“Oh brother,” said Amanda. “That’s confusing.”
“Doesn’t have to be,” said Simon. “Kinetic energy makes things move. Easy peasey.” He stepped around the bench waving his arms in a way that made him look even geekier than he already was. “See? Kinetic energy.”
“Okay,” said Amanda. “I sort of get it. But what about the light?”
“Ah, that’s interesting,” said Simon. “Kinetic energy can be transformed into other types of energy, such as electric energy. Ever heard of the piezoelectric effect?”
“No, but if we have some, can I have pepperoni on it?” said Amanda, grinning.
“The piezoelectric effect has to do with generating electricity by applying pressure to something,” said Simon. “It was discovered by Pierre and Jacques Curie in the nineteenth century.”
“You mean if I press on my forehead I’m generating electricity in my brain?” said Amanda.
“That’s an interesting question,” said Simon. “I don’t know. That would seem weird, wouldn’t it? Can you imagine generating electricity every time you press on your forehead? You could do better on Professor Sidebotham’s quizzes that way.”
“That’s cool,” said Amphora, poking her forehead. “But I don’t feel anything.” She pressed so hard that she made a mark.
“You’ve got a red mark,” said Simon. Amphora felt her forehead. “Trust me, it’s there.” She rubbed at it. “Would you cut it out?” She dropped her hand without argument. Amanda couldn’t believe it.
“But here’s a really interesting thing,” Simon continued. “Certain types of crystals do exhibit piezoelectric effects. And that’s what we have here: crystals.” He cocked his head toward the display.
“So you’re saying that the motion from throwing the crystals is generating the electricity?” said Amphora. She made like she was throwing a ball.
“In a way yes,” said Simon. “Hey, is that a softball? You need to work on your pitching. But I think it’s not so much the throwing as the impact. In other words, pressure, as I said.”
“No, it’s not a softball,” said Amphora. “Well, it is but it’s a pretend one, so it doesn’t matter how I throw it. So when we hit or scratch the crystals, they make electricity and glow brighter.”
“Exactly,” said Simon. “The kinetic energy from your hand is being transferred to the crystals and creating electricity. Or to the imaginary ball.”
“But what about the colors?” said Amanda. “Is that electrical too?”
“It’s got to be,” said Simon. “But in effect, there must be colored bulbs inside. Not bulbs exactly, but something that generates different colors of light.”
“Are you telling me that when I press on my forehead I’m making colored lights inside my body?” said Amanda.
“Doubt it,” said Simon. “I’ve never heard of colored light inside a body.”
“But sometimes I see blue lights in front of my eyes,” she said, rolling her eyes around.
“I think that has to do with the retina,” said Simon.
“I do see blue spots when I press on my eye,” she said, touching her eyelid.
“I don’t think that’s the best idea,” said Amphora, grabbing for Amanda’s wrist. “Don’t do that. I mean it.”
Amanda removed her finger from her lid. “But if I can make electricity in my eyes, I can shoot laser beams out of them.”
“Don’t think so,” said Simon, “although that would be amazing. The first person I’d zap would be—”
“Don’t say it,” said Amphora.
“I was going to say David Wiffle,” said Simon, turning his imaginary bolts in her direction. Amanda was relieved. She did not want a fight erupting again.
“Not the Moriartys?” said Amphora.
“Them too,” said Simon. “Especially them.” He shot the imaginary electricity stronger and farther.
“I think I’d go after Professor Sidebotham,” said Amanda. “Well, David Wiffle first and then her. You know, another cool thing you could do is make movies inside your head. If you could figure out how to make different colors—”
“That would be sweet,” said Simon. “But I really don’t think it works like that.”
“So the crystals are exhibiting the piezoelectric effect with pepperoni on top,” said Amphora. She really seemed to like that joke. “Now what?”
“We need to figure out why they change,” said Simon. “I wonder if the pressure is like charging up a battery and over time it gets drained. That might be why the colors fade.”
“That makes sense,” said Amanda. “Oh wow, do you think these crystals are batteries? I sure could use some more juice for my phone. I have to charge it up all day long.”
“It’s possible,” said Simon. “I’d like to look this stuff up. Hang on.” He charged over to the bookcases and started scanning titles.
“Don’t you want to look it up online?” said Amphora.
“Nope,” he said. “These books are really good. I’ll find the information faster here.”
Amphora gave Amanda a quizzical look. Amanda shrugged.
“Hm,” said Simon after a few minutes. He’d pulled one book after another off the shelves and had been so excited he hadn’t put them back. Every surface was covered with them. “It appears that what we’re seeing is a phenomenon called triboluminescence. This happens when a material is broken or crushed. On the other hand, piezoluminescence occurs when something is deformed rather than broken, scratched, or rubbed. And sometimes x-rays and other electromagnetic radiation can be emitted.”
“Are you kidding me?” said Amphora. “That’s dangerous. I told you the crystals were making me sick.” She moved away from them.
“You know Scapulus checked that,” said Amanda. “There are no x-rays coming off the crystals.”
“Are you sure he had the Geiger counter calibrated right?” said Amphora, who had reached the door.
“This is Scapulus Holmes we’re talking about,” said Amanda. “He’s annoying but he’s very smart. I can’t imagine he didn’t check that.”
“I don’t think he’s annoying,” said Amphora. “But you’re right. I guess they are safe. Should I put my necklace back on?”
“Why not?” said Amanda. “It’s beautiful.”
Amphora returned to the lab bench and picked over the crystals until she’d found the necklace, then fastened it around her neck. It glowed happily and so did she. “It is lovely, isn’t it?” she said.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Simon. “Fetching. But we’ve got to find out more about these things.”
“And that isn’t the only thing,” said Amanda.
“Right, the missing whatsit,” said Simon. “How’s that coming?”
“It isn’t,” said Amanda. “Unless Ivy has come up with something. I’ve been working on the training film, and you guys have been tied up with this.”
“Not entirely,” said Amphora.
“Oh really?” said Amanda. “What’s going on?”
“You’ll see,” said Amphora.
20
Eureka!
Over the next couple of hours the three kids learned a great deal about the crystals. They experimented with varying amounts of force and different stressors to see what would happen. The results were exactly as they expected: the more force and stress, the stronger the reaction; the less force and stress, the weaker the reaction.
Then they tried to figure out how long crystals would stay charged up under this and that scenario. They discovered that rubbing them softly made them glow longer with more of an apricot color than when they used a lot of force, which initially made them glow brighter and redder, but seemed to burn them out faster.
“I feel like I’m releasing a genie,” said Amphora, rubbing faster.
“If there is one, it’s invisible,” said Amanda.
“And quiet,” said Amphora. “I thought genies were supposed to be talkative.”
“Ssh,” said Simon. “I’m counting.” H
e was comparing what happened when he rubbed once, twice, and so on, and making notes.
“What if there really is some kind of genie inside?” Amphora continued, ignoring Simon. “Not literally, but maybe something we’re not familiar with. Some intelligence.”
“Don’t think that’s possible,” said Simon, “although the crystals do seem to release different types of energy depending on the force, motion, and duration of the pressure. Maybe they’re some sort of naturally occurring touch screen.”
“What about mood rings?” said Amphora. “How do those work? Maybe these are the stones from those.”
“You keep going, Simon,” said Amanda. “I’ll look it up.” She stopped her experiment, ran a quick search, and shook her head. “Uh uh. According to this, mood rings never actually worked. Now that I think of it, I’m pretty sure my mom has one in her jewelry box. Next time I go home I’ll look. But yeah, they were supposed to be sensitive to heat and change color according to the emotions the person was feeling. But get this: apparently the temperature of the air actually affects the color more than body temperature. Ha! All those gullible people thought the ring was reflecting their mood when actually it was changing when the room got hot or cold. How dumb.”
“It’s not dumb,” said Amphora. “I’ve seen them work.”
“It’s an illusion,” said Simon. “Forget it.”
“I’m not going to forget it,” said Amphora. “That Wikipedia stuff is wrong. Why are you so negative?”
“I’m not negative,” said Simon. “Just realistic. For example, look at this.” He put a heat lamp next to a crystal and measured the color and light. Then he put an ice pack next to it and measured again. “No difference. Want me to do that again?”
“No,” said Amphora. “What’s the point?”
“The point is that your theory is wrong,” said Simon.
“The point is that your theory is wrong,” she mimicked.
“Shut up,” he said, and turned back to his experiment.
“Hey!” said Amanda. “Cut it out. You guys are driving me crazy. You know what I think? I think you’re secretly in love with each other.”
“Eeeeew,” said Amphora, making an awful face.
“Not true,” said Simon, looking up from his work. “But why ew, Amphora? I’ve got a lot to offer.”
“Oh really?” said Amphora, looking him up and down. “And what might that be?”
“Oh brother,” said Amanda. “I’m sorry I said anything.”
“Never mind,” said Simon, measuring something. “It takes a real woman to appreciate me.”
Amphora bashed her crystal on the bench, whereupon it turned bright red. She stomped over to the bookshelf, grabbed a volume that was sticking out, and clobbered Simon over the head with it. Then she clapped her hands up and down as if to say, “There. That did it,” and sat down.
“Owwwwww,” said Simon. “What do you think you’re doing, you cow?”
“Five hundred pounds,” yelled Amanda. “Each.”
Amanda had had enough of Simon and Amphora’s bickering. She felt slightly responsible for the latest round, however. She shouldn’t have suggested that the two were secretly in love. No one took her comment seriously, of course, but even as a joke it irritated them so much that they practically killed each other. It was a good thing a detective didn’t have to be a diplomat because Amanda was no good at being tactful.
She thought of calling Ivy to see if she could calm them down. Well, mostly calm Amphora down. Simon was pretty cool and collected for a guy reeling off insults. She felt guilty making Ivy get involved all the time, though. Why was it her responsibility to act as peacemaker?
Maybe they should take a break. Now that the two had started arguing they would be at it the rest of the day. But when she looked up to make the suggestion, there they were watching a crystal together as calmly as if they’d just been meditating.
“It’s almost behaving like a pet craving affection,” Amphora said. She petted it as if it were a dog or a cat. “Of course it doesn’t shed like Nigel.”
“Hang on,” said Simon. “It’s blinking.”
Amphora jerked her hand away. “OMG,” she said. “It’s pink.” The crystal was indeed blinking, two blinks at a time, and had changed color again, this time to a pale pink. “It’s telling me to keep petting it.” She touched it gently again, petting as if it were a delicate bird. The crystal changed color again, back to the apricot color. It was still blinking, two at a time.
“It’s communicating!” said Amanda.
“I wonder,” said Simon. “It’s not out of the realm of possibility. But you do realize that if they can communicate it means they’re alive.”
The girls looked at each other. Amphora raised her eyebrows and Amanda nodded. He wasn’t putting them on.
“Does this mean Amphora has been wearing a living thing around her neck?” said Amanda. As soon as the words had left her mouth she regretted saying them. Amphora would freak out if she thought she’d been wearing a pet. The next thing would be her worrying that the stone would bite her and give her rabies.
“It might,” said Simon. “But remember that plants are living things. We’re not talking about people here.”
“No little gremlins?” said Amanda. “Gosh, I was so hoping for a new kind of house elf or something.” She grinned.
“Make fun all you want,” said Simon. “But I have a suspicion we might be on the verge of a very interesting discovery.”
Amanda didn’t doubt it. Simon was really good at science, and he had been inventing devices too. Why, he was almost as knowledgeable as Professor Stegelmeyer already. If anyone could get the crystals to talk, he could.
“Hello there,” said Simon, moving his mouth close to a crystal and speaking softly. “Hey, was that a blink?”
“Do it again,” said Amphora.
“Helloooooo,” said Simon in exactly the same way as before. The crystal remained apricot-colored and blinked.
“Ooooh, it’s so cute,” said Amphora. “I just know it’s alive. There’s no other explanation.”
“You stupid crystal,” yelled Simon abruptly at the top of his lungs. The crystal turned pale pink and stopped blinking.
“Oh my,” said Amanda. “That’s amazing. It is alive. Do it again.”
Simon repeated the experiment, but this time he yelled, “I am the very model of a modern major general.” Same result. “Hm,” he said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with being insulted. I said something perfectly neutral that time.”
“I don’t know about neutral, but I see what you mean,” said Amanda.
“You should stop yelling at it,” said Amphora. “I think you’re hurting it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Simon.
“Seriously,” she said. “I think when it turns pink it’s telling you to stop. The blinking is like purring. It’s happy.”
“I think it’s time to call in the big guns,” said Simon.
“But Professor Kindseth is still in hospital,” said Amphora. “Oh, you mean Professor Stegelmeyer. Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Forget Professor Stegelmeyer,” said Simon. “We need to get Ivy in here.”
After the team had brought Ivy up to speed and she had expressed awe and wonder, Simon said, “Can you hear anything coming from the crystals?”
Ivy motioned for everyone to stand still and be quiet and cocked each ear in turn toward the crystal. “Nope. Nothing. Not like I did back at the pit.”
“Hm, not that surprising,” he said. “While we were waiting for you, I tried recording them to see if there were any sound waves coming off them, but there aren’t.”
“They were humming before. Maybe I can get them to hum along,” Ivy said. She started singing very softly, close to one of the crystals. It blinked.
“What are you singing?” said Amphora.
“Something I wrote,” she sung. She kept singing but changed the words so she could talk to t
he others at the same time.
“It likes it,” said Amphora. “Try something else.”
Simon stuck his head in front of the crystal and sang, “Baby, gimme your love” at the top of his voice. The crystal turned pink and stopped blinking.
“Whoa,” said Amanda. “It didn’t like that at all. Can’t say I blame it.” She was expecting Simon to take offense at her criticism, but he showed no reaction.
“Sing some more, Ivy,” said Amphora. “I really like that song.”
“Thanks,” said Ivy, and started singing her own composition again. As she did, Amanda got the idea of where the melody was going and started to harmonize. The crystal turned apricot and blinked like a happy kitten. Simon joined in and the blinking stopped. A second or two later the crystal turned pink again.
“You were off tune,” said Ivy. “It didn’t like that.”
“I did that on purpose,” said Simon, making a note.
“Yeah, right,” said Amphora.
“Don’t make me fine you,” said Ivy, breaking off the song. “We have important work to do here.”
“Sorry,” said Amphora.
“You know what I think?” said Ivy. “I think they’re behaving like human babies.”
“I think you might be right,” said Simon.
Amphora and Amanda stared at him. “Really?” said Amphora.
“Sure,” said Simon. “Why not? I don’t disagree with you guys just for the sake of disagreeing. If you have a valid point I consider it seriously.”
“Thank you, Simon,” said Amanda. “We appreciate that.”
Amphora gave her a look that said, “You don’t speak for me,” but Amanda ignored her.
“So let’s summarize what we know about the crystals so far,” said Simon, punching his tablet. “They don’t like a lot of force. They do like being petted.”
“Isn’t that amazing?” said Amphora. She stroked a crystal. It responded immediately. “Oooh, this one likes me. I think I’ll name it Melisande.” Simon tsked. She picked up the crystal, turned away from him, and cupped it in her hand.
Amanda Lester, Detective Box Set Page 54