Chapter 2
The Fraggle From Outer Space
Chapter 2
Somewhere deep in the Rock, a lost and annoyed little fraggle walked through tunnel after tunnel, suitcase in hand. Goldie hadn’t spoken a word for several minutes, worried that she’d break into another song. As she walked, she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened. It wasn’t strange to her that she broke into song like she did, having done so her entire life. What bugged her was the fact that she couldn’t stop. That the song just kept going.
Her train of thought was halted when she saw something strange in her path. It looked like a miniature bridge made of a strange translucent white material. The bridge was surrounded by a small collection of thin towers of various heights.
“So weird," she said to herself, “And yet so beautiful.”
“You like it?" asked a small voice from off to the side.
Goldie looked around, but couldn’t see where the voice was coming from.
“Who said that?"
“I did.”
Again, the strange voice was nowhere to be seen.
“Where?"
“Over here.”
Finally, Goldie looked on the bridge to see a tiny all-terrain vehicle being driven by a tiny green creature with a large pink nose, stringy red hair and a pair of long stringy antennae sticking up from the visor she wore around her head. The only other thing she wore was a pair of yellow work boots.
“Who are you?"
“Name’s Cotterpin. Cotterpin Doozer.”
“Did you make all this, Cotterpin?"
“You bet I did. And it’s my own design, too. My crew worked all day on it.”
“It’s really beautiful.”
“Why, thank you. I’m glad to see a fraggle that can appreciate the artistic value of good doozer architecture. So... Ya gonna eat it or what?"
“What? Eat it? Why would I wanna eat it?"
“Um... Cuz it’s delicious?"
“But you worked all day on this!"
“Geez, you’re denser than other fraggles I’ve met. You act like you’ve never seen a doozer construction before! Don’t they have doozers where you come from?"
“No, they don’t! You’re the first doozer I’ve ever met!"
“Oh... Well, that’s explains everything. Okay, here’s basically how it works. The doozers—that’s us—build the constructions, and the fraggles—that’s you—eat them. Then we build them again, and then you eat them again.”
“Seems like such a waste to spend so much time on something that’s just gonna be eaten.”
“We doozers live to build things. You eating them just makes room for us to build more. If you don’t wanna eat it, then the least you can do is knock it all down for us.”
“I suppose this would be like spending all day baking a fabulous cake just to have it eaten by whoever bought it.”
“Um, sure. Like baking a fabulous cake.”
...Even though the little doozer had no idea what a ‘fabulous cake’ was. All she knew was that she was talking to a very weird and confused fraggle. It was like talking to someone from a completely different world.
“If fraggles eat this on a regular basis, then I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try it.”
“Good. I’ll leave you to it. I haven’t met a fraggle yet that doesn’t like doozer constructions, so I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finishing this one off for us.”
Cotterpin jerked her tiny ATV forward, and then backward, gradually turning it around. All the while, she was trying her hardest not to laugh at the poor clueless fraggle.
“Wait, Cotterpin! Where do I start?"
She only stopped her ATV for a moment before finally driving away.
“Just break off a piece from wherever and start munching. And if you can’t eat it all in one sitting, just eat what you can and knock down the rest.”
And with that, she drove away, waiting until she was out of earshot to finally bust up laughing.
“Oh boy, that was rich! A fraggle that’s never seen a doozer before. Wait’ll I tell the crew about this.”
Goldie, stood staring at the structure.
“Fraggles really eat these things?"
She slowly reached to it and broke a stick off from one of the towers.
“It doesn’t even look edible.”
She sniffed at it, noting a slight scent of radishes.
“Well, here goes.”
She stuck the stick in her mouth and crunched off a piece in her teeth. She scrunched her eyes as she chewed, not sure what to expect. Surprisingly, she found that, after chewing on it a bit, she really liked it. She finished that stick and then proceeded to take apart more sticks from the doozer construction, crunching them down by the handful.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Hey, Gobo, when do you suppose Goldie’s gonna get here, huh?"
Gobo was on his way to Outer Space to retrieve the latest postcard from his uncle, and to check if maybe Goldie had arrived yet. Wembley, ever excited and eager as anyone to meet the new fraggle, decided to follow him.
“For the last time, Wembley, I don’t know. Uncle Matt said she’d get here within a few days.”
Gobo ducked under the overhanging pipe and made his way to the hole.
“Well, yeah but—Dow!" Wembley yelped as he banged his head on the pipe, shook it off, and kept walking. “Well, it’s already been a few days and then some.”
“I know that. Now be quiet. We’re here.”
Gobo peeked through the hole, and to his surprise, the coast was clear. He stepped out from the hole and looked around.
“Hmm. Looks like they’re gone for now. That just makes things easier for me.”
He strolled over to the wastebasket and dug through the crumpled papers for the postcard. To his amazement, there wasn’t a postcard to be found.
“Well, that’s funny.”
He dug deeper, but still he found no postcard. After about a minute or so of digging, he finally gave up and went back into the hole.
“What happened, Gobo?"
“The oddest thing. The silly creatures aren’t out there, and neither is Uncle Matt’s postcard.”
Gobo started his way back into the rock with Wembley following close behind him.
“That is odd. Hey! Maybe Goldie got here while the silly creatures were out, found the postcard, and took it with her so she could give it to you later, and maybe she’s somewhere in the Rock looking for us. Whaddaya think, Gobo?"
Gobo stopped for a moment and looked back at his little yellow friend.
“Wembley, if that was the case, I’m pretty sure one of us would’ve seen her by now.”
He turned back around and continued walking. Wembley paused and thought for a moment before continuing behind him.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. I mean what’re the odds of that happening, right?"
“Right.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Goldie finally had enough of the doozer sticks, there wasn’t much of the construction left but a small pile. She rubbed her stomach happily. This place wasn’t so bad, she thought, with snack foods like this lying around.
She picked up her suitcase and was about to continue walking when she heard a noise.
It was the sound of small rocks being picked up and moved. She walked towards the noise, hoping to finally find what she was looking for. What she found was a bluish-green fraggle gathering some small white rocks. Finally, she thought. She’d finally found another fraggle. She walked up behind him and tapped his shoulder.
“Excuse me.”
“AH!"
The poor fraggle jumped, dropping all the stones he’d collected.
“What do you think you’re doing sneaking up on a fraggle like that?"
“I’m sorry!"
“Ugh!"
Boober growled as he dropped back down to the ground to start picking the stones back up. Goldie dropped her suitcase so she could get down and help him.
“I’m really sorry about that.”
“It’s just as well. Rock soap is incredibly slippery. It’s a wonder I ever get any of it home.”
“Hey, maybe this’ll help.”
She opened her suitcase and pulled out a brown paper bag. She opened that up and dropped the rocks she’d already collected inside it. She placed the bag down on the ground in between them.
“There.”
He looked at the bag for a moment and then up at Goldie. He slowly dropped the rocks he’d collected into the bag. Goldie closed up the bag as they both stood back up. She held the bag up for him to take.
“Should be easier to take them home now.”
He looked down at the bag, and back up at Goldie again. Slowly, he took the bag from her.
“Thank you," he said uneasily.
“Glad I could help.”
She closed her suitcase and picked it back up.
“I need to get to a place called the Great Hall. Can you tell me where that is?"
“It’s down that tunnel to the right. It’s on the way to my hole, so you can just follow me there.”
“Thanks.”
She followed the short green fraggle down the tunnel, relieved that she finally wasn’t lost anymore.
“So. Where are you from?"
“What?"
“You’re obviously not from this part of the Rock if you got yourself lost in the Soap Rock Cavern.”
“Oh, I’m not from the Rock at all.”
He stopped all of a sudden, turned around, and stared at Goldie for a long moment.
“Not from the Rock?"
“Nope. I come from outside the rock. I think Matt called it Outer Space?"
“Outer...... Outer Space? You’re from Outer Space?"
“Um, yeah. Why? What’s the matter?"
As she kept talking, he started to tremble wildly, the bag of rocks beginning to rattle in his arms. After a long moment of staring and trembling, he gave out a loud shriek as he threw the bag in the air and fled down the tunnel.
“Hey! Wait!"
Goldie grabbed the bag and gave chase. Why was he running away from her? She certainly didn’t know, but she was going to find out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over in the Great Hall, Gobo was telling Red and Mokey about what he and Wembley saw in Outer Space. Red, as usual, was unimpressed.
“So the postcard didn’t get here today. Big deal. You know that sometimes it comes a day or two late.”
“Yeah, I know that, Red, but I can’t help but think there’s more to it than just arriving late.”
Mokey placed a hand on Gobo’s shoulder.
“Don’t you worry, Gobo. I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.”
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
“That sounded like Boober," Wembley pointed out.
They were about to start running towards the scream when a bluish green blur ran past them, across the Great Hall, and straight towards Boober’s room.
“What’s gotten into HIM?" Red asked.
“Heeeeyyy!"
They turned their heads again to see a pale yellow fraggle running in, panting as she stopped right next to the baffled foursome.
“Did... you guys see... a blue fraggle... run through here?"
Red pointed in the direction Boober ran.
“He just went to his room.”
“Scared out of his wits, too," Gobo added. “What was he running away from?"
“Heck if I know. I told him I was from Outer Space, and he just freaked out. I tell you, if this is the way you fraggles greet newcomers, I’m not sure I’ll have much incentive to stick around here. But since I’m here...”
The other four fraggles watched as she pulled out the postcard she took from Doc’s workbench.
“Which one of you here’s Gobo?"