Little Problems....
(Second Chapter in the "Visitor" series..)
The sky over the city was wracked by lightning as the storm
raged on. In fact, it was the preverbial dark and stormy night, that
all villans love. Proffesor Norton Nimul, evil genius and mad
scientist, was working feverishly on his next plan to conqueor the
world. He was tinkering with a large metal box, humming to himself,
and refering to a set of blueprints on a table. The blueprints read,
simply, "A device to take over the world!, by N.N.", underneath the
snappy caption was a complex diagram showing the device in various
states of assembly. Strangly enough, under the section entitled
"Parts:", Ductape was listed as a key ingrediant. Suddenly he
straightend to his full height, four foot five inches, and laughed in
the way all evil scientists do.....
"Mwwhahahaha! my device is almost complete! Soon I will rule
the world!"
There was a bright flash of lightning, adding to the effect.
That soon faded however, as the power went out.
"Blast! Why does that always happen! Where's that
flashlight??", Nimul knocked several things on the floor.
"Morning guys.", Arron greeted the Rescue Rangers as he
joined them for breakfast. He wa slightly out-of-place, being the
only human in the group. He was trapped here, on an Earth parrellel
to his own, when a spacecraft he had been testing malfunctioned. He
had been forced to destroy the craft after Fat Cat got his paws on it
and started arming his men with high-tech weapons. That was all about
a month ago, and Arron has settled in quite well.
"Morning Arr, how was your night?", asked Chip, as Monty
dumped several cheese pancakes on their plates.
"Not bad, thanks....umm...Monty?"
Monty stuck his head around the corner from the
kitchen,"Hmm?"
"Not to be disrespectful, but, haven't we been having cheese
pancakes every morning for a week?"
The others smiled knowingly, Arron still hadn't gotten used
to Monty's cooking.
"Too right! I made to much batter and I can't allow good
cheese to go to waste!", he went back to the kitchen. Arron looked
like he wanted to say more, but Gadget grabbed his arm and shook her
head no. He shrugged, smiled, and began to eat his pancakes. As he
did he thankfully thought, At least there is no more cheese
syrup......
"What do you mean you won't be able to restore power for two
days!?!?", Nimul shouted into the phone.
"Just that, sir, the storm took out the southern power
transformer, everything there is out for two days."
"But I need that power tonight! I'm supposed to take over the
world!", Nimul whinned.
"I'm sorry sir, there is nothing I can do...", Nimul hung up,
leaving the operator pondering.
"Of all the incompetent people....I hate the power company!",
Nimul exploded, "Oh, well. I guess all I can do now is
wait...."
After breakfast Arron activated his small computer, one of
the few things he had left from his previous life. Gadget had been a
big help in getting the thing working, it was made from spare parts.
The computer booted up to Dale's favorite video game, Meteoroids.
Arron shook his head as he exited the game, How many times do I have
to tell him not to leave it running!, he thought. Through his and
Gadgets engineering knowhow, and good luck, the computer was linked
into the internet. All of the Rangers had their own E-mail, although
a certian mouse got a lot more letters..... Arron quickly checked
his, saw there was none, and interfaced with the police department.
"Hey guys! That storm last night knocked out the entire south
side!"
"Really? Cool!", Dale, as usual, grined like an idiot.
"Anything else Arron?", asked Chip. The computer made several
whirring noises as Arron checked.
"Nope, a pretty quite night..."
"Ok bucko, let me check my mail!", said Gadget, that certian
mouse.
"Bucko?", Arron slid out of the seat, "If you can call me
"Bucko" I can call you Gadg."
Gadget grimaced and snorted, "Not if you want to live to see
tomorrow."
Chip and Dale looked at each other and shrugged, the two
inventors seemed to like to go on like that a lot.
Arron shrugged, "Well, "Gadg", is better than....."
"Don't finish that sentence!", Gadget shot him a look.
Arron looked like he was going to finish the sentence when
Dale spoke up.
"Hey, Arr, you said you wanted to check something on the
Wing?"
"Yes, I'm worried about that starboard motor....."
"Lets check it out while we check out the power outage!",
Dale excitedly said.
"Hmmm....ok, hey, GADG, can I borrow the keys?"
Gadget was totally engrossed in a letter, "Sure......hey!
Wait a sec! Don't call me that!"
Arron, however, had already left the room. Leaving Chip to
bare the brunt of Gadget's fury.
Soon, the Ranger Wing was zipping along toward the southern
power transformer. Arron was piloting, he also checked two small
voltmeters. The one on the right kept wiggling. Dale was siting in
the passengers seat, he was watching the ground zip by.
"Well, Dale, we should be near that transformer...."
Dale pointed at some smoke, "Its over there."
Arron banked the Wing toward the smoke. As he did the
starboard motor lost speed, it went unnoticed.
"Whoa! Smash city!", Dale exclamed as he sighted the twisted
transformer.
"Geez, thats going to take a while to fix...."
Just then the starboard motor sputtered, drawing Arron's
attention. The voltmeter for that motor was pegged, indicating a
short. He looked over to the motor, it was slowing visibly now, and
spewing smoke. The Wing began to spiral as the port motor pushed it
around.
"Hey! Fly straight!", Dale said.
"Uh, Dale? Get your chute on....we're in trouble."
"Huh?", Dale looked over, "Oh man!"
Arron struggled with the Wing, he throttled the port motor
back to compensate. Flames became visible behind the starboard motor.
He reached for the radio.
"Wing to HQ, Wing to HQ....do you copy?"
Monty's voice came back, "I read you mate, whats wrong?"
"Monty, we're losing power, the starboard motors out and on
fire....."
"What!?!? Fire! Can you get back here?"
"No, we have to land soon, before we stop flying and start
falling...."
Dale gulped as he tightened his parachute, "Don't say
Falling..."
Chip's voice took over, "Where are you?"
"We will put down near this funny looking domed building on
the south side...."
Just then the radio died, the short in the motor having
drained the battery. Both motors were dead now, Arron was going to
have to attempt a dead stick landing.
"Hang on Dale!", he yelled.
The landing was suprisingly picture perfect, no new damage.
Arron quickly threw sand on the fire and put it out. The actual
damage was supeficial, however the batteries were dead and the wiring
shot. Dale finally climbed out and stood, shaking, next to the Wing.
"You ok Dale?"
"Y..y..y...yeah...I...I...guess....."
"Calm down! We're fine now, the others will come and pick us
up. Until then lets find some wire and some batteries, maybe we can
fly out."
The two walked the short distance to the funny looking domed
building....
"Nimul's, they had to land near Nimuls...", Chip muttered.
"Don't worry, I'm sure their fine", Monty said. Zipper added
his reassurences as well.
Gadget, Chip, and Monty were all riding in the Ranger Buggy,
a co-invention of Gadgets and Arrons. It was a metal tube vehical,
with four large off-road tires and four regular seats. A fifth seat
was located above the engine in a turret with dual plunger guns. The
vehical was zipping toward the crash site at its maxium speed, 89
mph. Gadget was driving like she was possessed, probally blaming
herself for not taking Arron's warnings about the Wing seriously. It
was a good thing that they had installed five-point harnesses in the
seats. They screeched to a halt near the Wing.
"Dosn't seem to be all that much damage.", Gadget stated.
"Hello? Hheelloo?", Monty called.
"I wonder where they are?", Chip mused.
Arron and Dale were searching Nimul's place for some wire and
batteries when a shadow fell over them.
"Well, well, what do we have here...", Nimul grinned evilly.
"Oh no! Nimul! Run Arron!", Dale began to back away, Arron
followed.
"You can't leave yet! You haven't seen..", Nimul brought his
hand from behind his back, "this!"
He pointed a large gun at Arron and Dale and pulled the
trigger. Dale yelled as the blue beam engulfed them. There was a loud
POP and a flash, when the smoke cleared Dale and Arron were gone.
"HAHAHAHA!!", Nimul laughed insanely.
The remaining Rangers froze outside.
"Did you here that?", Gadget asked, her eyes wide.
"It sounded like Dale, and it was coming from Nimul's!",
answered Chip
They burst into a run and entered Nimul's lab.
"Dale?", Chip called.
A shadow fell over them as well, they turned and gasped.
"My, my! More rodents!", Nimul pointed the gun at the others.
"Uh oh...", Gadget said.
Nimul pulled the trigger, the blue light surronded Chip,
Gadget, Zipper, and Monty. Soon they also disappeared. Nimul put the
gun away and grinned.
"I hate rodents...."
Gadget, Chip, Monty and Zipper shot out of a glowing vortex
and crashed into the ground.
"Oooff!", the wind was knocked out of Monty as he hit a rock.
Gadget sat up, it was dark and she could hardly see. It was
obvious that they where in the mountains, however.
"Where are we?", she asked.
"In my world", the Rangers jumped, "at least, I think thats
where we are", Arron emerged from the shadows.
"Arron! Where's Dale?", Chip jumped up.
"I'm here!", there was a crashing noise and Dale came rolling
down a hill, "I meant to do that!"
"Why is it so dark?", Monty
gasped.
"Because its night here, our time dosn't overlap with this
world", Gadget stated, Arron nodded approval.
"We'll camp here till morning", offered Chip. The others
agreed.
Daylight brought about an interesting revelation....
"Hey! We're big!", Dale shouted, shocked.
"This is interesting....", Gadget muttered.
"You know, I think we are near Control!", Arron said excidly.
Control was the base from which his ship was launched. The
other Rangers looked at him, interested.
"How can that be? You land in our world small, we go to your
world and become large, and land near the site of this
"Control"...", Chip mused.
"Hmm....that is interesting....I have a theory. Maybe I am
acting like an anchor, entering my world at the same location
I left it, albeit on the surface, not in orbit....", Arron offered.
"That might be possible, at least it makes sense", Gadget
agreed.
"Mates, now that we're big, we have a new problem....",
started Monty.
"Whats that?", asked Dale.
"We are big, thats the problem! I mean, the only one who can
pass as a human is Arron, and he is human!", he finished.
"Oh"
"I can get what we need, follow me, there is a lot of
equipment in the lab....", Arron walked uphill.
Nimul was working on his invention, making some last minute
adjustments while he waited for power. Suddenly the lights came on.
"Finally! Tonight I start to take over the world!", he closed
the device and pluged it in.
"In precisly two hours, give or take an hour, I'll activate
my machine! MWHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Nimul patted his pockets, a growing look of concern on his
face.
"Darn! I misplaced the key! Again!", he scurred off to find
it.
The Rangers stood outside a large metal door, a sign on it
read, "Closed".
"They closed Control?!?!", Arron was shocked.
"So we'll have to bust our way in! Stand clear!", Monty
backed away to get a running start.
"Monty! Wait!", the others called, but it was to late. Monty
ran full speed into the three foot thick titanium door. It didn't
even wiggle, just let out a load "GONG!", that echoed down the
mountain. Monty fell onto his back and stared at the sky. The others
leaned over him.
"Are you ok, Monty?", asked a very concerned Gadget.
"I'm fine, just admiring the clouds.....", he chuckled back.
"He's fine", Dale stated.
Arron reached over to the side of the door and brushed off
some leaves. He revealed a small key card slot with three lights. The
green power light was on, along with the red locked light.
"Hmmm...if I only had my card.....", Arron mumbled.
"What?", asked Chip.
"Wait here, I'll be back in an hour.", Arron turned to leave.
"Where are you going?", called Gadget.
"To get a key", Arron called over his shoulder.
KNOCK....KNOCK...
"One second! I'm comming!", Billy walked toward his door.
KNOCK...KNOCK....
Billy opened the door, his jaw dropped. Outside stood Arron.
"Hi Bill, how are you?"
"Y...y...y..your....dead!"
Arron looked at himself, "I am? Funny, I don't feel dead."
Billy reached out and grabbed Arron's arm, Arron flinched.
"Hey! You don't need to tear my arm off!"
Billy chuckled, "No, I guess your not dead....where have you
been?"
"It's a long story, and unfortantly I don't have time."
Billy crossed his arms, "Try it."
Arron sighed, "Ok, I'll give you the condensed version. When
you lost contact with the ship I was catapuleted into a different
dimension. A parrallel Earth. I was injured and rescued by some of
the inhabitants. Unfortantly a crime lord got his hands on my ship
and used the Power Reactor Interlock Heater Lasers as weapons. I was
then forced to destroy the ship", Arron stopped for a breath," I am
not really sure how we came to be here, some maniac pointed a gun at
us and then, here we were. Now, I need the key to Control...."
"We? You mean some of the people from the other Earth came
with you?"
"Yes, five of them."
"Can I meet them?"
"Well....their a little, um..., different....." Just then
Gadget came out of the woods behind Arron.
Billy's jaw dropped again, "I belive that.......who is she?",
he pointed. Arron turned.
"Gadget! I thought you were going to wait by the door!", he
exclaimed.
"You've been gone almost an hour and a half, I decided to see
if you were ok", she smilled at Bill.
"Hello Miss, are the inhabitants of your world all mice?"
"No, Humans consider themselves the domainent species",
Gadget offered.
"Actually, its an interesting world. The crime lord who stole
my ship was a cat...", Arron added.
"You need the key? Ok, I'll be right back", Billy disappeared
into his house.
"Coming down here was a bad idea Gadget, what if someone sees
you?", Arron asked.
"They won't, there is no one around for miles, and this man
here is a friend of yours."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call him a friend..."
From inside the house came the sound of rushing air. Gadget
grabed at her left shoulder and pulled out a small dart. She looked
up at Arron in shock then collapsed as the tranquilizer took effect.
Arron whirled around to face the house. Billy was standing in the
doorway with a small air gun.
"The government will love this!", Billy said happily.
"Why did you do that!", Arron was almost shaking in rage.
"Easy boy! We can sell her to the government labs and make a
bundle of cash..."
Arron started to turn red, "You can't do that to her, who
knows what those fruitcakes will do!"
Billy eyed him suspicously, "You have feelings for her", it
was a statement, not a question.
Arron looked shocked, "Maybe, but even if I don't its still
not right! Now give me the key!"
Billy pointed the gun at Arron, "No. Now, I'm going to call
the FBI, don't move"
Arron fumed silently, waiting for his chance. Billy picked up
the phone and momenterily glanced down, that was enough. Arron
launched himself into Billy, knocking him down. They both struggled
for the gun. Arron was able to gain control with a quick left to the
jaw. He stood up and calmly shot a tranquilizer into Billy. Arron
searched Billy's pockets, and found the key to the door. He went back
outside and checked Gadget's pulse. It was slow, but steady, so was
her breathing. For all purposes she was asleep. Arron placed the key
card in his pocket and picked Gadget up, it was going to be a long
climb back up the mountain......
Nimul finally found the key in his sock drawer.
"How did that get in there?", he asked, even though there was
no one around.
"Oh well, Time to take over the world!"
He quickly waddled back into the lab. The machine was siting
on a table, Nimul slowly inserted the key into its side.
"With one turn this machine will freeze everything on Earth,
except me!"
Nimul turned the key. There was a slight hum, then a strange
glow engulfed him. Outside, cars, lights, people, stopped. The world
was effectivly frozen in time. Nimul walked to the door and opened
it. Outside a woman was frozen. He reached into her purse and took
her wallet, she didn't even breath.
"Mwhahaha! It works!", he skipped happily down the street.
The others had started a small fire and were sitting around
it chating when Arron reappeared carrying Gadget. She had not
awakened and was still snoring slightly. He laid her down and tried
to make her as comfertable as possible.
"Gadget!", Chip and Dale cried in unisen.
Zipper buzzed into Monty's ear.
"Right! What happened to 'er", he asked.
Arron looked upset, "A former collegue of mine shot her with
a tranquilizer....."
Both Chip and Dale glared at him.
"How could you let someone do that to her!?!", Chip asked,
quietly expressing his anger.
"It's not like I wanted this to happen!"
"If you had been paying better attention she wouldn't have
been shot!", Dale almost screamed.
"I agree, if I had been paying better attention, this
wouldn't have happened.... You act like I don't care
about her too!"
The two chipmunks looked slightly suprised at his admission.
Not as suprised as Monty and Zipper, however. Just then Gadget moaned
and sat up. She rubbed her eyes and looked around.
"Golly! What happened?", she asked. The others immediatly
stopped arguing.
"You were shot with a tranquilizer dart, remember?", Arron
asked.
Gadget shook her head, "I...I sort of remember....", she
looked confused.
"Don't worry, it'll come back to you", Arron reassured her,
she looked up and smiled at him.
"Did you get a key?", she asked.
Arron patted his pocket, "Right here."
He turned and inserted the key into the slot, there was a
beep and the red locked light went out. The door slid open. The
interior was dark, from inside came a faint drip of water. Arron
reached in and hit a switch, lights flickered on illuminating a long
corridor.
"After you", Arron gestured. The Rangers entered the hall,
Arron closed and locked the door behind them. He then took the lead.
"Follow me", he called back. Soon they entered a room filled
with various devices and workbenches. Gadget clapped her hands
together in delight, this was certainly better equiped than her lab.
Arron walked over and touched several pieces of equipment.
He looked up and smiled, "Now to get back to your world."
Gadget was already hard at work on the problem, Arron went
over to help.
Nimul skipped into the bank. He walked right passed the
unmoving guards and straight to the vault. He made a face at a video
camera and started to manipulate the lock. After several tries the
vault door finally swung open, inside was millions upon millions of
dollars.
"Oh, my!", Nimul said happily. He quickly started pilling the
money into a wheelbarrow. Several trips latter the vault was empty.
Unable to restrain himselft, Nimul spray painted, "Nimul was here",
inside the vault and swung the door closed. He chuckled as he locked
it.
Soon a rather large device was begining to take form in the
middle of the room. Both Gadget and Arron tinkered with it, while the
others watched T.V.
Arron sat back, "I'm done over here."
"Good, then give me a hand with this dampener", asked a
struggling Gadget.
Arron reached over and held the unit in place while Gadget
tightened it down. She sat back and grinned.
"All done!", she announced. The others looked up from the
T.V.
"Will it work?", asked Dale.
"It should work....that is...if there are no problems...not
to say that there are any...", Gadget started.
"It should work", interupted Arron. Gadget realized she was
rambling and stopped talking.
The others gathered around. Both Arron and Gadget stepped
back. Arron reached over and hit a small button. The lights in the
room dimmed as the machine powered up. It was basicly a large circle,
around the middle large magnets powered up. The entire unit began to
spin. As it did some plasma was injected into the center. Immediatly
a vortex appeared.
"Neato!", Dale said.
"Everyone hold hands", Arron ordered, "Now......jump!"
The Rangers jumped throught the ring. They disappeared from
this world. The machine began to shake. Sparks danced over its
surface and smoke poured out of access panels. With a deafening
explosion the entire lab collapsed.
The Rangers reappeared in a pile on Nimul's lab floor.
"Are we home now?", asked Dale.
"Well, we're small again....", stated Monty.
"And this is Nimul's lab", said Chip.
Arron walked to the door and looked out.
"Umm.....somethings wrong here....everythings frozen!"
The Rangers, except Gadget, ran to the door.
"Weird...", muttered Dale.
Gadget, meanwhile, had entered the main room. She sighted the
machine on the table.
"Guys! Come here!", she called. the others quickly joined
her.
"What is that?", asked Arron. Gadget walked around it.
"I'm not sure, but it's running and probally has something to
do with whats happening outside."
"Then we have to turn it off", said Chip.
The Rangers, except Monty and Zipper, attempted to deactivate
the machine. All the attempts were unsuccessful. They couldn't even
unplug it.
"Darn! He duct-taped the entire thing!", exclamed Gadget.
"Even the power cord!", Dale added as he examined it.
"Now what?", asked Chip.
"Hey! Where are Monty and Zipper?", Arron asked.
Nimul walked into City hall, straight passed at least two
dozen cops. He hummed to himself as he walked toward the records
room. Upon the door is a sign that says, "Restricted Access". Nimul
snorted and entered anyway. He sat at a computer in a corner and
inserted a disk. Then he began to copy all the records and to change
all the passwords to his private one. He chuckled quietly.
"Between you and me, Matie. They won't have much success with
that thing", Monty commented.
Why?, Zipper buzzed.
"Because, it's completely wrapped in duct-tape! You can't get
around that stuff."
Monty and Zipper where heading towards the newly repaired
power transformer.
Why are we going there?, buzzed Zipper.
"To cut the power at its source!"
Monty climbed above the transformers. Laying on the walkway
was a wrench. He looked over the side, directly below was the
high-voltage leads to a transformer. He pulled a piece of fishing
line from his pocket and wrapped it around the wrench.
"Go get the others Mate!", he told Zipper. Zipper saluted and
flew off.
Monty carefully climbed down the side and walked away from
the power starion. He was careful not to pull to hard on the fishing
line. Soon Zipper returned with the others.
"What'cha doin Monty?", asked Dale.
"Riggin' a little fireworks", Monty replied. He handed the
others the fishing line.
"Pull!", he called. They strained against the line. On the
other end the wrench slid off the walk and fell onto the transformer
below. It touched both the leads to the transformer and instantly
fused there. Sparks shot out of the transformer, then jumped down the
line to the next one. Soon all the transformers were covered in blue
lightning. With a load roar the entire station exploded, sending a
power surge through the lines. Inside Nimul's lab the machine took
the surge rather badly. It shot off the workbech and exploded against
the wall. Outside things began to move again.
Nimul was busy typing away on the computer when the door
opened. He looked up in shock.
"Hey! Who are you! Guards!", yelled the clerk who had opened
the door. Several policemen entered the room, Nimul decided it was
time to leave. He scrambled up onto the desk and tried to pry open
the window. The window, however, was painted shut and refused to
budge. Soon he was handcuffed and being led to the police station for
questioning.
"Why weren't we frozen also?", asked Dale as he reclined in
front of the T.V.
"Probally because we re-entered this universe after the
machine was started", answered Gadget.
Arron and Gadget had been unable to repair the Ranger Wing,
so they had towed it back to the tree for an extensive overhaul. They
had been talking and drawing up blueprints for hours. There was all
ready a rather long list of parts. The refited Wing was going to be
faster, able to fly longer, with more leg room and cupholders! The
disassembly process had been started and Gadget's lab was packed with
various disassembled components. Arron walked into the room from the
workshop.
"YAWN. Well, I'm beat, goodnight!", he called as he headed
toward his room.
"I think I'll go to bed also, see you in the morning", Chip
also headed to bed.
Dale, strangely, also said goodnight and went to bed. He
didn't even watch the Late Show. The only one still up was Gadget,
Monty and Zipper had gone to sleep right after dinner. She sat in the
living room for several minutes, until snoring could be heard from
the bedrooms. She then walked outside onto the landing strip and
watched the night sky. Soon she was laying on her back, watching the
stars and thinking. For several hours she lay there, until a shooting
star brought her wandering mind back to her body. Shivering from the
chilled night air she went back inside. She walked down the hall and
peeked into each room, watching her friends sleep. No one had any
idea that she did this almost every night. It was reasuring to her,
after living most of her life alone, to know she had friends like
them. It always helped her to sleep knowing that in the morning she
wouldn't wake up all alone......
With a load clang the cell door banged open, wakening Nimul.
He sat up as a police inspector entered the cell.
"You just couldn't resist, could you?", asked the inspector,
shaking his head.
"What might that be?", Nimul asked, genuinely confused.
The inspector held up a photo of the words Nimul had spray
painted in the bank vault.
"Oh no....", Nimul began.
"Oh yes. Now, where is the money?"
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