Listening to the man, Casey saw that Nix had truly thought his plan would work. To him, it had been a foolproof way to save civilization. A Hail Mary pass that he had thrown perfectly. But he had to have known that even the best laid plans go wrong—especially when they involved billions of individuals’ consciousness.
“How was this vision received?” Nix went on, finally seeming angry. “How did the world respond to a vision of their own imminent doom? They accepted it!” He looked at Frank, outrage in his eyes. “They gobbled it up like a chocolate éclair. They repackaged it as a commodity! Turns out the end of the world is hot! It can be enjoyed as video games, television series, books, movies! The entire planet embraced the Apocalypse and raced toward it with gleeful abandon!”
Casey had to admit the guy, while on a crazy rant, did have a point. People had been treating the Earth like something they could use up, toss away, and then replace. Drilling for oil even while the planet overheated, fishing the oceans until they were depleted, waging wars with drones. But Nix was acting as though she and Frank were the ones behind it all. As though they alone had rushed the world to ruin.
And Nix wasn’t done yet. “Your best minds create nothing but impenetrable math to leach money from the system without producing anything! Bees and butterflies start to disappear. Glaciers melt, algae blooms—all around, coal-mine canaries are dropping dead and you won’t take the hint!” Nix’s words began to come faster and faster, a release of pent-up thoughts and emotions he had kept back for decades. “In every moment there is the possibility of a better world, but you people won’t believe it. And because you won’t believe it, you refuse to do what it takes to make it a reality. So you dwell on a terrible future, you resign yourselves to it, because that future doesn’t ask anything of you today.”
Nix stopped, suddenly aware of how badly he had just lost his cool. He took a deep breath and collected himself before finishing. “So we saw the iceberg and we warned the Titanic. But all of you steered right toward it anyway, full steam ahead. And why? Because you want to sink. You gave up. That’s not the Oracle’s fault. It’s yours.”
Silence descended over the Bridgeway as Nix’s words sunk into each and every person and robot there. True, allowing the world to destroy itself was extreme, but they couldn’t help understanding how Nix might have been pushed over the edge.
Unfortunately, it didn’t matter if they understood or not. Nix wasn’t going to let them try to save the world. He was still going to send them through the portal and let them die along with the rest of their dimension. As the guards began to move the group into position right in front of the gate, Nix walked over and stood in front of Frank. “Thank you for visiting,” he said. His expression softened and a glimmer of the man Nix might have once been shone through. “It was genuinely nice to see you again.” He held out his hand, the gesture awkward given the fact he was about to sentence Frank to death.
Frank paused but then slowly took the man’s outstretched hand.
As the pair shook, Casey watched them, confused. Was Frank really going to forgive him, just like that? And then she saw a slight movement of Frank’s hand. He was secretly tapping the touch screen of Nix’s wrist remote. But that remote controlled only one thing. Trying not to catch anyone’s attention, Casey looked up. Sure enough, she saw the sphere above begin to glow. Frank was using the remote to activate the platform within the Oracle sphere.
Athena saw what Frank was doing a mere moment before Nix figured it out himself. “What are you doing?” he asked as the platform began to descend toward them.
“Not giving up,” Frank said, yanking Nix into him and then kneeing him in the gut.
At the same time, Athena shoved Casey into one of the guards, knocking him to the ground. When the other guard attempted to help his friend, Athena slipped around and disarmed him. Then she sent him flying into the last guard. In the blink of an eye, the guards were out of commission and Athena and Casey were free.
“The thing!” Frank shouted to Athena when he saw she was okay. “Give me the thing!”
“What?” Athena shouted back. Now was not the time to be vague.
Frank gave her a pointed look. “The thing I gave you! When we got here—that you put in that drawer—” He was cut off as Nix, in a surprisingly agile move, swept his leg under Frank, knocking him to the ground. Lifting his arm, Nix aimed the remote, ready to stop the platform.
But then Frank slammed into him.
As the two men began to brawl, Athena opened the battery compartment and pulled out the pinball-like gadget. Then she looked at Frank, who gestured to the platform.
“We’re blowing the Oracle up?” Casey asked when she saw what Athena was holding and understood Frank’s gesture.
“Apparently,” Athena answered. Then she pointed to the guard lying closest to them. “Get his gun.”
Casey saw the gun on the ground right in front of the guard’s hands. She ran to it and snatched it up. Unfortunately, she didn’t know how to use it and the other two guards had come to their senses. They were now closing in on Athena. Casey began to panic.
Athena, however, remained calm. Watching the young robot out of the corner of her eye, Casey couldn’t help being impressed. When one of the guards leapt at her, Athena simply ducked and grabbed him by the legs. Then she flung him straight at the third guard, who, at the same moment, fired his gun at Athena. The ray gun’s blast hit the airborne guard, who was vaporized in an instant. Stunned, the guard who had fired didn’t know what hit him as Athena kicked him right through the portal and into the ocean beyond.
With two guards gone, that left only the first one to take care of. Turning, Athena saw that he and Casey were grappling over the gun still clutched tightly in Casey’s hand. With a loud yell, Casey got the upper hand and pulled the gun away from the guard. Then she clubbed him over the head with it. Shaking his head to clear his blurry vision, the guard didn’t notice Athena approaching from behind until she slammed him with a high kick that knocked him out cold.
But the kick threw Athena off balance, and as she raised her arms to steady herself, the bomb dropped out of her hand. Athena watched in horror as it rolled along the ground and finally came to a stop in the concave hollow that served as the sphere’s landing space—the sphere that in the very next moment dropped into place, covering the bomb.
UP UNTIL that day, Frank had never thrown a punch in his life. Now he was trading blows back and forth with Nix near the portal, his pent-up anger giving him the energy of a seasoned boxer. Unfortunately, Nix wasn’t backing down.
Kicking free of Frank, Nix began furiously typing on his wrist remote. The platform began to rise again. And as it did, several things happened all at once. While Frank tackled Nix again, hoping to gain control of the remote, Athena dove forward, reaching for the bomb down near the platform. But just as her fingers were about to close around the little ball, a huge robot snatched her up in its pincerlike hands.
“Casey!” Athena shouted as she struggled to get free. “Get the bomb!”
Sprinting over, Casey slid into the hollow like she was sliding into home plate, and grabbed the pinball. Standing up, she smiled triumphantly. That wasn’t so bad, she thought. Guess all those years of being forced to play softball finally paid off.
But the smile quickly faded as both Athena and Frank shouted: “Get on the platform!”
Turning around, she saw that the platform was rising. Casey didn’t have time to think. She leapt. Barely catching the edge of the platform, she was lifted until she dangled precariously above the ground. Her mind went blank as she looked down. Usually she didn’t mind heights. But usually she wasn’t hanging off a platform that was ascending with increasing speed. Taking a deep breath, she pulled herself onto the platform. She lay there gasping as she heard Nix and Frank still battling below and Athena shouting at the huge robot to put her down.
Standing on shaky legs and grabbing the thin railing around the sphere, she called to Frank: “
Now what?”
“Arm it!” Frank shouted back as he ducked under a punch thrown by Nix.
Seriously? Did he think she had taken a class in pinball bomb arming and detonation? She was a teenager, for crying out loud!
Before she could reply, Frank charged at Nix, hitting him in the midsection like a linebacker. The force of the hit sent Nix sailing backward, Frank close behind. The light around them shimmered for a moment and then they landed with a thud—on sand! The two men had gone through the portal. They were on the tropical island in the middle of the ocean.
Looking back, Frank saw that the gate was still in place. He also saw that Casey was terrified. She was standing on the platform, turning the pinball bomb over and over as though it would suddenly sprout instructions.
Frank wasn’t the only one who saw Casey. Nix saw her, too. And he saw the bomb. He reached for his wrist remote…
…and Frank grabbed his hand before he could touch a button. Once again their battle resumed.
Back in Tomorrowland, Casey was indeed terrified. She was getting closer and closer to the Oracle, and her two so-called friends were too busy to help. Looking down, she saw Athena rip open a panel on the robot’s large metal arm and jam her hand inside. Sparks flew and there was a loud groaning noise as the robot’s pincer hands opened. Athena dropped to the ground.
Whoosh!
Casey fell to the ground, her stomach heaving as the platform suddenly dropped out from underneath her feet. Then it rose. Then it fell back down. Up and down and up and down it went, Casey struggling to stay on—and not throw up. Catching a glimpse through the portal, she saw that Frank and Nix’s fight had gotten uglier. They both had their hands on the remote, trying to take control. But their fingers kept pressing buttons, resulting in Casey’s wild ride. If I ever get off this thing, Casey fumed silently, I might end up killing Frank myself.
Suddenly, the platform leveled out as, back on the beach, Frank got firm control of the remote. Once more, Casey found herself rising toward the sphere. There was still one big problem, though. “I don’t know how to arm it!” Casey screamed down to Athena.
Athena, who was currently riding on the back of another giant robot like it was a bucking bronco, looked up. “Grab it with both hands and twist it!” she shouted, yanking on an exposed wire in the robot’s neck, which caused it to turn and run straight into the other one.
“Good plan,” Casey muttered under her breath as she watched one of the robots fly through the portal and land with a crash on the beach. “Arm the bomb and make the rest up as I go.” Obviously that would end super well…
Just then, there was a huge burst of energy. As before, images of moments in the near future began to swirl around the platform—including an image of Casey twisting the pinball, cocking back her arm, and throwing it like a grenade into the sphere above.
Casey smiled. “Thanks, Future Me,” she said. Then she did what her future self had done—she twisted the pinball. It clicked and a small display screen read ARMED. As the display began to count down from sixty, Casey pulled back her arm and—
—saw another image of herself. Only this time, future Casey was screaming as she dropped through the floor of the platform and disappeared.
“Uh-oh,” Casey said.
The platform dropped.
Casey’s scream echoed through Bridgeway Plaza as the platform plunged toward the ground. As Casey struggled to hold on to the railing, the pinball dropped from her hand. On the robot’s back, Athena saw the rapidly descending platform. Jamming her hand back into the robot’s circuit panel, she pressed a series of buttons. The robot turned and moved closer to the landing hollow. Then its arm shot out and caught the platform just before it hit the ground.
…47…46…45…
The countdown continued. Underneath the platform, the robot’s arm began to make odd popping noises, the platform’s weight too much for the robot to hold. Leaping off the metal Goliath’s back, Athena rolled clear just as the platform collapsed, crushing the robot. Hearing a grunt, Athena turned to see that Casey had jumped off just in time. She was lying on the ground, her breath coming in gasps. That had been close.
And then the pinball bomb rolled to a stop, right next to Casey.
Frank was beginning to think things might not end well for him. Nix would not stop messing with the remote, which meant Frank could not stop trying to stop him. That also meant he had to keep fighting, and he was getting really, really tired.
Then the giant robot that had flown through the portal began to pull itself upright. Frank had assumed the thing was deactivated. He had, unfortunately, assumed wrong. Now the robot was struggling to stand in the loose sand as it reached out toward the portal.
The robot’s outstretched hand got through the portal. Then its head. Then its torso…
Wham!
The portal closed, slicing the robot in half.
As the metal legs dropped into the sand and went limp, Frank and Nix finally stopped fighting. They both realized one very important fact: they were alone on the island, trapped possibly forever—or until the world ended in fifty-eight days.
For a moment, the two men just stood there, not knowing what to do. And then Frank began to laugh.
“This is not funny!” Nix exclaimed angrily.
But that only caused Frank to laugh harder. The situation was so comical. “This,” Frank said, struggling to get the words out between bouts of laughter, “is the very definition of ‘funny.’”
Nix looked around, as though someone else would appear and confirm that Frank had clearly lost it and that Nix was, as always, in the right. But no one else was there. No one else would ever be there. And that was when Nix finally realized that Frank was right. It was funny. In fact, it was positively absurd. A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth…
And then the portal reopened.
“Frank!” Athena shouted from the other side. “Get out of there!”
Instantly, both men began racing for the portal, shoving and trying to trip each other as they went. But they weren’t running fast enough. In Casey’s hand, the bomb continued its deadly countdown:…10…9…8…
“How do I turn this thing off?” Casey shouted at Athena. All around them, blue tachyonic energy flickered and flared. What if the bomb goes off in the middle of it all? Casey shuddered at the thought.
“You can’t!” Athena shouted back. “You need to get rid of it!”
Casey looked at Athena, the portal wide open behind her. That had to be what she meant. It was the only way. She cocked her arm back and threw the bomb as hard as she could. It sailed through the portal and landed on the sand right beside Frank and Nix.
…5…4…3…
Just in time, Frank and Nix dove through the portal. Athena punched the close button, and the portal began to shut.
Kaboooooooom!
On the beach on an island in the middle of nowhere, the bomb finally went off. The blast emanated outward, and just before the portal closed completely, some of it got through. Casey let out a scream as she, Frank, Nix, and Athena were blown backward in their respective places.
Then, as quickly as the world had turned upside down, it returned to normal.
Casey lay on the ground for a moment, checking to see if all her limbs were moving. When she was sure she was in one piece, she slowly sat up and looked around. Nearby Frank was struggling to his feet, a little bruised but otherwise okay. Athena was fine as well. Nix, on the other hand, hadn’t been as lucky.
The force of the blast had knocked the gateway completely over, pinning Nix under it. He was stuck. But that didn’t mean he had given up. He now wanted nothing more than to see Frank gone—for good. Noticing a laser gun lying within reach, Nix stretched out his hand. His fingers grasped at the weapon until finally they closed around it. Struggling to get his upper body off the ground, he held up the gun. “Walker!” he shouted.
Frank turned at the sound of his name. There was a flicker of confusion on h
is face as he saw the gun, and then Nix pulled the trigger. A laser blast erupted from the gun, flew through the air, and slammed into Frank. He flew backward and fell to the ground…lifeless.
“NO!” ATHENA cried, her voice cracking. She had turned at the same time as Frank and seen the murderous look in Nix’s eyes. But she hadn’t been able to stop him. And now Frank was dead.
Then something strange happened. Frank’s body began to shift and morph and then fade. Athena gasped. It hadn’t been Frank! It had been future Frank! Nix hadn’t shot him yet. That meant there was still time to save him.
Turning around, Athena saw Frank helping Casey to her feet. Then, just as she had seen a moment earlier, Nix shouted, “Walker!” And just like before, Frank looked over and registered the danger just as Nix pulled the trigger. And as had happened before, the laser blast flew out of the gun and straight toward Frank.
But this time, Athena threw herself in front of the blast, taking the brunt of the laser right in the chest.
Thrown backward by the blast, Athena collided with Frank, and the two fell to the ground. Inky fluid the color of motor oil began to flow out of the large hole in Athena’s chest. Exposed circuits flickered and sparked.
“No!” This time it was Frank who cried out in anguish as he looked down at Athena. She hadn’t even hesitated to throw herself in front of that blast, even though she must have known what would happen. She had done it anyway.
Tomorrowland Junior Novel (Disney Junior Novel (ebook)) Page 11