Part Two: Summer Camp

Mikey takes a few steps back out of the bunker and towards Kim. "Okay, we get it. Time travel is awesome and profitable. You succeeded. So why not just send us back now?"

Em is dissatisfied with Johnson's answer, and with her smarmy attitude. She hadn't been planning to shoot the woman, or even think about it, but... she was just evil.

"Open the bunker," the golden-haired girl commands, following Kim careful with the pistol. "We're going back. And we're going to stop your future self. Something terrible happens if you keep doing this. We've seen it."

"Well, technically, the only bad thing we know will happen is that this guy..." Mikey points at the younger Cuckoo, then thinks for a moment and points at the older one instead. "...is going to kill a whole bunch of animals in our time."

"Mikey," Em says a little angrily, forgetting about their name-switching, "remember the crashing ship? Mr. Hernandez says that's just the beginning. And it's all her fault. You weren't there to hear it because this crazy woman tied you up. Kim -- the one in the 1980s -- wrecks... everything. I hate what he did to the animals, and I hate having to trust him, but... are you hearing her? Do you remember that ship? We need to stop it, Mikey, we need to change everything back and then stop her back... ahead... in our time. Whatever!"

The blonde is pratically seething by now. "Open the bunker," she says again to Kim. "Guys, get the helmet ready. Georgie, you doing it?"

Meanwhile....

"Hey guys? Helloooo. How long do I have to keep laying on old man Hernandez here?"

"It's almost open," Rey says, thinking, It feels like I've been opening it for four days now.

"But we don't know if that ship was really her...", Mikey says but his protests grow weaker. He sighs. "Fine, we stop her but I won't work together with Cuckoo either!"
He pauses and then adds: "And I'm not Mikey."

Then he turns and walks over to Georgie as he unlocks the bunker. "You agree with me, right? Screw Cuckoo."

Annie creeps up behind Spud and Mikey and begins to jump up and down;

"Open it already! Come on!doit,doit,doit,doit!"

He abruptly stops, looks around and goes:
"Uhm... I mean, open the damn thing will ya?"

Georgie pulls the chain through until he finds the lock attached. He works the keys while the others continue their interrogation of the scientist. It takes a moment or two before he finds the one that slides in without protest, and the lock clicks. He ignores the writhing form of Young Cuckoo nearby, as he drags the chain out of the door and tosses it aside, such is his eagerness to get this thing done. The door swings open with the deep, scraping of hinges crying out for oil.

It’s dark inside, with the sun sitting on the far side of the bunker overhead. The sound of the heavy metal door swinging open draws everyone’s attention. Kim looks defiant, and cocky. She carries the confidence of a woman that has spoken to her future self and knows this isn’t the end. She looks to Em-Robin, who waves the woman towards the door with the gun. The woman shrugs and makes her way to the bunker.

Mikey and Georgie file inside as the rest gather around. Even Andy releases his grip of Old Cuckoo to crane his neck and see what the others are up to. He and Em share a glance, and then a nod, as she moves between the two Cuckoo’s, continuing to usher the scientist inwards. Inside, Mikey fumbles at the entrance for a light, feeling the walls until he meets cold metal, with a switch somewhere in the middle. He flicks it, and a bulb overheads hums into life.

Just beyond the entrance are metallic steps flanked by long metallic railings that lead down beneath the earth. It’s dark down there too, but you suppose that there must be a further light switch at the foot of the steps. Annie, Mikey and Georgie stand at the top peering down, until they are pushed harshly out of the way. Kim Johnson shoulders her way through the three of you, and fearlessly makes her way down the steps.

"Want to go home or not? Hurry up!" she says, not looking back up at, the now four, of you. From this close, you see now just how much Em’s hands are shaking.

…tunktunktunk…

The woman continues down the steps, and then a light floods the bottom of the staircase. She continues down the corridor and out of view. You follow.

You step down into the bunker proper and it’s immediately obvious that this is where Kim spends most of her time. At the bottom of the straits you see a living quarters to your left. It looks fair more regularly used than Mikey’s temporary prison! On your right you pass a room that contains ten or so metallic surgical tables aligned in a circle around the room. There’s something familiar about that room. Something that sends a shiver up your spine.

Ahead, a door with a light overhead. It’s not on now, but the colored glass suggests it shines red when activated. Kim saunters the length of the hall, ignoring the two other rooms and heading straight for that room with the light.

"Ready for this? I doubt it." she says, and then swings open the door. You’re too far away to appreciate the full sight right now. Inside, a huge machine, not entirely dissimilar to the orbs used by Cuckoo in 1989. This, however, is much bigger and intricate. As you approach, you take in the full view. It fills the entire chamber, with space enough to simply walk around the bottom to operate the machine.

It’s beautiful. And terrible. And capable of… well, you know what it’s capable of.

Seeing Em's shaking hand as they go down, Mikey reaches out and somewhat awkwardly pats her arm for a moment before pulling his hand back again.
He follows Kim down and towards the room. The sight of the large orb, similar to what hurt all those animals - and Georgie as well - back in the future, sends a shiver down his spine. "I guess this is it," he says, reaching out nervously and taking Georgie's hand for support. "Our way back home!"
He bites his lip and looks at all of his friends. "How do we do this? Do we go one by one? Though I guess there would be no way for you to make sure my journey home has been successful, even if you wait, right?"

After having demanded so insistently that they get access to the bunker, Em has to swallow a lump in her throat to follow Johnson and her friends down the stairs. The place is terrifying, raising goosebumps on the teen's flesh as she descends, and as they find the... room where it must have happened.

The gun is cold and heavy in her hands, and her arms are tired by the time Kim needles them about not being ready, and Mikey speaks up. "G-georgie," the girl says to her oldest and dearest friend, "how are we going to do this? Can we... do it without Cuckoo? Without -- her?"

Rey takes it all in, and examines the room. He holds onto Mikey's hands, uncaring that people like Mikey's father would call them unkind names for doing so, the comfort of his friend is worth any later reprisals.

He's tempted momentarily by a thousand thoughts of revenge, of scrambled bodies of these three mad people to show them what it means. Teach them to kill animals and direct the fate of others for their whimsy. A terrible idea begins to form in his mind...

They didn't travel here like Cuckoo did, by entering a time portal. No, their brains were sent into different bodies in the past. The helmet must be the key, to control the process.

"These are unstable processes. Twokoo's minds are tearing apart as nature attempts to correct the imbalance. We need only disrupt the forces, and ensure that we safely are returned to our own time. Only--" he looks at Mikey with naked fear "--none of this is possible, so all the rules could be made up!"

What if I can send us back, but send Cuckoo and Kim somewhere else? Cuckoo into Asimov, and Kim into... a horse. His plan decided upon, nine parts anger but directed with a malicious cunning, he tries to work out the process of the machine and how to control it just so.

Old cuckoo struggles a little underneath Andy and starts to mumble. Grabbing Cuckoo's arm Andy gets up and walks quickly towards the bunker, and down the stairs to the others. "Em..uh Robin." He meets her gaze, but only for a few seconds. "If you give the gun to Cuckoo here, he will make Kim send us back and not let her try anything funny while we are, you know, going back. Back home. Right Cuckoo?"

"Dont you dare give that guy a gun!", Mikey protests immediately. "You keep it."

Em-Robin shakes her head at Andy, then gives Mikey-Devon a quick look as she keeps the pistol trained on Johnson. "No way, Andy. Let's just see what Georgie can figure out, okay? Then we can think about how to... do everything that needs to be done."

Some of Em's companions note that the girl's finger is now on the trigger.

"How do we do this? You don’t remember last ti…" she interrupts herself.

"Right. The food. I am very clever! Put you all right to sleep. Well, no time for that this time around."

She begins hitting buttons and twisting dials on the giant machine. She works fast, and practiced. Old Cuckoo floats near Georgie, near the helmet.

All attention turns to Andy as he suggests giving the gun to Cuckoo and an argument breaks out. Kim watches, her hands still on the machine but not continuing to operate it. Cuckoo looks to Andy, and nods his head!

"I… I want to… help." you hear from inside the room, and also echoed out in the hallway by younger Cuckoo.

The back and forth gives Georgie a moment, and no longer, with the machine without eyes on him. He’s not familiar with the technology, not by a long shot. But he’s not unfamiliar either. This is the third such orb he has encountered, though this one is quite a bit more impressive.

But he’s the smartest kid in school. It’s almost instinctual. He flicks a switch here. And twists a dial there. It’s slow and quiet. He picks ones that seem out of the way. Ones Kim wouldn't notice!

Kim grunts a victorious kind of sound, as Cuckoo is denied the weapon, and she immediately gets back to bringing the machine to life.

"You’ll all need to get yourselves into those tables in there!" she points outside, towards the room full of surgical tables.

"I’ll strap you down. We don’t want pieces of you getting lost along the way, do we?" her eyes glimmer almost, and it tells you that she wouldn’t be opposed to that happening. A new field of study to dive into!