[ Maintenance Operation #8 ]

[squeakyslate]

Can't leave 'em down there, can't have that, no. Up the ladder I goes, all the way up.

[ It's true, he goes, up the ladder, all the way up! Until Bill's all the way up in the sky, swaying on the ladder, a bright star in his mouth. ]

Fhhnnhh gyyghh--

[ Don't quite work that way, does it? Bill sticks the star up in the sky, and smacks his lips. ]

There it goes! There it goes, all fixed up now, see, ol' Bill's gonna go and put 'em all back in place, won't never have to worry 'bout them falling neither, rolling stars don't gather no moss, see?

[ He flicks at the star with his fingers: It wobbles, and falls, but just a bit, and then it bounces right on back, and flutters to a different place in the sky. ]

There, y'see? Make 'em move, they'll always find a proper place now, that they will. Now don't you worry 'bout nothing, ol' Bill's just gonna finish up with the rest...

[ Bill pulls out a big bag of bright stars, and starts decorating, whistling a merry tune as he goes along. ]

Comments

[video forever]

[goodwoofjames]

...So they really were stars, then.

[squeakyslate]

[ Bill chuckles, and rocks back and forth on his ladder. ]

Weren't no flying pigs, lad.

[goodwoofjames]

I suppose I just didn't expect it to be so literal. Not sure why.

So is that where our memories go? Or...Wonderland's memories?

[squeakyslate]

[ Bill looks up into the sky. Bill looks down the ladder. Bill smacks his tongue at the screen. ]

Where's that now, lad?

[Voice]

[vampdetective]

I guess it was a mistake to assume that even the stars here would be ordinary.

[Silly him.]

[squeakyslate]

Beautiful thing like shining and sparkling stars, what's ever ordinary 'bout that?

[vampdetective]

Even then, they're a far cry from what we saw here this week.

[A beat.]

They were memories, weren't they? Is that where Wonderland puts them for safekeeping?

[squeakyslate]

[ Bill chuckles. ]

Saw 'em fall, didn't ye, lad? Bit high up to keep anything safe, that it is, that it is. Bit too high up. Don't keep the good silver on the ceiling neither, just not a good idea that isn't.

[vampdetective]

If it's not a good idea, then why send them back up there?

[He's just curious. It's always interesting to hear what the natives will or won't say.]

[squeakyslate]

Now, ol' Bill don't say he did that. Don't say he didn't do that neither, but he don't say he did. [ Bill climbs even higher up the ladder. It squeaks precariously. Bill does too, a bit. ] Remember that Humpty Dumpty fella? Couldn't put him back together neither. Now, poor lass who lost her head? Might still get that right with a bit of glue, we'll see, we'll see...

[vampdetective]

The girl who lost her head.

[Maybe, he thinks, the one common thread that appeared in so many of those memories, as foreign as most of them were otherwise.]

What happened to her, exactly?

[He knows better than to expect a straight answer, but he's willing to work with whatever he does get.]

[squeakyslate]

Didn't see her trip off the roof, did ye? Good thing that's ended, if ye ask Bill, ol' girl was in over her-- [ He clicks his tongue, and chuckles awkwardly. ] Might think it's all the same to a big fella like yourself, but a lizard's not always a lizard's not always a lizard, ye hear? Didn't want those critters 'round no more, no sir, I did not. [ Bill shudders audibly. ]

[vampdetective]

[He's lost, but he tries to commit what Bill says to memory anyway-- because anything coming from a Wonderland native is worth remembering, even if it's not always immediately apparent why.]

I see. [It comes out stilted, thoughtful.] If a lizard's not always a lizard, then what does that make you?

[squeakyslate]

Why, I reckon...

[ Bill thinks about this. ]

[squeakyslate]

[ He thinks about this for a long time. ]

[squeakyslate]

[ A rather long time. ]

[squeakyslate]

[ A time for so long that, for an audio transmission, you'd probably start wondering if anyone was still on the other end at all.

If it wasn't for the occasional smack of his tongue.

Which Bill does, smack, click, all like that.

While he thinks. ]

[squeakyslate]

[ (For an annoyingly long time.) ]

[squeakyslate]

Why, I reckon, I'd be a lizard, wouldn't I?

[ Whew. To think that almost wasn't worth the wait. ]

[vampdetective]

[.....]

It took you all that time to come up with that answer?

[Lizard. Come on.]

[squeakyslate]

Had to work me brain real hard to get it just right, lad. Wouldn't do for ol' Bill to get himself wrong, would it now?

[vampdetective]

Right. Of course not. Can't have that.

[He sighs.]

Well-- thanks for being thorough.

[He guesses that's about all he's going to get out of the lizard for today.]

[squeakyslate]

Anytime, any time at all, that's what ol' Bill's for. Ol' Bill, the lizard. Anytime...