A Glitch in Time

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 4:

Kim was used to traveling in all sorts of air, sea, and land craft but Jimmy's hovercraft was a novel experience for her. Jimmy could have taken the Strato XL, but as he was not certain about the terrain they would encounter or in which they would need to land he had opted for the more versatile, albeit slower, vehicle. At the moment Kim was piloting the craft and, despite the urgency of their mission, thoroughly enjoying herself.

"Okay, I am officially and retroactively changing that wish I made when I was 9," she said. "Instead of a pony, I want one of these." The hovercraft sliced upward through the air as she pulled back on the controls to gain more altitude. "Hey, look!" she called out, pointing down below. "That looks like an old steam locomotive. I didn't they had any of those running on this line anymore."

Jimmy looked to see and shook his head. "They don't. It has to be the temporal singularity pulling it in from the past. Wade and the singularity must definitely be in the future sometime. We have to hurry."

"Gotcha. Kim nudged the accelerator, coaxing a little more speed from the craft. "Can I ask you a question?"

Jimmy looked up again from the tracking device that he was monitoring intently. "Sure."

"Well, most of this craft seems pretty state-of-the-art," she commented.

"Thanks."

Her voice became puzzled. "So, why is the steering wheel made from a coffee can and the headlamp from a flashlight and a piece of duct tape?"

"Actually, it's called control yoke, not a steering wheel," Jimmy corrected her. "It controls ascent and descent as well as turn direction. But that's a good question." He smiled at the memory. "Dad wanted to help out when I was building it, and…well…"

Kim nodded, completely understanding. "Say no more. Been there myself with my mom a few times." She glanced over at Jimmy's tracking device. "How are we doing?"

"I figure we're about 5 minutes away," Jimmy replied. "Just keep your current heading and speed."

"You're sure this will take us to Drakken?"

Jimmy's smile changed into a determined grin. "Trust me."

As the hovercraft sped towards its destination Doctor Drakken was impatiently pacing the floor, muttering to himself. As he did so he occasionally glanced over at his henchwoman, Shego, as she channel-surfed, or at least attempted to do so. Thus far she had succeeded in finding one very faint and grainy channel among the hundreds of other static-ridden channels she had reviewed on the big screen monitor. Finally convinced that the one channel was the best and only one she could get she sat back, frowning. "Are you sure you got this thing hooked up right?"

"It's deplorable, Shego," was all Drakken said.

"Got that right." She leaned forward, squinting. "Are those people or sock puppets?"

"To think that once again we've been forced to relocate because of the infernal meddlings of that…that…" He struggled to find the right words. "…overachieving cheerleader-turned-heroine teenager Kim Possible in my fool-proof plan."

"There isn't even any sound," Shego complained. "Did you forget to pay the bill or something?"

Drakken glared at Shego. "I don't think that you've heard I word I've said."

Shego scoffed. "I just said there's no sound. I've heard every word you've said. You were whining about being a loser."

"That's not what I said."

"Oh. Sorry. I may have oversimplified." Shego cleared her throat. "I meant to say that you were bemoaning the capricious whims of cruel fate that have once again let you bereft of the rich rewards you feel you have so richly warranted."

Drakken raised a warning finger as he worked through what his assistant had just said. "Umm….yes."

"Well, like I said then," Shego said, returning her attention back to the television. "You were whining about being a loser."

Drakken clenched his fists in rage, gritting his teeth and snarling. With a great effort he mastered himself and walked towards one side of the room with slow, measured steps. In a clear, calm voice he said, "Shego, may I see you in my office for a moment, please?"

Shego sighed, rose from her chair, and crossed to where Drakken was standing. "Reporting as ordered, Doc."

Her employer carefully fitted the tips of his fingers together. "I have noted, Shego," he went on in the calm voice, "a certain - shall we say - lackadaisical and somewhat cavalier attitude on your part."

Shego rolled her green eyes. "Shall we say, depressingly fatalistic?"

Drakken grunted and gritted his teeth for nearly a minute before he could adopt a friendly smile again. "Ah," he finally said. "So you are aware of it. That's good. The book says that many times an employee perpetuates counterproductive qualities simply because he or she is unaware of them. Getting errant employees to recognize that these undesirable qualities exist is often the major obstacle in eliminating them."

"Eliminating the qualities, or the employees?"

Drakken ignored the jibe and began to pace, his head down and his hands behind his back. "I like to think of us as more than just a professional team, Shego," he said in an empathetic tone. "We're a family of sorts. Your pain is my pain and I want to help so we can once again function as the well-oiled machine of old. Is there some personal problem of which I am unaware? Some hidden crisis with which I can assist you?"

Shego cocked an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"What in blazes is wrong with you?" Drakken shouted angrily, unable to control himself any longer. "You act like the world fell apart and the pieces just crushed your last carton of Häagen-Dazs."

"Oh. That." Shego shrugged easily. "You know, you're a lot easier to understand when you don't try to get all touchy-feely like that. Let me enumerate for you what's bugging me." She began ticking off her fingers. "First, this is the fourth time in almost as many months that we've been forced to move because of that teen heroine Kim Possible. Second, your last plan to take over the world with Diablos was the most brilliant I've ever seen you come up with…and she still kicked our butts. And third, the doomsayers were right." She pointed at the television. "There are over six hundered channels and absolutely nothing to watch!" She squinted at the blurry screen. "Except something about fish…I think."

"Then let me enumerate, Shego," Drakken said defensively, counting off his own fingers. "First, I'll figure out how to get that stupid cable hook-up to work. Second, Kim Possible knows that only dumb luck saved her the last time and the Bueno Nacho corporate lawyers got us both off on legal technicalities like I knew they would, so I still consider that plan a moral victory. And third, this is our last relocation, because there is no chance…no chance…that Kim Possible will find us this time."

Drakken had hardly finished speaking when there was a loud explosion and the heavy door to the chamber burst open. When the dust and smoke had cleared he and Shego saw a familiar slim figure standing in the ruined entryway. "Knock, knock," she said.

"You were saying?" Shego observed dryly.

"Kim Possible?" Drakken spluttered. "This can't happening!"

"Oh, but it can, and it is," a smaller form at Kim's side answered. Jimmy returned the sonic impactor, with which he had blasted the door open, to the holster at his side and walked into the room studying the contents.

Shego's frown grew wider. "Oh, great," she muttered, putting a hand over her eyes. "Him again."

Kim strode into the room towards Drakken. "I'm looking for a temporal complosion device," she said grimly. "And I think you know where I can find one."

Despite being unnerved by Kim's unexpected arrival Drakken folded his arms in a gesture of defiance. "Sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about," he told her. "And since we aren't wanted by the officials anymore, I'll thank you to leave."

"Yeah," Shego shot out. "And you can take your little friend…" She looked about suspiciously and realized that Jimmy had disappeared. "Where did he go?"

Kim grabbed Drakken by the front of his lab coat and dragged him forward. "I'm not kidding, Drakken," she warned him. "You're going to tell me what I want to know."

Drakken let out a small squeak. "Shego," he called out feebly, "I think I need some help here."

Shego, however was looking for Jimmy and spotted his legs poking out from inside the wiring cabinet for the video system. "There you are!" she cried. "Get out of there! If you ruin the one channel we have, so help me I'll…"

"What a mess," she heard Jimmy's muffled voice say. "Haven't you people heard of impedance matching?"

"I mean it, Poindexter," Shego snarled. "Get out of there now, or –" She broke off in awe as the fuzzy gray picture on the screen suddenly snapped into crystal, multicolored clarity and sound began to pour from the audio system. "This thing gets color?" she asked in hushed tones. "And Dolby 5.1 surround-sound?"

"Remember, Drakken," Kim went on in a menacing tone, "I'm the girl who can do anything." She dragged Drakken closer so that they were nose-to-nose. "And will."

"Shego!" Drakken called frantically. "Protect!"

"Yeah, yeah, in a minute," Shego called back. She grabbed the remote control and began flipping through the channels, squealing in delight with each new channel that appeared. "Do we get premium channels on this?"

"It should," Jimmy called out. "Got a bobby pin?"

Shego looked blank. "A what?"

Jimmy's hand.emerged from inside the cabinet. "Or a small paper clip. And a gum wrapper."

"Gum wrapper. Right," Shego said excitedly, scrambling to a desk and rifling through drawers.

"Well, Drakken?" Kim asked softly in her sweetest voice.

Drakken swallowed hard. "I don't have one," he protested. "The last I heard Dementor had gotten hold of one." He suddenly sulked. "He always gets the best stuff."

Kim shook her head. "Sorry. That one's gone back in the shop for repairs. I need one that works. And knowing you, I'm positive that you've got a line on one."

Shego handed the requested components to Jimmy and watched as the straightened the clip, coiled it around the shaft of a small screwdriver, and then wrapped the gum wrapper around the coil. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Setting up a small parallel LC circuit," he replied. "The coiled paper clip will form the inductor and the multiple alternating layers of paper and foil of the gum wrapper will act as the capacitor. This should provide the necessary compensating Q for premium channel filtering, but you may want to get a real filter from Smarty Mart." He attached the makeshift component into the wiring and crawled back out, dusting his hands. "Try it now. Something above Channel 150."

Shego entered a channel and pumped her arm in triumph as the image of a wrestling ring appeared and an announcer intoned, "…coming to you live from the Middleton Sports Arena. The long-awaited no-hold, steel cage, winner-take-all grudge match between Pain King, Steel Toe, the Lumberjack, and Man-Woman…"

"Well," Drakken said, "I do know of one place that's doing research on those types of things. But the security is pretty formidable. I've never been able to crack it."

Kim's voice was ice. "Where?"

"The Advanced Physics Institute in Upperton," Drakken replied. "But you'd never be able to get in."

"That's my problem," Kim replied coolly. "But thanks. And I'll let the cable company know that you're pirating your TV hook-up."

Drakken made strangling noises. "You're not serious!" he protested.

"What?" Shego echoed, looking over at them. "You're jacking cable?"

"Hey, everyone does it," Drakken shot back at Shego. "If the cable company doesn't want me watching, keep can keep their signal off the junction box to my coax connection. It's a victimless crime, anyway." Noting Kim's angry look he added hastily, "But I'll disconnect it."

Shego got up and stalked angrily over to Drakken. "Over your dead body," she snarled.

"Please, Shego," Drakken pleaded. "This isn't the NSA or CIA or FBI we're talking about here. It's a utility company!" He wrung his hands. "They'll skin me alive!"

Kim turned to go, "Well, your problem now," she said. "Ready, Jimmy?"

"Ready," he replieda s he joined her.

"Wait!" Drakken said. "Let's make a deal. I'll give you everything we know about the institute's security measures if you don't let the cable company know about my…arrangements here." As Kim hesitated he added, "And I won't press charges about the door."

Kim looked troubled as she thought about it. As much as she hated the thought of turning a blind eye to Drakken's illegal activities Jimmy had said they needed to hurry, and knowing the details of the security system might come in handy if they had to attempt a break-in. "Deal," she sighed.

"Done!" Drakken agreed hastily. He hurried over to a cabinet and rummaged through piles of paper. At length he found the folder he was seeking and brought it over to Kim. "Here it is. Everything Shego and I have learned about the institute's security measures."

Kim accepted the folder and carefully studied the title "Upperton Advanced Physics Institute Surveillance Report" on the cover before opening it. Inside was a single sheet of paper which she removed and read aloud. "'The doors are locked.'" She glared at Drakken. "That's it?" she demanded.

"You…cheat!" Jimmy snapped angrily.

"Hey, there'd be more in there if some crusading teenager wasn't always interfering with my plans," Drakken returned just as hotly. "But a deal's a deal."

With a growl of disgust Kim turned and stomped from the room with Jimmy following close behind her and fuming. When they were gone Drakken let out a sinister chortle, distracting Shego from the wrestling match that she had resumed watching. "What's that all about?" Shego asked. "Finally got the best of Possible, did we?"

"Oh, yes," Drakken replied, still chuckling evilly. "In more ways than one."

End of Chapter 4