Episode 10, Wages of Fire writer – David Slaid

- At Quark’s Rictor Measurement Department, a scientist known as Thompson has dozed off in the middle of the night.

Thompson: (sleepily) Yes, sir. Whatever the monkey says, sir.

A disturbance in New Tronic City has Dr. Donovan call Thompson asking what’s going on..

Thompson: Why are you calling me?

Donovan: Because you’re a volcano specialist!

Apparently, a volcano situated under New Tronic City has erupted. BG and Rusty, of course, are on the case.

Which is good, because some children in Coldfield City Playground are trapped in a tree as magma is pouring out around them.

BG: Need a lift? (takes children to safety) Get these kids an ice-cold soda.

Dwayne notices that some magma is headed into town.

Dwayne: The lava’s gonna cream the hospital.

BG instructs Rusty to help him knock out the supports and blast the foundation of a nearby building so it can act as a buffer to protect the hospital and control the lava flow; unfortunately, Rusty accidentally causes the building to fall on top of BG.

- Dwayne is apparently unable to free himself because BG has shut down; there’s a breach in the power core..

Dwayne: Kid did it.

Jo: We’re on our way, Dwayne; sit tight.

Dwayne: Do I have a choice?

- Back near the hospital, regular officials assist the BG crew with retrieving BG, who warn them not to handle the power core sloppily; 400,000 U of Cobalt Thorium G is equal to 50 tons of nitroglycerine. Rusty is remorseful.

Rusty: I’m supposed to watch BG’s back, not nuke him, drop a building on him, and drop him in lava.

- At Quark (or the military base – at any rate, it’s some kind of meeting room), New Tronic City’s situation is assessed.

Mack: Talk about your city being a melting pot.

Apparently a large pocket of magma has formed under the city, causing the surface to crack up. Further eruption would cause New Tronic City to be destroyed and the planet covered in liquid magma. Thornton figures destruction of the magma would solve the problem, but it’s not like a nuclear bomb or nucleoprotons would work, since they are heat sources. Dr. Slate then realizes the obvious solution – a cold reaction bomb to disrupt the magma, like Cobalt Thorium G. Thorton suggests outfitting the Legend II, a Legend with more advanced systems, with two bombs (one as a backup) that BG and Rusty can detonate when at the heart of the magma.

BG: Lucky me.

Rusty, nervous about causing another accident, initially refuses to go.

Rusty: I’d just screw up again. You’re safer without me anywhere nearby.

BG: It’s going to take a lot more than a squirt like you to crack my nut.

- So BG and Rusty take off in the Legend II into the Earth with the cobalt bombs. Rusty watches BG’s rear.

Rusty: Just watchin’ your back, partner.

Down they go – at 50 miles below the Earth’s surface, the temperature reaches 404 degrees.

Dwayne: Good thing I have air conditioning.

Suddenly, the ship stops with a bang.

Rusty: BG, we hit something!

BG: No, son, something hit us.

It turns out to be some magma triceratops creature thingy.

BG: Never stop in front of a moving bus.

The magma creature disables the Legend by damaging its tread.

BG: Bumpy ride alert.

So BG and Rusty must get out and move the bombs by hand.

BG: No time for tea; we have a job to do.

Rusty (reads): Transport bombs manually and carefully.

As Rusty and BG are carefully trying to hold the bomb, some magma men begin to show up, threatening.

BG: Our welcome – we’ve overstayed it. (Magma men move in, threatening.) I’d shake, but my hands are full. (gives Rusty the bomb) Keep flying, I’ll cover you.

Rusty: But that’s my job! (leaves, sulking)

BG (to magma men): Stuffy down here; you fellas need ventiliation (begins firing those elbow machine guns)

- Rusty, meanwhile, is making good progress with the bomb until he runs into a magma man, who grabs at the bomb.

Rusty: Hey, that’s mine! Let go!

The unstable bomb detonates during the struggle, and Rusty ends up being abducted by the magma men. There are two hours left for the bomb to be detonated, and BG still hasn’t heard from Rusty

BG: I’m starting to feel the burn.

BG finally does stumble across something that appears to be the magma pocket, which looks like a generator thing.

BG: The big enchilada; and it’s obviously man-made.

Unfortunately, Rusty and the bomb are nowhere to be seen there; BG sets the other bomb to detonate in an hour and leaves to find Rusty.

- Rusty, meanwhile, is trying to reason with his capturers.

Rusty: Hey, there are people living on the surface world. Nice people.

BG, meanwhile, has spotted Rusty admist a crowd of magma men

BG: I’ll have to mix in with the locals.

Thus, BG covers himself with magma on the outside and marches right in, rescuing Rusty.

Rusty: I am such a loser. I can’t believe you had to rescue me.

BG: Just head for the nearest exit.

Too bad there’s a magma man there blocking the way, screaming gibberish at them.

BG: Chill out, Rocky.

Rusty: That means ‘ Destroy ‘em’ in magma man talk.

BG: I figured. Bad breath, we don’t have time for this! (begins fighting his way out) If you can’t stand the heat, get out of my way. (and) Had enough, Smokey? (and) All right, that tears it!

Rusty (trying to help out accidentally hits BG with a nucleoproton blast): I am sooo sorry!

BG: I’m getting used to it.

- BG and Rusty return to the main magma pocket just in time to see the bomb BG set implode prematurely.

BG: Duck and cover, kid! (looks at bomb remnants) They obviously didn’t read the manual on proper handling.

So the magma pocket will soon erupt and there are no more cobalt thorium bombs to use… or are there? BG suggests that Rusty remove his power core and put it into the pocket. Rusty, refuses, suggesting they use his power pack instead.

BG: Can’t use nucleoprotons; this hot pot needs an explosion of the cobalt thorium G variety.

Rusty has a crisis of confidence; after all the mistakes he’s made so far, he doesn’t think he can do all this on his own.

BG (reminding Rusty what he’s made of): Taxpayer’s dollars, American pride, and the sweat of an honest day’s work.

And the power core is ejected. And Lt. Dwayne begins to sweat it out at the Earth’s core without any power (air conditioning/ air).

Rusty: I won’t let you down, Big Guy. Not this time…

- And with that Rusty carefully transfers the power core into the magma pocket.

Rusty: Unstable… unstable...

And then fends off magma men and carries BG off as the power core begins to explode in the pocket.

Rusty: I can do it… I can do it…

And he successfully gets the BG to safety, just as Dwayne passes out from exhaustion/heat.

- Back at the Darkhorse, Rusty tells BG about his exploits, apparently to no avail..

Mack: Kid, he still can’t hear you.

- Dwayne, meanwhile, is recovering at the hospital. I guess he got injured in the suit somehow as well (?). Dr. Slate is with him.

Slate: How do you feel?

Dwayne: I feel glad the lava didn’t wipe out this hospital. How’s Rusty?

Slate: He can’t stop talking. I think he got his confidence back.

Dwayne: He deserves it. I owe him my life. A shame he’ll never know it.