The Creature in Room #YTH-125

by Mark Young

  Higgy stared at the words, then stared back at the statue. He kept looking back and forth in awe.

  “Check it out, guys,” he said, pointing to one of the comic book panels on the wall. “In this one, Goo Guy single-handedly saves the planet from aliens! And in this one he stops a nuclear accident by sneaking into the control room of the power plant. He is the coolest! A gooey superhero!”

  Higgy handed his camera to Newton. “You’ve got to get a photo of me next to the statue. Mum and Dad and Welly are going to flip when they see this!”

  “I thought we couldn’t take pictures,” Newton said.

  Higgy looked around. “I don’t see that guard anywhere. Come on!”

  Newton took Higgy’s cell phone from him, and Higgy ducked under the rope surrounding the statue and posed in front of it. Newton clicked away as Higgy tried different poses, flexing his arms, waving, and making funny faces. Newton was laughing when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

  He turned to see Justine the security guard there, and the sight of her startled him so much that he almost camouflaged—but he caught himself in time. It was a really close call.

  “I told your friend no photos,” Justine said. “That goes for all of you. If this happens again, I’m going to have to confiscate your phone.”

  “Um, sorry,” Newton said.

  Higgy scrambled away from the statue and ducked underneath the ropes. “No need for that,” he said, and he quickly tucked his phone into his pocket.

  Justine’s eyes narrowed, and she leaned closer to Higgy.

  “There’s something strange about you, kid, but I can’t put my finger on it,” she said. “I’m going to be keeping my eye on you.”

  Higgy smiled sweetly at her and spoke in his most polished British accent. “Sorry, ma’am. I just couldn’t contain my excitement about this wonderful exhibit. I promise to behave moving forward. You have my word, and that’s a promise.”

  Ms. Mumtaz walked up. “Officer, is there a problem with these students?” she asked.

  “Not anymore,” Justine said, but she frowned and kept her eye on Higgy as she backed away.

  “Higgy, Newton, I certainly hope you’re obeying the rules,” Ms. Mumtaz said.

  “We are,” Higgy said, and at the same time, Newton said, “We will.”

  “Good enough,” Ms. Mumtaz said. “Come. We’re moving on to the next exhibit.”

  The headmistress hurried away, and Newton and Higgy moved quickly to catch up with everyone. Newton breathed a sigh of relief.

  “That was close,” Newton said.

  “It’s okay,” Higgy said. “I don’t care if I get sent back to the school now. I’ve seen everything I need to see.” He glanced back at the statue. “I’m a hero,” he said softly, and Newton smiled.

  “Come on, Goo Guy,” Newton said. “Let’s go see what’s next!”

  CHAPTER 7 The Invincible Man

  The enormous museum seemed to have no end of exhibits. The students walked through another room about a popular sci-fi television show from the 1960s and the scientific advances that it predicted. The next group of displays was about advances in medicine that had come from science fiction.

  By that time, everyone was hungry again, and Professor Juvinall announced that it was time to go to the museum cafeteria.

  “I wonder if the food will be anything like the food at the school,” Shelly said as they walked down a corridor lined with huge windows. “You know, scientifically enhanced.”

  Newton sat down at a table with his friends, and a tablet-type device with screens on both sides rose up from the center. A menu listing all the food in the cafeteria popped up on the screen.

  “ ‘Halley’s Comet Hamburger,’ ” Shelly read out loud. “ ‘Mars Rover Mac and Cheese.’ It looks like regular food with science-y names, and you press the screen to order.”

  She reached out and touched the screen. “One Vetruvian Vegan Burger and one order of Sci-Fi Sweet Potato Fries.”

  “That sounds good,” Newton said, and he pressed on the circle next to the burger. His finger stuck.

  “Uh-oh,” he said. “My finger’s doing that grippy thing again.”

  “Just relax, Newton,” Shelly advised him. “There’s a lot going on here at this museum. It’s probably making it harder for you to control your”—she looked around, and then lowered her voice to a barely audible whisper—“abilities.”

  Newton nodded. “Relax. Right.” He took a deep breath and pulled his finger away from the screen. Then he pressed the button for the fries, and everything went smoothly.

  Rotwang and Higgy placed their orders next—Theremin and Odifin, as usual, weren’t eating.

  “How do you guys like the museum?” Higgy asked, looking around the table.

  “It’s fun, but I mean, none of the inventions here are as cool as the stuff we have at Franken-Sci High,” Odifin pointed out. “I’m not sure exactly what we’re going to learn here.”

  Mumtaz had been walking past the table, and she stopped. “What we are learning here today, Odifin, is inspiration!” she said. “Inspiration is the basis for all great inventions, in every field, including mad science. The creative minds of writers and filmmakers have come up with ideas for things that even mad scientists haven’t invented yet. This is a reminder that we can’t ignore great literature in our studies. The next exhibit is all about ideas in fiction that haven’t become reality yet. I’m very excited for that one.”

  Mumtaz moved on.

  “She has a point,” Odifin admitted. “Maybe in this next exhibit we’ll get some ideas for next year’s science fair.”

  Rotwang grunted in agreement.

  At that moment a metal box on wheels rolled up to the table. On top of the box was a tray with the drinks that everyone had ordered.

  The box spoke to them through a speaker in the front. “Your beverages are ready,” it announced.

  “Cool, a robot waiter!” Shelly said.

  “Hey, dude,” Theremin greeted him. “How’s it going? How do you like working here?”

  “Your beverages are ready,” the robot repeated mechanically. “Please remove your beverages of choice from the tray.”

  “I don’t think he’s very artificially intelligent,” Odifin remarked.

  “He can’t help it if the world outside Franken-Sci High hasn’t caught up to my father’s work yet,” Theremin said. He patted the robot’s head. “Don’t worry, buddy. Soon we’ll be ruling the world.”

  “Your lunch will be ready shortly,” the robot said, and then wheeled away.

  * * *

  After lunch everyone lined up behind the professors once more and made their way to the next exhibit.

  A digital banner announced that this one was called Fantasy or Future? The displays scattered about the area each held a different book. When you pressed a button, a hologram appeared on top of the display, showing the science fiction idea in that book.

  Newton and his friends walked to a random display.

  “ ‘Between the Worlds by Ferdinand Hargrove,’ ” Shelly read out loud, and she pressed the button.

  The hologram showed a person walking through a shimmering field from one room into another room that looked identical.

  “In his book, Hargrove imagines that humans will be able to travel between dimensions,” the narrator said. “Is this something we can look forward to in the future? What do you think?”

  Odifin snorted. “Ha! Professor Wells already lives in two dimensions.”

  They moved to the next display.

  “ ‘The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells,’ ” Higgy read. “I’ve read this book. It’s great!” He pressed the button, and a hologram of a man in a trench coat and hat, wearing sunglasses and with a bandaged face, appeared. His outfit looked a lot like Higgy’s regular clothes.

  “H. G. Wells imagined a chemical process that could render humans invisible,” the narrator said. “Scientists have come close with cloaking technology, but do you
think chemical invisibility is possible in the future? Perhaps you will be the one to invent it!”

  Odifin snorted again. “Professor Snollygoster has already pioneered that!”

  They moved on to a third display.

  “ ‘The Invincible Man,’” Shelly read out loud.

  “We already did that one,” Higgy said.

  “Not invisible. Invincible,” Shelly corrected him. “By some author I’ve never heard of. His or her name is Zoumba Summit.”

  She pressed a button, and a hologram appeared of a human-size pod with wires sticking out of it. Newton froze.

  “Though not widely known, the works of Zoumba Summit have a small and devoted following. In The Invincible Man, Summit imagines the creation of a human with superhuman powers—a human with extra abilities that enhance his potential for survival.”

  Whooooooooosh! A memory flooded back into Newton’s mind, like it had once before. He was inside a pod filled with water. He couldn’t see through the pod; it was foggy. But then a bright light came on, and he could see the shadows of people around the pod. A scream rose in his throat.

  “Newton, are you okay? Newton?” Shelly said, her voice sounding frantic. Shelly’s voice broke through his memory, and he slowly came back to reality. He looked down, and realized Shelly was ten feet below him.

  “Shelly?” Newton asked.

  A crowd was starting to form. Newton looked up and realized that he was hanging from a light fixture, holding on to the metal with his grippy fingers. His legs dangled below him.

  “Newton, the security guard’s coming!” Shelly warned. “Can you jump?”

  Newton glanced to his side. He saw Justine walking through the exhibit entrance.

  “I—I think so,” he said.

  Higgy stood underneath him, his arms wide open. “I’ll catch you, Newton!”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Higgy,” Newton said.

  “Trust me. I can do it!” Higgy said.

  “What is going on in here?” Justine’s voice echoed through the exhibit.

  Newton jumped down. He crashed into Higgy, who slid across the floor, knocking over Ms. Mumtaz. Then Higgy’s umbrella hologram fell off his head! The chubby blond-haired boy disappeared, and in his place was a boy made of green goo!

  Newton scrambled to his feet. He was about to reach for the umbrella hologram disc when Justine marched over to them. Newton stepped in front of Higgy, who froze.

  “You, kid!” Justine pointed to Newton. “Did I just see you hanging from the ceiling?”

  “I—um—wanted to get a better view of the exhibit?” Newton stammered.

  “That’s the last straw. You and your friend are officially banned from this museum,” Justine said. She looked around. “Where is your friend? The one with the blond hair?”

  Newton shrugged.

  Justine peered around him. “What is that?” She stepped around Newton and examined Higgy. “Since when did they put a Goo Guy statue in this room?” She poked Higgy, and her finger sprang back. “This one’s pretty lifelike.”

  “Yeah, it sure is,” Newton said. “I guess you’d better be escorting me out about now, right?”

  Ms. Mumtaz approached them, sounding calm in spite of the recent commotion. Newton spotted Higgy’s hologram disc in her hand. “This young man is my student. If it’s okay with you, I’ll take him outside while the rest of our group visits the gift shop.”

  “Thank you,” Justine said, and she looked around. “I’m happy to see that the rest of your students are behaving themselves.”

  Justine turned and walked away. As soon as she was out of sight, Mumtaz put the umbrella hologram back onto Higgy’s head. He looked like a boy again, but his whole appearance was a little fuzzier than it had been before the crash.

  “I think you’d both better come outside with me,” Ms. Mumtaz said.

  Newton and Higgy followed her out of the exhibit, past the gift shop, and through the exit doors that led to the outside.

  “Ms. Mumtaz, you know I didn’t mean to do that!” Newton burst out. “I—something freaked me out, and I must have jumped straight up in the air, like an escape instinct or something. You know that weird stuff happens to me sometimes.”

  Mumtaz nodded thoughtfully. “What freaked you out, Newton?”

  Newton thought about his answer carefully. He’d never told Ms. Mumtaz about his strange pod memory, and he wasn’t sure if he should do that now.

  “It was something in that display about The Invincible Man,” he answered vaguely.

  Her eyebrow shot up. “The Invisible Man?”

  “No, The Invincible Man, by this author with a weird name,” Newton replied. “Zoomie Muppet, or something like that.”

  Ms. Mumtaz shook her head. “A terrible author. I’m surprised they’d allow such trash in a museum like this, and among such brilliant minds as Jules Verne, too.”

  She looked at Higgy. “And you, Higgy. Why did you attempt to catch him?”

  Higgy shrugged. “I guess I was feeling pretty confident. You know, like Goo Guy.”

  Ms. Mumtaz started to smile, but stopped herself. “I understand, Higgy, but that was very reckless of you.”

  “I know,” Higgy said. “Are we in trouble?”

  “I think missing the gift shop is punishment enough, to be honest,” Mumtaz answered. “It’s a pretty awesome gift shop.”

  Higgy’s umbrella hologram flickered on and off.

  “We’d better get back to the warehouse and wait for the others,” the headmistress said. “I think your device is broken, Higgy.”

  They walked the five blocks back to the warehouse. By the time they got inside, Higgy’s umbrella hologram had completely failed.

  “You’re back to your green gooey self,” Newton told him, “but I think I like you better this way. Goo and all, you know?”

  “Thanks, Newton,” Higgy replied.

  They passed the next thirty minutes talking about the museum exhibits, and then the rest of the freshman class came into the warehouse. Shelly and Theremin broke away from the group and rushed up to Higgy and Newton.

  “What happened back there?” Shelly asked.

  “It was that hologram of the pod,” Newton answered, and he explained how that buried memory of his had come flooding back.

  “Wow,” Shelly said. “Well, sorry you missed the gift shop.”

  She thrust a bag into his arms. “I got this for you to help you remember the trip.”

  Newton looked inside and found a Museum of the Future T-shirt, with a drawing of the museum on the front.

  “Hey, thanks!” Newton said. Most of his clothing came from the school Lost and Found, so it was nice to have a shirt especially for him.

  Odifin handed Higgy a bag. “I thought you might like this, Higgy,” he said.

  Higgy pulled out an issue of the Goo Guy comic book. “This is awesome! Thanks, Odifin! I can’t wait to read it and give it to Welly. He’s going to love it so much, too, I just know it.”

  Professor Juvinall blew into her whistle. “Line up! We’re going to open the portal!” she yelled.

  They lined up, and Shelly turned to Newton. “I’m sorry that pod hologram triggered your memory. But you know, Newton, maybe it’s a clue.”

  “A clue?” Newton asked.

  Shelly nodded. “If that pod is the same as the one in your memory, then we need to find a copy of that book!”

  CHAPTER 8 Gooey, Green, and Ready to Be Seen!

  Back at Franken-Sci High the students stumbled out of the portal and into the gym. After a long day of walking around, everyone was tired.

  “I’m so glad tomorrow’s Saturday and we can sleep late,” Higgy said with a yawn. “I might take a nap right now.”

  “Robots don’t need naps,” Theremin said. “Anybody want to power through it and play nuclear Ping-Pong in the rec room?”

  “I’ll play,” Rotwang said.

  “I’ll play too,” Odifin added. “I can do that now, w
ith my arms.”

  Ms. Mumtaz appeared. “Sorry, Odifin. Today was just a test of the umbrella hologram. Until we’re sure it’s safe to use long term, I’ll have to ask you to hand it over.”

  Odifin sighed. “Here you go.”

  The tall boy with Newton’s nose and ears disappeared, and Odifin was a brain in a jar again.

  Newton felt a tiny twinge of sadness. It had been kind of nice having somebody around who looked like him. Actually, it had been amazing.

  “I guess I’ll just watch you guys play,” Odifin said sadly.

  “I’ve got to go check on my animals,” Shelly said. “Want to come, Newton?”

  Newton yawned. “Nah, I’m gonna chill with Higgy. But maybe you guys can all come to the room later. I need your help with something.”

  “Sure,” Theremin said. “Later, gator!”

  Newton and Higgy left the gym and walked across the campus to their dorm building, and went up to their room. Once inside, Newton climbed into the top bunk and Higgy slid into the bottom.

  Newton folded his arms under his head and stared at the ceiling. He closed his eyes, but the image of the pod returned. Not just the image but those feelings—everything he had felt when he’d first opened his eyes inside the pod. Fear, confusion, the feeling of being cramped inside the strange pod—

  He opened his eyes again, and whispered to Higgy on the bunk below. “Higgy, are you napping?”

  “Not yet,” Higgy replied. “I guess I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

  Newton sighed. “Yeah. Me too.”

  * * *

  “Pizza party in Newton and Higgy’s room!”

  Newton’s eyes opened groggily as Shelly, Theremin, Odifin, and Rotwang burst into the room. He had fallen asleep after all, a deep, deep sleep with no dreams of the pod.

  Higgy leaped out of the bottom bunk. “Pizza! Thanks! I’m ravenous.”

  Theremin put two boxes of pizza on top of Newton’s dresser. Newton jumped down and opened one of the lids. “Wow, that smells delicious,” he said. He read the box top. “Fizzy’s Pizza. What’s pizza?”