Chapter 13: The Armory
By four o'clock, everyone was busy assembling the propulsion drives that would be needed for all of the rockets. Most people were working in groups of ten or so. Jimmy had handed out copies of the propulsion drives' blueprints to each group. Cindy, Goddard, and himself were making the rounds, helping people when needed.
After walking by the last group for the second time, he looked down at the broken watch on his wrist to see the time. "Stupid EMP," he muttered while angrily ripping the watch off and shoving it in his pocket. "Ike," he asked while grabbing Ike's shoulder as he strolled by, "you have the time?"
Ike glanced down at his watch. "Five twenty," he said before walking back to his team.
Jimmy took a deep breath and stared up at the sky. The sun was only a few hours away from setting. He knew that he should better get going now, before he lost his courage.
Jimmy walked up to Cindy and pulled her aside. "Cindy, I need another favor," he sadly told her.
Cindy frowned a little. "Another one?"
Jimmy nodded. "I don't have time to go into it right now, but Nick and I have to go do something."
"So?" Cindy asked.
"I just need you to help the kids build the rockets, like you've been doing. Just, you know, do it alone."
Cindy thought for a moment. "Why don't I go with you, and Nick can help the kids. He's pretty good with machines."
Jimmy shook his head. "No, Nick has to be the one to help me with this. Anyway, here," he said while taking the floppy disk out from his pocket.
"And this is?" Cindy asked.
Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck. "To be honest, I'm not really going to be able to help with the construction of the rockets. I need to chart a path to our parents, figure out a battle plan, gather supplies, and figure out how to tear down the force field. I need you to man everything here."
Cindy smiled a little. "You're trusting me with overseeing the construction of all the rockets?"
Jimmy nodded. "You've been in my rocket dozens of times, you've even piloted it a couple of times. And you're obviously smart enough to do it. Goddard's here if you need some help."
Cindy laughed a little while blushing. "Um, so what exactly is the floppy disk for?" she asked again.
Jimmy handed it to her. "This is basically everything you need to run my lab. It's got a tutorial program to help you understand how it works. It gives you the passwords and access codes for everything in there."
Cindy turned it over in her hands. "Jimmy, you're giving me full access to your lab? You never even let me in until a couple of years ago."
Jimmy nodded. "If you're going to be in charge of the rockets' construction, you're going to need access to everything I've got. But, there is a catch." Cindy motioned for him to continue. "As you know, the lab is my sanctuary. Sheen and Carl are my best friends, and even they aren't allowed access to it when I'm not there. When this whole ordeal is done, I need to get that disk back."
Cindy stared at the disk for another moment before smiling. "Understood. It's just a loan. Now go do what you have to do with Nick, and I'll take care of things here."
Jimmy nodded and ran off to find Nick. He soon discovered him lying down on his skateboard underneath the frame of a propulsion drive. Jimmy rapped his knuckles on the top of the framework.
"Oh, stop it!" Nick shouted while rolling out from underneath the shell. "That echoes you know," he angrily muttered while standing up. He dropped his wrench onto the ground and stared at Jimmy. "Well, what do you want?"
"Come on, we have to go," Jimmy said while walking towards the exit of the amusement park.
Nick stared after him for a moment before catching up with him. "Go where? What are you talking about?"
Jimmy continued staring straight ahead as he pushed the park's gates open and walked outside. "We need to gather some supplies for this trip."
Nick grabbed Jimmy's shoulder, and Jimmy stopped and turned around. "Dude, I'm a little busy working on your rockets. Go get your buddies Carl and Sheen to help," he told Jimmy while walking back towards the park.
"They can't help," Jimmy shouted. Nick stopped and turned back around. "I need your help with this."
Nick shook his head. "Next to you and Cindy … and, well, Goddard … I know the most about machinery and stuff. If you're going out to gather supplies, I should stay here to help Cindy."
Jimmy shook his head and resumed walking down the street. "You'll see why I need you when we get there. For now, just trust me. You owe me, remember?" Jimmy reminded him.
Nick just sighed and followed Jimmy. "Whatever. Where are we going?"
"Wal-Mart," Jimmy answered.
"We taking the hover car?" Nick asked him.
"It's only a twenty minute walk," Jimmy told him. "Cindy might need the hover car to get to the lab and back quickly."
They walked in silence for several minutes. Nick struggled to keep up with Jimmy's fast pace. Finally, he thought he realized why Jimmy had asked him to come along with him. "Oh, I get it," he said with a smile. "Look, if you're worried about me spending time with your girl while you're gone, there's no problem there."
Jimmy laughed while struggling to climb up a hill. "She's not my girl," he explained to Nick.
Now it was Nick's turn to laugh. "All right, whatever you say, Casanova."
"No, I need you here because I've asked around. You're the only one who knows anything about the thing we're getting. Even I don't know enough about it," Jimmy explained to Nick.
Nick tried to understand what Jimmy was saying. "Dude, you're acting really weird. What are we picking up?"
"In about five minutes you'll find out," Jimmy told him.
Nick just frowned and continued following Jimmy. True to his word, they came up to Wal-Mart's parking lot five minutes later. Jimmy opened the door and stepped inside. "Now, I believe they were near the toy aisle," he mumbled to himself while staring at the dozens of aisles that lay before him. He walked ahead a few feet and then turned right.
Nick followed Jimmy as they walked past the dozens of ridiculously low-priced bargains. "Hey," he finally asked, "how are we going to bring whatever it is we're getting back to your lab? Do you have anything to carry this stuff in?"
"Right here," Jimmy said while tossing Nick his hypercube.
Nick turned it over while continuing to follow Jimmy through the labyrinth of aisles. "A Rubik's cube?" he asked, puzzled.
Jimmy smiled. "Hypercube," he corrected. "It can store an incredibly large amount of stuff in it."
Nick continued to turn it over in his hands and examine it. "How does it work?"
"It's too complicated to explain," Jimmy told him while pausing. "God, this is harder than finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," he told Nick while rubbing his chin and turning in a circle.
"Oh, ha, ha," Nick sarcastically muttered while following Jimmy as he set off again. "Bush humor, that's so fresh."
Jimmy peeked around a corner and smiled. He stopped walking and turned around to face Nick. "Alright, it's in the next aisle. You want to know what we're getting?"
Nick nodded. "Well," Jimmy explained, "do you remember how in May you told us all about that camping trip you had with your dad during spring break?"
Nick nodded once more. "Sure, good times, good times," he said while thinking about the beautiful Rocky Mountains.
"Well, you said you went hunting on that trip. I asked pretty much all of the kids that Carl and Sheen assembled, and none of them have ever been hunting. See where I'm going with this?"
Nick looked at Jimmy like he was crazy. "What, we're going to go hunting for food? There's a bunch of food in aisle three," Nick said while pointing over his shoulder.
Jimmy angrily shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "No, you idiot. I need you here to help me with these," he told Nick while rounding the corner.
Nick came to a halt as he rounded the corner. "Holy crap," he muttered while staring at t
he vast array of firearms that lay in front of him.
Jimmy stared sadly as well at the hunting firearms aisle. He walked up to the glass display case in the center of the room. Pistols of varying sizes lay beneath the glass, their polished silver gleaming in the light.
Nick walked up to Jimmy. Behind the counter lay shotguns and hunting rifles on racks. Boxes of ammo lined the shelves. Jimmy could only wonder what lay in the back room and supply areas, but there was enough guns and ammo here to outfit a small army.
"This is what I need help with," Jimmy explained. "It's basically two hundred kids against an advanced alien civilization. They know that we'll be coming to rescue our parents. Plus, we'll be on their home world. We need some sort of advantage. I believe that this is it."
Nick walked ahead of Jimmy and fingered the shotguns. "Um, I have a confession to make. You know how I bragged about shooting that deer?" Jimmy nodded. "Well, it's not true. I only shot a squirrel, and that was in self-defense. I was terrified of guns; I barely knew how to hold them. I don't think I can help you with this."
Jimmy continued staring at Nick, his face unwavering. "But you did shoot something? And you held them?"
"Well, yeah," Nick struggled to say.
"Then that's good enough. I'm going to need your help picking these out," Jimmy explained to him while kneeling down and gently touching a rifle.
Nick knelt down beside Jimmy. "What do you mean, pick them out? Just take them all. You don't need me."
Nick tried to get up, but Jimmy pulled him back down. "It's more than that. I need you to help me figure out who gets a gun. You need to teach those who do get one how to fire them. You're this army's general," Jimmy proudly said while slapping him on the back.
Nick grabbed a rifle off of the racks, turned away from Jimmy, and aimed it. "I'm not very good," he said again.
"You're better than nothing," Jimmy told him. He picked up a shotgun, turned around, and aimed it where Nick was pointing his gun.
Nick shook his head. "You're crazy. We beat them before without guns, and we can do it again without guns."
Now it was Jimmy's turn to shake his head. "No. We were lucky last time. Incredibly lucky. A few kids against an entire alien race that's millions of years ahead of us? It was a one in a million shot that we saved our parents last time." Jimmy paused for a moment while dropping the shotgun into his hypercube. "And even if we could beat them without guns, this time we're not just going back to save our parents. This time it's different."
"How?" Nick asked.
Jimmy closed his eyes and gripped another gun. "Because when we fight them this time," he whispered, "it's the last time." He looked up at Nick, his gaze strong and unwavering. "We're going to finish this."