High above Whistling Canyon, Ruby the red rescue helicopter hovered in the evening air, her rotors beating a steady *whop-whop-whop*. Far below, two hikers waved frantically from opposite sides of the narrow canyon—one on the east peak, one on the west. Dark storm clouds gathered behind the mountains, rumbling softly.
Ruby's special spinning rescue basket whirred as it rotated left, then right. But even stretched to its longest cable, the basket could only reach one hiker at a time. The canyon yawned too wide between them, and those storm clouds meant Ruby had just one chance to get this right.
Halfway down the eastern slope, something yellow caught Ruby's eye. Squeaky the mountain cable car sat tilted sideways on his track, his long steel cable snapped and trailing down the mountainside like a silver ribbon. His little bell jingled sadly in the breeze.
Ruby's spinning basket *whirred* into action. She lowered it carefully around Squeaky's middle, her cable creaking under his weight. "Hold tight!" she called, lifting the little cable car high above both mountain peaks.
At the western peak, Ruby used her basket's special spinning power to position Squeaky perfectly. *Whirr-click-whirr* went the mechanism as she rotated him just so, then gently set him down on the rocky outcrop. His cable now stretched all the way across the canyon to the eastern peak.
At the rescue base, Ruby's skids touched down on the landing pad with a soft *thunk*. Her rotors gradually slowed their spinning, the *whop-whop-whop* fading to a gentle whisper. One by one, the first stars appeared between the parting storm clouds.
