by John Zakour
Grandpa raised a finger. “One, I could take a punch.” He raised another finger. “Two, I did not have a career as a professional boxer.” Grandpa raised a third finger. “Three, I learned that we learn a lot from our mistakes…”
Maya Message: 1) Boxing is, for some reason, called the sweet science. I guess it’s because you do have to think and plan your moves 2) In science and life, we do learn by making mistakes.
Polly, my grandpa’s parrot, which I had inherited (by default), flew over next to us. “Could you guys keep it down over here? I’m trying to sleep!” Polly finally noticed the boxing drones. “Don’t kids ever go outside and play these days?”
“This isn’t a game,” I told Polly. “These drones have just challenged us without us asking them to!”
K9, our guard robot dog, rolled up to the scene. “Why are you bothering the boxing drones?” K9 asked as he watched the drones continue to jab and taunt us.
“How are WE bothering them?” Tina asked.
“They are boxing drones; they are built to box, hence the name. They want to box, and you are not boxing with them!” K9 said. “I feel sorry for the little guys.”
Turning to K9, I said, “This isn’t the time for boxing. I’m working on perfecting the pollution-eating Venus Flytraps!”
K9’s eyes blinked rapidly. “Perfecting? If I recall correctly, which I do, that experiment only succeeded in failing. The plants were much more interested in munching on humans than pollutants.”
“That’s only because humans are such big pollutants!” Polly said. “When you think about it, the plants were kind of right, and only doing what pollution-eating plants should do…”
“Look, team,” I said, ignoring the drone tapping me on the head and making Nah, Nah, Nah sounds. I pointed to the Venus flytrap that Tina and I had put on the lab table. “Tina and I were just running a scan on this plant to see how we could make it not want to eat people, but still want to eat pollution.”
Polly flew onto the table. “Ah, Maya, kid... I like you; you know that, right?”
“Sometimes it’s hard to tell,” I replied.
Polly patted me on the head. “I only tease you because I like you.” He turned his head to Tina. “And I like Tina too; she has spunk!”
“Thanks!” Tina said.
“But she’s not all that bright. Why would you have her working on a plant?” Polly turned to Tina. “Nothing personal, but thinking is NOT your strong suit…”
Tina nodded. “Hard not to take that personally, but I do tend to react then think, so... I guess you’re right.”
“Of course I am right!” Polly pointed to his head. “I have a bird brain.”
We heard the elevator activate and open and saw my brother, Marko, and his babysitter, Tammy. Tammy, as well as being a way older teen, is also a secret government agent assigned to watch over Grandpa Jack’s inventions. She and my brother walked over to us.
Maya Message: Should I be worried that the government assigned a secret agent to watch over Grandpa Jack and now me? Logically, I guess I should be worried. After all, the lab isn’t THAT secret if the government knows about it. Of course, I’m not completely sure what they know apart from the fact that Grandpa Jack invented some really neat stuff. And now Tammy knows absolutely everything. But I trust her. Why? Not really sure. I just get a good gut feeling about her. Yeah, I know a gut feeling isn’t scientific. But at times, you gotta go with the gut.
Tammy pointed to the boxing bot drones still tagging us with punches. “I take it you two didn’t ask for this sparring match?” Tammy asked.
“Nope,” I replied.
“Nah,” Tina said. “But I’m getting tempted to kick these two drones in their butts.”
“They are annoying,” I agreed.
“Shall we take them out?” Tina suggested.
I gave her a bow. “With pleasure.”
Tina and I both stood up.
“You know that I could take these bad bots down fast,” Tammy noted.
“She so could!” Marko added.
“What about me?” Crash, our crash test dummy came running over to us. He wore red boxing trunks and red boxing gloves. “I always love a spirited workout!” Crash said, hitting his gloves together.
“Everybody, stand down!” I shouted. “These things have been poking and prodding Tina and me. Therefore, we get to smash them.”
“Oh, I so hate it when you smash things!” Computer moaned.
“I kind of love it!” Grandpa Jack said. “It gives the vac-bots something to do.”
Computer’s wall screen turned into a giant smiley face. It winked.
“I never computed it like that before,” Computer said. “I now agree with this workout and smashing!”
“Glad you agree,” I told Computer. Yeah, Computer was, in theory, supposed to do what I (and Grandpa’s hologram) told him to do. But at times, Computer liked to think and act on his own. That's part of the drawback of having an intelligent computer.
Maya Message: We process information much like a computer does, but we also have emotions. This may alter the way we process information, or at least how we react to that information. Computers (as of yet) don’t really process emotions. They just react to the facts. I’m sure Computer would insist that its way is better. Who knows, it might be? But I don’t think it is. Computers think in 1’s and 0’s or black and white. The world isn’t black and white. Right?
I took a casual stance. “Okay, drone bots, let’s see what you gots!”
“Oh, that rhyme hurt my brain,” Marko said.
“Man, I don’t normally agree with that kid, but that was painful to listen to,” Tina remarked. She glanced at me. “I’m your BFF; it’s my duty to tell you when you're acting lame.”
“Thanks,” I told her.
“We prefer to be called Boxing Battle Bots!” one of the drones said.
“Yeah, it’s cooler,” the other drone said.
“How about B-cubed?” Computer offered.
Maya Math Fact: To cube a number, is to multiply that number by itself three times. For instance, 2-cubed is 2 X 2 X 2 which is 8. Math can be fun.
“Nah, too nerdy. BBB is better!” Tina declared, stressing the b in better.
“Agreed,” the BBBs said.
Tina winked at me. “You got the brains, but I got the cool.”
The two BBB’s moved closer to us. “Are we going to chat or dance?” one bot asked.
“And by dance, we mean box!” the other said.
“Yeah figured that out…” I replied.
Tina swung at one of the bots with an uppercut. The punch hit the bot and sent it flying backward. “What do you think of that?” she asked with a wide grin.
The bot hovered to a stop. “I see you do want to dance!” It touched its gloves together. It flew at Tina, bobbing up and down as it drew closer.
Tina stayed cool, as always. Man, I envied her calm.
The bot spun and extended a boxing-gloved arm at Tina. Tina simply dodged it by twisting her body away from the punch. She leaped up into the air, kicking the bot with a really cool snap kick. The bot flew up to the ceiling. It hit the ceiling and shattered, raining down pieces of bot on all of us. Tina turned to me. “Your turn.”
I only hoped I would fare as well. After all, fighting didn’t come as naturally to me as it did to Tina. She had a gift. She fought like a wolverine. A very pretty, pleasant smelling wolverine.
My bot hovered around me. It extended one of its arms. I blocked the punch with my nose. My head shot back.
“Oh, that had to hurt!” Marko said.
The bot backed off. “I could have finished you with a combination, but that wouldn’t have been sporting!” the bot told me. “After all, I am here to give you a workout, not a knockout!” the drone bot added.
That got me thinking. These bots did seem to be trying to teach us a lesson. Had they been hacked? Or were they just acting on their own to actually help us?
The bot
shot forward again. It hit me in the nose again. My head shot back again.
“Think later, react now!” Tina shouted at me.
“Right!” I said. I raised my arms and took a defensive stance. “Come at me, bot boy!” I taunted.
“Oh, that taunt really hurt my brain!” Marko said.
The bot hovered above me, just out of range. “I have come at you. Twice now. Your nose is bleeding a bit because of me. I feel sad but proud.” The bot spun around and around. “I really don't want to hurt you. But I do want you to learn. Plus, by some schools of thought, ‘no pain no gain’…” the bot said.
Taking advantage of the bots pondering, I shot forward. The bot saw me coming, dropped down, and punched at me with its left. “Ha! I was just faking you!”
I blocked the left. I hit the drone with a quick combination of a right and a left jab. Yeah, you didn’t have to hit this girl three times for her to learn something. Both of my punches scored direct hits on the bot. The thing staggered backward at a slant. I hit it again with a left, another left, and then a right. The drone bot stopped spinning. It's lights went out, literally. It fell to the ground. I had to admit that felt really good!
Tina walked over and patted me on the shoulder. “Felt great, didn’t it!”
Man, she knew me well.
Chapter II
The next day in school, the class got back to work on Sebastian, our robot. We were preparing for the city-wide competition and really wanted to make sure we were ready.
Oh, BTW, Dex and I are continuing our crush-rivalry. We both like each other, but we’re also each other’s strongest competition. I do admit, though, we do our best work when we work together. We’d already worked as a team with Tina, to build our bot, Sebastian, which resulted in a huge win for us. Now our whole class was helping us to make improvements.
“Maybe I could ask my dad for a grant!” Chad exclaimed. “He’d probably think that spinning rims would look good on Sebastian.”
Chat’s father had lots and lots of money, and Chad was one of those people who made sure everyone knew it. Though honestly, I couldn’t complain much because his dad had already donated lots of money to the school. He gave the Arts program a grant so that we could still have art and music classes, which are just as important as the science and math classes.
“That’s very generous of you, Chad, but we don’t need your dad’s money. Not when we have elbow grease and brainpower!” I told him.
“Well, let’s not rule out the idea…” Dex said hesitantly. “Most modern scientific research wouldn’t be possible without investors like Chad’s father.”
I swear, sometimes I think Dex just says some things to one-up me. Boys are weird sometimes. I rolled my eyes and moved on.
“Well, class, what have we come up with?” our teacher, Ms. Hector asked.
Tina stepped forward to explain. “We reinforced the plow with steel rods, and Harry rewired it so that the plow’s movements would be faster. We painted Sebastian with a waterproof coating, which might come in handy. Also, we made the remote that we control him with, easier to use. It will be helpful when we’re in battle against another bot, and we need to act quickly.” Tina added, out of breath.
Harry spoke up. “I am extra very proud of my wiring job. Now our robot will be able to literally run circles around the other robots! Are you impressed, Ms. Hector?” Harry longed for Ms. Hector’s attention. He dreamed of being the teacher’s pet.
“Well, Tina! Thank you for that very detailed explanation. I’m glad to see the whole class getting along so well. Teamwork is so important!” Ms. Hector gushed. She smiled at Harry. “And yes, Harry, I’m sure the team appreciates all the work you’ve put in.”
That’s what I liked most about my teacher. She was very optimistic, and definitely a team player; which is why I was shocked by what she said next.
“I’m especially glad you guys and girls are so confident about your robot because I’ve actually invited Tinker Town Middle School to an exhibition match against you today! In fact, it looks like their bus just pulled up,” Ms. Hector said cheerily, pointing out the window.
Each of our jaws dropped. We weren't prepared for this at all. I guessed there was nothing we could do to get out of it though. We would just have to do our best.
Maya Message: Sometimes in life, things happen that you don’t plan for. The best thing you can do is react calmly and intelligently.
As our team leader (I arm wrestled for the title), I greeted their team leader at the door. He looked like a snot, but appearances can be deceiving. He was tall with brown hair, and his sweater had a whale on it. I decided it was best for the team if I just gave him a fair chance.
“Hello,” he said with his nose in the air. “My name is Norman Yates. You must be… Mandy?”
He definitely called me by the wrong name on purpose, but I acted like it didn’t bother me at all.
“Hi, Norman. My name is actually Maya. Welcome to our school.” I said coolly, but politely. “Mind if I call you Norm?” I asked.
Norm looked down on me as if I had just insulted his whole family’s honor. “Yes, I mind very much if you call me Norm. I am anything but ‘Norm’…”
I nodded. “Yeah, I see that.”
Tina laughed.
Norman kept a straight face. I’m actually not sure if he even knew how to smile. “My family named me Norman for a reason. Norm is not Norman. Therefore, I insist you call me Norman.” He stood there, arms crossed, still summing me up. “Should I refer to you as Margaret?”
I shook my head. “No, you shouldn’t, since my name is actually Maya,” I told him. I almost added, because my parents aren’t pretentious jerks, but I decided to leave that part out.
“Imagine if they named you Meg,” Norman said. “Then you’d be named after an amount of computer memory.”
“Actually, that would be megabyte,” I noted. I had just given him a bit of a Maya bite, and I wanted to see how he’d react.
He gave me a cool grin. So yes, he could smile. “Well played, Maya, well played.” His team clapped politely behind him. “You may very well be a worthy challenge, after all.”
“Likewise,” I said. I either liked this boy, or he annoyed me so much I couldn’t stand him. I wasn’t sure which yet. As my Aunt May would say, time will tell.
“Would you like to introduce us to your robot?” Ms. Hector said with a smile, as usual.
“I suppose,” Norman said as though it was a big deal for him to even speak to us. How rude! And just as I’d thought maybe there might be some hope for the kid.
He stepped forward into our classroom and placed his class robot on the table next to ours. The rest of his class filed in, along with his teacher. Her name badge said, Mrs. Peters - Substitute.
“Our robot’s name is Crusher,” Norman said, full of confidence. “He has a processing system, unlike anything you people have ever seen. He’s going to eat your bot for breakfast. I designed Crusher myself, so I know he’s the best out there!”
“Cool,” I replied with fake enthusiasm. I had to be diplomatic, here.
Maya Fact: Diplomatic means “having or showing an ability to deal with people sensitively and effectively.” It can come in handy if you need to be professional.
“It is pretty cool!” Randy Ross said. For a big kid who likes to think he’s not a geek, Randy can be a really big geek. But I like that about him. I would just never tell him that.
“Do you want to show my class your… thing?” Norman said, his voice dripping with disdain. The flash of human I had seen in him was now gone, almost like he felt it was unprofessional to be nice.
“I’d love to,” I replied proudly. “His name is Sebastian. He’s not super fancy, but he has good structure, and I’m confident in our teamwork. He’s the best he can possibly be, and that’s what matters most.”
“Alright, kiddos! Time to duel!” Ms. Hector said cheerily.
“Um… no,” Norman said arrogantly. “That will n
ot be happening.”
“I thought our teams would have a friendly practice match?” Ms. Hector said. She looked at the other class teacher who turned away from Ms. Hector. She shuddered. I’m pretty sure I heard her mumble, “I don’t get paid enough for this.”
“What do you mean ‘Um...no’?” I said to Norman, getting a little annoyed.
“The ‘um’ was just included as my attempt to be polite,” Norman said.
“Pretty poor attempt there, buddy!” Dex frowned, stepping up. I could tell Norman was getting on his nerves too.
“Yeah!” Chad said, also stepping up. “My father put a lot of cash into this creation.”
Norman gazed at Dexter and Chad, somehow looking down at them even though they were all the same size. He laughed or at least attempted to laugh. “Oh Dexter, we meet again. I haven’t seen you since I bested you in that chess tournament less year. I believe I check-mated you in twenty-six moves.”
“Twenty-seven moves!” Dex said with more venom in his voice than I had ever heard. “I had a head cold that day and wasn’t at my best.”
“Yes, tell yourself whatever stories will make you feel better,” Norman replied. “It must be hard for you to be in your grandfather’s shadow. After all, Doctor Tony Rose was a near legend. I’m sure that even if he had a head cold, he wouldn’t let that stop him…”
I had to give Norman some props; he knew his stuff. He’d shut Dex down pretty quickly.
“Yeah, my grandfather is a great guy!” Dex said.
“Sadly though, it doesn’t look like you received much of his genetic greatness. Perhaps it’s because of your environment.” Norman feigned a sigh of sympathy.
“Why, you…” Dexter said.
I put a calm hand on Dex’s shoulder. “Play nice,” I whispered.
Norman turned his attention to Chad. “Chad Silver, still not good enough for gold.”