by Felice Arena
Andy knew his parents weren’t going to like it, but if he wanted to keep playing, he would have to climb the tree and get the ball down.
He took a running jump to grab on to the first branch, but he shot up into the air as if he had bounced off a trampoline.
‘Wooooooooooooo!’ Andy yelped. ‘What the?’
He’d never felt so light – the ground shot away from him in seconds. As the tree whizzed past, he desperately grabbed at a branch and held on tight.
‘What just happened?’ Andy yelled, his arms now wrapped firmly around the branch, his feet dangling freely. It was like a real-life Google Earth moment – everything had suddenly zoomed out. He could see over the neighbour’s roof to the city in the distance. He’d leapt over four metres straight up.
‘Did I just fly?’ he shouted at his mum and dad as they rushed out of the house. ‘No way! No human can jump that high.’
‘Are you okay?’ asked his mum, looking panicked.
‘What’s going on? What’s happening to me?’ Andy yelled down at them.
‘It’s all right!’ said his father. ‘Just be calm. It’s time we had a talk, Andy. So, just drop back down.’
‘Drop back down?’ Andy gulped. ‘Are you kidding? Dad, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a long way up. I’ll hurt myself.’
‘No, you won’t, Andy,’ said his mum, sighing. ‘Trust us. Just do it.’
‘Mum! This isn’t a Nike ad. I could seriously get hurt here. Have you totally lost it?’
Were they crazy? he wondered. Then he realised that he wasn’t even sure what crazy was anymore.
‘No, Andy. Just trust us. Let go and look at the ground while you’re falling. You’ll be all right.’
‘Okay! If you say so, but don’t blame me if I break every bone in my legs. Again.’ Andy called back down to them. ‘Here goes.’
Andy’s heart was in his stomach as he released his grip and dropped to the ground.
‘Arrrrghhhh!’ he hollered. For a second it was like being in a wind tunnel as he fell, but then he landed – miraculously – softly and firmly on both feet. It was as if he’d just done a simple jump.
‘Okay, seriously,’ he said, looking up at his parents. ‘You better spill the beans … now.’
‘Andy, you’re right. We do owe you an explanation,’ said his father. ‘Your accident was a massive wakeup call for us.’ He took off his glasses and cleaned them nervously before putting them in his shirt pocket. ‘Okay, here goes,’ he said. ‘Son, your mother and I work for the government, specifically for the defence force.’
Andy was totally stunned. He definitely did not see that coming. ‘But you’re bakers,’ he said. ‘You design muffin recipes.’
‘We’re not bakers. That’s just our cover,’ added Andy’s mum. ‘We’re scientists, specialising in robotics. We weren’t allowed to tell you, because it’s highly classified … you know, very top secret.’
Andy could hardly believe what he was hearing, but by the grim look on his mum’s face he could tell that she was deadly serious. Even his usually goofy dad was frowning.
‘Our experience in this field is highly sought after,’ his dad explained. ‘And there are really bad people out there who want to take advantage of our knowledge –’
‘Come on, seriously, Dad,’ Andy interrupted, ‘really bad people? I’m not five!’
His dad paused. Andy could see that he was upset.
His mum put her hand gently on his dad’s shoulder. ‘Please, Andy, this is hard for us,’ she said. ‘We never liked lying to you. Our lab was in the basement at the bakery.’
For a moment Andy just stared at them in shock. Finally it all made sense. He felt duped and annoyed. ‘So what sort of work were you doing?’ he asked finally. ‘If you weren’t making chocolate slice.’
Andy’s mum told him that they designed robotic suits that would give a single soldier the strength of about a thousand men put together.
‘Wearing a suit, one soldier can pick up a tank with one hand as easily as if they were picking up a teacup,’ she said.
‘Every army in the world wants to get their hands on our exoskeleton suits.’ Andy’s dad now sounded like an excited kid talking about the coolest new toy ever. He pulled a photograph from his wallet and passed it to Andy. It was a man wearing something that made him look like an alien from a Hollywood movie. He had armour plating across his chest, and hydraulic pumps wrapped around his arms and legs – the suit gleamed silver and was covered with cords and wires that looked like black veins. Andy had to admit that it did look pretty awesome.
‘Our team was the best in the world, sweetie, and the man who tried to kidnap you worked for someone who used to work with us – Dr Sylvester Baffi. We’re very lucky that the kidnapper didn’t get a chance to tell Sylvester that he’d tracked you down.’
A shiver shot down Andy’s spine. Dr Baffi! The man with the gun had said he was going to tell Dr Baffi. It was a name he would never forget.
‘We worked together for ten years,’ added Andy’s mum.
‘But then Sylvester changed …’ said Andy’s dad. ‘He became insanely jealous of your mum and me. He couldn’t stand our success or the fact that we’d had a number of world-class breakthroughs. He went over to the dark side, so to speak.’
‘We don’t know who he works for now,’ said Andy’s mum. ‘But they certainly have a lot of money and power. We call them the Triple S – the Seriously Sinister Society.’
‘I came up with that,’ said Andy’s dad.
‘Hilarious, Dad,’ said Andy. ‘You should consider stand-up comedy. But why do Sylvester and these Triple-S dudes want you? Can’t they be evil on their own?’
‘We were an incredible team, but Sylvester can’t do what we can do now. It’s the next step up from robotic suits. It’s our latest breakthrough – maybe our greatest breakthrough ever!’ Andy’s dad smiled proudly. ‘It’s absolutely top secret – a human revolution that could change the world.’
‘So … what is it?’ Andy pressed. ‘What’s better than awesome, invincible robotic soldier suits?’
‘Biorobotics,’ said Andy’s mum quietly. ‘Specifically, bio-electromechanical implants.’
‘Bio … electro … what?’
‘We’ve broken through the barrier of musculoskeletal signalling in human-to-machine communication,’ said Andy’s dad.
Again Andy was stunned. Had his father, who he had known all his life for making things like vanilla-glazed donuts and tasty cheesy-mite buns, actually said ‘musculoskeletal signalling in human-to-machine communication’?
Andy sighed heavily. He generally hated it when his parents treated him like a kid, but seriously, he thought, that had to be made up.
‘Instead of outfitting soldiers with exoskeleton suits, we devised a way to build bionic devices right into their bodies,’ Andy’s mum explained.
‘You mean they can be … half human, half robot?’ asked Andy. ‘Um, that’s seriously cool, Mum.’
‘I’m glad you think so, dear.’ She smiled.
Then something humongous dawned on Andy. Something humongous and horrible.
‘The operating room!’ he cried out. ‘You were in the operating room! You were operating on me, weren’t you?’
Andy’s parents exchanged guilty looks and nodded.
‘You’ve got to be joking!’ Andy exclaimed, now finding it hard to breathe. ‘I’m a robot? You put me back together with robotic parts?’
It’s not every day you wake up from a death-defying accident and discover that half your body is now made up of super-strength titanium and a gazillion microchips. But, for Andy, the realisation that his hands, arms, shoulders, feet, legs, spine and brain were now part machine totally blew his mind.
‘What am I? A complete freak show?’ he said. He was totally cheesed off at his parents. ‘W-w-why would you do that?’ he stammered angrily. ‘Are you completely nuts? How could you do this to me?’
‘Honey, I know it migh
t take some time to sink in,’ his mum said, calmly. ‘But you would have died, and the fact that you’re partly bionic shouldn’t make a difference to how you live your life … Well, not much.’
‘Not much?’ Andy repeated. ‘What do you mean not much?’
‘It’s hard to say,’ said his dad. ‘You’re made of state-of-the-art technology, technology so advanced that even we don’t know its full capabilities. We’ve only really trialled this operation on Brad and Angelina – but it’s okay, they seem fine.’
‘On who?’
Andy parents explained that Brad and Angelina were the official government code names for a pair of lab rats. They were part-rat, part-machine – totally bad-ass rodents!
‘Of course we had to get them bigger and stronger cages,’ Andy’s mum sighed. ‘They can leap as high as two metres and they each have the strength of two ferocious bulldogs. We almost lost Angelina when her spinning wheel flew right off its stand and slammed her up against a blackboard. She was out cold for a few minutes … and was never really the same after that.’
‘So you’re telling me that I’m the first human this has ever been done to?’ Andy asked.
‘Well … there are plenty of people with bionic limbs, but they’re nowhere near as advanced as you,’ said his dad. ‘So, um, yes. You’re the world’s first bionic human. You’re our Andy Roid.’
‘Andy what?’
‘That’s your government code name.’ Andy’s mum grinned. ‘Andy Reid becomes Andy Roid – as in android, the term for a robot designed to act like a human. Get it? Of course, that isn’t technically true in your case, since you’re human first, robot second. But that’s neither here nor there. It was your dad’s idea. Isn’t it cute?’
‘Aw, yeah, even funnier than Triple S,’ Andy said, rolling his eyes. ‘Comedy gold!’
How did I never notice what major geeks my parents are? he wondered.
‘So, what can I do, Mum? I know I can jump – but how high exactly? And how strong am I?’ Andy looked at his hands. They seemed the same as always, but he was beginning to realise that having bionic body parts might be a good thing …
‘Well, there isn’t a straightforward answer,’ his dad said, but Andy was way too excited to listen.
‘Andy, what are you doing?’ his mum asked, as he hurriedly brushed past them and made his way to the side of the house where their car was parked. ‘Andy, stop,’ she ordered, as Andy took a firm grip of the bumper bar. ‘Do not attempt to pick up our car. I repeat, let go of the vehicle now!’
But Andy ignored her. He lifted the car off its back wheels and raised it up to his waist.
‘Whoa! Unbelievable!’ he cried, as he lowered the wheels to the ground. ‘Did you see that, Dad?’ But when he turned around, his dad looked more serious than he’d ever seen him.
‘So have you got that out of your system?’ he grumbled. ‘That’s just great, son. You have to understand that there are plenty of things you can do – things so incredible that most of the world would be completely awestruck. There’s no denying that you now have superhuman abilities …’
‘Cool!’ said Andy. He was really starting to like the sound of that, until he heard what his dad had to say next.
‘I want to make myself very clear here, Andy,’ said his dad. ‘I agree with your mother. You are not to use your robotic applications. It’s very important that you act normally at all times. You can’t be seen to be different from anyone else.’
Andy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He’d expected it from his mum – she was always the strict one – but he couldn’t believe that his dad wasn’t on his side.
‘You’ve got to be kidding! I don’t even know what I can do and you’re already forbidding me from finding out?’
Andy’s mum sighed heavily and clasped his hand. ‘Andy, Sylvester and the Triple S are hunting for us. And now you’re not just a way to get to us, I’m afraid you’re a target,’ she said. ‘If they find out about you and capture you, they’ll pull you apart so they can create their own army of Andy Roids. You’d become their lab rat.’
An obvious question dawned on Andy.
‘So why did you build me with bionic parts and super-cool apps if I can’t use them?’ he asked. ‘Couldn’t you have re-built me with … with … toaster parts or something? Just basic everyday applications? This totally sucks!’
With a single hop, Andy leapt onto the roof of the car. He sat down and crossed his arms in a huff.
‘ANDY!’ his dad shouted. ‘This isn’t a game! We nearly lost you! Your mum and I never want to go through that ordeal again. Ever!’ And then he stormed back into the house and slammed the door behind him.
Andy was shocked. His dad wasn’t usually the kind of father who shouted. He was always smiling, always goofing around. Andy had never seen him properly angry before.
‘He didn’t mean to upset you,’ his mum said softly. ‘We’ve all been through so much. We might not be a normal family, but we have to live our lives as normally as we can. Okay?’
‘Yeah, well,’ Andy said, ‘I think it totally stinks that you made me like this but you won’t tell me what I can do. It’s like Spiderman never knowing he can climb buildings or Superman spending his whole life catching the bus. It sucks! Or maybe you’ve just made that part up. I don’t know what to believe from you guys anymore. If I can’t trust my parents, who can I trust?’
Andy could tell he had hurt his mother’s feelings with that last comment.
‘Now, listen here,’ she said. ‘We love you very much and you can always believe in us. That will never change. We just feel it’s best for all of us if you don’t do too much experimenting because it’s … it’s just … well, it’s complicated.’
‘How complicated?’ Andy pressed. ‘I mean, why did you have to explain anything to me in the first place? If I have all these cool powers, shouldn’t I be able to see or feel them? Why aren’t they kicking in? Did I forget to flip a switch or something?’
Andy mum’s face dropped again. He had obviously hit a raw nerve.
‘What? Are you serious? I have a switch? That’s it, isn’t it?’ Andy exclaimed. ‘Mum, if that’s it, you’ve gotta tell me! What if Dr Baffi sends out another one of his goons to try and kidnap me again? Wouldn’t you want me to protect myself? Come on, Mum, tell me! Be honest – isn’t that why you and Dad kitted me out with awesome robotic powers … just in case?’
Andy’s mother shook her head sadly. ‘We never intended this to be a weapon, but, of course, it is. A very powerful weapon. And you’re only twelve. I’m afraid it’s too dangerous, Andy. When you’re older perhaps, but not now, not yet.’
Andy sighed, frustrated by his mum’s response. I might be twelve, he thought, but I’m half machine, and there’s no way anyone is stopping me from finding out what I can do – not even my parents. He was determined to find the switch on his own, no matter what it took.
Andy tried everything. From pulling at each of his fingers and toes to tugging at his ear lobes. He even tried punching his butt, honking his nose, and tapping his knees. But nothing switched him on.
Then by a total fluke – a one-in-a-million chance – he found it.
Andy was sitting at the local sports field when a mosquito landed on the back of his neck. As the little sucker took a bite at him, he slapped at it as hard as he could. Suddenly he felt a massive surge of power shoot up and down his spine and the palms of his hands glowed a bright blue fluorescent colour.
‘No way!’ he said. He’d never felt anything like it before, but instantly he knew something was different.
He looked around and slowly stretched his legs and arms. No one was about.
Okay then, let’s see how fast I can run, he thought.
Andy ran like he had never run before. It all happened in a flash. Literally. Everything was speeding past in a blur.
He willed himself to go faster and faster and he did. When he stopped, he wasn’t tired or aching. He wasn’t even puffed.
He tried it again, but this time he timed himself.
One hundred metres in a mind-blowing 4.58 seconds? Whoa! Talk about out-of-this-world awesomeness – that’s like five seconds faster than the world record, he thought. If I could lift Mum and Dad’s car before, could I lift something even heavier now?
Andy made his way over to a postal van parked in a nearby car park. Feeling nervous and excited, he took in a deep breath, and with one hand raised the entire vehicle off the ground.
He lifted it right up past his chest. It was as easy as doing a simple stretch.
‘Woo-hoo! This is light as!’
‘ARRRRRGGHHHHH!’ came a scream from inside the van.
Andy dropped it back down and a shaken postman stumbled out of the driver’s seat.
‘W-w-what on earth was that?’ he stuttered, totally in shock.
‘Um, I think it was an earthquake,’ said Andy. ‘Yeah, definitely an earthquake. Wow, that was huge! I’m still feeling kind of wobbly.’
Andy hurried off without waiting for the postman to respond. He was way too excited. He looked down at his hands – still glowing with blue light. Flicking the switch had obviously cranked up the power and strength in his arms. What would it do for his legs? How high could he really jump?
He made his way down a deserted laneway between two office buildings and looked skyward. The building was about five stories high. Andy concentrated hard, telling his brain to jump only five metres, to about the first floor.
He crouched down ready to spring upwards.
‘EEEEEEPPPPPPPPICCCCCCC!’ he yelled, soaring skywards. He was hurtling through the air, his ears popping like he was on a plane.
Andy hovered for a moment at the highest point. So much for jumping only five metres! He’d leapt close to fifteen metres – up to the third floor. Talk about rating off the awesome-o-meter! He had goosebumps on top of his goosebumps. It was the most amazing feeling he had ever felt in his entire life.