Ada Lace and the Impossible Mission

by Emily Calandrelli

  Ada’s father turned around and looked at her directly. “No wandering down hallways. No going to the vending machine without my supervision. You can go just outside, but not beyond the school yard entrance. Do you understand?”

  His sternness almost threw Ada. She gathered her wits, swallowed, and answered him, “Yes, Dad. I understand.”

  As they left the room, Nina looked questioningly at Ada. Ada gave her a firm nod, and they went outside.

  Chapter Seven

  SABOTAGE

  Ada and Nina got to Mr. Parable’s window at 5:04 p.m. After scoping things out to make sure no one was watching, they crouched inside a group of hedges beneath the window and extended the parabolic mic above them on a little boom. The bird was still chattering—singing, actually.

  “That’s not good,” said Ada.

  “Well, wait a minute, listen to what he’s singing,” said Nina.

  “Rock-a-bye, Bueller, on the treetop. . . .”

  “You think he’s singing himself to sleep?” asked Ada.

  “Well, what else is that song for?”

  They sat and listened for a full ten minutes. Bueller gradually got quieter and quieter, until they could barely hear him. Ada thought the bird would never go to sleep, then finally he did.

  “Okay, let’s roll,” said Ada.

  Nina tucked and somersaulted out of the bushes.

  “I didn’t mean literally,” said Ada.

  Nina shrugged.

  Through the hedge they scanned the school yard to make sure no one was watching, then made their way quickly to the west side entrance. Before they entered, Ada pulled out her laser pointer and turned it on. Nina opened the door as Ada aimed the laser pointer toward the camera. Ada’s hands were shaking. She held the pointer with two hands to keep it as steady as possible, but she still wasn’t sure she had it right on target. The only thing to do was to move quickly. So they darted past Mr. Lace’s room just to the corner of the hall.

  Ada could hear the floor polisher humming down at the north end of the school, which meant the janitor was still there, but that he was making quick progress—quicker than they had anticipated. Ada checked her watch: 5:18 p.m. They would have to hurry up. The noise might wake up Bueller, and they didn’t want to risk letting the janitor get too close. They needed to be back to the art room before the janitor reached the south hallway.

  Nina was about to make her way around the corner when Ada held her back. She reached into her backpack, pulled out the selfie stick with the mirror attached, and handed it to Nina as she continued to shine the laser into the camera. Nina extended the mirror past the corner and used it to look down the hall to either side. To the left they could see the janitor making his way north with the polisher. He had headphones on to block the noise—another plus. The hallway running south was empty. They had a clear path. Nina nodded to Ada, and they made their way toward the social studies room.

  • • •

  Once they reached Mr. Parable’s door, Ada pulled George out of the backpack. She put him inside Nina’s beehive, and they swapped him out for Ms. Janopolis’s hive. Down the hallway, the floor buffer continued to hum away. The door to the classroom was unlocked. They brought the real hive inside with them, pulled the door shut, and crawled through the dark classroom to the closet door. Ada flicked the switch closest to the closet door. She pulled out two bobby pins and pushed them into the lock. After shifting them around a bit, the lock gave way with a louder than expected CLICK.

  “Have a seat . . .” Bueller sighed. Ada and Nina looked at each other. Did birds talk in their sleep? They waited a full minute. Bueller was silent. Ada pointed to Nina and then pointed to her eyes and then the birdcage hanging by the teacher’s desk. Nina nodded. She would watch the bird while Ada checked out their project.

  Ada pushed the closet door open. On the shelves were ten clay, cardboard, and construction paper dioramas, mostly of ports, shops, and hotels. There was just one complex scale model of a Comstock Lode silver mine. As beautiful as it looked on the outside, Ada was convinced something sinister lay hidden inside, and now she was about to find out what it was.

  Ada pulled out a little flashlight to examine the model more closely. She noticed a couple of wires running underneath the rail system they had built that showed how the excess rock was carried away. She followed the wires with the flashlight beam to see where they led. Just then Nina appeared beside her in the closet.

  “What’s that?” she whispered, and reached for a switch the wires ran to.

  “No, don’t!” said Ada. But she was too late. Nina flicked the switch. Ada braced herself, waiting for an explosion, a foul odor, a chorus of kazoos, or some combination of these. Instead, three little carts moved down the track inside the mine. When they reached the bottom, they rolled back up to the top again.

  “Awww . . . ,” whispered Nina. “That’s so cool. Milton wasn’t being mean after all.”

  “Look here,” said Ada. Buried in the square timbering in the mine were three little tiny tissue paper canaries, feet up.

  “Figures,” said Nina.

  Suddenly, the hum of the floor buffer ceased. The janitor started to whistle “Three Little Birds.”

  “Oh no,” said Ada. George couldn’t resist that song.

  Sure enough, George joined in.

  Chapter Eight

  MISSION COMPLETED

  George was still connected to Ada’s tablet. He pinged it, but they could hear the janitor’s footsteps already coming toward Mr. Parable’s room.

  “Well, it’s been fun,” whispered Nina. “Now the jig is up. Time to pay our dues.” Nina made for the door, but Ada stopped her. She was not ready to give up on her plan. She checked her watch. It was 5:26 p.m. Her dad would come looking for them soon. They didn’t have much time, but they had a couple of minutes.

  Ada accessed George’s controls on the tablet and sent him to the bathroom farther down the hallway. Ada and Nina crept out of the closet, and Ada carefully closed and locked the door. They slinked past Bueller and made their way to the door of the classroom. Ada heard the footsteps go past the door to Mr. Parable’s room.

  The janitor paused. George’s song grew a little louder. Then the janitor continued walking faster. Ada snuck the mirrored stick out the door. The janitor had gone into the bathroom that George was in.

  Ada and Nina seized the moment. They slipped through the door and down to the west hallway. They stationed themselves outside the art room door. It was 5:29 p.m.

  “What about George?” said Nina.

  “Don’t worry,” said Ada. She pulled out the tablet. She could see from George’s video feed that he was tucked behind a radiator on the far side of the bathroom. Mr. Bezzle hadn’t found him yet. She typed in a command and the song stopped. After a minute the janitor walked out looking confused and rejoined his floor buffer. When he was safely down the hallway, Ada called George back. He rolled happily down the hall to Ada. Just as they removed his costume and put it away, Mr. Lace walked out of the door.

  “Boy, you girls are stealthy. I didn’t even hear you come back in!” said Mr. Lace. “I think I heard George though.”

  “Yeah, George can’t resist a good song!” said Nina. She laughed for way too long. Ada looked at her. She stopped.

  “You’re looking a little pale, Nina,” said Mr. Lace. “You should get to bed early tonight. After all, tomorrow’s the big day, right?”

  “Big day?” Nina asked.

  “The Share Fair, right?” said Mr. Lace.

  “Yes!” said both Nina and Ada, just a little too eagerly.

  • • •

  Shortly before midnight, Ada woke in a cold sweat. She realized she’d forgotten to shine the laser into the security camera on the way back to the art room. If anyone were to look back at the recording, it would show Ada and Nina slinking past like thieves. All she could do now was hope that Ms. Lily didn’t review the tape. She didn’t fall asleep until almost five in the morning.

/>   • • •

  The Share Fair had gone well. Ada, Nina, and Milton’s project wowed everyone. They would have gotten A+, but Mr. Parable felt bad about the canaries, so he gave them an A.

  “Beautiful work, you guys!” said Ms. Lace. “I’ll see you tonight, Ade. I’m so proud of you!” Ada was exhausted and full of guilt.

  And she felt really bad about Milton. He had done such great work, and she hadn’t believed him. He was mischievous, but maybe not quite as bad as everyone thought.

  “That fantastic little train almost makes me forgive you for the canaries, Milton,” said Nina.

  “Yeah, that was the idea,” said Milton.

  “So, you do have social skills,” said Nina.

  “Give him a break,” said Ada. “Hasn’t Milton been through enough?”

  “Yeah!” said Milton. “Wait, what have I been through?”

  “Oh, never mind,” said Ada.

  Nina whispered to Ada, “Ada, are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” said Ada. She wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

  “Okay, well, you better chill out a little or you’re going to get us in trouble!”

  • • •

  Ada went through the rest of the day in a fog. What would happen if they found the footage from the hallway? If they found it three weeks from now, she would still probably be in trouble. Maybe even more trouble! To make matters worse, she heard Ms. Janapolis talking to Ms. Lily about how her hive was found in Mr. Parable’s room. It was only a matter of time before Ada and Nina were caught. Would she ever be able to sleep again??

  Finally, at 2:00 p.m., Ms. Lily called her to her office.

  “Okay! Okay! I did it,” Ada confessed.

  “What? Did what?”

  “I shined a laser into the security camera and snuck into the classroom! I just wanted to make sure Milton didn’t ruin our project. And he didn’t—he made it better. And now I just feel like a big jerk, and I’m sorry!”

  “Oh, Nina,” said Ms. Lily. “Well, I appreciate your honesty.”

  “So that’s it?” asked Ada.

  “Oh no. I’ll be seeing you in detention again. For a week this time. But that wasn’t why I called you down here.”

  “It wasn’t?”

  “No. I just wanted you to help with the kindergarten science fair.”

  Chapter Nine

  ESCAPE FROM THE GYM

  Ada was at the end of her week of detention. Nina got only two days, and she had already served it. It only seemed fair, since it was all Ada’s idea and Ada’s plan.

  Milton met Ada outside of detention on the last day.

  “I still can’t believe you did a heist without me,” said Milton.

  “I did it because of you, Milton,” said Ada. “And it turns out I was wrong—and bad at it. Why didn’t you just tell me you put in that cool electric rail?”

  “You were acting so nuts, I was kind of curious to see what you’d do,” said Milton.

  “Milton!” said Ada.

  “I’m sorry!” said Milton. “I didn’t think you’d take it so far. It’s impressive! Anyway, I know you’re in trouble now, but other than that, was it cool?”

  “Oh, Milton. I’m a total amateur. So many mistakes were made!”

  “Well, maybe you just need some practice,” said Milton.

  “I don’t think so. I’m through getting in trouble,” said Ada. “If there were someplace I had total permission to break in, complete a mission, and escape, I would do it. But that doesn’t seem likely.”

  “Oh, Ada,” said Milton. “I think you’re onto something.”

  • • •

  The next month Milton, Ada, and Nina, with Mr. Peebles’s help, created a game idea called Heist Room for the auditorium of the school. Heist teams were composed of no more than six participants and no fewer than three. Each team paid an entrance fee and could choose five tools to complete their mission. The proceeds would help purchase new microscopes for the school.

  Inside the gym was a temporary mini building that Mr. Peebles, Mr. Bezzle, and a few other parent volunteers built. The teams were given a mission to break into the room, which was composed of smaller chambers, find the appropriate documents, and leave within fifteen minutes. The team with the fastest time won gift certificates to Moonberry frozen yogurt. Milton, Ada, and Nina had helped out a little with the planning, but they made sure that they didn’t see any of the locks or interior chambers, so that they could participate.

  Nina opted out of being Ada and Milton’s third team member.

  “I think I’ll work with someone else for a change,” she said.

  Instead, Nina joined Elliott and his friend Jack.

  “Wow,” said Ada. “That’s so nice of you!”

  Then Milton said what Ada was thinking, “Too bad you’re not going to win!”

  “We’ll see, Edison, we’ll see,” said Nina.

  Ada and Milton let Mr. Lace be their third member.

  Mr. Lace was the timekeeper, since Ada and Milton had more experience with locks. They got into the building fairly easily, but were surprised by how complicated it was to enter some of the chambers inside. In fact, as they cleared each chamber, there were progressively more locks to crack on the next one. Some of them were opened by solving a puzzle or solving a riddle, and the final chamber had a security system. Still, they were making good time, and as the most experienced team they were confident of victory.

  It was a big surprise to complete the mission and find Nina, Elliott, and Jack waiting for them.

  “What took you guys so long?” said Nina.

  “Yeah! How come you were such slowpokes??” said Elliott.

  “Do they have ice cream at the yogurt place?” asked Jack.

  “But . . . how . . . ?” asked Milton.

  “Well . . . Huh . . . I guess Nina has some tricks up her sleeve,” said Ada.

  “Yeah, those videos you sent me were really helpful,” said Nina.

  Ada couldn’t help but be proud of Nina for showing her up. She was also relieved to discover that crime wasn’t her calling.

  Behind the Science

  LASER SECURITY SYSTEMS

  Many schools, businesses, and homes have security systems that use lasers. A basic system would have a laser on one wall beaming at a sensor on another wall. The alarm won’t go off as long as the laser continues to hit the sensor on the opposite wall. But if someone walks into the room and disrupts the laser, then for a brief moment the laser won’t hit the sensor and—you better get moving—the alarm’s going off! Typically, the lasers used in these types of security systems can’t be seen with the naked eye—that would make it pretty easy for burglars to get around them. Instead, they might use infrared lasers, which look invisible to you and me. In the movie that Ada saw, the actors used mirrors to bounce the laser beam around them so that it would still hit the sensor while they walked into the room. In reality, this would be pretty hard to pull off. But, hey, that’s movie magic!

  CANARIES IN A MINE

  The inside of mines can be very dangerous. In the early days miners could die not only from a poorly made cave collapsing, but also from toxic gases found deep in the ground, or even from a lack of oxygen in the air down in the mine. The especially scary part was that the miners couldn’t immediately tell that the air they were breathing was dangerous—it wouldn’t smell or look weird, so they would just keep on working. Only if a few of the miners died would anyone realize that there was carbon monoxide in the air or that there wasn’t enough oxygen. So as a safety measure, miners started bringing canaries with them down into the mine. Canaries are small, so they’re easy to carry. They’re also constantly inhaling, so if there was anything dangerous in the air, a canary would pass out pretty quickly. This would be a sign to the miners that they should evacuate immediately. Today, we have better technology to test the quality of air, so thankfully, canaries are no longer used. But for the miners in the early nineteen hundreds, w
hen there were no other options, they were a lifesaver!

  LOCKS

  Locks are used in so many different places in our lives—on your house, your locker, in hotels, and maybe on your personal field guide—and they can be all different types! Locks can be completely mechanical (like a traditional lock that requires a physical key) or electrical (like how the iPhone uses a fingerprint to unlock the screen), or a combination of both. You often can’t tell by the outside of a lock, but there’s a lot of science and engineering inside of it. If you ever want to see how cool a lock really is, you should Google pictures of a “clear lock” so you can watch the mechanical “guts” inside of it rotate, translate, shift, and click! Learning how to pick a lock is a fun way to learn how a lock works, but you should do this only with your parent’s permission!

  PARABOLIC MICROPHONES

  A parabolic microphone is shaped like a large bowl and can be used to hear something that’s far away from you. For example, bird-watchers can use parabolic microphones to listen to songs from birds that are perched up to two hundred feet away in a tree. The way it works is by gathering and focusing into a microphone sound waves coming from a single direction. These types of microphones are also used in sports like football so that newscasters can show viewers what coaches and players are saying on the field. In Ada’s case, they’re also great for spying and eavesdropping on a certain classroom parrot!

  SELFIE STICK MIRROR

  One clever way Ada was able to see around corners in the school was by attaching a mirror to a selfie stick. This is something you can try out at home! The way it works is simple geometry. You want the image of whatever you’re trying to see to hit the mirror and then bounce into your eyes. You can practice this yourself by moving around a handheld mirror and discovering which objects you can see and which objects you can’t! In Ada’s case she wanted the hallway’s image to hit her mirror and bounce into her eyes. You can get even more creative by connecting multiple mirrors together in order to see over or around things, like fences or walls. Mirrors can be a great tool for getting creative with exploring . . . or spying!