Time Benders Read online

  MAJOR TIME BENDAGE

  Zack squeezed his eyes closed and then reopened them slowly. “This can’t be happening. It’s not real.”

  The leader raised his arm and two soldiers leaped from their chariots and shoved the boys, forcing them to bow all the way to the ground.

  “Feels real to me.” Jeff reached for his basketball.

  “It can’t be,” Zack whispered. “Did you hear what he said? He works for Tutankhamen.”

  “So?”

  “Tutankhamen ruled Egypt around 1360 B.C.”

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  YEARLING BOOKS are designed especially to entertain and enlighten young people. Patricia Reilly Giff, consultant to this series, received her bachelor’s degree from Marymount College and a master’s degree in history from St. John’s University. She holds a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University. She was a teacher and reading consultant for many years, and is the author of numerous books for young readers.

  Published by

  Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers

  a division of

  Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

  1540 Broadway

  New York, New York 10036

  Copyright © 1997 by Gary Paulsen

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

  The trademarks Yearling® and Dell® are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-80406-8

  Series design: Barbara Berger

  Interior illustration by Michael David Biegel

  v3.1

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by Yearling

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Dear Readers:

  Real adventure is many things—it’s danger and daring and sometimes even a struggle for life or death. From competing in the Iditarod dogsled race across Alaska to sailing the Pacific Ocean, I’ve experienced some of this adventure myself. I try to capture this spirit in my stories, and each time I sit down to write, that challenge is a bit of an adventure in itself.

  You’re all a part of this adventure as well. Over the years I’ve had the privilege of talking with many of you in schools, and this book is the result of hearing firsthand what you want to read about most—power-packed adventure and excitement.

  You asked for it—so hang on tight while we jump into another thrilling story in my World of Adventure.

  CHAPTER 1

  DENVER

  Twelve-year-old Zack Griffin leaned back at his desk with his hands folded behind his head. His science teacher was explaining the directions for a government-sponsored intelligence test she wanted them to take.

  Zack yawned. This class was boring. He couldn’t believe the government wanted in on it. His teacher had told the class the government wanted to start a program for future scientists and was testing to see who might qualify.

  Zack let his feet drop to the floor and glanced at the first page of the test. It was the usual mumbo jumbo designed to see if his IQ was as high as the school claimed.

  In the top corner of the test, where he was not supposed to write, Zack drew a picture of Mrs. Johnson, his teacher. It was a perfect caricature. Two large, square teeth stuck out over her pudgy bottom lip. She looked like a chipmunk with glasses.

  “I suppose I should be flattered that you choose to recognize my existence, Mr. Griffin, since everything else in here seems to weary you.” Mrs. Johnson stood in front of his desk with her arms folded. “But we do have a test to take, so let’s get on with it. Did I mention that if your scores are high enough you will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to visit with some of America’s leading scientists?”

  Zack looked up through half-closed eyelids. “Sounds like a real blast, Mrs. J.”

  Mrs. Johnson pushed her glasses up and studied the half-asleep boy. She knew he had an IQ in the top ten percent of the entire nation and that he was unhappy “wasting” his time in her class. He would rather be at home working on one of his many inventions. She sighed. “Give it a try, Zack. This one could be different.”

  LOS ANGELES

  “Jeff, would you bring me that stack of government tests from the principal’s desk? I need to get those mailed today.”

  “Sure thing, Mrs. Olsen.” The tall twelve-year-old office aide used the secretary’s key and let himself into the principal’s office. “I don’t see them,” he called.

  “They’re in the manila envelope.”

  “Oh yeah, here they are.” Jeff Brown carried the envelope outside and put it on Mrs. Olsen’s desk. “What’s the deal with these tests anyway?”

  The secretary smiled at the boy. “I just do what I’m told. All I know is, students across the country who score high enough get to go to Washington and meet some very important people.”

  “Really?” Jeff frowned. “It figures. The nerds get all the breaks. How come us regular guys never get trips and stuff?”

  Mrs. Olsen raised an eyebrow. “Anyone can take the test, Jeff. If you’re interested, there’s a blank one in the filing cabinet.”

  Jeff chewed on the inside of his lip. “Why not? I don’t have anything to lose.” He went to the cabinet and looked through the files. When he found the test, he sat on the floor next to the secretary’s desk and quickly began filling in the circles on the answer sheet.

  “I don’t want to inhibit your creativity, Jeff. But don’t you think you should take the time to read the questions before you fill in the answers?”

  Jeff grinned. “No time. Basketball practice is right after school and Coach doesn’t like us to be late.”

  CHAPTER 2

  “Excuse me, sir. You need to put on your seat belt. We’re about to land.”

  Zack glanced at the flight attendant and nodded. He fastened his belt and checked his watch. They were fifteen minutes late. It didn’t bother him. In fact nothing about this trip bothered him. It was getting him out of class for a whole week.

  The plane made a fairly smooth landing and taxied to the terminal. When it stopped, Zack carefully pulled a brown canvas duffel bag out of the overhead storage compartment and unzipped it. The electronic equipment inside looked all right. He’d brought along his latest experiment just in case he needed something interesting to do while he was in Washington.

  He backed into the aisle and bumped into one of the passengers. “Sorry.”

  “No problem.” A tall kid about his age grinned at him.

  Zack couldn’t help smiling back. Then he turned and walked off the pl
ane in search of the baggage carousel.

  Twenty minutes later he was sitting near the baggage claim waiting for someone from the Institute of American Science to pick him up. The tall boy from the plane stood nearby, noisily bouncing a basketball while he listened to his CD player.

  Thirty more minutes passed. The waiting area had cleared out except for an elderly couple, a family of four, and the two boys.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of sitting here.” The tall boy had taken off his earphones and was standing beside Zack. “Want to split a taxi?”

  Zack scratched his head. “Uh, sure. I guess so. Looks like my ride’s forgotten me. I’m supposed to be staying at the Fairmont. How about you?”

  “Hey, that’s where I’m staying too. Cool. Say, you aren’t one of the ner—I mean genius types who won a trip here because of some dopey test, are you?”

  “Afraid so. You?”

  “It’s a long story, but yeah, that’s why I’m here too. I’m Jeff. Jeff Brown from L.A.”

  “Zack Griffin, Denver.”

  “Great. Need any help with your stuff?” Jeff offered.

  Zack shook his head. “I can handle it.”

  “Okay then. Let’s get out of here.” Jeff led the way through the lobby. “If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll spot a video arcade on the way to the hotel.”

  CHAPTER 3

  “How did you do that? Nobody scores that high playing Super Body Crushers on their first try.” Jeff lifted his suitcase out of the trunk of the taxi.

  Zack shrugged. “I just watched you play and then figured out the game’s program. It wasn’t much of a challenge.”

  “Are you kidding me? That’s the toughest game there is.”

  Zack balanced the duffel under his arm and picked up his other bag. “If you say so.”

  Jeff followed his new friend inside the hotel. “Does everything come that easy to you?”

  “Some things don’t.” Zack stopped a few feet from the registration desk. He eyed Jeff’s basketball. “I’m not very good at sports.”

  “That’s too bad.” Jeff gave him a sympathetic look.

  “There you are!” A short, balding man rushed over to them. “We’ve been frantic. Our driver somehow missed your flight. I’m Cummings from the Institute. The rest of the group has already left for the laboratory. Let’s get you two registered and we’ll be on our way.”

  “Wait,” Jeff said. “Don’t we get to go up to check out our rooms first and get settled in?”

  Mr. Cummings rolled his eyes. “Young man, I already explained that we’re late for the tour. Which means we’ll also be late for the presentation and the dinner if we don’t get a move on.”

  “But what about our stuff?” Zack asked.

  “Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll leave it with the desk clerk and he’ll have a bellhop take it up to your room.”

  “There’s no way I’m leaving my CD player or this ball with strangers. The disk player is brand new and the ball is signed by Charles Barkley.”

  “And I can’t leave this bag. The things in it are too valuable.” Zack clutched it to his chest.

  “Oh, very well. Keep them if you must.” Mr. Cummings moved to the desk to make the arrangements. In a few moments he returned to the boys and rubbed his hands together. “We’re all set. Shall we go?” He hurried toward the door without waiting for an answer.

  Zack looked at Jeff. “Are you as excited about this as I am?”

  Jeff spun his basketball on one finger. “Maybe we can ditch the little guy and go back to Video World. You can show me how to beat that game.”

  “On one condition.” Zack smiled. “You have to show me how you do that.” He pointed at the spinning ball.

  “Deal.”

  CHAPTER 4

  “And this wing houses some of our most important projects.” A tall gray-haired man wearing a white lab coat led the group down a long hall. He opened a door. “In here we have the latest in telecommunications experiments. Feel free to wander around the room and observe, but please do not touch anything.”

  Zack stopped behind one of the scientists, pulled a small notebook from his shirt pocket, and hastily began scribbling notes.

  “I thought we were gonna take off,” Jeff whispered.

  “In a minute. Some of this stuff’s more interesting than I thought.”

  “Right. Looking at a bunch of wires and glass tubes has always been my idea of a good time.” Jeff watched the students milling around the various workstations. They all looked like they belonged here. One kid was actually wearing a bow tie and pocket protector.

  “Just my luck,” Jeff muttered to himself. “My first night in D.C. and I’m stuck in a stupid laboratory with a bunch of brainiacs.”

  “Now if you’ll all come this way …” The gray-haired man led them across the hall. “In this area we are conducting experiments dealing with time and space. Once again, feel free to look, but don’t touch.”

  “Come on,” Jeff whispered. “Now’s our chance to escape.”

  “In a minute.” Zack moved to the back of the room, where a scientist with white hair that stuck out all over his head was hunched over a table. The man looked suspiciously at the two boys. “Are you interested in time bending?”

  “I’m not sure.” Zack studied the intricate equipment in front of him. “What is it?”

  The scientist cocked his head. “Why, it’s rearranging time, of course. You’ve seen how light can be turned and sent in another direction through the use of fiber optics, haven’t you? Well, you can do the same thing with time—if you know how to bend it.”

  Zack stepped closer. “How does it work?”

  “The subject puts on this headgear, which is attached to the computer, and then sets the clock forward or backward depending on his needs—”

  “Dr. Cranium.” The tall gray-haired man who was acting as their tour guide spoke in a loud disapproving voice. “You should also tell our guests that these particular experiments work only in theory, not in reality. We wouldn’t want to fill our future scientists’ heads with a lot of superstition, now, would we? Come this way, gentlemen. The tour will be moving down the hall to view some fascinating work in the area of fats and acids.”

  “Fascinating,” Jeff mumbled.

  Zack hung back. “I’d like to get a better look at that machine.”

  “What? That time bender thing?”

  “Yeah. Imagine how great it would be to do something really crazy and then set the dial and go back like nothing happened.”

  “I knew you and I had a lot in common.” Jeff rubbed his chin. “Tell you what. I’ll get you back in here later. But when you’re finished looking around you have to promise to go downtown and show me how to beat that game.”

  Zack followed the tour out the door. “How are we going to get away from the rest of the group?”

  “Just leave it to me. And be ready to take off when I give you the signal.”

  CHAPTER 5

  “I know you’re all anxious for dinner to begin. Especially since the food we will be enjoying this evening has actually been manufactured right here in our own laboratories. But before we get to that, the Institute would like to thank you for coming and make a few presentations based on your academic achievements and test scores.”

  Jeff caught Zack’s eye across the table. Jeff was about to put his escape plan into motion when someone called his name. He looked up. The speaker at the head table was staring at him expectantly.

  The speaker smiled. “I guess he’s a little shy. Come on up here, Mr. Brown, and receive your award for attaining the highest score ever on the American Institute’s intelligence test.”

  The students were clapping. Jeff stumbled to his feet and hesitantly walked to the front.

  When the clapping had died down, the speaker, a serious-looking woman in a business suit, handed him a plaque and shook his hand enthusiastically. “I understand that your best score was in quantum physics, Jeff. Would yo
u be willing to answer any questions the audience might have for you in that area?”

  Jeff swallowed. A girl at the first table raised her hand. “I have a question about the sub-microscopic mechanical vibrations in the layers of atoms compromising crystals.”

  The room was silent. Jeff bit his lip. “I, uh … well, you see, it’s … I mean … it’s sorta like this.…”

  Zack stood up. “Listen, if you’re going to ask him baby questions, why bother? Jeff is way beyond that stuff. Right now he’s working on an experiment that involves electromagnetic interactions with the exchange of virtual particles in gravitational forces.”

  An excited murmur swept around the room and the audience began clapping wildly. Jeff bowed and quickly found his way to his seat.

  Zack winked at him. Jeff nodded toward the exit. When the speaker called the name of the next student the two boys grabbed their things and headed for the door.

  Outside, Jeff leaned against the wall and breathed a long sigh of relief. “Thanks for covering for me in there. How did you know?”

  “Just a hunch. Anybody who looks at a revolutionary telecommunications station and calls it a bunch of wires and tubes is probably not really into physics.”

  “Then I guess you’re wondering how I managed to win the trip, since I’m not a certified genius like the rest of you.”

  Zack shook his head. “Not really. However you did it, you were able to pull it off. That takes somebody pretty sharp.”

  “You’re okay, Zack.” Jeff stopped in front of the door to the laboratory. “Ready?”

  Jeff nodded. “Sure. Because as soon as you get done snooping we’re out of here and on our way to the arcade.”

  Zack slowly pushed the door open. The lab was empty.

  They made their way to the back of the room, where Dr. Cranium’s experiment was sitting on a glass table. Zack quickly put his bag down and pulled out his notebook.

  Jeff watched Zack examine the machine’s parts and write furiously. Jeff looked down at his watch and then twirled his basketball. It was still early. The arcade would be open for at least three more hours.