Chapter Five
The first thing Jeanette remembered vaguely was quick movement, frantic, evasive action and finally a white-blue flash that stole all sense from her.
Groggily opening her heavy eyes, she could see the last sliver of sun get swallowed by the green distant mountains from the office window of the Administration Building.
Simon.
Thoughts of him pushed savagely into her recovering consciousness. Would he survive in that dark wilderness? After all this, would she ever see him again? Did Duval capture him, as well? She almost wished he did. Perhaps Duval might have been enough of a gentlemunk to take him away from her quickly.
She never believed in suicide, but maybe a mental kind might be acceptable if everything Duval and his I.T.O. set out to do finally came to pass. Jeanette loved Simon. Nothing would change that. And with access to the right psychotropic drugs, Arthur Duval, world conqueror, would have a zombie for a consort. That she swore.
She found that she was lying on a sofa. Sitting up, she was preparing to stand and looked down. A long black skirt greeted her view. In an instant, she stood up in shock and regretful recognition. The beautiful gown of fathomless black, the matching headdress and...She fretfully ran her fingers along her chest and felt it. The silver I.T.O. necklace that felt like a shameful brand, a slave's collar, to her despite its adornment. She was her VR image made flesh.
Jeanette held the tree pendant to snatch it off of her when the office door opened. Two SecuriMunks marched inside and regarded her."Mr. Duval requests the honor of your presence in the executive dinning room, Miss Miller,"said one of the two."We are your escorts."They both nodded pleasantly.
Her eyes went immediately to their Thunder Gun-filled holsters. The squad that captured her were wearing similar weapons. Set to incapacitate, that explained how she lost consciousness during the capture. In spite of the SecuriMunks' pleasant demeanor, she forced congeniality and left the room with them. She'd been hit with enough voltage for one day.
The mushroom soup and vintage wine sat unserved on the ornate table. Nor would it be served with any of the other dishes until Jeanette arrived. Arthur sat at the head of the lengthy table, biding his time. There weren't many functions that required the use of the Administration Building's dinning room, but he would certainly consider this time to be worthy of celebration.
He polished a ring against his suit. Its stone was curiously incandescent, as if fireworks were constantly exploding from within, splashing the facets with electric hues.
The heavy wooden doors opened and Arthur beheld a sight that took his breath away. Standing in the doorway, flanked by the two guards, Jeanette stared in haughty defiance at him. She strode in and her manner and the ethereal movement of the gown and its silk, ebony train floating along behind her made her look like a dark Chipmunk Queen. In his eyes, Jeanette never looked so beautiful. Nodding to the guards, they were dismissed.
Not wanting to show bad manners, she quickly sat at the other end of the table, looking imperious. Immediately, servants appeared from hidden doors in the room and served the meal.
"You look beautiful,"he said coolly, but with a hint of passion. Jeanette fought the blush that tried to creep into her cheeks. It faded away. She looked down and away from him with disdain."Thank you,"she muttered frostily.
Arthur simply smiled."I had no doubts that your keen mind would see through the deception, eventually."
"I guess it's not hard to figure out when you're dressed like Darth Maul,"she retorted.
He laughed it off."I know it seems difficult to accept at first, but believe me, what I.T.O. is doing is right. It's right for our people. It's right for-"
"Did you enjoy yourself?"Jeanette asked with mock-pleasantry. To which Arthur was completely taken aback."What?"
"Did you enjoy yourself?"she repeated emotionlessly."When you changed my clothes in my sleep? Did you get a good look-see?"
Any conviviality in Arthur died fast. He gazed coldly at her and it was at that time she looked up into his eyes and saw stark offense."It's true that like you, I'm in my mid-teens. However, I don't act it. I didn't undress you. In fact, you did."
"What are you talking about, Duval?"At that, she could see remorse."Duval...Not Arthur?"
She said nothing. She didn't want to feel anything for him in any way, even though it was difficult. It was hard. Very, very hard for her to be heartless.
"In any case, it was you. After you woke up from your capture, I showed you this."Arthur raised his hand and the ring he polished earlier glowed in her eyes."Influence ring. Works on light-pulse hypnotics and its the only prototype in the world. I only wanted you to come and enjoy dinner with me, so I told you to wear the gown, sleep and forget about the ring. I'm much too much of a gentlemunk to do what you thought."And with that, he ate.
Quietly, Jeanette did the same.
The PACs returned to the testing bay from the hidden tunnel, a quarter of a mile from the campus. Flanking them were the SecuriMunk squads that searched the jungles earlier. Tiredly, they marched in with thoughts that ranged from, 'When am I going to get a raise?' and 'What to get her for our anniversary?' to 'I hope they don't serve fish again.' and 'It's a good thing that trooper made a pit stop away from the rest of the group. Even better that his uniform fits somewhat. He should be fine with the gear I left him once he wakes up...'
The sound of powerful magnets disengaging doors was becoming tiresome. Another locked door. Another swipe of the access badge. Another opening into another unfamiliar corridor. The SecuriMunk strolled past ordinary security guards, MunkTechs and Maintenance workers, nodding at the occasion greeting and meeting little resistance. Yet he had a place to go.
A familiar face caught his attention from over at a nearby intersection. As he approached, he noticed that the brunette was older, wore the wrong style of glasses and wore the uniform of MunkTech Supervisor. Wishful thinking on his part.
"Pardon me, ma'am,"he asked the female who could have been Jeanette if she were in her Thirties."Could you tell me where your lab floor is? I'm a new recruit and I wanted to know my way around."
The female regarded him casually."You're pretty young for a SecuriMunk. I wish I had as many people signing up to be MunkTechs, we wouldn't be so swamped, you know?"
"Yes, ma'am,"he said with respectful impatience. She caught on.
"Oh, the question! Don't mind me. I'm just rambling along,"she said with a laugh."This is the floor. I'm sorry. I just don't see too many handsome faces around here."
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am,"he said, blushing.
"I'll bet you have a sweetheart back home, don't you?"
"Well," he hesitated."I do, but I'm planning on seeing her again, real soon. As a matter of fact, you bear a striking resemblance to her, ma'am."
She held up her hand in pleasant dismissal."Please, young man, call me Je-"She was cut off by her TeleChip summons. The SecuriMunk slipped away while she talked to the device. By the time she finished, she looked around and saw no SecuriMunk."Probably on-duty,"she muttered dejectedly.
Then she brightened with a sly smile."If only I were a bit younger. Hmm..."
The SecuriMunk picked up the pace when the lab he sought was in view. The sign on the doors read that the lab was closed for the day, but his access badge was built to be persuasive.
The doors parted and he walked into the cool, dim chamber. Partial lighting and monitors tubes were the only illumination within. It was enough, especially for the massive computer complex at the far end of the room.
It was like discovering a long lost artifact or an unearthly device. He was drawn to it. Drawn to its power.
He looked at its terminal, its keyboard, its monitor. It looked impossibly high-tech and unmarred. Too complex for Joe Average or even Joe Average, Ph.d. But he knew it better that anyone else. What impressed him was the scale of the system. The almost obscene amounts of computing power to run it. It was like seeing ones child grow up and achieve its true potential.
Simon smiled as he took delight in the child he created with his own genius and pain. The child he would have to kill.
"First things first,"he said solemnly. He entered the system using the passwords that Jeanette gave him incase only one of them made it this far. Once in, he navigated through the many options and programs afforded to him. Accessing current running programs, he called up the time remaining before The Predictor found The Archive.
The mammoth screen flashed a running clock, an LED speedily flowing backwards. From hidden speakers in the room, The Predictor spoke."Further computations must be made before a determination can be made. Approximate time until determination:1 hour. Time is now 8:06."
Simon stared hard in front of him in thought. One hour. Not good. And with no way to find Jeanette within that time, he was getting more than a little worried. Still, he squared his shoulders and blurred his furry digits over the keyboard again.
If she somehow didn't make it, Simon would have to carry the day. He would do it, but he would not leave. Not until he found her or her body.
The multi-colored schematics and technical specs for The Predictor sprang up on the screen."Well, at least there were fewer modifications than I figured,"he muttered curiously upon studying them."The components are just larger in scale and power output."
He sat back to relax and look at the plans for any weakness to exploit, when he noticed that the schematic were superimposed onto the base's floor plans.
That wasn't surprising. The fact that the schematics took up the space of four floors and was directly below the very floor he was on, was.
'Its power must be enormous,' he thought as he ran scenarios of what Duval and his people would do with that power.
He read the tech specs backwards and forwards, analyzing overload tolerances based on those stats. It didn't look promising. Increasing its size and power also meant toughening its systems, as well.
There were back-ups on top of fail-safes on top of redundancies. And security wasn't spared there, either. Cameras, motion sensors, stun gas vents, ThunderGun emplacements and sonic incapacitators sat ready in every wall, corner, ceiling and floor.
It certainly made sense. The heart of the heart of The Predictor, the most advanced temporal device on the planet, sat there, dominating those lower levels with the majesty of its expansive presence and awesome theoretical physics.
"It has to be sabotaged,"he mused."But how?"
Simon kept staring at the plans. At the crisscrossing, interconnecting linkages among the high-energy components. At the impenetrable security. At the vast catwalks and open structural supports that girthed it all. He might as well have been staring at a brick wall. Nobody going in would get far.
He looked away and rubbed his eyes to ease away the tension. With a sigh, he glanced behind himself to the quietly running satellite terminals, staring at their winking function lights.
"I wonder how much memory they have?"he asked himself absently. Then he thought about the security below him. He sat in the quiet, meditating, turning old ideas around until new ones formed and discarding them when they didn't satisfy. He couldn't help ruminating over the fact that for all this computing power, it was still so delicate. One slip, one mishap, could send it all crashing down.
"That's it!"Simon screamed."Crash! It's defenses are good against external threats, but what about internal ones?"He jumped back to the keyboard with malevolent grin."Let's see how good you are with multitasking, Predictor?"
He quickly keyed in a command. A gray window popped up on the screen above warning him that Predictor's systems were, in effect, being stretched almost to the limit due to multiple tasks already.
'Multiple tasks?' he thought. 'It seems that someone has beaten me to it. But who? Duval...?No. He wouldn't want to abuse it...No matter. Whoever did it, it's done. The Predictor's straining its circuits. The best thing to do here would be to help it along.'
He keyed in another command."Okay, call up all information on I.T.O.,"he said to it, even though he simply typed the commands in."Jeanette was a member, so this shouldn't be restricted. Charter, organizational hierarchy, history, everything. Transfer all data to into available storage medium and alert me when finished."
He entered the command and was delighted when in took long minutes to run. It was slowing down. He typed another."Entering new command. Locate any communication facilities."That took less time than the first, but was no less important.
A window appeared on the screen in front of the shifting blur of text and images of a secret organization in the process of being exposed. The window showed the base's floor plan and a location of the Communications Center.
Committing it to memory, Simon closed the window and typed another command. A real doozy, directed at Communications. And after that, he would put it to real use. Finding Jeanette.
In another part of the complex, in its own Administration Center, a MunkTech urgently called his supervisor."Sir, I'm getting a silent alarm in The Physics and Chemistry Labs up top. Wait...The Virtual Reality Labs and the male and female dorms, too."
An aging male in an ill-fitting suit waved the alerts and his subordinate's anxiety away with dismissive waves."Don't worry. Campus Security should have it under control."
"But, sir,"said the MunkTech."According to the computer, network connection to the security up top was severed from the Art and Science Museum system."
"Someone hacked into our system from there?"
"More than that, sir. Intrusion is from several sites all over campus."
The Supervisor began to pace."And Campus Security doesn't even know about it?"
"No, sir."
He sighed. He hated sending out messages to those SecuriMunks. Too trigger-happy and gung-ho."Notify Main Security to the situation."
"Sir."
Jeanette just looked at her carrot cake. Under the circumstances, she just couldn't enjoy her favorite desert at the moment. Something to do with the host."How can you condone what you do?"she asked incredulously.
"We haven't done anything yet,"he said simply as he ate his dish of ice cream."How do you condone what you do?"
"And what do I do?"
He stopped in mid-spoon and said with mild surprise,"Why, be a pet performing tricks for Humans, what else?"
"What?"she asked with venom.
"Do you think all of those clamoring, adoring fans, the Humans, I mean, think of you as anything more than part of some animal act? The Chipmunks and The Chipettes are unique, but only in a carnival sideshow sense. If they were to renounce their foolish dependence on Humans for their own self-worth and embrace the truth of I.T.O. ,they could be more than just weak heroes for our people and the butt of Humanity's joke."
Jeanette then made a decision. She began to eat her cake. She was going to need her strength when she spoke her mind.
"Oh, yeah. Chipmunks the world over are going to flock to your banner. Nothing sways a heart more than participating in the mass extinction of a species."
"Why not? Humans do it to themselves every twenty or fifty years or so,"he reasoned breezily.
"Human warfare? Duval, that is such a cop-out. Chipmunks don't all feel like you do and Humans don't all think like you say,"Jeanette shot back."You're a coward. You and this Iron Tree Organization of yours. You hide in your dummy companies and scheme your twisted politics, but you'll never win me over."
"I understand your-"
"I don't care if you understand-"
"Just..."he tried to placate."Just hear me out."
"No!"she yelled. She had her fill of his deception and duplicity. Had enough of his disturbing and weak rationalizations for genocide. Just had enough of him.
"I'm tired of hearing you. I feel sorry that they brainwashed you, but you're not going to do that to me. If you knew Humans at all, like Miss Miller and Dave, you'd know that they're not all the monsters you think they are."
Arthur stood up at once. He had to help her see her mistakes, for her own good.
"Insane! You're the one who's been brainwashed! I read the published bio on you and your sisters. The orphanage in Sydney? You were targeted for exploitation by that Human sow, Miss Grudge, when you were still just infants! The Chipmunks were taken from David Seville by his landlord and sold to a zoo as live food for a cobra! Humans, my dear, not Chipmunks. Your futures were nearly snuffed out before they began."
Jeanette maintained her composure, but her emotions were starting to seep through the cracks."Obviously, you read what you wanted to read. Olivia, a Human orphan, took us out of the wild and cared for us like sisters until we were taken from her by Grudge! Dave risked everything he had in the world for the boys! And Miss Miller took me and my sisters in when we were at our lowest. She loves us and she's our mother, no matter what you say!"
Arthur rolled his eyes in disgust."You are that naive."
"So what if I am?"she said with conviction."It doesn't mean I'm wrong. But suppose you do it. Eliminate Humanity. What about our families? The Chipmunks and The Chipettes aren't the only Chipmunks in the world with Human parents. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Chipmunk/Human families out there. Are you going to snatch our people's love from them, too? Do you think their loved ones will sit around and let this happen without a fight?"
"Oh, we expect some resistance from those Humans and even from our people, believe it or not. All will be well,"he said calmly."I mean, take your Miss Miller. She was simply lonely and she's obviously senile. She'll be easy to dispose of, though. It would be doing her a favor."
Now it was Jeanette's turn to stand. To hear the words,"Miss Miller" and "...dispose of..." in the same sentence was too much and too frightening for her to bear from this petty dictator-to-be. She bolted into a fast walk from her seat towards Arthur, eyes afire.
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!!"Jeanette demanded and delivered to Arthur a slap in the face with such force that his knees buckled. The fearsome thought of a world without Miss Miller, especially brought about by these xenophobic psychopaths, destroyed her self-control and demure demeanor.
Civility forgotten, he recovered with a savage rage and seized her by the arms with sudden strength. The look in her eyes was clear. She feared the blow to come and,she would flinch, but she wouldn't stop defying him.
The emotion was too much for him and he had to show her who he was without a doubt.
He kissed her hard, pinning her arms to her sides as she desperately fought for distance. She managed to turn her face away after a minute of this. Then he shoved her into the side of the table. Jeanette looked at him with fearful, yet murderous eyes. She was shaken, but not hurt.
"That's who you're dealing with,"he said in a dark whisper."I love you, Jeanette, but you will not challenge me."
"Then you better use that ring on me every day because that's the only real power in this room,"she shot back shakily.
Duval approached her, probably to help her up, probably to attack, she didn't care. She flinched inside as he came nearer."Come with me, I will take you to your quarters,"he said with as much patience and calm as he could resurface.
Jeanette, still shaken and using the table for support, mustered a defiant shove."Keep away from me! Leave me alone!"
He grabbed her by the closest wrist and was pulling her into a standing position while she was struggling with her free hand to break the hold that was threatening to hurt her even more. So intent were they in their tug-of-war, that they didn't hear one of the servant doors open behind Arthur.
At the sight of the SecuriMunk brandishing his sidearm, Jeanette slackened her defense despairingly.
Arthur noticed that she was finally capitulating and smirked in triumph when the trooper reported in."SecuriMunk810,reporting.What are your orders?"
Without looking back, Arthur said,"You will escort me and Miss Miller to her quarters. She will be confined there until called for."
"What are your orders?"the SecuriMunk repeated and Jeanette noticed that the trooper carried the sidearm with a strange heft.
Arthur sighed in exasperation. Was the trooper hard of hearing of simply dense. He was about to repeat the order when he happened to look at Jeanette's face suddenly brighten, alive with joy. She was staring past him, so he released her and spun around.
To stare in shock at Simon's grim face. Then Arthur felt his consciousness come apart, courtesy of a brutal blow to the temple with the blunt, heavy rear of the ThunderGun.
Jeanette leapt into Simon's arms, tearily, kissing his cheek and embracing his neck in a death-like grip."Simon! Oh, I thought I lost you! I thought I'd never see you again! How did you get in? How did you find me? Did you find The Predictor? How much time-"
Simon laughed at the blizzard of questions with a wheeze, just happy to be with her again."Whoa! I-I missed you, too, Jeanette. I'll tell you everything on the way to the elevator."
"The elevator?"she asked breathlessly as they hurried through the servant door."Why?"
"To stop the clock!"
To anyone present on the campus, this was unnerving to the extreme. Campers from both dorms were rushed out and stood on The Quad. Every building on campus was being searched floor by floor, instructors were being questioned and computer equipment was either being brought in to assist in the investigation or taken away because of it.
Squads of SecuriMunks fill the area, separating groups of campers for questioning and every teen there was having the increasing notion that maybe spending Summer at the swimming pool, or on a family vacation, or visiting relatives, or reading, or in Sammy Land, or even summer school might be better than what was going on at the present time.
"Where are you taking her, trooper?"a squad leader asked when he spotted Simon and Jeanette heading towards the main elevator. Jeanette caught Simon's knowing glance and played along, silently looking forlorn.
"Mr. Duval ordered me to escort her to The Predictor Lab, sir,"Simon said stiffly, calling on all of his experience as a once-accidental Red Beret Commando recruit.
"Carry on, trooper,"said the squad leader."When you're finished, report to the campus. We think there may be saboteurs here."
"Sir. Yes, sir."Then the two entered the called elevator as the squad leader heeled away.
As the car descended, Jeanette perked up again."You're quite the actor."
"Thanks."Simon smiled smugly. Colonel Granite would have been proud.
Jeanette went to the control panel."I'll get us down."
That's okay,"he said, holding up the access badge to the dark glass square over the buttons and then pressing the Basement button."So that's how you got up here,"she said."Well, how did you find me?"
Simon fidgeted with the built-in armor of his stolen uniform and adjusted his glasses."Well, after I found the labs and used your password to get into Predictor, I made it search for you...after I made a diversion or two."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember when that squad leader said that there might be saboteurs here?"She nodded.
"That was me. Predictor is tied into their main computer network. I entered the system through a low-security maintenance pathway and told Predictor cut off all communication between Campus Security and the underground base. Then I made it give false intrusion alarms to the base's security system, telling it that illegal intrusions were going on all over campus. With no way to tell security on the campus, they had to dispatch SecuriMunks to investigate."
"Not bad,"she said impressed."So the way should be clear to the labs?"
"I hope so, but we're not going to the labs."
"Why, Simon?"
"Because we can do more damage wrecking its hardware on the floor below. Right now, Predictor is running more commands than it can safely handle. Hopefully, it should suffer a major systems crash, but we can't take the chance of a successful reboot. So were going to have to physically sabotage it to make sure."
"Okay, if you say so."
The doors parted and an orderly gorge of girder work, stairwells, conduits, cables, computers and glowing high-energy components spread before their eyes. They stepped out of the car and were both hit with a wave of vertigo when they realized that what they stood on wasn't a floor, but a catwalk that spanned to the other end of the vast chamber. This was intersected by another catwalk that spanned the chamber's length from right to left. Both catwalks were suspended and soared above supporting machinery over one hundred feet below.
Jeanette walked ahead of Simon as they walked the narrow path, It was just wide enough for two Chipmunks to walk two a breast, a Human would have to walk sideways.
They were almost halfway across when Simon's stomach gripped him in horror and he chose his best curses to lash himself with as he remembered that they just wandered into a death trap."How could I be so stupid?!"he screamed as he grabbed Jeanette by the arm and turned back towards the elevator.
"What's-what's wrong, Simon?"
"There was so much going on, I forgot! This is a high-security area,"he said breathlessly."...Forgot to find away...a way to defeat it!"
"But it would have gotten us by now,"she reasoned. They were a few yards from the elevator when the logic of what she said hit home."You're right,"he said."Why didn't anything go off?"
"Thank me for that!"
Both heads whipped up to see Arthur coming down from a leap from a high girder to land neatly in front of Simon. He wore a stylized suit of armor that was close-fitting and shell-like.
The surprise worked well for Arthur as Simon was frozen in indecision. Then he was ripped from Jeanette by a strength-enhanced punch that sent Simon bouncing back towards the catwalk intersection.
"Simon!"Jeanette screamed, thankful that the catwalk had railing or he would have plummeted. She could sense something feral in Arthur this time. Just like when he shoved her, but he wouldn't hold back on Simon. He was going to kill him in front of her eyes and she was helpless.
No. She wasn't going to let him die. She would try everything she could think of to stop Arthur, or, at the very least, make his victory over Simon cost dearly.
"Duval, no!"she cried as she swung a fist to his face, but then found that her hands could be better served trying to pry Arthur's fingers from her throat.
Although she could breath, albeit barely, she was starting to see brilliant spots dance in the corners of her vision. Arthur wasn't holding her by the trachea, but rather by the sides of her neck where they joined the hinges of her lower jaw. Where the carotid arteries lay.
Jeanette tried to stay conscious and was desperate to think of a way out. She took another swipe at his face, but she missed the mark completely. Dizziness came to her in a rush and her extremities grew leaden. A dull roar filled her ears as her head lolled to the side and just before her oxygen-starved brain shut down, she thought she her Simon's voice. Then darkness.
"You will not challenge me, my love,"Arthur told the prone body by his feet. Then he move in on Simon.
As he saw Simon slowly stand, a sudden shock of dizziness and nausea swept through him. The aftereffects of a concussion. He reached out a hand to grab a railing for support and like Jeanette, missed it completely. Staggering forward, he walked right into Simon's right hook and was floored.
Simon stumbled over Arthur to get to Jeanette and was almost past him when he was swept up in a bear hug from behind.
"She's not dead,"said Arthur, using the strength-enhanced armor to squeeze the breath from his prey."But you'll be, Simple Simon."
Simon's arms were pinned to his sides, his breathing was ragged and his moves desperate. For every shake, half-twist and jerk, Arthur countered simply by planting his feet further apart and leaning back, letting his leverage work for him.
"That's right, Simon, struggle! Make me fight for this victory! Let me earn my mate!"
Hearing that made Simon's blood boil. He couldn't lose Jeanette to this psychopath, even if he couldn't see her again as a result.
As he struggle more, he looked down at how Arthur was holding him up. Arched back with his knees bent, exposing them. Putting everything he had into it, Simon did a leg curl and drove his feet downward and back into a stomp that threatened to tear Arthur's kneecaps loose.
With a yell, Arthur released him and fell back. Simon fell to his knees, gaining back his breath. He remembered Arthur saying that Jeanette was not dead and took strength in that, readying for the next attack.
Arthur stood on hurt, ungainly legs and regarded Simon for a moment. He was impressed. Even pleased. He thought that having Simon trussed up and beaten by his hand would have been satisfying enough, but having him free and in mortal combat was becoming exhilarating. If Simon was capable of knocking him out without hesitation, then he could expect no less from him than a fight to the end.
Simon spared a glance back to see that the intersection wasn't far along. He had three avenues of retreat, not escape, open to him, each one ending in a staircase leading down to the lower maintenance catwalks and the machinery that it supported.
Arthur would certainly give chase and whether he caught up with him on the catwalk, the stairs or below, Simon would end up facing either a lethal beating or a terminal embrace.
Nevertheless, he began backing away, if for no other reason than to lead Arthur away from Jeanette's sleeping body. Arthur stalked ahead.
"Oh, thank you for the headache,"he said, pointing to the dried blood trail that led from his left temple. It resembled a red lightning stroke."I didn't know you had it in you, Simple Simon."Then he became mockingly cordial."You do mind me calling you that, don't you? 'Simple Simon', I mean? I know you hate that."
Simon ignore all of that and boiled all his questions down to one:"Why?"
Before Simon could gather his thoughts further, however, Arthur attacked again. To Simon's surprise, the suit allowed Arthur to leap the distance in an instant and land on top of him.
Simon, in turn, barely leaped away before Arthur could grab him fully. But Arthur managed to reach out and tag him with an enhanced punch to the side of the head.
"Why what, Chipmunk? Be part of this organization? Help bring about Humanity's end? Steal your girlfriend?"
Simon recovered from the hit in time to lock with Arthur in a violent, near one-side grapple.
"Our ancestors were fools,"he continued."We had already escaped from one shackle! Now we had to wear another? Ha!"
Arthur broke the clinch and cuffed Simon, causing him to stagger away. Arthur pressed the attack with another punch that sent him crashing.
"The Iron Tree Organization represented the finest minds of our people. We saw the innate treachery of Humans. How they treated other animals. How they treated themselves. We only wanted to protect our people from Humans and their evil, but instead we were vilified and exiled by our countrymunks while they made their allegiances with The Furless Ones. History made us a joke."
Simon caught his breath and tried to relax and call upon his strengths. He analyzed the situation. Arthur was a better fighter and wore a suit that increased his overall strength somewhat. Simon wasn't much of a fighter by choice and therefore was having a tough time of it, plus his own uniform, which was partially armored, only had concealable equipment and no strength-enhancement. But it would have to do. And quickly.
He decided to talk to Arthur, make him distracted and more prone to misdirection and open to a counterattack.
"Duval, I can't believe you're that anachronistic! Or that xenophobic! You and this organization are fighting for nothing less than total chaos. All intelligent species can coexist peacefully, but you're just too cowardly to take that road. Rodents like us, and Humans have enjoyed centuries of coexistence."
Arthur moved closer."Humans cage and kill rodents, too, fool...Just like they will cage and kill us!"He took a leap at Simon, but Simon anticipated that and threw a tiny sphere at Arthur's plastron. The flash bomb detonated on impact, flooding Arthur's eyes with white, acrid light. He crashed badly along the catwalk and railing, almost falling off of it.
Despite Arthur's attempts on his life, Simon couldn't see himself descending to that level and so continued to try and make him see reason.
"Duval, no one wants to cage anyone. If you were as perceptive as you think you are, you'd know that Humanity is not your enemy just because of a few rough spots in the relationship."Thinking about how he almost lost Jeanette to that selfsame attitude, he added,"Trust me. I know."
Arthur blinked his eyes furiously. They weren't clearing nearly fast enough for him. He wanted to reach out a snap Simon's neck, but he was too far away. However, he wasn't too far away to be taunted.
"But I think I.T.O. has had a banner year, don't you think? We kidnapped you and Jeanette. Created the perfect scapegoat by carefully instilling anti-Chipmunk fever inside the world's foremost hate group against us, Humanity's Hand. Manipulated the media into making us look completely beyond reproach and giving Interpol help busting up Hand business whenever the time was right."
Simon knew about the hate group, but was appalled to learn that this organization, this hate group all its own, who could have stopped Hand activities before they even began, chose to look the other way, to doom their people, to further its own political agenda.
"You sacrificed our people, just to prove...your misguided..."
Arthur stood casually and looked at Simon dismissively."Your naiveté is almost as charming as Jeanette's. But she was also just as helpful."
"You tricked her,"Simon spat.
"So? I love her, but I am a Field Executive and I have a duty to perform."
"You mean a crime to commit,"Simon retorted, backing away when Arthur started to advance again.
Arthur grinned like a clown."We'll get what we need from you and Jeanette and then Jeanette will come to love me again...and you'll be dead. Prepare yourself, Simple Simon."
The first thing Jeanette felt when she wakeup was a headache. With difficulty, she opened her eyes and things slowly came into painful focus.
Two dark blobs were separated, but then attached and quivered for a moment, then separated again. A dream, maybe, rising from her addled mind.
She sat up with a groan and took cleansing breaths. Fighting her stupor, her vision cleared to see at a distance, Simon and Arthur battling hand-to-hand. Slowly she stood up and leaned on a railing for support, thinking.
It was to dangerous to fight Arthur. Brains were required, but more importantly, The Predictor had to be destroyed. Duval could wait.
Jeanette looked around for a something to use as a tool of sabotage, but nothing was available. She grew panicky as she remembered the countdown,
As if on cue, a voice boomed from concealed, overhead speakers."Mr. Duval! Mr. Duval, are you there, sir?"
Up ahead on the intersection, Arthur motioned to his suit's built-in TeleChip, breathing a little hard."Duval, here."
"Sir! It's The Predictor! It's almost finished its calculations, but we're detecting programming errors due to a heavy workload! Are you running anything else, sir? Other timeline operations?"
"No!"Arthur said as he glared at Simon, realizing what he must have done."Can you delete the other programs?"
"No, sir! Not without risking the current program running."
"Never mind. How long have we got?"
"Six minutes, sir...Sir! Base Secur-"Then static.
"I was wondering when that would happen,"Simon said coolly.
Arthur never looked so anxious. So full of trepidation from that incomplete message and so full of triumph for the impending recovery of The Archive. He stared at Simon full-on, chuckling.
"Oh, you are clever. Six minutes, Simple Simon. You and the old world have six minutes to live! I'll tear you apart!"
Simon speed drew the ThunderGun from his holster and aimed it at Arthur.
Arthur stopped incredulously and smiled."Why, Simon! I don't think you'd do that. Besides, you could have done that earlier."Then he added,"It won't penetrate my armor, of course."
"Of course,"Simon said, equally cavalier."CATCH!!!"
In a deft move, he palmed the gun and tossed it high over the startled Arthur's head. It sailed gracefully across the expanse in a high arc and dropped neatly into Jeanette's equally accurate hands.
"Got it!"she called out.
"The Capacitor Conveyor! Fry it!"
She grasped the gun with both steadying hands and held the weapon high above her head towards the immense, glowing, X-shaped component that dominated the vast ceiling. The heart of the heart of The Predictor.
A squeeze of the trigger and the entire power bank's charge emptied into the fragile Capacitor like a lance of righteous fire, overloading the delicate, critical energy balances within, annihilating power regulatory and allocation circuitry and turning a crucial masterpiece of theoretical physics made real into so much burning, worthless slag.
Arthur felt like his world was coming to an end. He felt the whole chamber starting to quake. Girders and scaffolding began to sing songs of stress, instability and metal fatigue as rivets and anchor bolts, weakened due to sympathetic explosions from overloaded power plants below, surrendered their holds.
But what he felt the most, much deeper than the rising destruction, was defeat. Confusion. Betrayal.
And Simon once again said the words that he spoke so long ago, when his own prototype of the very machine they now stood in, suffered the same calamity. Only instead of despair, he whooped in triumphant exaltation.
"The Capacitor Conveyor is in meltdown! The Time Machine's ruined!"
Then he pushed past Arthur and ran back to Jeanette's side while Arthur stared blankly at her. At them.
"Why, Jeanette?"he asked under his breath.
Jeanette said nothing. She just looked at him feeling wretched, letting her feelings, her mood, her expression, be the final nail in his coffin.
Seeing the pinnacle of all he had achieved through his deception of her, his torturing of her boyfriend and the near catastrophe of Humankind, blossomed a deep and satisfying triumph in her.
This was how she would hurt him, by letting him know that she did it to hurt him. The way he hurt, directly and indirectly, everyone who was dear to her.
She turned to press the elevator button and then felt Simon's back press against her. She turned back around and saw Arthur walking, automaton like, towards them, fingers clenching and unclenching, eyes glazed with hate. Simon positioned himself as a shield for her, his arms spread wide both to protect her and to prepare for the new attack.
It never came. Arthur entered safe leaping distance and readied himself for the pounce when the loudspeakers croaked back to life again. To his deep regret, it was a voice he was all too familiar with.
"Attention. We are The Roaming Eyes of I.T.O.. Interpol forces have taken control of the island. All executives and staff are to cease all operations and evacuate immediately. Repeat, evacuate immediately."The message ended with a claxon.
The elevator doors opened and Jeanette and Simon rushed in the car as Arthur stared at them, unmoving, with a grin that, under the red strobe warning lights, made him look demonic. They feared that he might give chase into the elevator, but he didn't.
The doors were closing and he locked eyes on Jeanette with the seconds remaining and said to her,"You are so worthy."
The doors closed and the car ascended while Simon and Jeanette held each other the whole way for support.
The elevator opened onto chaos. MunkTechs, guards, executives, SecuriMunks and Maintenance crews carried personal effects, files, equipment or charged weapons around in a mad rush. The claxon call and the hellish lighting only added to the mayhem on the Lab Floor, indeed throughout the entire base and campus.
In his uniform and in her gown, Simon and Jeanette were stopped by no one as they reached The Predictor Lab.
It was as dim as before, but now there were clipboards, loose paper and print-out sheets all over the floor with some faxes and printers in corner, smoking badly from I.T.O. sanctioned, ThunderGun delivered sabotage. It was warmer inside due to the heat the terminals were generating.
Without the air conditioning to keep them cool, their circuits were doomed. It didn't matter. The duo marched to the Predictor terminal and breathed a sigh of relief when they spied the huge, overhead monitor. Frozen on its face, the monitor displayed the suspended clock of the countdown in hours, minutes and seconds:00:00:04.
Simon began looking into the data ports and disc drives of some of the surviving satellite terminals.
"What are you looking for, Simon?"she asked. Simon withdrew a series of CDs from one of the terminals."Ah-ha! I made a copy of some of I.T.O.'s files on disc. Oh, and good work calling Interpol."
"I didn't call Interpol, Simon."
"Huh?"
"I didn't call them. I thought you did when I was caught."
"No. Hmm...I wonder if-uhhn!"And then he fell over, a small dart exposed on his neck.
Jeanette ran over and knelt by his side. She sat him up and cradled him protectively. Her hand inadvertently rested on his chest and to her horror, she didn't feel a heartbeat.
She felt his carotid arteries and his wrists. Nothing.
'No! No!' she screamed inside. 'Not like this! Don't take him from me like this!'
"Arthur!!!"Jeanette screamed in grief-maddened rage at whoever struck at Simon in the dark. She craned her neck to and fro, watching the shadows behind terminals and monitors, straining her ears for any sound that would betray the attacker.
The lab doors opened suddenly and lights and panicked shouts and voices blasted into the room. Jeanette focused all her attention there and then the doors closed again. But that was all the distraction the figure needed.
Jeanette caught slight movement off to the side of the room. She turned her head and saw the silhouette facing her.
Jeanette held Simon's lifeless body closer and kissed his cooling forehead."I won't leave you, Simon,"she whispered with an assured and weary smile.
She wasn't at all surprised when she felt the bite of the dart in her shoulder. She seemed to welcome it.
"We've...beaten you, Duval..."she whispered as she felt the numbness of death enclose around her. Jeanette looked down at her true love one final time, and then the void claimed them both...
************
The headquarters buzzed in a hush, waiting for her to finish her debriefing with Inspector Jamal. The impeccably dressed female Chipmunk left the office and strolled into a wave of waiting adulation. It wasn't everyday that a field agent under deep cover escaped execution when her cover was blown and managed to find a defector with crucial, damning information on one the world's leading technology firms.
Actually, it was probably quite frequent, but to have it happen to an agent that they knew, and not one from some distant division, made it all the more exciting.
She simulated a smile and tried to dismissively wave off the kudos, but they continued to heap. Another agent, a Human, called to her."What was it like?"
"What was what like, Vogler?"she asked smugly.
"C'mon,"he teased her."Tell us how you pulled it off."
"Are you sure you rookies can handle anything I might say?"
Amidst the impressed oohs and laughter, Vogler continued nonplussed."I can handle it. C'mon, spill the beans. I'll even buy you dinner."
That brought on even more oohs of a flirtatious nature towards her, who blushed a little before recovering her cool. She struck a thoughtful pose and suddenly she began remembering the brave teens who saved her life and the world's, it seemed.
How much they must have suffered and how many they saved and how the world in general could not, for any reason, know who they were or what they did. For the moment, she felt solemn and retrospective. She coolly looked around and saw that no one noticed her introspection.
With a smile, Sheila swaggered into the crowd of well-wishers and recalled her "account" of what happened.
The conference room was cold and quiet. Three well dressed Chipmunk males were the only ones present and although there was no one else who could hear them, they conversed in quiet tones.
"Your son lives, sir,"the first of the Roaming Eyes said to the one who sat at the head of the long wooden table.
"I knew he would. He would not let defeat...or failure quell him long,"said Mr. Duval, fingers intertwined in brooding thought."When he recovers, please inform him that he has served well enough in the past to retain his position as Field Executive."
"Sir."
"In the meantime, what is the status of our project?"
The second of the Roaming Eyes spoke next."Project unchanged. Although Simon Seville and Jeanette Miller destroyed The Predictor four seconds before it could divulge the exact location of The Archive in Venice, Italy, we have enough information to start searching immediately. A recovery team is being prepped for next month.
Your son was prudent enough to use the Personal Armored Combatants in a search for Seville, Miller and one other escapee, an Interpol deep operative. They operated very well under the conditions that we will set them upon once we recover The Archive."
Mr. Duval seemed to consider this. Then asked,"And what about...International Technological Operations?"
Both Roaming Eyes looked pensive and apprehensive."Sir, Interpol and probably every government in the world has a copy of our true operations,"said the first."It stands to reason that we could lose the company to bad press alone. We could-"
Mr. Duval raised his hand and the first fell silent."This is what we will do,"he said calmly."Prepare to move all liquid assets and our manufacturing equipment to our secret Holds. Holds Alpha and Gamma should do for now. Implement Plan Clean Sweep on all executives lower than Supervisor and get me in touch with...Libby. An artifact search like this one is right up her alley. Have her work with your search team, but give her free rein, if necessary."
"And what about Simon and Jeanette? Kill them?"asked the second."No. Leave them be. The world already knows them as celebrities, entertainers. Why make them martyrs? Besides, as Chipmunks, they have proven to me how strong they are by besting my son. They are worthy of the name, Chipmunk, in spite of their folly."
'How did he do it?' he thought again for what seemed like countless times. 'How did he manage to get a signal through the island's communication shield to warn Interpol?'
Arthur still hadn't moved from where he lay at the foot of the pillory where he was earlier tied to and lashed severely. But he wasn't unconscious. His back was ablaze with pain and he knew that his father had authorized his penalty, but he didn't hold much malice to him. He was savoring that sweet, dark thought of vengeance for others.
Others, like The Roaming Eyes, who he dearly wanted plucked out. Their constant, secret interference and meddling could get him killed one day unless he moved against them first.
Others, like Simon Seville. Yes...Simple Simon. He prayed that he somehow survived and escaped the assault. Just to live long enough to be fully immersed in whatever diabolical end he could think up. A thousand deaths done a thousand different ways would scarcely satisfy him.
Others, like...Jeanette?
No. She was quick, clever, loving and strong. She was worthy of a strong mate. An equal in every way. Jeanette was not naive, as was first thought. Just limited by the world's influences and norms. And yet there was still time to take her as his own-to show her the power of righteous might and his love. Yes, he would tear her away from Simon's clutches. To free her...and to conquer.
Outside the torture room, The Roaming Eyes stood and talked quietly.
"I told you,"said the first."Alerting Interpol to the island was a wise move in view of the facts we saw from The Predictor. They simply moved faster than anticipated."
"Perhaps,"said the second."But the future can be changed. It would be difficult to convince The Advisors that we almost destroyed I.T.O. simply because we saw Arthur take over the organization. He will do that anyway."
"Not if he kills us and slowly takes control from his father, asset by asset,"the first countered."No. We were right for running a timeline prediction on Arthur based on his current actions right after he started the pinpoint search in Venice. It's just too bad that he escaped with us. According to The Predictor, if he had remained, he would have died in the attack and I.T.O. would have had a better chance of surviving this disaster."
"We will survive this. Interpol, Arthur or misguided Chipmunk youths will not topple an entity as ancient and as powerful as we. Despite Arthur's burgeoning treachery against us, I.T.O. will triumph,"the second commented grimly.
************
Light was warm, enveloping, gentle. A soft melody was heard from some invisible distance in the haze. To Jeanette, that was all there was. She was insubstantial and existed in dreams. Having no body, she floated aimlessly in the ethereal, passing through nothingness and becoming nothingness and vice versa.
Death was freeing and not to be feared as she once had. All she had to do was surrender to it and all of her earthly anxieties, desires, misconceptions and preconceptions evaporated in the mists of her past life. Oblivion, careless and formless, was her future. Her domain and her self.
Yet despite all of that, she knew that she wanted...something? Some...one. But the rational side of her mind had to give voice to such a notion.
'I'm dead. I should have no such desires...And yet, I...feel.'
Her newly formed ethereal perception spotted/sensed a point of white light in the panoramic haze.
It started as a pinprick and then grew steadier and the same time her surroundings grew warmer. The sound of the melody increased in volume and the spirit of Jeanette Miller was suddenly...
Hungry.
Hungry and physically uncomfortable.
'That's an awfully strange thing for a spirit to feel,' she thought. And the second she thought that, she woke up...
The endless light of The Great Beyond transformed, by gradual degrees, into the soft and familiar glow of morning sunlight. A breeze through the open bedroom caressed the loose strands of Jeanette's dark hair and gently roused her.
With a stretch and a yawn, she slowly sat upon the bed she was resting on. Jeanette bowed her head into her hands, trying to bring more of her brain on-line and sort out the whys and wherefores of the past day?-week? She was sure that she wasn't sure.
She took a long, deep breath of sweet morning air. The scents were familiar to her almost immediately. The trees and fragrant flowers of the area. The smell of oak leaves wafting through the bedroom. It was the park. Which meant, when Jeanette looked around, that she was in the bedroom of her and her sisters' Tree Home.
She couldn't, for the life of her, figure out how she got there and she soon didn't care. The life of her. Her life, had been restored to her and she was just thankful for that.
After putting the kettle on for some tea, Jeanette wandered into the living room. Her thoughts were on Simon. Where was he? Did he come back to life somehow, as well? Somewhere? What if Arthur had him? What if he...
She came around to the side of the sofa to sit and ponder further, when her heart stopped for an instant. There, looking beatific in a blanket of Morning's Light, slept Simon. Her Simon. She knelt beside him and simply looked at him sleeping. She just wanted to fill her heart with that image. No movement. No thinking. No speech. Just the beauty that was the moment. If only it could last forever.
She immediately recanted that wish. It almost happened! So she gently, softly moved a few errant hairs from his eyelids and cherished the moment happily. She smiled and drank in the instinct to care for another. The awakenings of her maternal instincts, she knew. She hoped that her son or daughter would be just as cuddly, just as easy to love, as her future husband.
"Simon,"she whispered to herself."Husband."
"Jeanette. Wife,"Simon whispered back slowly.
"Simon, are you alright?"she asked, holding his hand.
"Yes. I...I..."He relaxed again to gather strength. The kettle whistle squealed quietly in the kitchen."Don't talk. I'll make you some tea so you'll feel better."Jeanette said, putting his hand on his steadily rising and falling chest and then leaving.
Simon yawned and took a stretch, then something in his sleeve fluttered out and fell on the hardwood floor. Something white.
On her return, Jeanette saw Simon sitting up and reading a letter. She placed the tea tray on the coffee table and sat beside him."What's that?"
Simon adjusted his glasses."I believe this could be the reason for our being here and not...somewhere else."
Jeanette took the two teas and handed one to him, then settled in."Here. Drink up. What does it say?"He cleared his sleepy throat, took a sip and read.
From a grateful agent,
We in Interpol suspected I.T.O. before, but we didn't have any concrete proof of wrongdoing. I was assigned to deep cover and infiltrated the organization through one their legitimate businesses. They covered their tracks well, which was why I couldn't get enough on them.
Which brings me to you two. You both have done so much. To single-handedly snatch our two worlds, Chipmunk and Human, from the very brink of a war, was not a small feat and for us to repay such nobility would be impossible.
When I was imprisoned, Simon, your intelligence and company kept me focused. When you came to the island, Jeanette, your heart liberated us. Together, the two of you performed a miracle. I don't know how you managed to contact us, but I suppose that will just be another part of the miracle.
Your celebrity status was not unknown tome. I'm a big fan of both The Chipmunks and The Chipettes and it is precisely that reason that I did what I did to you. I'll explain.
The agents that I work for and with are my second family. We would and have, on occasion, died for each other. However, they also have a duty to stop crime. If they saw and recognized you two for who you were and in such a place, they would have assumed that you were in league with I.T.O. and just as guilty as the rest.
Luckily, I was in the computer room when you both came in and I recognized you. I was *going* to arrest you first and ask questions later, when I heard you, Simon, say that you made a copy of I.T.O.'s records for Interpol. I knew then that you were trying to hurt the organization, not help it and that if I or any of the other agents arrested you, the resulting scandal would have ruined your personal lives and professional careers. It would have been a devastating parting shot from I.T.O. that would have destroyed everything you and your families worked so hard to achieve.
So it was necessary to "eliminate" the two of you. The chemical in the darts I shot you with placed you in a death-like state. By making you appear dead and quickly taking you away from the island, hidden with our casualties, no one from either I.T.O. or Interpol would have suspected you of ever being there or surviving the assault.
The official report will say that a defector in the organization, who later died in the assault, had information to trade for immunity to criminal prosecution. He contacted us and we moved in. The informationthat you procured for us is beyond price for both our people and the world in general. Soon Humans and Chipmunks alike will see I.T.O. for what it truly is.
Me and other like-minded individuals believe that your distance and anonymity are the best ways to assure that you are well protected. It's also our way to repay a debt that may never be satisfied. Please accept this and our humble, silent thanks.
A friend
"Look like we saved a guardian angel,"said Simon.
"And more importantly, that "angel" will make sure that our hands are clean and stay that way when it comes to I.T.O."Jeanette said relieved.
"I wouldn't worry. I.T.O. may be the ones needing protection,"he joked."You were an animal back there. They'll certainly think twice the next time they see you."
"Really? You really think so?"
"Absolutely!"
"Wow...Thanks,"she said with a proud, yet self-conscious grin. Jeanette rarely thought of herself as a Chipmunk-of-Action.Capable,steady,dependable,affectionate,perhaps.Butable to possess the power to chart her own way, to become fiercely resolute in the face of strong opposition, to become romantic or even intimate solely on her own volition and to fall back on her actual experience to confirm and affirm to others and, more importantly, herself, that she was impressive, important and a force to be reckoned with?
That was just too potent an epiphany too bear. And yet it was true. In her heart of hearts and deep in her soul, she looked at herself and all that she accomplished and refused to sell herself short.
A change was born within, a new confidence and Jeanette Miller welcomed it proudly. Gladly.
Although Simon's compliment was couched in levity, his heart could see the change, too. Sipping on her tea, lounging on the sofa and in her black gown that didn't look so menacing in the sunlight, Jeanette looked...no, radiated a new maturity that was, to him, breathtaking. Even sexy, in a way.
And he could see a new Simon emerge from the adventure. A Simon not burdened by the weight of insecurity and misguided expectations that he felt others saw in him. From that confidence, he could acknowledge Jeanette as more than just a girlfriend. But as a best friend and a partner again. And as an equal.
"Now all we have to do is figure out how to explain all of this to Dave, Miss Miller and the others,"she said.
"Err, do we really need to, Jeanette?"he asked nervously. An angry David Seville was like a seething volcano with energy beneath tolerant crust. It would just take so much before...Kaboom!"Dave and Miss Miller have been so busy before the tour. Do we really need to trouble them with something this distressing, now?"
Jeanette gave Simon a level gaze. She knew he wanted to stay on his father's good side just as much as she wanted to stay on her mother's, but full disclosure could only help all involved. Or could it?"Well, what do we do?"
"Simple. We go by what's on the letter. The fewer who know, the better. Our families will know about I.T.O. the same time the rest of the world does. Through the media, not us. We went to camp for awhile. That's all they'll know."
Jeanette tested the logic of that and found that she couldn't dispute it, even if it sounded a little devious."Hmm, makes sense,"she conceded."It's sounds like something Duval would say, but it makes sense."She saw Simon wince at the sound of that name and inwardly, she shuddered a little herself.
"Let's not talk about him, okay, Jeanette?"he asked with strained diplomacy.
"I'm sorry."Then she changed the subject."I'm going to the balcony for some air. Wanna come?"
"Don't mind if I do."
The cool breezes ruffled her short fur and made her hug herself for warmth, but she was determined to enjoy the day. Jeanette glanced over at Simon. He was leaning against the short picket fence that acted as the balcony's railing, looking out over the park.
The SecuriMunk uniform he still wore and the way the wind tussled his hair made him look cavalier and rakish. 'Wow,' she thought with a slightly naughty look his way. 'He's pretty handsome.'
"Feels like a dream, doesn't it?"
"What does?"she asked.
"Everything that happened to us. I know it's hard for me to believe."
She walked over to him and leaned on the fence."I can't believe we survived. But I guess in the Grand Scheme of Things, it was necessary, maybe even inevitable, that we got the word out about them when we did."
"When we did?"he noticed."How do you figure?"
"Well, new century is coming and I have this feeling that it's going to be a lot like what Dickens wrote in 'A Tale of Two Cities',"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
"Really?"
"Yeah. And I guess if the world wants to see more "best of's..."and fewer "worst of's...",we'll have to come together more as a people, Chipmunk and Human."
Simon took a stretch and said,"Well, after the dust settles on this, that could very well happen. Future generations deserve better, anyway."
Jeanette stole a demure look his way."You mean like...our future generations, Simon?"
Simon self-consciously laughed, getting warm in the collar."Well, heh, heh, heh, I, uh, suppose I meant..."Then he shook his shyness away and said,"Would you like to go on a date. Jeanette?"
Jeanette looked a little surprised and a little pensive. She didn't want to refuse, but to go out on something as major as a date, so soon after surviving the past day or so would put a strain or her already nearly spent emotional store. She needed to sort out more, rest and center herself.
All of that Simon saw in her expression."I mean...not right away, of course. Maybe next week? At The Ice Cream Parlor? Nothing fancy, just to talk."
He looked so charmingly nervous, she had to grin. She pretended to think about it while he scratched his head anxiously.
Finally, she looked at him and said,"It's a date."