Thomas and Friends: Thomas and the Comet Trains (children's story)

 

On the Island of Sodor, the trains work hard everyday. It is a time of preparation.  The Sodor Anniversary is approaching. 

    Thomas is working on his branch line with  Annie and Clarabel. Thomas had just left the station when he noticed a strange looking engine ahead of him. It moved around a bend, but when Thomas followed, it was gone.

 That night at Tidmouth Sheds, Thomas tells the other engines about seeing the strange engine. 

  “I saw the train ahead of me, when I was pulling the express today,” said Gordon. 

“I saw it this morning!” peeped Percy “It moved faster than Gordon or Spencer!”  Edward, James, Emily, Toby and Henry saw it too. This confused Thomas as well as the other engines. How could all the engines see the same engine while pulling trains on different parts of the island?

“We should all look for this engine tomorrow.” Said Emily. 

  The engines all agreed.

The next morning, Thomas was at Knapford Station when Sir Topham Hat walked by. 

  “Sir, I must tell you about something strange that I and the other engineers have seen.”

 Sir Topham Hat was surprised. “Something strange, Thomas?” He said. “What do you mean?”

Thomas told Sir Topham Hat about what he and the other trains had seen.

“Thank you for telling me about this, Thomas” Sir Topham Hat said. “I will look into this.”

Thomas smiled. “Thank you, sir.” Thomas said, and hurried off.

Thomas came to the Sodor Rescue Center. Harold the Helicopter was their. 

“Hello Thomas,” said Harold.

“Hello Harold, said Thomas. “ Have you seen a strange engine while you were flying around the island?”

Harold thought. “I did see a strange engine Thomas, “ Harold said. “ I saw it yesterday while I was out on patrol. The strange thing was, the engine wasn’t on the tracks. It was flying over the trees!”

Thomas was surprised.

“I tried to follow it” Harold continued, “but it was too fast.”

Just then Belle arrived at the Rescue Center. 

“ Hello Thomas. Hello Harold.  How are you both today?” Belle said. 

  Thomas smiled, “We're talking about a strange engine we've both seen. Have you seen one Belle?” 

Belle was quiet then she said, “Yes I have.” This time Harold was surprised!

 “I saw the engine last night” Belle continued, “but it was going into the tunnel to Misty Island.” 

Thomas's boiler bubbled with excitement. 

“I'm heading to Misty Island, maybe I can see it again.”

 Thomas began to leave. “Harold you and Belle must tell Sir Topham Hat right away,” he said. “He will know what to do.”

Thomas hurried into the tunnel to Misty island. On his way through the tunnel, Thomas heard a strange sound and light coming towards him. He applied his brakes hard and stopped just as the light and sound approached. The noise shook the whole tunnel, making rocks and dust fall from the ceiling. Just then, the sound and light began to dim and the dust began to settle,

There before Thomas just a few feet before him was the strange Engine!  It was looking at Thomas. 

The engine smiled and giggled. "Crystal Comets, that was close! Sorry if I scared you."

   Thomas was stunned. He had never seen an engine like this before. It wasn't built like a steam engine or a diesel engine or like any of the engines on Sodor. The strangest part was that it just seemed to hover above the tracks. 

"H-H-Hello," Thomas says in a trembling voice. "M-My name is T-Thomas." 

The strange engine smiled brightly. "Hello and Greetings to you Thomas. It's a great pleasure to meet you. My name is Halley." 

 Thomas was surprised, but he smiled.  This engine seemed very friendly. 

  "Halley, umm...I hope you won't mind me saying this, but I have never seen an engine like you before on Sodor." Thomas swallowed nervously. "Do you come from the mainland?"

  Halley smiled and laughed a very funny laugh and said, "I don't mind at all Thomas. I should apologize for not introducing myself earlier in my visit, but I was just so anxious to see all of the Island of Sodor." 

"You see Thomas, I'm not from the mainland." Halley continued, "I'm from the Space Lines. I'm a Comet engine!"
  Thomas' eyes widened with wonder. "A Comet Engine?!" Thomas said, "What is that?"

Halley smiled happily. "Comet engines travel on the space train lines. We take passengers and freight between the planets, moons and solar neighborhoods in the Milky Way."

Thomas' mouth dropped open. "You pull train's out in SPACE?! I didn't know it was even possible for trains to do that!

Halley smiled and laughed. "Oh, Comet trains are very special engines Thomas. We don't run like other engines."

Halley seemed to bounce on the tracks. "I had heard how beautiful the island was and how amazing the other engines were here." Thomas smiled brightly.
"I have so many questions," Halley continued, "and I want to know everything about Sodor." 

Thomas smiled. "We all want to be really useful engines. We do our jobs the best we can. Sir Topham Hat gives us our jobs and we do them. Proving we can be Really useful." 

   Halley smiled at Thomas. "I would very much like to meet your Sir Topham Hat. I want to see and learn all I can about your railway and about the engines and people who work on it. Will you show me Thomas?"

Thomas' boiler bubbled and his pistons peeped. He had never been so excited! 

"Follow me to the Sodor Search and Rescue center”Thomas said. “I will have him meet us there." 

When Thomas and Halley arrived at the Rescue Center, everyone was very surprised. They had never seen an engine like Halley before.
Thomas' boiler was about to burst with excitement. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet, Halley the Comet Engine!"
  Halley smiled brightly and blew her horn, "Hello and Greetings to you all. I'm very glad to meet you."

A little while later Sir Topham Hat arrived at the rescue center. When he walked over to Thomas and saw Halley for the first time, he stopped so suddenly his hat fell off. Thomas stifled a giggle as best he could. 

  "Sir, this is Halley the Comet engine. She is visiting Sodor from the space train lines."

  Halley smiled a very friendly smile and spoke,  "Hello and greetings Sir Topham Hat. It is a pleasure to meet you."

  Sir Topham Hat steadied himself and recovered his hat. "I'm very pleased to meet you as well, Uh..Halley was it?" 

  "Yes sir," Halley said. "I hope I haven't caused too much confusion or delay. I wanted to see the Island of Sodor."

    Sir Topham Hat smiled at this. "Why, uh thank you, Halley. We do enjoy when visitors come to our island." He straightened himself. "But I would like to know where you are from and Why you have come to visit Sodor."

Halley smiled brightly. "Sir, I would be happy to tell you. I'm here representing the Intergalactic Space Lanes. We transport freight loads and passengers around the planetary systems throughout the Milky Way galaxy. I was sent here because your island has very rare and valuable materials that are needed on other planets." 

  "That is extraordinary!" Sir Topham Hat said surprised. "How did you learn of our island?" 

  Halley smiled, "Oh, the Captain has known about your island and train railway for some time," Halley said. "He's told us stories about your island regularly."

  Sir Topham Hat stood up straighter and adjusted his hat. "Well, I hope to be able to meet your, Captain? "

  Halley bobbed,"Oh yes, sorry. His name is Captain Magnus Quartermain of the Intergalactic Space Lanes. He sent me here to meet with you and give you his proposal."

  Sir Topham Hat smiled the biggest smile Thomas had ever seen. "I would be happy to see your Captain Quartermaine's proposal." 

  Thomas and Halley both smiled. 

"Here is the proposal Sir," Halley said, and a large mechanical arm came out from the side of Halley holding a set of papers.
  "Captain Quartermain said to take your time reading it and that I should return with your response whenever you are ready."

 The metal hand reached Sir Topham Hat's outstretched hands and dropped the papers into them. 

  Sir Topham Hat smiled brightly. "I will go over these papers immediately. It shouldn't take long, but it may be a few days."

 Sir Topham Hat looked at Halley crooking his head to the side, "Is there ....uhhh....anything that you will need while you stay with us? "

“I would just need someplace to rest during the night, Sir” Halley said politely. “I understand your engines stay in sheds? That will work perfectly for me.”

   Sir Topham Hat smiled. “Yes of course. Thomas?” 

Thomas pulled up next to Halley. “Yes, Sir.” Thomas said.

 “I would like for you to take Halley on a tour of the Island of Sodor.” Sir Topham Hat said. “She is our guest and I want you to show her how all the engines work on the railway. Please show her each part of the island over the next few days and explain to her the rules and ways we do things here on the island.”
Thomas smiled brightly, his boiler bubbled. “Yes Sir. I will do my best to make Halley feel comfortable.
“I know you will.” Sir Topham Hat said. “ At night, Halley will stay with you and the other engines at Tidmouth Sheds.”

   He stepped closer and sternly looked right into Thomas’ eyes. “This is the most important special job I have ever given to an engine, Thomas. I’m counting on you to be responsible for Halley’s safety.” 

  “Can you do that for me, Thomas?” Sir Topham Hat asked.
“You can count on me, Sir. I won’t let you down.”

 Sir Topham Hat smiled kindly at Thomas. “Thank you, Thomas.”

Thomas took Halley with him on his branch line. While they traveled Thomas explained how the railway worked on the island.  

  Halley enjoyed hearing all about Thomas’ experiences and was asking question after question as they moved along the tracks.

  That night at Tidmouth Sheds, all the engines were excited to see Halley. Thomas chuffed up with Halley. 

Edward puffed up, "Welcome to Tidmouth Sheds, Halley. We are so happy to have you staying with us."

All the other engines greeted Halley with smiles and ‘Hello’s’

 Halley moved into one of the empty sheds and all the engines settled down to sleep.

The next was a busy day on the island of Sodor. All the engines were doing their best to be really useful. Halley was excited to see all the other engines at work. First, Thomas and Halley followed Henry when he took the “Flying Kipper” on it’s delivery run.  Afterwards, they followed Percy while he delivered the mail. At Knapford station,  Sir Topham Hat came up to speak with Halley. 

  “Halley, I’m speaking with my superiors,” Sir Topham Hat said. “I should have a response for you soon.”  

   Halley smiled brightly.  “Thank you sir, I’m having a wonderful time on your island,” Halley said happily. “Thomas has been a wonderful guide and all the other engines have been so friendly.”

Thomas smiled brightly and proudly. Sir Topham Hat smiled at Thomas. “I’m very happy to hear that, Halley. Thank you for being such a useful engine.”

   Thomas smiled from buffer to buffer and said, “Thank you sir.  Would it be alright if another engine took my branch line for the rest of the day?” Thomas asked. “I want to show Halley the other parts of the island and how the engines work hard everyday.”

  Sir Topham Hat smiled, “That will be fine Thomas. I will have Emily take over for you when you are finished here.”

  Once Thomas finished working his branchline in the morning, he took Halley over to see the other engines on Sodor. They stopped at the shunting yard where Diesel, Stanley, Philip and Charlie were shunting cars.   Along the way, Halley was able to watch Hiro and Henry pull a very long freight train to the docks, then follow Paxton up to the Blue Mountain Quarry, pulling a heavy load of slate. 

 Halley was amazed at how much work was done by all the engines on Sodor.  “Is it like this everyday, Thomas?” Halley asked, as they approached Knapford Junction. “Oh yes Halley.” Thomas replied, “It can get even busier depending on the day or week of the year.” 

  “Sir Topham Hat always has special jobs for us,” Thomas continued.

  Halley smiled at how proud Thomas was speaking about the work done on Sodor. As they arrived at Knapford Junction, Thomas came to a stop at the red signal.   

   Thomas thought for a minute and then asked, “What type of work do you do where you come from Halley?” 

  Halley smiled,”I do almost the same work you and your friends do, Thomas. I travel from planet to planet and many different solar systems, transporting passengers and freight to where it is needed.” 

  Thomas thought more about Halley was saying. “Halley,” Thomas began. “How are you able to move in space like that? 

  Halley thought about that for a minute. “Thomas,” She began,” I haven’t really had to explain it to someone before, but I will try my best.”  

  Halley began to speak to Thomas about how gravity is what holds the planets in the solar system together and allows them to spin and orbit around the sun.  She then began to describe that the same gravity that allows planets to move and holds the systems together is how she is able to travel between the planets and solar systems.  

  “We Comet engines have a special gravity drive system that allows us to move and travel in space,” Halley described.  “This gravity drive works in a similar fashion to the coal you use to make steam or like the fuel diesel engines use.” 

   Halley continued telling how the interstellar gravity drive grabs onto the gravity of stars and pulls the trains through the solar system and as the trains gain speed, the drive accelerates and opens a gravitational tunnel, also called a ‘Wormhole’, that allows the trains to move almost instantaneously from one solar system to another. 

  “What takes you steam and diesel engines several hours to travel from one side of the island to the other with heavy loads,” Halley described, “takes us Comet trains only a few minutes. Plus we also travel millions of miles across the galaxy in a short time.” 

  “What makes it even more special,” Halley continued, ”is that because our cargo and trains have zero gravity in space, we are able to pull large and heavy loads without much difficulty.”

  As Thomas listened to Halley talk about her jobs in space, he had always dreamed of being a high-speed engine traveling fast along the tracks, but hearing how Halley is able to travel across the space lanes at speeds so much faster than even Gordon can travel, really boggled his mind.
  “Wow!” Thomas said.

  Halley smiled kindly. “I realize now that you engines on the island of Sodor, work so much harder than I do on this railway,” Halley said. “You have to deal with gravity holding you and your loads back when you move. Meaning you have to use a great deal of energy to move your trains.”  

  Thomas was amazed. He had never even thought about how Halley was working in the space lines and what was involved with her working out in space.

That night at Tidmouth Sheds, Thomas helped explain Halley’s story to the other engines.  They all stared in wonder at the tale told by Halley and when the tale was finished, no one said a word.

 Percy was the first to say, “Halley, will you be going back out to space soon?”

 “When I get my answer from your Sir Topham Hat, I will need to report back to Captain Quartermain at the Interstellar lines.” Halley said.

  Thomas was worried and asked, “Halley, after you leave, will we see you again?”

Halley thought about that for a minute.  “Depending on what Sir Topham Hat says in the agreement, I could be back regularly....” Halley hesitated then, “or I may not be back at all.”

  The engines were silent after that.

The next day was a very busy day on the Island of Sodor. Thomas couldn’t help but worry that, if Sir Topham Hat didn’t agree to the proposal, Halley would never see Sodor again.   

  Just then, Hiro puffed up to Thomas and Halley.

“Thomas, Sir Topham Hat sent me to find you and Halley. He needs both of you at Wellsworth Station right away.”  Thomas and Halley followed Hiro to Wellsworth station. Sir Topham Hat was waiting for them on the platform along with the Sir Robert Duke of Sodor. 

  “Ahh..Thomas and Halley, good.” Said Sir Topham Hat. “ Halley, I would like to introduce Sir..”  “Sir Robert Norramby “The Duke of Sodor interrupted ecstatically.” I am so Very excited to meet you Halley.”

 Halley was surprised.  

  “Sir Topham has been telling me all about your mission here,” Sir Robert continued. “ I just had to meet this amazing train that has come to our planet, for myself.” He stopped and just stared wide eyed at Halley.

  Halley smiled gently. “I’m very pleased to meet you, Sir Robert Norramby,” Halley said. “Captain Quartermain said I should extend to you a very special greeting, From one world traveler to another.”

  Sir Robert seemed to swell with pride and awe. Sir Topham was surprised. 

“Captain Quartermain knows of Sir Robert too?” Sir Topham asked. 

Sir Robert was curious about this as well.

   Halley smiled. “Oh yes. Captain Quatermain is well aware of your island and the rest of the planet Earth. He has visited the planet many times before,” Halley continued. “He would have made his proposals himself, but he was worried he wouldn’t be taken seriously if he just said he was from the Intergalactic Space Lanes. That is why he sent me.”

 

  “Sir Robert has a special job for you and Halley, Thomas.” Sir Topham Hat said.

Sir Robert spoke then. “We have our special Sodor celebration coming up this weekend. All of Sodor and members of the Royal Court will be in attendance and it will be quite an enjoyable time for us all.”

   Thomas and Halley smiled brightly. 

Sir Robert continued, “We were hoping, Halley, that you would be our guest at the celebration.”

Halley was smiling the biggest smile Thomas had ever seen.  

  “Thank you so very much.” Halley said excitedly. “Sir Robert and Sir Topham, I would be honored to be your guest at the Sodor celebration.”

Sir Topham Hat and Sir Robert smiled brightly and nodded to each other. “Well now,” said Sir Robert. “There is much to be done before the festivities begin.”

  “You can count on me sir.” Thomas spoke proudly.

“I’m ready to help anyway I can sir,” Halley said excitedly.

“I’m very happy to hear it,” said Sir Topham Hat.

   Sir Robert smiled brightly. “I look forward to seeing you work Halley. I hope you won’t mind if I ask you some questions about where you are from and the work you do.”
Halley smiled,”Of course sir. I look forward to it.”

Thomas headed back out to his branch line to finish his work.  Halley followed along, looking forward to working more the following day.

The next day began busier than ever. Thomas and Halley arrived early at Ulfstead Castle. As they approached, Halley found herself slowing down and staring up at the castle. She had only seen the castle from a distance before, but now that she was up close, it was amazing. 

  All the engines began working. The preparations for the celebration involved not only decorating the castle and making sure the grounds were decorated and well groomed. Special platforms were built so that more trains could be a part of the celebration as experts on the train lines. There were exhibits about the history of the trains on Sodor. Sir Robert came out and gave each of the engines instructions on what they needed to do. 

 It was halfway through the day when a horn was sounded from the entrance. Thomas came over to the gates to see who it was. It was a complete surprise to see an old friend coming up with a heavy load.  Gator was coming up the hill.

  “Gator!” Thomas cried aloud, “ What are you doing here?”

“Hello Thomas!” Gator said cheerfully. “It’s wonderful to see you again! Sir Topham Hat said I would see you up here.  He brought me back from the mainland to help with preparations for the celebration. I’m going to be pulling the freight for the event from Brendam Docks.”

Thomas smiled, “It’s so wonderful to see you again Gator. We have a special visitor to the Island of Sodor for the celebration.”

  Gator smiled,”Who is this special visitor Thomas? I’d like to meet them.”

Just then Halley came down to rest next to Gator. “Hello, I’m Halley.”

Gator chuffed and gasped in surprise. Suddenly there was a crack and a snap and a section of Gator’s train began to roll back down the hill. Thomas gasped, “Oh no!” 

The cars were starting to gain speed. 

 Thomas began to chase the cars down the hill. He puffed his hardest to catch them. He had to get ahead of the cars to slow them down.  Thomas was fast, but the cars were faster.  Suddenly there was a whoosh and flash of gleaming metal. Halley flew down the tracks at supersonic speeds. Thomas was surprised. Halley moved quickly down the tracks to the back of the train, e even though the train cars were moving at a very high speed. 

   Using her special robot arms, Halley began to push them and slow them down.  It was just then that Percy was on his way up the hill, with a load of decorations for the celebration. He looked up and saw the train and Halley coming straight at him. 

    Percy gasped, “OH NO!” he cried.  

  Percy blew his whistle as loud as he could and slammed on his breaks, but he knew he couldn’t stop in time. Halley heard Percy’s whistle and knew she had to stop the train.  Halley fired her boosters and pushed as hard as she could. With a tremendous boom and blast, the air shook with the explosion from Halley’s boosters. 

“OH TREMBLING TRACKS!” Percy cried out in surprise. It was the loudest sound Percy had ever heard. Halley felt the train coming to a stop and cut off her boosters. She felt the weight of the train pushing against her and stop.

  Percy slowly backed up his train. Halley lifted up and turned to see Percy.
“Thundering meteors!” said Halley. “Are you alright Percy?”

Percy was quiet. Then he said with a stutter and a jutter, “I..I..I’m alr..r..right Hal..l..ley.” 

Just then Thomas and Gator arrived at the bottom of the hill. 
Thomas gasped, ”Percy are you alright?”

Gator was worried about his good friend Percy. “I’m so sorry Percy!” said Gator. “I was surprised by Halley and my cars came loose.”

  Percy was happy to see his good friend Gator. “It’s alright Gator.” Said Percy. “Halley saved me from the train. She was very fast and strong. It would have been a terrible crash if she hadn’t been here.”

  Halley turned to Gator. “I’m so sorry I scared you Gator.” Halley said. “I should have been more careful.” 

Gator smiled and let out a little chuckle. “Well isn’t this funny.” said Gator. “Usually it’s me who is scaring the other engines. I guess it was time for me to have a scare.”
  Thomas and Percy both gave a chuff and a giggle. Halley smiled with relief. Gator’s driver helped re-attached the train to Gator. Thomas helped Gator pull the train back up the hill. Halley helped Percy pull his train up the hill.
The rest of the day Thomas, Halley, Gator and Percy worked hard preparing the decorations and supplies for the Celebration.

  

A few days later it was the day of Celebration for the Island of Sodor’s Railway. People came from all over to Ulfstead Castle. There were visitors from the mainland, visitors from different parts of the world and all of Sodor came to celebrate the event. There were so many people coming to celebrate. All the hotels and inns on Sodor and the mainland were filled to capacity. The trains on the island of Sodor were extra busy and working their best to be really useful and make everyone happy.  There were special tours of all the rail lines for those who wanted a ride. 

 Halley was the happiest engine on Sodor.  Sir Topham Hat was introducing her to all the visitors and they all were interested in speaking with her.  Halley was enjoying every minute of her time and loved talking about her travels in space and her time on the Island of Sodor.

  The Celebration lasted for the whole weekend. 

  On the last day of the celebration, Sir Topham Hat, Mr. Percival and Sir Robert of Norramby gave special speeches of the trains on Sodor and of their experiences with the trains.  

   Just before dark, Sir Topham Hat was about to take the stage for the final speech of the night. When suddenly there was a tremendous BOOM in the skies above Sodor.  The crowd was stunned into silence. In the sky above the castle a great roar and a comet flew across the sky. It was an amazing site. The crowd and the engines all gasped and gaped in awe of the sight. The comet shot out wide and then began to come back around toward the castle.  

 

  Halley realized what was going on and thrusted herself up in the air and blew her horn as loud as she could. Everyone stopped and turned around to see Halley up in the sky.

“Everyone please calm yourselves!” she shouted to the crowd. “There is nothing to be worried about.” The crowd seemed to settle and calm but the people were still worried. Sir Topham Hat and Sir Robert came running over to Halley.

  “Halley!” called Sir Topham Hat. “Do you know what that comet is?” 

Halley lowered herself down to Sir Topham Hat and Sir Robert and smiled brightly. “I do know him Sir.” Halley said. “It is one of my oldest friends. His name is Swift-Tuttle. He is another Comet Engine like me.” 

  The crowd all gasped in wonder that there was going to be another comet engine on Sodor. The Comet which was now losing it’s bright colors and showing definite signs of the form of an engine under the light and color. Swift-Tuttle was beginning to descend to Ulfstead Castle.  Sir Topham Hat and Sir Robert looked at each other and back at Halley.
“Why is your friend Swift-Tuttle coming here, Halley?” Sir Robert asked curiously.
“I think sir that he is bringing a visitor to the island.” Said Halley. “That’s Captain Quartermaine's personal coach.”

  Sir Topham Hat and Sir Robert looked at each other in shock. Then the sound of thrusters and engine sounds came closer. Swift-Tuttle blew his horn and descended slowly down to the tracks.

  “Hello Sodor!” Bellowed Swift-Tuttle as he landed. “It’s a pleasure to be here.”

Halley laughed as her friend came to land. “Welcome, Swifty!” Said Halley. “I’m so happy to see you.”
“Hello Halley!” Said Swift-Tuttle with a smile. “The Captain wanted to see how you have been doing on your special mission.”

 Just then, there was a woosh and a hiss. The door on the passenger coach opened. Out stepped a man is a very fancy uniform. He was a very big and tall man. He had a very big smile on his face. His skin was like a peach but with some light blue mixed in. His hair was bright red and his beard was red with small streaks of grey.
  Sir Topham Hat and Sir Robert were aghast at the man that approached them. 

The man took off his hat and made a slight bow of his head and body to them both and smiled.
“Greetings and Salutations, Sir Topham Hat, Head of the Sodor Railway and Sir Robert Norramby, Earl of Sodor. “ The big man greeted. “I am Captain Magnus Quartermain of the Intergalactic Space Lanes. It is my great pleasure to make your acquaintance and to personally meet with you today on the celebration of the island of Sodor Railway Line.”

  Sir Topham and Sir Robert were astounded. They had never met such a man from another world. Sir Robert spoke first. “I am very pleased to meet you Captain Quartermain. Halley has been telling us all about you and your railway.”

  Sir Topham spoke next. “I am glad to meet a fellow railway controller Captain Quartermain. You must have a very well run railway with engines like Halley.”

Captain Quartermain smiled proudly. “Thank you my friends. I came today also to find out if you have had a chance to look over the proposal I sent with Halley for you.”

  Sir Topham smiled. “We have looked at your proposal and I have verified with my superiors that we would be very happy to begin working with the Intergalactic Space Lanes.”

  Sir Robert spoke next. “In addition, we would like to extend an invitation to the passengers and travelers of your Space Lanes that they are welcome to visit the Island of Sodor.”

   Captain Quartermain smiled brightly .“Thank you so much for agreeing with my proposal,” said Captain Quartermain. “I was hoping this would be a great partnership. I know there are many travelers on my space lanes that would enjoy visiting your beautiful island.”

 

The rest of the day included the firework show and the finishing of the festivities at the Celebration.  Sir Topham Hat and Sir Robert entertained Captain Quartermain with all the festivities of the last few days. The Captain was very impressed and asked more questions about the railways.

  Halley and Swift-Tuttle traveled around the celebration from above, taking in all the sights. Then Halley began introducing all the other engines at the Celebration to Swift-Tuttle and talking about their jobs on Sodor.  Swift-Tuttle was having a wonderful time .

The next day was a busy day on the Island of Sodor.  Halley and Swift-Tuttle stayed up at Ulfstead Castle. Captain Quartermain was a guest at Sir Robert’s home during the night. The next morning, Thomas arrived at Sir Robert’s home with Sir Topham Hat. 

  Thomas was very happy to see Halley up at Ulfstead Castle.  Halley and Swift-Tuttle were flying over the castle.

 “The ground is so green,” said Swift-Tuttle. “The sky is so blue. This is a very beautiful planet Halley. I can see why you wanted to visit it.”

 Halley smiled. “Everyone has been so nice and friendly, Swifty. I wish I could stay longer, I want to be like the engines on Sodor and be really useful.”

 Thomas blue his whistle. Halley heard Thomas and came down to meet him. Swift-Tuttle stayed right with Halley. 

 “Good morning Halley. Good morning Swift-Tuttle.” greeted Thomas happily. “How was your night at Ulfstead Castle?”

 “It was a wonderful night.” Said Swift-Tuttle. “I hope we get to stay a little longer so I can see the island.”

Just then, Sir Topham Hat and Sir Robert and Captain Quartermain all came out of the castle and onto the platform.

Captain Quatermain spoke up. “I’m afraid it is time for us to return to our jobs on the space lanes.”

  Thomas was sad. 

Halley moved up to Thomas.  “Thank you for being my friend, Thomas,” said Halley. “I hope I will see you again when I come back.”
Captain Quatermain laughed. “You will be seeing each other quite a lot when begin picking up deliveries, Halley. Swifty will be coming back as well to help with other orders as well.”
That made Thomas smile from buffer to buffer.

    Captain Quartermain boarded his car on Swift-Tuttle. He waved goodbye to all of Sodor.  Then Halley and Swift-Tuttle blew their horns and rose up into the sky. With a flash and a boom the Comet engines launched up and became comets in the sky, then vanished from sight.

  That night, Thomas and the other engines at Tidmouth Sheds stared up at the stars in the sky.

  “It was wonderful to meet Halley and Swift-Tuttle.” said the engines in agreement.

Thomas puffed quietly. “It would be wonderful to travel into space with them,” said Thomas. “But I will be happy to see Halley again.”

 So, Thomas and the other engines fell asleep at Tidmouth Sheds. They dreamed about traveling through space with their new friends The Comet Engines.