
<blockquote> <b>Somewhere out there, the ship is waiting to take them home . . . </b> </blockquote> <p> Here's what Masklin has to do: Find Grandson Richard Arnold (a human!). Get from England to Florida (possibly steal jet plane for this purpose, as that can't be harder than stealing the truck). Find a way to the "launch" of a "communications satellite" (whatever those are). Then get the Thing into the sky so that it can call the Ship to take the nomes back to where they came from. </p> <p> It's an impossible plan. But he doesn't know that, so he tries to do it anyway. Because everyone back at the quarry is depending on him -- and because the future of nomekind may be at stake . . . </p>