Disclaimer: Alvin and the Chipmunks and all related characters and indicia are the property of Bagdasarian Productions, LLC. Buck Rogers and all related characters and elements are the property of NBC, which produced the original series of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. I own only the plot of this story. Enjoy!
Alvin: Another day of The Chipmunks Go to the Movies, and it's another sci-fi action film. Could Saturdays get any better than this?
Simon: It would be better if you hadn't insisted on me preparing the snacks, Alvin.
Alvin: Take it easy, Simon. I'm the one who helped Theodore set up the family room like an actual theatre. Right, Theo?
Theodore: Except I'm the one who made the red curtains to hang in front of the TV, Alvin.
Simon: Some space cola, my brothers?
(Alvin and Theodore each hold out their cups and Simon fills them)
Alvin: Now let's get comfy, bros! Today we're going to see one of my favorite outer space classics: Buzz Rogers in the Mid-25th Century!
(Alvin turns on the TV and the film begins)
Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins
April 18, 1988 A.D.
A warm April day greeted the scientists and agents of Cape Canaveral in Florida, where perfect weather awaited the launch of another manned mission to outer space. This time, it would be a one-man mission in which the astronaut undertaking it would be attempting the first landing on the Moon since the successful launch of the last ship of the Apollo project. For this reason, the Space Program had seen fit to christen the mission "Diana I" in loving memory of the famous Apollo XI mission that carried America to Space Race victory nineteen years ago.
Aboard the enormous space shuttle, young pilot Alvin "Buzz" Rogers was finishing the final check-up on the shuttle when Mission Control called in.
"Mission Control to Captain Rogers," a voice crackled in the radio. "Buzz, do you read?"
"Buzz Rogers here," he replied. "All systems go."
"Roger that, Cap. We are at T-minus two minutes and counting."
Buzz secured his safety belt and then placed his helmet on. He had been waiting to go into outer space for a long while since he graduated from school and this was his first opportunity. He was going to grab it by the horns and never let go until he was back on Earth and waiting to do it all over again.
"T-minus thirty seconds," the communications operator said.
Buzz took a deep breath and sat back in his seat as the countdown was about to end. "T-minus ten seconds… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two…"
"One!" Buzz finished with Mission Control. He grinned energetically as the rocket boosters ignited and soon the space shuttle had liftoff. For the moment, Buzz had nothing to do but look up at the steadily darkening sky as his spacecraft rose further up into the heavens at tremendous speed. Then once he was some miles above the exosphere, Buzz heard Mission Control come in.
"Captain Rogers, do you read?"
"Loud and clear," Buzz replied.
"It's time to lighten the load, Cap," Mission Control reported.
"All clear. Here she goes."
With that, Buzz pulled the lever that released the solid rocket boosters and let them take the eight hundred-mile plunge back to Earth. Then he pulled another lever and released the external fuel tank from the underbelly of the space shuttle. Now Buzz was steadily cruising away from Earth on the three-day journey to the Moon. He wanted to relax, but he knew it would be a while before he could just sit back and enjoy the ride. However, while watching the starlit tapestry of space come into view, the young astronaut had no idea what was heading his way until his guidance system warned him. A bogey was approaching from the ten-o'-clock direction of the shuttle. Buzz looked through the telescope installed in the capsule and immediately sent out a call for assistance.
"Mission Control! Mission Control! Emergency!" he cried. "Comet incoming off the port side! Impact in twelve seconds!"
Back at the Cape, Mission Control immediately shouted for Buzz to eject the capsule from the shuttle and use it to return to Earth. He initiated the release mechanisms immediately, but the comet was coming at him so quickly that he bit his lip to keep from panicking.
Back on Earth, the communications operator called into the radio, "Captain Rogers, what's your position? Captain Rogers, come in! Do you copy?"
But this time, there was no answer. The operator then turned to the director and said, "We've lost all contact with Diana I."
"Maybe we can get Captain Rogers on visual," the general suggested. "Activate the satellite camera."
The camera was activated, but all the controllers saw on the screen was a drifting space shuttle with its topmost portion gone. The satellite recorded the comet speeding away, but there was no trace of the capsule or its lone pilot.
An air of gloom fell over the NASA control room as everyone at Mission Control hung their heads in the grim knowledge that the space program... America had been struck by another disaster. All they could do now was cherish the memory of Buzz Rogers and take after his example, though no one knew what the future would hold.
February 20, 2455 A.D.
Another cold but peaceful night fell on City Central, the booming heart of the technological metropolis that had been New York City some three hundred years earlier. On the fifteenth floor of GloboCorp Headquarters, Dr. Simonex was in his private office filing the remainder of his holo-log on his recent project to increase the efficiency of global power grids. Hopefully the President would grant him permission to take the vacation in Oahu he had been planning for five months straight.
Dr. Simonex had just completed his log when his cutely awkward girlfriend Dr. Jenn Miles entered the room with an armload of books. She nearly stumbled, but Dr. Simonex held her by her back with one arm while transferring the books to his desk with his free hand. Then he helped Dr. Miles to her feet and hugged her.
"Jenn, you really need to be more careful," he said to her. "But then how would you be so adorable to me?"
Dr. Miles giggled at her boyfriend's words, then asked, "Are we still on for our dinner date tomorrow?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Simonex promised. "As long as we're here, what would you say if I asked you over for movie night this evening?"
Dr. Miles was starting to say yes when suddenly an alert sounded on the office computer, making the two scientists jump. "Warning, Dr. Simonex! Meteoric emergency! A small mass of frozen comet debris is on a collision course with Earth!"
Dr. Simonex and Dr. Miles raced over to the computer and Dr. Miles immediately began calculating the debris' trajectory and acceleration as well as its mineral composition. Suddenly, her eyes nearly widened beyond the rim of her glasses.
"It's really picking up speed," she said nervously. "Impact in one minute!"
"But where is that hunk of debris headed?" Dr. Simonex wanted to know.
"Here!" cried Dr. Miles. "It's headed straight for New York City Central!"
Dr. Simonex immediately activated lockdown protocol and held his girlfriend tight as though the end had come at last. It seemed like only a few seconds passed before the whole of New York Island was shaken by a thunderous boom, but to Simonex and Miles' utter surprise, the building remained relatively intact as though nothing had happened. However, they could hear surprised shouts and the blaring of sky-saucer alarms, so something had hit ground.
Dr. Simonex stopped the lockdown and he and Dr. Miles took the stairs to Level 1 to investigate the space debris. They rushed out to the street with their equipment and cautiously approached the frozen hunk of rock when Dr. Simonex spotted something.
"How odd," the young scientist murmured.
"What is it, Doctor?" asked Dr. Miles.
"There appears to be an old space capsule encased in the rock, but the top half is mostly surrounded by ice," he explained as he scanned the debris.
Curious, Dr. Miles stepped a little closer to the hunk of debris and nearly jumped out of her shoes when she ran a scanner over it. "Dr. Simonex, there's someone in the capsule!"
"What?" cried Dr. Simonex. "That's impossible! Let me look at that!"
He looked at Dr. Miles' instrument and his glasses nearly fell down his nose. "That's not just someone in there, Dr. Miles. It's someone alive in there! Get the thawing units! We've got to get him out!"
Dr. Simonex and Dr. Miles got out a portable thermal unit each and began thawing the ice around the wrecked space capsule. As they worked, they saw that the side of the capsule bore the American flag, and they were glad to know that the person inside was one of theirs. After about three minutes, the ice had melted to the point where most of the capsule was thawed.
Inside it was Buzz Rogers, who had somehow survived the impact of the comet and had been frozen for over four hundred years, so well-preserved that he was still around his original age after his apparent demise. The moment the ice around and inside the capsule was thawed, his body fell forward and he landed face-down on the ground.*
Dr. Simonex and Dr. Miles helped Buzz out of the wet spot and onto the curb when the astronaut regained consciousness. His hair was plastered to his forehead with cold sweat, his body temperature was below normal, and he was shivering violently despite having just been thawed out.
"Just relax now, sir," Dr. Simonex said. "You've been thawed out of your capsule."
"I… I'm s-s-so cold," Buzz shuddered.
"Your low body temperature will soon be remedied," Simonex assured him.
Buzz turned to the scientist and asked, "Who are you?"*
"Be calm, sir. You're safe here," Dr. Simonex began. "I'm Dr. Simonex and this is Dr. Miles. We're going to take you into the laboratory and see if we can help you get your bearings."
He and Dr. Miles helped the shivering Buzz Rogers to his feet and carried him by his underarms into GloboCorp Headquarters, then to the medical wing on the seventh floor. When they entered, the medics who were on the night shift were quite surprised to see their boss and his girlfriend carrying a youth in an old spacesuit who looked like he was sick with a nasty flu.
"Dr. Simonex, what's going on? Who is that?" the first medic asked instinctively.
"No time to explain!" he insisted. "Get him into the thermobath unit immediately!"
"Right away!"
…
In a few minutes, Buzz Rogers was receiving the best remedy possible for intense cold under the gaze of Dr. Simonex and Dr. Miles and a handful of well-trained medical staff. Now dressed in white shorts, he was suspended in a cylindrical tube surrounded by mildly hot water with a breathing mask over his eyes, nose, and mouth.* At a signal from Dr. Simonex, a female medic twisted a knob, releasing a flow of gelatinous blue foam into the tank. The substance had the soothing effect of a hot bubble bath and Buzz's arms and legs moved as if he were treading water in a pool.
"He's pulling through, Dr. Simonex," the medic reported. "The foam bath has completely woken his system."
"Fascinating," mused Dr. Simonex. "It appears this astronaut has been in suspended animation for a prolonged period longer than medical science of the past could comprehend. He went through hypothermic shock upon his release, but his vitals have kept their pace and his physical being is still perfectly intact. But the question to answer is: who is he?"
"He can answer that once he's out of the bath," Dr. Miles established.
"And that time should be just about now. Release him," said Dr. Simonex.
With that, the medics drained the water from the tube and helped Buzz out. He was brought to another room where he was given a set of white nightclothes and then a hot meal. A short while later, Dr. Simonex and Dr. Miles came to see Buzz, who was now sitting in a capsule-like bed while having some hot tea to ease his nerves. He looked at him and smiled in the knowledge that he was among friends.
"How are you feeling, sir?" Simonex asked.
"Better, honestly," replied Buzz. "And thanks."
"May we know your name?" inquired Dr. Miles.
"Captain Buzz Rogers, NASA, at your service."
Dr. Simonex and Dr. Miles felt their jaws drop in utter surprise as did the other medics. They knew that Buzz had been in suspended animation, but they had no idea that he was an astronaut from the past and the very idea was not unheard of, but for them it was too shocking to be real.
"That's impossible!" cried one medic. "Buzz Rogers has been dead for over four hundred-and-seventy years!"
"But we thawed him out of a space shuttle capsule from five centuries ago," Dr. Miles explained.
"This may call for a test," said Dr. Simonex. "I'm not in the mood for any prolonged intense debate."
With that, he took a clipping of Buzz's hair and immediately went to get the samples tested at the lab on the twenty-third floor. Surprisingly, he came back a few seconds later with some surprising news for his colleagues. Dr. Simonex said, "Everyone, he's not joking. The DNA test clearly read his hair follicles as Rogers DNA matching both lines of his family, the machine was fully operational, and the last member of the family bloodline was Buzz. Ladies and gentlemen, we're looking at someone from our past released from suspended animation."
Now it was Buzz's turn to look confused, for he had no idea where he was or what time he had awoken in. He asked, "Wait a minute, Doc. Why do you say I'm from the past when I've only been out cold since 1988? What year is this anyway? And where on Earth am I?"
Dr. Simonex and Dr. Miles gave each other worried looks, and then Simonex said, "I know this all seems strange to you right now, Mr. Rogers, but we have something to explain that may scare you. This place is the central district of New York City, and you're in the future. Welcome to the fifth decade of the 25th Century."
Buzz Rogers could hardly believe his ears when he heard that, and his only thought was, I'm in the future?!
A/N: Since the episodes of Alvin and the Chipmunks tend to regularly make references to popular culture, the first scenes of Alvin's character in the 25th Century mirror scenes from Star Wars: Episode VI- Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back. I own only the plot and not the source material.
Cast:
Alvin Seville- Buzz Rogers
Simon Seville- Dr. Simonex
Jeanette Miller- Dr. Jenn Miles
(More coming soon)
Feel free to rate and review, and stay tuned! Chapter 2 will present Earth's civilization in 2455!