A big booyah this week for those who have nominated Between The Stars for several Fannies this year: Best Kim/Ron story, Best Action/Adventure story, Best Novel-Sized story, and Best Series story. And (gasp) Best Writer? (I had to double-check that I wasn't just in one of my own AU's when I read that...) It's always an honor to be nominated, so my thanks who have given me their thumbs up so far, and thanks to levi2000a1 for tipping me off. Voting closes May 11, so as they say, remember to vote early and often! :) And best of luck to all who have been nominated.

And another booyah, I'm continuing to stay about a week ahead in writing a new chapter while polishing the most recent, and I'm now hopeful that I'll have the entire story wrapped up by the end of May. But before we continue to the final return to our own dimension, my thanks to last chappie's reviewers: Eddy13, CajunBear73, Rick 455, Sentinel103, Bookworm Gal, Jimmy1201, pbow, levi2000a1, Beckman, Tito-Mosquito, Linzerj and whitem.

Now it's time for our heroes to return home. But what will they find? Read on...


As the Kepler IV popped back into normal space, everyone held their breath, fearing the uncomfortable transition. But they were all pleasantly surprised when the effects weren't nearly as debilitating as expected.

Kim exhaled in relief. "Hey, that wasn't quite as bad this time. And none of us passed out."

Sadie remarked, "That's probably because our arrival point in both time and space is nearly identical to the one we just left, even though the dimensions are different."

Shego carefully rubbed her stomach. "Yeah, I'm not tasting last night's dinner again either, so I'm good. But are we finally back in our own universe?"

Kim breathlessly asked, "Sadie, can you give us some good news, please and thank you?"

Sadie replied with a pleasant chirp. "We should know in just a moment, Kim. It looks like we have an incoming message."

Their question was quickly answered as James Possible appeared on the viewscreen.

"Kim, Shego? Is that you?"

Pumping his arms in the air, Ron exclaimed, "Booyah!" while Rufus did several ecstatic backflips.

Kim quickly replied, "Yes, Dad, it's us! We've all made it back in one piece, and that includes Ron, Rufus and Drakken."

Kim could barely hear her father over the spontaneous cheering that had just broken out in Warmonga's shuttle.

"Thank God! That's wonderful news, Kimmie-cub! I can't tell you just how relieved I am. So welcome home to you all. And my deepest thanks to Ron, Rufus and Drew for rescuing you and returning you safe and sound. However, I, uh, do have one question."

His look of relief had changed to one of puzzlement. "Not that I'm complaining, but Ron and Drew have only been gone for a few seconds, so that was prrrrrety darn quick. How in the world did you manage that?"

"Actually, it's hard to tell exactly how long we've all been gone, Dad. And what seems like a few seconds to you seemed like an eternity to us. It's a long story involving jumps through time as well as through a whole different spankin' universe."

His puzzled look morphed into one of excitement. "Time jumps and a parallel universe? That's amazing, Kim! And once all this is confirmed, I'm sure that it will revolutionize both quantum and cosmological physics. I can't wait to tell Bob Chen about this!"

Kim hastily replied, "That's great, Dad, and I'm sure you'll have tons to discuss with your friends later, but right now we've got a world to save. So what's the sitch with those asteroids?"

"Well, Deimos has been blown into several thousand pieces by the two missiles that were launched at it."

He beamed with pride. "Which were my design, naturally. But a thousand fragments large enough to devastate the planet still remain. So we're preparing to launch a few more specially modified ICBM's which will intercept the swarm just beyond the Earth's atmosphere. We're hoping to destroy the remaining asteroids large enough to impact Earth's surface, but I'm afraid that our current simulations predict there will still be a few hundred left to cause an extinction event, should even one hit."

"Just how soon will that be, Dad?"

"The asteroid swarm will impact the Earth in exactly 48 hours. We hope to intercept the edge of the swarm with our ICBM's one hour before that. But the next asteroid, Phobos, is only 3 hours behind."

"Wow. That's not much time, huh?"

"No, but the good news is that the space shuttle Endeavour is being readied for launch, and Justine Flanner will be on board along with an improved model of her Kinematic Continuum Disruptor, which she has assured us will be up to the task of taking out Phobos. The bad news is that the shuttle won't be ready to launch for another 50 hours, which is barely enough time to intercept it."

Ron grimaced. "Mr. Dr. P, this isn't another one of those math problems that starts out, 'An asteroid leaves the orbit of Mars and heads toward the Earth at 200,000 mph. You leave in a spaceship traveling from Middleton at 100,000 mph. How soon before my body gets splattered all over it?!' "

James began to lecture, "Well, Ronald, that's actually quite simple to figure out just as long as you know what the distance between Earth and Mars was to start out with, and exactly when you…"

Kim fixed he father with a long suffering look.

Now understanding Ron's actual concern, he continued apologetically, "Oh, sorry Ronald. I didn't realize you were particularly worried about, uh, impact vectors."

Kim added, "Anyway, Dad, that's spankin' news about the space shuttle, but how are we going to take care of the rest of that first asteroid field?"

"I'm afraid that it will be up to us to stop somehow, Kim."

Sadie interjected, "Which is problematic, as the Kepler is nearly out of fuel, Kim. We have just enough to make it back to Earth."

Kim groaned, "Great. And just how long will that take?"

"If we leave a safe fuel reserve, 55 hours."

She huffed, "Not good enough. What about at maximum speed, leaving no reserves?"

"45 hours. But that would leave no room for error, Kim."

"Well, what if we placed everything under your control, including thrust and navigation?"

"That would reduce any chance of error to less than .001 percent, but the 45 hour ETA is firm. Any faster, and we won't have enough fuel left to decelerate sufficiently and make a safe reentry."

Kim then queried the Empress, "Warmonga, what about your shuttle? Could you make it to Earth any faster?"

The Lorwardian answered with a negative shake of her head, "Not possible. Warmonga's ship is more massive than your Kepler. At sub-light velocities, it would take my ship longer both to build up speed, then decelerate enough to achieve orbit."

"Well, then, 45 hours it is. Dad, how long will it take to refuel and launch the Kepler?"

James answered, "Assuming all goes well, you'd have just enough time left to intercept the first asteroid swarm. But with only a three hour window, that's cutting it very, very close."

"I know. And then there are the other three asteroids to worry about. But our best chance to destroy them is by finding a way to combine the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer and our onboard Kinematic Continuum Disruptor into an anti-asteroid weapon."

James' eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "What? The Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer? How in the world did you come up with that idea?"

"Actually, you did, Dad."

He gave here a confused look. "Uh, forgive me for asking, but when did I do that exactly?"

"Another time, another place, another universe."

Shego warned, "Well, the clock is ticking, so whatever we do, we better get moving real quick. Decision time, and no room for error. So what's your plan, Cupcake?"

Kim quickly began considering all of her options, balancing the need to slow down the remaining asteroids with the need to prevent the first asteroid swarm from pulverizing the Earth. She wanted to buy as much time as possible for her dad and Dr. Drakken to develop an anti-asteroid weapon, but even she couldn't be in two places at once. And with so much on the line, she really didn't feel like testing the distance limitations of her replication abilities. A few miles were one thing, but a few million was something altogether different.

As the ideal solution crystallized in her mind, she grinned inwardly at the irony.

"Shego, I'll never forget the time that Dr. Director thought that the key to my success was what she called the Ron Factor. I dismissed that idea pretty quick and said, 'Seriously. You need Ron?' Well, now I know I need Ron, and so does the Earth."

Kim thought intently for another moment as she considered every last detail, finally making her decision.

"And I trust him enough now to put the world's fate in his hands, at least to begin with. So here's what we're going to do…"

Ten minutes later, the Kepler was heading back to Earth at top speed under Sadie's control. James Possible had joined Dr. Drakken, Ron and Rufus aboard, while Kim and Shego had transferred over to the Imperial shuttle.

Shego did not look happy. "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Kim. You know I'm a better pilot than your Dad by a long shot."

"That's true, Shego, but I've got a feeling we're going to need as much plasma power as possible to slow down those other asteroids. There are other pilots, but you and I are the only ones with powers like ours."

She continued with a trace of a smile, "Oh, and that's a compliment by the way, if you hadn't noticed?"

But Shego merely dismissed Kim's props with a sneer. "Yeah, I noticed. I just hope you're right."

Back on the Kepler, James stared at the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer and muttered, "I sure hope we can make this work. I just wish we hadn't had to leave everyone else back on Warmonga's shuttle."

Ron shrugged, "Yeah, Mr. Dr. P, but like Kim explained, it would have taken too much time to shuttle everyone over. And with the Kepler's fuel already critically low, all that extra weight would have meant an even longer trip. Add one humongously asteroidical deadline staring us right in the face, and we just didn't have the time."

"But I still think having Steve along as a co-pilot would have made more sense."

"Totally agrre-o-mento, on that point. But with his out-of-control beard growth and the power drain on the engines if he were to shave, he wisely chose to stay behind. Besides, if he didn't shave, all that hair would have gotten in the way of the controls."

James huffed, "Yes, Ronald, I understand the, uh, sitch as Kim puts it. But it just irks the beans right out of me when Kim's always right."

He continued to lament, "Which means that my little Kimmie-cub has finally grown up, and doesn't need her old man anymore."

Ron's eyes went wide with surprise. "Chill out, dude! Each of us has a muy importantay task to complete. She needs every last one of us to do a specific job, especially you and Dr. D."

Ron thought for another moment before coming to an even deeper realization.

"And don't forget that you and Mrs. Dr. P raised her, and raised her well. She wouldn't be the person she is today without you."

James slowly began to understand what Ron was getting at. "Yes, Ronald, you're absolutely right. And thank you for reminding me of that."

He then began to reflect on the past, and on the decisions that they had all ultimately made. "Ronald, I know I haven't always been in favor of your relationship with my Kimmie-cub. But in the final analysis, when she chose you for her husband, she made a good choice. And the entire planet may now end up being in her debt, as well as yours."

Ron softly replied, "And yours too, Mr. Dr. P."

James acknowledged that statement with a gentle nod. "Thanks Ronald. Well, at least my dimensional counterpart came up with the idea on how to combine the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer with the Kinematic Continuum Disruptor, so we know it can be done."

With a cheerful grin, he glanced over at the former mad scientist.

"Well then, Drew. Shall we get to work?"

Drakken grinned back in pleasure, not unlike a little kid with a new toy. "Ah, just like old times, eh, James?"

"Yes, it does remind me a bit of our college years. But please, don't try to build any female robots out of it in the meantime, hmm?"


Exactly 45 hours later, the Kepler IV made a pinpoint landing at the Middleton Interstellar Spaceport.

"Thanks, Sadie. Looks like we made it back with fuel to spare."

"Yes, Ron. But only about five minutes worth."

Rufus gave a little whimper and nearly passed out at the news.

Technicians began swarming over the ship, quickly refueling the craft and checking it over for any damage. As Ron swung the hatch open, General Sims was on hand to greet them all with a smart salute.

"Welcome home, gentlemen. And congratulations on a job well done so far, but we're not out of the woods yet. Here's our current situation. Fortunately, the Deimos asteroid swarm was significantly slowed down by our first attack, and we're ready now to hit it with ten specially modified ICBM's with MIRV warheads. But that means that Phobos will now be arriving at nearly the same time as the first asteroid swarm. So while Dr. Flanner aboard the Endeavour takes care of Phobos, we'll need you take care of whatever space rocks remain after our attack."

James frowned. "General Sims, that's going to be problematic. On our way back to Earth we discovered that we can't attach the PDVI to the continuum disruptor and run tests at the same time Ron's using it against that asteroid swarm. And that's going to put us critically behind."

The General grinned back, "Well then, I have some good news for you there as well. We'll unload the continuum disruptor and replace it with a new weapon: the brand new Neutroniliser Mark 2."

Ron's eyes began to glaze over in pleasure. "You mean that super weapon that Dr. Drakken stole from the Army a few years ago?"

"One in the same, Mr. Stoppable. We've found a way to focus the Kepler's Lorwardian-style plasma weapons through it, giving it a ten-fold increase in its power. Not enough to completely vaporize a dwarf planet-sized asteroid, but more than enough to take out a rock as big as Manhattan."

"Coolio! That's great news, General. I'll take off as soon as refueling is complete. And hopefully that will buy enough time for Mr. Dr. P and Dr. D to complete their conversion work."

James was still looking rather haggard after working nearly non-stop on his computational marathon. He cautiously added, "That is, if we still have enough time. Drew and I have worked out the basic computations, but it'll take some careful work to connect all the hardware together. But it's looking hopeful."

Ron suddenly realized that a big problem now faced them. "Uh, General? If Mr. Dr. P is going to stay on Earth to work on the PDVI, he won't be able to be my co-pilot like we had planned. Sadie can fly the ship from point A to point B no problemo, but with all the course corrections I'll need to make while chasing after those space rocks, I can't fly the Kepler and operate the weapons at the same time."

Rufus eagerly volunteered, raising a tiny paw and jumping excitedly up and down.

"Sorry, Rufus. But these flight controls are designed to be operated by a human, and there are some simultaneous functions that you just can't physically do. Nothing personal, little buddy."

Rufus gave out a tiny moan of disappointment.

"But I still want you along, pal. I don't know, maybe I can fly the Kepler myself and turn over weapons targeting to you, since you've always been an expert in that. It's just that I'm not the best pilot around, but it doesn't look like we have much choice."

The naked mole rat reluctantly agreed. But before they could continue, a lilting voice spoke from behind them.

"Perhaps I can help, Stoppable-san. It would be my honor to function as your co-pilot."

The beautiful headmistress of Yamanouchi smiled as she walked up to Ron, giving him a warm hug.

"Yori! Wow, if you're not a sight for sore eyes! But I had no idea you could fly the Kepler?"

Giving him a sly grin, she replied, "Once we returned from Lorwardia last year, I decided it would be prudent to add space pilot to my list of abilities, just in case. This now turns out to be very wise choice. Dr. Possible was kind enough to install a Kepler simulator for me at Yamanouchi, and I am now fully rated as a star pilot."

James smiled at the two. "And when I realized that this might be a problem, I radioed ahead so that Yori could be waiting for us here, just in case."

"Nice foresight, Mr. Dr. P. So with me and Rufus on weapons, we'll be able to totally concentrate on taking out those asteroids, with nothing to distract us. And I don't need to remind you of the problems I've had in the past with concentration, Yori."

The young ninja laughed lightly. "Do not belittle yourself, Ron-san. Your concentration has improved tremendously since first studying at Yamanouchi under Sensei's tutelage."

Ron nodded in agreement. "Yes, it has. And under yours as well, I might add. And those abilities just helped me rescue Kim and Shego from a parallel universe. Speaking of which, we lost touch with Sensei after going through one too many wormholes. So where's the Master now?"

"He has now returned to his place beyond the astral plane. He said to wish you good luck, and that he has absolute confidence that you will all rise to the current challenges facing you."

Ron began to blush as he mumbled back, "Yeah, well, that's real nice of him to say. But it's been one honkin' challenge just to make it this far. You don't know what I just went through to rescue Kim from what turned out to be an alternate dimension, and that was only the beginning."

With a look of concern, Yori gently touched his face and looked deep into his eyes. "Please show me, Ron-san."

"Okay, but Kim went a little crazy after being injured by a sabotaged engine, which also stranded us in that parallel universe. I even met our own counterparts, which was coolio for me, but kind of gloomy for them. And then there was Kim, who, well…"

A tear formed in one eye as he recalled Kim's demise, followed by her miraculous rebirth.

"So I'm giving you fair warning: this may be a little difficult for you to take."

Yori took a deep breath. "I am ready, Ron-san."

As they both closed their eyes, Ron began to project his mind into hers so that she could read each and every memory of his recent trials and tribulations. Her eyes opened wide in shock at how Kim's damaged mind had twisted the usually calm and demure ninja into such a surreal creature of torrid evil.

Yori began to swoon, but Ron was right there to catch her. She looked as if she were about to break out in tears.

She gasped, "Ron-san, I am truly amazed at Kim-chan's incredible restoration to life, but I am greatly troubled by her psychosis. I trust she realizes that I would never act so dishonorably. Even more, I would never dishonor either you or Kim-chan in such a way, especially considering the deep friendship I share with you both. I am deeply thankful that it was only an aberration of her mind brought about by the one called WarRaptor, and her memory of Zorpox."

She immediately began to reflect on the fate of the alternate Earth, along with their counterparts in that dimension.

Her strength now returning a bit, she fixed Ron with a haunting stare. "But even more disturbing is this alternate dimension you visited. I… died trying to return your spirit to your body, inhabited now by Zorpox. And to choose to stay with your counterpart's spirit on the astral plane, indefinitely, instead of continuing into the next plane of existence…"

She observed the distant horizon, a far off look in her eyes. "She must have loved your counterpart very deeply to have made such a sacrifice."

Her warm smile returned as she gazed again into Ron's eyes. "But let us not dwell on the bittersweetness of such a distant reality. Let us instead insure that such a thing never happens here."

Ron took her hand, and nodded silently.

"And I now perceive that my original vision was indeed from this other dimension, not from ours."

Ron brightened up immediately. "Whoa! Then the good guys win and live happily ever after?"

Yori's infectious laugh soon had both Ron and Rufus chuckling as well. "Yes, Ron-san. I do believe so. I only wish that all of our counterparts could have been as fortunate. So let us accomplish our mission both in deep honor to them and in thankfulness for our own continued existence."

General Sims approached them. "Folks, our second wave of missiles are about to hit. Cross your fingers…"

High above them, the missiles struck the leading edge of the asteroid swarm. Scores of tiny lights flashed brightly in the sky, clearly visible even though it was daylight. Their awestruck wonder was broken by the ringing of the General's cell phone. He quickly answered, grunting a few times before muttering a brief thanks as he turned to the three young heroes.

"That was Radar Control. The missiles have succeeded in taking out a lot more of those space rocks, but unfortunately there are still a few hundred left large enough to snuff out all life on Earth should they hit. You are now our last line of defense, Mr. Stoppable. Are you up to the challenge?"

Ron gave the General a smart salute. "That's what I'm here for, sir. I won't let you down, I promise."

"Very well. You'll be ready for launch in ten minutes, so please prepare to board. Good luck."

Ron introduced both Rufus and Yori to the general. "General Sims, I believe you've met both Rufus and one of my closest friends, Yori. She'll be acting as my co-pilot on our mission."

He broke out in a wide smile. "Yes, yes I have. Well then, good luck to you all. The thoughts and prayers of the entire planet are with you." And with a tip of his hat, he turned and walked back down the gangway.

As they boarded the Kepler, Ron mumbled, "Yori, I probably should let Kim know what our plans are, and how you'll, uh, be helping."

Yori graced him a benign smile. "Your American-style bashfulness and humility is always refreshing, Ron-san. I am positive Kim-chan will more than welcome my help, now that her mind has been healed by your unique powers."

"Yeah, let's hope so. I never want to face a jellin' Kim like that ever again, pretty please with five-alarm Bueno Nacho hot sauce on top…"

Right on schedule, the Kepler roared off the launch pad, tongues of flame and exhaust quickly propelling them first into orbit, then deep space.

As the first asteroid swarm swiftly closed in on the Earth, Ron and Yori piloted the Kepler to a point directly in front of them, interposing the craft between the dangerous space rocks and their threatened planet.

"All right, Sadie. Let's deploy the Neutroniliser and blast those asteroids clear into the next solar system."

Sadie's relays began clicking as she tried to access the top-secret army weapon.

"Sorry, Ron. I can deploy it, but I'm not reading any of its controls."

While Ron scratched his head in confusion, Yori's fingers danced across her own control panel. "Ron-san, it appears that the Neutronaliser is connected both to the Kepler's power source and its plasma weapons, but we have no targeting interface."

Ron groaned, "Oh, man! I guess General Sims only had time to load the weapon and connect it, but didn't have time to tell us how to aim and fire it."

Suddenly he brightened up. "Hey, wait a minute! I just got a bon-diggity idea…"

He accessed the computer's internet connection and typed in the words, Classic Asteroids Arcade Game.

He smiled as the website popped up, and he immediately downloaded the game into the computer.

"Okay, Sadie. Ya think you can use this?"

Sadie sounded a chirp of pleasure. "That will do nicely, Ron. Just give me a few seconds… and…"

The ancient computer game popped onto the screen, accompanied by the antiquated computer music from the original game of more than 30 years before.

With a ferocious grin he declared, "All right asteroids, you're goin' down!"

Yori pushed a button, and the weapons bay began to open, and the Neutronaliser slowly began to emerge.

A few moments later she announced, "The weapon is deployed and locked in place, Ron-san. Full power is available… now. It will be your honor to fire when ready."

The computer game began with the sound of its classic slow, deep chunk-a-chunk-a as the closest asteroids entered the top of the screen.

As Ron pressed the firing button, the Neutronaliser fired off a tremendous bolt of energy. Unfortunately, the reaction to that shot quickly spun the Kepler around on its axis, completely throwing off his aim and making him dizzy as well.

Ron yelped, "Whoa-ho-ho! Curse Newton's Third Law of Motion! Yori, helllllllp!"

Yori merely offered a gentle laugh in response. "Ah, Stoppable-san. Your American-style buffoonery never fails to brighten my day and bring smile to my humble lips."

She immediately hit the maneuvering rockets, stabilizing the Kepler.

He looked over at her with a sense of relief. "Thanks, Yori. Any more of that spinning and I would have gotten space sick. And this is no time for me to be crummy in the tummy!"

She smiled coyly back, "It will be my honor to counterbalance the ship after each of your shots, Ron-san. It is now I who have your back."

Ron began firing again. Starting with the largest asteroid, he blasted each one into progressively smaller pieces. And with each blast, Yori anticipated each action with just enough reaction from the maneuvering thrusters to keep the Kepler steady and on target.

As more asteroids appeared, the tempo of the chunk-a-chunk-a sound steadily increased. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead as his concentration intensified. He began to glow a faint blue as he accessed his Mystical Monkey Power, relaxing into an ever increasing firing tempo. One by one, Ron worked his way down until the largest piece of rubble was no larger than an oversized SUV, and would therefore completely burn up in the atmosphere before hitting the ground. As the last of the asteroids were destroyed, the game cheerfully beeped back at him, and he gratefully viewed the final triumphant words as they flashed across the screen.

Game Over.

"Hey, I even got extra bonus points for time! Not only that, but I've got the top score of anyone who's ever played this! Ah booyah!"

He proudly entered his initials in space provided, permanently guaranteeing his unique place in Asteroids history.

Yori smiled warmly at her old friend. "Congratulations, Ron-san! The Earth is saved, at least for the moment."

"But only until that next asteroid arrives. Hopefully Justine will be just as successful as we were."


Meanwhile, above the beautiful blue orb that was the Earth, a scientist on the International Space Station was peering out of one of the viewports. As he observed the gossamer clouds enveloping the planet, a spacecraft appeared on the horizon. Its rocket engines on maximum thrust, it swiftly came into view. Anyone familiar with space travel over the past quarter century would have recognized the craft immediately. They would have also known that this type had recently been decommissioned, but due to the planetary emergency, the last flight-capable ship had been hurriedly pressed into service in preparation for its world-saving mission.

The scientist aimed a telescope at the spacecraft and smiled as the name emblazoned on its nose came into focus. Giving the ISS a wide berth, the Space Shuttle Endeavour continued to climb ever higher. Finally reaching its pre-programmed altitude, the engines automatically shut down, leaving the craft to gently glide above the planet far below.

But rapidly approaching them was the ugly, misshapen Martian moon of Phobos. With a radius of nearly seven miles, its surface area was nearly the same as the total land area of the state of Delaware. If it hit the planet, it would leave a crater fully 100 miles wide, and doom all life on Earth. But not if Justine Flanner had anything to say about it.

The commander smiled. "Dr. Flanner, we've achieved the highest orbit obtainable, and without a moment to spare. It's your show now."

MIST's star physicist sat nervously at her controls, frantically making last minute adjustments.

She mumbled to herself, "I should have learned my lesson when I worked with Kim Possible on that science project back at Middleton High. If someone capable offers her help, accept it! And graciously! Now I have just have five minutes left before Phobos comes screaming in, and I still don't have the Kinematic Continuum Disruptor's aperture set large enough to swallow that monster completely."

The shuttle commander floated over to her and asked, "Anything I can do to help, Dr. Flanner?"

Justine snarled back, "Not unless you have a type 42 aperture ring."

"Um, no, I can't say that I do."

She griped, "Well, that's because it doesn't exist yet! It was due to be completed and installed this month, and would have increased the disruptor's circumference to exactly twenty kilometers. But events have kind of overtaken all of us."

"Yes, they have. I'm just sorry we couldn't have launched any earlier."

She took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she forced herself to calm down.

"No, I'm the one that's sorry. I shouldn't snap at you, you and your terrific crew got this crate ready to go and into orbit in record time. The Earth's in your debt."

He offered a small shrug. "Thanks for saying so, Dr. Flanner, but we're just doing our job, just like you are."

"Yeah, but if I don't increase the aperture enough on this thing, I'm going to have a hard time sucking that asteroid completely into my little toy. And Earth will end up paying for it."

With one last tweak, she declared, "All right, the aperture is now set at its maximum of eleven kilometers. Now deploying the KCD."

The cargo doors opened up to reveal the massive weapon, which slowly emerged from deep within the instrument bay. With a large clunk, it locked itself into place. Justine began carefully adjusting its angle.

"Azimuth set, altitude vector set." She pushed series of buttons. "Tracking now on automatic. The KCD is now locked in on target. All circuits nominal, energy at maximum. Firing in T minus sixty seconds… mark!"

She turned to the rest of the crew with a smile of relief. "All right everyone, here we go. Cross your fingers, or whatever you astronauts do for luck."

The final seconds ticked away until just the right moment. Justine pushed the firing button, and a huge circle of roiling green light began to form and expand, directly in the path of the rapidly approaching moon. But she quickly began to frown as the huge moon drew closer.

"Uh, we may have a little problem. It looks like Phobos is spinning, but not on its axis. The Lorwardian gravity weapon may have thrown the entire moon off kilter when it was launched it as us."

The commander shot her a concerned look. "So what does that mean exactly?"

"It means that Phobos isn't perfectly round. It's shaped more like, well, a big avocado, and has a mean diameter of about 11 kilometers. The problem is that the KCD is set for just over 11 kilometers, but between its odd shape and irregular spin, Phobos now won't neatly fit entirely within the disruptor's field. There may be just, er, a bit of overlap."

The commander frowned. "Are you trying to tell me that your weapon may not suck the whole moon into it?"

The pert young physicist offered him a weak smile. "Uh, yeah. That about sums it up."

At that moment, Phobos impacted the blazing circle of light. It wavered for a moment as everyone willed it to disappear completely into the shimmering aperture. But everyone gasped in horror as they watched the gigantic moon begin to fracture, then break apart completely. Huge chunks of rubble had escaped the disruptor's field of fire, and even worse, were now heading right for them.

The commander barked out a command. "Emergency thrusters! Get us out of here, Lieutenant!"

Everyone grunted in pain as the sudden acceleration pushed everyone back into their seats. The moon's fragments rapidly closed in on the Endeavour, then began zipping by it at incredible speeds. Their worst fears came to pass as one rock smashed directly into the disruptor's huge dish, ripping it completely off its moorings with a terrific crash.

Justine screamed as she was slammed into the side of her seat. Emergency klaxons began to sound and the commander issued several rapid-fire orders.

"Close the cargo bay doors! Stand by for course correction! Come to heading 351 Mark 4!"

As the asteroids continued to zoom by, the Lieutenant yelled out, "Good news, Commander. It looks like the fragments are headed away from Earth! You've done it, Dr. Flanner!"

She yelled back, "Yeah, but we're not looking too good, are we?"

No sooner had she spoke than another huge rock slammed into the engines, sending the Endeavour spinning completely out of control.

The Lieutenant began firing the stabilizer thrusters in a desperate attempt to stabilize the wildly gyrating craft, but after a minute of struggling with the controls, he grimly announced, "It's no use, Commander. We're spinning too fast."

He tried firing the main engines in a last-ditch effort, but to no avail. "Captain, the primaries are off-line as well! And we're heading right back into the atmosphere!"

The commander lamented, "I think you may have just written our epitaph, Lieutenant. Contact with the atmosphere in three, two, one…"

The space shuttle hit the upper atmosphere and immediately began to heat up as flames of superheated gas began rushing by the windows. The glow quickly increased to a bright cherry-red as centripetal force pinned them all to their seats.

Now pale with fright, Justine whimpered, "Just how long can we last?"

The commander sadly addressed the brilliant young scientist, determined to remain calm even in their last few seconds of existence.

"In all likelihood, less than a minute. Once the atmosphere burns through the outer skin, we'll all be instantly incinerated."

He took what he thought might be his last breath, "Dr. Flanner, it's been an honor serving with you. But we can at least take comfort in the fact that we've bought the Earth precious time, with which I can only hope that Kim Possible will be able to deal with the remaining asteroids."

Justine continued staring out of the porthole, now resigned to her fate. Strangely, the cherry-red glow slowly began changing color, morphing first into a deep purple hue, changing finally into a brilliant blue. At the same time, the terrific gravitational forces began to lessen. In another few moments, they began to experience the curious senastion of weightlessness.

Hope cautiously returning, Justine voiced the number one question now in everyone's mind. "Wha… what just happened?"

The radio crackled into life. "Hey, anybody call for a Mystical Monkey Master?"

"Ron!" Justine cheerfully blurted out.

He confidently replied, "The one and only. I saw those wrongsick meteors just about completely take you guys out, so I figured you needed some help muy pronto. Lucky I was in the neighborhood."

With a deep sense of relief in his voice, the commander responded, "That's… a bit of an understatement, Mr. Stoppable. We were within seconds of being totally vaporized."

"More than happy to help, Commander." Ron shuddered as he recalled the similar circumstances that had caused the demise of the alternate dimension's Kepler, along with their Kim and Shego. "And more than you could possibly know. But what's your status right now?"

The commander replied, "Well, our engines are out, but our hull integrity still seems to be intact, so we're out of immediate danger. But I don't see how we're ever going to get the Endeavour back on the ground with the damage we've already sustained, so I'm afraid she'll need to be abandoned. In the meantime, what we could really is a little push over to the International Space Station. We can dock there and use it as a life buoy until another ship can take us all back to Earth."

"Sounds like a good plan, and we'd be happy to assist. But we're in a bit of a hurry. That new asteroid swarm is headed right toward the Moon, and we've got to stop them before it hits. How far away is the space station?"

As if an answer to prayer, the ISS chose that moment to appear on Earth's horizon.

"Well, speak of the devil."

Within five minutes, the Endeavour was safely docked. As its thankful crew debarked, the commander sent his final message. "Thanks again, Mr. Stoppable. You definitely saved our bacon. Best of luck in stopping those other asteroids. This is the Endeavour, signing off."

The radio immediately crackled back into life, and General Sims cheerful voice began to speak.

"Good job, Stoppable. Our radar signals show that you've cut the first swarm of those blasted things down to size, and you've earned Earth a brief reprieve."

"Thanks, General. Oh, by the way, you forgot to install the targeting interface for the Neutronaliser, but we still found a way to aim it."

"Oops. Sorry about that, Ron. I'll definitely speak to my people about that. But in the meantime, the second swarm is heading directly for the Moon. We've declared a code Luna One Omega situation here, so get that Neutronaliser up there as soon as possible. If enough of those huge space rocks hit it, we can kiss our nearest satellite goodbye."

Yori paled, recalling her vision of a fractured and fatally devastated Moon. Her voice trembled, "And without the Moon, its gravitational affects on our tides will cease."

The General added, "Yes, but the Sun's gravity will still be affecting us, even if the Moon's isn't. And that would cause massive tidal changes and flood the planet's coastal areas just as severely as an asteroid strike."

Ron's eyes narrowed as he set the Kepler on its new course. "All righty-right then. Hold on to your seats everybody: Moon, here we come!"


An hour later, the Earth was treated to a spectacular light show as the remains of Deimos finally entered the atmosphere. Tens of thousands of tiny meteor fragments lit up the skies, brightly coruscating in all the colors of the rainbow, as the planet's inhabitants looked up at the incredible display in awed wonder. They breathed a collective sigh of relief that Ron Stoppable, Mystical Monkey Master, had stopped the largest asteroids cold in their tracks. But although most of the meteors were now small enough to completely burn up in the atmosphere, a dozen or so of the larger ones would survive long enough to impact the surface. Fortunately, most of these landed harmlessly into the ocean or in remote, uninhabited locations, miraculously causing little physical damage other than a few large craters. All except for one.

A single meteor streaked out of the sky, heading directly for the city of Middleton. With almost single-minded determination, the object seemed to will itself to survive until it reached its target, in a desperate attempt to fulfill its cosmic destiny. The Tweebs instantly spotted the incoming invader.

"Hey, Tim! I've picked one up on our sub-orbital videocam!"

Jim rushed over to his twin brother and exclaimed, "Omigosh! And it looks like it's heading right for us!"

"Yeah, but where's it gonna hit exactly?"

A call was heard from the kitchen downstairs. "Jim? Tim? Waffles are ready!"

Jim called back, "Okay, Mom! Just a minute…"

He quickly made some calculations on his laptop. "Let's see… computing its vector based on velocity, taking into consideration atmospheric temperature and density, and adjusting for its irregular shape…"

Starting to lose her patience, Ann Possible again yelled up to them. "Right now, you two!"

Tim pleaded, "Just hold on, we're kinda in the middle of something!"

Jim's eyes widened in anticipation. "I've got the impact site narrowed down to a five-mile radius…"

Ann's voice now stridently warned, "If I have to come up there, you'll both be grounded for a week!"

Tim lied, "We're on our way!"

Jim intoned, "Now down to a one-mile radius. Impact in sixty seconds…"

Heavy footsteps were now heard relentlessly making their way up the stairs.

"Got it! Now transposing its vector over the city grid, and…"

Jim and Tim exchanged surprised looks as they burst out laughing. Jim clutched his stomach as he

continued his countdown. "Thirty seconds…"

At that moment, Anne angrily stuck her head through the bedroom door. "All right, you two! What's so important that you're letting your food get cold when I've already called you three times now?"

Tim gushed, "Quick, Mom! You'll be able to see this right out of our window!"

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "See what?"

Jim pulled open the curtain just as a streak of light burst out of the sky, the large asteroid fragment hitting the ground with a terrific thump only three miles away.

Anne's eyebrows shot up in surprised relief. "Well, I'm certainly glad we weren't anywhere near that."

Jim enthused, "Yeah! And we know exactly where it hit. But this time we're totally in the clear! Hicka-bicka-boo?"

Tim instantly chimed back, "Hoo-sha!"

As the twins piled down the stairs to eagerly consume their breakfast, Anne merely sighed to herself, "Ah, well. Boys will be boys, I suppose…"

Meanwhile, three miles away

Officer Hobble drove up just as the Middleton Fire Department was putting out the last of the flames.

"Saints be praised! It was a miracle no one was at home at the time."

The fireman replied, "Funny thing, too. The house was completely demolished by the meteor impact, but that car in the driveway was totally untouched."

"Yeah, small consolation, though. It's just ironic that the owner of this house is actually part of Kim Possible's mission to try and save the planet, even as we speak."

As they all drove off, the charred remains of the home's address placard fell to the ground with a loud clang.

Steven Barkin

436 Ivy Street

TBC in one week...