**Jimmy and the other kids follow the three women into the ship, lost in silent contemplation. They pass through the first corridor and through the electric door, and it isn’t until they enter the inner corridors that April snaps back to attention**
APRIL: Oh my! Aurora, I was so distracted by that woman…I nearly forgot about the council’s message! We must get to the cockpit quickly.
**Their pace quickens to a near run, and moments later the cockpit doors rush open in front of them. April heads over to the console and begins pushing buttons, and a recorded hologram of some kind is projected onto the portal at the front of the cockpit. A muscled, youthful-looking Gorlock stares out at them from the other side of the recording**
APRIL: For those of you who do not already know, this is Leeeee-RAA-doh, one of my best friends and a celebrated cultural expert for our people. You kids can just call him Lee.
**The hologram flickers slightly as the recording begins to play**
LEE: April, Aurora, sorry to be so formal, but I am delivering this message at the request of the High Council Leader. Preparations for the final battle have begun. We are holding a meeting with the strongest of our allies to discuss our strategy and prepare for a major first strike. The meeting will be held in the evening hours on the second day of the fifth moon. I hope to have you back on Planet Gorlock before that time so that you may assist in the negotiations between our people and our allies.
**With these words, the message flickers and then winks out. Aurora leans against the wall and rubs her forehead in aggravation**
AURORA: Well, isn’t that just GREAT? I knew we shouldn’t have stayed at Shangri Llama so long! It’s one thing to persuade the Gorlock council to change their war plans…it’s another thing entirely to change the minds of every single one of our powerful allies, all at once! How am I supposed to pass off the antidote as a valid plan now? Fat chance I’ll get their support! They’ll refuse to even listen…they might even throw me off the council if they question my motives.
APRIL: Aurora, do not get carried away. I am sure my people would never force you to leave the council. You have helped us in more ways than I can count. They would never suspect you of duplicity.
FUTURE LIBBY: Ya, girl. Don’t go all negative just yet. I’m sure we’ll be able to work somethin’ out.
AURORA: (shaking her head) No…no we won’t. You are obviously forgetting WHO our allies are.
FUTURE LIBBY: Who are your allies?
AURORA: (fiddling with the control console) You’ll find out soon enough, won’t you? April, I’m going to set the autopilot’s hyper-drive to maximum so we can get to Planet Gorlock as soon as humanly possible. In the meantime, Jimmy, you’d better start work on that antidote. You have a grand total of about two hours before we reach the planet, so I’d get cracking if I were you. Cindy, help him out, and I DON’T want to hear any complaints, got it? As for the rest of you, stay out of their way. Libby, I’m counting on you to keep the two partially evolved apes among us in line.
LIBBY AND FUTURE LIBBY: Who, me? Us?
**They both giggle at their synchronized response**
AURORA: Ugh, this is going to get confusing.Younger Libby, you keep Carl and Sheen from wrecking anything. MY Libby, you should come with April and me to the combat training room. I’ll need to brief you on a few things before we go charging out onto the front lines.
FUTURE LIBBY: Sure thing. But if we’re gonna do any combat practice, it might be easier if I weren’t wearin’ this dress…maybe I should change into somethin’ a bit more space-age?
AURORA: Good idea. I keep a couple of spare white under-suits in the storage room. They’re not exactly “fashion statements”, but I’m sure you can dress them up if you try. Come on, I’ll show you where they are.
**She motions for April and Future Libby to follow her, and they exit the cockpit**
JIMMY: (to Cindy) Well, we’d better get started. I began making the antidote last night, so I don’t think it will take too long to finish. I moved all my stuff into the kitchen…it’s got the best work area. Shall we?
CINDY: I guess.
**They walk together to the door and wait as it slides open in front of them**
JIMMY: You’ll have to wear my old lab coat because Goddard only holds two in his storage compartment. It’s not too worn, but the right sleeve is a little frayed and…
**His voice fades out of earshot as the doors close behind him and they disappear down the corridor. About five seconds of silence pass**
SHEEN: Well, I’m bored. What do you say we go bug Jimmy?
LIBBY: Nuh-uh, Aurora said to leave him alone. ‘Sides, do you really wanna see him and Cindy makin’ googley eyes at each other the whole time they’re pourin’ chemicals?
SHEEN AND CARL: Ewww, No!
CARL: Make it stop!
LIBBY: Well, that leaves us with a couple o’ options. We can explore the ship…which, considerin’ your past record, doesn’t seem like such a good idea…we can ask Aurora if she has any TV or video games or anythin’ to keep you busy…or…
SHEEN: Or we can go watch April, Aurora and Future Libba-licious do combat practice! Man, three girls fighting? It doesn’t get any better than that!
LIBBY: Sheen, can you get your head outta the gutter for like five seconds?
CARL: I don’t know, I think it might be fun to go hang out with the girls!
LIBBY: What, are you trippin’? Since when do you like to watch fightin’?
SHEEN: (grabbing her hand) Come on!
LIBBY: Guys, wait! Hey, Sheen…ahhhhh!
**Sheen practically drags her out the door and down the hallway, but then screeches to a halt when he realizes that he has NO idea where the combat training room is**
SHEEN: (pushing Libby in front of him) Ya, like I was saying…lead the way…
LIBBY: (raising an eyebrow) You’re the one who wants to watch, so YOU find the room.
CARL: Maybe if we walk around for awhile we’ll find the right room?
LIBBY: Whatever. As long as it kills time.
**The trio wanders down the corridor and disappears into the wider network of passages beyond. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Jimmy and Cindy are preparing to begin their work on the antidote. Jimmy frowns as he pulls a series of test tubes from Goddard’s storage compartment and places them on the metal table**
JIMMY: (muttering to himself) Now HOW am I going to account for the catalysts? If the reaction goes too quickly the shock could send him into a coma…
CINDY: (pulling on her labcoat) Uhh…Jimmy? Do you need any help, or am I just gonna stand here like a lawn ornament?
JIMMY: Huh? Oh, ya, hold this.
**He shoves a beaker into her hands, and she eyes its contests with disdain**
CINDY: (swirling the chunky liquid around) What’s this gunk supposed to be?
JIMMY: That’s the antidote…well, it will be eventually.
CINDY: (raising an eyebrow) Just what do you plan to do? Force-feed it to him?
JIMMY: Well, that is a bit of a problem. I had intended to inject him with the antidote, but now I’m having second thoughts. I’d need one heck of a needle, and someone would have to get physically close enough to give him the shot. Aurora is pretty much the only person who could do that, and I don’t even want to picture the scene that would entail. She’d have her work cut out for her, that’s for sure. And then there’s always the possibility that he could anticipate her and inject her with the antidote instead. The whole injection scenario involves too many variables, too many things that could go wrong. I want to make the antidote foolproof somehow…since we’ll be dealing with more than our fair share of fools.
CINDY: (snickering) Seriously. Well, why not turn the antidote into a gas? If you put it into some kind of breakable vial, when Evil Jimmy came close enough, you could break open the vial and release the gas into the air.
JIMMY: That’s a good idea, but the antidote is a liquid at room temperature. Unless I heat it up, it won’t change states. How could I create the temperatures necessary to maintain a gaseous state inside a breakable vial?
CINDY: Well, instead of changing its state, why not cheat a little? Disperse the liquid particles in a pre-existing gas, like air. Turn it into an aerosol…like hairspray for example. Hairspray is nothing more than pressurized liquid chemicals suspended in air, so use the same principal.
JIMMY: (slowly smiling) Hairspray, huh?
CINDY: Ya? What of it?
JIMMY: It might work. It won’t be easy, but…if we work together…
CINDY: We can do it.
JIMMY: Ya, we can, can’t we? Let’s
get to work.
