by Mark Young
It was late, and the cafeteria was almost empty. Newton quickly piled his plate with slices of spongy brown meat speckled with green and red bits.
He squinted at a sign over the entrée and asked the lunch lady, “What exactly is . . . Memory Enhanced Meatloaf?”
She leaned closer to him. “Well, it doesn’t enhance your memory. It’s just made from yesterday’s burgers, so it’s like a meatloaf enhanced with memories of being a burger. Get it?” she asked in a low voice. Then she shrugged, “Well, I tried. Mumtaz likes us to get all science-y with the food, but sometimes you just want to make meatloaf, you know?”
“Uh, sure,” Newton said. He wasn’t sure exactly what the cafeteria lady meant, but the food on his plate smelled good. He glanced around for Theremin and Higgy but couldn’t find them, so he sat down at a table by himself.
As he finished wolfing down his meal, the lights in the cafeteria dimmed to indicate that dinnertime was over, and a small door opened in the wall beside Newton. Stubbins Crouch emerged and started cleaning the floor, riding atop a levitating sweeper. Newton nodded to the school custodian, then made his way out of the cafeteria.
Newton took the transport tube to the first floor and made his way down the hall.
That’s when he felt it again. A prickle in the back of his neck. He stopped as he noticed a shadow spilling across the linoleum tiles on the wall.
Newton spun around.
Someone—he couldn’t see who—ducked into a doorway.
Higgy, he thought, this time I’m sure it’s you. It was time he turned the tables on his troublesome roommate. I can get ahead of him! he thought.
Newton charged over to the door leading to the basement and hurried down the stairs.
One lone, cage-covered light bulb hung from the ceiling, casting dim light everywhere. Newton ran down the corridor and around a corner. He kicked off his sneakers and socks and jumped up, latching on to the ceiling with his grippy fingers and feet. Then he waited.
When Higgy turns the corner, I’ll jump down and scare him! Newton thought, pleased with himself. He stayed still, waiting for Higgy to turn the corner, when he heard a familiar voice behind him.
“Roomie?”
He turned to see Higgy oozing out of a vent in the ceiling behind him! Startled, Newton dropped to the floor.
“Cheater!” Newton said. “I was going to scare you when you followed me down here. But you took the vent, and not the stairs.”
“I wasn’t following you,” Higgy said.
“You don’t have to lie,” Newton told him. “I know it was you.”
“Cross my gooey heart and hope to die, I swear it wasn’t me,” Higgy promised.
“Then who was it?” Newton asked.
As Higgy shrugged, they heard footsteps. Frowning, Newton quietly made his way back to the turn in the corridor, and Higgy followed him.
Someone was coming down the stairs. The glow from the light bulb made it impossible to see what the person looked like. In fact, Newton realized, the dim light seemed to reflect off the person’s clothes—almost as though the clothes themselves were shiny.
“What do we do?” Higgy whispered.
“Let’s lose him,” Newton whispered back.
He and Higgy began to move through the underground maze of tunnels. Newton let Higgy lead the way. After all, Higgy knew the basement much better than Newton did, because Higgy liked to sneak around the school at night, searching for food to fill his always-hungry protoplasmic body.
They quickly made turn after turn, twisting and winding their way through the dark basement. They passed thick cobwebs, piles of discarded electrical devices, and moldy boxes containing jars filled with strange specimens. After five minutes, they stopped.
“I think we lost him,” Newton said.
“Or her,” Higgy added.
“Or it!” they said in unison.
“We don’t know what’s following you, really, do we?” Higgy asked.
“Good point,” Newton said. He peered around a corner, followed by Higgy who extended one of his eyeballs on a green stalk.
Down at the end of the hallway, the figure was still approaching. Newton stifled a gasp and turned to Higgy.
“What now?” Newton asked.
“I think we need to step up our game, roomie,” Higgy said as his eyeball rewound back into place. “Follow me!”
Higgy slinked up to the ceiling and climbed into a big metal air duct. Newton followed, using his grippy powers to climb up. They emerged onto the first floor, in front of the transport tube.
Whoosh! They got sucked up, but this time it didn’t stop at the cafeteria. It stopped on the roof. It was a warm night, and the last remaining rays of the sun cast a soft yellow glow against the dark blue sky.
Then Higgy ran to the edge of the roof and started to ooze down the side of the building. Newton walked to the edge and looked down. It was a long drop to the ground—and a tiny part of his brain was telling him that he should be afraid, but the rest of his brain won out. With his grippy fingers and toes, it was easy for Newton to climb down the side of the school building. When he reached the bottom, his feet touched soft grass.
“I hope whoever that was isn’t still following us,” Newton remarked.
“It would be highly unlikely,” Higgy agreed.
“Let’s get back to the dorms and really disappear,” Newton said.
Higgy nodded, and they were headed toward the path when Newton had that prickly feeling again on the back of his neck.
Someone was sticking a leg out of one of the first-floor windows—someone wearing shiny pants.
“It’s him, or it, or whatever!” Newton whispered to Higgy. Panicked, he ran back inside the school, and Higgy followed.
Newton recognized what he was feeling—Shelly would call it “freaked out.” He’d felt like this before, when he’d used the Predictive Virtual Reality Goggles. And he didn’t like the feeling one bit.
He ran up the stairs and into the first doorway he saw without really thinking—the entrance to the library. Inside, there were a few scattered students studying, reading holographic books, or having paper books delivered to them by new robotic conveyor belts that crisscrossed the large room. Instinctively, Newton moved toward the bookshelves and stopped to catch his breath. Panting, he pressed himself up against the books.
That’s when Higgy caught up to him.
“Newton?” he asked, looking around. “Newton?” Then he stopped and stared right at Newton. “Oh, there you are,” he said. “Shelly said you had camouflage abilities. Most impressive.”
“I’m doing it now?” Newton asked as he looked at his hands. He didn’t feel any different at all.
Higgy nodded. “You’re blending right in to that row of encyclopedias,” he said. “Our pursuer will never find you.”
“Can you see if we’re still being followed?” Newton asked.
Higgy nodded. “On it.”
Higgy flattened himself and slid underneath the shelves until he got to the end. Then he extended an eyeball out to scan the library.
“It’s a guy, and he’s wearing shiny pants!” Newton heard Higgy whisper.
“Can you see his face?” Newton asked.
“Let me get up a little higher,” Higgy responded. “I just need to . . . ow!”
Newton jumped down from the bookshelf. “Higgy! Are you okay?”
Higgy slithered out from under the shelf. He had a hand over one eye.
“Somebody dropped a book on my eye,” he whispered. “Sorry, I didn’t get a good look at the guy.”
A feeling of anger replaced the fear Newton had been feeling. “This has got to stop! Whoever it is, they can face me. Now!” he said.
Newton dashed out from between the bookshelves and into the central part of the library. There was nobody in shiny clothes in sight.
“I’m right here!” Newton called out as he looked around. “Whoever’s following me, show yourself!”
A library
drone instantly flew up to him. It hovered so close, Newton could see its metal clockworks whirring inside its plastic shell. It had helicopter-like propellers that whirred so quietly, the drones often startled anyone they approached.
“Quiet, please,” it told Newton in a clipped mechanical voice. “Shhhhhhhhhhh.”
“I know, I know,” Newton said with a sigh. “Come on, Higgy, let’s get out of here.”
“Can we stop by the cafeteria?” Higgy asked as they left the library. “I’ve seen some amusing cartoons in which a cold, raw steak is used to help a black eye. My goo is still green, but I could give that a try. And then I could cook it and eat it.”
“Sure, let’s go,” Newton said.
As they made their way to the transport tube, Newton looked around, hoping to see anyone in shiny clothes. Instead, he saw Theremin levitating down the hall, his eyes flashing angrily.
“Theremin! What’s up?” Newton asked.
“I’m super upset with Father, that’s what’s up!” Theremin replied. “I got a message from Mumtaz that he still won’t give me permission to use my portal pass!”
“That’s not fair,” Newton said.
“It’s more than not fair!” Theremin replied. “And I’m going to find him and stand up to him for once!”
Determined, Theremin leaned forward and zoomed down the hallway. Newton and Higgy exchanged glances and took off after their robotic friend. Newton wanted to make sure that Theremin was going to be okay, of course, but he was also curious about meeting Theremin’s dad.
Theremin angrily pushed through a door marked ROBOTICS LAB. Newton and Higgy followed him, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the heavy swinging door.
“Father! We need to talk!” Theremin yelled.
Dr. Rozika, a thin man with a head so bald it looked like a polished egg, looked up from his work. “Lower your pitch and volume, Theremin. I am trying to concentrate,” he said evenly.
Dr. Rozika’s eyes were so cold and piercingly blue that they made Newton shiver. Robots in various stages of construction were carefully displayed throughout the lab.
“Why won’t you let me use my portal pass?” Theremin said at a lower volume.
“Theremin,” Dr. Rozika said coolly, “I made you intelligent enough to answer that question yourself.”
“If that were true, I wouldn’t be here,” Theremin snapped.
Dr. Rozika sighed. “Well, if I must spell it out for you—as one of my most successful creations, I can’t have you transporting out of this school to go who-knows-where.”
“But I’ll have a virtual chaperone,” Theremin argued, then softened. “You could be my chaperone,” Theremin lowered his voice even more, “. . . Dad.”
Dr. Rozika frowned. “And take time away from my research? Don’t be ridiculous, Theremin. Now run along with your little friends and leave me to my work.”
Theremin’s red eyes began to burn more brightly than before. Sparks sizzled from his metal head.
“Uh-oh,” Newton said.
“I’m not a creation, I’m your SON!” Theremin yelled.
His head jerked to the right and two laser beams burst from his eyes, blasting one of the partially built robots. Zap! The robot’s metal body began to glow, then melt, and become liquid.
“Theremin, enough!” Dr. Rozika scolded.
Zap! Zap! Zap! Theremin attacked the prototype robots one by one, turning them all into molten metal. Dr. Rozika calmly stood up and set his piercing eyes on Theremin.
“This is very disappointing, Theremin,” he said, his voice like ice. “These robots you have just destroyed could have been your siblings. You should have known better. But I guess you’re just not that smart after all.”
“And whose fault is that?” Theremin asked. “You’re the one who programmed me!”
As Theremin angrily glided out of the room, Newton and Higgy quickly followed. Newton had to run to catch up to his friend.
“You all right?” Newton asked.
“No!” Theremin snapped. “Didn’t you hear? I’m stupid!”
Higgy reached them. “That was quite impressive, Theremin,” he said.
Theremin stopped. He blinked. “Really?”
“Most definitely,” Higgy said. “Excessive, yes, but still impressive.”
“Yeah,” Newton agreed. “You should be proud for standing up to your dad like that. He seems like kind of a . . .”
“Jerk is the word you’re searching for.” Theremin sighed. “A brilliant, award-winning jerk. And now he’ll never give me permission to use my portal pass. I’ll never know what it’s like to sense the chilly feel of snow on my circuits.”
“That might be a good thing,” Higgy said. “Water and electrical circuits don’t mix.”
“I was going to wear a jacket!” Theremin insisted.
The three boys headed to the dorm. Newton couldn’t help feeling sad for his friend. There had to be a way to help Theremin.
What was it his teachers always said? Newton would just have to use his noodle noggin!
CHAPTER 4
THE MAN WITH THE GREEN HAIR
“What exactly is this game again?” Newton asked Shelly the next day after school. “Coconut mess bull?”
Newton and Shelly were swept up in a crowd of students talking loudly as they streamed through the entrance to the school’s stadium.
“Chrono-chess-ball,” Shelly corrected him. “So, you have no memory of it?”
Newton shook his head. “Nope.”
“It’s based on three kinds of games: basketball, chess, and musical chairs,” Shelly explained. “The players make goals with a ball while moving like pieces on a chess board. Besides moving side-to-side or forward-and-back, some can briefly move backward and forward in time!”
Newton nodded, trying to comprehend.
Shelly smiled. “And everyone cheers for their favorite team.”
“Do we have a favorite team?” Newton asked.
“The Subatomic Scorchers,” Shelly replied. “That’s Theremin’s team.”
Newton scanned the students in the crowd. Some of them were wearing blue T-shirts or baseball hats with a lightning bolt on them. Others wore green fuzzy hats with monster ears.
“I get it,” he said. “People dress up to show what team they like.”
Shelly held up a blue flag with a white lightning bolt on it. “Or they hold signs or wave flags, like this one.”
The ramp opened up to a large outdoor arena. Newton followed Shelly to the far side of the stadium where they found seats about halfway up the bleachers.
In the center of the stadium there was a giant chess board with squares big enough for students to stand on. On each side, a giant coil-shaped basket hung in the air.
“Good afternoon, students of Franken-Sci High!” a voice rang out. Suddenly, an enormous hologram of Ms. Mumtaz’s head appeared in the center of the field.
“Today is a first-round match between the Subatomic Scorchers and the undefeated Megalithic Monsters,” she continued. “May the best team win!”
The crowd erupted in cheers as the players ran out. The Subatomic Scorchers wore blue shirts with the white lightning bolt symbol on them, and blue shorts. The Megalithic Monsters wore green furry shirts with pants that looked like dinosaur legs.
The players on each team took their positions on opposite sides of the board and sat down on a spot.
Tootie Van der Flootin sat on the back row of the Monsters side.
“Why are they sitting down?” Newton asked.
“The positions are based on the pieces in a chess game,” Shelly explained. “Tootie is the queen for the Monsters, and Rosalind Wu is the queen on the Scorchers side. That’s why they’re both wearing crowns.”
“The players line up the same on both sides,” Shelly went on. “Each team tries to protect their queen. Theremin is a knight. Just like in chess, the players can only move across the board in a specific way. Every time a player makes a move, he or she gets a chan
ce to make a basket by throwing the chronoball into their team’s coil at their end of the board. The more important the player, the more points they score. Pawns only earn one point. The game is played in four ten-minute quarters, and the team with the most points at the end wins. But if the ball hits the queen by mistake, one point gets deducted. And if the queen scores a basket, the game is over. Oh, and in every round, the players’ starting positions on their team’s side of the board are randomly shuffled according to a computer program, so there is always a new configuration.”
“It sounds complicated,” Newton admitted.
“Just watch. You’ll get the hang of it,” Shelly said.
Just then, Newton noticed that everybody was looking to the sky. A drone with a retracting metal claw flew over the field, clutching a round, glowing yellow-and-green ball that looked like it was filled with lightning or electricity. When it got to the middle of the field, the drone dropped the ball. Whoever caught it got to make the first move.
The stadium filled with cheers as one of the Monsters picked up the chronoball and made several zigzag moves toward the center of the board, and then tried to make a basket, but missed.
One of the Scorchers expertly caught the ball in one hand, but then Theremin scooped it up.
“Go, Theremin!” Newton cheered.
Theremin ducked and weaved around several Monsters and then chucked the chronoball. It flew out of his hand . . . hovered over the hoop . . . and then seemed to vanish as one of the Monster team members appeared out of thin air, jumped up, and knocked the ball away before it could go through the hoop!
“Where did he come from?” Newton asked, blinking his eyes in disbelief, as the kids in the Monsters bleachers jumped to their feet and let out a roar.
“The future,” Shelly shrugged. “Rooks and bishops can travel back and forth through time for exactly three seconds using the chrono-wheels they’re wearing. The Monsters rook must have seen Theremin score in the future—and went back in time to stop him.”
“That is awesome . . . and confusing,” Newton said.
Down on the board, Theremin didn’t look awesome. His red eyes were flashing uncontrollably with anger. This was one robot who didn’t like to lose.
