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Chapter 10 continued...

"I think I better leave it alone," said XL. He turned away from the rabbit and faced Beeba and Max.

"Why?" asked Beeba.

"I don't want to interfere with the natural balance of nature. It is fate that put the rabbit here, and fate will decide if it gets gobbled up or escapes."

"Oh, come on!" exclaimed Beeba. "The net is not a natural part of nature. And as for fate, we create our own fate. I have decided that this rabbit's fate is to live."

"I'm sorry, but we don't have time for this," said XL. "It's afternoon already, and we need to get back to the spa before they close."

XL started skiing back toward the road, but Beeba didn't follow. Beeba skied to the rabbit, reached down to the cord above the rabbit and lifted most of it off. There were two loops around the rabbits back foot, and he had to hold the rabbit's leg in order to get the leg untangled.

Then he let go, and the rabbit bounded away. After it was a safe distance, it stopped for a moment and turned back to face Beeba. Then it turned away again and hopped into the bush.

"It's too bad we didn't bring any carrots," said Beeba, thinking about his own lunch box that was waiting for him in Saucer 1. "Anyway, it has a chance now. I know I can't help every little animal in the forest, but I feel good about helping this one."

Meanwhile XL had gotten almost all the way back to the road. Max called out to him. "Wait, XL, come back. There is a better route to take."

When XL got back, Beeba asked him, "Aren't we going to explore a bit, to discover whether they really left this place permanently, or if they are just on vacation."

"I told you already that we don't have any more time," answered XL. He turned to his dad, "Right dad?"

"I'm not sure what else we might discover," answered Max, "so if you want to leave now we can. The map shows a public boat launch just 50 meters from here, so let's depart that way."

Beeba looked puzzled. Of what use is a boat launch in the winter?

"We'll ski down the launch to the ice" said Max.

Beeba and XL followed Max. The boat launch was not far from the house. It was a gradual slope that led out onto the ice. On either side of the launch, the ground was about a meter above the ice surface, so the launch provided an easy way to ski onto the ice. All three of them skied onto the lake, and then XL pulled out his remote control to call Saucer 1 to them.

"Now that we're in the clear", there will be no risk of the elevator being tangled in tree branches," explained Max.

Two minutes later they were back in Saucer 1, heading to meet XL's mother and sister who they left at the spa.

Beeba grabbed his lunch as he looked out the windows. "At last!" he said, with a smile on his face.

"Do you think of nothing else?" asked XL, as he pulled a sandwich out of his own lunch box.

"Look who's taking!" answered Beeba.

Copyright Arthur de Leyssac, 2017. All rights reserved.