I just submitted this for the "Out of Gas" March contest at There are many great stories there. Check them out.
Dark Side of the Moon
By: pbow
Rated T
The Sun rose quickly and shone brightly through the little portal. "Where did you get that Naco?" Kim Possible asked Ron Stoppable. The Sun was just as quickly eclipsed by a large celestial object.
Ron took another bite and spoke with his mouth full. "I brought some along." He swallowed. "You know what the food they gave us tastes like!" Crumbs floated away from his mouth.
"Ewww, I bet that doesn't go very well with Tang," Kim said as she scrunched up her face.
"That's O.K. I brought some sodas along too." He pulled out a bottle and twisted off the cap. The liquid started to float out of the container and formed spheroid shaped blobs.
"Ron," Kim whined, "you shouldn't open a container of liquid in a SPACE CAPSULE! Cap the bottle, QUICKLY!" She grabbed some towels and tried to capture the dark syrupy mess. "How much did you bring along?"
"Well, our mission is set for fifteen days soooo, I brought enough for a month." He paused. "For all of us."
Rufus floated by and squeaked, "Cheese!"
"Ron, you brought enough Bueno Nacho and sodas... for the three of us... to last a whole month? Do you know how much that weighs?" Kim tried to run the figures in her head.
"The guys at NASA said I could bring some. But I had to promised to use the vacuum after meals."
"How much did they say you could bring?" Kim was drumming her fingers and getting impatient.
Ron finished the last bite of his Naco and licked his fingers. "Well, he said 'some.'" Ron was still using air quotes. "He didn't specify. I think the total weight was around one hundred and thirty pounds."
Kim's jaw dropped a good two feet and her eyes bulged out. "Do you have any idea what that much weight did to our fuel consumption?" She floated over to the main console and slid into the pilot's seat. Rufus landed on her shoulder.
"Since we're behind the Moon right now we can't contact Mission Control." She tapped the fuel gauge. "Ron, we're almost out of fuel. I don't think we have enough to get back to Earth."
She read the gauges again, grabbed a clipboard and pen and started in on the calculations. Rufus shook his head and muttered, "No, No." Kim looked, crossed out a number and wrote something else. Rufus nodded, "That's right."
Kim's heart fell in her chest. "We have enough for one or two control burns. Enough to break us out of the Moon's orbit. But there won't be enough left to create an Earth orbit; Let alone a control burn to start reentry."
Ron swallowed hard. "What are our options? Can we make it to the International Space Station?"
Kim ran some more numbers. "We can make it there, but we wouldn't have enough to slowdown, maneuver or dock. We would pass by too quickly to try an untethered space walk. I brought my grappling gun, but we'd be too far away to get a shot with it." Kim's whole body slumped forward. She let the clipboard and pen drift out of her hands. "I got nothin.'"
Ron had a dour look, "Kim, that use to be my line. That's quitter talk and I'm not a quitter anymore!" He scowled as he thought. "There must be something we can do!"
All three sat and ponder the sitch for a couple of minutes.
Ron's face brightened for a split second, then a look of determination took over. "We're gonna crash, no matter what we do." He glanced at Kim as she nodded. "Then I think we should go out in a BLAZE OF GLORY! Give me the numbers."
Kim gave him the fuel numbers after he sat at a computer terminal. He furiously typed. The monitors around him flash trajectories and calculations. Kim got out of the pilot's seat and, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, looked on as he worked. He finished with a flourish and turned to her. "Kim, check my math!"
Her eyes widened as she ran through the information. "NOOO! You want us to go there?"
Ron's face brightened, "If we're gonna crash and burn, we might as well do it there. Just think of the all valuable information we could gather on the way." He paused for effect. "It's the only thing I can come up with."
She buried her face into his neck. After a minute she kissed his cheek. "I don't like the idea of dying... but if we must then that would be a spectacular way to go."
Kim checked the clock. "We'll be out of the Moon's shadow in eight minutes. We can contact Mission Control then and tell them what's happening. Your numbers look right to me, but Rufus..." She looked around and spotted the little fellow. "You check his calculations too."
Rufus floated over and landed in front of Ron. He bounced across the keyboard checking all the information. When he got to the end he stood bolt upright, his eyes were as big as his body. "Oh no," he squeaked.
"What do you think, little buddy? We'll make history...!" Ron said enticingly.
Rufus thought for a moment, then gave a thumbs up. "O.K.!"
They all bantered around ideas of what information they could glean from their proposed trip.
Static came from their com link for a few seconds. Then, "Team Possible this is Houston. Do you copy? Over."
Ron flipped on the com. "Houston, this is Team Possible. We read you loud and clear. Ah, Houston, we have a problem. Over." Ron turned off the mic and beamed at Kim. "I always wanted to say that."
Kim looked at him sternly, then pouted, "I've always wanted to say that too!"
"Team Possible this is Houston, what's the situation? Over."
Kim put her hands on her hips. "Go ahead, tell them!"
Ron turned on the mic. "Ah, Houston... As you can see on the readouts, we're a little low on gas and don't have enough for a return trip. If you guys have any ideas... it would be greatly appreciated. If you can't come up with anything, we have a proposal. Over."
"Team Possible, this is Cap Con.(Cape Canaveral Control.) We're looking at the numbers now. Take a few more orbits and we'll get back to you. Over."
"Roger Cap. Bring in our families. I'm sure they'll want to be in on this. Over."
"Roger Team Possible, we'll send out escorts immediately. Over and out."
After three more orbits, communications was reestablished.
"Team Possible, this is Cap Con. Your families are here. We've run every know scenario and a couple of unknown, too. I'm sorry to say, all end in failure. Over."
Kim got on the com. "Cap, we came to the same conclusion." She paused for a moment. "We figure it's crash and burn or deep freeze out here. Over." Her voice was glum.
"Team Possible... Kim... Ron... That's the conclusion we came up with too. Sorry... Over."
Ron turned on his mic, "Cap I'm sending you a data stream now." He punched a few buttons. "Check our proposal and my calculations. Over and out." He turned off all outgoing radio communications.
There was five minutes of silence. Ron glided over and wrap Kim in an embrace.
"Team Possible this is Cap Con. Are you serious? There's got to be other options. Over."
"Cap this is Ron. We've thought about it. If you don't have any other options..." Ron gulped. "We figure our supplies and air are Chauncey, and we have the solar panel for power. All we need is the right trajectory and we be good to go. Just think of the data we can gather on the way. Over."
"Ron, Kim, this is Cap. Your parents are here and want to talk. You'll be on a secure channel. No one, not even others here in the control room will be listening. Over." There was a moment of silence. Kim took the Command Seat and Ron sat in the Pilot's Seat. Both turned on their cameras and monitors.
"Kim, this is your Father." Kim saw his face in the monitor and brushed her hand across it. All radio protocol flew out the window. (Or portal as the case may be.)
"Hi, Daddy," she sniffled a little and brushed a tear from her eye.
Kimmie-Cub, I..." Mrs. Dr. Possible edged her way into the frame, "Ah... We don't like what your proposing. But under the circumstance..."
"We understand." Mrs. Dr. P. finished the sentence.
"Mom, Dad. If we head straight for the Sun we'll be able to gather more data on Solar flares and winds. If we time it right we might get some data on Mercury and Venus. Plus... Ron and I thought NASA might like some data on..." She hesitated.
Mrs. Dr. P. knew, but asked anyway. "On whaaat?"
Kim's whole body blushed. "Well, you know..."
Mr. Dr. P. looked quizzically at her. "Know what?" he asked. Mrs. Dr. P. whispered in his ear.
Mr. Dr. P.'s look of shock was priceless. Kim just giggled. "Yea, that."
Meanwhile, Ron was tearfully talking to his parents. Mrs. Stoppable sternly told his son, "You know, a parent should not outlive the child, and a suicide does not get into Heaven."
"I know Mom. But the information we gather on the way might help in the fields of weather prediction and Astronomy. We... I think that's important." He paused. "It was my idea," he said with a finality in his voice.
Mr. Stoppable was taken aback by the statement. He rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Well... if it's that important... maybe God will allow it."
Rufus landed on Ron's shoulder and whispered into his ear. Ron perked up. "That's right! This isn't really a, like, suicide mission. I mean, they explained to you that we're going to die no matter what. So... Here's an idea. Why not run it by Rabbi Katz and get back to us. We'll be able to talk for a few more days."
Both Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable let out a sigh of relief. "I guess it's not suicide. Just a choice of how you want to live your last few days," Mrs. Stoppable said as she got the drift of it.
Ron checked a few of the instruments. "Listen Dad, Mom. We're heading behind the Moon in about twenty seconds so the radio will cut out soon. Tell the NASA guys we'll be waiting on their next transmission when we come out of shadow." Snow started to cloud the picture. "I love you both!" The monitor went to static. Ron sat and looked at it for another minute before turning it off.
When they came out of radio blackout, NASA informed them the new mission was a go. There was little celebration. NASA uploaded the flight information, provided by Wade, into their navigation computer.
At the appropriate time they got in their respective seats and buckled in. The pilot, Ron, punched a couple of numbers into the computer and said, "Let's light this puppy!" Kim counted down and they both pushed the button to ignite the boosters. When the rockets spent the last drop of fuel, all fell silent.
"Team Possible, this is Cap Con. Your trajectory is nominal. Your flight path is nominal. God speed. Over."
"Kim to Cap Con. Is my Mom there? Over."
"Cap to Kim, she's at the medical station. Over."
"Kim to Cap, patch me through, please and thank you... Over."
"Kim, this is Mom. What do you need... Oh, I'm suppose to say over."
"Mom, forget about radio protocol. NASA can go jump in the lake if they don't like it."
"Kimmie!" her mother exclaimed.
"Mother! We're out of gas and there's no chance of making it home. You think they'll come up here and spank me? I'm headed for the Sun!"
Mrs. Dr. P. sighed. "O.K. what's the sitch?"
"Mom, Ron and I will be sending you our vitals soon. Our little project... remember?"
"Kim, you want to start that now?" Mrs. Dr. P. blushed a little.
"Mom, Ron and I have discussed it. We only have a couple of days and, sorry to be blunt but, we'll be doing it as much as possible.
"That could be a lot of data to analyze." She blushed even more. "But I am a doctor. It should be quite interesting."
"MOTHER!" Kim took a deep breath and calmed down a little. "We'll be doing it this time only for posterity. But no audio or video!"
Mrs. Dr. P. mumbled to herself, "That'll put a damper on it."
"Mom, I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat please?"
"It was nothing Dear. Ah, just for the record... will this be your first?"
Kim blushed, "No Mom. The first was extra special. We did it on the dark side of the Moon!"
A/N: This came to me as I was working. All my ideas come that way. I can do my work in my sleep and thinking up stories is the only way to keep awake. I work overnight and the plot bunnies seem to strike between 2 and 2:30 every night. Whoever unleashes them at that time, please send them elsewhere. I have two dozen stories floating around that need my attention. I can't deal with any more. It's driving me over the edge! Standard disclaimer. Disney does, I don't. I enjoy doing but get no green.