Tooth, the Whole Tooth and Nothing but the Tooth

8: Oops!

There was a sort of shooshing sound as a doorway appeared in the side of the tree. Beryl stepped in and the doorway closed behind her. Maybe she's not so big then, I thought. The shoosh came again, and Beryl's head poked out.

"You might want to stand back a bit," she warned.

"Oh, thanks," I said, moving away.

Beryl's head disappeared and the doorway shooshed. I waited. Nothing happened. There was another shoosh, and Beryl's head appeared again.

"I don't suppose you could give me a hand, could you?" she asked, her trunk gesturing for me to come into the tree. My mouth suddenly went dry, but I stepped forward.

The inside of the tree was enormous. So that was how she did it. Maybe films weren't so far off the mark, after all. Lights and screens filled one wall, with a console and a massive chair to one side. A door led away further into the hidden depths of the ship.

"Like it?" Beryl asked.

"Very impressive," I replied. It certainly was. "What would you like me to do?" I asked her.

"It doesn't seem to want to start," she said, embarrassed. "If I give it a push start, will you press that button there?" She pointed to a large red button on the console.

"No problem," I said. I liked her and all that, but the sooner she was on her way, the sooner I'd be able to get back to normal, or pretend that things were normal, at least. If a Mastodon wanted to push start a tree, then so be it.

She hugged me again. "Thanks."

Beryl went outside, and appeared on the screen waving. I waved back, then realised that she probably couldn't actually see me. I put my hand down and rested it on the big red button. On the screen, I saw Beryl leaning against the trunk of the tree (it occurred to me that she was going to push a trunk with her trunk, but I told myself that this was serious and not to be silly). I saw Beryl push, felt the tree move, and pushed the big red button. There was a rumble, a whine, and then I saw Beryl's shocked face shrinking away on the screen. Oh dear, I thought.

There was a buzz beside me, and Beryl fuzzed into view. I stared. Movies win again. I really had to keep my mind on the problem at hand.

"Oops," Beryl said apologetically.

"Oops?" I said, my eyes wide.

"I forgot about the hand brake," she said.

"The hand brake?" On a tree? Or even on a space ship? "Can't you just drop me back off at home?" I asked.

"Sorry, it's a one way trip. The ship's programmed, you see." Beryl shrugged.

Oh dear, I thought.

"Well, can you beam me down, then?" Beryl had just beamed up, so surely I could beam down.

"Sorry," she repeated. "The transporter only works one way too, I'm afraid."

And she said that dinosaurs were slow! Who ever heard of a transporter that only beamed up and not down? Scotty would be turning in his grave, if he had one.

"So how do I get home?" I asked slowly.

"Er... you don't, at least not until we get to our planet. Then maybe we can send you back."

I didn't like the way she said maybe. I was going to a world where dinosaurs lived. Okay, so Beryl seemed civilised, but these were dinosaurs! Oh dear, I thought. I suddenly wished I had said no to the gift of that tooth.

"I'll leave you to get used to the idea," Beryl said, moving towards the inner door. "You never know, you might get to like it."

"Thanks," I muttered.

I slumped into the chair and stared at the rapidly shrinking Earth on the screen.

I've been that way ever since.

I suppose I should have cancelled the milk...