Newcomer

1. Thoughts

It was a warm evening on the plateau. The inhabitants of Veronica's treehouse were enjoying each others company. After having a wonderful meal, cooked by Roxton, they were discussing the experiences of the day over a glass of wine. Marguerite felt a happiness, something she didn't feel quite often. It was just the thing that they were sitting there enjoying each others stories, making jokes and laughing that gave her a real boost.

Off course she was still missing Malone as were the others. 'Why did that fool have to go on a dangerous journey, on his own!' she thought. From the corner of her eye she looked at Veronica who was caught in a fit of laughter because of Roxton's jokes. 'Poor girl', Marguerite thought. She knew that Veronica felt 'something' for the blond guy. And she was missing him right now. Marguerite's thoughts were interrupted by Challenger's statement.

''Tomorrow we should take a look at the windmill, I believe something is wrong, we have less energy then we had before''. The professor stated.

''Oh, do we have to George, I wanted to….…….'' Marguerite started her whining.

''Yes, we have, if we don't have enough energy, we don't have any power for the electric fence and that will make us weak'' Challenger continued. ''It's important that it works''.

Marguerite sighed. Roxton grimaced at her. ''What are you laughing about'', she snapped at him. ''Nothing my queen, nothing at all'', he chuckled as he stood up to clean the table.

''Well, I'm going to bed, what time do we leave?'' Veronica asked.

''Six o'clock is a good time, I think''. Roxton answered.

''All right, see you in the morning, goodnight''. ''Goodnight''

Veronica went downstairs to her room. Quickly followed by Marguerite who wanted to have some sleep before she would have to get up in 'the middle of the night' (according to her). As she passed Veronica's room she heard some sniffling. She moved away the curtain and there she saw Veroncia crying on her bed, clutching a pillow. A knot formed in Marguerite's stomach. Not knowing what to do or say she putted the curtain back. ''He will be back Veronica, I'm sure of it'', she whispered. There were tears forming in her own eyes and she quickly proceeded to her own room.

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Not that far away from the treehouse a young guy was sitting near a warm fire. Knowing that he would be 'home' tomorrow afternoon, a smile crept on his face. After months he would see his good friend Roxton who he saw more as a brother than a friend, Challenger, the man he could always talk to about everything, Marguerite, to squabble with. And than there was Veronica, off course. The lovely blond that he fall in love with from the first moment he saw her. She was missing when he left the treehouse after that hallucinating experience he had. He had hoped that he would found Veronica on his journey, but he didn't. He hoped that she had make it back to the treehouse on her own. He lay back, watching the stars in the dark sky dreaming about his beloved. ''Goodnight Veronica, see you tomorrow'', he whispered. Than his eyes fell down and he dreamed about Veronica and himself together.

At the first light of the sun Malone was awake and ready to go. He took his pack and followed the jungle path that would lead to the treehouse.

After a couple of hours he saw some sort of material in the trees along the jungle path. It looked like canvas. 'What the…..', Malone thought, accelerating his pace he approached the trees with the canvas material in it. His riffle strongly clutched in his hands. The canvas was definitely from a balloon, but it wasn't Challenger's balloon this one was made of different type of canvas. Not the type Challenger had used for his balloon. Malone knew it was not possible but he couldn't help to call for the one he was so anxious to see.

''Veronica, Veronica, are you somewhere around?'', Malone yelled. There was no answer.

'Off course not, you idiot', he scolded himself. He came closer to have a better look. 'Where on earth is the basket?'. There were a lot of things spreaded across the jungle floor. Cans, blankets, canteens, tools, clothes. Malone took a shirt and a jacket and studied it. It was good material. The etiquette showed a name of a shop in London.

''I'll be damned'', he muttered. "This balloon is coming from London, that means that a new group of explores has arrived".

Malone walked a bit further to examine the other materials. He was so concentrated he didn't notice the pair of eyes that were staring at him.