A Fowl State of Affairs
3.
Duckworth answered the door before the ducklings had a chance to even ring the doorbell. McDuck's butler had a sixth (and seventh) sense that enabled him to keep on step ahead of his boss and the rest of the household.
"Sir, your nephews have arrived and they seem to have brought some friends along." Duckworth announced..
"Very well, show them in!" Scrooge yelled from two rooms away. "I'm busy counting my spare change!"
"Follow me!" Duckworth told the children, leading them into the playroom. "You can entertain yourselves here until the master is ready for you."
"Hey Duckworth!" Huey said, "Want to play Nascar with us?"
"I'm sorry, I don't have time to engage in any video games." the butler said.
"You're too stuck up, you know that?" Dewey said. "Uncle Scrooge always plays with us."
"Yeah, sometimes we even let him win!" Louie added.
"No you don't" Scrooge McDuck said, entering the room. "I'm just too good for you and you know it!"
"Wanna put your money where you mouth is?" Dewey asked.
"Are you challenging me to a race?" Scrooge asked.
"Sure am!" Huey answered, holding a video game controller at arms length to hand it to his great uncle.
"You're on!" McDuck laughed.
For the next ten minutes the old geezer and his nephews battled it out on the virtual race track. Huey had selected a Corvette as his racing vehicle, Dewey was driving a Shelby Ford Mustang, and Louie was behind the wheel of a Firebird Trans-am right out of a Burt Reynolds movie. Uncle Scrooge was driving the General Lee, and the Duke Brother's '69 Dodge Charger was creaming the competition.
Uran and Astro stood in the sidelines watching quietly.
"There, I told ya I was too good for ya!" Uncle Scrooge said, handing the game controller back to Huey. He then noticed Astro and Uran. "Pardon my bad manors!" he said, I didn't introduce meself to your friends! I'm Scrooge McDuck and I'm always pleased to meet any friends of my nephews!"
"Pleased to meet you Mr. McDuck," Uran said. "My name is Uran, and this is my brother Astro."
"You're not from around these parts are you?" Scrooge asked.
"No, we were transported here by accident and we're not sure exactly where we are and how we are going to get back." Astro replied.
"Transported?" McDuck asked. "Sounds like something outta science fiction."
"Our Guardian Hakase Ochanomizu invented a device that can instantly transport anything over great distances." Uran explained.
"I think my sister managed to set the thing to jump over multiple dimensions, we may be in a parallel universe since there are no duck people where we come from." Astro added.
"Well then I have just the answer!" McDuck smiled. I know two very brilliant scientists that might be able to help ya. One of them is quite the intellectual, sometimes I don't even understand what he's saying. The other one is a bit on the strange side and somewhat absent minded, but he's a great inventor."
"You must mean Professor Ludwid Von Drake, and that nutty Gyro Gearloose", Huey butted in.
"Now don't go insulting people!" McDuck corrected his nephew. Gyro Gearloose has done me quite a few favors!"
"Do you suppose we can go talk to these inventors?" Uran asked. "Do you think they could find a way to get us back home?"
"Certainly!" McDuck exclaimed. "Let's have dinner first, and then I need to make a stop over at my money bin to make a deposit. Then we will head over to the professor's house and ask him for his help.
Mrs. Beakley escorted the ducklings, Astro and Uran to the dining room, Scrooge McDuck followed after them. "I'm so glad you're staying with us again," she told the boys, "I've missed you, and I've prepared your favorite dinner!"
Huey, Dewey, and Louie quickly took their seats at the table, after first showing their guests where to sit.
"Now who are your friends?" Mrs. Beakley asked, "and what would they like for dinner?"
"We just met them on our way back from the movie theater downtown." Louie told the Nanny. "They said they were lost." Dewey added. "Their names are Astro and Uran" Huey said.
Duckworth wheeled a serving cart from the kitchen and dished out Mrs. Beakleys pot roast onto the ducklings plates. He then served Mr. McDuck a large Salmon roast.
Astro and Uran just sat quietly. "You can just get us some water." Astro said. "We're not very hungry."
"Nonsense!" McDuck yelled. "Youngster's need their nourishment!"
"Actually, we're not what you think we are." Uran said. "We're robots, so we don't need to eat."
"You wouldn't happen to have any liquid deuterium would you?" Astro asked. "That's what we use for fuel."
"You're robots?" the four ducklings cried out.
"You're pulling me leg!" Scrooge laughed.
"No, not really." Astro answered, opening the panel on his chest to reveal his inner mechanics. Everyone at the table stared at him with their mouths hanging open. Astro closed his chest panel placed his hands on the table. "You'll just have to believe me, It would be unladylike like for me to show you my insides!" Uran said.
"My, My." Scrooge laughed, "Just wait till Gearloose sees you! He might have some of that deuterium stuff in his lab."
"Are you sure I can't get you anything?" Mrs. Beakley said, "Maybe some oil or something?"
"Actually, some light oil in water would be nice." Astro said. "It could be vegetable oil." Uran added.
"I'll see to it at once!" Duckworth replied, returning to the kitchen.
After everyone finished their dinner, Scrooge put on his hat and coat and picked up his walking stick. "After a good dinner it's best to take a walk to help with the digestion." he announced. "So let's all go out and head towards the bank. I need to make a deposit."
McDuck carefully put a fat envelope into the inside pocket of of his topcoat and buttoned it shut. Duckworth opened the door for him and the group headed out into the night air. "My money bin isn't too far from here." he announced, "Just a five minute walk towards downtown."
The bank was just closing its doors when they arrived, but the manager recognized their best customer, and unlocked the door. "You're a little late, Mr. McDuck." Mr. Billingsly the manager explained, "But for you, we'll make an exception anytime."
"I'm terribly sorry to inconvenience you." McDuck said. "Are you sure you don't mind staying open a wee bit late on my account? I can always come back tomorrow."
"Nonsense!" Billingsly said. "You're only five minutes late, and I still have some of my own book keeping to take care of before I can leave for the day."
Fenton Crackshell walked away from the teller's window. He had been the last customer of the evening, having just deposited his paycheck and was heading for the door. As Mr. Billingsly unlocked the front door to let Fenton out of the bank, three unsavory looking plug uglies barged into the bank. All three of them wore masks and brandished semi-automatic pistols. The Beagle Boys waved their guns about, and ordered everyone to put their hands in the air.
"Well, it looks like we hit the jackpot!" number 176-167 laughed.
"Yeah, looks who's here! It's Scrooge McDuck!" number 176-671 answered.
"Put your hands up and hand me your fat wallet!" number 176-176 said, poking Scrooge with his gun.
"They're robbing Uncle Scrooge!" Louie said.
"Damn Beagle boys!" Dewey replied.
"I'll put a stop to this!" Astro said, walking towards the three criminals.
Fenton Crackshell, got off the floor and dusted himself off. He'd been knocked over when the three gangsters slammed the door in his face while he tried to leave the bank. "Blathering Blatherskite!" he yelled out loud.
Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light surrounding Crackshell, and a clap of thunder. Everyone turned to see what had happened, and standing there was Gizmo Duck!
"Put your hands up you criminals!" the robotic superhero cried out in a deep voice.
"Youse got to be kidding!" number 176-167 laughed.
"Yeah, you stuffed tin can with a unicycle!" number 176-671 added.
Astro stood next to Gizmo Duck and glared at the Beagle Boys. "You need some help?" he asked the robotic super hero.
"I can handle these Bozos!" Fenton laughed. He held out his right hand and pressed a button on the gantlet with his left. Suddenly, the guns flew out of the gangster's hands and landed in Gizmo Duck's gloved fist!
"Hey how'd you do that?" number 176-176 cried out.
"Powerful electromagnetism!" Gizmo Duck said.
"I'll take care of those dangerous toys, if you'd like." Astro said.
"Be my guest!" Fenton said, tossing the three weapons toward Astro.
Gizmo Duck opened a compartment in his armor and pulled out a length of stout rope. He proceeded to tie up the Beagle Boys who were astonished as they watched Astro bend their guns into small steel balls with his bare hands.
Uran walked up to Gizmo Duck and lightly tapped on his armored suit. "Are you a robot too?" she inquired.
"My suit is robotic, but I'm not." Fenton answered.
"Oh, well. My brother and I are robots, and for a moment there I thought I'd found someone like us in this strange duck world."
"How'd you get here," Gizmo Duck asked, "If you don't mind my asking?"
"In an inter-dimensional transporter machine set on overload." Astro answered. "We wanted to go half way around the world, looks like we went way beyond that into another universe or something."
"In that case you really need to meet Gyro Gearloose the inventor." Fenton said. "He invented this robotic super suit I'm wearing! I bet he could help you."
The Duckburg police soon showed up with a paddy wagon and hauled the Beagle Boys back to jail. With the excitement over, Mr. Billingsly led Scrooge McDuck to the back of the bank though a heavily armored door into the enlarged vault that held McDuck's money bin. Billingsly dialed one of the two combination locks, and McDuck the other one which allowed the door to be swung open with some difficulty.
The bank officer escorted Scrooge into the dark vault and reached over to the wall to find the light switch. "Here you go sir." he said, his voice reverberating in the large room. As the lights came on both men were in shock.
"Where's my money!" McDuck cried out. The vault was completely empty!
"My god!" Billingsly gasped. "This vault hasn't been opened since the last time you were here just days ago!"
"Well then how do you explain the fact that it's empty!" Scrooge yelled.
"We have the best security system in the business!" Billingsly stammered. "This door is the only way into this vault. Each time the door is opened or closed a recording is made on two computer monitoring systems, and the door itself records a record of each time the locks are opened and closed along with a time stamp."
The bank manager produced a hard copy of the recording. "See, the last time this door was opened and closed was two days ago, and your signature is on the record as having entered the vault. No one has gone through that door since then!"
"Then how do ye explain the fact that the vault is now empty?" McDuck demanded.
"I can't!" Billingsly explained.
By this time the ducklings had gotten tired of waiting for their great uncle to come back from the vault. They found their way to the back of the bank and saw their uncle and the bank manager yelling at each other by the open door of the huge vault. Astro and Uran followed them.
"It's empty!" Huey said.
"Where is all of Uncle Scrooge's money?" Louie asked.
"Are you poor now, Uncle Scrooge?" Dewey sobbed.
"I'm sure the bank is insured for this sort of thing." McDuck glared at Billingsly.
"Well, actually …. " the bank manager started to say, biting his nails, "this might just put the bank out of business!"
"Looks like I'm going to have to hire me a Sherduck Holmes!" Scrooge said.