BY SOLO
EPISODE 29
{Solo typed away frantically at the keyboard in front of her…. there
had to be a way to fix this…there had to be… Fingers flew as files and
charts and graphs and huge calculations that fortunately Solo couldn't
understand [caus otherwise they would have had to cart her off to the loonybin
in one of those nice white jackets!]
"That's it…. Of course." Solo highlighted the select key and typed
in a new time….}
"INITIATING TIME LOOP…please be prepared for a momentary flash of light,
buzz of sound and an unusual feeling of disorientation. Have a nice
day!"
{There that was the best she could do…now it was up to them.}
THEY'RE GOING TO CRASH!!!
Solo stopped panicking as a sudden thought popped into her mind. She
ducked up from under the desk.
"Maybe I can hotwire this thing!" She muttered and began to open the
panel on the side of the system's hard drive.
Tim, Richard, Paul and Flacco all stopped screaming and watched Solo
as she frantically pulled wires, cards and boards from the inside of the
system.
The all gathered around her as she pulled a small pair of nail scissors
from her pocket.
Where had she got those? Paul thought to himself. He didn't remember
putting any scissors in the pockets of his spare jumpsuit!
Solo held up two wires.
"Red or green?" She wondered aloud.
"Red." Richard suggested.
"Green." Suggested Tim.
"Green." Said Flacco.
"Red." Demanded Paul.
Solo looked at the two wires intently. "Stuff it! I'll go with white."
She picked up a third wire and cut it in half. Stripping back the insulation,
she connected one half of the wire to a card she had removed
from the hard drive.
The other end she had pulled from the computer's base. Solo grabbed
the card she had played with before and slotted it into position.
She then reconnected two cables…took a deep breath and connected the
third.
The Titanic II's engines roared to life.
Through the main window screen, the rialto could be seen, it suddenly
grew larger as the Titanic II shot towards it.
Richard jumped up and ran over to the large direction wheel at the
front of the room. He grabbed the top spoke and yanked it hard to the right.
The giant submarine spun out as it tried to compensate for the sudden
change in direction. The occupants all held their collective breaths
and shut their eyes as the Titanic moved ever closer to the tall tower
rising high above Melbourne's city skyline.
Paul was the first to open his eyes. He began to laugh hysterically.
Everyone else slowly opened his or her eyes. Through the main screen,
they could see smoggy Melbourne sky…the NYLEX temperature/clock sign and
the MCG's light posts, but no rialto….
They'd made it…
"Yeah!!!!!!" They all began to cheer.
Solo spontaneously hugged Richard, then Flacco, then Tim and then Paul.
She quickly pulled away as he stiffened…(oh for god's sake get your
Fucking filthy minds out of the gutter!)
"We did it!" Solo said quietly. She walked back over to the computer
and stared down into its devastated innards.
The question now was – could she repair the damage she'd done?
Slowly Solo reached in with both hands and set to work.
Paul steered the Titanic II back in the direction of Solo's house.
Tim and Richard pulled out a deck of cards. Flacco had disappeared…something
about going back to his box to try and find his
life – apparently it had gotten scared or something.
A few minutes later Tim asked Richard… "Have you got aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
eleven?"
Solo glanced up from her work. Eleven? There was no eleven in a pack
of cards! Solo watched Richard carefully examine his handful of cards.
Richard slowly looked back and forth, studying at each card in his
packed hand carefully. Finally he answered. "Nope."
Paul groaned loudly.
Solo chuckled. "You know guys. Once I get this system operational,
I'll be leaving and you'll be going back to your own timestream."
Tim and Richard looked up from their riveting card game. Both looked
unbelievably saddened by the thought of Solo, a friend and girl
(respectively) leaving.
"Good!" Paul called from the steering wheel. "Hurry up then…we're sick
of you! Fix the system and then go back to your telly, Girly."
"Get stuffed!" Solo said and stuck her tongue out at Paul before turning
back to her work.
"Do you have to go Solo?" Richard asked.
"Of course she does!" Paul said. He turned to a panel beside him and
initiated the tractor beam as the Titanic flew over solo's house again.
Then he turned back to Richard and stomped over to the table. "I mean,
think about it Rich. She never wanted to be here in the first place.
She did what she had to do because you were to stupid to work it out
and now she want's to go home. She doesn't care about us Rich!"
"Have you got aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh eleven?" Tim asked.
"Don't be silly Paul…. I do care about you guys." Solo insisted.
"Nope." Richard replied. "Have you got ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh one?"
"No you don't, She hates us Rich…she hates me."
"I don't hate you Paul!" Solo sighed.
"Don't encourage him!" Tim complained. Tim then turned back to Richard
and replied "Nup!"
"You hate me, I know…I know you hate me, you hate me because, because
I'm black. I'm a black man."
Solo gasped at Paul. "Black?" She asked incredulously.
"Paul, you are not black!" Tim said slowly. Richard just dropped his
head into his hands.
"Oh, funny man, funny man, 'we don't serve your kind here boy!' you
hate me, you all hate me because I am black and I have a skin disorder…yes,
you hate me because I have Jacksonitis." Paul spun around and sang "it's
doesn't make a difference if your black or white, Whoo!" He grabbed his
crotch and squealed.
Solo groaned.
"Have you got aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh eleven?"
Tim asked, ignoring Paul completely.
Paul rounded on Tim angrily and cried. "Oh yes, you hate me, you hate
me because I'm black and I have Jacksonitis but because this is not my
real nose."
"Paul, that is your real nose." Richard said patiently, putting down
his cards.
"You hate me, you all hate me because I'm black, have Jacksonitis,
this is not my real nose but most of all, you hate me most of all because
you
know….you know of my terrible secret."
"What terrible secret Paul?" Tim asked…not to encourage him mind you,
but knowing that he'd have to carry it right through to the end before
Paul would shut up.
"Because, because Ah!" Paul broke off in tears. He struggled to continue.
"Because, my best friend is a monkey called Bubbles. Wwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
Tim and Richard nodded sadly and went back to their card game.
Solo went back to her attempt to put the computer back together.
Paul continued crying and staring at them for a few minutes. When he
failed to get their attentions back by wailing louder, he "huffed"
loudly and stormed over to Solo.
He leaned down on the desk and hung his head over the hard drive's
open panel. "What ya doing?"
In the background Tim asked Richard… "Have you got aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
one?"
Solo didn't turn to look up at Paul. "I'm trying to reconnect this
wire to that motherboard but I think I'm going to need another pair of
hands." She muttered.
Paul looked down at his hands and then over at Solo. He held out his
heads level with her eyes. "Will these do?"
Solo smiled at Paul gratefully. "I rather think they will…here, hold
this." She thrust a pair of pliers and three electronic cards into his
waiting hands.
"Can you hold that first wire here?" She asked pointing. Paul obeyed.
"Nup!" Richard answered behind them. "Have you got Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
eleven?"
A few minutes later, Solo pushed a large welding mask up from her face
and sighed, "You know, Paul was wrong you guys."
Both Solo and Paul's faces were streaked with sweat and grease.
Paul's hands were buried in the system's innards holding various bits
and pieces still for Solo to solder into place.
"Of course he was!" Tim announced. He then looked up at Solo strangely,
"About what?"
"About me not caring…if I didn't care about you guys – I wouldn't be
here helping right?"
The three lads nodded.
"It's just that I've got this essay due on Monday. I'd really like
to stay on the Titanic II with you guys, really I would, I just don't have
a good enough reason to…I mean excuse to stay."
The three guys slowly looked at one another. The then nodded pointedly
ad then turned back to Solo.
"Yep, sure!" Richard replied for all three. "We understand. You really
have to go back."
I mean it's not like a terrible accident might leave you stranded here
with us when we got sent back right? Caus that would be an accident…a
terrible accident. But accidents happen right? You can't prepare for
accidents, they just happen and there's nothing you can do about it right?
You just have to accept that accidents happen don't they?"
Solo turned back to the computer. "Yeah sure Rich, whatever." She had
completely lost what Richard was talking about but seeing the smirks
being passed between Tim and Paul, she figured that that was probably
a normal occurrence.
"Hey, Rich…Could you pass me the screwdriver please?" She asked a few
minutes later. Solo would have asked Paul, but he was kind of trapped between
the desk, the desk chair and the computer terminal and Tim seemed to have
been distracted from the card game and was preening himself in a mirror.
"Sure!" Richard said cheerfully and put down his cards. He walked over
to the overflowing toolbox that Solo had found in the bowels of the
Titanic II and rummaged around for several seconds.
"What kind of screwdriver?" He asked after a while.
"Um…a flat head Rich."
"Oh, it's not here. Don't worry – I know where to find it. I'll be
right back."
"Oh don't worry then Rich…" But it was too late. Richard had already
run out of the door.
Solo turned back to Paul and shrugged.
"Stupid beanbrain." Paul grunted back.
Will Richard be able to find the screwdriver?
Why is Paul being so nice to Solo?
What was Richard going on about when he was talking about accidents?
Why are the guys suddenly so understanding about Solo leaving?
Does Solo really care about her stupid essay?
And what is the essay about?
Does she really want to get back to watch this week's GNW?
STAY TUNED…