with Zee as Zee toe-flipped her skateboard and caught it under her arm.
“Did it finally work?” Zee asked. She was referring, as she did every morning, to the pitcher of water she’d rigged to Gabby’s alarm.
“Pavlov totally would have had me put to sleep,” Gabby admitted.
“You’re killing me,” Zee said. She threw her non-skateboard-holding arm around Gabby’s shoulders, and they walked into Brensville Middle School. “Come with me,
Gabs,” she said. “I worked up something new for the L-Man over the weekend.”
The L-Man was Ellerbee, the school janitor. His office was right across from the office of the principal. In the first week of school, Zee had rigged some pencils, rubber bands, and a tiny
engine into a flying drone that she let loose in the middle of English. She got sent to Tate’s, but while she was waiting she saw Ellerbee struggling with a broken vacuum cleaner. Zee fixed
it, and the two became friendly. Apparently, Ellerbee’s son, who now lived pretty far away and never visited, had been into robotics when he was Zee’s age, so Ellerbee understood
Zee’s dreams of building a bot worthy of a national championship. He also understood why Zee wanted nothing to do with the school’s official robotics team, which was manned by Principal
Tate. Principal Tate was a man who believed in following rules no matter what, even when those rules sucked the creative life out of something. Ellerbee’s son had been more like Zee, and
Ellerbee loved sharing his son’s old tricks and ideas with her. In return, Zee tried to use her skills to make his job a little easier.
“ZZ Top! Gabby MacGregor!” Ellerbee cried in his thick Scottish accent as he rolled back in his chair. Unlike the principal’s palace across the way, Ellerbee’s office was
little more than a glorified walk-in closet. Shelves crammed with squeeze bottles of cleanser, rags, and buckets lined the walls, while large vacuums, mops, brooms, and buffers crowded the floor.
Ellerbee’s desk was actually a repurposed lower shelf. His roller chair barely fit beneath it.
“Good to see ya, L-Man!” Zee said.
“Hi, Ellerbee,” Gabby added with a smile. She looked at Ellerbee’s framed picture of his hometown—the one he always kept on his desk. He’d told Zee he hadn’t
been back to Ayr in forty-five years, but he still missed it. Gabby wondered if Philip’s family and Vondlejax felt the same way about their home planets.
“Totally hooked you up,” Zee said. Her backpack was already on the ground, and she dug inside until she pulled out what looked like foot clips for skis. “Still got the Roombas
I juiced for you?”
“Aye, taking up space, I’m afraid,” Ellerbee said. He gestured to a pair of round robotic vacuum cleaners Zee had found at a secondhand store. She’d fixed them and rigged
them with jet power, so Ellerbee could let them loose and have them finish his work in record time. Unfortunately, the first time he tried one, it slammed into a shelving unit in the science room
and spilled sulfuric acid all over the floor. Zee had wanted to pay for the damages herself, but Ellerbee wouldn’t let her. He had Tate dock it from his paycheck.
“It’s a Newton thing,” Zee said as she used the tools in her overalls to tinker with the Roombas and clips. “An object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an
external force.
You
, L-Man, will be that external force.” She stood back and gestured to her creation. “I call it…the Shoomba.”
Ellerbee cautiously slipped his feet into the shoelike clamps that were now secured onto the robot vacuums. “You’re asking me to ride on these, lassie?”
Zee nodded. “You lean to steer. Try it!”
“Not with you here, ZZ,” Ellerbee chuckled. “Don’t want you to get in trouble if things fly south. You get ready for class, and I’ll let you know how they
work.”
He and Zee exchanged fist bumps, he waved to Gabby, then the two girls trooped
“Did it finally work?” Zee asked. She was referring, as she did every morning, to the pitcher of water she’d rigged to Gabby’s alarm.
“Pavlov totally would have had me put to sleep,” Gabby admitted.
“You’re killing me,” Zee said. She threw her non-skateboard-holding arm around Gabby’s shoulders, and they walked into Brensville Middle School. “Come with me,
Gabs,” she said. “I worked up something new for the L-Man over the weekend.”
The L-Man was Ellerbee, the school janitor. His office was right across from the office of the principal. In the first week of school, Zee had rigged some pencils, rubber bands, and a tiny
engine into a flying drone that she let loose in the middle of English. She got sent to Tate’s, but while she was waiting she saw Ellerbee struggling with a broken vacuum cleaner. Zee fixed
it, and the two became friendly. Apparently, Ellerbee’s son, who now lived pretty far away and never visited, had been into robotics when he was Zee’s age, so Ellerbee understood
Zee’s dreams of building a bot worthy of a national championship. He also understood why Zee wanted nothing to do with the school’s official robotics team, which was manned by Principal
Tate. Principal Tate was a man who believed in following rules no matter what, even when those rules sucked the creative life out of something. Ellerbee’s son had been more like Zee, and
Ellerbee loved sharing his son’s old tricks and ideas with her. In return, Zee tried to use her skills to make his job a little easier.
“ZZ Top! Gabby MacGregor!” Ellerbee cried in his thick Scottish accent as he rolled back in his chair. Unlike the principal’s palace across the way, Ellerbee’s office was
little more than a glorified walk-in closet. Shelves crammed with squeeze bottles of cleanser, rags, and buckets lined the walls, while large vacuums, mops, brooms, and buffers crowded the floor.
Ellerbee’s desk was actually a repurposed lower shelf. His roller chair barely fit beneath it.
“Good to see ya, L-Man!” Zee said.
“Hi, Ellerbee,” Gabby added with a smile. She looked at Ellerbee’s framed picture of his hometown—the one he always kept on his desk. He’d told Zee he hadn’t
been back to Ayr in forty-five years, but he still missed it. Gabby wondered if Philip’s family and Vondlejax felt the same way about their home planets.
“Totally hooked you up,” Zee said. Her backpack was already on the ground, and she dug inside until she pulled out what looked like foot clips for skis. “Still got the Roombas
I juiced for you?”
“Aye, taking up space, I’m afraid,” Ellerbee said. He gestured to a pair of round robotic vacuum cleaners Zee had found at a secondhand store. She’d fixed them and rigged
them with jet power, so Ellerbee could let them loose and have them finish his work in record time. Unfortunately, the first time he tried one, it slammed into a shelving unit in the science room
and spilled sulfuric acid all over the floor. Zee had wanted to pay for the damages herself, but Ellerbee wouldn’t let her. He had Tate dock it from his paycheck.
“It’s a Newton thing,” Zee said as she used the tools in her overalls to tinker with the Roombas and clips. “An object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an
external force.
You
, L-Man, will be that external force.” She stood back and gestured to her creation. “I call it…the Shoomba.”
Ellerbee cautiously slipped his feet into the shoelike clamps that were now secured onto the robot vacuums. “You’re asking me to ride on these, lassie?”
Zee nodded. “You lean to steer. Try it!”
“Not with you here, ZZ,” Ellerbee chuckled. “Don’t want you to get in trouble if things fly south. You get ready for class, and I’ll let you know how they
work.”
He and Zee exchanged fist bumps, he waved to Gabby, then the two girls trooped
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