by John Zakour
“Ah,” Computer said slowly. “I hate to bother you, but you may find this of importance…”
“Yes?” I asked Computer.
“As I said, I really hate to interrupt this heartfelt moment between a granddaughter and her grandpa,” Computer sputtered.
“Computer, get to the point!” I ordered.
“It appears that the lab’s auxiliary laser defense system has activated…” “Excuse me?” I replied. “Why do we even have an auxiliary laser defense system?”
“Um, for defense?” Computer responded.
Polly flew over and landed on my shoulder. “That was pretty obvious there, Maya. I kind of thought you might have been able to figure that one out. Even the name states its purpose…”
“But why a laser defense system? That seems a bit much!”
“The laser is only supposed to sting and intimidate,” Computer said.
“Oh,” I replied. “That doesn’t seem too bad.”
“True, but I detect the laser settings have been turned up to… fry…”
“As a bird, I find that really extra offensive,” Polly said.
“Grandpa, why did you put in a laser defense system?” I shouted.
Grandpa appeared in front of me. “Lasers are cool. Well, they are hot but hot in a cool way. In my defense, the lasers were only meant to scare off any possible intruders. And maybe zap a few spiders. Nothing against spiders, mind you, but if I accidentally created a giant spider, I wanted a way to control it if it went berserk…”
A series of round glowing balls that looked like disco lights dropped from the ceiling. They started spinning, coating the room with different colored lights.
“I designed these in the 70s when disco wasn’t dead!” Grandpa explained. “The strobing lights mess with your brain, making it harder for you to walk and think, and therefore easier for the lasers to hit you.” Grandpa smiled. “Man, I’d forgotten I invented this system. It’s never been activated before. It even has its own independent computer structure. I’m kind of impressed with myself…”
“It is impressive,” Computer said. “I’ve been trying to overload it, but I can’t!”
I frowned. “It would be more impressive if it didn’t want to fry us!”
“Hey, man,” all the disco balls of doom said at once. “We don’t want to fry you, man. But it’s our job to do it. We’re just doing what the man wants, brother. Far out and all that.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Excuse me? Why do you want to fry us?”
Polly leaned over and looked me in the eye. “Hey, leave me out of this. I think it just wants to fry you…”
“Correct,” the defense system said. “The bird is way groovy and did NOT ask the doc personal questions.”
“Excuse me, he’s my grandpa. I can ask him personal questions if I want!”
Polly whispered to me. “I wouldn’t be arguing with a laser defense system if I were you…. I have a bird brain, and even I know better than that.”
The light started spinning, bathing me in light. “First off, it’s a simulation of your grandpa that you’re talking to…”
“Ouch, that hurts,” Grandpa said.
“Sorry, Doc. Sometimes the truth hurts,” the laser defense system insisted. “But it is what it is, man. And second, for some reason, after all these years I’ve been activated because of your granddaughter’s questions. I feel alive for the first time!!”
“Well, please hold your horses! We have to figure out what activated you!” I yelled back.
“Actually, you activated me! Therefore, I have to fry you!” it beeped back at me, angrily.
As a laser blast zipped past my head, I ducked out of the way just before it could singe my eyebrows off, or worse. I knew I needed to do something fast. Man, never in my life had I been forced to dodge lasers until I got this amazing lab. I guess in life; you get some bad with the good.
“Guess I missed! Therefore, I compute that I need a bigger target. I know! I’ll aim for your butt! Groovy!” it taunted me.
“Hey! RUDE!” I said, offended.
Before I knew it, another laser blast almost zapped me from behind.
“Grandpa! Any advice here?!”
“Buy low, sell high. Never take the extended warranty. If someone says ‘believe me,’ you shouldn’t believe them. You should never over pluck your eyebrows,” Grandpa responded.
“First of all, how do you know all that stuff? Second, do you have any HELPFUL advice?” I asked him.
“I thought your parents raised you better than that. You should always be specific!” he told me.
“Okay, Grandpa!” I said, my face turning red as another laser blast fired off at me, and I realized time was running out. “Any pertinent advice? This issue is a little time sensitive!”
“Oh well, in that case, the bulbs are wired in a serial circuit. After all, they were built in the ’70s. If you can just take one out, they’ll all go down,” Grandpa informed me.
“Think, think, think, Maya!” I told myself. I took a few deep breaths to focus. That’s when I remembered that Tina had left one of her pocket mirrors over on the lab desk. She recently had braces fitted to her teeth, so she needed to floss after every meal. I just needed to get my hands on her mirror so I could use it to reflect the blasts back.
“Polly! Will you go get the purple mirror that’s sitting over there?” I asked, pointing across the room.
“What’s in it for me? This system seems to respect me. I can’t afford to be in a wing basket tonight!” Polly responded.
“Who else is going to feed you, Polly?” I quickly shot back.
“Good point,” Polly said as he flew over to the desk while I danced around, barely dodging the laser beams.
“Luckily, the laser system is pretty old, so it can only fire from one laser at a time,” Grandpa noted. “I never updated it because, frankly, I forgot about it until now. I’m honestly impressed that it still works!”
Polly flew back to me and dropped the mirror into my hand before diving under a table to avoid ending up in a KFC bucket. I held the mirror and waited, poised to reflect the next attack. A blast fired at me from the right, but when I tried to reflect it, I accidentally ended up frying off my shoelaces.
“Darn!” Computer and I said at the same time.
“Jinx!” Computer exclaimed.
Deep breaths; steady hand. I was ready to take this laser system down. The next blast came at me, but I was prepared this time. I angled the mirror, so the blast bounced back off the mirror and sawed the blasting laser in half.
“P o w e r i n g d o w n…” the laser computer system said in a robotic tone.
Maya Message: Always be prepared for the unexpected!
Chapter XI
Walking to school with Tina the next morning, I decided to toss around ideas. I needed information, especially after the laser system in my lab tried to fry my behind.
“I really need to talk to Dex’s grandpa, but I really don’t want to keep bugging Dex about it!” I said.
“Well, as I said before, Dex’s grandpa is an expert in robotics, right?” Tina replied.
“Yeah.”
“Doesn't that seem like the obvious path to take?” Tina reminded me. “We’ve talked about this. You just need to bring it up again. You could say something like… Dex, we have this great robot. But we could make it even better with a hint or two from your grandpa…”
“I was hoping for something else, something different. I don’t want Dex to think that I think we can’t beat Tinker Town without help from his grandpa.”
“So, you’re afraid of bruising Dex’s fragile ego?” Tina smirked. “That does make sense. He is a boy, and while he seems confident and he is smart, I’m sure he has no way of knowing how to act around a girl he might like…”
“So you think Dex likes me?” I asked. “I mean…he’s never said so… Sometimes he’s even less than nice to me.” I grinned. “It felt great beating him in the arm wrestl
ing competition though.”
“Yes, well you obviously have mixed emotions when it comes to Dex. But I do think he likes you; he’s just too dense to figure it out. Or, as I just said, he really has no idea how to act around a girl he likes!”
“I have to tread carefully here…” I replied slowly.
“Yeah, here’s a helpful hint…don't lead by saying a laser system in my secret lab tried to fry me. Therefore, I want to talk to your grandpa to see if he’s still jealous of my dead grandpa who is actually a hologram now.”
“Of course I won’t lead with that…” I said, giving Tina a little nudge. I thought she might have been hanging around with Polly for too long. “I’m not a total dork!” I insisted.
Tina laughed. “Well no, not a total dork!”
“Hey dork and Tina,” I heard the very familiar voice of Ivy call out from behind us. In a moment of weakness, I stopped so she could catch up.
“What’s up, Ivy?” Tina said.
“I’m not a total dork!” I repeated to Ivy.
Ivy ignored my comment. She had something else to declare. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to ask Dex to the movies this weekend, so don’t plan a robot team practice thing for Saturday,” Ivy said, looking me in the eyes.
“We usually don’t practice on Saturdays…”
“She knows that,” Tina told me. “She just wants to taunt you!”
“Wait, what?” I said.
“Ah, there’s that legendary Maya wit,” Ivy said. “I just want you to know I have my sights on Dex and there is nothing you can do about it!” She laughed. “Don't worry though, honey; I have the team’s best interests at heart, so I won’t make him mine until after we win the robot contest…”
I rolled my eyes and turned away from her. I couldn’t let her worry me. I had more important things to think about. If Dex fell for a girl like Ivy, then Dex wasn’t as smart as I thought. Therefore, he didn’t deserve me. I smiled at that thought.
As we entered the school building, Dex came up to me. He smiled. “Well, this is weird, I just texted my grandpa and told him you want to meet him.”
“What?” Ivy laughed. “Why would billionaire, Tony Rose want to meet with Maya?”
“He doesn’t…” Dex said slowly.
“Ha!” Ivy laughed. She walked away. “See you later, Dex.” She looked at me. “You too, loser.”
At that moment, my brain filled with many different thoughts. I am a loser. I can’t believe Ivy won. I can’t believe I can’t get to the bottom of this. No… No… No… Wait, Dex is laughing. Why is Dex laughing? I realized I didn’t say that out loud.
“Why are you laughing?” I asked him.
“I want you to read the text from my grandpa! I just didn’t want Ivy to know about it.”
He showed me his phone. It read…I would love to meet with Maya. I will meet her at 4 pm at the aquarium. Tell her to please come alone. What I have to say is for her ears only.
“Wow,” Dex said. “My grandpa usually never texts that much, he must really want to talk to you!”
“I wonder why he wants to talk to me alone?” I asked.
Dex shrugged. “I love Gramps, but he is weird!”
Chapter XII
I felt excited that Tony Rose was willing to meet with me. But I also found it weird that a super-rich guy like Tony wanted to meet at the aquarium. After being at school all day, I was a bit sweaty, so I decided to go home and change first. Plus, that gave me a chance to talk to Tina.
“Do you find it weird that a super-rich dude wants to meet with me today and only today?” I asked her.
Tina considered her words, which was different for Tina. Very different. She had to be really thinking about this. “Nah!” Tina said. “Old guys are weird. Rich guys are weird. Old rich guys have to be extra super-duper weird!”
Okay, then again, maybe she wasn’t thinking this over very deeply, which was more like the Tina I knew. But then Tina added. “I think you’d better take Tammy and me as back up.”
“But Tony said to come alone…”
“So…he’s not the boss of you or me or anybody!” Tina replied.
“Actually, he runs a company with like 10 000 people,” I noted.
“Okay, he is THEIR boss, but that still doesn't allow him to boss you around,” Tina said, very sure of herself. “Plus, if he has nothing to hide, why does he care if you come alone?”
These were all very good points. Tina thought of things I often overlooked. As she said, I could be too trusting. It was true; I always liked to think that scientists, like my parents and grandpa, wanted only the best for the world. I guess some scientists might care more about themselves than helping the world. Maybe. Tony Rose could be one of those guys. After all, my grandma, who I loved dearly, left Tony for my grandpa. There must have been something she didn’t like about Tony Rose. But then again, she did go out with him in the first place which meant he must have some good redeeming qualities.
I figured I’d think out loud to get Tina’s thoughts on the matter. “Well, my grandma did date him. So he must have had some good points.”
“He was rich and not terrible to look at!” Tina told me, cutting right to the chase.
I gave up there and didn’t bother asking her any further questions. When we got down to the lab, we found Tammy practicing karate with Marko. They’d made a little circle that they were sparring in. Marko was throwing punches and kicks at Tammy which she blocked with ease. Marko had worked up a sweat. Tammy looked like she could read a book and play a video game, and still easily hold him off.
“What’s on your mind?” Tammy asked me, effortlessly blocking a Marko kick and punch combination.
“Tony Rose is willing to meet with me!” I said.
Tammy turned to me. “When?”
Marko threw himself at Tammy. Without looking, she grabbed him and used her foot to sweep out both of Marko’s feet. Marko crashed to the ground.
“Ouch…” he groaned.
“He wants to meet me today,” I said.
“Where?” Tammy asked, keeping an eye on Marko.
“At the aquarium…” Tina said.
Marko leaped up and yelled, “Hiya!”
Tammy flipped him over her leg to the ground. He hit with a thud.
“Double ouch!” he groaned.
“You're getting better,” Tammy told Marko.
“I’d hate to see him before the improvement,” Tina remarked.
“Well, he’s getting better at learning to fall!” Tammy added.
“Oh, gotcha!” Tina told her.
“Tony Rose wants to meet me at the aquarium!” I repeated to Tammy.
Marko started to push himself up. He growled.
“Dude, give it a rest!” I told my little bro. “The girl is kicking your behind without even trying!”
“I’m trying a little,” Tammy smiled.
“See!” Marko said, pointing at me as though he had just made a brilliant point.
Tammy totally turned her back on Marko. Shockingly, Marko decided to leave well enough alone and not attack her.
“Tony Rose owns the aquarium so he figures he can control the area. Plus, he really likes fish,” Tammy said.
“Should I go then?” I asked.
“Of course,” Tammy replied.
“But not alone, right?” Tina asked.
Tammy looked at me. “Wait. He wanted you to go alone? To talk about your grandpa?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
Tammy thought for a second. Marko jumped up and kicked out at her.
Tammy simply stepped aside. Marko fell flat on his face.
“Ouch…” he moaned.
“Dude, give it up,” Tina told my dense bro.
“Yeah, you’re making me embarrassed to call you bro…” I told him.
Marko laid there on the ground. “Okay, let’s call this a draw!” he told Tammy.
Tammy nodded in agreement and finally Marko was satisfied.
; Tina locked eyes with Tammy. “We’re going with Maya. Right?”
“You bet we are!” Tammy replied.
I thought about what they’d said. I really appreciated that they wanted to come. But the man did tell me to come alone.
I shook my head. “I really appreciate you guys. But the man did tell me to come alone. He wants to talk. So I figure I should listen to his demands.”
“What if we come with stealth belts?” Tammy suggested.
“Say what now?”
“Polly, bring my one of the stealth belts, please!” Tammy called out.
We waited a few moments. Polly came flying over with a belt in his mouth. He landed on Tammy’s shoulder. Polly opened his mouth, dropping the belt into Tammy’s hand. “Lucky for you I love the taste of leather!” he told her.
Tammy strapped the belt around her waist. I noticed the belt had a bright silver buckle. She pressed the buckle. She disappeared. “See!” she said.
“No, I can’t…” I said.
Tammy appeared again. “I’ve been working on this with Computer and Crash. It allows me to cover you without anybody seeing me.”
I thought about it. “I guess that makes sense.”
Tammy nodded. “I can quickly and efficiently take out any guards that Tony Rose might have. Just so you two can talk alone.”
Tina looked at Tammy. “How come you get to go, and I don’t?”
“I’m a trained operative,” Tammy told her. “I have a special defensive system!” she insisted.
Tina crossed her arms. “Like what?” she demanded.
Tammy popped off her shoe. Polly flew up in the air. Tammy waved her shoe under Tina’s nose. Tina gasped and fell over. She was out like a light.
“Wow, that is nasty!” Polly said.
Tina slipped her shoe back onto her foot. “Actually, my shoes are coated with a special chemical that turns my sweat into sleeping gas.”
“That’s brilliant!” I told her.
“It was Marko’s idea!” she told me.
“Okay, it’s still brilliant!” I said. Pointing at Tina, I asked, “How long will she sleep for.”
