A Fowl State of Affairs
2.
Professor Ochanomizu was awakened by both his land line telephone and his cell phone both ringing at the same time. He answered both, holding the mobile phone up to his left ear, and the handset of the hardwired phone to his right.
The mobile phone kept repeating a recorded message about a fire being detected in his laboratory at the Ministry of Science. Astro's robotic father was on the land land in a near panic state.
"What's the matter?" he asked the anxious parent.
"Astro and Uran are missing!" came the answer. "The window to her room was left open, and her things are in a mess, like she was packing in a hurry. Her favorite clothes are missing! Are she and Astro with you?"
The professor tried to calm the robot down, and told him he had an idea where the two robot kids were. After hanging up the phone he quickly dressed and drove over to the Ministry to see what had happened in the laboratory. There was no doubt in his mind that both phone calls were related.
When Ochanomizu arrived at the laboratory, the Metro City fire department had already been there. Yuko was waiting for him outside of the lab. "While the lab's smoke detector triggered an alarm, there didn't seem to be an active fire." She told him.
"Let's take a look at the damage" Ochanomizu sighed, opening the door and walking in.
There was a strong odor of ozone in the room, even though the ventilation system had been working full blast to clear out the smoke. It was obvious at once what had happened. All of the glass windows in the transporter machine's chamber had been blasted outwards, and the inside of it was heavily charred. The fuses in the power amplifiers between the chamber and the control computer were all blown, and the badly burned up machine had been left in the powered on condition. The professor examined the control computer and saw where the settings had been left. His face showed an angry grimace as he realized just what had happened.
"What's the matter Hakase?" Yuko asked, "That is beside the fact that this machine seems to have blown up."
"That stupid, head strong, kid has done it again!" Ochanomizu sighed. "And I bet she's managed to get her brother involved too!"
"Who? What?" Yuko asked.
"Uran." the professor sighed. "The Cartesian coordinate destination controls on the machine were set for Disney World Florida," he said. "Unfortunately, the dimensional control was adjusted for the 60th dimension, and the power level was cranked up to full!"
"What does that mean?" the professor's assistant asked.
"It means that the machine was set for an overload, and whoever was in that chamber is lost in an alternate universe! At least I know where they went, but I won't be able to get them back until I can rebuild this machine. That may take me anywhere from a few days, to a month depending on how many critical parts were destroyed in the overload."
"Why would Uran do something so reckless?" Yuko asked.
"She'd been bugging me to take her and her family to Walt Disney World for several weeks now, ever since the Japan exhibit in their Epcot park opened that new robot show," the professor replied. "I bet she decided to sneak off there for a quick look and return. Astro must have tried to stop her, and they both ended up, who knows where!"
Uran clung tightly on to Astro in fear. "Where are we Ani?" she sobbed. "And why is everybody here a duck?"
"I'm not sure." Astro replied. "Just how did you set those controls on the transporter machine?"
"I used Google maps to zero on on Disney World, right in front of Planet Earth." she said. Then I cranked up both of the power controls to full, so I'd get there quickly."
Astro face palmed. "I think you overdid it, Uran." he said. "You must have sent us to another planet in another solar system or something!"
Uran's face contorted with hysteria and she began to bawl, her tears free flowed down her face and dripped onto her pink dress. "I'm so stupid!" she cried. "Now we're stuck in this duck world forever!"
Astro instinctively reached for a pocket to get his sister a tissue, but he wasn't wearing anything but his black briefs and boots having ran out of bed to confront his sister earlier. Uran wiped her face on a sleeve of her blouse. She buried her head in Astro's chest, and her brother wrapped his arms around her to give a comforting hug. "Don't cry, sis." he said. "I'm sure Hakase will figure out where we are and get us back home."
"You think so?" Uran sobbed.
"Sure." Astro said as convincingly as possible.
"What's the matter?"
Uran lifted her head away from Astro's chest and looked to see where the voice had come from.
"You OK, little girl?"
Standing next to the two robot kids were three ducklings dressed in bright clothing, wearing baseball caps on their heads.
"Hello." the third one said. "My name is Louie, and these are my brothers Huey and Dewey."
Uran was speechless for a few moments, not quite believing what she was seeing.
Astro regained his composure quickly, and did the polite thing.
"Pleased to met you." he said. "My name is Astro, and this is my sister Uran. We're lost, and not quite sure just where we are, or how we got here."
"You're in downtown Duckburg!" Louie said.
"Do you guys have a place to stay?" Huey asked.
"If not you're welcome to come home with us, I'm sure our Uncle Donald won't mind!" Dewey added.
"Gee thank you!" Uran said, drying her eyes with the sleeve of her blouse.
Donald had just gotten out of the shower and was drying himself when his nephews barged into the house. Uran and Astro followed them into the front foyer just as Dewey slammed the door shut and the three ducklings yelled out, "We're home Uncle Donald!"
Their Uncle peeked out from the bathroom with a large bath towel wrapped around him. "You're early boys, but that's good because something's come up and I need to talk to you." he yelled back. "I'll be out in a few minutes!"
Donald quickly dressed and combed the feathers on the top of his head. He splashed on some cologne and emerged from his bedroom adjusting the bow-tie on his tux. "What do you think guys?" he asked, first noticing the visitors. "Hey who did you bring home?"
Astro bowed politely Japanese style as he spoke, "I'm Astro, and this is my sister Uran." He said. "We just arrived in Duckburg by accident and your nephews asked us to visit with them."
"Yeah, Uncle Donald." Louie said. "They're lost and have nowhere to go."
"Awww." Donald sighed. "Listen fellows, I've got a hot date tonight with Daisy and I really don't need you around to spoil things. I asked your great Uncle Scrooge to take you in for the night so I can be alone."
Uran smiled at Donald. "Your look wonderful, Mr. Duck." She said. "I hope you and your girlfriend have a wonderful evening. Don't worry about me and my brother, we'll be fine."
Donald sighed and patted Uran on the head. "I'm sure it will be OK with my Uncle if you and your brother have dinner with him and my nephews. He's a kind hearted guy, at least around kids."
"You'll like our Uncle Scrooge!" Huey said. "He's got a huge house with servants and lots of toys!"
"We'll see you later, Uncle Donald!" Dewey said. "Come on you guys, let's run over to Uncle Scrooge and surprise him!"
Louie opened the door and Huey walked out and motioned for Astro and Uran to follow him. Dewey walked out after the robotic children, followed by Louie who slammed the door shut loudly!
"How many times to I have to tell you guys not to slam the door!" Donald yelled from in the house. As the five kids marched down the front driveway toward the street, Daisy Duck got out of Launchpad McQuack's taxicab and was heading for Donald's front door. "Hi, Daisy!" Louie said. "Uncle Donald put on some smelly stuff that you like!" Dewey laughed.
Launchpad McQuack stood by the taxicab. He noticed the kids heading in the direction of Scrooge McDuck's house and called to them.
"Hey guys, need a lift over to your Uncle's house?" He asked.
"Sure Launchpad!" Huey said.
The three ducklings got in the back seat of the taxi, and Launchpad opened the front passenger side door and motioned for Astro and Uran to get in.
"Friends of yours?" he asked.
"We just met them." Louie answered. "They're lost." Dewey added.
"Well then welcome to Duckburg!" McQuack said as he closed the door and ran around to the other side of the vehicle to get inside.
"You guys better buckle your seat belts!" Huey said from the back seat. "Launchpad drives his cab like it was a race car!"
"I resemble that remark!" McQuack answered, as he put the cab in motion, grinding gears shifting. The cab sped off taking the turn around the corner on two wheels. They sped by a police officer directing traffic, the cab running though a deep puddle and spraying the cop with muddy water.
"Opps. Didn't mean for that to happen!" Launchpad said. "Hope he didn't get my license plate number!"
They bounced down a particularly bumpy road, and then went flying over an embankment. The cab sped down a hill, hit a big bump at the bottom and went flying though the air landing about a hundred feet away. Two of the tires blew out and the vehicle skidded sideways into McDuck's driveway, rear ending his Rolls-Kanhardly. The limo didn't seem to suffer any damage, while the front bumper of McQuack's taxi fell off.
"Well we're here, safe and sound!" McQuack announced with pride.
"Does he always drive this badly?" Uran asked as they got out of the cab.
"Actually, this trip was pretty good!" Louie said. "Yeah, he only crashed once this time!" Dewey added.