V as in Victor

This story is based on Caroline Writes story: "Louie's Story: Of Fairs and Rocket Ships" with her official permission.

Please forgive the "V" joke.

It's not like I don't know that Disney would love to go back in time and NOT "create" Launchpad. WHY they want to go back to the "good old days" when most people either didn't know or didn't care that Disney still published comics ( I didn't know that before Ducktales and didn't care after Disney/Gladstone Ducktales got cancelled) is beyond me.

It was quiet for once in Duckburg. Knowing THAT can't last, Launchpad and I took HDL to the zoo .

"Thanks for taking us to the zoo, Launchpad. Our Unca Scrooge is too busy, and too cheap. And our Unca Donald is too broke." Huey said.

"I promised to take you guys if you helped me wash my planes, you held up your end of the bargain, so I'm holding up mine." Launchpad replied.:

We saw the pandas and the elephants and laughed in delight at a sign that read:

Lions

Tigers

Bears

Oh My! (1)

So we HAD to go that way. "Oh my" turned out to be the name of a refreshment/souvenir store.

The lion enclosure (rare Asian lions from India) was to the left, the tiger enclosure (rare Bengal tigers) was in back of it, and the bears (sun bears from India) were to the right.

The boys started to argue about what to do first. Huey wanted to get something to eat, Dewey wanted to see the lions, and Louie wanted to see the bears...

Then, an alien space ship landed just outside the amusement park. Lots of people panicked and ran. Some people thought it was some kind of publicity stunt and came to see the "fun". Louie got separated from the others in the melee.

"Hey," said Louie, "Where are you guys?"

But it was no use yelling; there was too much noise from the crowd

"Hey!" shouted Louie, looking a little scared as he ran towards where he had last seen us, "Wait up!"

However, we had not yet noticed that Louie wasn't with us and automatically headed towards the spaceship

But some grown ups thought the aliens were invaders and ran for their lives, and others thought it was a gag and wanted to see what the joke was...

From Louie's perspective, what happened next was a nightmare. Half of the crowd decided to run away, the other half was running towards the spaceship, he lost sight of where Launchpad and his brothers were, and he was almost trampled in the crowd.

"Hey, guys!" he called out, dodging the trampling feet, "Wait!"

But his brothers and Launchpad were nowhere to be seen.

The cops showed up and managed to calm people. Louie tried to tell them he was lost, but they were too busy to listen. Too many people were either flipping out or trying to get past the cops to see the spaceship.

Then Louie realized: he was all alone in a crowd, lost, at the zoo.

Louie calmed himself down before he had a panic attack. He tried to think.

Louie saw the spaceship nearby and somehow guessed that Launchpad would be one of the people heading towards the spaceship to check it out, NOT one of those running away. So he headed towards the spaceship. There were fewer people in this crowd, a lot fewer. Especially since most people were realizing that this was NOT a fake, a publicity stunt for a movie, but a REAL honest-to-gosh alien spaceship.

About this time, we realized we only had 2/3 of the triplets.

Just then, Louie ran into an alien from outer space. A little green guy, no taller than he was, dressed like a tourist. He wore a "my mom visited Duckburg and all I got was this dumb t-shirt" t shirt and a digital camera around his neck. Since the alien looked like a kid, nobody noticed him. Even if he was green...well, kids do dye their hair green. So this kid dyed his feathers green. So what?

"Hi. Are you a kid or are you a grown-up?" the alien asked.

"I'm a kid. You're a grown up, aren't you? Even if you're no bigger than a kid." Louie replied.

"I'll have you know on my home planet, I'm considered tall. Size is relative." the alien said.(2)

"What's your name? What do you want?" Louie asked.

"Call me Victor. I'm trying to find Launchpad McQuack. I need to talk to him. He recently designed a rocket ship/time machine (with some help) that can follow other time machines...we need to track time machines in the future time I come from." Victor said.

"I thought you were from another planet." Louie said.

"I am. I'm also from the future." Victor replied. "I designed a time machine that's so cheap and easy to operate, anybody can drive one...kids and other irresponsible idiots take joyrides in "my" time machines.

"If they come back to the same time three times, they COULD rip open the time space continuum and destroy all life everywhere! BECAUSE they know that, they do it! This time, this planet is a nexus point. The one place and time they are most likely to be drawn towards. I came here to stop these Joyriders. I made the time ships, so it's sort of my responsible if they are misused." Victor explained.

"I'm looking for Launchpad! He and his wife Sharan (who's OK, I guess) took me to the zoo...only I got lost when your spaceship landed and the grownups acted stupid." Louie said. "Why aren't you IN your spaceship?"

"And have the stupid grown ups maybe shoot at me when I come out? Or take me to Area 51 for questioning? No thanks! I beamed down a short distance from my ship. When they see it's empty, they'll hopefully think it's a probe." Victor replied.

The crowd had thinned out by now. Most of the people had left the zoo, the rest were gathered around the spaceship, waiting to see if any body -or any THING- emerged. So Louie and his new friend from WAY out of town could hear:

"LOUIE, LOUIE, LOU IEEE...LOUIE, LOUIE, LOU IIII..."

"That must be my friends! Come on, I'll take you to Launchpad. Even if he's definitely NOT our leader!" Louie joked.

Soon, Victor was explaining his situation to us.

'The time/space continuum is kind of...delicate. It can rip if the same person comes back to the same place and time three times. WHY that would make people come back ON PURPOSE BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT is beyond my comprehension..." Victor said.

"I designed the spaceship. I started designing spaceships after my trip to Mars. ONE trip in rocket ship designed by sadist midgets was quite enough."(3) Launchpad replied. "I didn't design the time machine part! I don't even know how that works! WAY over my head!

"You designed the rocket and you're the pilot. I'd rather talk to you directly than waste time going thur ground control. You need to chase these time travelers and catch them so I can bring them back to our time. Unfortunately, in about three years, more of them will be back. There's just something about this place that attracts weird. " Victor said. "The time machine/rocket you helped design has a fluke, a bug in its system. It can track other time machines. It can follow the "wake" of other time machines!"

"You mean you don't have to see the other time machine? You don't have to follow on its "heels"?" Launchpad asked. "I've had trouble trying to chase time travelers because if I lose sight of them, I have no way of knowing when they went!"

"No! THAT'S what so important about it!" Victor said. "That's why I came to see you. I need your space/time ship and a pilot to chase those three time losers and send them back before they rip open the whole shebang!"

"Didn't you pilot your way here?" Louie asked.

"Yes, but I knew exactly when I was going and I had no reason to expect trouble. Chasing those joyriders...we don't know when they are going and they may be up to no good and not just out for mischief! And even mischief makers may cause trouble when somebody tries to stop them." Victor said.

Now, these Joyriders were up to no good. They were stealing toys that, in their future time, are worth a fortune to collectors. Toys tend to be smaller, easier to steal (especially during the Christmas rush)and more inexpensive than other things people collect. This meant they could steal money and buy toys.

Victor was contacted by future police who were keeping tabs on him and they told him about this. (They wanted to make sure HE wasn't involved in these crimes.)Victor told Launchpad about all this.

"Mr. McDuck was just kvetching the other days about thieves stealing toys from his warehouses! He couldn't figure out how they got in or out, it was like they used magic...or were from a time so far in the future its technology might as well be magic!" Launchpad stated. "If it was the Joyriders, I have just the bait to draw them out...if you can figure out how we can let them know about it, without them smelling a rat."

"I know they read the papers religiously, it's a cheap way of finding out what going on." Victor said.

The next day a small article appeared in all the papers saying Mr. McDuck was, due to crimes in his warehouses, moving his unsold toys to a new ultra-safe warehouse at an undisclosed location. That night, several, large, heavy trucks left Mr. McDuck's toy warehouses bound for a brand new fancy-smancy looking warehouse.

Predictably, the Joyriders robbed that warehouse that night, just like our heroes wanted them to. It did not take the Joyriders long to discover the toys they had stolen were NOT authentic brand name toys, worth a fortune to collectors in their future time. They were cheap knock offs thereof, worth zip in their time.

These toys were perfectly safe, but because the brand names could not profit off of them, (would lose money because people would buy the cheap knock offs instead of the real McCoy's) they were slated to be destroyed. Mr. McDuck had been trying to get them to give the toys to charity instead, but that made too much sense. Telling them these toys might be stolen ended in the toys being taken to his new warehouse for safekeeping.

The Joyriders, discovering the toys they had stolen were worthless to them, and discovering they were being followed by another space/time ship, jettisoned the toys...over the poor neighborhood the warehouse was located in.

It did not take long before the neighbor kids were dancing in the streets, playing with the toys "Santa Claus" had undoubtedly dropped off for them. (Several thought the joyriders time/space ship had been Santa' s sled).

Dropping the toys did the Joyriders no good, Launchpad's time ship could follow them where ever and when ever they went. Eventually, they ran out of fuel and were forced to surrender. Launchpad and Victor searched the Joyrider's time/space ship.

"What's that?" asked Victor, pointing to something that looked like a periscope.

"It was supposed to be a weapon to use against anybody who tried to stop us! I don't believe those scare stories about ripping open all time and space! I was trying to find a way to send any pursuer back to own future time, but it doesn't work!" Joyrider boss replied.

"Hmm. I think I can get this to work." Victor said, examining it.

Some time later, Victor installed a working copy of the weapon in Launchpad's time/space ship.

"It'll come in handy when more Joyriders come, about 2 or 3 years from now. You can send them back when they belong." Victor said.

Victor then "beamed up" to his ship and took off. The authorities had searched it, and finding it empty had cordoned it off. They convinced themselves it took off automatically.

Mr. McDuck had, in the meantime, found out the Joyriders had only robbed the warehouse of a fraction of the toys in had held, only the ones that (if genuine) were worth big money to collectors in the future. The majority of the toys remained . However, by morning all the toys were gone and several toy drives received very generous donations of toys from an unknown source. Now, how do you suppose THAT happened?

The End.

(1) So "The Wizard of Oz" is my favorite movie.

(2) Did it ever occur to you that if the average duck is about 4 feet tall, Launchpad could be short (or average) by OUR standards and still tall by theirs? Heck, even 6'4 isn't as tall as it used to be! Not when there are basketball players who are like 7'2!

(3) Which may explain WHY DASA allowed Launchpad to buy a still working Jumpstart. Why they didn't strip it so it didn't work. If Launchpad designed it in the first place... Come to think of it, that would explain how Launchpad knew a push start would help.