The bulldozer drivers were frettin' 'bout pullin' the airplane into the hangar. I overheard one of them say, "John, how's this going to work out? Our Cat's were built to push, not pull. What if we wreck the plane?"

"That's not our call to make. We just have to go slow and be extremely cautious. Otherwise,we could hit a sudden bump and rip off a chunk."

I reported what I overheard ta The Gee Team, TGT for short. Gee mused, "If they are worried about causing damage, it is something we must address."

Freck had a thought, "What if'n we use Cooperative Cigam ta protect Ol' Grizz?"

"Wouldn't it be best if they didn't know Cigam was helpin' 'em." I suggested.

Gee tol' us, "It is always preferred to keep other humans in the dark. So, whatever we attempt, we must make sure it is something that keeps them unaware."

The solution was plain as day. I thought, "They are worried about hitting a bump and tearing something off. When we landed and taxied in, it was a rough ride, as I remember it."

"It sure was," Freck agreed, "It was as bumpy as a corrugated tin roof."

"What if'n we smoothed it out?"

Gee asked me, "Do you have any thoughts on how we could accomplish that, Wishes?"

"Well," I responded, "at first, I thought of flooding the area with water and lettin' it freeze, but then it might get too slippery. Then I thought of sand, but that would really raise suspicions. Sand at the North Pole? Whatever we create shouldn't be noticed, right? Sand would blow our cover for sure."

"Right." Freck and Gee mind-spoke at the same time.

"If ya look closely at the dozers you'll notice that the operator cain't see right in front of the treads. He can see over the blade at what he's gonna scoop up, but not what's between the blade and the engine. Gee do you think you could lay down something to fill in the ruts and make it moveable so's it would travel right along with 'em?"

"Umm....that is interesting. It would have to be something semi-solid that would fill in the low spots but not stick to the treads."

"Hey guys, I have an idea!" Freck was as excited as a boiling pea in a pot. "Two words—Silly Putty."

"Heck yes," I jumped on board with that. Gee looked stumped. "Don't ya know what Silly Putty is?"

"Is it some kind of toy?" He ventured.

"It is sold in toy stores, but it's more of a substance than a toy," Freck explained. "You can stretch it, mold it, roll it into a ball and bounce it. It ain't sticky, you can flatten it, press it onto a newspaper cartoon, and it picks up the picture. It's pretty darn amazin' if ya ask me, and way better than Play Doh."

I think we lost Gee again at the mention of Play Doh. He knows a whole lot about many things, but not much about children's toys.

"We would need quite a bit of it." I was thinkin' hard on the problem. "Gee, I'll bet the Keeper's archives would have the formula. If they gave it to ya, do ya think ya could use your Cigam power ta whip up a batch?"

"That is quite possible. I will contact them right away." He did, and he got the formula.

I don't know how he does it. Somehow he gathers up the necessary elements, ya know, atoms and molecules and stuff. Them things that's too tiny ta see with the naked eyes. (I made m'self laugh at the thought of naked eyes. Ya hear it all the time, but ain't it a funny thing ta say? Naked eyes, ha, ha.) It just looks like he's wavin' his hands in the air. Kinda like the sorcerer's apprentice conductin' the symphony of water packin' brooms. It was amazin' ta watch.

It didn't take long. A few minutes of wavin' and snatchin' things from thin air— and there it was, a huge blob of pinkish-tan Silly Putty just waitin' to get used. Freck went over and pulled off a small piece. She rolled it into a ball and bounced it over to me. I caught it, stretched it, and rolled it inta sumpin' resemblin' a worm. Yep, this was Silly Putty all right. Just like I remembered.

She pulled off several more pieces, rolled them inta balls, and sent them flyin' all around the room. "Silly Putty fight!" I yelled as I ran over ta the blob. We were soon duckin' and dodgin' ping-pong sized orbs bouncin' off the ceilin's, floors, furniture, and walls. If'n ya cain't have a snowball fight this stuff works purty good.

One zinged by my ear. Another caught me in the chest. Freck got one in the knee and another whapped her arm. There were so many flyin' every which away that gettin' hit was inevitable. They didn't hurt much. What hurt more was them belly laughs. They had us both doubled over gaspin' for air.

I was laughing so hard my sides hurt. Gee musta put up a silence shield, 'cuz no one came bargin' in to find out what all the racket was all about. We soon wore ourselves out and fell back on Freck's bed gigglin'. Some of the balls was still whackin' themselves against things, but it was slowin' down like when the last of the popcorn kernels pop. We ain't had this much fun since we came here.

◽️◽️◽️

The dozers was goin' out tomorrow at first light. They decided to hook the heavy one inch thick links of chain ta the landin' gear. That way they wouldn't damage the fuselage. They would pull from under the wings. Captain Bobcat was goin' ta sit in the cockpit ta help steer.

We had our Silly Putty ready to even out the bumps. Gee figured out a way ta scoot it in front of the treads. Oh, and one more thing, he changed the color from pinkish-gray to arctic white. It was a precaution he took. Even if someone happened to look underneath those brawny machines they wouldn't see nuthin' but white like ever'thin' else.

◽️◽️◽️

When the nosecone rolled into the hangar, everyone cheered. The bulldozer guys and the Captain got all the credit. That's what we wanted. No one even knew what we'd done, 'cept for us, of course. We knew and we silently celebrated with big smiles of satisfaction.

◽️◽️◽️

They went over that airplane from top to bottom, inside and out. The short in the wirin' was discovered pretty quickly, but they had ta check ever'thin' just ta make sure nuthin' else was loose. It took two days.

We used the time ta work with Gee on buildin' mind-shields. I think I almost had it. I could sense Freck attempting to mind-read me, so I raised my shield, but dang it didn't go all the way up. She got in. I then tried to read her mind. She was havin' the same problem. Learnin' how to do it was a challenge, but we was determined. Gee said, "You are both excellent. I have never known anyone, Keeper nor human, to progress as rapidly." Well, Gee should know, so I felt better about it.
As gramma used ta say, "Practice 'til the cows come home." There warn't any cows here, so how was I to know when they came home? I told Freck about it. She laughed, "Silly, it just means ta keep practicin' until ya get it."

◽️◽️◽️

Ol' Grizz's next attempt was perfect. They took off, circled the area a few times, and landed. It was smooth as a fish glidin' downstream. When they taxied inta the hanger the captain and co-pilot was beamin'. They didn't need ta say a doggone thing. We all knew the flight was flawless.

"How about the instrumentation," I kinda shouted ta be heard above all the yammerin' goin' on.

Captain Bobcat turned my way and said, "Everything was swell. We didn't see any evidence of electromagnetic interference at all. That doesn't mean there won't be any, but so far, so good."

My anxiety gushed right out of me like a busted hole in a dam. I had to sit down. That was odd. Maybe it was worry that was holdn' me together. That don't make no sense, but that was what it felt like.

Sam, the copilot, said they were goin' ta take a quick break, grab some breakfast, and answer questions before goin' up again.

Breakfast was an uproar of celebratin' and ever'one tryin' to talk over one another. It made my ears hurt. Dang, the noise cancelling headphones Gee gave us were in the plane. They would be a great help right now. Freck musta had the same thought b'fore me, 'cuz when I looked up, I saw her returnin' from the airplane. She was wearin' hers, and twirlin' mine in her hand like a western gun slinger. She could be quite a show off sometimes. I had to admit it was kinda funny, though.

◽️◽️◽️

We didn't go up on the next flight either. They took the navigator, Sandy Dunn, with them, but left everyone else. This time they flew farther away. We watched until they was just a speck in the sky. Then the speck disappeared over the horizon.

I think I musta stopped breathin' until the speck was back and growin' bigger. Thank the Gardiner they didn't crash. From where I stood everything looked fine and dandy. The plane landed safely and taxied to the hangar. The three of them didn't look quite as happy as before. There was a set to the Captain's jaw that suggested there was some kind of worry.

They were still greeted with cheers anyway. Goin' out and returning intact was enough reason for more claps on the back.

Captain Bobcat asked if he could speak with me and Freck while the others went to the rec. hall with the larger group. He took us aside and said, "The flight went very well, but we hit a strange spot of unexpected turbulence. It was of short duration. We flew through it and all was calm again. When we turned around for the return flight we hit it once more. We figured the rough air was approximately a mile and a half in diameter. We tried to determine a cause. Maybe there's warmer air rising from the ground in that exact spot. So we circled around a couple of times to get a good look. Everything on the ground looked the same as the surrounding area. There was no visible reason for it that we could see.

"It might not mean anything. It is possible when we go up tomorrow it won't even be there. But it was very unusual. I thought it might have something to do with what you are looking for."

Freck chattered like a squirrel, "You're gonna take us up with ya, right?"

"We wouldn't dare leave without you. We'd never hear the end of it if we did."

He just pullin' Freck's leg, of course. You can tell when someone's just funnin' by the twinkle in the eye, and the crooked smile. To tell the truth, I don't think she was listening after ". . . wouldn't dare leave without you." We was goin'. That's all she needed to hear to send her into a tizzy of excitement. She grabbed my hands and was jumpin' up and down. "Did ya hear that Wishes? He thinks they may know where the way into Hollow Earth is and he's gonna fly us there tomorrow. I'm in such a dither, I can hardly wait."

"Slow down Freck, ya was talkin' so fast I think I only got every other word." Now, I was the kidder. I heard her just fine. "It was like ya was babblin' while running a picket fence between us."

"Huh?" She took a breath. "Did ya say something about a picket fence?"

I guess when yer head's goin' a mile a minute your gonna miss some things. "Don't worry yourself none. It wasn't important anyhow. What is important is we are goin' with them tomorrow." The energy coming off her was catchin'. Then I'll be danged if I didn't start jumpin' up and down too.

Tomorrow was just too danged far away. There might be a Wishes explosion b'fore it got here.