When Astrid took the elevator down to the lobby, she found Paige already waiting for her. Taking her by the hand, the woman led her out to a private car, introducing her driver as Jake. Over the next two hours, they saw as much of the city of Melbourne as was humanly possible. They had breakfast in the vibrant suburb of St. Kilda, and visited the Shrine of Remembrance. Astrid would have loved to spend more time at the Royal Botanical Gardens, but Paige insisted that no young lady could stop in the city without browsing the shops on Swan Street. They returned to the hotel with barely enough time to pick up Christopher and make it to the airport on time.

“Are you sure this is the right plane?” asked Christopher when they reached their gate.

“This is it,” said Astrid.

The plane awaiting them was not another huge 747, but a medium-sized corporate jet. Astrid had expected this. Though commercial flights left Australia for Antarctica once or twice a month during the summer, it was winter here in the southern hemisphere. Besides, they weren’t headed to Australian territory, but France’s Adelie Land.

“Will this plane be able to make it all the way to Antarctica?” asked Christopher.

“No problem,” Astrid assured him. “You can recognize the Dassault Falcon 900 by its distinctive tri-jet configuration. The 900LX which we have here— you see the blended winglets— has a range of 5,520 miles.”

They walked down the boarding ramp to the plane’s open hatch, where a smiling young flight attendant awaited them.

“What about the weather?”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” said Astrid.

“We have an excellent radar system,” said the flight attendant. “We also keep in contact with Dumont du’Urville, the station in Adelie Land. If the weather is bad, particularly if there are high winds, we just have to turn around and come back.”

“How often does that happen?” asked Christopher.

“About one out of three trips,” she replied. “You two find a couple of seats and we’ll get started shortly. If you need anything after we get started, let me know. We can have lunch whenever you get hungry. I’ve got sandwiches and hot cocoa in the galley.”

“Are we the only passengers?” Christopher peered into the plane’s cabin.

“The only ones,” she confirmed. “It’s a charter flight. Not many people want to visit the bottom of the world in winter. Summer’s bad enough.”

Mr. Bauer, whom Astrid had met only briefly once before, had been an investor in Maxxim Industries for years and had advised her mother in the past. He waited, smiling at the front door for them. He was of medium height and heavy set— one would have more likely called him beefy or stout than fat. The greying hair around his ears contrasted with the bald dome on top of his head. He was dressed in a suit, but without the tie.

“Hello there, Astrid! So fantastic to see you again! You’re about twice as tall as I remember.”

“Nice to see you again, Mr. Bauer. This is my friend Christopher Harris.”

“Hello Chris.” Bauer shook both of their hands violently. “You must both call me Max. Come along inside. The misses is literally dying to meet you.”

“I hope not literally,” said Christopher, who had never much liked being called Chris.

Astrid shot him a glance as they followed Mr. Bauer into his home. The very large entry way led into a very large living room. Both rooms were filled with furniture, all of which was very ornate and looked very expensive. The walls were covered with art. Compared to Astrid’s home, where with the exception of the family room it was not unusual for a room to have only a single picture on the wall, this looked like a museum or an art showroom.

“Here’s my jewel now,” said Mr. Bauer, as his wife appeared from a back room.

Mrs. Bauer was a gorgeous African American woman at least six inches taller than her husband and about half his age. She hopped over to Astrid and took her hand excitedly.

“I’m so so glad to meet you, Astrid! I just think you’re fabulous!”

“Thanks. This is my friend Christopher.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” said Christopher. “You look really familiar.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Christopher, though I confess Astrid, I was hoping you would bring your robot girl, since I played one in a movie once.”

“Invasion of the Robo-Girls!” said Christopher, snapping his fingers. “I knew you looked familiar.”

“Yes, that was a great film,” said Mrs. Bauer. “I’m not acting anymore though. I might like to direct.”

“She’s very talented,” said Mr. Bauer. “Come, come. Let’s all go into the dining room. Dinner is almost ready, I think.”

As soon as she had hung up, she looked up a second number and dialed.

“Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Geophysics Division, how may I direct your call?” said a female voice.

“May I speak to Connor Brown?”

“Who may I say is calling?”

“It’s Astrid Maxxim.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Um, no.”

“One moment, please.”

Seconds later the line was picked up and a man’s voice said, “Hello, is this really Astrid Maxxim?”

“Um, yes.”

“Are you calling about my hoverbike? It was just delivered but I haven’t had the chance to try it out yet.”

“Oh, well I’m glad you got it,” said Astrid. “But that’s not why I’m calling. You are the Connor Brown who is the head of Antarctic research for New Zealand, aren’t you?”

“I am the Director of Operations, the organizational head.”

“Well good. I’ve discovered some data about an Antarctic expedition that was made in 1928 by my great-grandfather. Their records indicate they discovered something important beneath the ice, but I can’t find any record of what it was. Since the location is within New Zealand’s area of authority, I thought I would give you a call.”

“Hmm,” said Brown. “We don’t normally have any personnel on the continent during the winter, but we have this idiot… this movie director who is filming a documentary. Maybe this is something he can check into.”

“That’s great. I’ll send you copies of the maps and other information.”

A few minutes later, Astrid was back outside, astride her hoverbike, and strapping on her helmet. She felt the ground shake briefly like an earthquake. Then two seconds later there was a tremendous boom and one of the glass panes in the front of the R&D building shattered. She looked up to see a huge black cloud rising up into the air about five miles to the south. Astrid knew just where it came from too— the Maxxim rocket launch facility.

The Screaming Pterodactyl was a modern, high-speed roller coaster, with seats that hung down below large polymer pterodactyls, giving one the impression that he was being carried by the beast through twists, turns, corkscrews, and loop-the-loops.

“It is open today, isn’t it?” asked Regular Valerie.

“Yes, yes, of course. We have a temporary queue line set up so you can ride the same ride we’ve had for the last seven years. But Astrid designed a whole new queue system. Now, as you walk though the line, you go on a fantastic hike through the primeval world, with twenty-two realistic animatronic dinosaurs. I’ve had the power turned on for you and the security guard at the door will let you in. You can check it out on your way to the ride. When you get through, the cast member at the ride entrance will let you go right to the front.”

“We don’t really want to see a bunch of old dinosaurs, do we?” asked Denise.

“Of course we do,” said Christopher.

“Dinosaurs are awesome!” shouted Austin, making both Valeries wince.

“We have to support Astrid,” said Toby.

“Don’t I always?” said Denise.

“You do,” said Astrid, with a laugh. “You’re just not quiet about it.”

When they finished eating, they walked to a large building draped with canvas tenting, next to the roller coaster. A security guard was standing by a slit in the canvas and pulled it aside, revealing a door, which he then opened. Inside, they followed the marked path through the entryway and found themselves standing in the middle of a desert scene.

“We start with the triassic?” asked Christopher.

“I would have liked to have gone through the whole prehistory of the earth,” said Astrid. “Since I couldn’t, I decided to stick with the three geological periods of the dinosaurs.”

They walked around a large rock to find themselves threatened by a group of four coelophysis, hissing and snapping their teeth-filled jaws. At the top of a hill, they could see a ferocious ticinosuchus, while closer by an elephant-sized moschops tugged at the shaggy fern.

“That’s the ugliest dinosaur I’ve ever seen,” said Denise.

“It’s technically not a dinosaur,” said Christopher. “It’s a therapsid.”

They rounded a corner, went through an arched doorway, and stood at the border between a grassy plain and a conifer forest. The painted mural on either wall made it seem as if both went on forever. Right in the middle was a massive brachiosaurus, reaching up to pluck pine needles from a tree. Nearby a pair of allosaurus harassed a stegosaurus, and beyond that a Quetzalcoatlus, the size of a jet fighter, soared overhead. Other, smaller dinosaurs hunted through the trees.

“Now these are what I call a dinosaurs!” said Austin, looking up at the Brachiosaurus. “They’re so realistic. It’s like we went back in a time machine. Say, why don’t you invent a time machine, Astrid?”

“That’s not really possible,” said Astrid.

“Well, sure it is.”

“Don’t get her started on time travel,” said Denise. “We’ll never get to ride the roller coaster.”

Astrid and her friends passed on through the Jurassic period and through another arched doorway to find themselves at the foot of a volcano, steam rolling down from the artificial lava. Running along the hillside were psittacosaurus, caudipteryx, and ornithomimus. Snapping and squawking below were several velociraptors. A large beipiaosaurus browsed through low-hanging trees.

“What’s with all these chickens?” asked Denise. “I thought this was a dinosaur exhibit.”

“These are all anatomically correct,” said Christopher. “Most cretaceous dinosaurs had feathers.”

“No wonder Maxxim Industries is in trouble,” said Denise. “You’re spending all its money building robot dinosaurs.”

“Who says Maxxim Industries is in trouble?” wondered Astrid. “Did your dad say that?”

“Yes. Not my dad that works for you. He thinks you’re the greatest thing ever. My other dad— he said it.”

“Maxxim Industries is just fine,” said Astrid.

Walking around a lava flow took the group to a triceratops nursery, where two of the huge three-horned creatures were caring for some tiny tykes just emerging from their shells. But looking over this tranquil scene from beyond the bushes was an enormous tyrannosaurus rex.

“That’s odd,” said Astrid.

“What?” asked Toby.

“The t-rex should be roaring and chomping and generally being scary. It’s the only dinosaur not working. I think I’ll take a look at it. Maybe it’s something minor.”

“Trust Astrid to turn riding a roller coaster into an electronics experiment,” said Denise.

“You guys go on ahead,” said Toby. “I’ll stay with Astrid and fix the dinosaur, and then we’ll follow you.”

“You sure you don’t mind?” asked Valerie.

“Go ahead,” assured Astrid. “I’m sure we won’t be more than a minute.”

While Christopher, Austin, Denise, and the two Valeries continued through the last arched doorway to the ride entrance, Astrid led Toby to the base of the monstrous creature. Pulling out her pocket toolkit, she unfastened four screws on the tyrannosaurus’s hip and opened a large panel.

“Uh-oh.”

“Is that what I think it is?” asked Toby, pointing to a cylindrical metallic object behind the panel.

“Do you think it’s a pressure cooker connected to digital clock?”

“No, I think it’s a bomb.”

“Well, either way, you’re right.”

The following morning found Astrid walking in the front door of the Maxxim R&D building. The half-mile wide, fourteen-story structure dominated the northwest corner of the Maxxim Industries campus. The campus, sprawling across 180,000 acres of the American southwest, featured machine shops, office buildings, factories, power plants, and its own airport. It was here, where for the past forty-two years, thousands of Maxxim products had been developed and produced, making the Maxxim family very wealthy and making the world a better place in which to live.

Astrid took the glass elevator up to her lab on the fourteenth floor. As she stepped out, she saw Mrs. Purcell, the office manager, at her desk surrounded by several Maxxim employees. As she approached, they glanced nervously in her direction and then hurried away.

“What’s up, Mrs. Purcell?”

“It’s nothing really, Astrid. Some people are just worried about their jobs.”

“Why? Did they do something that might get them fired… no, never mind, don’t tell me.”

“It’s nothing like that,” Mrs. Purcell assured her. “It’s everything that’s happening in the stock market.”

Astrid gave her a blank look.

“You should pay more attention to what’s going on, Astrid.”

“Wall Street just seems so far away,” said the girl inventor. “I’ve never been that interested in finance.”

“I dare say you can afford not to be. No matter what happens to Maxxim Industries, your family will be one of the richest in the country.”

“What do you mean ‘no matter what happens?’ What could happen? Maxxim Industries is the largest, richest company in the world.”

“Actually as of last week, it was number six. As of this morning, it’s number fifteen.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Purcell,” said Astrid, before walking to her lab. Once there, she picked up her Maxxim tablet and plopped into an overstuffed easy chair. She called up the recent financial news and read through the headlines. Maxxim Investors Worry Over R&D Costs. Maxxim Shares at a Six Year Low. Maxxim CEO Under Fire. Maxxim Earnings Call Larger Than Expected, Investors Not Appeased. Maxxim Needs Products, Not Financial Gimmicks. Maxxim Launches Stock Buyback. It didn’t make much sense to Astrid. As long as she could remember, her grandfather’s company had been the bedrock of her existence. Maxxim Industries was the main employer for adjacent Maxxim City and the nearby Indian reservation. It funded Rachel Carson High School that Astrid attended. And it allowed her to be a girl inventor, without worrying too much about money. She guiltily glanced back at the headline that mentioned R&D costs. She had probably had a hand in that.

“Maybe we shouldn’t even be down here,” said Austin Tretower, as he looked around the gloomy basement. “Are you sure it’s okay with your parents?”

“Of course it’s okay with them,” replied girl inventor Astrid Maxxim. “We just need to carry this crate upstairs. That’s why I called the three of you.”

Austin looked at the dusty wooden container labeled Antarctic Expedition 1928.

“This is just about the point in the conversation when The Thing explodes from the box and eats our faces.”

“There’s rope handle on each side,” Astrid pointed out. “You and I will take the sides. Toby can take the top end and Valerie the bottom. Then we’ll just carry it right up the stairs.”

The four teenagers looked at one another, nodded in agreement, and then each took their respective handle and lifted. Five minutes later, they were at the top of the stairs and set the crate down on the floor of the Maxxim family room.

Astrid Maxxim was five foot five and startlingly cute. Her strawberry blond hair was cut to shoulder length, setting off her very large blue eyes. Astrid’s friend Austin was a sandy-haired boy who seemed thoroughly average in just about every way. He had only recently moved to Maxxim City, but was already a part of Astrid’s close circle of friends. The third member of the group was Toby Bundersmith. Toby had lived next door to Astrid since she was born and embodied, at least in Astrid’s opinion, everything good about a boy. He was tall and handsome, with brown bangs cut just above his hazel eyes. Finally there was Valerie. Valerie was a robot copy of a fourteen year old girl, built by Astrid earlier that year and programmed with the memories of Astrid’s long-time friend Valerie Diaz. Robot Valerie originally had bright silver skin, but after returning from Hawaii, Astrid had covered it with a bluish metallic polycarbonate so that she would be more water resistant. Thanks to another recent upgrade, she also had bright blue shoulder length hair. She was just a bit shorter than Astrid.

“What’s in that dusty old thing anyway?” asked Valerie’s flesh-and-blood twin from where she sat on the couch, with her feet curled up under her. Though she shared the robot’s features, her raven hair and flashing brown eyes made it only too clear that she was entirely human. “It’s not The Thing, is it?”

“See, I’m not the only one,” said Austin.

“You know Valerie could have carried that upstairs all by herself. She’s very strong.”

“I don’t want to go down in that basement by myself,” said Robot Valerie. “It’s spooky.”

“All three of you are just being silly,” said Astrid. “Now, let’s get this open and you’ll see that there’s nothing in there. Well, there will be something, but not The Thing.”

A rusty hasp, with an ancient padlock in it, held down the lid of the box. The wood was so old however that the hasp and the hinges on the opposite side all pulled loose. Toby helped Astrid lift the lid and set it to the side. Nestled neatly within the box were four stacks of manilla file folders.

“Oh great,” said Austin. “It’s worse than The Thing. It’s homework.”