iFloat Weightless :: I
Contents
Chapter 1 Rocket Surgery
It was one boring day in Carly Shay's life as a junior at Ridgeway High, a normal school in Seattle.
She returned home to the family loft at 8C Bushwell Plaza.
Her brother and guardian Spencer was sleeping on his couch.
Carly woke him up. "Shake your booties!"
Spencer shrieked. "I've just been dreaming of that girl again."
Carly scratched her chin. "Which girl?"
Spencer sighed. "The anonymous mystery girl that had haunted me while you were visiting the NASA cast." 1
Carly shrugged. "Come on, she was just a nice little girl. She had lost her way and..."
Spencer did not believe it. "She was a nightmare..."
Carly shook her head. "Socko's uncle-in-law should go back to shrink school."
Spencer shivered.
Carly sighed. "Why did I have to flunk the greatest chance on earth so badly ... become the first web-show-host in space?"
Spencer shrugged. "Once I have a real interplanetary cruiser from Galaxy Wars ..."
Carly moaned, "give it up!"
Spencer whimpered with disappointment.
The door bell rang.
Carly went in order to open it, but the door opened itself.
Same walked in. "Hi! Where's the ham?"
Spncer squealed, "in the fridge, the spot that usually hosts the cheese, although it's properly made for storing vegetables."
Sam went to the refrigerator, opened it mercilessly, and emptied it in one swipe.
Carly grunted, "Sam, these are our purchases from Schneider's Grocery for the whole week!"
Sam belched.
Freddie showed up in the door frame. "When will you ever repair the door chain?"
Sam explained, "door chains are pointless. Already my grandpa was able to chop them with his bare hands." She grinned.
Freddie shrugged apathetically.
Sam grinned, "hey, my mom just had another laser surgery 2. Her plastic surgeon, Quinndelyn Pensky, has got some news for us."
Freddie moaned, "I don't need any surgery."
Carly wondered, "what news?"
Sam explained, "Freddie will need some complete facial surgery when I'm done with him. Quinndelyn, on the other hand, works for the NASA ..."
Carly asked, "she performs surgeries on the astronauts?"
Sam shook her had. "She works also as a rocket scientist."
Freddie wondered, "Rocket surgery?"
Sam punched Freddie's shoulders hard, making him scream. "No, you dork!"
Spencer beamed. "I've seen some rocket engineer in Galaxy Wars VII ..."
Carly shrugged. "We're not talking about movies."
Sam continued, "well, it looks like another chance to air iCarly from outer space."
Freddie gasped.
Carly screamed.
Spencer told Carly to calm down.
Freddie said, "how's that possible? The guys that wanted to hire us last time ..."
Sam shrugged. "Some of Quinndelyn's younger friends are total iCarly fans."
Carly shrugged. "I've simply got too many fans..."
Sam bellowed, "they are all my fans."
Carly and Sam started bickering.
Freddie had to pull them apart.
Sam declared, "we may even be the first web show made on the moon. Of course we will first explore what Quinn calls orbit. But if it goes well, we may qualify for the moon."
Freddie, Spencer, and Carly glared at each other.
Sam wondered, "but are there many fried chicken wings on the moon?"
Early next morning, even ere the rise of sun, Spencer started singing about Carly in the space. But he also heard strange voices in his head.
The voices belonged to the little mystery girl.
She had not been talking anything during her haunting visit.
But Spencer had got precise patterns of her voice in his head.
His shrink had declared the girl a product of his subconscience.
Spencer was mourning over the loss of Carly as a little girl.
She was not only growing older, but she was also leaving home more and more often. In only ywo years, she was going to leave home for college or so.
But seeing Carly fly to the moon was going to be even worse.
The moon was the centre of many of Spencer's secret `lunatic' superstitions.
He was especially afraid of full moon. He didn't want to start a new sculpture or do many other things during certain moon phases.
What if Carly was going to stuck their during full moon?
That was so embarrassing.
Spencer's head kept on spinning round like a broken record.
Carly, Freddie, and Sam were sitting in Spencer's loft.
Spencer was on a date with `Card or Cash' Veronica 3.
The door bell rang out.
Carly walked to the door, opening slowly.
Sam stood behind her, hurling aloft a baseball bat for all cases. But she recognised the visitor. "Quinn!" She dropped the bat on carly's toe, making her twitch for a moment.
Quinn Pensky entered. "Hi! I'm Quinn. Some of my younger friends like your web show, especially one Dustin Brooks. He always blushes a shade of deep crimson when watching your show. You are using some of my inventions, such as the green screen. I've also invented your sound mixer and your web show manager software. It was developed on Quinndoze QP 4."
Freddie and Carly gasped.
Sam shrugged. "Hi Quinn! These are my `friends'. Fredweeb and Carly."
Carly and Freddie shook hands with Quinn.
Sam wondered about Freddie's posture. "What's up, dweebwart?"
Freddie stammered, "she looks much too young for a rocket science and a laser surgeon!"
Carly guessed, "she must have performed some surgery on herself, making her look younger."
Sam shook her head. "Quinn graduated from high school last year. She went to Pacific Coast Academy, the same school as Melanie 5."
Freddie grunted, "there is no Melanie!"
Sam chuckled. "Aw dumbwart! Then you won't believe in my other twin sisters, Trisha 6, Prodigy 7, and Pinky 8 either."
Freddie shook his head. "No way! One Sam is worse than enough."
Quinn pouted, "hey. I'm really only twenty years old."
Carly and Freddie looked aghast.
Quinn explained, "I've started practising surgery, such as kidney removal, before the age of thirteen. 9. I've practiced eye lasering on one of my former boyfriends, Mark Del Figgalo, at the age of seventeen. 10 've p=been perfect at replairing planes at the age of sixteen. 11 I'm really only twenty years old."
Freddie and Carly had got a very hard time believing it.
Quinn continued, "when I divorced from my ex-husband Logan Reese, he bought me shares of the NASA, hoping to never see me again this way."
Freddie puked.
Carly tried to sum it up. "So, you're only twenty years old, but already a surgeon, a rocket scientist, married and divorced?"
Her head hurt.
Quinn nodded solemnly. "I'm also an expert for microbiology 12, chemistry 13, genetic engineering 14, laser physics 15, ..." She listed a long litany of her achievements in an acribical manner, making Freddie faint like cheese.
Carly tried to comfort flabbergasted Freddie.
Alas, Sam concluded, "Freddie is just envious because he's too dumb for rocket science and surgery at the same time."
Freddie grunted with disgust.
Quinn took a closer look at Carly. "Hey, you look almost like a girl that beat me twice at science fair. Her name is Paige Howard 16."
Carly fainted.
Paige was one of her cousins, the daughter of dad's sister and the younger brother of Mr. Howard, thier evil homeroom teacher.
Carly had never mentioned that fact unto Freddie or Sam. Otherwise she would have had to admit that she was thus indirectly related to their most hated teacher. She would hardly have survived that.
This would have been unbearable for Carly.
Sam wondered, "isn't Logan Reese the son of Hollywood producer Malcolm?"
Quinn nodded solemnly. "He's a total jerk. But, fortunately, that's now history."
Sam shrugged. "I would have waited for him to die and walked away with all his money."
Freddie wondered, "Logan can't be much older than twenty."
Sam shrugged. "So what? There are many ways to speed it up. My uncle Carmine 17 is an expert for..."
Carly ordered Sam to shut up.
Quinn sighed. "I'm content with what I got. Logan has always had other girlfriends, and he will always be a jerk. I should have known that before the marriage. Fortunately, the annullation was no problem."
Freddie, Sam, and Carly nodded solemnly.
Alas, they had to keep it a secret from Carly's grandpa and from Freddie's mom.
Both of them were opposed to sending those kids into the space.
Hypochondrical Mrs. Benson would have lost her mind completely just by thinking about such a possibility.
Quinn announced. "If you're still interested... medical checks will start next Saturday in Malibu, on the campus of Pacific Coast Academy!"
Freddie, Carly, and Sam nodded cautiously.
Quinn waved and walked ouyt again.
Freddie was still left in a mighty daze. "I've worked so hard in order to achieve a few things in the technological sector, and then comes some Pensky and performs everything with ease, as if there was no challenge ... That's totally frustrating."
Sam cackled mercilessly. "You had it coming, Freakward!"
Carly thought, "how long will I be able to remain silent about cousin Paige, a grandaughter of the horrortrip of a teacher?"
And Quinn Pensky could be really scary.
Think about it!
How many women at the age of twenty were experts for rocket science and laser surgery, plus already married and divorced?
Was there anything fishy?
Carly thought about asking Paige about Quinn, but she needed to do that secretly in order to avoid Freddie's and Sam's possible curiosity.
Sam shrugged. She had never seen her friends that much consternated. But she didn't care. She was going to be the first person stealing something on the moon.
1 cf. iCarly : iSpace Out 2 cf. iCarly : iMust Have Locker 239 3 cf. iCarly : iMake Sam Girlier 4 cf. Zoey 101 : Favor Chain 5 cf. iCarly : iTwins 6 cf. Zoey 101 : Bad Girl 7 cf. Best Player 8 cf. True Jackson VP: Amanda Hires A Pink 9 cf. Zoey 101 : Prank Week 10 cf. Zoey 101 : Trading Places 11 cf. Zoey 101 : Hot Dean 12 cf. Zoey 101: Quarantine 13 cf. Zoey 101 : New Roomies 14 cf. Zoey 101 : Backpack 15 cf. Zoey 101 : Chase's Grandma 16 cf. Zoey 101 : Paige At PCA 17 cf. iCarly : iLook Alike
Chapter 2 The Test
Mrs. Benson had just signed her consert for Freddie's participation in a tick bath program in Malibu.
Actually, it was an epistle from Quinn Pensky.
Marissa had thusly allowed Freddie to participate in the space project.
Now the kids were getting their belongings together.
Carly smiled. "Freddie, do you think this dress to be a bit too ... dary for a space project?"
Freddie's eyes bugged out. "You should definitely wear it ... think of us two alone in a rocket ..."
Carly shrugged. "You know, Sam will be with us ..."
Freddie moaned, "the Portuguese girl in our class has told Sam about the moon being made of green cheese. Now Sam is unstoppable. But maybe Melanie may replace her. If Melanie exists, that is. I doubt that she does! Just me and the two of you ... in a rocket to the moon ..."
Carly shrugged.
Sam walked in. "I wonder whether green cheese of the moon tastes like Wisconsin cheese or like Parma cheese."
Freddie grunted, "it tastes like Gibby's nipples!"
Sam groaned with disgust.
Carly giggled.
Spencer came down from his room. "OK, Socko has made me some special rocket socks."
Carly grinned. "So you're optimally prepared for taking us to Malibu ..."
Spencer cheered gleefully. "We're also borrowing his van."
Spencer halted his craft at the students' drop of Pacific Coast Academy at Malibu Beachm, the most beautiful site of Greater Los Angeles area.
The kids held one of Robin's wieners 1 in their hands.
At least their van did not yet get stolen.
Carly remembered painfully the day of the loss of said van in the forests of Washington. She believed bigfoot behind that theft. But she had never been able to prove it.
Sidney van Gurbin, the guy who had made Carly believe in bigfoot in thenfirst place, was certainly a reckless charlatan.
But that did not make bigfoot a lie, did it?
Fortunately, Sam's poachery skills had kept Carly, Spencer, and Freddie alive for several days.
Finally, they had found their empty van.
Only Spencer's cellular phone was left. Fortunately, he had a sattelite module.
Otherwise it would have been impossible to use the cellular phone in the middle of the forests of nowhere.
Spencer had informed Socko, requesting urgent help.
Ultimately, officer Carl 2 and Stu Stimpler 3 picked the gang from the forests.
Spencer had to pay a tough fine for his deeds, such as poachery and illegal pollution of the environment.
Needless to say:
The officers neither believed in bigfoot nor in beavcoon, Spencer's favourite cryptic animal.
Alas, Carly also believed in some intergalactic goat 4. She was hell bent to encounter it during their future space trips.
Quinn had already been expecting the kids from Seattle. "OK, Melanie will onl;y come later on ..."
Freddie grunted, "ha, there is no such thing as a Melanie!"
Quinn glared at Freddie. "Hey! I'm not lying about Melanie!"
Suddenly, a girl in the likeness of Sam showed up behind Fredward Benson. She wrapped Freddie's farce with her hands. "Guess who?"
"Sam," grunted Freddie, "get your dirty hands off me!"
Sam grunted, "I wouldn't touch you with a ten-foot-pole, Dweebward!"
Melanie removed her hands. "Freddie? You don't remeber?"
Freddie gyrated his head, turning dizzy.
One Sam was more than enough.
But Freddie hadn'r drunk from Spencer's beer. How could he see Sam twice?
Melanie grinned. "Freddiepettie!"
Sam grunted, "egad!"
Freddie collapsed.
Quinn sighed. "If that little makes him break down, how will he bear the lot?"
Carly coughed. "What?"
Quinn whistled innocently. She knew more of Sam's alike-looking relatives, such as Trisha Kirby, Pinkuy Turzo, and Prodigy. "Melanie will take Sam and Carly to her dorm. Fredward will share a dorm with Dustin and Reuben 5."
Freddie had just recovered from his daze. But he was knocked out again by hearing about ununderstandable Reuben.
Spencer yelled, "what about me?"
Quinn cackled. "one of the teachers here will host you, some Coach Keller!" She sent Spencer the coach's way.
Freddie was done with his luggage and returned to the campus square. He was thoroughly concerned about Dustin Brooks, his new competitor. And he was totally annoyed to death by Reuben.
Quinn already waited for the kids from Seattle. "OK, Freddie, you want to be the first going through my tests?"
Freddie trembled.
Quinn grabbed him and forced him to sit down on a chair with many buttons. 6 "This will simulate various motions of the space sship." She tied Freddie to the chair.
Freddie's teeth rattled like an asp's tail.
Quin talked about the construct. "I've already used that in order to try to cure some pal of mine, Michael Barret, from his fear of rollercoasters. He went straight through the wooden door across the square. Custodian Banville has now replaced with with some iron gate."
Freddie shivered even more.
His mother had never allowed him to go on a roller coaster ride. Maybe she was not quite unreasonable.
Along came Shelby Marx. The martial power girl was a cousin of Quinn's pal Lola. "Hi!"
Freddie's heart beat faster. He was now over having got another competitor for Carly.
Quinn grinned. "Shelby, he's yours now!"
Freddie beamed with delight.
Shleby cackled diabolically. She grabbed Freddie's head and blindfolded him mercilessly. "It will be a lot easier this way."
Quinn nodded. "OK ... five ... four ... three ... two ..." She pulled a trigger.
The machine started vibrating.
Quinn announced. "A left curve!"
Freddie screamed in excessive agony.
Carly and Sam returned from their dorn.
Sam cackled with delight. "Aw ... who is afraid of curves?"
Quinn looked at some diagras generated by the machine. "OK, I think he's ready for the next level ..."
Shelby boomed, "yes, he is!"
Freddie's scream increased in intensity.
Quinn cranked a wheel.
Freddie's heart almost stood still.
Shelby shook her head. "That's too much for the poor dork!"
Sam pouted. "It's already over?"
Quinn sighed. She reduced the power.
Shelby untied Freddie, releasing him from his chair of terror.
Freddie tried to walk. But he was still blindfolded. Nevertheless, he made his way straight into the heavy steel gate. He whimpered with increased pain and started weeeping like a baby.
Sam cackled with ultimative joy.
Carly grabbed Freddie. "Oh my goodness, what has Quinn done to you?"
Freddie didn't answer.
Quinn took notes. "In three days, he will be able to consume solid food."
Carly was the next to be `tortured'. She was not in a good mood.
Shelby fixed Carly to the chair. "It won't hurt you!"
Carly wasn't sure.
Dustin showed up. "Don't dare to hurt Carly!"
Quinn shook her head. She started the engines.
Carly squealed joyfully when she was shaken all over. She went through level one and two with ease.
Alas, level three was too much for her.
Shelby had to untie her. She also stepped in Carly's way, preventing her from reaching the iron gate.
Carly sighed with relief. "It was harder than I thought ..."
Shelby nodded. "I once tried that thing ... I was sent into the iron gate, but I broke it with one kick."
Carly was impressed. "OK?"
Finally, Sam was the last one to be tested.
Shelby tied her firmly.
Sam refused to wear a blindfold. "A true Puckett is dauntless!"
Quinn shrugged. "As you wish ..."
Shelby fastened Sam's belts.
Quinn launched the engines. "Five ... four ... three ... two ..."
Sam yelled cheerfully, "Sam is the winner! Take this, you sky demon!"
Quinn cranked the wheel.
Level Two ... Level Three ... Level Four ... Level Five /// Level Six ... Level Seven ...
Sam showed no signs of vertigo.
Quinn was too tired to continue the whole thing. "Enough for today!"
Sam was disappointed. "But I'm now hungry. I need some sushi!"
Melanie guided Sam to Sushi Rox, a Japanese pub on the campus.
Sam grinned.
Carly tried to take care of barely conscious Freddie. "If he doesn't improve, will we still be sent into the orbit?"
Quinn shook her head. "Not unless you change to another tech producer."
Alas, Carly didn't want to do that.
Sam wouldn't have wanted anyone else, either.
Previous experiences with some Jeremy had been devastating. 7
Suddenly, carly recognised one of her cousins among the onlooking pupils. "Megan?"
Megan Parker, little sister of famous rock idol Drake Parker, grinned satanically. "Oh, hi Carly! You didn't know I'm now studying here, did you?"
Carly shook her head. "What a surprise!"
Freddie barely regained his consciouness. He saw Carly and Megan at the same time. He belived in his head being disordered, and he collapsed again, right on site. First a double dose of Sam, now a double dose of Carly ... and, god beware, maybe there was, some day, going to be a double dose of Shelby, or even of Quinn?
The next day, Quinn collected the trio from Seattle on the campus exit. "You know the site where the shuttle will be launched?"
Freddie replied, "Cape Canaveral, the standard seat of the NASA?"
Quinn shook her head. "No way. It won't be very far from here. We may even make it on foot to and fro in just one day."
Carly, Freddie, and Sam were curious.
Quinn showed the kids a map of the region. "We are here, down by the beach. That's where the barren slopes start. Ands there we have Redstone Gulch 8, also known as Death Canyon ..."
Freddie's teeth started rattling again.
Quinn explained, "we have found there the dead corpse of a former pupil of our school."
This struck Carly's stomach hard. "Sorry, Quinn, I feel like the necessity for a trip to the loo ..."
Quinn shrugged helplessly.
Sam smiled with glee. "Ilike places big enough to store a corpse, if you need to get rid of one."
Quinn showed Sam pictures of the rocket base at Redstone Gulch.
Sam grinned. "Cool! I can't wait for flying to the moon!"
Alas, the kids needed to spend some time in a geosynchronous orbit before admitted to a rocket to the moon.
But would they ever make it up there?
1 cf. iBelieve In Bigfoot 2 cf. iCarly : iWant More Viewers 3 cf. iCarly : iStake Out 4 taken from Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams, a book I don't own 5 cf. iCarly : iWin A Date 6 cf. Zoey 101 : Roller Coaster 7 cf. iCarly : iWill Date Freddie 8 cf. Zoey 101 : The Curse Of PCA
Chapter 3 Redstone Gulch
A few weeks later, Freddie had to go on an other `tick lotion camp', along with Carly and Sam.
Mrs. Benson grinned when she stuffed the suitcases into Spencer's motor caravan. "Too bad the camp is only for people up to thirty." She sighed.
The doors went shut.
Spencer started the engines.
Freddie grinned like a tickled hyena.
Of course they were going into a the space for the first time.
Quinn's tests had been all satisfactory.
Granted, Fredward Benson's values in the simulator had been anything but perfect.
Alas, being also an expert pharmacologist, Quinn was also able to invent quickly some medications against Freddie's vertigo.
The medications had not been tested as of yet, though.
But how many times had Freddie incorporated untested technology into the web show?
The green screen --- another invention by Quinn Pensky --- had been the first example of that sort. 1
Carly doubted the utility of all those experiments. She knew about many laws governing the motion of space shuttles and stuff from Mr. Howard's annoying lessons in geometry and physics. "But does the space shuttle know about all those laws, too?"
Spencer shrugged. "Quinn must have taught space shuttles, making them know about Kepler's and Newton's laws."
Sam sighed. "I am going to sneak some chicken wings into the shuttle."
Freddie protested, "Quinn told us about powdered food only."
Sam shrugged. "Why would I care?"
Carly moaned, "do you ever care?"
Sam shook her head with glee.
Finally, the kids arrived at Redstone Gulch, the site of the base for launching a space shuttle.
Quinn explained, "the space bace is built on the tomb of Charles Galloway 2, a former PCA student who died out here over fifty years ago. His ghost is still supposed to ..."
Freddie complained, "there's no such thing as ghosts and haunts!"
Sam boomed sarcastically, "like the space goat, this ghost is going to eat Fredwards." She didn't believe in ghosts or space ghosts, but she approved of anything able to annoy Freddie.
Carly trembled and shivered. She was terribly afraid of curses and haunting sites, and of course, the space goat.
Spencer sobbed upon having to leave Carly behind. But he needed to return tto Seattle.
Quinn explained, "spacequinnvaders dot com will keep you informed about Carly's progress, any time in any place. You may also play the video game with the same name in there. It works best with Quinndoze QP."
Spencer beamed. "I love video games. But my Canadian cousin Quincy 3 is even better." He was hellbent for beating the high scores.
Dustin Brooks, the secret adorer of Carly, stumbled into Spencer. "Hi! Have you already played Space Quinnvaders? I was so close to beating the high score currently held by Sasha Striker. 4."
Spencer grunted. "Sasha again? I had to struggle with her pacrat record score."
Dustin had heard of that. "She let you win. She has admitted that unto Sam's sister Prodigy 5."
Spencer gasped. Now he had one reason more to beat the high scores. "Prodigy?"
Dustin explained, "Sam has got more than just one monocygotic sister ... the Puckett twins have probably fooled you quite a few times."
Spencer coughed and choked.
Quinn asked Spencer, "OK, I've already asked you to take someone with you to Seattle, now thatyou're all alone."
Spencer nodded solemnly. "Who is it?"
Quinn pointed at some girl. "That's Stacey Dillsen. She graduated with me from PCA. She loves astronomy, that's why she helped to establish this base. But now she needs tro return to her vocational college for carpenters in Seattle."
Spencer shrugged.
Stacey started talking with a lispy voice, "hello Spencer Shay! I love that name! It contains many hisses. I love hisses."
Inspite of being annoyed by her lispy voice, Spencer replied, "great you like it ... OK, let's go!"
Stacey beamed and continued, "my name is Stacey Dillsen. I come from Swampscott, Massachusetts. My sister Susan works as a nurse at St. Steve's hospital in Sardis, Mississippi. I like to drink sassafras shakes. This telescope is my best friends. I like watchings stars like Venus, Saturn, Sirius, ..."
Spencer's ears hurt. But he had to keep his promises.
Carly hugged Spencer one last time before the latter's return to Seattle. "I will call you from out there!"
Spencer sobbed. "I will miss you ... maybe I will even have hallucinations of a girl of five years or so ..."
Carly giggled. "I don't know who the girl was, but you haven't just imagined her."
Spencer sighed.
Sam remarked, "I will get hallucinations of pork chops. I will just imagine Freddie consisting of pure pork. That will help me survive the trip."
Fredward shivered. "Sam wants to eat me!"
Carly chuckled.
Sopencer stood rigged and ready at his motor caravan.
Strictly spoken, it belonged to `Socko'.
But Spencer did not care.
Stacey loaded her stuff into the van.
Spencer sighed. "Don't scratch my sculpture, right in that corner!"
Stacey gasped. "You make sculptures?" She beamed.
Spencer nodded. "I'm a freelance artist."
Stacey smiled. "Quinn may have even mentioned that. I have made a sculpture of Redstone Gulch space base, using only cotton swabs and Grizzly glue 6."
Spencer grinned. "I want to see it!"
Stacey sighed. "It's already covered and wrapped ..."
Spencer shrugged. "OK, in Seattle, it is!"
Stacey beamed. "Do you know what I like most about Grizzly glue?"
Spencer guessed, "The z in grizzly?"
Stacey chuckled. "Grizzly glue fastens in a second and sticks for years. My old white glue forced me to count forever ... one Mississippi ... two Mississippi ... you know what I mean?"
Spencer understood Stacey's concern. "Waiting for glue to fasten can be a pain in the bowels."
Stacey shrieked.
Finally they were done with their luggage and ready for returning to Seattle.
The control centre for the space venture was located underneath the campus of PCA. It had served Quinn Pensky as a secret laboratory during her high school time.
The start of the shuttle was scheduled only for the two days later.
But the control room was not empty.
Nevel Papperman, archenemy of iCarly and half-brother of Quinn pensky, had snuck into the control room. He knew Quinn's passwords. Now he opened the front door for his girlfriend.
Megan Parker, Carly's alike-looking cousin, was the `lucky' one.
Nevel had been dreaming of Megan even before meeting Carly.
This circumstance had made him dary during the meeting with the web idol.
But he had been thoroughly disappointed. Only two years later did he see Megan Parker in a live report of a symphonic orchestra in Los Angeles, directed by master violoncellist Balthasar 7.
Megan played the oboe.
Nevel, on the other hand, mastered the recorder 8 and the piano 9. He was also a fledgling composer.
There was no doubt left about the following:
Megan Parker, and not Carly Shay, had been the girl of Nevel's dreams.
They had finally met at some summer camp for classical music.
Nevel pondered about all those levers, wires, and buttons.
Megan read the sketches and descriptions.
But now they were plaiing to get back at Carly. Alas, how were they going to do that?
Still at the space base, Quinn was now done explaining the whereabouts unto Carly, Freddie, and Sam.
The kids were now looking forward to the start.
Dustin had been watching. He did not want Carly to get lost in space. Alas, he did not dare to fess up.
Melanie deemed Dustin a little coward.
Suddenly, rock idol Drake Parker appeared at the space.
Quinn explained, "we wanted some music at the start of the shuttle."
Sam's eyes bugged out. "Drake!"
She swooned to no end, having been a passionate fan of Drake for many a year.
Drake hugged his cousin Carly. He couldn't quite express his awe.
Sam gasped. "You're related? And you haven't told me in six years? You knew how much ..."
Carly sighed. "I wanted you to be my friend on my own rights, not because of being related to Drake."
Sam grunted, "hey, that's not fair!"
Freddie poked Sam.
Drake continued, "my new record producer, Nicholas Cage 10 from Revolutionary Records 11, has organised me a new band, consisting of Harper Harris 12, Tori Vega, Lisa Perkins, David R. Couleda 13, and Jordin Sparks 14. This will be our first common performance."
Carly was overwhelmed. "Wow! What a bunch of stars!"
Quinn had organised everything through and through. "I just need to wait for a delivery of powdered uranium for powering the shuttle."
Cal 15, Quinn's boyfriend and dealer with uranium, was expected to show up in just a few hours.
Carly, Freddie, and Sam were convinced of everything running pefectly. They were looking forward to their great moment of floating weightless in the orbit.
1 cf. iCarly : iSpy A Mean Teacher 2 cf. Zoey 101 : The Curse Of PCA 3 from Best Player 4 cf. iCarly : iStage An Intervention 5 from BestPlayer 6 cf. Victorious : Tori The Zombie 7 cf. True Jackson VP : Saving Snackleberry 8 cf. iCarly : iGive Away A Car 9 cf. iCarly : iRue The Day 10 cf. Spectacular! 11 cf. Victorious : Birthweek song 12 cf. iCarly : iCarly Saves TV 13 cf. iCarly : iRock The Votes 14 cf. Bigtime Rush : Big Time Sparks 15 cf. iCarly : iGo Nuclear
Chapter 4 The Countdown's On
Cal had delivered the load of ground uranium right in time.
Now he was filling the power engine with it.
Quinn took a look at the boilerplate, i.e. the non-functional test-craft. "OK, this model worked very well."
Cal nodded. "I had already feared being forced to use Stacey Dillsen's cotton swab model. She has referred to it as a boilerplate."
Quinn chuckled mercilessly. "Stacey is such a spaz ... but, certainly, her cotton swab model has served its purpose, too. But now it is safely in Seattle."
Cal nodded. He wouldn't have wanted Stacey to interrupt the countdown.
Spencer was now left alone in hius apartment. During Carly's first chance of a space trip, he had got those `visions' of a little girl. He had explianed it with missing little Carly.
Alas, Carly had seen the anonymous girl as well.
Spencer went into his kitchen in order to fix a cup of coffee. He needed to stay awake until late at night in order to watch Carly's great moment at Redstone Gulch, the starting point of the trip into the `geo-and-something' orbit. Suddenly, he shrieked his living butt off.
There she was again: The little girl of his `imaginations'.
Spencer bounced around for dismay and despair. He pondered about calling shrink Dr. Paxil, uncle-in-law of his long-term pal Socko, again. But he was too excited to recall the number. He couldn't even recall Socko's number in order to ask.
Of course, the number was saved in his address book.
But Spencer was too excited and too desperate to even think about using the address book, let alone remember how to to use it. He sank onto his couch like a space shuttle aborted five minutes after its start.
Alas, there was one number saved in Spencer's brain, rigged and ready to be typed ant time. This number belonged to Gibby Carlsen, one of Carly's friends from sxchool.
Spencer and Gibby often hang out together in the absence of Carly, Freddie, and Sam.
So ... why not ask Gibby for help?
Maybe the girl was going to disappear in Gibby's presence.
Spencer's finger tips danced across the keys of his mobile device. He waited excitedly. "Pick up the phone, Gibs ..."
'"Charles Cornelius Gibson Carlsen?" replied the little freak.
Spencer sighed with relief upon hearing the voice of the bugger. "Hi Gibby,it's Spencer. I'm feeling a bit lonely. Do you want to come over? Together, we may watch Carly's, Freddie's and Sam's flight into the space!"
Gibby beamed. "Cool! But, unfortunately, if I go away, I will also have to take Guppy 1 with me. Mom is in a rehab program for distressed mothers."
Guppy was Gibby's little brother.
Spencer cxheered. "Fantastic! I mean, it's sad ... but OK, take Guppy along with you."
Gibby smiled and chuckled noisily. "OK, Spence, be there in half an hour!"
"Bye, bye!" He terminated the call.
There were now only a few minutes left until the spook's elimination.
Spencer just closed his eyes in order to be safe from noticing the anonymous little girl.
Thirty minutes passed in silence ...
Finally, the expected bell rang.
Spencer went to the door in order to open it. He beamed. "Gibby!"
Gibby and Guppy stood in the door frame, smiling insanely. Then they ripped their shirts off in a unison manner. "We've practised that. Ain't it awesome?"
Spencer nodded ."Oh, certainly, it is ... awesome ..." He plastered a fake smile.
Gibby slouched right to Spencer's couch.
Guppy followed him. Upon spottoing a bag of cheese flips, he grabbed some of them and stuffed them gleefully between his teeth.
It was now time for fixing the coffee.
Spencer went into the kitchen, secure in the knowledge of the mystery girl not showing up during the presence of visitors. Alas, he was sadly mistaken. He choked and coughed upon spotting the little wench. He squealed insanely, "not again!"
Gibby and Guppy startled at the noise. They followed Spencer into the kitchen.
Gibby grunted, "who's that girl?"
Spencer shrugged helplessly. "I've tried to ask her several times. She never answered!" He sighed with relief due to not being the only one having seen the lass.
Guppy looked at the little lady with gleaming eyes.
The little kids appeared taling by means of some sort of a sign language known naturally to little kids, but forgotten by teenagers and adults.
Guppy's eyes inflated really fast to heart-shaped balloons. He slowly approached the anonymous girl.
The lass made one step further towards Guppy and wrapped her arms slowly, but safely around the bare cheat of the little boy. She smooched him gleefully.
Guppy moaned and purred with excessive delighed.
Gibby watched his little brother with excruciating envy. "Why does that never happen to me?"
Spencer sighed with unrecoverable despair. "It never happens to me either."
Gibby and Spencer moaned unison with blatant despair, "we're losers!"
The little kids did not mind Gibby and Spencer. They kept on making out, mocking the bunch of no-good-for-nothings.
The losers crawled back to their couch. They started turning the laptop on and play a few turns of Space Quinnvaders until the start of the spaceship.
Spencer was close to beating the high score, previously held by Sasha Striker.
But Gibby had to interrupt him in the wrong moment. "What exactly is the name of my future sister-in-law?"
Spencer grunted, "I don't know!"
Gibby scratched his bare chest. "Maybe we should find out?"
Spence rsighed. "I've tried hard to ..."
Guppy and the girl laughed a lot about the double pack of losers.
Suddenly, a video inserted itself into Spencer's laptop.
Gibby wondered, "what's that?"
Nevel appeared. "Do you rue the day, Spencer Shay? Do you rue it? You rue it!"
Spencer screamed aghast, "Nevel Papperman! What are you doing here?"
Nevel grunted, "you would know more aboput that liottle girl, wouldn't you?"
Spencer nodded timidly. "do you know her?"
Nevel roared, "maybe? But I wouldn't tell you!"
Gibby begged Nevel to tell him.
Nevel bellowed, "you wish, you shirtless monster?"
Gibby pouted.
Spencer was desperate enough to beg, "you may even kiss carly if you tell me the girl's name! Charlotte will kill us if we don't figure the name of her futture daughter-in-law!"
Charlotte was Gibby's and Guppy's mother, as well as an unfortunate ex-lover of Spencer. 2
Nevel chuckled mercilessly. "Your problem! Besides, I've found something infinitely better than Carly."
Spencer coughed. "What?"
Megan crawled into the picture. "Hi Spencer!"
"Carly?" Gibby was flabbergasted.
Megan cackled with excessive glee, "aw, you shirtless boob!"
Spencer explained, "that's Carly's cousin ... Megan Parker!"
Gibby gasped.
Megan grinned. "Carly has already had her chance, and she has flunked it badly."
Nevel chuckled with glee. He picked his recorder. "OK, megan. let's play the moonshine serenade, suitable for XCarly's upcoming trip!"
Megan nodded. She unwrapped her oboe. "Best woodwind duet ever!"
The picture of Megan and Nevel disappeared.
Gibby urged Spencer to give an explanation.
Alas, it was all for no avail.
Spencer had not understood anything.
Gibby's cellular phone rang.
He picked it up. "Charles Cornelius Gobson Carlsen ... oh grandpa ..."
The old man told Gibby to be home in one hour.
Gibby sighed. "Sorry, pal ..."
They told Guppy about grandpa's call.
The little boy was excessively sad and started weeping.
Spencer was desperate. he was nbow, onece again, left with an unknown girl of six years.
Gibby and Guppy left through the elevator.
Guppy waved one last time sadly at his new girlfriend.
Gibby promised to come back and visit the girl again.
Spencer shuddered with increasing disgust.
The web site of the space project showed a few pictures of the engines of the rocket, and the outlines of the boilerplate.
Quinn and Cal explained a few technical details.
Cal had not introduced himself.
Spencer could just vaguely remember him.
The mystery girl glared at Spencer, making him nervous.
Spencer had got a different idea. He walked to his phone and typed a number.
Stacey's cotton swab model was still standing in Spencer's kitchen, as Spencer wanted to increase this work of art with his own means.
"Hello, this is Stacey Dillsen ..."
Spencer grinned. "Hi, Stacey! They are about showing my sister going into the orbit. Do you want to come over? We may start working on improving your sculpture right away!"
Stacey sqquealed, "sure! Twenty minutes ..." She screamed.
Spencer shuddered.
But Stacey's lisp was able to distract him from the anonymous girl.
Now he shut his eyes again.
Twenty minutes passed in silence.
Then the door bell rang.
Spencer opened for Stacey. "Hi!"
Stacey beamed. "I've bought some more Grizzly clue."
Spencer guided Stacey into his apartment.
The annoying little girl had disappeared.
Spencer just shrugged.
Stacey adored Spencer's sketch of the work of art. "Aw, what a space base! Much cooler than Cal's brass boilerplate."
Spencer coughed. "Cal?"
Stacey nodded. "Quinn's boyfriend ... he delivers all the materials required for the rocket and the space station."
Spencer banged his head against the wall,
That was the reason for Quinn's henchman appearing all of a sudden so familiar.
But was it a reason to worry?
Spencer shrugged. "Oh, Stacey, you may stay in Carly's room as long as she's gone."
This was maybe helping Spencer to get rid of the anonymous girl.
Stacey sighed. "I'd need to borrow Carly's pyjamas, her tooth brush, her ..."
Spencer nodded. "But of course!"
Stacey smiled.
Spencer showed Stacey to Carly's bedroom.
Stacey beamed. "My boss has worked on improving this room!" 3
Spencer gasped. "Your boss?"
Stacey explained, "the carpenter working here a few weeks ago ... I'm an intern in her workshop."
Spencer sighed. "Oh, cool, that one ... yeah, it was quite some work necessary pleasing Carly ... buy now the bedroom is really hot!"
Quinn talked again. "hello, Spencer Shay, before the countdown's on ... nothing is left to random, everything's working exactly as planned ... so ... do you have to say some last words to your little sister?"
Spencer coughed. Should he have told her about Stacey using her bed room? "Hi Carly, be back soon! And call me from out there with your cell!"
Alas, this was impossible.
"I will, Spence," replied Carly, "don't miss me too much!" She waved merrily at her elder brother.
Stacey was still in Carly's room. Now she returned to the couch in order to watch the coutdown.
Drake Parker and his new band accompanied the actions. "Five .. four ... three ... two ..."
1 cf. iCarly : iPsycho 2 cf. iCarly : iFix A Popstar 3 cf. iCarly : iGot A Hot Room