Malcolm Frink bolted upright in his bed, his sheets and pajamas drenched with sweat. How am I still alive? he thought, finding it odd to hear his own heart monitor flatlining. Wait a second…I'm still in bed…in my room… He glanced over and saw that the noise was none other than his alarm clock, it's continuous beep the culprit. Growling, he swiped at it, knocking it off the nightstand and on the floor. He managed a weak smile as he watched a single battery roll across the room. "That'll shut you up," he nodded in satisfaction. As he stood up and stretched, his eyes came across a familiar photo on his wall. A photo that he had looked at numerous times every day since it was taken. A color photo of himself, next to the brown-haired, blue-eyed beauty that was Lydia Henderson. She had only been gone for a month, but it felt like an eternity. "Oh, Lydia. Every day that passes is a day wasted when we're not together," he sighed, gently stroking her photographed cheek with the back of his index finger. It didn't matter to him that in reality, he was much older than she. He was seventeen and she was a time traveler from the year two thousand seventeen. The same age, but years apart. She had travelled back to his year of nineteen ninety five by accident, causing a chance encounter that he would never forget. They disliked each other immensely at the start, but yet she treated him kindly in ways that confused and astounded him. After she ended up saving his life, he realized he couldn't lose her. He needed her in his life. No one else treated him like he actually mattered, and he detested most of the people he had to associate with on a daily basis, as well. But she understood him. She made him laugh and understood that he was an outcast, as was she, in her time. Not to mention their mutual attraction to one another. He couldn't believe that he let his foolishness and selfishness nearly cost him her friendship and love. Working with Kilokahn, a military-based AI program who dubbed himself "ruler of the digital world", he created clones of a mega virus monster to infect her time machine, rendering it useless so that she would have to stay. She eventually found out and he had to tell her the reasoning of why he did it. Thanks to a syber hero calling himself Servo, he defeated his monster army and she was able to go back home. Malcolm was glad she was back, but it didn't make him miss her any less. In his case, the saying was true: her absence just made his heart grow that much fonder of her. "Maybe she'll come back for a visit since tomorrow is Spring break. I could cut classes and get everything ready for her return. I'll make reservations for two at a nice restaurant, we could sneak in to the movie theater and enjoy the very back row to ourselves…oh, the possibilities are endless!" he rubbed his hands together pleasurably.
But before he could gather his next thought, however, he heard a faint beeping noise. "I thought I told you to be quiet!" he kicked the alarm clock until it shattered against the wall. But the beeping noise didn't stop. "Oh, great; I'm going to hear it in my head all day long. Might as well go to school in hopes I can drown it out with all the other useless chatter. But tonight, Lydia, I will have everything ready for you. Everything you desire will be yours…especially me."
"Whew; four classes down and only three more to go until a week of sun, surf, sand, and Jennifer in a smokin' hot swimsuit," Sam Collins told his friends Sydney Forrester, Tanker Ellis, and Amp Ere as they made their way toward their lockers. "Life doesn't get any better than that."
"My pet ferret and I are going to start taking a meditation class," Amp piped up happily. "He's been feeling a little high-strung lately."
Sam shook his head. His crazy friend's nonsense was almost comforting in a weird way. It always made Sam realize just how normal he was. "Aw, Amp. Good, lovable, yet whimsical Amp. We need to get you out more, buddy."
When Sam turned around and saw Malcolm, he tensed up almost as much as Amp's ferret. Since his friend Lydia's departure last month, Malcolm was unpredictable at best. Some days, he was almost nice to them, while other times, he was his usual, obnoxious self. Sam cleared his throat as Malcolm had his back to them, getting books for the next class out of his locker. "So, Malcolm; you got any big plans for Spring break?"
Malcolm turned and glanced at his fingernails. "As a matter of fact, I do. But don't think for one second I'm going to tell you what they are."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Sam replied in his forced civil tone.
"Hey, Malcolm, why are you beeping?" Amp asked as if it was a normal question.
Sam listened for a second and nodded. "Yeah, I hear it, too. It's coming from your satchel."
"You all hear that? I thought it was just—oh, never mind," Malcolm began rummaging around in his bag.
"Guys, that's not just any beeping; it's Morse code," Sydney joined in. Leave it to Sydney to use her mega brain to realize Morse code when she heard it. "Three short, three long, and three short again. Whatever it is, it's sending out an S.O.S."
Malcolm finally pulled out a strange keychain that sure enough, was the culprit. It was oval shaped, with a red button and tiny lights that were flashing to the sound of the beeps.
"What is that thing?" Tanker asked before Sam could.
"This was Lydia's. She gave it to me in case I needed to see her again," Malcolm answered.
Sam would have thought he was dreaming, but Malcolm—not knowing that Lydia told them, as well—confessed that Lydia wasn't his cousin, but a time traveler from the future. "Well, it sounds like she might be in trouble, Malcolm. See what happens if you push the button," Sam reasoned.
Malcolm nodded, making sure no one else was in the hallway before pressing the button.
Sam waited a few seconds before he heard a whooshing sound and a large phone booth-sized box appeared out of nowhere. Sam recognized it from when he was able to turn into Servo and defeat the viruses inside it, but he couldn't let Malcolm know. "Is that Lydia's time machine?"
"Yes, but where is she?" Malcolm wondered aloud, walking towards it.
"Guys, she's on the floor and it doesn't look good," Tanker told them, his hand on the door.
Sam raised an eyebrow curiously as Malcolm covered his ears, but uncovered them when he saw Tanker already had the door open and was by Lydia's side. "Frink, help me carry her to the bench over there," he nodded towards the end of the hall.
Sam watched as they carried a very unconscious Lydia out of the machine and placed her on the bench. Malcolm sat down next to her as her head slumped onto his shoulder.
"We need to splash her with water or something to wake her," Sydney suggested, but Amp snapped his fingers.
"I've got an idea. Be right back," he cried before dashing off.
"Maybe she's just ill or something," Sam said, trying not to notice that Malcolm was holding her hand. Never thought I'd see the day when Malcolm would have the hots for anyone other than Jennifer, he thought. But I guess even loners and outcasts can find love, too.
Amp came running down the hall and literally screeched to a halt. "Some of Mrs. Starkey's smelling salts," he said, holding the bottle under her nose.
Sam was impressed. "Good thinking, Amp. But why would Mrs. Starkey need smelling salts?"
Amp continued waving the bottle slowly back and forth under her nose. "For the new kids who aren't quite used to her cooking. I once saw an entire row of foreign exchange students just fall out."
"She's waking up," Malcolm said as Lydia moved slightly, letting a moan escape her throat.
"Lydia? It's Sam. Can you tell us what happened?"
Lydia muttered something unintelligible, still trying to wake up.
"Did someone do this to you?" Sydney asked, kneeling beside her.
"Kilo…Ka…," Lydia whispered, starting to come around. She was now holding her head up and rubbing her eyes. "Kilokahn."
"Lydia, you'll have to speak up. We didn't quite hear you," Tanker told her.
Sam was beginning to get worried as she started repeating Kilokahn's name over and over. Could he have really harmed her? Whatever it was, it didn't sound good. Not at all.
Lydia knew she wasn't able to form a full sentence, but her body was so weak and her brain was still a little hazy. I just really need to talk to Malcolm. But where is he? I hear him, but I can't really see anything. She rubbed her eyes again and finally managed a weak "Malcolm" to resonate from her vocal cords.
"I'm right here, my darling," he replied from her left side, and she could feel him holding her hand. "Sam, no offense, but since she is my girlfriend and she asked for me, perhaps I should speak to her. Alone."
"Sure thing, Malcolm. Come on, guys. Let's give them some privacy," she heard Sam say before he and the guys quickly said their goodbyes and feel better soon wishes.
"Lydia, it's just me now. We can speak freely. What happened?"
Lydia swallowed hard and prayed her voice would come as quickly as her vision was returning. "Kilokahn did this."
"But how? You witnessed me destroying the program. He was pleading for his life, remember?"
"I don't know. He must've somehow…slithered his way into my time machine's computer…right before you pressed the delete button. I just found out…knew I had to tell you, but he…caught me just before I left. He shot a laser at me…paralyzing me. I used my finger to send the…distress signal."
"Well, I'm glad you were able to. I can't believe he tricked me. And he tried to hurt you. He will pay for this!" Malcolm stood up as anger overtook him.
Finally, Lydia found her bearings enough to stand up, as well. "I was hoping you would say that. I need your help. I need you to go forward to my time and maybe the two of us can finally destroy him for good!"
Suddenly, Malcolm blinked as the reality of what she said hit him. "Wait; you need me to go to the future? But-but the technology is much more advanced and I—"
Lydia grabbed his arms excitedly. "You'll be perfect. You are a fantastic computer programmer and you know Kilokahn best. You're my only hope. Please say you'll go with me."
"Well, you make some very good points. Fine, I'll go with you. When shall I be ready to leave?"
"Right now."
"Right now? As in this minute?" Malcolm repeated, eyebrows raised.
Lydia gave him an exasperated look. "Yes, right now. But we need to let Sam and Company know you're leaving with me. Just let me do the talking, though."
"Whatever you say, my love," he replied, caressing her cheek.
Lydia smiled but quickly dashed into the cafeteria where the gang was. As soon as they saw her, they rushed over, bombarding her with questions about how she was feeling.
"We were so worried," Sam told her.
"Yeah, about that…it was just human error on my part. I planned to come here but I kinda shocked myself before I could press the startup button. Only thing I knew to do was to try to make my pinky move to the emergency button that would send the signal to Malcolm's keychain. Actually, speaking of Malcolm, I came back because I need his help. We should only be gone a couple of days, though."
"Why were you muttering Kilokahn?" Sydney asked, spotting Malcolm walking up.
"Oh, that. Well, my computer programming class is going back in time, so to speak. We're learning about past computer programs and Kilokahn was one of them. Some military program or something. Anyway, we're doing basic coding from around the mid-nineties, so who better than Malcolm to help me? I may be a keen inventor, but when it comes to old programs, I don't know bits from bytes."
"That's easy. Bits are nibbles and bytes are bigger than nibbles," Amp chimed in.
"Wait a second; what about Spring break? Ours is next week…when is your Spring break?" Tanker asked.
Lydia gulped. Uh-oh. She forgot about Spring break. "Um, well in Brooklyn, it's not officially Spring until around May, so ours is much later," she quickly replied.
"Oh," Tanker grimaced. "That bites."
"Yeah. Well, Malcolm and I had better be going, but I'll stay for a bit after I bring him back," she told them.
"You promise?" Sam asked.
Lydia nodded but Amp put his pinky up in the air. "Pinky promise?"
"Oh, she said she promised, Amp. Must you always act like a child?" Malcolm snapped.
Lydia smiled apologetically and linked pinkies with Amp. "Pinky promise. Bye, guys."
"Bye, Malcolm. Bring us back something from the future, okay?" Sam asked.
Malcolm gave him a "we'll see" look and followed Lydia out of the cafeteria.
"It's not officially Spring until May?" he teased when they were out of earshot.
Lydia shrugged. "I panicked, okay? Besides, it worked, didn't it?"
"Touché," Malcolm responded and Lydia giggled. She hated lying to her friends, but they would all want to come and help defeat Kilokahn and Malcolm would have a fit at both their persistence and knowing that Sam was Servo. Kilokahn was all too real for all of them, but for now, she just needed to keep his presence under her and Malcolm's proverbial hats. Besides, all they had to do was find Kilokahn and delete him for good. How hard could that possibly be?