Squeaky's Branch Room

... "This is the Branch Room, boys. It connects us to the resident eagle's nest. The magical part about the branch corridor is that as you crawl towards the eagle's nest, you will become smaller and smaller so that by the time you reach the nest you will be the same size as the nestlings. You are lucky because four nestlings just hatched two days ago.

This adventure will let you experience what it is like to be a nestling. But. you must be careful and keep a lookout for the eagle. At this time of the day, the eagle is usually out looking for worms for her young and so you can spend some time with the nestlings and explore the nest a little." Before I could say anymore, the boys were already climbing up the ladder and crawling through the branch corridor. As usual, the risk-taker was right in front, followed by his cautious elder brother. The branch corridor was rather irregular in shape and looked exactly like the inside of a big branch. Little glow worms were all over the ceiling of the corridor, providing a lovely but dim light, which enabled them to see their way through to the eagle's nest.

When Bryan reached the end of the branch corridor, he encountered a small door made of twigs. He searched for the door handle but couldn't find it. He peeped through the tiny peep-hole and waited for his Kor and Squeaky to catch up. He could see the nestlings calling out hungrily for food and it seemed as if his heart was pounding right inside his ear. Oooh, this is so exciting, I wish I could tell my friends about this, Bryan thought to himself, as he waited patiently for the rest to catch up. ...

Squeaky's Secret Laboratory

..."Boys, welcome to my Secret Laboratory." "W-h-o-a! This is so cool! Squeaky," said Brandon. Bryan was speechless!

This room was a little like the branch room that led to the eagle's nest. However, this was a lot bigger because it was the tree's oldest branch and thus very broad. The room tapered off at the end of the branch. On each side of the room were shelves with pigeon-holes in it. Each pigeon-hole was one foot by one and a half feet and was lighted. In each pigeon-hole was a gadget of some sort. I stressed that they were not to touch anything without my permission as some of the items were actually work- in-progress or WIPs.

At the centre of the room was a long work bench with rows and rows of colourful chemicals in tubes that were neatly tucked into an exceedingly long tube stand. There were numerous boxes of raw materials, also stacked very neatly. There were labels on all the chemical tubes and boxes. Most of the tools strewn on the table were miniscule tools, much smaller than those that the boys' father would use. There was a very powerful microscope at one corner of the work bench and a welding gun on the other. On both sides of the work bench were many drawers containing other equipment.

"Squeaky, why are there three different coloured lights in the pigeon-holes?" asked the inquisitive one.

"Good question, Bryan. The pigeon-holes with the green lights actually contain ready-to-use gadgets which I have tested and am happy with the results. Those with the red lights contains obsolete gadgets or gadgets that did not perform the functions that I wanted and thus require modifications. They are waiting for bright ideas of recycling or modifications to hit me." ...