by Mark Young
What a wonderful road we’ve traveled to get to here—this amazing series wouldn’t be in our world without you. This is for you, Halle. —M. Y.
CHAPTER 1 The Search Is Over
Newton Warp stared up at the tall, brick dormitory surrounded by palm trees and colorful tropical flowers. It was a typical day on the island—sunny, hot, and humid—but Newton didn’t mind. He’d always liked hot weather, but now he suspected it was due to his lizard DNA.
Newton had been staring at the building for fifteen minutes, afraid to go in. Because when he went in, he knew he’d have to tell either a big truth or a big lie to his best friends, and either way, it was going to be bad.
A fly landed on his nose, and his tongue instinctively lashed out. He’d almost pulled the fly into his mouth, when he realized what he was doing, and he flicked it away.
They did this to me, he thought. I’m a monster, created in a lab, to do a job. I’m not human, like them.
He gazed around the courtyard, at the other students at Franken-Sci High. Boris Bacon was bouncing across the ground in his antigravity boots. Rosalind Wu was circling the courtyard in a jet pack. And Tootie Van der Flootin was walking a fluffy yellow monster with three eyeballs, on a leash.
How nice it must be, to be a normal human. To know not just who you are but what you are. To only be worried about what’s for lunch in the cafeteria and whether you’ll pass your next teleportation test.
Newton had never known that feeling of being normal. The first feeling he could remember was being confused and a little scared, when he had appeared in the library of the school for mad scientists, with no memories of where he’d come from and with a strange bar code on his foot. Luckily, Shelly and Theremin were the ones who’d found him, and the animal-loving girl and her robot buddy had become his good friends.
He’d met more friends too, like his roommate, Higgy, who was made of green goo. And Odifin, a talking brain in a jar, and Odifin’s assistant, Rotwang. And lots of other kids were nice to him, even Mimi Crowninshield, who was usually mean to other people. In most cases, having friends would be enough to make somebody feel like everyone else. But not Newton.
Newton’s first friends, Shelly and Theremin, had quickly realized there was something different about him. He had abilities that normal humans didn’t have. He could blend into the background when he was afraid, and sprout gills that let him breathe underwater, and change his appearance to mimic other people—and those were just some of the special things he could do. Newton had uncovered memories of being born in a pod, with scientists gathered around him. Did that have something to do with his weird talents?
Shelly and Theremin, along with Higgy, had promised to help Newton figure out where he’d come from, who his family was, and why he was different.
After some digging, smart thinking, and sneaking around, they’d learned a few things. Time-traveling Professor Flubitus had admitted that Newton and Shelly played an important role in the school’s future. And Flubitus had also delivered the news that Odifin and Newton shared some significant DNA, basically making them half brothers.
Then, today, Newton and his friends had made the biggest discovery of all. They’d found a science fiction book called The Invincible Man about a scientist who spliced human and animal DNA to create an indestructible, human-looking creature in a pod. The character in the book sounded just like Newton! But that wasn’t the most mind-blowing part. The author’s name was Zoumba Summit, and Newton had figured out that when you scrambled the letters, they spelled “Mobius Mumtaz”—the name of the headmistress of Franken-Sci High.
Armed with that information, Newton had confronted Ms. Mumtaz, Professor Flubitus, and some of the other professors in the school. And he’d learned some truths. Yes, Mumtaz had written the book. And years in the future, the book had inspired her to create Newton in a lab. The professors had worked together to splice animal DNA and human DNA, and had made Newton in a pod so that he could save the school. Then they’d wiped his memory of being created, and dumped him in the past, in the library.
Not a real human. No real family, Newton thought now, still staring up at the dorm.
And after dropping that bombshell, Mumtaz had refused to say any more. She couldn’t tell Newton how he would save the school, because that could change the outcome of the future.
“And, Newton, you mustn’t share this knowledge with your friends. It could jeopardize everything we’ve worked for,” Mumtaz had added.
Newton didn’t care one lick about what those professors had worked for. He had been fully prepared to tell his friends everything. But then Professor Phlegm, with his shiny bald head and sinister eye patch, had thrown out a threat: a memory wipe.
The more Newton thought about it, the more his part-reptilian blood went cold. The professors had wiped his memory before dumping him in the library, and he’d made a lot of memories since then—good ones as well as bad ones. Was Phlegm threatening to take away all his memories? Without them, he’d lose his friends. And what if the professors wiped his friends’ memories too? Or kept the friends away from one another, so that they couldn’t become friends again? The worries swirled through his mind.
Newton sighed. He knew what he had to do, and it wasn’t going to feel good. He walked across the courtyard and into the dorm. He stepped into the glass transport tube and said, “Freshman floor.”
Whoosh! The tube shot up four floors and then opened. He stepped out and made his way to the door marked YTH-125. He paused a moment before opening the door. Then he took a deep breath and entered.
“Newton!” Shelly leaped off a chair, making her curly hair bounce, and pounced on him in a hug. “Higgy said that Mumtaz called you to her office because of what happened in London, and then she kicked Higgy out as soon as you mentioned Zoumba Summit. What did she tell you?”
“I wanted to stay and listen through the door, but the drones carried me back here,” Higgy said. He was sitting on the bottom bunk, with no clothes on his body, which was made of green protoplasm. Higgy had recently decided to stop hiding his gooey self in layers of clothes and bandages, which was why they had gotten in trouble in London.
“Like always, Mumtaz didn’t tell me anything,” Newton lied. “She said it was just a coincidence that her name is an anagram of ‘Zoumba Summit.’ ”
Odifin wheeled up to him. “And you believe her?” he asked, his voice crackling from the speaker attached to the jar of liquid that held him.
Newton shrugged. “I don’t know. But she made it pretty clear that there’s no point in asking any more questions. All we really know is that the future of the school depends on me and Shelly. We’re going to have to wait for the future to get answers.”
“That’s not fair!” yelled Theremin. The robot’s eyes flashed red. “We need answers. You need answers! I say we go to her office and demand them.”
“Yeah,” agreed Rotwang. His messy black hair hung down over his eyes, as usual.
Newton held up his hands. “No!” he yelled, and his friends all looked at him, surprised. Newton hardly ever yelled. “We’ve wasted too much time searching for answers that we’re never going to get. I just want to have a normal life.”
“But don’t you want to find your family?” Shelly asked.
“No,” Newton said, and it was easy to sound convincing, now that he knew he didn’t have one. “No, not anymore. I have you guys. That’s enough.”
Shelly hugged him again and the others joined in. “That’s so sweet, Newton.”
“I’ll always be your bro, bro,” Theremin said. “But are you sure you don’t want to keep looking?”
“I’m su
re,” Newton said, and he looked at his friends, one by one. “Let’s just put all this behind us, okay?”
“Okay,” everyone answered, although Shelly was avoiding Newton’s gaze.
“Isn’t there some big event coming up?” Newton asked. “Let’s just have fun doing whatever that is.”
“As a matter of fact, Founders’ Day is coming up,” Odifin replied. “It’s a big celebration honoring the founding of Franken-Sci High.”
“See, that sounds like fun!” Newton said. “So let’s all get ready for Founders’ Day and try to forget all about the future and that other stuff for now. Okay?”
Shelly frowned. “Okaaaaay,” she said slowly. “I need to go check on my animals in the basement. See you all at dinner?”
“Certainly!” Higgy said. “In fact, I might head to the cafeteria right now for a snack. All this excitement has made me hungry.”
“Since when have you needed excitement to make you hungry?” Theremin teased. “You’re always hungry!”
Higgy patted his green belly, which jiggled. “I need a lot of energy to keep this protoplasm in top form.”
“I’ll go with you, Higgy,” said Rotwang. More than six-feet-tall and as skinny as a test tube, Rotwang could eat more than anyone else not made of green goo.
“I suppose I’ll join you,” Odifin said. “I can people-watch while you eat.”
Theremin turned to Newton. “What do you say, bro? Want to maybe play some laser hockey?”
Newton yawned. “Not right now. I’m kind of tired from London and everything. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Sure, bro,” Theremin said, and the room emptied out. He climbed up onto the top bunk and let out a long breath. He hated lying to his friends, but at least they would all be safe now. And he could wait a few decades to find out why the professors had created him, right?
Bing! The tablet in his sweatshirt pocket made a notification noise, and Newton took it out. A holographic envelope projected from the screen, and Newton touched his finger to the seal. The words popped out and hung in the air in front of him.
NEWTON,
YOU ARE INVITED TO A TOUR OF CROWNINSHIELD INDUSTRIES NEXT SATURDAY AT 10 A.M. A PORTAL PASS WILL BE PROVIDED FOR YOU.
MIMI CROWNINSHIELD
Newton stared at the invitation. Mimi had always puzzled him. He’d seen her be super mean to Shelly, but she’d been polite to Newton and seemed interested in him. He had no idea why she wanted to invite him to her family’s company headquarters, but it would give him something to do besides worry about the future. He pressed the yes button on the hologram, and holographic confetti popped out. Then the hologram disappeared.
Mimi, what are you up to now? Newton wondered.
CHAPTER 2 Crowninshield Industries
“Mimi, what are you up to now?” Shelly asked Mimi the next day in the hallway, after Newton had told her about Mimi’s invitation.
Mimi’s blue eyes widened, making her look innocent. “Why on earth would I have something up my sleeve?” she asked. “My family’s company is preparing some very special surprises for the Founders’ Day celebration, and Newton is my friend, so I thought he’d like to see them. He didn’t get to go on the tour with the freshman class like everyone else did last summer.”
Shelly frowned. “Seriously? I’m supposed to believe that you have no ulterior motives for this nice gesture?”
Mimi sighed. “Shelly, I know you and I haven’t always gotten along, but you have to admit that I’ve never done anything bad to Newton, right?”
“Well…” Shelly’s voice trailed off.
“Anyway, Newton already said he wants to come,” Mimi pointed out. “And when he comes back, I’m sure he’ll tell you he had a great time.”
“Hmpf!” was all Shelly could say in response, and she turned on her heel and walked away, her crocheted snake scarf flapping behind her.
Mimi grinned. “So trusting, Shelly,” she whispered. “So trusting…”
* * *
The week passed by quickly, and Newton was surprised at how normal things felt, compared to what had happened since he’d come to the school. Well, things were normal by Franken-Sci High standards.
Every day, he licked his locker security panel to identify the flavor so that he could open it. The week’s flavors were hot licorice, liverwurst, chocolate-covered mushroom, garlic, and banana-blue-cheese.
Every day, he went to class. In Physics of Phys Ed, he swung on ropes over a pit of hybrid shark-crocodiles. In Quantum Emotional Chemistry for Nonemotional Chemistry Students, he worked on a Beautiful Sadness formula—the kind of sadness you feel when you watch a movie about a heroic dog or when you see a sunset and are sad that the day is over even though the sky looks beautiful. And in Retro Robotics class, he actually had fun making an old-school mini windup robot.
Every day, he ate in the cafeteria. He tried new dishes invented by the cafeteria cooks. Peanut butter balls with so much protein in them that they came to life and bounced up and down on their own. A kale salad that tasted like pepperoni pizza. Chicken wings that flew right into his mouth.
Yes, it was a normal week at Franken-Sci High, all right, and Newton settled in and began to enjoy himself. Sure, the knowledge that he was a genetically engineered being was always in the back of his mind, poking at his brain cells, but he pushed it aside.
Then Saturday came, and Newton reported to Ms. Mumtaz’s office at 9:55, five minutes earlier than Mimi had asked him to. He knew Mimi didn’t like lateness. The door was open, and Ms. Mumtaz was sitting at her desk. She stared at Newton through her cat-eye glasses.
“Hello, Newton,” she said. “How’s everything going?”
“Just fine,” he said, staring right back at her. “Everything’s perfectly normal. Like nothing weird ever happened.”
She nodded, bobbing her head like a bird, which wasn’t surprising. With her long, thin, neck and slim, pointy nose, she had always reminded Newton of a bird.
“Glad to hear it,” she said. “I’m glad to see you’ve calmed down, Newton. Nothing to do now but look forward to the future.”
“Sure,” Newton replied, although inside he was thinking, You mean the future that’s going to be a disaster unless I somehow stop it with my freaky powers!
“Good morning, Newton!”
Mimi entered the office, neatly dressed in a denim skirt, sneakers, and a white collared shirt with a blue vest over it. Her blond curls bounced on her shoulders.
“Uh, hi, Mimi,” he replied.
Mimi held out a hand to Ms. Mumtaz. “We’re ready for the portal pass, please,” she said.
The headmistress handed a paper brochure of the school to Mimi. Mimi opened it all the way into a big square. Then she folded it into smaller and smaller squares. Finally she folded it diagonally so that the top left and bottom right corners touched.
The tightly folded brochure began to spin, and floated out of her hands. As it spun faster and faster, it created a rotating column of air. Newton’s wavy hair whipped in front of his eyes. Then the whirling stopped, and a portal with a halo of glowing light appeared where the brochure had been.
“Ladies first,” Mimi said, and she stepped through the human-size hole and quickly disappeared.
“Have fun, Newton!” Ms. Mumtaz called out as he stepped through the portal behind Mimi.
Newton blinked. They had emerged into the bright sunlight. The portal closed and Mimi caught the brochure before it hit the ground. Then she tucked the brochure into her skirt pocket and gestured in front of her.
“Come on! We can take the funicular to the top of the mountain,” she said, and she ran ahead.
Newton looked up and saw a gleaming, white building on top of a tall mountain in front of them. A sign with large, black letters announced: CROWNINSHIELD INDUSTRIES: THE FUTURE IS IN OUR HANDS.
Newton wasn’t sure what a funicular was, but he guessed it might be the thing that looked like a white train car that Mimi was running toward. It was
rectangular, with large windows on all sides. He followed her inside, where she announced “Main gate!” and the door slid shut behind them. Then the train car made its way on a track, winding toward the top of the mountain.
“I’ve always thought we should put a teleport pad down here. It would be so much faster,” Mimi said. “But Mom and Dad insist that we keep the mad-scientist stuff we do top secret. To the rest of the world, Crowninshield Industries is just a top company in technological innovation—like the low-emissions auto fuel we’ve been perfecting.” She sighed. “Maybe one day we won’t have to hide our real genius. But I guess the world isn’t ready for us yet.”
“No, I guess not,” Newton agreed absentmindedly, watching the scenery. They were surrounded by mountain peaks on all sides, and the view got more spectacular the higher they went.
Finally the funicular stopped at a platform in front of the white building. The car’s door slid open automatically, and Mimi and Newton hopped out.
They walked up to the building’s large, glass doors, and Mimi slid an ID card into a receptor on the wall. There was a buzzing sound as the doors opened.
The chill of artificially cooled air hit Newton as they stepped into a hallway with a white floor, white walls, and a white ceiling. The hall opened into a lobby with a circular desk, where a woman sat, surrounded by computer screens.
“Hello, Satoko!” Mimi greeted her.
The woman smiled. “Mimi! Good to see you. We’re expecting you.”
“This is my friend Newton Warp,” Mimi said, and Newton nodded. “I’m going to introduce him to Mom and Dad.”
Satoko shook her head. “Sorry, Mimi. They’re in meetings all morning. Didn’t they tell you?”
Mimi’s face fell for a second, but she quickly put a smile back on. “Nope. Guess they forgot. Anyway, I’m going to give Newton a sneak peek of what we’re doing for the Founders’ Day carnival.”