Episode 4: Set Course For The Farlands

“Aaargh!” Carl shouts, running straight towards Captain Jake, “That beetle is pretending to be friendly but it really wants to kill us!” At these words, Jake takes one look at Carl and says, “Don’t be ridiculous Carl, didn’t you see the green smoke?” The beetle hisses, makes a crackling noise and it shakes it’s back – what is it doing?

After around an hour of arguing about whether the beetle stays or goes, Carl and Jake go off to try and find the missing engine of The Red Devil. Carl watches for any signs of movement in the forest as they creep though the brambles and trees. It is almost completely black in the forest when Jake feels a static charge run though his body – might they have finally found the missing electric motor?

The huge motor in front of them was the thing had longed to see for all these long hours in the wild. One thing Carl had not longed to see was the beetle – it had followed them all the way here and is now crackling and popping again. It charges at the engine like an angry bull and suddenly, it vanishes.

Soon after, there is not only one beetle, but there were now two of them! The two beetles jump, sprout wings, deploy a pair of razor-sharp pincers and fly straight at Jake! Even he looks frightened as the beetles fly around him. Carl trembles and manages to stutter, “R-R-RUN!”

The two of them run for the skyship, the beetles still gaining on them. They dash through the thorns and fallen branches – are they even going the right way? Luckily, they are and they come back to the crash site to deploy (if it wasn’t destroyed by the impact) the emergency raft. With a creak and a rattle, the raft deploys itself and levitates above the ground so Carl and Captain Jake can climb aboard and set course for the Farlands.