4 Blafooooom!

Chapter 4 BLAFOOOOOM! "Come on, Judy," said Andrew, walking toward the Time-A-Tron. HNNNNNNNNNNNNN… Judy crept toward the Time-A-Tron as though she were sneaking up on a sleeping dragon. There was a rope ladder hanging down from the Time-A-Tron. It led to an oval door in the bottom. Andrew climbed the ladder. The door didn't have a handle or a lock, but there was a square shape in the middle. Andrew took a guess.

"Good golly, Miss Molly," he said into the square. bong… The door zipped aside. HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN… The humming sound was even louder. Andrew crawled inside. Judy crept in after him. bong… The door zipped shut behind them! "Uh-oh," said Andrew. It was totally dark. "Maybe there's a light switch on the wall," said Judy. "I'll feel around." "Me too," said Andrew, reaching out his hands. "I found a switch," he said, flipping it. bong… "Tachyons loading," came a deep, echoey voice. "Oops," said Andrew. "Turn that switch OFF, Bug-Brain!" said Judy. "I'll try," said Andrew. "Youch!" yelled Judy, tripping over something on the floor.

"Oofers!" yelled Andrew, tripping into Judy. Andrew snagged a cord and hung on to it to keep from falling. bong… "Power cord activated," came the deep voice. "Time-A-Tron preparing for time travel. The countdown begins now. One hundred… ninety-nine… ninety-eight…" "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "We've got to stop this thing! We don't know what we're doing!" "Here's another switch," said Andrew, flipping it. A light went on. They were in a large, round chamber. In the middle was a spinning black ball. At the bottom of it, black tubes led to a bulgy shape by the wall. A label on the bulgy shape said TACHYONS. Next to the bulge was a screen with changing colors. Underneath the screen were rows of switches. Some had big black handles and others had red ones.

The deep voice kept counting down: "…fifty- nine… fifty-eight…" Andrew noticed a door in the ceiling. He grabbed its handle and pulled. The door opened and a rope ladder fell down. Andrew climbed into the upper compartment of the Time-A-Tron. He found himself beside a silvery blue chair big enough for two people. In front of the chair was a flat panel. The floor had outlines of black circles and squares. "…twenty-three… twenty-two… twenty-one…" Andrew looked around the compartment. He didn't see any controls. "I wonder how you operate this thing," he said. bong… The flat panel opened up. A digital display at the top of the panel blinked "TODAY." Below the display were several buttons blinking red. The two biggest ones were shaped like arrows. The arrow on the left was labeled FAST-BACK. The one on the

right said FAST-FORWARD. Between these two buttons was a squiggly one marked WORM-DRIVE. bong… "Three… two… one," came the deep voice. "Time travel is now possible." The Fast-Back, Fast-Forward, and Worm-Drive buttons turned green and began to flash. Andrew scratched his head. "I guess I have to press one of these," he said. Just then, Judy came up through the door in the floor. "Don't touch anything!" she hollered.

But it was too late. Andrew had already pushed the Fast-Back button. HNNNN… HNNNN… The humming of the Fast-Fins grew louder and louder. Then the sound changed. WOOHOOOOOO! It sounded like the howling of a hurricane. Suddenly snowball-sized balls of bright green light started to fly off the Fast-Fins. BLAFOOOOOM!