by MJ Ware
After a second or two he said, "Yeah, yeah… I'm okay." I almost had him climb first so I could keep an eye on him. But I figured if he fell, it wouldn't do either of us any good if I was under him.
"You okay?" I asked once we were about twenty feet off the ground.
"Yep, just get going. I'm just a little afraid of heights."
We kept climbing and climbing. The higher we got, the more we could hear the sounds of the Magic Kingdom, rides, music, people laughing. By the time we got to the platform on the top, my arms were getting sore.
"I'm thinking I might be a little afraid of heights too," I said, looking down. The park laid out before us almost like a miniature model.
"How do we hook these things up?" I handed the second harness to Tommy.
"I dunno." He still seemed a little stunned.
It wasn't too hard to figure out the harnesses. They were pretty uncomfortable though, with straps that went under the legs and over the chest. I had to help Tommy with his.
A black metal box had the wires running through it. It had a loop on the bottom (to secure the harness) and a pair of huge fairy wings welded to the top. It looked like a pair of pulleys secured the metal box on two of the steel cables.
The harnesses connected in back, and we had a little trouble getting both of them hooked up to the loop on the box. We were side by side, standing on the edge of the platform, looking over the park. The steel cable drooped down and disappeared in the southern California smog.
"How do we get it started?" Tommy asked.
"Tommy, I'm not so sure this zip line is such a good idea. Maybe we should—"
"How about this red button?" He pressed the button, and the next thing I knew, we were hurtling through the sky.
I'm not sure which of us screamed first or loudest, but the noise made guests look up.
This was the second time I'd been flying that day, and the wind rushed by with such force it quickly began to chap my entire face. After a few seconds, we both stopped screaming.
The wind pulled at my wig, but the bobby pins didn't let go. I was about to pull it off when from far below came, "Tommy, baby, I'm coming for you, my love." Down below us, Susie Jo was yelling, running after us and reaching up as if she could grab Tommy.
Tommy started screaming again.
Chapter 20 – Miraculous Matterhorn Mashup
I'm not sure why, but we just kind of assumed there'd be a landing area at the Matterhorn. Or you know, some way to safely stop without smashing into the side of the mountain. Actually, there was a big removable, fiberglass section of the mountain, except it hadn't been removed. I tried to turn sideways as we smashed into the fiberglass panel.
"Ouch!" Tommy yelled.
Crashing into it had dislodged the fiberglass section of the mountain, and somehow we were able to pry it off. It wasn't light, and it fell down the side of the mountain, smashing to pieces as it went.
We disconnected ourselves from the rig. The fairy wings had lit up, and I wondered what we must have looked like, screaming across the sky like that.
Tommy sat on his rear, slumped over by the wall.
"Now, exactly how do we get to your secret, evil laboratory?" I asked.
He just sat there.
"You okay, Tommy?"
"Yeah, fine." Looking as if it took a lot of effort, Tommy stood up. "I've got an idea."
I was really getting sick of Tommy's ideas, but I kept quiet and listened.
"Remember the basketball hoop in the laboratory?" I nodded, and he went on. "There was a window next to it, and just before we crashed, think I saw it, maybe ten feet down."
"You mean there's a window in the side of the Matterhorn?"
"I'm sure it can't be seen from the ground. It's shaped like a natural opening, a cave or something."
"But how would we get to it?"
"Do you have a rope in that backpack of yours?" Tommy asked.
"No, sorry. Left my mountain climbing gear at home."
"We could tie our shoelaces together. That should give us about ten feet."
"Shoelaces? That's the dumbest idea you've had all day."
Tommy had already started taking off his laces. "Hey, none of my ideas have gotten us killed."
"Yet." I took mine off too.
*
I stood on the ledge, tying the free end of the laces to one of the zip line wires. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about that fiberglass panel tumbling down the mountain. "So, why am I going first?"
"I'm afraid of heights, remember?"
"Seems like I remember you jumping out of a spaceship flying at about a thousand miles an hour."
He ignored me. "Besides, you're heavier. If the shoelaces hold you, then we know they'll hold me too."
"Nice. Logic." I started down the side, making sure not to look down. Slowly, I lowered myself. It wasn't very far, but I couldn't fight the feeling that our shoelace rope probably wouldn't hold me. Plus, the lace-rope wasn't long enough to fit around my waist, so I had secured it around my wrist. It stretched and whined every time I moved—it didn't give me warm fuzzies.
I made it to the opening, but couldn't see in. The glass was tinted, mounted about three feet into the side of the mountain. The window didn't look as if it opened.
Standing on the ledge, I untied myself, and Tommy pulled up the lace.
He headed down, but he quickly lost his footing and began sliding. "Zack, help!"
The shoelace broke with a snap.
I didn't know what to do. My first instinct was to move out of the way. Somehow, I found the courage to slide to the edge of the ledge and reach out my arms.
As Tommy flew by, I grabbed his arm and held on with both hands.
Unfortunately, we were both sweating, and his arm slipped right through my hands. His fingers went by, and I desperately tried to hold them, but they too slipped through my grasp.
I closed my eyes, unable to watch as Tommy continued to fall down the side of the Matterhorn.
Chapter 21 – Blood, Sweat, and Shoelaces
A sharp sting in my right hand made me open my eyes. The shoelace! The unbroken part of the lace ripped through my palms, leaving one heck of an Indian burn.
Despite the pain, I clamped down on the lace and wrapped my other hand around the last little frayed end before it disappeared.
I screamed when Tommy jerked to a stop. It felt like the skin was being ripped off my palms. I didn't let go. My hands and wrists hung over the edge of the ledge, pinned in place by his weight.
"Tommy, you okay?" I hollered at the top of my lungs.
"I think so." His reply came softly.
The searing pain sent tears streaming from my eyes. "I can't pull you up!"
"I think I can climb. Don't let go!"
"I'll try." I only had a few inches of shoelace in my left hand. "Hurry up."
As Tommy jerked around, I ignored the stabs of pain—which was probably why I didn't notice that the lace was slipping. By the time I realized it, the frayed end was all the free lace left in my hand. "Tommy, hurry. I can't hold it much longer!"
"Don't let go. I'm almost there." His voice was right below me. I swore to myself and told my hands they would absolutely not let go.
The pain in my hands crept up my arms, like a burning fuse. The last bit of lace disappeared into my clenched fist. It was slowly sliding out of my grip—I wouldn't be able to hold him with just one hand.
The shoelace sliced deeper into the flesh of my palms. The pain was so intense, my fingers were about to open despite my best effort. A hand reached up. It latched onto my fist, and a second later, the other one appeared.
"You're going to have to climb over me," I said. "I can't move, or I'll drop the shoelace."
Tommy climbed right over the top of me and onto our little ledge.
I glanced down. Now that there was no weight, my hands still held tightly, blood dripping down the laces. It took effort to open them, and as soon as I did, they burned more than
ever. I forced my hands back into fists, and the pain subsided some.
Tommy looked at them. "Ouch, that sucks. Thanks."
"I figured you're probably worth it." I really wanted to get off that ledge. "Let's kick this window in. On the count of three…"
We both kicked at the same time. It wasn't glass. It was plastic or plexiglass, and it popped off in one piece, falling into the room below.
I was so ready to get off the ledge that I jumped in without even checking if it was the right room.
"Zack!" Zoey cried.
I started to smile as I picked myself up, until I saw what was going on. Sunny and Zoey stood side by side, both with panic painted across their faces. But at least they still had Walt's head.
On the other side of the room, Mr. Night had evil Tommy in a headlock and was holding a spinning drill inches from his forehead.
But the worst part had to be the dozen or so robots that surrounded us. Unlike all the other ones we'd seen, these were skinless: metal frames, with wires flowing through them like blood vessels.
"Hey, Zoey." I was about to wave, but remembered my hands and stopped so Zoey wouldn't make a big deal about them.
"What are you doing?" Zoey glanced up at the window we'd just crashed through.
"Saving you."
"We don't need saving, Zack. We have things under control."
"Oh really? Because it looks like Night called out the animatrons again," I said, right before they attacked.
I dodged one, but another reached out and grasped my arm with a metal hand. I couldn't pry it off, so I pinned its foot to the ground with mine and leaned away. I kept leaning back until the robot started falling, and then let me go.
Once it was on the ground, I jumped up and down on it until the thing started smoking.
Across the room, Sunny held a robot while Zoey kicked it over and over, even though she had another one in a headlock.
I was about to go help her when something grabbed me from behind. Two steel hands closed around my neck. Another robot picked Tommy up and held him over its head. I struggled to breathe and realized we were in serious trouble.
Ripping my backpack off, I turned and smashed the robot that held me in its face—or what should have been its face. Its head wobbled around, and it let go of my neck.
I gulped down several huge breaths and was about to go help Tommy when Zoey leapt through the air, wrapping her legs around the alien holding Tommy aloft.
With her bare hands, she twisted its head off, sending a shower of sparks spurting out like a mini-volcano.
I turned to get another one, but all that was left were piles of partly disassembled robots scattered about. Zoey said, "Well, that was fun," and she wiped a single bead of sweat off her forehead.
"Wow," I said, trying to figure out how she'd taken them out so quickly. "Save some for the rest of us next time, huh?"
"Looks like I'm the only one doing the saving around here." Zoey smiled.
"No one is saving anyone… Wait a second…" Mr. Night seemed to survey me. "I thought you were a boy? You look like a homeless Tinker Bell."
I ripped the wig off my head.
"Enough! Let Tommy go," Sunny roared. "Even if you kill him, when I send the kids back to their own time, it will rewrite this timeline, too."
"Are you sure?" Mr. Night revved up the drill, which he still held next to Tommy's head. "If these two are, as you say, connected… then if I kill this Tommy, that one will die, too."
Sunny didn't look as if she was sure, and the look on evil Tommy's face made it clear he wasn't in favor of testing the hypothesis.
Sunny slowly started lifting Walt.
"Over there," Night ordered. "Connect it to the base."
Sunny set Disney on a stainless steel table that was filled with computer stuff and testing equipment. She connected a few wires to him.
"And the auxiliary leads, too. I'm warning you. Don't try anything funny."
Reluctantly, Sunny connected a couple more cables and stood back.
"Oh, yeah. You've really got things under control," I said, putting my backpack back on.
Zoey stared at my hands. Drips of blood dropped. "Zack, what happened to your hands?"
"Quiet!" Without letting go of evil Tommy or the drill, Mr. Night managed to press some buttons on a big control panel on the wall. "Now, it's just a matter of moments before the interface is active. And its first command is to overload the power to the ERB machine."
A thud shook the room. Everyone looked around. A second later, the Abominable Snowman came breaking through the door.
Chapter 22 – Susie and Tommy Sitting in a Tree… V-o-m-i-t-i-n-g
The Abominable Snowman crashed headfirst through the door—except he was vertical, with wires and cables sticking out of his mouth, and he was being carried… by Susie Jo—er, Mrs. Susie Jo Traddles, that is.
"Get your filthy hands off of my Tommy, right now." Susie Jo tossed the snowman's head and, from her side holster, pulled out a gun.
Mr. Night moved evil Tommy in front of him. "Don't shoot, or you might hit your husband."
"Her husband?" Zoey cried. I had to grab Tommy to keep him from falling over, smearing blood all over his shirt.
Susie Jo closed one eye and took aim. My fear melted away: If you'd ever seen Susie Jo shoot a slingshot or fire a spit wad, you'd know why.
She pulled the trigger, and two little darts went buzzing out of the gun, sticking right into the center of Night's forehead—it was only a stun gun.
He kicked and jerked like a donkey trying to dance the Macarena.
Evil Tommy carefully stepped over the Taser gun's wires and ran into Susie Jo's waiting embrace.
Tommy made me swear never to say anything more about that moment, but I will say it was one of the most sickening displays of public affection imaginable—Tommy's stomach must have been on empty, because even I threw up a little in my mouth.
Mr. Night used the distraction to try and crawl to the door. Zoey jumped up and was about to do a flying elbow drop on his face when Susie Jo fired the Taser gun again, and he flopped back to the ground.
"Darn it. Aren’t I going to get to beat anyone up?" Zoey complained.
"Ummm, you just took out a whole platoon of naked animatrons," I said. "Isn't that enough?"
"Those silly robots don't count." She waved her hand at me, as if it was no big deal.
"Someone tie him up while Tommy and I finish programming the time machine." Sunny pulled evil Tommy away from Susie Jo's embrace.
"I'll tie him up! Oh, let me do it." Zoey was disappointed again when Susie Jo pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
Zoey carefully wrapped my hands with cloth strips she ripped from her dress while Sunny and Tommy worked on setting up the time machine. At one point, Sunny yelled, "No, no, no. We can't estimate. We have to be one hundred percent, or there's no telling where they'll end up."
"We have to hurry. The interface is almost fully engaged." Tommy started writing complex equations on the board while Sunny supervised and occasionally corrected his work.
Susie Jo stood by them, pretending that she understood what they were writing. "Psst. Kids," Mr. Night whispered to us. "How would you like free lifetime passes to the park?"
"Tommy," Zoey said. "Give me your scarf."
"What scarf?"
"Front of the line, whenever you visit," Night said. He tried to smile, but it shows when you're out of practice.
Zoey reached over and pulled the scarf from Tommy's pirate costume.
"Oh, you mean my ascot."
"Pirates don't wear ascots," I told him.
"Now kids, listen to me. If you help—"
"Just shut it." Zoey stuffed the scarf in Night's mouth.
"Okay, everyone stand back. Tommy's going to power it up," Sunny said.
"Wait, can we trust him? I mean he is evil Tommy," I said.
"Tommy's not evil." Susie Jo glared at me with such venom that I almost handed over my lunch money
.
"Umm, he was working for Mr. Night and trying to drill holes in Walt Disney's head." I took a step towards Zoey.
"Yes, Tommy, why was that?" Sunny asked. "Why didn't you at least quit working for Night when he started this project?"
Everyone eyed evil Tommy, even Susie Jo—who, it seemed, hadn't known the extent of Tommy's experiments until right then.
"It started back after you guys disappeared." He peeked at Zoey and me, and it wasn't like he was grown up at all—he was just the same little kid we let hang around us. "After you guys disappeared, Mr. Night was real nice, saying it was a horrible accident and together we could find a way to get you back, if we kept what had happened a secret. He even paid my college tuition."
Little Tommy, with tears streaming down his cheeks, yelled at his grown-up self, "That's no excuse for drilling into Mr. Disney's Head!"
"Don't touch him." Sunny, looking really concerned, put her arms out. "We don't know what might happen if both Tommys touch."
"I know; I know." Evil Tommy was studying his younger self. "When Mr. Night started experimenting with using human brains as computer co-processors, I tried to quit. But he said he'd go to the authorities, blame me for Zack and Zoey's disappearance." Evil Tommy hung his head. "He's so well respected, I was sure they'd believe him. Besides, so many people already suspected me, part of me felt maybe it was my fault."
"That's so stupid of you, Tommy," Susie Jo said, but then gave him a hug. It looked like he could barely breathe.
"Well, you never actually did drill any holes in his head," Zoey said.
"Yeah, Tommy. I guess we can't imagine what that musta been like," I added somewhat reluctantly.
"We don't have time for a hugfest," Sunny said. "We need to get the kids back before Walt goes online, or he'll overload the machine."
"Can't you just unplug him?" Zoey asked.
"Not without causing permanent brain damage," evil—that is, old—Tommy said, heading over to the time machine.
"Stand back. We're going to charge it." Sunny and Tommy pressed a few buttons and threw a switch. The machine started humming, then the platform began to glow. There was a big bang; the machine made a sound like a drunken Ewok and went dark.
"That can't be good," I said.
"There must be a short in one of the pre-charge coils." Sunny checked the machine over.
"Looks like the tertiary coil, there." Tommy pointed to a large coil of copper wire that was along the left side of the machine.