Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Expedition Read online

  Astrid blushed.

  “Thirty-nine days,” she said, and then blushed again, even more furiously. “Um… well, you could still come.”

  “No I can’t. I have to be in Belgium on the second.”

  “I guess a chance to intern at the EU headquarters is just too much to pass up,” said Astrid.

  “Technically there is no headquarters of the EU. I’m interning at the second seat of the European Parliament…” He stopped and looked at her. “But then of course, you knew that. You’re making fun of me.”

  “I am not,” said Astrid, sticking her straw into her soda. “I just like it when you talk.”

  She took a sip of her soda. Toby poked a straw into his. Suddenly liquid shot out of the straw like a fountain into his lap.

  “Hey!” Several people around started laughing. “Irving booby-trapped me!” he growled, grabbing handfuls of napkins from the dispenser to clean up the mess.

  “It happens,” said Astrid. “The ice cream formed a barrier and the soda built up pressure. When your straw pierced the barrier, the liquid escaped the only way it could.”

  “And with enthusiasm,” said Irving, arriving with their fries. He handed Toby a small towel.

  “Wow, that’s cold,” said Toby, doing his best to clean off his trousers.

  “See, now you don’t have to go to Antarctica,” laughed Astrid. “You know just how I’m going to feel the whole time I’m there.”

  “The point I was trying to make, Astrid, was that I’m really going to miss you.”

  “I’m going to miss you too,” she said. “But we’ve still got a few days left to enjoy. Let’s go for a drive tomorrow. And remember, we’re all going to Joyland Saturday.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  Chapter Three: The Terrible T-Rex

  The next two days went by very quickly. Astrid spent the mornings in her lab and the afternoon with her friends. On Thursday, she and Toby took a ride on their hoverbikes to the Saguaro Cactus Park just inside the Maxxim Campus. They could have taken the monorail, but hoverbikes were so much more fun. They weren’t alone either. Astrid spotted three other hoverbikes zooming around. Friday, the entire gang assembled at Toby’s for a pool party. They ate hot dogs and chips and tamales supplied by Valerie’s mother.

  “It’s a good thing I’m heading to Antarctica,” Astrid told Denise, as they floated in the shallow end of the pool, watching Toby and Christopher perform on the diving board. “It’s only been a week and a day since school let out and I’ve already had way too much fun.”

  “Maybe for you,” replied Denise. “As far as I’m concerned, too much fun is never enough.”

  The next day everyone was at Joyland, having flown their hoverbikes. Once through the gates, they rode the Log Flume, the Evolution, the Whip, and the Bumper Cars, before stopping for a mid-morning snack of corn dogs, ice tea, and deep-fried Oreos.

  “Should we eat before we go on the Screaming Pterodactyl?” asked Austin.

  “It’s better to have something on your stomach,” replied Denise. “Just don’t eat too much, especially if you’re sitting in front of me. On second thought, sit behind me, just to be safe.”

  “Astrid!” called a voice. The group turned as one to see a chubby, balding man hurrying toward them. He stopped, panting and sweating, in front of the girl inventor.

  “Hello Mr. Bernhard,” said Astrid. “Let me order you an ice tea. You look a bit warm.”

  The man waved the suggestion aside. “I wish you had let me know you were coming, Astrid.”

  “Why? What’s up?”

  “I want you to be the first one to try out the new Screaming Pterodactyl, and I understand you won’t be here when we have the grand opening on Independence Day.”

  “We’ve all ridden on the Screaming Pterodactyl,” said Denise.

  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 cr
eatures 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.”

  “Should I call the police?” asked Toby, whipping out his cell phone.

  “No, wait. This doesn't look all that sophisticated, but there could be a receiver in here, and that might set the bomb off with a cell signal. Let me disarm it, and then we'll call Chief Gillespie.”

  Astrid put away her screwdriver and took out a tiny pair of wire snips. Toby peered over her shoulder.

  “Do you know whether to cut the red wire or the blue wire?”

  “Whoever made this used only red wires,” explained Astrid. “You can see they wired it into the t-rex’s power. They’ve set the alarm to go off about an hour from now. I’m sure they expected it to be turned on opening day. They wanted it to explode when there were a lot of people in the queue line. It’s probably filled with nails or BBs.”

  “That’s horrible,” said Toby.

  “In any case, it doesn’t matter which wire I cut between the clock and the explosives. It’s a closed circuit. Cut either wire and you open the circuit. It's like adding a switch.”

  She snipped through one of the wires.

  “Here, hold onto this,” she said. Toby reached over and took the end of one of the wires. “Don’t let it touch anything.” Astrid took a small piece of electrical tape and covered the end of the wire. “Just in case,” she said.

  “You don’t see that in the movies.”

  “Step over there and call Chief Gillespie,” said Astrid, looking up at him.

  Toby quickly stepped about twenty feet away and made the call on his cell phone. In less than two minutes he returned.

  “The bomb squad is on its way,” he said. “You know they’ll close down the park for the rest of the day.”

  “Yes, and Denise is going to blame me for that.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “It’s what she does.”

  Thirty minutes later the whole gang stood beside their hoverbikes and strapped on their helmets. The last patrons were being escorted out Joyland’s main gait as the Maxxim City Police Department secured the area and hunted for any other possible devices.

  “Well I hope you’re happy,” Denise told Astrid with a frown. “I didn’t even get to ride the Screaming Pterodactyl.”

  “Astrid didn’t put the bomb in the park, Denise,” said Valerie.

  “She didn’t disarm it just to ruin your day either,” said Toby.

  “I’m sure she doesn’t set out to ruin my day, but that’s just what happens. So far this year, I’ve been shot at with a missile and almost been eaten by a shark, and it’s only June.”

  “At least you haven’t been kidnapped,” said Robot Valerie. “Twice.”

  “Hey, I got bit by a rattlesnake,” said Austin.

  “That was your own fault,” said Christopher. “Astrid wasn’t even there.”

  “I know. I’m just saying, I got bit by a rattlesnake. It hurt too.”

  “Say, that was a time bomb, right?” asked Denise.

  “Yes,” both Astrid and Toby answered.

  “And how much time was left on the timer?”

  “About an hour,” said Toby.

  “Well you see there?” said Denise. “She could have waited about twenty minutes. I would have been through the ride by then.”

  Astrid’s parents were no happier than Denise was, though for different reasons. That evening, when she returned from playing board games at Christopher’s house, they both had stern expressions on their faces.

  “Astrid,” said her father. “You can’t just do anything you want. You’re only fourteen years old.”

  “And we would like you to reach fifteen,” added her mother.

  “I didn’t build the bomb or put it in the amusement park.”

  “Of course you didn’t,” said Dr. Maxxim. “As soon as you saw what it was though, you should have gotten out of the area and called the police.”

  “This is the kind of thing you leave to experts,” added her mother.

  “What if I had left it and it had exploded?” asked Astrid. “If anybody had been hurt because I didn’t act when I could have, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”

  “And that’s how we would feel if anything happened to you, Astrid,” said her father. “I know you have to decide what to do when you are on your own, but please keep that in mind.”

  Chapter Four: Trouble at the Launch Site

  The next day was Father’s Day, so Astrid got up early and made her dad breakfast. When she had fried a ham steak, toasted cinnamon raisin bread, and fried the eggs, she loaded the whole thing onto a tray, along with a tall glass of orange juice, and put it in the tiny square car of the dumbwaiter. Pulling the rope, she hefted it up to the second floor. Then running to the front of the house, she hurried up the stairs and into the seldom-used music room, where the dumbwaiter opened on the second floor. Then she carried the breakfast to the back of the house and knocked on her parents’ door.

  “Come in,” said her father’s voice.

  Astrid opened the door to find that he was already up, though still in his pajamas, and was making the bed. Astrid’s mother, as usual, was long gone.

  “I made you breakfast in bed.”

  “That was sweet.” He smiled.

  “So… get back in bed.”

  Dr. Maxxim looked at her for just a moment and then hopped back onto the bed, propping himself up on a pillow and crossing his legs at the ankles.

  “That’s better. Here,” said Astrid, setting the tray on his lap.

  “It looks delicious. Um, do you want me to use my fingers to eat?”

  “Shoot!” shouted Astrid, and ran back out of the room. She was back in a minute with a fork and a knife. “Here you go. Now you can eat just like civilized people everywhere… except Japan, and China I guess, and most of Asia. Do you want chopsticks instead?”

  Dr. Maxxim laughed. “No, I’ll make due with the fork.”

  “Is it good?” asked Astrid as her father took a bite of ham.

  “Delicious. Now what’s this I hear about a present?”

  “Do you want it now or tonight?”

  “Why? What’s tonight?”

  “Um, we’re having dinner,” said Astrid. “Then Mom can see your present too.”

  “Oh, all right.”

  Astrid’s mother discouraged her from going to the lab on Sundays, but she often did so anyway. Since she was leaving the following day and would be gone for more than a month, Astrid thought her mother might not even mind if she popped in. She would take a quick look around and make sure she hadn’t left anything important undone. Zipping over the trees on her hoverbike, she crossed the Maxxim Indus
tries campus and set down just outside the R&D building. No one was around, but a quick keycard swipe gave her access.

  On the fourteenth floor, Astrid took stock of the experiments she had set up. There was nothing pressing and nothing much she could do with any of her current projects. Walking from one table to the other, she examined the space plane model, the offshoot of Project RG-7, the drawings of the electric car, and a stack of bagged ground Astridium for which she had found several environmental uses.

  “Well, I guess everything will be fine until I get back,” she said to herself.

  On the way out of the building, Astrid took the glass elevator down to the large atrium just inside the front door. She absentmindedly stopped to view a display of Maxxim Industries products, past and present. There were cameras and video recorders, radios and televisions, computers and personal digital assistants, board games and dolls.

  “Dolls,” she said to herself, shaking her head.

  Then she turned and ran back to the elevator, returning to her lab. She quickly looked at the four projects that she had examined before, but looked at them with an entirely different eye. Grabbing her digital tablet from her desk, she logged onto the bookstore and looked for a book on business. The first one she found was Business for Dummies, which she refused to purchase, but the second was a textbook for an advanced MBA course. She purchased it and waited 40 seconds for it to download. Sitting down in the plush desk chair, she read through the introductory chapter.

  “Just as I thought,” she said. But she knew she had a lot more to learn. She determined that she would read the rest of the book during her evenings at the bottom of the world.

  Switching to her contacts, she placed a call.

  “Hello?” said a woman’s voice at the other end.

  “May I speak to Maxwell Bauer please?”

  “May I ask who’s calling?”

  “Astrid Maxxim.”

  “Astrid Maxxim, the girl inventor?”

  “Um, yes.”

  “Hold on please.”

  A moment later, a rich baritone voice came over the speaker.

  “Miss Maxxim, to what do I owe this pleasure?”