Sam sat back on the comfortable sofa in the WOOHP jet as it flew across the country toward WOOHP headquarters. He'd given the girls a few hours to recuperate from their ordeal in the ocean. Especially Alex, who was still shivering, but had mostly recovered. Arnold was allowed to stick around, since there wasn't much they could do with him right now. He sat off to one side, holding his blanket around himself and shivering.
"So, what's going on here Jerry? Are the polar ice caps melting or something?" Sam asked, still clutching her own blanket around herself and shivering lightly.
"Not exactly." Jerry turned to the view screen behind him as it rolled out and displayed an image of the moon surrounded by stars. The three girls blinked in confusion as Jerry turned back toward them. "This mission will take you girls in the opposite direction, to the moon itself."
"What does the moon have to do with all the waters rising up?" Alex asked confusedly.
Before anyone else could explain Arnold decided to field that one. "The moon and the Earth are linked by gravity... that's what keeps the moon revolving around the Earth. And the moon's position relative to the Earth has a dramatic effect on the tide." Arnold explained knowledgeably, like any true nerd would be able to. "But I don't get it... in order for it to create this kind of radical change in atmosphere it must be..." He trailed off.
"Approaching the Earth, yes." Jerry told him. "We picked up strange gravitational fluctuations up there early last night and began taking precautions, but we weren't even close to prepared for the kind of devastation it has been causing the world over. Even worse, the same field that is drawing the moon closer is disrupting every form of wireless communication we have."
"So we're drowning and completely deaf." Clover smirked. "Whoever pulled this one off has thought of everything. Except, you know, that we have things that can float on the water." Jerry and Arnold remained silent, leaving Sam to speak to her friend.
Sam spoke earnestly. "Clover, there's a bigger problem here than flooding. If the moon hits the Earth..."
"Global devastation." Alex said.
"Devastation nothing. There won't be an Earth left." Sam told them. Clover and Alex both fell silent while the redheaded leader of the group turned back to Jerry. "What are we going to do Jerr? How do we get the moon back where it belongs?" She asked.
"We've spent the morning preparing a special rocket capable of getting you to the moon very quickly. Ironically, the fact that it's moving closer saves you flight time. We haven't been able to determine an exact cause for this strange phenomenon, but we'll be providing you with an arsenal of gadgets to allow you to do just that. You will be given them once we arrive at WOOHP headquarters any minute now." Jerry said.
"And what about Arnold? What are you going to do with him?" Sam asked, looking over at the boy sitting against the side of the ship. Arnold looked at her, then back up at the old man somewhat fearfully. "You're not going to wipe his mind are you?"
Jerry shook his head. "No. Under the circumstances, that would be nothing less than cruel. We will keep him at WOOHP headquarters until the current crisis is solved, then we'll decide whether or not to institute a mind wipe." Sam nodded in satisfaction, then felt the ship descending quickly into a somewhat rocky landing on the roof of WOOHP headquarters.
"Follow me spies." Jerry turned and walked out of the jet, followed by Sam, Clover, Alex, and Arnold, who didn't have anywhere else to go really. He led them down through the halls toward an elevator, where he stepped in and waited for the others to join him before pressing a button and sending it hurtling downward at a breakneck speed.
"Wow... this place is absolutely amazing." Arnold commented in awe.
"You get used to it." Alex quipped. The elevator soon slid to a stop and they emerged into a large underground hangar in which a massive pink space ship was sitting on the ground waiting for them, sleek and probably faster than anything the military had in its arsenal. Jerry and the girls approached the ship, then he turned to look at them again.
"This mission is essential to the very existence of humanity, thus we've spared no expense. GLADIS?" Jerry snapped his fingers, and a group of mechanical arms rose from the ground. Two held X-Powders, which they handed to Clover and Alex, who promptly used them to change into their WOOHP uniforms. Sam used hers as well, as GLADIS moved its other arms before them.
The girls took armfuls of gadgets, there were a ton of the things. "Geeze Jerry, what is this every gadget we've ever had?" Sam asked.
"Almost." Jerry replied. "I hope you girls will be able to use them to put a stop to this before it gets any worse than it already has."
"We'll do our best Jerry." Sam said seriously.
"Good. Then you girls should be off, time is of the essence. And do keep in mind girls that because radio waves are being completely blocked, we've outfitted the ship and your space suits with light-frequency modifiers that can transmit your speech via bursts of light by using Morse Code." Jerry said. The girls nodded and turned to walk into the space ship, but Arnold ran up behind Sam and grabbed her elbow.
"Sam, before you go I need to tell you something..." Arnold said. Sam turned to look back at him curiously as her friends turned back to watch. Arnold sputtered randomly. "I... I mean... you... should you..." He let go of her elbow and raised one hand to the back of his neck, blushing furiously. "Good luck Sam." He said simply, turning and walking away quickly.
Alex giggled. "Don't worry Arnold, we'll bring your girlfriend back safe and sound!" She shouted after him. Clover laughed.
"Girls! This is soooo not the time for that!" Sam blushed deeply and moved onto the space ship, brushing past them. Alex and Clover were still snickering as they moved to join her, making their way up to the cockpit and taking their seats. They strapped themselves in, reaching their hands forward to take the controls.
"Testing the light-frequency modifier." Sam said. She watched curiously as a strobe-like burst of lights flashed from the front of the ship. A return burst came back from the control room as Jerry's voice came back. How the ship knew what his voice sounded like by using Morse Code Sam couldn't guess. Technology was wonderful, but confusing.
"The test was successful. Beginning launch sequence countdown now." Jerry replied as the doors above the girls began to open and Jerry counted down. "Ten... nine... eight..."
"Do you girls think we can do this? I mean, we've been in space but never the moon." Alex said.
"We've got to do it Alex. There is no choice. If we fail or bail, it's the end of the Earth." Sam replied.
"Three... two... one... you're clear for takeoff." Jerry said.
"Starting boosters." Sam grabbed the clutch and pushed forward, igniting the massive rockets on the ship's wings. The ship lifted slowly from the ground, gaining speed as it moved up toward the hangar doors overhead. It flew straight through them, emerging into the open sky that seemed to stretch a lot farther than it used to thanks to the encroaching ocean waters.
"I always hated this part of space travel!" Alex shouted over the roar of the engine, struggling not to pass out from the G Force of their ascent through the atmosphere. Soon they emerged into the blackness of space and the force subsided. The twin engines on each wing were released to fall back to the ground miles below as the girls floated peacefully into the darkness.
"Artificial gravity on." Sam flipped a few switches. "Oxygen tanks look good. Plenty of fuel. We're on our way girls." Sam leaned back and let out a soft sigh. "The autopilot should take us straight to the moon, so we don't have to worry about that." She leaned her head back and let out a massive yawn, her eyes suddenly feeling heavy. "Man, I didn't get enough sleep last night..."
"Oh really?" Clover grinned teasingly as she stood up from her seat. "Lucky Arnold."
"It's not like that!" Sam growled. "We just talked."
"What kind of girl invites a boy inside to 'talk'?" Clover asked.
"One who's interested in more than a guy's physique." Sam smirked back.
"Hey, who's up for some chow? I don't think any of us had breakfast." Alex turned around from the back of the cockpit, where she found a moderately sized refrigerator filled with food built straight into the wall.
"Sure, I could go for something." Clover said as she turned her attention away from Sam and made her way to the fridge. Sam mouthed a quick 'thank you' to Alex as she moved to join them in a small meal of dehydrated foods of the kind they ate in space. There was no microwave anyway, so it was best not to have to worry about cooking anything.
They sat companionably, eating their meal and talking about future plans. There was no reason really to think they would fail. They'd faced odds almost this bad several times, including a particularly nasty mission against a guy named Dr. Gelee who attempted to bring the world into a second ice-age by freezing the Earth's core.
"Sam, can I ask you something?" Clover asked.
"If it's about Arnold, no." Sam smirked.
"Come on, you can't just expect us to not ask for the skinny when we wake up to find Arnold in our house at the crack of dawn." Clover huffed. "World crisis or not a girl's got to have priorities, and getting the lowdown on nighttime activities is HIGH on my list."
"I told you girls, nothing happened, we just stayed up and talked. We didn't even realize what time it was until the sun came up." Sam explained for the fifth time that day.
"Well how did it happen? You've barely been on speaking terms with him before, how did you wind up bringing him home and talking the night away with him?" Alex asked curiously. Sam sighed. It was pretty obvious they weren't going to stop until she spilled as much as she could.
"We just ran into each other at a... an art exhibit." Sam lied; not really wanting them to find out she had a real interest in astronomy. That was about as nerdy as she could possibly get. "We got to talking, and it was a lot of fun, so I invited him in to talk a little bit and lost track of the time. That's all there is to it I swear."
Clover huffed. "What a letdown. You didn't even kiss him?"
"No, I didn't." Sam replied. "We talked and that was all."
"Geeze. Leave it to a pair of nerds to spend the whole night together without any necking whatsoever." Clover smirked. Sam's gaze darkened, but Alex stepped between them quickly, holding up a powdered Twinkie.
"Who wants a sugar rush?" Alex asked helpfully.
"Well maybe nerds have the right idea compared to the popular 'jump on anything that moves' mentality." Sam growled.
"Oh you did NOT just say that!" Clover howled angrily.
"Look at me!" Alex did a little dance between the two. "I'm high on sugar and I'm dancing! Wargh!" Alex yelped in surprise when both of her friends stood up, shoving her out of the way into the wall while they walked up to each other, growling as they came face-to-face. Their eyes each bore into the others', their arms held tense at their sides.
"You got something to say to me nerd-girl?" Clover growled.
"I already said it Miss Priss." Sam growled back.
"Go ahead, say it again. I dare you."
"You'd jump on anything pointy." Sam smirked. Clover growled and grabbed her hair, pulling her into a fight that Sam was all to eager to join, slamming into her and driving them both up against the wall with a heavy thud. They fell to the floor, grabbing and punching at each other furiously, with growls emanating from the ball of fury.
"Girls! Come on, it's not worth this! Girls!" Alex tried to break them up, but couldn't get close without getting hit by some flailing body part. "Come on! Break it up!" Alex pleaded as the growling girls rolled around the cockpit, landing blow after blow while each tried to pin the other to the ground. They rolled toward the front between the pilot's seats, growling and swinging at each other.
Suddenly the ship creaked and lurched sharply to one side, sending the girls sliding into one of the seats. "Aagh! Damnit!" Clover shouted as one of her arms slammed into the seat leg.
"What the Hell?" Sam looked up in alarm when she heard the hull beginning to creak. The entire roof was beginning to bend inward, groaning under the strain of some intense gravitational fluctuations. "We're being crushed like a tin can!"
"We've gotta get outta whatever we're in!" Alex shouted as she slid into the wall on her back with a heavy thump. Sam scrambled to her arms and legs and crawled over to her seat, hauling herself into it and slapping her seatbelt closed so she could concentrate on steering. They were flying straight toward the moon, and she now realized they were right between it and the Earth. They were caught in the field that was pulling it forward.
Sam turned the ship to one side, but the gravitational forces strong enough to reel in the moon were easily strong enough to keep them from moving. The hull creaked and groaned under the strain, bending down toward the middle of the ship like a giant fist trying to punch its way through.
"Maybe if we can counter the gravitational pull with some kind of discharge..." Sam mused desperately, tapping at the controls in front of her. "Alex, look through our gadgets and see if we have anything to make some kind of energy field. It doesn't really matter what kind, just something intense enough to punch a hole in this beam."
"Uh..." Alex scrambled across the creaking floor to their backpack of gadgets, digging through it quickly. "I don't see... wait! I have an Electromagnetic Dispersal Walkman here!" Alex pulled it out of the bag. "Will this do the trick?" Sam bit her lip. It could certainly punch a hole in the gravity field, but it could also disable their ship.
"Here's hoping Jerry made this thing EMP proof." Sam sighed. "Hit it on my mark Alex." Sam punched the engines up to full power, charging the fuel for one gigantic burst. She watched the pressure gauge rise steadily until it reached its' peak. She slammed her hand down on the ignition. "Now Alex! Hit it!" Sam screamed.
Alex pressed the power on the Walkman, sending a pulse of energy racing through the ship. The entire ship shuttered, but the pulse was powerful enough to rip a temporary hole in the gravity field. Their previous burst of fuel gave the girls enough momentum to fly clear from the beam of gravity, but as Sam had feared the ship's systems were fried by the EM Pulse. They were free... TOO free. They were out of control.
Sam stretched her stiff limbs and undid her seatbelt, standing up and walking over to kneel beside Clover, who was still on the floor. "Are you okay Clover?" she asked worriedly.
"Just a small bump. I'll be fine Sammie." Clover grunted and rolled out from under the seat, nursing her wounded arm and climbing to her knees. Sam nodded and stood up.
"I have to get this ship's systems running again as fast as possible, or we won't be able to do anything but watch while the Earth is obliterated, unless we suffocate first. You two stay up here and call me if there's any more trouble, alright?" Sam said. The other two girls nodded silently, so Sam turned to head into the back, making her way into the compartment where modifications to the ship's engines could be made.
She crawled up between them and pulled one of the panels off. The circuit boards looked to be in good enough shape to carry them onward, the only trouble was there was no juice. Unfortunately, Sam didn't think anything in their arsenal of gadgets would give them enough power to run both the oxygen tanks and the engines. But maybe...
She started pulling wires and crossing them carefully, keeping an eye on what wire was going where. It was a fairly slow process, but she didn't want this to be trial and error. An error could mean an explosion, and that was not an acceptable risk.
She looked down when she heard a set of footsteps approach the engine panel Sam was lying in as she worked. "How's the fixing going Sammie?" Clover's voice asked from the corridor.
"I'm trying to make the engines and the oxygen tanks run on the same power source. We'll only get half performance out of each, but we won't suffocate or float forever." Sam gasped as a small electric surge ran through her body when her hand came in contact with the old burnt out battery. A residual charge... if it had been fully charged she'd be dead.
"Sounds like it's not going well." Clover commented.
"As well as can be expected since I basically have no clue how this thing's put together. I'm mostly assuming it works like computer power supply." Sam tossed the useless battery out of the small panel and resumed her rewiring of the ship's engines. "How's the arm?"
"Nothing I can't deal with." Clover replied. Sam heard Clover slide down to a sitting position on the floor. "I'm sorry I busted your chops over the Arnold thing... it's not really any of my business in the first place what you did or didn't do. I don't even know why I was so hung up over it. I'm sorry I called you a boring nerd."
"Don't sweat it." Sam replied. "We're all under a lot of pressure right now, and we're cooped up in this small space with not much to do. And... I'm sorry I called you a slut."
"For the record though... I so could've taken you if it wasn't for that gravity beam thing." Clover quipped.
"I'll take you up on that bet when we get back to Earth." Sam replied. "Could you run and get me the Sonic Disintegrator Boombox and the CATS?"
"Sure, but what are you going to do with them?" Clover asked curiously.
"Give us a really big makeshift battery." Sam replied. Sam pulled herself out of the compartment and looked over at her. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing." Sam said. Clover nodded and ran out to the bridge to fetch the required gadgets, bringing them back quickly. Sam took them and slid back into the small hole in the panel.
"What are you doing exactly?" Clover asked curiously.
"Well, sound waves generate energy." Sam explained. "Just, not enough to power a space ship usually. I'm thinking if I turn this thing on high, it'll be powerful enough to give us some juice."
"Won't that also blow up our heads or something?" Clover asked.
"That's what the Shield is for." Sam explained patiently. "Not only should it shield us from the sonic vibrations, but it'll also create an echo effect inside the bubble, generating even more sound waves to power the ship. At least, that's my theory."
"And if your theory is wrong?" Clover asked.
"We all get REALLY splitting headaches." Sam smirked as she slid out. "Everything's in place... cross your fingers Clover." Clover bit her lip and dutifully crossed her fingers as Sam reached into the panel and touched the CATS, activating a small pink bubble around the Boombox and surrounding energy conductors.
Sam pressed the power button on the Boombox and quickly yanked her hand back, letting the pink shield form itself into a perfect sphere. The two girls watched intently as the bubble began to vibrate, humming with the sheer force of the sound waves pummeling it from the inside. It almost seemed to begin glowing in the center of the bubble, which threatened to burst any second.
"Come on..." Sam clasped her hands in front of her. "Hold out... put all that energy where it belongs..." She pleaded. The bubble shimmered and glowed brightly... and suddenly the entire ship began to hum. Sam leapt to her feet and raised her arms in victory as the bubble settled into a steady vibration rhythm. "We did it! We're on our way again!"
"You're a genius Sammy!" Clover grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug, a broad grin lighting up her face. "Come on, let's go get our butts to the moon and put a stop to all of this insanity."
"Be glad to." Sam stood up and turned to head to the cockpit with Clover right beside her. It would still be a while until they reached their destination, especially with the engines at half power, but it was only a matter of time.
TO BE CONTINUED
