Echo’s watch lit up with the drone controls. Quickly, she sent a command.
The drone floated, then turned to flash a spotlight on a nearby figure—Ricky Lovas!
That’s when the art gallery’s alarms started blaring, and Echo knew that everything would be over soon.
CHAPTER 17
“You win, okay? Is that what you want? Are you happy now?” Dr. Rowan said, moping.
“Wait. What’s happening?” Tony asked, confused. “Are we still fighting?”
“I can’t do it!” Rowan said through tears. “I can’t beat you! I’m the one who failed.”
“Am I supposed to feel bad?” Tony said, even more confused. “You were trying to kill me!”
Rowan shook his head. “It was all just part of my test, to see if I could keep working at the agency. I can’t even build a security system that can stop a teenager!”
“But the robots and the threats . . .” Tony shook his head.
“Just part of the act. Half of it was holographic projection anyway. None of it could hurt you. When Ms. Nowhere finds out . . .”
“Just hold on. We can work this out,” Tony said, patting Rowan on the shoulder in an attempt to comfort the overwrought engineer.
And that’s when Rowan grabbed a second remote control—one connected to a long extension cord—and began pressing buttons.
“You foolish child! You thought you defeated me? This robot, my final robot, is truly unstoppable!”
Except that nothing happened.
Rowan looked down at the remote and kept pressing buttons. “I don’t understand,” he said in a much more subdued voice. “Where’s my giant killer robot?”
Tony shrugged, holding up an unplugged extension cord that ran from the remote, which Rowan was holding, to the wall. “I noticed your remote kind of looked like another secret weapon. So when I patted your shoulder, I kicked it from the socket.” Tony gave the scientist a lopsided smile. “Sorry, but listen,” Tony continued, dropping the cord. “Look at everything you built here! You’re an amazing engineer! So I managed not to pass out in the spinning pod. You built it so it could be beaten. Just like you built everything in this building so I could escape it.”
“W-well,” Rowan stammered. “I mean . . .”
“Like the platforms? Why build those at all if all you wanted to do was win? No, they were there so I could be challenged,” Tony said, realizing it now. “You built a great death-trap building! You don’t need to defeat me; you’re already so winning! Seriously!”
Rowan blushed awkwardly. “Hey, thanks. I kinda did try to destroy you, though.”
Tony grabbed the scientist by the shoulders. “Let’s let them think you beat me! Only a little, though. So you, like, barely beat me?”
“You would cheat,” Rowan asked, his jaw dropping, “to save my job?”
“I guess so. I know you don’t like cheating . . . but you are a good engineer. You really had me going in there! And together, I bet we could create the coolest video game ever, you know?”
“If you’re sure . . . ,” Dr. Rowan said, hesitating.
But Rowan’s voice was sounding farther away now.
And another, more distant voice of Ms. Nowhere could be heard. “Okay, that should do it. Wake them up!”
And then suddenly everything went white.
CHAPTER 18
“What is the meaning of this!” shouted Susan Damon, the museum’s curator, as she burst into the warehouse storage room.
Echo gestured at the pile of paintings. “Check it,” she said. “I think you’ll find your missing art isn’t as missing as you thought. And if you search your employee here, I think you’ll find a remote for controlling the drones.”
Ricky glanced uncomfortably at the pile. “Those are the fakes,” he sneered. “We put them here for now. She’ll say anything to save her little friend. She’s probably in on it all!”
“Then how about we look at your fingernails,” Echo said, pointing. “Those fake plastic paintings? I have a feeling we’ll find some of the same plastic used on those ‘fakes’ under your nails. The same plastic that’s hooked up to this printer!”
With that, Echo pulled back the tarp on the printer, unveiling it.
Susan was dumbfounded. “That’s . . . you mean . . . ?”
Echo nodded. “The drones never took the actual paintings. Instead, they covered them with a thin plastic fake. Then Ricky would take them out here so he could ‘dispose’ of them. In other words, sneak them out undetected!”
“But why?” Susan asked, completely baffled.
“What did you expect, Susan?” he yelled. “You know I could run this gallery better than you! Why, I could transform it into a destination gallery of modern art unlike any other! But no, everything always has to be your way!” Ricky pulled a dangerous-looking device from his jacket. A light on the controls began blinking. “Let’s see how you handle your way out of this!”
Susan started to argue, but Echo was quick to pull her back. “Wait!” Echo cried out. “That’s a cascading pulse bomb! If it goes off—”
“Everything goes boom!” Ricky said, sneering. “All of you, the art, the entire building!”
“Just deactivate the bomb, Ricky,” Echo said, trying to sound intimidating. “No one has to get hurt.”
“Never!” Ricky said, flinging the bomb and running away. The bomb blinked. It was active. It was going to explode.
Echo almost froze. Her arms and legs felt heavy. Her body wanted to shut down. It was like the pod test all over again, except this time, there was no safety measure to shut it down and no teammate to lend a hand. There was only her, no one else. No one was going to save the day. Unless she did.
Echo leaped into action, grabbing the bomb and running with it. The explosion would be huge, but if she could get far enough away, Tobias and Susan and all the art could be safe.
She could feel the bomb warming up in her hand. She knew it would explode any second.
So she jumped out the window. It was the only way. She would plummet down the cliffside toward the ocean. But everyone else would be safe.
And then everything went white, and Echo was certain this was the end.
Until she heard a voice in the distance.
Ms. Nowhere?
“Okay, that should do it. Wake them up!”
EPILOGUE
The pod slowly ground to a halt. The semiconscious forms of Echo and Tony were carefully removed.
In only a few minutes the pair were awake, and both were completely disoriented.
“It wasn’t real?” Tony said moments later. “But it felt . . .” He looked up and saw David Rowan standing nearby. He glanced over at Ms. Nowhere and beckoned her closer. “Are we one hundred percent sure? Because I’m almost positive that guy there might be, like, super evil . . .”
Overhearing, Rowan laughed in a friendly voice as he reached out to shake Tony’s hand. “I promise you, I’m not a super villain. I designed the hypnotic pod that induced your dream state. And I have to compliment you, Tony. Your imagination is quite fierce. Maybe we should make a video game together!”
“Okay?” Tony said as he shook the offered hand.
“So wait,” Echo cut in. “That whole thing where I passed out and Tony did everything himself—”
“A bit of shared consciousness via gentle suggestion,” Ms. Nowhere said. “Neither of you was awake inside that pod for more than a few seconds. The rest of the scenarios spun out of your own subconscious.”
“Yeah,” Echo replied, shaking her head. “I get that. But did we pass the test?”
Ms. Nowhere shrugged. “The test? The spinning machine was just to help induce the hypnosis state. The real test was the choices you made.”
Tony jumped in. “But Echo got to race in her test! I didn’t get to race! So it’
s not really fair—”
“It’s not a win-or-lose scenario,” Ms. Nowhere answered. “You were presented with choices, facing your own strengths and weaknesses. The decisions you made were informative.”
“We did beat the bad guys, though,” Tony said. “So we must have done pretty good?”
Ms. Nowhere waved her hand dismissively. “Again, it was informative. The data will be examined and added to your profile. If it makes you feel better, neither of you let us down.”
“All I know is that I need some sleep,” Echo lamented.
“I should have known it wasn’t real,” Tony grumbled.
And then the conversation was interrupted by a loud crash and a shout.
“Ms. Nowhere! This is outrageous!” Layla yelled, storming in with Frostee and Cisco behind her. She was mad. Her hair was also green . . . as was most of the rest of her. And she was covered in feathers.
Ms. Nowhere sighed. “Do I even want to know?”
“In our defense,” Frostee began, “we didn’t know the paint would fall right where she was standing.”
“And the feathers shouldn’t have been that sticky,” Cisco added.
“I am going to hurt them,” Layla fumed. “This is understood, right? One day, when they least expect it.”
“All of you get cleaned up or go rest or something. We still have a lot of data to examine and work to do,” Ms. Nowhere said.
The group of kids made their way out, though Tony, the last to slip through the door, managed one last question.
“But we won, right?” he asked. “We passed the test?”
Ms. Nowhere pressed a button on her watch, and the door automatically closed in the young racer’s face. She dusted off her sleeves and turned to David Rowan.
“This,” she said, “is why I didn’t become a teacher. Imagine this every day.”
“I don’t think most teachers place their students in hypnotically induced trances,” Dr. Rowan countered.
Ms. Nowhere picked up a data pad and began typing. “The truth of it is they both did quite well. Tony managed to overcome some of his impulsive behavior, plus he showed compassion. Echo overcame her own self-doubt.”
“They also both had some red flags,” Rowan pointed out.
“They both have great potential, though,” Nowhere said. “But it really comes down to which one of them is ready today.” She paused over their names on her pad. Then she looked up at Dr. Rowan. “I know who it has to be. There’s only one choice, really.” She gave a sly smile as she checked a box. “But what do you think?” she asked. “Which one did I pick?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times bestselling author Landry Q. Walker has been making stories happen for over twenty-five years. He has worked on well-known properties such as Star Wars, Batman, Supergirl, Frozen, The Incredibles, The Avengers, and many more. He's also the author of the series Project Terra, and writer of several creator-owned comics, including Danger Club and The Last Siege.
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.
Tested Page 3