Welcome to the fourth part of the nineteenth installment of-
 "A TIME TO EVERY PURPOSE UNTO HEAVEN "  By Pepe K.
(Winner of 31 UKE Awards)
Please send all comments to PepeK62@gmail.com 
The following story concerns the Toonsters' freshman year of Acme
Looniversity at college level. This tale of mystery and adventure is
best read from the beginning - the other parts are available at
pepe.ttafans.com    
 I suggest you read it from the start or you'll not know what is transpiring.
All characters portrayed that are not based on those owned by Warner
Brothers; Amblin, MGM, Hanna Barbera, Tezuka & Mitsuteru Yokoyama
are created and owned by the author. Andy Fox is courtesy of his player. 
This part of the tale is rated R for realistic violence.
This story contains many references to music, some of which you may be
familiar with. It contains and was inspired by the music of Danny Elfman's
film soundtracks. In order to enhance this experience, I've made notations
as to where each specific piece of music fits into the story. If it's 
available to you, I'd  *strongly* suggest getting the CD, MP3 or cassette tape, 
so that you'll not only read the story, but hear it happen as well. All the
music is available on CD. Used in this part is Dimitri Tiomkin’s classic film soundtrack to “THE THING From Another World”, Music by Alexander Courage  and Gerald Fried from “Star Trek”,
Main theme from “Where Eagles Dare” by Ron Goodwin and “The Longest Day” by Paul Anka.
Also “Glad All Over” by The Dave Clark Five. 

I'd like to thank Dennis Smith, Danny Palin, HKUriah and Danny Elfman. 
This story is dedicated to my Beloved Wife – 
 And to the memory of my late Beloved Father
Commander Dean Lundt Kellogg, Senior USN 
Born April 14th, 1922 - Died December 7th, 2017

All historical data of the years 1861-1862 contained herein is based on
authenticated facts.


And now – Part 4 of Part 19 of -
   "A TIME TO EVERY PURPOSE UNTO HEAVEN" - A Time To Kill” 
"The U.S.S. CONGRESS"

Chapter CXLI

White… Blinding white! Neither the Sun nor the sky nor the land below contained any other color.

The frozen North was difficult to see with the naked eye alone. 

No shade, no darkness and no hues were present to change the landscape of ice and snow. The icy tundra of northern Alaska stretched on and on - becoming a vast ocean of ice with almost no landmarks of any kind…

 But there was a tiny spot of red, white and blue. In the midst of this endless snowfield, a polar bear was running for his life! He held on his red bomber cap with one paw as his blue galoshes scurried along, oddly making bongo-like pattering sounds despite the snow.  

From behind him, there came the horrific creaking and rumbling sounds of a mechanized monster giving chase! Far ahead in the distance, he saw a small figure.

  "RUN FOR IT SNEEZLY!" he yelped desperately.

"What didja do this time, Breezly?" the seal asked in his usual nasal voice.

    "Well, the Colonel said he needed a haircut!" chuckled the bear as he ran.
At that, a huge olive drab Army tank broke through the nearest snowbank with a terrible crash!

  "Breezly Bruin, You'll pay for this! I'll have you court-martialed and shot at dawn!" yelled a very bald and very angry Colonel Fuzzby from the hatch atop the tank's gun turret.

  "Ha-ha, Ya can't do that Colonel! I'm not in the Army!" laughed Breezly.

The Colonel's face turned red and steam boiled from his ears. 

 "Then I'll have you Drafted - then court-martialed and shot!" Col. Fuzzby grinned, "But why wait?"

The irate officer pulled a lanyard in the turret and the tank's cannon blasted out a shell that sped right for Breezly's head! The bear ducked, pulling his head down into his neck and popping back up to chuckle at his foe again. 

The enraged Col. Fuzzby snorted fire and shouted into his hand-mike!

"FULL SPEED AHEAD! I want that gold-bricking bruin turned into a bear rug!" he yelled to the tank driver.

  The tank treads squealed and spun as the metal monster plowed straight after Breezly! 

In full panic, Breezly and Sneezly took to their heels, sweating bullets as the tank flattened the snowdrifts, their igloo and everything else in its path! 

"HELP! SAVE US FROM THE COLONEL!" begged Breezly and Sneezly!

The toons and the tank disappeared momentarily off into silence - then the tank roared back at emergency speed in the opposite direction! The Colonel held on and ducked back into the turret, slamming its hatch shut over his head! 

Breezly and Sneezly were also running for their lives in the same direction behind him, scurrying to escape! 

 "HELP COLONEL! SAVE US!" begged Breezly and Sneezly!

After a moment of silence - a huge dark something swooped after them through the air at a blinding speed!

        "I say! You see the strangest things flying at low altitude" said Commander Johnny Winters as he pulled back on the stick of his SR-71 Blackbird and climbed back up to a thousand meters. 

"Right. Now that I'm past Camp Frostbite's radar envelope, we can get on with it" said the owl in the spacesuit.

Johnny looked at his compass on the instrument panel and took a bearing. He thought of the secret procedure to reach his destination.

"Point K's position is hidden and diverted by the Radiogefunkenwerke, so that any gyro-compass within a hundred miles will be thrown off by seven degrees, but the gravitational attraction of the Millstone is so powerful that it will attract by as much as 3 degrees, so I must guide in at four degrees of separation.
This way, anyone without the correct heading will become lost between the two points and won't find either Point K or the Radiogefunkenwerke's transmitter. Since radio contact is restricted to only 10 miles from Point K, I'll either speak to Hephaestus there - or become lost in the snow up here. So…"

As he watched his chronometer count down to the last few moments before the hundred mile limit, the compass spun slowly to the east - and stopped. With a steady hand, the snowy owl tilted the control column ever so slightly to the left, until his heading was precisely three degrees less than magnetic north.

The large black stealth-plane banked a tiny amount - then resumed its level flight. The white horizon looked unchanged - but the heading was correct, he hoped. If his heading was off by a tenth of a mile - he'd never reach his destination.

Watching the seconds on the clock tick by, Johnny began to throttle back his vast engines. Powerful enough to drive the Queen Mary, his ramjet engines were already reduced to jet engines, but he must slow down further.

The thick atmosphere made for a bumpy ride at this low altitude, but turbulence had never bothered him. 

Sliding a lever back lowered the flaps and elevons, increasing the Blackbird's drag and the roar of the air past his cockpit. He watched his airspeed indicator and altimeter reducing in speed and altitude.

The seconds ticked by... 

According to his ground-following radar, there was nothing out there but snow. The view through his windshield revealed no change either. 

"It must be there. It *has* to be!" he thought. "Better get on the horn."

Without taking his big yellow eyes from the clock, Johnny activated the radio and spoke into his helmet's receiver.

He had to get the vocal code correctly. What was it again? 

"Tammeh Sekonsae! Tammeh Sekonsae!…PoonYa Bah! PoonYa!" called Johnny in the strange guttural language the Doctor had taught him. 

He heard only static in his ears. 

Seconds passed as he grew more and more nervous… He could not be off-course. The range was winding down towards zero…

"Tammeh Sekonsae! Tammeh Sekonsae!…PoonYah Bah! *Poon Ya*!" he repeated anxiously and held his breath to listen. …Static…

Then a bright voice replied:" Tassko! Mahlem a` pekaeno! Seeta! Seeta!…You rang, Commander?"

Heaving a heavy sigh of relief, Johnny answered as he homed in on the signal.
"Come in, Hephaestus! Do you copy? This is Blackbird, over?"

"Loud and clear, Commander. I'm so pleased to hear your voice" said the computer. "You're nine miles out and closing. Activating the southern landing strip and hangar. You should see the landing lights about…now." 
 
From out of the blinding white horizon, he saw a string of blue lights popping up in a line off to his left. 

Guiding on them, Winters sideslipped the Blackbird, the enormous black jet flying sideways at an angle towards the blue beacons.

As the aircraft was designed for fast level flight, this maneuver made the air roar over it, but it did slow it down with considerable drag. 

The Commander flipped a series of switches, lowering his nitrogen-filled tires towards the snowfield. The roar increased as his landing gear locked into position. 

The great dark speed machine wallowed downward through the air as he lowered the throttle. This was always the hard part. As long as he wasn't landing on ice-

"Runway now at maximum heating," said the computer's voice," Ten feet to touchdown. …Reduce speed, you are coming in a little warmly."

"You mean a little hot" Winters replied, straightening out the trajectory.

The hydraulic motors hummed as he extended the flaps down to "Full". He raised the nose of his ship as it flared out.

The snowy owl held his breath - as the Blackbird dipped finally onto the asphalt with an abrupt screech!

Gently he dropped the pointed nose and turned the jets to "Full Reverse". The engines roared again and all his drag flaps opened. 

Johnny hit his parachute and it sprouted from a door in the big ship's rudder, blossoming open like a big orange flower. The drogue chute had pulled it free to slow the heavy blackbird, but Johnny added his booted feet to step on the brakes. 

To his right, the pilot saw a mammoth cavern opening in what looked like the side of a mountain of snow. The brief darkness inside was replaced by the zinc chromate green of the interior of a large aircraft hangar. 

A blocky-shaped robot darted out the yawning entrance and gathered up the Blackbird's parachute. 

Before Johnny was even halfway into the empty hangar, the robot was back inside and was beckoning him toward a gangway. 

The empty hangar roared with the whine of the jet engines and then echoed in a descending scale as the 100 meter-wide doors closed.

The Commander flipped all his switches down and the spy plane became an inert object. He unsealed the cockpit and the canopy opened slowly and automatically. 

Careful not to touch anything, Johnny released his heavy safety belts and found the blunt claw of the robot reaching out to help. 

The excessive heat from the aircraft's high speed rippled off the Blackbird's surfaces in waves like a mirage` off a desert road and what little moisture there was turned the hangar into a vast steam-filled cavern.  

"Welcome to Point K, Commander Winters" said the voice of Hephaestus from the robot's body. "Please come over to the console, there are a few preliminary questions to go through."

 Winters walked cautiously down the gangway stairs, remembering full well what answering these questions involved.

If his answers were even slightly incorrect, he might end up sealed into the facility for good - or worse. Doing his best to recall the list of answers, he walked over to the large dark red camera lens of the computer and sat down.

"Please look at the center of my red lens" the computer's filtered voice asked.
As he did so, the stroboscopic flashes of light surrounded his body as the computer measured every single feature of his body. 

The chair weighed him, seeking discrepancies - all to make certain of his identity. The red lens extended out towards his right eye on a metallic armature. Johnny opened his eye wider as it took a retinal scan, the intense light becoming slightly painful in his owl's eye. The lens retracted, but the procedure still made Winters nervous. 

"Please state your full name and rank" asked Hephaestus.

"Captain Jonathan Christian Denys-Smythe Winters, Royal Navy, retired. Commander Jonathan Christian Denys-Smythe Winters, Royal Flying Corps, MI-12" the owl answered carefully.

"What is your number, sir?"

"W-zed-zed-seven".

"Who are "The Warriors"?"

Winters was prepared for that, but it still gave him pause.

"Answering that question or any similar questions on this subject would be in direct violation of Regulation #12. Thusly, I cannot answer it" he stated firmly.

Hephaestus was insistent. "Who is number One?"

"Answering that question or any similar questions on this subject would be in direct violation of Regulation #12, Paragraph A. Thusly, I cannot answer it" he said rigidly.

"How are things between you and Laika Romanov?" the computer asked slyly.

Johnny's beak smiled with a bit of a smirk and he said: "None of your bloody business."

"Thank you, Commander. Your Identity is now confirmed. So good to have you here, Sir."

Johnny relaxed and sat back with a sigh of relief, but the computer continued.
"Your weight is slightly off. Down a couple of ounces… Sir."

Any normal fellow who knew he might face permanent imprisonment depending on his next words might have flinched, but not Johnny Winters. His large yellow eyes blinked, but his expression did not change. His measured British accent now made him sound even more serious than the computer's filtered voice.

"After hearing what we've been up to this past year, I think you'll understand if I'm slightly off my feed."

"Oh do tell - my last contact with anyone was September of last year. " said Hephaestus.

"That'll have to wait a bit, we have a vital mission to accomplish", Winters announced, "Let's get down to Manual Control on the Millstone. We have changes to make before 4 pm."

 "Very good, sir. The elevator is to your left".

The seamless green wall slowly opened like a door, but Johnny did not move.
"But first, I want you to decontaminate me - make sure there is nothing on my person besides my suit. And scan specifically for Di-coronium."

A large beam emitter assembly moved out mechanically from over the computer console and over the seated owl's head.

"Please close your eyes and wait", said Hephaestus' calm voice, "May I point out that Di-coronium is an element present only in artificial laboratory experiments?"

"I am aware of that - Proceed" Johnny ordered, shutting his large yellow eyes.

"Yes Sir" said the machine and the room was filled with a white actinic flashing light, like a blinding strobe.

Chapter CXLII   

On either side of Hampton Roads, thousands of men in blue and grey stood facing each other across the few miles of grey-blue still waters. They had been families and friends - and now were bitter enemies pitted against each other for their freedom, fighting for their liberty with their lives. Many were still brothers who chose different sides. Theirs was a bitter war. Many men came here as soldiers, many men would pass this way. Many men would count the hours as they lived the longest day.

  (Hellboy II: The Golden Army - "Main Titles")

     Babs Bunny stood in the midst of an emergency onboard the frigate U.S.S. Congress. She stood at the mainmast directing crewmen; some to fight the inextinguishable fire, others to remount a disabled gun, others to take care of the wounded, others to transfer the gunpowder stores away from the fire and still others to set sail and escape the Virginia. 

She looked down through the open main hatch at the activity on the berth deck, where the cabin boys, cooks and powder monkeys had formed a human chain. The smell of wood smoke filled her head as the ship burned underneath her and the horrible, piteous cries of the wounded filled her ears.

  One of them named Leroy, the captain of the number thirteen gun, whose weapon and crew had been wiped out by the Virginia's first broadside, lay dying, his body nearly cut in two. His shipmates around him saw the rebel ironclad seemingly withdrawing up the James River and believed her to have been severely damaged by the terrible battle with the Cumberland.

"HUZZAH!" the crew cheered heartily.

   "What is the matter?" choked out Leroy.

"The Merrimack is sinking!" he was told.

   "Three cheers for the Union!" said Leroy with his last dying breath.

 Thus he nobly died in his country's cause.
                                                       
   There are but few moments of terror in life so painful as when you know that something horrible is about to happen to someone near and dear to you. When your eyes become so big because there's absolutely no way for you to stop it from happening, the complete helplessness you feel drives you to extremis. When it means life or death -the only thing you can do is to cry out a warning and pray.

 Mary Melody suddenly remembered such a horrific thing was about to happen. She remembered because it was her host who was about to cause it. 

["Oh_my_God!! Babs!”], she begged, [“Wherever you are - get away from the Congress's stern, please!! Run girl! RUN!!"]

["Mary? What's the problem?"] Babs asked numbly.

Buster's concerned thoughts reached her. ["She's right, Babs! Get out of there *right now*! The Congress's berth deck is about to blow up!"]

["My host is about to fire the stern rifle three times - one of the shells will hit the gunpowder!"] explained Mary.

Babs paused, her eyes wide, as her host paused too. Together they looked down the center stairway of the frigate and saw the ship's boys carrying white cloth sacks - cylindrical sacks filled with deadly black powder. 

Babs saw a few older men wearing cook's aprons helping the powder monkeys pass the powder charges in a human chain, trying to move the explosives away from the fire in the stern. The boys worked urgently but were calm-faced. Babs noticed the smallest lad wore a scrimshawed whale's tooth around his neck on a braided rope thong. They had no idea that they were doomed. 

["Waitaminute - the Congress doesn't blow up - it just burns"] Babs’s numbed mind thought dismissively.

["Honest to God, Babs! She's gonna blow!"], thought Mary, ["Didn't you study?!"]

Lieutenant John Taylor Wood, commander of the stern pivot gun, had not fired his 7-inch rifle during the contest with the Cumberland. Now the Congress entered his sights as the Virginia slowly moved up the James River.

Babs stared at the children working below and her heart sank. ["Oh peanuts!… I skimmed it…"]

["That's what happens when you don't study…"] Calamity thought quietly.

["Like, never mind that - get out of there, Babs!"] thought Shirley.

"Run 'er out!" ordered Lt. Wood. His gun crew heaved in on the breeching ropes and the mouth of the Brooke rifle poked out of the aft gunport.

Babs panicked. ["But they're just kids! I can't just-"]

["Barbara…they are dust"], came the calm thoughts of Doctor Lord, ["They've all been dead for over a hundred and thirty years."]

["I can't just leave them to get killed!!"], she cried, ["Maybe if I-"]

["There's nothing you can do for them"], Lord told her fatefully, ["You cannot change the Past. Changes can only occur in the Present. You cannot step out of the timeline…at least not yet."]

Lt. Wood and Mary squinted across the brass sights of the 15,300 pound rifled gun. Its 12 pound black powder charge could throw a 100 pound explosive shell 4 and 1/2 miles.

Babs implored him ["But this *is* their Present - it's got to be changed so -"]
["Their Present *is* going to change - because of their deaths, the world will change."]

"FIRING!" shouted Lt. Wood as he held the lanyard and his crew held their ears and turned away. 

The massive gun bucked and slammed its way backward as the titanic roar reverberated up and down the casemate of the Virginia, making the iron plating and everyone's ears ring. 

The vast bulk of the ironclad's hull was visibly pushed ahead in her course a few inches.

Babs saw the shell flying towards her, arcing through the sky - then it fell, colliding with the Congress's own stern gun. With a metallic ringing concussion, it blew off the muzzle of one of the ship's two stern thirty-two pounders, spraying iron shrapnel into the carved wooden letters bearing the frigate's name. 

The impact sent the cannon flying off its mount and back upon its crew, killing or wounding all of them. 

Horrible high-pitched screams rang up the gangway, diminishing only slightly as the men died. Babs's color would have been scared out of her had she been herself.

["Oh pellets!"], Babs swore in horror, ["Buster what should I do?!"]

"Sponge! Load!", ordered Lt. Wood, "Run 'er out!"

["That's one"] thought Mary, her ears ringing like steel bells.

["Babs, Get out of there!!"] Buster thought, looking at the fleeing, distant ship.

["But I can't just leave them!"] Babs cried.

Mary squinted along with her host and saw the gun crew of the Congress's remaining stern gun struggling to run it out to fire back at her. "Mustn't allow that" said Wood to himself.

"FIRING!" he shouted and pulled the lanyard again. 
Mary felt the blast suck the wind from her lungs as the concussion blew the air inside the casemate out through the gunport along with the shellfire. The spinning shell buzzed like a bull-roarer as Babs watched it rocketing towards her and she instinctively turned and ran. Luckily, her host did also. 

The second shell ranged through the stern frame lower down than the first shot, passed right through the ward room's pantry on the starboard side, shattering crockery and sending a cloud of baking flour following in its wake. It smashed through the length of the officers' ward room and steerage and out upon the berth deck, where it detonated.  

The ship's cooks and ward room boys handling the charges of black powder were blown to bits as the gunpowder exploded in their bare hands. The explosion and fire jetted out of the gun ports all around the stern. More hair-raising screams arose from below decks, made all the more horrible by the high voices of the boys. 

Babs tried to turn away from the ghastly scene, but her host, being second in command, had to ascertain what had happened. The terrible screaming continued as an officer staggered up the gangway from below. Ironically, it was the blood-spattered and shaken Ship's Purser, McKean Buchanan, the brother of Captain Buchanan of the Virginia, who had just witnessed the annihilation 
of his own command - the powder division.
      

Babs Bunny's sensitive pink ears had stopped working. All she could hear was the muffled high-pitched tone of tinnitus. Men seemed to shuffle oddly past her in slow-motion. 

Her eyes widened as she saw Lieutenant Smith shouting at her - in silence. Her head ached from the shock of the explosion…and she had a very bad metallic taste in her mouth. In her mind though - she heard her friends shouting.

["BABS - ANSWER ME!"] her fiancée called again and again.

   ["…Whoops…it was the second shell…not the third…"] Mary mumbled.

["That's funny"], thought Wakko, ["The way I read, it was the third one."]

["The account we read must be wrong"], thought Furball quietly, ["We can't be sure of our facts then."] 

 Buster held his breath as he listened.

["BABS! Are you alright?!"] a panicked Buster finally asked. 

["QUIET!"] she yelled back, ["I'm…not sure…"]   

["Barbara, are you hurt?"] asked the Doctor.

["DON'T - don't call me that!"] she barked, then whimpered dizzily. ["Ooooh, my brain hurts!"]

Shirley could see the jumbled thoughts of her friend. ["Like, she may have a concussion."]

["Ya think?"], thought the pink bunny. ["Eeww, bleaaah!"], she gagged, ["I have this gross taste in my mouth."]

    Just then, familiar thoughts came to Shirley: ["Ya better duck, Captain Loon."]

["Plucky?"] she answered, ["Like where are you? You've been so silent since…since we sank your ship."]

["Well ya better watch out for yourself, the battery here is zeroing in on you"] thought the faraway duck.

Indeed, at that moment the heavy guns of Camp Butler opened fire on the passing Virginia, sending shells and solid shot hurtling towards the rebel ironclad. 

["What gross taste, Babs?"] asked Buster

["Like - Incoming!"] Shirley called out as she pulled the hatch closed over her head.

The Union shot came slamming into the Virginia’s broadside from a higher angle than the Cumberland’s fire had come from. As the iron casemate rang like a huge gong from the severe blows, the seamen could see its wooden backing cracking under the thunderous assault.

"Return fire on those shore batteries!" shouted Captain Buchanan.

Just then Lt. Wood fired the third shell form the stern pivot gun.

["Look out, Babs!"] warned Mary.

The Virginia's shell slammed into the Congress's sole remaining stern gun, striking the gun carriage and shoving it out from under the cannon's tube and making it useless. 

The Congress now lay almost defenseless.
 
["You probably just have powder smoke in your mouth"] thought the Doctor.

Arnold peeped through one eye as he sighted the bow rifle through its gunport.

["You better duck, Duck!"] he thought as he fired the seven inch gun through the earth-works of the Union fort and blew apart the gun that had just been fired. The exploded cannon burst and mowed down most of its crew with jagged shrapnel. 

["Nyah, ya missed me!"] sneered Plucky.

["You know, Buster...it tastes like crap"] Babs tossed off.

["Babs? Why would Buster know what crap tastes like?"] asked Wakko inquisitively.

["Never mind - it's not gunpowder - it's not chemical-y"] the bunny girl snapped.

"FIRING!" shouted Lieutenant Davidson as he touched off the Virginia’s starboard 6.4 inch Brooke rifle. As the explosion echoed up and down the casemate, the shell hit a large Union transport steamer dead center in its boilers.

 With a deafening explosion of super-heated steam pressure - the ship blew up! The wooden hull snapped in half and quickly settled into the water next to the wharf where it had been moored. 

The few men aboard were flung out into the water.

["A hit! Lookit that! One @#*&% shot!"] whooped Fowlmouth. 

The gun crews saw it and cheered as well. Wakko's gun was fired next, sending a shell into the Union fort and spreading a big cloud of dirt and sand across the battlements.

["Babs? I need you to expectorate"] said Doctor Lord.

["What the what? ...You mean here? Now?"] exclaimed the bunny in embarrassment. The others were equally puzzled by this. 

["You mean een public?"] Arnold queried.

["Get your host to spit on the deck. Do it now"] the Doctor said.

["Uhhhhhhh…how do I get him to do that?"] Babs queried.

["Think of something disgusting that will make him want to spit"] Lord ordered.

["Like…um, something that'll gross ya out the door, like barf-arama!"] offered Shirley.

["Like toe jam!"] said Fowlmouth. 

["Like mien gym locker"] added Arnold.

["Like Dizzy's cave after a heavy rainfall"] suggested Hamton. 

["Like Dizzy Devil's breath after hours at the Acme Mall"] posed Buster.

["Like Dizzy Devil - period"] said Plucky.

After they chuckled, Wakko suggested ["Think of a big loogie, freshly hocked up from Dizzy's sinuses, just laying' there on his huge tongue, all yellowish-grey-"]

["Ugh -…There I did it"] reported a disgusted Babs, ["Now what?….Ewww…Uh-oh."]

["What is it Babs?"] asked Buster.

["It's blood, isn't it?"] Lord concluded flatly.

The stain on the deck before Babs and her host was red - but a little too bright red. It wasn't just the blood of her human host.

["It's yours, right? I told you kids to keep your mouths *open* during the explosions. Now you've banged your teeth and made your gums bleed. I warned you all about explosive concussions, didn't I?"] the Doctor told them.

["More incoming mail!"] sighed Buster as a shell exploded in the water just short of the bow of the Beaufort.

"Concentrate your fire on Camp Butler!" Captain Buchanan ordered sharply.

Within him, Shirley explained the thoughts of her host. ["We'll have to pass by this point twice to return to the attack, so we've like got to take out those guns now!"]

["We're steering into the shoals now, shallower water - into the mud banks"] worried Hamton.

["Trust you to always get oos covered een mud"] muttered Fifi sulkily.

["Ahem! T.M.I. dear!"] the embarrassed pig thought shushing her.

["We're towing you *through* the mud"], Buster assured them, ["We'll get the Merrimac turned around all right."]

Just then the ship juddered and shook as her keel hit a mud bank and shifted beneath their feet.

["Ya sure about that?"], asked Wakko, ["If we get stuck here, they'll pound us ta pieces!"]

["We're not stuck, rabbit - You're stuck!"] Gogo quipped, imitating Rocky the gangster. 

["Lighten up, guys. We get outta this okay"] thought Furball. 

["Actung, look!"] Arnold suddenly thought as his host looked through the bow gunport. ["De Raleigh haz captured a Union transport undt has it unter tow!"]

["That must be the Reindeer, a water tank transport"] declared Lord as his host joined Shirley's in peeping through the top hatch.

["Adding insult to injury, huh? You're making our side look bad"] muttered Plucky.

Lt. Davidson fired his starboard shell gun again and from his vantage point, the duck and his host saw it come flying towards them! The smoking conical shell streaked over his head and went completely through the small cabin behind him. 

A microsecond afterwards, it exploded! As Plucky watched, Union officers hurriedly piled out of the holed cabin, helping their white-bearded commander, who was covered in wooden splinters. 

The big grizzled man was red-faced with rage, but silently swept the debris from his uniform as he ordered his men to return fire.

["Oh boy… you guys got General Mansfield real mad!"] warned Plucky.

The remaining cannons of the Union shore installation loaded and fired back at the slow-moving Virginia as the Reindeer was stolen. 

The Raleigh tugged away at her hawser ahead of her as her flag drooped and was taken down. The sight enraged General Mansfield. The forty year Army veteran and West Point graduate called for his horse. 

Mounted up higher on horseback, he used his spyglass to direct the fort's guns against the Confederates.

He made sure his men were ready - calling on detachments from the 20th Indiana and 1st New York Mounted Rifles to be ready to march to the beach to fight. 

The Union Army would have it's say in this battle. After giving a brief report of the loss of the Cumberland, Plucky's host, Lieutenant Morris returned to the yellow beach to help with his wounded men. He looked grimly out at the masts of his sunken ship, where the Stars and Stripes still flew defiantly above the waves.

    Onboard the Congress, Paymaster Buchanan silently saluted Babs' host, Lieutenant Pendergrast and wordlessly handed him a small bloodied object, then walked back down the hatchway and back to his post. 

Aghast, Babs stared at the same scrimshawed whale's tooth with a bit of ripped rawhide cord she seen the small cabin boy wearing only moments ago. Babs wanted the world to stop...

But suddenly, there was a cheer from the men around her! The sails filled with the wind overhead, pulling the Congress slowly away from the fight.

"Get a line to her!" shouted Lieutenant Smith. The Union tugboat Zouave had appeared at her side and soon was straining on the ropes, pulling the Congress and her men away from the dangerous Virginia. 

Chapter CXLIII

   "Don't you dare speak to me in that tone, Bugs Bunny," said Wile E. Coyote officiously into his cell phone,

"I've already explained what happened, but I'll try once more."

Behind him, Ralph Wolf and Egghead Junior scampered back and forth, gathering electrical components and installing them as they raced against time itself to prepare the time machine for its new sky-high levels of power. 

Their panicked running through Dr. Lord's lab contrasted comically versus Wile E.'s casual and flippant conversation. 

"Again - when the time machine began its power-up, something happened and some of the kids got separated - Yes, of course we tried to stop it! It cannot *be stopped*! So the Doctor was trying to reassemble the kids when some other thing happened and he lost control- …No, we don't know what it was. We have no sound out there, just visual. Anyway, as a result, three of the kids were pulled into the time vortex a little later than the others.Yes Bugs, we tried to stop it. The process is irreversible once it begins. Anywaaay - according to the coordinates 
and to Doc, the main group wound up on the Merrimac (where they were all supposed to go) but Buster wound up on another Confederate boat and Plucky showed up onboard the Cumberland and Babs was found on the Congress... That means they're on the Union side! Yes… yes, they're having to fight each other. Doc said he'd make sure no one was hurt… You know he always keeps his promises- YES HE DOES! You know he does! …Calm down. Can I- can I just give you some advice? … I think we should phone their parents just in case…
Well if the kids are the first to tell them, then we'll get sued like Blazes! …Good, now they are all scheduled to return about 5 pm. So maybe the parents should be here to….uh, yeah… We *are* working *very hard*! …We've been at it since the moment this happened this morning! Now Look - I'm tired, I'm all grubby from having to pull apart power installations all day and I've been shocked a dozen times by bare wiring - and I got flash-frozen solid and then thawed with a blowtorch!…So get a hold of them and have their teachers here as well. No! You call 'em, I'm sick of telling this same story over and over and over again! No, you call them! If I have to tell this story to one more person I'll blow my top! …By the way, how did the press conference go?"

Just then, the elevator doors of the lab opened and out marched Andy Fox.

"It went perfectly fine and the Bunny's problems with Warner Brothers are all solved. The studio is privately apologizing since Mr. Jones also put in his oar" the red fox told his comrade confidently.

 Ralph rushed past him with an armful of power conduits, while Junior skittered along behind, picking up whatever Ralph dropped in his haste. The Fox slapped his forehead in disbelief and complained in disgust.

"Oh, No! What did you three do?? I just knew I should have stayed here and done it myself! Alright -Think fast, Wile E! - Let's hear the story of how you screwed up!"

 Wile E. picked his jaw up off the floor where it had fallen, calmly put his phone down, crossed his arms and glared at the Fox. The Coyote rudely stuck his tongue out at the fox - and then his head exploded like a popped balloon.

Up on the screen appeared a new message from Dr. Lord: "For Strong and Astro - PREPARE Z2 for LAUNCH."

"What's that mean?" asked Ralph as they all looked puzzled at the monitor screen.

"I'm not certain… but I think things are about to become a whole lot more interesting" smiled the Fox.

Daffy Duck grumbled to himself as he drove his black Trans Am "Bandit" down the street in search of Porky Pig.

"Go find Porky, Daffy", he mumbled in a sarcastic imitation of Bug's voice, "Let's play second fiddles to a bunch of dumb basketball players, Daffy! Why doncha do a special with the Groovy Ghoulies, Daffy? Go find Michael Jordan's sweaty shorts, Daffy! -What the -??"

His sleek black muscle car screeched to a halt as he parked across from Porky and Petunia's suburban house, puzzled by the pig who seemed to be climbing over the white picket fence out front.

  "Porky! Where have you been? We've been lookin'…" Daffy sputtered to a halt on seeing the sailor's white and blue uniform and cap that the pig was wearing.

The pig had turned to face him with a smile, grasping his feathered fingers with a crushing, but friendly grip. 

"Uncle Daffy! Long time no see!" he said, without a trace of a stutter.

Daffy did a triple-take before exclaiming: "Suffer'n Succotash! Cicero! Well WOAH NELLY! Good ta see ya kiddo! Where ya been keepin' yourself?"

 Porky and Petunia's muscular nephew stood straight and tall, now dwarfing his "Uncle Daffy". 

"Oh, the South Pacific, Burmewda, Hong Kong, London, Buenos Aires, Singapore, Rotterdam, Vancouver, Auckland, Tokio, Mangalore, Miami Beach, Breast, San Francisco, Nawfolk and of course, New Yawk! I'm here on leave - 
and I'm having trouble finding Uncle Porky and Aunt Petunia. You wouldn't happen to know where they are, would ya?" asked the sailor.

 "As a matter of fact, my lad, I'm looking' for the two lovebirds myself" Daffy said, waddling to knock on the door.

"Belay that doorbell, I've knocked and knocked and they don't answer" Cicero told him.

"They're not answering their phone or I'd already have 'em back at the Loo", the black duck agreed, pulling out a magnifying glass and assuming his Duck Twacy "looking-for-clues" bent-over waddle.

"We might try the back door" Cicero suggested as he followed in Daffy's web-footed footprints.

Daffy drew himself up sternly.

 "Just a minute, my suggestive sailor! Duck Twacy formulates his *own* solutions!"

Cicero knew better than to interrupt Daffy when he was on a roll and smirked silently as the duck-tective arrived at a theory.

"Mayhaps - we might try - the backdoor!" 

Before he could reach it, he flattened his own beak by bumping into the back gate and the fence that completely surrounded the Pigs' high-hedged back yard.
 "It's locked" he said after straightening his bent face. 

"Their car is in the garage. Maybe they went for a walk?" wondered Cicero.

Suddenly they both heard a tiny feminine squeal and a giggle from the Pig's back yard and Daffy ran into the adjoining neighbor's side yard. Cicero followed and found Daffy wedged in the tall hedge halfway around the yard. 

There, the impulsive duck had his eye stuck to the single knothole that allowed a view of the Pig's inner sanctum. 

Daffy scanned this way and that and finally paused and stared, his face losing all expression.

"Are they in there?" whispered Cicero as a smile slowly grew across Daffy's face.

"Ayup…Porky's in there all right...yup, sure is…” Daffy whispered absently, then coughed a bit as he composed himself and turned to Cicero with a hushed voice. 

"You see... some time ago, Petunia had a hot mud tub installed next to their pool. They're... relaxing in it at the moment… ah, yeah."

"Boy, I'd love to try that!" Cicero said excitedly before Daffy shushed him and returned to peeping through the knothole.

"Quiet down, ya don't want to bother 'em!" Daffy caught himself and then calmly returned to whispering. "Ya see, they've been having, uh… couples troubles… an’ they've needed a lot of time...uh, alone...yeah. They don't want gossip spread... all over... the school so I'm uh... I've been keeping it quiet. See?"

"Oh I understand" Cicero agreed nodding, "Petunia and Porky have always been so...modest and shy. You're a real stand-up decent guy for keeping their secret, Uncle Daffy."

Daffy's smile grew wider as he continued peeking.

"Oo, yeah! …Okay… Why don't you go over to the front gate and call 'em? Real loud, kay?"

 Cicero threw him a smart salute and crept around the hedge, leaving Daffy to stare through the knothole and chuckle to himself. "Pigs are all so naive!"

Daffy's fingers stretched open the hole big enough to put both his eyes up to it. At Cicero's call, there was a brief commotion and the sounds of scampering feet. 

Daffy did a Clampett Corneal Catastrophe briefly before he scrambled to the gate to stand expectantly with Cicero. After a few moments, the gate swung open, revealing Porky standing there wearing a dirty towel, a thick layer of mud and a very sour expression.

"Sa-Sa-CICERO! You're home on leave? Petunia will be so happy ta see ya!" Porky spluttered in surprise.

"Glad to be back, Uncle Porky! So you guys built a hot mud tub? Can I try it?" the big sailor asked, "By the way, where is Aunt Petunia?"  

Porky's eyes darted everywhere looking for an answer. "She's get-get-ah-change-uh…she's in the shower." 

His glower at Daffy returned.

"I gotta check out this mud!" Cicero said charging for the tub.

Porky's face continued to darken, much to Daffy's glee. The duck's eyes were watering. He could barely keep from exploding with laughter.

"You dirty pigs, you!" Daffy giggled, just managing to keep his volume low, "I love it when ya make her squeal like that."

As Daffy gave in to his amusement, Porky smiled in a rather mean way and opened his arms wide to suddenly embrace the black duck with a full coating of brown mud.

“Goop hug!” Porky smirked maliciously as he rubbed the mud completely into Daffy's feathers by crushing him with his bare arms and body with a hug. The duck sputtered with anger as the naked pig soiled him from top to toe. 

Blindly grabbing for what he thought was a towel, Daffy took hold of the flap on Cicero's perfectly white naval uniform and wiped his muddy face off on it.

"If the kids weren't in trouble on Doc's time-trip, I'd mangle you! -" he suddenly stopped, petrified with fear at the sight of the huge, muscular, enraged sailor beside him.

Cicero cracked his knuckles and pushed up both sleeves, revealing anchor tattoos on his gigantic biceps. The battleship tattoo on his burly chest fired all of its guns and played the “Stars and Stripes Forever” march.

"Don't worry - I'll take care of the manglin' for ya!" grunted the angry hog as he leaped on Daffy. 

As the sounds of pain and mayhem filled the air, Porky daintily picked up his towel like a happy ballet dancer and casually walked towards the back door with a satisfied smile.

"D-d-don't break him too badly, Cicero. He's still got to drive us back to Acme Loo. We'll just s-s-shower, so take your time.”

Porky jauntily whistled “The Merry Go-Round Broke Down" as Cicero the Sailor knocked the stuffing out of Daffy.

Chapter CXLIV 

The men of the Congress had cheered wildly when they thought they saw the Virginia limping away.

 But they were sadly undeceived when they saw her turn back slowly to the attack. Now they were being chased by the invulnerable ironclad monster.

 ["Don't look now, but we've got company"] thought Buster from within his host, the captain of the CSS Beaufort. 

["The rest of the Confederate Fleet is coming down the river to join in the fun. There's the Patrick Henry, the Jamestown and the Teaser."] 

["The Teaser? What's it armed with? A fan dancer?"] quipped Babs.

["No, it's got guns, sweetie - and they're coming after you. They're trying to slip past Camp Butler right now"] her fiancée added.

["Looks like they're going to get away with it too"] Mary agreed, looking through the Virginia's stern gunport.

Wakko and Fowlmouth also saw the black-hulled vessels now trailing them on their starboard quarter. 

   From aboard the Congress, Babs' host saw them too. Soon there would be six Rebel ships attacking hers.

Fortunately, the Congress was escaping under sail and now, a tug boat was also pulling her to safety.

But she knew that the ship would end up stuck facing the wrong way.

As Mary watched the tug and the two side-wheelers steaming to catch them, she saw the guns at Camp Butler flashing as their shells streaked and tumbled towards them. 

There was a sudden explosion of steam from the largest ship as a shell blew a hole in its steam drum, scalding four men to death. The tug circled back and took her in tow, pulling the disabled vessel out of range. 

Everything seemed to be happening in a deadly slow-motion.

   Suddenly a shell struck the Virginia's port side, causing Shirley to spin and duck away from its flying shrapnel under the ship's forward hatch.

["Instant karma's gonna get you!"] sang Plucky's thoughts as he imitated John Lennon.

["Like, that's *not funny* Plucky!"], the loon thought back angrily, ["You could get us all killed!"]

["You sank *my* ship and could-a killed me!"] the duck retorted heatedly, but the Doctor called a halt to the argument immediately.

["Silence! I told you all not to get emotionally involved. If you can't control yourself, then you can't be a part of this mission."]

["Well right now, I don't want to be part of this mission! I'm stuck out here alone and I wanna go home!"] Plucky objected. 

The Doctor's thoughts changed to a more snarky tone. ["You surprise me, Plucky. All your life you've been trying to prove to your friends and yourself that you're a hero. Now you've finally done it - and you're blowing it! You've fought a desperate battle against impossible odds, you've lead men in a real battle and had your ship sink out from beneath your feet and survived to fight again - and yet you're blowing it by chickening out in front of your closest friends."]

["Hey! Dadgummit, I resemble that remark!"] thought an insulted Fowlmouth.

["No offense, FM"] commented the Doctor, ["But when someone makes a commitment to do something, they should go through with it, no matter what the cost."]

["No offense meant either Doc"] interjected Babs boldly - then her thoughts weakened, ["- but Plucky and me and Buster… didn't count on getting stuck out here… alone."]

["That's why I'm going to move Heaven and Earth to get you home."] Lord replied ["That's my commitment - and my promise. Now I need you kids to think of all you've studied and see if it's at all possible to affect a ship-to-ship transfer, using your hosts and possibly others so that Babs, Plucky and Buster can return to the Virginia and so that Shirley can shift to a safe host. At the moment, I've got to confer with our friends back home to make sure we *can* get home."]

  Everyone was quiet for a moment. Babs watched the Raleigh pull out ahead as the Beaufort's men prepared to cast off the towing lines from the Virginia's bow.

["We're loose"] Gogo observed, as they felt the Virginia slow back to her own rate of speed. [“And so’s my stomach…ewwww”] the Dodo added.

["Well, Babs' host and mine will meet up onboard the Congress, so we'll be together"] thought Buster positively to make Babs feel better.

["We can shift from our hosts to others on your ship"] Babs agreed.

["You'll have to be careful on whom you choose - the Beaufort gets shot full of holes by the Union Army ashore. They try to keep the Confederates from taking the Congress"] Calamity warned.

["He's right"], Wakko affirmed, [" Almost everybody on the deck of the Beaufort gets killed or wounded - the ship ends up looking like a nutmeg grater!"]

["Alright, so we'd know enough ta go down into the hold or the engine room so we'd be safe"] Buster thought patiently.

["It's a tugboat - there is no hold!”], Gogo retorted, [“Not even a half-nelson.”]

["So we'd find some hosts in the engine room - there'd be, uh, engineers there. We'd take them as hosts and wait till the ship goes back to port"] the bunny explained.

["Zey would go left?"] Arnold asked puzzled. Everyone else groaned. ["Vy vood zey go left?"]

["Non, Arnold - he means sat zey vood stay eenside oonteel zee sheep getz back to eetz home base"] 

Fifi explained. ["Boot zat vood take all day!"], she continued, ["Zey vood not meet oos a-gain oonteel after huit heures - tonight!"]

["She meanz after eight o'clock"] Arnold thought quietly.

["Zat eez vhat ah said!"] Fifi shot back.

["That would be too long to wait"], Lord concluded, ["And it does not necessarily place them back aboard this ship. We *must* all be together."]

After a moment, Mary spoke up. ["Some of the Congress's wounded and officers were taken aboard the Jamestown. You might get off that way."]

["Same problem, Mary - they don't come to the Virginia"] Furball corrected. ["Plus I don't think anybody actually makes it aboard the Jamestown."]

["Some uh dem guys swim ashore -"] Fowlmouth tried.

[“Naw, same problem"] admitted Gogo gloomily, then suddenly he had an idea and began doing an imitation of Edward G. Robinson. ["Now wait a minute, see! How about when the ships just get close to each 'udder, huh? Now listen! The Beaufort is gonna come close to our ship ta get their orders, seeee? An' all Buster has ta do is jump ship, see? That'll work, m'yeah! M'yeah! Whad do ya think Bustah? M'yeah!"]

["Ya mean actually jump from ship to ship?"] Buster asked, uncertain ["I dunno, that's a long hop to the gun ports-"]

["Excuse me…I think you'd slip if you missed the gunport"] Hamton thought quietly ["The ship's sides are coated with grease. It's still all over me."]

["Maybe I could make it. It might only be about a fifteen foot jump -"] Buster thought.

["Like - maybe. But ya won't know, like how far until it happens. It could end up, like being 50 feet away!"] 

Shirley thought ["You'd never make that in normal gravity!"]

["Even if ya could break your record for the broad jump - how's this gonna help Shirley and me?"] interrupted Plucky.

["It won't - it's too risky"] Lord thought, pulling away from his mental contact with Andy Fox, ["Even if you made it to the Virginia, you'd slip off and drown. We'll only have thirty to forty-five seconds for each time-slack. We'd never have enough time to pull you out."]

Everyone was silent. Shirley watched the Raleigh and the Beaufort draw into firing range of the Congress. 

Babs watched Lieutenant Smith order his men to open fire on them. With a rare opportunity open to them, the Congress's broadside guns went into action, scoring a direct hit on the Raleigh's single gun and sending her into retreat. 

Babs cheered along with her crew, but knew it would be the ship's only victory that day.

Through her spyglass, her host saw the men of the forward gun of the Beaufort ready their thirty-two pounder.

["Buster! Don't _you_ dare! So help me - If you fire that gun at me-!"] she warned angrily.

["Sorry sweetie but it's out of my paws!"] he shrugged.

The gun's blast hit Buster in the chest and the sudden heat shocked him, but the shot only made a hole in the Congress's sail.

["Ha! That's it! No more…uh - No Bunny Scout cookies for you!"] Babs snapped but then censored herself.

There was a period of suspicious silence before Fowlmouth asked ["…Cookies??"]

["Mm, I plead the fifth on that one and the ones after that"] thought Buster quickly. 

[“The fifth amendment is only good in court, Buster”] Lord told him.

  "Return fire!" ordered Lieutenant Smith.

Despite the ship being on fire in several places, the moans of the wounded and the blood of the dead covering her deck, the gun crews of the Congress were able to keep up an accurate fire at the Confederates and kept the un-armored ships away at long range.

  "If we can get into the shoal waters, the Merrimack won't be able to use her ram against us" said Smith as he conferred with Pendergrast and former-Captain Smith.

"Look there!" the older Smith said, pointing. "The Minnesota, the Saint Lawrence and the Roanoke are on their way. The trap is sprung on the rebels!"

Indeed, the two sister-ships of the old Merrimack were steaming up the channels towards them, coming to their rescue along with the sailing frigate St. Lawrence. The tall black and white capital ships were moving under tow, steam and their billowing white sails and were blasting away at the rebel batteries on Sewell’s Point.

Carrying nearly a hundred and fifty guns, the three vessels might be able to pummel the Confederates, but Babs knew that they would never make it.

  ["Like Doc? I don't think that like, putting Buster and Babs on the Beaufort is gonna help"], thought Shirley, ["I like remember in Captain Buchanan's report that the Beaufort gets blasted when she's full of the wounded men and officers from the Congress. If I was her captain, I wouldn't bring a ship full'a wounded prisoners into a battle with only 2 guns - I'd take them to a hospital - an' I'm like sure that's what he did."]

["Yeah, she's right!"] agreed Buster ["Parker takes them straight to Norfolk and the hospital. He was the only one who Buchanan didn't write a commendation for - cuz he just left the battle and didn't accomplish his mission to burn the Congress."]

 ["He couldn't re-take or burn the Congress with a decimated crew, so his duty became the safety of his wounded and the POW's"] Lord remarked.

[“Uh, excuse me”], Hamton thought quietly, [“The only people who left the Virginia and returned to it were Flag Lieutenant Minor and the eight men who rowed him towards the Congress under a white flag in the ship’s last boat. They got shot at by the US Army ashore when they were fifty yards from their goal and were picked up by the Teaser and returned to the ship. The Lieutenant and three other men were wounded. They’re the only ones to get back on board.”]

[“That makes a transfer impossible”] Lord concluded.
     
[“Like look - we’ve been through this twice! Are ya totally sure?”] Shirley asked desperately.

[“Well that’s great! And ya still haven’t come up with a way to get me back to the ship”], Plucky huffed, [“I might as well try to fly back!”]

Everyone except the Doctor sighed in unison in resignation, but Lord immediately brightened.

[“I say, Plucky!”], he thought wistfully in a British accent, [“…I think you might have something there!”] 

Chapter CXLV  

Up north at Point K, Commander Johnny Winters and the base computer Hephaestus had just started one of the world’s longest elevator rides. Though the elevator was large enough to carry heavy bulky equipment, it held only the tall snowy owl and the squat frame of the mobile robot computer. 

Johnny had changed out of his golden spacesuit into a parka to keep out the Arctic chill. As his hot breath turned to vapor in the cold and the elevator hummed in its seemingly endless decent, Winters spoke in his calm British accent of his strange adventure of months ago.

   "It began with a series of strange disappearances, all over the world, by innocuous people. They would suddenly disappear - and then reappear…all without any explanations. Things were impossible to track because there was no pattern to any of it. They would reappear sometimes after hours or days…even weeks. It all seemed harmless enough - until the acts of sabotage - and then the murders began. At first there seemed to be no connections, but we found that the people who had disappeared were acting totally out of character at times. Ordinary toons were abruptly acting like assassins, like enemies."

"Explanation?" the computer asked.

"A complete investigation turned up nothing. The governments kept it all completely hush-hush. Laika and I were investigating an individual in El Bolivar who *kept disappearing*. One night in the dark city streets, the fellow came at me. It was all in his eyes - he was fighting something inside himself that was driving him to try and kill me. 

"¡Fuera! No quiero hacerte daño! Yo no! Yo no! Yo no!" he kept saying… He collapsed, still fighting. He had a queer-looking weapon and… he turned it upon himself. Out of the crowd, another cat came to help - and touched the body. Suddenly we saw his eyes shift - the look of utter hatred that came over his face was horrible! He had been taken over by the - the thing that had driven the other cat to kill himself."

"What happened?" ask Hephaestus.

"He escaped. We never found him" sighed Winters. "But for once the body remained - and we found traces of molecular change in it. The Doctor discovered it was evidence that that cat had been... outside of our Tooniverse." 

"Do you mean that he was transported from Reality?" 

"No", said Winters with dread, "From *outside*… not from any universe …but from outside."  

“That does not compute”, said the machine adamantly, “All matter exists within the Tooniverse. Therefore, there is nothing in existence outside of it. There can be no “outside”. 

“Reality exists as a parallel universe” the owl countered. “If there’s an inside - there has to be an outside.”

“”Affirmative - Reality exists as a parallel universe occupying the same space at the same time. That accounts for the great similarities between the Tooniverse and the Universe, however, since the Tooniverse is infinite, then everything everywhere is inside it. Outside cannot logically exist.”

“That’s exactly what I used to think…” Johnny said thoughtfully, “Until I went Outside.”
  
Just then the elevator stopped descending and the doors opened. It looked as if they had opened a door into the black endless void of outer space. As his owl’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, Johnny found himself at the bottom of a gargantuan shaft. It was so large that he could not see the other side through the low lighting. 

Three huge spheroid shapes glowed an eerie red color that slowly pulsated from top to bottom. The trio of bubble-like chambers stood stacked atop each other, joined together like a giant hand-blown glass vase, each throbbing with powerful energy. 

These energy chambers were held suspended inside a gigantic black metallic structure of towers and rings which were all attached to the walls, while the pulsing red globes formed a funnel and were the only thing touching the immense curved wall that stood before them. 

With the pulsating crimson glow of the energy chambers, there was a dull thumping sound like someone steadily beating on a kettledrum, as if they were inside the heart of a giant. 

As his black pupils opened wider, Winters saw that the wall before them was moving. It was slowly revolving clockwise and the glowing balls of power slowly revolved with it, like the machinery and gears of a giant millstone. 

The great perpetual motion machine was six thousand feet in diameter and was just as tall. Winters looked up towards the ceiling which he knew was there, but it was too dark and he was far too deep in the Earth to see it.   

“Welcome to the Underworld” said Hephaestus, wheeling its way over to a large control panel. “What changes are those you spoke of? What precisely is your mission here?”

  Commander Winters had prepared himself for this moment, hoping the computer would accept it easily.
 
He was also prepared if it would not. Casually, he put his hands on his hips. There was a gun concealed behind him under his parka. He cleared his throat.

 “Hephaestus, I have direct orders personally given to me by Doctor Lord this morning. You and I are to increase the solar power output of the Apollo satellite to its maximum. We are then ordered to raise the total output of energy from the Millstone to one hundred and twenty-seven percent - and divert all power to the Time Displacement apparatus at New Home Base by four forty-five pm, Western time. Is that clear?”  

  The robot’s mechanical arms slowly unfolded from the top of its blocky body and drew to its sides, the claw-like hands forming an en garde position.

“Perfectly clear, Commander”, said it’s calm, measured voice, “Of course - you already know that that cannot be done. It is expressly forbidden to change the power settings. I am programmed never to do such a thing.”

 Johnny shifted his weight carefully to his own fighting stance, seemingly without making any provocative moves.

“I understand”, he answered, “But we do have our orders.”

The robot slowly rolled into a position between him and the control panel. The steady beating of the Millstone now began to increase the already thick tension. Johnny slowly counter-moved.

 “Perhaps you are unaware of the possible consequences of this proposed action. Neither Apollo nor the Millstone have ever been tested beyond one hundred percent of power. At that high percentage, any imbalance could prove disastrous. The rate of power compression would reach into Zetta-tons of power, sufficient to destroy this planet” said the machine, “It might be strong enough to shift the planet’s entire magnetic field to this spot, attracting the planet’s core and ripping it to pieces. It might even attract the Moon into a collision with Earth. Any miscalculation could increase or decrease Earth’s gravity, shoving us out of orbit where our planet would either freeze or burn up.”

 Johnny’s enormous yellow eyes became slits as he steeled his gaze on the robot’s dangerous hands.

“I see that you require confirmation of the orders from Number One. Very well.” 
His feathered fingers carefully reached around behind him. The robot froze, ready to attack!

Johnny’s hand drew out - a computer card, from his back pocket. He extended it to Hephaestus, his other hand still behind his back. 

The machine’s metal claw took the perforated oaktag card and slipped it into a slot in its chest. Johnny held his breath as it read the orders. The machine played a filtered-sounding recording of the Doctor’s voice amidst the heartbeat of the Millstone. 

“…Hephaestus - Emergency Cancellation: Aristophanes”.

“…Acknowledged” said the robot finally and refolded its arms. “Your papers are in order.” Johnny breathed a sigh of relief.

 “This is still against my basic programming and will jeopardize the existence of this planet, Commander” announced Hephaestus adamantly, making Winters nearly jump.

”But I shall comply. Allies en ordenun.”

“Danke” sighed Johnny, finally relaxing.

“Bitte” said the machine as it wheeled around to begin working on the control panel. Plugging itself into the hardware with its back to him, the machine continued its measured calm speech. 

“Next time you come here, remind me to frisk you. That pistol in your back pocket was painfully obvious, sir.”

Winters closed his large eyes and slapped his brow with a feathered palm. 

Chapter CXLVI 

The Congress was escaping! The tugboat was pulling her ahead, and her jib and spanker sails were filled by the wind to pull her along under her own power as well. The tide was now ebbing and helping her along in its flow to the sea. To the northeast, the twin sister-ships of the Merrimack were coming to their rescue! The tall steam frigates USS Minnesota and USS Roanoke were crossing the 
distance to save them. The USS Saint Lawrence, a fifty-two gun giant sailing frigate and the USS Mystic were also being towed to their aid. 

Babs Bunny could scarcely believe the scene before her. Horribly wounded and mangled sailors lay strewn about, the men crying and begging for help. 

The dead and pieces of them were scooped away from the guns, so that they might remain in action. From below deck, smoke arose in fitful curls from the fires that were growing slowly out of control. The hot shot from the Virginia’s first exchange of fire were still hot enough to keep the wooden ship burning. 

Axemen could be heard chopping through bulkheads to drag fire hoses closer to the sizzling cannon balls. Some of the firemen came up the ladders with terribly burned hands and scalps burned raw. 

Amidst this chaos, the gunners coolly plugged away at the Beaufort and Commander Tucker’s James River Fleet, managing to keep the wooden steamers at a distance where they couldn’t do heavy damage. Though her host scurried everywhere, helping with whatever he possibly could - Babs knew that it was of no use. 

Suddenly there was a prolonged muffled scraping noise and the hull of the ship seemed to waddle under her feet. The ship was running aground! The officers nearly had time to turn towards the bow, before the Congress jerked to a stop. The tugboat pulled ahead slightly but ran out of line and was also pulled to a stop.

“We’re aground! Pull to Starboard!” Lieutenant Smith shouted through his voice trumpet to the Zouave.

“We must turn the ship or they’ll rake our stern, Captain!” said Pendergrast, running to the rail.

The tugboat was trying valiantly but the Congress’s heavy hull was stuck with its bow and keel in the yellow sand. Everyone looked on as the tug struggled and fought, churning up the muddy waters with it’s propeller, but it was of no use.

“Keep trying!” called the captain.

[“At least the Merrimack can’t reach us here”] Babs thought as her host looked through his spyglass at the approaching Union ships coming to their rescue.
But as she watched, the Minnesota seemed to have stopped moving though the channel’s Middle Ground.

 Further away, another tugboat was trying to pull the grounded Roanoke off, but the St. Lawrence was still slowly being towed closer. The Mystic had turned back and was moving away towards the sheltering guns of Fort Monroe.

The grounded frigates were exchanging long range fire with the Confederate batteries on Sewell’s Point. 

They weren’t doing well. The rebel fleet was closing in on the Congress to starboard - and the monstrous Virginia was creeping directly up behind them.

[“We’re trapped!”] cried Babs.

[“I’ve seen worse”], Lord thought in an offhand manner, [“If you think this is bad, you should hear what’s going on back at my lab. I’d love to see Andy’s face right about now.”]

  “HE WANTS TO DO WHAT?!?!” Andy Fox cried out in shock, doing a five-headed extreme take.

Wile E. turned up his nose, crossed his arms and huffed, “Oh no. I’m through explaining today. Talk to the paw.”

The coyote pointed at his nearly identical twin. Ralph shrugged and explained in his usual flat manner.

“The kids got split up when they were leaving and we have to re-assemble them so they can come back home, because genius here was so zealous and turned it on too fast.”

“I BEG YOUR PARDON!” Wile yelled at his cousin, “It was NOT my fault!”

As the two canids began to fight, Egghead Junior ground his teeth together angrily and held up a double-sided sign, shocking them all into silence with a blast of a compressed-air horn.  

“Please shut up and get on with the job!” it said to the cowed canines.

 Just then another text message from Lord arrived on the screen: “I need you all to check the wiring with this schematic. Is Andy Fox there yet?”

As an electrical diagram showed up on the screen, Andy crossed to the keyboard. His fingers flew fast as he typed an answer.

“Problem, Doctor? I knew leaving these three bumblers in charge was a bad idea. Is everyone safe?”

 Wile, Ralph and Junior’s faces darkened and they began to sneak up behind Andy with growling faces. 

The computer’s printer suddenly started and startled them.
“Not their fault, I know who caused it”, wrote the Doctor, “I need you also to mentally contact Commander Johnny Winters ASAP.”

The trio of geniuses looked at each other and shrugged it off and looked at the schematic as it was printed out for them.

Andy’s green eyes shifted. “The British owl in the tuxedo at your party? I dunno, we disagreed about serving red wine with mice…”

“I need you to contact him immediately about the transferral of power from my power station. Employing zettatons of electricity could be dangerous.”

Andy fell over backwards in shock. Junior caught him halfway down and pushed him back onto his feet.

“Could be?!? Are you insane?? Do you know what amount of power could do to this planet?!” Andy typed in large, angry red letters.

“Pretty much”, the Doctors text replied, “We’ll both have to coordinate closely to monitor it. When the wiring is ready, tell him to bring up the power level incrementally. We’ll try full power to begin with and then decide on how much we’ll need for each exchange. I don’t want the machine taking the full charge any longer than it has to.”

 Andy was cautious in typing back: “…And why is that?”

“Remember the time Wile E. built that giant super-magnet in his cave to catch Bugs? …It’d be worse than that” came the answer.

The fox thought of the danger this presented and took a long deep breath and wrote: “Doc…Is there no other possible action?”

“Hunger and thirst is already beginning to affect them. I can’t risk Shirley and Buster both being wounded. I don’t think Shirley would survive. I know that you care about their safety…No, Gentlemen. There’s no other choice. I know there’s a tremendous risk but it must be taken. I’ll take care of any repercussions myself” wrote the Doctor.

     Commander Johnny Winters watched the robot, Hephaestus, making the final adjustments on the control panel. The giant power system behind them was now pounding away at a faster rate, its red pulsing glow having become a slow strobe light that was beginning to give the owl a headache.

“Command procedure programming complete," announced the machine, “Apollo is ready to begin advancing power levels. Microwave beam aligned.”

Amidst all the noise pounding in his ears, Winters suddenly heard a voice in his head that was not his own.

“What was-… that?” he said aloud, then turned away as he realized what was happening.

“Doctor is that you?” he thought, but was puzzled at the response. “Mister Fox? I’m quite busy — yes, I still think you’re wrong. You Yanks don’t know how to set a decent table. Mice are not wild game, they are hors d’oeuvres. No - white wine. Oh, I see… so it is you….The Doctor says what? …Oh, I see. Very well, I shall stand by.”

“The Doctor says to wait before bringing the power level up to full. Apparently, they are waiting till the last moment in order to circumvent any possible disaster with the Time Displacement equipment. Begin bringing power up slowly to 50%” he then told the robot. 

“A wise decision” said Hephaestus, his “head” swiveling back to look at Winters.
The pounding sounds grew faster and the red flashes more frequent. The snowy owl grew anxious as the fiery plasma pulsations became bigger and bigger.

    Back at the lab, Egghead Junior watched the power levels slowly rise as the Fox stood nearby, with his eyes shut and his fingertips touching his temples in concentration.

Wile E. and Ralph were rushing about making adjustments and checking wiring specifications. Detective Strong had left and was now on his way through a series of the Doctor’s aircraft hangars accompanied by Astroboy. His overcoat flapped behind his quick strides, his dark eyes were tense.

“This is a seriously dangerous thing to do. This rescue could expose and compromise everything” he said tersely in Japanese.

  “No one has ever said rescuing people was particularly safe," the two-tone robot boy answered similarly, “It’s gotten me deactivated more times than I care to speak of.”

“If doing this rips the magnetic poles off the Earth - we’ll all be worse than deactivated” said the anime detective.

After proceeding through a series of highly secured doors, they reached the entrance to their quarry.

  “This better be worth it. …Just what is the Z2?” asked Dick.

“It’s above Class Eight clearance," Astroboy told him, ”The Doctor and I are the only pilots.”

Astroboy keyed in the final sequence and the unsealed door slid open. As the lights within the vast chamber lit up, Dick Strong’s jaw dropped in amazement!   

Chapter CXLVII 

 The Captain of the Congress no longer needed to use his spyglass as the Virginia was now only two hundred yards behind them. 

“Shift any available guns to the stern” Joseph Smith told his Executive officer, Lieutenant Pendergrast. 

Inside the Exec, Babs trembled with fear as she was taken along to carry out this desperate order. 

[“Teacher? I need to leave the room now”] the bunny thought.

[“I’m sorry Babs. We can’t affect a transfer until the machine is checked and the power is raised. It would also be better if there was no shooting going on”] answered Lord.

 Babs didn’t have time to think of a retort.

Just then the Virginia’s bow gun opened fire with a resounding report. The conical shell buried itself in the Congress’s stern and exploded, blowing open a huge gaping hole in the ship, sending splintered wooden planks flying! A gun’s crew was hit, the men’s thighs punctured by the fragments. 

 The Virginia’s four port broadside guns began to fire on the stranded Congress, their gun crews still fresh for their chance to fight.

As Wakko listened, his host, Lieutenant Eggleston reported to the Doctor’s host as he manned his gun.

“Sir, the hot shot gun’s muzzle is broken off.”

“Keep up the fire. Do the best you can with it” the First Officer told him.

Wakko grinned crazily as the broken cannon’s tube was thrust into the gunport. 

When he pulled the lanyard, the Dalgren gun bucked backwards, the flames from its broken barrel spraying the port, leaving the wood on fire! Hastily the gun’s crew smothered the flames with sand and buckets of water, and then prepared to fire the damaged weapon all over again.

  Babs' host called for men to pull the wounded men away from the fighting. She felt her hands grabbing a wounded sailor under the arms and dragging him backward across the deck. The man began screaming in pain as he was moved. The Lieutenant and the bunny within him gritted their teeth and hauled him out of danger anyway.
 
The air was filled with stinking gunpowder smoke, sweat, and now Babs noticed a worse smell, an earthy stench like rancid beef. The ship was still on fire in several places, but Babs had no time to wonder at this horrid smell. Again she ran back and hauled away another man. 

This one didn’t struggle but moaned softly. The sailor seemed to grow heavier and Babs staggered under her burden. 

When she’d tugged him amidships and laid him there, Babs heard a strange rattle and finally saw the trails of scarlet blood on the sanded deck she’d just walked back through. Only then did she notice that the man was now dead. Tears filled her eyes.

 A shell suddenly blew through a hole in the main deck and exploded, raining burning black shrapnel on the sand-covered planking. Yellow sand and smoke was thrown into the faces and eyes of the men. Babs could no longer think straight. The Virginia was firing at least once every minute. 

Despite their struggles, the men of the Congress could barely return their fire. Their guns could not bear on the enemy and those that did were soon blown away.

  Below, the Union tugboat Zouave tried valiantly to push and pull the Congress away. Her captain, Henry Reaney, watched as blood poured from the frigate’s scuppers onto the tug like water on a wash-deck morning. Suddenly there was a smashing explosion and the tug’s figurehead was blown into the sea and her pilothouse was demolished. Captain Reaney realized there was nothing he could do to save the Congress and hailed her captain. 

  Lieutenant Joe Smith waved him off, shouting “Save yourselves”. 

Reaney sadly cut the doomed ship loose and began to steam his tug away to help the grounded Minnesota. The Zouave was struck again, this shell destroying her rudderpost, virtually disabling the vessel. Despite this, somehow the tugboat managed to escape the scene of battle. Another Union ship came to her aid and was also hit by a rebel shell.  

   [“Doc please! Get me out!”] Babs mind begged.

[“I’ll see if I can speed things up, but don’t worry Babs. Just allow your host to do everything and you’ll come to no harm. We already know he comes through this just fine.”]

[“It’s not me I’m worried about…I…”] the bunny thought haltingly.

“How are you doing back there? We need to go soon!” said the communications screen in the Doctor’s lab.

“The power levels are coming up to fifty percent” Andy Fox typed back, his claws tapping and clacking on the keyboard.

Behind him, the coyote, the wolf and the chicken scampered hither and thither, carrying bales of wire, checking connections, soldering, welding.

The two canine cousins suddenly remembered the same problem and turned to run for the same junction box - and ran straight into each other’s faces.

“Are the kids all right?” asked the Fox, chuckling at the collision.

“We’ll see” wrote the Doctor, “I need to distract them a bit.”

Far from Toon Earth, the planet Mercury revolved around the blazing Sun. A glittering tiny speck orbited the moon-sized molten planet. The robotic Apollo satellite’s solar engine was now fully activated and an invisible microwave beam of energy lanced out towards Earth. Even at light speed it would take seven minutes to arrive. 

Underground, near the North Pole, Commander Winters shielded his squinting eyes from the stroboscopic effect of the monstrous red plasma flashes coming from Lord’s power chamber. The pulsating light was now so bright that he could see the entire mile-wide millstone, which was now spinning much faster than it had minutes ago. Through the deafening heartbeat-like noise of it, Hepaestus’ voice reached him.

 “For your own safety, Commander, it is imperative that you retreat into the elevator and return to the surface. The radiation levels here will soon enter the lethal zone” said the computer calmly.  

   “You’re probably right, but I must see to it that this order is carried out. Continue increasing power” the owl answered stolidly.

“I shall carry out the Doctor’s orders, but my programming prohibits me from allowing you to come to harm. Please comply” said the machine, swiveling it’s head to look at him.

 Johnny was determined. “You were also programmed never to do this -“

 “That programming has been overridden. Please be assured that I shall carry out my orders, even should it mean my own destruction” Hephaestus told him firmly.

 The snowy owl hesitantly backed into the open elevator, throwing a small salute to the machine. “I’ll wait for you. Maintain audio contact.”

The doors slid closed and Winters was spared the blinding red flashes. He blinked to rid his corneas from the blinding flashes. This was what robots were meant for.

“Good luck” he whispered.

“Why thank you, Commander” answered the robot from the communicator in his ear.

Johnny winced at having underestimated the computer again.

[“Now Hear This! This is how we’re going to get out of this fix and get home”], Doctor Lord began, [“ Right now, the folks at home are working to prepare the machinery and build up the power level so we can make it back. It’s going to take a bit longer to make sure that the Time Displacement Apparatus will work with this dangerous level of power, so please be patient.”]

 [“How much longer?”] Babs asked worriedly.

  [“At least another half hour. If we don’t get things right, the machine could overload - then none of us would make it back”] Lord said.

[“What do you mean - dangerous level of power?”] Buster queried.

[“You know how much a megaton is?”] Lord asked, testing them.

[“Equivalent to the explosive power of a million tons of TNT, an H-Bomb”] answered Calamity.

[“ We’ll be dealing in Zettatons of power”] the Doctor told him.

The coyote was shocked into silence, so Mary asked for him.

[“Doc… You can generate and handle such power?”]

[“Generate - yes. Handle … we’ll see. The machine also needs to be programmed on how to do this. Don’t you worry about it. Now that we’ve already established that we can’t expect any of the hosts to transfer you four to the correct places, so I’ll have to do it. Now each time we do this, you will be able to move independently without disturbing your hosts. I’ll be concentrating on one or two of you, so I want the others to move into other hosts that are closer to the Virginia, so the transportation can be done more quickly and easily. Now, Plucky? You’re the furthest away, so I’ll want you to move closer to the beach, into one of the Union soldiers that will be shooting at us. All of you, make sure you don’t pick a wounded man or a man who will get wounded. You’ll share their injury and pain if you do. That means, when you arrive on the Virginia, don’t choose Flag Lieutenant Minor nor any of his boat’s crew. He and a few of them get shot. One loses an eye. Don’t be them.”]

 [“How are ya gonna move us? I can’t walk on water, ya know”] asked Plucky.
 [“You could swim”] Furball remarked.

 [“I’ll have to fly you over here telekinetically”] the old skunk admitted.
[“Tell-a-what-icly?”] inquired Fowlmouth.

[“It means he’s gonna, like fly you back here with his mind”], Shirley interrupted heatedly, [“Why wouldn’t you let *me* save Plucky that way when we started?!”]

[“Because he was miles away, we had only a few seconds to do it - and you don’t have enough power to do the job”], Lord said adamantly, [“ Even if you’d gotten halfway, we’d have run out of time and you’d have drowned in the bay with no one to help you.”] 

 [“I totally coulda swum it!”] Shirley cried.

[“He’s right, Shirl”] Plucky interrupted, realizing the truth, [“I tried floating like we do at home, but I couldn’t… We’re too heavy here and the water’s different… And I wouldn’t want to have you sacrifice yourself for me… but I appreciate the offer.”]  

 Shirley blinked and was silent, her anger and her breath taken away. The others were puzzled at Plucky’s sudden change of heart and his honesty.

[“Moving along”] Lord continued, [“We cannot stop Time entirely, but we can slow it to a crawl - slow enough for us to leave our hosts and switch to others. Shirley? That’s what you’ll have to do. Now when any of you do this, be careful to move as quickly as possible. Don’t waste any time in moving because our hosts may be able to see us and that could make for some very bizarre reactions by them. We don’t want that. However, because they’ll be slowed down, we’ll appear to be sped up. We’ll move in the blink of an eye to them, perhaps fast enough not to be noticed. Don’t stay in their line of sight if you can help it. Those of you whom I’ll fly over, I’ll try to get you through to an open hatch or a gunport, but be prepared for anything. Those of you inside the ship - help them in and guide them to a new host as fast as possible. If we have to abort a transferal, remember where you’ll have to return to. Don’t get stuck out in the open. These people have never heard of nor seen toons. They’re liable to think you’re demons or devils and do something rash - and they’re all carrying weapons.”]

Another shell exploded on the deck of the Congress, this time it came from the rebel fleet who had taken up positions off the ship’s starboard bow. 

[“We’re surrounded! How much longer?”] asked Babs.

 [“Maybe twenty-five minutes. Then the shooting will stop after the Congress surrenders”], Lord answered, [“Now when we get home, you’ll be able to relax and decompress until our next trip. We’ll also have some guests there who’ll be de-briefing you. They’ll be our friends from the NOAA, the Navy and a group of historians who are experts on today’s battle. They’ll be asking you alot of questions and they’ll be taking samples, so give them your uniforms.”]

 Wakko and his host watched his grimy men hauling their gun into the gunport. Their sweaty faces were black with soot.

[“Whaddya mean - samples?”] he wondered.

  [“They’ll be testing the gunpowder residue, the coal smoke and anything else you and your uniform might have picked up by your being in the positions and people you’re being hosted by”] Lord told him.

[“I don’t wanna take off my clothes for them”] Mary thought absently.

  [“Black gunpowder dust is highly volatile and can still blow up, no matter how old it gets”] said the Doctor.

[“Like I said, I’ll take off my uniform for them”] Mary redacted quickly.

[“Don’t worry Mare”], Fowlmouth smiled, [“You don’t need gunpowder to make ya any hotter.”]

The nervous tension was broken for a moment as many of the others enjoyed FM’s compliment.

As Mary smiled and blushed a bit, the Doctor continued.

[“I’ll also be recording your memories. Afterwards we’ll have a feast at my place and then you can party anyway you want. Feel free to use my pools, steam room, gymnasium, sauna -“]

[“ You’ve got a steam room? How about a masseuse? Can I invite mein girlfriend?”] Arnold interrupted excitedly. 

[“Yah, I’m sure your families will be there as well”], chuckled Lord, [“There’s a game room, jacuzzis and hot tubs too”] 

[“Why will our families be there?”] wondered Hamton.

[“Because I’m certain that your teachers have informed your parents about what has happened by now and your folks will be worried”] Lord added.

Hamton gulped inwardly and began to sweat nervously again.

 [“I shall explain to them what happened and assume all responsibilities for it myself”] Lord announced.

There was a flurry of thoughts from the group, exemplified by Fifi thinking [“Boot eet wazn’t your fault!”]

[“Nonsense. A captain is responsible for everything that happens aboard his ship, so that’s the first thing I’ll take care of”] Lord rebuffed. [“I shall show all of you how such a thing will never be allowed to happen again - and even if we should choose to split up during the next time trip, we’ll be able to re-group in a matter of seconds.”]

The Toonsters were puzzled by this for a moment, until Plucky broke the spell. The duck’s host was amongst a group of Union troops taking up positions behind the scruffy bushes along the yellow sandy shoreline.

[“So - dinner and a bath? Is that all we get for what I’ve been through?”], the Pluckster objected in a snarky voice, [“Not enough, I say! Not nearly enough!”]
Shirley was irked at the duck’s greed, [“Pl-ucky! Don’t -!“]

[“Wait, Shirley…”], Lord said thoughtfully pausing, [“…He’s right. It isn’t enough.”]

Lord mused a moment while everyone wondered in amazement at this development. Plucky was the most surprised. 

[“Alright Plucky, I will grant a life-long wish of yours…”] Lord said with his mysterious smile, [“Not tonight mind you, because we’ll all be too tired - but tomorrow evening…You shall all be my guests at the Paradise Theater downtown.”]

The Toonster’s minds were all a-buzz about this, especially when Buster wondered [“You mean the … the Caravan of Dreams?”]

[“Do I? Oh yes, that’s what they call that part of it nowadays…”] Lord agreed.

[“But that’s like, totally an *adult* night club, with like - sexy dancers an some junk!”] exclaimed Shirley. 

[“That’s just one part of it. It’s an entertainment palace built back in 1921. It started as a vaudeville theater, then a night club, a dance hall and a cinema. There’s a main stage for musicals and concerts, a Black Box theatre, a cabaret, cinemas, a discotheque, restaurants, etc”] Lord commented.

[“And Jessica Rabbit!”] thought Furball with delight.

[“Oh, I remember that place!”], Wakko remembered, [“It’s gorgeous inside! They made the best pastrami sandwiches ever! That wuz where we pantsed Jimmy Cagney!”]

[“Weren’t vous a beet young to get een here?”] asked Fifi.

Wakko blushed, then shrugged it off. [“Uh maybe back then - but who cares! Now ah’m over sixty years old!”] 

[“My mother took me there to see ’The King and I’ - what a stage!”], Babs added, [“ But Shirley is right, there are adult dancing girls there.”]

[“Did you also know that the Caravan is an equal opportunities dance hall? That it’s co-educational, so to speak?”] Lord countered.

[“You mean there’s uh, hunky dancing *guys* too?”] asked Babs.

[“Mmm-Mmm! Count me in!”] smiled Mary.

Babs host glanced aft and saw Lieutenant Smith starting to walk down what was left of a stairway.  Several large fires were being fought and more than a quarter of the ship’s crew had been killed or wounded. 

As her host turned back to monitor the blaze and the action of the guns up forward, there was the sharp explosion of a shell. The concussion wave hit her and left her momentarily deaf. Again, Babs looked back - but the captain was no longer there. Her host, Pendergrast, turned to walk in search of him in astonishment. 

The dread Babs felt turned to horror, as she found her captain’s body. His gold braided epaulet and strap, the symbol of his captaincy, lay alone on the sanded deck. 

Ten feet away near the railing, Smith’s head and a portion of his shoulder lay flopped obscenely amidst the blood on the deck. Babs looked back at the body. It did not move. It did not rise and put its head back on as she’d expected. The toon’s fear chilled her to the bone. Her friends all felt her icy cold fear.

[“That’s not right”], she cried to the others, [“He’s not…he’s really dead….it’s not right….That’s not funny…It’s Not Funny!”]

  As Babs’ mind began to scream, the Doctor quickly said [“Everything’s okay - be back in a minute!”]

Abruptly, the Toonsters stopped hearing each other’s thoughts and could only watch what their hosts were doing. They wondered why in silence. 

  Babs looked up - and saw her orange-furred Mother, sitting on their comfortable green sofa in the living room of their family burrow. A sweet wistful song by the Carpenters was playing. 

“Mommy!” she cried out desperately. 

Her mother hugged her to her bosom and said “There-there dear, don’t cry. It’s all right now. You’re all right, Babs! Sh-sh-sh. Everything’s okay now dear.”

“Oh Mom-” the pink bunny gasped, stopping and looking about. “Wait…What am I doing here? I was on a ship in the middle of a battle… I must still be there…” 

Her living room was the same as it had always been. Her burrow smelled the same. Her mother took her pink paws in her orange ones. Her mother spoke - but her mid-western accent was replaced by Doctor Lord’s odd foreign-accented voice. It was bizarre to see her mother’s lipstick-covered lips speaking in a male European baritone voice.

“Very good, Babs. You’re right. You’re still on the Congress. But you’re all right” Lord said calmly.

“I’m not home? How did you do this? Why did you bring me here?” she demanded, taken aback.

“I need you to calm down. We can’t have someone falling apart at a critical moment. This is the place you’re most comfortable with and I wanted to make you feel more at ease” said the Doctor.

“But how?” Babs insisted.

“I’m sorry, but this is an illusion I’ve placed in your mind. I resist using telepathy in this way because it’s deceptive, but sometimes it becomes necessary” Lord explained.

In the space of a moment, her orange mother transformed into the tall form of Lord, standing in her family’s living room.

“Are you all right now?” he asked, his eerie white pupils focusing on her.

Babs almost blurted out “No!”, but insisted on covering up her feelings instead. “Of course… I’m way too cool to lose it. I’m frosty! …And I never listen to Karen Carpenter’s music”.

Lord smiled in his mysterious fashion. “You cannot lie to a telepath, Babs, but I won’t hold it against you. Everyone felt your fear, just as we felt Shirley’s. There’s no need to be ashamed. We’re all only human… And you secretly love Karen Carpenter’s music”.

 Babs did feel ashamed because he’d seen right through her. 

“Okay… I’m terrified!” she admitted, her cheeks blushing, “I’ve never seen real death till now - and so much! The crew’s trapped! We can’t move and we can’t fight back! The ship’s full of gunpowder! It’s on fire! We could be blown sky high at any moment! What’ll we do?!”

“You know what to do. You know what’s to come. Just let it happen. I’ll get us home. I promise” he told her.

“Surrender? I -I can’t! This is my first command! I can’t let my first command as captain be to surrender to the enemy!” Babs objected turning away.

“Babs, you’re getting confused - this is now Pendergrast’s command - not yours. Just watch it happen. Let go, Barbra Ann.”

 “Don’t call me that…” she winced.

“Be realistic - it’s your real name. Let it go.”

“Babs Bunny does not surrender!” the rabbit declared.

“Well, Lieutenant Pendergrast has to. He has to save the rest of his crew from being slaughtered”, Lord said gently, “Now we’ve got to go. I’ve already deprived everyone else from talking for too long. I’ve got to get you all home. Just relax, you’ll be all right.” 

“How can I ever be all right again?! I’ve seen men get cut to pieces before they died!”, the bunny cried, “Things’ll never be the same again!”  

“Don’t you worry about that - leave the worrying to me. I’ll take care of everything” the Doctor assured her.

“What can you do?! I’ve seen it! I can’t un-see it!” Babs cried running over to face the towering skunk.

Lord smiled again “Oh, you’d be surprised. Now we’ve got to get back to work.”

 Babs’s eyes filled with tears, her voice breaking. “…Please! …Don’t leave me!” she pleaded. “Don’t leave me here alone!”

Lord squatted down to look directly into her eyes. He gently took her furry white cheeks in his hands and smiled at her. He wiped away her tears with his thumbs.
Babs felt like a lost, crying little child now. The Doctor’s five-fingered hands took hold of her shoulders. Then his words gave her hope.

“You’re not alone, Barbra”, he said softly touching the center of her forehead with his index finger, “I’m in here. *We’re all in here - for you.* I won’t let any of you get hurt. I promise.”

The bunny’s blue eyes crossed as she watched his finger trace down between them to the tip of her pink nose. Her lips quivered as she looked into his kindly visage and saw her own blushing face reflected in his silvery eyes. Much to her surprise - hers was no longer the smug, callow face of Babs, the court jester of the schoolroom - but of a frightened, very vulnerable little rabbit.

“You’ll never be alone”, Lord told her, “We all care about you, Shipmate.”

The Doctor patted her head as he stood, still gazing deeply into her eyes. He stepped back, but paused and said “Of course… you have a special shipmate out there. One that loves you even more. You should talk to him.” 

The old skunk winked and vanished. 

Babs’s living room also changed back into the destruction that was the deck of the Congress. Lieutenant Pendergrast was now in the midst of a conversation with the ship’s former Captain Smith on the subject of surrender.

“The ship is aground and we cannot escape. The tug couldn’t pull us off. We can’t stop the Merrimack and we can’t return her fire” said Smith.

“We cannot put out the fires! Soon they’ll reach the aft magazine and blow us out of the water! If we tried to take the crew off under fire, we’d all be killed!” Pendergrast concurred, “All we can hope for is that the Minnesota can draw the Merrimack away, sir”.

“”She looks to be grounded on the Middle Ground. Her guns can’t range close enough. Our other ships are retreating under the guns of the Fort” Smith told him.
“Lieutenant Baker!” Pendergrast shouted, calling the commander of the ship’s company of Marines with an idea.

Baker ran over from the rail with his rifle and still had the presence of mind to salute despite the carnage aboard.

“Take you men into the shrouds and mastheads. Fire into the Merrimack’s ports and pilothouse. Pick off any man you can see and keep them off the top of that thing!” ordered Pendergrast.

As the Marines in blue swarmed up the ship’s rigging with their Springfield rifles slung on their backs, Pendergrast called for his men to remove as much powder and shot from the stern magazine and then to flood the compartment to keep the ship from exploding.

  Abruptly, there was a cacophony of thoughts flooding the Toonster’s minds which rapidly dwindled down to Fowlmouth’s isolated: [”- the @#*! are we gonna get outta here?”]

[“We’re back. Sorry everyone, Babs needed my help”] Lord’s thought told them.
[“What happened, Babs? Are you okay?”] Buster wanted to know.

The frightened rabbit wrestled with her conscious and lost. She couldn’t admit defeat to her friends.

[“I…I, uh…I’m okay…But…. the Captain lost his head…”] she told them nervously.

[“Ach, dat’s a shame”] Arnold thought disapprovingly, [“Eetz understandable zat he vood be upset, but a Kapitan should stay cool-headed undter fire.”]

After everyone else winced, Lord thought [“That was lost in translation. She meant that Captain Smith was decapitated.”]

[“Ach…such a dumkopt I am”], the pit bull admitted humbly, [“I’m…sorry Babz. Eengleesh is not mein first language.”] 

[“Ordinarily, I’d laugh but… I can’t… It’s okay, Shipmate”] Babs apologized. 
[“Things are worse here… We’re flooding the powder magazine to keep from blowing up. Everybody’s scared… We can’t put out the fires… Nobody wants to surrender. I don’t want to surrender… But - what can we do?”]  

[“Don’t you worry, Shipmates. We’ll get home. I have to contact Andy”] the Doctor explained, reassuring them.

[“Buster?”] she thought uncomfortably.

[“I’m right here, Babs”] 

[“Uh… Remember when we were captured by Gotcha Grabmore and wound up on her fur-skinning conveyor belt machine? Remember what I told you?”]

[“Um, yes. You called me a showoff when I saved our lives by using just your hairpin.”]

[“No, before that… I said something that I wouldn’t usually admit to -“]

[“Like, that you don’t take baths?”] interjected Shirley.

[“Zat vous don’t really ave blue eyes?”] added Fifi.

[“That you are frequently wrong?”] added Plucky.

[“… Well, I wouldn’t say it was frequently, Plucky… No…it’s that… I’m scared”] Babs told them quietly. 

 Everyone was quiet for a moment before Hamton’s thoughts reached them.

[“But Babs, you’re not afraid of anything”] the pig told her earnestly.

[“Thanks for believing in me, Hamton, but I am scared”], Babs thought gratefully, [“I’m scared of getting killed, I’m scared of any of you being killed, I’m scared of 
not getting home ever again, I’m scared of all this death … but mostly, I’m scared of being alone.”]

  Suddenly shots rang out as rifle bullets began slamming and ricocheting off the Virginia’s armor plating, making it ring with metallic pings! Captain Buchanan and 
 Shirley ducked inside under the forward hatch as the Congress’s Marines found their range. One of the men working at Furball’s host’s gun was hit as the shots came through the gunport. He was taken below to the orlop deck where Fifi worked inside the ship’s doctor on the wounded men.

[“GASP! Like, they’re shooting at me and I’m totally scared!”], Shirley whined, [“Major Freak-out!”]

[“We’re all scared”], Furball thought bravely, [“It’d be foolish not ta be. But we know how this’ll turn out… and Doc’ll get us home. Won’t ya, Doc?”]

Everyone was quiet and worried, till Lord told them [“You bet your life. I’m gonna move Heaven and Earth to make sure you all make it home.”]

[“I wish we were! If we were home I could - I could put on a mermaid costume and vamp the Merrimack’s crew into submission. I dunno what to do here”] Babs admitted.

[“A bunny-girl mermaid? Sorry, wouldn’t do a thing for me, Babs”] Mary quipped.

[“Well it sure would for me!”] Buster countered with a chuckle.

Back at Lord’s vast underground lab, Lord’s texting appeared impatiently on the screen.

“Fox? Come in, Fox. Fox, do you read me, Fox? Fox!”

 Wile E. and Ralph Wolf were busy laughing, slapping each other on the back. Egghead Junior was holding up a sign saying “LOL!” despite his deadpan stare.
Andy Fox’s red fur was scorched and blackened from having touched the conduit of one of the huge electrical machines.

 His green eyes were the only part of him that wasn’t burned black. He shook the soot from his fur and growled as the others rolled on the floor, filled with glee.

“That @#%*! I told him the exposed wiring was dangerous!”, the Fox grumbled, rolling his eyes, “Oh no, Andrew, he said! It’ll be fun, he said!”

“FOX! ACKNOWLEDGE!” the screen shouted angrily in red letters causing Andy to fall over backwards in surprise on top of the wolf and the coyote.

The three canids all looked up with the same expression of alarm. The fox scuttled quickly over to the keyboard.

“…You rang?” he wrote in tiny letters.

“Is the power built up? I need you to activate the Inter-Dimensional Transport and retrieve it from Reality as soon as possible. Our guests should be waiting for it by now” wrote the Doctor.

“The transporter? What guests?” Andy said aloud in puzzlement. He turned his head to where he knew the giant round platform to be - only to find it wasn’t there. The space where the round pad and its knife-switches were was completely bare and he had never noticed. As Andy looked for the missing equipment, Speed Racer peeked out of the elevator and called to him.

“It’s time for the Doctor’s human guests to arrive. Would you mind bringing the I.D.T. back please? Thank you!” Speed said with a smile before ducking back into the elevator and disappearing back upstairs.

The red fox’s eyebrows rose in amazement as he shrugged his shoulders and typed back to Lord.

“Sure! Now I’m an inter-dimensional elevator operator. What next?” Andy grumbled to himself.

“Power is already topping the gauges”, he wrote, “The schematic checks out. The wiring is correct… painfully correct.”

  The canid scientist flipped a switch and the view of the Millstone appeared on the monitor in front of him. The view was nearly blinding! The dynamo’s usual pounding sounds had become a monstrous roar! A terrifying red light strobed over the whole scene! Hephaestus’s robot form seemed to be struggling to claw itself away from the whirling, roaring machine’s spinning wall! Blue-white bolts of lightning flew from the huge, sun-like energy chambers above, making the television screen blink as it was being overloaded with light! 

The robot was slowly and painfully fighting its way toward the elevator and safety, struggling against the magnetic pull of gravity that was threatening to drag it into the massive rotating grindstone! 

Wile E., Ralph, Junior and Andy stared in horror as a brilliant flash of lightning struck the box-like robot! The camera went dead and faded to a point, then the view shifted to another camera from inside the elevator, showing Commander Winters covering his face with a snowy white wing. The owl reached up sadly and turned the camera’s view to the elevator’s window. Outside, a lone robotic claw still held on with a death-grip with only a few torn wires remaining behind it.   
  
  Andy and the others stared at the screen in shock when the robot did not reappear. The fox tensely typed back to Lord.

“Doc? I’m not certain, but I think we just witnessed your robot being destroyed in your power room by excessively high voltage.”

“How’s the power level now?” the Doctor texted back.

Andy paused a moment in surprise at Lord’s seeming indifference, but read the gauges. 

“It’s still rising. Nearly up to zettatonage.”

“Good, then you can exercise it and bring over our guests on the I.D.T. from Earth. They’re waiting.”

“But what about the robot? I don’t see it-“

“The robot was just a drone slaved to the base’s computer system. It’s probably already been replaced by a duplicate. Now bring those people over, please.”

“Right” Andy replied with relief, reaching into his lab coat pocket and drawing out a dark pair of shiny brass laboratory goggles. 

“Gentlemen - it’s time - For Science!” he grinned maniacally. ”Open the roof!” 
Wile E., Ralph and Junior all pulled out their own dark goggles and snapped them on around their heads. Wile E. eyed Andy’s with jealousy as the fox energized the Inter-Dimensional Transporter, causing many of the lab’s tremendous machines to come to life and sizzle with power! 

The dynamos whirled into a frenzy of motion, the cooling conduits hissed and icy fog streamed from them like a waterfall! A crackle of thunder rolled down into the lab from high overhead as the ceiling opened, revealing a cloudy, stormy sky gathering above! 

“Ooo, shiny! Where’d you get the antiques?” Wile E. asked enviously.

“Wouldn’t you like to know” Andy replied with a toothy grin, his goggles glinting from the barrage of brilliant golden sparks raining from the huge engine near the ceiling, thirty feet above them.

 “Elevating the Z’Eye!” called the vulpine scientist, throwing a dangerous-looking knife switch, with a glint of madness in his green eyes.

From below, they watched the glittering octagonal screen rise on its metal tower through the opening into the sky above! Suddenly the air was filled with the music of Franz Waxman’s creation sequence from “The Bride of Frankenstein”, as Junior held his CD player aloft! The four scientists grinned at each other madly, their head-fur curling and frizzing out insanely as they energized the great machines!

   Outside, Jimmy Sparks looked up at the approaching storm, feeling the first raindrops on his face. Gigantor’s crested helmet appeared occasionally as he continued his work, having dug the hole for Fifi’s new home to a depth of more than thirty feet. 

   Nearby in the Acme Forest, Elmyra had finally caught Montana Max and had him tied to a tree. While Monty sweated and struggled against the ropes, Elmyra was sensuously applying a generous amount of garish red lipstick and looking coyly at herself in a hand-mirror.

“Hey it’s gonna rain! Can’t we just go home now please?” begged Monty as a faint rumble of thunder was heard.

Elmyra swiveled her hips and performed a slow-motion hair-flip to gaze at him with smoky, half-closed, teal-colored eye-shadowed eyelids with tremendous false eyelashes.

“Oooh no, Poppa”, she cooed suggestively,”First we have ta play our lil game!”  
“Isn’t there any game of yours that *doesn’t* involve ropes and handcuffs?” Monty pleaded.

“Hmmm!”, Elmyra said pouting in thought and throwing away the mirror, which knocked Sweetie Bird out of a nearby tree. The girl’s eyes rolled back under her red bangs, then popped open with an idea. “Oh I know!” she exclaimed joyfully pulling out a wooden fraternity paddle, “We can play “Thank you Sir, May I have Another?!”    

 Monty’s face screwed up. “Again?” he muttered under his breath, then smiled slyly at her. “You’d have to untie me first! And I might get away!”

“Nuh-uh! I’ll never ever let you go!” Elmyra sneered coquettishly as she backhanded the paddle over her shoulder, flattening Sweetie again.

 Stars, comets and paddles circled the pink canary’s bruised head. “Ah! Mango-wango!” she said dizzily before collapsing. 

Elmyra stepped in close as Monty writhed to escape. She drew back momentarily in thought, her eyes rolling heavenwards.

“If I dood it - I det a whipping’….”, said the saucy redhead, then with a grin she grabbed Monty, “I dood it!”

In the instant Elmyra’s lipstick-covered kiss touched Monty, the tree she’d tied him to was grounded as a bolt of lightning struck it! 

Monty and Elmyra’s kiss sizzled with mega-voltage, leaving them both staring at each other, their wide white eyes the only parts of them that wasn’t burned black! 
The clouds above parted as the skies opened! The tree poofed into charcoal dust behind Max and the ropes binding him burned away, leaving the couple frozen in a kiss. 

Their hair abruptly frizzed out, with electrical charges dancing through it as the lip-locked pair stared into each other’s eyes. Monty got a curious look of surprise on his face as they finally drew apart. Wide joyous grins grew across their faces!

“What a man!” Elmyra whooped happily.

“What a woman!” Monty whooped joyfully.

The couple swung each other in a circle and passionately embraced.  

Chapter CXLVIII  

   The Congress was dying. The stern was on the verge of collapsing from the Virginia’s merciless shell-fire. One of her red-hot shot persisted in keeping the stern burning.

Despite all the desperate efforts of the ship’s firemen, the fire could not be put out. It would eventually reach the five tons of gunpowder stored there. The firemen desperately fought the flames with the ship’s fire hose, with a human chain carrying and throwing buckets of water, fought with sand and with axes. Their hands and scalps were burned raw till they could fight no more. The horrible stench of burning human hair and flesh joined the sickening smell of blood, gore and guts spilled on the once-clean white deck. 

  As Babs watched, a burning, smoldering crewman ran screaming up onto the main deck, his head burned black and red. With a wild cry of agony, he ran for the side and threw himself overboard to escape. Arms flailing, his body fell into the cold sea. An awkward splash, a horrid blurred underwater vision of struggling in frenzy - and he was gone.

Another fireman took a similar route to escape, his clothes in flames, his fate the same.

  [“That’s all I can stands - I can’t stands no more!”] Babs cried to the others as her host rushed to the former ship’s Captain again.

“The fire cannot be put out, Sir! It’s only a matter of time before it hits the magazine and we’ll all be blown to kingdom-come!” Pendergrast said, trying to control himself.

“I agree Sir. It’s… a disgrace to surrender… but it’s the only course left to us”, Smith admitted fatefully, “At your command, Sir.” 

Pendergrast turned away to look for any signs of rescue. Only the Minnesota remained, but she was aground a mile and half away and could only fire at extremely long range and hope for a lucky shot. All others were aground or had fled the battle. The ironclad monster could not be harmed nor stopped unless he surrendered. 

Pendergrast saw his helpless crew fighting for life - and losing. The bucket brigade was doing their best to throw water on the flames, but the helpless wounded men were being splashed by the cold water. A legless man fought to pull himself away from the icy splashes. An armless man struggled in agony to crawl across the deck and out of harm’s way. Blood was everywhere, gore and brains dripped from the ship’s beams. 

The wounded moaned pitiably. The dying screamed and cried for their mothers. They could take no more.

 Calling one of the few officers left in his command, Lt. Pendergrast sadly and reluctantly ordered white flags to be raised to the mainmast and foremast. The wounded men cried harder.

 “The Congress has surrendered,” someone cried, ”Look out of the port! See? She has run up white flags! The officers are waving their handkerchiefs!”

 After a moment, Captain Buchanan spied the white flags he’d hoped to see. 
  “Cease Fire!” he called to his crew, “The Congress has surrendered to us!”

To a man, the men of the Virginia cheered in victory! Smiles and grins flashed on the powder-blacked faces of the gun crews, replacing the grim visages of all. 

Deep sighs of relief were heard amidst the shouts of jubilation. Having had little to be happy about during this second year of the war, the sweating, joyous crew stood shaking their sponges and rammers triumphantly in the air! Rebel yells echoed through the casemate and some of the officers began to leave their posts, gathering to climb up to the top deck, but they were stopped by the stentorian voice of the Executive Officer. 

  Lieutenant Catesby Jones stood near the top of the steps, his cool manner stopping them in their tracks.

“Stand by your guns, and lieutenants - be ready to resume firing at the word. See that your guns are well supplied with ammunition during the lull. Doctor Garnett, see how those poor fellows yonder are coming on. Mister Littlepage, tell Paymaster Semple to have a care of the berth deck and take every precaution against fire. Mister Hasker - call away the cutter’s crew and have them in readiness. Mister Lindsay, sound the well, examine the foretold, and report if you find anything wrong.”   

Lieutenant Minor asked Captain Buchanan for permission to conduct the surrender, but Old Buck had other plans.

[“Get ready for action everyone, we’ll go in about two minutes”] Lord thought to the others as he sent a message homeward.

Back in his laboratory, Lord’s words were spelled out on the screen while the four scientists zipped from machine to machine, checking the connections.

“Stand by transmit full power. Is everything ready?”
  
Andy and the others were sweating bullets and leaving wet trails of them wherever they ran. Wile E. had his brow sweat-wiping machine going, a motorized hand on his head like a windshield wiper. Ralph stepped in a puddle and went skidding crazily past Egghead Junior’s un-changing stare. 

The wolf flailed his arms wildly and managed to grab a vertical support, where he spun around it until his body was wrapped around the pole like a string on a yo-yo. 

Andy darted about like a humming bird to check five different groups of connections before answering, his claws clickety-clacking on the computer keyboard. Andy’s green eyes were wide and scared as he typed back.

“Full power on stand-by. Hope this works. It’s the biggest guess I’ve ever made!”
The fox slid a lever downwards and a huge dish antenna opened through the roof above. 

At Point K, Johnny Winters looked desperately out the elevator’s window as the monstrous Millstone machine seemed to be running wild! Blinding lightning bolts spun round and round, shooting out of the blazing red inferno of the power globes! The ground was trembling and the elevator shaft echoed with the tremors. Hephaestus had been obliterated! 

How could Johnny control the power without the robot? He moved to the door, ready to sacrifice himself to save the planet. Shielding his eyes, the owl was aghast when he saw a new robot appear suddenly and take over the control panel.

 “Hephaestus? How did you survive?” he almost shouted into his communicator.
“I am Hephaestus Talos Mark IV, made almost entirely of plastic. The Mark III model was destroyed” said the robot in the very same voice as the other robot.

The tremors subsided and the lightning shifted to within the power globes, flashing so brightly that Johnny turned away and shut his eyes.

“The power is now at the designated level. The safeties are now released. Ready for transferal beam” said the shiny plastic machine.  

[“We’re ready to transmit the power, Mister Fox”] Winters thought nervously, then said to the robot “Energize”.

From the top of the arctic instillation, a golden beam of energy lanced upward into the dark sky like a beacon, heading into space. High above Toon Earth, a silver satellite orbited in silence with its antennas spread open like a dragonfly’s wings. The beam touched it and was re-routed downwards, arcing towards Acme Acres at the speed of light and onto the parabolic mirror. The power indicators lit up the control panels as the scientists watched, the levels heading for the danger zone. 

Onboard the Beaufort, Buster’s host had ordered his Midshipman Mallory and a volunteer, Midshipman Ivey Foreman to lower a boat and board the Congress.

 Babs looked over the ship’s broken side at the rowboat and its crew making their way toward her ship. Both the bunny and her host felt ashamed at having surrendered, but both were glad that the fight had been stopped. 

Babs heard the heart-rending cries and confusion of the wounded and felt pangs of guilt gnaw at her stomach. She saw the fear and anger in her men’s faces. 

Many of them swore and viciously cursed their approaching enemies. Some cried. Others were lowering the ship’s cutters to take the wounded ashore. Babs was glad that she would soon leave this scene of terrible carnage. Her host ordered the men to place Captain Smith’s body on a stretcher, together with his sword and his head, to be sent ashore for the sake of his family. A thought she’d never had before crossed Babs’s mind. She did her best to shut it out.

   Having followed the Lieutenant Jones’ orders, some of the officers joined him with the Captain on the top deck of the Virginia. Arnold, Mary, Calamity, Furball, Fowlmouth and Wakko took the opportunity to breathe the clean air outside the confines of the armored casemate and see what had happened. Together, they stood on the grating in silence. 

  [“Vhat eez goeeng on up zere?”] asked Fifi, still caring for the wounded below.

Calamity’s thoughts spoke when the others were too disturbed to, but even his analytical mind registered shock.

 [“The whole scene has changed… A pall of black smoke is hanging around the ships and obscuring the clean-cut outlines of the shore. Down the river, the three frigates; Saint Lawrence, Roanoke and Minnesota are enveloped in the clouds of battle. They’re firing at Sewell’s Point and the other Confederate ships and lighting up the gun smoke like red flashes of lightning. The masts of the Cumberland are protruding above the water, the flag still flying from it…The Congress is…a terrible scene of carnage.”]

[“Oh my gosh”], [“Did we do that?”], [“I can’t look”] thought the others. 

[“Again_ and_ Forever - No you didn’t!”] Lord barked.
  
Mary was stunned into silence, as was her host. Captain Buchanan looked gravely at the terrible damage and worried about what had happened to his brother. He picked up his speaking trumpet.

[“This is it! Everyone - Stand By!”] Lord thought and texted. 

“Release the safeties! Stand ready!” said Andy to his colleagues.

Wile E., Ralph and Junior all flipped groups of switch-covers up and then, one by one - snapped each safety toggle downward. All the indicator lights on Lord’s great machines lit up. The power conduits began to glow. The cold mists from the cooling system became hissing steam. The usual low rumble of the lab rose up an enormous scale, becoming an oscillating tone that grew higher every second!
Andy grinned oddly as the ground began to quiver and muttered “This ought to be memorable. Make sure you’re insulated!”

The four scientists pulled on heavy rubber boots and gloves. 

Captain Buchanan signaled to Lieutenant Parker to bring the Beaufort alongside the Virginia. The tug steamed over to the great black ironclad, its speed comparatively faster than the smoking monster. Mary and the others averted their eyes from the horror aboard the Congress and looked at the numerous dents and damage to their own ship instead.

[“One of der cutters iz smashed completely. Zere are dents everywhere, but mostly up front”] Arnold reported quietly as he and the others tried to repress their reactions.

[“A flock of crows could fly through the holes in the smokestack without any trouble”] Furball observed.

[“The steam pipe is fractured”] thought Calamity.

 [“The deck howitzers are gone”], thought Mary, [“It’s absolutely astounding at how much smoke there is. At home, we usually have fire without smoke.”]

 [“The bow looks twisted off!”] thought Wakko.

 [“Lookit! The muzzles of two guns were blown off - No wonder dat guy got…“] Fowlmouth stopped himself short. 

[“Get ready! As soon as Buster is in a stable location - we go! Try not to let them see you”] Lord ordered.

[‘I’ll signal a plus sign for more power, a minus for less and an exclamation point for stop! Stand by!”] Lord texted to Andy.

The small Beaufort drew alongside the immense Virginia which was more than three times her size, the grey waters lapping at her sharp armored edges. 

Finally Buster had a perfect view of the ironclad.

[“Yer ship looks like the roof of a house that’s half-sunk in the water”], he mused, [“It really is a monster. A big beautiful ship that was burned and sunk in that muddy river, then cut up and cobbled into this weird thing and covered with iron slabs. It snorts and belches out black smoke, lumbering along like Frankenstein, spitting fire and bombs. A huge dead hulk brought back to life to be a war machine.”]

[“Take a good long look Buster. You’re getting to see what we can’t”], Lord told him, [“Try to be still so I can grasp you with the force field.”] 

The Toonsters could see and hear the rest of the Confederate fleet firing at the Minnesota in the distance. The black smoke chugged and puffed from the myriad holes in the Virginia’s smokestack, slowing curling away with the wind.  

The smell of gunsmoke and salt water permeated everything. Captain Buchanan raised his speaking trumpet and began to bellow his orders. A small flock of seagulls wheeled about overhead.

Chapter CXLIX  

[“Well, here goes another first! Watch carefully, everyone!”] thought the Doctor just the tiny bit nervously.

 [“Ya mean you’ve never done this before?!”] Buster thought in surprise.

[“Yup! Hit it, Fox!”] Lord exclaimed.

In the Tooniverse, Andy Fox and the others gulped aloud as the furry scientist hit Enter on the Time Controls keyboard.

“Here goes something!” said Andy with an anxious chuckle.
    
                                    { “THE THING from Another World” #2 “Flying Saucer Sequence Part 1” }

The four scientists stared through their glassy goggles as the vast laboratory came alive with monstrous arcs of electricity! Fantastic power poured through the machines and conduits everywhere like a living thing - a roaring, flowing visible river of lightning! They cringed and ducked away from the blinding lightning bolts!

At the North Pole, Johnny Winters and Hephaestus felt themselves becoming terribly heavy, as the magnetic pole’s gravity rapidly increased! The owl struggled to stay on his feet, while the plastic body of the robot began to crack and crumple into the floor! Johnny fell and was pinned down by the terrible forces as the robot clung to the control panel!

“G forces have tripled”, warned the robot, “DANGER! DANGER!”

As the Toonsters watched, everything became suddenly dimmer, as though the Sun itself was losing its brightness! 

Buster watched as the water lapping at the sides of the Virginia moved slower and slower, the smoke curling from its smokestack becoming a hovering black fog, the harbor’s waves slowing to a crawl! Shirley heard Captain Buchanan’s voice grow deeper and slower, as time itself lost its speed, becoming a low groaning noise! 

Far away, Wakko saw one of the Minnesota’s cannons fire in slow-motion; the black shell slowly emerging through a crown of orange flame and sparks to be followed by a ring of smoke, as though it had been filmed with a high-speed camera! The sound of the wind died away, becoming a low hiss as the speed of sound also crawled at a snail’s pace! Tiny red and blue laser-like points of light appeared on the surface of every object and person, twinkling like stars and flowing with the motion of anything that had movement! The points of light covered everything, like crawling beetles!

Shirley felt as if the air’s molecules were becoming still. The wind died away to nothing. As time slowed to a crawl, the loon felt herself becoming loose from the body of her host. She could move independently and began to turn to walk towards the top hatch, but her own motion began to stop as well.

 [“I can’t move! I can’t get out!!”] cried Shirley


Lord had raised his hands to project his power to pick up Buster but he found himself nearly frozen as well.

 [“We’re stuck! How do we get loose? What can we do?!”] thought everyone frantically.

[“Too much power! Abort! Retreat!”], the Doctor exclaimed, [“Got to abort!”]

[“They’ll totally see us! I can see yer fingers and claws sticking outta Jones’ side!’] Shirley thought in panic.

[“I kin see yer elbow, Shirley! Pull it back in!”] Wakko told her desperately.

[“I can’t move! What’ll we do?!”] the Loon cried in fear!

[“Can’t - move my - hands - or eyes! We’re stuck in time!!”] Lord struggled to say [“ Unless…”] 

The Toonsters panicked inside their hosts, struggling to move - but found themselves frozen, while the world before them crawled at a snail’s pace.

   In Reality, on Earth, a man with large-framed glasses sat in his darkened apartment, playing Crash Bandicoot 2 - “Cortex Strikes Back” on his PlayStation 1 on his television. On his TV screen, Crash was running and had just smashed a crate - when he stopped running. The player pushed his joystick ahead a couple of times without results, then stared - as he saw Crash turn - and look him squarely in the eye! The player’s mouth hung open as Crash pointed a long finger right at him and grinned!

The man’s eyes went wide as Crash scooped up a Wumpa fruit, grinned at him again - and tossed the peach-like Wumpa right through the TV screen! The fruit plunked on the floor under the player’s chair and rolled to a stop. The man dropped his controller in shock, the gray plastic object clattering downward at the end of its wiring. 

He stooped and picked up the Wumpa - hardly believing it was real. It smelled like a pinecone, but was as soft as a Nerf ball. He looked quickly back at the screen - but Crash had already spun once, then fell off his runway and disappeared from sight. Crash rose up again as a ghost angel playing a harp - then the game returned to the last checkpoint. The player sat frozen as the game continued normally. He stared at the Wumpa fruit in his hand in astonishment.  

  Back in the Tooniverse, out in deep space on the rocky surface of the Ghost Planet, the evil mantis creature Zorak was drawing a bead on Space Ghost with his Nucleonic Planet Buster!                                                         

{STAR TREK - “Power Mad/ Situation Gave” - “Where No Man Has Gone Before” by Alexander Courage}

“Youuu won’t escape me this time, Spaaaace Ghost!” swore Zorak as Space Ghost fought to activate his Pile-Driver ray by punching the buttons on his gauntlet.

Zorak’s talon began to squeeze the trigger on his ray gun, but suddenly there were terrible flashes of light and then utter blackness - as though the Tooniverse itself was winking out into oblivion! Space Ghost and the villain cringed as the fabric of space itself was ripped open before their eyes! Out of the massive visual distortions, a scraggly humanoid wearing ragged blue clothing appeared out of nowhere, shaking his fists at heaven and yelling insanely at the empty sky! 
 
   “You’ve come at me again! Well don’t stop! We’ll finish it! Come! It’ll do you no good! I’ll chase you to the very fires of Hell!!” screamed Lazarus!

The madman struggled as a whirlwind of force grappled his body, spinning him back into the jagged black rip in the Tooniverse, which disappeared as quickly as it had come!

Though Space Ghost and Zorak were momentarily distracted, Space Ghosts’s Pile-Driver ray was soon pounding Zorak into the ground like a tent stake.  As the space hero stood over his defeated enemy, he paused and gazed up at the cold stars in puzzlement, wondering what it could all mean.

On Toon Earth, on the Cairrbe` island of Aroobah, Elmer J. Fudd lay snoozing on his lounger on a white coral, sandy beach. Mrs. Fudd lay next to him, reading a mystery novel that combined cookie recipes with murder. Elmer blinked at the blinding hot sun overhead through his Foster Grunt sunglasses. Mrs. Fudd looked up in shock.

“Ewwmer? …Ewwmer?… Wook!” she gasped, pointing.

Elmer slowly lowered his sunglasses, his eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. Elmer sat up and stared in amazement.

Stretching out to the horizon before them - was nothing but sand and dry coral reefs. The ocean was gone!

 “Oh Cwud!” said Elmer, “The sea has weceeded!”  

As the gravity increased back in Doctor Lord’s lab, the four scientists collapsed onto the floor, sounding like concertinas being folded up as flat as pancakes.

  “I told him this was dangerous. Why does no one ever listen to me?!” complained the red Andy-headed pancake.

“No one ever listens! You can shout the truth until you’re blue in the face, but all you get is ignored” answered the brown coyote pancake.

The small pale yellow pancake with glasses raised a sign that read: “Criticism is the burden of genius.”

“People never seem to like someone who’s always right. They think they’re being reminded of how stupid they are” said the wolf pancake.

The entire laboratory shook as an earthquake rocked the planet with a terrifying roar! Dust rained down from the roof!

“We’ve got to turn this off!” cried Wile E. as he reformed and struggled towards the controls.

“No! We have to wait for the signal from the Doctor!” shouted Ralph, grabbing the coyote by both ankles and tripping him.

“Let me go - It’ll destroy our whole planet!” his cousin yelled back, kicking the wolf in the face as they vibrated on the quaking floor.

“Ralph’s right - we have to give Lord time to extract the kids”, Andy said grabbing the coyote by the ears, “If we shut it off, they might end up stuck there forever! We might never get them back!” Wile E. was still fighting them.

The Fox pulled the coyote’s ears up straight until they were nose to nose and eye to eye. “Now who’s not listening to me?”

Egghead Junior scuttled over to look at the communications screen as Wile E. stopped struggling and hung his ears in resignation and put up a tiny umbrella over his head.

Dr. Lord struggled to concentrate on texting, to send the signal home. Though the world before them still crawled at a snail’s pace, the time travelers were now frozen inside their hosts. 

Lord and Shirley were still slightly exposed and the Toonsters were desperately afraid. 

Hamton silently struggled to keep his thoughts to himself, but realized he might be able to help, perhaps redeeming his honor.

 [“Doctor! Use your telekinesis!”] he thought.

[“What do you think I am doing?”] Lord grumbled as his mind probed his texting device. [“Got it! Everybody retreat as soon as the power drops enough!”]

Andy Fox saw an exclamation point blink onto the screen and pulled the power control carefully downward. The earthquake subsided as the zettatons of power diminished.

The crackle of electricity died down, returning the great laboratory to its normal thumping and whirring atmosphere. 

 “It’s over”, the Fox sighed, “I wonder if it worked…” 

Andy looked and found his three colleagues floating beside him in mid-air. He broke into hysterical laughter upon seeing that they were now three fuzzy balls of static-clinging fur and feathers with starring eyeballs. Andy kept laughing until Wile E. touched him with a fingertip and he also became zapped into a floating red balloon of fur. 

Wile said snarkily “Laugh it up, Fuzz-ball.” 

As the power was reduced, time began to speed up and the red and blue points of light re-appeared everywhere on everything the Toonsters could see. Fifi was surprised to suddenly be able to see the rest of the cabin she was in by how the laser-like points covered the walls, the floor and the patients her host was caring for. 

Above, Fowlmouth watched the shell fired by the Minnesota suddenly rocketing towards them. 

As time sped up, Shirley and the Doctor felt themselves come loose and were able to pull themselves back into their host’s bodies. 

Fowlmouth’s eyes grew wide with fright as the plummeting explosive shell seemed to be aimed right at his beak, but before he could react, the shell dove into the water before it had reached the Virginia’s side.  

[“Oh sweet! Thank God!”] thought the Toonsters as they found their hosts able to move once again. 

[“I thought we’d be stuck like that forever!”] Babs thought fearfully.

[“You can thank our four scientists at home - and Commander Winters as well”] Lord told them. 

[“Thank you, Doctor”], thought Furball quietly, [“You’re the one who really saved us.”]

[“I appreciate that, but I’m also the one who got us here in the first place”] the Doctor remarked.

[“Mais vous deedn’t get oos stuck zis way”] Fifi objected, making Hamton feel all the more guilty.

[“This happened under my command and I’m responsible for you all. Up till now, my time trips have been mostly solos. I should have foreseen the problems with transporting a group, so from now on, we’ll all take a single method of conveyance.”]

[“Like what? A DeLorean? A T.A.R.D.I.S.? H.G. Well’s time machine?”] asked Buster. 

[“You’ll see. Now what did we miss during the time lag?”] wondered Lord.

[“We missed like, the Captain’s orders - and I missed my chance to escape!”] Shirley cried bitterly.

[“I got the orders, that’s why we’re on our way to the Congress now”] Buster told them.

[“Don’t worry Shirley, we’ll get you out. We just have to determine the correct power level when we came loose”] Calamity thought reassuringly.

[“It’s not that simple! Like, I totally couldn’t change hosts anyway because everyone up here already had one of you inside ‘em!”] the loon cried in frustration.

[“We’ll figure it out. Don’t panic, Shirley”] Furball reaffirmed.

[“Who’s panicking?! I’m totally trapped here!”] the loon complained.

[“Hush, I’ve got to get through to Andy”] the Doctor insisted.

Shirley’s fear of death began to chill everyone again, but a worse feeling had begun to consume Babs’ mind.

[“Buster? We will meet now, won’t we? I - I can’t stand being alone here without you. I’m - I’m so scared”] the bunny implored him.

[“Of course Babsy, I’m comin’. Are you okay? Ya hardly sound like yourself”] Buster worried.  

Chapter CL 

“What’s this a-coming, Sir? She’s flying a French flag! What’ll we do, Sir?” asked the Congress’s crew of Babs’s host, pointing at the Beaufort. Parker’s flag did resemble the French tricolor. Pendergrast stood stolidly awaiting what surely would not be pleasant.

    The small boatload of Confederates had reached the towering side of the Congress. The two midshipmen looked cautiously up the ladder and at each other. They did not know what kind of a reception they were about to receive. Drawing their pistols, they climbed slowly up with their men following. 

The sights that greeted them were horrible beyond description. The formerly spotless white deck was stained red with human blood, Bodies, heads, legs, torsos, hands and reeking gore were strewn everywhere. Grievously wounded men were crying and moaning. The air stank with smoke and burned flesh. Other crewmen were struggling to save their shipmates, wrapping tourniquets around severed limbs while the victims screamed until they passed out or expired. 
   
The rebels also faced the men whom they’d destroyed and disgraced. The crew of the Congress stood facing them with rifles and cutlasses in their hands, their sweaty faces livid with rage. Their enemies silence frightened them. Only the tragic screams and moans of the wounded and dying met their ears. The rebels, seeing themselves clearly outnumbered, bravely took the initiative and began to shout orders and push themselves forward, crowding the union sailors out of the way to the far corners of the deck. They had to gain control of the ship or be overwhelmed by the angry crew facing them. In the confusion, the wounded were pushed and trampled, causing more screams and shouts from their protectors. 

“Leave off! Can’t you see they’re wounded?! Stop it ye damned beasts!” yelled the Union crew at their oppressors.

Within Pendergrast, Babs was horrified by what she saw and terrified at the thought of what could happen at any moment. 

 Midshipman Mallory shouted over the bustling crowd to gain control by sheer lung-power, “WHERE’S YOUR CAPTAIN?! SPEAK UP!”

As the sailors jostled and steadied themselves, they continued to curse and grumble, so Pendergrast pushed through his men and stepped out to face the rebels.

He was angry and scared but maintained his composure. The men grew quiet and sullen around him.

“I am the Captain of this vessel” he said grimly amidst the awful tension.

“Have you surrendered, Sir? Your flag is still up” the Midshipman said, pointing to the Stars and Stripes which had been lowered but not taken down.

Pendergrast didn’t like having the shame of surrender thrust in his face. “You see the white flags, don’t you?” he said coolly.

Ivey Foreman took a impulsive chance and rushed towards where the ship’s flag was hanging. The Congress’s crew bristled but held each other back. The rebel jumped up like a basketball player and ripped the flag down. The outraged men moved towards him threateningly, but he evaded them and ran to the ship’s side, just as the Beaufort hove to alongside. As Foreman wadded up the flag to toss it over to the Beaufort’s deck - a shot rang out! Foreman’s hand was clipped and he staggered from the blow. He looked back at the furious men of the Congress- and saw one black Union sailor with a smoking gun in his hands. 

He saw restrained fury in the faces of his enemies and realized what he was doing to them. Quickly he climbed down to safety onboard the Beaufort.  

[“Everyone stand ready to move! We don’t know how long the lieutenants will meet for or exactly what will happen, so be ready to go at a moment’s notice”] Lord announced.

[“We don’t know?”] Babs exclaimed in shock.

[“Buster and Babs - when I give the signal - you grab on and hold each other as tight as you can until you’re safe. I’ll have to bring you through a gunport. Are there any open ports big enough?”] Lord asked.

[“None dat I can see, but zere are two guns broken. Maybe zey can squeeze around the cannons?”] Arnold replied.

[“Not enough room. The hatches up here are closed - and my host is blocking the only open one”] Lord told them.

[“Gad! Then I’m totally stuck here again! How can I get inside?!”] Shirley cried.

  “Stand by for another try. We’ll bring the energy level up to eighty-five percent of full power on my command. Be ready!” the communications panel told Andy back in the lab.

Egghead Junior looked at the gauges and shook his head. The fox frowned and hesitantly typed back.

“We can do it, but it’ll take time to build up the power charge again”.
Wile E. suddenly grabbed Andy by the shoulder and spun him around! 

“Are you mad? We can’t do that again! You saw what it did to us!” the coyote insisted vehemently.

Andy silently pulled his friend’s hand off his shoulder and glared grimly back at him, nose to nose. 

“We must… It’s the only way to get the kids back” the fox told him.

Wile E. threw his arms wide in desperation, “Are those thirteen kids worth risking OUR ENTIRE PLANET?” he shouted.

“Why don’t you ask their parents that question Mister? They’re all standing up on the lawn waiting for their sons and daughters to come home right now!” Andy said with more than a touch of righteous indignation.

The crestfallen coyote’s ears sagged as his face fell to the floor. He looked to his cousin for support, but Ralph shook his head.

“…It’s the only way to save them, Wile E…There’s no other way” agreed the wolf quietly.

“Let’s do it”, said a new voice amidst the silent tension.

The three canids looked down in wide-eyed silent shock as Egghead Junior crossed his arms and spoke again. 

“Let’s get them back home.”   

With do-or-die determination in their eyes, the four scientists threw themselves into their work with a will. 

The power level arose again. The humming and clicking of the machines grew louder. 

Andy looked back at the needles on the gauges moving towards danger. His cheek twitched. He typed to Lord.  

“We can only give you a maximum of ninety seconds and maintain a safety factor.” 

[“Hey, that’s right! How’re we gonna get them inside the ship? The gunports’re all blocked by the guns! How’ll we get the bunnies in?”] wondered Wakko.

[“Are you certain? Check all of them quickly - and the hatches”] Lord ordered.

[“Two of da guns have dere muzzles broken off - but they’ve hauled them in closer, so they’re blocking the ports even furder!”] Fowlmouth told them.

Mary looked overhead at the wooden grating that made up the Virginia’s roof.
[“What about the hatches? Couldn’t we open one?”] she asked.

[“They’ve all been shut but this one. It’d take all of us to lift one off”] Calamity replied.

Hamton had been quiet for a while but spoke up. [“How about the port-stoppers? Nobody ever uses them”] he interjected. 
 
[“…That’s right. They were never used at all! See if there’s a way to open one at the bow, boys”] Lord ordered.

Gogo looked above himself and saw something he hadn’t noticed before.

[“There’s a chain to one side of it. Maybe that opens it?”] the Dodo wondered.

[“It’ll be heavy - those things are made of wrought iron - three inches thick”] Furball warned.

[“Zere’z no chain on zis side. Maybe zey ver just stuck on for protection”] Arnold thought doubtfully.

[“Wait! Like, what about the ventilator? It’s like right here and it’s always open!”] Shirley thought suddenly, looking at the big ventilator which was similar to the bell of a tuba.

[“And it leads right down into the engine room! They could slide right down here and be safe inside some of the engineers”] Calamity concurred. 

Shirley felt a rush of relief! All she had to do was jump in and slide to safety.

[“Like, I’ll dive down through the funnel first and be safe while you can bring them in, Doc”] exclaimed Shirley.

[“All right, just as long as it’s wide enough, we’ll do that, but all of you - be ready for anything!”] Lord agreed. [“We’re only going to have ninety seconds to do this, so make it fast and get back to your places in time. We just need the two of their hosts to be close together.”] 

They looked ahead and saw the Beaufort and the Raleigh surrounding the Congress.

[“The two of them are moving closer together. Prepare to activate”] thought the Doctor.

Lieutenant Pendergrast grimly looked over the side at his appointment with destiny. He knew what he would have to do and stooped down to grab a seaman’s cutlass from the deck. As former Captain Smith and the ship’s doctor followed, he straightened his cap, swung a leg over the side and climbed down the ship’s built-in ladder. 

The deep grey-blue waters lapped at the Congress’ waterline below as an ominous figure awaited him on the deck of the enemy vessel. 

Lieutenant Parker coolly stood smoking a cigar, the pungent smoke flowing through his dark mustache. He was looking forward to a surprise reunion with an old friend.

Hosted inside Pendergrast, Babs couldn’t wait to be with her fiancee again, but also felt her host’s apprehension and hatred boiling within him. She had also made a decision.

Within Parker, Buster just wanted to hold Babs tight in his arms as he thought ahead to their flight through the air to their rescue. He could only imagine what she had gone through. 

Finally, Pendergrast stepped off the ladder to face Parker. He hated to go through with it, but it was the only way to save his men. The two men stood stiffly, staring daggers at one another until the other officers joined them. The North and South stared at each other across the deck of the tugboat. The young lieutenant faced the older one with a visage of stone. 

Parker stared back, breathing out another cloud of foul cigar smoke that flew silently away in the silence. Pendergrast did not come to attention, but slowly brought his hand up to salute - and waited. Smith and the Doctor also saluted, as did the Southern officers. Parker waited a moment just to demonstrate his authority - then calmly returned the salute. The two officers relaxed their arms, but not their gaze. 

 [“Buster is that you?”] she asked desperately.

[“I’m here Babs… Right here in front of you!”] he thought reassuringly. 

 [“Oh Buster I just wanna leap into your arms and never ever let you go!”] Babs cried passionately.  

[“You will! We will! We just have to wait a little longer sweetheart. Just till this is over… Ya know yer cute even when you talk like Elmyra?”]

Babs smiled and almost laughed, but the scene between their hosts was too intense for levity.

  Pendergrast held the cutlass in his right hand and offered the grip of the sword to Parker, holding the flat of the blade across his left wrist. He painfully swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke as best as he could.

“Sir - as Commander of the U.S.S. Congress…I offer you this token of surrender… Now, Captain we must have help. We have a great many wounded-“
Parker looked him in the eye and at the sword with a growing scowl. He took the cutlass smoothly and looked at it.

“Who are you?” he growled around his cigar, the smoke flowing through his thick mustache. 

Former Captain Smith stepped forward with a salute to interject. “This is Lieutenant Pendergrast, the Executive Officer.”

Parker looked up from the cutlass sharply, gripping it hard.

“Where’s Captain Smith?” he demanded, breathing smoke with his words.
 “I’m Captain Smith” the ex-captain told him.

“No you are not” Parker insisted. “Where is Joe Smith?!”

[“Gosh! He knows your Captain! Parker thought you were going to be his old friend, Lieutenant Joe Smith!”] Buster gasped in realization. 

[“…Oh no…”] Babs whimpered.

Austin Pendergrast’s answer was the most bitter moment Buster and Babs had ever witnessed. Though the Lieutenant’s eyes were filled with hatred, he stayed composed.

 “… He’s dead” said Pendergrast with finality.

Parker moved swiftly around the Congress’s officers and clambered up the side of the Congress, his boots clacking quickly up the same ladder that Pendergrast had just descended. He could not believe what he’d just heard.
 
[“…Oh geez - Parker and Smith were classmates at the Naval Academy! They were close friends!”] cried Buster.

  [“Hold it! They’re moving apart!”] cried Shirley [“What’ll we do?”]

[“Targets have separated…Stand by”], Lord texted to Andy, [“Calamity, you watch the clock and give us a countdown to zero.”] 

[“Will ninety seconds be enough?”] Calamity wondered nervously.

[“Buster - Don’t look! Shut your eyes!”] Babs cried, trying to spare him the shock.
Parker rushed up the side of the Congress to the top of the railing. He didn’t want to see - but he did see. Then he wished he hadn’t.

Horrible sights met his view on every side. The stench of death, gun smoke and the burning ship filled his nostrils. The white decks were red - slippery with gore and blackened with gunpowder smoke. Heads, bodies and bits of human flesh were lying around promiscuously. The wounded were moaning piteously and everything was in ruins. Parker averted his eyes for a moment, then looked and saw the body of his friend on a stretcher. A crewman knelt nearby, picking up something. Carefully the man carried his captain’s head back to his body, placed it on the stretcher and covered it with a blanket.

[“Oh gawd!”] Buster cried at the sight. His shock and horror was so great that everyone felt it.

The tough, brave, cool Lieutenant Parker suddenly lost his composure and spat his smoldering, expensive cigar away. It fell into the cold sea with a plunk.
“My God, this is terrible! …I wish this war was over” he exclaimed bitterly.
Parker looked back grimly at his dead friend, his scowl becoming fierce. Fighting back his tears with anger, he stomped back down the ladder to face Pendergrast again.

“You will transfer your officers and wounded to this ship immediately. Order the crew ashore” Parker said quickly, controlling his anger. “Then we’ll fire the ship.”

“You cannot burn the ship! You must give us time to get the men off first” Pendergrast insisted.

Parker was angry now. He raised the cutlass and his voice. 

“Get you officers aboard now! We can’t afford much time for the wounded - and what is *this*?” Parker demanded shaking the cutlass in Pendergrast’s face.
“This is not your personal arms - this is a common seaman’s cutlass! How dare you, Sir!” 

Pendergrast was taken aback at his own breech of protocol and looked at his feet in frustrated embarrassment. Doctor Shippen took the opportunity to interrupt with a plea.

“Sir, I am the ship’s Doctor. We have more than sixty badly wounded men aboard. It will take time to move them safely off. Please Sir, we must have your help. Please allow us to help save the wounded.”

Parker tried to maintain his temper. “I am to take your officers prisoner, remove the crew and burn the ship. Those are my orders, Mister - and they are preemptory.”

Pendergrast found his voice once again and cooly faced Parker with the facts.
“Captain, the Congress has been set on fire seven times today and it still is on fire near the magazine. Now we’ve got to get the men off before it blows up and does your job for you. …Now please Sir, let us go get the wounded off before it does” Pendergrast pleaded. “And Sir, if you take our surrender, you also take the responsibility for my men.”

Parker was silent for a moment, then said, “Very well - you may return and remove them - to this ship! Now order your officers down here at once - but you bring backyour real personal sidearms!” 

“Yes, sir” acknowledged Pendergrast, as he and Smith and the doctor saluted.
Parker returned the salute impatiently and called his aide to his side.

“Call the Jamestown to her starboard side to take their wounded aboard” he ordered.

Chapter CLI   

[“Activating the Time slack! Stand ready!”] ordered Lord.

[“Ninety seconds and counting”] reported Calamity, as he watched for his arm to be loose so he could see his digital watch.

Again, the sky darkened, becoming more like a hazy fog bank than the perfectly blue sky it had just been. The sounds of the waves and the distant booming of cannon fire slowed to a eerie blurry rumble as the speed of sound and light slowed visibly. Hamton watched the strange blue and red star-like points of light reappear, crawling over every surface like a swarm of army ants. The breeze died away, the air becoming eerily still and quiet.

Lord watched as he inched his fingers outside of Lieutenant Jones’ own gloved hands. They were loose!

[“Enough! Hold there”] he texted homeward. [“Alright - GO!”]

“Eighty-nine…” said Calamity aloud, surprised to be hearing his own voice again.

The Toonsters felt themselves freed from their human hosts at last. Buster took a giant step out of Lieutenant Parker and found himself standing on the wooden deck of the Beaufort. Babs spun around to face him and jumped happily out of her host and into his waiting arms! Buster staggered a bit under her weight, but didn’t mind a bit as they kissed each other joyfully. Buster and Babs stepped aside, away from their hosts who stood seemingly frozen, but continued barely moving at a snail’s pace. The red and blue stars flowed over the ship, the sea, the sky - everywhere.

“Take us away, Doc!” Buster said out loud happily as he and his fiancee held each other tightly.

His eyes glowing white, Doctor Lord raised his right arm out of his host’s body, his fingers outstretched, as he cast his beam of power across the hundreds of feet of space and water between the Virginia and the Beaufort. His glowing eyes narrowed as he zeroed in on the tiny pink and blue figures now standing on the distant ship.

Just as Buster and Babs turned to look back at their human hosts, they felt the invisible hand grasp them and pick them up, sealing them in a bubble which rose off the ship’s deck and into the sky towards freedom! The bunnies grinned and sang out in joy!

“Up we go - Into the wild blue yonder! Climbing high - Into the Sun! Here they come! Zooming to meet our thunder! At ‘em Boys - Give her the gun!”

  Shirley found herself free of her host and ran over to grasp the lower lip of the ship’s ventilator. She struggled to pull herself up into the round opening and then hefted her bottom down into what looked like the bell of a sousaphone. Standing up quickly, the loon raised her arms over her head and stepped into the open shaft.

 With a whoosh of air, she dropped inside - and stuck! The tube was tight all around her! Shirley squawked in panic!

  Onshore, Plucky cast off his host and ran for the beach! His webbed feet pounded through the yellow sand as he ran past frozen Union Army riflemen. His heart pounded in his chest as he sprinted for freedom! If the soldiers had seen him, Plucky would have only looked like the streak of a ricocheting bullet.

  “Help me! I’m stuck! Like get me out of here!!” yelped Shirley as she struggled inside the confines of the metal tube. Her feathery white fingers slipped as she clawed to get out. Her plump posterior prevented her from proceeding. She concentrated, trying to levitate herself, but it did no good!

 “Seventy-nine - Too tight, huh? What’s wrong?” asked Calamity as he climbed out of his host and up the ship’s ladder from the star-filled engine room.

“Ain’t it big enough, Shoil?” called Fowlmouth as he and Wakko left their hosts and dodged forward through the frozen gun crews towards the Virginia’s bow.
“No! My butt’s too big to get through! GET ME OUTTA HERE!” the loon yelled in frustration.

Mary, Furball, Fifi and the others snickered as they left their hosts behind and ran along the deck to help.

“Ve’ll have to get zem through ze gunport den! Help me, Gogo! Pull de chain!” shouted Arnold.

The mighty pit-bull and the Dodo bird seized the port shutter’s chain and began pulling with all their strength. The laser-like points of light curved over Arnold’s deltoid muscles. 

Doctor Lord grunted in concentration as his eyes shifted to the ventilator. Keeping his right arm focused on the Bunnies, his left hand directed another stream of power. His thumb flicked upward.

POP! Shirley flew out of the mouth of the ventilator and onto the deck like a cork from a pop-gun. 

“Shirley, get below at once!” Lord ordered, “Don’t let them see you.”

“Like, how? Yer totally blocking my exit!” she exclaimed.

“The gunport - get down through it as soon as it’s open”, the Doctor said, “Boys, get that port open now!”

“It weighs a ton!” grunted Gogo as he and Arnold strained to pull the heavy armor open.

“Vee need help!” growled Arnold, gritting his teeth.

“Sixty-nine” reported Calamity.

Hamton ducked out of his host and leaped to the deck below the pilothouse to add his strength to theirs. Fowlmouth, Wakko, Furball, Calamity, Fifi and finally Mary joined them in pulling on the chain and each other. They all gritted their teeth and heaved away till the twin clamshell port stoppers slowly began to separate and light began to show through the crack of the opening. 

It felt odd to be working so hard in the midst of the powder-blackened, frozen human gun crew who stood idly by all having a drink of water while the toons pulled for their lives.

Meanwhile, the Bunnies gripped each other tightly as they flew through the sky above the battle, joyously singing.

“We live in fame or go down in flames! Nothing’ll stop the U-S Air Force!”
Babs remembered her decision and looked earnestly into Buster’s eyes with butterflies in her stomach.

“Buster? I’d go down on one knee if we weren’t in midair - Buster? Marry me!” 
Buster had been shocked plenty of times that day already, but this topped them all.

“What? Do you mean you want to finally set the date of our wedding?” he gasped with wide eyes.

“Yes! Today - here! Before we leave! We can do it!” Babs said excitedly.

 “Ya mean here? Today?! But we were gonna do it at home at a big ceremony - With all our folks!” he exclaimed flabbergasted.

“We will. We will! We can still have that at home, but I have to make this day a success. I can’t leave this as the worst day in my life - I want it to be a wonderful day to remember!” Babs insisted, “Buster …I saw terrible things today - and I was all alone! …I never want to be that alone and vulnerable ever again! I want to spend my whole life with you, starting today! Please do this for me Buster! I love you! I never want to be separated from you ever, ever again!”

 Shirley scampered around the front edge of the deck. Her webbed feet slipped on the grease-covered iron plates of the conical pilot house and she fell! The Loon began to slide down the side of the ship towards the water - but caught herself! 

Shirley whimpered as she hung on by her fingers, holding on by the pilot house’s eye slits. Her feet scrambled to gain a toe-hold on the top of the very port stopper that the others were trying to pull open! It was a few feet too far to reach! Her uniform slipped back and forth across the steep metal, becoming slippery and blackened with the ship’s grease. 

Shirley gritted her teeth and thrust her other hand into the eye slit. The wheeling points of light gave her a feeling of vertigo! Closing her eyes, she pulled herself upward and then began to swing her body over to the side to regain the deck. 

“I can’t make it!” Shirley cried.

“Fifty-seven seconds to go” the coyote reported.

Below, everyone was straining themselves to the fullest, their muscles taut, their jaws set. The gunport wasn’t budging.  

Mary held onto Fifi at the end of the chain of toons, shouting “Heave! Heave!”, but the port would not give an inch.

Suddenly the chain broke and they all fell backwards on top of each other in a heap!

“It broke! We can’t get it open!” cried Hamton.

Arnold stood again and thrust his interlaced fingers in between the iron doors through the small peephole in the center, trying to pull them open with his bare hands!

  With a mighty effort, Shirley swung her body back onto the edge of the deck and crawled back around the pilothouse where her host still stood frozen.

“Get back in your host, Shirley”, Lord said quietly, “I’ll handle this.”

The old skunk’s left hand came out of his host’s arm and gestured downward towards the gun port, his thumb and fingers closed. He kept his eyes- focused on the bunnies as he drew them down closer. The muffled rumbling of slurred sounds was broken only by the toons’ insistent voices.

“Forty seconds!” said Calamity.

As Hamton joined Arnold in muscling open the gunport with their bare hands, the halves slowly began to separate as Lord’s power reached it and forced them open.

  Dejected, Shirley stepped back into her host’s body, realizing there might be no escape. She saw Buster and Babs descending in their invisible bubble towards her, sailing over the ship’s twisted bow. The rabbits stared down at the giant, battle-scarred ironclad as they floated closer and closer. Black mists hung over its smokestack like evil wraiths.

As Arnold and Hamton forced open the heavy iron shutters, the others gathered behind to help them. Luckily none of the human gun crew was looking directly at them as they were otherwise engaged in refreshing themselves. Fifi watched silently as Hamton and Arnold wrenched the port stoppers aside. Lord’s fingers opened as his power pried open the heavy iron armor plating. The pig and dog’s eyes widened with surprise as the gunport opened and they saw Buster and Babs floating toward them.

“Thanks for saving us, Doc!” called Babs, waving, “Could you do us a favor-”

“Hurry-up-and-get-in-there!” Lord groaned under the strain, drawing his hands closer together.

Plucky ran over the brush and sand dunes as fast as he could, with one hand holding his hat on. Ahead he saw a familiar face amongst the Union soldiers and rushed towards him.

“Thirty seconds left!” called the coyote.

Arnold and Hamton moved aside slightly as the bunnies in their bubble dropped down to the opening. Lord’s power brought them to it and sealed itself against the gunport.

As Arnold and Hamton held the shutters aside, Fifi and Gogo reached between them to seize Babs’ paws and pull her inside, then pulled Buster into the ship.

“What about me?” Shirley exclaimed as she watched the rabbits reach safety.  

“We’re out of time! Everyone get back to your hosts, QUICK! Watch yer fingers!” Lord ordered as he released both forces.

Hamton and Arnold snatched their hands clear as the iron shutters slammed shut with a frightening crunch and the outside world was cut off. Babs joyously hugged Fifi, but then everyone bolted back to their human hosts. Calamity grabbed Buster and Babs by the hand and pulled them back to the ship’s ladder. 

Everyone scampered around the frozen staring crew members and cannons and pattered back towards the stern. 

“Step on it, Mare!” called Fowlmouth as they ran along the gun deck.

Mary tripped over a breeching rope and fell to the deck! Fowlmouth turned without a second thought, took her by the hand and helped her to run again.
Calamity reached the top of the ladder and slid down the sides. Buster and Babs followed but began climbing carefully down step by step.

“Hurry! You’ll never make it that way! Slide down!” yelled Calamity, looking back at the rabbits.

Buster managed to slide down into the dark hull, hitting the dank floor with a thump. He looked up to see Babs’ white-pantied bottom flying downwards right into his face!

Jerking himself aside, Buster still got a mouthful of fluffy tail as his fiancée nearly landed on him. He grabbed her paw and pulled her along into the engine room where Calamity stood waiting.

“Sorry sweetheart” Babs apologized.

“Aw forget it,” smiled Buster, “Best thing I ate all day.” 

“This one’s mine” Calamity told them, pointing to Chief Engineer Ramsey, “Those are yours. Hurry!”

He leaped into the man’s body, disappearing before their eyes. Then, just his face reappeared out of the human’s belly. 

The bunnies looked at the other engineers and sweaty coal-heavers disparagingly.

“Not much of a choice”, Buster remarked, “How much time do we have?”

Calamity looked at his watch in shock and exclaimed “Five! - Four!”

The bunnies each leaped into an engineer and disappeared, hiding in their new human hosts. Above on the gun deck, Mary dove into her former host at the stern gun just in time! 

Chapter CLII

 The Toonsters felt themselves once again inside the protective shells of their hosts who began to move normally again. The points of light and the muffled stillness were replaced by the stench of gun smoke, the thumping of the Virginia’s steam engines and the faraway roar of cannons. Their minds were also filled with Lord’s voice again. 

[“Is everyone safe?”]

[“I’m not - like I’m still stuck in Captain Buchanan!”] Shirley remarked bitterly.
 [“I’ll get you out, don’t worry. Where are you, Plucky?”]

[“Well it’s nice to have someone’s first thoughts be about me for a change”], they heard Plucky thinking, [“I’m still on the beach but I managed to switch hosts. I also managed to find a host I know - Master Moses Stuyvesant, of the Cumberland.”]

[“Stuyvesant? What’s he doing there? He should be recovering from the escape”] wondered Furball.

[“You might be interested more in the fact that he and a group from my ship are setting up three rifled field guns to fire to fire at you”], remarked the duck, [“They’re mad as hell and they want revenge.”]

[“That will happen soon enough. What about you, Bunnies?”] the Doctor asked.

[“I’m inside the Virginia’s third assistant engineer, Eugenius Alexander Jack”] said Buster.

[“I’m a Third Assistant Engineer too”] Babs announced [“And my name is George Washington City - I was born in Washington, D.C. too. And now I’d like to make an announcement-“]

[‘Hold on Babs, we’ve got to make sure of things - Plucky? How close are you to the water? I’ll have to grab you the same way as I did the Bunnies”] Lord continued.

[“Maybe about twenty yards. I’m right next to this cannon”] the green duck guessed.

[“All right, when we start the time slack again, you run for the water so I’ll see you. Everyone be ready”] the Doctor told them.

{“You mean we’ll have to open this gunport again?”] squeaked Gogo.

[“Yes we’ll have to do it again. What’s the matter with your voice, Gogo?”] 

[“I don’t feel too good, Doc. My throat is as dry as Orson Whale’s wit”] croaked the Dodo.

[“Wit what?”] wondered Arnold, but nobody had time to groan.

[“I feel like I ran a marathon and didn’t take a shower - and I did take a shower”] Hamton complained.

[“…We’ll get home soon and you’ll all feel better”], Lord said reassuringly, [“Now, is anyone inside Lieutenant Minor or any of the boat’s crews?”]

[“I’m in Boat Crew Number One”] Gogo answered uncertainly.

[“But your host isn’t in Minor’s crew, right?”] Lord asked.

[“Nope. I’m safe then, right?”] Gogo sighed in relief.

[“Right. Now I must call home.”] Doc told him.

[“Andy come in - Fox do you read me?”] Lord texted…. But there was no response.

The Toonsters grew tense.

[“Fox, do you read me? Fox do you read me? …Come in Fox? Fox!?”]

A jumbled typo appeared on his receiver, and then began to be legible.

“Jjsutadingugingminite! We’re picking up the pieces back here, Doc!” texted Andy.

Back in the Tooniverse, Andy and the others were picking up fallen equipment and putting the disheveled lab back together. Ralph and Wile E. had both caught on fire and were in the process of putting out the flames on their burning tails. 

The coyote was using a bucket of sand to smother the wolf’s burning bottom while Ralph doused his cousin’s behind with a fire extinguisher. Egghead Junior giggled at the two of them. The two cousins stared at the smug untouched chick, their eyes narrowing. 

Junior attempted a sheepish grin before he was sprayed with extinguisher foam. Andy looked behind him and saw a suds-soaked Junior with a red sand bucket on his head.  

“What happened?” asked the Doctor’s text on the communications board.

“What *didn’t* happen?!” wrote the Fox, “First, there was an earthquake of seven point one and Acme Acres wiggled like jello! Bugs and Daffy’s statues in front of the Looniversity have actually switched places! Then there were more electrical discharges which burned off a few tails around here! Then the sky turned green - then blue - then red, then blue - then green again! Finally it went back to normal. What else happened to the rest of the planet I don’t know, but a bus bar blew in here and we’re gonna have to fix it.”

“Which one? How long to repair it?” asked Lord.

Andy looked up at the sizzling, smoking wires and cables with a sigh and wrote “Maybe… an hour?”

“You’ve got ten minutes”, wrote the Doctor, “Any longer and we’ll lose Plucky and probably Shirley too. She won’t survive getting shot here. Can you guys do it?”

“I don’t know!” shrugged the Fox pulling the smoking bus bar out of the open panel, using the laboratory to blackout.

[“Look out!”] Plucky warned, [“They’re firing stands of grape!”]

Suddenly the Union Army ashore all opened a tremendous fire upon the Beaufort with dozens of rifles! The massed fire of the muskets drowned all other sounds from the air, and then Plucky watched and held his ears as the 30 pounder Parrot rifle near him was fired by Mr. Stuyvesant. 

The grape ripped through the Beaufort like giant shotgun pellets. Instantly, almost every man on the Beaufort’s deck was shot. Plucky could see the men dropping to the deck; even Lieutenant Parker was slightly wounded. Four bullets ripped through his uniform, carrying away his spyglass and the top of his cap and grazing his knee. 

Parker ran to the tugboat’s pilot house and blew the steam whistle, the shrill sound screaming across the harbor and Parker’s men came tumbling back onboard, bringing the Congress’s officers and wounded aboard to what they thought was safety.

“Make haste! Those scoundrels on shore are firing at me now!” shouted Parker to Pendergrast.

Plucky looked up as his host saw General Mansfield ride onto the shore to direct the firing. One of the union officers hailed him and the white-bearded old General held up his horse.

“General, sir - should we fire on the rebels? They have the right to take that ship - the Congress has surrendered.”

“I know the damned ship has surrendered - but I haven’t!” snapped Mansfield. 

More men of the Congress were hustled onto the Beaufort, but were then gunned down by their own troops ashore. The tugboat was shot through by so many times that the sides and masts of the ship looked like the top of a pepperbox from the bullets which went in one side and out the other. General Mansfield could not tell that he was shooting his own sailors. But Shirley and Lord could see it happening through the eyes of their hosts as they ducked back into the Virginia’s hatchway…

[“They’re killing their own men!”] Shirley exclaimed in horror.

Lord kept his eyes steadily on the disaster occurring on the Beaufort’s deck.

[“Ironic isn’t it?”], he mused, [“Just six months later, General Mansfield will die himself at the battle of Antietam, while trying to prevent an incident of friendly fire.”]

Hamton stared through the binoculars his host was holding up to the eye slits in the Virginia’s pilot house.

[“Parker has been hit - just like he was supposed to”] he told everyone.

[“That could have been you, Buster”] Babs mumbled.

The Beaufort abruptly backed away from the Congress, while Commodore Buchanan peered from under the top hatch in shock, his face turning red with anger.

“What in blazes is Parker doing?” he grumbled.

As the Beaufort came about and headed away at full steam, Shirley explained her host’s wrath.

[“Parker was like, one of Buchanan’s students at the Naval Academy and he didn’t think much of him as a midshipman. Now Parker has disobeyed orders twice and is abandoning his mission without completing it!”] the loon told them.

[“Parker is doing what he has to do to save his ship and crew - and the prisoners that are now his responsibility, Shirl”] Buster interjected.

Old Buck watched, his temper growing as he waited to see more smoke and flame rise from the Congress. All he saw was the crew scrambling to make their escape, lowering overloaded boats which swamped and spilled the Yankees into the sea. Buchannan grew more indignant when the fire which Parker was to have set never came.

[“The Commodore is waiting for his brother to appear as like, part of the surrender and he’s totally afraid that he may have killed his own little brother, but like, he can’t appear to show concern for the enemy, so he’s like, shifting all his frustrations onto Parker”] Shirley explained.

Old Buck paced with growing frustration up and down the deck from the ship’s wheel to the front gunport as Hamton watched from above in the pilot’s nest-like perch under the pilot house. The old gentleman stamped his feet as he walked back and forth, growing more impatient and upset by the moment. His men grew nervous.

“She’s not burning!” he fumed, ”Parker has failed his assignment!”

“Sir, they may have been fired upon from ashore” Jones told him.

The white-haired, red-faced captain did not accept this.

“Firing while under a flag of truce is against all the articles of war! That ship must be burned.”

“Sir, Allow me?” asked Lieutenant Minor again.  

“Very well”, replied Buchanan, “But be sure to show a flag of truce. Theirs may not mean anything to them, but ours must.”

As his grinning flag lieutenant assembled his oarsmen, the Captain still watched the Congress impatiently, as its crew scrambled and swam ashore. Pendergrast and the other officers were nowhere to be seen, evidently having taken the opportunity to avoid being taken prisoner. Lieutenant Smith’s body was lowered into a boat along with the wounded, to be taken ashore. 

Wakko and Fowlmouth watched as the port side rifled gun was pulled back inside and the crew of boat #2 worked it off its chocks and into the water by the Virginia’s side, then the eight men squeezed out of the gunport, followed by Lieutenant Minor with an improvised white flag. As the men struck their oars and began to pull away, Babs piped up.

[“Doc? Can I ask you for that favor now? Buster and I want to be married today”] she blurted out. 

[“What? Married? Here? Heck of a time for it”] the Toonsters chorused in surprise.

[“We can’t stop to think about anything else now - not until Plucky & Shirley are rescued. I’m surprised at you”] Lord objected. 

The group quieted, but Fifi’s mind whispered [“Who’z going to be your Maid de Honor, Babs?”]

[“Silence! We will not discuss this matter until after Plucky and Shirley are safe!”] Lord’s mind thundered.

The cowed toonsters pouted, then Wakko asked quietly:[“Uh, Doc? Yer gonna save them the same way? -Through the gunport?”]

[“Yes.”]

[“Then why not do it now - while Shirley can just switch with someone inside?”]

[“I must have a direct line-of-sight on Plucky to do it and I can only see him from the top deck.”]

Wakko tried to interrupt, [“But -“]

[“We’ll only have one shot at this -“] the Doctor tried to continue.

[“Like why?”] Shirley blurted out.

[‘We’re using a dangerously high amount of power - and risking a lot”] he announced in a guarded manner. [“Now observe off to port side aft - watch the ship’s cutter.”]

While those on the gun deck peeked through the tiny crescent spaces over the guns, Lieutenant Minor sat in the rear of the boat holding his white flag as the men dipped and pulled on their oars and the little white cutter cautiously edged toward the smoldering Congress.

The Doctor texted to Andy Fox again while his host watched the gun crew reload and run the gun back into the port where the boat’s crew had made their exit.

[“Are we ready? The time is drawing near.”]

[“We’ve almost got the wiring re-done, but I don’t know how long this will hold - Not as long as the last time”] the Fox admitted.

Lord gulped. [“How long?”]

[“…Maybe thirty seconds at the most”] wrote the engineer.

[“That’s not long enough!”], sighed Lord, [“It’ll be dangerous - but you’ll have to hold it for at least forty-five seconds.”]

[“It’s already dangerous! The gravitational shift could rip Acme Acres right off the map!”] the Fox typed back.

Lord’s brow furrowed as he replied [“We’re at risk here too. I can’t take the chance of losing the kids.”]

   Suddenly more shots rang out from the shoreline; white puffs of gunpowder smoke dotted the beach!

[“Look - they’re shooting at the boat”] Furball interrupted.

[“Ooo! They got Minor!”], Fowlmouth winced, [“He’s down - oh no, he ain’t. Wow, he took one in the chest but he’s up and yelling’ at the guys who shot ‘im!”] 
  
[“Vait, ve can’t see from here”] Arnold announced.

[“The ship has moved away with the tide - she’s not pointing at the Congress anymore! Everything’s brass-akwards”] Gogo reported.

[“I can see them”], thought Mary, [“Two other men have been hit - one in the eye!”] 

Indeed, the musket balls shooting from the shore were dancing and ricocheting across the water’s surface in a most lively fashion. The remaining men pulled towards the Teaser, which recovered them.

[“We can’t retrieve Plucky from the bow - our stern is closer to the Congress”] Mary continued.

[“We’ll have to use one of the stern gunports”] Hamton agreed. 

[“Uh - I don’t think I can open this port by myself”] Mary winced.

[“Don’t worry, Mare! We’ll help ya!”] Fowlmouth chirped.

[“Just get it open a little, I’ll do the rest”], the Doctor told them, [“Besides, the rest of you won’t have the same amount of time to get back to your positions.”]

[“Like why not?!”] Shirley asked again fearfully.

Lord paused, and then thought quietly [“The power level could be too high and short out the machinery - then we’d never make it back home.”]

As Captain Buchanan’s rage grew, Shirley’s fear also grew to a palpable level, making everyone felt its icy cold chill. 

Fighting back her tears, Shirley thought [“Wull, like …Plucky is more important than my leg…so -um - save him please? Like, the captain lived. I can too. As soon as we get back, I’ll be totally okay…”]

[“Stop worrying, Shirley”], the Doctor thought laconically, [“It’s noble of you to be so noble, but I’m the nobility around here. I’ll save you - You have to trust me.”]
Buchanan was now in a rage.

“The Yankee Army is violating all the codes of civilized warfare! It’s outrageous! They must be held to account!” he yelled, nearly stamping his feet.

More musket balls bounced off the ship’s armor plating. Crewmen who were looking through the ports were grazed by them.

“The Congress is firing on us again!” someone shouted.

“They’re firing on us under a flag of truce! That ship must be burned!!” Buchanan raged, his face reddened with fury! “DESTROY THAT @#*%& SHIP! They’re firing on our white flag!”

Despite their surprise at the Captain’s behavior, the port gunners opened fire on the shoreline. Plucky ducked as a stand of grape buzzed past him, kicking up shards of yellow sand.

[“Shirley! Sweetheart! Calm down - Doc got the rabbits - now it’s our turn. Don’t you worry!’] the duck called, reassuring her.

As the gunners reloaded the port broadside, the Captain ran up the ladder, shouting “I need a better view!”

[“This is it!”] the Doctor thought and texted simultaneously [“Stand by at the bow and the stern ports!]

[“Like somebody do something!”] cried Shirley.

Captain Buchanan ran out onto the top deck of the Virginia from the hatchway and into the open air. Using his brass spyglass, he peered with one eye at the shoreline, where Union Army riflemen were wading out into the cold sea, holding their rifles over their heads. 

[“Now Andy- Activate the Time Slack!”] Lord texted.

[“It’s not fixed yet!”], the fox wrote back, [“We’re still screwing it together.”]

[“SCREW IT FASTER, THEN!”], Lord wrote, [“Shirley’s in danger!”]

Andy and the others read the bold red text in alarm. Wile E narrowed his eyes, dropped the screwdriver he was using and grabbed a pneumatic screwdriver and powered the soda can-sized bolts in like an auto mechanic. A loose bolt fell - but Ralph caught and replaced it before it could hit the ground. The last electrical bus bar was in place.

  Shirley was in terror and her host was livid with rage, the result making them both highly phrenetic. Buchanan stood on the open deck, fully exposed in the firefight.

“Give me a rifle!” he ordered. 

Shirley gasped as a Marine passed his carbine and bullet pouch to Lieutenant Jones, who followed the Captain and gave it to him. She looked in horror at the Sharpe’s military carbine in her hands, something she would never have wished would happen in her entire life.  

“Captain be careful, Sir!” Jones advised.

[“Gad! I’ve got a gun in my hands! Doc, whatever yer gonna do - Do it Now!”] Shirley begged as her host began to hastily load his rifle by hand.

[“Plucky, get ready to run! If you have to fly - do it! Get ready, Shipmates!”] Lord commanded hurriedly.

Shirley watched as her host clicked off the gun’s safety and swung the trigger guard forward, opening the breech-lock.

 [“Andy - Activate!”] the Doctor ordered.

[“I did - it’s not working - the computer’s not set!”] the Fox texted as his three compadres all sweated over the same computer keyboard, their heads together and their hands all typing as fast as they possibly could, like a three headed, six-armed monster.

Plucky stood tight, his pulse pounding in his head as he waited for the signal to run.

Hamton watched Shirley and Lord’s hosts from the narrow slits in the pilot house, hoping desperately that this would work. 

Shirley watched Captain Buchanan pull a 52 caliber rimfire shell from the pouch on his belt and stick it into the gun’s chamber. 

She trembled and thought [“…I love you, Plucky.”]

As everyone listened in silence, Plucky thought [“I’m Plucky Duck - not Han Solo. I love ya - and I’m coming’ for ya, Shirl.”]

Buchanan pulled the breech closed and cocked the hammer back, sighting the gun to fire at the men on shore. 

[“Ohhhhh! I don’t wanna do this!”] the loon cried as her host aimed at the Union men in the water up to their necks who were aiming back at him at the same time.

[“Don’t worry Shirley, ole Buck can’t hit the broadside of a barn”] Buster called.

[“Throw the switch, Andrew”] Lord texted.

[“It’ll likely overload!”], the fox typed back, [“It’s the biggest guess I’ve ever made.”]

As Shirley squinted down the barrel, Buchanan fired. The gun butt punched her right shoulder and the metallic explosion made her ears ring. The big puff of white gun smoke clouded her vision for a moment, but luckily the Captain had missed. The stench of spent black powder, like rotten eggs, assaulted her nostrils, but she was relieved that Buster had been right.

Behind and to her left, one of the Virginia’s 9-inch guns roared. The explosion and concussion rocked Shirley to her core like a punch in the chest. The shell whizzed into one of the Unions guns ashore, blasting it’s crew with shrapnel!

[“Doc! Port side gun number seven fired! The gunport is wide open!”] called Mary.
 
The faint sound of a drum was heard. It came and went and came again.  
                                                        
(“Where Eagles Dare”, Opening Theme) 

[“Vas ist das?”] Arnold wondered.

[“Doc, we don’t need music now”] Babs remarked.

[“…It’s not for you”], Lord thought ominously, [“Throw the switch Andy - Now!”]

The Union men of the 1st New York Mounted Rifles in the water saw Buchanan cursing them atop the Virginia and aimed at him. The snare drums rose in power.
Shirley trembled, knowing Buchanan was about to be shot. Everyone felt her icy fear - but now they felt an emotion far more powerful. As the horns in Lord’s music arose, so did a feeling of raw determination and courage.

  Back home, Andy Fox threw the switch. A planet quake bounced him into his three comrades and the entire laboratory’s metal-work coursed with bolts of lightning! The four scientists were pinned by gravity to it - their bodies shocked by the electric voltage! 

Chapter CLIII  

At Hampton Roads, time slowed again to a crawl, the sound and the wind dying away into a white noise-like blur and the red and blue laser points reappeared, swarming and spinning over everything like dots from a mirrored disco ball. As Lord’s martial music grew, he walked out of his host, Jones, towards where Shirley stood inside Buchanan with the carbine in her hands. Hamton watched breathlessly from his perch in the body of his host inside the pilot house. 

[“Go, Plucky”] Lord ordered, raising his hand to project his force field.

Shirley stood frozen with fear, watching from afar as Plucky burst from his host, holding his cap on his head as he sprinted for the water for all he was worth!

Lord kept his eyes on the tiny green figure as he marched across the deck, his face grim with determination as the music built up.

[“We’ll aim for that rear side port. Be ready to get him inside”] the Doctor ordered.
Mary, Fowlmouth, Wakko and Furball left their hosts and weaved their way silently towards that opening through the maze of frozen staring crewmen, their movement through the hovering smoke leaving tunnels of clear air across the gun deck.

[“What’s happening up there? We can’t see!”] Babs asked.

Plucky was passing Union riflemen, their weapons cocked and aimed at the distant man on top of the Virginia! 

Lord took careful aim, his eyes flaring white as he threw out his force field with a claw-like gesture to capture the fleeing duck.

[“They’re gonna fire! Save Shirley!”] Plucky shouted as he reached the water’s edge!

[“Jump, Plucky! Fly!!”] begged Hamton.

Just as his webbed toes touched the cold sea, the panicked duck leaped into the air, spread his wings and closed his eyes - then felt himself upheld by Lord’s transparent globe of power.

[“I made it!”] he crowed in triumph, then glanced down at the cold grey-blue ocean rushing by just a couple of feet below him. [“This is the only way to fly.”]
He saw the head and shoulders of another rifleman ahead in the water. He saw the gun’s hammer fall in slow-motion! He saw the copper cap explode to fire the gun! Slowly the rifle fired, producing a rush of flame from its barrel! Panic seized Plucky as he realized who it was aimed at!

Shirley was struck dumb with terror, but a stoic voice behind her said “I’ll take it.”

With one hand directing Plucky back to the ship, Doctor Lord took the gun from her with his other hand.

“Take my host” he said softly, not breaking his stony gaze from Plucky’s flying form. “Hurry.”

Shirley moved aside in utter shock as he took her place inside Captain Buchanan. Timidly, she shuffled backwards away from him, shaking her head in disbelief.

“No…” cried the loon, “… No, Doc!” 

The Doctor paused and then commanded “That’s an order”.

As tears ran down her beak, Shirley complied, stepping backward awkwardly into Lieutenant Jones. She peeked her head out of his abdomen, sniffling with wide terrified eyes.

Lord never wavered, still staring out at Plucky like he was made of iron, as he drew the duck towards the ship through the air. 

[“What’s happening up there?”] demanded Buster from his host in the engine room.

[“Doc’s taken Shirley’s place in the Captain!”] Hamton told them in horror.

Lord smirked slightly as his brilliant white eyes continued to blaze, bringing Plucky out past the burning Congress.

“I never figured you for a squealer, Hamton”, he said, “Don’t ever do that again - ever.”

[“I’m sorry sir - really I am…”] the pig thought honestly.

“I know you are -” 

[“Lord, vat are vous doeeng?!”] Fifi scolded him passionately.

[“Saving Shirley like I promised”] Lord told them.

[“No, Doc - you’ll be shot!”] cried Wakko.

[“This has to happen. If Old Buck doesn’t get taken out of the fight, he might defeat the Monitor”], Lord thought stoically, [“…I can take it.”]   
   
[“Herr Doctor, you’ll get hurt - ze Kaptain’s femoral artery iz grazed by zat bullet!”] Arnold warned him.

[“History cannot be changed. I’m glad you studied”] Lord thought fatefully.

[“That bullet’s on its way, Doc. I saw the guy fire it”] Plucky added.

[“I know”] Lord told them, his voice like iron on velvet.

[“Couldn’t you walk through somebody?”] wondered Calamity.

[“No, there’s no other way. Here comes Plucky”], Lord countered.

[“No, sensai, no!”] pleaded Shirley.

 [“I stay. You go. No following.”] said Lord grimly.

  Across time and space, the Time Slack’s effects spread across the galaxy and into both universes. 

Mae Bear looked disconsolately out of her office window at New Yawk Harbor below. At the docks, there floated the mighty battleship S.S. PENNSYL-TUCKY, where Captain Popeye stood on his bridge, smoking his corncob pipe. Suddenly the sea level dropped, the sky turned green and the water in the bay seemed to be draining away!

“Heh, looks like somebody’s forgot to pay their water bill, don’t it?” muttered Popeye, as his ship lowered down towards the muddy bottom of the river.

“Whoooa! I cansk go down with me ship when it’s goin’ down the drain withouts me! All hands on deck - so I better use me hands!” Popeye yelped.

To the tune of “Stars and Stripes Forever”, Popeye grabbed some steel girders from a nearby skyscraper under construction and dashed below to prop up his battleship and keep it from turning turtle into the muddy river-bottom under it. 

Faster than you could say ’Jack Robinson’ - the Pennsyl-tucky was saved! 
Captain Popeye stood proudly atop his battleship - when as suddenly as it had gone, the seawater returned - and the skyscraper he’d taken the girders from collapsed! 

KLONG! 

“Well blow me down”, moaned Popeye, “Looks like me luck ran out with the tide.” 

Fred Flintstone was relaxing in his hammock in his yard while Barney Rubble was cutting the grass. 

Suddenly a blue blur ran underneath Fred, causing him to get wound up in the hammock like a bug in a roller-blind.

“Barney! Did you see that?!” Fred asked in astonishment.

“I didn’t see nuthin’, Fred”, said Barney, “You’re seeing tings again.”

“Gee, I gotta stop eatin’ in those cheap restaurants” Fred commented self-consciously.

On the Kat home planet, Megakat City was doomed. Atop it’s city hall clocktower, the Pastmaster looked down at the surrendered Enforcers and the crashed Turbokat, where the Swat Kats had crawled out from under the smoking wreckage. 

Mayor Manx cowered behind Callie Briggs as the Pastmaster conjured his spell to send their whole world back to the Dark Ages. A terrifying time tunnel formed in the purple and red sky - but it reached out and grabbed the undead wizard instead. In a flash, he was gone and the ring of clouds closed as the sky turned its normal yellow and green color. Callie and the Swat Kats looked up in awe as their city was saved!

“What the heck happened, Razor?”

“I dunno T-Bone - but I’m sure glad it did!”

Augustus Holiday of The Roman Holidays was driving his chariot through Rome with Brutus, his pet lion, who was flirting with all the ladies they passed. Suddenly a bluish blur ran past them.

“”Did you see that, Brutus?” Gus asked in astonishment.

“Mine eyes are full of femin-nine pulchritude! Your eyes are seein’ things again, even!” remarked Brutus, sounding like Snagglepuss.

“I gotta stop eating in those cheap restaurants” Gus commented self-consciously.

It was 1974 and a rumpled reporter in a rumpled white suit sat typing in an old run-down building lit by flickering fluorescent lights buzzing on the dingy ceiling. 

As his manual typewriter’s keys clacked, clicked and dinged, the man whistled a strange tune, then suddenly the lights stopped flickering and half of them went out. 

His eyes shifted warily as his metal-bladed oscillating fan stopped revolving and the second hand of the clock stopped at 53 seconds. He suddenly turned his head in surprise as a brilliant flash of light exploded out of the office wall and a strange figure skidded to a halt in front of his desk! 

A bright blue creature stood there, its over-sized spherical head looking every which way. The bizarre dimensional tunnel exit remained glowing and wavering in the wall it had just come through.

 “Hey, where am I?” asked Sonic the Hedgehog.

“…Chicago” the stupefied reporter told him.

“Heh, I’m just too fast for my own good” shrugged the hedgehog confidently. “See ya!” 

As the man scrambled for his camera, Sonic dashed back into the tunnel and was gone in a flash, leaving nothing behind but a whirlwind of flying papers cascading though the office. Carl stared, wide-eyed, his mouth agape with the cheap camera in his hands as yet another fantastic news story slipped through his fingers. 

With a sigh of disgust and a frown, he put the camera down and remarked “Who’d have ever believed it anyway?”

Shaking his head, Kolchak put his chin in his palm and leaned on his elbow, which struck the return key of his old typewriter. With a metallic buzz, the typewriter’s carriage did a full return and shot off to fall to the floor with a ding of its bell.

Pepe Le Pew and Penelope floated in mid-air in slow motion as their penthouse attained zero gravity. Their quadraphonic stereo system was playing “The Great Gig in the Sky” by Pink Floyd, as tiny squares of reflected light from a glittering mirrored disco ball danced over and around them in hues of red, orange, blue and green. 

They tumbled slowly in the air, upside down in weightlessness, but didn’t seem to notice. The cat purred and lazily extended her clawed toes one by one, arching her back. Pepe closed his eyes and smiled. Her tail coiled softly back around his shoulder. He stroked the luxurious, furry white stripe down her back. 

The rapturous voice of Clare Torry sang on wordlessly… until the phone rang.

On Earth in Reality, in the present, a sixty-five meter-wide ball of red hot magma suddenly exploded out of the ocean floor between the islands of Hawaii like a giant red soap bubble and popped at the surface of the sea, leaving behind a cloud of smoking steam floating on the water. There was a strange roar, then the massive head of Godzilla peeked up out of the water, looked around and ducked back into the silent ocean - but no one was there to see him.

George Jetson was walking his dog Astro on their automated treadmill dog-walk outside their Skypad Apartment, when Sonic came zipping by on the outer window ledge of the circular building. George stopped in his tracks in amazement and the treadmill carried him backwards into the machine again and again while 

Astro jumped off onto the nearby wall.

“Astro! Did you see that?” George asked in astonishment.

“Rye ridn’t ree ranything, Rorge” Astro told him.

“I gotta stop eatin’ at those cheap restaurants” George commented self-consciously.

Just then, Sonic returned and stopped next to Astro, scaring him just as George leaped off onto the ledge. Astro ended up running on the treadmill at breakneck speed, while George and Sonic had the last laugh.

“Rane! Rop ris razy ring!” yelped Astro.

In the middle of a six-doorway gag, Scooby Doo lost his footing and floated into the air as gravity was reversed inside the haunted mansion they were being chased through!

Scooby and the gang all hit the ceiling, stars and planets of dizziness spinning around their heads.

“Jinkies!” exclaimed Velma and Daphne as they fell towards the floor suddenly.
Shaggy landed back on the floor with Scooby and Freddy collapsing on top of him. Ordinarily, they would have begun to run again, but the three sat and stared, stupefied.

“Guys, did you see that?” asked Freddy in amazement.

“Now that’s something ya don’t see every day!” remarked Shaggy.

Across the room, Velma and Daphne were blushing red and frantically trying to pull their skirts back down. 

Scooby wiggled his eyebrows like Groucho Marx and howled: ”Scooby Dooby Dooooo!”

Chapter CLIV   

As time slowly crept onwards at Hampton Roads, the Toonsters begged Lord to save himself, but he remained doggedly committed to his task as his martial music swelled with the sound of trumpets. 

[“Sometimes you have to make the hard choice”], he told them, [“I suppose I could twitch my leg out of the bullet’s path a bit, but that might move the Captain as well.”]

[“Couldn’t you just leave him and move into someone else?”] asked Mary.

[“No. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do”] he said imitating the voice of John Wayne as he inspected the rifle in his hand, [“I’ll have to tell Jeff about this carbine.”]

[“We’re on Tilt status here! We have to cut it short!”] Andy Fox texted.

[“Just hold on for ten seconds more!”] the Doctor insisted!

Calamity began a countdown.

Plucky saw the Virginia ahead of him as he flew just over the water towards it. 

[“I’m relieved to see your ship, but I can’t say as I like the looks of it”], he remarked, [“It’s the original war machine.”]

[“Here he comes - get ready to haul Plucky in”], thought the Doctor, [“If you can’t make it back to your hosts, pick new ones who’ll stay clear of the gun ports.”]

As Plucky closed in, he saw the myriad of dents and scars on the iron plates of the Virginia. The smokestack was riddled and its black smoke flowed over and into the ship with the wind like a ghost made of dirt. The battle-torn flag now flew from its broken staff from a rent in the stack, saved by Lieutenant Eggelston, who’d risked his life to preserve the honor of his ship. 

Something in him made Plucky hate the sight of it. Now the dark gunport was yawning just before him. Glancing back, he saw the rifle bullet - a tiny streak, moving slowly through the air over the waters toward its target. He could smell the stench of gunpowder, the salt in the sea air and the scent of bacon grease frying. As he reached the oval gunport, Plucky made a perfect landing on its lip and saw a white toon hand and grabbed it, to be pulled inside.

“Welcome aboard!” said Fowlmouth as Plucky stepped down onto the gun deck.
Plucky was taken aback for a moment, then returned FM’s smile. “Thanks. This is better than the last time”.

“Don’t sweat it, Shipmate. Last time I let ya fall in” grinned the rooster. 

The two shook hands.

[“Take your hosts, we’re almost out of time”] Lord thought quickly.

[“Five, Four, Three -“]

Plucky and Fowlmouth took new hosts in the gun crew of Gun number Nine while the others scooted back to theirs. They made it just in time.

[“I can’t hold it, Doc!”] the Fox texted hurriedly.

[“Stick to your assignments! We’ll talk as soon as I get past this -“] Lord thought as the time slack ended abruptly!

  There was a sudden rush of noise as time and the speed of sound caught up with itself. All of the Toonsters felt a terrible sting in their left thighs as a mine` ball went through the Doctor’s leg! Lord swore a horrible oath in his ancient guttural language as the blinding pain ripped through him and was communicated to everyone!

[“…471…”] he groaned as Captain Buchanan staggered and fell, his leg buckling under him.

  Then their telepathic pathway was severed, resulting in a fearful silence, leaving everyone finally alone with their own thoughts. The quiet was deafening. Unable to hear each other, the group could only see and hear what their hosts could. 

Hamton and Shirley were the only two who knew what was happening.
Lieutenant Jones rushed to rescue his commander and picked him up from the iron deck. He called for assistance and several of the crew helped the stricken Buchanan down through the Virginia’s hatch and out of the rain of bullets that followed them, ricocheting off of the ship’s armored sides. The action was rushed and the men often got in each other’s way going down the stairs, but no one fell. Old Buck’s face was crimson with fury and his trouser leg was soaking with blood.

 Alone at last with his thoughts, Hamton felt his terrible guilt as his host watched the Captain clutching his bloody wound in agony. They seated him at the bottom of the staircase and the ship’s doctors were summoned. Buchanan was now beyond rage. 

“Take command, Jones! Plug hot shot into her and don’t leave her till she’s afire!! They must look to their own wounded now since they won’t let us!” he yelled.
Shirley and Hamton were aghast at seeing the Doctor shot, but could not voice their horror.

Inside Dr. Phillips, the ship’s surgeon, Fifi climbed up the stairs from the orlop deck below and found her commander grimacing and clutching his leg. Holding an oil lamp, the doctor knelt and cut away Buchanan’s trouser leg with a large knife to expose the bleeding wounds. They were close together on the inside of the thigh, the exit wound being slightly larger.

“Put your fingers there and there, Sir and keep the pressure on it” the doctor told him, sticking Buchanan’s own fingers into his wounds.

 He slipped the strap of a tourniquet around the bare thigh and buckled it. With a glance at the wounded man’s red face, he began twisting the handle, tightening the tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Buchanan didn’t move but stoically registered the terrible pain in silence, grimacing as the band tightened, cutting off the circulation to his leg. 

He had a death grip on the bottom step as the doctor secured the tourniquet in place, but cried out in shock as the doctor cleaned the wound with water. The doctor’s aides painfully picked him up and placed him on a crude stretcher to carry him below. 

  Inside Lieutenant Jones, Shirley heard the orders he gave.

“Reverse engines and take us to point blank range of her”, Jones directed calmly, “All port guns open fire. Destroy the Congress.”

 Arnold’s host drew up to report.

“Sir, they’re escaping to shore - swimming or in boats” said Lieutenant Sims, saluting.

“Leave them be. Burn the vessel and silence those cannons ashore” said Jones quietly returning the salute, “You’re the First Officer now.”  

Another officer reported to Jones that Lieutenant Minor and his crew had returned after being picked up by the Teaser. They were helped back aboard through the starboard gunport from the Confederate tugboat while the port side was engaging the enemy.

Plucky, Fowlmouth, Furball and Wakko’s hosts went to the grim work of firing their guns into the hull of the Congress. Again, they had to haul the heavy hot-shot gun out as far out of the port as they could, but still it’s broken-off barrel set fire to the wooden backing of the ship’s shielding which had to be quickly extinguished. The men stood ready with their wet sponging tools and buckets of sand to keep the ship free of fire. The Virginia’s guns roared, raking the Congress fore and aft with hot shot and shell. Soon she was blazing from stem to stern. Her wounded had all been removed but her one hundred and ten dead roasted with the ship. The Congress lay grounded with every part of her on fire at once, the smoke and flames rising hundreds of feet into the sky, her fires surpassing even the golden-orange sunset.

 Jones now set his sights on destroying the Minnesota and moved the Virginia off to shell her. 

  Buchanan was brought down to his cabin on the dark orlop deck below the gun deck. He could not walk and had to be carried. There were no real cabins, it was just a wooden deck with dirty linen hung from the low ceiling, like privacy screens in a hospital. On the musty floor sat various camp cots filled with wounded men. Doctor Phillips helped Buchanan to his cot in a curtained-off section of the dark, damp deck, soon to be joined by Lieutenant Minor. 

Minor saluted as he was helped to his cot. He held a blood-stained bandage onto his chest and was winded.

“I beg to report, Sir… I did not think that the Yankees on the shore would fire at me in my… errand to the Congress but when in about… two hundred and fifty yards of her, they opened fire on me from the shore…”, he gasped, ”The way the musket balls danced about my little boat and crew… was lively beyond all measure.. I was struck in the chest and knocked down in the boat. Two of my men were wounded, one was hit in the eye… and lost it. But I was only down a second or so and then was up and steering for the Teaser, Sir.”

 “Was it the Congress who fired on you, Lieutenant?” asked Old Buck.

“Well Sir, it had been reported by some of the men… but I only saw the riflemen and a few cannon on the beach.”

Dr. Phillips approached with a bottle and poured out two glasses for Buchanan and Minor. Fifi watched and worried from inside him.

“Here you are now, Sirs. A restorative to ease your pains. You’d best go and lie down, Lieutenant. That wound may be more dangerous than you think, Sir.”
Minor quickly downed his glassful, made a wry face at the taste of the whiskey and went to his bunk nearby after saluting his commander.

Buchanan looked dourly at his drink and asked quietly, “How many men did we lose, Doctor?”

“Just the two, Captain”, he said gesturing to the two covered motionless bodies opposite them. ”Most of the other casualties are just banged up from leaning against the shield when it was hit, Sir. Bleeding from the nose and ears, so it was just from the concussion of shot, Sir”, the surgeon told him. “Drink up now. Sir, You’ll feel better.”

Old Buck doubted that he would feel better, but slowly sipped his glass of medicinal whiskey.

    [“Wow, that’s good old filthy stuff”], Lord suddenly thought to Fifi, startling her as his words were heard in her head. [“You hear me, Petite?”]

[“Doctor?.. Uh… Are vous all right?”] she asked warily as his mind seemed to be under stress.

[“Don’t worry, I’m only conversing with you now. They can’t hear us. Do you feel anything? I’m filtering out physical sensations so you won’t all share my pain.”] 

[“Non, ah had not noticed. Zut, Grandpere! Why do you do such things to yourzelf? Do you ‘ave a deathweesh?!”] Fifi exclaimed suddenly.

It was very strange indeed to hear Lord’s strained mind laughing off-handedly at her question. [“Of course I have, little one. You know that better than anyone”] he chuckled. 

[“Oui, d’accord. Boot please to stop doing eet een front ov everyone”], Fifi pleaded, [“Eetz so embarrassing to ‘ave to explain. Ah know tu had a reason zis time, boot ah cannot bear eet. Now tu ave everyone worried!”]

[“True. We’ve got to keep this short. I just wanted to tell you not to yell at Hamton”] Lord told her.

[“Boot zis is his fault - no one else knew zat zee spidair would scare you”] Fifi countered.

[“You’re probably right but we won’t know for sure until we discuss this”], the Doctor admitted, [“Just don’t take it personally. He was trying to protect you… It’s easy to get angry with the ones you love when you’re fighting to help them and they don’t understand… He cares about you. He was willing to fight me for you. I don’t think he meant to cause this disaster.”] 

  Fifi felt ashamed, but her feelings could not reach Lord’s mind, only her words. [“Le sigh. Ah ‘ave lost so mooch family… Ah ‘ave only you and Hamtone left… Promees moi you won’t suicide yourself a-gain?”… And deed you really drink zat real whiskey?!”]

[“Of course. I can take a drop of the true. It’d be poison to real toons but not to me”] Lord’s mind laughed again, then grew sober. [“I promise, Petite. Just keep this quiet until we have all the facts.”] 

[“Tu are all right under zere?”]

[“I’m healed but I’m still going through all the pain Buchanan is, so don’t say anything about it. I need your mortal friends to understand how dangerous things can get. I realize these secrets are what have caused all this, but this is not the time to spill the beans. Now, are you all right?”] he asked.

[“Ah’ve watched brave men suffer, ah’ve cleaned bloody gunshot wounds… and I ‘ad to certify ze two men az dead - and now you are shot! …Zees eez not some-sing ah enjoy, Grande`”] Fifi concluded.

[“I understand”], the Doctor thought, [“Maybe we should do something to cheer everyone up.”]

After a pause, Lord’s thoughts were heard by everyone again. There was a sudden burst of exclamations as they all enquired about him.

[“Hey What happened?”] asked Buster.

[“Doc took the bullet for Shirley”] Hamton chimed in and then clammed up.

[“You did it again, Hamton”] the Doctor said in a bemused reproach.

[“Sorry…”]

[“ Doc! Are you okay?!”] cried Wakko.

[“I was shot through the upper thigh… in the inseam, with a Mine` ball. I’m feeling all the pain that Buchanan is”] he told them.

[“Oh no - Are you bleeding a lot?”] cried Babs.

[“I was, but Fifi’s host, the ship’s surgeon, put a tourniquet around my leg. I cut off our telepathy so you all wouldn’t be suffering with me”].

[“I think we all felt it when you got hit. Are you gonna be okay? Can you walk?”] asked Furball.

[“I’ll be fine as soon as we get home, but Buchanan is an old man of sixty. He won’t be walking even with crutches for a few months and will be out of action for the next half a year. The bullet did graze his femoral artery, so he must keep still … and it’s... very painful.”]

[“Sensei? You saved my life - Thank you! I - I dunno what tuh say… I’d kiss you now if I wasn’t inside a man’s body”] Shirley cried.

[“You’re welcome, Shirley. There was no other way. It is done.”]

[“But that’s not what I mean! I just stood there like a totally helpless female - and cried!”] Shirley thought in shame.

[“You did try to escape. Besides, there’s no law that says you have to take it like a man or act like a man, Shirley”], Lord observed reassuringly, [“I may be old-fashioned, but I see nothing wrong with girls being feminine and girly, and boys acting masculine and…uh.. boy-ly?”]

This drew a laugh from everyone.

[“Boil-ly?”] chuckled Gogo.

[“Wasn’t that right? I really do try to keep up with modern language. How about manly?”], the Doctor quipped, [“Now before anyone thinks I’m being sexist - all I’m saying is that everyone should be allowed their own individuality, whatever they are - Uhhhhhhh!”]

 Suddenly everyone felt a bad twinge of pain in their left thighs - then it was gone. Buchanan had shifted his weight in his bed.

[“Sorry about that. My control over filtering out the pain from you isn’t perfect. I’ve never had to do this before”], Lord apologized before continuing in a serious tone, [“Look… You faced the very real possibility of death… All of you - probably for the first time in your lives, but you did not falter; you did not run away, you didn’t crack… You stood firm and obeyed the orders… You knew what could happen, but you were very brave, all of you. This was your first true combat experience - and you all performed well. So you were scared? So you cried? Who wouldn’t have? …You saw the face of Death and handled it admirably… I’m very proud of all of you.”]  

From the midst of everyone feeling humble (even Plucky) Buster’s thoughts spoke up.

[“Doc, you saved Babs and Plucky and Shirley and me. We’d have been lost forever if ya didn’t rescue us. Thank you, Doc.”]    

[“I appreciate that Buster, but I also am responsible for getting you into this mess, so we’re even. Now that we’re all safe aboard the Virginia, let’s have a report on what’s going on and where we are going, if you please?”]

  Mary looked out the sternmost gun port at the scene of destruction the ironclad had left in its wake.

[“Well, we’ve left the Congress totally wrapped in flames. Every part of her is on fire, from stem to stern, the rigging, the masts and spars, the entire ship is burning… You can smell it on the wind for miles. The flames are at least one hundred feet in the air and clouds of white powder smoke are spiraling up in columns into the sky. All the survivors are swimming or picking up each other in small boats… Wreckage and bloody bodies from the Cumberland are floating up from the wreck and washing ashore”] she told them.

From the bow, Shirley made her observations: [“Jones is now totally after the USS Minnesota. She’s aground out in the middle of the bay and the other Confederate vessels are like, shelling her already. I think this is like, as close as we can go to get at her.”]

[“We’re on the western edge of the Middle ground. If the Virginia goes any closer, we’ll go aground too - and then we’d be stuck there helpless until after midnight when the tide returns”] Hamton said from his station amongst the ship’s pilots.

There was the terrific echoing crash as the forward gun was fired, echoing down the inside of the casemate and back.

[“Ve av opened fire on der Minnesota. It’s at zee limits ov our effective range, about a mile avay. I tink all ve can do ist long-range shellink”] said Arnold.

[“We’re too far away to reach her. We’re having to use flat-trajectory shot-skipping just to hit her - like skipping a stone across a pond, only we’re using live ammo!”] Gogo observed. [“This’ll be a fun surprise for Yosemite Sam’s Cannon Class.”]

[“We can’t hit the Minnesota with hot shot cuz the only port side hot shot gun is busted”] Fowlmouth announced.

[“We’d have to turn the whole ship around to fire the starboard one at her and there’s no easy way to do that. This ship wallows like Noah’s Ark”] added Furball.

[“The only reason we could use th’ port hawt shot gun on th Congress wuz cuz we were at point blank range an couldn’t miss ‘er. With th muzzle broken off, there’s no way tuh aim at longer range.”] concluded Wakko.

[“Two men are dead. Some men were ‘it by musket ballz and wounded. Some leaned against zee armor shield et were knocked out by zee concussion”], Fifi told them, [“Capit-tan Buchchanone et Luftenant Minore are zee worst wounded. Zey both need to go to zee ’ospital` ashore… Eet eez zo dark down ‘ere, eetz ‘ard to work.”]  

[“I’m sure those of you on the gun deck have noticed the the smokestack is full of holes and the coal smoke is leaking back into the ship”], Calamity remarked, [“The engines are not drawing air as well as they normally would, so our power is reduced… It’s amazing that these cranky old engines have performed so well, after being used for years, condemned, sunk underwater for months and then being re-conditioned to pull this heavy load. They weren’t built for being the primary engines, just to be auxiliary power when there was no wind.”]

After a pause, Buster spoke up again. [“Um… Well it’s dark and smoky down here feeding the boilers coal with a shovel. It’s a lot warmer than aboard the Beaufort… But it’s a whole lot safer.”] 

[“…I don’t like this ship.”] Plucky thought flatly.

Though he said no more, the duck’s meaning was clearly negative. Everyone else was silenced by this, until Babs quietly agreed with him.

[“Plucky? …I know we’ve had our disagreements… but knowing what we both went through today… I - I don’t blame you for feeling that way”], she thought sensitively, [“I’ll… never forget what happened today… ever. But right now, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here with Buster and the rest of you all. My friends… My shipmates.”]

[“Babs, are you crying?”] Buster inquired gently.

His fiancée knew that no one could feel the sensation of her happy tears at the moment and was almost going to deny them… but for some reason, it felt okay to be vulnerable in front of her friends for the first time.
 
[“Um… maybe”] she told them while blushing pinker than usual within her host. [“Thanks… Thanks for saving us all, Doc.”]

Feeling moved himself, Plucky agreed with Babs. [“Yes. Thank you for saving our lives, Doctor. Never mind how we got into it - You pulled us out.”] 

[“Thank you, Shipmates”], Lord thought as his pain made him wince. [“Now I have something to report. Captain Buchanan’s heart is heavy. He’s growing more and more depressed. He’s realized that his part in the fight has ended and that he’ll be out of action for many months. He has lost his chance to finish breaking the blockade. His pain runs even deeper… By now he had hoped to be in his quarters - where he’d be drinking surrender toasts with his brother, McKean… and celebrating his victory. He is in his quarters, but he knows that that cannot happen now… and perhaps he may have killed his own brother along with the Congress.”]

[“But I saw his brother alive on the Congress”] Babs told everyone.

[“Alas, he will not find that out for some time”], Lord answered.

[“The crew is worried about him”] Mary told them, [“They haven’t heard anything except that he was shot. They are beginning to wonder if he’s dead.”] 

[“Well, perhaps-“]

“Firing!” called Furball’s host.

Another of the Virginia’s guns thundered, it’s shell creating a momentary vapor-cloud around the end of the barrel as the explosive shell went super-sonic. Then the conical projectile hit the water’s surface, kicking up a splash as it ricocheted off again and again, hurtling toward the distant Minnesota.

[“Wow, didja see that? I got a shell ta skip four times!”] whooped Fowlmouth.

[“Did ya hit the ship?’] asked Wakko.

[“Nah, but who cares?! I skipped a cannon shell four times on the water! Wait’ll Professor Sam hears about this!“] chuckled the rooster. 
  
  [“Moving along - I think the captain’s about to solve the problem”] Lord told them.

“Lieutenant?” said Buchanan, calling Lieutenant Minor over, ”Tell Mister Jones to fight the ship to the last. Tell the crew that I am not mortally wounded and hope to be with them soon.”

Minor smiled and saluted and went up the stairs with his arm in a sling. Soon enough, he spread the good news to the crew. 

“HUZZAH!” cheered the men of the Virginia, so loudly that their shouts could be heard above the din of battle. “HUZZAH!”

[“Well, amidst all this fighting, I’m glad somebody made somebody happy today”] Lord admitted.

[“Can we go home now? I’m running low on wackiness - and I need a drink”] whined Gogo.

[“I’m like totally thirsty myself”] added Shirley.

[“I’m hungry -”], thought Hamton and Wakko simultaneously, then both said, [“Jinx!”]

[“I uh, could use a pit stop myself”] thought Buster.

[“We have been fighting the ship since this morning”] Calamity mentioned.

[“Vat do you mean? We’ve fought ze whole Union fleet Undt ve von ze battle!”] Arnold replied.

[“He means we worked the ship in a battle. We *fought the ship*. That’s the correct terminology”] Mary thought, correcting them.

[“Ve have been at eet since early zis morning. Quite a full day”] agreed Fifi.

[“Yeah… This has been the longest day ah’ve ever lived”] agreed Fowlmouth.

  Hamton looked wistfully back through the peep-holes in the pilot house at the Virginia’s wake, back to where the Cumberland’s flag still waved from its mast that poked out of the grey-blue waters. The Congress burned brighter than the sun, leaving a staircase of black smoke that rose heavenwards. 

He thought of whistling a little tune as he watched the stilled scene. The tune began to play in everyone’s minds. 

[“That’s a hard tune to sing”] thought the Doctor quietly.

[“Yeah… ”], sighed Hamton, [“… Now I know what it means.“] 

As Hamton gazed at the ship of fire, Lord finished today’s lesson.

[“This morning the Confederates sang hymns for the return of their loved ones… Perhaps your folks at home are doing the same. Tomorrow, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow will write a poem about what happened today, and then later there’ll be many songs of hymns and praise. But right now… no one’s singing for those men out there… Sing the song, Hamton. I’ll join you.”]

The pig’s lips trembled. [“But it’s so sad… It’ll make me cry”.]

[“… If you’re going to sing a sad song, don’t think about it“], the old skunk told him, [”Just sing the tune… Let the audience do the crying”].

Hamton blinked and stared out across the silent waters. The tune came to him.

 [“Many Men - came here as Soldiers”] his mind sang softly and slowly.
[“Many Men - will pass this way,”
 Many Men - will count the hours - as they live The Longest Day.”]                           Doctor Lord’s thoughts joined him, singing in lower harmony with Hamton’s tenor voice.          
[“Many Men - are tired and weary,                                                                                    The shipmates gazed out the gun ports upon the fires reflected on the sea. 
“Many Men - are here to stay,
“Many Men - won’t see the Sunset,
When it ends the Longest Day.”                                       Doctor Lord’s mind began playing the instrumental background of the song, along with a vocal chorus of men.
“The Longest Day - The Longest Day,
This will be the Longest Day,
Filled with hopes and filled with fears,                     A tear ran around Babs’ plump white cheek and down one of her whiskers as she thought of the Congress still burning.
Filled with blood and sweat and tears,                    

Shirley sniffled. Plucky looked away and gave the Virginia’s deck a half-hearted kick. His host did the same.

Many Men - the mighty thousands,
Many Men - To Victory!                                         Another gun thundered out across the waters.
Marching on - right into Battle!                               Hamton sang with tearful pride as he stared at the distant flames.
In the Long-est Day in His-tory.”]                          

Fifi looked up to where Hamton sat in the pilot house. Her host, the doctor, did the same.

    Most everyone was moved to tears.

Chapter CLV  

[“Not quite D Day”], Lord observed, [“This was your baptism of fire, your first time in combat - Remember it, because your memories of this day will be the 
first actual verified accounts of the events on this date. Up to now everything has been mostly hearsay or recollections years after the fact. Only a few accounts were actually written by the men on board at the time. When we get home you’ll be questioned by the experts in the field - because now *you* are the experts in the field. Your memories will be recorded and can be played back visually. That will make the historians happy.”]

[“Say Doc, As long as you’re making them happy - how about making all of us happy too?”] Babs asked with enthusiasm.

[“…Seriously? …You two really want to get married? Here? Today?”] Lord replied with some astonishment. 

[“Hey that’s a great idea! Just think of how famous this could be! We’d add one historic occasion to another!”] Buster chimed in.

[“I know you two are well-known for your jokes, but this is a serious life-changing event we’re talking about”] Lord remarked.

[“Buster? Are you guys really serious?”] Hamton asked. 
 
[“Well yeah. We’ve been thinking about setting a date an all, but this sorta came up today”], Buster told them, [“Our parents are okay with us being engaged. They left the date up to us.”]

[“But like weren’t you going to have it at home as a like a huge event with all yer friends an’ family er some junk?”] asked Shirley.

[“Should you not vait until you both graduate? Arnolda undt I agreed to vait until after college”] Arnold announced.

[“Yeah we did - until today. We can still have a big event at home, but we can do that any ol’ time!”], Babs explained, [“We’re only gonna be at *this big event* for a short while longer …and um… We need to do it now.”]

[“I don’t think you’ve thought this out very well. Where will you live?”] Lord wondered.

[“Um, well my parents are usually traveling, so I figured we could live at my old burrow”] Buster offered.

[“But that’s still their house. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall be made one flesh”] Lord told them.

The bunnies were crestfallen until Arnold though of something.

[“Hmmm… You could live at ze on-campus housing for married students”], the dog mused, [“Zere’s a duplex on Schlesinger Avenue.”]  

[“Arnold! Vous are really going to marry Arnolda? Zat’z ‘ow vous know zees?”] Fifi squealed romantically.

[“Yah, I looked at eet. Bugs Bunny’s nephew Clyde lives een von ov dem”], the pit bull admitted, [“It vas built as a contractual obligation ven ze school became a Looniversity.”]   
 
[“Do you have a job? How will you support each other?”] asked Lord.

[“Oh I have a job. I’m a Residence Assistant at one of the dorms”] answered Buster.

[“Really? Which dorm?”], asked Plucky, [“I’m in Alaskey. It needs better heating.”]

[“Um… I work in Foray”] Buster mumbled.

[“Like, but that’s a girl’s dormitory!”] ,Shirley objected, [“Isn’t that where you’re living, Babs?”]

[“I got him the job. Heheh, I’m the other R.A. there”] Babs responded sheepishly.

[“Your jobs will end when you graduate. What then?”] asked Calamity.

[“We weren’t exactly left poor by being the stars of Tiny Toons, ya know. We’re still getting residuals”] Babs answered.

[“Oh, yeah? Did you get yer own spin-off? I did”] bragged Plucky.

[“We’re not discussing who was a star and who wasn’t”], Mary remarked, [“We’re talking about Buster and Babs getting married. I think you should wait.”]

 One of the Minnesota’s shots hit the Virginia and its armor rang like a gong, punctuating Mary’s thought.

[“Like, the Minnesota is finally firing their ten inch gun at us. The Saint Lawrence is also starting to fire on us too”] Shirley noted. 

[“Back in my day, couples got married at a young age, but other than making this a novel event for you, I can’t see many other advantages to your being married today”] Lord observed, [“In addition to starting off with tricky finances and housing, the main problem is - what will your parents say?  What will Bugs say? I’ve already jeopardized our home planet and History itself in rescuing you. Your folks are probably already nervous about your safety. What will they say if I bring the two of you home as Mr. and Mrs. Buster Bunny? Bugs may cancel this class and fire me… I must therefore assume that you have a good reason for wanting this?”]

Babs was very uncomfortable about having her friends hearing that she was actually un-cool and vulnerable, so her answer became a guarded one.

[“Um… It’s… for personal reasons”], Babs answered gently, [“I recall you saying the same to us once.”]

[“Touché”], Lord admitted, [“But this is more serious. This is your future, not my past. You cannot change the past. You can only change the present to change your future.”]

[“He’s right, Babs”], Buster agreed, [“I think we’ll have to ask permission of our folks.”]

Babs was beginning to feel crushed, her spirit tumbling off a cliff. 

[“I should at least contact home and tell them we’re all okay”] the Doctor thought as he began texting homeward using his communicator.

[“Andy? Come in… Andy, do you copy? We’re all here. We recovered everyone and we’re all safe onboard the Virginia.”] 

[“Y-y-yyeahhhh…. That’s good to hear. Everybody’s been waiting to hear if the kids are okay. Bugs is getting the parents and teachers assembled up at your house to receive the kids when they get home. Nobody’s hurt?”] the fox wrote.

[“No, just me. I took one in the leg, but we’ll make it back all right. What about you? What happened?”] Lord inquired.

[“We couldn’t see outside, but it was like a Jerry Lee Lewis song”] wrote Andy.

[“Goodness gracious”] thought Lord, then texted, [“Great balls of fire?”]

[“Nope - a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on - an earthquake we think. Your lab got rearranged a bit”] the fox told him.

[“I need to talk to Bugs ASAP. It’s urgent”] Lord wrote.

Another shell struck the Virginia’s shield, but this one exploded, causing the iron casemate to ring like a Chinese gong. Everyone was startled.

[“Bugs isn’t here yet. He’s getting the parents together. They’ve been notified”] Andy answered.

[“Get this message to him and to Buster and Babs’ parents - Buster and Babs want to be married here today. Ask them!”]

 Down in the engine room, the bunnies hosts kept shoveling coal into the blazing hot furnace doors. Babs was growing anxious.

[“I’ve told Andy to ask your parents’ permission”], the Doctor told them, [“What do you suppose they’ll say?”]

[“Um, well my folks usually roll pretty easily. They’ve let me make a lot of my own decisions. They’ll… probably be cool with it”] Buster thought hopefully.

[“And what will your parents say, Babs?”] Lord asked.

Babs confessed: [“Well, um, my dad will probably grumble and-“] 

[“- And his fur will stand up “] added Buster.

[“And my Mom will get verklempt and… she’ll scold me for it later…”], Babs thought anxiously, [“But she knows how much we mean to each other - and that our getting married is inevitable.”] The pink bunny spoke with a lump of hope in her throat: [“I think she let us do it… I hope.”]

[“And we’ll tell ‘em it was all our idea, so you won’t lose your job!”] Buster agreed.

[“Kids, I may be hosted by the ship’s Captain, but I’m responsible for you and everything that’s happened today. Don’t you think we’ve tempted fate enough?”] Lord thought.

[“But you’re also a judge in Acme Acres, right? Fifi told us you sentenced Roddy Rat to KP at Wiennie Burgers”], Buster exclaimed, [“Look Doc, we couldn’t agree on which authority should officiate at our wedding, but you’re the the biggest authority we know, so - will ya do it?”]

Both the Bunnies and the other Toonsters all thought: [“Will ya? Will ya? Hmmmmmmm??”]

[“Pleeeeeeeeease?”] asked Babs.

  While Lord considered the problem, the Virginia’s guns fired twice more, the hurtling shells kicking up splashes as they skipped across the water until they tumbled end over end and finally smashed into the Minnesota. Finally, the Doctor answered.

[“First - your parents must give you their permission. Second, I’ll have to know *why* you want this now. Third - I’ll have to be certain that you’ll keep this life-long commitment to each other”] he announced. [“Couples married by me *stay married*.”]

[“Like I said, Doc…it’s kinda private”] Babs thought reluctantly in embarrassment.

[“There’s only one way I’ll risk it - I’ll have to read your lives”] Lord announced finally.

[“You mean read our minds? Aren’t you doing that now?”] asked Buster.

[“No. … I’m only reading and transmitting your conscious thoughts. If I read your mind - it means I see everything. Your entire lives… *Everything*”] Lord declared.
The group was a little taken aback by this development and all wondered in unison. [“Everything?”]

[Yes, every memory from your earliest moments up to and including now. Don’t worry,”] he thought with some amusement, [“I’m really good at keeping secrets.”]  

Buster and Babs looked nervously at each other. Their hosts found themselves doing the same and were puzzled, but both shrugged it off and kept on working.

[“Will this be like when you …uh…spoke to me alone earlier?”] asked Babs.

[“In a way. It means I must break off communications for everyone else for a couple of minutes. Everyone? Keep to your observations. We’ll be back in a few minutes”].

Again, the Toonsters found themselves only surrounded by the confines of the ironclad and its crew, still blasting away with their weapons, their thoughts known only to themselves.

Chapter CLVI 

Buster and Babs watched their lives flash by before their eyes in a blurry whirlwind. 

The days of their past lives flashed by in seconds, leaving few images for them to see even momentarily. Feelings flashed through them; joy, frustration, happiness, confusion and moments of wonder.

 Like a dream, things were there and then gone and just as quickly replaced by more imagery. The flashes began to coalesce as they felt themselves maturing. Images of birthdays, Christmas mornings, family, Buster’s favorite toy airplane, trips to the mall with mother, Babs’ pogo-stick, walking, riding, playing, crying - it was all there. The first time they met, playing together, soccer games, baseball, running cross the fields, climbing trees in Acme Forest, class work and their first shy kiss. It all seemed better than it had, somehow.

  From within the wounded Captain, Lord watched it all happening, his eyes white with power, glowing more intensely than ever. A gentle smile formed on his ancient face.

Then a frown appeared as he experienced their day, then his smile returned. Taking a deep breath, the light in his white triangular pupils grew to the brilliance of a nova as he concentrated. Then his eyes faded to normal as the visions ended and a new one began.

  Buster and Babs found themselves in Babs’ bedroom, sitting side by side on the edge of her bed. They were clean and in their own clothes.

“Wait, what? How did we get here?” the blue buck asked in puzzlement.

Babs put her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

“Don’t worry - we’re not really here, are we?” the pink doe told him as she kissed his cheek.

“Just in your minds”, said Doctor Lord who appeared out of thin air and tried to sit in Babs small desk chair. It bent under his weight and collapsed, breaking into pieces under him, leaving him doing a prat-fall onto the floor of the burrow. The Bunnies giggled.

“This is an illusion, like the one Doc created for me before to help talk to me” Babs told her fiancée.

Babs’ plush toys and dolls came to life, walking out of her closet and climbing up on the bed to hug the two slightly creeped-out rabbits. Their soft plush fur nuzzled the Bunnies happily. Doctor Lord looked at the pair with a smile bigger than his usual mysterious one.

“It must be true what they say about rabbits being lucky”, he said warmly, “You both have had wonderful, nearly idyllic childhoods, loving parents, good friends and good teachers. You’ve grown up together as best friends and now you’re going to commit to each other. You’ve never lost anyone nor had anything taken from you….I’m really rather envious.”

“You didn’t?” wondered Babs.

Lord smiled but shook his head. 

“I understand your reasoning now. I’m sorry you saw more than you were supposed to today”, the Doctor told them; “I’ll help you all I can. Uh, sorry to be indelicate, but I’m glad there isn’t an impending litter of problems causing this decision.”

Buster and Babs blushed deeply, their eyes looking sideways at each other and smiling as they both turned red in the face.

“No, I’m not pregnant” Babs mumbled with a tiny embarrassed smirk.

Lord got up rather awkwardly off the broken chair, looked at it and made it reassemble itself perfectly with a little gesture, like a jigsaw puzzle putting itself together again.

“The key to staying together - is staying together. Don’t let yourselves grow apart. Never allow yourselves to see anything as being more important than each other 
- not your career, not what others think is imperative. If a new path opens, you must *both* follow it. Always forgive each other, be kind and patient with each other. Fulfill each other’s wants and desires as best you can. A relationship requires constant work and maintenance - you can’t walk away and expect it to still be there when you return. Think of each other, as well as for your children. Children go their own way, but you’ll have each other for all time” Lord told them.

The Bunnies held each other’s paws tight.

“So you’ll marry us?” Buster asked earnestly.

Lord cocked his head to one side and said: “One more problem - the rings. Now, don’t tell me you didn’t think of that?”

Buster smirked and said: “Mister Popular thinks of everything!”

He reached under his red shirt and drew out a small jewelry box to show them.

“My folks and I picked these out after we announced our engagement”, he said proudly with an air of superiority, “Who doesn’t think ahead?” he asked Babs snarkily.

Babs embraced Buster passionately: “Buster you’re so wonderful! - Listen to me! I’m not being even remotely sarcastic! Isn’t it wonderful!”

“I’m wonderful!” grinned Buster with a laugh and a big kiss, then he was reminded they weren’t alone by Lord smiling at their happiness.

“Uh, Doc? Could you give us a minute alone, please?” 

“Certainly - but we need to get this show on the road. I can only do so many things at once. We need to text with your parents or go home. I’ll give you one minute” Lord told them. The tall skunk made a mime’s gesture of transformation with wide silly eyes and disappeared, leaving the bunnies alone on Babs’ bed.
“I’ve been wanting to do this all day!” the pink bunny exclaimed. She grabbed Buster with her arms, legs and ears, wrapping herself around his body and kissing him full on the lips. Their eyes were shut in perfect bliss as the rabbits surpassed themselves in one of the three most passionate, loving kisses in history. 

A moment passed before they broke the kiss, still gazing dazedly into each other’s eyes with ecstatic grins.

“You put your nose up my nose” they both said in unison happily dazed.
Buster came to his senses, becoming sober and worried. “Babs - are we really ready for this? I mean for real?” he asked pulling back.

Babs gulped loudly as she realized the scope of their intentions, her eyes becoming huge starry anime` orbs, her voice earnest and hopeful.

“I think so, I mean, well - we have been living together on the sly either at your place or my dorm. We’re used to each other. We’re pretty comfortable with each other.”

“I don’t mind yer snoring - I think it’s adorable because it’s you sleeping with me” Buster admitted. 

“How are we doing with money?” she asked.

“We’re okay for a while. We’d do better if other cartoon networks would re-broadcast Tiny Toons again. But Calamity’s right - our jobs will only last so long.”

“Unless we both go for Grad school, but who ever heard of being a PHD in Toons?”

“Wait a minute!”, Interjected Buster, “What about the publicity from us getting married here in the past? We could get famous all over again!”

“We could bring back Tiny Toons! Spielberg would never walk away from cashing in on us getting married! And it’s war history - he’ll love that!” Babs gushed. 

“Yeah, we’ll be laughing all the way to the bank! He’d never pass this up!”, Buster added, “We’re not tiny anymore.. meh, they’d probably call it “Teeny Toons”.

“Rope it in, Buster - we still have to get our parents to say ‘Yes’”, Babs said scheming, “ How can we ask them without getting ourselves or anybody in trouble? I know my Mom will want to know why.”

“I got it!”, Buster exploded, “We tell ‘em that aliens threatened to make us slaves in their theme park and we had to play basketball against them to save ourselves…Naw, that’s the dumbest idea ever! Who buy that?”  

“You haven’t lost your ability to be funny, Blue Ears”, she said kissing him again.
[“Let’s get a move on - we’re burnin’ daylight”] Lord’s voice echoed in their minds.

Buster kissed her again and looked deeply into her beautiful blue eyes.
“Don’t worry - We’ll think of something” he told her.

Chapter CLVII.  

The vision of Babs’ bedroom wavered and faded, going all ripple-ly like a flashback, once again becoming what their hosts in the fiery, red-hot engine room were seeing. They had returned to shoveling coal into the infernos of the furnace doors of the Virginia’s boilers. The voices of the Toonsters re-entered their minds. 

[“Welcome back to Dante’s Inferno”], Babs quipped, [“Nothing’s changed here.”]

[“Have you ever read Milton, Captain?”] Buster quipped back imitating Richardo Montalban.

[“KHAAAAAAN!”] yelled Babs.

[“Well, you two are back to normal”] Plucky remarked.

[“Zo? Are vous going to marry zem?”] Fifi squealed with romantic zeal.

[“Really? This is so sudden, we’ve only just met”], Lord joked, [“Yes, if we get their parents’ permission.”]

[“Babs? May ah be your maid de honure?”] asked Fifi, unable to control herself.

[“Now now. Let’s make sure we are allowed to do it first”] Lord countermanded.

[“Actually, I was thinking you’d make the perfect flower girl, Feef”] Babs mused.

[“Aw, Fifi had her heart set on that”] Hamton whined.

[“She can call me a flower, if she wants to”] Fifi commented, doing an unaccented imitation of Bambi.

[“Just please don’t make the roses wilt”], Babs quipped, [“And Hamton - you can take my Dad’s place and give me away.”]

[“Ooo, I’d be honored to, Babs”] Hamton cooed.

 [“All your plans may go up in smoke if we don’t get your folks permission, so please hush while I text them”] the Doctor reiterated.

[“Andrew? Have you got Bugs and the Bunnys’ parents there? We urgently need to talk to them”] Lord texted telepathically to his wrist device.

[“Bugs and Babs’ parents are here in the lab with me, Doc - and stop calling me Andrew, yer not my dad”], Andy texted back, [“Hold on a sec for Bugs.”]

[“What’s up, Doc? This is Bugs typing. Are the kids okay?”]

[“Yes, everybody’s fine except me. I caught one in the leg, but the kids are all safe and back on the ship with me, but Buster and Babs have a favor to ask”] Lord wrote.

[“Andy here told me they wanna get married? Why now? Why there? Why today? You’re in charge, ain’t ya?”] Bugs wrote in annoyance.

[“I am. I have questioned them extensively. I even read their minds. They have enough money to get started, they have jobs, they can move into that duplex next to your nephew Clyde and I am satisfied as to their reason to wed. Plus I find that they are perfectly suited to each other. Please tell their parents this. By the way, can you contact Buster’s folks?”] Lord wrote to Bugs.

[“I’ve got ‘em on the phone now. So, you read their minds, eh?”] Bugs asked.

The doctor frowned, but answered. [“Yes I did, rather than ask them publicly about something they consider to be a personal matter. I know you disapprove, but I had to be sure that doing this would not become a irrevocable mistake. I wouldn’t want them hurt any more than you would. Now have you told their parents the news?”]

[“Hold the wire, I’ll ask”] came Bugs’ response slowly.

[“Bugs is asking your folks, Buster”] Lord told the Toonsters.

Another ten-inch cannon ball struck the Virginia’s armor, causing another resounding bang that echoed throughout the gun deck. Buster gulped down his anxiety.

In answer, the Virginia fired her port six point four inch rifle with a crash, it’s shell exploding inside the Minnesota. 

[“Buster’s folks say it’s okay with them, they trust him to make his own decisions. They say they were young lovers themselves so they understand”] wrote Bugs finally.

[“Buster’s parents say ‘Yes’!”] Lord announced to the rejoicing of everyone and heavy sighs of relief from the pair of rabbits.

[“Huzzah! We’re halfway home!”] thought Buster.

[“Babs’ mother wants to talk to her”] Bugs wrote.

Now it was the pink bunny-girl’s turn to gulp in trepidation and the Toonsters fell silent.

[“Babs this is your Mother typing - Why? We wanna know why yer doing this so far away from home and not with yer family? Tell us why, Babs.”]

[“…Your Mother wants to know why, Babs. Why you’re not getting married at home with friends and family? And why now?”] Lord told them.

[“Darnit, I knew she’d do this. What am I gonna say? What am I gonna do?”] Babs exclaimed in panic to the others.

Hamton had been quiet, but spoke up now. [“Babs? Remember when Plucky talked me into throwing a big party and everybody came, but the house got blown up?”]

[“I told him ta just lie to his parents, but nooo! He couldn’t do that!”] Plucky thought sarcastically.

[“When I confessed the truth to them, I was saved cause Egg McMayhem showed up and gave us a new house because I had bought magazines from Acme Clearinghouse”] Hamton told her.

[“Yeah, but yer parents were gonna punish ya first - and instead I got punished by my parents!”] Plucky added.

[“I’m kinda losing the point, Hamton”], Babs remarked, [“What do I tell them?”]

[“You know - Aliens? Experiments?”] interrupted Plucky.

[“I mean you have to tell your parents the truth - no matter how it may hurt”] Hamton told her.

Everyone else agreed, even the reluctant Plucky. Babs shook anxiously within her host, who had to stop feeding the furnace and lean on his coal shovel for a moment. 

Then she spoke up to the Doctor.

[“Tell her… it’s for Private reasons.”]

The Doctor sent that response and got one in return immediately: [“Babs Bunny, Don’t tell me someone got you in trouble!”]

[“My heart! I’m gonna have a coronary!”] gasped Buster.

Babs tried to hold it in, but the truth came tumbling out of her as she dictated to Lord: [“No, Mom! It’s not that kind of trouble! …When we left Acme Acres… Buster, Plucky and I got distracted and we lagged behind instead of staying with the group… and we got pulled into the time machine a little late… so we wound up in the wrong places….We showed up on the wrong ships and couldn’t get back to the rest of the gang…I was stuck there all alone - and *really bad* things happened all around me… and I saw very bad things that scared me… I was alone and I couldn’t do anything about it by myself!  I thought I might never see home again! …All I could think of was wanting to be with Buster again - that he could make the bad things all go away! And I vowed that I’d never be without him ever again!] Babs cried.

 As Babs confessed in front of everyone, she felt totally embarrassed by her admission of dread and fear to everyone who mattered in her life. She’d announced that she wasn’t cool - that she was just a frightened little rabbit - not the coolest, smartest kid in her hometown. Crushed by her own confession, Babs wept inside her host.

But Buster saved her. 

[“Babs… It’s okay to admit yer scared. Everybody feels fear. If they say they don’t - they’re lying! …You don’t have to be better than anybody else. You just have to be you! You don’t have to be cool all the time - cause you’re cool ta me… I love you. And I want to be with you always. Nobody’s perfect, Babsie.”]

Babs sniffled but came out of her funk. 

[“ Buster…You *are* my knight in shining armor”] she told him softly, without even trying to imitate Katherine Hepburn. [“I’d kiss you now if we weren’t both men working in a boiler room. I love you too…”]

 There was a long pause while the Doctor struggled mentally to text every last word to their parents across two universe and 135 years of time.

Buster, Babs and everyone held their breath and made a wish. Then another text arrived.

[“Babs Bunny, this is your father typing…”] the Doctor related.

[“We’re boned”] Buster remarked in the silence.

[“Babs? Are you all okay now?”] asked her dad.

[“Yes Dad, we’re all okay. We’re back together where we needed to be. Doctor Lord moved heaven and earth to rescue us. We’re not in trouble now. We’re all safe.”] Babs dictated.

[“Yeah we know. We saw wild and crazy things happening while we were driving here. I had to pull over so a ocean liner could pass us! …Now listen -“]

[“Here it comes!”] Buster thought nervously.

[“Are you sure this is what you want to do? We have no problems with you marrying Buster. We’ve let you two become engaged. But must it be now? Couldn’t you wait until you come home? We can have a big wedding here, with all our relatives and your friends”]  

Babs knew what her father said made sense, but she knew her reason even better and admitted to it.

[“It’s… it’s because of what happened today, Dad. I saw…  I saw how fragile life really is - how vulnerable we all are…. And I found out just how vulnerable I am… How we all are. I… I know I sound like a scared little girl… ‘Cause today I found out that I am one. I may act like a smart alecky kid and the biggest show-off in town, but I found that I’m just as human as everybody else is… I dunno if I if I’m better yet, but I grew up today. I saw what can happen…I guess I got a little broken - and I know I’ve got to fix this before we come home and start over again. I’ve had a bad day, Dad… and I’ve got to make everything right again. I know this probably sounds really childish.”]  

 Everyone listened in silence as Babs made her confession.
  
[“No, Babs… Your Mother’s crying a little - not because you’re doing this, but because you’re right. You have grown up…”]

The Toonsters waited expectancy, holding their breath. Somewhere on the gun-deck above them, another cannon fired and the the concussion wave passed through their hosts bodies and their own, like a ghost passing through their spirits.

 [“You have our permission!”] read the Doctor.

The Toonsters shouted with joy, even causing some of their hosts to break the rule of silence onboard the Virginia, but in the midst of the sounds of battle, a few more noises were hardly noticeable. It did however make for an awkward moment when Buster and Babs’ hosts both shouted inarticulately at the same moment in the engine room.

  [“Hold on - there are some conditions we’d like to make clear first”] Lord read.
 Again the group went silent in expectation, rolling their eyes.

 [“We’ll have to have a reception tonight for this wedding you wouldn’t want us not to at least celebrate a little?’] wrote Babs’ father.

[“I’ll arrange it to be at my place - which I presume you’re all already at currently?”], the Doctor wrote and thought aloud; [“It’ll be everything Buster and Babs - and you will enjoy. Bring all your brothers and sisters, whoever you want you want to be there. It’s the least I can do after all that’s happened.”]

[“Thanks Doc!”], thought the Bunnys, [“We couldn’t have done it without ya!”]

[“Hold it! There’s a couple more conditions we need to get settled”] wrote Babs’ father. [“ Um… uh, You kids shouldn’t have your own kids until *after* you both graduate from the Looniversity, okay? And you’ve got to support yourselves.”]

Everyone blushed, especially the couple in question.

[“Why should they care if they keep goats? What’s wrong with having goats around? Some of my best friends are goats!”], Gogo objected.

[Not *those type of kids*, Gogo”] Mary thought, correcting the Dodo.

Gogo relented but muttered: [“Rassin’-frassin’ goat-haters…”] 

[“Babs? This your Mother typing here again…be sure to take good movies, uh - videos and photos of this.”] Lord read, then immediately replied, [“ Not to worry, Mrs. Bunny. All our memories will be recorded of the events of the day, which can be replayed in high resolution. You’ll get great photos, I assure you. I’d try to send back a live video feed, but text is the best I’m rigged for through time and space. You’ll see it all.”]

[“Good cuz we got so many relatives to send to. Oh, wait - there’s something else I want settled with you two bunnies!”] wrote Babs’s mother.

[“I can just hear that Mid-Western accent”] thought Buster.

Babs shushed him as Lord continued to read aloud.

[“You two will have to calm down in your lives - No more crazy stuff - And get rid of those squirt-guns! Flooding Acme Acres was not the brightest thing to do!”]

[“Tell her: “Mom, I promise to never to open the floodgates of Acme Dam ever again, okay?”] thought Babs calmly.  

[“Oh, so you did that? Rilly!”] commented Shirley.

[“Oh Babs honey, we gotta go - Buster’s folks are arriving. We’ll start setting things up for tonight. Oh I have a million things ta do! …Now Honey… Oh golly when I see ya next you’ll be a married woman! Oh land sakes! I can’t wait. Okay G’Bye Hun…. We love you both. Byeeeeee!”] Lord read in Mrs. Bunny’s voice.

The Toonsters and the Doctor all sighed an enormous sigh of relief, but then –

[“Doctor? This is Bugs… You are going to have an *awful* lot of explaining to do when you get back! You know that yer in a lotta trouble, don’t ya?”]  

Now it was Lord’s turn to roll his eyes heavenward.

[“Yes, Mister Principle. I expect there’ll be quite a discussion. Over and out.”]

[“Doc? Are you gonna catch it for what happened?”] asked Furball.

[“A commander is responsible for everything that happens aboard his ship and for the lives of his crew”] the old skunk sighed fatefully.

[“Like, No worries, Sensai! We’ll totally tell them how you risked yer life ta save us!”] Shirley thought, fluffing it off.

[“Yeah, you’ve even got the bullet wounds to prove it, Doc”] added Wakko
.
[“Not to worry, I’m a big boy. I can take it”], Lord told them, then admitted, [“Although next time we won’t just be holding hands to pass through time together. That was a miscalculation on my part. Next time, we’ll all travel in a single vessel together. One capable of almost instantaneous locomotion.”]

[“We’re taking a train?”] wondered Arnold.

[“No, my Prussian pooch - a vessel capable of safely traveling through any possible environment at almost any speed”] Lord remarked with some pleasure.

[“Well what is it? A flying submarine?”] asked Calamity with excitement.

[“It is…. A secret, which you’ll discover when we get home. I’ll show Bugs and your parents that you’ll be traveling in perfect safety from now on.”]
The Doctor then paused and commented with some frustration: [“But next time we do any text communications, let’s slow it down just a little? My mind is numb from spelling out everything being said back and forth.”]

[“You mean you texted *Everything we said* back to Bugs and the parents?”] Buster thought in surprise.

[Mostly, but I do practice some discretion, you know? Now, how about a break from all this drama? A little celebration! How about a song?”] Lord suggested.

[“All-righty then! This is Pluck Duckman! I’ve the tunes to make the chicks swoon!!”], Plucky began thinking loudly in his disc jockey voice, then began to sing along with David Lee Roth’s cover song: [“I’m Just a Gigalo! Everywhere ah go-“], but was cut off by Buster. 

[“Rope it in, Pluckster. How about something we all can enjoy? Something about love and happiness?”] 

[“Hey Bunnies? Remember that 1960’s “It’s in His Kiss” song you did with Babs?”] Lord interrupted.

[“Yeah”] thought Babs flatly.

[“Well - this isn’t it”] Lord chuckled. [“Just imagine Buster is singing -]   
                                           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EipdAjhImrc

   Lord’s mind began to play “Glad All Over” by The Dave Clark Five, a British Invasion rock n’ roll hit from 1963 with driving drumbeats, echoing vocals, saxophone and rhythm guitars. Everyone’s spirits were lifted by the joyous song!

   [“I know it’s hard but try not to make your hosts dance”] Lord suggested as the song filled everyone’s hearts and minds.  
 
“You say that you love me (Say you love me)
All of the time (All of the time)
You say that you need me (Say you need me)                 Buster and Babs smiled and began to make their hosts shovel the coal into the furnaces in synchronic moves.
You'll always be mine (Always be mine).                         Hamton found his host’s hand tapping in time to the happy beat.
I'm feelin' glad all over!                                                  Shirley couldn’t resist making Lieutenant Jones’ foot tapping on the deck in time to the music.
Yes, I'm a-glad all over!
Baby, I'm glad all over!                                                  As it was ready to fire, Furball’s host set off his cannon to the bang-bang of the beat in the chorus!  
So glad you're mine
I'll make you happy (Make you happy).                           Buster and Babs’ thoughts began to sing along, their voices ringing through everyone’s heads.
You'll never be blue (Never be blue).                               Fowlmouth and Mary’s voices joined the joyous mental song.
You'll have no sorrow (Have no sorrow).                          Fifi’s voice joined the mental throng as her host the doctor sliced a bandage in two in time to the song.
'Cause I'll always be true (Always be true).           
And I'm feelin' glad all over!                                           Gogo’s host who’d replaced the dead ram man, thumped the rammer twice on the drumbeat. 
Yes, I'm a-glad all over!                                                 Calamity’s host tap-tapped the steam pressure gauge on the ship’s engine as well.
Baby, I'm glad all over!                                                  Arnold’s host, the gun-captain fired his bow rifle on the double beat, as Arnold’s thoughts sang. 
So glad you're mine
  Other girls may try to take me away (Take me away)
But you know, it's by your side I will stay - I-I’ll stay!       

Babs pictured herself dancing happily in a mini-skirt with Buster, both of them looking like Freddy Jones and 
Our love will last, now (Our love will last).                       Daphne Blake in their groovy sixties outfits. This love song spoke to her of their future happy life together.
'Til the end of time (End of time)                                    Wakko pictured himself as Ringo Starr, playing the drum kit with a big goofy grin. 
Because this love, now (Because this love).                   Shirley pictured herself as Velma Dinkley dancing with Plucky as Shaggy Rodgers, while Arnold danced as Scooby. 
Is only yours and mine (Yours and mine)
And I'm feelin' glad all over!                                        They couldn’t dance for real, but the Toonsters all sang the song together and were happy, despite their surroundings.
Yes, I'm a-glad all over!                                             Doctor Lord relaxed within the wounded Captain and enjoyed the youth and optimism he now felt flowing from them all. 
Oh, baby, I'm glad all over!                                        

As the Dave Clark Five’s song drew to a close, the ancient skunk felt as happy as they all did.
So glad you're mine!”

Chapter CLVIII
  
  [“You’re really stuck on the music of the Sixties, Doc. The Beatles? The Beach Boys? And who are the Dave Clark Five?”], Plucky exclaimed, [“Are you gonna get the Rolling Stones for the reception?”]

[“I can get you The Stones!”] Gogo piped up.

[“He means Mick Jagger - not four rocks with long hair, Gogo”] Buster remarked.

[Exactly! Rock music!”] grinned the Dodo.

[“I’d like to go with some Eighties tunes for the reception, Doc, if you don’t mind?”] Babs mentioned.

[“All right, I’ll see who I can find on short notice”], the Doctor replied, [“And despite what you may have been taught in Social Studies, Plucky, the nineteen sixties was a time of great optimism and youthful creativity, great achievements for mankind like the Apollo Missions that landed on the Moon and far-reaching research for the betterment of all. That’s why I teach genuine History - not what some people would have you believe. But enough of such talk. What’s the Virginia’s current status?”]

  Peeking up through the ship forward hatchway, Shirley saw the situation from a distance.

[“Wull, like we’re still shelling the Minnesota, but she’s far away and hard ta hit. The Saint Lawrence has gone aground and can’t get any closer either. Like with both frigates grounded and with us afraid of getting grounded, we can’t get closer and neither can they, so it’s hit er miss on both sides”] the loon reported.

[“The pilots are starting to warn Lieutenant Jones that the ship could get stuck aground if we stay while the tide runs out. They think he should quit while he’s ahead”] worried Hamton from the pilot house.  

[“Like, Mister Jones wants to totally clobber the other Union ships hiding by Fort Monroe, but we’d have to go around the middle ground of the bay and do some 
tricky maneuvering to get at them, but he knows it’ll be dark soon and the pilots have told him not to try sailing this ship in the dark. It’s a mondo dragolah in full daylight!”] Shirley agreed.

[“Ve could maneuver to use ze bow or stern rifles to shoot further and get better hits, but zen we’d only be able to use von gun at a time.”] Arnold reported as Lt. Sims, his host peered out through the peep hole of the gunport’s shutter.

[“The Congress is still burning”] Mary sighed.

[“My steam engines will need a nap, they’re becoming cranky”] Calamity mentioned.

[“We ain’t getting hit too often out here, and it’s not hurting us - it can’t hurt us anyway”] Fowlmouth added.

[“The Virginia’s bow is leakin’ frum losin’ the ram, but nobody’ll know that it’s gone until daylight tomorrow”] Wakko reported.

[“That’s a lucky break for the Monitor!”], Babs chortled, [“The Virginia rams her sideways tomorrow and only makes her own leak worse.”]

[“Zee doctore needs to get Capitan Buchanone to zee ‘hospital. Zee conditionz on zis ship are not conducive to recovery”] Fifi reported. 

[“The other Confederate ships are doing damage, but they’re also getting blasted by the Union frigates”] Furball mentioned. 

[“Shoveling’ coal, shoveling’ coal, shoveling’ coal just now”] sang Buster to the tune of “Oh My Darlin Clementine.”  

[“Just now I found a peanut, found a peanut just now!”], Gogo continued singing, [“Cracked it open, cracked it open! Keep singing! I need wackiness!”]

[“Tired, Gogo? Old Buck is now in a deep funk and his leg is numb and throbbing”], Lord sighed, [“We need more fun - All right honeymooners, let’s plan a wedding!”]

  [“YAY!”] chorused everyone.

[“Okay! First things first - where?”] asked Babs.

[“Not below decks. It’s too dark and full of guns and people”] thought Buster.

[“That leaves the top deck - it’s bright and open and ya can see everything”] Wakko suggested.

[“Up there on top? What about all the cannon balls being shot at it?”] warned Calamity.

[“We’ll do this out of time-synch, like we did when we first arrived, so there shouldn’t be anything flying our way”], Lord told them, [“Of course that will limit the amount of time we’ll have.”]
 
[“You mean like when I fell on my head and was knocked out?… I don’t remember it too well”] Babs complained as her host leaned on his shovel.

[“So we’ll be free of these sailors and do what we want again? Huzzah!”] cheered Buster.

[“I’ll talk - er text to Andy and find out how much extra time we can manage”], Lord told them, [“But don’t expect a long ceremony.”]

[“That’s okay, Doc - Buster and me plan on a loooong marriage!’] Babs laughed.

[“Marriage?… Me getting married?”] Buster swooned, then flatly remarked, [… I’d faint but I can’t fall down”].

[“On which side? In front of or behind the smokestack?”] wondered Wakko.

[“That depends on which way the wind’s blowing. There’ll be more room behind it”] Calamity shrugged.

[“Okay, I’d like Hamton to give me away and Fifi to be the flower girl”] Babs began.

[“So that leaves yours truly to be Buster’s Best Man! - And who else?”] Plucky interjected quickly.

[“Looks like you’ve returned ta yer dadgum normal self too, Plucky!”] Fowlmouth complained.

[“Which like totally leaves me to be the Maid of Honor!”],Shirley squealed impulsively, [“-Er sum junk, uh…. like sorry, Mary. That was totally selfish of me… like, Bad karma…eew…”] the loon finished in shame.

[“Hmmm, birds of a feather, huh FM?”], Mary remarked with a trace of bitterness, [“That’s just fine. *I’ll be* with Fowlmouth”] she thought saucily with a smile.

[“Awright!! I got the hot goil!], Fowlmouth whooped impulsively, [“High Five, Mare - oh - We dadgummit! We can’t do it.”]

[“That’s okay, chickie-babe… I’ll fist bump ya later”] Mary thought in a sultry voice.

[“Wooooooooooooo!”] all the other Toonsters cat-called at the pair.

[“He-hah! You cannot see it - but mah fingertips are smokin’ hot right now”] the rooster crowed.

The cannon Fowlmouth and the others were serving was touched off at that moment with a mighty Boom! As it recoiled backward, FM crowed again.

[“Man, I love punctuatin’ my sentences dat way!”] he laughed.

[“I suppose that leaves the rest of you gentlemen as my groomsmen, does it not, eh what?”] Buster sneered in his best snooty British accent.

[“Oh indeed it does! It does indeed! Rah-ther!”], Gogo chortled, doing his best Robert Morely accent, [“Yew know, the trouble with these international affairs is that they attract foreigners!”] the Dodo continued haughtily.

[“Before you assign these gentlemen any more trifling tasks, I shall require the services of one Herr Arnold Hundtzenegger to help me ascend the staircases”] Lord thought in a truly royal British accent thick enough to cut through English roast beef, [“Wounded in my gammy leg in Injah. The Rebellion, you know and all that rot.”]

[“Jawol, Herr Baron! I shall be honored!”] saluted the pit bull.

[“Jolly good. Now as to the ceremony, it shall have to be brief and to the point because once we step out of time-sync, we’ll be committed and have to leave”], Lord continued, [“Any religious preferences?”]

Buster and Babs’s thoughts got jumbled as they both answered; [“Well…um… we’re vegetarians? …um, We’re Lagomorphs, yeah.”]

[“I’m really big on Easter”] announce Buster with a smile.

The Doctor sounded non-plussed: [“Okay… that’s sounds very… uh, vague. No to worry, I can wing it.”]

  Babs suddenly thought of something and panicked! [“Oh peanuts! My outfit! What’ll I wear?! Girls - Ideas?!”]

Mary thought: [“We’re wearing our clothes under our uniforms, right?”] 

Fifi giggled with a smirk: [“Well, some of vous are. Ah prefer mah fur.”]

Hamton and Fifi both giggled together secretively - stopped, then smiled and sniggered again. Then they both laughed out loud at their private joke.

Babs was still pressed for a bridal gown and began to set inside her host who was already sweating from the heat of the boiler room.

[“So I could take off my uniform and be my usual self? My usual lavender and yellow is okay?”] she asked. 

[“One moment, please? I think I can add a bit of illusion to you and give you exactly what you all want. The guys too”] Lord told them.

[“Huh?”] asked everyone.  

The bunnies who explained: [“The Doc can create illusions of whatever we need to see to help us.”]

[“But can ya do that for all of us at the same time?”] asked Buster.

[“No sweat”] Lord shrugged. [“You’ll see.”]

The Toonsters’ minds all cheered as their problems were solved, but Calamity questioned this.

[“We will? What will we see if we take memory photos? Will they show us wearing what you conjure up or will we just appear in our dingy uniforms and hats, with our faces all blackened with gunpowder soot?”] 

[“We’re recording your memories so you’ll see what you want to see. How’s your imagination?”] Lord answered simply.

The coyote shrugged, being without an answer.

[“Okay, what’s going on now? Report, please?”] the Doctor continued as Captain Buchanan laid back in his cot and stared at the oil lamp burning above him.

   Suddenly there were a multitude of crashes as more Union shot slammed against the Virginia’s shield!

[“Like, the Saint Lawrence has found our range! They just hit us with a full broadside!”] Shirley tried to tell them calmly.

[“The pilots are going to advise Lieutenant Jones to move out of range and maybe retire to Sewell’s Point and moor the ship there”] Hamton added.

[“Then I think it’s about time to go before it gets too dark. Are you all ready?”] the Doctor inquired.

[“Oh yes”] thought everyone in unison - except Buster and Babs.

Babs fought off her anxiety. Her host turned his head and looked at Buster’s host. Their eyes met awkwardly - and they went back to shoveling coal.

Babs was still sweating nervously inside, but she smiled inwardly, dreaming of what was to come.

[“Are we ready for this, Buster?”] she asked him.

Buster had suddenly developed a nervous twitching muscle in one of his furry facial cheeks and couldn’t seem to make it stop. He fought it and almost won.
[“I’ve been ready for a lifetime, sweetheart”], he assured her, [“Let’s do this! Buster and Babs style!”]

Chapter CLIX 

 [“We’re ready to come home, Andy, but I need you to suspend our acquisition of the time tunnel for three hundred seconds from my mark. We’ll remain out of Time-synch until then, during which I’ll marry the Bunnies. Can you do it?”] Lord texted homeward.

  [“300? I had trouble holding it for 200 when you got there!“] the Fox texted back impatiently.

[“It’s the last one today, Andy - Just give us the five minutes, please? You’ve got the extra power now as it is. Just hold it for five minutes”] Lord informed him.

[“All right, all right. What am I? - A scientist or a bus driver? Just give us the word”] Andy acquiesced.

  [“Are we ready to saddle up? We’re burnin’ daylight”] Lord announced to the Toonsters. [“We’ll have exactly three hundred seconds - if we’re lucky. Now do you all know the quickest way up to the top deck? Shirley? Which way is the wind blowing?”] 

 Inside her host, Shirley watched the ship’s smoke blowing backward over the stern.

[“We’ll do this at the bow, Sensai”] she announced. 

  At his host’s station, Wakko saw something and got an idea. 

[“Arnold? You’ll have to come down to the orlop deck below the gun deck and into the Sickbay to get me. Everyone make all speed to the front top hatch. Calamity? Stand by to count us down from three hundred seconds!”] Lord ordered.

  In the engine room, the Bunnies looked at the doorway. Calamity was already to run as he prepared to begin the count on his stopwatch. The others waited at the bow and stern.

 Shirley’s host stood in the way on the staircase, blocking the way - but he calmly strolled down to the gun deck. The others had their attention fixed on where they had to run.

Hamton still felt some guilt. Fifi did as well.

 [“Now Andy!”] the Doctor wrote. [“GO! At the Double!!]

Suddenly the humans around them all vanished like ghosts! Finding themselves free at long last, the Toonsters raced up the ladders after each other as fast as their feet could carry them! 

Arnold ran towards the down-going staircase and found Hamton following him. Mary and the others from the stern raced forward, avoiding smacking 
into the heavy smoking cannons. Wakko reached a rack of cutlasses and seized them all, grabbing the heavy swords to take with him, then ran across the deck with the big shiny blades in his arms!

  Arnold raced down into the dark orlop deck and found Doctor Lord already hobbling on his wounded leg toward him. As he spun around, taking the larger skunk under his shoulder, Hamton appeared and took the Doctor’s other arm. Silently, they sweated as they helped him stagger up the staircase. 

Plucky and the others had made it to the roof through the open hatch and waited by the conical pilot house. 

Gogo hopped up the stairs in delight and out of the way as the others poured out of the hatchway and into the sunlight and sky above! 

Lord was pushed up through the opening and Hamton and Arnold muscled him to the pilot house and stood holding him up straight and panting for breath! Buster and Babs popped through the hatch like it was a rabbit hole and stood waiting. Everyone had made it - except Wakko! 

“Where’s Wakko?!’ called Lord.

For a moment, everyone was surprised to hear their own voices - then they heard a crashing and a clanging on the stairway as Wakko burst through the hatch carrying a dozen swords! 

“Look Doc! I got an idea!” smiled the Warner kid as he handed cutlasses out to everyone!

“What’s this for?!” gasped Babs in her own voice.

“For your wedding! - Now form up into two lines facing each other!” grinned Wakko directing everyone as to where to stand.

Fifi stood in front of Hamton and Babs, facing in between the twin lines of toons, while Buster and Plucky stood at the pilot house to the right of Doctor Lord, who was supported by Arnold’s wide shoulder. Shirley stood next to them.

“Atten-tion!” called Wakko and everyone stood straight and tall and smiling at the bride.

  For the first time, Babs saw everyone in their dirty Civil War uniforms, covered in black soot with be-grimed faces. Hamton and Shirley were smudged with grease. 

Babs was shocked at what looked like her friends showing up at her wedding in blackface! Even Lord’s silver face was sooty!

 “I would not have anticipated this…” Babs heard herself say out loud.

 The Doctor smiled at her, opening his palms to the group - and suddenly the picture changed!

Babs found herself in a floor-length white Fit and Flair-styled, satin wedding gown with cap-length sleeves with fragrant orchid flowers in her ears! Her small veil just covered her beautiful blue star-filled eyes! 

Hamton graciously handed her his blue handkerchief as she now saw him wearing a perfect black tuxedo tailcoat just like all the other guys were also wearing now! They had pink carnations in their lapels, striped banker’s pants and white spats on their feet. Babs’ bouquet was made of matching multi-colored orchids and rich green fern fronds.

Fifi and Mary and Shirley were all wearing bright purple satin straight A-line, ankle-length gowns, with slits up the back for Fifi and Shirley’s tails and Mary’s stocking-covered legs. The bridesmaids had red orchids and roses as their bouquets. Their hair was coifed long and silken. Fifi carried a basket of sweet-smelling pink English roses.

She smiled at Hamton and gave him one of her budding flowers.

  Lord’s mind began to play Wagner’s wedding march.

“Here comes the Bride!” sang Gogo as Fifi walked up the deck between the two lines of Toonsters.

“En garde!” called Wakko and everyone drew their curved gleaming cutlasses up, touching the tips together with a ting and forming multiple arches of sabers over the path to the alter! 

It was a surprise naval tradition that made Babs hold her breath in awe as she stepped up, arm in arm with Hamton, following Fifi scattering her petals. 

Babs’s heart swelled as Mary smiled and handed her a small ivory cameo to borrow. Fowlmouth stood grinning opposite Mary, their sabers touching overhead.

Gogo and Calamity stretched up to let them pass with grins on their faces too. The coyote was also watching his stopwatch. Wakko and Furball smiled as the trio passed under their crossed sabers, the boys both waving their tails. Wakko winked magically at Babs. The wedding march played with harps and a female chorus sang in German.

Lord stood tall in front of the pilot house’s iron dome facing her. 

Robed in white and silver, Lord was supported by Arnold, whose smile was a bright as the glint of the sun off his sunglasses. 

 To her right stood Shirley, her golden-yellow hair gleaming like an angelic halo and her deep blue eyes glittering with tears of happiness. Shirley handed 
Babs a new iridescent pearl necklace. 

Lord slipped an ancient Roman coin into the bunny’s paws as well. Plucky stood resplendent in his black tailcoat and slick shiny green feathers, almost as shiny as his glinting toothy grin.

    Before her stood her handsome bridegroom, his elegant black tailcoat gilded with gold piping and lapels. Buster had a gentle smile on his lips, but couldn’t stop his cheek from twitching. He grinned, trying to stop it and finally succeeded as the music faded away into a quite song of adoration, a softly-playing flute and gentle strings played a theme of young love. Buster recognized it and smiled genuinely. 

 “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy wedlock” Lord began in dulcet tones.

 “Who gives this woman?” he asked them.

“I do” said Hamton giving the bride a sweet kiss before placing her pink fingers in Buster’s hands and stepping aside to stand next to Fifi, whose smile widened a little.

“If anyone knows why this couple shall not be wed, let them speak now or forever hold their peace” Lord said.

 Buster and Babs both took a comic look at the witnesses who smiled bigger smiles and Gogo giggled a tiny bit.

  “The rings, please?” The Doctor asked, gesturing to Plucky, who dug in his breast pocket, made a wry face, and then handed the gold wedding rings to the Bride and Groom.

The small brilliant rings of gold felt tiny and easy to drop, but but warmed to their touch.

“Buster Thomas Bunny?” asked Lord, “Do you take this woman, Barbra Anne Bunny to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, to love, honor, cherish and obey? In sickness and in health - forsaking all others - As long as ye both shall live?”

  Buster looked deeply into the perfect blue eyes of his bride and he slipped the golden ring around her pink middle finger said, “…I Do.”

Babs held her breath as his life was committed to hers.

 “Barbra Anne Bunny? Do you take this man, Buster Thomas Bunny to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, to love honor, cherish - and obey?” asked Lord.

Now Babs’s white cheek began to twitch nervously.

“In sickness and in health - forsaking all others - for as long as ye both shall live?” asked Doctor Lord.

Babs felt her eyes open wider - and a smile creased her lips. Her twitching cheek ceased to twitch - and her eyes became pink hearts. 

 “…I Do!” said Babs, and felt her heart open! She slipped the gold band onto Buster’s middle finger and took both his paws in hers.

As they looked at each other, a faint purple aura formed around their hands, but they didn’t notice it. 

The Purple Light grew around them all as Lord spoke, enveloping the lovers and everyone with its gentle touch. 

Fifi smiled and breathed in the love like a warm breeze of joy. 

Hamton noticed this time and watched quizzically as the Purple Light bathed them in its warmth of feelings.

  All the couples smiled into each other’s eyes. Calamity was momentarily puzzled by this apparition but it reached into him as well and he closed his eyes as if bathed in the heat of the Sun.

 Lord’s sliver eyes glowed a blazing white and he raised his hands over the couple.

  And Lord said “Then by the power vested in me by Almighty God and by his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, - By the Royal Houses of the Fifteen Kingdoms of Earth, And by the City of Acme Acres, Blanc County in the State of Kalfilornia - I, Deus Caesar Gladius Maximus Rex do proclaim that you are Man and Wife!”

 “You may kiss the bunny.”

Their smiles grew into grins and their arms took them into a passionate embrace. Buster and Babs’ kiss was long and deep as their love overwhelmed them both.

The Purple Light filled their souls and they all felt its power and glory, their eyes closed in bliss.

  “Mazeltov!” shouted Hamton as everyone cheered and clapped and Lord played them the classic wedding recessional from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Felix Mendelssohn. 

Trumpets and strings played the joyous, bouncy delightful theme as Wakko again called for attention and the shining cutlasses were again raised for the newlywed rabbits to pass under down the bridal path. Everyone was happy once again as the Bunnys turned to face their shipmates once again.

 “Buster and Babs - Related!” they chorused in unison.

As everyone congratulated them, kissed and hugged and slapped Buster on the back, Hamton took Fifi’s hand and looked hopefully into her purple eyes. 

Fifi cocked her head, looking quizzically at him, then took both his hands in hers and kissed him. Hamton blushed but smiled back at her.

Mary took Fowlmouth’s wings and lifted him up for a hug and their first kiss on the beak. 

Shirley shyly sidled over to Plucky and grabbed him in a vice-like hug. She didn’t even bother to stop his roaming hands on her wide hips, but just deepened her joyous beak-lock on his duckbill. 

 Finding the Virginia’s cutlasses still in their hands, Wakko directed them to toss the swords down through the open hatch and onto the deck below. Plucky, however tried to stick his sword into his cummerbund and keep it, but it slashed through the cloth and rattled on the deck.

“Feeling okay, Mrs. Bunny?” asked Buster,

“Just fine, Mr. Bunny! How are you?” asked Babs.

“Not bad - for an old married man!” laughed Buster.

“Now - Let’s go home!” Babs cried joyfully.

“I feel like I’ve been here for ten years” Plucky observed happily.

“Just in time, Shipmates- here comes our ride!” said Calamity looking from his stopwatch to the sky.

The Toonsters looked up into a brilliant orange sunset almost behind them that blazed across the greyish purple skies, as a finger of white arched down from the heavens.

Like the searching headlight of an oncoming train, the time tunnel sought them as Calamity counted down the seconds towards zero. 

“All join hands, Shipmates! We’re going home” Doctor Lord said at long last.

  The blinding white light of the time tunnel stopped before the edge of the ironclad’s roof, its power shaking the air with strong vibrations. 

The tunnel opened as the Toonsters and Doctor Lord all held on tight to each other, ready to jump into its center.

“Hold on tight, Mrs, Bunny!” Buster shouted over the sound of the time tunnel’s powerful energies.

  “I’ll never let go again, Mr. Bunny!” grinned Babs as they leaped in!

As the time tunnel wormed its way back up into the heavens taking the Toonsters finally home, to the future, the late frigate Congress continued to burn. 

As time began again, the Union frigate USS Saint Lawrence again found its range. The ship fired an entire broadside, a twenty-five gun salute at the Virginia.

 The tons of cannon balls rained down where the Toonsters had just stood like hail on a steel roof. The ironclad sailed slowly onward to its mooring at Sewell’s Point.   

 
Look for the next Chapters of -
"A TIME TO EVERY PURPOSE UNTO HEAVEN"
                   coming to you soon.