Astrid Maxxim and Her Amazing Hoverbike (8 page)

By lunchtime, Robot Valerie felt well enough to join her flesh and blood twin at Denis
e’
s house for lunch, though of course she did
n’
t eat.  Mr. Richards whipped up an enormous stack of sandwiches and everyone else enjoyed a hearty mid-day meal.  Astrid noticed that as they ate, Dennis stared almost continuously at her robotic friend.

“
So Dennis
,”
she said.
 “
How goes the desert research
?
”

“
Huh?  Oh, pretty good.  I think
I’
ll be ready
.
”

“
When will you find out which freshmen yo
u’
ll be guiding
?
”

“
Tomorrow, I think
.
”

“
I suppose yo
u’
re going to the lab this afternoon, Astrid
,”
said Denise.

“
Yes
,”
replied Astrid. 
I’
ve got to work on the components for the hoverbike, and I have some ideas I want to try out in the ceramics lab
.
”

“
Astrid, you remind me more of your dad every day
,”
said Mr. Brown.
 “
He used to spend every minute in his old lab when we were kids
.
”

“
What are you guys going to do
?”
Astrid asked her friends.

“
I’
m going to spend my afternoon swimming
,”
said Denise.
 “
Would you like to join me, Valerie
?
”

“
I’
d love to go swimming
,”
said Robot Valerie.

“
I meant Regular Valerie.  Can you swim?  Should you be in the water
?
”
 
Denise turned to look at Astrid.

“
I do
n’
t think that would be a good idea
,”
said the girl inventor.  She looked at Robot Valerie.
 “
You have a silicone safety coating that makes you water resistant, so you can be out in the rain, but I do
n’
t think you should be submerged if you can help it
.
”

“
I guess tha
t’
s why Poppy has
n’
t let me take a bath. 
I’
ve had to wash myself with kitchen cleaner
.
”

“
Why do
n’
t you come to the lab with me
?”
suggested Astrid.
 “
You can help me with my experiments and then w
e’
ll take a bike ride before coming home
.
”

“
Promise you wo
n’
t experiment on her
,”
said Regular Valerie.

“
Are you kidding
?”
said Astrid.
 “
And have your mother after me?  I do
n’
t think so
.
”

The other two girls were already in their swimsuits and heading for the pool, when Astrid and Robot Valerie left the Brown-Richards home.  They followed the same path that Astrid took on the way to school, passing Valeri
e’
s house on the way downtown and to the monorail station.

“
Do you need to stop for anything
?”
asked Astrid.

“
I do
n’
t think so.  Say, have you noticed that car back there?  It seems like i
t’
s following us
.
”

Astrid glanced over her shoulder.  A brown sedan was moving down Acacia Avenue toward them.  The windows were heavily tinted, so they could
n’
t see who, or even how many, were inside.  It was rolling forward so slowly that one might have thought it was a parked car that someone had accidentally left shifted into neutral.

“
The
y’
re probably trying to find a house or something
,”
said Astrid.
 “
Le
t’
s cut through the block here and come out by The Bagel Nook, just to be sure though
.
”

They ducked between the large oleander bushes and walked briskly across the unfenced yards and back lots that lay between Fifth and Main, popping out right between The Bagel Nook and Dickens and Co. Books.  Walking the length of Main Street, they glanced around several times but did
n’
t see any sign of the brown car.  It was a quiet Sunday afternoon and few shoppers were in the stores.  They did
n’
t see anyone at all near the monorail station, but just as she was stepping onto the escalator, Astrid was grabbed by rough hands and jerked backwards.  She started to shout for help, but there was a horrible burning pain in her neck and then everything went black.

Astrid awoke in darkness.  She had a pain in her neck that throbbed up into her head and down into her shoulder.  Wherever she was, whatever she was in was moving.  It was bouncing up and down.

“
Oh
,”
she moaned, as she stretched her arms and legs.

“
Astrid, are you awake
?
”

“
Valerie
?
”

“
Yes, i
t’
s me.  Astrid, w
e’
ve been kidnapped.  I
t’
s just like they told us in third grad
e—
stranger danger
.
”

“
Where are we
?
”

“
W
e’
re in the trunk of a car
,”
said Valerie.
 “
I think i
t’
s that same brown car that we saw before.  What do you think they want?  Where do you suppose the
y’
re taking us
?
”

“
I do
n’
t know
,”
admitted Astrid.
 “
Do you have your cell
?
”

She checked her own pockets to find them empty.

“
No, they took them
.
”

“
If they still have them, our parents can track us down.  The phones have GPS. 
I’
ll bet they ditched them though
.
”

“
What are we going to do
?
”
 
Anxiety caused the pitch of Valeri
e’
s voice to rise.

“
Let me think.  You have a GPS inside of you and a cellular connection to the Maxxim supercomputer
.
”

“
I do
?
”

“
Sure.  Ther
e’
s too much information in a human brain to fit into the memory inside you.  How can we tell if yo
u’
re still connected though?  Have you forgotten anything lately
?
”

“
I do
n’
t know
,”
said Valerie.
 “
I do
n’
t think so
.
”

“
Do you remember our fourth grade PE class
?
”

“
Yes
.
”

“
Do you remember the kid that used to pee his pants every time we played dodge ball
?
”

“
Sure.  Ricky Peeplos
.
”

“
I guess that proves it
,”
said Astrid.
 “
That memory ca
n’
t be important enough to store onsite.  It has to be in the mainframe.  You must still be connected to our network.  Can you turn around so that I can reach your back
?
”

Valerie rolled onto her left side, so that her back was facing Astrid.  The girl inventor lifted up her robot frien
d’
s blouse and pressed a tiny recessed button.  A small door slid open.

“
What are you doing
?
”

“
If I can reprogram your network call settings to my cell phone number, my parents can find us using your GPS
.
”

It was a simple matter of changing a set of seven toggle switches and then typing the new number on the keypad, but the keypad was the size of a postage stamp and the toggle switches were about as big as grains of rice.  In the darkened trunk, bouncing down the road, it took nearly thirty tries, but at last Astrid thought she had the number programmed in.

“
Alright, they should be able to find us
,”
she said
,“
but
I’
m not waiting around.  Who knows what these guys might do to us before our parents find us
.
”

“
But the
y’
re grown men
,”
pointed out Valerie.
 “
And they had tasers.  I saw one man zap you on the neck and then he zapped me.  It hurt too.  Plus they might have guns
.
”

“
If they have tasers, then we need them too
,”
said Astrid.
 “
Turn back around so that I can open the front of your arm
.
”

Valerie turned onto her back and Astrid opened the same compartment on the robot gir
l’
s right arm in which she had found the charging cord the day before.  Pulling out the retractable cord, she stuck the plug in her mouth.

“
What are you doing
?”
asked Valerie.

“
I’
ve got to bite this end off.  I need some bare wires
.
”

“
Let me do it
,”
said the robot girl.
 “
I think my teeth are stronger.  Anyway, I do
n’
t want to shock you
.
”

In a flash, she had not only bitten the plug end off the cord, but had stripped the protective coating from the last inch of the six wires inside.  Astrid looked at the color coding on the wires and bent all but two backwards.  Then she began resetting the tiny toggle switches inside Valeri
e’
s arm.  They were just like the tiny switches in her back compartment, but there were more of them.

“
The thing about the Excalibur interface plug is that you just about ca
n’
t get shocked from it
,”
explained Astrid.
 “
I
t’
s extremely safe.  Unfortunately I do
n’
t want safe right now.  I want dangerous. 
I’
m going to reset your batteries to discharge.  You might feel a little woozy when it happens, but since you just charged up last night, there should be enough power to do it three or four times without you running them down
.
”

“
Hurry, Astrid.  The car is slowing down
.
”

The vehicle was indeed slowing down and doing so quickly.  They could feel the bump as it left the road and came to a stop.  Just as Astrid had finished making her adjustments, the engine was turned off.  They heard the doors opening and closing and felt the car bounce up and then down as someone climbed out of the interior.  Outside, two men were talking, but the girls could
n’
t make out any of their words.

“
If they open the trunk
,”
whispered Astrid
,“
pretend to be asleep until I give you the word
.
”