Supercharged Infield by Matt Christopher

into a superathlete,
     and . . . and deaden their feelings?”
    “They’re not deadened,” Jonny said hastily. “They’re just . . . well, sort of relaxed. Weak.”
    Penny stared at him, suddenly furious. “I can’t understand it. How could a simple computer — ”
    “It’s not simple,” Jonny cut in. “Harold’s father did some work on it, making it more sophisticated than it was before. Then,
     when Dad bought it for me, I upgraded it more.”
    She couldn’t take her eyes off him. “ ‘Upgraded it more’?” she echoed, and waited for him to explain.
    He nodded. “Look, our air conditioner is on,” he said. “It’s more comfortable talking inside than it is out there. Do you
     want to come in?”
    Penny hesitated. “I’m not sure.”
    “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” he said. “Really.”
    He stepped back. Then, still a bit cautious, Penny entered the house, and Jonny closed the door behind her. He was right:
     it was much cooler inside.
    “Come on. I’ll take you to my computer room,” Jonny invited, heading toward a narrow, carpeted hall. “You probably want to
     see it now that you’re here, anyway, I think.”
    “Yes. I do,” Penny replied. “But I don’t know whether I should.”
    Jonny glanced back at her. “I want you to,” he insisted. “Please.”
    He sounded sincere. Penny considered his invitation, and her situation. If he tried to do anything to her — grab her, force
     her into whatever kind of invention he used for his incredible purpose — she could turn and run. She was a fast runner. She
     was sure she’d be out of the house and down the street before he was out the door.
    “Okay,” she said, making sure, though, that there was a gap of several feet between them.
    Jonny turned into the open door of his room and Penny followed him in. The moment she stepped across the threshold she stopped,
     breathless. The room wasn’t large, perhaps not more than nine feet square, but every shelf was crammed with books, magazines,
     and cassettes. Along two walls were the components of a computer. No.
Two
computers, on tables against each wall.
    “You can see I’ve got two monitors and two keyboards,” Jonny explained as he stood next to the system across the room from
     Penny. “This smaller one here is the one Dad bought me a couple of years ago. Thatset there,” he pointed to the larger monitor and keyboard on the table near Penny, “is the one I got from Harold. It’s got
     a dual disk drive, whereas this one is a single disk drive. With two drives you don’t have to keep switching disks, like you
     do with a single. But I guess you know that.”
    “A little,” said Penny, who was learning the fundamentals of computer literacy in school. “But how did you use it to supercharge
     those girls — or whatever it was you did to them?”
    Jonny went to the system that was next to Penny, reached around the monitor, lifted a latch, and pulled down a flap, revealing
     four sets of inch-wide rubber cups.
    Penny stared at them. “They look like electrodes,” she exclaimed, “those things they use in lie-detector tests.”
    “They’re similar,” said Jonny. He pulled one out and Penny saw that a tube was attached to it. “Put two on each arm, turn
     on the switch, and you’re ready to go,” he added, a sly grin coming over his face.
    Penny’s eyes widened. “That’s it? Put two on each arm, turn on the — ”
    “Not quite,” Jonny cut in. “There are certaincommands you have to give the computer.”
    Penny frowned, curious. “Commands? Where did you learn about the commands?”
    He looked at her. Once again he was very serious. “I programmed them into the computer.”
    “You
programmed them?” Penny felt her spine turning into an icicle, felt herself frozen to the floor. She was afraid Jonny might
     grab her, sit her down on the chair next to the computer, stick the electrodes onto her arms, and presto! change her into
     another super player. But he