rfollman: Same response back in chapter five and yes, geniuses tend to falter at times . . . though if you have any ideas on how to describe an egg beater, I'll be happy to accept! : D
trex841: Dunno, I didn't had that in mind
DISCLAIMER
Alvin and the Chipmunks rightfully belongs to both Ross Bagdasarian Sr. and Ross Bagdasarian Jr. as well as Janice Karman.
Come morning, twilight crept over the eastern horizon, the sandstorm calmed down overnight but Simon hasn't. Wide-awake and worry sick since Jeanette put herself into hibernation, thoughts of her being hurt or he did something wrong that made her shut herself off from him ran through his mind. Since then he tried arousing her to no avail. Simon still tries, not willing to give up on his only friend despite the fact Jeanette was chronically frozen in place and clinically dead, unresponsive to Simon's cries.
He sat there staring at her pod in the truck for hours after countless attempts of pounding on it to awake her. He kept thinking of how to get her out, to bring her out of the freezing shell and back to life. He did not know how though…
"Aha!" He snaps his fingers.
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The sun now above the horizon, Simon moved, or better yet, labored Jeanette's cryogenic tube outside, to where he would get his pacemaker recharged at the same time. Her pod, though not bulky, but very heavy around three hundred fifty pounds because of the density of the great cytogenetic residual ice inside the pod combined with the density of Jeanette's frozen solid body. It took him an hour or two of pushing the pod out of the truck, down the ramp and into the sunlight. Manual laboring didn't help Simon take his mind off Jeanette but he at least got her in the sun's warm rays in the expectation for her to awake.
All he could do was wait and see if the sun could melt through the pod's -100̊° C chassis. He stood by her side on the bridge, staring at the frozen figure of Jeanette, waiting for the ice to thaw out and let her go so he could see her warm open eyes and hear her voice again.
He lets those happy results run through his head as he waits patiently….
…And waits… …and waits… …and waits…
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By now, the heat of midday's sun beats down on the surface as hot as it will irradiate, almost unbearable, even for Simon. Though he grew up here, it's the hottest summer on Earth he's ever experienced. He sat down on the sizzling concrete of the broken bridge. His work suit and fur soaked with sweat and his mouth crisp dry from dehydration. Simon doesn't care for he's more concerned on Jeanette waking up any moment now, the same thought that's been running through him for the past few hours.
He looks back up at the pod where the frozen Jeanette laid since this morning. Air temperatures hit 50˚C or 122̊°F outside and not a single drop of condensation dripped from her pod. Simon drops his head down in disappointment, nothing, after hours of waiting, has happened.
Patience, he told himself, reassured she would eventually thaw.
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It's almost sundown, Simon only slightly bored and Jeanette is where she was at, motionlessly frozen in her pod where he put it, its green light still pulsating. He fiddles around with his tools on the sizzling ground, wondering if he could work his way through the pod to release her. Sorting through what he could use, he hears rumbling sounds in the distance.
He looks up to see darkness spread across the horizon. It wasn't a sandstorm, for the air did not kick up dust. These columns of clouds all dark gray and towered high in the sky, flashes of light visible in the blackness where the soft earthshaking sounds came from.
"Uh oh," he realizes it's a storm.
Seems it will be over them by nightfall, which is not long. Though they are not as powerful or deadly as a thunderstorm, it is still serious to find shelter because of flooding and lightning, witnessing some of his comrades suffer those fates, nowhere to hide from Mother Nature and died in the rain.
Simon had no idea how durable Jeanette's pod against the weather but just because it's hi-tech doesn't mean it can last out here. He won't have time to move Jeanette back into the truck, her pod too heavy to move and because of the slope of the ramp, it might fall on him if he tries to move it up. Worse, he might hurt Jeanette inside it.
Simon remembers having a single ancient canopy that designed to protect against rain or sunlight in the truck.
Considering the situation, he could use it to protect Jeanette himself. It's very rare for a storm to pass by these times, mostly in dry heat or cold. Simon has forgotten what it felt like for rain to pour on his skin and he never bathed as much as he could remembered, not enough clean water to do so if there were any. The rain could be good since being out in the heat all day and felt like he could use a small bathing in the rain…
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Later that night, Simon's sleep-deprived eyes shot wide open in total shock as another lightning bolt stuck and missed him by a few meters, frying the ground it touched. The ungodly sound of electricity crashing down is painfully deafening to his ears. It's the tenth time in the night he was almost electrocuted, but he kept his spot next to Jeanette's pod, holding an umbrella over it as he stood in the downpour.
The rain came down hard in every direction carried by the wind. Simon doesn't mind shivering in the frozen rain, being drenched right through his attire from head to toe. Although he regrets underestimating the terrible conditions of the storm, he'd given his other arm for some heat. The temperature dropped rapidly and had only then realized he had to stay awake and hold an umbrella over Jeanette's pod until the rain stopped, his arms outstretched for holding it all night. Simon didn't know how to find a way to get it back into the truck or to a safer place.
All he knows is that it will be dawn in a couple of hours and the storm will be gone by then.
Just as he finished that though, Simon screamed and jumped in surprise as the eleventh near-miss lightning bolt struck the streetlight next to him.
IF we make it to dawn, thought Simon as he looked in terror at the molten metal of the struck light post.
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The rain had passed but the cold has not a few hours later.
A dark overcast hung over Sector NA-001, preventing sunlight from warming the surface that morning, it's now below freezing.
Why of all times of the year for weather on this planet to go from extreme to extreme? Simon wondered to himself, shivering in the freezing air.
Since the Earth's protective atmosphere long been chemically tainted and eaten away, the climates became volatile to temperature changes from very hot to very cold if there was sunlight or not over non-clouded or darkened regions of Earth.
It's getting way too cold now, Simon's teeth sore from uncontrollable shivering, suit wet from the downpour but he has no other forms of clothing to change into or dry off in. Standing out in the windy open air, the wet clothing stung his skin like needles, adding more misery on top of sleep deprivation, shell shock and a common cold he got in the storm. He was thankfully astonished he made it through thirty-three lightning bolts that came within a few feet of him, almost frying him on the spot and he hasn't succumbed to hypothermia from freezing rain.
Simon looks at the source of his misery and endurance, the hibernating form of Jeanette. She was all right, far as he could tell. No water droplets or electric bolts have touched her pod. He stood by her side all night, with an umbrella in his biologic hand because of the lightning. Besides the annotation of his mechanical arm is a huge metallic attraction for electricity, Simon wonders why he hasn't succumbed to exhaustion from keeping his prosthetic arm holding the umbrella for hours.
Her pod hadn't changed since going into slumber, no more or less frozen.
But must be kept safe regardless, he thought to himself.
He went back into the truck and came back out with his blanket.
Sure Jeanette is cryogenically frozen but Simon couldn't be sure. Her pod hollow and not very thick, she probably felt what happened outside hence cryogenic pod preserves her from aging, not from external harm.
Simon drapes the blanket around her pod, shielding her from the dropping temperature, imagining what it would be like to embrace her if she wasn't frozen, to shield her from the cold and feel the warm of her presence in his arms, protecting and letting Jeanette know how much he really cares for her.
Oh did he want her so bad.
He finishes tying up the blanket ends, satisfied he is willing to look after her well-being. The rush of the wind against his damp attire reminded him of his own, shivering again. He doesn't have anything else to spare to keep himself warm but even if he did, he would be more than content to give it to Jeanette.
She was safe and it was all that mattered to him.
He stares at Jeanette as he sits in front of her pod, curled up on the ground, holding his firmly woven cotton of his hammock around his torso with his arms trying not to freeze. He imagined Jeanette holding him and not himself to stay warm. He will stay there until she wakes up, no matter how long it took until then. Simon turns to his only sources of warmth: his bundled up hammock wrapped around his body facing away from the wind and Jeanette in his thoughts.
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The winds kicked up the following day, a sandstorm coming by nightfall. Simon anticipated a storm would happen but won't be able to move Jeanette's pod in time, thus having to find a way to protect her and survive from a storm out in the open.
All he could do was cover her pod with anything to protect her from the sand. She still had his blanket so he added a trashcan over the top, container boxes concealed the sides and he weighed everything down to be sure she was anchored. He just used the fabric of his hammock to cover himself up since he can't fit in the shelter he made for her.
He stayed out there to be sure she wasn't blown away or hit by flying debris.
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Seventeen hours of watching through the darkened clouds of sand and powerful gusts later, the sandstorm ended.
Sand covered the bridge and the winds seemed to blow hard still but the dust has settled.
Something stirs in one of the dunes of sand. Simon digs himself out, getting much sand out of his hair and off his suit, completely unfazed by the idea of surviving premature burial as he has done for hundreds of times, unlike his fellow workers. Simon immediately checks up on the most important thing.
He digs out the trash can/boxed up cocoon out of the sand and there she was, right where he left her from the storm. Simon seems satisfied when no sand seeped into the pod. Despite having sand in his mouth, hair, and attire, Jeanette is still safe.
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Two days later, Simon still anticipates for Jeanette to wake, however his patience being put to the test. After putting much thought in it, Simon came up with another way to help Jeanette wake up by trying to unfreeze her. Remembering she froze when the pod encased her, he will have to reverse what it did by deactivating the pod. Though he knew absolutely nothing about the inner workings of a cryogenic pod, he is willing to give it his best shot. He examines Jeanette's pod for any access point.
The surface a flawless transparent metallic cylinder with no power source, internal lines, systems, or controls, the pod just a symmetrically designed tube. Simon had to admit it's very interesting technology, save for he mentally cursed it for keeping him from Jeanette.
All there is to access the pod is the pulsating beacon, the outlines of an opening can be seen.
Hmm, it'll have to do, Simon thinks to himself as he grabs a crowbar and pries it open.
Inside is a battery cell, a circular disc with a green light flashing on and off for the beacon, frosted dry ice lines linked with it.
This must be the pod's cryogenic supply keeping her frozen in place. He pulls out his pacemaker's charge cable from his belt.
My best chance would be to short-circuit the pod. He links the cable to his artificial pacemaker.
Its alternator unit should provide enough charge to deactivate the device . . . She contemplates her thoughts for a moment before continuing, thinking of finally getting to awaken Jeanette.
He thinks what to say to her, how she will react. Will she chew him out for awakening her? Will she kill him? On the other hand, will she embrace him for saving her from becoming frozen for no reason? The last thought caught his attention, maybe she was unintentionally frozen and unfreezing her seemed like having being so grateful and she will thank him with hugs and kisses, happily ever after. That warmed Simon's mind, giving him the motivation to go ahead and see what happens.
ZAP!
Simon is instantaneously confused on the ground a yard away, his entire body especially his chest jerked, stinging like hell and smelled of smoke.
What the hell just happened?
He looked up, his questions answered along with his idea and fantasies backfiring. The pod's automated defenses knocked Simon off his feet by electrocuting him. A hundred volts being too much to overpower his pacemaker, it's a wonder it wasn't fried, otherwise his heart wouldn't beat properly and die of both cardiac arrest and electric shock.
Let's not do that again. He sighs in relief, slightly disappointed.
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Later that afternoon, the sounds of creaking wheels filled the streets of the polluted city as a figure tugs on a cylindrical object.
Simon pulls Jeanette's pod, standing vertically on an ancient red wagon wrapped up in Christmas lights, all shining but not plugged into any power source.
Simon decided on one last way of somehow getting Jeanette or her pod to let her awake by persuasion. After some serious thinking, while remembering scenes from Hello Dolly, Simon learned the man takes the woman on a special social engagement, which involved taking the woman out to certain places in the city when he wishes to convey his romantic emotions to the woman.
What are those called again? he wondered.
A deep? Dent? Dat? D-Date? Yeah that's it, a date! He decided to take Jeanette out on a date to wake her up and let her know how he feels about her! It'll be a challenge since she's still in her pod but he's too determined.
Simon managed on sliding her pod onto a wagon from a ramp he made after taking a while figuring out how to pull it off. After an hour or two of laboring, she was on the wagon, the wagon buckling while trying to support the pod's weight.
Simon also remembered it being customary for the couple to express how they felt around each other by certain things they held important or at least to one of them. He draped some Christmas lights over her pod, shining as soon as they touched. He wished to show her she brought light to long dead objects like the light bulb she lit up. All the colors imaginable on her beautiful form best fitted on how he wanted to express her in his mind.
He went about treating Jeanette for a date, following the way the movie showed him, almost exactly to the lines the man used and the activities they done.
From a nice brisk walk down the streets to rowing down the sludge river after laboring her pod into a raft, to an improvised fancy dinner with a picnic blanket he found, draped atop a crate with the lighters used for candles. He even had his canned survival food prepped from his truck, worried she might starve in her pod so he kept offering most of his survival provisions to her, setting canned food and water in front of her, probably to draw her out of hunger. However that effort also failed, though she can't eat when she's frozen and perfectly preserved, he just goes along with it, eating sparingly and speaking politely, awaiting eagerly for her to wake up any second.
After a rather one-sided and uneventful dinner, Simon carries Jeanette to the final place for the date. If he remembered correctly, it was also the most crucial and romantic to any male-female outing: the sunset.
Simon finished engraving SIMON+JEANETTE onto the side of a trashcan with his laser, he and the frozen Jeanette sat side by side on a secluded bench overlooking the dried up valley of the Hudson Bay. Through the polluted atmosphere, it's a beautiful sunset created by the chemicals in the air altering the color spectrum of light in the sky. Rays of purple, crimson red and orange shining through clouds and smog on the horizon bathed Simon and Jeanette in a warm and intimate light.
"Aw," Simon coos at the sight of
Throughout the years, he's never seen the sunset in this whole new light before. He regarded it as an indication of the end of a workday, a relaxing reminder but knowing it'll be the same thing the next day, another day of meaningless labor. Now, with Jeanette in his life, and learning about love, the sunset reflected everything he longed forever since he watched 'It Only Takes A Moment.' Something very safe, precious, everything he could want or need and giving him light for the events of his life to him in order for her to exist and for him to meet her, maybe, if possibly, sharing a future with her.
He looks to Jeanette on his left, the most wonderful source of warmth and love in the universe, more than he ever dreamed of right next to him but felt unreachable all because of the cursed cryogenic abomination encasing her from him.
Placing his left hand on the pod, over where her right hand is. It was the closest he'd get to hold her hand, that magical gesture could instantly fill the void of his lonely heart. It could tell each other everything they needed to know about love, a simple way for him to feel where his life belonged. He looks into the closed eyes of Jeanette. Silently begging her at least let him know that she can hear what he wants to tell her so badly.
"I love you." Though frozen, he breathlessly pours his heart out to her stasis form, his puppy dog eyes reflecting the longing he felt.
If only she were awake…
A dreadful stinging sensation in his left hand snaps Simon out of his thoughts when he learned he can't pull his hand off her pod.
"AAAAHHG!" he screams as razor-sharp pain stings his palm.
"Crap! Forgot to put on my gloves-" He tries pulling harder, his bare skin was frozen to the surface of -100˚C cryogenic frost.
"-whenever moving the pod around!" His hand hurt and stung even more, stuck to the frost on the pod's surface.
"Ah!" He gives a hard tug, still nothing but pain.
He gives it one harder tug. Some of his hand's skin peels off as his hand comes free.
Tears formed in his eyes at the appalling pain and Simon drops to the ground, clasping his hand. He nearly loses his dinner at the sight of bloody tissue layer in his hand and the bloody handprint of skin on Jeanette's pod.
He misses the sun disappearing below the horizon as he passed out.
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Nighttime has fallen later that evening on the sector. A very peaceful one too with light winds, and a cool air outside as soothing a polluted place could ever get.
Outside of Simon's truck, he has set up the old TV screen and Jeanette's pod so they could enjoy the night and the rest of their "date." He's playing a match of Pong on the TV, the broken down game console still workable. The score: Simon=8000 and Jeanette=0. Though frozen, he placed another controller in front of Jeanette to make it seem she was at least there, just not participating in the match. Simon flows with it, only anticipating her revival.
His mind nags him about getting back to work tomorrow and it's getting late for a strange reason, but it's a routine that's imprinted into him . . . must complete your directive.
He won't give up on Jeanette, for he can still…
Simon tries thinking of another alternative to get her out but he has done everything from waiting, jumpstarting, short-circuiting and courtship, only to realize the date was the best idea. He ran fresh out of ideas.
Nothing worked but like in Hello Dolly, the characters always brought out their emotions on a date. He reassured himself the film was the universal method of how dates turn out guaranteed. He thinks about the evening, how things went, following every scene to the way the date goes and on his part, was exactly what happened in the movie, he thought, it should work. Right?
He glances over to Jeanette one last time to see if any of his outing's efforts worked.
Nothing just her beacon humming.
He slumps to the ground, sighing in defeat, finally giving up.
"All for nothing..." he said to himself, almost on the brink of tears.
As a rare, peaceful night like this on Earth, the dark and calm chill reflected hopelessness of getting a response from her. Nothing happened and he felt it was the worst night of his life, feeling that lonely feeling again all through the night.
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The next morning, Simon decided since there is no need to waste any more effort to wake Jeanette up, he will return to his original duties of garbage collecting. If he can't awaken her, the only choice would be to wait but that could be a very, very long time. There isn't much else to do but pass the time with a routine until then.
He finishes packing his usual things as he heads off to work, not before taking one last look at Jeanette, still mentally clinging to a fading light she will somehow be there to greet him the moment she's in his sight.
Same as always, out on the ramp near the truck, still frozen solid, nothing else. She isn't going anywhere or doing anything.
It shattered whatever hopes Simon had left in him as he slowly continues to work with Pooka close behind, defeated. A look of pure gloom on Simon's face, his eyes blood-shot pink/red from a week without sleep, energy drained from exhaustion and lastly, his tears.
Something I wish to point out about the title of this particular chapter . . . it's a song by B.J. Thomas that Andrew Stanton wanted to be the track for when WALL· E takes care of EVE. Thomas Newman instead wanted to make something more original instead.
I also wouldn't mind having a little more reviews.