by Mark Young
CHAPTER 13
TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES
Newton, Theremin, and Higgy hurried after Shelly. They caught up to her halfway to the gym.
When they entered the pool area, they saw Flubitus stepping toward Peewee, who was still inside the containment bubble.
“Peewee!” Shelly yelled. The monster’s eyes immediately turned and locked on her.
Dr. Flubitus raised his arm toward Peewee. There was something in the professor’s hand! A prickly feeling of danger coursed through Newton. He charged up to the bubble.
“Flubitus! Get away from Shelly’s pet!” Newton yelled.
“Dear boy, it’s not what you think!” Flubitus called back, keeping his eyes on Peewee. “Well, at least I don’t think it is. I’m afraid I don’t know how to read minds quite yet. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Or would it be awful? It’s hard to say. Now, if I could just get this thing to work!”
Newton spotted the door to the containment bubble and ran toward it. Peewee turned as Newton burst through the door.
“Abbblrdrrrrpp!”
A ribbon of flames streamed toward Newton. He sprang up, adhering to the top of the bubble with his grippy hands and feet.
Dr. Flubitus zapped Peewee with something.
Poof! Peewee shrank to the size of a mouse. He still had blue fur, but now only two legs, two arms, two eyes, and little bumps on top of his head instead of spikes.
“Peewee, you’re back to normal!” Shelly cried, running in to the bubble.
“Abbblrdrrrrpp!” Peewee squeaked as he hopped up into Shelly’s open arms and began to purr.
Newton dropped down from the top of the bubble. He landed in front of Dr. Flubitus and saw that he had a remote in his hand.
“You deactivated the nanochip!” Newton said.
Dr. Flubitus nodded. “Yes,” he said. “Sorry it took me so long to make the correct calculations.”
Theremin and Higgy entered the bubble.
“Aha!” Theremin said, pointing a metallic finger at Flubitus. “You did steal the nanochip! And you programmed it to turn Peewee into a monster!”
“Yes,” he said. “But I never meant to harm the little one. Let’s go to my classroom, and I’ll explain.”
Newton eyed him suspiciously. “No thanks.”
“Anything you have to say to us,” Shelly added, “you can say right here.”
Dr. Flubitus sighed. “As you wish.”
“And you’ve got a lot to explain,” Newton said. “Why have you been following Shelly and me?”
“Why did you put the nanochip in Peewee?” Shelly asked.
“What do you need a cloning device for?” Newton said.
“And why is there a rubber chicken in your desk?” Theremin asked.
Flubitus nervously ran a hand through his green hair. “Let me begin with Newton’s first question,” Flubitus said as he looked at Newton and Shelly. “I was supposed to be watching over both of you, but you weren’t always together so it wasn’t possible. Then it occurred to me—if there were two of me, I could be in two places at once! Thus, my interest in the cloning machine. Without it, I just did the best I could by myself.”
“But why were you following us?” Newton asked.
Dr. Flubitus ignored that question. “As for Peewee, when I arrived at the school, I found Peewee trying to get inside. I recognized him as the monster you found at your family reunion, Shelly.”
Shelly gasped. “Have you been following me since last summer?”
Flubitus nodded. “Peewee didn’t track you all the way to Franken-Sci High. I brought him in with me, to help him find you, Shelly. I couldn’t reveal my real mission while I was trying to program the nanochip for Newton.” Flubitus turned to face Newton. “To protect you.”
Newton’s head was spinning. “Wait, wait, what? You were gonna put the nanochip in me? You wanted me to grow extra legs, arms, and breathe fire?”
“Don’t forget the spikes,” Theremin added.
“Well, I hadn’t quite perfected it yet. I was still working on the program when Peewee got a little hungry, and he ate the nanochip! When I started chasing him, the chip kicked in and he transformed into—well, you know the rest,” he said, nodding to Shelly.
Shelly snuggled Peewee. “That’s right. You were a big scary monster, weren’t you, Peewee?”
“Abbblrdrrrrpp!”
“So, I had to work out how to neutralize the chip,” Flubitus continued. “But all’s well that ends well, I suppose.”
“I don’t think it’s ended at all,” Newton said. “Mumtaz, Leviathan—they both said we should trust you. But you were gonna turn me into a gigantic, fire-breathing monster!”
“Yes, well, with the benefit of hindsight, that doesn’t seem wise,” he said. “But you see, I really am just trying to protect you.”
“Protect me from what?” Newton asked, his voice rising. “You’re not answering my question!”
“He hasn’t answered my question about the rubber chicken, either,” Theremin mumbled.
“Oh dear me. It is tricky, you see,” he said as he ran his hand through his hair. “I have to be very careful about what I tell you.”
“Just tell us the truth,” Newton said.
Dr. Flubitus took a deep breath. “Well you see, Newton . . . Shelly, I traveled a great distance to protect you,” he said slowly. “A very long way.”
“A long way from where?” Theremin asked.
“The future,” Dr. Flubitus said.
“Whoa,” Higgy burped.
Flubitus stepped closer to Newton and Shelly. He placed his hands on their shoulders.
“Your future,” he finished. “And I’m afraid it’s not looking so good.”
Newton and Shelly turned and stared at each other for a very long time. . . .
Keep reading for a preview of
The Robot Who Knew Too Much
by
Mark Young
When his robot friend Theremin Rozika aces a test that he was really nervous about, Newton Warp is surprised to see that his friend looks sad instead of happy. Theremin’s father programmed him to never be smarter than his dear old dad: If Theremin begins to do well in one area of study, he immediately fails every other subject. So Newton and his friend Shelly Ravenholt attempt to reprogram Theremin, with disastrous results. Instead of making Theremin smarter, they accidentally make him speak in pig Latin! They’re forced to contact Theremin’s father, Dr. Rozika, to repair their friend’s code. Can they also convince him to give Theremin the freedom to succeed?
Continue Reading…
The Robot Who Knew Too Much
Mark Young
About the Author
Mark Young’s brain is most definitely the result of a mad scientist’s experiment-it simply refuses to function like other brains you might know. In the “real” world Mark makes a living as a multiple Emmy winner who has written and produced the animated movies, Once Upon a Forest and All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 as well as worked on a bunch of animated TV shows for Netflix, Disney, ABC, CBS, and NBC. However, in his “inner” world, Mark believes that Franken-Sci High isn’t actually his creation but a real school where future mad scientists learn how to create synthetic eyeballs, travel to different dimensions, and design inflatable pets. Mark lives in downtown Los Angeles with his wife, Grania (who thinks his Emmys are soccer trophies). Between them, they have four amazing children. Visit him at MarkYoung.co.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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ISBN 978-1-4814-9134-1 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-9133-4 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-9135-8 (eBook)
