‘Never mind,’ said India. ‘We played real games. And you solved two mysteries this afternoon. That’s not bad for a part-time spy.’
‘Shhh,’ said Mrs. Tasker.
Then the judge announced. “A special award is given to Team 2 ,Mount Street School for their honesty in compiling their Outside Assistance Form. They told us about their special circumstances. We liked their honesty.’
India gave a thumbs up sign to Art. ‘My cast. And my crutches. We told them,’
‘And the coin?’ added Art.’ That puts us a million dollars over the limit.’
Mrs. Tasker just smiled broadly as India hobbled down to accept the award. It was a certificate with the names of each of the children on it.
‘Well done,’ said the professor, who had just arrived.’ I organised a virus checker , Art. And you were right.’
‘About what?’ asked India.
‘The computer virus. On my work computer at the lab.’
Mrs. Tasker and the children gathered around the professor.
‘It means that a computer-ideas thief hacked into our wind farm program. Something was added.’
‘What sort of thing?’ sneezed Mario.
The professor looked thoughtful. ‘One of the staff who was asked to leave had written a special command into the computer. When his name left the payroll, our windfarm research would be wiped off.’
‘What a mean thing to do!’ Then India smiled at her aunt. ‘You can fix it, can’t you?’
‘Yes. Once Art gave me the idea, I found the answer..’
‘Is that why we were checking wind farms in the library?’ India asked.
Art nodded.’ To find out if there were people who didn’t want them.’
‘A disk was also stolen, ’said the professor. ‘Security are still searching. But we now know who it was.’
‘Grey Coat and the bikie girl,’ muttered Art as he fumbled in his pocket. ‘Is this the disk?’
Wrapped in plastic, it smelled of squashed banana.
The professor looked carefully. ‘Yes. But where did you find it?’
So Art told them.
Chapter 10
Bring and Brag
It was the Monday morning after the Tournament of Minds weekend. Before school, India played Shark’s Day. But she couldn’t run fast yet.
‘My cast’s off,’ said India happily.
‘So I noticed, said Art. ‘It’s a bit hard to miss.’
India’s leg was pale brown, not dark brown like the rest of her.
‘What did you do with the old cast?’ Art wondered if it could be traded in.
‘Brought it for “Bring and Brag” .’
‘I’ve got something for that too,’ said Art.
In art’s grade last year they called it ‘Show and Tell’.
After the bell rang, the students lined up and went inside.
“Has anyone brought anything for ‘Bring and Brag’? ‘ asked Mrs. Tasker.
Art put his hand up.
‘Come out the front ,Art. What have you brought to show the class?’
Art pulled out a disk. ‘This is a computer disk.’
‘What is special about this disk?’ Mrs. Tasker turned over the egg-timer. The Bring and Brag person could talk until the timer stopped.
‘This is a back-up copy of the disk stolen from the university. The thieves wanted to stop the professor’s work on wind farms. So they stole the disk. But they also did something else…’
‘They put a virus in the computer.’
‘How?’
‘One of the thieves used to work at the university. He tampered with the program. He fixed it so that when the professor took his name off the payroll, all the backup disks about the wind tunnel invention would be wiped.’
‘That’s nasty,’ said Mario. ‘But what about the stolen sovereign? Do we get a reward?’
‘You didn’t do anything, Mario,’ said India.
‘Grey Coat stole the coin from the gallery. When the security guard called out to him near the snack machine, he dropped it on the floor and vacuumed it up.’
‘What happened next?’
‘He had to empty the vacuum cleaner. He was going to take it out to the hopper.’
‘But I thought that’s where he hid the stolen disk. Was he the computer thief too?’
‘Yes he was. I saw him at the rubbish hopper when we arrived.’
‘Why did he leave it there?’
‘His friend, the bikie girl was going to collect the disk and the coin. Then she used some chewy to stick it to the seat in lecture theatre 1. She knew he’d have to clean there next and could pick it up. Then while the girls were in the toilets, she hid it in one of India’s crutches.’
‘Why?’
‘The security guard was chasing her. And she was worried about me watching her too.’
‘So you solved two mysteries, Art?’ said Mrs. Tasker.
‘At first I thought it was one mystery. But then I worked it out. There were two problems. One was the computer. The other was the stolen coin. But the same people did it.’
‘Why did they steal the coin?’
‘To sell it.’
‘Why was he messing up the computer?’
‘He used to be part of the group who were against wind farms in their area. Later, he was also mad because he lost his job.’
Mrs. .Tasker stopped the egg timer. ‘Your time is up. Thank you Art for a most interesting ‘Bring and Brag’ subject. Now it’s Rae’s turn. Rae has brought a pet mouse to show. Then India can tell us about her cast.’
After school, Art was packing up when India came back.
‘My aunty wants to see you. She’s going to pick me up after school.’
‘The professor?’ Art was pleased.
The professor was waiting at the gate. ‘Thank you for your help over the weekend, Art. ‘
‘That’s okay.’
‘Would you and your friends like to visit my lab? I’ve got a few programs on my computer, you might like to play.’
‘Ace.’
‘Since you’re so good at solving problems, here’s an interesting one. The zoo lost a four tonne elephant. They buried him in the grounds when he dies eight years ago. Now they want his skeleton for school studies. They can’t remember where he was buried and there’s no map.’
‘Aha!’ Art’s mindspace began to fill with all sorts of ideas.
Mindspaces Page 5
