Option

Part 1:

In the Carrizo plain, about seventy-five miles East of California's central coast...

A group of men were seated on folding chairs, while a scientist had some experimental weather equipment, and was about to test it out. Professor Toronado, a scientist from Mexico, was conducting the demonstration.

"Now, as you know, tornadoes are created due to high and low pressure systems. With this equipment, I can artificially generate a tornado, and make it dissipate. Allow me to demonstrate."

Professor Toronado activated the control console that controlled the weather equipment, and a beam of energy shot into the atmosphere. A cloud formed, and began swirling in the air. A funnel cloud emerged from the bottom of the cloud, and began to touch down less than a mile away from where the demonstration was taking place.

The tornado began approaching the men, and some of them panicked.

"Professor Toronado, get rid of the tornado!" said one of the men, and Professor Toronado obliged. He keyed the control console, and a beam of energy shot into the top of the tornado, and the tornado disappeared a few moments later.

The group of men began clapping.

"So as you can see," said Professor Toronado, "the era of being concerned about tornadoes is over! We can deploy hundreds of devices like this throughout the mid-west, so that no one should ever die from a tornado again!" 

By that evening, the weather equipment was packed in diesel trucks, and Professor Toronado, Doctor Von Darius and his college aged daughter Alyndria were riding in a limousine back to the Heidner research facility in Bullet Bay, on California's central coast.

"I like the research you've done, Professor Toronado," said Doctor Von Darius, "but I'm afraid I have some bad news for you."

"What's the issue?" Professor Tornado asked.

Doctor Von Darius pulled out a flash drive. "All of your work pertaining to the tornado experiments is on this flash drive, and I'm going to take credit for all of your work." Alyndria gave a sneering smile at hearing this; she was in on her father's evil deed.

"But who will believe you?" Professor Tornado asked. "The men who came with us witnessed that it was I who conducted the experiment."

"I've informed them that you were working under my tutelage," said Doctor Von Darius. "I've contacted the immigration department, and they will be waiting for you when we arrive in Bullet Bay."

"But my immigration status is legal!" Professor Toronado shouted. "I'm here on a work visa! I graduated with a phd in electrical engineering at the University of Technology in Mexico City!"

"Who are they going to believe?" said Doctor Von Darius. "I've already paid someone to forge a document making it appear that you've overstayed your visa, and while that gets straightened out, you'll be stuck in Mexico while I'm taking credit for your work here in the United States."

The limousine pulled over in front of the Heidner Research Facility, and the immigration patrol were there waiting for Professor Toronado, just as Doctor Von Darius had warned.

"You're making a mistake!" Professor Toronado shouted, as he was shoved none too gently into the back of a patrol car to be taken back to Mexico.

Doctor Von Darius and his daughter watched close by as Professor Toronado gave a final warning to his adversary: "You haven't heard the last from me, Doctor Von Darius! I'll make you pay dearly for this!"

Part 2:

Several weeks later, at his laboratory in north western Mexico, Professor Toronado has succeeded in duplicating his weather technology. He has the tornado generator loaded onto the back of a pickup truck, and heads north, toward the United States border. Once there, he pulled over and unleashed his technology.

He manipulated the control console from within his vehicle, and aimed the weather cannon toward the sky above the border checkpoint. The sky turned cloudy, and a cloud began swirling around above the checkpoint. A funnel cloud formed, and touched down right where Professor Toronado wanted it. It was a severe tornado, and easily tore the check point to shreds. Cars and concrete flew through the air like straw.

"Now that the tornado has cleared a path for me, I can now head to the central coast, to get my revenge on Doctor Von Darius!"

On a bright sunny day at the Heidner Research Facility, a limousine pulled up, and out hopped 15-year-old Courtney Heidner in her black and white cheerleader uniform, followed by her 19-year-old sister Kate, who was wearing her violet and green cheer uniform from Matheson University.

"It's cool of Professor Beltran to invite us to watch the experiment!" said Courtney. "I wonder what the secret is he said he's going to unveil?"

"I don't know," said Kate, "but you'd better write it all down so you can write an article about it for your school newspaper."

"I've got a pencil and a writing tablet!" said Courtney, holding the tablet aloft.

The two teens made their way through the center of the building, and down a hallway to Professor Beltran's laboratory. When they entered, they saw a capsule that was reminiscent of the Gemini and Mercury missions of the 1960's. Professor Beltran closed the door of the lab behind Kate and Courtney. There were no other people in the room.

"What I'm about to tell you is revolutionary," said Professor Beltran. "About twenty years ago, when I was still in college, I was hiking in the mountains above Bullet Bay, when I saw what I thought was a meteorite crash on the other side of a hill adjacent to where I was hiking."

"Did you go check it out?" Courtney asked.

"Yes!" Professor Beltran replied.

"What do you mean you thought it was a meteorite, professor?" Kate asked. "If it wasn't what was it?"

"It was the interior of some kind of space craft," the professor replied. "But it was from the future! I was able to reverse engineer the circuit boards, and I copied the schematics. The technology was at a level undreamed of in our current state of the art!"

"What were you able to do with that technology?" Kate asked.

"That wreckage showed me how to generate and manipulate dark matter and energy, and how to phase through other continuums! I built a time capsule!" said Professor Beltran.

"I've seen one of those," said Courtney. At my old junior high school we buried one, it's supposed to be dug up in fifty years."

"I don't think that's what he means, Courtney," said Kate.

"You're right, Kate!" said Professor Beltran. "I have built the world's first time machine! This capsule you see here will cross over into hyperspace, then shift back and forth between temporal space and hyperspace millions of times in one second, then return to this room."

"Who will be the test pilot?" Courtney asked. "I'll volunteer!"

"It will be unmanned," said the professor. "I wouldn't want to endanger anyone."

"That ship has sailed!" said a voice from behind them.

Kate, Courtney and Professor Beltran turned to see a man in his early 20's aiming a tommy gun at them.

"Derringer!" shouted the professor. "How did you get in here?"

"I had an access key I stole before you fired me, and I came in through the back of the building."

"Professor," said Kate, "who is this guy?"

"Bobby Derringer, He's a devious criminal I hired to work for me. I fired him about a week ago because I suspected he was stealing schematics for inventions and selling them to a rival research firm."

"Why didn't you tell my dad?" Kate asked. "He could've gotten jail time."

"I couldn't prove he actually stole anything, so I had to fire him for incompetence."

Derringer aimed the tommy gun at the two teens. "Both of you, into the capsule!"

"They could be killed!" said Professor Beltran.

"The person who hired me wants test pilots on board the time capsule, Professor." said Derringer. "Both of you, into the capsule, or you'll have air holes in the front of your bodies!"

"Do as he says," said Professor Beltran, "it seems we have no choice!"

Professor Beltran opened the door of the time capsule, and the two teens lumbered inside. The professor closed the door hatch.

"Now activate the time travel experiment, Professor Beltran!" Derringer shouted.

Professor Beltran manipulates a portable control console on the far side of the room. He begins counting down, "I'm sending the time capsule one second into the past. Ten, nine, eight,"

"Forget about the countdown, professor!" Derringer shouted, "just activate the experiment!"

Professor Beltran did as he was told, and the instant he keyed in the controls, a wall of energy expanded around the time capsule, and it grew to colossal size in an instant! The top of the time capsule tore through the roof of the building, and pieces of building material crumbled down around them. Professor Beltran and Bobby Derringer were pinned to the wall by the edge of the time capsule.

Meanwhile, Kate and Courtney were still trying to figure out what had happened to them. Courtney stood up in the capsule, and opened the door hatch. When she looked out, she jumped back. "We're up in the air!" Courtney looked a second time, then said, "Wait a minute, we're not up high, Kate, I think we grew! We're giant size now!"

Courtney took a step out of the capsule, and her shoe left a print in the ground at least six feet deep. She exited the time capsule completely, and knelt down to grab Derringer. She picked him up, then plucked the Tommy gun from him, and threw it to the ground.

"You're going on a one way journey to the depths of my teenage belly!" Courtney shouted at him, and lifted him above her mouth. She dropped him, and he screamed as he fell into Courtney's mouth. Courtney swallowed him.

"Did you just swallow that guy?" Kate asked, as she exited the time capsule.

Before Courtney could answer, their attention was diverted to the south, where a tornado was approaching.

"It's a tornado!" said Courtney.

"In California?" Kate asked.

"Didn't Professor Von Darius build a weather cannon that can create tornadoes?" Courtney asked.

"Yes, but why would he unleash a tornado on Bullet Bay?" Kate asked.

The two teens thundered toward the source of the tornado, as it ripped houses out of the ground.

Professor Toronado had parked his truck on top of a hill overlooking Bullet Bay, and had abandoned his vehicle. If Kate and Courtney couldn't find the weather cannon and destroy it, Bullet Bay was doomed!

Meanwhile, inside the Heidner Research Facility, Professor Beltran was contacting Professor Von Darius on the intercom.

"Professor Von Darius! Did you unleash your weather cannon on the city?"

Professor Von Darius answered from his office. "No! But I think Professor Toronado is behind this!"

"Why would he be responsible?" Professor Beltran asked.

"He feels jealous of my success!" Professor Von Darius answered. "We need to locate the weather cannon he built, and knock it out of commission!"

Professor Beltran grabbed a megaphone and ran outside to address Kate and Corky.

"Girls! There is a weather cannon controlling the tornado! You must find it and destroy it!"

""You've got it, Professor!" said Courtney. She scanned the hills around Bullet Bay and spotted a suspicious vehicle on a hill. "Kate! I think that's it!"

As Courtney stomped toward the truck with the weather cannon loaded onto the back, she tried to avoid stepping on structures. She made it to the truck, and stomped on the weather cannon. Within seconds, the tornado dissipated. Courtney carried the remains of the truck and the weather cannon back to the research facility.

"Professor Beltran," Kate asked, "can you restore us to normal size, or are we stuck this way?"

"If you and Courtney re-enter the time capsule, I know of a way to restore you to normal size," said Professor Beltran. "I knew something like this could happen. I have a way of absorbing the dark matter and dark energy your bodies have absorbed, so that should remove the excess mass you've absorbed, and I can also remove the anti-gravitons that allow you to weigh less despite your increased mass."

"How did you know this could happen?" Kate asked, as Courtney arrived and dropped the remains of the truck and weather cannon on the ground next to Kate.

"I reverse-engineered the technology I found when I encountered that meteorite I found when I was in college. I built the device that can restore you to normal size before I constructed the time capsule!"

"So you're returning us to normal size?" Courtney asked.

"Yes, but first I want you to vomit Bobby Derringer back up! He might still be alive, struggling within the depths of your belly!"

"I guess I can gag myself," said Courtney, as she stuck her fingers into her mouth.

"There's no need!" Professor Beltran shouted. "I have a device known as a neural stimulator that can stimulate the nerves in the part of your brain that induces vomiting." Professor Beltran entered the lab, then returned with a strange looking device. He aimed it at Courtney, and pulled the trigger.

Courtney vomited, and Bobby Derringer fell from her mouth into her hands. Courtney placed him on the ground next to Professor Beltran. Derringer was covered in vomit.

The police soon arrived, and Derringer was taken into custody. Professor Toronado was rounded up as well. Kate and Courtney entered the time capsule, and Professor Beltran reversed the process and restored them to normal size. 

Cornelius Heidner, the father of Kate and Courtney, arrived to check on his daughters. He hugged Kate and Courtney, and asked Professor Beltran if they would be all right.

"I ran a test, and it seems that not all of the dark energy was removed from their bodies," said Professor Beltran. "I'm going to need them to each wear an electronic wristband that can allow them to manually grow to colossal size again; I hope they can be trusted not to misuse this ability."

"You can count on us!" said Courtney, taking one of the electronic wristbands, "if the forces of evil ever threaten Bullet Bay, they'll be forced to deal with the Seismic Sisters!"

The End