"No way!"
"Uh-huh!"
"You're bluffing!"
"I'm telling you, it's true!"
"Aaargh!" Captain Stanley exclaimed. "Will you twits please shut up!"
Johnny and Chet halted their argument and looked up at Cap.
"Once," Cap growled. "Just once, I would like to see you two act your age!"
Before either could protest, the tones sounded. Station 51, man injured. 22176 Lakeview Drive. Cross Street, Langley, time out 0845.
"Station 51, 10-4, KMG-365." Cap acknowledged the call.
The squad pulled out of the station with the engine following behind them. They pulled up to an odd-looking house and went up to investigate.
"In here!" They heard from the garage. "I'm in here." They entered the cluttered garage and found an old man with his leg caught on something. They couldn't tell what.
"Don't think I'm hurt too bad." The man said. "Got stuck while I was tryin' to fix this here machine." He motioned towards the strange contraption.
Within minutes they had the man freed. He had a fairly deep cut on his leg, so they sent him to Rampart for stitches and a tetanus shot. "Hey," he said as they loaded him onto the gurney. "I got a new invention over there. Can yeh turn it off for me so's the power don't run down?"
"Sure thing." Johnny replied. As the ambulance drove away, the men turned their attention to the odd-looking white device that stood before them.
"Where do you think the off switch is?" Chet asked.
"Maybe it's this red button here." Johnny suggested.
"Gage, don't you ever watch TV?" Chet replied. "A red button always activates the self-destruct sequence!"
"Oh, come on, Chet!" Johnny snorted. "That kinda stuff doesn't happen in real life!"
"How do you know?" Chet shot back.
"Well have you ever seen it happen?" Johnny asked.
"Have you ever seen it not happen?" Chet retorted.
"Shut up, both of you!" Cap snapped. "Back away from this thing. Go stand over there. Stoker, c'mere and see if you can help me figure out where the off switch is."
Mike stepped up to help. "Maybe it's this lever here." He suggested.
"Go ahead and give it a try." Cap instructed. Mike accordingly pulled the lever down. The machine began to whir and a blue light began to form at its tip. All of a sudden the light shot out from the nozzle and surrounded Johnny, Roy, Chet and Marco.
When the light died down, Mike and Cap ran forward to see if their friends were all right.
What they saw were three small children and a baby in place of the adults that had been there a moment earlier.
"Guys?" Cap queried.
"Cap," Mike said. "I think I know what this invention does. Look." He pointed to a label on the back of the machine. It read 'Reverse-ager'. "It's set to thirty." Mike indicated the meter on the side.
"Does that mean what I think it means?" Cap asked, hoping he was wrong.
"Yep." Mike replied calmly. "It means your crew is now thirty years younger."