by John Zakour
“Hi, Maya. Hi, Tina. I've come with a proposition for you both.” He said, quite guarded. When he made sure we were both listening, he launched into somewhat of a speech. “As I'm sure we're all aware of by now, you and I have a nice rivalry going on. I believe that our friendly competition has inspired me to do better numerous times. As such, I'm very inspired right now. I believe we would all do better if we worked as a team on this robot, instead of working against one another,” he said with a glimmer in his eye.
“Uh… yeah, sure.” I said, trying to play it cool.
“Fantastic,” Dex said. “I knew I could count on you.”
Maya Message: That’s what I liked about Dex. He always respected my intelligence and made it known. Our rivalry was never mean, just spirited. People often say that if a boy is mean to you that it means he likes you, but I think it’s better to give my attention to boys who don’t show their interest in a destructive way.
Chapter IX
After school, Tina and I walked home. The walk took us a good forty-five minutes, but we had a summer’s worth of catching up to do. I so wanted to tell Tina about my lab, but I just couldn’t. K9 was still giving me dirty looks for letting Marko know.
Maya Message: Over the past days, I've learned K9 is smart and dedicated, but he takes his job very, very seriously. He's not thrilled with any security breaches, as he calls them. For a dog, he can be very rigid. But then again, he is made of metal. Plus, as he says, when you are in security, you need to be insecure because one mistake is all it takes for everything to go wrong.
“Oh my, this certainly is an interesting house!” Tina said, walking up the front porch stairs to Grandpa’s house, I mean ‘our’ house.
“Yeah, the house is about two hundred years old,” I said. “Grandpa may have been an inventor, but he thought houses were built to last in those days. We’ve made a lot of improvements,” I added.
Marko’s sitter, Tammy Payne came and greeted us at the door. Tammy, a high school senior, was saving money for college and often worked as a babysitter. She was a really cool girl with amazing patience towards my brother. Truthfully, I could have easily watched Marko once I got home from school, but Mom and Dad knew Tammy needed the money, and I needed the break.
Tammy gave me a look that said, ‘I need a favor.’
“What’s up, Tammy?” I asked.
“I need to cut out early today, if possible. I have a college interview at four-thirty. It was the only time they could do it.”
“I’ve got you covered!” I told her.
She hugged me then stood back and grinned. Tammy was way stronger than she looked. “Thanks, Maya! You’re the best!”
Tina followed me to my room, and we hung out there, talking and chatting about robot ideas and life in general. I was super excited about the project. Not only would we get to work closely with Dex, but I was also looking forward to some healthy competition, and teaching the mean girls a lesson. I wanted to prove to myself that I was smart and capable, even without the use of my lab.
After an hour or so, Tammy brought Marko up to my room. “Thanks so much, Maya! I really appreciate this!”
“No problem,” I told her.
At that very moment, ‘nature called.’ I guess I was so excited about seeing Tina again that I had literally forgotten to go to the bathroom since before leaving home that morning.
“Guys, I’ll be back in a minute,” I told them as I headed into my bathroom. “Play nice, you two!” I called out.
Marko and Tina weren’t the best of friends. Tina happened to be an only child and didn’t deal well with young, annoying kids. I loved Marko, but he was an acquired taste.
From the bathroom, I heard their voices.
“Yes.”
“No way!”
“Yes.”
“No way!”
“Yes.”
“No way!”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
“No way.”
“Ahuh!”
“You crazy boy!”
“Nope, you’re crazy!”
Then there was silence. For a second, I was worried that Tina might have put a sleeper hold on Marko. Tina knew the sleeper hold pretty well.
Hurrying out of the bathroom, I found my bedroom empty.
“Ah, guys?” I said. I walked out of the room and shouted downstairs, "Guys?"
My phone beeped. I got a text from K9. Oh, that could not be good.
K9> GET UR HUMAN BUTT DOWN HERE
K9> NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
K9> P R O N T O!!!!
K9> THAT MEANS FAST!!!
K9> YES I KNOW I AM SHOUTING.
K9> I AM MAD!!!
K9>SO MAD!!! I WISH I COULD USE BOLD TEXT AS WELL!
K9>I’VE NEVER EVEN BEEN THIS ANGRY AT THAT DUMB BIRD!
K9>AND HE HAS POOPED ON ME!!! NOT YOUR BRO THE BIRD!!!!!
Running back into my room, I raced into my closet and activated the elevator. The elevator seemed to take forever to deliver me to my lab. I found K9 glaring at a now netted Tina.
K9 rolled up to me. “Two weeks! You’ve had this lab for two weeks! And already two other people know about this SECRET lab! At the rate you are going, the entire town will know about this by the end of the year.”
“But if only two people knew in two weeks, wouldn’t only fifty-two people know at the end of the year?” Marko asked.
K9 shook his head the best he could. "No! Because for every one person she tells, they can tell one person and they will tell one person, and they will tell one person… the number will grow exponentially fast!"
Holding up a finger, I said to K9, “Breathe!”
"I am a robot. I do not need to breathe!"
“Compute calm thoughts,” I said. “Compute the digits in pi.”
Maya Fact: Pi is a mathematical constant that goes on forever. You learn about it in geometry because it has to do with circles and their diameter and stuff. It's fun. The number goes on forever, but it starts out 3.14159… Some people try to memorize as many digits as they can.
“Now this is different,” Tina said. “Girl, how could you not tell me about THIS?”
“I wasn’t supposed to tell anybody,” I answered her.
Tina was covered in a net. She pointed at Marko, who stood there, tongue out. “You told him!” she exclaimed.
K9 sat down in defeat and glared at me. “And we see how amazingly well THAT turned out!!” He paused. Smoke billowed from his nose and ears.
“And by amazing, I mean really, awfully bad!” K9 shouted loudly. “Your grandfather kept this place secret for well over a decade! But you! You! You have control for less than a month, and I am surprised we haven't made the world news yet!”
I ignored K9. “I had to tell Marko,” I told Tina. “He was so heartbroken about Gramps.”
Gramps’ image appeared behind me. “That was so sweet!” Grandpa J exclaimed.
Tina pointed at Gramps’ image, “What the heck?! Is he a ghost?”
“Hardly, Tina,” Grandpa J said. “I’m an intelligent holographic projection!”
“You can’t hug him,” Marko added.
“You should mind-wipe her!” K9 suggested.
“That could work,” Crash said, walking toward us.
“Wow!” Tina said, “A living crash dummy!”
Crash bowed. “They call me Crash.”
“It’s a fitting name,” Tina said.
“Mind-wipe her now!” K9 bellowed. “She is a security risk! And she is not family!”
“I’m not going to mind-wipe her!” I told K9. “Wait, we can mind-wipe people?”
“I was talking to Doctor J,” K9 told me.
“There will be no mind-wipes!” Grandpa J said.
Pulling the net off Tina, I told her meekly, “I wanted to tell you. I wanted to share this with you.” Pointing at K9 and Crash, I noted, “But I knew you’d have to deal with them!”
Polly came flying into the area, “What the heck is going on her
e? Can’t a bird get some peace and quiet?” Polly landed on my shoulder. He pointed at Tina. “Who’s the cute friend?”
“Tina, meet Polly,” I said.
Polly slicked back his hair, or feathers more like it. “The pleasure is all mine.”
“Oh my,” Tina said, “This is a lot to take in.” Her eyes opened wide. “But this place is amazing.” She gasped, “We could so win the robot war with this lab.”
Grandpa J shook a finger at her. “I’m sorry, Tina, but no. This lab is to be used for the good of the world in general. Not to win a school competition.”
“Plus, I know we can win it fair and square,” I said.
“Fine,” Tina replied. “Though it would be so cool to…”
“Nope,” Grandpa J said.
Polly grinned. “I like her; she’s stubborn!”
“Come on over here,” I told Tina, dragging her by the arm. “I want to show you the fight simulator I made!”
She grinned. “Cool!”
“I don’t like this!” K9 told Grandpa J.
“You don’t like anything!” Grandpa J told K9.
“True, that’s why I am so darn great at my job!” K9 barked. He paused for a moment. “But I do like you and Crash and even Polly. Plus, I have learned to tolerate Maya and Marko, but please don’t tell them. I don’t want them to think I’ve gone soft!”
“I can hear you!” I shouted to K9.
“Oh, bark!” K9 said.
“Don’t worry; I don’t think you’ve gone soft at all!” I told him. “I think you are as cold and steely as ever!” I added, even though deep down I knew he had become a little kinder since hanging out with us.
“Thanks!” K9 said. “I will do my best not to net Tina again.”
“Yeah, she’s cute!” Polly said.
Chapter X
The day next at school started with business as usual. After much discussion about our class robot, we decided to stick with a nice simple ramming robot design. Basically, it would be a modified, remote-controlled metal covered tiny snowplow. The plow itself would be both a weapon and a shield. Chad’s dad supplied us with the materials, which we never heard the end of. Even though the class came up with the idea, we each (in our groups or individually) had to make our own prototypes. With a team of Dex, Tina and myself, I felt confident. Dex and I knew the robot stuff, and Tina knew how to fight.
Robot business aside, we also had a college fair scheduled, followed by an ice cream social to look forward to. The college fair was always fun because universities from all over came to the middle school and gave us all a bunch of free stuff. This time, I ended up with a free backpack, a bunch of pens, and I won a baseball hat for guessing a school mascot correctly.
Of course, there were other vendors there too. There was a trade school that was handing out fun-shaped erasers, and a few local businesses handing out business cards and flyers.
Maya Message: College isn’t the right path for everybody, and that’s perfectly okay too! It’s important to stay in school, but once you graduate, you can learn a trade or even go right into the workforce. As Grandpa always says, ‘It takes all kinds to make the world go round.’ Then he would always stop and say, ‘Well, physics makes the world go round, but all kinds of people make the trip better.’
People such as plumbers, sanitation workers, and electricians are some of the most important people in society. Without them, things would be a mess.
I’m not sure what I want to do. I always assumed I’d go somewhere prestigious like Harvard or Berkeley, but now that I have a lab, I could just continue working in it and take classes online. None of that matters right now though. I still have five whole years until I really have to consider it. I’d also like to hear Grandpa’s opinion. I’m sure he’d have something wise to say as usual.
After the fair, all the kids and their families headed down to the ice cream social. Miraculously, both my parents were able to get out of work so they could be there too. Tina sat with us because her mom and dad couldn't leave their jobs. That was okay, though, because Tina felt like family anyway, and my parents thought she was the bee's knees. They were always saying how she’s a ‘good influence’ on me. As if I was a bad egg that needed influencing!
We sat around the cafeteria tables and ate our ice cream. I had a frozen banana dipped in chocolate, Mom had mint chocolate chip flavor, Dad had peanut butter brownie flavor, and Tina had cookies and cream flavor.
Mom and Dad loved being able to socialize with my teachers and coaches. Interestingly, they often overlapped. For example, the librarian was also the lacrosse coach. And the health teacher, Mr. Pink, was also a referee. Mom and Dad were pretty close with Mr. Pink because he was always really friendly to them.
While my parents chatted, I sat back, enjoying the break from class. Sure, I may consider myself an intellectual and maybe even a nerd at times, but everyone enjoys a break. Plus, my frozen banana was scrumptious. I’d have to remember to try to replicate it at home.
I could only wonder if Crash and K9 would enjoy frozen bananas, or if they could even taste at all. I guess we'd just have to find out. K9 would probably consider frozen bananas a safety risk. Crash, being Crash, would most likely try to slip on the banana to see if it was safe or not. Yeah, my team was weird but dedicated.
Chapter XI
For the next month or so, everything went fairly much by the book, which I liked. Tina and I spent the days at school doing school stuff. Dex kind of awkwardly flirted with me as well as continuing to bug me some. We all worked on our robot. After school, Tina and I headed to soccer practice where I constantly heard from Debbie about how badly I played and or smelled. Then we’d usually head to my house to experiment in my lab.
I, being especially worried about pollution and global warming, concentrated on a method for stopping some of the yucky chemicals in the air. I found one of the inventions that Grandpa had started and tweaked it some.
That brings us back to where I started telling this story. We stood in the lab surrounded by giant Venus flytraps that had…well…kind of, sort of, got out of hand.
“What did you do to these things again?” Tina asked, swinging a broom at the chomping plants.
“I wanted them to be able to eat pollutants,” I said. “I don’t know what I did wrong!” Looking at Grandpa’s image, I asked. “Do you have any idea?”
Grandpa shook his head. “Nope. Not at all. I thought we tweaked their intelligence just the right amount.”
“Our intelligence is just fine!” one of the Venus flytraps insisted. "That's why we are trying to eat you. Humans are the worst polluters on the planet!"
“He does have a good point!” Grandpa J said, very unhelpfully.
Polly landed on my shoulder. “You people are quite wasteful.”
"Well, that still doesn't give them the right to eat us!" I protested.
“You eat our brother and sister plants all the time!” another plant shouted.
“Actually, many plants do not have genders!” Grandpa J noted.
Maya Fact: A lot of plants have both male and female parts at the same time. Some don’t. Plants are pretty darn interesting when they aren’t trying to eat you!
“I was talking poetically!” the plant yelled.
“Why did you make the plants talk?” Tina asked me, holding them back with another swing of a bat.
“That was Grandpa J’s idea,” I said.
Grandpa J shrugged. “I just like a little conversation. My lab was lonely.”
“You know we can’t hold these things off with bats and brooms for much longer!” Tina commented.
“That’s a good point,” I replied. “Still, I hate to hurt these poor plants. They are only doing what I programmed them to do. It’s not their fault that I made a slight error.”
“This is more than a slight error,” Tina said. “Wait, why aren’t K9 and Crash coming to save us?”
K9 rolled up to us. “I am only programmed to defend against outside i
nterference. Doctor J never thought I would be needed to defend the lab against something created in this lab.”
“Yeah, that’s my bad,” Grandpa J admitted.
“And Crash?” Tina asked.
“The plants look so cute, I can’t bring myself to stomp on them,” Crash replied.
I looked at Polly.
“Hey, don’t look at me,” Polly said. “These guys can eat me just as easily as they can eat you!”
“Go get my gravity ray!” I told Polly.
“Please?” Polly sassed.
“Please!” I added.
Grandpa nodded. “It never hurts to be polite, honey!”
As Tina fended off the approaching, chomping plants, I watched Polly pick up the gravity ray. Polly flew towards us. The Venus flytraps clawed close to us.
Polly hovered above me. “Here, catch!” he yelled, dropping the ray from his claws. “My, that thing is heavy.” He thought for a moment and said. “I hope this helps you appreciate the gravity of the situation!” He laughed. “My jokes are the best!”
Diving forward just a bit, I caught the ray with both arms. The lead kid-eating plant chomped at me. Pulling back, I flipped the switch on the ray to “increase.” Pointing, I fired.
The lead plant stopped in its place. Its head pounded onto the floor, pinned there by gravity. Turning the ray towards the other angry plants, I fired at them. They, too, all stopped in place. They moaned. Their heads hit the ground. They remained there, locked in place.
“Now what?” Tina asked
“We’ll leave the lab and flood it with sleeping gas,” I replied. “Then we’ll come back down and put these plants back in a cage so I can correct them.”
“Sounds like a plan to me!” Polly said.
“I agree with the bird brain!” Tina said.
“The adorable birdbrain!” Polly corrected.