Chapter 17: The Risky Detail
A week later, Jimmy was sitting in his lab, smiling enthusiastically. A screwdriver in one hand and his pen laser in the other, he was working on an invention that could disarm the force field. "Just have to connect these two wires," he muttered to himself while setting the screwdriver and laser down while grabbing a pair of tweezers.
"Nice and steady," he whispered while slowly gripping a blue wire with the tweezers. If he missed, he would get another mild electric shock. "Bingo." He wedged the blue wire into a red one and set his tools down on the table.
Jimmy took a deep breath and wiped the gathering beads of sweat off of his forehead. It was the hottest day since the abduction, with the thermometers reading nearly a hundred degrees. He looked at the table in front of him. The cylindrical device that he had just finished working on was only one of forty.
A buzzing sound woke him up from his quick rest. He looked at the monitor and saw Cindy waiting outside. She waved, and he let her in.
"Alright, we finished the rockets about an hour ago," she quickly told him while rushing in, clearly excited. "Everyone is double-checking them and doing some touch-ups." She saw that he was smiling widely as well. "You're done too, aren't you?"
"You can read me like a book," he playfully told her. He motioned at the array of cylinders in front of him. "These are our best shot of destroying the force field."
Cindy picked one up and stared into it. She was surprised at how little it weighed. "What are they?"
Jimmy tapped a few keys on his keyboard, and a three-dimensional model of Retroville came onscreen. The force field covered it like a giant bubble, extending over a mile high into the sky. "I've had Goddard get as close to the field as he could to examine the nature of the field. The weakest point is directly in the center, approximately a mile above town hall," he explained while pointing to that part of the field on the monitor.
"That's nice, but what are these?" Cindy asked again while pointing to the metallic cylinder in her hand.
"These cylindrical devices," he continued, "are a condensed version of the EMP we used before. The cylindrical design will allow the EMP to have a much more narrow range than the other EMP."
Cindy stared at the top of the force field on the monitor. "So we fire these at the center of the force field, which will disable it?"
Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck. "Sort of. It will most likely tear a small hole in it instead of dissipating the entire force field. But there are two problems."
Cindy sighed. "Of course there are."
"First, we need to get within range of the center of the force field. That means we're going to have to attach these to the front of the rockets, fly up to the force field, and disable it. And second," he said while looking away from her, "I've run some simulations. This has got a seventy-five percent shot of working. If this fails, I don't know what else I can do. And," he trailed on.
As he paused, Cindy figured out what he was getting at. "If we are flying towards the force field and we can't disable it, we'll crash."
Jimmy nodded. "It's an unfortunate risk, but it is the only way to disarm this force field. There's no time to think of another way. Our parents could already be dead."
Cindy and Jimmy stood in silence for a moment, thinking about all the risks their plan held. At last, Jimmy spoke. "Go back to Retroland and bring all the kids back here."
Cindy nodded. "One last pep talk?" she said with a slight smile, although her sorrowful eyes betrayed this gesture.
Jimmy nodded. "Yeah."
As soon as she left, Jimmy set up his monitor like before. Several slides were ready to be displayed. Around twenty minutes after Cindy had left, she returned with all of the kids. Jimmy noticed Libby walking in. She had given up the wheelchair a week ago, and had almost completely abandoned her crutches. She usually preferred to walk without any aide, although she had a noticeable limp.
"Hello everyone," Jimmy shouted from the front of the room. "Great job with the rockets, first of all. Cindy tells me they're completed, and from what I saw yesterday, they look great. We will be shipping out for space in an hour or so, so there are a few last things we need to go over," he told everyone.
"First, I want to say that this isn't some corny pep talk," he told everyone while casting a smile at Cindy, "or depressing speech about how the odds are against us. You've heard both of those things already. All I'm doing is giving you some necessary intel."
He pressed a button on the remote in his hand. The first slide showed itself on the monitor. It was of a box with a question mark on it. "Over the last couple of days when I've come to monitor your progress at Retroland, I've heard some rumors. I don't know how you guys found out, but they're true. I've been keeping it a secret because I, well, didn't want you to know until after we lifted off," he said with a shrug.
He pressed the button again, and a familiar slide popped up. It was the one that he had showed Nick a week earlier. It showed the number of guns, kids, and ammunition. "Many of you heard that we will be using guns on this mission. You're right. We are bringing one hundred and fifty-one guns onboard with us. It's an array of pistols, shotguns, and rifles. That is all we could find in the city. We have plenty of ammo for everyone who gets a gun."
Jimmy cleared his throat. "The fact of the matter is, and I hate to sound like a broken record, we are outmatched. I'm hoping that guns will even things out. Now I know that some people are scared of them and worried about friendly fire, but we're taking precautions. Nick will teach all of those who are getting guns how to safely and effectively use firearms. He will do this on the asteroid."
The crowd fell even more silent, the usual whisperings and murmurs between friends dissipated. Jimmy waited, and eventually Carl raised his hand. "The what?" he asked.
Jimmy smiled and pressed his thumb down on the remote. A distant picture of the asteroid appeared onscreen. "For all intents and purposes, this will be called Little Boy," he explained to everyone. "It is located on the border of our solar system. Luckily for us, it will travel along our course to the Yolkian planet. It will come very close to the planet, but it's not on a collision course. We'll fix that by altering its path slightly by using our rocket's thrusters to push it towards the Yolkian planet. We will make camp on Little Boy, which is where Nick will train everyone in the art of firearms."
Jimmy rubbed his hands together in excitement. "And this is my favorite part of the plan. The control team here on Earth will be able to zero in on our parents' locations once we leave our solar system. We will abandon the asteroid near the Yolkian home world and slam it into the planet far enough away so that it doesn't affect our parents' location. But the impact will be devastating for the Yolkians."
"To put it in perspective," he continued, "an asteroid that is ten kilometers in diameter would be enough to destroy nearly all of humanity. The Yolkian planet is roughly two and a half times as big as ours. The asteroid we are using is twenty kilometers across. We will be able to destroy a good two-thirds of the Yolkian planet."
The kids in front of him seemed amazed, including Cindy. She had not known how colossal the damage from the asteroid would be.
Jimmy looked to his right at the clock on his wall. The afternoon was quickly slipping away, and he wanted to leave before nightfall. "Ok, on to the battle plan. I will need a team of, oh, around twenty of you to stay here on Earth. These people will act as a control center and monitor our locations, status, etc. The rest will fly into space. After crashing the asteroid, which will serve as an effective diversion, we will quickly fly to the other end of the planet where are parents will be. We will split up into different teams and quietly infiltrate the base where they are. We will release our parents, hijack a Yolkian ship, and get the heck out of there. Not a new plan, but it should get the job done."
Jimmy then pointed to the array of EMPs on the table. "These are what we're going to use to disable the force field. I need thirty-nine other pilots to attach these to y
our rockets. Activate them when I give the word, and they will disarm the field. Then the rockets on the ground will lift off."
Jimmy paused a moment and sighed. "But there's a problem, of course. These EMPs have a seventy-five percent chance of working. If they don't, we will most likely crash into the force field. We will then, most likely...die." A murmur of discontentment erupted through the crowd. "But seventy-five is still a C!" he told them.
"And a C's passing!" Nick helped by shouting to the kids from the middle of the crowd.
"Yeah, that's right!" Jimmy told them. "That is actually the least dangerous part of the mission. So, think about it. Let's head over to Retroland and get ready. Decide if you want to risk your life now or later. Or stay behind to man the controls," Jimmy added after a moment. As he followed the kids out of his lab, he suddenly wished that he had the option of staying behind to man the controls.