Silver Planet by Tom Johnson

Author:Tom Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
Published: 2020-09-14T00:00:00+00:00

32. The World of Birds

Sound Capture

The merry band of birds had been flying for several hours and according to Jigsy they were making good progress. He’d given regular updates, praising the troop for maintaining their speed despite the unpleasantness of the air and the corridor’s near total darkness.

Other than Jigsy’s check-ins, the only sounds in the ancient expressway had been Alea’s voice answering questions about her life and the gasps of incredulous birds as her stories were relayed throughout the flock.

Squigbox, the oldest of the jabiru leader’s three sons, glanced at his dad.

Jigsy smiled. ‘I know what you’re thinking.’

‘Bet you don’t,’ chuckled Squigbox.

‘Of course I do, you want to perform. The fact that there’s been no singing for hours is driving you nuts,’ answered Jigsy.

‘Well, obviously, but that’s not all that I’m thinking,’ winked Squigbox.

Squigsy and Squijy were intrigued, as was their father.

‘Go on then, don’t leave us hanging,’ demanded Squigsy.

‘I want to convert the smell of this corridor into a sound,’ grinned Squigbox.

‘I’d rather have silence,’ Squigsy protested.

Squigbox was desperate to give it a go. ‘I tell you what, I’ll capture the stench as a sound but only play it briefly inside a song you like and in an appropriate place so all it’ll do is make the song better.’

Squigsy hesitated. ‘Alright, go on then, but don’t foul it up,’ he sighed.

‘Minim, my love!’ cried Squigbox, turning towards a beautiful woodpecker a few rows back in the bird formation. ‘Your husband needs you, we’re going to mix the smell of this corridor into one of our songs.’

Minim was from Gazong, the Earth-like planet famed for its music and inhabited only by birds.

Gazong lay in the Beta sector of the birds’ universe and birds flew between the planet and the corridor network via estuary tubeways that were similar in design to those that surrounded Opus and Centurian.

Gazong’s landmasses thrived, they were lush and green, but its oceans were waterless. Hundreds of tiny moons floated in the empty seas and these moons had become home to musicians who hoped their songs would one day make the waters return.

Minim was an exceptional percussionist who often toured the Tymporian moon as it drifted across Gazong’s widest ocean.

Her musical prowess and startling colours never failed to dazzle her audiences and Squigbox had fallen in love with her the first time he watched her play.

He’d darted up to the brilliant woodpecker straight after her final encore and told her she’d knocked him out with what he called the perfect punch; pounding loudness, delicate touches and long sections of well-rolled rhythm.

Minim had laughed and blushed, and made him promise to come to her next concert and Squigbox had been at the front of the queue for every other concert on the tour.

Minim flew beside her husband and they sang a Gazongian ballad called “The Journey”, a tale of a bird’s search for the love of his life; a striking golden Aquila who’d been captured by an envious foreign overlord. The bird’s hunt took him across the archipelago moons and farther than he’d ever been from home.

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