Chapter Nineteen: Time
Zone – 2010
“Sean, come in! Michelle, can you hear me? Someone respond…please!”
There was no response from the speakers built into the
machine. Anxiety grew over Brandy, who flipped switches and knobs repeatedly
until a voice came through. She then stopped for a brief moment and stared at
her right hand, which felt slightly odd. Rubbing it gently with her other hand,
she closed her eyes and thought hard to herself. Unfortunately, her moment of
thinking did not last very long before she was interrupted by an approaching
voice.
(Pop Culture Note: Brandy checking her hand is a nod to Marty McFly being erased from existence in Back to the Future, having interfered in the meeting between his parents. It is also another crucial hint as to what she is.)
“Brandy! Guess how many different flavors they have here!”
Bella exclaimed, gesturing to Baskin-Robbins.
“Bella! Please! I’m trying to concentrate here!!”
Bella frowned – her heart glowing light purple. “I’m
sorry, Brandy.”
Brandy looked at the frown she accidentally brought upon
her face with her outburst and sighed in despair. “It’s not your fault,
sweetie. There’s just a lot going on right now.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve lost contact with both Sean and Michelle, and I
have no idea where either of them is.”
Bella did not seem too distraught from this news; rather
she kept her optimism up much higher than Brandy’s could have been. “Well,
let’s just go in after them.”
The surprise on Brandy’s face told just how she thought
of that idea. “Are you kidding?! You have no idea how easy it is to get lost in
a universe as big as that one, especially with the machine’s frequency out of
whack at the moment.”
“But didn’t you say that you have something to prevent that
from happening?”
“You mean this?”
Brandy moved to the front of the van and opened the glove
compartment, pulling out a large metal wristband that glowed in a rainbow of
holographic colors, dependant upon the angle it was held. She placed it right
upon her wrist and information identical to what was shown on her machine, such
as the Time and Realm Zones, appeared in holographic form on the wristband.
Until Bella made reference to it that very moment, she had completely forgotten
about it. And the reluctant expression she gave upon looking over it told just
how she felt about wearing it.
(Pop Culture Note: The wristband's functions are designed after Al Calavicci's "Handlink" device from Quantum Leap, with subtle nods to both it and its user like the rainbow colors and holographic projections.)
“The portable backup version of my machine. I never gave
it a proper field test. You really think it’ll work?”
Bella smiled. “You can’t live your life without a bit of
faith, Brandy.” She picked up one available headband lying nearby and placed it
on her head. “Now…where to?”
Brandy shook her head and smiled herself. “I must be
outta my mind…but here we go anyway.” With that said, she began dialing some
information on the wristband, bringing up some information that projected a few
inches above the futuristic device. Her blue eyes widen on what she read off
the display. “According to the trackers in the headbands, Michelle’s still in
Realm Zone 1967 while Sean’s in…1989?!” She stopped and briefly pondered. “That
could only mean he’s in the world for The
Little Mermaid!”
Bella’s smile grew. “Really?! Oh, I love that one!”
“Bella, I’ll need you to go and find your sister in the
other world. Please keep your
headband on at all times. We’ll stay connected with each other, so that we
won’t get lost while we’re in.” She desolately sighed and added, “Still not too
sure about this, but if they’re in two different worlds, we’ll need two able
bodies to be there to find them quickly.”
“You can count on me, Brandy. Let’s go.”
Brandy nodded in affirmation and began dialing some
numbers onto the wristband. Not for very long did both Brandy’s wristband and
Bella’s headband glowed, signaling for the re-animation process. Within
seconds, the two women vanished entirely from the van. As their forms
dispersed, a homeless man crossed the van and witnessed the process as it
occurred. He blinked twice and shook his head, continuing on with his business
and pretending as if nothing ever happened.
Realm Zone – 1989
BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM-BOOM!
It took Brandy several seconds to maintain a focus on her
surroundings, until she finally saw the fireworks exploding high above her in
the night sky. If she knew the feeling after re-animation would leave her and
other subjects that disorientated, she would fix the machine to avoid the
issue right away. All that mattered, of course, was making it to the other side
and finding Sean. Once she was completely recovered from the disorientation,
she attempted to get to her feet, having arrived lying down for reasons unbeknownst
to her. However, a collection of hands suddenly clamped down on her arms and
legs, letting her up in a more forcible way.
(Narrative Note: The reason for characters arriving in the Disney realms lying down is never rightly explained and purposely left for the interpretation of the reader.)
Brandy was surrounded by a large group of sailors who
appeared to have been engaged in celebration until she made her presence known.
It was the celebration for the birthday of Prince Eric, who was there himself
with his pet sheepdog, Max, and confidant, Grimsby. It was Eric who spoke on
Brandy’s behalf as the sailors kept restraint upon her. “Whoa, whoa! Guys, take
it easy! You act like you’ve never seen a woman onboard this ship before.”
“We’ve seen women…just not stowaways!” One sailor angrily
indicated.
“I-I’m no stowaway, I promise!” Brandy remarked. “In
fact, I can be of some help to you all.”
All of the men, with the notable exception of Eric,
bellowed with laughter from Brandy’s claim.
Calming down the sailors by shushing them, Eric asked,
“Help us with what? Celebrating a birthday party?” He smiled and then turned to
Grimsby. “Grim, did you set this all up, ya old madman?”
Grimsby maintained a gentlemanly posture while addressing
the situation. “I assure you, Eric. I had no part in this whatsoever. This
young woman is a stowaway, just as these sailors have claimed.”
“I say we throw her overboard and let the sharks deal
with her!” A sailor boldly suggested.
“No one is throwing anyone overboard.” Eric demanded.
One of the sailors keeping grasp over Brandy’s arm lifted
it up to show the special wristband that she wore. “Look at the strange jewelry
she wears! No doubt stolen, I’d say!” The sailor’s fingers connected with the
surface of the wristband and triggered a holographic readout that shot out of
the device and projected remarkably large and wide over the area.
The sailors instantly let go of Brandy at the moment the
occurrence took place. Her hands free, Brandy quickly shut off the projection,
before some of the older sailors on the ship suffered a massive heart attack.
Once it was off, she sheepishly looked to the men and smiled. “Sorry about
that.”
“She be a witch!!!” A sailor claimed in fear.
(Authorial Note: Another common sci-fi/fantasy cliché - primitive characters mistaking future technology for witchcraft or sorcery. Interestingly enough, sorcery and technology both play vital roles in the World of Disney series and intermix with each other.)
“Throw her overboard!!” Another sailor viciously yelled.
The sailors began to advance upon Brandy, backing her
into a corner. Eric tried the best he could to bring order to the situation,
but no one – including Grimsby – was willing to hear him out. Even Max
expressed some distain in Brandy’s presence, growling at her amidst the
advancing sailors. Just when it seemed as if an unfortunate circumstance was
about to break out…
KURR-KRACK!!!
The lightning and thunder appeared suddenly, accompanied
by a darkening sky. All focus on Brandy was soon directed to the storm, which
rocked the ship violently. Eric and the sailors went to work on keeping the
ship together. In the meantime, Brandy fiddled with the wristband, trying to
fix the reconfiguration – disrupted by the sailor’s touch – and
escape while she still had the chance. Unfortunately, it proved to be quite a
challenge between the rocking of the ship and the pouring rain.
KURR-BOOM!!!
Directly above her, one of the sails was struck by the
lightning and set on fire, putting Brandy and the crew in more danger than
before. The scene was playing out in front of her just the way it did in the
movie, only she was observing it up close and personal. And if memory served
her well, the worst was coming…in the form of a very large rock, which was
directly in the path of the ship. Brandy tried to warn the crew of it, but she
was too late…
BANG!
The impact was intense. Everyone, including Brandy, was
tossed overboard. Before she even hit the waters, Brandy blacked out from the
whiplash she received. The sound of the immense explosion that soon followed
was nothing more than a muffled pop to her, as she floated lifelessly across
the sea with her face above the surface to support for air.
“Brandy…Are you okay? Brandy, wake up!”
Feeling more disorientated than she did after
re-animation, Brandy slowly opened her eyes to a bright sun and a tall figure
standing in front of it, providing enough shade for her weary eyes. Once they
were in total focus, she saw it was Sean who was standing beside her on the
shore she had washed upon. She sat up carefully with some help from him and
took deep breaths before saying, “Are…Are you okay?”
Sean chuckled at her question. “I should be asking you the same question. You look like you
just got your butt kicked by Ursula.”
“So you do know
where you are.” Brandy noted. “Well, now that I’ve found you, we can get to…”
She touched her right wrist – the one she wore the wristband on…or at least she
was supposed to. When she touched
that wrist, all she felt was her own exposed flesh. Panicked, she immediately
got to her feet and patted herself hastily. “Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no, no!”
“What’s wrong?” Sean asked in confusion.
“When you found me, did you see a metal band on my
wrist?!”
“No. I found you just the way you are now.”
Brandy’s hands went to her long black hair, almost ready
to tear it out in intense alarm. Her blue eyes widened with terror,
signifying an oncoming mental breakdown. “I knew this would happen! I told
Bella it was a bad idea from the start! Now we’re stuck here for good!”
The alarm finally reached Sean at that point. “Whoa!
Stuck here? What’re you…?” He stopped in mid-sentence as soon as he heard a harmonious
voice singing a familiar song nearby…
What would I give to live where you are?
What would I pay to stay here beside
you?
What would I do to see you smiling at
me?
Sean recognized the verses from the song “Part of Your
World” as sung by Ariel herself. However, this voice was not the little mermaid’s; and yet it was a familiar voice
nonetheless. With Brandy following close behind, Sean moved across the beach,
approaching a large pile of rocks. Past those rocks was an eerily memorable
scene: a redheaded mermaid with a gorgeous, sparkling green tail sitting beside
the unconscious Prince Eric while a seagull, a yellow-blue fish, and a
stressed-out red crab looked on.
Gazing closely at the scene, Sean and Brandy were shocked
once they saw the face of the mermaid. No doubt she was a redhead and a
mermaid; but she was not Ariel. After
careful examination, Sean and Brandy discovered the face belonging to Joanie
Navarro. She sang with her own voice, which was on par with Ariel’s, and
appearing to be fully in character while singing to the unconscious Eric…
Where would we walk?
Where would we run?
If we could stay all day in the sun?
Just you and me
And I could be
Part of your world
No comments:
Post a Comment