Trip to the WRONG Time

By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.

I swiped this idea from an episode of "Dr. Who". I liked the concept, but did not like Dr. Who since I don't like pompous, arrogant egomaniacs.
Based also a a Ducktales coloring book.

Launchpad was testing a new plane, a supersonic jet designed to be ultra-quiet. A LOT of the noise a plane normally makes, including in this case, sonic booms, were used to fuel the plane. (1)

The plane went VERY high up, where it's very cold. It encountered some hail. The next thing you know, everything seem to "blink". One minute they were flying over the clouds, the next...they were still flying up high, but they had NO idea where they were. Nothing looked the slightest bit familiar. Launchpad landed the plane. It was overheated and needed time to cool. So, seeing a city in the distance, they headed towards it.

You can manage their astonishment at seeing people riding horses, driving horse- driven carts, dressed like old time peasants. Our heroes soon found out they were in Ancient Pompeii. Just before the Volcano, Mt. Vesuvius was due to blow.
(2)

"What happened?" Mr. McDuck asked Launchpad.

"I don't know! Let me check the plane!" Launchpad replied.

Launchpad doubled back to the plane and saw some hail melting off the plane. He tasted it.

"Bomblastium! I recognize that taste! I better put this stuff in the mini-fridge to refreeze or we'll never get out of here. It must have plunged us thru time!" Launchpad said.

And he put the hail into the ice cube holder and into the tiny freezer section of the mini fridge (just a shelf for making ice cubes).

"Can't we just go home?" Mr. McDuck asked.

"Not till the plane's engine cools off! Besides, shouldn't we TELL people about the volcano? Shouldn't we warn them?" Launchpad asked.

"HOW? They've never seen a volcano! They don't have a WORD for "Volcano"- YET! They would just think we were nuts!" Mr. McDuck asked.

"We got to do something!" Launchpad said.

"Let's get some water!" Mr. McDuck said.

So Launchpad took a bucket from the plane and went to get water. He asked the locals more questions and found A: everybody was blaming a near-by rival city for everything and B: said city was a week's march from Pompeii.

"When exactly is the volcano going to blow?" Launchpad asked Mr. McDuck.

"I'd say a day or two, tops!" Mr. McDuck snorted. (3)

And Launchpad started getting people angrier than they were already at their nearby rival city- until the Pompeii people decided to invade their rival, loot and destroy it. This was painfully easy as the Pompenese were rich, bored, spoiled and looking for some "entertainment".

Soon, a full- fledged ancient war campaign was on the march. The officers, their wives, their kids and their slaves left the city. The enlisted men left the city. Their wives and kids followed because they did not feel safe without enough armed men to protect the city. They intended to travel to a nearby village on the way and wait there. A lot of merchants with stuff an army might need followed to sell stuff and for safety sake.

Soon, most of the Pompeii people had left either to fight in the war or for safety's sake.

Launchpad noticed a few "people" still left and that a lot of things were flammable. Launchpad therefore "accidently" dropped a torch into an open barrel of oil. The city of Pompeii caught on fire and the few people still there, fled for their lives.

The army and the refugees kept marching till they had reached an empty, open plain with a river flowing thru it. They set up camp for the night, intending to march on in the morning.

But early next morning, Mount Vesuvius erupted. Everybody came and stared. Fortunately, they were a safe distance away.

"This is a judgment from the Gods! The war we have planned is wrong and evil! We were going to kill the people of a rival city and destroy their homes! The Gods are punishing us by destroying our home! We must forget this war and find a new home. And this strikes me as a good place. There's plenty of room and water. We can plant crops when the mountain flames cool- ashes should make great fertilizer!" Mr. McDuck said.

And the frightened people of Pompeii agreed.

Mr. McDuck and Launchpad managed to slip away unseen while the ex-Pompenese started building their new home.

Soon they were back in their plane. Seeing it had cooled enough, Launchpad examed his instruments very carefully and followed the exact same route only backwards. (4) When the plane was at the same "place" it was when it blinked into this time, he opened an emergency window and threw out some bomblastium and prayed. Soon they were back in their own time. Nothing had changed.

Mr. McDuck checked to see if saving the Pompeii people had changed history at all, and somehow it really didn't. The ONLY difference he could find was "now", Phoenix Arizona had been named after the ancient city the Pompenese had founded.

"Your silly interfering didn't matter at all!" Mr. McDuck sneered to Launchpad.

"It made a difference to the Pompenese" Launchpad said.

The End.

(1) I have NO idea if that's the slightest bit possible.
(2) PROVE that they did not speak English in Pompeii and I'll explain how they could talk to the locals.
(3) They didn't explain exactly how Dr. Who knew that, either.
(4) I hasten to explain that the plane is pointing in the correct direction.