, would they?
Then she spots the metal roof-access ladder at the end of the hall, Oh no! She bounces up to and quickly scales the ladder. She opens the roof access port leading out over the office and shop area, at least 15 meters up from the concrete walkway.
Oliver is standing at the edge of the roof, looking down at the walkway. Lilly assumes the position, She grits her teeth into a grin, “Oh no you don’t!”
Lilly high-speed gallops and head-butts Oliver back onto the center of the roof. She then and pounces on him, holding him down with her heavy body and pulls his fore-legs in with hers and pushes her face into his, “Okay! I get that you don’t like me, but I am not going to let you kill yourself!” “Now you will either relax or I will knock you unconscious, your choice!” Lilly recognizes the look of horror, “That’s right! If you don’t cooperate, the big, bad, nanny-goat will ‘GET’ you and spray you with her female germs!” Oliver, breathless, looks ready to have a coronary.
Otto and the security guards eventually reach the roof and pull Lilly off of Oliver. Oliver is carried down and taken to their office. Oliver is placed into an office chair where he sits, silent and immobile. Otto looks at Lilly, “What happened?”
“This Yo-yo was about to throw himself off the roof!” “He should be examined for injuries, I hit him pretty hard.”
“Let’s call Dr. Foxworthy!
“Let’s not!” “Unless you want to see Oliver get his brain removed.”
Otto frowns at Oliver, “What do we do now?”
Lilly looks down, “Oliver will have to be watched continuously for awhile.” “You two share an apartment so you will have to lock him in.” “And be with him all of the time from now on, in the office, shops and out on the fields.” “Otto, can you get Oliver to speak?”
Otto pulls a chair up to Oliver, “Ollie, can you hear me?” “What is wrong?”
Oliver suddenly leaps from the chair and pounces on Lilly knocking her down, and starts beating on her. The others move to restrain him. Lilly shouts, “No don’t touch him!” “Let him go, this is good!” “Oliver, beat away, and scream!”
Oliver continues to beat on Lilly and screams, “SKREEEEE!”, eventually tiring and gasping. Lilly is scratched up, but otherwise unaffected, “Now will you talk to us, to me, to Otto?” Oliver continues to softly tap Lilly with his hoof, grunting, “Grunt.” “Grunt.” “Grunt.”.
Oliver finally rocks back, still mounted on Lilly and emits a sound, almost inaudible. Oliver finally speaks in a very low voice, “You have taken everything from me, my visions, my engine, my only friend…” “Gasp.” “Gasp.”
Lilly lies still and looks up at Oliver, “Oliver, I apologize, and I am truly sorry.” “For everything.” “I have been insensitive to your feelings from the start,” “But I need you.” “We all need you.” “Tell me what I can do to make up for my trespasses.” “Until you decide, I will stay out of your sight and away from your projects.” “Your visions and your engine belong to you.” “However Otto will make decisions himself.” “Otto may decide to continue to play tennis with me.”
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The guard and Otto lift Oliver off of Lilly. Lilly stands and examines herself, Blood! It has been a while since I have seen my own blood. She bows to Otto and the guard and exits the office. Boy, do I need a shower!
The next day Otto is standing at the tennis courts, waiting for the regular game. Lilly looks a bit surprised to seem him there, “Otto, I thought you would be with Oliver.”
“Oh I asked the solder guards to watch him.” “Ollie wasn’t very happy about me leaving.”
“Did you tell him you were coming over here?”
“Heck no!” “But he will probably figure it out.” “He’ll get used to it.” “Probably.”
Scene 3. Final Review
Lilly gathers her notes along with the paper draft and shovels everything into her pack. This paper came out rather well. I guess it is because I had so much time at the observatory. The reviewers cannot complain that there is not enough data to support our conclusions!
Lilly makes the long walk to the Long Term Care Facility. Lilly stops to check in with the receptionist. The receptionist raises her paws to stop Lilly, but does not say anything. Upon seeing the receptionist’s reaction Lilly’s ears and all of her white mane stand straight up, Something has happened!
The receptionist is waving, but Lilly is running down the hall toward the Professor’s room.
The door guard is gone and the room door is open. Lilly runs to the doorway and stops. She sees two attendants cleaning the room and the bed is neatly made,
No Professor.
Lilly screams, “NOOOOOO!” and throws her pack, notes and photographs across the room. She then leaps onto the empty bed screaming,
“Bring Back My Professor!” “NOWWWW!” “BAAAAAAAAAA!”
The attendants run from the room in terror with Lilly screaming. Suddenly the light from the open doorway is blocked by a very large horned silhouette, The Ram of The Lamb. Lilly is sobbing on the bed as The Ram walks to her side, and in his deep voice he speaks, “Lilly.”
The Ram pauses for a minute and then he speaks again, “Lilly.” He softly touches her back.
Lilly turns her head toward The Ram and softly murmurs,
“They have taken My Professor from me.”
The Ram then continues, “I have spoken to the Facility staff and they will let you stay the night here, if you wish, or you can come with me now, I have some things for you.”
Lilly softly sobs, “Again, ‘some things’!" "Like with Fendor!" "But you cannot return to me what I truly want back.”
“No one can.” “Please.” “Come with me.”
Lilly finally sits up to face The Ram. She sees that the attendants gathered all of her papers back into her pack. The Ram helps Lilly stand and they slowly walk to The Ram’s office, “You have an office here too?”
“Wherever I am needed.” The same words as The Lamb.
They enter the Ram’s office. The Ram lifts a box, “These are The Professor’s things from the room,” “We have not been able to contact his family, or even determine if he has a family, so you, as his ‘God Daughter’ shall have these.” In the box are the flower vase and a pile of papers that Lilly had brought previously. Lilly takes the vase and the papers and puts them in her pack, “Thank you.”
“I will contact the college and see what they want to do for a service, or you might want to do the service here. It is your choice.”
“Let’s do it here, if that is okay with The General.” “I think The Professor and The General were friends.”
The Ram smiles, “I was his friend too." "I think that many were.” “The Professor was a force of nature.”
A few days later, Lilly is looking down into The Professor’s grave,
“I lose again." "Goodbye," "I never had a chance to tell you how much you meant to me.”
Once again, Lilly drops a small collection of dirt into a grave, “I cannot follow you now either, I have things I still need to do in this world.” “Save me a place.” “I love you.” “And say hello to Fendor for me.”
A few days after the service, Lilly receives a registered letter, it is from The Professor’s estate attorney. Lilly’s falling tears stain the letter,
“All the money in the world are not worth a fraction of The Professor!" "He was helping me bring you all The Future!” “Keep your damned money!”
On second thought, I could use the money for the observatory, I think that is what the professor would want. Perhaps a new ‘reflector’ telescope, for making spectrum's of the stars, and to repair the hole in the observatory kitchen floor that I am about to make...
Scene 4. Air-Craft
Lilly recovers a little from the loss of The Professor and knows that completing all of the ‘new technology’ projects is the only fitting tribute to him. She watches from across the field as Oliver and Otto continue to work on their new air vehicle. So far, Oliver has made no attempt to contact her. What to do?
Lilly pulls Otto and the warrant officer aside after their usual tennis game. Lilly looks at Otto, “Otto, do you have anyone to fly your ‘invention’?” Lilly looks at the warrant office, “You must have a pretty good tailor, or even a complete clothing factory, to make a uniform that fits as well as the one you made for me,” “with my big butt!” “I need you to have an ‘air-safety-escape device’ made for me, out of cloth.” “I have drawings and patterns for the prototype.”
Lilly looks back at Otto, “The General wants a final group witnessed review of your project next week.” “I told The General that your project is finished and that Oliver is just stalling now.” “Be sure to tell Oliver that I am available to help with finishing touches on your project if, he needs it.” “Ha ha.” “Also tell him the Base technicians will be installing a ‘wireless telephone’ for communications during the ‘operational test’ phase of the project review.”
The warrant officer takes Lilly to the Base tailor shop to meet the staff and review her drawings-patterns with them. Upon entry Lilly sees ‘sewing machines’ for the first time, “What are these?”
The shop supervisor, an immense female Minotaur, faces Lilly and puts a huge hoof on top of a machine, “These are machines that can sew automatically.” “They are a new device that has helped us very much.” “One of ‘The Girl’s’ came up with it.”
Lilly suddenly is excited, one of 'The Girls’? “Sorry! Two more questions, “May I meet ‘This Girl’?" "And has she come up with anything else?” Lilly is guided to the back of the shop to confront a very small, very young, mouse-girl, with thick glasses. Again monster Lilly frightens the small entity, “I am sorry I look so scary,” “But would you please show me your new inventions?” “I am an inventor to too.” The supervisor and the small inventor proceed to show Lilly an array of needles scissors, saws and presses, some with electric motors and solenoids, all new.
Lilly’s suspicions are confirmed, You’re a ‘dreamer’ too. Lilly chooses not to confront the girl here.
Lilly tries an experiment, “Have you ever seen a fabric that is as light as paper, but strong, like ‘linen’?” The mouse nods. “Will you get a bolt for me?” From the other world!
That night Lilly walks out to the dark field to the 'air vehicle' with a ‘demonstration lantern’ in her fore-toes, to examine the installation of the ‘wireless telephone’ system. Sure enough, it was very securely mounted and Otto also knew that the heavy apparatus had to be balanced in the vehicle. She switched the ‘wireless telephone’ on and waited for it to warm up. Then she pressed the activation switch and called to the warrant officer, “Are you still awake?” The warrant officer was back in Lilly’s office and answered her very clearly, “Ahoy there!” Everything on the construct looked ready for demonstration day. Lilly looked over at the review stands and she could several of her sound cones mounted on poles facing the seats. Then she pressed the activation switch again, "Connect the telephone amplifier." Some clicking, "Go ahead", from the wireless telephone. "Hello!" "Test!" The sound of Lilly's voice reverberates through the field and stands. Yes! I will be able to speak to the crowd from the flying construct!
Lilly had one more thing to check out.
Yesterday Lilly talked The General into an Army observation gas-bag ride. She rode up to about one hundred meters. She pulled out a sack of sand and dropped it over the side, pulling the test ‘air-safety-escape device’ over the side after sack. Lilly watched as the sack slowly sink to the ground, “Yeah! It Works!” “Well enough for now!” Now I just hope that the ‘air construct’ can actually fly and not crash with me in it!
Scene 5. Demonstration
And so everyone (that is cleared) is gathered at the field to watch the demonstration. The spectators include The Chief, Ellie, the warrant officer Lois, even some of the solders, including the tennis player.
The General walks out with his entourage and they sit in the front.
Out in the field Otto and Oliver are still fussing with the engine. Lilly calmly walks out onto the field wearing a special uniform a pack on her back containing the ‘air-safety-escape device’ and a new helmet, especially fitted to her by Ellie and painted army green.
Lilly reflects, The professor would want me to do this with drama!
Lilly stands between the vehicle and the spectators and waves. Right on cue, the spectators cheer.
Otto and Oliver extract themselves from the engine and Otto starts to turn the propulsion bar to start it. Oliver starts to run toward Lilly but stops when the crowd cheers. Lilly walks to the side of the vehicle up the ramp to the side and hops into the control pit. She straps in and switches on the ‘wireless telephone’ waits for the warm up and calls to the warrant officer who is seated with the spectators. Otto backs out of the way. Lilly holds the skid lock and slightly presses the engine control forward, the engine responds. Lilly then pulls the surfaces control back and the surface in the rear of the vehicle responds, the tall flat surface responds to foot controls, left and right, and the lever left and right for small surfaces on the main surfaces, “We are clear up here!” The wireless responds, “The field is clear.”
The suddenly Lilly’s voice is heard over the crowd, “Hi everyone! We are going up!” Lilly presses the engine control forward and the vehicle rolls forward, ever faster and faster, finally the skids are off the ground and Lilly presses the engine control all the way forward and the vehicle tilts upward and begins to climb quickly. Lilly flies a few times around the field, “Hello from the sky!” I wish Roc could see this! “Now back down.”
Lilly was always very worried about ‘the landing’ part of the test. The engine thrust could not be reversed in this version, so she has to land using 'air breaking' by pulling up and banking the large surfaces against the direction of flight, “This could get rough everyone!” She is a bit too far off the ground and the vehicle pitches up then crashes nose down into the ground. It comes to rest vertical, with Lilly hanging part way out out the side of the vehicle control pit.
But she is on the ground and alive. She is bruised and very sore from the landing but she is still able to jump down and run from the vehicle, in case the engine fuel decides to catch fire. The crowd rushes out and lifts her up, cheering. She motions to Otto and Oliver and crowd cheers them too, in a victory parade.
Oliver cannot be consoled, “You broke my invention!” he shouts over and over.