"Going Up!"
The smoke and flashes of light disappeared. I looked around to find myself inside of a genuine spaceship, sitting on the floor with the others in similar positions. The suspended animated Lisa was still in Rob’s pincer. The falling sensation must have only lasted for a few feet.
I went over to what looked like the captain’s chair and sat down. It was positioned directly in front of a board of knobs and dials and was facing a window‑like viewscreen.
“Rob, analyze controls and figure out how to fly this thing,” I instructed, “what’s our rate of descent now?”
Rob released Lisa and came over to the control board, “ROD is once again 36‑feet per minute.”
“Then we must be arriving at the core of the earth,” I said, “figure these out quickly and let’s get out of here.”
“Affirmative.”
Cindy and Melissa had been walking around our new vehicle. After looking out various portholes, they decided that our ship looked decidedly familiar.
“Larry, how did the spell know what kind of spaceship to conjure up?” asked Melissa.
“I don’t know how it designed it, why?” I asked, still working out the controls with Rob.
“Well,” she started, “remember the flying saucer on that old TV show ‘Lost In Space’?”
“The Jupiter II,” I replied, “yeh, why?”
“I think this is it.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, pulling myself away from the controls. After looking around, I was amazed to see what looked like the set of the television series. “You know, it does have an uncanny likeness.”
“Look here,” said Cindy, peering out a rear porthole.
“What’s up, Cin?” I asked.
“We’ve got two engines jutting up and outward from the rear. They look like the engines from the Starship Enterprise. You know, the one from ‘Star Trek’.”
“Well, those were the two spaceships I grew up with,” I replied sheepishly.
“The Transmutation Spell must have searched your subconscious for an idea of what you envisioned a spaceship to be. It then created one that was a combination of those two images,” explained Melissa.
The design of our new spaceship was indeed taken right out of memories from my television past. It had the body of a flying saucer, with two engine systems extending outward from the rear, upper deck, just as Cindy had described. The ship was two decks in depth and, fortunately for us, the controls were in recognizable symbols.
Rob explained the workings of the panel to me. The first thing we had to do was to activate the viewscreen and then run a systems check to ensure everything was in proper working order.
“All systems, including environmental, check out in perfect working order,” reported Rob.
“Excellent,” I said, “get us out of here.”
“Affirmative. Activate thrusters.” I pressed the appropriate red button. Immediately, we felt the thrusters halt our descent.
“Good. Now what?” I asked.
“Using the lever on your left, increase power to the thrusters until this dial indicates an upward motion,” instructed Rob.
“All right, hold on everybody.” I slowly pushed the thruster lever forward.
“This is fun,” smiled Woba.
The ship started its upward motion without much trouble. Maintaining the power level to the thrusters, we watched on the viewscreen. Within no time, the sides of this ‘tunnel to hell’ began washing away as we increased our speed.
“Rate of Ascent: 45 mph and increasing.”
“Can you control it, Rob?” I asked.
“Affirmative. My programming allows me to control and operate all sorts of vehicles and heavy machinery as I do not get drowsy or dizzy by my environment.”
“You sound like a warning on a drug label,” said Melissa.
“Was that a ‘yes’ then?” asked Cindy.
“Affirmative,” stated Rob, taking over the controls.
“Once we reenter the base of the Time Tornado, we’ll travel straight up to the top and exit there—if we can,” I said, “Then we’ll ascertain what time period we’re in and take it from there.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” said Cleo.
“Rob, how long until we exit?” asked Melissa.
“At present speed: 27.21 minutes.”
“Good, then we have time to make some food.”
“What do mean ‘make food’?” I asked.
“Since you conjured up the ‘Starship Jupiter’—or whatever you want to call it—you probably conjured up some sort of food synthesizer. Both ships had one,” explained Melissa, “Cindy and I will look down on the other level.”
“Prrrrr!” said Little Neptune.
“We’ll get you something, too,” laughed Cindy.
“Is this how you get down?” asked Woba, sniffing around an elevator chamber.
“Oh, not that,” moaned Cindy.’
“What,” I asked, defensively.
“Couldn’t you have remembered that chic turbo lift from ‘Star Trek’?” asked Melissa.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“You conjured up that silly slow moving lift from the Jupiter II,” pointed out Melissa.
“Well, excuse me!” I said, “you want the chariot back?”
“No, no, no. That’s quite all right,” laughed Melissa.
“Hey, what about Lisa?” asked Cleo.
“Oh, yeh, I almost forgot her,” I said.
“Don’t tell her that,” said Melissa.
“Rob, can you do another brain scan?”
“Affirmative,” he replied. I took over the controls of the Starship Jupiter and he once again placed his pincers on her temples.
“Brain pattern is still registering normal,” reported Rob.
“Was she actually possessed before?” asked Cindy.
“Possessed?” questioned Rob.
“You know; her mind taken over by the life-force.”
“Affirmative. Life-force is no longer present.”
“How? Why?” I asked.
“Unknown.”
“Is it safe to release her?” asked Woba, sniffing at Lisa’s knees.
“I hope so,” replied Melissa.
“Affirmative,” answered Rob.
Removing the Suspended Animation Spell, Lisa immediately fell to the floor. Going over to her, Melissa and Cindy helped her up.
“Where am I? What’s going on?” asked a bewildered Lisa.
“You’re all right now,” said Cindy, “come on, we’ll get you some water and fill you in on the details.”
“Am I dreaming?” asked Lisa, looking around, “this place looks awfully familiar.”
“That’s a long story, too,” chuckled Melissa, “come on.”
The girls proceeded below deck while Rob and I concentrated on the control panel. This spaceship I had conjured up wasn’t half bad. There were plenty of interesting functions that it could perform and I pondered never changing it back into the golden chariot.
The girls returned up to the main deck. They had indeed found a food synthesizer and had whipped up one of the greatest ham and cheese sandwiches that I had ever tasted.
“Mustard on one side, mayo on the other,” smiled Melissa, “just the way you like it.”
“Thank you,” I said, putting my arm around her.
“Time Tornado is now one mile away,” reported Rob.
“Good. The sooner we’re out of here the better,” stated a fully re‑oriented Lisa.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“I’m OK,” she replied, “thanks for the suspended animation thing. Who knows what I might of done if I was left to my own devices—or should I say the life-force’s devices.”
“We have now reached the base of the Time Tornado.”
“Take her straight through, Rob,” I said, activating the external lighting.
The Time Tornado was still spinning in silence. Rob reported that the earthquake (or the ‘seismic event’ as he referred to it) and our plunge toward the center of the planet were strictly geological in nature and were not caused by the life-force.
We proceeded upward through the tornado, toward the top. The width of the whirlwind widened with each passing moment. The swirling, again, began to make us dizzy.
“Warning! Life-force is now returning.”
“Not again,” moaned Lisa.
“Rob, do we have some sort of protective field in this spaceship?” I asked.
“Negative.”
“Good going,” said Cindy, slapping me on the arm, “couldn’t you have remembered the Enterprise’s shields?”
“Sorry,” I said, sarcastically.
“What about external speakers?” asked Melissa.
“Affirmative,” stated Rob. I cast her a questioning glance.
“Sure, you remember external speakers,” sarcastically added Cindy, raising her hand to slap me on the arm the again. I quickly grabbed her.
“Stop that!”
“Larry, quickly repeat the Multi‑Purpose Protection Field spell through the external speakers. That might allow it to surround the ship,” explained Melissa.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” mused Cleo.
“Good idea,” I said, grabbing the microphone and flipping the ‘on’ switch. I repeated the incantation and we heard the reassuring hum of the field establishing itself.
“Life-force is still increasing in intensity.”
“Inside or outside the field?” asked Cleo.
“Outside.”
“Phew,” I said, “that was close.”
“Indeed it was, little human,” came a strange and evil sounding voice.
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