Part Four
Getting myself trapped in a giant, underground alien
fortress was one thing. But, to have my TARDIS – my TARDIS – abducted by bipedal mutant zoo animals was where I drew
the line! Thankfully, the Turtles knew to head Bebop and Rocksteady off at the
pass, so we waited for them to show at the main control room.
And they did, lugging in my TARDIS through the
trans-dimensional portal.
“It’s dah Turdles!” Rocksteady (the rhino) cried out,
subsequently dropping his end of the blue police box. It only added more weight
for Bebop (the warthog) to carry; and, when he couldn’t any longer, he dropped
his end of the box right on his foot. Serves him right!
They opened fire on us with their laser rifles, prompting
us to duck for cover.
“Doctor,” Leonardo addressed me. “You shut down that
trans-dimensional portal. We’ll
handle Bebop and Rocksteady.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. The fearless leader and his amphibious brothers leapt
into action and took on the mutant rhino and warthog. I rolled in the opposite
direction, making a break for the control panel to the trans-dimensional
portal. I reached into my coat, prepared to shut it down, until I realized…
“Ergh! That stupid brain has my sonic!”
“I sure do,” a familiar voice garbled to me. I turned to
see Krang standing near me, having arrived with his lackey (Shredder) and an
overwhelming number of Foot Soldiers. The fingers of his android body twirled
my sonic screwdriver like it was a coin. “Good luck getting this back!”
In his gloating, he failed to notice Michelangelo swing
his nunchaku at the hand of Krang’s android body, knocking the sonic out of it.
My eyes were fixed on it as it flew across the air, waiting for the opportune
moment to catch it. When I did, I used it at once to rewire the controls to the
trans-dimensional portal.
I didn’t shut it down, as I originally intended.
The plan changed when Krang, Shredder, and their mass
platoon of Foot Soldiers swarmed in. The Turtles needed an escape route, and we
had to get out of this dimension once and for all.
The infinite dimensional corridor no longer swirled in
view through the gateway; instead, it returned to the pinkish vortex from
before. Right away, I alerted the Turtles, “I made you lot an exit out of here,
but you got thirty seconds before it closes!”
“What about you guys?” Raphael asked.
“We’re takin’ my TARDIS,” I said. “I’ve shut down the
interference. We can go home now.”
“That’s all I need to go on,” Graham said, already making
a beeline for the TARDIS with Ryan, Yaz, and even little E.T. following close
behind. I followed after them, dodging laser fire from Foot Soldiers.
Before closing the door, I made certain that the Turtles
successfully escaped through the portal in time. Luckily, they did, and the
window closed before Krang, Shredder, and their cronies could follow.
Everybody lives! Just the kind of outcome I love.
Rushing over to the controls, I took us out of this
reality without a moment of hesitation. The takeoff was rough. We experienced
the same intense turbulence that we had when we arrived into the infinite D.C.
I wanted to assume this was normal, but my lack of knowledge of the dimensional
corridor made it impossible to be 100% sure.
The turbulence became more intense after a minute.
And then, some strangeness started to occur.
All around us, the console room shifted in and out
between dimensions (both geometrically and metaphysically). I saw old models
from back during my early travels with the white roundels and default control
scheme.
It wasn’t just the room that shifted.
Ryan, Yaz, and Graham morphed back and forth between past
friends of mine, including Ian, Barbara, and Susan. I even detected the
physical changes in myself, seeing my clothes and body shift through all
thirteen of my previous lives. If this weren’t so mystifyingly tedious, I
would’ve found it fascinating.
I had to end it immediately, cranking the de-mat lever.
Another massive tremor and we all were knocked off
balance.
“I’m gettin’ real tired of being knocked on my bum!”
Graham griped (a sentiment that I concur with, rubbing my own aching backside).
“Did we make it back to our universe?” Yaz inquired.
I looked over the readouts, all of which only gave me
static. “I’m not sure,” I told Yaz with great discouragement (I hated not being sure of anything). In my
frustration, I stepped out without taking any precaution of our new
destination.
A sense of déjà vu swept over me when I saw that we
arrived on yet another rooftop in New York, this one being much closer to Times
Square.
“You got to be kiddin’ me, man,” I heard Ryan say behind
me, seeing what I saw along with Yaz and Graham, who didn’t sound as enthusiastic
themselves.
“We’re still in
New York?!” the former said.
“The same dimension?!” the latter perceived.
I began to feel as helpless as I had when I was held
captive back in that Technodrome. The infinite D.C. was an inescapable prison,
and we were locked in this one prison cell that was New York City of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles dimension.
“You guys wouldn’t happen to be from another dimension,
would you?”
Unless Ryan took up speaking with an American accent,
another young lad up on that rooftop with us spoke from nowhere. The four of us
gazed all about, searching for where he could’ve been talking from.
“Over here,” he directed, sounding very close, yet we
still didn’t see anyone.
We nearly jumped out of our skins when the lad himself
appeared out of thin air right in front of us. But his power of invisibility
was the least surprising aspect of his appearance. As Ryan was quick to point
out, this lad was none other than…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK IN...
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