The Sonic Breach

by Victor Appleton

  Noah didn’t finish. The entry door opened and my father stepped inside the garage. He had changed out of his suit and tie and now wore sweats. Judging from the towel over his shoulder and the sweat on his brow, he had just finished his evening workout. “How’s it going, fellas?”

  “We’re getting there,” I replied.

  Over dinner, Noah and I had recounted our robot’s losing bout. He knew we had a lot of work to do to get the Choppa up and running again. Now, we caught him up on Sam’s (and Noah’s) thoughts about how to insulate the inner workings of our robot from heavy attacks.

  “Maybe you can use a little of all three systems,” my dad suggested. “Build in a fail-safe in case one of them doesn’t work.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I said.

  “Mr. Swift, I have a question for you,” said Noah.

  “Shoot,” my dad said.

  “You know about all those pop quizzes we’ve been having lately?” Noah asked.

  I caught my breath. What was he doing? After all that talk today about people not telling me about the app because of my dad? Now my best friend was going to make it look like I ratted out the entire school.

  My dad laughed. “Tom has complained about them almost every night. Cutting into his robot time, I hear.”

  “Well, hypothetically speaking,” Noah continued, “what if I’m in a class and I get a pop quiz?” He pointed at me. “And then Tom has the same class, but next period. Would it be wrong for me to warn him about that quiz?”

  My dad raised an eyebrow. “Do you give him the hypothetical answers to this hypothetical quiz?”

  Noah shook his head. “No, nothing like that. I just let him know that one’s coming up.” He spun the screwdriver through his fingers and glanced at me. “Now, is that cheating?”

  “Well, it is called a pop quiz for a reason,” my dad said.

  I smiled and nodded ever so slightly at my friend.

  “But then again,” my father continued, cocking his head, “your teachers know that you all talk to each other. They can’t seriously expect you to keep this information to yourselves. So as long as you’re not giving away the questions or answers, then I don’t think it’s cheating.”

  Noah nodded and smiled smugly.

  “Ah, but what if he texted me the warning?” I asked.

  “What’s the difference these days?” My dad smirked. “The way you kids text all the time, I’m surprised you’re not texting me your questions right now.”

  That night, after we drove Noah home, I went straight to my room. I did what I’ve done every night since the pop-quiz craze began. I got ready for bed and then hopped into my gyro-chair for some extra studying. The chair was a working prototype I’d built involving a chair suspended from the ceiling with bungee cords (the full-size ones) and a crude gyroscope. In theory, I could shift to any position in the chair and it would remain level. I thought my design showed a lot of promise. I had only fallen out of it twice so far.

  I turned on my tablet and scanned a bit of material from each of my classes. I had to be ready for any pop quiz that came up tomorrow. It really seemed unfair—we had to do our usual homework load and study for a test that may or may not happen?

  I put my tablet down and rubbed my eyes. I sighed, pulled out my phone, and downloaded the app.

  5

  The Ethical Assessment

  “NO WAY!” I HEARD NOAH say as I entered algebra class the next morning. He was turned around, talking to Amy. When he saw me enter, he waved me over. “Hey, Tom. You gotta hear this.”

  “Hear what?” I asked as I plopped into my desk beside Noah’s.

  “Guess who’s giving Amy fencing lessons?” he asked.

  I looked at Amy. “Who?”

  Amy wrung her hands together. “Michel Villa,” she said quietly.

  “The best fencer on the team?” I asked. “Wait. Isn’t he the one you’re scheduled to fence first during tryouts?”

  Amy nodded.

  Michel was a French exchange student and had taken the fencing team to a whole new level when he transferred over. He was tall, wiry, and had a massive reach. It was like the academy got a ringer. Part of the reason we saw so little of Amy lately is because she didn’t want to lose too badly during her first bout.

  “I don’t know if that’s really smart or . . .” I glanced at Noah and shrugged. “A bad strategic move?”

  “Yeah,” Noah agreed. “He’s gonna figure out all your weaknesses.”

  Amy rolled her eyes. “There’s no way I was going to beat him anyway. It’s not like in a championship. I don’t have to win to move on to the next opponent. I just have to win more bouts than I lose, and the team is selected from fencers showing the most promise.”

  Noah shrugged. “I guess it’s fine if you’re getting something out of it, then. At least Michel doesn’t seem too bad. He was nice enough when I helped debug his program a few weeks ago.”

  “I think it’s extremely smart,” Sam interjected. She shrugged off her backpack and sat at the desk beside Amy. “She’s going to learn all his tricks so she can win that first match.”

  Amy laughed and shook her head. “It’s not like that. Michel saw how hard some of us were working and offered to help. That’s it.”

  “Making the team is pretty important to you, huh?” I asked.

  Amy beamed. “Oh yeah. I love the precision and discipline of it all.”

  “That’s you, all right,” Sam said.

  “But I also love the anonymity,” Amy continued. “Behind the mask, no one can see if I’m cringing, frightened . . .”

  “Or grinning like a crazy girl because you’re having so much fun?” asked Noah.

  “Yes!” Amy burst into laughter.

  We laughed with her, and when she snorted, we all chuckled harder. Embarrassed, Amy hid her face with both hands. But her shoulders kept bobbing up and down as she continued to laugh behind her mask.

  The first bell rang and we all settled down. Mr. Jenkins brought up five problems on the screen for . . . you guessed it. A pop quiz. I sighed and dug out a pencil and paper along with the rest of the class. This was getting ridiculous. Any doubts I had about downloading the app the night before were blown away.

  The test wasn’t too bad and took only about fifteen minutes for everyone to complete. And that was another thing—that’s fifteen minutes of teaching time gone, right there. Why were the teachers wasting valuable time and needlessly stressing out their students?

  As Mr. Jenkins finally began the morning lecture, I noticed several students slipping out their phones. They opened the Pop Chop app and logged the algebra quiz. First period classes didn’t get any notice from the app, but the rest of the classes would now be forewarned.

  I was going to log the quiz myself but with so many others doing it, it would be flagged for the other classes anyway. I even saw Noah sneak his phone out and report the quiz.

  “So Noah has that stupid app too?” Sam whispered in my ear. “Does everyone have that thing now?”

  I leaned back in my desk and angled my head. “We just found out about it yesterday,” I whispered. “I only downloaded it last night.”

  She gave my shoulder a shove. “Tom Swift. I can’t believe you.”

  “Hey, I’m sick of these tests just like everyone else,” I said. “Don’t you have it?”

  “No,” Sam shot back. “It’s cheating.”

  I shook my head. “No, it’s not. Nobody’s passing along the answers. It’s just, like, you know, an early warning system.”

  It was weird. Now I felt like Noah when he was trying to convince me. Somehow, I didn’t think I was doing as good a job. I guess not all of my doubts were blown away after all.

  “So you don’t have it,” I whispered. “Does Amy have it?”

  “Why would she have it?” Sam asked. “She has a photographic memory.”

  I nodded. “Good point.” I glanced back at Amy, who eyed us nervously. Knowing her, she was probably worrie
d we were going to get busted for talking in class.

  “Does your father know about . . . ,” Sam began, before Mr. Jenkins paused and turned in our direction.

  I don’t know about Sam, but I started taking notes like nothing had happened. Sam must’ve done the same thing behind me, because Mr. Jenkins just stared at us briefly before returning to his lecture.

  We didn’t try talking any more. Mr. Jenkins usually gave out just one warning glare before calling out students in front of the entire class.

  I only heard Sam say one more word that period.

  About halfway through the class, everyone’s Pop Chop alarms went off. And it sounded as if almost the entire class had the app installed now.

  That’s when Sam said, “Unbelievable,” under her breath.

  I glanced back and saw Sam shaking her head. Beside her, Amy’s eyes were on Sam. Amy caught my gaze before returning her attention back to her notes.

  I sighed and went back to my own notes. I didn’t understand why Sam was so annoyed. No one was making her download the app.

  I didn’t bother sneaking out my phone and checking the app. The alert was bound to be for my next subject: chemistry. I already had my tablet out for my digital algebra textbook. After a few taps, my chemistry textbook came up too. I scrolled through the chapters to find the material we had covered the day before. For once a pop quiz wasn’t going to take me by surprise.

  After the bell rang, the subject of the Pop Chop didn’t come up again between any of us. Sam, Noah, and I mainly talked about the next steps in prepping our robot. Amy was already headed to her next class.

  I went upstairs to my chemistry class with newfound confidence. Even though I didn’t know exactly what the test was about, it wouldn’t take me by surprise. Besides, Mrs. Gaines never really seemed to take the pop-quiz trend so seriously. Her quizzes had been simpler than everyone else’s.

  Today was no different. All we had to do was list five ways to test a compound for traces of nickel. Since I had just reviewed that material, I aced the quiz with ease. I could’ve listed seven.

  I turned in my test and leaned back in my desk triumphantly.

  Tom Swift: one.

  The System: zero.

  6

  The Causation Revelation

  FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS everything went great. Gone were the days of my heart sinking whenever a quiz was announced. Outside of first period, I was ready for every pop quiz they threw at me. My mood improved incredibly and I had more confidence strolling into every classroom.

  It wasn’t just my spirits that were lifted. All the academy students seemed to be more cheerful. It was as if we were a species that had overcome a drastic environmental change. Our habitat had been flooded, so we developed gills to survive.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the students who adapted. That’s right, it didn’t take long for the faculty to discover the app. No one came out and banned the app, but they did try to find ways to make it useless. Some teachers varied their quiz schedules to every other class. Some changed it to every other day. They tried their best to put the pop back in pop quiz.

  But it didn’t matter. The genius of the app meant that as long as teachers quizzed more than one class, most kids still knew when the tests were coming.

  Sam was still against the app, but at least she had stopped giving Noah and me grief about it. We were too busy fine-tuning and upgrading the Choppa. The big robot battle was only a week away.

  BAM!

  Back in the gym, we watched Crab-a-saurus crash into the back of Flatliner. Crab-a-saurus had two large pincers that could theoretically crush the outer shell of any robot it caught. Of course, since this was just another sparring match, its claws were only set to half power.

  Flatliner didn’t need any restrictions. It was a wedge robot designed to flip its enemies by sliding under them. It was built for speed. And it would need all of that speed to keep out of Crab-a-saurus’s iron grip.

  “Do you think we’ll get to spar again before the final match?” asked Sam.

  “I hope so,” said Noah. He raised both hands. “The Choppa hungers for vengeance.”

  “I doubt it,” I said. “There are still a few teams that haven’t had a turn yet.”

  “That’s too bad,” said Amy. “But I’m sure you’ll be great in the final battle.”

  This was about the only time we got to hang out with Amy. Now that she had a fencing tutor, even more of her free time was spent training for the tryouts. The only time when the four of us got to really catch up was when our robotics class and her gym class overlapped. We continued to share the gym—our robots sparring on one end and her class sparring on the other.

  FWAM!

  Flatliner slid under Crab-a-saurus and flipped it over. The robot flailed as it tried to right itself with both of its claws.

  “If we face Crab-a-saurus and if we keep away from the claws and if we flip it over . . . ,” Sam said. “We should move in quick and attack its underbelly.” She pointed at the robot’s exposed wheels. “There’s hardly any shielding there.”

  Crab-a-saurus quickly flipped itself back onto its wheels.

  “If we’re quick enough,” I added.

  Amy pointed to the gym entrance. “What’s that about?”

  We turned and saw our principal, Mr. Davenport, and a brown-haired woman enter the gym. She wore a navy blue skirt and matching jacket. A man holding a large camera followed them.

  “Hey, that’s Olivia Garza from Channel 4 News,” Sam said. “She interviewed me for my water project. What’s she doing here?”

  Sam had gotten a full scholarship to the academy (and lots of press coverage) after she invented a water-sourcing device. It’s currently being tested to help drought-ridden areas across the globe.

  “Don’t worry, Sam,” said Noah. “Water Girl is yesterday’s news. I bet she’s here to cover the robot battle.”

  Sam glared at Noah, but graciously didn’t slap him for using a nickname she detested. She didn’t have to. He did it himself when he slapped his forehead with one hand.

  “Aw, man. The Choppa isn’t even here,” he said. “Why did she pick today to come?”

  “Would you rather she had been here during our one and only sparring match?” I asked.

  Noah cringed. “Oh, yeah. Bad enough that the entire school knows about our meltdown.”

  “It could be the entire city,” Amy added.

  We watched as the woman and her cameraman walked closer.

  Noah patted down his hair. “Do I look all right?”

  None of us answered. Instead, we watched as Olivia Garza veered away and headed for the other end of the gym.

  “No way,” said Noah.

  “She’s covering the fencing team,” said Sam.

  Noah shook his head and jutted a thumb over his shoulder. “When there are two perfectly good robots over there beating the crap out of each other.”

  “You better get back over there,” Sam told Amy. “You could be famous.”

  Amy shook her head. “Uh-uh.” She backed away. “No thank you.”

  Amy had always been extremely shy. Heck, we’re lucky she talks to us. There was no way she was going to be on camera.

  “What if they want to show the entire class?” asked Noah.

  Amy’s breathing quickened and here eyes darted around as if looking for an escape route. We’d seen this before. She was headed for a full-blown panic attack.

  “Here,” I said presently, reaching for her mask. I snatched it out from under her arm and gently placed it over her head. I could no longer see her face behind the thick wire mesh.

  Amy’s shoulder’s relaxed and her breathing slowed. “Thanks,” she said. She took one more deep breath and exhaled. Then she trudged toward the other side of the gym.

  We watched as the reporter interviewed a couple of the students. Amy kept her mask on but stayed behind the other students. After the cameraman lowered the camera, Amy jogged back toward us. She pulled
off her mask.

  “They’re not interviewing the fencing team,” she reported.

  “But we just saw . . . ,” Noah began.

  Amy shook her head. “Yes, they interviewed some of the team members, but it wasn’t about fencing.”

  “Then what was it about?” I asked.

  “Let’s get you over here, Mr. Davenport,” said a woman’s voice. It was Olivia Garza. They had moved closer to us, positioning our principal so both the practicing fencers and the robot battle would be behind him. Mr. Davenport removed his glasses and smoothed down the few remaining hairs he had on his bald head. After a moment, the cameraman raised the camera to his shoulder while the reporter stood beside the principal.

  “Mr. Davenport,” said the reporter. “What is your opinion of this Pop Chop app?” She held out the microphone to our principal.

  My friends and I exchanged surprised looks.

  “Well, in a school like the Swift Academy,” Mr. Davenport began, “we’re always seeing students invent creative ways to address the challenges we give them.”

  “Do you consider this app a way of cheating?” asked the reporter.

  Davenport shook his head. “Some of our teachers may disagree, but I don’t think it’s cheating at all. In fact, I think it’s a very clever study aid.”

  “Do you know who created the app in the first place?” she asked.

  “Not yet,” Davenport replied. “But if your investigation finds out, please let me know.”

  “Thank you, sir,” said the reporter. She turned to the cameraman and ran her index finger across her throat.

  “Danny, let’s interview some of the teachers now,” she told the cameraman.

  Mr. Davenport gestured to the exit. “Right this way.” He replaced his glasses and led them out of the gym.

  “They’re doing a whole story on Pop Chop?” I asked. “Cool! You know they’ll uncover who created it.”

  “I’m sure they will,” Sam added. “Ms. Garza is very thorough.”

  “I hope they do,” Noah said, nodding his head. “I’d like to shake his or her hand.” Noah pointed at Sam. “See? Even Davenport doesn’t think it’s cheating.”