"Headed for the Future" by Belle Book Part Two Near the Pecos River, New Mexico Carmen arrived at the VILE base with her time machine inside her jet. It was very fortunate for her that it was in Houston, Texas, and had just undergone testing which proved it was still in working order. All she had had to do was alert the scientists in her base there to get the time machine ready for her to pick up when she stopped briefly at the Houston base. She didn't know if she needed it or not, but she felt she'd better have it along, just in case. She parked the jet and went to find Sara Bellum, instructing a few henchmen nearby to take the time machine from the jet. _______________________________________________________________ Outside the VILE base The C-6 Corridor was right on the money again, Jaci thought as she and the others landed just outside what was clearly a base for VILE. 'I'd better remember to thank Chase and the scientists in the Control Room for the accurate coordinates,' she thought to herself as well. "Well, what do we do now?" asked Zack. "We're here, and we have to get past those guards." He pointed to two guards dressed in blue. "I think we should sneak in without the guards seeing us," whispered Globie. "I don't think that's going to be so easy," Ivy whispered back. "From what I've seen, the terrain does not lend itself so easily to concealment. We were lucky to find a spot which did lend itself to concealment." "How about if one of us provides a distraction serious enough to allow the others to knock the guards out?" asked Jaci. "Preferably Zack or myself should go, since you two are extremely good at knocking out guards." "That's a good idea," said Ivy. Zack said, "I suppose I should go. I'm probably the one least likely to be considered dangerous." "I agree," said Globie. "You never were good at self-defense, or so I heard." Zack glared at Globie, but otherwise didn't say anything, since he knew it was true. He had to depend on Ivy to help him out oftentimes. That agreed upon, Zack stepped out of hiding. They were in the only area good enough for concealment in the whole area near the Pecos River. As Zack step- ped toward the guards, he tried to calm the butterflies in his stomach. He didn't like doing this, but he also knew that a good decoy had to appear harmless, and he was the most harmless of the four of them. So Zack took a deep breath, and stepped toward the guards. "Look!" said one of the guards. Zack then stuck his tongue out and waggled his ears toward the guards. "It's one of those Acme detectives!" said the other detective. "Let's get him!" They raced toward Zack, but as they neared him, Ivy and Globie leaped out of the bushes right behind Zack! With two swift karate chops, they took out the guards. Jaci joined them, with some rope to tie up the guards. "Once I'm done tying up the guards," said Jaci, "I think we'd better find Carmen. And Sara Bellum." _____________________________________________________________ Inside the VILE Base Carmen knew just where to find Sara. You could always find Sara in a laboratory. Sure enough, at the first laboratory she saw, she could see Sara fiddling with controls on some kind of machine. It looked similar to her own time machine. As Carmen watched, Sara appeared to be satisfied with the position of the controls, for she stopped fiddling with them. Carmen flung open the door and said, "What are you up to this time, Sara? Sara whirled around to see a determined Carmen standing inside the doorway. "Oh, Carmen," said Sara, placing a hand on her chest to calm down her breathing. "You surprised me!" "I'm not surprised," said Carmen. "I thought you'd given up trying to take over VILE." "I have," said Sara. "Zis is not about taking control of VILE." "What then?" asked Carmen. "It is about taking control of ze future," said Sara. "In what way?" asked Carmen. "I should explain from ze beginning," said Sara. "You remember hearing about zat project zat Acme was as- signed to a couple of years ago?" "Yes," said Carmen. "It was top-secret." She also remembered hacking into Acme's files until she dis- covered what the project was. Once she did, she decided that since she had her own time-travelling machine, she had no need for another time-travelling machine. So she didn't try to steal the device. "Well, it aroused my curiosity, so I tried to hack into Acme's files," said Sara. "I failed to find out what the project was, but I did find out where it was located: Los Alamos, New Mexico. So, I hacked into ze computer in zat Los Alamos facility, and discovered all about ze time-travelling device. I realized zat zis would enable me to go into time and become ze most powerful thief on Earth ever! So I had a time-travelling machine prepared for ze device, and once it was completed, all I needed to do was to steal it." "Very clever," said Carmen. "And no doubt you know what year you have in mind." "Of course," said Sara, smiling. But before she could tell Carmen where she was going, they heard an alarm sound! Carmen turned to the intercom. "Intruders heading toward the Main Lab!" an un- familiar voice sounded. Carmen was certain it was those Acme detectives trying to reach her and Sara! She turned back to Sara -- in time to see her race toward her device! Carmen had to stop Sara! She realized that if Sara could get away with her plans to become the most powerful thief on Earth in another time period, who knows what kind of damage could be done? It was one thing to have a mature, stable thief like herself be the most powerful thief on Earth -- though she wasn't that, and in fact, didn't seek power -- and another thing entirely to have a less stable thief be that! She rememberd the old saying "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." It would probably corrupt even someone like herself, much less someone like Sara. But as she sprang into action to catch Sara, Sara was inside the time machine. The time machine began to hum, and then just as Carmen was about to reach the machine, it emitted a blinding light and disappeared! Carmen knew she had to reach her own machine, which the henchmen had placed just outside her jet. She could probably track Sara down -- if she could reach her machine in time. So she raced to the door, opened it -- and saw the Acme detectives at one end of the corridor! ___________________________________________________________ Ivy was the first to see Carmen. "There she is!" she yelled. The detectives chased Carmen down the corridor. Globie and Ivy were in the lead, with Jaci right behind them, and Zack a little bit behind Jaci. The detectives saw Carmen turn a corner, and once they had turned the corner themselves, they saw her racing down another corridor to a door at the far end. "What's there?" asked Ivy. "I don't know, but let's find out," said Globie. So the detectives resumed the chase. Carmen reached the door, opened it, and ran in- side. A couple of moments later, the detectives also opened the door and ran inside. They saw a hangar, and inside it was a jet and Carmen's time machine! Carmen was just getting inside it! "So! Your two thefts were just decoys to dis- tract us while Sara stole another time-travelling de- vice for your time machine!" yelled Globie. "No, Globie," said Carmen. "Sara stole the device without my knowledge! She's gone into the future, and I have to find out where before she can get away with her plans to become the most powerful thief on Earth!" With that, the door closed, and the machine began to whirl. Globie and Ivy raced toward it, with Jaci and Zack behind them. But before the detectives could reach the time machine, it too disappeared. "She got away!" yelled Globie. "Yes, but not for long," said Jaci. "That is, if we can get the Chronoskimmer and pick up Carmen's trail in time." At that moment, the Chief appeared. "Did you catch Carmen and Sara?" "We couldn't catch Carmen," said Ivy. "She's gone into time." "Carmen told us that Sara's gone into the future, and that she was going where Sara was going to stop her! I don't know if it's true or not, but we do have to find out where Carmen's gone in time," said Jaci. "I'm sending the Chronoskimmer to you, along with two other detectives to help you," said the Chief. The C-6 Corridor opened, depositing Renee Santz and Polly Tix! Polly held the Chronoskimmer. "We have to pick up Carmen's trail as soon as possible!" said Globie. Polly activated the Chronoskimmer. In a minute, it picked up something. The Chief asked, "Did you find out where Carmen's gone?" An instant later, a blue hole opened, and Ivy said, "It's picked up her trail, and we're on our way!" So, Polly, Renee, Ivy, Zack, Jaci, and Globie all disappeared into the blue hole and were headed for the future. Whenever that future was. To be continued...