Chapter Six: The Truth is Revealed
"Why have we come to Mother Nature's house, Papa Smurf," asked Smurfette as the small party approached Mother Nature's brightly lit home.
Papa Smurf held up a folded up map he'd been carrying. "Because Father Time is hardly ever in one place for too long, I brought this map with me. It can track his movements as he travels about in time. According to this map, Father Time will appear in Mother Nature's house in three seconds."
"Oh, what a smurfy map!" Smurfette smiled.
Just then, the door to Mother Nature's house opened wide and Father Time peered out.
"Hello?" he inquired, looking around. "Is there anyone out here? I thought I heard voices."
"Down here, Father Time," said Papa Smurf. Father Time looked down.
"Oh, it's you, Papa Smurf. How nice to see you. And I see you've brought some of your little Smurfs with you. Why don't you all come in?"
He held the door open as they filed into the house. "Mother Nature's not in at the moment, if she's the one you're here to see. I'm just here to pick up an hourglass she borrowed last week. You're lucky you caught me."
"We're not here to chat, Father Time," said Papa Smurf getting right down to business. "We need your help. One of my little Smurfs has been smurfed back in time and we don't know how to find him."
"Oh, dear," said Father Time, suddenly very concerned. "This doesn't sound good. The last time some of your Smurfs messed with time, they ended up as Smurflings. How are Nat, Snappy, and Slouchy, by the way? Do they remember anything about their time as adults?"
Papa Smurf shook his head. "No, but they're just fine otherwise. Father Time, I don't mean to sound pushy, but this really is urgent. I'll leave it to Molk, here, to explain how his brother, Nolk, tricked him."
Father Time peered at the little silver furball curiously. "Molk?" he asked. "That's interesting. I haven't seen anything like you before. Are you one of Mother Nature's new creations?"
"No, Father Time," said Molk politely. "I'm from a distant moon orbiting a planet near one of the stars on Orion's belt. I came here by accident from the future. I'm really from the year 2354."
Father Time started. "Then, what happened? How did you end up here?"
Molk shrank considerably, then expanded again. It seemed to be his equivalent of a shamed sigh. "I suppose it's time for me to tell you all the whole truth about me. I was afraid if I told you everything earlier, you wouldn't want to help me."
The Smurf looked at each other, concerned. "What do you mean, Molk?" asked Smurfette.
The little fluffball shrank and expanded again. "Well, for one thing, Nolk isn't really my brother-at least not in the way you would think of a brother. Nolk is my...well... I suppose you could say my other half. We are both parts of the same being. We had an argument back on our home moon and he separated from me and came here."
"What was this argument about, Molk?" asked Papa Smurf.
"My people are creatures of energy," Molk explained. "We can take physical form by transforming some of our energy into matter. In this way, we can take any shape, but it takes a great deal of effort. The shape I am in now is the one we find most comfortable to assume. We take our nourishment from the energy radiated from our sun. For the past several years, however, our sun has been experiencing an inordinate number of sunspots and other phenomena that have altered the purity of the energy it gives off. Our food was now tainted. Many of us became ill.
"Nolk and I are highly respected as scientists on my world. Our people turned to us to find a way to save them. As one being, we searched the cosmos for a replacement energy source that we could use until our sun recovered. After many months of tireless searching, we finally found what we were looking for." As he continued, Molk appeared to grow more and more apologetic. His voice softened to a near whisper and his tone wavered. "The only energy we found that was pure enough to serve as a replacement was the magical energy emitted by a strange race of earth creature known as Smurfs. The only problem was, without their magical essence, the Smurfs would fade away to nothing. In effect, they would die."
The gathered Smurfs gasped.
"I had the same reaction, believe me," said Molk sincerely. "I couldn't accept that the only way to save our people lay in the total destruction of another species, especially one that seemed so good and innocent. So, I kept on searching, hoping to find a way to cure our sun or to find another source of energy before the situation on our moon became so desperate it would become necessary to absorb the pure Smurf energy to save ourselves from extinction."
Molk shrank a bit more. "Nolk didn't want to keep up the search. We had found a replacement energy source. Every moment we waited, more of our people were becoming ill. Some had already died. To many, it was starting to seem as if it was us or them. This was when we had our argument. In a burst of rage, Nolk separated from me and shot off to Earth to capture the Smurfs. However, in our time the Smurfs were too well organized to succumb to Nolk. He decided he would have to go back in time to a period when the Smurfs were disorganized and scattered throughout the world. Together, they were too powerful to subdue. Individually, they should be easy pickings.
"I caught up with him just before he started his trip back in time. We argued again, nearly coming to blows. Finally, he told me I could come with him. He gave me a pair of glasses that had been enchanted to take me back in time. He put on a similar pair himself. However, my pair were set to bring me back to a time long after the time Nolk went to. By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late to do anything about it. So, I came looking for you Smurfs. I knew I had to find you and convince you to go to a safe place before Nolk's changes to the time line rippled past this time. This would most likely have caused all of you to disappear. Now, so long as you four stay here, in this magical place that exists beyond and apart from time, you should be protected from the effects of Nolk's actions and at least some Smurfs will survive."
"Wait a minute," Hefty spoke up. "Why should we listen to you? You've just said your people want to eat us! How do we know this isn't all a trick so you can have us four for yourself?"
"Surely he wouldn't have smurfed through all the trouble to bring us here just to absorb our energy, would you, Molk," asked Smurfette anxiously.
"Certainly not," Molk exclaimed. "You must believe me, I do not want to see your species totally destroyed. The ripple in the timeline has already passed us. If you leave this protected place now, you will all cease to exist, just as the others in your village already have."
"What," the Smurfs gasped. They turned horrified eyes to Father Time. Father Time was concentrating very hard, staring at something none of them could see.
"He's right, Smurfs," he said finally. "I'm afraid your village is gone. In fact, it has never been."
Papa Smurf paled dramatically and wavered on his feet. Hefty reached out a concerned arm to steady him.
"Are you all right, Papa Smurf?" he asked.
"Oh, my poor little Smurfs!" he moaned, almost to himself. Clumsy, Molk, and Smurfette rushed to push a thick book over to the trembling Smurf.
"Uh, here, Papa Smurf," said Clumsy. "Why don't you sit down?"
Papa Smurf sat and rocked gently, still in a daze, slowly listing the names of all his little Smurfs who were now gone.
"Handy...Greedy...Actor...Poet...Tailor...Farmer...Dabbler...Barber...Woolly
Toughie...Painter...Jokey...Dreamy...Lazy...Harmony...Vanity...Sassette...Sweepy...Nat... Baby..."
"There, there, Papa Smurf," said Hefty as kindly as he could. He had never seen Papa Smurf like this before. His eyes were wide and glassy and it didn't seem he was looking at anything. "We'll find a way to bring them all back, and Brainy too. Everything will be all right, you'll see. Isn't that right, Smurfs?"
Smurfette and Clumsy nodded. "Absosmurfly," they said with firm determination.
"You see, Papa Smurf?" said Hefty. "All we need is a plan."
He turned to Molk. "Is there any way you could stop this Nolk if you met him?"
"I-I'm not really sure," said Molk. "You see, my people, myself included, have been severely weakened by the energy shortage on our moon. If Nolk has been doing what I think he's doing, gorging himself on the pure magical energy of the Smurfs," the Smurfs shuddered, "then he will be much stronger than I. If I'm going to stand a chance, we're going to have to catch him before he starts absorbing that energy."
Father Time stepped forward. "Then, I believe you are going to require my assistance."