The moon was almost gone, and the mountains of Redwall were darkly shadowed in the light it cast. A trailer park sat at the foot of the mountain.
A light in a tiny trailer flicked on. Inside, a squirrel looked at a chart while sipping a cup of instant tea. He placed his pen on the chart and drew a line from one dot to another and circled the open area between the two. He pulled a long thin box out from under the table and opened the side door.
He locked the entryway behind him and walked over to his old pickup truck. Stashing the box in the bed, he entered the cab and turned the ignition key. The truck sputtered.
"Come on baby, start for your daddy. I promise I'll give you a tuneup, only if you help me this one time." The truck sputtered in reply. The squirrel whacked the dashboard hard, quickly bringing the truck to life.
"Good darlin', I love you too."
The truck coughed and wheezed up the road on the mountain. The squirrel continued speaking to his cherished vehicle. Then, it sputtered once more and stalled. The squirrel whacked the truck, turned the key, and even got out to look under the hood. He pounded the roof of the truck.
"Yep, she's dead," he groaned. "Ah well."
He pulled the key and walked to the bed. He picked up the long box. He sighed and began walking up the mountain. Before he was even halfway up, he was tired. "I dun believe it. Come on, I'm a squirrel, climbing's in our genes. This should be easy."
He finally reached the top and was panting and breathing heavily. He swallowed and gulped for air. "Oh, my head."
He looked over the scenery below him. The mountains were so high, that he could even see as far enough to view the massive Floret Ruins. The squirrel smiled and breathed in the cold fresh air. Opening the box, he dumped the contents out on the small cliff top.
Inside was a wooden stick, a metal tube and a wooden box. He picked up the stick and turned this and that, forming it into a tripod. He shoved the metal tube onto it and adjusted a few knobs. He opened the box and pulled out a tiny plastic tube, which he stuck in the very end of the metal tube.
Peering through the tiny tube only revealed darkness. He groaned, "I'm getting old, I forgot the lens cap." After removing he cover on the tube, he was finally ready. Looking again through the tiny tube, he saw a twinkling star. The squirrel recalled his chart and panned upward, finding the other star. He scanned the area in between the two and it revealed nothing. "Well, nothing today. Sorry old friend," the squirrel said to no one in particular.
He picked up the box ready to pack it up and bumped into the telescope. He shrugged and sighed, "Guess I could take a few more minutes." He looked into the lens and blinked. He looked again. "What's that?"
The phone rang. The house was quiet. It rang again. A groan came from upstairs. "I'm coming, I'm coming, just hold your horses!" Ring. A badger came down the steps, holding a pink bath robe tight. She ripped the phone off the receiver.
"Yeah! What do you want?"
"Umm, is this Amber Rosé? The astronomer?"
"Yah, it's me, what's your reason for waking me up?" The red numbers on the clock seemed to be tiny stars in Amber's eyes.
"The name's Marcus Woodclaw, retired Sergeant from the Royal Air Force of Redwall."
Amber rubbed her eyes. "Good for you, I'm happy to hear that. May I go to sleep?"
"Not until you hear this. I was looking in the sky and I found a strange object between Tammo and Streamsleek."
Amber nodded and looked at a star chart hanging on her wall. It was a crude copy that she had drawn in college. She saw perfectly the two stars that Marcus was talking about.
"All right, what's so important about this that you need to ask me at..." She paused, snatching up the alarm clock. "Two in the morning?"
"Just the fact that you own Loamhedge's biggest observatory."
"Okay, I'll look tomorrow, can I get some shut eye now?"
"Sure. I'll probably be talking to you later."
"Not if I can help it."
Amber slammed the phone down and yawned. "I need to get an answering machine."
Amber woke up earlier than usual. She had her glasses on and was reading her work schedule. She grumbled as she realized that her whole day would be spent trying to find a small object in the sky between two tiny stars. Outwardly she still considered it work, but inwardly it was entertainment.
She climbed down the steps and saw an old mole sitting at the table. "Good morning Andre."
The mole smiled, "Mornin marm, har you'm up for some brekkist?"
"Maybe later. Got a new thing to look at."
Andre nodded and turned back to his food. Amber looked at the marvelous fare of waffles, toast, eggs, and sausage. Her mouth watered.
"You know what, maybe I will eat breakfast."
"Hurr, knew you'm would marm. Oi'm done ere, sos oi'll go to th' garden and pull some thurr weedins."