Chapter 8 (a couple days late 
)
The Fraggle From Outer Space
Chapter 8
“Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! This is gonna be so much fun, huh Gobo?”
Wembley couldn’t wait to get the tour under way. Gobo was hard at work making sure he had everything they would need.
“I sure hope so. At the very least, Goldie sounded pretty excited about it.”
“Hey, do you think we’ll really find that cave that Goldie’s parents disappeared in?”
“I really don’t know. I suppose it’s possible.”
“I wouldn’t pin my hopes on it,” Boober interjected as he walked into the room carrying a brown paper bag in his hands.
“Hiya, Boober,” Wembley greeted, “Didja change your mind about coming with us?”
“No, I’m still not going, especially after overhearing your plans. You’re not really going to try and look for this place, are you, Gobo?”
“Sure we are, Boober. I mean if we do find it, it’ll really be a major discovery.”
“But how do you expect to ever find it if you don’t even have any clues as to where it could be?”
“Well, we’ll just go where we haven’t been before and start lookin’ there.”
“Then you can definitely count me out. I have no intention of throwing myself into dangerously unknown territory to look for an equally dangerous cave that makes fraggles disappear.”
“Your loss, eh.”
“Say, Boober,” Wembley said, looking at the object in Boober’s hands, “Isn’t that the bag Goldie gave you with the rock soap in it?”
“Uhhhhhm... Tsk.... yes. Yes, it is. Except that I’ve emptied it of rock soap and instead filled it with all sorts of medicinal herbs. They should prove very useful for your journey in case anything happens. Here.”
Boober then shoved the bag into Wembley’s hands and started to walk away.
“Uh, well, wouldn’t it be better if you gave this to Goldie instead, since this is her bag and all?”
“You were closer. You can give it to her if you want.”
“Yeah, but Boober...”
“Good luck with the tour.”
“Boober, wait!”
Wembley ran after Boober as he disappeared out of the room and around the bend. Gobo watched them leave and then tilted his head.
“Huh. Well, that was odd.”
He shrugged his shoulders and finished packing his essentials. He slung his pack on his back and adjusted the straps as needed.
“Well. No time to worry about it right now. I’ve got a tour to start on.”
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“Boober, wait!”
Boober finally stopped walking after having walked halfway down the tunnel. He turned around just as Wembley finished catching up to him.
“What is it, Wembley?”
“Boober, are you feeling alright?”
“Of course I am. I’ve never been better.”
“Then why are you acting all wonky?”
“Wembley, don’t be ridiculous. I am not acting wonky. I’m exactly the same as I always was.”
“Oh yeah? Then how come you gave me your herbs, huh? I don’t know how they work, and neither does Gobo. You know that. They won’t be useful to us if we don’t have someone with us who knows how to use them.”
“Agh! Fine then.”
Boober then snatched the bag back from Wembley.
“I’ll just take them back.”
He turned back around and continued walking away.
“Boober!”
“Wembley!” Gobo called, stopping Wembley before he could go anywhere. “Just let ‘im go.”
Wembley watched Boober walk away before turning to Gobo.
“What do you think is wrong with him, Gobo?”
“I don’t know. It’s like he was gonna come with us and then changed his mind.”
“Yeah, you’re right. That must be it, because he’s the only one that knows about herbs and stuff, and he wanted us to have them.”
“Hmm...”
“What are we gonna do, Gobo?”
“Well, the sooner we get this tour started, the more we’ll get to show Goldie today. So, I think we should just get on our way.”
“But what about Boober?”
“If something is wrong with him, he’ll tell us when he’s good and ready. I think it’ll be best if we just leave him alone for now.”
“Okay.”
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Boober stopped just short of his doorway and blinked for a moment.
“I can’t believe I actually considered going with them. What was I thinking? I must be out of my mind.”
He stepped inside and dropped his bag of herbs on the table. He walked over to his large wooden washtub and looked down at the unfinished pile of laundry.
“I’ve got too much to do anyway. I don’t have time to be going out on dangerous journeys.”
He picked up one of the shirts on his pile of laundry that needed washed. He laid it on his scrub board and started scrubbing. It only took a few moments for him to stop and look back at the paper back he left on the table.
“Hmph,” He sneered as he shook his head and went back to what he was doing.
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(Later...)
In a tunnel near the Cave of the Rumblebugs, the doozers were hard at work building their latest set of constructions. The bulldoozer in charge had his head held high as he looked over his building crew. There was never anything that could make a doozer happier than a good long day of building.
At the end of such a day, the doozers’ only interruption was the sound of the bulldoozer’s whistle.
“Quitting time! Build Team, dismissed!”
The crew made their final touches to the towers and began to make their way home. The bulldoozer watched and made sure everyone was safely off the towers and on their way. He was about to drive off behind them when a young doozer appeared in front of him.
“Hey, Flange! Can I talk to you for a second?”
“Certainly, Wrench. What’re you doing all the way out here, anyway? You should be back home in the Doozer Dome.”
“I was, but I can’t find Cotterpin anywhere. She was gonna show me her plans for the new bridge she wants us to build. She was really excited about it, too. I was wondering if you’ve seen her?”
“Nope. I’m sorry, Wrench. I haven’t seen my daughter at all today. But when I do, I’ll be sure to let her know you’re looking for her.”
“That’d be great. Thanks, Flange.”
“No problem. Now, let’s get on home.”
“Okay.”
“And don’t you worry about Cotterpin. She’s probably just off looking for a good spot to build her bridge. You know how passionate she can be about this sort of thing.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
As the doozers disappeared into their own series of tunnels, a group of five fraggles appeared from the cave nearby.
“Wow! Those rumblebugs were really something!” Goldie commented. “The way they all hummed together was just awesome!”
“Yeah, they were really humming their hearts out today,” Gobo said.
“It’s a shame that Boober didn’t want to come with us,” Mokey said.
“Yeah, he’s missing out on all the fun,” Wembley added.
“Knowing Boober, that’s probably why he avoided all this,” Red replied.
“I feel kinda bad for him,” said Goldie, “Staying at home with his laundry all day while the rest of us are out having a good time.”
“That’s just something he does,” Gobo replied, “He’ll be fine. Don’t worry too much about it, eh.”
“Are you sure?”
Red moved over to Goldie and placed an arm on her shoulder.
“Listen, Goldie. Boober’s undoubtedly the most boring fraggle in the Rock. He’d much rather be doing his laundry than doing anything fun.”
“Alright. If you say so.”
“So what’s next, Gobo?” Wembley asked.
“Well, we’ve been to Blossom Boulder, Firefly Cavern, and the Whistling Tunnel. And we just left the Cave of the Rumblebugs. I suppose the next thing to do is to try and find that cave from the story.”
“Alright! Finally!” Red replied.
“Where do you propose we start looking?” asked Goldie.
“Well, if we go this way long enough, there’ll be a tunnel that goes around into some place that isn’t marked on any of my Uncle Matt’s maps. I say we start there.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Yeah, me too,” Wembley agreed. “Oh, boy! I can’t wait!”
The fraggles continued walking and made their way to the tunnel. Not long after they were gone, a sneaky figure peeked its head around the corner from the Cave of the Rumblebugs. It watched as they disappeared into the tunnel ahead and then quickly followed behind, careful not to let them know they were being followed.
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(Later...)
“These caves sure are glittery,” Goldie pointed out as they all walked.
They were headed down an uncharted tunnel lined with a strange type of rock that shimmered and glistened with the light.
“They sure are,” Gobo agreed.
“Hey, Gobo,” Goldie continued, “Didn’t you say your uncle Matt mapped all of Fraggle Rock?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Then why isn’t this on any map? And why doesn’t have the location of this cave the Storyteller told us about?”
“It’s simple,” Red jumped in before Gobo could say anything, “He only THINKS he’s mapped everything when really he hasn’t mapped much of anything at all.”
“He’s mapped plenty!” Gobo protested, “He mapped every other place we’ve been to today. He probably just missed this place.”
“Gee, some explorer HE is.”
“Hey, you guys?” Wembley said, “Does anyone besides me get the feeling we’re being followed?”
“Followed?” Gobo replied, “By whom?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been looking behind us, and so far I haven’t seen anybody, but I still can’t help feeling like we’re being followed... And watched.”
“That is odd.”
“Oh, you’re probably just being paranoid,” Red replied, “I think you’ve been hanging around Boober too long.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
“Hey! Check this out!”
Goldie ran ahead to a clearing in the tunnel that opened up to a large cavern.
“Wooow!” Mokey exclaimed as they caught up with Goldie in the cavern, “Isn’t this amazing?”
“I know, right?” Golde replied. “It’s so beautiful.”
“No kidding,” said Wembley.
They’d arrived at a strange and beautiful cavern filled with lights of many colors. Every stalagmite and stalactite had a different color to it, and the colors were all constantly changing.
“It’s like a rainbow in here,” Red pointed out.
“Oh yes, a rainbow,” Mokey agreed. “A living rainbow.”
“No kidding,” said Wembley.
“This place...” Goldie said as she walked to the far end of the cavern, “It feels like I’ve been here before.”
Wembley came up behind her.
“No kidding?”
“I know what you mean,” Gobo agreed, “It’s really cozy here, you know?”
“No kidding.”
“Shhh, listen!” Mokey interrupted.
No one spoke for several moments while they all tried to hear what Mokey was hearing. She listened intently to the faint but melodious sound.
“I don’t hear anything, Mokey,” Red said.
“Don’t you hear the music?”
Mokey walked across the room towards the sound she was hearing. The others just shrugged and followed behind her. She stopped in front of a group of boulders that seemed to have been laid in a row. On the wall behind these boulders were several large thick vines twisting upwards from the cave floor.
“Hey, those vines are alive!” Gobo pointed out.
The other fraggles quickly noticed that two of the vines weren’t on the wall with the others, but instead were busy beating on the rocks in front of them. Each rock they hit made a different sound and lit up in a different color, and seemed to be a pattern to how they were hitting them.
“It sounds like music,” Wembley pointed out.
“Vines making music with rocks?” Goldie asked.
“Stranger things have happened,” Gobo answered.
“I think it’s beautiful,” Mokey added.
“Hey look!” Red pointed, “The other vines are moving, too!”
They watched as the rest of the vines wiggled away from the rock wall and began, one by one, to set themselves each on its own rock. The light dimmed on all these rocks as a huge dark shadow rose up from behind them.
It looked like a very large plant with an enormous flower bud at the end of its thick, thorny, leafy stem. The petals opened into four sections, revealing a very toothy mouth inside.
“Uuuuuurrrrhh....” it moaned. “What is this? Who is in my cavern?”
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