by John Zakour
Chad made a little mock laugh. “Ha-ha, Norman,” Chad deadpanned.
Norman held his heart. “Witty retort. Your father once offered to fund one of my father’s space projects. My father said no, of course, because he has his own money. He’s his own man, with his own mind.”
“Yeah, well!” Chad said.
Norman forced a fake chuckle. “Yes, I can tell by the wit shown here, your robot will be fodder for ours.”
Tina stepped up to Norman. I do believe he might have given her a sincere smile. “Why don’t you want to spar a bit with us then?” Tina asked him.
“Our highly sophisticated robot will not be going anywhere near your bot. We came over just to size you up and see what we were going against. It looks like it's not much,” Norman remarked. “We learned that you'd be our first opponent in the first round of the tournament to see who goes to nationals. I look forward to crushing you!” he added.
He grabbed his robot, Crusher, turned on his heel, and stalked out of the classroom and all the way back to his bus. His whole class followed suit, and his teacher gave a small polite “sorry” before scurrying out after the rest of the children.
“Could that dude get any more big-headed and arrogant?” Chad asked.
“If he could, his head wouldn’t fit through the door,” Tina replied.
Dex looked at me. “Don't worry; we’ve got this. Those guys are so overconfident that we’ll be able to take them by surprise! They’ll know what General Custer felt like!”
Yeah, that was a geeky reference. If you want to know more, just look it up. But let’s put it this way, General Custer was overconfident. He should not have been. We had to hope the same would ring true for the Tinker Town team…”
My team looked at me for leadership. Pumping my fist, I said, “We’ll teach that arrogant twit a lesson!”
My team clapped. It felt good. Well, Debbie Parker and Ivy Jones didn’t clap, but they didn’t boo or insult me either, which was progress. Right?
I actually felt tempted to take our robot, Sebastian, home and tweak him some in my super-duper fantastic lab. But that lab was given to me to help the world, not to beat a jerk in a robot battle. Man, oh man, it would have been fun to equip a laser to Sebastian and watch as he disintegrated Norman’s bot. But that would have been misusing my lab and cheating.
Chapter III
The rest of the school day passed fairly uneventfully. I guess when the day starts off with an arrogant jerk bragging about how much his team’s robot is going to stomp your robot, everything else will be a bit unexciting. As I’ve said before, there are times when unexciting is good. It allows you to breathe and prepare. Breathing is good. We all need to breathe. Breathing is way, way underrated.
Biking home, I pedaled a little quicker than normal. Sure, I loved this time of the day, the time for Tina and I to take our time and just chill. But I had things on my mind.
“Is it me or are you pedaling faster than you usually do?” Tina asked.
“No, it’s not you. I am pumping faster!” I admitted. “I want to get to the lab and talk to Grandpa J.”
“Let me guess; you want to see if he’ll be okay with you using the lab to make Sebastian crush that other robot!” Tina said.
Oh my gosh, she did know me well. “That’s what I was thinking, but then I realized it’s not why Grandpa gave me that amazing lab!” I replied.
“Okay,” Tina said. “Then why the need for speed!” She smiled to herself, proud of her rhyme.
“Ah, I need to talk to Grandpa about why.”
“Hope you’re going to be more specific. Grandpa J is a scientist; he likes specifics. I’ve learned that much.”
“Yes, I’m going to ask him why he gave me his amazing lab!”
Tina smiled. She pedaled on in silence. I wasn’t about to let that happen.
“Why the sly grin?” I asked my BFF.
“That’s easy!” she said. “I so know why your grandpa left that lab to you!”
There was more pedaling in silence.
“Please tell me,” I urged her.
Tina rolled her eyes. “Because you are you!”
“Scientists like specifics,” I noted. “That is not at all specific! Or maybe it’s too specific without actually saying anything!” I added.
“Because you’re sure to think of things you’ll want to do,” she explained. “You might be tempted to use the lab wrongly, but you won’t do that. When it comes down to making a choice, you will always make the right choice. Just like you choose the right friends, especially your best friend.” She grinned.
“There is that time I bought clams at the gas station. That was not a good choice…” I reminded her.
Tina smiled. “You’re not perfect; you’re human. But when it comes to making a moral choice, you always make the right one. You do it automatically. I don’t know if you think about or it comes naturally. It seems to be your gift in life. Your superpower.”
“That’s a pretty boring superpower…” I told her.
“True, I never said you were the most exciting BFF,” Tina replied. “But I’ll take steady and a little boring any day. After all, I, am the action member of the team.” To accent her words, she popped a wheelie.
“Be careful you don’t fall!” I scolded.
“Yes, Mom,” she said, lowering the bike’s front wheel to the road.
“You only get one brain,” I told her.
Tina pointed to her helmet. “I do have a helmet on!”
“Well, helmets are important, but no use taking any chances…” Helmets save brains. But they aren’t full proof. Therefore, the best defense is not to fall at all!”
“Yes, Grandma,” Tina joked. Well, she mostly joked. “See that’s the other thing. You have common sense.”
Yeah, I know I can be a little over cautious at times. But as they always say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care. Yeah, it might sound silly, but it totally makes sense. When you think about it, all the best sayings are like that. That’s why they’ve lasted forever. Long after Twitter is gone or replaced by 4D, Twitter people will still be saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care. Count on it. Common sense never goes out of date or needs to be upgraded. Plus, as Mom says, it’s free.
When we reached the lab, we saw that Tammy and Marko were already there. Tammy was talking with K9, and Marko was fighting with a martial arts hologram.
Polly flew over to us. He landed on Tina’s shoulder just because he knew Tina didn’t like that.
“Don’t poop on me, bird!” Tina told him.
“I have a name,” Polly said.
“Don't poop on me, Polly!”
“I will do my best not to,” He pointed to his head with his wing. “Though I am a bird brain.”
“Poop on me, and you’ll be dinner!” Tina said.
“You have anger issues,” Polly told her.
“No, I just don’t like being pooped on,” Tina retorted.
“But poop is natural, everybody poops. Poop is needed for health and can also be used for fertilizer. So poop is good,” Polly countered.
“Would you want me to poop on you?” Tina asked Polly.
“I’m a bird, I fly. It would be hard for you to do that!”
Tammy glared at the two of them. “If either of you mentions poop again, I’ll do something neither of you will enjoy. But it will make me smile!”
Tina and Polly both zipped their mouths shut.
“Smart!” Tammy said.
I found Tammy to be a very interesting girl. By interesting, I mean I wouldn’t doubt if she could knock people out with that glare of hers. I swear we could feel it. She also seemed to be physically fit, like no other person I knew. She appeared to be like a swimmer, a martial artist, and a dancer; all rolled into one body. I hoped I would look half as good as her when I reached her age in a few years. She also seemed much more mature than her eighteen years. I guess when you are a super-secret government agent, you hav
e to be good at all those things. Here’s the other thing though, she seemed sweet and gentle as well, especially with Marko and well, Grandpa. I felt happy to have her on our side. Even Tina was afraid of her (in a mostly good way) and Tina wasn’t afraid of much.
“You’re here early,” Tammy said.
“I want to talk to Grandpa Jack,” I replied. “I had a run in with a stuck up boy at school.”
“Grandpa J won’t let you invent a ‘turn a person into a chicken brain’ ray. Marko said. “I already asked because I wanted to make one and use it on Stevie Edmunds. He can be a real jerk. But Grandpa Jack told me that we need to deal with jerks using our brains, not by changing their brains.”
“That’s why I want to talk to Grandpa,” I said. “He has a good brain.”
“I have a great brain.” Grandpa appeared next to me and pointed to all the information scrolling on the wall screens. “After all, I’m hooked to a supercomputer.” He patted me on the head. I could kind of feel it.
“Hey, how do I feel that?” I asked.
“Computer and I have been working on a new strategy so people can feel me touching them. Computer alters the light, so people’s brains process my movements as physical movements. It’s all very complicated. But it’s cool.” Grandpa cleared his throat. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Do you want us to leave?” Tammy asked.
“No. I’m good!” I said.
“Good.” Marko grinned. “I want to hear this.”
“Me too!” Tina said.
“My interest has been peaked,” Tammy remarked.
“I can take it or leave it,” Polly said.
“Being a super smart computer, I’m pretty sure I know what she wants to talk about,” Computer said. “May I guess?”
“Knock yourself out!” I told Computer. I figured I had nothing to lose.
“You want to ask your grandpa if he has any hints you can use to make your cute little school robot better. It just seems natural that you have a super cool lab and want to use it for your own personal projects.” He paused for a moment. “Am I right? Of course, I’m right. I’m a super-duper computer.”
“Actually, you’re wrong,” I said.
“Say what now? You sure?” Computer asked.
I nodded. “Totally!” I turned towards Grandpa. “Why did you give me this lab?”
Grandpa smiled. “I certainly wouldn’t give it to Marko, after all, he’s five! You don’t give a five-year-old a superlab. Look at all the chemicals and the equipment in this place!” He indicated the space around him.
“And as he said,” Grandpa continued, “he wants to invent chicken brain rays. Not exactly helping the world. Of course, I guess with some people, a chicken brain may be an improvement!”
“Exactly!” Marko said. “Plus, I am almost seven. I think.”
Tammy put her hand over Marko’s mouth to keep him from talking for a minute.
I frowned. “Why not give it to Dad or Mom? After all, they’re wise, and they’re already scientists!”
“Because they’re old and set in their ways. They don’t have the amazing flexibility and imagination that you have. I want that kind of imagination to lead my lab. You will bring it to new heights! In fact, I’m so excited about what you’ll do with it. I’m just glad I can be here to share it with you!” Grandpa said.
I held back a little tear in my eye. “I wish I could hug you!” I replied.
“Computer and I are working on that!” he reminded me.
“I have a question,” Tina said.
“Go ahead, Tina,” Grandpa nodded “I always appreciated your willingness to talk about any subject. Even subjects you have no idea about…”
Tina thought for a moment. “Thanks,” she replied slowly. “I think.”
Grandpa nodded. “It was meant to be a compliment. You have bravery and guts and gumption. Those can’t be taught. At least, not easily.”
“Why didn’t you give this place to your cousin, Earl?” Tina asked.
“I love him. But he’s like Maya’s parents. He’s older and set in his ways.”
“Plus, I don’t totally trust him,” Tammy said.
“There’s that too, Earl thinks about profits more than benefits to the world’s population,” Grandpa said.
Tammy nodded. “I’ve been looking into the weird stuff that’s been happening here recently. Somebody keeps trying to infect our systems. I wouldn’t put it past Earl to try it. He thinks you are totally dead; I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried some sort of hostile takeover.”
I made a mental note to myself. I needed to check in on Earl.
Chapter IV
After Tammy’s comment, I decided we had to get Tina’s opinion. It’s always important to get your BFF’s advice on important stuff. I knew that something was up because somehow, somebody had put a virus into the system and we couldn’t risk that happening again. It had been too much of an ordeal to have Grandpa turn against me and lock us out.
With all the important simulations and projects that I was working on, getting locked out again would probably not be very good for the city. I could see whoever was trying to hack in, would be thrilled with the idea of having control over the man-eating Venus flytraps!
That meant we needed to get on top of this potential threat and fast. Right as I opened my mouth to ask Tina about her thoughts on who could possibly be interested in (or informed about) getting control over my lab, a stream of water blasted me in the face! I scrambled out of the way. But the water seemed to be coming from all around me, and I could hear all of my lab mates choking and spluttering.
Shielding my eyes and looking around, I realized it was the lab’s fire suppression system going berserk. Spraying hoses were starting to fill the room with water. The hoses were attached to the ceiling, and they were writhing around wildly with gallons of water gushing out of them. I had no clue how to stop them, but if I didn’t get control fast, then some of the experiments I’d been working on would be compromised.
“Computer, disable the fire suppressors!” I yelled over the sound of water rushing.
“I’m sorry, Maya! Once they’re activated, they can’t be digitally shut down.” Computer admitted, regretfully. “You’ll have to shut them down manually!”
I knew if Tammy, Tina and I worked together, we’d be able to figure out how to turn them off.
“Tammy! Come over here and give me a boost!” I yelled out to her.
Tammy waded over to me as fast as she could in knee-high water.
Maya Message: I must remember to draft up some boots with Grandpa…boots that decrease water resistance. They will be helpful for divers!
“One… Two… Three!” Tammy said, propelling me up far enough to grab onto a ladder that was mounted on the wall.
Luckily, one of my favorite simulations to do with Tina was the jungle one that we’d created. It allowed us to climb branches and, well, basically become a monkey.
I propped the ladder up and held it in place. “Tina, come over here and climb up to the ceiling! I think there’s a knob on each hose to stop the flow of water!” I said to Tina as she doggy-paddled over to me.
“What makes me qualified to do this?” Tina asked, sounding more scared than I expected.
“Well, you’ve always been great at the climbing simulation!” I told her with a hint of urgency.
“Yes, but so have you. Maybe you should go up there…” Tina trailed off.
“Now isn’t the time to doubt yourself, Tina! You’re better at it than I am. I believe in you,” I said encouragingly.
I watched as Tina climbed up the ladder. The water now came almost up to my shoulders. Tina grabbed one of the exposed pipes on the ceiling and swung from it like it was a set of monkey bars on a jungle gym. She grabbed the first hose with one hand and anchored herself to the ceiling with her feet. As she twisted the dial on the side, the water slowly tapered off and then stopped altogether.
“Oh my gosh! I did it!” T
ina exclaimed.
“I knew you would!” I yelled back up to her as I watched her swing from hose to hose, turning each one off.
“I didn’t think you could,” Polly said. He seemed to have come out of nowhere.
“Polly, that was rude,” I scolded.
“You’re right, Maya. I am sorry, Tina. You were admittedly the right person for the job. Everyone else around here is incompetent, anyways…” Polly half-apologized.
It was still rude, but I accepted it. Polly was stuck in his ways. When Tina was finally back on the ground, we all looked up at Computer’s interface.
“Guys…. I'm really sorry. I wish I’d been able to control what just happened,” Computer said, ashamed.
“Hey, Computer. Don’t feel bad. Everybody gets stuck sometimes,” I told him.
“Now, how do we drain all this water?” Tammy asked us.
“Well, that is actually something I can kind of control,” Computer said. “If you can all leave the lab then I can raise the temperature in here so much that the water will evaporate!” Computer was clearly impressed with himself.
Maya Fact: When water is heated, it turns into a gas and rises. Almost exactly like when it is cooled, it turns into solid-ice! Science is so cool.
“Great idea, Computer. Come on, team. Let’s head out,” I said, motioning for the two girls and Marko to follow me. Polly, of course, flew beside us.
We got into the elevator and shut the door. Computer’s voice sounded over the elevator’s intercom. “You will be safe in there!” Computer told us. “Please give me a minute to heat up and dry out the lab.”
I looked at Tina. “Nice job with swinging from hose to hose.”
“Thanks,” she replied. “Sorry I hesitated, but I don’t love heights. I don’t mind simulated heights, but real heights scare me. Still, I couldn’t let my lab team down!” she said. “Plus I feel better knowing I did what I did.”
“Thanks, you saved the day,” I told her.
Computer gave the all clear, and we walked out of the elevator and back into the lab. It seemed a little humid but no worse for wear.
