Into the Dark
There was a rustling nearby. Dinky Poore and Freddy Muldoon waved at them as they passed, but continued on into the woods on the other side of the clearing. A few minutes later, the huffing of some ancient engine could be heard coming from the woods.
Missy raised an eyebrow at their suddenly appearance and equally sudden departure. "I do hope that wasn't who we were waiting for," she said.
"That was Dinky and Freddy," Joyce said. "While they are members of the club, I'm sure they've just been sent on an errand by Jeff Crocker, the club president, and will be back later."
"An ancient, large vehicle approaches, Mistress," K-9 said, turning to face the sound.
"Thank you, K-9, we hear it," Romana said. "This should be them, correct?" she asked Joyce.
Joyce was about to answer, but was interrupted again, when the rest of the club came streaming into the clearing from that direction, loaded down, and followed by a bear of a man carrying several large poles.
"And here's the morning entertainment," Missy said. "Though I don't see the dancing dogs I was promised."
"There are no dancing dogs," Joyce said in a low voice.
"Oh, my mistake," Missy said, smirking.
"You made it," Henry Mulligan said, putting the huge duffle he was carrying off to the side. "Be right back." He, and the other club members hustled back down the hill, returning with a second load.
"Dinky and Freddy went off that way," Joyce said to Jeff, when he stopped at the cannon, waving at the forest.
"Good," Jeff said, nodding. "They're distracting Elmer Prigin while we're up here. He gets nervous when people come near the cannon and chases them off."
"Scraggly looking fellow, with a primitive firearm?" Missy said. "Charming man, we met him earlier. Didn't want to stay for breakfast."
"Breakfast?" Charlie said, looking around.
"We were here a bit early," Joyce said. "So, we had a picnic breakfast. I think there are some biscuits and jam rolls left over."
"Later, guys," Jeff said as almost all eyes swiveled toward the basket and blanket nearby. " Let's get this going first."
"Who are they?" Mortimer Dalrymple asked, pointing at Romana and Missy.
"Oh, right," Joyce said. "Introductions. Sorry. This is Romana, my scientist, and that's Missy an associate." She pointed at Romana and Missy as she named them. "And I believe you've all met K-9?"
"Incorrect, Miss," K-9 said. "I am not familiar with that man." He pointed his nose at the black derby wearing, cigar chewing, grungy looking man, who was helping Henry assembled something large in front of the cannon.
"Associate?" Missy said, in a low voice. "I thought we were friends now, after everything I've done for you. All I get is a measly 'Associate'?"
Sighing, Joyce ignored Missy's antics.
"That's Zeke," Jeff said. "He's helping us with this project. He brought all of our equipment up in his truck."
"We don't have a lot of time," Homer Snodgrass said. "Tomorrow is election day, and Abner Sharples is gonna want to see what is in there before then."
Zeke paused for a moment and frowned at K-9, who had been keeping a close eye on him "That's a K9 Mark II," he said, before dismissing him and the women, returning to helping set up Henry's cannon opening contraption.
"How'd he know that?" Joyce said in a low voice from where she, Romana, and Missy were watching the chaos that was a Mad Scientist Club project.
Romana frowned. "He shouldn't. K-9 is the only K9 in this universe."
"That's because he's not just the local junk yard owner," Missy said mysteriously. "Maybe you should ask him what he was doing in Mammoth Falls, back in 1910."
"He could just look young for his age," Joyce said. "That was just over fifty years ago."
"I look young for my age," Missy said, "but I'm a Time Lady."
Joyce shrugged and went back to watching the club members as they hustled around the cannon. "What are they doing?" she asked, as they started a bonfire underneath the cannon.
"Clever idea," Romana said. "They're heating the cannon so it expands just enough to pull the plug out."
"Won't that be bad for the things inside the cannon?" Joyce said.
"Not if they do it correctly," Romana said, scanning the cannon with her sonic. "And they are."
"It's an interesting approach," Missy said, idly cleaning her fingernails with a small knife. "Disintegrating it would have been much quicker."
It took over an hour for them to get the cement plug out of the cannon, with Henry keeping track of the cannon temperature and guiding Jeff and Mortimer on where to aim their blowtorches, and the others keeping the bonfire going. Once it reached the correct temperature, Zeke pulled it out with brute strength, a rope and block and tackle attached between a nearby tree and an iron clamp he'd inserted into the plug.
"Stay back for a minute," Henry said. "It's hot." They cleared away the embers of the fire and Jeff used the hose from the toolshed to cool it off enough to be safe.
"And that's why I dressed for wet weather," Joyce muttered, watching Jeff cooling the cannon with the hose, as he accidentally sprayed Charlie and Mortimer.
The three women joined the teen boys and Zeke in front of the cannon mouth.
"How do you plan to get the satchel and box out of there?" Joyce asked.
"Just the satchel," Romana said. "We'll get the box."
Zeke frowned, apparently not aware of the box, but Henry nodded in agreement.
"Homer?" Jeff said, handing him a flashlight. "Anything except the metal box. Joyce will get that."
"I'm not going in there," Joyce said to Romana in a low voice, as they watched Homer climb into the cannon mouth, and listened to his progress down the cannon.
"Get me out of here," he shouted several minute later. Jeff and Henry pulled on the rope attached to Homer's foot. He popped out of the cannon, grimy and exhausted. Last to leave the cannon was an old leather satchel that had seen better days.
Before they could get it open, Henry reminded them about the cannon. "Joyce needs to get that box, and we need to put the plug back," he said.
"Me?" Joyce looked at Romana and Missy.
"Children," Missy said, shaking her head. She took a small box out of a pocket. Pressing a button, it expanded into a small robot with a claw on one end and treads. "Off you go," she said, reaching up and stuffing it into the cannon. It disappeared into the cannon mouth with a clank.
"You hav a tiny robot?" Homer said. "Why didn't we use that to get the satchel?"
"You didn't ask?" Missy said. "You looked like you were having such fun."
"That was Cyberman built," Zeke said, shifting his cigar to the other side of his mouth. He frowned at the cannon mouth.
"Perfectly safe," Missy said, smirking. "Though I'm surprised that you recognized it."
There was a beep from the cannon mouth, and the little robot reappeared. Missy reached up and took it out of the cannon. A small metal box was clasped in its claw. Freeing the box, Missy shrunk the robot down again and slipped it back into a pocket.
"Just a second," Henry said, grinning evilly. Going over to the pile of equipment, he opened his huge duffle bag, which seemed to go everywhere he went on Club business, and grabbed a satchel out of it that looked very similar to the one Homer had retrieved from the cannon.
"What's that?" Charlie said, as everyone watched Henry toss this other satchel down the cannon mouth.
"A surprise," Henry said. Then he turned to the original satchel. Looking around, he grabbed the blanket the picnic basket was sitting on. Placing it on a clear area, away from the remains of the fire, he put the satchel down on it.
Poking at the lock for a minute, unsuccessfully trying to open it, he then looked at Zeke. "Can you open that?"
Zeke grumbled to himself for a moment, took out a slim piece of wire from somewhere in his clothes and fiddle with the lock for a moment. It popped open with a faint click. Henry dumped the contents on the blanket.
"That looks like stage money," Homer said. Once they'd counted it, it was clearly the money stollen from the bank in 1910. Henry scooped it all back up and into the satchel. Zeke locked it again.
And then the long process of putting the cement plug back into the cannon could proceed. Grabbing the picnic basket, Joyce doled out the remains of breakfast to the teens as they worked, to their delight.
"Are you going to stick around?" Henry asked them, after they'd finished cleaning up the clearing, eliminating all evidence of the club's activities. "It should be interesting to see how the town deals with it," he said, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"It was interesting watching your club work, but we have to get going," Romana said. "We have the box we came for."
"Sorry," Joyce said, shrugging. "I'm sure it will be fun to watch, but we have science and adventure elsewhere to deal with."
"But you'll be back?" Henry said, looking back at them before preparing to follow the rest of the club down to Zeke's truck.
"I'm sure we will," Joyce said. "You guys have all the fun. Can't wait to see what you do next." She stood there for several minutes watching him disappear into the woods.
"Ready to go?" Romana said, picking up the picnic basket, much lighter now that all of the contents had been eaten.
"We really can't stay?" Joyce said, sighing.
"Other places to be, civilizations to destroy, governments to end," Missy said. "You'd be bored here in days. I know I was." Turning she headed towards the TARDIS
"You were going to tell me what happened in 1910," Joyce said, following Romana and Missy back to the TARDIS, K-9 trailing behind.
"Did I?" Missy said, smirking, before slipping inside.