Cindy stood in the doorway of the clubhouse to greet her friends. She had pleaded with them to come as fast and discreetly as possible. She was glad to see that they all arrived together so it made it easier to carrel them in swiftly as possible. She glanced around the Neutron yard and at the house. There was no indication that anyone saw them enter the lab so she closed the door and locked it from within.
"Spill it girl, what's going on? What's happening with you and Jimmy? Does he know you're here? Did you two have a fight?" Libby spoke faster and faster as the questions mounted.
"Yeah, what gives Cindy? Do you realize that I'm missing Ultra Lord at this very moment? This better be really important." Sheen almost shouted in agitation.
"STOP IT SHEEN! Jimmy is our friend! Cindy if you're having problems with Jimmy than I want to help cause Jimmy is my best friend. Nothing is more important to me than Jimmy, well expect maybe Jimmy's mom Judy" Carl cooed to himself; suddenly stopping when he saw everyone's eyes go wide. "I mean I was watching the Lama Channel but I had my mom set the VCR so I can watch it later." Carl wheezed; his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.
"Alright guys that's enough!" Cindy said sternly. "This is important." She hissed under her breath; "Just follow me." She turned and made her way back into the underground lab through the emergency hatch that was hidden under the rug in the center of the room. She noticed the looks on her friends' faces and volunteered "The power is out in a lot of the areas. We can't use any automated systems at the moment."
She turned the crank and pulled back the heavy steel hatch which groaned in protest. They could make out the top few rungs of a ladder but the tunnel was dark. Cindy was prepared at this point and produced a high power flashlight. The beam cut through the dark and the gang looked down the hole. Carl asked "We have to go down there? What if there are monsters? What if the monsters have Jimmy? His voice became higher pitched as his fear escalated. He paused and sucked hard on his inhaler.
"Calm down Carl. There are no such things as monsters and I'm sure Jimmy is just fine; Right Cindy?"
"Actually Lib that's kind of the reason I asked you guys to come here. He's alive; at least I think he is. I'm not really sure." Cindy replied
"What do you mean you think he's alive?" They all shouted.
"Well he isn't here but there is something that I need to show." She said sadly as she made her way down the ladder. They followed silently into the darkness.
They found themselves in the remains of the lab and were as shocked as Cindy had originally been. At least they had each other to lean on. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly shivering in the cold underground facility. This place had always held such wonder, such untold mysteries which drove her mad with curiosity; but now the place felt like a tomb. She fought every instinct she had to rush out of here and back into the light above.
One hour ago:
The lights had gone out when she was down here with Goddard earlier. She had been so upset that she hadn't noticed the place was running on the backup generator until it sputtered and stopped casting the place into darkness. The place was eerie in the pitch black.
She tried using her cell phone as a source of light but she had drained the battery in her frantic attempts to call Jimmy. Her heart sunk as she watched the screen with the flashing battery symbol as it shutdown. To make matters worse the lasers had scored holes in the walls that water had begun to drip through and the rhythmic dripping sounds reminded her of the cave that she had faced the Medusa monster. She heard other sounds in the dark and wasn't sure if her mind was playing tricks on her. She had that unsettling feeling that she wasn't alone.
She heard rustling but couldn't tell which direction it was coming from. She felt her heart racing and she strained her eyes to see but the bright lights in the lab had left white circles on her pupils that would take a while to go away. In the mean time it gave her the false sense that she could see things moving. Her breathing sounded like explosions in her ears and she swung around in circles with her arms outstretched searching for something or someone to grab on to. She stumbled over debris and banged her shins on things she couldn't identify but she felt that she had to keep moving to get away from the thing she was certain was approaching; possibly the thing that had attacked Jimmy! If the dream Betty had somehow got out of the dream what else could have? What if it was the mime? She felt helpless!
Something brushed up against her ankle in the dark and she screamed. The sound echoed and it hurt her ears. She wished she hadn't done that because now her hearing felt diminished. She found a wall and put her back against it and slid to the ground. She felt the tears stinging in her eyes.
It was a little while before she calmed down enough to make her way back in the direction that should lead back to where she had left Goddard. He might be damaged and unable to do much but he would at least be a source of light. She stood up and kept her one had on the wall and the other stretched out in front her side as she slowly made her way around the room toward the open door that would lead her back to Goddard.
She remembered how her heart leapt with joy when she caught side of his glowing neural net processor. She rushed forward and hugged him tightly. He greeted her happily despite the degree of his injuries. He clearly hadn't liked being left in the dark alone either.
He had managed to use his projector setting to cast enough light to show Cindy the way out. She had felt so grateful; that dog really was Neutron's greatest invention. She was able to see again and the place didn't feel as constrictive even if she could only see within the range of the light beams. She never did see the furry thing that had touched her leg but she felt calm enough to realize it was only Jimmy's invisible hamster. It had survived after all.
One hour later with the group:
She led the group to the place she had left Goddard. He whimpered as he strained to get up again but it was no use. "Oh Goddard" Libby said with her voice full of compassion. "What happened to him, to this place?" Cindy spoke and asked Goddard to please run the message from Betty Quinlan again. He barked once for yes and the image appeared on the wall.
When the message ended the friends realized that Goddard had drained what little energy remained in his damaged system. He whimpered one last time, lowered his head to the ground, and his eyes and the glowing dome that contained his neural net processor went dark as his system completely shut down
Carl asked "So Betty Quinlan has Jimmy? This is terrible!" He shouted hysterically.
Sheen interrupted, "Hey wait a minute; doesn't Jimmy like Betty Quinlan? Are you sure he wants to be rescued?" he let out and painful "oomph" as Libby elbowed him in the stomach. "That hurt! Why did you do that Libby?" he asked feeling betrayed.
She whispered "Cindy liked Jimmy and Jimmy likes Cindy. Remember?"
But Sheen blurted out "What? Jimmy likes Cindy and Cindy likes Jimmy? When did this happen? How long have you been keeping this from me?"
"Forget I mentioned it Sheen." Libby said exasperated. "Look I'm sorry Cindy. Sheen can be kind of an idiot."
"Hey I'm not an idiot!" Sheen shouted in protest. Libby shook her head and said "Ultra Lord."
"WHERE!" Sheen shouted as he frantically looked around. "Hey! Ultra lord isn't here."
"Jimmy has been over Betty for a while Sheen." Libby said angrily, considering how her friend must already be feeling.
"It's ok Libby. First of all Libby is right. Jimmy and I have been dating for a while now. Pretty much before I even woke up from my coma; in fact to be honest before I was in the coma in the first place. We were taking off together on romantic outings since the night of our last Kid's News broadcast, since the night of our first kiss." Cindy said her cheeks turning slightly red.
"You guys kissed?"Sheen asked excitedly. "Carl did you know about this?"
"Yes Sheen I did. In fact I'm proud to say I saw their first kiss" Carl said proudly.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Sheen asked feeling even more betrayed.
"I was respecting their privacy Sheen! I didn't feel it was my place to tell anyone." Carl said with dignity. Cindy smiled in appreciation before she interrupted the conversation to redirect it back to what was important.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but if you don't mind I really must continue explaining. That isn't Betty. I know it looks like Betty but I'm pretty positive it's actually a creature I created in my imagination. This is going to take a little time to explain and I would prefer to do it outside. Can you guys help me carry Goddard outside? I don't want to leave him here."
"Sure of course we'll help" They all said in unison.
Carl and Sheen insisted that they could manage, so they picked him up and Cindy led the way to the exit. The ladder proved too difficult to climb with Goddard on anyone's single back so instead they lowered a rope down and tied it securely around the dog's torso and heaved him up and out of the shaft. They decided it would be safest to bring Goddard to Sheen's house since his dad was away on business and his grandmother wasn't exactly mentally all there.
Once they were settled down on the floor on bean bag chairs; that had been stored in the closet under a dozens of Ultra lord action figures and Cindy took a seat on the edge of Sheen's bed; they were ready to hear what Cindy had to tell.
She told them everything. She spoke of the dream world and its wonders and horrors. She spoke of Archimedes and Valerie Lee. She explained how things could not only hurt you in the dream world but they could become real if they were pulled into reality. She explained how the portal hadn't closed properly once Valerie Lee had exited but she didn't remember that until she had seen the creature in the video. She figured it must have used the opening to escape.
"If this thing came out of the lab on the island and came here to kidnap Jimmy in order to drag him back to the island, wouldn't the dragons have seen this going on and helped Jimmy?" Libby asked.
"They would have if they were there." Cindy replied. "I always imagined that dragons would live happily in the mountains. You know it high up caves where a knight would have difficulty climbing up if it intended to fight the dragon? Well anyhow Archimedes and Val flew off together to search for such mountains. Jimmy had suggested that they would like the Andes Mountains so that is where they most likely are."
"Can't you signal them somehow? We could normally but the equipment is all trashed. We have two options. The first option is that we head to the Andes Mountains and look for them. The second option is to sneak into the lab on the island and hope that not only do we not get caught but we also find working equipment." She lacked the confidence that Jimmy would have had in such moments and it showed in her tone.
"It would be best if we split up into two teams. Carl and Sheen can head to the Andes and look for the dragons. You and me can head to the island and try to use that dragon signal. What do you say Cindy?"
"I'm up for it. There is only one problem. How are we going to get there? Everything here is broken." She asked.
They all looked at each other with hopeless expressions except for Carl. He grinned and said "I know how we can get there. We can take Jimmy's emergency hovercraft and rocket."
"What emergency hovercraft and rocket?" They chimed once again in unison with shock filled expressions.
"Jimmy built an underground bunker beneath the school about a year ago. He showed it to me but made me promise to keep it a secret and to only go there in case of an emergency. This looks like an emergency to me."
To be Continued….