by Kim Long
“Oh, that,” Mal said. “I’m not interested. I’ll be traveling with my parents this summer and working on my portfolio.”
“Yeah, and I’m doing football camp,” Ron said. “You can skip your interviews. The internship’s Lexi’s.”
Lexi beamed. She’d been so focused on whether her Tel-Med would keep working and winning the tournament that she hadn’t thought about the internship, but yeah, she was going to be an intern to real teleport scientists! Dr. Vogt!
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Dr. Harrison said, interrupting Lexi’s silent celebration. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding. The internship doesn’t automatically go to someone on the winning team. The scientists selected finalists—and Lexi is one of them, for sure—but that was based on a review of everyone’s academic history, background, and preliminary race results. The scientists want to ask the finalists a few questions about the race before making their decision.”
Lexi’s stomach twisted as mixed emotions enveloped her. Excitement for being named a finalist… but dread that her race performance was anything but spectacular. Once the scientists heard about her Tibet miscalculation, she’d be out of the running for sure.
“Lexi? You okay?” Mal said softly.
Lexi shook herself out of it. “What?”
“You had a weird look on your face,” Ron said.
She shrugged. “It’s nothing… just thinking about the race.”
“That we won,” Ron said.
“Yeah,” Mal added. “You seem sad.”
Lexi smiled. She won! No matter how the interviews went, that was still a fact. “Nah, it’s all good. Let’s go!”
“Fantastic,” Dr. Harrison said. “Follow me!”
Team RAM exited the Brewers’ dugout and walked onto the field. Lexi pushed the interview process out of her mind and focused on the cheers and applause.
“We’ll get to our trophy presentation in a moment,” Dr. Harrison announced from a microphone erected near home plate. “But first, let me introduce our internship finalists, Alexis Magill, Tomoka Seto, and Haley Davis!”
Haley?
Lexi watched as Haley sauntered down the aisle and onto the field. Somehow, Haley had found time to freshen up since the race ended. Her blond curls bounced as she walked, and she had changed into a fresh lilac denim jumpsuit.
As she took a seat in one of the three chairs set up near the pitching mound, Lexi gave herself the once-over. Her cargoes were ripped from her fall, and her shirt was peppered with specks of blood. She pressed a few strands of hair between her fingers. She didn’t need a mirror to know that she had hat-hair from wearing her Brewers cap all day. Add to that a half hour in a hot sausage costume, and she could only imagine how she looked. And smelled.
Tomoka slid into the chair next to Lexi. “Congrats! Great race!”
Lexi tried to forget about Haley. “Thanks. You, too!”
With a massive eye roll, Haley took the empty seat. “Sure, great if you think knowing about painters, fables, and baseball is important. Give me a break. Everyone’s already saying how much this tournament has changed. It’s supposed to be about science. Next thing you know, anyone will be able to enter.”
“There was plenty of science, Haley,” Tomoka said. “It’s—”
“Whatever,” Haley interrupted. “The internship’s all I cared about, anyway. I’m sure the scientists aren’t going to be fooled by someone who can do a word search or goes to baseball games.”
Lexi gritted her teeth. Haley had tried to sabotage them, lied about it, and now had the nerve to act like Team RAM’s victory was meaningless. As excited as Lexi was about winning the tournament, it no longer was enough. Her former friend didn’t deserve an internship. Wiping her suddenly sweaty hands on her thighs, Lexi leaned forward to listen to Dr. Harrison’s every word.
He announced, “Everyone, please welcome Dr. Bressler, Dr. Kent, and Dr. Vogt!”
The audience cheered, and Lexi diverted her attention to the scientists as they exited the visitors’ dugout and assembled near the on-deck circle. Haley turned in her chair and waved excitedly, smiling wide. Dr. Vogt waved back, and Lexi’s heart sunk. She shifted uncomfortably. If she waved at the scientists now, it’d look like she was copying Haley.
“First up: Tomoka Seto!” Dr. Harrison said.
Tomoka rose from his chair and strode the sixty feet to the microphone. Lexi’s scientific mind clicked in. She would likely get asked similar questions, and she could start preparing her answers now. Haley would be no match for her!
Dr. Bressler nodded in Tomoka’s direction. “Hi, Tomoka. For starters, tell us about your approach to the tournament.”
Tomoka pulled his phone out of his pocket and flashed it to the audience. “Sure. Since I knew finding telepods in various cities would be key, I created a Telepod Locator App for my phone.”
“But aren’t there already apps that do that?” Dr. Kent pointed out.
Tomoka nodded. “But my app identifies all modes of transportation at each telepod location, identifies museums and places of interest nearby, and offers real-time updates of any significant wait lines.”
“Oh my,” Dr. Vogt exclaimed. “You coded that yourself?”
Tomoka shrugged. “It was fun. I have to say that coding and rockets are my passion. I belong to both after-school clubs and am a member of the academic pentathlon team.”
“Impressive,” Dr. Bressler replied. He flipped through a notebook on his lap. “We received a report on your contributions during the race. It appears your team really worked together well.”
“We did. Everything was a team decision to make sure one of us didn’t overlook anything.”
“Teamwork is key in our lab, too,” Dr. Kent said. “Everyone has something different to contribute, and no one person is more important than the other.”
Lexi’s face grew hot, and she diverted her eyes to the ground. She’d approached the race the exact opposite way, acting like she was Team RAM’s leader and had the final say.
Dr. Vogt glanced at the notebook. “Yes, very well done, overall, but what do you think was your greatest race accomplishment?”
Tomoka took a breath. “Hmmm. It’s hard to say. I think the telepod locator program saved us tons of time, but, like you said, that was something I did before the race.” He tapped a finger to his lips. “For the race itself, I think it’s the work I put in before we arrived at each location. As soon as we knew where we were going, I’d research the city to find out everything about it to get an idea of where we might have to go or what we might have to do. Like for Marie Curie, we studied the periodic table, and for Alan Turing, we pulled up a map of the university gardens.”
Dr. Bressler grinned. “Preparation is everything in science.”
“Absolutely,” Dr. Kent said. “The unexpected will always occur, but it’s those who are prepared for the expected that handle those surprises the best. Well done!”
“Thanks,” Tomoka replied. “Unfortunately, we ultimately struck out with the last puzzle, but overall we did the best we could!”
The stadium groaned at the baseball pun, but as the scientists stood to congratulate Tomoka, the groans morphed into cheers. Lexi clapped along. Tomoka handled every question well, and his answers were spot-on. He was impressive, as always.
“Next, let’s talk to Ms. Haley Davis,” Dr. Harrison said.
Haley vaulted from her seat and flounced to the microphone. She grabbed it from Dr. Harrison’s hand and faced the scientists. “Before we start, I just want to say that I love all of you. I’m not afraid of hard work, I’m ready to learn, and I’ll do anything you need.”
Lexi fidgeted, itching to announce that she was willing to work hard, too, but she knew it was better to wait her turn.
“Tell us, Haley, how did you prepare for the tournament?” Dr. Vogt asked.
Haley didn’t miss a beat. “Practice tournaments. A lot of them. My practice team created puzzles and clues for one another and then we rac
ed around the world solving them. I feel that preparation is very important, and I would prepare just as hard on any assignments for you.”
Lexi sighed. She couldn’t compete with practice tournaments—she hadn’t done any. Compared to Tomoka and Haley, her answer on how she prepared was really going to sound stupid.
Dr. Kent held up the report on Haley’s race performance. “It says here that you were the first team to check in at quite a few locations! How did you manage to keep your lead?”
Haley stood tall. “We really paid attention to the details. For example, the blue envelope. It was the only envelope that wasn’t sealed and it had ‘Destination’ written on it. We knew right away it’d be the clue to our next location.” Haley flipped her hair. “The same was true with the maze. As soon as we saw some statues had water fountains, we knew the pattern.”
“Finding patterns amid data and noticing details is so important in our line of work,” Dr. Vogt said. “That’s very impressive.”
Haley clenched the microphone with both hands. “I know. That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about science.”
Lexi recalled her struggle with the envelope. If it hadn’t been for Ron, she would have spent hours plotting the points on the map. At the maze, Mal had been the one to notice the fountains to confirm they had identified the right statues. Lexi twisted her lips, racking her brain for how she could answer the same question, but nothing came to mind.
Dr. Bressler asked the final question. “What do you think was your biggest contribution to your team’s success?”
“Well, all of the math and science, for sure. I wish there had been more. I did the Marie Curie worksheet, the GPS calculation, the word scrambles. I worked fast, but carefully, and I was sure to check my work—two things I know would be useful in your lab. An internship with you is really the prize of the race, and I hope you’ll consider me.”
Haley handed the microphone to Dr. Harrison and strode toward the scientists. Lexi’s hope that she would be rebuffed and told to march straight back to her seat was quickly dashed as Dr. Vogt, then Dr. Kent, and finally Dr. Bressler hugged her and provided gentle taps on the back.
Tomoka grunted. “Do you think that matters? I would have gone over there, too, if I’d known it was allowed.” Frowning, he crossed his arms.
“I know,” Lexi said. “Don’t worry. You did great. Inventing your own app is more amazing than going on practice tournaments.”
“Maybe,” Tomoka said. “But look at her with Dr. Vogt.”
Lexi looked, and she didn’t like what she saw. Dr. Vogt still had her arm around Haley, and the two were chatting as if they were at a family picnic.
“I think they already forgot about me,” Tomoka said. “It’s going to be up to you.”
Lexi gripped the sides of her chair. From the looks of it, Tomoka was right. She was going to have to impress the scientists big-time or else Haley was going to win the internship.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Finally, let’s welcome Ms. Magill!” Dr. Harrison announced. Lexi joined him at his side. “Congratulations on your win! I bet it feels amazing!”
Lexi smiled. It did feel amazing. She tried to hold on to that feeling as Dr. Bressler asked the first question.
“Tell us, Lexi, how did you prepare for the tournament?”
Lexi swallowed hard. She’d been so proud of her Teleport Tableau, but now it sounded so trivial and unscientific. Parents might be impressed, but esteemed teleport scientists? Not likely.
“Well, I didn’t have a laptop, so I created my own telepod locator chart. I made a list of cities and codes of the teleport stations so we could find them fast.”
Blank stares from the scientists and a hushed crowd followed Lexi’s answer. Lexi held her breath, hoping the next question would come quick.
“See, look at this!” Mal’s voice called from the dugout.
Everyone’s eyes flicked to Mal as she jogged from the dugout toward Lexi. Lexi’s unfolded Teleport Tableau waved from Mal’s hand. When she reached Lexi, Mal held it toward the scientists.
“Oh my,” Dr. Vogt said, putting a hand over her heart. “You wrote all that?”
Lexi stepped to Mal’s side as relief flooded over her. “Yes,” she said, pointing to the chart. “It took quite a bit of time, but I went by country, then city, then telepod. We relied on it throughout the race.”
“How creative!” Dr. Vogt added. “Often in science we have to make do with what’s available versus what we might want. What a great example!”
Whew! Lexi relaxed. So far, so good.
Dr. Kent took the microphone. “I was reading over the report of your race, and I wanted to commend you on a few things, starting with this note about how much time your team saved at the check-in counters! Looks like you were very efficient, indeed!”
“What do you expect?” Dr. Vogt called. “Someone who spends the time creating a chart like that is someone who would be highly organized! I don’t doubt for a second that Ms. Magill had her team prepared accordingly.”
Lexi froze. It was Mal’s ability to speak different languages that helped them skip over teams. She opened her mouth, but then closed it as Dr. Kent started to speak.
“The same thing happened at the Grace Hopper Memorial Bridge,” Dr. Kent said. “No one completed the ciphers as fast as you. Record time, really.”
Lexi glanced at her teammates. Dr. Kent had gotten that wrong, too. That was all Ron’s doing.
“I’m not surprised,” Dr. Vogt said. “A person who locates coordinates for a chart like this is a critical thinker.” Dr. Vogt looked Lexi’s way and gave her a thumbs-up.
Lexi bit her lip in excitement. Thumbs-up! Dr. Vogt was impressed!
But she’s impressed with the wrong person. Lexi swallowed hard. She had to set the record straight, didn’t she?
“Let’s talk about the periodic table for a second,” Dr. Bressler said. “It says here that you solved the Marie Curie problem very quickly and then used your knowledge of elements again at Fisk University?”
Lexi remained still. Mal and Ron had helped figure out that clue, too. It couldn’t hurt her chances for her to say something nice about her teammates. She held up a finger.
“Ms. Magill?” Dr. Vogt asked. “Is something wrong?”
Lexi motioned for her teammates to join her, but they didn’t move.
“Ms. Magill?”
She paused, rethinking. If she wanted that internship, she was going to have to do whatever it took to blow the scientists away. She returned her attention to the scientists. “No, never mind. I’m good.”
“Moving on,” Dr. Kent said. “We’d like to know how you solved the final clue! You were the only team to do so!”
Smiling, Lexi opened her mouth. This was a question she had no problem answering.
“I’m a big Brewers fan. I’ve been going to games with my dad since I was a kid, so I knew all about the Famous Racing Sausages.”
“I see,” Dr. Kent said. “We saw some teams get flustered and try to recreate our video presentation, but from what we’ve seen, I’m sure your notes were impeccable!”
Lexi pursed her lips. Her notes had been awful. She glanced toward Mal. Mal slowly shook her head and put a finger across her lips. Lexi’s stomach twisted, but if Mal was okay with it…
“Last question,” Dr. Vogt said. “Of all these accomplishments, which do you consider the most significant in leading your team to victory?”
Lexi closed her eyes and tried to form her answer. As she reopened them, she saw Haley out of her seat, waving toward Dr. Vogt, obviously trying to distract the scientist during Lexi’s answer.
Her former best friend’s sabotage came back to her. As much as Lexi had tried to forget about it, it still stung that Haley had tried to oust her from the tournament. They’d been friends for years, and Haley knew how crushed Lexi was when she had to leave the academy and how much the tournament meant to her. A true friend never would have chosen the t
ournament over her.
True friend. Lexi gulped as it hit her. She was blaming Haley for doing the same thing she was doing right now. She was choosing the internship over her friends. A real friend wouldn’t stay silent and take all the credit for their win. Everyone had dismissed Ron and Mal as real teammates, putting them down because they didn’t have a science background. She had, too, probably most of all. But they had been pivotal in Team RAM’s win. They deserved to have everyone know the truth. She didn’t lead the team to victory like Dr. Vogt had said. They had done it together.
“My most significant accomplishment,” Lexi started. She looked at Mal and Ron again and then toward the scientists. She took a deep breath. “Actually, my most significant accomplishment happened before the race ever began by picking the best two teammates on the planet.”
Grinning wide, Lexi gestured to Ron and Mal. “Mal speaks four languages. She was able to push us ahead of other teams at the check-in counters in Italy and France by being able to speak fluently.”
Lexi pointed to Ron. “And Ron is a puzzle master. He solved the Venus Grotto clue in Germany, and he’s the one who solved all of those ciphers at the Hopper Bridge.”
Everyone in the stadium stared at Ron and Mal, the scientists included. Lexi wasn’t finished. “If you want to know the truth, I’m the one who messed up. I sent our team to Tibet.” Snickers of laughter rumbled through the crowd. “No, seriously. Me, the teleport science whiz totally forgot to add a negative sign in front of the longitude coordinate. Instead of teleporting to South Carolina, we landed in Tibet.”
The crowd roared, and Lexi smiled as tension rolled off her shoulders. It felt good getting the truth out. “So, after that fiasco, I knew I had to step up my game. We worked together for those last few puzzles, and I guess the rest… is sausage history!”
Amid additional howls, Lexi handed the microphone to Dr. Harrison. She ran to her teammates, and after a quick group hug, they grabbed their trophies off the table and lifted them over their heads.
“Your tournament winners!” Dr. Harrison shouted, pointing in Team RAM’s direction. Team RAM waved to the cheering crowd.