Bucky O' Hare In Journey Through Time Episode III - Planet Of The Onivoids By Andrew Norris SCENE ONE Outside the Graham Institute, Genus, 3226 A DOG NEWSREPORTER is speaking on a newsreel, while POLICEMEN and POLICEWOMEN try to keep spectators from entering the building. NEWSREPORTER: Barely two hours ago inside the Institute, Dr. Frankenstoat, disguised as another scientist, presented a time-machine, which he calls a Chronaton Manipulator, to a team of scientists and two UAC Officials. He stops for a moment when some spectators try to show off in front of the camera, but they are soon moved away. NEWSREPORTER: (Continued) It has been rumoured that Captain O' Hare has been affected by a malfunction with this machine, but what has happened is yet to be confirmed. INSIDE THE LECTURE THEATRE... FLEET ADMIRAL RYGAR BLADE and DOGSTAR both look up at FRANKENSTOAT as he works on the Manipulator. RYGAR: (Fuming) Frankenstoat, you were ordered to bring Bucky back to the present, not shove him into the far future! FRANKENSTOAT: Shove them off? If they hadn't intervened when the power gave out, we wouldn't be in this mess! RYGAR: You've used up two hours, and no results have come up! I'm losing my patience, and that is why I am giving you half of what you have left. FRANKENSTOAT: (Shrieks) Five hours?! It takes me half-an-hour to get everything set up! RYGAR: Then you'd better hurry up! Otherwise, I'll have you strung up for the kidnapping of an officer! FRANKENSTOAT gulps and grasps his neck. RYGAR gestures to DOGSTAR to speak to him. RYGAR: (Whispers) Commander, this Willy DuWitt fellow, is he on the premises? DOGSTAR: (Mumbles) He's still on the Righteous Indignation, sir. Gunner Deadeye Duck and Marine Bruiser are taking care of him. RYGAR: Right, I'll ask for them to bring him here. The second Bucky and Jenny get back, I want that thing dismantled! Call me if you have any trouble. DOGSTAR salutes as RYGAR leaves, who acknowledges the salute. FRANKENSTOAT: Five hours! That's like asking a flower to grow in Favium Nitromagnate! DOGSTAR: What happens if it does? FRANKENSTOAT: It withers and dies in ten seconds of rooting. SCENE TWO An un-named planet somewhere in the Aniverse, Year 187 Billion BUCKY and JENNY are slowly roused and wake up, finding themselves on a craggy planet littered with rocks and caverns. There is an atmosphere, but all that can be seen from above is space. BUCKY: (Groans) Where are we? JENNY gets up and looks around. JENNY: Either we are in the present on a dead planet, or in the very far future; I could go so far to suggest even the pre-historic era. VOICE: (Bubbling) Only one of your theories was correct, Pilot Jenny. They both spin around, and are confronted by what can only be described as an ALIEN. The ALIEN stands 5ft tall, has pale blue skin, and a single eyeball in the centre of the head. Where it should be white, the eye is black, with a grey iris. ALIEN: Greetings to both Captain O' Hare and Pilot Jenny of the Sentinent Protoplasm Against Colonial Encroachment. BUCKY and JENNY look at the ALIEN up and down. It sports a purple cape, and two hands that have two fingers and a thumb. The mouth is shaped like an "n", and where its' legs should be is a gastropod-like "fender" like a snail. ALIEN: You needn't be frightened of me, I mean you know harm. BUCKY: (Defensive) Who are you, and what do you want? ALIEN: My name is Xanthos. I am what our people call Onivoids. You have been expected for a long time, Captain. JENNY: (Curious) How do you know our names? XANTHOS: You are both important military figures in the Oniverse Archives. He escorts them to a nearby cavern, leaving a trail of purplish slime behind him. BUCKY: Oniverse? Then what's happened to the Aniverse? XANTHOS: Following the anarchy that spread until the 73rd Century, the radiation emitted from space returned and caused our ancestors to mutate into many forms. JENNY: Until they mutated into what your appearance is? XANTHOS: (Nods once) Correct. Using what little technology had been left from the war, we the Onivoids, constructed a space station where we could be safe from the destruction of the Aniverse, as supernovas spread throughout the Aniverse, destroying everything that had once been in your time. He enters the cave and covers his hand over a deity, presumably as a religious ritual, before proceeding. XANTHOS: It was not until the 192nd Century that the final piece of the Aniverse was gone forever. As we were the only race, we settled onto our new homes once the planetary cooling was complete, and renamed it the Oniverse. BUCKY: But what about armies? Surely you must fear some form of attack! XANTHOS: We are peaceful people, Captain. Although we respect you as an important part in history, we do not believe that resorting to bloodshed will solve anything. At the centre of the cave is a large statue of an Onivoid "sitting" with a hand over his chin, as though he is thinking. Several ONIVOIDS are also littered around the cave. XANTHOS: Welcome to Logicia, our subterrain palace of philosophers! BUCKY: Philosophers? Would you please explain to me what is going on? XANTHOS: Each planet has a palace where members of different professions may go to converse with others or to relax. JENNY: And this is for your logicians and soforth? XANTHOS: Correct, and I am one of this said topic. BUCKY: (Mutters) Like the Common Room of the Institute! But don't you have a Capital City or something? For all the leaders? XANTHOS: We have no leaders, but we Onivoids converge together on what was once the Occultas Galaxy, which we have named Centratopolis. It is similar to what was once called a "parliament". JENNY: (To Xanthos) So, how did you know we would be coming? XANTHOS leads them into a nearby room to talk. The room is plain, with four armchairs around a circular table. XANTHOS, BUCKY and JENNY all sit down before XANTHOS continues. XANTHOS: You came on this journey because of a primitive Chronaton Manipulation device, yes? BUCKY and JENNY both nod. XANTHOS: Well, by the 2013th Century, in the year 20,143, one of our leading Molecularologists found a way of controlling chronatons in a psychic sense. JENNY: Telekenisis? XANTHOS: (Shakes head) No, more of Neurokinesis. With a simple operation on the Onivoid brain, we were able to travel through time if we wished, and the operation also meant that we could try to erase memories if it was necessary. BUCKY: So...could you take us home or would it mess up the Manipulator as well? XANTHOS: It would malfunction the machine further. If I attempted to do so, you may end up drfiting through time forever. BUCKY: (Mumbles) You're too late. JENNY: Bucky? BUCKY gets up and walks around the room. BUCKY: Unless they get themselves sorted back home, I feel we have little chance of returning home. SCENE THREE The Graham Institute, Genus, 3226 The spectators are still jeering and groaning outside, when DEADEYE and WILLY make their way through the crowds. When they are allowed clearence by the police, the onlookers groan louder. WILLY: (Ducks as a bottle is thrown at him) What's their problem? DEADEYE: Y'know what the public is like, Willy me lad, they'll try anything fer a laugh. INSIDE THE LECTURE THEATRE... DOGSTAR is sat on the chairs while FRANKENSTOAT lays out some wires on the stage floor to examine them. DEADEYE and WILLY both walk in. WILLY: (Waves) Hey, Dogstar! Good to see you! DOGSTAR: (Glumly) Willy, I'd normally respond to your warm greetings, but right now, I'm not in the mood. WILLY: Well, why? Have I done something wrong? DOGSTAR: Not you, him! He points to FRANKENSTOAT. DOGSTAR: (Continued) This moron has sent Bucky and Jenny back and forth through time, and now he's telling me that he might not be able to reverse it! FRANKENSTOAT: (Snaps) I didn't ask them to walk into the beacon! DOGSTAR: You should've made sure that your fuses weren't going to blow before the demonstration! DEADEYE: Are you two gonna keep arguin' all day long? WILLY: (Looks at Manipulator) Let me see if I can do something. FRANKENSTOAT: Keep back, you moron! You'll ruin it! WILLY examines the Manipulator and suddenly laughs. DOGSTAR: What's so funny, Willy? DEADEYE: Aye! This be serious business! WILLY: Well, if Dr. Frankenstoat had bothered to transfer some of the power from the potentiometers to the homing-reactor, then they would've been back hours ago. FRANKENSTOAT: (Tears his fur out) I don't believe this! I've wasted 3 of my 7 hours trying to get them home and I'm outsmarted by a teenager! WILLY: Well, here goes. He reaches towards a lever, but FRANKENSTOAT slaps his hand. FRANKENSTOAT: Oh, no you don't! This is my machine! I'll do it! DEADEYE pulls out his guns and aims them at FRANKENSTOAT. DEADEYE: (Threateningly) Oh, no you don't! Ye let Willy do it or he'll be the only one left who can! FRANKENSTOAT unwillingly accepts and lets WILLY take the controls. As WILLY prepares everything, FRANKENSTOAT replaces the wires, but sneaks a small cube into the circuitory. SCENE FOUR Logicia, 187 Billion BUCKY and JENNY are being shown around Logicia by XANTHOS. BUCKY: What year did you say this was again? XANTHOS: 187,002,681,924. But, as a shorter but less acurate phrase, the year 187 Billion, in the 186,0000th Century. Logicia was founded in the 2028th Century, in 20,297. JENNY: So, this is what the future has in store for us. XANTHOS: It may appear as unsightly to you, but to us, this is our equivalent of paradise. JENNY: So, how many live on Logicia? XANTHOS: Only 300 Onivoids; with seperation through skills and just the one city, that is why there are so few. BUCKY: Surely there must be something! Food, perhaps? XANTHOS: (Shakes head) Nutrition was done away with during the mutations, and instead, we gather energy from the air, absorbing it as a sponge does to water. JENNY: (Clicks fingers) Breeding, then! How do you breed? I haven't seen any women around here! XANTHOS: We do have females, but in reproduction, the male is obsolete. He gestures to a FEMALE ONIVOID with a baby growing on her back that "buds off" like a plant. XANTHOS: The females of our species only reproduce if they so desire, and the male is only required if problems call for a father-figure. JENNY: (Winces) But isn't reproduction like that...painful? XANTHOS: I would not know, as I cannot reproduce. I also cannot ask for you as it is forbidden for male and female Onivoids to amalgamate inside the palace, even for conversation. He suddenly freezes to the spot. BUCKY: What's the matter? Have you been struck by something? XANTHOS: (Monotone) You...are...being...returned...to...your...time- period... BUCKY and JENNY are suddenly scooped up by the Manipulator before they have time to react. XANTHOS' eye glows an eerie pink for a few moments and then stops. He is approached by another ONIVOID. ONIVOID: You erased their memories, Xanthos? XANTHOS: I did, friend Zormph. If they told their friends about their journey through time, it could reshape history for the worst. ZORMPH: How could it be changed for the worst, Xanthos? A large battle has already affected the future. XANTHOS: But supposing they did tell of their visions? The war would be fought with greater bloodthirstiness, history distorted, and it may even cause some of the greater revolutionaries of the future to be wiped from the slate of time. ZORMPH: I just hope that you have done the right thing. XANTHOS: So do I. SCENE FIVE The Graham Institute, Genus, 3226 WILLY is working the console when BUCKY and JENNY finally return. DOGSTAR briefly hugs them and DEADEYE cheers. DOGSTAR: (Ecstatic) Good old Bucky! It is so good to see you again! BUCKY: (Smiling) It'd great to be back, Dogstar! JENNY: Ooh, Dogstar! As the laughing continues, RYGAR marches in and the laughing stops. RYGAR: (Grins) Captain O' Hare! It's good to have you back! BUCKY: (Teases) Rygar, I never knew you cared! FRANKENSTOAT: (Interrupts) Now that you have Captain O' Hare back, can we...? RYGAR: Yes, I am a manof my word, Doctor. I hereby... FRANKENSTOAT: No, no, no, Admiral. I mean that I want everyones' attention. Now that Captain O' Hare has returned, along with Pilot Jenny, I think I should make one thing clear. He pulls out a black cube identical to the one he placed inside the Manipulator. FRANKENSTOAT: You should never trust a scientist! He presses the cube, and both WILLY and FRANKENSTOAT disappear in a cloud of steam as the console hums silently. Reaching for WILLY, DEADEYE trips against the console and slams his fist. RYGAR: (Furiously) Where ar they?! The console stops, and DEADEYE reads the instruments. DEADEYE: (Reads display) Earth, 2005. RYGAR: I don't believe this! I just don't believe this! DEADEYE: Couldn't we just go after 'im? DOGSTAR: No good, I'm afraid. According to Frankenstoat, only one group at a time can use it. BUCKY: And now we have to find out why Frankenstoat took Willy, and what he'll do to him... TO BE CONTINUED... NEXT EPISODE: PART IV - THE DAY OF BLOOD