TRIGUN: The Crowned Thomas Affair By R. A. Stott
- For Stacey who wondered where the name came from -
The man walked into the settlement with the strange animal. He obviously was tired and worn out by the long trek through the desert. He looked back at the creature following him and held his hand up.
"You wait here Thomas… I'll go see if there's water to get."
The oddly shaped critter gave a throaty yell and stood patiently.
The settlement people were doing their daily morning duties – fetching what they could from the local wreckage of the SEEDS liner Beta-42-11. Food stores were plentiful and the water purifier was still working – the problem was the shelters. Beta-42-11 was mostly a Coldsleep ship, meant to arrive after the Autobuilder ships had landed and constructed the homes for the settlers. But due to the disastrous crash landing of the entire fleet, these survivors were forced to do with what they could.
Then the stranger arrived with his odd beast-of-burden.
"Howdy stranger," a man greeted the visitor. "You look like you just walked the length of the Promontory Flats!"
The man gasped and nodded. "As a matter of fact, I think I did, if that's what you call that flat hell-hole I just walked out of. Sven Tolefson." He reached out his grimy hand to shake the one being offered by his greeter.
"Ollie Johnson," the greeter said.
Sven nodded. "Hey, is there any chance to get some water? I'm parched, and so is Thomas…"
Ollie looked over at the strange beast. "Thomas?"
Sven gave a little whistle. "Thomas! Come here!"
The beast perked up and trotted over to the man making the twilling sound. He dug into his pocket and presented the furry-feathered bird-like thing a handful of crispy bars which it devoured.
"What the hell is that thing?" Ollie asked. "And how can it see where it's going with that tarp wrapped around its head like that?"
"Oh no, that's not its head," Sven said patting Thomas. "That's his neck, see?" He pointed at the two green eyes at the bottom that were looking up at him.
"Yea! I thought that was its nostrils!" Ollie jumped.
Sven laughed. "Yea, that's what I thought at first. This guy was hurt when I found him – looked like some sort of burn along the back of his neck. So I covered it with this tarp I found in what was left of my ship. He seemed to like my K-rations as well. It was easy to tame him."
"Really," Ollie noted. "And you say this beastie is found out in that desert?"
Sven looked over his shoulder at where he had just been. "Yea – saw at least five herds of them out there. I was thinking of getting more of them – maybe set up a service with Thomases as labor beasts."
Ollie drew some water in a tin cup from a dispensing tube and handed it to Sven. "Less than a month on this planet, and we have our first entrepreneur." He picked up what was left of a domed window glass and poured some water for Thomas as well. He was surprised as he placed it below the head how it reached down and snatch the fluid with a delicate thin tongue that rapidly drew the water up like a straw in a glass.
"Hey, I can always use a partner," Sven said as he wiped his face with some of the cool water.
Ollie laughed. "Yea, but how do you expect to get paid?"
Sven shrugged. "Who knows – looks like the current way is to barter anyway."
Ollie laughed again. "Have you tried to ride him yet?"
Sven nearly spat out his water. "Are you nuts? He might be obedient as a puppy dog, but it took me days just to get him to load that on his back without him jumping about. I'd rather walk than get booted off his back, thank you!"
Ollie scratched the back of his neck. "Still, it makes one hell of a pack mule."
Sven patted Thomas on the neck as it drank. "Sure does. I brought some stuff from my ship to see if I could trade with anyone. I would have never been able to do that without Thomas here."
Ollie slapped his fist into his hand. "By gum, I'll do it! Sven, that's some great ideas you've got there. Just one thing…"
Sven looked at Ollie. "And that is?"
Ollie scratched his chin now. "Why did you name it Thomas? Was he someone I should know?"
Sven laughed. "To tell you the truth, I named him after my cousin."
Ollie looked confused at Sven and Thomas. "Your cousin? What, was he into animals and stuff?"
"No," Sven said. "He was a hunchback."
As the years passed, S&O Thomases became the leading provider of thomas and thomas supplies, including the famous Ollie Saddle. Sadly the co-founder of the company, Ollie Johnson, whose name became linked with the saddle he created, was killed when the first prototype saddle failed and he was thrown from his mount, hence the phrase "Ollie aired on the side of Thomas."
S&O Thomases & Buses is listed on the Bernardelli Stock Exchange as SOTB.
oOo
©2003 The MOON CHILD Project/DMS
Postscript
April 16, 2008
There's a little bit of animation fun I added to this story when I wrote it back in June of 2003, and even though its about an anime character, or in this case, critter, the fun bit dealt with animation history. And seeing the news today reminded me of my little tribute I had done back then.
When I started writing about where the Thomas got its name, I thought over all the famous Thomases I knew and tried to link the name. I finally figured that infamous Thoms wouldn't work, simply because they were just that - too famous. But there was one that I remembered that could work, especially because he always had a well know friend who, to us in the animation community, was always looked up to with respect and admiration. Today I learned that this man has passed away.
Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston were two of Disney's original 'Nine Old Men' – the team that drew breath and life into so many characters that we all know and love. I found it amusing to myself that the Thomas would get its name from Frank, and the person who would be the first to try and ride it in my story would be called Ollie Johnson (with no T), to whom the Ollie Saddle would be named within my TRIGUN: MOON CHILD story arc. Sadly, on April 14th, Ollie Johnston, the last of those nine guys, and Frank's life-long friend, passed on at the age of 95.
So, I again dedicate this story to them – The dedicated Thomas, and Ollie, the man brave enough to try and ride him, very much as the real Ollie rode his custom built miniature steam trains. At least the trains didn't buck him off like the Thomas did the fictional Ollie.
Robert Stott