“I think the dumbwaiter is even scarier,”said Regular Valerie.
“I think the basement is even scarier still,”said Robot Valerie. “Remember when we were seven and we dared each other to go down there?”
“That wasn’t you,”said Astrid.
“Oh yeah. I forgot again.”
“What do you suppose you have in your basement that came from Antarctica?”wondered Toby.
“I’ll probably never find out,”said Astrid. “I don’t plan on ever going back down there.”
“Has anyone seen Austin?”wondered Christopher.
“I think he’s absent today,”said Robot Valerie. “He wasn’t in Art History.”
“Yeah, no, he wasn’t in Swimming either,”said Toby.
“I hope he isn’t sick,”said Astrid.
Chapter Fifteen: Astridium
As soon as the school day was over, Astrid was back in her lab in the R&D building, this time having made the trip there with Toulson via the monorail. After checking on her ceramic mixtures, she entered the most promising compound into her digital tablet, and then used the device to call the floor manager at manufacturing facility three.
“Hello Astrid,”said the manager, her face appearing on the tablet screen.
“Hello Mrs. Trent,”said Astrid. “I need some component parts. Do you have any available man-hours and do you still have the virtual dies for the hoverdisk?”
“Yes, the dies are still right here in the computer. As for the hours, it depends on how many copies you need. You didn’t ask, but we’ve got plenty of aluminum on hand.”
“I don’t want aluminum or titanium,”said Astrid. “That’s why I called you instead of building one or two.”
“Ceramic?”asked Mrs. Trent.
“Right. I’m sending you a formula right now. I’d like you to use it for all the component parts except the housing. We’ll stay with aluminum for that. And I want all the parts reduced in size by twenty percent.”
“We can do that of course, but will you get enough lift?”
“I think we will,”said Astrid. “Between reducing the weight and the friction with this new ceramic and increasing the power with my new batteries, we should be fine.”
“How many sets would you like?”
“I imagine that it will be just as easy to make ten as it will to make one,”said Astrid.
“With this equipment, a single run will be twenty-five,”replied Mrs. Trent.
“Then give me a full run—twenty-five sets,”said Astrid. “How soon can you have them done?”
“I can run them tonight. They can be assembled and delivered to you tomorrow afternoon.”
“Excellent,”said Astrid. “Thanks.”
Once she had ended the call, Astrid went to work installing the gyros and control mechanisms in the hoverbike prototype. She was still hard at work when Toulson appeared at her side.
“It’s time to start home,”he said.
“Alright,”said Astrid. “I can’t really do anything else anyway until I get the hoverdisks.”
As they took the monorail home, Toulson offered her a compromise on the issue of security.
“I’ll take you and your friends to the train station in the van,”he suggested. “You can ride the train the rest of the way. But I will also pick you up from the station to bring you home.”
“I suppose that will be acceptable,”said Astrid.
Mrs. Maxxim was not nearly so agreeable.
“You should be punished for what you did this morning, Astrid, not rewarded.”
“There’s no point in getting too upset,”said Dr. Maxxim. “All’s well that ends well.”
His wife shot him an evil look.
“Why are we so upset?”he continued. “She snuck out of the house to go to school. How many fourteen-year-olds do that?”
At that moment both the doorbell and the telephone sounded. Mrs. Maxxim went to answer the phone and Dr. Maxxim went to open the door. He returned a minute later with Toby Bundersmith.
“Hey Astrid,”said Toby. “Do you have time to talk for a minute?”
“Sure. Let’s find someplace private.”
“Down in the basement?”he suggested with a grin.
“Not on your life,”she replied. “Let’s go out to the garden.”
They exited through the breakfast room to the garden. Here a cobblestone walkway wound in and out of dozens of rose bushes and other flowers, all situated around a fountain in the shape of a Greek woman pouring water from a pitcher.
“What’s up?”asked Astrid.
“Um…well,”Toby began strong enough, but just sort of deflated before he got anything out.
“What is it?”
“Um, you know that the Spring Fling is tomorrow night?”
“The Spring Fling?”said Astrid. “No. To tell you the truth, I had completely forgotten about it.”
“Oh, so you didn’t want to go?”
“Well, I didn’t say that, exactly.”
“So you do want to go?”asked Toby.
“Um…I don’t know…maybe.”
“Well, um, would you go with me then?”
“Okay,”said Astrid.
“Great!”shouted Toby, who then, realizing his voice probably carried clear around the neighborhood, lowered it. “That’s really…great. I’ll pick you up at 6:30.”
“Okay,”said Astrid.
“What color is your dress? You know, so I can give you a corsage.”
“I’ll wear my pale green dress,”said Astrid. “Can you get a corsage? You know you didn’t have to wait until the night before to ask me.”
“Um, well…I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. And Aunt Gerta is going to make your corsage. We have lots of flowers and stuff.”
“Great,”said Astrid. “Do you want to stay and have dinner with us? We’re having lasagna.”
“No, Aunt Gerta made wiener schnitzel.”
Mrs. Maxxim was waiting for them when they came back inside.
“Have either of you seen Austin Tretower today?”she asked.
“No, he was absent today,”said Toby. “Why?”
“His grandmother doesn’t know where he is. He left this morning before she got up and he never came home. She thought you might know where he was, Astrid, because last night he said something about riding to school with you.”
“Oh,”said Astrid. “I vaguely remember something about a ride, but my mind was on my ceramics experiments and my status as a home-bound prisoner.”
“Stop being so self-absorbed,”said her mother. “This is upsetting. You told that boy you would give him a ride and then you weren’t there for him.”
“I was there at lunch,”said Toby. “Astrid never promised him. Austin made a comment about getting a ride, but nobody decided on anything. He hardly knows if he’s coming or going.”
“Have the police been called?”asked Astrid. “Maybe he’s been kidnapped, like me or Robot Valerie.”
“Who’d want to kidnap Austin?”wondered Toby.
After Toby went home, the Maxxims ate their dinner. Afterwards Astrid spent the evening finishing up next week’s homework and practicing her oboe, but she inquired after Austin before she went to bed.
“I just talked to Chief Gillespie a few minutes ago,”said her father. “Nobody’s heard anything about him yet.
Astrid went to sleep hoping that nothing had happened to her friend.
The next morning was Saturday, and Astrid set off early for her lab. She still worried about Austin and didn’t even raise an objection to Mr. Toulson driving her there. She finished the controls of the hoverbike, installed the battery, and ran the wiring through the chassis.
Her father came and took her to lunch in the R&D cafeteria. He reported that there was no news about Austin or his whereabouts.
When Astrid returned from lunch, she found a large crate just inside the door of her lab. A barcode was pasted onto the outside of the crate and when she scanned it with her digital tablet she sa
w“Astridium Hoverdisks”listed on the manifest. Astridium? It seemed as good a name as any, she decided. She opened the crate and pulled out one of the bright white and metallic hoverdisks. It was beautiful, and it was small enough that she could mount three on the hoverbike—two on the bottom for lift, and one on the back for forward momentum. She was just installing the battery when Toby entered.
“Hi,”he said. “I just wanted to remind you about tonight. I know you get caught up in your inventions and lose track of time.”
“You make me sound like the absentminded professor,”said Astrid. “Help me put this down on the floor.
They lowered the hoverbike to the lab floor. Astrid pressed the power button and the hoverdisks hummed to life. Immediately the hoverbike rose up and floated a foot above the floor tiles. The gyros and servos worked in conjunction to keep the bike level.
“Awesome!”shouted Toby. “Will it work with us on it?”
“There’s only one way to find out,”said Astrid, climbing up into the seat.
The bike remained aloft.
“Get on behind me,”she said.
Toby climbed on, sitting on the little trunk behind the seat and, to Astrid’s delight, wrapping his arms around her waist. The bike continued to hover. Pressing the throttle, Astrid slowly moved the little vehicle past the workbenches and into an open area. Giving it a little more power, she flew in a tight little circle around the room.
“Awesome,”said Toby again. “You know what you need?”
“What?”
“A plug for your MX-360. That way you could play your music. Maybe a cup holder too.”
“MX-360?”said Astrid. “Of course. That’s it.”
Chapter Sixteen: Hoverbike to the Rescue
Astrid powered down the hoverbike and climbed off. She whipped her cell phone from her pocket and called Austin’s house as she ran over her workbench.
“Hello?”said a very tired and worried voice on the phone.
“Mrs. Tretower? This is Astrid Maxxim.”
“Hello Astrid. No word yet on Austin. I can’t talk because I’m waiting for the police to call. I can’t tell you how sick I am with worry.”
“I have an idea where he might be,”said Astrid. “The school gave Austin an MX-360. Do you have the paperwork for it?”
“MX? Oh yes, the electronic thingy. Let me see. I have it here somewhere. Yes, here it is.”
“Can you read off the serial number for me?”
“Hold on. Let me get my glasses.” There was a pause. “Here it is. MGAG-1720001.”
“Okay, thanks Mrs. Tretower,”said Astrid. “I’ll be in touch.”
She sat down in front of the computer station and logged onto the company website. Then she clicked on“find my MX,”entered the serial number, and watched as the GPS map was displayed on the monitor.
“What the heck is it doing there?”wondered Toby, looking over her shoulder. “You don’t suppose he’s there too, do you?”
“I guess we’d better find out,”said Astrid. “Help me get the hoverbike downstairs.”
Astrid mounted the bike and Toby climbed into his same spot behind. She drove to the lab entrance and he hopped down to hold the door open as she drove through. He did the same thing at the elevator, and again downstairs. They had to use the side entrance, since the hoverbike wouldn’t fit through the revolving door in the front.
“Making another break for it?”asked Mr. Toulson, intercepting them just outside.
“Charles, get your van and follow us,”said Astrid. “We may need your help.”
Minutes later, they were shooting across the Maxxim campus, Astrid and Toby cruising over the desert on the hoverbike and Toulson on the road that ran in the same general direction they were traveling. Toby looked down to gauge their height and then over Astrid’s shoulder to check their speed.
“I’d say we’re about two feet high and we’re going twenty-five,”he pointed out. “That’s a bit more than you expected wasn’t it?”
“Yes,”replied Astrid. “I’m not giving it full power either.”
“Well, open it up and let’s see what it can do,”said Toby.
Astrid pressed her foot down all the way on the throttle and pulled back on the controls. The hoverbike rose up into the air about twenty feet before leveling off and the speedometer moved slowly up until it wobbled around the 40 mph mark.
“And this is with two people on it!”said Toby excitedly. “I am definitely getting one of these!”
“Don’t tell any of the others,”said Astrid,“but I’m having them made for all seven of us.”
“Seven?”
“Yes, Austin is one of the gang now.”
“That makes six…oh yeah. I keep forgetting there are two Valeries now. They seem so much alike.”
They flew above the desert floor. Toulson was sometimes closer and other times farther away as the road wound in and around the dry rivers and rocky hills, but with the van’s superior speed he managed to keep up with them. Some forty minutes after they had left the R&D parking lot, they arrived at the Saguaro Cactus Garden, the site of the school field trip. This was, according to the website, the location of Austin’s MX-360. Starting at the monorail platform, Astrid began spiraling out in an every widening circle as both she and Toby looked for their friend. At last, Toby tapped Astrid on the shoulder and pointed down toward the ground. Slumped against a boulder was a body.
Astrid dropped the hoverbike so quickly to the ground that it smacked into a small sand dune. When she and Toby jumped off, it rose back up to hover a foot in the air. They ran to the side of the crumpled form and found that it was indeed Austin. His clothing was covered with sand, his face and arms were sunburned, and his lips were chapped.
“Austin,”said Astrid, brushing the sand off his face. “Austin, are you okay?”
“I don’t want to go to school, Mom,”he said, dreamily.
“Austin, wake up.”
The boy opened his eyes.
“It bit me,”he said lifting up his right arm. “A snake bit me.”
Austin’s arm was swollen to almost twice its normal size, and there just above his thumb were two puncture marks indicative of a rattlesnake bite.
“Holy mackerel,”said Toby. “Your thumb looks like a mini football.”
Astrid jumped up and waved her arms just in case Toulson, who was that moment driving over the nearby dirt road, hadn’t seen them. He turned towards them, stopping just beyond where she had set down the hoverbike. Hopping out of the van, he ran to the fallen boy’s side, felt his pulse, and then quickly checked him for any other bites. Finally he scooped Austin up and hurried toward the van.
“We need to get him to hospital,”he said.
“The infirmary is closer and they have antivenom,”said Astrid.
“Alright. Astrid, I need you with this boy in the van.” Toulson pointed to Toby. “Can you follow in that flying machine, or do we need to leave it here?”
“No, I’ve got it.”
Toulson lay Austin down across several seats in the back.
“Try to keep his arm from flopping around too much,”he said. “And keep it below his heart.”
Astrid sat on the floor beside Austin and gently cradled his arm.
“I found my MX,”he said drowsily. “I got some good pictures of a snake for you too.”
“Oh Austin,”said Astrid, tears forming in her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me your MX was lost?”
“I’m not hungry,”he replied.
The van began moving and Astrid bounced up each time it hit a rock or went over a desert bush. She did her best to keep her friend comfortable and his arm from moving about. Once when they went over a particularly nasty bump, she couldn’t hold on. His arm flopped over and Austin cried out. Soon though, they were shooting down the dirt road, and minutes later they were on the pavement. Toulson gunned the engine.
“Astrid, do you have the infirmary’s number in your cell?”he called back.
�
��Oh, yeah.”
“Call them and tell them we’re on our way.”
“On it,”she called back, the speed dial already connecting her. By now, her tears were making it difficult to see and she seemed to have something caught in her throat.
When they arrived, Dr. Martinez and two medical technicians were waiting with a gurney. They grabbed Austin and rushed him into the building. Astrid started to follow, but Toulson stopped her.
“I’ll go in and fill them in on everything. You wait here for your other friend.”
Though torn, Astrid nodded and waited for Toby to arrive on the hoverbike. He was about ten minutes behind them. By the time he brought the bike down to an expert landing, she felt much more in control of herself. She helped Toby put her invention in the back of Toulson’s van, and then locked the doors and the two of them went inside to the infirmary waiting room. They sat down next to Toulson and none of them said anything for the next twenty minutes.
“Why don’t you two go get a candy bar and a soda from the comfort station down the hall?” Toulson finally broke the silence. “I’ll keep watch here. You can get me a Heath Bar, if they have one.”
They had just come back, when Dr. Martinez stepped out to see them. His face was grim.
“I’m not going to lie to you,”he said. “The boy is in bad shape. I think he was bit twenty-four hours ago, so there’s not a lot we can do except push fluids and watch for signs of anaphylaxis.”
“I thought you had antivenom,”said Astrid.
“We do keep Crofab on hand,”replied Dr. Martinez,“but unless it’s administered within about eighteen hours, it’s not worth the risk. We have a helicopter on the way to take him to the hospital in Phoenix. I’ve contacted the police and they’re going to see that his grandmother is taken there to meet him. With luck, he’ll recover with no lasting tissue damage, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Chapter Seventeen: The Night of the Spring Fling
Toulson drove Astrid and Toby to the Maxxim home and helped them unload the hoverbike. He filled in Astrid’s parents on the events of the afternoon. Dr. Maxxim was keen to see the bike in operation, so Toby flew it several times around the house, finally setting it down in the backyard, and steering it into the pool house for safekeeping.
Astrid Maxxim and Her Amazing Hoverbike Page 8