Research is to author as combat is to

answer: he just dumps them all in his mouth

explanation:

21 balloons is the story of professor william sherman's travels.

in 1883, he set off from san francisco for a balloon ride over the pacific and was found a month later floating with 21 balloons in the atlantic ocean. this seemed an astounding feat and everyone wanted to know what had happened.    

professor sherman was loyal, however, and said he would tell his tale first to the western american explorers club in san francisco, of which he was a member. this built up suspense for several chapters before he began to tell of the wonders of his adventures and the amazing island of krakatoa, an island which had just been blown up by a volcano.  

the residents of krakatoa are all millionaires who live under a "gourmet government" of their own devising. we get to see all the incredible adventures that creative people with unlimited resources would create according to the author.

i am a strong (insert gender here) my father and his brother were to, they were killed not by the cold, not by the bears or wolves that roam our streets at night, but by the   bolsheviks. we must stand up and fight communism or we all end up dead, starved dehydrated, enslaved. the time is now we must fight. lenin is a dangerous man but he can be stopped. so my comrades we shall siege there weapons tonight on ward. (rides away with ak(not invented yet) and sword in hand while on bear into snowstorm)

what are the questions?