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| 13. Gadgets and gizmos. |
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Professor Dunlambert leapt from the trike. Her feet had hardly hit the ground when she started giving out orders.
'Let's get this launch thing sorted before the next big emergency!'
Ben was to design a screen that would protect the team from getting splattered in fruit, but somehow find a way for a piece of magic stone to get through it, to strike the backpack. Fergus could help him measure the screen for size, and test it out.
'And you're coming with me, Uncle Sid!' the professor insisted.
She took him by the collar and led him to Beatrice.
When she'd bought the Beetle, the salesman had convinced her to spend a little extra on a satellite navigation device. 'You just never know when this little beauty might come in handy, madam,' he'd told her.
And how right he was.
She ripped it from the dashboard and held it out to the dog. Uncle Sid took it in his slobbering mouth. They headed for the workshop.
Inside, right at the back, and almost hidden behind a dusty cupboard, was a big old door. Professor Dunlambert put her hand on it. She hadn't been through it in years - since she was a little girl in fact. But she knew what was in there.
'Now,' she sighed, 'if only I knew how to open this...'
Uncle Sid barked towards a shelf, high up in the corner; up to where a jug sat, covered in years of cobwebs. Professor Dunlambert pulled a stool over and climbed up on it.
The stool wobbled as the professor reached up. It wobbled so much it almost toppled over. Uncle Sid closed his eyes and hoped for the best.
She grabbed the jug and jumped down from the stool, just as one of its legs came undone. The stool skidded across the stone floor behind her. She saw the look on the dog's face.
'What's the matter little fella?' she laughed. 'Did you think Fergus was going to be called into action again?'
Inside the jug, among even more cobwebs, lay a huge bunch of old rusty keys.
'Okey-dokey...now...let's see which one of these fits,' said the professor.
She went through the bunch, sliding each key into the lock of a big old door. They all fitted, but only one would turn.
'It's a long time since anyone's been in here.'
Finally the door opened.
It was a small storeroom, just as Edna remembered it; full of the most wonderful hats and spectacle frames you could imagine - collected over decades by my own father, who rarely ventured outside the castle without a disguise.
'Sorted!' said my niece. 'Now, off you go, Uncle Sid. See if you can find some old chains for raising the launch screen. Or lowering it - whichever Ben thinks is best.'
She scooped up a huge pile of specs and spread them over the workbench. She lifted the satellite navigation gadget off the floor and placed it among them.
Finally, she pulled the stool over and fixed the wonky leg before sitting down and getting straight to work.
***
It took most of the afternoon; a few tweaks here, some slight adjustments there. But finally she had her brand new TINY satellite navigation device. So tiny, in fact, that you had to look very closely at the end of her finger to be able to see it.
'Yeehaaaaa!!!' she shouted, carefully running out into the daylight.
Ben stopped what he was doing. The screen was more or less ready and they were at the testing stage. He met the professor half-way across the courtyard.
'What is it Prof?' he asked. 'What has you so excited?'
She held out her hand. It was closed except for her index finger, which made it look like she was pointing at a passing aeroplane.
'What, you've never seen a plane before?' asked Ben.
'Don't be daft!' she replied. 'Of course I've seen planes before. But have YOU ever seen one of THESE before?'
She held her finger right up in front of Ben's face.
'Wow!' he exclaimed.
'Wow, indeed!' she copied. 'I can see you're impressed. Of course you know what this means, Ben?'
'What it MEANS Prof?' he laughed. 'I haven't even the foggiest notion what it IS.'
She was somewhat taken aback. She figured any secret agent worth their salt should recognise a miniature satellite navigation device.
'SAT-NAV, Ben,' she explained. 'This means Fergus will never lose his bearings again.'
'Aaaaahhhh!' said Ben, and he really was impressed. 'But where, exactly, do you plan to put it?'
'You'll see!' she laughed. 'Now, where's Fergus? And what's all that bickering about?'
They turned towards the launch pad. The bickering had been going on for several minutes.
Each time Uncle Sid released the chain, the screen would lower. And each time Fergus tried to step off the launch pad, Uncle Sid would pull the chain again.
'Stop that nonsense!' the professor demanded. She strolled over to Fergus.
'Right,' she started, easing his glasses off, 'I need to have a look and see if my new invention goes with these.'
She wandered back towards the workshop, considering the best part of the glasses to attach the sat-nav to. Fergus, meanwhile, without the specs, considered how best to keep his balance.
Unfortunately for him, the thing he was aiming to hold onto was a big bundle of grey and white fur. But Uncle Sid had other ideas.
He stepped aside just in time to watch the poor goose fall flat on his face. And off he bounced with another snigger.
Ben lifted Fergus up. He hadn't hurt anything other than his pride. He carried the little goose over to the workshop.
Between the three of them, they carefully chose the pair of RESCUE GLASSES that suited Fergus best.
Professor Dunlambert fixed the tiny sat-nav device to one of the front corners, where Fergus could see it easily.
But it didn't stop there: she'd also taken one of my old hearing aids and reduced IT in size too. It fitted perfectly onto the very back end of the glasses, just behind Fergus' ear. Now he'd be able to hear the sat-nav's instructions. It would even allow the professor to send him radio messages - although that required a tiny aerial, fitted perfectly into the feathered quiff on top of his head.
And last, but by no means least, a camera the size of a pen-top, attached to the other front corner. Now the team back at the castle could keep an eye on the rescue missions.
Job done! What could possibly go wrong now?
Find out in the next BLOG...coming soon.
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