Plutonium Princess

Excerpt from

Plutonium Princess

Chapter Ten

“Wheee!” Victoria squealed as the Incredicoaster came to an end.

Exiting the roller coaster, Tommy squeezed her hand and sang, “That was awesome!”

“I love how they themed the roller coaster after the animated film—The Incredibles.”

“Those dark tunnels they added to the roller coaster were so cool,” he said excitedly.

“I love how they projected the characters from the movie onto the curved walls of those dark tunnels. Mr. Incredible, Elastagirl, Violet, Dash and Jack Jack were right there in our faces.” She held the open palm of her hand in front of her face.

“I’m glad we did Toy Story Midway Mania before the roller coaster. I’d rather keep all that wonderful food and wine in my belly,” he said.

Quickly studying the map, she mentally planned their route from the Incredicoaster to Tommy’s surprise ride. She couldn’t wait to ride this and see Tommy’s expression when they got there. Pointing, she said, “This way.”

Shaking his hand, he said, “How does your hand not hurt after yanking that trigger repeatedly on the Toy Story ride?”

“I don’t do the practice round. I save my arm strength until the end when you can rack up big points on those plates. That’s how I get to the five-thousand-point plates. I’m surprised you didn’t notice that I wasn’t pulling the trigger at first,” she said with a surprised tone.

“Huh, that’s actually a great idea.” Shaking his head with frustration, he added, “You didn’t practice and you still beat me.”

After exiting the Incredicoaster, they meandered through Cars Land. Race cars at Radiator Springs whizzed by on a nearby track.

Pointing, she said, “We have FastPasses for Radiator Springs tomorrow.”

“Looks like fun.” He grinned.

They walked past Luigi’s Rollickin‘ Roadsters and Tuck and Rolls’s Drive ’Em Buggies.

They turned the corner, and a tall tower dominated their view. Victoria stopped in front of the surprise ride and stared up at the massive, thirteen-story structure. “Tada!” she sang, then turned to Tommy to gauge his reaction.

“Oh, my, God, I love you,” he said, elatedly, without taking his eyes off the ride.

“Me or Guardians of the Galaxy?” she chuckled.

“Both.” He kissed her cheek and squeezed her hand appreciatively.

They walked through the Stand-By entrance. “Only twenty minutes. That’s not so bad,” she said.

They slowly meandered with the crowd through a museum of The Collector’s collection. Oddities from the galaxy filled the room and gave them something to look at. Eighties music from the movie’s soundtrack played in the queue.

Tommy studied the oddities occupying glass cases. “This is so cool. I’m glad we didn’t have FastPasses for this ride.” He pointed towards the FastPass entrance which went directly onto the ride, bypassing the cool museum. “The FastPass riders don’t get to see all this cool stuff.”

The twenty-minute wait, more like ten, flew by. Rocket the Raccoon gave them instructions in a holding room. Their mission was to breakout the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Finally in the boarding room, Tommy studied the large service elevator they were about to board. With a whisper, he asked, “Why is this familiar?”

“Think about it,” she hinted.

His eyes lit up, he’d obviously made the connection. “Ah, yes, the Tower of Terror,” he referred to the ride in Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida.

They boarded the elevator with seats and buckled their seatbelts. Then the music started, and everyone in the elevator sang, Hooked On A Feeling. The elevator went up and down sporadically and opened up on different floors. At each level, different characters were projected in front of them as the passengers freed the Guardians of the Galaxy.

“That was awesome!” Tommy grinned ‘like a kid at…’

They exited the ride, which corralled them into the gift shop, and perused the Guardians of the Galaxy souvenirs. “I know, right? I hear that there are six different versions, each with a different song and different projections. You can ride it six times and get a whole new experience each time.”

He arched his right eyebrow and asked, “Are you up for it? The wait isn’t that long. We’ve got time to kill before the Pixar Parade.”

“Absolutely, but let’s get some t-shirts, the one you’re wearing is old and ratty,” she chastised.

“Hey, I love this t-shirt. It’s worn in. But I can always get another one.” Shrugging, he acquiesced.

They purchased their t-shirts and the soundtracks to both movies—Guardians of the Galaxy-Volumes 1 & 2.

Exiting the gift shop. Victoria checked the Disneyland app on her iPhone. She tapped on ‘my photos’ and a picture of her and Tommy smiling on the ride appeared. Puzzled, she asked, “Did you wave your magic band on the scanner beneath our picture when we exited the ride?”

“No, sorry, I forgot. Want me to go back? But it’s probably too late. They only give you about thirty seconds to scan your magic band beneath your picture,” he sighed.  

“No need, the picture magically appeared on our Disneyland app.” She showed him their picture on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Puzzled, she wondered how Disney knew they were there.

“Huh.” He shrugged.

“How did they know? We didn’t use our magic bands because we didn’t have FastPasses.” Puzzled, she racked her brain to figure out how this was even possible.

Holding up his blue magic band, he speculated, “The magic bands must have some sort of GPS tracking our precise location in the park.”

“But how did they know to send this exact picture to our app versus some other tourist?” she asked, feeling violated for this invasion of privacy.

“Magic.” He laughed.

Then a creepy thought filled her. “Facial recognition.”

“That’s scary.” He grimaced.

Laughing off the eerie notion, she said, “Remind me never to go into hiding at Disneyland.”

 Chapter Eleven

“Oh, I think I’m going to be sick.” Victoria ran to a trash can and vomited.

“I told you to take another Dramamine,” he said with his best, ‘I told you so’ tone.

Wiping her mouth with a tissue, she scolded, “Whose bright idea was it to ride Guardians of the Galaxy six times in a row?”

“I didn’t have to twist your arm. Are you okay?” Tommy retrieved a stick of Juicy Fruit gum from the side of his backpack and handed it to her.

“Thank you.” Quickly unwrapping the gum, she popped the juicy goodness into her mouth, rapidly chewing to get that God-awful vomit taste out of her mouth.

“I happen to have a vested interest in the taste of your mouth.” He kissed her cheek.

“I actually feel better.” Checking her watch, she said, “We better find a good place to watch the parade.”

He pointed to a nearby park bench conveniently located next to the temporary queuing ropes being erected by Cast Members. “How about you save our seats on the bench, and I’ll grab us a turkey leg and a beer.”

“Sounds marvy.” She kissed his cheek, then sat on the bench and plopped her fuchsia cinch sack next to her to save Tommy’s seat.

While he scurried off to procure dinner, she marveled at the beauty of the park at dusk. Lights on the Ferris wheel and streetlights turned on. Cast Members pushed carts of glow-in-the-dark gadgets for tourists to play with during the imminent parade. Children walked by swinging their recently acquired, Star Wars light sabers.

Little girls, dressed as Cinderella, Belle, Aurora and Rapunzel walked by. Their tiny tiaras topped the glittered buns on each of their heads. Victoria touched her crown—the one Tommy had bought her in Tokyo Disneyland. For the first time ever, she thought about having children. Tommy would make a wonderful father. She looked forward to bringing their children to Disneyland.

Spotting Tommy carrying two beers and a giant turkey leg, she said, “That was fast.”

Tommy handed her a beer and sat down next to her. “Cheers.” He toasted his plastic beer cup with hers.

“Cheers, what a great way to watch a parade.” She sipped her beer and hummed. “Mmm.”

Tommy yawned. “I’m exhausted.”

“We’re still on Asia time. I say we head back to the hotel after this.” She nodded to their nearby hotel.

“But it’s so far away,” he whined sarcastically.

She sipped her beer again. “What kind of beer is this? It’s hoppy, I like it.”

“Does it really matter? It’s some local IPA.” He sipped his beer, placed the cup on the bench and tore off a piece of turkey. He offered her the first piece.

“Thank you. I’m glad you only got one turkey leg because I’m actually not that hungry,” she confessed.

“Me neither, but I knew I would be soon. I’m sure you’d appreciate not having a starving, cranky butt on your hands during the parade.” He smirked.

The lights dimmed, and music played. Victoria whispered, “Shhh, the parade is about to start.”

The Pixar Logo Lightbulb led the parade. The theme song from the animated film Toy Story, You Got A Friend In Me, piped through the sound system. Next, the characters from Monster’s Inc.—Sullivan, Mike Wazowski and Roz—rolled around on wheeled contraptions. Next, the Incredibles stars—Mr. Incredible, Elasta Girl and Frozone—rolled on contraptions which resembled a cross between a flying saucer and a Segway. The characters from Inside Out—Joy and Sadness—passed by waving on a float. Then Nemo and Dory floated by, followed by the giant sea turtle, Crush, and his abundant offspring. The caterpillar from It’s A Bug’s Life rolled by, followed by ants swinging on floats. The melody from Cindy Lauper’s famous song, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun played. But they changed the lyrics to “Bugs Just Wanna Have Fun.”

“I wonder how much Disney paid Cindy Lauper to butcher her song?” Victoria asked.

“I’d accept a lifetime annual pass to all of the Disneyland Parks worldwide,” he confessed.

Next were the characters from Up—the old man Carl, the scout Russell, Doug the dog and a tinker toy version of Kevin, the female rare bird.

Bringing up the rear of the parade were all of the favorite characters from Toy Story. The green army men marched with precise synchronization, followed by the green, three-eyed aliens from the claw machine at Pizza Planet. A float with the rest of Andy’s toys, starring Buzz and Woody, finished the spectacular parade.

* * * *

“What a magical day.” She sighed as they exited the park. Luckily, their hotel was just a quick walk away.

Ping

Ping

After exchanging quizzical expressions, they silently acquiesced one another to check their phones.

Fox Breaking News—Scientists predict the ‘Big One’ is imminent in California. Intense seismic activity along the entire San Andreas fault could even break the western part of the state away from the Continental United States.

Chapter Twelve

Rumble

Victoria and Tommy shot up in bed the next morning.

“What the hell is that noise?” she asked.

“Thunder?” He stared at her with a bewildered expression.

Peering through the window, the early morning sun greeted them. “There’s not a cloud in the sky.”

Nodding down, he said, “It sounds like it is coming from the ground.”

The fire alarm blared, and they covered their ears.

Donning their hotel-provided white robes and slippers, they exited their room, then walked down several flights of stairs to the lobby. Droves of people exited the hotel.

“What’s going on?” Tommy asked.

“Earthquake,” a Cast Member said nonchalantly.

“Oh, my God! What do we do?” Victoria asked with a terrified tone. She’d never experienced an earthquake before.

“Just stand outside away from buildings.” The Cast Member’s tone was calm, like earthquakes were a normal occurrence. Apparently, they were in California.

Tommy and Victoria walked away from the hotel. The hotel pool was a safe distance away.

Rumble. Rumble. Rumble.

A huge crack in the Earth appeared. It started near the pool and continued away from them towards Disneyland.

As quick as it started, the rumbling stopped. Fortunately, the crack never reached the ‘Happiest place on Earth.’

“Look at the pool. The water drained away.” Tommy pointed.

“I thought the Earth was solid. Where did the water go?” Victoria asked.

Tommy rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger. “Well, actually, some people believe that the Earth is hollow inside, once you get through the outer crust.”

“Who believes that?” she asked with a condescending tone.

“Vernians believe that the Earth is hollow and that there is another world within the surface world.”

“My geology is rusty, but that sounds like a load of….” Victoria crossed her arms.

The empty pool revealed a giant crack, at least ten feet wide.

“Why don’t we find out?” Tommy pointed.

Her curiosity overruled her common sense. “We have our rock-climbing gear back in the room. I’d just thought that we’d use it to go up, not down.”

He studied the crowd of hotel guests walking away. “Looks like everyone is going back into the hotel. The earthquake must be over.”

An hour later, they returned to the empty pool, fully equipped to see what lay beneath the Earth’s crust.

Tommy shined his flashlight into the large crevasse. “It’s a straight drop to another level. I’ll go first.” Tommy secured the rope, then tested its strength. He rappelled down into the hole about two hundred feet.

“Come on down, there’s something shiny down here,” Tommy shouted.

You don’t need to tell me twice. Victoria couldn’t rappel herself down fast enough.

Tommy greeted her at the lower level of the large crack.

“That was fun. Now, where’s my shiny object?” Her jaw dropped. The walls sparkled. “Is that white gold?”

“No, it’s rhodium. It’s eight times more valuable than gold and nearly five-hundred times more valuable than silver. It’s used to coat gold in jewelry to make it shinier. They call it rhodium flashing.”

“How do you know so much about rhodium?” she asked.

“After you discovered the silver mine beneath Castle Garrison, I did tons of research on precious metals.”

“Nerd,” she teased.

“That’s not what you called me last night.” Tommy winked suggestively.

“Touché.” She smiled at the happy recollection of their nocturnal activities.

“In fact, Guinness awarded Paul McCartney a rhodium album. Since he sold a gazillion albums, he deserved something more than just gold and platinum albums.”

“Google much?” she teased.

Ignoring her quip, he said, “I wonder if Disney knows that there is a fortune in rhodium beneath their theme parks.”

“I hope they own the mineral rights, too.” She recalled the gem mine they discovered beneath Disneyland Paris.

Tommy retrieved a chisel from his backpack and broke off a piece. “For early retirement.”

“You can’t steal that!” she scolded with a smack on his knuckles.

Ignoring her, Tommy broke off several more chunks of rhodium.

Rumble!

“I thought the earthquake was over. I hope your chiseling slash stealing didn’t cause another earthquake.” Fear flew through Victoria.

The walls around them trembled. They clung to each other, terrified.

“Aftershocks?” he asked.

“This feels worse than the first one.”

The floor beneath them cracked open, and they slid down, and down, and down, thousands of feet.