Chapter Three
Red Butler glanced at the clock display on his section of the Color Console and saw it was nearly noon. If no problems showed up in the next few minutes he would call a halt to the day's work and they could go get ready for the party. It was Twink's birthday, an event they had all looked forward to for some time, and he really hoped they could finish soon.
He looked around the Console, checking each Kid at their station. Tickled Pink had taken over Canary Yellow's station and was concentrating on entering commands. Canary stood behind her with a hand on the chair, watching.
"What do I do about this?" asked Pink, looking back at Canary. She pointed at a readout.
The Color Kid of Yellow leaned forward and examined the readings. "Add a touch of shading. That should make them right."
Pink nodded and entered the suggestion. "That did it." She smiled. "Thanks."
Canary returned the smile. "Those kevva flowers are always tricky. And they are a prime target for Wajah's people to absorb the color."
"Yes, I've noticed there isn't much yellow there," answered Pink, standing up. Canary took her place and made a few more adjustments while the Kid in charge of non-spectral colors looked to see if anyone else needed her.
"It's nearly party time!" announced Red in a loud voice.
All the Kids sat back and stretched. It had been a long morning of refreshing the colors on half a dozen inhabited planets.
"Does anybody have any problems that need immediate attention?" he continued, and got six negative answers. "Okay, then, let's go party!"
Each Kid raised the lever that lowered the color crystal intake and closed the panel, then locked their section of the Color Console and stood, talking about the upcoming party. Then they headed for their individual Keeps to get ready.
Soon everyone was downstairs in the dining hall. Besides the Kids, the room was filled with sprites helping celebrate the white sprite's special day. There was plenty of cake and ice cream for all. Outside various games had been set up and were waiting to be used. Stormy arrived a bit late, and then Moonglo came in, yawning. It was sleep period for her, but she wasn't going to miss this.
Several hours later the party wound down and everyone went their own way, wishing Twink a final 'Happy Birthday!' as they did. Rainbow Brite helped the sprite carry his presents to his dome-shaped house just beyond the bridge to the Color Castle. During the summer Twink slept in a hammock in the Castle's belfry above Rainbow's room, but during bad weather or winter he preferred the house.
Rainbow waited as Twink put away the presents, then they walked back to the Castle, talking about the party and greeting other sprites that passed by.
When they passed through the double doors they found the Kids had returned to the Console and were busy entering commands. All of them had opened the color crystal intake hoppers and their sprites were standing by to add more as needed.
She and Twink exchanged a glance then went over to her friends.
"Something wrong, Lala?" she asked, nimbly skipping up the step to her.
The orange Color Kid glanced at her. "Yes, Rainbow, there's an area on Trollz World that has lost all color and is slowly growing larger," she answered. "It started about a half hour ago.
"I estimate it will engulf the entire planet in about twenty hours at its current rate of expansion," said Shy Violet.
"Any idea how it happened?" asked Rainbow, studying the Console's readout.
Red typed on his keyboard and frowned at the results. "All I can tell you right now is that there was no failure of the Color Emitter. The signal is steady and at full strength. No stoppages reported."
It didn't happen often, but occasionally there was a glitch in the system and the color signal stopped for a moment. If it did, sometimes an object's color would fail, leaving it gray. That in turn would affect nearby objects and they too would lose color. The cascade effect could spread to a wide area if not checked in time. But that did not seem to be the case here.
"Rainbow," called Shy Violet, "My analysis shows the colors are gone, not being suppressed or hidden."
Rainbow Brite thought for a moment. "Check the rest of the planet, see if it's happening anywhere else."
The Kids set about the new task, and after a minute reported in the negative. "The color signal is reaching the ground and working normally." said Buddy Blue.
"Sounds like Murky at work to me," Twink said.
Rainbow nodded. "It does to me too. But why would he be on Trollz World? Twink, go get Starlite. I'm going to charge up the Belt."
The white sprite saluted and headed for the door while the leader of the Kids took the stairs to her room two at a time. A minute later she came back down, Belt fully charged and an extra pouch of star sprinkles attached.
"Good luck, Rainbow, we'll keep working here," called Red as she reached the door.
"Okay, everyone, see you later!" she replied, and went outside. A large white horse with a rainbow mane and tail was there.
"Good afternoon, Rainbow," said Starlite, "Twink tells me we have a mission. Well, the Most Magnificent Horse in the Universe is ready!"
Rainbow smiled, patting the horse's muzzle. "Glad to hear it! Let's go, before the problem gets any worse!" She climbed on her friend's back, giving Twink a hand to settle in behind her.
"We're all set, Rainbow," said the white sprite, "My pouch is filled to the brim! Hope it will be enough!"
"Me too," she replied. A touch on the Color Belt's star caused a wide rainbow to form under Starlite's hooves and travel upward into the sky. Its path took it over the mountain where the Color Cave was, and disappeared in the distance.
With a powerful leap, Starlite took off, heading upward at an impossible angle. His passengers not discomfited at all, but watching the ground as it shrank below them.
Soon they were out of the planet's atmosphere, and the rainbow veered away from its usual path, toward earth, to take them to Trollz World.
"Rainbow, tell me about Trollz World, I don't think I've ever been there," said Twink.
"Oh, that's right, you had a bad cold the last time I went," was the answer, "It's a place a lot like earth, but there are many types of people living there. Trolls are the main civilized race, but there are gremlins, goblins, orcs, ogres, elves, pixies, and more."
"Trolls?" said Twink, looking worried, "Are they big and scary?"
Both Rainbow and Starlite laughed.
"No, they aren't," said Starlite, glancing over his shoulder at the sprite, "They're about as tall as Rainbow."
"The few I've met are friendly," added Rainbow, "I think you'll like them."
"Okay, Rainbow," said Twink, smiling.
Soon the disk of Rainbowland disappeared behind them, and the rainbow passed through a warp portal. Starlite never broke his stride as they passed through. On the other side the rainbow preceded them toward a distant blue and white dot. The sun shone brightly in the vacuum of space, the stars around it colorful and bright.
As soon as the disk of Trollz World was large enough, Rainbow Brite scanned it with her color-aware eyes, looking for the place that had lost its colors. Finally she pointed to their right and down a bit. "There!"
Twink looked hard, but couldn't see it. He had never been able to spot a colorless area before Rainbow did, but he kept trying.
The rainbow bent toward the problem, and Starlite ran along it. Now they were traveling down at an impossible angle. Soon they reached the ground and the rainbow curved to a gentle end. As soon as the horse stepped off of it, it vanished.
The three companions were in a beautiful wooded area, with huge trees and tall grass. They could hear water rushing somewhere ahead. There was no sign of trouble here.
"Starlite, do you hear that water? Let's go there," said Rainbow.
"Sounds good to me, I could use a drink," he answered. He walked forward through some bushes and along a path made by animals going to the river.
A few minutes later, Starlite gasped and stopped walking. He ducked behind a tall bush.
"What is it?" asked Rainbow. She trusted the big horse to have taken the right action. She and Twink climbed off his back.
"Take a look for yourself," he answered.
Rainbow and Twink moved a branch aside carefully, and took a look.
There, in an open place in front of five waterfalls, was a colorless area. Seated at a now gray wooden bench were five troll girls. They were just sitting, with sad expressions. Their big hair drooped behind them. Rainbow had learned that a troll's hair would do that if they were upset or tired.
"What do we do, Rainbow?" asked the sprite, looking up at her.
"We have to talk to them, Twink, find out what happened. Starlite, you stay here." She took a cautious step into the open.