Supercharged Infield

by Matt Christopher

  She was just about to ring the doorbell when the door opened and a girl came out, a pretty, dark-haired girl with an oval face and a small mole on her left cheek. Jean Zacks. The Hawks second baseman.

  Penny froze as she stared at the masklike face of the girl before her. There was something about Jean that immediately reminded Penny of the other infielders who had been supercharged by, Penny thought, Harold Dempsey’s computer. But this was Jonny Keech’s house, not Harold’s. And the boy standing directly behind Jean — the smile on his face suddenly disappearing — was Jonny himself.

  ELEVEN

  JONNY STARED over Jean’s shoulder at Penny, a surprised look coming over his face.

  “Penny!” he exclaimed, the tone of his usually velvety voice matching the surprise on his face.

  Penny looked from Jean to him. Jean glanced at her. “Hi, Penny,” she said, her voice flat and wooden, as she walked out the door past Penny to the street. Penny watched her until she turned left at the sidewalk in the direction of her home. Then she looked back at Jonny, feeling rooted to the porch but wanting to run away, to put as much distance between her and Jonny as she could. Suddenly she feared him as much as she had liked him before. And all the time she had blamed Harold for what had been happening to the girls!

  “Penny,” Jonny said again. “Hello.” He said the words haltingly and guiltily. Their eyes locked.

  “So it was you all the time,” Penny said accusingly. “You’re the one who’s been turning those girls, including your own sister, into heartless wonders.”

  “No,” he said, his gaze unwavering. “That is . . .” He hesitated, looking away.

  “That is what? I just saw Jean Zacks walking out of here looking like . . . like a robot!” Penny thundered. “How can you explain that?”

  Jonny’s face paled. Penny could see that he was fighting his emotions: he knew he was guilty for doing what he had done, but hated to admit it.

  “I didn’t do it,” he said, his voice almost quavering. “I mean, I’m not really responsible for what happened.”

  Penny frowned. “You’re not? Then who is, Jonny?” she asked, her voice rising. “Who is?”

  “Well . . . I mean . . . Harold.”

  “Harold?” Her eyes widened. “How?”

  Jonny’s mouth opened, closed. He looked away from her, at the floor, the walls, as if searching for the right answer to give her.

  “How, Jonny?” Penny repeated. “How could Harold in any way be responsible? Are you two working together in this . . . this monstrous thing?”

  “Well, sort of.”

  “How?”

  “It was Harold’s computer,” Jonny answered slowly. “My dad bought it from him about a month ago.”

  “That still doesn’t make it Harold’s fault,” Penny said, “unless I’m missing something here.”

  “Well, I mean . . . if my dad hadn’t ever bought the thing, and I hadn’t started fooling around with it . . .” His voice trailed off.

  “I thought a computer was involved in this thing,” Penny said, her shock over Jonny’s involvement conflicting with her satisfaction in knowing that her early hunch was right. “But how could it change people? How could it turn a person into a superathlete, and . . . and deaden their feelings?”

  “They’re not deadened,” Jonny said hastily. “They’re just . . . well, sort of relaxed. Weak.”

  Penny stared at him, suddenly furious. “I can’t understand it. How could a simple computer — ”

  “It’s not simple,” Jonny cut in. “Harold’s father did some work on it, making it more sophisticated than it was before. Then, when Dad bought it for me, I upgraded it more.”

  She couldn’t take her eyes off him. “ ‘Upgraded it more’?” she echoed, and waited for him to explain.

  He nodded. “Look, our air conditioner is on,” he said. “It’s more comfortable talking inside than it is out there. Do you want to come in?”

  Penny hesitated. “I’m not sure.”

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” he said. “Really.”

  He stepped back. Then, still a bit cautious, Penny entered the house, and Jonny closed the door behind her. He was right: it was much cooler inside.

  “Come on. I’ll take you to my computer room,” Jonny invited, heading toward a narrow, carpeted hall. “You probably want to see it now that you’re here, anyway, I think.”

  “Yes. I do,” Penny replied. “But I don’t know whether I should.”

  Jonny glanced back at her. “I want you to,” he insisted. “Please.”

  He sounded sincere. Penny considered his invitation, and her situation. If he tried to do anything to her — grab her, force her into whatever kind of invention he used for his incredible purpose — she could turn and run. She was a fast runner. She was sure she’d be out of the house and down the street before he was out the door.

  “Okay,” she said, making sure, though, that there was a gap of several feet between them.

  Jonny turned into the open door of his room and Penny followed him in. The moment she stepped across the threshold she stopped, breathless. The room wasn’t large, perhaps not more than nine feet square, but every shelf was crammed with books, magazines, and cassettes. Along two walls were the components of a computer. No. Two computers, on tables against each wall.

  “You can see I’ve got two monitors and two keyboards,” Jonny explained as he stood next to the system across the room from Penny. “This smaller one here is the one Dad bought me a couple of years ago. That set there,” he pointed to the larger monitor and keyboard on the table near Penny, “is the one I got from Harold. It’s got a dual disk drive, whereas this one is a single disk drive. With two drives you don’t have to keep switching disks, like you do with a single. But I guess you know that.”

  “A little,” said Penny, who was learning the fundamentals of computer literacy in school. “But how did you use it to supercharge those girls — or whatever it was you did to them?”

  Jonny went to the system that was next to Penny, reached around the monitor, lifted a latch, and pulled down a flap, revealing four sets of inch-wide rubber cups.

  Penny stared at them. “They look like electrodes,” she exclaimed, “those things they use in lie-detector tests.”

  “They’re similar,” said Jonny. He pulled one out and Penny saw that a tube was attached to it. “Put two on each arm, turn on the switch, and you’re ready to go,” he added, a sly grin coming over his face.

  Penny’s eyes widened. “That’s it? Put two on each arm, turn on the — ”

  “Not quite,” Jonny cut in. “There are certain commands you have to give the computer.”

  Penny frowned, curious. “Commands? Where did you learn about the commands?”

  He looked at her. Once again he was very serious. “I programmed them into the computer.”

  “You programmed them?” Penny felt her spine turning into an icicle, felt herself frozen to the floor. She was afraid Jonny might grab her, sit her down on the chair next to the computer, stick the electrodes onto her arms, and presto! change her into another super player. But he didn’t, and she was sure then that he wasn’t going to.

  “I programmed them,” he repeated. “I started with my simpler computer first, about a year ago, experimenting with mice.”

  “And it worked?” Penny heard her voice sounding almost like a screech. She repeated her question, more softly. “It worked?”

  Jonny nodded. “It was a long time before I started to get results, but I had the mice lifting stones five times their own weight.”

  Penny gulped. “Lifting stones? How?”

  Jonny grinned proudly. “First, I took two mice, fastened the electrodes onto their bodies, then, little by little, I began feeding information into the computer.”

  “What kind of information?”

  “Formulas. I took the color graphics program and set up a model of the human body, showing all its muscles.” His face beamed. “Then I programm
ed the voice commands to send electrical vibrations out through these tubes to whatever muscles I highlighted on the screen. But I had to do it in steps, and each step was a separate formula which was able to work only when done in the correct sequence. Follow me?”

  Penny’s forehead was already knitted. “I don’t know,” she confessed. “What about the mice? What did you do with them after you stuck the electrodes onto their bodies?”

  “I placed hunks of cheese inside a two-inch-square box,” Jonny explained. “Then I laid the stone on top of the box and just waited for the mice to get good and hungry.”

  “And?”

  “Well, I experimented with each one separately, to see if the reactions would be the same. And they were. When the mice got good and hungry, they lifted the stone and got the cheese. A stone five times their own weight.”

  Penny stared at him. The ice around her spine had melted. But she was still cautious, wary. She still could not make herself trust him one hundred percent.

  “What happened? Did the mice start bulging with muscles?” she asked, curious.

  He chuckled. “No. They just got strong. Their muscles simply became like steel.”

  “That’s why no one could tell that the girls had changed by just looking at them,” Penny observed.

  “Right,” said Jonny.

  “But it affected their minds,” she said. “Their behavior. How come?”

  Jonny shook his head and looked away from her. “I’m not sure. All I can think of is that the change in their bodies caused by the computer must have also created a reaction in their brain waves. I don’t think it’s anything damaging, or permanent.” He started tapping the edge of the computer table nervously with his fingers.

  “But you’re not sure.” It was more a statement than a question.

  “Not completely, no.”

  Penny shook her head, incredulous. “But you must have seen a change in Shari’s behavior, Jonny. And in Karen’s. Why did you continue with your experiment? Why?”

  He shrugged. His face began to look pale, drawn. “I wasn’t worried about their behavior. Not at first. I just thought it was a normal, unimportant side effect.”

  “‘Normal? ‘Unimportant’? You must be kidding!”

  “No. I figured it was just tied in with their physical change. That it was just a temporary thing.” He met her eyes squarely. “Penny, don’t you understand? I was so surprised that the experiment worked I didn’t give much thought to the girls’ emotions! I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true! I really didn’t think the experiment would work!”

  Penny sucked in a deep breath, let it out, and went on quietly, “Shari was the first girl — victim — you tried it on. Didn’t you explain the experiment to her? What might happen to her if it worked?”

  “Of course, I did! I explained it to all of them!”

  “But none of them — including your own sister, Karen — was a bit worried? Not one bit?”

  Jonny shrugged. “Well, Shari was a bit cautious at first. But I picked her because she’s a jolly kid. And daring. She wanted to know what the experiment would do to her, if it succeeded, and if it would leave any aftereffects. I told her it should improve her playing ability, but that’s all. And that she should be normal again in a week or so.”

  “But it’s lasted longer than that,” Penny said. “A lot longer. Jonny, I can’t believe you.”

  Jonny nodded. “Yeah. I know,” he murmured. “I can’t believe me, either.” He sounded sick.

  “Why did you do it?” Penny asked. “Why didn’t you pick on another animal? A dog, for example. Or a cat?”

  He lifted his shoulders. “The Hawks were losing games, that’s why. And the infielders were playing the lousiest of anybody. Including you, Penny. Harold and I used to talk about it. And I thought . . . well, if my experiment worked, I would turn Shari into a superplayer first, then, one by one, you other infielders, and the Hawks should start winning. When Karen saw how Shari was playing after I gave her the treatment, I had no trouble convincing her to have it, too. She thought it was fun. And exciting. Well, I did, too. And Harold helped by getting us all together.”

  “Didn’t Karen notice that the treatment also affected Shari’s personality? And worry that it might affect hers the same way?”

  “Yes. But I told her it was temporary. Not anything to worry about.” He shook his head, and Penny could see that he was really suffering over this now. “I’m really sorry, Penny,” he said. “I really am.”

  “Sorry?” She looked at him squarely. “Sorry won’t help, Jonny. The parents of those girls must have noticed that something is different about their daughters by now. If they find out that you’re behind it, you’ll really be in hot water! Jonny, you’ve got to change them back, you hear me? You’ve got to bring those girls back here and turn them into normal human beings again!” Her anger mounted, and she clenched her fists and felt like pounding him on the chest to let him know she meant it. “Do you hear me, Jonny?” Her voice rose in a crescendo as the words left her mouth. “You’ve got to change those girls back to normal! Now!”

  Jonny’s face seemed even paler than before, his voice almost inaudible as he stared at her and said, “I can’t, Penny. I don’t know how.”

  TWELVE

  ALL LIFE SEEMED to drain out of Penny as Jonny’s raw, slowly delivered words registered in her mind. She had to find a chair and sit down, she thought, or she’d faint.

  A worn cushioned chair with wooden armrests was directly in front of her, facing the right-hand side of the computer closest to her. She went to it and sat down, resting her elbows on the armrests and her forehead in her hands. She closed her eyes, Jonny’s words still humming in her ears: “I can’t, Penny. I don’t know how.”

  But he had to know how! If he could change them into superstars, there had to be a way that he could change them back!

  She lifted her head and looked at him. His worried blue eyes looked back at her. There couldn’t be any delay in trying. Now that she was here with Jonny she was going to force him to try. She could see now that he was concerned, frightened.

  “Jonny,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm, steady, “you’ve got to do something. You can’t say you can’t. You’ve got to change those girls back.”

  He looked more worried than ever. “Oh, man, Penny. I didn’t think . . . I didn’t realize what I did. I mean, I never dreamed that Karen — my own sister — Shari, and the others would stay that way. I told you, I thought it all would be just temporary.”

  “But it isn’t,” Penny said tersely. “Look at Karen. She — ” She cut herself off. How could Jonny even try to restore one of the girls to her normal self if none of them was present?

  “Where’s Karen now?” Penny asked sharply.

  Jonny shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably at our aunt’s. She’s been going there a lot lately instead of to her friends’.”

  “Call her,” Penny suggested. “Tell her to come home. Tell her it’s important.”

  Jonny looked at her, fear in his eyes.

  “Go on,” Penny insisted, looking around and noticing a telephone at the other side of the computer in front of him. “Call her right now. You know your aunt’s number?”

  He nodded, picked up the phone, dialed, and asked for Karen. A few seconds later he hung up. His eyes sought Penny’s. “She’s in the pool, and she doesn’t want to come out,” he said, his velvety voice sounding harsh and hurt now.

  Penny stared at him. She thought of Shari, of Faye, of Jean, Jonny’s most recent victim. Jean had walked out of Jonny’s house less than half an hour ago and had probably gone home. If any of the girls could return, it would be Jean, Penny thought. Excitement sprang up in her as she told Jonny to call her and have her come over immediately.

  Jonny looked up Jean’s number in the phone book and dialed. Seconds later he hung up. “There’s no answer,” he said, his face looking as lifeless as his voice sounded.

  Penny froze. Oh, no! Wha
t now? Should Jonny call Faye, too, and see if she’d come? Faye was Penny’s best friend. That is, she was until Jonny had changed her into a superplayer and left her, as he had left the others, like a robot as far as emotion was concerned. Penny didn’t know if they were friends anymore. The part of her that Penny had known so well, that had been active and bubbly and always filled to the brim with fun and laughter, was now dormant. Or maybe dead.

  Penny shuddered at the thought and had to say something to drive it out of her mind.

  “There’s one other thing we can try,” she said, the words rushing out of her without her thinking too much about them.

  “What?” Jonny asked, curious.

  “Put those electrodes on me. Change me.”

  Jonny’s eyes widened. “Penny! You know what you’re saying?”

  “Yes!” She was clear-minded now. She knew exactly what she was saying. “You run the experiment through several stages, don’t you? I mean, you just don’t turn the computer on and puff! the change has been done?”

  “Right. There are five stages,” replied Jonny. “Start. Increase power by one. Then by two. Then three, and so on.”

  Penny’s heart pounded as her hope suddenly revived. “Okay. Let’s start cracking. Get out those electrodes.”

  Again Jonny stared at her, as if he were giving her another chance to change her mind. But her stern, demanding look took the place of words. He rolled the chair on its small wheels to the front of the keyboard and monitor beside Penny, pulled out the electrodes, and stuck the suction cups on her wrists, two on each. Then he switched on the computer and waited for it to warm up. In seconds the screen lighted up, and Jonny began to punch some keys. Instantly the date flashed up on the top left corner of the screen, then, underneath it, the time: 4:22. p.m. The monitor was located just back of the keyboard, far enough for Penny to see what was appearing on the screen, even though it was at a difficult angle.