As the Mother Star began to lean toward the horizon and its faint shadow became longer, Joe docked the platform to the second tier, near Sid's bar. Goody and Leo were already waiting for him. The doll waved cheerfully at Joe as he carefully aligned the edge of the platform with the dock. Leo turned around and picked up the hedgehogs that had gathered in a big ball behind his back.
"Well, shall we start, Joe?" he said, stepping onto the platform on all four paws while the hedgehogs positioned themselves on his back, adjusting their little helmets.
"Yeah, just wait a minute more," the lanky pilot smiled back and leaned over to get a good look at someone in the crowd at the bar's entrance.
"Don't wait for them, let them get on foot," squeaked one of the hedgehogs on Leo's back.
Goody went to the edge and crouched with his feet overhung in the canyon.
"Aren't you scared?" Leo asked, lying down next to him.
"I don't understand what it is to be scared," the animated one ringed.
"It's when you really don't want anything unpleasant to happen," Leo murmured, rolling his eyes and twitching his shoulders in an attempt to calm the hedgehogs crawling up his back.
"What's the unpleasant thing that could happen?" Goody asked, staring with his eyes wide open.
"For example, you can fall, crash, cease to exist," replied the lion, raising his left eyebrow.
"It's hard for me to imagine it," replied the animated one and looked down, "In my past life... I only remember some pieces... I was often high up, and I was never scared."
"Because you've never lost anything?" the lion suggested.
"I lost a hammer once," Goody answered seriously.
"Is the hammer worth worrying about?" Leo laughed, and the hedgehogs on his back shook and laughed with him.
"I worry about the fact that no one can tell me how to become human," the animated one ringed sadly.
"What do you need that for?" the lion asked in astonishment.
"Raud said that my relationship with Gerda is doomed as long as I don't have a mouth."
"Ha-ha," Leo grinned, "Don't listen to this storyteller."
Out of the corner of his eye, Goody spotted in the crowd the upright hammer he'd met at the lion and the big guy contest. It stopped, turned toward the animated one, as if wanted to say something, but got confused, hung his head down, and walked slowly toward the bar.
"I also lost my master. Will that do?" Goody asked, after thinking for a while.
"Master? Did you love him? It happens when the victim loves their tormentor," he laughed again.
"No, no," Goody shook his head, "I don't remember him at all. I remember the image, the dark figure against the window, coming up and putting me in the backpack."
"Then it doesn't work either," Leo waved his paw.
"Cast off!" Joe exclaimed behind their backs.
At his call, two people jumped onto the platform from the crowd: the girl in the cloth tree dress and the bald archer – Goody had seen them at the Baron's this afternoon. They, too, crouched on the edge, legs overhung, and the platform began to rise slowly over the canyon, turning smoothly. Glancing once more into the crowd near the bar, Goody saw Raud. He was talking about something with Snorri, who looked straight into the eyes of the animated one and became first more serious and then melancholy calm.
YOU ARE READING
Heart's tale
FantasyA long time ago, there was a planet on the surface of which a real living Heart was beating. Each of its beat gave life to many wonderful creatures, and humans were no exception. Once, during a mountain collapse, they became afraid that something m...
