ClassicComedyFan2
02-13-2002, 06:39 PM
Enjoy the fifth episode of my series! It is one of my personal favorites from my series!
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:)
“Flights of Fancy”
Episode 5 of Gopher’s Gateway
By Sean Sporman
Prologue
Sean Sporman smiled as Mario flew off of the platform. Quickly pressing the L button on the analog control unit, “Jigglypuff!” emanated from the unit’s speakers.
“This game’s winner is…Jigglypuff!” Sean smiled and danced around a little bit. “Alright! My 100th Super Smash Brothers victory as Jigglypuff!” His parents had gone to Wal-Mart Supercenter in Bessemer to buy some groceries, since Sean mainly controlled the replicator and they did not know about it. As Sean deactivated his Nintendo Sixty-Four, he tapped the combadge on his cleaned Starfleet uniform. “Sporman to Hawking, beam up one!” He dematerialized in a shimmer of light.
Jordan Reeves exclaimed victory when his brother missed a shot at Horse. Thanks to that, he had won. He had been practicing to prepare for the Hueytown Olympics should he be selected in Horse.
The week had been nuts. But, now it was the weekend. It wasn’t that he disliked Sean, but it seemed that every day something was being blown up or some girl liked him. But, hey, with the shields he didn’t have to worry about Sean’s enemies anymore.
“Ok! Round two!” Glynn Reeves exclaimed as he hurled the basketball toward the goal. Jordan was glad he wasn’t playing in a Starfleet uniform.
Sean did not expect to see what he saw. “Sensors, confirm?”
“Confirmed.” The computer in the shuttle responded. “Federation Holoship, type 3. NX-75115.” The starship was saucer-shaped and two warp nacelles jutted from the top of the starship.
“Computer, are it’s systems online?” Sean asked, as the shuttle moved closer to the prototype vessel.
“Affirmative. All systems are at peak efficiency. However, shields have been damaged, they are now repaired.” Sean smiled as he activated the shuttle transporter. “Transport me to the Holoship.” For the second time, he dematerialized.
The inside of the Holoship looked just like the inside of the holodeck on Star Trek: The Next Generation. “Welcome to the USS Hypothetical. This ship is used to test any hypothetical situation by immersing the user in a complete interactive holographic environment. Remember, anything is possible.” Sean smiled, reminded of a dream he had a couple of days earlier.
“Computer. Transfer the database from the shuttle Hawking to the main computer.” The computer beeped and about ten seconds later, “Transfer complete.”
“Load holographic representation of Hueytown High School. Location: Main Office.” Instantly, the main office, complete with the modifications, appeared around him.
“Computer, hypothetical situation one. Using records from Sporman Database, What if the inbiots did not exist at Pittman in the eighth grade. And, Mr. Redcross still let me do full weather updates. Also, delete Mrs. Swanson. Use all other people and teachers.”
“Understood. Simulation beginning now.”
“Wait a second…a couple more variables…”
“Good morning. Today’s date is September 14th, 1998. Latest Observations in Birmingham are partly cloudy with a temperature of fifty-four degrees. Today’s forecast is Fog and scattered clouds early with a high of seventy-four. The pick city of the day is Detroit, Michigan with Snow Showers and a high of thirty-seven. Tiffany Kynard picked today’s pick city. The word of the Day, picked by Lacey Sullivan, is Cookie. Thank you and have a nice day. This is Sean Sporman, signing off.”
Mister Redcross then picked up the microphone. “Thank you very much, Sean. We look forward to your midday report. Have a nice day, Pittman Family.” Sean smiled as he walked out of the office, knowing this holo-sim rocked. He proceeded to Mrs. Lafoy’s room without incident. It was one the smallest classes he knew. Only eight people. And, almost all of them were his friends, including Jordan. “Good Job, Sean.” Mrs. Lafoy said. “So, is everyone ready for the Free Day?” Vibrant cheers filled the room and were also heard in Mrs. Williams’s room, which was next door. Apparently, she had just announced the same thing.
“Good. Let’s go. And, remember try to be nice to the ninth graders from Hueytown.” Sean smiled as they exited the room.
“So, Sean. You get to see Rachel again?” Jordan said, rolling his eyes.
“And Meagan and Heather too!” Jordan’s eyebrow arched slightly and then he shook his head as the passed through the door.
Sean looked, and saw hundreds of students. They were having fun without violating the rules. Just like it should be, Sean added in thought. Allen Johnston walked up to Sean. “Hey, Sean, where’s your girlfriend who is so crazy about you?”
Sean actually had no idea what he was talking about. “I don’t know. What’s her SSC name?” SSC referred to the Spormanworld Supreme Committee, a group of Sean’s friends in the eighth grade.
“Kynard Omega-47.” Sean let his mouth hang open for a second in shock. “You mean, Tiffany, likes me?”
“Yes. You would attract the beautiful one on the A Honor-Roll.” Allen remarked. Apparently, one of his variables had caused that particular variable. Cool, he thought. He then turned to Jordan and smiled.
“So, Commander, where is your girlfriend?” Sean tried not to giggle.
“Mrs. Engage, as you call her? I don’t know. Some people think she is annoying…” As Jordan walked off to talk to Mrs. Lafoy, Sean let out the giggle he had contained. Jenny Gable, a friend of his in the seventh grade said hi.
“Hello.” Sean responded.
“You know—“ Jenny was interrupted by something she saw falling from the sky. Sean smiled as the things began to fall by the thousands. Then, something different fell. “Snow!” Sean exclaimed.
Jordan, a few meters away, turned around. “Buckets of chicken also!” All too suddenly, Mr. Chandler picked up the chair he was sitting in and threw it. It shattered as it impacted in the grass. But, no one reacted. Instead, Allen Johnston hurled a tennis ball, which smacked Tyler Colvin in the back. He fell down, unconscious from the impact.
“Yeehaa!” exclaimed Rachel Waters from another side of the open courtyard, as she bounced on the huge plastic “bopper ball” that lie between her legs. But, before she got far, the ball popped and she flew up several feet. Sean said, “You’re blasting off again!”
Jordan, who had actually watched Poke’mon at this time, seemed slightly surprised. “You watch Poke’mon?”
Sean began to reply, but was interrupted by a call from Heather Allgood. She ran in his direction, dodging snowballs and other various objects. “Sean. What is going on here? Did you predict this?”
“Yes.” Sean responded. “Of course I did.” Suddenly, Heather grabbed him in a quick hug. “Oh! I knew you would bring snow!” Sean smiled as he saw Jordan roll his eyes. All of the sudden, Tiffany Kynard popped out from behind a tree.
“Hey!” Tiffany exclaimed, as she adjusted her glasses and put down the book she was reading. “I’m going out with him!” Sean was riveted to the scene. Meanwhile, Jordan fought a battle of a different kind. He had tripped in the accumulating snow. “Hey!” Amy Ross exclaimed, running toward Jordan. “It’s a real snowman!” Jordan only laughed, shaking his head.
Tiffany threw the first punch, but Heather dodged. “I wish I had a phaser!” The two girls exclaimed at once. Sean smiled quite largely. “Thank Spormanworld for holo-sims!” He exclaimed, but no one appeared to have heard. Before the fight could be settled, a snowball flew and hit Tiffany in the head, getting her hair very wet.
“Hey, who in Tiffanyville did that?” she exclaimed.
“I did!” exclaimed Allen Johnston. And, the biggest snowball battle in Pittman history began.
Superintendent Andy Blackerby sat in the real office of the real Jefferson County Board of Education. He was examining some preliminary design concepts for Project: Hueytown 2000 that Sean had e-mailed him. They were quite interesting. He then heard a knock at his door.
“Come in!” He said brightly.
The assistant superintendent, not quite trusting of Sean and his friends running a school, entered. “Hello, sir.” He said in a monotone that indicated he was not very happy.
“Come now!” The superintendent yelped happily. “You mean to tell me that you are still sore about Sean and his friends running the school? Haven’t you heard anything I have said?”
“Of course I have!” The assistant snapped then hesitated a few seconds to calm down. “It’s just that…”
“What?” Blackerby inquired to his assistant.
“When have students ever commanded a school?” the assistant finished.
“Exactly! It’s a fresh new approach to things for Y2K and later, the new millennium. And, with that wondrous technology, he could change the face of education forever. We could be credible again! Optimism, my friend! Optimism!”
The assistant backed down and left the room silently. Blackerby sat down, slightly worried about his assistant. However, he quickly turned his attention back to the design plans.
Sean’s Starfleet uniform had been made wet from snowball attacks, ripped, and his cheek still had a lipstick spot on it. He quickly went to one of the crew quarters aboard the Hypothetical and dried off. He left the lipstick spot on though. He was happy, and now back in the main holodeck. “Computer, hypothetical situation two. Place: Hueytown High School. Time: This Monday. Variables: What if…”
Heather Allgood walked down the steps into Mr. Morrison’s room, carrying a note from Mrs. Lindsay to him. She handed the note to him with a happy greeting and began to head out of the door, when she noticed Sean and Jordan in the same room.
She waved at him, when all of the sudden a round bomb crashed thru the window and landed only inches from where Sean sat. It exploded as Heather ran out of the door to escape the blast.
In Hueytown Juvenile, the real one, June Gabert and Barbara Loweique sneaked through a tertiary hall. They had finally managed to escape from their cell.
June froze as a patrol guard walked by. They ducked behind a door, unseen, and the guard passed by. “He’s headed to our cell.” whispered Loweique. “It won’t be long until they know we have escaped.”
They had made it to Exit 3. After passing through the door, they were outside of the building where they had been held for the last week. “And, just in time for the weekend.” June said as they began into the woods. “Now, we’ll go to the school and steal a phaser, then we’ll lie low until Monday.”
Loweique smiled. “And, then boomie!” June rolled her eyes, but the two girls proceeded through the woods.
“Acting principal’s log. Heather Allgood speaking. Sean and Jordan have apparently been captured by June, or someone allied with her. I, with Meagan’s help, as well as a few others, must rescue not only that silly Jordan. We must also rescue the boy we both like. End Log.”
Brooke Thompson walked in with both good and bad news. “Sean Two is offline. But, the shuttle’s sensors detect him in a house in Hoover.”
Heather charged her phaser using one of the ports installed in the main office. “We’ll beam in there and rescue Sporman and Jordan.”
“Hey! That rhymes!” John Barnes said. Meagan then clobbered him over the head with a PADD.
“No time for silly remarks. Let’s go.” The two girls also accompanied by both Brookes, and Meagan Harris beamed up to the Hawking. They then beamed right into the house where Sean and Jordan were being held.
They saw two humans and…
“Meowth! Who are you!” A small cat-like animal said in perfect English.
“I bet you twerps are here to rescue that other twerp. We’ve got Pikachu and your boy friend.” Meagan and Heather briefly smiled, then raised their phasers to the unknown humans.
“But, first,” A human male with blue hair began, “The motto!”
The woman with the long red hair continued for her friend. “Prepare for trouble!”
“And, make it double!”
“To protect the world from devastation!”
“To unite all peoples within our nation!”
“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”
“To extend our reach to the stars above!”
“Jesse!”
“James!”
“Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!”
“Surrender now or prepare to fight!”
“Meowth, that’s right!” The cat-like animal did a surprising double backflip.
“Ok.” The one named James said. “Now fight us!”
Jesse quickly hit him with a fan. “Come on! Why did you have to say that?” Heather quickly fired her phaser at the Meowth. He fell backward, stunned. In response, Jesse quickly pulled a Pokeball out of her pocket.
“Likitung, Go!” said Jesse as she hurled the ball within inches of Meagan and Heather. Meanwhile, Brooke Thompson and Meagan Harris snuck around to untie Sean and Jordan.
The small pink Poke’mon prepared to attack Heather, when Meagan threw down her phaser, set to overload. As the phaser’s whine grew louder, Jesse and James gasped. Then, it exploded in a bright flash of light.
“No! We were so close to capturing that Pikachu!” Jesse said as the three of them began to fly through the air.
“Humiliating!” exclaimed James. “Beaten by people that didn’t have Poke’mon!”
Then as they looked up, they both said, “Team Rocket’s blasting off again!”
As Sean stood up and shook hands with Misty, Heather said, “So, you had better thank me!” Sean smiled broadly.
On the real planet called Earth, June Gabert accompanied by her friend, Barbara Lowieque approached Hueytown High School. As June began to walk down the main concrete path that led into the school, she was greeted with a force field. “Ow!” She stepped back in reflex.
“Has a he put a shield around the school?” asked Lowieque as June walked up to a window that led into the office. Again, she was repelled by a force field.
“It seems that way.” June replied, but then saw a way in. “I see it!”
“What?” asked Lowieque. “A way in?”
“Yes. The door into Pine is open.” The two girls then proceeded to trespass into school property.
Sean Sporman checked the time using the chronometer onboard the Hypothetical. His parents were still not back yet. So, he decided to run another holographic simulation…
Sean Sporman sat in the lunchroom of Hueytown High, expecting anything. He had heard several rumors of possible events from forced kissing to a food throw. Nearby sat Jordan Reeves and Brooke Thompson, slowly eating their bagged lunches. “So,” began Brooke as she swallowed a bite of P-brand brownie, “Do you think any of that stuff will happen, Jordan?”
Jordan, who happened to be eating a homemade brownie made by his mother, smiled. “Could be. I hope that no one gets hurt.” Just then, Jacob Allison burst into the door. He screamed, “Where is my love?” Sean giggled, as the lunchroom grew very quiet. “Where is Courtney!” Jordan and Brooke began to laugh out loud, as Jacob looked down each row.
“Here I am.” Courtney Gage, a female freshman said as she stood up. Jacob ran and jumped over a table to hug his girlfriend.
“Ok. I’ve got it!” he said. “Go back to eating.” Noise was just beginning to fill the lunchroom, when Amy Ross, at another table, hurled a can coke at Patrick Williams. Patrick just managed to duck as the carbonated drink exploded on impact with the table. Wet, sticky Coca-Cola classic rained everywhere.
“Arrgh!” screamed Lauren Blankenship as she hit Holly Toidi over the head with her lunch tray, which was filled with food. Holly, whose real name was Andrew, was knocked unconscious from the impact.
Before anyone could react, Jordan Reeves surprisingly threw his lunch bag into the air and vaporized it with his phaser. John Barnes then back-flipped over the table and missed Sean’s head by mere inches. He did, however, hit Meagan Hall who quickly pulled out her phaser and stunned him on heavy stun. “Ouch,” said Sean, “That’ll leave him cold for at least an hour.”
Jordan ran out of the door, along with Brooke, to try not to get hit or hurt by anything else. Sean watched as pandemonium broke lose in the lunchroom. Fights, kissing, and flying objects filled the lunchroom. Sean pulled out his dependable phaser and fired a beam at level 5 intensity at a ceiling light, which exploded brilliantly. Everyone in the lunchroom sat down and got quiet. Sean smiled broadly.
Jordan Reeves was in his real room, rearranged yet again, when the PADD that Sean had given him began to beep loudly. He walked and picked up the PADD, which was under his bed. He then layback down on his bed and pressed the button the blinked on it.
“This is a class three security alert. Two intruders are in Pine and have accessed Replicator one.”
Jordan shot up and pressed his combadge. “Reeves to Sporman, come in.” Several seconds and there was no response. “Hey, Sean, are you there?” After another period of silence, Jordan said, “I’ll do it myself. Reeves to Hawking. One to beam up.” Jordan dematerialized in a bright shimmer of light.
On board the Hawking, the first thing Jordan saw was another starship nearby. “Good Gracious, Sean. Stop bringing Star Trek to life.” He sat down in the pilot’s seat. “Computer, is Sean Sporman aboard that ship?”
“Affirmative.” responded the computer.
“What is that ship for?” asked Jordan.
“It is the USS Hypothetical, a holographic simulator starship.”
Jordan rolled his eyes. “Of course, that is where Sean would be.”
“That information is not available.”
Jordan ignored that. “Take us down one thousand meters above the high school. One-quarter impulse power.” The federation shuttlecraft slowly turned and faced the beautiful blue ball called Earth. As the Hypothetical slipped out of sight, the Earth began to grow in size. “Sean only wished he could do this!” Jordan smiled as the shuttle entered the upper atmosphere.
Heather Allgood, who was playing a game with a couple of her friends, heard a faint beeping in her large living room. She knew immediately what it was. She picked up the Personal Access Display Device given to her by Sean and tapped it. “This is a class three security alert. Two intruders are in Pine and have accessed Replicator one.”
As if in response, her combadge beeped. “Jordan to Heather, are you there?”
“This is Heather. Where is Sean?”
“Sean is occupied at the moment. I’m coming down to Earth in the Hawking. Would you care to beam up?”
“Sure. I’m sure Sean would like me to be the hero.” Jordan sighed, as Heather dematerialized.
Onboard the Hypothetical, Sean began another holographic simulation…
Captain Sean Sporman sat down in the Captain’s chair of the USS Intrepid, an Intrepid-class starship. In the first officer’s chair sat Commander Jordan Reeves, a self-proclaimed Admiral. At tactical, Meagan Hall stood ready for anything. And, at the coon, control center for navigation and speed, the beautiful Heather Allgood sat.
Suddenly, Meagan’s console beeped. “Sean, a Romulan Preax-class frigate is heading for Earth.” On the viewscreen, the small un-cloaked Romulan frigate approached Earth’s atmosphere.
“Open hailing frequencies, Meagan.” ordered Sporman.
“Aye, sir.” Commander Reeves, for some reason, rolled his eyes.
On the viewscreen, the face of Romulan appeared. “This is Sub-Commander Keras of the Romulan Star Frigate Aerp. Do not interfere.”
“This is Captain Sean Sporman, of the Federation Temporal Starship Intrepid, guarding twentieth-century Earth. You are in violation of the Temporal Prime Directive.” The Romulan cut the channel in anger.
“Sean, the enemy ship is now heading toward us.”
“Red Alert.” ordered Sean. “Battlestations!” Klaxons began to blare and red lights began to flash as the Intrepid’s shields rose and her weapons charged.
Two phaser beams flew from the Aerp and impacted the Intrepid’s shields. “Shields at 88%!” reported Meagan.
“Return fire!” Jordan requested before Sean could. The Intrepid flew downward from the Aerp, firing phasers as she went. Then, a photon torpedo emanated from the aft torpedo bay. It smashed into the Aerp’s weakened shields. “Their shields are at 12%!”
On the screen, the enemy ship hurtled toward the Intrepid. “Computer, activate manual flight control.” A boxed console slowly emerged from the floor, and out of it came a joystick. Sean quickly grabbed it and tilted it to the right. He then pressed a special button—as the ship aligned with the Aerp. Two tricobalt explosives slammed into the Romulan vessel, which exploded instantly.
Cheering filled the bridge. Earth had been saved once more.
Back on the planet Earth, Jordan Reeves and Heather Allgood sat patiently in the shuttlecraft Hawking.
On a special display, the sensors on the shuttle monitored the location of June Gabert and Barbara Lowieque.
“Let us beam down.” said Jordan. The two of them walked to the Hawking’s transporter. “I’ll go first.” Jordan dematerialized and then Heather stepped onto the lone transporter pad. “Energize.” She said to the computer as she also dematerialized.
The two staff members dematerialized behind a small LCARS panel in the Secondary Office. “Sean never told us about this place!”
Jordan smiled. “He put two of the backup trailers together underground in what he called ‘space station fashion’. He converted everything into a computer room.”
Around them, LCARS wall panels by the dozens showed various data from school surveillance to the Hawking’s present orbit. Also, many PADDs littered desks and starfleet-model lockers held phasers, tricorders, and portable LCARS computers, PADDs and even replicated snacks.
“I see.” replied Heather with a smile. “An emergency shelter. Very smart he is.” Jordan rolled his eyes yet again.
“He said panel forty-seven tracked June’s and her allies’ movements.” Jordan said, as he walked to panel forty-seven.
“How did he do that?” asked Heather.
“When he used the memory—which apparently did not work on June and her follies—he placed starfleet sub-dermal homing beacons in them. That’s how he tracked them.”
Heather, out of curiosity, opened a cargo canister. She looked in it, screamed, and then fainted. Jordan ran over to see what it was. It cooed as he picked it up. “A tribble!”
“Computer, activate emergency medical hologram.”
Suddenly, he appeared. “Please state the nature of the medical emergency.” Jordan pointed at Heather. “What happened?”
“She saw a tribble and fainted.”
The hologram picked up the cute furball, when it suddenly got quiet. “Well!” he exclaimed as he handed back to Jordan. “It doesn’t like me!” The hologram pulled a medical tricorder and hypospray out of a cargo cabinet. The tricorder beeped as he ran it up and down her body. “Well, mild shock seems to be all that is wrong.” He then placed they hypospray to her neck. “That should take care of her.”
“Ohhh…” Heather said groggily as she got up from the floor of the Secondary Office. Seeing the tribble again, she screamed, but did not faint. “What is it?”
The holographic doctor smiled. “She could have a talent for opera.” Heather and Jordan both sighed. “It’s a tribble. A harmless lifeform discovered at Space Station K-7. As I said, they are mainly harmless—except when they breed.”
“Is this hologram always this annoying!?” Heather asked.
“Don’t look at me. Sean progrramed him!”
“Maybe he can help us.” suggested Heather.
“With what?” The doctor smiled at the chance to assist.
“Two hostile teenage female have invaded the main level of the school and are planning to tear it up using replicated phasers. We—“
“Far be it from me to turn down the opportunity to become a hero!” The doctor interrupted. “Put on the holo-necklace and let’s go!”
“Ok.” Jordan put on the holo-necklace and transferred the doctor’s program to it. They headed to the secondary office’s transporter platform, which had the capability to transport four. “Doctor? Would you like to do the honors?” The hologram smiled again as he entered the transport sequence. He then walked back onto the pad with the two others. “Energize.”
Sean Sporman drank a sip of replicated Pepsi as he sat on the bridge of the Hypothetical. His parents were still shopping at Wal-Mart and would not reach home for twenty-two minutes and nine seconds after they left the parking lot according to the Hypothetical’s computers.
After finishing off the sweetened carbonated beverage, he entered the turbolift. “Main holobay.” he said as the doors closed.
It took him only a few seconds to reach the massive holodeck. “Computer, one final simulation before I leave. What if…?”
Sean Sporman drove in his dad’s Chevrolet Corsica or USS Defiant on Interstate 59. He saw the sign ‘Hueytown 2000’ ¼ mile, exit S147. He maneuvered his car into the exit lane and was now off the exit. The ramp did a long curve, which turned and was now going in the opposite direction of the way he was heading earlier.
He could start to see it. A massive transparent dome that, unlike the amusement park Visionland could actually be seen from the road. He approached at 25 miles per hour.
Suddenly, his vehicle changed from a slightly outdated Earth car, to a Federation Mark 11-ground transport. Smiling, he opened hailing frequencies. “Hueytown 2000, this is Sean Sporman, requesting permission to enter premises.”
“This is dockmaster, welcome Principal Sporman.” As he approached the dome, an opening formed, and two doors flipped back at eighty-five degrees, allowing the high-tech vehicle to pass through.
Slowly, he brought his vehicle to a stop at Monorail Intercept. As the federation transport was lowered to a secure area slowly; Sean walked into a monorail car and sat in the front seat, surrounded by LCARS panels. The monorail’s doors closed with a pssss and it began to move. “This could be a ride at an amusement park!” exclaimed Sean as the monorail gained speed, flying toward the ground. On the left, he could see many recreational devices, from Parisse’s Square courts, hockey rinks, swing sets and much more. To the right, he saw a parking deck reserved for the teachers and their primitive vehicles. As the monorail car gained altitude once more, a junction could be seen. The monorail came to a stop. “Please choose direction.” a polite female voice from the computer asked him.
“Let’s see. To the left is the grade buildings and lobby. To the right is...We’ll go right!” The monorail began to accelerate once more. A massive building, which could be seen from the road, grew larger and larger. On the top of it, sat a Galaxy-class starship, the Enterprise herself! Wow! Thought Sean.
The monorail entered the huge building at about the eighth floor. It quickly came to a stop, but thanks to inertial dampers, did not feel bumpy in the slightest. The doors opened with the same sound with which they closed, and Sean exited. He headed to a turbolift door, but it did not open. “Unable to comply. All turbolifts are temporarily offline.”
“Well,” said Sean, “It looks like I’ll have the use the slow escalators.” He then got on the first escalator, which led to the ninth floor. However, his real destination was on the top floor, the bridge.
Jordan Reeves, accompanied by Heather Allgood and the Emergency Medical Hologram hid behind Pine as they saw June and Barbara emerge. “Well, well, well.” June began. “It seems that Sean’s security system is a flop.” Lifting her phaser rifle, she shot one of Mr. Seller’s windows, which shattered instantly. Once more she fired in the window, and left a scorchmark on the old paint.
Jordan ran out of the corner. “Stop right there!” he said, pointing his cricket phaser at the foe. Barbara Loweique fired her Type 1B phaser, also used by Laurie Crain at Jordan, but it missed. And, Heather emerged from behind the window and fired, but she missed. “Computer. Prepare for trouble.” Suddenly, the unexpected appeared.
A human male with blue hair began, “The motto!”
The woman with the long red hair continued for her friend. “Prepare for trouble!”
“And, make it double!”
“To protect the world from devastation!”
“To unite all peoples within our nation!”
“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”
“To extend our reach to the stars above!”
“Jesse!”
“James!”
“Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!”
“Surrender now or prepare to fight!”
“Meowth, that’s right!” A cat-like animal executed an excellent triple backflip.
June laughed at the same time Jesse did. “You think I was in there destroying lockers! My masterpiece of holographic programming, Team Rocket!”
Jesse, the one with the red hair interrupted June. “This time we’re not going to get Pikachu.”
James continued. “Since you have such great stuff, we are going get you!” He then threw two poke’balls toward the potential heroes. “Weezing, go!” The evolved form of Koffing emerged. “Gas attack, now!”
“Weez!” Gas began to choke the air around Heather and Jordan.
However, the Emergency Medical Hologram was unaffected. “Ha!” he said. “Take that!”
“Oh, yeah!” exclaimed Jesse. “We’ll have the problem called you licked! Likitung, go!” The pink Poke’mon emerged from her Poke’ball. She licked the doctor, who fell backwards from the force of the impact. “Ah…”
“You cannot defeat us!” Jordan announced. “Computer, sleepy one.” Suddenly, it appeared.
“Jigglypuff!”
Team Rocket was no longer smiling. “We have to go!” James screamed.
“But, first, a poem!” said Jesse. “Team Rocket tried to pursue a dream. And, now…we scream!” The two ran and then disappeared when they left the range of June’s holographic necklace.
But, Jigglypuff pulled out her microphone and began to sing. “Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff. Jigg-al-ly-puff. Jigglypuff. Jig-a-ly.” She ceased singing, and the noticed that everyone around her was asleep. She puffed herself up. “Puff!” and then pulled the top off of her microphone, which revealed a dry erase marker. She then began to draw on everyone’s faces.
“Sporman’s Log, Saturday entry two. While I enjoyed myself in the holographic environments of the Federation Holoship Hypothetical, June Gabert and Barbara Lowieque invaded the school and planned to destroy it. However, thanks to the brilliant thinking of Jordan with the assistance of Heather and the Emergency Medical Hologram, the attempt was averted. Repair teams have been sent and I’m pleased to hear that the secondary office was a success.”
Jordan Reeves emerged from the Boy’s restroom after cleaning the marker that Jigglypuff’s hologram drew off of his face. “Never, ever mention Jigglypuff again.”
Sean Sporman smiled. His parents had understood the need for him to check on what was now his school. “Come on, we have to do something.” Sean activated the holographic necklace as the two friends walked outside, where Heather and the Emergency Medical Hologram were.
“…And you can bring people back from the dead?” Sean heard Heather say.
“If they have only been dead less than one earth hour and the damage is not too severe, yes.” The hologram responded.
“What about for four weeks after?” asked Heather with a sly smile.
“I’m a doctor, not a god…even if I would like to be.” He said, as Sean met them. Suddenly, Sean said. “Computer, prepare for trouble.” The other three gasped.
“Prepare for—“ The hologram of Jesse stopped when she saw Sean’s phaser bazooka. Sean fired at the ground just in front of them and Team Rocket was hurled into the air.
“Ah! Looks like Team Rocket is blasting off again!” Sean then pulled an isolinear chip out of his belt and inserted it into June’s holographic necklace.
“Computer, transfer all programs created by June Gabert to Isolinear chip 47-2209.”
After a few seconds, the computer responded. “Transfer complete.”
“Sean, what did you do that for?”
Sean smiled at Jordan’s question. “From your description of the event, they didn’t have a proper exit.”
Jordan rolled his eyes. “You can’t do anything without—“
“Hey, Sean!” a female voice interrupted.
Sean turned to see Liz Larson with one of her friends, Cathy Fredrick and smiled.
“Hey, Liz and Cathy.” Sean responded.
“Heather, I think that Tribble wants to say hey.” She ran away, toward the secret entrance to the secondary office.
“So,” Sean was going to ask what he could do for them, but smiled and changed his mind. “Would you like to see space?” Quickly he tapped the combadge on his starfleet uniform. “Sporman to Hypothetical, Three to beam to the bridge.”
On the small, utilitarian bridge of the United Space Ship Hypothetical three humans joined the ones that were already there.
“We are here, Mrs. Lindsay.” Sean said. The two blonde girls that had just beamed onto the ship were still looking around.
“So!” Liz exclaimed. “It is real!”
Andy Blackerby smiled. “Yes and welcome to the Hypothetical.”
Sean Sporman proudly sat down in the Captain’s chair. “Mr. Superintendent, how should we proceed?”
“You are in command. Proceed as you will.” Sean smiled.
“We will proceed around the moon and then cloak the ship one thousand meters above the school so that it can not be found.”
Blackerby and Lindsay replied at the same time, “Good idea!” Sean laughed at the amusing coincidence.
“Computer, set course for Luna, ¾ impulse power!” The federation ship broke orbit and headed at 1/6th the speed of light to Earth’s only moon, Luna…
Next Time on Gopher’s Gateway:
Hueytown High is visited by the Camden Kids…
The Hueytown Olympics continue…
And, a new plan is discussed at the Board…
All this and more on the next exciting episode!
-------------------------------------------------------------
:)
“Flights of Fancy”
Episode 5 of Gopher’s Gateway
By Sean Sporman
Prologue
Sean Sporman smiled as Mario flew off of the platform. Quickly pressing the L button on the analog control unit, “Jigglypuff!” emanated from the unit’s speakers.
“This game’s winner is…Jigglypuff!” Sean smiled and danced around a little bit. “Alright! My 100th Super Smash Brothers victory as Jigglypuff!” His parents had gone to Wal-Mart Supercenter in Bessemer to buy some groceries, since Sean mainly controlled the replicator and they did not know about it. As Sean deactivated his Nintendo Sixty-Four, he tapped the combadge on his cleaned Starfleet uniform. “Sporman to Hawking, beam up one!” He dematerialized in a shimmer of light.
Jordan Reeves exclaimed victory when his brother missed a shot at Horse. Thanks to that, he had won. He had been practicing to prepare for the Hueytown Olympics should he be selected in Horse.
The week had been nuts. But, now it was the weekend. It wasn’t that he disliked Sean, but it seemed that every day something was being blown up or some girl liked him. But, hey, with the shields he didn’t have to worry about Sean’s enemies anymore.
“Ok! Round two!” Glynn Reeves exclaimed as he hurled the basketball toward the goal. Jordan was glad he wasn’t playing in a Starfleet uniform.
Sean did not expect to see what he saw. “Sensors, confirm?”
“Confirmed.” The computer in the shuttle responded. “Federation Holoship, type 3. NX-75115.” The starship was saucer-shaped and two warp nacelles jutted from the top of the starship.
“Computer, are it’s systems online?” Sean asked, as the shuttle moved closer to the prototype vessel.
“Affirmative. All systems are at peak efficiency. However, shields have been damaged, they are now repaired.” Sean smiled as he activated the shuttle transporter. “Transport me to the Holoship.” For the second time, he dematerialized.
The inside of the Holoship looked just like the inside of the holodeck on Star Trek: The Next Generation. “Welcome to the USS Hypothetical. This ship is used to test any hypothetical situation by immersing the user in a complete interactive holographic environment. Remember, anything is possible.” Sean smiled, reminded of a dream he had a couple of days earlier.
“Computer. Transfer the database from the shuttle Hawking to the main computer.” The computer beeped and about ten seconds later, “Transfer complete.”
“Load holographic representation of Hueytown High School. Location: Main Office.” Instantly, the main office, complete with the modifications, appeared around him.
“Computer, hypothetical situation one. Using records from Sporman Database, What if the inbiots did not exist at Pittman in the eighth grade. And, Mr. Redcross still let me do full weather updates. Also, delete Mrs. Swanson. Use all other people and teachers.”
“Understood. Simulation beginning now.”
“Wait a second…a couple more variables…”
“Good morning. Today’s date is September 14th, 1998. Latest Observations in Birmingham are partly cloudy with a temperature of fifty-four degrees. Today’s forecast is Fog and scattered clouds early with a high of seventy-four. The pick city of the day is Detroit, Michigan with Snow Showers and a high of thirty-seven. Tiffany Kynard picked today’s pick city. The word of the Day, picked by Lacey Sullivan, is Cookie. Thank you and have a nice day. This is Sean Sporman, signing off.”
Mister Redcross then picked up the microphone. “Thank you very much, Sean. We look forward to your midday report. Have a nice day, Pittman Family.” Sean smiled as he walked out of the office, knowing this holo-sim rocked. He proceeded to Mrs. Lafoy’s room without incident. It was one the smallest classes he knew. Only eight people. And, almost all of them were his friends, including Jordan. “Good Job, Sean.” Mrs. Lafoy said. “So, is everyone ready for the Free Day?” Vibrant cheers filled the room and were also heard in Mrs. Williams’s room, which was next door. Apparently, she had just announced the same thing.
“Good. Let’s go. And, remember try to be nice to the ninth graders from Hueytown.” Sean smiled as they exited the room.
“So, Sean. You get to see Rachel again?” Jordan said, rolling his eyes.
“And Meagan and Heather too!” Jordan’s eyebrow arched slightly and then he shook his head as the passed through the door.
Sean looked, and saw hundreds of students. They were having fun without violating the rules. Just like it should be, Sean added in thought. Allen Johnston walked up to Sean. “Hey, Sean, where’s your girlfriend who is so crazy about you?”
Sean actually had no idea what he was talking about. “I don’t know. What’s her SSC name?” SSC referred to the Spormanworld Supreme Committee, a group of Sean’s friends in the eighth grade.
“Kynard Omega-47.” Sean let his mouth hang open for a second in shock. “You mean, Tiffany, likes me?”
“Yes. You would attract the beautiful one on the A Honor-Roll.” Allen remarked. Apparently, one of his variables had caused that particular variable. Cool, he thought. He then turned to Jordan and smiled.
“So, Commander, where is your girlfriend?” Sean tried not to giggle.
“Mrs. Engage, as you call her? I don’t know. Some people think she is annoying…” As Jordan walked off to talk to Mrs. Lafoy, Sean let out the giggle he had contained. Jenny Gable, a friend of his in the seventh grade said hi.
“Hello.” Sean responded.
“You know—“ Jenny was interrupted by something she saw falling from the sky. Sean smiled as the things began to fall by the thousands. Then, something different fell. “Snow!” Sean exclaimed.
Jordan, a few meters away, turned around. “Buckets of chicken also!” All too suddenly, Mr. Chandler picked up the chair he was sitting in and threw it. It shattered as it impacted in the grass. But, no one reacted. Instead, Allen Johnston hurled a tennis ball, which smacked Tyler Colvin in the back. He fell down, unconscious from the impact.
“Yeehaa!” exclaimed Rachel Waters from another side of the open courtyard, as she bounced on the huge plastic “bopper ball” that lie between her legs. But, before she got far, the ball popped and she flew up several feet. Sean said, “You’re blasting off again!”
Jordan, who had actually watched Poke’mon at this time, seemed slightly surprised. “You watch Poke’mon?”
Sean began to reply, but was interrupted by a call from Heather Allgood. She ran in his direction, dodging snowballs and other various objects. “Sean. What is going on here? Did you predict this?”
“Yes.” Sean responded. “Of course I did.” Suddenly, Heather grabbed him in a quick hug. “Oh! I knew you would bring snow!” Sean smiled as he saw Jordan roll his eyes. All of the sudden, Tiffany Kynard popped out from behind a tree.
“Hey!” Tiffany exclaimed, as she adjusted her glasses and put down the book she was reading. “I’m going out with him!” Sean was riveted to the scene. Meanwhile, Jordan fought a battle of a different kind. He had tripped in the accumulating snow. “Hey!” Amy Ross exclaimed, running toward Jordan. “It’s a real snowman!” Jordan only laughed, shaking his head.
Tiffany threw the first punch, but Heather dodged. “I wish I had a phaser!” The two girls exclaimed at once. Sean smiled quite largely. “Thank Spormanworld for holo-sims!” He exclaimed, but no one appeared to have heard. Before the fight could be settled, a snowball flew and hit Tiffany in the head, getting her hair very wet.
“Hey, who in Tiffanyville did that?” she exclaimed.
“I did!” exclaimed Allen Johnston. And, the biggest snowball battle in Pittman history began.
Superintendent Andy Blackerby sat in the real office of the real Jefferson County Board of Education. He was examining some preliminary design concepts for Project: Hueytown 2000 that Sean had e-mailed him. They were quite interesting. He then heard a knock at his door.
“Come in!” He said brightly.
The assistant superintendent, not quite trusting of Sean and his friends running a school, entered. “Hello, sir.” He said in a monotone that indicated he was not very happy.
“Come now!” The superintendent yelped happily. “You mean to tell me that you are still sore about Sean and his friends running the school? Haven’t you heard anything I have said?”
“Of course I have!” The assistant snapped then hesitated a few seconds to calm down. “It’s just that…”
“What?” Blackerby inquired to his assistant.
“When have students ever commanded a school?” the assistant finished.
“Exactly! It’s a fresh new approach to things for Y2K and later, the new millennium. And, with that wondrous technology, he could change the face of education forever. We could be credible again! Optimism, my friend! Optimism!”
The assistant backed down and left the room silently. Blackerby sat down, slightly worried about his assistant. However, he quickly turned his attention back to the design plans.
Sean’s Starfleet uniform had been made wet from snowball attacks, ripped, and his cheek still had a lipstick spot on it. He quickly went to one of the crew quarters aboard the Hypothetical and dried off. He left the lipstick spot on though. He was happy, and now back in the main holodeck. “Computer, hypothetical situation two. Place: Hueytown High School. Time: This Monday. Variables: What if…”
Heather Allgood walked down the steps into Mr. Morrison’s room, carrying a note from Mrs. Lindsay to him. She handed the note to him with a happy greeting and began to head out of the door, when she noticed Sean and Jordan in the same room.
She waved at him, when all of the sudden a round bomb crashed thru the window and landed only inches from where Sean sat. It exploded as Heather ran out of the door to escape the blast.
In Hueytown Juvenile, the real one, June Gabert and Barbara Loweique sneaked through a tertiary hall. They had finally managed to escape from their cell.
June froze as a patrol guard walked by. They ducked behind a door, unseen, and the guard passed by. “He’s headed to our cell.” whispered Loweique. “It won’t be long until they know we have escaped.”
They had made it to Exit 3. After passing through the door, they were outside of the building where they had been held for the last week. “And, just in time for the weekend.” June said as they began into the woods. “Now, we’ll go to the school and steal a phaser, then we’ll lie low until Monday.”
Loweique smiled. “And, then boomie!” June rolled her eyes, but the two girls proceeded through the woods.
“Acting principal’s log. Heather Allgood speaking. Sean and Jordan have apparently been captured by June, or someone allied with her. I, with Meagan’s help, as well as a few others, must rescue not only that silly Jordan. We must also rescue the boy we both like. End Log.”
Brooke Thompson walked in with both good and bad news. “Sean Two is offline. But, the shuttle’s sensors detect him in a house in Hoover.”
Heather charged her phaser using one of the ports installed in the main office. “We’ll beam in there and rescue Sporman and Jordan.”
“Hey! That rhymes!” John Barnes said. Meagan then clobbered him over the head with a PADD.
“No time for silly remarks. Let’s go.” The two girls also accompanied by both Brookes, and Meagan Harris beamed up to the Hawking. They then beamed right into the house where Sean and Jordan were being held.
They saw two humans and…
“Meowth! Who are you!” A small cat-like animal said in perfect English.
“I bet you twerps are here to rescue that other twerp. We’ve got Pikachu and your boy friend.” Meagan and Heather briefly smiled, then raised their phasers to the unknown humans.
“But, first,” A human male with blue hair began, “The motto!”
The woman with the long red hair continued for her friend. “Prepare for trouble!”
“And, make it double!”
“To protect the world from devastation!”
“To unite all peoples within our nation!”
“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”
“To extend our reach to the stars above!”
“Jesse!”
“James!”
“Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!”
“Surrender now or prepare to fight!”
“Meowth, that’s right!” The cat-like animal did a surprising double backflip.
“Ok.” The one named James said. “Now fight us!”
Jesse quickly hit him with a fan. “Come on! Why did you have to say that?” Heather quickly fired her phaser at the Meowth. He fell backward, stunned. In response, Jesse quickly pulled a Pokeball out of her pocket.
“Likitung, Go!” said Jesse as she hurled the ball within inches of Meagan and Heather. Meanwhile, Brooke Thompson and Meagan Harris snuck around to untie Sean and Jordan.
The small pink Poke’mon prepared to attack Heather, when Meagan threw down her phaser, set to overload. As the phaser’s whine grew louder, Jesse and James gasped. Then, it exploded in a bright flash of light.
“No! We were so close to capturing that Pikachu!” Jesse said as the three of them began to fly through the air.
“Humiliating!” exclaimed James. “Beaten by people that didn’t have Poke’mon!”
Then as they looked up, they both said, “Team Rocket’s blasting off again!”
As Sean stood up and shook hands with Misty, Heather said, “So, you had better thank me!” Sean smiled broadly.
On the real planet called Earth, June Gabert accompanied by her friend, Barbara Lowieque approached Hueytown High School. As June began to walk down the main concrete path that led into the school, she was greeted with a force field. “Ow!” She stepped back in reflex.
“Has a he put a shield around the school?” asked Lowieque as June walked up to a window that led into the office. Again, she was repelled by a force field.
“It seems that way.” June replied, but then saw a way in. “I see it!”
“What?” asked Lowieque. “A way in?”
“Yes. The door into Pine is open.” The two girls then proceeded to trespass into school property.
Sean Sporman checked the time using the chronometer onboard the Hypothetical. His parents were still not back yet. So, he decided to run another holographic simulation…
Sean Sporman sat in the lunchroom of Hueytown High, expecting anything. He had heard several rumors of possible events from forced kissing to a food throw. Nearby sat Jordan Reeves and Brooke Thompson, slowly eating their bagged lunches. “So,” began Brooke as she swallowed a bite of P-brand brownie, “Do you think any of that stuff will happen, Jordan?”
Jordan, who happened to be eating a homemade brownie made by his mother, smiled. “Could be. I hope that no one gets hurt.” Just then, Jacob Allison burst into the door. He screamed, “Where is my love?” Sean giggled, as the lunchroom grew very quiet. “Where is Courtney!” Jordan and Brooke began to laugh out loud, as Jacob looked down each row.
“Here I am.” Courtney Gage, a female freshman said as she stood up. Jacob ran and jumped over a table to hug his girlfriend.
“Ok. I’ve got it!” he said. “Go back to eating.” Noise was just beginning to fill the lunchroom, when Amy Ross, at another table, hurled a can coke at Patrick Williams. Patrick just managed to duck as the carbonated drink exploded on impact with the table. Wet, sticky Coca-Cola classic rained everywhere.
“Arrgh!” screamed Lauren Blankenship as she hit Holly Toidi over the head with her lunch tray, which was filled with food. Holly, whose real name was Andrew, was knocked unconscious from the impact.
Before anyone could react, Jordan Reeves surprisingly threw his lunch bag into the air and vaporized it with his phaser. John Barnes then back-flipped over the table and missed Sean’s head by mere inches. He did, however, hit Meagan Hall who quickly pulled out her phaser and stunned him on heavy stun. “Ouch,” said Sean, “That’ll leave him cold for at least an hour.”
Jordan ran out of the door, along with Brooke, to try not to get hit or hurt by anything else. Sean watched as pandemonium broke lose in the lunchroom. Fights, kissing, and flying objects filled the lunchroom. Sean pulled out his dependable phaser and fired a beam at level 5 intensity at a ceiling light, which exploded brilliantly. Everyone in the lunchroom sat down and got quiet. Sean smiled broadly.
Jordan Reeves was in his real room, rearranged yet again, when the PADD that Sean had given him began to beep loudly. He walked and picked up the PADD, which was under his bed. He then layback down on his bed and pressed the button the blinked on it.
“This is a class three security alert. Two intruders are in Pine and have accessed Replicator one.”
Jordan shot up and pressed his combadge. “Reeves to Sporman, come in.” Several seconds and there was no response. “Hey, Sean, are you there?” After another period of silence, Jordan said, “I’ll do it myself. Reeves to Hawking. One to beam up.” Jordan dematerialized in a bright shimmer of light.
On board the Hawking, the first thing Jordan saw was another starship nearby. “Good Gracious, Sean. Stop bringing Star Trek to life.” He sat down in the pilot’s seat. “Computer, is Sean Sporman aboard that ship?”
“Affirmative.” responded the computer.
“What is that ship for?” asked Jordan.
“It is the USS Hypothetical, a holographic simulator starship.”
Jordan rolled his eyes. “Of course, that is where Sean would be.”
“That information is not available.”
Jordan ignored that. “Take us down one thousand meters above the high school. One-quarter impulse power.” The federation shuttlecraft slowly turned and faced the beautiful blue ball called Earth. As the Hypothetical slipped out of sight, the Earth began to grow in size. “Sean only wished he could do this!” Jordan smiled as the shuttle entered the upper atmosphere.
Heather Allgood, who was playing a game with a couple of her friends, heard a faint beeping in her large living room. She knew immediately what it was. She picked up the Personal Access Display Device given to her by Sean and tapped it. “This is a class three security alert. Two intruders are in Pine and have accessed Replicator one.”
As if in response, her combadge beeped. “Jordan to Heather, are you there?”
“This is Heather. Where is Sean?”
“Sean is occupied at the moment. I’m coming down to Earth in the Hawking. Would you care to beam up?”
“Sure. I’m sure Sean would like me to be the hero.” Jordan sighed, as Heather dematerialized.
Onboard the Hypothetical, Sean began another holographic simulation…
Captain Sean Sporman sat down in the Captain’s chair of the USS Intrepid, an Intrepid-class starship. In the first officer’s chair sat Commander Jordan Reeves, a self-proclaimed Admiral. At tactical, Meagan Hall stood ready for anything. And, at the coon, control center for navigation and speed, the beautiful Heather Allgood sat.
Suddenly, Meagan’s console beeped. “Sean, a Romulan Preax-class frigate is heading for Earth.” On the viewscreen, the small un-cloaked Romulan frigate approached Earth’s atmosphere.
“Open hailing frequencies, Meagan.” ordered Sporman.
“Aye, sir.” Commander Reeves, for some reason, rolled his eyes.
On the viewscreen, the face of Romulan appeared. “This is Sub-Commander Keras of the Romulan Star Frigate Aerp. Do not interfere.”
“This is Captain Sean Sporman, of the Federation Temporal Starship Intrepid, guarding twentieth-century Earth. You are in violation of the Temporal Prime Directive.” The Romulan cut the channel in anger.
“Sean, the enemy ship is now heading toward us.”
“Red Alert.” ordered Sean. “Battlestations!” Klaxons began to blare and red lights began to flash as the Intrepid’s shields rose and her weapons charged.
Two phaser beams flew from the Aerp and impacted the Intrepid’s shields. “Shields at 88%!” reported Meagan.
“Return fire!” Jordan requested before Sean could. The Intrepid flew downward from the Aerp, firing phasers as she went. Then, a photon torpedo emanated from the aft torpedo bay. It smashed into the Aerp’s weakened shields. “Their shields are at 12%!”
On the screen, the enemy ship hurtled toward the Intrepid. “Computer, activate manual flight control.” A boxed console slowly emerged from the floor, and out of it came a joystick. Sean quickly grabbed it and tilted it to the right. He then pressed a special button—as the ship aligned with the Aerp. Two tricobalt explosives slammed into the Romulan vessel, which exploded instantly.
Cheering filled the bridge. Earth had been saved once more.
Back on the planet Earth, Jordan Reeves and Heather Allgood sat patiently in the shuttlecraft Hawking.
On a special display, the sensors on the shuttle monitored the location of June Gabert and Barbara Lowieque.
“Let us beam down.” said Jordan. The two of them walked to the Hawking’s transporter. “I’ll go first.” Jordan dematerialized and then Heather stepped onto the lone transporter pad. “Energize.” She said to the computer as she also dematerialized.
The two staff members dematerialized behind a small LCARS panel in the Secondary Office. “Sean never told us about this place!”
Jordan smiled. “He put two of the backup trailers together underground in what he called ‘space station fashion’. He converted everything into a computer room.”
Around them, LCARS wall panels by the dozens showed various data from school surveillance to the Hawking’s present orbit. Also, many PADDs littered desks and starfleet-model lockers held phasers, tricorders, and portable LCARS computers, PADDs and even replicated snacks.
“I see.” replied Heather with a smile. “An emergency shelter. Very smart he is.” Jordan rolled his eyes yet again.
“He said panel forty-seven tracked June’s and her allies’ movements.” Jordan said, as he walked to panel forty-seven.
“How did he do that?” asked Heather.
“When he used the memory—which apparently did not work on June and her follies—he placed starfleet sub-dermal homing beacons in them. That’s how he tracked them.”
Heather, out of curiosity, opened a cargo canister. She looked in it, screamed, and then fainted. Jordan ran over to see what it was. It cooed as he picked it up. “A tribble!”
“Computer, activate emergency medical hologram.”
Suddenly, he appeared. “Please state the nature of the medical emergency.” Jordan pointed at Heather. “What happened?”
“She saw a tribble and fainted.”
The hologram picked up the cute furball, when it suddenly got quiet. “Well!” he exclaimed as he handed back to Jordan. “It doesn’t like me!” The hologram pulled a medical tricorder and hypospray out of a cargo cabinet. The tricorder beeped as he ran it up and down her body. “Well, mild shock seems to be all that is wrong.” He then placed they hypospray to her neck. “That should take care of her.”
“Ohhh…” Heather said groggily as she got up from the floor of the Secondary Office. Seeing the tribble again, she screamed, but did not faint. “What is it?”
The holographic doctor smiled. “She could have a talent for opera.” Heather and Jordan both sighed. “It’s a tribble. A harmless lifeform discovered at Space Station K-7. As I said, they are mainly harmless—except when they breed.”
“Is this hologram always this annoying!?” Heather asked.
“Don’t look at me. Sean progrramed him!”
“Maybe he can help us.” suggested Heather.
“With what?” The doctor smiled at the chance to assist.
“Two hostile teenage female have invaded the main level of the school and are planning to tear it up using replicated phasers. We—“
“Far be it from me to turn down the opportunity to become a hero!” The doctor interrupted. “Put on the holo-necklace and let’s go!”
“Ok.” Jordan put on the holo-necklace and transferred the doctor’s program to it. They headed to the secondary office’s transporter platform, which had the capability to transport four. “Doctor? Would you like to do the honors?” The hologram smiled again as he entered the transport sequence. He then walked back onto the pad with the two others. “Energize.”
Sean Sporman drank a sip of replicated Pepsi as he sat on the bridge of the Hypothetical. His parents were still shopping at Wal-Mart and would not reach home for twenty-two minutes and nine seconds after they left the parking lot according to the Hypothetical’s computers.
After finishing off the sweetened carbonated beverage, he entered the turbolift. “Main holobay.” he said as the doors closed.
It took him only a few seconds to reach the massive holodeck. “Computer, one final simulation before I leave. What if…?”
Sean Sporman drove in his dad’s Chevrolet Corsica or USS Defiant on Interstate 59. He saw the sign ‘Hueytown 2000’ ¼ mile, exit S147. He maneuvered his car into the exit lane and was now off the exit. The ramp did a long curve, which turned and was now going in the opposite direction of the way he was heading earlier.
He could start to see it. A massive transparent dome that, unlike the amusement park Visionland could actually be seen from the road. He approached at 25 miles per hour.
Suddenly, his vehicle changed from a slightly outdated Earth car, to a Federation Mark 11-ground transport. Smiling, he opened hailing frequencies. “Hueytown 2000, this is Sean Sporman, requesting permission to enter premises.”
“This is dockmaster, welcome Principal Sporman.” As he approached the dome, an opening formed, and two doors flipped back at eighty-five degrees, allowing the high-tech vehicle to pass through.
Slowly, he brought his vehicle to a stop at Monorail Intercept. As the federation transport was lowered to a secure area slowly; Sean walked into a monorail car and sat in the front seat, surrounded by LCARS panels. The monorail’s doors closed with a pssss and it began to move. “This could be a ride at an amusement park!” exclaimed Sean as the monorail gained speed, flying toward the ground. On the left, he could see many recreational devices, from Parisse’s Square courts, hockey rinks, swing sets and much more. To the right, he saw a parking deck reserved for the teachers and their primitive vehicles. As the monorail car gained altitude once more, a junction could be seen. The monorail came to a stop. “Please choose direction.” a polite female voice from the computer asked him.
“Let’s see. To the left is the grade buildings and lobby. To the right is...We’ll go right!” The monorail began to accelerate once more. A massive building, which could be seen from the road, grew larger and larger. On the top of it, sat a Galaxy-class starship, the Enterprise herself! Wow! Thought Sean.
The monorail entered the huge building at about the eighth floor. It quickly came to a stop, but thanks to inertial dampers, did not feel bumpy in the slightest. The doors opened with the same sound with which they closed, and Sean exited. He headed to a turbolift door, but it did not open. “Unable to comply. All turbolifts are temporarily offline.”
“Well,” said Sean, “It looks like I’ll have the use the slow escalators.” He then got on the first escalator, which led to the ninth floor. However, his real destination was on the top floor, the bridge.
Jordan Reeves, accompanied by Heather Allgood and the Emergency Medical Hologram hid behind Pine as they saw June and Barbara emerge. “Well, well, well.” June began. “It seems that Sean’s security system is a flop.” Lifting her phaser rifle, she shot one of Mr. Seller’s windows, which shattered instantly. Once more she fired in the window, and left a scorchmark on the old paint.
Jordan ran out of the corner. “Stop right there!” he said, pointing his cricket phaser at the foe. Barbara Loweique fired her Type 1B phaser, also used by Laurie Crain at Jordan, but it missed. And, Heather emerged from behind the window and fired, but she missed. “Computer. Prepare for trouble.” Suddenly, the unexpected appeared.
A human male with blue hair began, “The motto!”
The woman with the long red hair continued for her friend. “Prepare for trouble!”
“And, make it double!”
“To protect the world from devastation!”
“To unite all peoples within our nation!”
“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”
“To extend our reach to the stars above!”
“Jesse!”
“James!”
“Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!”
“Surrender now or prepare to fight!”
“Meowth, that’s right!” A cat-like animal executed an excellent triple backflip.
June laughed at the same time Jesse did. “You think I was in there destroying lockers! My masterpiece of holographic programming, Team Rocket!”
Jesse, the one with the red hair interrupted June. “This time we’re not going to get Pikachu.”
James continued. “Since you have such great stuff, we are going get you!” He then threw two poke’balls toward the potential heroes. “Weezing, go!” The evolved form of Koffing emerged. “Gas attack, now!”
“Weez!” Gas began to choke the air around Heather and Jordan.
However, the Emergency Medical Hologram was unaffected. “Ha!” he said. “Take that!”
“Oh, yeah!” exclaimed Jesse. “We’ll have the problem called you licked! Likitung, go!” The pink Poke’mon emerged from her Poke’ball. She licked the doctor, who fell backwards from the force of the impact. “Ah…”
“You cannot defeat us!” Jordan announced. “Computer, sleepy one.” Suddenly, it appeared.
“Jigglypuff!”
Team Rocket was no longer smiling. “We have to go!” James screamed.
“But, first, a poem!” said Jesse. “Team Rocket tried to pursue a dream. And, now…we scream!” The two ran and then disappeared when they left the range of June’s holographic necklace.
But, Jigglypuff pulled out her microphone and began to sing. “Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff. Jigg-al-ly-puff. Jigglypuff. Jig-a-ly.” She ceased singing, and the noticed that everyone around her was asleep. She puffed herself up. “Puff!” and then pulled the top off of her microphone, which revealed a dry erase marker. She then began to draw on everyone’s faces.
“Sporman’s Log, Saturday entry two. While I enjoyed myself in the holographic environments of the Federation Holoship Hypothetical, June Gabert and Barbara Lowieque invaded the school and planned to destroy it. However, thanks to the brilliant thinking of Jordan with the assistance of Heather and the Emergency Medical Hologram, the attempt was averted. Repair teams have been sent and I’m pleased to hear that the secondary office was a success.”
Jordan Reeves emerged from the Boy’s restroom after cleaning the marker that Jigglypuff’s hologram drew off of his face. “Never, ever mention Jigglypuff again.”
Sean Sporman smiled. His parents had understood the need for him to check on what was now his school. “Come on, we have to do something.” Sean activated the holographic necklace as the two friends walked outside, where Heather and the Emergency Medical Hologram were.
“…And you can bring people back from the dead?” Sean heard Heather say.
“If they have only been dead less than one earth hour and the damage is not too severe, yes.” The hologram responded.
“What about for four weeks after?” asked Heather with a sly smile.
“I’m a doctor, not a god…even if I would like to be.” He said, as Sean met them. Suddenly, Sean said. “Computer, prepare for trouble.” The other three gasped.
“Prepare for—“ The hologram of Jesse stopped when she saw Sean’s phaser bazooka. Sean fired at the ground just in front of them and Team Rocket was hurled into the air.
“Ah! Looks like Team Rocket is blasting off again!” Sean then pulled an isolinear chip out of his belt and inserted it into June’s holographic necklace.
“Computer, transfer all programs created by June Gabert to Isolinear chip 47-2209.”
After a few seconds, the computer responded. “Transfer complete.”
“Sean, what did you do that for?”
Sean smiled at Jordan’s question. “From your description of the event, they didn’t have a proper exit.”
Jordan rolled his eyes. “You can’t do anything without—“
“Hey, Sean!” a female voice interrupted.
Sean turned to see Liz Larson with one of her friends, Cathy Fredrick and smiled.
“Hey, Liz and Cathy.” Sean responded.
“Heather, I think that Tribble wants to say hey.” She ran away, toward the secret entrance to the secondary office.
“So,” Sean was going to ask what he could do for them, but smiled and changed his mind. “Would you like to see space?” Quickly he tapped the combadge on his starfleet uniform. “Sporman to Hypothetical, Three to beam to the bridge.”
On the small, utilitarian bridge of the United Space Ship Hypothetical three humans joined the ones that were already there.
“We are here, Mrs. Lindsay.” Sean said. The two blonde girls that had just beamed onto the ship were still looking around.
“So!” Liz exclaimed. “It is real!”
Andy Blackerby smiled. “Yes and welcome to the Hypothetical.”
Sean Sporman proudly sat down in the Captain’s chair. “Mr. Superintendent, how should we proceed?”
“You are in command. Proceed as you will.” Sean smiled.
“We will proceed around the moon and then cloak the ship one thousand meters above the school so that it can not be found.”
Blackerby and Lindsay replied at the same time, “Good idea!” Sean laughed at the amusing coincidence.
“Computer, set course for Luna, ¾ impulse power!” The federation ship broke orbit and headed at 1/6th the speed of light to Earth’s only moon, Luna…
Next Time on Gopher’s Gateway:
Hueytown High is visited by the Camden Kids…
The Hueytown Olympics continue…
And, a new plan is discussed at the Board…
All this and more on the next exciting episode!