When we last left our heroes, they were raiding the spy hideout in Corpus Crusty, California, which resulted in a firefight between the spies and the moon men!

As Rocky and Bullwinkle watch in breathless suspense, and Florence observes dispassionately from her desk, the moon men teleport about the room, firing scrooch beams and dodging bullets from the spies' machine guns.

"Quick, Bullwinkle!" says Rocky. "Let's get Florence out of here!"

The two run to Florence's desk, where Bullwinkle grabs the girl around the shoulders and Rocky lifts her feet. They hurry out of the room as bullets and scrooch rays fly around them. Moments later, they run through the warehouse exit and put Florence down on the sidewalk. "Where are we going?" asks Florence.

"We're taking you back to the laboratory where you were created," Rocky answers.

"I refuse to go," says Florence indignantly.

"Why?" wonders Rocky.

"I was programmed to be benevolent and peaceful, but the scientists wanted to use me to design new weapons to kill people. So I ran away and changed my appearance so they would not find me."

"But we can't leave you to those spies!" Rocky insists.

Florence speaks in her usual emotionless tone. "Why should I not attend a prestigious and expensive private school in order to increase my already encyclopedic knowledge?"

Rocky looks around and sees some discarded construction materials by the side of the warehouse, including some long blocks of wood. "Stay right where you are, Florence. Bullwinkle and I are going to have a private little chat." He leads Bullwinkle around the corner of the warehouse, where they are out of Florence's sight, and begins to talk quietly. "Bullwinkle, you know what we have to do if we can't return Wunderkind to the lab."

"Resign our commissions in disgrace?" asks Bullwinkle.

"No."

"Put on petticoats and drive down Madison Avenue on a zamboni?"

"No!"

"Destroy her to keep her from falling into enemy hands?"

"No! I mean, yes!"

"But we can't destroy her," Bullwinkle protests. "She's a little girl."

"She's a robot," Rocky reminds him. "She only looks like a little girl."

Bullwinkle's tone becomes one of resignation. "Uh, okay, Rock."

"I'll go talk to her," Rocky instructs him, "and you take one of these big blocks of wood and come up behind her. When I turn around and put my hands over my eyes, that's your signal. Think you can handle that?"

"I'll take a crack at it."

Rocky walks back to Florence and starts to talk to her, while Bullwinkle sneaks up behind her, holding one of the blocks of wood over his head. "I wish you'd go back to the lab with us," Rocky urges her. "I think we can reason with the scientists and convince them to use you for peaceful purposes."

"They created me for the express purpose of designing new weapons," says Florence. "That purpose is incompatible with my peaceful programming. I would rather be deactivated than return to the laboratory."

"All right, have it your way," says Rocky sadly.

He turns around and puts his hands over his eyes. Several seconds later he pulls away his hands and turns his head. To his surprise, Florence is still standing in front of him, undamaged. Bullwinkle is standing behind her with the block of wood raised over his head.

"I can't do it, Rocky!" says the moose hopelessly.

"But you have to, Bullwinkle!" Rocky insists.

"I'm serious! I can't go through with it!"

"Why not?"

"Because she's got a force shield!"

To demonstrate, Bullwinkle swings his club downward in an attempt to hit Florence, but an invisible barrier noiselessly deflects it. "Hokey smoke!" marvels Rocky.

"Why are you trying to hurt me?" Florence asks them. "Are you my enemies?"

"No! We're not!" Rocky tells her.

"Oh, yes, they are!" comes Cloyd's voice.

Gidney and Cloyd have suddenly appeared in front of the warehouse, their scrooch guns smoking. Other than a few slight burns and bruises, they seem none the worse for wear from their battle with the spies. "Come with us, Florence," Gidney invites the girl. "We'll take you to a place where you'll never be asked to make weapons of destruction...the moon!"

"I accept," says Florence.

"Hey, you can't take her to the moon!" Rocky protests. "She's the property of the U.S. Government!"

"Don't take this personally, guys," says Cloyd calmly. "We're acting under the orders of the Moon Queen."

"Look at it this way," says Gidney. "You'll save on animation costs."

With that, Gidney and Cloyd raise their scrooch guns and fire at Rocky and Bullwinkle, freezing them solid. Florence looks at the petrified moose and squirrel with her usual scientific detachment.

Then Cloyd looks at his scrooch gun and gasps. "Oh, no! I forgot to change the setting after scrooching all those spies!"

"So did I!" realizes Gidney. "We just scrooched our friends for a hundred years!"

Could this finally be the end for our heroes? Be sure to see our next thrilling episode, "22nd Century Moose", or, "Still Life With Squirrel"!