This follows directly after the last one. Since it was so short to
start with, I decided to send them together.
[INT. SOL]
MIKE: Whew. Thank god that's over with.
CROW: No kidding.
TOM: That was a short one, though. Pearl must be getting soft.
[INT. PEARL'S ROCKETSHIP]
[PEARL is intently reading a screen, her mouth hanging open. BRAIN GUY
(yah, I know he's the Observer, but I just like calling him Brain Guy)
passes by behind her, and stops to see what she's reading.]
BRAIN GUY [reading in a flat monotone]: "...Scully moaned, 'Oh,
Fox...' as Mulder's strong hands clasped her milky thighs and drew her
eager body up against his throbbing..."
[PEARL jumps about three feet in the air. BRAIN GUY jumps back, almost
losing hold of his brain pan.]
PEARL: DON'T SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT!
BRAIN GUY: My apologies, Pearl. However, I have Observed something
that I thought you should see.
[INT: SOL. The scene rewinds a few seconds, then TOM is seen
saying...]
TOM: ...must be getting soft.
PEARL: I Heard That!
SOL crew: AAAHHHH!!!!
PEARL: Just for that smartass remark, I'm sending you the next
instalmant. And I should tell you, it's the worst of the series so
far. Flashbacks! Interior monologue! And... [her eyes narrow as her
smile widens] ...*First-person narration.*
MIKE [his voice cracking]: For the love of humanity, Pearl, don't you
have even *one* decent bone in your body?
[PEARL looks thoughtful for a moment.]
PEARL: No. [smiles evilly.] Enjoy your double feature.
[Lights flash.]
M&TB: AHHHH!!! WE GOT FANFIC SIGN!
This page is created by a fan for other fans and is in no way
affiliated with, approved of or endorsed by Hanna Barbera or Turner
Productions.
[sound of touch-tone dialing, followed by ringing.]
MIKE: Hello? Hanna-Barbera Legal Division? I've got an infringement to
report. Yes, I'll hold...
Please see my disclaimer.
CROW: That won't help you this time! Ha ha ha! Once we tell the
lawyers what you're doing, you're FRIED!
MIKE: Uh-huh. Jonny Quest. Yes. J-O-N-N-Y Q-U-E-S-T.
TOM: What are they saying, Mike?
MIKE: Uh-HUH. I see. All right. Thank you. [hangs up.]
CROW: Well? Well? What did they SAY?
MIKE: [heavy sigh] They said that they really don't care about what
happens to Jonny Quest and they aren't interested in suing over a
copyright infringement.
[CROW cries.]
No song this time.
MIKE: Thank god for small mercies.
The title is from the fifth line of William Shakespeare's Sonnet #116
(Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments., etc.).
TOM: Quoting Shakespeare won't disguise bad writing.
As usual, comments, flames, pies and falafel are all welcome. You know
the disclaimer spiel, so I'll spare you.
MIKE: Spare us this story too, huh? Please?
The Future (Real?) Adventures of Jonny Quest
ALL: WHATEVER!
"An Ever-Fixed Mark"
Another sequel to "Where Do You Start" and "For The First Time"
by Winnie Lim
MIKE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
"So what do we do now?"
CROW: Is there an echo in here?
Jessica opened her mouth to reply, but stopped.
MIKE: Because that was such a stupid question.
She closed her mouth instead, and allowed herself to drown in his eyes
TOM: Remember, kids, always wear a life jacket.
as they studied her intently. In them, she saw a swirling maelstrom
of emotions - joy, wonder, shyness, doubt, hope, and many more that
she couldn't identify -- but above them all, love.
CROW: ...Exciting and new... come aboard... we're expecting
yooooouuuu...
She wished she had an answer.
In spite of everything, she was happy in Houston.
TOM: ...We have a problem.
She had a good career - her consultant firm was finally taking off and
getting the big contracts - a beautiful apartment, and a circle of
friends. True, the nights were sometimes lonely, but she took them in
stride.
CROW: With the help of chocolate and a handful of AA batteries.
MIKE: CROW!!!
She also knew that he would never ask her to give it up for him. He
had been her biggest supporter when she'd decided to break away from
the stifling confines of a multinational communications technology
corporation.
CROW: Oh, she was working for Microsoft.
MIKE: Shush! You're going to get us sued!
He knew how much work she had put into building up her
business from the few clients who had followed her. Heaven knew
they'd spent enough long hours on the phone over the past four years,
talking into the wee hours of the morning as she shared her
frustrations, her doubt, and her small triumphs with him.
CROW: There's a 10-321 commercial in there somewhere.
She could talk with him about anything. That was the facet of their
relationship that she held most dear. That was how she knew that this
was right, that this was meant to be. There was nothing that they
couldn't handle as long as they were together.
MIKE: This sounds like an After School Special. Only more inane.
And then there was the nature of his work. He was the brains behind
the anti-terrorism think tank he had founded six years before, and she
knew he had single-handedly foiled more than a dozen terrorist threats
over those six years -- a record that had placed him on the hit list
of several terrorist organizations.
CROW: Is there any way we can tell those terrorist organizations where
he is?
Half the time she didn't know where he was, and she knew he couldn't
tell her, but he always called her regularly by audiophone, no matter
where he was. They couldn't talk by videophone -- it was impossible
to have a totally secure line on those things - but she could sense
the fatigue in his voice as he talked nonchalantly about such minor
inconveniences as having to take a different route to work every day.
MIKE: Yeah, there's a lot of road construction between him and the
office.
It was the very same thing that had - saved her? no, that wasn't fair
- kept her from having Jezebel Jade as a stepmother. Over the years,
she and Jade had kept in contact, and she had come to know a side of
the older woman that wasn't immediately evident. She knew that Jade
was often very lonely, though the woman would never admit it. The one
time they'd actually talked about it - around it, rather - Jade had
said that emotional involvements brought "too much trouble" to all
concerned, and that the lack of them was a small price to pay for
being the best in the business. She had then quickly changed the
subject. But Jessica hadn't missed the wistful note in the older
woman's voice.
TOM: Gee, guess what? WE DON'T CARE!!!
Jon wasn't like Jade. He was ruthless when it came to tracing and
tracking the terrorists he had sworn to eradicate. But underneath the
determination, he was sensitive and giving, always putting others
ahead of himself.
CROW: And yet, despite seventeen attempts, he never managed to pass
the Eagle Scout test.
That was why, Jessica knew, he had not told her about the attempt on
his life in Madagascar.
She recalled the night before she left for Florida, just 48 hours
before. She'd called her father to tell him that she'd be out of town
for the weekend. When he'd heard where she was going and who she
would meet there, he had fallen silent. She saw him bite his lip.
CROW (as Race): Yum, this new lip balm is tasty!
Then he'd spoken again, slowly. "Jessie, try not to be too shocked
when you see him."
"What do you mean?" she'd asked. Her father had a strange look on his
face.
TOM: TRY... NOT... TO... BE... TOO SHOCKED... WHEN... YOU... SEE...
HIM.
"Do you remember -- a few weeks ago? When Jonny was out of contact
for a while?" Her father still called them by their childhood names,
and it was unlikely that he'd ever be broken of the habit.
"Yes. He told me he was at a Buddhist temple in Tibet. Rearranging
his karma, he said," she'd replied, smiling.
CROW: Heaven knows it needed all the help it could get.
Another long pause. Then, "Jessie, he wasn't in Tibet. He was in the
hospital."
"What?" Her knees were suddenly weak, and she had had to sit down.
TOM: HE... WAS... IN... THE... HOSPITAL! Geez, somebody get this lady
a hearing aid already!
"Why?"
"He was in Madagascar, consulting on a terrorism case. Someone put a
bomb in his car."
"Oh my God..."
"He wasn't in it when it went up," her father had said quickly.
ALL: DAMN!
"But he was pretty close. They didn't think he was going to make it
at first, so they called his grandfather."
MIKE: Real sensitive of them to call a 90-year-old man and tell him
that his grandson's in critical condition.
"Yes. Of course," Jessica said numbly. Doug Wildey was Jon's sole
surviving relative and therefore his next-of-kin.
"It was touch and go for a while, but he pulled through," Race went
on. "He got pretty banged up, though. So he might not be in the best
of shape when you see him."
"I understand," she said. "Thanks for telling me, Dad."
"Try not to be too hard on him, honey. He asked me not to tell you.
Even Hadji doesn't know."
She'd nodded, and they moved on to other subjects. But she was deeply
shaken. And not for the first time, she'd wondered why Jon had chosen
such a dangerous line of work.
CROW: Because he's borderline SUICIDAL?
It certainly wasn't for the money; Benton Quest had invested wisely,
and Jon was a billionaire several times over. He could easily have
chosen to live a life of idle luxury. But he had dedicated his life -
literally -- to helping to keep the world safe for others.
TOM: ... while maintaining the world's finest collection of Fagerge
eggs.
She had no doubt that becoming involved with him would put her own
life at risk. And she knew he realized that too; that was why he had
held off from telling her how he felt for so long. Once again, as
usual, he'd put her ahead of himself.
CROW: That's my favorite position, too!
MIKE: CROW!
That was typical Jonny Quest. That was how he was different from
people like Jade. That was why he often reminded her of her own
father.
MIKE: That is why this story is so lame.
That was why, she realized for the first time, she had always loved
him.
TOM: This sounds like a Lifetime miniseries.
All of which brought her back to where they stood now. She was a
little surprised to realize that only a few seconds had passed since
he'd asked her the question.
CROW: ... and that all that time she had been standing there looking
like an idiot.
And she finally had an answer for him.
"We make this work."
TOM: Makes you wonder what the hell Jon was doing all that time she
was remembering all this stuff.
Not Yet The End
CROW: Why the hell not?
c 1997 Winnie Lim
Disclaimer
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and all characters, logos, and
likenesses therein, are trademarks of and copyrighted by Hanna-Barbera
Productions, Inc., and Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc., a Turner company.
MIKE: Actually, it now belongs to Time-Warner. Maybe we can get THEM
to go after the author.
No copyright infringement is intended by their use on this page. I and
this page are in no way affiliated with, approved of or endorsed by
Hanna Barbera or Turner Productions. This page is created by a fan for
other fans out of love and respect for the show,
CROW: Could've fooled me!
and is strictly a non-profit endeavor.
[Doors sequence]
[INT: SOL]
CROW: Put on some music, Mike.
[MIKE drops a quarter into the jukebox.]
TOM: E-19!
MIKE: Okay! [punches a button]
GYPSY wanders in.
GYPSY: Oh, hi guys! Pearl was up here while you were reading.
MIKE: Did she leave any messages?
GYPSY: No... but she was muttering something about interrupting her
fanfic reading. I decided to leave her alone.
MIKE: Hmm. [shrugs]
[Suddenly, the jukebox starts playing "Where Do You Start."]
ALL: AAAAHHHHHHH!!!
[Everybody rushes over to the jukebox. Mike starts pushing the
selection buttons, all of which play "Where Do You Start."]
CROW cries.
[EXT. SOL, as the despairing wails of the crew fill the ether...]
What do you think, sirs (and ma'ams)?
Winnie
(
geocities.com/soho)