Chapter IV: Cold Time

As the rest of the city slept, the midnight oil burned at Ranger HQ. The hangar and living room were a flurry of activity as parts were salvaged from Sprocket's wrecked plane, and began to be reassembled and repaired.

"All right," he said in certainty, "that should be the last of it. Now the job of fitting the computer components all back together starts. We can run the information feed through the television monitor here. Soldering guns ready, everybody?"
Gadget pulled her goggles down over her eyes.

"Ready."

Sprocket reached into his hip pocket, and took out a very familiar pair of blue goggles of his own. He grinned as he slipped them over his eyes.

"You got a new pair back home, Mom, so I took these."

From across the room, Monterey Jack looked on and chuckled. Human he might be, but this young one was every inch Gadget Hackwrench's son. Standing side by side, both with blonde hair, blue eyes and identical sets of blue goggles, they even looked a little alike. The big mouse shook his head, and went back to the book he was reading.

For hours the flickering of soldering torches and the soft hiss of burning lighter fluid permeated throughout the tree. The R-IV's computer began to take shape again, albeit in a haphazard fashion, the circuit boards, chips and memory strung together however they could be made to work. Sprocket worked gently at a bit of wiring that connected the machine's hard drive.

"Have to be careful with this one," he said, his nimble fingers pulling wires and reconnecting them where needed. One last bit of solder, a piece of electrical tape, and a lot of hope included, he sat back on his heels.

"Okay, Aunt Tammy, hit the power," he called.

The squirrel nodded, and flipped a switch connected to a nearby battery. Wiring sparked, and there was a loud humming noise, but nothing else. Sprocket hung his head.

"I should have known," he muttered, and kicked at a jumble of wiring. Another series of sparks showered down, and the television monitor lit up, displaying the familiar RR and lightning bolt. Below were the words 'Rescue Rangers Mobile Vehicular Computer System. Please enter password'.

"Yes!" Gadget yelled, holding up a wrench in a gesture of victory. Crossing the room to a small keyboard she had assembled, she motioned Sprocket over.

"I'm hoping you've got the password for this thing."

"Sure, everybody has one."

Reaching over, he typed in a series of letters, which Gadget correctly read as spelling 'Rebecca'. She looked at Sprocket curiously, and he blushed.

"Umm…she's a girl I like back home. She was involved in an incident similar to mine, except she didn't escape for several years."
Gadget nodded.

"Well, its good to know that you found someone like you. I don't want to sound callous, but I don't think you could develop a relationship like that with…well, someone like us."
"That's what you said in the future, too. She lives with Aunt Bink in my time."

Gadget giggled, picturing the little squirrel in her mind.

"Sorry, its just weird hearing somebody call her 'Aunt Bink'. She's only six here."

About this time, the computer, somewhat slowed from the loss of some of it's memory chips, whirred to life, accepting Sprocket's password. A menu screen appeared, offering several options. Across the bottom of the screen ran a bar which read 'Windows XP Professional, Version 2007'.

"Geez, we need to update to the 2010 version," Sprocket said, absently. Typing in several commands, he pulled up the database of case files. Chip walked over and looked over his shoulder, pointing to a file.

"Cases the year 2000 and back is what we'll need."

"Roger, Dad."

With the appropriate files selected, Sprocket started a search for information concerning anything about cold, freezing, ray guns, or any combination. Several files popped up, but none posed any resemblance to what was currently happening.

"Hang on," Gadget said, "what's this one here?"

Sprocket peered at the screen, curious.

"Hmm, I guess I missed that one."
Typing in a command, he hit the enter button. The result was completely unexpected.

The screen turned a brilliant shade of red, and the Rescue Rangers symbol was joined side by side with the red cross and silver wings of the Rescue Aid Society. A voice all too recognizable as Gadget's spoke from the television's speaker.

"This information has been classified, by order of Rescue Rangers Chief of Operations Chip Maplewood, and Rescue Aid Society Chief of Staff Bianca Ravenswood. Level Ten access required."

"Level Ten?" Sprocket said in surprise. "Mom never…well, you never encoded anything that highly that I knew of," he commented to Gadget.

"Well, I must have had a good reason. Do you have access codes for that level?"
"Unfortunately no. Only you and Dad do."

"Strange. The Society and the Rangers work together on occasion, but for both to request that this be classified? Golly, it must be bad news."

"Yeah, I know. Do you have any idea what you'd have used for a password?"
"I've got a few ideas, but what's the format?"
"Like this."
Sprocket cleared his throat, and pressed the 'send' control.

"Open file, access code 'Rebecca'."

'Access Denied. Level Ten code required.'

Gadget thought for a minute, and smiled. Pressing the same control, she addressed the computer.

"Open file, access code 'Geegaw Hackwrench."

The computer whirred for a few seconds.

'Identifying voice pattern. Confirmed. Gabriella Mariel Hackwrench Maplewood. Enter second pass key."

She shrugged, and after a moment's hesitation, answered.

"Second pass key—'Screaming Eagle'?"

A momentary silence passed.

'Identity confirmed. Pass keys correct. Welcome, Gadget."

She sighed.

"Well, at least that part wasn't hard."

The screen flickered, and a slightly streamlined version of the Ranger symbol appeared, replaced after a few seconds by the picture of one of the Rangers' own.

"Mom," Sprocket whispered.

The recording began playing.
"To anyone in the future who opens this recording, I remind you that this information is strictly classified by both the Rescue Rangers and the Rescue Aid Society. What you are about to learn was quite possibly the most harrowing case ever undertaken by the Rangers, and nearly resulted in the destruction of our city."
Gadget's image wavered and was replaced by one of Professor Nimnul's laboratory, surrounded by ice and snow.

"In the year 1990, Professor Norton Nimnul, expounding upon his weather-changing technology, developed a terrifying new weapon. The 'freeze ray' was a cold fusion laser, able to freeze solid anything in it's path. Several Rangers were nearly lost in this manner, saved only by the intervention of an individual that strangely, none of them could remember."
"That would be me," Sprocket commented.

"These images were taken by Rescue Ranger Gadget Maplewood at the time of Nimnul's attack," the recording continued.

Pictures of frozen streets, ice coated buildings, and wrecked cars passed the screen, leaving all present in shock.

"This recording has been classified, in the fear that should anyone rediscover the potential of Nimnul's invention, that this event would repeat itself. In the event that this does occur, I've included plans for a defense, based on Professor Nimnul's original weather-changer technology. Flawed as it is, it works after a fashion. Or at least, it should."

Chip cringed at the 'it should', knowing what the phrase could entail. On the screen, Gadget looked as if she would continue, but paused.

"If this recording should reach my children, and they stand as the defense against such a situation…then I hope they remember that I love them with all my heart…and that they remember what it means to be a Rescue Ranger. A defense against evil. The…"
"Line in the sand," Sprocket said quietly, as the recording faded.

Gadget hit several keys, and a series of blueprints flashed across the screen.

"Looks like this is it. Tammy, I'll help with what I'm able, but you and Sprocket are gonna be doing the lion's share of this one."
"We won't let you down, girlfriend," Tammy said with a lighthearted, but forced attitude. What had played out on the screen had left everyone someone somber.

"Well gang, it looks like we're the only defense against this disaster," Chip declared finally. "Let's do our job. We've got three days left."

After Gadget had shown Tammy and Sprocket the right direction to start in, she went straight to she and Chip's bedroom, for a much-deserved rest. The baby had been declaring it's displeasure with increasing forceful kicks, and she was exhausted. She began to fall asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Several minutes into her slumber, she began to see images, recalled from the horrifying video. Ice was everywhere. Snow fell in torrents from the sky, and over it all, she could hear Nimnul's insane laughter. Her mind worked feverishly, trying to dissect the problem, look for a way to increase the power of one of her inventions, but nothing worked. But then, suddenly…there was the glimmer of an idea. A wild idea, but she'd always said that those were the best. Gadget smiled in her sleep as the plan began to take hold in her subconscious.

The next day dawned dark and cloudy, almost ominous in appearance. Nobody left the Rangers' tree for any type of frivolity; there was too much to do…too much at stake. Tammy, Sprocket and Sparky worked feverishly, trying to create a device similar to Gadget's specifications. They were having limited success.

"If we could just reverse the polarity of this stabilizer," Sprocket said, "we could increase energy output by twenty percent." Sparky considered the idea.

"True, but then we'd have an adverse strain on the molecular bond inhibitor."

"Yeah, there's that. It looks like we may have gone as far as we can. How wide a field can we produce now, Tammy?"
She checked the readings of several instruments.

"I'd say big enough to protect Central Park, but no more."

"Great," Sparky said with a groan. "We stay toasty while the rest of the city gets a white out."

"Not necessarily," Gadget said as she came through the door. "I had an idea."
The inventors sat up and took notice.

"Well, spill it, woman!" Sparky said.

"Okay, okay, keep your shirt on. I had a thought. What if, instead of trying to shield a large area of the city…we infiltrate Nimnul's lab, and shield it against itself?"

Sparky, Sprocket and Tammy sat dumbfounded. They turned to each other and began to talk at once.

"If we can get in there and set it up around his power core," Tammy said.

"Then we can set up a bimolecular depolarization field," Sparky continued.

"And turn the ice-gun's power back on itself," Sprocket finished with a grin. "I don't think this is the plan Mom had in mind originally when she made that recording…but I think necessity's made it better."

"There's just one problem," Gadget said. "To build the weather-changer, we've had to harvest all kinds of parts from the R-IV's systems. Sprocket, how are you going to get home?"

He thought a minute.

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I know we can come up with something. Now, let's go plan some particulars. The Nimnul from my time will be arriving in a couple of days, and we need a course of action ready."
He tossed his mother a smile.

"Can I say it, Mom?"

"Sure thing, son."
"Cool. Rescue Rangers, away!"