by Nate Ball
“Agh, I thought he’d never leave,” Amp said, emerging from my pocket and climbing up the sleeve of my sweatshirt.
“WHAT IS THAT?!?” Taylor croaked. He let go of the spaceship and it dropped toward the floor. Olivia was fast enough to snatch it out of the air just before it hit the ground.
“Amp,” I stammered. “You didn’t make yourself invisible!”
“Oh, right, I forgot,” he said casually, looking over at Taylor. “Hey, I can’t think straight in that pocket. Not enough air, I guess.”
“Your doll . . . it’s alive,” Taylor said in a soft, quivering voice.
“Now look at what you’ve done,” I said to Amp, plucking him off my shoulder. “Now my brother knows about you, and he’s impossible to shut up.”
The crowd outside erupted in laughter, then cheered and clapped again.
Olivia stuffed the spaceship back in the backpack. “We need to get out of here.”
The crowd cheered again, as if they were responding to each of the things we said.
“I’ll have to erase some of his short-term memory,” Amp said, looking at me.
I stared at him for a second and then said, “Fine! Just do it quickly.”
“Wait! What?” Taylor said, panicked.
Amp stared at Taylor and squinted.
A second later, Taylor got a blank look on his face. He blinked. His body relaxed. The fear melted away. “Where am I?” he asked, looking around. “Oh my gosh, what is that—that creature you’re holding?!” he asked, clearly horrified.
“AMP, YOU DID IT AGAIN! YOU FORGOT TO MAKE YOURSELF INVISIBLE!”
Olivia moaned. “You guys are killing me.”
“Oh dear, that was my mistake,” Amp said. “Totally my fault.”
“Well, it certainly wasn’t my fault,” I snapped.
“That doll is alive!” Taylor gasped again, stepping back toward the stairs.
As if on cue, the crowd erupted with laughter outside the door.
“Hold on, Taylor, he’ll erase your memory again in a second.”
And for the second time in two minutes, Amp erased Taylor’s short-term memory, but this time Amp remembered to make himself invisible to Taylor.
“Where am I?” Taylor asked, looking around again. “Why is Olivia wearing my backpack?”
Olivia pulled Taylor up gently by the shoulder. “C’mon, let’s go, Taylor.”
I slipped Amp back in my pocket and followed Olivia and Taylor out the door.
Four hundred eyeballs zeroed in on my entrance and I froze.
“OH, THERE HE IS! THERE’S OUR THIRD FINALIST! AND JUST IN TIME! LET’S HEAR IT FOR ZACK MCGEE, EVERYBODY!”
The crowd in front of me erupted in applause, hoots, and whistles.
And I thought this night couldn’t get any weirder. Boy, was I wrong.
19
Meltdown
I shuffled out onto the stage, surprised by the volume of the crowd’s welcome. My town really does love science geeks.
The two other better-dressed finalists looked at me with cold stares. I could see my parents in the front of the crowd. Mom was fanning her flushed face. Dad was holding up his smartphone, shooting video.
I spied Olivia on the far right of the crowd. Taylor stood next to her, blinking in confusion. Olivia nodded at me. I forgot to nod back.
A short, round man with a scrawny mustache and thick glasses introduced me and my experiment with his microphone. The crowd clapped again politely. I figured I had missed the first two demonstrations, which explained the rude stares from the other two finalists.
Mustache guy guided me over to my experiment, which was set up at stage right. I wondered if Max Myers had head-butted anybody.
Just past the table with my electromagnet were the judges, who all stood in a cluster and smiled at me politely.
Mr. Mustache began to ask me simple questions, but I was having trouble concentrating. My mouth was dry and my tongue felt like a day-old bologna sandwich. I wasn’t a big fan of speaking in front of my class, and this was my first time in front of several hundred people. I accidentally said “maggot” instead of “magnet,” and the crowd tittered and stirred uncomfortably.
“Hold it together, Zack,” Amp said inside my head.
Mustache Man fixed his stare on me. “What is the most important thing you learned in building your experiment?”
Nobody had asked me that question. I wasn’t ready for it. A hanging curveball when I was waiting for a slider.
“Well,” I said, a little too close to the microphone, and the speakers on the stage erupted in screeching feedback. I stepped back and smiled. Deep breath. Just like I’d do if I were facing a tough pitcher. Focus, Zack, before getting back in the batter’s box. “Well,” I said again in a softer voice. This time there was no screeching. “I learned not to lean in too close to a microphone.”
The crowd laughed, and for a moment, I thought I really did have a chance to win this thing. “Actually, the thing I learned is the importance of good friends. Two of my good friends encouraged me to finish this project. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
“AAAAAAW,” the crowd said with a collective sigh, clearly finding my response adorable.
I saw a look of confusion come over my mom’s face. “Two?” she mouthed silently to my dad, holding up two fingers. Dad didn’t notice. His eyes were glued to the video image recording on his phone.
From there, I proceeded to demonstrate my experiment.
As always, when I hit the second button the tacks flew out of my trifold cardboard and strange metal objects skittered across the room. Mr. Mustache’s microphone was yanked from his hand and the crowd laughed. He pulled on it, but it wasn’t going to come free. I stepped in front of the experiment and hit the second button again, releasing all the metal objects.
Mustache Man stumbled away to the far side of the stage with his microphone and said something clever, and the crowd laughed and clapped in approval. “Now, I see there’s a third button on here. I know the judges have been curious about what it does.”
I could feel my stomach drop like I was on roller coaster that had just done a three-sixty, upside down, at top speed. “Oh, that . . . ,” I said, inadvertently stepping back.
“Do you mind?” he said, smiling and leaning over to push it. “Gentleman, I’d suggest you hold on to your money clips.” I think he thought he was being funny.
I could feel Amp telepathically telling me not to let him do it, but I guess with all the bright lights and people staring, I just got stuck. The best I could do was let out a half-swallowed, “No . . .” as he pushed the button.
For a moment, nothing happened. Mr. Mustache straightened up, confused. But then the lights dimmed. The stage speakers shot sparks. The microphone once again flew past me and collided with the magnet with a CLANG!
In an instant, the desks with the other experiments started sliding toward the stage from all corners of the community center. The lights in the ceiling exploded, one after another, from the one right above us to the ones all the way in the back. The crowd was pitched into complete darkness. The curtains behind me were pulled down, their tiny rings sticking to the growing ball of metal objects that had been pulled onto the magnet. If anything, it seemed to be gaining in power. Random objects were whizzing dangerously past me toward the magnet. One lady with a really big ring on was being pulled toward it. Another guy wearing a big American flag pin was also being dragged up on stage. On direct order from Amp, I hit the floor and covered my head.
Then, to everyone’s terror, the ceiling started to groan and make loud cracking noises. Without looking up, I somehow knew that the giant heating and air conditioning unit on the roof of the building was being pulled down to my magnet.
I scrambled over the debris and reached for the third button. My only hope was to turn it off. But it was now covered by a collection of metal objects. There was a small opening. Too small for my hand to fit through—but not, I quickly realized,
for Amp. “I need your help, buddy.”
And like any good soldier, Amp scrambled out of my pocket to help, not even pausing to consider his own safety. He ran up my arm and jumped head-first into the opening a moment before a stapler flew out of nowhere and closed the hole. I heard a scream and turned to see a loose metal pipe flying straight toward me. This was it. My life flashed before my eyes. I was a goner.
But then, there was a high-pitched “Got it,” followed by a click, and all the metal objects stuck to the magnet collapsed to the floor. The pipe stopped in midflight, inches from my face, and dropped to the floor with a thud.
I exhaled.
A moment later I was helped to my feet by Mr. Prentiss.
“I don’t know what happened,” I said as innocently as I could.
“Science is like that sometimes,” he said. “But the rule should always be ‘Safety first.’ That’s the lesson you should learn here tonight.” He gently patted me on the shoulder.
“Sorry,” I said.
“Well, that really was something,” he said, looking over his shoulder at my innocent-looking bolt-magnet. “We should talk more, Mr. McGee.” And with that, he left the stage as my parents scurried up to make sure that I was okay.
“Hey, does that mean we won?” Amp asked in my head. He had somehow snuck back into the safety of the front pocket of my sweatshirt.
“I doubt that,” I said. “I think not going to jail will be viewed as the big victory here tonight.”
20
Keeping It Secret
Before arriving at the breakfast table the next morning, I snuck down the stairs and returned the bare bolt to the award plaque in my dad’s office.
I stepped back and looked at the bolt. It was now charred with black stuff and the middle was sort of droopy and twisted from overheating. It looked terrible, but at least it was back.
I sighed.
After Mr. Prentiss had walked away from me on the stage last night, Amp and I had quickly pulled off the secret parts he had taken out of his spaceship and hid them in my socks.
When the lights came back on and the judges closely examined my project, they couldn’t figure out what had happened. They were all puzzled. But Mr. Prentiss kept giving me a knowing smile. He knew I was keeping secrets.
In the kitchen, I saw Olivia was once again eating breakfast at my house. We’d have to start charging her rent.
She saw me looking at her. “My grandpa went fishing early this morning,” she said as she poured herself a glass of juice. “So sue me.”
“Oh, you’re always welcome here, dear,” Mom said.
My brother was stabbing at his pancakes with his electric fork. “It’s weird, I can’t remember anything from yesterday,” he was saying. “It’s like I woke up and Zack was walking onto the stage at the finals.”
I took the last empty seat across from Olivia. I was careful not to make eye contact with her, as we might give ourselves away.
My parents exchanged a look and Mom patted Taylor’s shoulder. “I’ve already called Dr. Bell, sweetie. You have an appointment this afternoon. I’m sure he’ll just want to run some tests. His nurse said you probably shouldn’t go to school today.”
“What?” Taylor said. “I’m going to school! Everybody will be talking about how Zack destroyed the finals. My friend Jimmy said the cops might come and arrest Zack.”
“That’s just silly,” Mom said, fanning herself with her napkin. “It’s not Zack’s fault that his experiment worked better than he could have expected.”
I looked over at the yellow ribbon that was now held to the refrigerator with a big pineapple-shaped magnet. Third place. Not bad, I guess. I was actually just relieved nobody had gotten hurt. I had received a check for fifty dollars, plus a free subscription to Kid Science magazine—and an A, which meant I could play ball this season. And even though that was all I really cared about to begin with, I did have to admit that building a superpowered electromagnet was a lot cooler than I thought.
I hadn’t spoken to Amp since we left the community center last night. I was giving him the silent treatment—and he was doing the same to me. I think he felt bad about what had happened.
“Oh, Zack, that nice Mr. Prentiss called and left you a message,” Mom said.
“He did?” I said.
“He did?” Olivia said.
“He did?” Taylor said, and burped loudly.
Mom and Olivia laughed. See? They were just encouraging this behavior.
“What did he say?” Dad asked, looking at Taylor with his unhappy face.
“Something about you coming to one of his businesses for a grand tour,” Mom said. “Maybe having a summer job set aside for you,” she added, smiling at me with pride. “Despite last night, he sees promise in you.”
“Yeah, the promise of more destruction,” Taylor said glumly, stabbing at his pancake. “Did he say anything about me?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, honey,” Mom said, patting his shoulder again. “He just mentioned Zack.”
“There are some things I may need Mr. Prentiss’s help with,” I said, shooting a look at Olivia.
“Oh, and Coach Lopez left a message, too,” Dad said, looking at me with pride. “Looks like the Badgers have Zack McGee on the roster as their new catcher.”
“Backup catcher, Dad,” Taylor corrected. “Backup catcher.”
“Yep, I heard about that,” I said. “I’m in the big leagues now.”
Mom got up, came around the table, and gave me a squeeze. Then she messed up my hair. “Things are getting more interesting for you, Zackary Frederick McGee.”
“Oh, that is an understatement,” Olivia said.
As we hustled out the door to catch the bus to school, Amp finally broke his silence.
“Okay, I’m sorry, Zack,” Amp said, inside my head. “I’ve learned my lesson. From now on, I’ll be a perfect little alien.”
“Oh? We’ll see about that, Amp,” I responded inside my head. I looked up at my bedroom window as Olivia and I jogged across the front lawn. I couldn’t see him from this distance, but I was pretty sure he was watching me from my windowsill.
Little did I know he was hiding in the front pocket of my backpack.
The End
Try It Yourself: Building Your Own Electromagnet
Electromagnets use a flow of electricity, called electric current, to produce magnetic fields. You’re probably already familiar with magnetic fields since you can feel their effects, such as the pulling force a permanent magnet makes toward a ferromagnetic material—like the door of your refrigerator. Electromagnets are cool because you can vary how strong they are by making simple changes to their construction.
YOU WILL NEED: a pencil-shaped piece of metal that a magnet can grab (like a bolt from the garage), insulated wire (the kind called “magnet wire” is the very best), a battery, and something to grab (like a handful of paper clips), and an adult to supervise.
Magnet Construction
1. Take the pencil-shaped piece of metal and start wrapping the insulated wire around it. Wind carefully to fit in lots of wraps. Leave about a 6" tail of wire sticking off each end so you can attach the leads to a battery.
2. Make sure the ends of the wire are stripped so you can attach the metal core to the battery. If you’re using wire with plastic insulation on it, you will need the help of a parent to use a knife or wire strippers to expose the copper underneath. If you found some magnet wire, use sandpaper to remove the lacquer on the outside of the copper wire. It can be hard to see since it’s clear.
3. Connect the wire ends to your battery. Voila! You should be able to attract a number of paper clips to the end of the metal piece, which is the electromagnet’s core. Congratulations—you have built an electromagnet! You might not know it, but you’re surrounded by electromagnets very similar to the one you just built. The closest ones might be inside the speakers of your TV or cell phone.
Experiment Time
1. What would it take to
supercharge your electromagnet like Amp did for Zack? In the book, Amp intensifies Zack’s electromagnet strength by concentrating extra magnetic fields through the magnet’s core, which increased its grabbing power. You can do the same by intensifying the magnetic field going through the core of your own electromagnet. Do this by adding more wraps of wire onto your electromagnet. The more wraps you add, the more power the electric current can add to the magnetic field. The more power in the magnetic field you have, the stronger your magnet! How many wraps do you need to pick up twice as many paper clips as before? Try using a smaller-diameter wire to fit on more wraps, something between 20 and 28 gauge. For any wire, the higher the gauge number, the smaller the diameter.
2. Another way to intensify the magnetic field produced by your electromagnet is to increase the actual amount of electricity (aka current) going through all of your wire wraps. To increase the current, you need to “push” it harder by using a higher voltage. If you started with a normal AA battery, you were putting 1.5 volts onto the wire. You can push the electricity twice as hard by adding another battery in the series, giving the electricity 3 volts of pushing. By pushing twice as hard, you’ll get double the current, which should roughly double the strength of your electromagnet!
3. In the book, Amp “guides” extra magnetic fields into Zack’s electromagnet core. You can also guide the magnetic field produced by your electromagnet. Magnetic fields like to flow through some materials quite a bit, and other materials not so much. Air is not a magnetic field’s favorite substance to flow through, especially compared to a ferromagnetic material like iron or steel. Find another pencil-shaped piece of iron or steel, like a bolt or a nail, and hold it at the end of your electromagnet while it’s turned on. What happens at the end of the nail? It acts like a magnet itself, because you’re using it to guide the magnetic field. Just like Amp does.