No
Time Like the Present
part
4
The
Sea Duck
Time
and Place Unknown
When Kit and Baloo, their heads reeling, had blinked the spots from their eyes, they could see that instead of ocean, strange vegetation flashed beneath them. The Sea Duck was soaring over what seemed to be a primordial forest. Off in the distance were several volcanoes, belching spurts of lava.
"When did we hit the jungle?" Baloo said, bewildered.
"Look out!" Kit yelled as a pterodactyl with a wingspan as wide as the Sea Duck swooped towards them.
Baloo dove sharply to avoid it, putting them on a collision course with a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
"Aah!" Kit yelped, digging his fingers into the armrests. "Port! Port!"
"Don't hafta tell me twice." Baloo jerked the seaplane to the left, barely missing the dinosaur's snapping mouth full of razor-sharp teeth by inches.
The Sea Duck swooped up again until it was skimming high over the tree canopy, out of the reach of any hungry dinosaurs who might want to sink their teeth into it.
Baloo swiped his arm across his brow. "I think we took a wrong turn somewheres."
"Yeah," Kit panted, keeping his eyes peeled for more large, man-eating reptiles.
"Well, you're my navigator, Kit. Where are we?"
"I'm not sure," Kit murmured, instinctively knowing that this jungle wasn't on any known map. He pondered as to how they could have gotten to the prehistoric age. As far as he knew, neither he nor Baloo did anything unusual before the bright flash and loud noise. One thing was for certain: it couldn't have been done by pirates with mirrors, because the jungle and dinosaurs were far too elaborate for even Don Karnage and his thieving gang. He recalled the events leading up to their being in the jungle. He and Baloo were arguing, he adjusted his watch, and... "My watch!"
"Your watch?" Baloo glanced at the pocket watch in his son's hands. It looked like an ordinary watch to him. "What about your watch?"
Kit briefly filled him in about the watch breaking and his late-night excursion to Khan Towers. "I think Buzz fixed my watch too well. Maybe even turned it into a time travel device."
"Time travel?" Baloo chuckled. "You've been readin' too many comic books. Everyone knows time travel ain't possible."
"Is that possible?" Kit said, his voice cracking as he pointed to the pterodactyl that was playing a game of air chicken with the Sea Duck.
Flustered, Baloo stammered, "Well...I...you..." As the screeching pterodactyl, flying at ramming speed, drew closer and closer, he said through gritted teeth, "You've got some major explainin' to do, kid."
"Can we get out of here first?" Kit randomly turned the watch's hands forward and punched in the knob.
Once again, the Sea Duck bucked and reared as a bright flash filled Baloo and Kit's eyes and a thunderous roar filled their ears.
A split second later, the pterodactyl and the jungle were ancient history, but that didn't mean that they were safe.
Instead of a pterodactyl, there was a silver car-sized thing coming right towards them. The driver of the approaching vehicle, a wild-eyed man with bushy white hair, frantically honked and stuck his head out the window, waving and shouting.
Sharply yanking back on the stick to get out of the way, Baloo cried, "First dinosaurs, now spaceships?"
Pressing his nose to the window, Kit peered out. They were flying above a city, but it was unlike any city he'd ever seen. Suspended in the air above the metropolis were lights resembling that of a runway and traversing these lighted pathways were all sorts of flying objects that looked like the spaceships in his Space Riders comics.
Wide-eyed, a baffled Baloo looked over at Kit. "Okay, ya convinced me, kid. That watch is dangerous with a capital 'danger'. I'm gonna hafta have a talk with Buzz when we get back."
"If we get back. I think I took us too far forward in time this time." Kit carefully turned the watch's hands backwards a few hours. "Here goes," he said, clicking the knob into place.
The pilot and navigator, being prepared for the boom and bright flash, squeezed their eyes shut.
When they dared to open their eyes, they found themselves in the middle of a blizzard. Because of the howling winds and blinding, driving snow, they couldn't see anything save a solid wall of white. If not for the Googleschlocker gyrocompass, they wouldn't have known which way was up.
"Whoa! Talk about a cold snap!" Baloo exclaimed, every muscle in his body straining to hold the Sea Duck steady. "This is worse'n springtime in Thembria. Get us outta here, Kit!"
"But I don't know how to work this thing!" Kit yelled over the roar of the wind. "We could end up someplace worse!"
Although Baloo couldn't see out the windows, he was aware from the drag that ice was amassing on the wings and propellers. His suspicions were unfortunately confirmed when the Sea Duck went into a spin. Engine number one had frozen solid. Before he had time to correct the spin, engine number two froze, causing the seaplane to stop spinning and began dropping like a rock.
Watching the altimeter plummet faster than the temperature, Baloo nervously wiped at the sweat freezing on his brow and shouted, "It don't get worse than this! In about two seconds, the Duck'll turn into a gigantic frozen popsicle, not to mention us! Do somethin'! Anything!"
Kit set the watch hands forward one hour. "Here goes everything," he muttered. Cringing, he punched in the knob.
Boom! and the bright flash.
To their relief, the snowstorm disappeared. Left in its place was the eerie silence of a double engine stall.
"Start the engines, Baloo! Start the engines!"
"No dice! They're frozen solider than a Thembrian icebox." Baloo pitched the nose forward to correct the stall and to keep them from going into a spin.
"Just like everything else," Kit muttered. Because the windshield and side windows were covered with a thick, opaque ice, they couldn't ascertain their position. He prayed that there was nothing to run into up ahead like a mountain. After failing to get the frozen window to roll down, the young navigator frantically tried to defrost a spot on the windshield by rubbing at the glass with his palm.
"Where are we, Britches? What's our heading?" Baloo said, panicked.
"I'm working on it." As he rubbed at the window, adrenaline coursed through his veins. But it was no use. The ice was too thick to melt with only the heat from his cold hands. In desperation, he tried the door handle, but the door was frozen shut, too.
Baloo ran his eyes over the control panel. He didn't like what he saw. With the combined weight of the cargo and ice, they were dropping like a rock. He tried the engines one more time, but they wouldn't start. "Kit!"
"I know. I know!" Loathe as he was to harm the Sea Duck, it appeared that he had no choice. Picking up the flashlight, he started whacking it against the side window. "Come on," he said through clenched teeth as he aimed one powerful blow after another at the glass.
Finally, a baseball-sized portion of the window shattered. Kit poked the glass pieces outside with the end of the flashlight, allowing a gust of warm air into the cockpit. The boy peered through the hole. "We're over a forest," he said in relief. "No mountains or buildings or other obstacles in sight. And there's a clearing!" He checked his compass. "Turn to one-four-oh degrees, quick!"
"C'mon, baby," Baloo said, wrenching the steering yoke to the right.
Kit instructed, "Bank her in at 15 degrees. Now back 2 degrees. Uh-oh! Here comes the trees!" He flew back in his seat and buckled his seatbelt.
"Hang onto your kneecaps," Baloo murmured, gritting his teeth.
Pilot and navigator braced themselves as the underside of the Sea Duck's fuselage grazed the tops of the trees, causing the plane to rock violently. They heard the horrible splintering of branches and the high-pitched squeal of wood scraping against metal.
"Whoa!" both yelled as the ice sheath covering the windshield blew off in one large chunk and shattered as it bounced over the top of the plane, allowing them to see the whirlwind of leaves and branches whizzing past them.
For a wonder, the landing gear deployed, and when the wheels touched turf, Baloo stomped on the brakes, causing the plane to fishtail. The trees at the edge of the clearing were coming up fast.
"We're runnin' outta runway!"
"Papa Bear!" Kit shouted, squeezing his eyes shut. He felt the plane swing wildly to the right, then back to the left, then the searing pain of his seatbelt squeezing against his midriff when it shuddered to a stop.
"You okay, Li'l Britches?" Baloo gasped, prying his aching fingers from the control yoke.
Kit slowly opened his eyes. Exhaling with relief, he said wearily, "Yeah. You?"
"Been better."
For a few moments, they sat in stunned silence, staring at the green leaves pressed against the windshield and listening to the ice chunks sliding off the Sea Duck. The glimpses out the side windows told them that they were ringed in by forest on all sides. It seemed to be a warm, peaceful place.
"I wonder where we are," Kit mused, glancing at watch in his hand. "I wonder when we are."
Frustrated, Baloo pounded his fist against the control yoke. "Doggone it! If we don't make it home by supper, Becky'll worry."
The scowl returned to Kit's face. "Becky, Becky, Becky. Is that all you ever think about?" He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned the door handle, but the door wouldn't budge. With a swift, angry kick, the half-frozen door flew open, allowing him to jump out.
"Hey, where do you think you're goin'?" Baloo shouted, fumbling with his seatbelt. "Kit! Hey, Kit! Li'l Britches!"
Ignoring Baloo, Kit kept walking into the woods. He had to get away from Baloo and his everlasting prating about Becky. When he had gone a few hundred yards, he sat down on a mossy log, his back to the Sea Duck.
"Miles, years, away from home, we don't know where we are, and the only thing he thinks about is Rebecca."
Kit recalled the first day that he had known Baloo. He had stormed off then too, mad that Baloo cared more for the Sea Duck than him. That time, Baloo proved that Kit meant more by sacrificing the gorilla birds to save him from the air pirates. But the Sea Duck was just a thing, a machine. Rebecca was a warm, loving, intelligent person - and Baloo's wife.
He stared at his innocuous-looking pocket watch, still clutched tightly in his hand. It was ticking away steadily.
I wish I knew how this thing works...
Kit jumped when he heard a twig snap behind him. Seeing Baloo, he resolutely turned his back to the approaching pilot, snapped the watch's cover shut, and slipped it beneath his sweater.
"There ya are, kid," Baloo said, relief evident in his voice.
Without turning, Kit said sarcastically, "Oh, so you wanna talk to me now?"
Baloo sat down gingerly on the log, causing it to sag and creak ominously. Kit scooted towards the end.
"You know better than to go runnin' off in a strange place."
"Is this the fatherly lecture?" Refusing to meet Baloo's eyes, Kit disdainfully flicked a mushroom off the log.
Baloo, at his wit's end, wrung his hat in his hands. "You know I ain't got much practice at this parenting stuff. Tell me what I'm doin' wrong."
"Where do you want me to start?" Kit retorted with a scornful smile.
"Does it got somethin' ta do with Becky?"
Kit opened his mouth to spout something sarcastic, but changed his mind. Instead, the tough-guy expression dropped from his face, leaving a very miserable boy. After a long pause, he whispered sadly, "Yeah."
Fiddling with his cap, Baloo said quietly, "I thought ya liked Becky."
"I do," Kit mumbled, absently running his finger along a groove in the log's bark. "She's a...a great person and I really like...love her, but...but whenever she's around, you act like..."
"Like?"
"Like I don't exist."
"I do, huh?" As was his habit, Baloo rubbed the back of his neck anxiously.
Kit flicked his finger against another mushroom. Brokenly, he mumbled, "I miss you, Papa Bear. I miss the fun we used to have, just you and me. And...and now..."
"Yeah?"
With a sigh, Kit admitted, "I don't know if I want a father if it means losing my best friend."
After a momentary pause, Baloo murmured contritely, "You're right, Li'l Britches."
Astonished, Kit looked over at the big bear.
Baloo smiled sadly and put a hand on Kit's shoulder; this time, he wasn't shrugged off. "Gimme a second chance?"
Before Kit could say anything, their attentions were arrested by something crashing through the forest nearby. "What was that?"
Baloo and Kit hurried to the clearing just in time to see a knight astride his noble, yet slightly saggy steed emerge from the forest. The sunlight glinted off his shining armor as well as the scabbard that hung from his side. In his hand, he carried a long, deadly-looking lance. He and his horse made a semi-circle circuit of the seaplane once, then twice.
"What ho, dragon!" the knight called to the Sea Duck. "Prepare to be vanquished."
When Baloo had picked his chin off the ground, he whispered, "What's 'vanquished'?"
Kit made a slashing motion across his throat.
Baloo gulped. "That's what I was afraid of."
The knight backed his horse to the very edge of the clearing, brandished his lance, and charged the Sea Duck.
"No! Not my baby!" Baloo shouted, running towards the knight.
Before the pilot could get halfway across the clearing, the knight's lance struck the seaplane's back hatch, but the horse kept going. The knight fell off the horse and landed on the grass where he lay there, helplessly flailing his metal-clad limbs. "Helpeth! I havest fallen and I canst gettest up!"
Kit rushed past Baloo to the knight's aid.
"Wait, kid!" Baloo said, jogging after his son. "You don't know if he has more of them pointy sticks."
"We can't just leave him there. Besides, he can tell us where we are." To the knight, Kit said, "We'll help you, mister."
As they helped him struggle to a sitting position, the knight said in a muffled voice, "Thank thee, O noble sires. Canst thou please removest my helmet so I mightest view the visages of my kindly rescuers?"
Baloo tugged and tugged on the helmet, but it would not budge. He panted, "It's no use. It's stuck tighter'n a burr in a dog's fur."
"Where's a can opener when you need one?" Kit murmured. Getting an idea, his eyes lit up. He ran to Sea Duck, and returned with tube of liniment. "What if we tried this?"
Baloo shrugged. "Give it a go."
Kit liberally squirted some around the seam where the helmet met the neck. Then, Baloo twisted the helmet and pulled upwards. This time, it slid off.
"Dunder?" Baloo and Kit cried, surprised.
"How didst thou knowest my name?" the familiar-looking warthog exclaimed.
"Lucky guess," Kit said sheepishly.
"Thou must be great sorcerers to divine such knowledge," Dunder said, awe-struck, as he took in the bears' odd-looking clothing.
"Not prezactly," the big bear said, assisting the knight to his feet. "Name's Baloo. I'm a pilot. If it's got wings I can fly it. Sometimes if it doesn't. This here's my plane." He gestured proudly to the Sea Duck.
Astonished, Dunder's eyes moved from the pilot to his plane. "You are master of the great yellow dragon?"
Baloo grinned. "Guess you could put it that way."
"Are you also a master of the yellow dragon?" Dunder asked Kit.
"I'm sort of a master in training," Kit said proudly.
Dunder nodded solemnly. "I, too, am in training. Verily, I wish to be a true knight, but, alas, I have yet to pass my final challenge."
"Challenge?" Baloo echoed.
"Aye, I must slay the dragon that lives in the Dragon Den."
"Gee, sounds rough," Kit said sympathetically.
"If I fail, I become a court jester, the most disgraceful and disagreeable position in all the land." Dunder examined the liniment used to get helmet off. He ran his finger around the rim of his helmet and licked it off his finger. "This..."
"Liniment," Kit supplied.
"Aye. It has a goodly taste. May I havest more?"
"Knock yourself out." Baloo gave him the tube.
"Knock myself out? Why wouldst I do that?" Dunder said, fascinated by the tube's screw-on cap.
Baloo chuckled. "Never mind."
They all turned when they heard rustling and clanking behind them. Soon, a donkey bearing a short knight came crashing through bushes. The knight's lance dragged on the ground.
"Must be winter. The knights are gettin' shorter," Baloo joked.
"Knight-in-training Dunder!" the second knight said in a lisping voice. "What is the meaning of this? Why aren't thou practicing thy knightly duties?"
"I was meeting new friends, sire."
"Knights don't have friends. How many times must I tellest thou that? And when we get home, I needest thou to dry off the inside of my helmet again. It's all dampeth."
"Yes, sire."
When the donkey came to a stop, the diminutive knight snapped, "Dunder!"
"Sorry, sire." Dunder removed the shorter knight from the donkey's back and set him gently on the ground, then raised his helmet's visor.
"Spigot?" Baloo and Kit said simultaneously.
"That's..." Spigot's tone of voice changed from annoyed to pleased. He preened and stood as tall as his short stature would allow. "Yes. It seemest my reputation hast preceedeth me...as it shouldst. I am Sir Spigot, Dragon Slayer Extraordinaire, Bravest Knight in all of Hammalot."
"Hammalot?" Baloo and Kit echoed wonderingly.
Sir Spigot pounded his breastplate with his fist. "Standeth back whilst I dispose of yon dragon permanently. Knight-in-Training Dunder, my lance."
"But your knightship," Baloo interjected. " This ain't a dragon. It's an airplane."
"Air...plane?" Sir Spigot stumbled over the word uncertainly. "Ah-ha! A new noble beast for me to conquesteth! The king will be so please-ed." With a grunt of exertion, he brandished his sword, but couldn't swing it, because it was too heavy. Its point dropped to the ground.
Baloo threw himself between Spigot and the seaplane. "But I'm tellin' ya. That ain' no beast."
"Does thou..." Clank! went his visor. Irately pushing up the visor, he continued, "Does thou darest defy Sir Spigot?"
"Well...yeah!"
"Knight-in-training Dunder! Seize them!"
"How come?" Baloo asked.
"For preventing a knight from performing his knightly duties. Our glorious king will decideth your punishment."
"Way to go, Baloo," Kit sarcastically as they were gently led away by Dunder.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault that that watch landed us here."
Hammalot
From far away, Hammalot appeared to be a place where peace and prosperity reigned. The white stone castle, complete with many turrets that reached towards the blue sky, sat on a verdure hill overlooking a serene river. Gathered under the protective wings of the castle was a picturesque village consisting of thatched-roof huts. Both the castle and village were securely surrounded by a high wall with many guard-posts. The only means of entry into Hammalot was through a drawbridge in the wall.
As they walked across the drawbridge, Baloo commented, "It looks like somethin' outta one of Molly's storybooks."
Upon closer inspection, Hammalot wasn't so picturesque. Pigs, dogs, and chickens as well as dirty children ran rampant in the squalid streets. Serfs in drab clothing skittered out of their way in deference to knights as they passed.
Spigot, who seemed to be oblivious to the filth and poverty surrounding him, preened with pride. "Welcome to Hammalot, fairest city in the land."
Kit couldn't help contrasting the rag-clad serfs and lowly huts with the shining castle. Just like Thembria, only in a warmer climate. At that moment, he almost wished for the freezing temperatures of Thembria if only to mask the stench that couldn't have only been attributed to the livestock.
Baloo and Kit were marched into the castle, down a long corridor with high vaulted ceilings and colorful tapestries lining the walls. Two ladies-in-waiting of warthog persuasion clad in bright silk gowns and pointy hats with streamers trailing from the top curtsied and stared after the strangers with large eyes.
At the end of the hall was a pair of tall, double doors that reached to the ceiling. They all waited as Spigot spoke a few words to the man guarding the door.
The guard peered at Baloo and Kit for a few moments before opening one of the doors and announcing in a booming voice, "Sir Spigot, Knight-in-Training Dunder, and two captives."
Before entering the throne room, Dunder and Spigot removed their helmets and carried them under their arms. Spigot licked his palm to slick back his hair, then strutted into the room. Everyone else followed - Dunder meekly, with eyes cast down, Baloo and Kit with eyes wide and mouths agape.
The throne room was fitted out with the best that money could buy. Almost every inch of the walls were covered with tapestries depicting the glorious feats of the Knights of the Sound Table. On the left side was the legendary table itself where a few knights were gathered, drinking mead out of pewter mugs. And at the far end of the throne room were two large, ornate chairs where the king and queen sat. In attendance were the faithful ladies-in-waiting. Adding to the mayhem was a jester, who pranced around the room, playing his lute and singing. All activity, save for the queen's noisy gnawing on a turkey leg and the jester's singing, ceased when Baloo and Kit entered.
"What is it, Sir Nozzle?" the king, who looked suspiciously like the High Marshall, drawled.
"Sir Spigot, O Worthy Sire," he corrected with a deep bow.
"Whatever." The king plucked the lute from the jester and broke it over the entertainer's head, causing him to slump to the floor, unconscious. "Why havest thou pestereth us? Cannot thou seest that we are busy?"
The queen, having finished her turkey leg, tossed the bone at Spigot. It ricocheted off his breastplate with a clang.
"Well thrown, my queen," Spigot said with a nervous laugh.
Grunting, the queen snapped for the page to bring her another turkey leg.
"Gettest thou to the point, Nozzle."
Proudly, Sir Spigot proclaimed, "Knight-in-training Dunder and I foundest yon dangerous strangers lurking in the forest."
The king yawned. "Thou knowest the drill. Burn them at the stake."
Baloo exclaimed, "But I don't wanna die before I'm born!"
Before they even had a chance to flee, four big, burly knights flanked the time travelers and started dragging them towards the door.
"Help!" Baloo and Kit yelled.
End of part 4