by Mark Young
Shelly threw back her head and laughed.
“Ha, ha, ha, ha, HA, HA, HA!” she cackled. “Was this that fool Flubitus’s plan from the beginning? Is this what he meant when he said that the two of us had a big role to play in the future of Franken-Sci High? Ha, ha, HA!” She stopped laughing and looked at Newton. “Seriously, was this his plan all along? To send you here to stop me? Because it won’t work.”
“You’re right,” current Newton said. “It doesn’t work. They’ve sent me to stop you forty times before this—forty-one if you count the Odifin experiment—and I’ve failed.”
“I’m not surprised to hear that,” she said. She began pacing back and forth. “But why keep trying? It’s not like I’m hurting anyone. Ninety minutes is plenty of time to evacuate the school.”
She looked over at a bank of computer screens, where a digital countdown flashed next to a big, red button and a big, green button. “More like nineteen minutes now. Everyone will be safe—including the helpless monsters being created to make money to line the pockets of Crowninshield Industries. And the school’s evil experiments will be done with, forever.”
Future Newton spoke up now. “Shelly, it’s like I’ve been trying to tell you. The monsters are treated well. By destroying the school, you’ll be destroying all the amazing learning that happens there. So many inventions are coming out that will really help the world.”
“Blah, blah, blah,” Shelly said. “I’ve heard it all before from Mumtaz. Soon everyone in the world will know about the existence of Franken-Sci High. Its dark secrets will finally see the light!”
Future Newton threw up his hands. “See what I mean?” he asked current Newton. “You can’t reason with her.”
“No, you can’t, when your reason is faulty,” Shelly said. She marched over to a door made of metal bars. “And since you can’t reason, I’ll need to keep you busy with a monster battle so you don’t try to stop me.” Behind the bars on the door, something growled.
Future Newton sighed. “Don’t bother, Shelly. You know I would never hurt you. You’re my friend.”
Something flickered in Shelly’s eyes. “Nice try, traitor,” she said. “No friend of mine would go work for Mimi.”
She moved to open the door again.
Crinkle-squark! Peewee looked at Newton and started chattering.
“Wait!” current Newton cried. “If you won’t listen to reason, maybe you’ll listen to something else.”
Shelly eyed him. “Like what?”
Current Newton turned to future Newton.
“Do you remember that day, after Professor Flubitus accidentally turned Peewee into a giant monster, and we brought Peewee down to the lab with Theremin and Shelly?” current Newton asked.
Future Newton shook his head. “Not really.”
“Come on!” current Newton urged. “Use your noodle noggin!”
Future Newton grinned. “I remember,” he said, and then he transformed into young Shelly. Future Shelly froze, seeing her younger self.
Current Newton, and future Newton as young Shelly, repeated the conversation from that day.
“Poor guy,” future Newton said in young Shelly’s voice. “He was lost and alone when I found him, and scared.”
“Peewee was lucky that he found you,” current Newton said to young Shelly. “And I guess I was too.”
“I think Theremin and I are the lucky ones,” said young Shelly. “This place has gotten a lot better since you showed up.”
Current Newton looked at young Shelly. “Franken-Sci High isn’t just about inventions and ideas,” he said. “It’s a safe place for kids like me. Kids like you, and Theremin, and Higgy, and Odifin, and Rotwang.”
As current Newton spoke, future Newton transformed into each one of their friends from the past.
As she watched them act out the past, future Shelly sat down in her chair. Tears started to form in her eyes.
“No!” she said, wiping them away. “This is a trick!”
Current Newton knelt down in front of her. “It’s not a trick, Shelly,” he said. “I was just at the school a little while ago. Some things have changed, but the kids haven’t. They’re weird and cool and strange and wonderful. And if those kids have to go back to the real world, they won’t have any friends, nobody who understands them.”
“I—I know—” Shelly stammered. “But—what about the monsters? Monsters that didn’t ask to be created, monsters that are going to be sold by Crowninshield Industries so that people can profit off their powers? Mumtaz won’t listen to me.”
Future Newton changed his appearance to stop looking like young Shelly. Once he was back to his usual thirty-nine-year-old self, he spoke up. “I think Mumtaz’s hands are tied,” he said. “The school can’t survive without Crowninshield Industries. Mimi is the key, and that’s why I’ve been working for her. I’m trying to change things from the inside, Shelly. You have to believe me.”
Shelly didn’t say anything.
“Stop the countdown, Shelly,” current Newton said. “I promise we’ll find a way to stop the monster program. If we don’t, you can come back here and do what you need to do. I won’t stop you.”
Shelly looked at current Newton. “I missed all of you when I left the school, you know,” she said. “And you reached out, and so did Theremin and Higgy and Odifin and even Rotwang. But I was so angry, and so hurt. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. And I’ve been that way ever since.”
“We’re all still your friends, Shelly,” future Newton promised.
“Yeah. We’re the Goo Getters, remember?” current Newton asked, reminding Shelly of the group name the friends had used when they’d competed in the Brilliant Brains Trivia Competition.
Shelly laughed. “Yeah, the Goo Getters.”
She swirled around in her chair and pressed the red button. The countdown stopped.
Crunkle-squee!
Peewee leaped out of the chair and started running in happy circles. Shelly smiled.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you happy in a long time, Peewee,” she said, and she stood up. “Okay. Let’s see if we can stop the monster project. What’s our first step?”
Future Newton took a device out of his pocket. “If you can lower your portal shield, we’ll go talk to Mimi,” he said.
Shelly frowned. “If she hasn’t listened to you before, why do you think she’ll listen to us now?”
Future Newton gazed over at current Newton and grinned.
“I think Flubitus knew what he was doing when he sent this kid here.”
CHAPTER 14 Mimi’s Monsters
Shelly deactivated the portal shields inside the castle, and future Newton pressed a button on his device. A portal opened up.
“This goes directly to Crowninshield Industries,” he said. “Every employee gets one. Makes for an easy commute. Come on!”
Future Newton jumped through the portal. Current Newton held back.
“You’re making sure I go with you, aren’t you?” Shelly asked.
“Yup,” current Newton said.
Shelly grinned. “I haven’t seen Mimi in twenty-five years. This isn’t going to be easy.”
“The Shelly I know was never afraid to do something because it wasn’t easy,” Newton said.
Shelly nodded and stepped into the portal, and Newton followed her.
They emerged on the funicular platform. Newton looked up at the building on top of the mountain, which had expanded into the clouds. Several white, boxlike buildings floated in the sky around and above the original building.
“Mimi has always been a fan of antigravity,” future Newton explained. “Come on. We can go directly to her office.”
He moved away from the train platform to a circular pad. He stepped onto a cloud-shaped mat.
“Up!” he cried, and the mat lifted him upward and carried him toward the building that was higher up in the sky than all the others.
“Ugh,” Shelly said. “I hate heights.” She stepp
ed onto another cloud-shaped mat and closed her eyes. “Up!”
Current Newton followed her. Once they’d reached the top, Shelly stumbled as she stepped off her mat, and future Newton grabbed her hands.
“Thanks,” she said. “You know, I’ve never apologized for locking you in that monster habitat. I was planning on letting you out after I finished destroying the school.”
Future Newton grinned. “That’s some apology.”
Shelly frowned. “Sorry, Newton. I’m not good at the whole being-around-humans thing.”
“You were good at it when I first met you,” future Newton replied. “That’s why I forgive you.”
Current Newton stepped off his mat onto the landing ledge. “Okay, what are we going to tell Mimi?” he asked. “Is there a plan?”
“Nope,” future Newton said cheerfully. “But this is our only chance to stop Shelly from her evil plan. Right, Shelly?”
“Um, right!” Shelly replied.
Future Newton walked from the landing ledge to the door of the building. He breathed onto a red square to the left of the door. It turned green, and the door slid open.
A woman with blond hair sat behind a desk. Her eyes widened as the three of them walked inside.
“Newton, what are you doing here?” she asked.
“Well, Mimi—” future Newton began, and current Newton realized that they were in future Mimi’s office.
“Not you!” Mimi snapped. “You!”
She pointed at current Newton.
“I’m him, from the past,” current Newton explained.
Mimi rolled her eyes. “Duh. I figured that out,” she said, standing up and walking around the desk. “But what exactly are you doing here?”
“I’m here to help save Franken-Sci High,” he replied.
“Duh. I know that, too,” she said. “But what do I have to do with it?”
Shelly spoke up. “Really? You have to ask? You’re the whole reason for this problem.”
“Oh, hi, Shelly,” Mimi said. “How’s the whole evil thing going?”
Shelly turned around as if to leave. “This is pointless!”
“Shelly’s not evil,” current Newton said. “She just cares about monsters. And people. She’s agreed not to give up the school’s secret.”
“If Mimi stops the monster program,” Shelly chimed in, turning back to face Mimi.
Mimi nodded. “See, now, that’s the thing,” she said. “I didn’t get to be the head of Crowninshield Industries because I caved to other people’s demands. There’s no way I’m going to do something just because somebody threatens me.”
“Well, I didn’t threaten you, Mimi,” future Newton said. “I’ve been asking you to rethink this monster thing for the last year. But you didn’t want to listen.”
“I can explain,” Mimi said. “It’s kind of funny, actually. I came up with the monster program as a way to save the school.”
“Wait, what?” current Newton asked.
“Well, it all started that day I was eavesdropping on you when you were in Mumtaz’s office with a bunch of professors,” Mimi began. “I was convinced from the day you came to the school that you were a spy sent to get to know me and infiltrate Crowninshield Industries.”
Current Newton’s eyes widened. “So you heard what I couldn’t tell my friends—that the professors had created me in the future to save the school?”
Mimi nodded. “Then I invited you here so I could body scan you, to find out what they had done to you.”
Current Newton’s eyes got even wider. “I thought you were just being nice.”
“Ha!” Shelly said. “I knew it!”
“Well, I was partly being nice,” Mimi said. “And partly curious. And I found out that Newton had all these amazing abilities, and it got me worried about what the professors had said. If the school was in real danger, what was one guy with grippy fingers supposed to be able to do about it?”
“Now, that’s a tiny bit insulting,” future Newton chimed in.
“No offense, Newtons,” Mimi said. “Anyway, I asked my parents to help fund a special monster program at Franken-Sci High to help create monsters that could really protect the school in case something went wrong.”
Shelly shook her head. “If that’s true, then why are you planning on selling monsters?”
“It was a logical extension of the program,” Mimi said. “A glow-in-the-dark underwater monster with high intelligence is the perfect assistant for a deep-sea diver. A monster that generates electricity can power a lab. A flying monster can gather data from high altitudes without needing oxygen—”
“Yes, monsters are amazing,” Shelly said. “But you can’t just force them to do things without asking them. And you don’t need to make new monsters to do those things. There are already monsters in the world that need good homes.”
Current Newton and future Newton spoke at the same time.
“That’s the answer!” they said.
“What do you mean?” Mimi and Shelly asked in unison.
“You can—” both Newtons said together.
“I mean, you both—” the Newtons said.
They both stopped.
“You say it,” future Newton offered.
Current Newton nodded. “Mimi, if you stop making new monsters, the school will be safe,” he said. “And you and Shelly can work together to help the monsters that you created, and the ones Shelly has found. Shelly knows how to communicate with them, and she can find out if they want to do jobs like the ones you talked about.”
He looked at his future self. “Is that what you were going to say?”
Future Newton nodded. “Basically,” he said. “I was also going to offer to work on the program with you both. As a sort of, mediator.”
Mimi and Shelly looked at each other.
“That’s smart thinking, Newtons,” Mimi finally said. “Especially the part about you being a mediator. Back at school, liking Newton was the only thing Shelly and I had in common.”
“What about you, Shelly?” current Newton asked. “Are you up for this?”
She frowned thoughtfully. “No more new monsters?” she asked.
“No more,” Mimi promised.
“And you won’t make monsters do jobs they don’t want to?” Shelly asked.
Mimi shook her head. “Promise. But I hope you’ll convince them to work—for pay, of course. If I were a monster, I’d want to use my powers to do things. I bet it will give them confidence and make them feel useful.”
“It just might,” Shelly agreed.
At that moment a bright light flashed in the room.
“Everybody smile and say ‘circuit breaker’!” Theremin said as he burst through the door. At least, to current Newton, it looked like Theremin. But his voice was much deeper.
“Theremin!” Mimi cried. “Have you been spying on us?”
“Not spying. Reporting,” he shot back. “The whole mad-scientist world is freaking out about Franken-Sci High possibly being sent to another dimension, and there’s only a minute left!”
“But I stopped the countdown!” Shelly cried.
“Did you tell Mumtaz?” Theremin asked.
Shelly frowned. “Whoops!”
Mimi waved her hand in the air, and a screen appeared in front of her face.
“Get Mumtaz!” she said, and a hologram of the face of the headmistress appeared.
“Mimi, what is it?” Mumtaz asked. “I’m about to send the school into another dimension!”
“You don’t have to,” Mimi said. “Shelly and I worked it out.”
Mumtaz raised her eyebrows. “Really?”
Shelly stood next to Mimi and waved. “Yeah, um, sorry about all that. I’m not going to give up the school’s secret.”
Flubitus appeared behind Ms. Mumtaz.
“Is young Newton there? Tell him to get back here right away!” Flubitus said. “Now that the school is saved, we can’t risk altering this time line any further.”
> “I’ll send him back through the direct portal,” Mimi promised, and then she pressed a button, and the hologram faded.
Theremin turned to current Newton. “Hey, good to see you, man. You know, you were a lot more fun when you were back in school.” He pointed to future Newton. “This guy is a real bore.”
“Hey!” future Newton protested. “Maybe it’s because I’ve been worried about saving the school for the last twenty-five years.”
“Well, um, I guess this is good-bye,” current Newton said, looking at the adult versions of his friends. Even though things had worked out, he could see the sadness in Shelly’s eyes, and it worried him.
“One question,” he said. “If I go back to the past, I’m gonna know that all this stuff is going to happen. But what if I try to change it, before it gets… before Shelly gets accidentally evil? Will it cancel out this time line?”
“I’m not sure,” future Newton said. “But based on what I’ve researched, I don’t think so. This time line has already been created, so we’ll all keep moving forward in it. When you go back to the past, you might end up jump-starting a whole new time line.”
“I might need my noodle noggin to figure all this out,” current Newton said.
Mimi motioned to a teleport pad in her office. “Step right up, Newton. This will take you directly back to school.”
Current Newton walked onto the pad. “It’s weird,” he said. “I’m going to miss you guys.”
“That’s just silly,” Mimi said. “We’ll all be there.”
Except maybe for Shelly, current Newton thought.
“Hey, dude,” Theremin said. “Now that you know that everything works out, maybe you can lighten up a little bit? Don’t end up like this guy.”
“Hey!” future Newton said.
Current Newton grinned. “I’ll try,” he said. “Ready to go, Mimi!”
“Bye, Newton!” Mimi said, and the others waved as he dematerialized in front of them.
He rematerialized back in future Ms. Mumtaz’s office. Flubitus enveloped him in a hug.