Return To The Previous Story - Trip To Saturn
Early one Saturday morning Mr. Trim put down the phone.
"At last!" he exclaimed. "It’s finished! After 2 years of work it’s finally finished!"
"What’s finished?" asked John.
"A new solar power plant. I’ve been working for 2 years to perfect the solar cells," Mr. Trim replied.
He quickly got his wife. John got Dan and they immediately got in John’s car and took off. Because of the travel machine, another one of Mr. Trim’s inventions, the Trims did not have a car. On those rare occasions when they do need a car, they borrow John’s. With Mr. Trim’s help John drove to the power plant.
When they got there they saw all the people who helped Mr. Trim with the project, a few people locally famous, the channel 31 news team, and even the mayor himself was there. In front of Mr. Trim were 2 major switches. Mr. Trim turned switch 2 on. There were cheers from all who were there.
Later that day, Torry was watching cartoons on channel 31 Jesterville. At precisely noon there was a news interruption.
"This is the channel 31 news team with an important announcement. The new solar power plant has been built. And now to tell you more. Here’s one of the co-designers of this plant, Benjamin Trim," said the reporter.
"Mr. Trim’s on TV," thought Torry. "This ought to be interesting."
The camera cut to Mr. Trim and the 2 major switches.
"When I pull this switch," began Mr. Trim putting his hand on switch 1. "The old power plant will be turned off and Jesterville will get its power entirely from the sun and moon." It has been absorbing energy for just over 2 hours and should come on immediately."
Mr. Trim pulled the switch. The power went off. Only 3 seconds later the power came back.
"This has been a T.V.-31 special announcement. Now back to your regularly scheduled program," added the reporter before the programs came back on.
Torry turned the TV off.
Meanwhile back where Mr. Trim was doing an interview for a local newspaper while Mrs. Trim, John, and Dan waited for him.
"Mr. Trim never got this much publicity in his life!" exclaimed John. "Not even when he invented the time machine! Or anything else for that matter!"
After what seemed like hours Mr. Trim was finally able to join them.
"I’ll be glad when this is all over," declared Mr. Trim. "but it was worth it."
Mr. Trim reached into his pocket and pulled out some money.
"I got a 500 dollar bonus," he added. "and I thought we’d celebrate."
Mrs. Trim hugged him and John and Dan congratulated him. Then they got back in the car and drove home. When they got there Torry, Bob, Randy, Amy, Frisky, Betty, Victor, and Artie were there to congratulate Mr. Trim. They all saw him on TV and were talking about it.
If they were the only ones who saw it this story would be over. But they were not the only ones. Deep in Bill’s underground lab, Jack, Bill, and Kenny were discussing their plans for their next evil scheme.
"This will be a perfect time to take over the power plant," exclaimed Kenny. "The new power plant is not ready for an attack yet and the old one they really don’t need, so there’s no reason to guard it. Me and Jack will take over the new power plant. Bill will take a bomb to the old power plant and join us as soon as possible. The city will play a fortune to get their lights relit."
Meanwhile back at Mr. Trim’s lab Mr. Trim and company were celebrating in the special room he had made just for parties.
"Where are Joseph and Sarah?" asked Mr. Trim.
"They’re at home," Betty replied.
"Go get them," said Mr. Trim. "I want everybody to be here."
While Betty went to get Joseph and Sarah, Bob went over to the travel machine. He quickly activated it and vanished. A moment later he came back with Mark. Except for Bob, Mark had only seen them once.
"What about Jason?" wondered Torry. "We haven’t seen him in a long time."
As an answer to Torry’s question, John went immediately over to the travel machine and activated it. A few minutes later he came back with Jason. At about the same time Better came back with Joseph, Sarah, and Ann who couldn’t go anywhere else. In the confusion Frisky followed them in.
"It’s starting to rain," declared Sarah.
And fortunately (or unfortunately) for them she was right. In a few minutes the rain became a downpour. And in a few more minutes the downpour became a cloudburst and Jack, Bill, and Kenny were forced to turn back.
"Well," stated Kenny. "We have everything ready. All we have to do is wait for tomorrow."
Meanwhile back at Mr. Trim’s lab the party was over and Mark, Jason, Joseph, Sarah, Ann, and Artie had to use the travel machine to get home. The others, who lived reasonably close to Mr. Trim’s lab, waited for a break in the storm and then ran for it. Mr. and Mrs. Trim were about to go to bed when they heard a soft meow.
"They left Frisky here," declared Mr. Trim. "Oh well. They can get him in the morning."
The next morning they all returned to Mr. Trim’s lab. At 10 o’clock Mr. Trim had to leave. He told them they could stay in the lab as long as they didn’t leave the room. Then he, his wife, and John left for the power plant.
Meanwhile Jack, Bill, and Kenny got ready for their next attempt.
"Hold it!" exclaimed Kenny. "Let’s wait until noon. That way we can take over the power plant and capture Mr. Trim too."
About 5 minutes before noon Jack, Bill, and Kenny used the travel machine to take them to the new solar power plant. From there Bill used it to take him to the old one.
Meanwhile Mr. Trim got there a bit early and was taking Mrs. Trim on a tour of the power plant. Mr. and Mrs. Trim took the elevator to the top of the center building and John was waiting patiently for them at the bottom. Jack and Kenny snuck in the building on the left. As for Bill, he had no problems. He just crept inside, set the bomb for 1 minute, ran back to the travel machine, and went back to rejoin the others.
Jack and Kenny had turned off the back up system and were ready to shut off the power at just a flick of the switch. Jack had gone outside to watch Mr. Trim. Bill came in to tell Kenny his success. At the same time the Trims got in the elevator on their way back down. Jack saw this and he ran to tell the others immediately.
"THEY’RE IN THE ELEVATOR!" yelled Jack.
Kenny pulled the switch at precisely 11:59 and all the lights in Jesterville went out.
Mr. and Mrs. Trim were trapped in the elevator. At noon nobody noticed that much that the lights went out. That includes Torry and company, and John too. Jack, Bill, and Kenny were winning.
At about 12:15 John was wondering what was keeping the Trims up there so long. He waited for the elevator. It didn’t come down so he took the stairs. He ran as fast as he could. They were not on the roof. He ran back down. They were not on any of the floors. Then he noticed the lights were not working and quickly figured out what had happened.
"Don’t worry up there I’ll get you out!" he exclaimed.
He dashed to his car and took off towards Mr. Trim’s lab.
Meanwhile Torry looked at the clock and noticed it had stopped running.
"The clock stopped," explained Torry.
Bob got up and turned "on" the lights. Nothing happened. He moved the switch back and forth 3 times. Still nothing.
"Do you suppose something happened to them at the power plant?" asked Dan.
"How long has the power been off?" asked Amy.
"Don’t you think that’s obvious," replied Torry. "And the clock says it’s 11:59. It must have stopped then."
"It’s 12:23 now," said Jason looking at his watch.
While this conversation was going on Mark had used the travel machine to go to the power plant. He looked around and saw that John’s car was missing. He quickly returned to tell them the news. While he was gone they were taking wild guesses as to why the power went off. Mark got back just in time to hear one.
"That can’t be true," Mark argued. "John’s car wasn’t at the power plant."
"How do you know?" demanded Victor.
"It’s simple. I went there," declared Mark. "It’s easy not to notice 1 person when you have about 15 in one room, especially during a conversation."
He told them what he noticed while at the power plant. They decided to vote about what to do next. They had a 6-6 tie on whether to wait for them to get back or do something about it then and there.
Meanwhile the Trims were not getting any further in the elevator than the others were on voting.
"Try to relax," Mr. Trim said to his wife. "Help will arrive in a few hours, I hope."
Jack went to the town hall to deliver the ransom note while Bill and Kenny waited for someone to come and try to rescue the Trims. Torry and friends were 1 vote shy of doing so.
Jack quickly came back to rejoin Bill and Kenny.
"Are you sure 5 million was the right amount?" wondered Jack.
"It should have been less," replied Bill.
"It should have been more!" disagreed Kenny. "but 5 million is fine. That’s 3 million for me and 1 million for each of you because you wanted less."
Back at Mr. Trim’s lab they had a revote. Another tie. Victor, Bob, Artie, Joseph, Sarah, and Jason wouldn’t change their minds about doing something and Randy, Dan, Amy, Betty, Mark, and Torry wouldn’t change their minds about waiting. It looked like they would have to wait.
Finally at about 1:35 John came running through the door. He had to stop and get gas on the way back. He caught his breath and told them what he knew. Someone suggested to vote on what to do next but that was immediately turned down.
"Now listen to me," commanded John. "If we try to rescue them now, that’s just what whoever took over the power plant, probably Jack, Bill, and Kenny, will expect. We need to wait awhile and make a plan. I know it will be uncomfortable for the Trims but it were able to contact them they’d say the same thing."
John told everyone to go home and get ready to go. In an hour they were supposed to return. While they were gone John went around the lab and got some things for the trip that would take some time. He also thought of a plan they could use.
By 2:45 everyone was back. Amy, Joseph, and Sarah agreed to take care of Frisky and Ann while the others took the travel machine to the power plant. From there John told them his plans.
"Artie, Mark, and Jason will come with me in the center of the building to rescue the Trims because we’re the older and more physically capable group. The rest of you will be the lighter, quicker, and silent group. Your job is to sneak in and turn on the main generator in the building on the left. We’ll get the Trims and join you as soon as possible. Now let’s go," explained John.
John, Mark, Jason, and Artie took off for the center building while the others slowly crept over to the building on the left trying to stay out of sight at all times, but Kenny had a plan too.
In less than a minute, John’s group made it to the center building. They ran upstairs to the roof. John used the tools he got from the lab to pry the elevator doors open. Then one by one they slid down the cable to where the Trims were.
Meanwhile inside the elevator Mrs. Trim was asleep. Mr. Trim was just sitting there listening. Suddenly he heard them climbing down the cable.
"Wake up," he said to his wife. "Someone’s coming."
She sat up and listened. She heard it too. At about that time John landed on the roof of the elevator.
"John is that you?" asked Mr. Trim.
"Yes," replied John. "Now don’t worry. We’re gonna get you out of there."
He helped Artie down. It wasn’t look before Jason and then finally Mark were down on the roof of the elevator. It took just a little bit longer for them to open the roof so the Trims could escape. John and Mark, the two strongest, helped the Trims up the cable.
As soon as Mr. Trim made it onto the roof Jack, Bill, and Kenny came running up the stairs. Each one had a gun.
"RUN FOR IT!" yelled Mark.
Jason was the only one that was not back on the roof at the time Mark yelled. As soon as he heard him, Jason climbed back down the cable as fast as he could go.
"If you want to see Mr. Trim alive you’d better climb back up here," ordered Kenny.
Jason had no choice. Slowly he climbed back up the cable.
"Now where’s the key to this building?" demanded Kenny.
Mr. Trim reached into his pocket and pulled out the key. Slowly Jack, Bill, and Kenny backed away. When they got back down to the door they got out the key and locked it immediately. John got there first, a second too late.
"It’s locked!" he yelled back up to the others.
"If my memory is correct," started Mr. Trim. "you were locked up about 10 years ago. What did you do then?"
"I waited for you to get the keys and unlock the building and free me," replied John.
"That’s a lot of help!" declared Mr. Trim and then added. "Did you tell them about the satellite?"
"Uh, oh," thought John.
It took some time before Torry’s group got to the building on the left. They had a much larger number and they had to be much quieter than John’s group. After they all made it to the building safely, Dan explained the time factor.
"Listen," he began softly. "The hospitals have enough emergency power to last for 12 hours. The power went off about noon so that gives up until about midnight to turn the power back on. That gives up plenty of time, but we can’t afford to waste any of it. First we need to get to the basement. Then we’ll decide what to do from there."
They got to the basement easily. There were hundreds of generators, each one was powered by a solar cell. They walked toward the biggest one which they thought was the main generator. In between them and the generator was a wide, deep, smoky pit. They were about to risk jumping over it, but Torry turned into a ladder just in time. The others climbed one at a time over him to the other side of the pit. They pulled him in and he changed back. They turned the switch of the main generator to "ON". The generator went wild. It looked like it was going to explode. Dan had to turn it back to "OFF" again.
"I wonder what went wrong?" Betty wondered.
"Of course!" gasped Dan.
"What is it?" asked Torry.
"The satellite," said Dan. "I don’t know that much about it but I do know that it’s the source of power not the generators. The computer that operates it is on the 3rd floor of this building."
Torry changed into a ladder and the others climbed over him. Then they pulled him over and he changed back.
"What would they do without me?" he thought.
They got back up to the ground floor easily but when they went up the stairs, the staircase leading to the 3rd floor was behind a locked door.
"You need a special key to get on the third floor," remembered Dan.
Suddenly a door opened on the floor below them. Jack, Bill, and Kenny had entered the building. They all picked good hiding places but they had to move sometime. It was only a matter of time before they were found.
About 45 minutes later they heard something upstairs and went to investigate. After another 10 they caught Betty and threatened to kill her unless the others showed themselves. Then they forced them at gunpoint to go upstairs to the 3rd floor and then Kenny locked them inside, in the dark.
Surprisingly when they got upstairs to the 3rd floor they weren’t in the dark.
"This floor must run on emergency power," explained Dan. "And like the hospitals the power will run out in about 8 hours unless we do something."
"Well then do something instead of being a 12-year-old version of Mr. Trim," argued Bob.
"I’m only 11," replied Dan.
"Whatever," said Bob.
A few minutes later they found the computer Dan was talking about. Unfortunately nobody knew the correct program. All they could do was wait.
If you wonder where the police are Kenny told them he had the Trims hostage and he would kill them at the first sign of a police car.
After about an hour Torry saw some pigeons outside the window. Suddenly Torry got a brainstorm and realized how stupid he had been for not thinking of it earlier. He pulled up the window, kicked out the screen, and changed into a pigeon. He flew down and changed back.
First he went to where the travel machine was but Kenny had found it long before. Next he went to see how the other group was doing in the center building. When he got there he found the door to be locked. Mr. Trim was first to notice him.
"Torry!" he exclaimed.
"I can’t get you out right now," replied Torry. "but I need to know something about a satellite."
Mr. Trim thought of a way to explain it.
Finally he began, "The satellite orbits the Earth at just the right speed so that it’s always facing the sun. The satellite absorbs the sun’s energy. Then it intensifies the sun’s energy and sends a beam out. The beam is reflected off other satellites and eventually comes into the 3 large solar cells on top of the building on the left. Each solar cell disperses the energy into the generators. What’s left over goes into the main generator."
"How do you reactivate the satellite?" asked Torry.
"Come inside through the roof," ordered Mr. Trim.
Torry went to the back of the building. There he changed into an eagle and flew up to the roof. He changed back and ran downstairs. When he got there Mark, Jason, and Artie who did not know about the crystal, were surprised.
"How did you get in here?" wondered Mark.
Jason quickly blurted out, "This reminds me of the time when me and my s-"
The others stared at him but he would not finish his sentence.
Mr. Trim found a pen and paper and wrote the program they needed. Unfortunately this took the better part of an hour because Mr. Trim had to remember and double check. Sometimes he made a mistake and had to correct it. Torry just sat there bored to death. Finally Mr. Trim was sure he had the right computer program to activate the satellite.
Torry grabbed it and ran up the stairs. Clutching the paper firmly Torry changed back into an eagle and flew back in the window that he had kicked out. There he changed back and went to find the others. When he found them they had found an old deck of cards in one of the desk drawers and were playing card games with them.
"Forget the cards," ordered Torry. "We have a computer to activate and a satellite to turn back on…"
Torry took a deep breath and the continued, "…so we can stop Jack, Bill, and Kenny from taking over the city. Then we have to free ourselves and then free John’s group and the Trims all in less than 6 hours and I don’t understand the computer program in the first place."
He was rather upset and they could tell, but the frustration put some power in his voice so the others dropped the cards and obeyed without thinking. Dan was the only one who even partially understood the computer. He tried to feed the program into the computer and failed. He tried again and failed again. He tried yet another time and failed yet another time. Dan was ready to give up.
Torry tried to convince him to take one more shot at it. After some time Torry finally won and Dan was once again attempting to feed the program into the computer. This 4th and final time he succeeded and a chain reaction started resulting in activating the satellite. They waited. However when the chain reaction ended the power still was not on. At first they wondered why, but then they remembered. They had to turn the main generator back off to keep it from blowing up.
Torry knew exactly what to do. He turned back into an eagle and flew back out the window. He turned back to himself and went quietly back in the building.
On the left Jack, Bill, and Kenny were talking. Kenny had set the keys down on the table. Torry changed into a rock and waited for them to leave. It looked like they would never leave. After a long while they left. Unfortunately they took the keys with them.
Torry changed back. He wasted no time in going back down to turn the main generator on but it was now 8:21 and time was not getting any slower.
Meanwhile Jack, Bill, and Kenny were asking Mr. Trim to convince the city to give them the money. They said if he did they would let them all go free. Mr. Trim refused. This made Kenny angry. He jogged back to the building on the left. There he notice the satellite had been activated. He got out his gun and went down to guard the satellite.
Torry was about to cross the deep, smoky pit where he heard someone come downstairs. He changed into a piece of gravel to hide. Kenny came into view with his gun out. He stayed for awhile and then left. Right after he left Bill came down. Torry did not have time to do anything.
"How many different delays could there be?" thought Torry.
Meanwhile the rest of Torry’s group had picked up the cards and were playing a game. Randy was obviously winning and Bob was obviously loosing. After the next round Bob was out and Victor was almost out and decided to quit. Betty quit too.
"Well, Dan," said Randy. "It’s just me and you."
While they played the others watched. They wondered about Torry and what was keeping him so long.
Back underground, Jack came down and Bill left. Torry wondered if he would ever be done. It was 8:52. It was 8:53 and then 9:00. Finally Torry gave up and changed back when Jack was not looking. Jack, of course, took Torry up to Kenny for questioning.
"How did you get down there? How did you escape?" asked Kenny.
Torry could not answer them without giving away his secret so he did not answer. Kenny asked him many more questions but Torry was not paying any attention. Torry was just looking at Kenny’s watch.
"9:17, only 3 more hours," he thought. "9:18, I wish he would hurry up."
Torry did not answer some questions. He told them how the satellite was activated leaving the eagle and the pigeon out. Torry was asked to convince the mayor to pay the money. He would even reduce the sum to $3,000,000. Torry also refused. Kenny was mad by now and started yelling at him.
Suddenly Torry had an idea.
"O.K., I’ll try to convince him," Torry said reluctantly. "but I’ll write it down on paper so hand me a pad of paper. I’m not taking on the phone."
Kenny handed him a pad of paper. Torry started to write something. He messed up several times. He crumpled up the paper and put it in his pocket. When he was satisfied with the note he handed it to Kenny. Kenny in turn handed it to Jack.
"Jack," commanded Kenny. "you take his note and my note to the mayor. Bill, you guard the main generator. I’ll escort Torry back to where he belongs."
They all split up where Kenny said they would go. Kenny saw Torry trying to look at his watch.
"It’s 9:39," Kenny told him. "Don’t worry we’ll get the money before the emergency power runs out."
When Kenny opened the door Victor tried to run out. Torry stopped him. Kenny closed the door and locked it.
"Why did you stop me?" demanded Victor.
Torry was silent until Kenny had left. Then he opened the door.
"I jammed the lock with a piece of paper," he whispered.
They went upstairs to tell the others. The time was ticking away. It was getting dark. Dan had caught up with Randy and passed him when they came rushing in. Torry explained what happened.
"Well what are we waiting for!" exclaimed Dan.
Just then a deadly gas filled the room. All of them started to choke. They got down on the floor, but it was too late, for the gas had already taken its effect. They all passed out.
Kenny had left the building to go home and rest. He thought that the poison gas bomb he put in the ventilation system had taken care of the last of his problems. It probably would have except the door and window were both open and they all got down on the floor in time. All these things caused them to only be knocked out instead of being killed.
Hours later Torry recovered. He changed into a big strong bear and carried everyone downstairs. Then he changed back and waited for them to recover. When they did he sent Randy and Victor to try to rescue the Trims while the rest of them went downstairs.
Bill had fallen asleep too, but he recovered before they did. Bill hid as they came down. Then he pulled his gun out and grabbed Dan.
"Don’t do anything or he dies," said Bill.
Meanwhile Randy and Victor looked behind the building on the right and found the travel machine. They used it to go to where Mr. Trim was. Then Mr. Trim used it to get to the main generator. He pulled the switch before Bill had known what happened. While Bill was distracted Torry and Bob rushed him. Bill had to leave his gun and retreat upstairs.
Meanwhile Mr. Trim went back to free everyone else. Torry changed back into a pigeon and flew outside. Next he flew back through the open window to check the computer. Since it was safe he changed back and ran downstairs. He got there at the same time Mr. Trim and company did.
Dan looked at his watch.
"It’s 2:06," he said sadly.
"What’s wrong?" asked Mr. Trim.
"We were too late," replied Dan. "The hospital only had 12 hours of emergency power and we took 14."
"Nonsense, we also redesigned the backup system," said Mr. Trim. "You could have taken as long as 26 hours."
"Well anybody can make a mistake," blushed Dan.
With that they all went home.
The next morning they told Joseph, Sarah, and Amy what had happened. They had Bill’s gun, but Kenny had Mr. Trim’s keys. Mr. Trim got a new set. And that is what the people of Jesterville call the day in the dark. Will there be another one?
Copyright MCMLXXXIV, MCMXCIX
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