What do you call this device?" Julie nervously asked Brian as he worked on a metal hat with wires coming out of it. The wires were attacked to a chair with straps on the arms and legs. Another wire connected the cap to the Electro-thought machine. Unlike the electro-thought machine, the chair was wooden, unpainted and dark in color. As soon as they had arrived back in their own time, Brian had gone straight to work on the device, which was the object that had been covered with a cloth. Everybody was still in their nineteen-fifties clothing.
"My Electo-thought chair, Julie." Brian replied with a slight smile. "It seems these Monkees are resisting all forms of my brainwashing. As soon as my machine is off, they turn on me. Now, it will be pumped directly into their brains!"
"Why don't you just give it up, Brian?" Mike shouted from across the room. He and the other Monkees were locked in a cage against the wall. Clive and John were standing guard in front of it.
"Your brainwashing didn't work. People have free will you know." Davy added. "Even Peter."
"And where did you get that chair?" Micky taunted, "Did San Quentin have a yard sale?"
The other Monkees laughed at Micky's joke, but the scientist did not. Brian turned to his men.
"Bring the comedian over here." He ordered.
Clive and John unlocked the cage, pulled Micky out, then locked the cage once again. Clive put the key in his pocket. They dragged Micky over to the chair, forced him to sit, and strapped him in. Brian handed the metal hat to Gary and he put it on Micky's head, then strapped it under his chin.
Taking advantage of the distraction, the other three Monkees huddled together to form a plan to save Micky.
"Now, Monkee number one." Brian said sternly, folding his arms and standing in front of Micky. "This chair will either put you in my power forever...or it will kill you." Brian smiled evilly. "I suppose there's only one way to find out."
"That's murder, Brian!" Julie exclaimed.
"I think of it as a regrettable casualty in the name of science." Brian replied, walking over to his electro-thought machine.
He sat down grandly upon his machine and with a dramatic air pounded the keyboard?but no sound came out at all. Brian looked for the reason why...and found that Julie had her finger on the off button. The mad scientist looked sharply at her.
"You would betray me now?" He asked angrily.
"Now?" Julie smirked. "Who do you think dropped that sandbag on your circuit box?"
"You?" Brian growled. He stood up and pushed Julie to the floor. Then he switched his electro-thought machine on.
"I'll deal with you later!" Brian shouted at her as he sat down again.
Meanwhile, the other three Monkees were in action. Clive and John were in front of the cage once again, watching the argument between Brian and Julie. Suddenly, the arms of Mike and Peter came out of the cage and around their necks. Mike and Peter banged Clive and John's heads against the bars of the cage, stunning the two men. Davy reached into Clive's pocket and pulled out the key, which he quickly used to open the cage. While Clive and John were stunned, the three Monkees rushed out of the cage and charged Brian.
Mike and Peter tackled Brian and knocked him off his bench, while Davy pulled the metal cap from Micky's head, then pulled the wires from the machine.
"Ow! Watch my hair!" Micky exclaimed.
"Better your hair than you, mate." Davy replied as he began working on the straps around Micky's arms.
Gary had now joined the fight and now he and Brian struggled with Mike and Peter. John and Clive finally shook off their blows and rushed to join the melee.
Davy now had Micky free and when John and Clive rushed over, both Monkees, as one, punched the two in the jaw, knocking them out.
Gary finally knocked Peter and Mike away from Brian. The mad scientist rushed back to his electro-thought machine and began to play, but the Monkees also ran over to the machine, holding down the keys, pulling out the stops and pushing levers. The cacophony of sound began to magnify and the whole house began to shake.
"STOP!" Brian yelled, "You're destroying my house!"
"GOOD!" Micky shouted back, then punched Brian in the nose.
Gary tried to push the pull the Monkees away from the machine, but was unsuccessful. The noise in the laboratory grew even louder, then one of the glass tubes hanging from the ceiling came loose and crashed to the floor. Pieces of the ceiling also started to come down on everyone, and the walls began to crack too. Chocking dust began to fill the air as the house began to collapse.
"Monkees, come on!" Julie shouted to them, "This way!"
The Monkees left Brian and his machine and followed Julie across the floor, ducking ceiling tiles as they ran. Julie opened the wooden door and motioned for them to go up.
"Once you get to the top of the stairs," She said, "Follow the hall to the left and it will take you to the front door."
"What about you?" Peter asked.
"I'll be right behind you four." Julie replied, coughing, "Now go!"
The Monkees obeyed and ran up the stairs, Micky going last and taking Julie's hand.
Brian finally shut the power to his machine, but it was too late. The weakened laboratory walls began to buckle and collapse on the mad scientist and his men.
As the Monkees got to the top of the steps, the house gave a mighty groan and began to collapse around them. In the confusion, Julie's hand slipped from Micky's as they tried to get out of the house. Finally, they reached the front door and burst outside as half of Brian's house collapsed behind them. The four men ran to the street, when Micky made a horrible discovery. Julie wasn't with them! Micky looked around frantically.
"Julie! Julie!" Micky shouted, trying to see Julie in the dark night.
"She's still inside." Davy whispered, "Oh no."
"Let's go!" Micky ordered the others.
Without a word, Mike, Peter and Davy followed Micky back to the house. They climbed over the rubble filling the front door and the hall, calling Julie's name the whole time.
"She's gotta be alive, she's GOTTA be!" Micky cried, looking around.
"We'll find her Micky." Mike promised, "We'll get her out of here."
Suddenly, the four men heard a faint pounding a short distance away.
"What's that?" Davy asked.
Micky held his hand up for silence and the sound of pounding could be heard again.
"It's coming from over here!" Micky exclaimed.
The Monkees ran over to a wooden door lying on the ground, covered in rubble. The pounding was louder this time.
"Julie?" Micky shouted.
"Help!" Was the faint reply.
"We're coming, Julie, hold on!" Mike yelled.
Very quickly, the four Monkees had the rubble cleared from the door and as one lifted the door from the ground. To everyone's immense relief there was Julie, scratched and dusty, but very much alive! She had been caught under the top stair door as the house had collapsed and it had saved her from being crushed.
The Monkees tossed the door aside, and with a cry of joy, Micky reached down, picked Julie up and carried her out of the house. The other Monkees were right behind them. As soon as they were clear, the rest of Brian's house collapsed. If the Monkees had been a little slower in finding Julie, she would've been buried under a lot more rubble. Once out on the street again, Micky gently set Julie on her feet and held her close.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?" Micky asked.
"Yes, thanks to you four." Julie smiled.
"We weren't going to leave you behind after all you had done for us." Mike said.
"So thank you, Julie." Micky said softly and then he and Julie kissed. The other Monkees came closer and gave the two a group hug. The tender moment was interrupted by further collapse of Brian's house. Peter then spoke up.
"Maybe we should look for Brian and his men." Peter said, "I know they were bad men but we still just can't leave them..."
As Peter was speaking, the sirens of police cars and fire engines could be heard coming closer to them.
"We can't do that now, Peter." Mike said, looking in the direction the sirens were coming from. "We'll have to let the rescue crews do that."
"Mike's right, Peter." Julie added, "There's no way we could explain ourselves dressed like this." She said, indicating their nineteen-fifties clothing.
"Let's go back to the pad." Micky said, turning to Julie and taking her hand. "It's not far. We can get cleaned up there...and talk about us." He finished with a smile.
"I would like that." Julie smiled back.
With that, the five of them ran away from Brian's house as fast as they could.
~~~~~~~
What the Monkees and Julie didn't know is that their escape had not gone unnoticed. Standing in a grove of trees a short distance from the house, Brian, Clive, Gary and John silently watched as the five ran away. When the house began to collapse, the four had escaped the laboratory through a secret passage to the outside. They were also dusty and scratched, but otherwise uninjured.
"There they go, running down the street." John said sourly.
"Want us to go after them, sir?" Clive asked his boss.
Brian shook his head. "No, let them go. I know when I've been beaten." He turned to his men. "I realize now that my machine is far from perfected. More work must be done. Still, this was an important step in my research of mind control. I know it can be done, if only for a little while."
"What do we do now, sir?" John asked this time.
"First we get cleaned up, then I'll deal with the police." Brian answered, "I know a friend who will take us in." He gestured through the trees. "Let's go, gentlemen."
Clive, Gary and John turned and began to walk away. Brian began to follow them, then stopped and turned once again and looked at the retreating Monkees and Julie.
"Goodbye, Julie." Brian said quietly, as he wiped the blood from under his nose. Then, as the first police cars and fire trucks arrived, he turned and followed his men as they disappeared into the trees.