Shark!

Denise Brown tapped frantically on her friend Astrid’s shoulder to get her attention. Astrid Maxxim’s focus, like the focus of her underwater camera, was fixed on the bright orange starfish, which rested on the top of the coral outcropping as if waiting for its picture to be taken. Astrid snapped a photo before turning to see what was agitating her dive partner. Denise pointed at the shark, and then to make sure that she was getting the message across, made a fin with her hand and put it on top of her head. Astrid held up her fingers about an inch apart in the universal symbol for small. Denise shook her head violently and shot up toward the surface.

In exasperation, Astrid blew out bubbles around her regulator, and then kicked her way back up to the surface of the Mediterranean. She spat out her mouthpiece and pulled the dive mask up onto her forehead.

“We’ve got fifteen minutes left before we’re done,” she said.

“Shark!” shouted Denise, scrambling up the ladder that hung from the side of the small boat.

“Shark?” said Toby Bundersmith, who was waiting topside. He threw aside his Batman comic and helped Denise up the ladder. “That’s lucky. I was hoping to see a shark when I was in the water, but I didn’t.”

“Come on, Denise,” called Astrid. “I still haven’t got a picture of a lobster yet.”

“There is a shark!”

“It’s only a little one,” said Astrid. “It is more afraid of you than you are of it.”

“That’s not possible,” said Denise. “And it wasn’t little. It was big—large, hefty, colossal, enormous, gigantic, mammoth, massive, oversized, tremendous, vast.”

Astrid tossed the camera up to Toby. “It was little—tiny, inconsequential, minuscule, petite, teeny, undersized, microscopic, miniature, did I say miniature already, no? runty, bitty, wee.”

“Come on,” said Toby, holding his hand down for Astrid. “I’m getting bored up here anyway. Let’s go in and have lunch.”

“Hurry up and get in the boat before that shark gets you,” said Denise, helping Astrid up.

“Honestly,” said Astrid. “It was the size of a dachshund.”

“I got bit by a wiener dog once and had to have five stitches,” replied Denise. “He didn’t have shark’s teeth either, just regular dog teeth.”

Astrid looked over at Toby.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t really feel like going to the dance,” she said.

“That’s alright. Neither do I. Maybe we could just hang out and watch a movie.”

“Well, you kids suit yourselves,” said Dr. Maxxim. “Mr. Toulson is here, so I know you’ll be fine.

Fifteen minutes later the Maxxims had gone. Astrid had changed into a clean shirt, jeans, and sandals and had joined Toby in the family room.

“I suppose everyone else is at the dance,” said Astrid. “I mean, except Austin.”

“Denise is going with Christopher,” replied Toby. “Bud Collins asked Valerie and I think she said yes.”

“What about Robot Valerie?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think anybody asked her. Maybe they’re afraid of her laser beam eyes.”

“Now I feel doubly bad,” said Astrid. “I feel bad for Austin because he’s in the hospital and I feel bad for Robot Valerie because nobody asked her to the Spring Fling.”

“Why don’t we invite her over here?” said Toby. “We could watch a movie.”

“Alright,” replied Astrid, taking out her phone.

She called and invited Robot Valerie over. Valerie promised to come and within twenty minutes, Mr. Diaz had dropped her off at the front door. Valerie’s’ skin and hair was the same shiny metallic as always, but she wore a grey sweater and a cute black and yellow striped skirt.

“Thanks for inviting me,” she said. “I was feeling kind of lonely. How come the two of you aren’t at the dance?”

Astrid and Toby took turns telling her of the day’s events.

“That’s terrible,” she said, upon hearing of Austin’s injury. “I hope he’s alright.”

“Me too,” said Astrid. “So anyway, that’s why we didn’t feel like going to the dance.”

“I didn’t really expect anyone to ask me,” said Valerie. “I was kind of surprised when Bud asked me… the other me… I mean, Regular Valerie.”

“Come on in the family room,” said Astrid. “We’re going to watch a movie. What do you guys want to watch?”

“Raiders of the Lost Ark,” voted Toby.

“I was going to say Toy Story,” said Valerie.

“Okay,” said Astrid. “We’ll compromise and watch Princess Mononoke.”

“How is that a compromise?” asked Toby.

“It’s animated like Toy Story,” explained Astrid. “It’s also got fighting and mystical stuff like Raiders.”

“I suppose it doesn’t hurt that it’s your favorite movie,” said Valerie.

“Well, yeah. But that’s not why I suggested it.”

They all sat down on the big sofa and Astrid searched through the entertainment menu for Princess Mononoke.

“You don’t mind if I plug in while I’m here, do you?” asked Valerie.

“No, go right ahead.”

The robot girl opened the panel in her arm, pulled out the power cable, and plugged it into the wall near where she was sitting.

“What does that feel like?” asked Toby.

“It feels kind of good,” she said. “I get a warm feeling in my tummy, like I just ate some of Mama’s tamales.”

“I was going to suggest making some popcorn and having some soda,” said Toby. “I didn’t want to be rude though, since you don’t eat or drink.”

“Oh, go ahead,” said Valerie. “It won’t bother me.”

“May I use your kitchen then, to whip us up a movie snack?” Toby asked Astrid.

“Sure. The sodas are in the fridge, and the popcorn is in the cabinet right above the microwave.”

Toby stepped into the other room.

“He did at least ask you to the dance, didn’t he?” wondered Valerie.

“Yes he did,” replied Astrid. “He was really sweet. He even asked me what color my dress was so that he could get me a corsage.”

“Well, there’s always the Junior Prom for you to look forward to,” said Valerie. “I don’t guess I’ll ever get asked to a dance. I don’t think there’s any boy who wants a robot girlfriend.”

“I bet you there are…. Oh, here we go—Princess Mononoke.”

As soon as the school day was over, Astrid was back in her lab in the R&D building, this time having made the trip there with Toulson via the monorail. After checking on her ceramic mixtures, she entered the most promising compound into her digital tablet, and then used the device to call the floor manager at manufacturing facility three.

“Hello Astrid,” said the manager, her face appearing on the tablet screen.

“Hello Mrs. Trent,” said Astrid. “I need some component parts. Do you have any available man-hours and do you still have the virtual dies for the hoverdisk?”

“Yes, the dies are still right here in the computer. As for the hours, it depends on how many copies you need. You didn’t ask, but we’ve got plenty of aluminum on hand.”

“I don’t want aluminum or titanium,” said Astrid. “That’s why I called you instead of building one or two.”

“Ceramic?” asked Mrs. Trent.

“Right. I’m sending you a formula right now. I’d like you to use it for all the component parts except the housing. We’ll stay with aluminum for that. And I want all the parts reduced in size by twenty percent.”

“We can do that of course, but will you get enough lift?”

“I think we will,” said Astrid. “Between reducing the weight and the friction with this new ceramic and increasing the power with my new batteries, we should be fine.”

“How many sets would you like?”

“I imagine that it will be just as easy to make ten as it will to make one,” said Astrid.

“With this equipment, a single run will be twenty-five,” replied Mrs. Trent.

“Then give me a full run—twenty-five sets,” said Astrid. “How soon can you have them done?”

“I can run them tonight. They can be assembled and delivered to you tomorrow afternoon.”

“Excellent,” said Astrid. “Thanks.”

Once she had ended the call, Astrid went to work installing the gyros and control mechanisms in the hoverbike prototype. She was still hard at work when Toulson appeared at her side.

“It’s time to start home,” he said.

“Alright,” said Astrid. “I can’t really do anything else anyway until I get the hoverdisks.”

As they took the monorail home, Toulson offered her a compromise on the issue of security.

“I’ll take you and your friends to the train station in the van,” he suggested. “You can ride the train the rest of the way. But I will also pick you up from the station to bring you home.”

“I suppose that will be acceptable,” said Astrid.

Mrs. Maxxim was not nearly so agreeable.

“You should be punished for what you did this morning, Astrid, not rewarded.”

“There’s no point in getting too upset,” said Dr. Maxxim. “All’s well that ends well.”

His wife shot him an evil look.

“Why are we so upset?” he continued. “She snuck out of the house to go to school. How many fourteen-year-olds do that?”