"The Adventures of Professor Proton, Jr: The Proton Express…"

Summary: In my first longer Proton Jr tale, can Prof Proton Jr. aka mild-mannered Sheldon Cooper and Dr. Amy aka Amy F. Fowler save the world at Christmas…And can Proton Jr. keep that blond sob of an engineering genius Tom Swift, Jr. away from his girl?

Equally important…Should Cameragirl Penny allow this thing to appear on her acting credits or just accept that all hope of a professional career is gone and just enjoy while peddling her drugs?

Disclaimer: All is Chuck's…

Part III…

"If I may continue…" Swift eyed his audience, standing by a whiteboard on which a series of mathematical symbols had been drawn.

"If the kiddie-show host here will allow it, I'm all for it…" Wyckcliff grinned.

("Leonard…" Amy, darkly… "You wrote that."

He blinked. "Uh…I was only injecting some humor into the relationship…Based on how Lesley and Sheldon interact in real life."

"Oh, he's got me down to a T…This is exactly what I'd say." Lesley grinned.

"What?" Amy eyed Sheldon…

"Well…It's just…Technically speaking, Lesley's right. It is what she'd say." He shrugged.

"Sheldon? I'm defending you."

"Yes…And I appreciate it…" he leaned in… "But we get to see her horribly killed if we just see this production through to its, for her, gruesome ending."

"Really?" Amy pondered. "Just how gruesome?" they both eyed Lesley as she talked to Leonard, Penny frowning at her.

Lady, one more hint that I'm not up to the role of Penny Hofstadter and I'm gonna write myself in as the real Wyckcliff who brutally kills her impersonating junior stand-in for bad acting.)

"It's been over a decade since Dad and I first found and translated the symbols left behind by the exo-Martians on their last voyages to Earth…" Swift noted. "Five years since we made contact by radio telescope. While our friends have been travelling the Galaxy for nearly five hundred thousand years since they left Mars orbit."

"And if they're so advanced why do they wanna talk to chimps like us?" Wyckcliff eyed Swift.

"Actually, they've not evolved much in the last five million years…We've caught up a bit. Besides, intelligent life is apparently rare in the Galaxy and after all…" Swift smiled. "We're family…"

"Our Martian cousins…" Wyckcliff sneered.

"Not all that unexpected that intelligent life should seek to share its ideas, knowledge, and dreams." Proton, Jr. cut in firmly… "It's why we and these creatures are intelligent."

"Some of us, anyway."

"Yeah?! Well…Your name is Munson and that's a stupid name!"

"Right, Prof P…Junior…" Wyckcliff, benevolently eager beam.

"Ladies and gentlemen…" the General raised a hand… "The fate of Humanity may be at stake here. And I'm quite willing to throw all or any of you in a brig under martial law and leave you there, forgeting you were ever here if you don't settle down and pay attention! Mr. Swift?" he nodded to Swift as quiet fell.

"Thanks, General." Swift nodded. "People, the Martians…Or Exo-Martians as we presume them to be, have recently contacted us to the effect that they are sending us a great gift, from their explorations and their own collection of the life from the Mars they left."

"What?..." Dr. Amy blinked…All the room silent. Staring…

"Yes. They're sending us samples, folks…Of life from around this galaxy as well as from ancient Mars before the ecological cataclysm." Swift beamed. Then turned somber… "And despite what we believe to be their most benevolent intentions and our efforts, someone has turned this gift into a potential for disaster."

Fearing Island…Spaceport of the Swift Enterprises Corporation…The greatest private launch facility on Earth.

"There's my first ship…" Swift pointed to a photo as he paused on the long walkway he and the group with him were following. "The Star Spear…"

"Fancy rocket ship…Barely made orbit…" Proton, Jr. noted to Dr. Amy…

"And The Titan, the world's first manned atomic drive spaceship." Swift proudly noted, indicating out a large window a huge rocket on a launch pad, several times the Star Spear in size. "We still use it for reaching our Outpost at 22,300 miles in geosynchronous orbit."

"Atom-driven rockets…So passé"…Proton, Jr. noted.

"And my latest, the Cosmic Sailor…A solar driven ship, but more than just a solar sail…" Swift beamed at the photo on the wall… "She actually converts solar radiation to a focused thrust."

"A fancy solar sail…Big deal…" Proton, Jr. rolled eyed. Perturbed at the thought of what was to come.

After all, this one was rather impressive.

"And…" Swift halted. "The ship that took me to the Moon… My finest girl…The Challenger…" he paused at a huge window overlooking what seemed to be a giant gyroscope standing nearly five hundred feet high. "Powered by repelatron drive."

"Repelatron drive…" Proton, Jr. sneered to Dr. Amy…

"Gotta go with you on this one, Neutron…" Wyckcliff smiled.

"That's Proton and you know it…Proton, Jr., that is…" Proton, Jr. noted.

"Neutron fits you better…No charge to that particle…Eh, Amy…?" Wyckcliffe, wickedly mocking grin. "But getting back to our rare moment of singularity…" She turned to face Swift as Dr. Amy glared. "Swift, I know you're supposed to have reached the Moon in this kid's toy. But there's no official confirmation of that and I find it hard to believe you ever got this thing off the ground."

"Mr. Swift's missions to the Moon have been kept secret for national security purposes…" the General eyed Wyckcliffe. "He's patriotically kept his light under a bushel, accepting our request after his first flight, to keep the matter a national security top secret. But I can assure you…He has been there and in this remarkable vessel."

"And the theoretical basis for the repelatron? Published nowhere?" Wyckcliff eyed the general.

"Likewise…National Security and Mr. Swift's patriotism." The general, quietly.

"Sounds like quite the flag-waving Mother America's boy, doesn't he?" Proton, Jr. frowned aside to Dr. Amy.

"So, assuming this thing can get off the ground, when do we leave?" Wyckcliff, shrugging at Proton.

"We don't…Not on the Challenger…" Swift, quietly.

Lights in the corridor cut out… The floor on which the group of twenty-four stood suddenly dropped with increasing speed.

"Please…Do not panic…" the general called for calm. "This is simply a security procedure."

Not the Challenger? Proton, Jr. thought, concealing a sigh.

Rats…Always wanted to catch a ride on Challenger…

Never had Swift in the sort of compromised position where he'd have to let me go…And couldn't refuse later.

"You know I can explain the physics of this fancy elevator ride a lot better than he can…" Proton, Jr. eyed Dr. Amy who stared back.

Hmmn…

The extended revelation of Swift marvels appears to have triggered a latent…Or, who the hell am I kiddin'…Never heretofore seen jealous bone in the body of one Proton, Jr., she thought, rather pleased.

"Here we are folks…" Swift noted as the floor came to a screeching halt. "Where we needed to be…My submarine launch pens."

"Submarine?" Dr. Amy blinked. "But I thought we were going to meet a space cargo…"

Traveling out among the stars in the Challenger, Proton, Jr and I and Mr. Swift.

Rats…

"We sincerely hope anyone listening in to our talks and messages up to just now believes that, too, Doctor." The General noted. "But we know the person we're most concerned with, doesn't." sigh.

"Oh?" Proton, Jr. eyed him. "And how do we know that?"

"Because it's their interference that's prevented us from attempting a retrieval in space where the chances of damage to Earth are limited. Someone stole the codes and the transmission wavelength and contracted our friends, pretending to be me and has been jamming the only successful wavelength for receiving or transmitting." Swift cut in. "Thanks to that someone, Earth is in severe danger."