Beware of the Giant Brain!

by Mark Young

  “Yes, so you would stop bugging me. I don’t have any friends!”

  “That’s not true. You have Rotwang. He’s your friend,” his mom said.

  “HE IS NOT MY FRIEND!” Odifin shouted. “HE ONLY HANGS OUT WITH ME BECAUSE HE HAS TO! AND HE DOESN’T EVEN HANG OUT WITH ME ANYMORE!”

  Behind his mop of hair, Rotwang looked hurt. But he didn’t say anything.

  “We will talk about this more some other time, Odifin,” his mom said. “You need to take ten deep breaths and calm down, young man. Rotwang, if you’re still there, I am sorry you had to hear that.”

  She ended the call. Rotwang gazed up at Odifin.

  “Master, I—”

  “JUST GO AWAY AND LEAVE ME ALONE!”

  Rotwang slunk away without another word.

  At first Odifin felt shame. He’d never spoken to his mom like that before. And what he’d said about Rotwang—well, he wasn’t sure if it was true. Then he changed his mind. Of course it’s true! he told himself. Rotwang deserted you! You don’t have any friends, and you never will! Luckily for you, it means that you have nothing to lose.

  Odifin stretched his mind to reach every mechanical device in the school. Now let’s see. What can I do next?

  CHAPTER 8 The Monster in the Basement

  “Are we any closer to finding my brother yet?” Newton asked. “It’s been two days.”

  Once they’d found out that Newton had a brother, Theremin had cataloged everyone in the boys’ dorm and created a master data bank. He’d deleted everyone they had ruled out, after interviewing them had made it clear they weren’t likely to be Newton’s brother. That had left them with twenty-three boys still to interview. The friends had split up the list and been interviewing possible brothers whenever they could.

  Newton, Theremin, Higgy, and Shelly had decided to compare results at the 3-D Snack Shop after school. It was one of the places located just off campus. The snack shop employed a 3-D printer to make snacks, but used edible building material instead of plastic. Customers could create a snack on the screen by combining flavors (fruity, chocolatey, cheesy, or spicy ones, and many more) with shapes to make custom creations.

  Higgy gobbled down a cheesy-chocolate race car. “I interviewed the seven boys on my list,” he said. “None of them fit the profile.”

  “And I talked to Aristotle Gardyloo, Harold Gubbins, and Tobias Wallamoon,” Shelly said, nibbling on a fruity snack shaped like a toad. “They’re not good candidates either.”

  Newton looked at the list he was keeping on his tablet. “And I talked to thirteen more, and it doesn’t look like any of them could be my brother either.” He sighed. He’d made a fruity-cheesy-spicy spaceship, but he suddenly wasn’t hungry at all.

  “That’s twenty-three!” Theremin gasped. “We’ve ruled out every boy in the dorms. There are no other boys in the school.”

  “Unless it’s one of the teachers,” Shelly suggested. “It could be an older brother.”

  “In the case of Professor Wagg, that would be an extremely older brother,” Higgy joked.

  “I can create a new database of teachers,” Theremin offered.

  “I guess,” Newton replied. “But don’t worry about doing it now. I know you guys want to study for the trivia competition.”

  Higgy nodded to Newton’s spaceship. “If you’re not going to eat that…”

  “Be my guest,” Newton said, and Higgy reached out and swallowed the snack in one gulp.

  The friends left the snack shop and walked back to the main school building. As they walked in, Tabitha Talos approached them.

  “Hey, have you guys heard the rumor about Odifin Pinkwad?” she asked, and as she did, the overhead lights flickered.

  “You mean that he got really big?” Newton asked. “Yeah, we saw it ourselves, a couple of days ago.”

  “They put Odifin,” Shelly began, and the lights flickered again, “in a big, glass shark tank.”

  “Hey, is anyone else noticing that the lights flicker every time someone says Odifin’s name?” Theremin asked. (Flicker!)

  “Yeah,” Higgy said.

  “It happened in the cafeteria, too,” Shelly added.

  “I’m getting creeped out,” said Tabitha.

  “Odifin?” Newton whispered, and the lights flickered. Then Newton realized something. “Odifin!” he shouted, and the lights flickered again. “We didn’t interview him, right? Theremin, did you include him in your master data bank of boys to interview?”

  Theremin’s eyes flashed. “No, I didn’t,” he replied. “He wasn’t in the dorm when I made the list. They’d moved him to the basement, right?”

  “Right!” Newton said. “Come on. We’ve got to go talk to him. Thanks so much, Tabitha.”

  “I’m not sure what I did, but you’re welcome,” Tabitha replied as Newton and his friends ran off.

  “I believe he’s in the boiler room,” Higgy said. “I passed by a big tank in there last night on the way to the cafeteria.”

  They raced to the basement and followed Higgy to the boiler room. They stepped inside, and everyone gasped.

  Odifin had grown even bigger in the previous two days. His brain was now almost the same size as the shark tank. His eyes were the size of beach balls, and his new tendrils of thick brain matter were even longer than before.

  He doesn’t look like Odifin anymore, Newton thought. Newton’s whole body prickled with the warning that danger was near. He looks like a monster!

  Theremin turned around and rocketed out of the boiler room as fast as he could. Shelly, Newton, and Higgy ran after him.

  “We can’t just run away!” Shelly told Theremin.

  “Of course we can,” Theremin replied. “Whatever that thing is, it looks dangerous!”

  “He does look like a monster,” Newton whispered, so Odifin wouldn’t hear.

  “Guys, he obviously needs our help,” Shelly said.

  “I don’t think even you can help him, Shelly,” Theremin said. “We should tell Ms. Mumtaz that he has grown even bigger.”

  “I agree,” Higgy said. “I mean, I know I’m weird and squishy, but that is one enormous weird and squishy bloke!”

  “Wait!” Newton said. “We can’t tell Ms. Mumtaz,” he argued. “She’ll send him away. And I need to find out if he’s my brother.”

  “So, what are we going to do?” Theremin asked.

  Newton took a deep breath. He tried to quiet the panicked part of his brain that wanted him to camouflage, to disappear, or to flee.

  “Not we. I’m going to interview him,” Newton said. Then he turned and walked back inside the boiler room.

  “Hi, Odifin,” he said, and the lights in the boiler room flickered off and on.

  “Hello, Newton,” Odifin replied. “What are you doing here?” Odifin’s enormous membranes pulsed in the super bluegoo, and Newton’s stomach flip-flopped. But he kept it together as Shelly, Theremin, and Higgy joined him.

  “I, um, I’m interviewing kids for the yearbook,” Newton said, which was the cover Shelly had come up with for all the interviews. “Can I ask you a few questions?”

  “What kind of questions?” Odifin snapped.

  “Personal questions,” Newton answered him. “Like, where you were born and who your family is, stuff like that.”

  “Aha!” Odifin cried, and the super bluegoo inside the shark tank bubbled and glowed as he accessed the school’s mainframe.

  “What do you mean, ‘aha!’?” Newton asked.

  “I know what you’re trying to do,” Odifin said. “You are not on the yearbook staff. So there can only be one reason why you’re asking me these questions.”

  Newton and his friends were silent. Did Odifin know about Newton’s search for his brother?

  “I’m now the most famous student Franken-Sci High has ever had!” Odifin said. “So I will surely be a question in the Brilliant Brains Trivia Competition. Well, you aren’t going to get anything out of me, so quit trying.”

  �
�That’s not it at all,” Newton said.

  Theremin forgot all about his fear of the monster brain. “Do you really think you’re going to be a question in the competition? You’re not that important.”

  Shelly nudged him. “Theremin!”

  “Don’t try to fool me, robot boy,” Odifin said. “Now leave me alone. You’re a distraction, and I need to get back to studying for the competition. Nothing is going to stop me from winning.”

  “Listen, you’re right that the yearbook thing was a lie, but you’ve got to let me talk to you,” Newton said. “Please. It’s important, Odifin.”

  The lights in the boiler room began to flicker, and the boiler began to groan.

  “You all had better leave now, before I get angry,” Odifin said. “And you don’t want to see me angry, do you?”

  “No!” Theremin replied, and bolted out of the boiler room, followed by Higgy. Shelly grabbed Newton by the elbow.

  “Come on, Newton,” she said. “He wants to be alone.”

  “Okay,” Newton said, but he moved slowly, watching Odifin pulse in the shark tank.

  Could my brother really be a giant brain? he wondered. I guess anything’s possible. But now I’ll never know!

  CHAPTER 9 Rotwang Reaches Out

  A few hours later Newton and his friends were eating dinner in the cafeteria. Shelly munched on a salad, with chickpeas that bounced up and down in the bowl. She concentrated, trying to spear them with her fork.

  “Shelly, did you animate those chickpeas?” Theremin asked.

  Shelly shook her head. “The cafeteria is working on food that improves your brain and motor skills. Stabbing the jumping chickpeas is increasing my dexterity.”

  “That looks like way too much work for me,” Higgy responded, slurping down a bowl of gummy worms.

  “Since when do they serve gummy worms in the cafeteria?” Shelly asked.

  “They don’t,” Higgy replied. “These are from my own personal stash.”

  Newton stuck his fork into the pile of food on his plate. As usual, he’d just piled on anything that looked good to him. Today’s dinner was mashed potatoes, crushed pineapple, nacho cheese sauce on a jelly doughnut, and two meatballs, all in a pile just the way he liked it.

  “So are you guys going to study for the trivia competition tonight?” Newton asked.

  “That’s the plan,” Theremin said. “We don’t mean to ditch you, but we’re running out of days left to study. And I really want to win this thing!”

  “Me too,” Higgy added.

  Shelly shrugged. “And I just don’t want to embarrass myself by getting a bunch of stuff wrong,” she said. “The competition is broadcast to mad scientists all over the world. It’s very—”

  She stopped. “Rotwang, how long have you been standing there?”

  Newton turned around to see Rotwang, standing there with his greasy hair over his eyes.

  “Ever since Newton put nacho cheese on his jelly donut,” Rotwang replied. “You know, everyone in this school looks down on me for being an assistant, but at least I know how to eat.”

  “Nobody looks… down on you,” Newton said, but his voice became more unsure with each word. Rotwang wasn’t exactly lying. He’d noticed that mad scientists seemed to all think they were superior to assistants.

  “What do you want?” Theremin asked.

  “I need to talk,” Rotwang said. “It’s about Odifin.” The lights flickered.

  “Sure,” Shelly said, and Rotwang sat down at the table.

  “I’m worried about him,” Rotwang said. “I mean, he’s always been evil and nasty. But now that he’s a giant brain, he’s getting out of control. All the weird things happening in the school—I think he’s causing them.”

  “Odifin?” Higgy asked, and the lights flickered again.

  “Yeah, like that,” Rotwang said. “The lights flicker every time someone says his name. And lockers opening and everything spilling out. The sprinklers going off. Washing machines spinning at super-high speeds. I think he’s doing it.”

  “That makes sense,” Higgy remarked. “He is likely using his brain waves to connect to the school’s technology.”

  “How would he be able to do that?” Shelly wondered.

  “With the super bluegoo,” Rotwang replied. “It’s loaded with nano particles that transmit wireless energy. His tank is full of it.”

  Theremin looked at Rotwang. “Okay, interesting. So, why are you asking us to help?” he asked. “Why not ask Mumtaz?”

  Rotwang shrugged. “Well, because you guys are, like, smart and stuff,” he said. “You won the science fair. You saved the school from that giant monster.”

  Rotwang was talking about Shelly’s monster friend Peewee. He had transformed into a giant beast by accident several weeks before, and had freaked out the school until Shelly had recognized him and Professor Flubitus had changed Peewee back to normal.

  “And you’re nice,” Rotwang continued. “You’re not mean to me like other kids are. Well, Theremin is kinda mean, but the rest of you aren’t.”

  Theremin frowned. “Well, you probably deserved it,” he said. “And I still think this is a job for Mumtaz, not for us.”

  Rotwang shook his head. “I don’t want her to expel him,” he said. “He’s my only friend here. And I am his friend, even if he doesn’t think so.”

  Only friend, Newton thought. He had Shelly, Theremin, and Higgy, but Odifin and Rotwang only had each other. A feeling of gratitude welled up in Newton. “Well, I think we should try to help him,” he said. “It can’t be easy being a brain in a jar, or worse, a giant brain in a giant tank. It sounds like things just got out of control.”

  “I think there’s another reason why we should help,” Higgy said. “He’s getting bigger and bigger, right? We’re lucky that all he’s done is set off some sprinklers and make the lights flash. Just imagine what he could do if he really put his mind to it. He could wipe out all the school’s data! He could—”

  Rotwang put a hand over Higgy’s mouth. “He could be listening,” he whispered. “Don’t give him any ideas.”

  Shelly leaned in. “We should go somewhere and talk where there’s no technology,” she suggested, and turned to Theremin.

  Theremin’s eyes flashed as he scanned a blueprint of the island in his data banks. “Follow me!”

  As they left, Higgy slurped up the remainder of the food on Newton’s plate. His friends looked at him.

  “What? I can’t plot to save the school on an empty stomach,” he said.

  They made their way out into the jungle between the school and the dorms. The humid air buzzed with insects as the sun set, and Newton, for a reason he didn’t understand, felt a strange urge to catch the insects with his tongue. He resisted and tried to ignore the feeling.

  “Okay,” Shelly said. “So, Odifin is using special goo—”

  “Super bluegoo,” Rotwang interrupted.

  “Super bluegoo,” Shelly repeated, “to control all of the school’s technology. And his tank is filled with it?”

  Rotwang nodded.

  “What would happen if we drained the super bluegoo out of the tank?” Newton asked.

  “Well, Odifin wouldn’t be able to connect without it,” Rotwang replied. “But even if a little bit is stuck to his brain, he’d still be able to connect. And we can’t get rid of the super bluegoo, because then he would dry out, which wouldn’t be good.”

  “What kind of goo did he use before?” Theremin asked.

  “Regular goo, I guess?” Rotwang said. “His mom sends it here when he’s running low. I have a jug of it in our room, but it wouldn’t even be enough to start to fill up the tank.”

  “If we can take a sample, we might be able to make more,” Higgy suggested as he removed a glove and revealed his jellylike hand. “I am pretty well versed in goo-based chemistry.”

  Shelly took the lead. “Okay, so what we need to do is get the super bluegoo out of the tank and rinse any trace of it off you-
know-who,” she said, and then she remembered both that they were out of Odifin’s range and that they were outside, where no lights could flicker, so she said his name. “I mean Odifin. Then we will need to replace the super bluegoo with gallons and gallons of regular goo that we have to make ourselves. Um…”

  “That all sounds kind of hard,” Newton said.

  “Well, once Higgy makes new regular goo to replace the super bluegoo,” Shelly said, “we just have to drain the tank and rinse off Odifin. How should we do it?”

  “We could use buckets and dump the super bluegoo out when he’s asleep,” Theremin said.

  “Does he sleep?” Newton asked.

  “He used to,” Rotwang replied. “I’m not sure he does anymore.”

  “There’s got to be a way to drain the shark tank,” Shelly said, tapping her finger on her chin. “I know big aquarium tanks have drains that can be opened for this sort of thing. Maybe this tank does too.”

  “Wait. Odifin borrowed the tank from Tori Twitcher,” Theremin said. “She used it for the science fair.”

  “Right! I’ll just check the photos I took that day and see if I can find a picture of the tank,” Shelly said, and she browsed the photos in her tablet. A few seconds later she grinned. “I see a drain!”

  “That’s all well and good, but that super bluegoo must be high-quality stuff. If it has great viscosity,” Higgy remarked, “it will take a long time to drain. And while it’s draining, Odifin might get angry.”

  Newton pictured the shark tank in his mind. “Maybe we could water down the goo to help flush it out faster,” he said. “That would also help us rinse the goo off Odifin.”

  “Where will we get that much water?” Higgy wondered.

  Theremin’s eyes glowed. He scrolled through his memory banks to look at the boiler room again. “The boiler room has four sprinklers,” he said. “That might be enough to flush the tank.”

  “Only one problem,” Rotwang reminded them. “Odifin can control the school’s sprinklers.”

  “Oh, right!” Shelly frowned. “That’s too bad. Otherwise it would have been the perfect solution!”