“I hate to tell you this, Fuzzy,” said Nina. “But you’re out of a job. They sent Barbara instead. They said she had the sort of primal instincts and seriously butt-kicking fuzzy logic needed to pull off the mission. And, well . . . you didn’t. You hesitated, when your own existence was at stake, to take the necessary action. And Barbara didn’t.”
“What do you mean ‘sent’ her? Sent her where?”
“To Mars!” yelled Max.
“You see, Fuzzy,” said Nina, “Jones and his team put your body back together again . . . but stuck on the backup head . . . with Barbara’s code in it.”
Fuzzy didn’t say anything.
“Don’t you get it, Fuzz? They stuck her in the rocket and blasted her off to Mars! She’s long gone! She went on the mission instead of you.”
Fuzzy sat there for a long time.
“Frozen up?” asked Max.
“No,” said Fuzzy. “Just not sure what to do next.”
“Well,” said Nina. “Right now, we’ve got your head running on an older body, but it’s not bad. Not good enough for Mars, but good enough for here. Now that we don’t have to send you off to Mars, the Robot Integration Program is finally really about robot integration. Jones and Ryder are off overseeing the Mars mission, and I’m in charge. Jones was right, you did make a lot of progress—even if he got a little overexcited about it. But it was only for a couple of weeks. I want to see what happens when you stay in school for a couple of years.”
“She means that you’re staying here,” said Max. “In school. With me!”
Fuzzy sat quietly for a few seconds, then stood up.
“In that case,” said Fuzzy, “aren’t we late for Mr. Xu’s class?”
“Oh smoke, I forgot. C’mon, Fuzzy!”
TOM ANGLEBERGER is the author of the bestselling Origami Yoda series, as well as Horton Halfpott and Fake Mustache, both Edgar Award nominees, the Qwikpick Papers series, and the Inspector Flytrap series. He lives in Christiansburg, Virginia, with his wife, the author/illustrator Cece Bell. Visit Tom online at www.origamiyoda.com.
PAUL DELLINGER is a former newspaper reporter who writes science fiction and fantasy stories, many of which are collected in the book Mr. Lazarus and Other Stories.
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