‘Hell yeah!’ echoes River.
Tobias looks as if he’s about to reply, when a small voice makes everyone shut up.
‘You might be able to fix her?’ Ashley looks up at me, her blue eyes – made even paler by the sheen of tears – boring into mine. ‘Is that why we’re here?’ She stares around at all the mechanical paraphernalia on my walls, the machinery tucked away into corners, the broken bits of other bakus that I’ve found stuffed into boxes.
I shrug, not wanting to promise too much, but also itching to have a go.
Tobias answers for me. ‘Yes. That’s why we’re all here. Lacey is one of the most accomplished companioneers I’ve ever met – she was the one who brought Aero back from the brink. It wasn’t me.’ Bright spots of colour appear on the tops of his cheeks – it’s obviously something that is a struggle for him to admit. ‘If anyone can do this, Lacey can.’
Kai stares at me, confusion warring on his face. ‘Whatever,’ he mutters. He folds his arms across his chest, then leans against the mesh of the locker, standing back. I forget about him, letting him and his doubt fade into the background. My focus is on Jupiter.
‘Let’s lay her out on the floor,’ I say. Ashley gently places the main part of the baku’s body on the ground, then we position what’s left of her pieces around in the rough position that they should be. There are two immediate problems: one that she is split in half, and the other is that her front right leg is totally mangled. ‘This can’t be repaired,’ I say, matter-of-factly, pointing at the leg.
‘See?’ says Kai, as Tobias groans and Ashley lets out a whimper. Only River is still looking at me.
‘You don’t seem to be fazed by that,’ he says.
‘Well, no,’ I reply. That shuts the others up. ‘We can print another one pretty easily.’
‘From where?’ asks Kai.
‘From where River is.’ Everyone’s heads turn to River who just so happens to be perched next to my 3D printer.
‘Oh, that’s awesome that you have one of these,’ says Tobias. ‘They’re super limited access at school. Where did you get this?’
I think about how I would even begin to describe Paul and the underground network of tinkers that collect, swap and bargain for exactly this sort of thing – and then I give up. ‘Oh, you know. I came across it in a junkyard and then I’ve been slowly repairing it over the years.’
‘And where do you get the material to feed into the machine? That gets expensive,’ says Kai, still sceptical.
‘That’s the easy part,’ I say. ‘Look next to you.’ There’s a big drum next to him, and he lifts off the top (I can see that I’ve piqued his curiosity, no matter how aloof he is trying to appear). Inside are rolls of filament – from different plastics like PVA and nylon, to more sophisticated and fiddly metal spools – plus all the scrap bits of baku that I’ve found over the past few months, including the parts I found in the arena. ‘I can make my own filament using the scrap material if I need to make a more exact match to Ashley’s baku.’
‘Wow, this is so cool!’ says River.
‘I don’t have an oven here hot enough to melt it down,’ I continue. ‘But my friend Paul does. We’ll just figure out how much we need, then I’ll go get the material ready while you guys program the printer.’
‘You’re insane,’ says River, a huge grin on his face.
‘Thanks, I think?’ I say, returning the smile.
Ashley, who has been silent throughout this whole conversation, suddenly throws her arms around me and plants a big kiss on my cheek. That I was not expecting. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you!’ she says, over and over.
‘Just wait a bit,’ I say. ‘I haven’t done anything yet.’ Then, I frown, and Jinx – reading my thoughts as always – projects the time on to the wall in front of us. It’s going to be an all-nighter if we’re going to have any chance of getting this done on time.
‘Tell me what you need us to do,’ says Tobias. ‘Everyone on the team is yours for the night. The whole night – right, guys?’ He glares at the rest of his team members, and they all nod – even Kai – and then River claps his hands together and fists pumps the air. ‘All right!’ he exclaims. ‘I love an underdog story. Or a broken dog story, in this case.’
His enthusiasm makes me laugh. I think I like the guy. ‘Okay,’ I say, uncomfortable with my new leadership position but also knowing it has to be all hands on deck if we have a robot’s chance in hell at getting this done on time. ‘First things first. No one’s getting hurt in my locker.’ I take my safety glasses out of my pocket and slip them on, then I point the others to where I keep my spares – along with gloves, aprons and any other safety paraphernalia we might end up needing. ‘I’m going to get the metal for this leg melted and spun out, then we can print it. Tobias and Kai – do you think you can handle the basic resoldering of the wires on her motherboard? I can leave the schematic . . .’
‘I’ve got a basic level 3 spaniel schematic,’ Kai says, rolling his eyes but coming forward to kneel down by the broken machine – at least he’s showing some willingness to work on this with me. ‘But some of these wires are totally shredded and unusable.’ He lifts up a handful of mangled red and yellow wire, splintered and fried at the ends. He’s right – they won’t work at all. Luckily, I have just the thing. I spin around, opening and closing drawers in the giant shelving unit behind me. I’ve been meaning to do a proper categorization of everything, but fixing Jinx took up so much of my summer that I totally forgot.
‘Aha – here we go.’ I pull out a roll of brand new wiring. There’d been an online sale and I’d bought a whole bunch in one go. You can never have too much wire. I toss it down on to the floor. ‘There should be whatever tools you need, including strippers, solder, the soldering iron, and whatever else over by the workbench. River, do you know how to use a hammer?’
‘Do I!’ He bounces up and down on the desk, and I’m worried he’s going to bash his head on the shelves above him.
‘I’ll take that as a yes. Can you examine all of Jupiter’s casings and bash out any dents – or if anything is too damaged, bring it to me so that I can print out new ones?’
‘You got it, boss lady.’
‘Right. Okay, I’ll go and get this . . .’
‘And what about me? I can help too.’ Ashley jumps up to her feet. ‘I don’t have much experience with companioneering but I can check the electrics once her wiring is fixed.’
‘Perfect. You can hook up to the monitor on my desk when Tobias and Kai are done. In the meantime . . .’ I don’t know how to ask without sounding like a totally crappy person, but thankfully Ashley is eminently sensible – and senses what I’m going to ask without me needing to spell it out.
‘Coffee. Snacks. I’m on it. How does everyone take it?’
As I give her my order for my coffee of preference (black – no sugar or milk, nice and simple), I whisper to her: ‘You are a lifesaver.’
She shakes her head and grips me by my shoulders. ‘No, Lacey. You are.’
WHEN I’M OUT OF EARSHOT OF MY locker and striding down towards Paul’s, I finally feel like I’m able to catch my breath. The lights come on one at a time as I pass underneath the motion sensors. I wish Zora could be here. I’m annoyed with myself that I haven’t found the time to see her recently.
Then I realize something else is different. I’m the one setting off the motion sensors. That means I’m walking in front. I haven’t walked in front of Jinx . . . since I first fixed his ability to walk. He’s always racing ahead of me – totally not normal baku behaviour – but at the moment he’s a few paces behind. If anyone were around to watch, they would find that pretty unusual too. Most of the time bakus walk directly at their owner’s side.
Everything okay? I ask.
Jinx is silent. I sneak a look over my shoulder and see that his head is hanging down low, his pace languorous.
Jinx?
>>Is that what I’m like? Inside?
I frow
n. What do you mean?
Rather than replying with words, he projects a short video he took of Jupiter laid out on the floor of my locker, her wires and electronics all exposed and broken.
Well . . . yes. You know that. You’ve seen the inside of a baku before. Like Aero.
>>I know. It’s just - if you put Jupiter back together, does that mean you created her?
No – I just repaired her. I’m not her creator. I’m . . . I’m more like her doctor. Ashley is her owner. And Moncha Corp is her creator. Moncha Corp created all the bakus. Even you.
>>Are you sure about that?
My heart quickens. Why? Who do you think made you?
Before Jinx can answer, Paul’s voice pops up out of the darkness. ‘Lacey, is that you?’
We’ll continue this conversation later, I think to Jinx.
When I see Paul, I feel overcome with the urge to spill everything to him about what it’s like at Profectus – about the Baku Battles and how they push the students and bakus to the very limit, how there’s a chance for me to really make a name for myself, how all his help teaching me over the years, learning how to tinker with bakus, is finally going to pay off. But the looming Profectus NDA hangs over my head and I can’t risk another black mark – or worse, getting expelled.
‘Hey, Paul,’ I say, instead.
‘What can I do you for?’ he asks.
‘I was wondering if I could use your super melter? I have a part to print tonight ASAP.’
‘A rush job, huh? Something for your new school?’
‘Something like that.’
George swings from the rafters, before jumping down and grabbing the bucket of metal scraps from my arm. ‘Thanks, George,’ I say to the lemur baku.
There’s a burst of laughter from where Tobias is working with his team. Paul raises an eyebrow. ‘You got people in your locker?’
‘Yeah, some people from school . . .’
‘Well, look at you. Making friends and everything. Never thought I’d see the day.’
I stick my tongue out at him, but then fold my arms over my chest. ‘They’re not really friends. They’re my teammates.’
‘Hmm.’
‘Anyway, I don’t have time for friends. I have to focus on my studies and . . .’
‘Lacey, my dear. You should always make time for your friends. When was the last time you saw Zora?’
‘Um . . . I’m going to see her this weekend,’ I say, but all of a sudden it doesn’t feel enough. My list of excuses is a mile long but none of them are adequate. Sure, I’ve been busy – but I haven’t thought about what she might be up to. And suddenly I know what I want to do. ‘Will you let me know when this is ready?’
Paul nods, flicking switches to start up the oven. Supermelters, just like 3D printers, used to take forever to work, but now he’s able to melt down the material for me in only a few minutes.
I instruct Jinx to call Zora. It takes her a few seconds to pick up, and I feel anxious. But eventually her face appears on Jinx’s chest. I smile, breathing a sigh of relief. ‘Zora, is that you? Guess where I am?’
‘Your storage locker?’ Zora replies, but she doesn’t make eye contact.
‘Oookay, maybe that wasn’t so hard to guess,’ I say, trying to laugh it off and pretend that everything is normal. ‘There’s a whole group of people from Profectus here . . .’
Now Zora’s eyes snap to mine. ‘Wait up. You mean to tell me you let a bunch of kids from your school into your locker after only a month. It took me years of friendship before you would let me in?’
‘Well . . . it was an emergency.’
‘Yeah, okay.’ Zora purses her lips. The last thing I wanted to do was annoy her, so I think of the one thing I know will always cheer her up.
‘Anyway, I’m calling especially to ask you if you want to come around and take a look at a level 3 spaniel baku code? I bet you’d find it really interesting and you can help debug it for us before tomorrow . . . it will be like old times!’
‘Um, I think I’m going to pass,’ she says. ‘I want to get an early night before school tomorrow. I have a big day.’
Now, it’s my turn to frown. ‘Wait, what’s your big day?’
Zora rolls her eyes. ‘Oh, so now you’re interested? I’ve got to go . . .’ Her face is illuminated on Jinx’s chest, and I can see from her eyes that she isn’t looking at me again, her gaze drifting up above the height of Linus’s camera. I know I’ve lost her for the night. I can’t blame her.
‘See you Saturday?’ I ask.
‘Bye,’ Zora says sharply, and when she hangs up I’m plunged into almost total darkness.
Paul gives his locker door a small shake. ‘Your metal is all ready to go.’
‘Thanks, Paul,’ I say with a sigh. I look up at him. ‘Is it normal for things to . . . not be exactly what you expected them to be?’
He chuckles. ‘Normal? Honey, that’s just life.’
‘Right.’ Disappointment settles on my shoulders.
Jinx rubs up against my legs, and I reach down to pick him up.
>>Come on, he says. You’ve got a job to do.
I nod and give myself a small shake. That’s right.
I’m part of a team now. They need me.
DESPITE THE FACT THAT I HAVEN’T SLEPT a wink, I arrive at school extra early. I don’t want to miss a moment of what’s about to happen.
I’m not the only one. It feels like the entire school has turned up to see if any of the teams will steal some of Gemma’s team points. Carter is there with Hunter, sitting in the front row with the rest of his teammates – except for Gemma. He doesn’t look at me as I walk past him to take my seat – I’m beneath his gaze, not worth even looking at – but I take in every inch of the smug grin on his face, because I want to compare it exactly to what it looks like when it gets wiped off.
Mr Baird is in the centre of the gymnasium floor, dressed in a lab coat that falls to his knees, next to Gemma. On a jumbotron screen at the far end of the gymnasium are the point totals. At the moment, Team Gemma are the only ones with anything on the board.
One by one, the other team captains shuffle in with their team’s ‘repaired’ baku to be assessed. Mr Baird’s owl baku flies forwards and connects to the repaired baku’s leash. Then he projects their functionality. No one even gets close to 90%. I think Team Dorian actually made their baku worse off with their repairs.
The clock ticks past 8:15, 8:20, 8:25 . . . only five minutes until the bell sounds and time is up.
‘Looks like Ashley might not even show – what a coward,’ says Carter, just loud enough for most of the school to hear and titter away. I’ve bitten my fingernails down to the nailbed, and I have to sit on my hands before I destroy them any more.
What if something’s happened to Jupiter since we left them?
>>Only idiots could have broken what you fixed. I mean I wouldn’t put it past them to be idiots but . . .
Jinx doesn’t need to continue, because just then the doors open and Aero flies through. The baku takes my breath away every time. Almost as much as the guy who struts in behind, his head held high. I flick back to Carter, and see him shifting uncomfortably in his seat. His façade of bravado is wavering.
Tobias walks over and stands in front of Mr Baird.
Carter lets out an audible sigh of relief, and foolishly he stands up. I almost want to shout at him to sit down and stay with his team – and it seems like Gemma feels the same way. She’s hissing something furiously at him, but he waves her off. I relax back into my seat. I want to watch this spectacle play out, because I know what’s coming. ‘Come to forfeit in person, Toby? No hard feelings right, my man?’ Carter walks forward as he talks, cutting Tobias off before he can reach the stage, sticking out his fist to bump him. I frown, wondering what the story is between them.
Tobias stops abruptly, looks Carter up and down, then dismisses the outstretched fist to go and stand next to Mr Baird. Internally, I cheer. Carter frowns, then tri
es to style it out. ‘Whatever. Sore loser.’ He turns to walk back to his team, just in time to see all their eyes open wide.
‘We haven’t lost yet, Carter,’ says Ashley, who’s just come through the doors. There are audible gasps as Jupiter trots up to her heel, looking brand spanking new. It’s enough to make even my tired eyes bulge from my head. She didn’t look this good when she left the locker – Ashley must have spent the rest of the morning polishing her to perfection.
The impact is immediate. The whole school explodes with the sound of students talking all at once, and even the teachers exchange glances and hushed whispers of amazement. Mr Baird’s face is white with shock.
‘What? How?’ splutters Carter. ‘That’s not possible.’
‘Mr Baird, I’d like to submit Jupiter for review,’ says Tobias, his voice loud, clear and firm. ‘We believe she is back to well above 90% capacity – maybe even full strength – and that we should be able to split the first battle points with Gemma’s team.’
‘Certainly – I’ll run the diagnostic tests.’ Mr Baird’s voice tries to remain steady and impassive, but I can tell that he’s impressed.
It’s a tense few minutes as Mr Baird’s baku leashes up to Jupiter. Even that doesn’t seem to be enough. The owl sends various commands to Jupiter – from asking her to walk, then trot, then run to making sure that she can perform advanced functions, such as 360° video capture, facial recognition and multi-way phone calls. Jupiter passes all of the tests with flying colours – and ends with a spectacular demonstration of running through a baku obstacle course, which is set up on the walls around the gym. Ashley is beaming from ear to ear, her pride naked on her face. She catches my eye at one point and gives me a small thumbs up. I grin back, and hoot loudly while clapping with all my might after Jupiter performs a final jump through a small hoop. What a star baku that is.
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