“But I can make it work,” Frank protested.
“Until then, young man,” Nix replied, “have ‘fun.’”
Frank had been dismissed—clearly. His face falling, Frank picked up the pack and put it in his duffel. Then he turned and walked off.
With his head hung low, he had no way of knowing what was happening behind him. But if he had seen it, he would most definitely have been curious. Because as Athena watched him go, a spark flashed in her eye. Nix shook his head. “Absolutely not,” he said.
“I like him.”
“Athena,” Nix said, his tone warning. “No.”
His order issued, Nix turned and ushered the next person in line. But Athena just kept watching Frank walk away. Yes, she liked him. Very much. In fact, he was exactly what she was looking for….
Frank Walker felt like a failure. He kept thinking one thing over and over: maybe his father was right. Maybe he should give up inventing. Sighing, he looked down at the return bus ticket in his hand. It was time to go home.
And then he heard a whisper.
“Don’t turn around,” the person said softly. “Be cool.”
Frank turned around. To his delight, he saw Athena standing there, her eyes intense. “What did I just tell you?” she said, still whispering.
“Sorry…I…uh…” Frank stammered. He was absolutely tongue-tied around her. She was just so pretty, and smart, and mysterious.
“Stop talking,” Athena said. Frank stopped. “Look over there. Nine o’clock.”
Frank stared at her blankly.
“On a clock?” she explained. “Where the nine is?”
This time Frank got it. He turned around. Only, he turned to three o’clock.
Athena let out a sigh. This was going nowhere. Pointing to nine o’clock, she said, “Over there.”
Frank looked. To his surprise, he saw that she was pointing out Nix. The scientist was leading a group of men toward one of the smaller pavilions.
“I’m going with them,” Athena whispered when she was sure Frank had spotted Nix. “Count to twenty and then follow us. Don’t get spotted.”
Frank shook his head in confusion. Why would Athena be a part of Nix’s group? Why didn’t she want Nix to see him? And why did she keep whispering? He was all for a good mystery but he also liked getting answers. “Sorry, um…who are you?”
At that, Athena smiled. “I’m the future, Frank Walker,” she said.
If Frank hadn’t been in love before, in that moment, he fell head over heels for Athena. The future? Could she be any cooler? True, she was a bit odd, but still…the future? He couldn’t get over it. He was still reeling when she took his hand and placed something into it. The contact jerked him down to Earth just as she turned and ran to catch up with Nix.
When Frank looked down, his eyes grew wide. In his palm was a pin. It was made of an unusually shiny metal. In the middle of it was a big emblazoned T. Frank turned it over in his hand, simultaneously intrigued and confused. Why had Athena given him that? And why did she want him to follow her and Nix?
Then Frank shrugged. There was clearly only one way to find out. Closing his hand around the pin, he took off after Athena. It looked like the day might not be so bad after all.
FRANK DIDN’T waste any time catching up to Nix and Athena. Keeping just far enough behind not to be noticed, he followed them into the Pepsi pavilion. As he stepped inside, he heard music playing through invisible speakers. The words were cheery and bright, young children singing about how it was a small world after all.
At that particular moment, inside that particular pavilion, it was indeed a small world. Distracted by the singing, Frank hadn’t bothered to keep an eye on Nix. And now Nix and his group were only a few feet in front of him! Frank ducked behind a sign and watched as the group boarded a boat. Sitting down, everyone attached pins—identical to the one in his hand—to their lapels.
His heart pounding, Frank got into one of the boats a few behind. He, too, attached the pin. And then he waited.
Slowly, the boat began to move forward, pulled along on underwater tracks. He passed different countries depicted in bright colors, with animatronic humans waving from the shore. It was hard not to get distracted by the ride. Frank glanced toward Nix’s boat.
But the boat was gone!
Frank began looking around frantically. Where could a boat on a ride go? He had looked away for only a second, maybe not even a second. Yet the boat, and Athena and Nix, had definitely disappeared. As his own boat approached a replica of the Eiffel Tower, Frank suddenly saw a red light coming out of the tower. It was subtly yet clearly scanning for something. It flashed over Frank’s pin, and then…the boat dropped!
“Ahhhhhhh!” Frank let out a shriek as he fell down, down, down until the boat landed with a splash in utter darkness. Gulping nervously, Frank looked around, trying to get his eyes to adjust. “Hello?” he called out.
Suddenly, the darkness gave way to light and Frank found himself sitting in the middle of three hundred and sixty degrees of bright, bold animated images. As Frank watched, the images changed, showing the evolution of mankind.
Then a voice boomed out, startling Frank. “For centuries, mankind has boldly pursued its destiny, bolstered by an unwavering belief in progress.” On the screens, images of small rustic huts gave way to images of gleaming skyscrapers. “Yet progress has a dark cost. Innovation—if left to its own devices—can lead to destruction.”
There was a flash of light and a roaring boom. The images changed, became darker, more disturbing. The animated city crumbled to ground while an atomic mushroom cloud bloomed in the sky above. Sitting in his boat, Frank shivered. Was this part of the ride?
The voice went on. “Yet there is no such thing as fate. We can, and always must, make our own future.” Frank’s boat began to move once more. Around him the images changed, showing the skyline of one of the world’s most famous cities. “Paris. 1889. A world’s fair just like this one. Four of the world’s most brilliant minds: Edison, Eiffel, Verne, Tesla”—Frank’s heart pounded excitedly; those were four of his heroes!—“come together to cultivate mankind’s greatest resource—imagination. And upon that foundation they would build their dream…a place where nothing was impossible.” The voice grew more somber. “But no dream can be achieved without the positive. Now, more than ever, the hope of a better tomorrow is needed. And that, fellow traveler, is why you have been invited along. At long last, we are building that tomorrow.”
All around him, new images flashed in front of Frank. Images of buildings of impossible height. Images of trains hovering in the sky, defying gravity. It was a city of the future. It was a beacon of hope and an inspiration. Leaning over as if he could get inside the images, Frank nearly toppled out of the boat.
Then the lights went out.
“So,” the voice said, as though it could see Frank’s yearning, “would you like to see it?”
In the darkness, Frank nodded emphatically. Then he realized no one could see him. “Uh, yes?” he finally said.
It seemed that was the right answer. The lights instantly went back on and Frank saw that the boat had pulled up to a dock of sorts. Across the way, a ramp led to a glass door. Hopping out of the boat, Frank hefted his duffel onto his shoulder, and then he headed up the ramp. After all, there didn’t seem to be any other option.
“Good afternoon,” a new voice said. This one was clearly a woman’s. “The site is active. To prevent significant injury, please put on your head protection.” The glass door slid open and Frank stepped inside.
He appeared to be in an elevator—a very odd, futuristic, large elevator. There were harnesses attached to a cushioned wall, and white hard hats were lined up on another wall. The voice had said to wear head protection. Frank walked over and stood on his tiptoes. But he couldn’t quite reach a hat.
“Secure yourself, please,” the voice said, startling Frank. “Transport will commence in ten seconds. Nine…eight…seven.”
<
br /> Frank dropped his duffel and raced back toward the harnesses. He would just have to hope they would be all he needed. But when he got there, he couldn’t figure out the straps. They were twisted and high and he was struggling! Still, the voice kept counting down. “Six…five…four…”
“Waitwaitwaitwait!!!” Frank shouted.
“Two,” the voice said just as Frank heard the unmistakable sound of the harness clicking into place. He had done it!
“One.”
Instantly, the elevator room began to vibrate. Then it began to hum. Frank nervously tugged on his harness. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all. The room was starting to look distorted, like every cell in it was twisting and turning. Frank felt an odd sensation—almost as if his body were made of clay and it was being molded into a new shape. The hum grew louder and louder and his body felt like it was being stretched farther and farther, bending at an odd angle and defying physics.
Then the humming stopped.
The vibrations ceased.
Frank’s body went back to normal.
And finally, the door to the elevator slid open.
Frank gasped. He was looking at something very not normal. In front of him, gleaming in the sunshine, was a skyline unlike any he had ever seen—a skyline that looked an awful lot like the city of the future he had seen on his ride.
Where, Frank thought as he unstrapped his harness, am I?
Where he was, Frank quickly learned, was very, very high up. Grabbing his duffel, he stepped out of the elevator and found himself standing on a platform dozens of stories up on a skyscraper that was clearly still under construction. All around him metal beams were in various stages of installation. But the weird thing was these were not the regular straight beams used for skyscrapers. These beams bent in crazy, weird, irregular ways. Shaking his head, Frank tried to figure out what to do next. Then he spotted Athena.
She, Nix, and the rest of the group were about fifty yards away, standing in a vehicle that appeared to be hovering in the air. Catching his eye, Athena shot him a look. He didn’t need her to speak to know exactly what that look meant. It meant Well, what are you waiting for?
Frank took off running as Athena’s vehicle began to drop. But just as he reached the end of his platform, a huge piece of metal swung in front of him. A moment later, what appeared to be a giant robot moved past Frank. Robots were building and paying no attention to a small boy with a big duffel bag.
Letting out a shout, Frank managed to avoid slamming into the beam. Once again, he began to run after the hovercraft-like vehicle. And once again, a robot appeared, throwing him off balance. He fell backward over the platform edge, his arms flailing.
With a thud, he landed on the platform one level below. He let out a shaky breath. That had been a little too close for comfort. Clang! His duffel with the jetpack still inside hit the platform next to him, the pack rolling free. Standing, Frank started to reach for the jetpack when, suddenly, he felt someone—or something—behind him.
Turning, Frank looked up—and up some more. He was staring at a huge fourteen-foot robot! It had four arms with claws on the ends, and its body was covered in what looked like blowtorch burns. Frank scrambled backward as one of the metal arms shot out toward him…
…and grabbed his jetpack.
Holding it up in front of what appeared to be a scanner, the robot studied the jetpack for a moment. Then there was a whir of metal as the robot’s arms went to work, pulling various tools out of its body to disassemble Frank’s creation.
“Hey!” he shouted, forgetting instantly that he was actually rather terrified of the robot. “That’s mine! What’re you…”
His voice trailed off and his eyes widened as he watched the robot finish working on the jetpack. Four arms used four separate drills to screw the back on, and then the robot simply handed the pack back to Frank.
“Did you just…fix it?” he asked, amazed. The whole thing had taken less than a minute.
In response, one of the robot’s four arms whirred up. Then four of its “fingers” curled into a fist, leaving only one digit up. Frank smiled. The robot was giving him the thumbs-up! This place was getting cooler by the minute.
And then he heard someone shout, “There he is!”
Security guards had spotted Frank.
Grabbing the jetpack, he shouted thanks to the robot and took off running, forgetting to look where he was going. That meant he didn’t see he was coming to the end of the platform.
That also meant he didn’t stop running and instead ran right off the platform and straight into thin air, dropping his jetpack!
He tumbled through the sky, screaming into the rushing air. His clothes flapped wildly about him in the wind as he struggled to figure out some way—any way—to slow his fall.
A tiny shape dropped into view. His jetpack! Using his arms, Frank “swam” through the air toward it. He reached his fingers out, grasping for the harness. Suddenly, a burst of wind blew the surrounding clouds apart, giving Frank a breathtaking view of the horizon. Everywhere he looked, he could see buildings of amazing sizes and shapes. From way up there, he could see all of this new modern city. And it was unbelievable.
Then Frank looked down.
That, he decided at once, had been a terrible idea. The ground was no more than a mile below and seemed to be accelerating toward him. He propelled himself forward and took hold of the jetpack. Jamming his right arm through the harness, he struggled to get his left arm through. With each passing second, the ground got closer.
Finally, Frank managed to get the pack completely on. Below him, people on the ground had taken notice of him and were yelling and pointing. Then they began running. No one, it seemed, wanted to be close when Frank hit the ground.
But Frank had no intention of hitting the ground. With a yell of his own, he pressed down on the ignition button.
Whoosh!
Instantly, the rockets in the pack came to life, jolting Frank painfully up, up, up and away from the ground. For a moment it seemed Frank was in the clear. Until he began spinning and tumbling head over feet. From the ground, he looked like a defective fire work. He felt like he was being tossed about in a laundry machine. Frank finally got control of the pack. He stopped tumbling and began to fly in a straight line. A huge smile spread across his face. His jetpack was working! He had done it! Well, the robot had helped, but still, he had done it!
With glee, he began to fly through the heart of the city. He veered one way to avoid a building and then the other way to avoid a smaller building. Left, right, up, down. With a huge burst of power, he rocketed up the side of a skyscraper, catching his own reflection in the windows’ glassy surface. Then he swooped down, down, down, until he nearly brushed the ground of a plaza under construction, before shooting back up. He had never had so much fun in his entire life. Nothing could ruin that moment.
Then the jetpack’s rockets began to sputter. The thing was running out of gas!
Frank’s stomach lurched as he dropped several feet, then jolted back up as the engine cut in and out. Each time the engine stopped, Frank fell closer to the ground, until finally, he landed in a net spread between two buildings. It had been set up in case construction workers fell while on the job, but it also worked for young boys with out-of-gas jetpacks.
Unfortunately, the jetpack’s engines were still running hot. In mere seconds, it burned a hole through the net.
“Ahhhhh!” Frank screamed as, once again, he began to fall. He slammed into a canopy attached to a building, then rolled down, his descent finally coming to a halt as he landed hard on the ground. Then, with one last spurt, the jetpack finally died.
For a moment, Frank just lay there panting, his head resting on the cool ground. He wiggled his limbs to make sure they were all in working order. Satisfied he was relatively unharmed, he let out a breath and raised his head. In front of him was a pair of shoes.
Craning his head back, Frank saw that the shoes belonged to none othe
r than Nix. The man was staring down at him, a mixture of frustration and admiration on his face. Frank grinned. “It works now,” he said proudly.
Nix raised an eyebrow.
Behind Nix, Athena appeared, looking rather proud of herself. She gave Frank a brief smile, then turned to Nix. “Well?” she said. “Can we keep him?”
Nix didn’t bother to reply. He simply turned and walked away. But his answer was clear: Frank wasn’t going anywhere. Which led to the one question that had been burning in Frank’s brain since the moment he had arrived in that glass elevator.
“What is this place?” he asked Athena.
The girl’s smile grew wider. Frank was about to learn all about that place. Every detail and design would be at his fingertips—for Frank Walker was now a citizen of Tomorrowland.
THE LOUD roar of a motorcycle filled the air. A moment later the vehicle came into view, speeding down a street lined with abandoned buildings. Signs reading OUT OF BUSINESS or CLOSED were plastered on shops and restaurants, and the sidewalks were empty of people. It was a sad, empty town that had seen better days. A darkness hung over it, a stark contrast to the world of Tomorrowland.
For the rider on the motorcycle, though, this was the usual sight. There was always a layer of grime on things here, an air of having given up. For this town, the here and now was not looking great.
The motorcyclist stopped beside a large metal fence and pulled off a black helmet, exposing a dark bandana underneath. After rummaging through an old backpack, the rider pulled out what looked like a remote control toy helicopter and a battery with rabbit-ear antennas attached to its top. Clearly, this was not a typical remote control toy.
Grabbing the cell phone located in a back pocket, the motorcyclist quickly launched an app simply called “Interference.” Instantly, an image popped up on the screen. It showed the ground in front of the fence as seen from the camera attached to the top of the helicopter. When the image had stabilized, the rider picked up the remote and sent the helicopter flying high into the air, straight toward a guard shack positioned at a break in the fence. Inside, the guard on watch noticed that the monitors had suddenly begun to flicker and the images had become distorted. He knew it wasn’t good. What he didn’t know was that a toy helicopter was jamming the signal.
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