Return To The Previous Story - One By One
Torry entered the lab. He held up the crystal, the nonconducting electricity gloves, and Randy’s pocket knife. Without saying a word he had told them. Everyone was at Mr. Trim’s lab waiting for the news. One by one they had left until only the Trims, John, and Torry remained.
Just that day Jack, Bill, and Kenny had challenged them to a final showdown. One by one they fell into their traps. Torry and his crystal saved them, all except for Dan. Randy saved him but couldn’t get back to safety. An hour later Torry went back to look for him. The first thing he saw was his crystal.
He found another exit in the room with the microphone. Right next to the opening he found Randy’s pocket knife with the blade open. He knew it was a warning for them but what could it be?
He found the gloves right next to the knife. He picked them up and started for Mr. Trim’s lab.
“Now don’t talk back just listen,” said a voice. It was Kenny’s.
“This message has already been recorded. We have Randy. Meet me at 8 on Saturn and we’ll exchange Randy for $5,000,000,000.”
“But I don’t have 5 billion dollars,” Mr. Trim thought to himself.
“You must have something worth that much,” declared Kenny. “like maybe a time machine. Be there or else!”
“Let’s all go to bed,” explained Mr. Trim. “We’ll have to get up at 3!”
So they did. The next morning at 3 only Mr. Trim got up. He woke up his wife then John. Mr. Trim and John loaded the time machine on the rocket while Mrs. Trim woke up the others. By 4 they were all ready to go. Everyone except Mr. Trim went to sleep along the way.
As soon as he saw Jack, Bill, and Kenny’s ship he woke them up again. At exactly 8 o’clock the two ships connected.
“They won’t give up Randy!” argued Bob.
“I know,” agreed Mr. Trim. “That’s why I’m giving them a thousand dollars as well.”
He placed 9 100s on top of the time machine. Torry got the idea and turned into another 100 which was placed on top of the others.
They entered the gridlock. On one side were Jack, Bill, and Kenny. On the other were Mr. Trim, John, and Victor with the time machine and Torry.
“Let me see Randy!” commanded Mr. Trim.
Bill held Randy in front of him. He was tied up.
“Don’t do it!” he yelled.
But they were already pushing the time machine over to them. As soon as they got the time machine Jack, Bill, and Kenny grabbed Randy and closed the door behind them.
“We’ve been tricked!” exclaimed Betty.
“You don’t have to state the obvious,” explained Amy.
“I just hope that Torry succeeds,” declared Mr. Trim. “John, Dan, follow me.”
They followed Mr. Trim into a small laboratory.
Meanwhile Jack, Bill, and Kenny set Randy and the time machine on opposite sides of a small room and left.
“If I can only get to the time machine but how,” thought Randy.
Just then Torry changed back to himself.
“I brought your pocket knife,” he said.
“Torry!” shouted Randy.
Torry cut Randy loose and they tried to pick up the time machine. They could just barely do it much less carry it.
“I have a better idea,” stated Torry.
He turned into a large gorilla and picked up the time machine easily.
Meanwhile Jack, Bill, and Kenny came on board the other ship. When Kenny gave the signal Jack and Bill fired wildly with sleeping darts until everyone in the room (besides them) were asleep.
“Our mistake was trying to destroy you one by one instead of destroying you all at once,” explained Kenny while sabotaging the computer.
“For the other 4 of you, in case you are listening, I have just sabotaged your ship to make it crash into Saturn’s ring system. In case you try to fix it this robot is programmed to destroy everything that is awake and alive. No matter when and where you hide this robot will find you. That is if your rocketship doesn’t blow up first.”
With that Jack, Bill, and Kenny left and the robot came.
When Jack and Bill started firing wildly Mr. Trim, Dan, and John were in the laboratory.
“Something’s wrong,” Mr. Trim thought when he heard the shooting.
“John, follow me,” ordered Mr. Trim. “Dan, stay here no matter what happens. That extra rocket fuel must be completed.”
Mr. Trim and John could hear every word Kenny said. They came into the main room at the same time the robot did.
“Quick,” ordered Mr. Trim. “Do the same thing I do.”
Mr. Trim took one of the darts that missed, stuck it in himself, and when he was about to fall asleep he pulled the dart out and fell to the ground. John did the same. The robot passed right by them and went after Dan.
Meanwhile Torry, still in gorilla form, and Randy were going to the airlock. They did as Jack, Bill, and Kenny walked by in reverse order. As soon as they had passed them Torry and Randy went to the airlock. Jack looked just in time to see Randy go through the airlock.
“Randy’s getting away!” he yelled.
“Good! The robot will get him,” Kenny replied. “Now let’s head back to Earth.”
As soon as they got back to their own ship Torry set the time machine down and changed back. They noticed that everyone was asleep on the floor. (Even Frisky because of a dart.) Then Randy noticed not everyone was asleep and decided to look for Dan.
Surprisingly Dan was the laziest one. Dan was in the laboratory working on the rocket fuel. He wondered what was keeping Mr. Trim and John but he stayed in the laboratory as Mr. Trim had ordered. Suddenly a robot came into the room. Dan, who was not scared by much very often, was scared then. The robot was about to kill him.
Just before the robot could kill him it turned off. As the robot fell to the floor Dan looked to see who was behind it.
“Randy!” exclaimed Dan. “You saved my life!”
“Now we are even,” said Randy.
“Yep,” agreed Dan. “We sure are.”
The two of them shook hands. This was interrupted by the sound of an engine. The two ships were separating. Their ship was crippled leaving them in an orbit that was slowly decaying. Soon they would go into Saturn’s deadly ring system. If they got out of there they would crash into Saturn itself.
They went to join Torry and the sleeping others. Dan and Randy helped Torry trying to wake up the others. Things looked bad for them just then. Suddenly Mr. Trim started to stir.
“Come on! Wake up!” Torry yelled.
Slowly Mr. Trim sat up. The others gave a sigh of relief.
“I knew you’d defeat the robot,” explained Mr. Trim. “I injected myself with just enough to put me to sleep for 3 minutes. By then I thought you two would come back and with the help of Dan destroy the robot.”
“Did anyone else do that?” asked Dan.
“John did,” Mr. Trim replied. “Take the needles out of everyone else.”
They did so.
Mr. Trim looked at the instrument panel.
“Oh, no! The engine!” exclaimed Mr. Trim.
He’d forgotten about it since he saw the robot.
“What did you do with the gloves?” questioned Mr. Trim.
“They’re in my pocket right next to my crystal,” answered Torry.
He got them out.
“Good! I’ll put them on and fix the course. The rest of you work on the rocket fuel. Dan and John, when he recovers, will explain what to do. Now go!” commanded Mr. Trim.
He had already put the gloves on and immediately went to work fixing the course. Dan led the others to the laboratory. Torry stopped because he heard John stirring.
Meanwhile Jack, Bill, and Kenny were going full speed to Earth. They were thinking they still had the time machine and still thinking the robot had won.
Back around Saturn the rocket was getting closer and closer to Saturn’s deadly rings. Mr. Trim had hardly gotten started. He had gone over to the time machine to pocket the 9 100s. Dan and Randy had their first failure.
“This is getting us nowhere,” said Randy.
“Can I be of some help?” asked a voice.
“John!” they exclaimed.
John came into the lab. Torry followed.
“Now let’s see if we can get this right,” ordered John. “Put liquid Hydrogen in a special metal alloy container … ”
It looked like they were going to succeed, but would they do it in time? Or would the rocket crash into Saturn’s rings? And what about the others. Would they get up in time to help?
Mr. Trim got back to work. He took one last look at the others. No signs of any of them recovering.
“They won’t help much,” he thought as he desperately tried to unscramble the wires. “I’m just glad Torry brought the gloves. What would I do if Torry hadn’t brought the gloves? Probably risk electrocution. Enough of that! He brought them and I’m glad he did. That doesn’t work. Ah! I got one of them. I wonder how the others are coming along.”
John was putting the special container under gamma radiation in the tank.
“Now just to be safe let’s get out of the room,” ordered John. “We can help Mr. Trim while we’re waiting. We’ll regroup here in 15 minutes. That’s how long this should take.”
While he was saying this everyone got out of the room and John turned out the lights and closed the door. They started walking back toward Mr. Trim. The ship seemed dark and cold (even for deep space). The ship was starting to be pulled by Saturn’s gravity.
Meanwhile Jack, Bill, and Kenny’s ship sped towards Earth. At that time they were busy eating.
“Saturn’s gravity should be starting to pull them in by now,” declared Kenny. “In 20 minutes they’ll crash into Saturn’s rings. They should be sleeping for 35 minutes. Either that or the robot has killed them by now. And we have the time machine so we can change history to become the ruler of the world. I wonder why Mr. Trim gave it to me.”
He paused for a moment.
“To save Randy’s life,” suggested Jack.
“Maybe he planned a trap for us,” said Bill.
They could both tell that Kenny was thinking.
Kenny added, “Jack, when you get through eating could you check out the time machine and make sure it works.”
When Jack finished eating he slowly walked down to where they put the time machine. A few minutes later he came back running.
“Bill! Kenny!” he exclaimed. “It’s gone!”
“Are you sure?” asked Bill.
“Yes,” Jack replied. “Remember we set it in that room over there and now it’s gone.”
Jack pointed to the room he was talking about.
“Well I know he has 2 time machines,” explained Kenny. “The other one he keeps in his safe.”
“Yes, but the combination Torry gave us was fake,” argued Bill. “Remember, you two tried it.”
“Yes, we did try the fake combination and it didn’t work,” agreed Kenny. “But Mr. Trim must have the combination written down somewhere in his lab. And with him out of the way, what can stop us from going in and searching for it?!”
But is he out of the way? For at that moment back at the other ship something very important happened.
“There!” declared Mr. Trim. “That’s the last one of them. Turn the engines on!”
He covered the wires back up and put the gloves in his pocket. There was a loud rumble. Then the ship started shaking. And then nothing.
“We’re too close to Saturn’s gravitational force,” stated Mr. Trim. “We need that extra rocket fuel.”
“The rocket fuel!” shouted John. “The 15 minutes are almost up.”
He immediately left for the lab. When he got there the others were waiting for him. He listened for the humming. When it stopped he opened the door and turned on the lights. The others followed. John got the container out of the tank.
“Now we need just one final ingredient,” explained John. “HEAT. Extreme heat, like the heat of a rocket engine.”
They all went back to join Mr. Trim. John once again turned out the lights but this time he didn’t shut the door and took the container with him. Mr. Trim waited patiently for them to arrive. Finally they came.
“Now John will put on an astronaut’s suit and go outside the ship,” began Mr. Trim. “Then he will put the fuel into the outside pump. I’ll activate the pump when John is safely inside. The rest of you take care of the ones that are still sleeping. Any questions?”
“How come I have to do it?” asked John.
“Because you’re the right physical age,” replied Mr. Trim. “Now get into that space suit.”
A few minutes later John was in his space suit opening the airlock. He scaled the outside until he found the pump that Mr. Trim was talking about.
“I got to be careful not to loose this stuff,” he thought. “One ounce of this is equal to 355 gallons of gasoline.”
He put the fuel in the pump without spilling a drop.
Meanwhile back inside the ship Mr. Trim turned on the pump. John was on his way back to the airlock. Suddenly a ring particle hit the ship. It was only enough to do little or no damage to the ship, but it was more that enough to shake John off the ship. Fortunately, the cord attaching him to the spaceship was still strong. John quickly regained control and brought himself slowly back toward the ship. After what seemed like hours, though really less than a minute, John had opened the airlock and was back inside the ship.
Mr. Trim turned on the engines at full power. Everyone held their breath. Frisky got up on top of Amy trying to wake her up. Slowly the rocket went slower and slower towards Saturn. For a split second it stopped. Then it began to pull away. Faster and faster it went until finally they were a safe distance away.
“Hurray!” they all shouted.
“How fast are we going?” asked Dan.
“About 35 percent the speed of light,” Mr. Trim replied.
All was silent. Amy started to stir.
“Frisky is that you?” she wondered.
Frisky got off of her.
“NOW you get up,” said Dan.
Bob was next to recover. Then Victor, then Mrs. Trim, and finally Betty recovered. Torry and Mr. Trim explained what happened. John got back in his regular clothes (which he preferred greatly) and the race to Earth was on.
Jack, Bill, and Kenny had gotten a 25 minute head start and stayed more or less 25 minutes ahead until Jack, Bill, and Kenny’s ship approached Earth. They still didn’t know that Mr. Trim and company got out of that mess.
About that time Mr. Trim realized the Jack, Bill, and Kenny should be landing just about then. He increased speed back to 35 percent the speed of light.
“That’s where the extra fuel comes in handy,” he thought.
Meanwhile Jack, Bill, and Kenny’s ship landed in Bill’s lab. They got out and walked over to Mr. Trim’s lab. If they knew what was going on they’d run, but they didn’t see any reason to hurry.
“To our victory party!” shouted Kenny as he stepped in the door to Mr. Trim’s lab 7 minutes later.
Jack and Bill followed. To their left they could see Mr. Trim’s log on science experiments for each year. The furthest from them was 1971. Mr. Trim’s first year as head of the lab. The closest was 1982, the last complete year at the time this takes place. Jack and Bill started to look at them but Kenny stopped them.
“Put them down!” commanded Kenny. “We have a combination to look for. We can look at those later.”
Jack and Bill put the books back and followed Kenny. They went around the chemicals to Mr. Trim’s desk.
“It’s locked!” yelled Kenny. “It must have the combination, but where’s the key. They searched Mr. Trim’s office. It wasn’t there. They searched John’s office. It wasn’t there. They searched the other 7 offices. It wasn’t there either.
“Well,” started Kenny. “It looks as if we’re gonna have to break the desk open.”
Suddenly they heard a loud rumbling noise. It was 22 minutes after Jack, Bill, and Kenny had landed which was the advantage the extra fuel gave them. It probably saved Mr. Trim a desk.
“It can’t be. But how?” thought Kenny and then quickly said outloud, “Quick! Run for it!”
They quickly ran outside. They got outside just before Mr. Trim, Torry, and the gang could enter the room.
“Now all we have to do is wait for Jack, Bill, and Kenny to come in looking for the combination and we’ve got them,” explained Mr. Trim.
“What if they already have?” suggested John.
“Then we’ll have to wait ‘till next time. Just in case I’d better go open it,” he paused and the added. “Do you know something. After all this excitement I’ve forgotten the combination.”
He went to the bookshelf which had his logs on the bottom shelf and that Jack, Bill, and Kenny had seen earlier. He got out the log for 1981 which was the year he’d gotten the safe. He put it on his desk and turned it to the first page. There the combination was written. He put it back, went to the safe, and punched in 35X037. It opened. There was the time machine and a few other inventions.
“Good,” stated Mr. Trim. “they’re all safe.”
He took the gloves out of his pocket and threw them in there. Then he shut the door and pushed XX to lock it.
In case you are interested or need to know, the combination wasn’t the only thing they would have found if Kenny let them look at the logs. The 1973 log had the blueprints to the time machine. The 1976 log had the formula for the rocket fuel. The 1977 log had the blueprints to computer #82 and the space computer. The 1979 had the blueprints to the time machine and the 1981 also had the blueprints to the modernized time machine. Knowing all this you can see how much they had lost by not reading them and they’re much more of them.
But what if they do read them? What if they take them? They’ll be able to make an endless number of those things and Mr. Trim will be stuck with what he has. But for now they’re safe. And what about Jack, Bill, and Kenny? They’re back at Bill’s lab making plans for their next attempt.
“I’m not sure how they got out of that, but we’ll get them yet,” declared Kenny. “Any ideas?”
“No,” said Bill.
“Not yet,” agreed Jack. “but we’ll think of some … tomorrow.”
“I agree,” stated Bill. “It would be better to wait until tomorrow.”
“O.K., it is agreed,” added Kenny. “We will meet here tomorrow afternoon at 1 and we will think of a plan that will work. You’ll see. I’ll get you yet Mr. Trim!”
Meanwhile back at Mr. Trim’s lab they had a short celebration for getting Randy back.
“Welcome back, Randy,” stated Dan.
“It’s nice to be back,” Randy replied.
They shook hands one more time and then Dan left. Bob was next to go, then Amy, then Victor, then Betty, and then Frisky who realized that Amy had left.
“Thanks for giving me my pocket knife back!” yelled Randy as Torry went out the door.
John and Mr. and Mrs. Trim talked to Randy for a few minutes before he left.
“It’s time for my lunch hour,” declared John as he followed Randy out.
Mr. Trim waited for them to leave and then turned to his wife.
“We’re alone,” he said.
“I have a dentist’s appointment,” she explained.
Mr. Trim watched her leave until she was completely out of sight. Mr. Trim sighed. He was all alone in that great big lab that could swallow up 7 normal sized houses. He noticed how empty it seemed now that he was the only one in it. He got up at 3 and had only been asleep for 3 minutes and that was because of the sleeping dart. If only somebody would of stayed awake and watched to make sure nothing went wrong. A nap sounded pretty good to him. He went into his house, turned left into his bedroom, and layed down in bed. He got back up to take his shoes off and got under the covers.
“This is going to be another boring day,” he thought to himself.
Copyright MCMLXXXIII, MCMXCIX
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