Chapter 4: Cartography

Back at the lemur habitat, the penguins were sitting at the smoothie bar, maps and cartography paper splayed out before them.

Skipper decided that if they could not work on the Charley at the moment, they could at least map out Talamaru, to the best of Isobel's memory, and stories that Mikhailov had heard as a fawn.

"Talamaru has a strong magnetic field underneath all of its geography, including the ocean floor." Isobel began explaining to them. "Because of this, the patterns in our sky and the rhythm of the plants is vastly different from Madagascar's. Our weather system is also different, but our seasons are in tune with the rest of Madagascar,"

Kowalski was jotting all of this down. "What about landscape? What's there?"

Isobel knew what to say first. "The jungle is the heart of Talamaru. This is where all of our people and most of the other animals live. Beyond that to the east is the Valley, the desert. Farther than that is the ocean. But we do have a beach that is much safer just half a mile from our village in the jungle. Other than this…I do not remember."

Mikhailov stepped in. "To their north they have hills like een the Congo, Africa."

"Mountains." Kowalski corrected him.

Mikhailov gave him a look. "Eet does not snow, ees just more jungle."

Kowalski nodded. "Yes, but if you are referring to the 'hills' in the Congo Basin, those are actually mountains."

Mikhailov rolled his eyes. "Vhatever. Anyvay, tryink to map Talamaru geography een one day ees like mapping all of Europe's big cities een an hour."

Private nodded. "It's pretty impossible. We had to do it in grade school."

"And in the academy." Skipper took the toothpick he was chewing on out of his beak as he sketched a little on the cartography paper. "We'll get this down eventually. Kowalski, we need coordinates to log into the Charley should we need to engage auto-pilot."

"Working on it." Kowalski was using a magnifying glass to look at Madagascar carefully.

"So, with the magnetic field you were talking about," Private began timidly, not wanting to sound dumb, "Does that mean it affects compasses and all that."

Isobel nodded. "I'm glad you mentioned that. All of your compasses and gauges will not work once in Talamaru. They will just spin and send you the wrong way."

Julien thought about his new compass, which was safe inside a compartment in the smoothie bar. "What about mine?" He asked.

"That one is different." Isobel explained. "It does not tell direction, and so it will still work."

"We have to reconfigure all of this." Skipper swiped his flipper across their sketches.

Kowalski sighed, laying his head in his flippers. "Cartography was never my forte."

Isobel was very grateful to them for being so in depth with this, and she didn't like to see them stress about it. "We'll worry about mapping and coordinates later. Right now, I can explain to you about the climate and more specific geography."

The penguins nodded, and Kowalski leaned over the cartography paper, ready to jot and sketch.

Isobel drew a compass on the side of the paper for reference. "We do have east and west and all that, it's just that compasses do not work, and so we tell direction by geographical location and star mapping."

She began to explain everything, starting from the very soil. She started out very patient with their questions, as she was glad they wanted to learn. But thirty minutes later, when they were still stuck on latitude and longitude, she was nearly at the end of her rope.

"Easier to teach primitive humans!" She huffed.

"Why is the eastern border farther west than the western border!?" Kowalski was getting nervous.

"Because you drew it wrong!" Private pointed out. "Their geography isn't that backwards. Er, wait…"

"Okay." Skipper rubbed his flippers down his face in exasperation. His toothpick was a mere splinter now. "We'll resume this…Much later."

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The next morning, Kowalski decided to check and see if their HQ was habitable yet. He was surprised to find it completely clear, and he waddled back to the lemur habitat to let them know.

"I don't wanna leave!" Mort cried.

"What're you cryin' for, Mort?" Maurice asked him. "The penguins are moving back to their old place; not you."

"Oh, hehe." Mort giggled.

"Kowalski says we just have a few more adjustments to make to the heli." Skipper came up to Isobel. "And then we can start on the paint job. We'll glaze it, but could you jazz it up for us?"

"I'd love to." Isobel told him. "When should I come by?"

"Probably this afternoon." Skipper told her. "Oh, and thanks for getting Ringtail to let us stay."

"Of course, Skipper."

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Once they were back in their HQ, they went down the hatch. Skipper clicked on the lights in their underground warehouse, and the familiar whirring filled their ears.

"Let's get to work."

Rico had filled up their airbrush tool with glossy black paint. While he was mixing more and making sure it didn't dry up, the others taped off the windows and sealed the doors for a smooth paint job. Once they were done, Rico put a mask over his beak and began painting while the others stood back and watched.

Skipper examined their fine aircraft. They had mounted guns to the side, which of course were not yet loaded, and could fold into the heli when they weren't being used. He had asked Isobel if it was a good idea, and she told him it was.

"You won't be the only thing flying in Talamaru." She had said.

"Do you think they'll be afraid of us?" Private suddenly asked him. "The natives, I mean. With our big noisy contraption and all."

"I have a feeling we're not going to be the scariest thing flying out there, Private." Skipper told him. "Or the biggest."