6

Chapter Two: Journey to a Strange World

Wilma met Fred at the door, tapping the slide of "Fred and the Mystery Woman" up and down on her palm in an irritated manner. Wilma's pet Sabre-Tooth Tiger-Cat, Baby Puss, had stalked over to stand behind the angry cavewoman, eyeing Fred in a similar fashion as her mistress.

Dino, the Flintstones' pet dinosaur, had as usual knocked Fred over in his eagerness to greet his master at the door; but he soon slunk away, sensing that there was something amiss between Fred and his wife Wilma. Baby Puss snarled and nipped at Dino's tail as he went.

"Wilma?" Fred asked, realizing that his wife was not happy about something, "What'd I do this time?"

Fred's best friend—and Betty's husband—Barney Rubble, walked in behind his pal. Betty gave him a worried look, and Barney immediately went over to her to hold her hand.

"Uh...should Betty and I be leaving, Fred?" Barney asked anxiously.

"Naw, Barn," Fred replied, "We're all supposed to have dinner tonight—isn't that right, Wilma honey?"

"Don't you 'Wilma-honey' me, Fred Flintstone!" She fumed, "Betty and I were going over some of the old slides in our basement, and we came across this!"

Wilma slapped the slide into Fred's hand.

"Wilma would like you to explain, Fred," Betty told him, "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for it...but it may involve Barney's parents, and so I think that we should stay to find out."

"My parents?!" exclaimed Barney, "How could it possibly have anything to do with them? They're on a Seniors' tour of Eurock right now!"

"Barney, did one of your parents have an affair with one of Wilma's parents?" Betty asked her husband bluntly, "We came across a photo of Fred with a woman who looks like her...and like me, actually...but the name at the bottom of the slide says, 'Wilma Rubble', so it can't be either of my parents who are involved—their names are Elsie McBricker and Mack O'Shale, not Rubble. Do either of you know anything about this 'Wilma Rubble' woman?"

Fred suddenly turned white as a ghost.

"D-did you say, 'Wilma Rubble'?" He croaked miserably.

Barney's mouth was gaping in shock.

"Fred," he stammered, "You don't mean to tell me you know a'Wilma Rubble'?"

"I...uh..." Fred murmured in an embarrassed fashion, "Let me explain, everyone...I can explain!"

"Please do, Frederick," Wilma stated in an icy tone, "This slide shows you putting an engagement ring on this woman's finger. You told me that I was the one and only!"

"I did...you were!" Fred attempted to reassure his wife, "Look, I can't really explain this in words. I just don't have the vocabulary...I'm a bronto-crane operator, not an astrophysicist. I'm going to have to get The Great Gazoo to help me."

"Who is the Great Gazoo?" Wilma asked suspiciously.

"The Great Gazoo is a little green man from outer space," Barney offered, "Only me and Fred can see him...along with little kids and animals...they can see him too."

"This is getting bizarre," Wilma stated with great concern, "Are you sure you're feeling all right, Fred...Barney?"

"I'll be feeling better once we get this...misunderstanding sorted out. I don't know how that slide got into the box with all the other ones," Fred told them, "I was keeping it in an old desk drawer that nobody uses..."

"I threw that old desk out," Wilma interrupted, "I cleared everything out of it before I did, though. I must have deposited that slide into the box with the others."

Fred closed his eyes. He seemed to be concentrating intently on something. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and began speaking—seemingly, to no one.

"Gazoo! Gazoo!" Fred said. Wilma thought for a moment that he was sneezing, and she was about to say "Bless you,", but Fred continued with his monologue:

"Gazoo! Am I glad to see you! Wilma found that slide of 'Wilma Rubble', and she doesn't understand or remember what happened. Can you...kind of give us some kind of explanation for what happened?"

Fred waited for a moment, during which nobody said anything. The only one who appeared to be listening intently was Barney.

"Gazoo is telling us that in order to understand what happened, you kinda have to re-experience it," Barney translated, "Look, I know this sounds crazy, but Gazoo says that he has some "Memo-Helmets" that you girls can wear so that you can remember what happened. He says that Fred has to travel with you...it'll kind of be like mind-travel, or a dream...except for it's real. I don't know how to describe it. Gazoo's going to transport you back to some kind of alternate-universe thing that will explain what happened. Gazoo says that I have to wait back here and work the controls of the "Memo-Helmets", along with him. He's going to send his doppelganger, Gazoo Two, with you guys. He says that you and Betty will be able to see 'Gazoo Two' once you get to where you're going."

"All right, now I know that you and Fred have gone crazy, Barney," Wilma interjected impatiently, "Why don't you two tell us the truth instead of coming up with this cockamamie tale? I thought you didn't know who this 'Wilma Rubble' person was? Are you two lying to us about it?"

"No..." Barney objected, "I don't know who Wilma Rubble is, because I wasn't there! Last time, when we were all a bit younger, I remember working the controls of those Helmets—but Fred never told me what happened when you went to the alternate universe. He said that I wouldn't want to know."

"And did this Gazoo guy provide the helmets the first time?" asked Betty, seemingly going along with Barney's madness.

"No," Barney replied, "This was before we even met Gazoo. Fred and me stumbled upon them while we were digging up the backyard to put in that swimming pool that we never did build after all. Anyways, we dug this contraption out of the ground and brought it back to Fred's basement. That's when Gazoo showed up and told us that we were messing around with stolen alien property. You and Wilma came down and put on the helmets because you thought we were getting dressed up for a masquerade party. Fred was between you and Betty, when suddenly a bunch of blue lightning surrounded you all and you sort of disappeared...or at least part of you did. It was like you split into two parts—one part went on this big adventure in the alternate universe, and the other side of you two stayed here with the Helmets on, and we monitored you. Fred totally disappeared from view, I guess because he didn't have a helmet on. Gazoo told me that you were going back to the past of an alternate universe. That's when he sent Gazoo Two to the rescue, while Gazoo One and I manned the Helmet-Controls. That's all I remember of this thing...and you and Betty didn't remember a thing when you both finally got back here...Fred said that was for the best, too. He's really the only one, other than Gazoo, who knows exactly what happened."

"Barney, that is absolutely crazy," Wilma responded, slapping her forehead, "You can't expect us to believe that! It's absurd."

"They say 'Truth is stranger than Stories are'," Barney said, "or something like that."

"'Truth is stranger than fiction', Barney," Betty told him, "That's what they say...hey, Wilma! Where did that thing come from?"

Betty pointed at an odd, futuristic machine with three chairs and three helmets beside it, which had mysteriously made its way into Wilma's kitchen without her or Betty seeing it enter. The helmets were attached to three wires, each of which was plugged into the main machine.

"Is this supposed to be the machine that's going to transport us back to the past of this...alternative universe thing?" Wilma asked, walking over to the machine and sitting in a chair. She put on one of the helmets.

"Nothing's happening, Fred," she called out sarcastically, "Am I supposed to blast off to the moon?"

"Wilma, honey—be careful!" Fred cried, running over to her. He had finally halted his conversation with the non-existent alien being, Wilma noted with some relief.

"Maybe we should just go along with the boys' story for now, Wilma," Betty whispered to her, taking her place in a second chair and donning her own helmet.

"Oh..." Fred exclaimed in a panic, jumping into the third chair and putting on his own helmet, "I hope you girls are ready for a wild ride. Okay, Gazoo, we're as ready as we'll ever be."

To Wilma and Betty's dismay, a "blue lightning" effect shone all around them, and the Flintstone kitchen disappeared, along with Barney. They felt themselves being powerfully catapulted into a dark hole, and to their terror, they realized that they were being transported to a strange, distant world.