Jackson suspected his best chance of avoiding the laser ball was to find a room and lock himself inside. The XP-400 couldn’t zap what it couldn’t get to, and Jackson knew the perfect place: the library. He sprinted down the hall, threw open the library door, and closed it behind him. As he caught his breath, he smiled proudly. Finally, he had outsmarted one of these so-called spies—and it had been easy. Maybe these nerds weren’t good enough to be on a team with him. He sat down at a table, kicked up his feet, and contemplated a nap. That was until he saw something he would never have believed possible. The door to the library suddenly grew bright red, and a moment later it exploded. Chunks of wood and metal flew in all directions, and the library filled with a thick, black smoke. The explosion knocked Jackson out of his chair. He scrambled to his feet as the menacing orange ball floated into the room. Before he could dash away to a better hiding spot, the XP-400 fired and stung him in the rear. It felt like he had been bitten by a shark and he screamed in agony. Instinctively, Jackson leaped behind a shelf of books and rubbed his sore behind.
“I told you it would hurt,” Duncan said. Jackson scanned the room for the chubby spy and spotted him walking along the ceiling, leaving a trail of sticky footprints.
Jackson sprinted out of the room ahead of another laser shot. He ran down the hall and darted into the cafeteria. It dawned on him that he had not taken Duncan seriously. The nerd had mentioned that this was a test of stealth—not the ability to hide behind a door. Maybe the fat toad knew what he was talking about. As Jackson peered around the room, a stack of trays exploded behind him and showered down on his head. He leaped behind a table and tried to calm his breathing. It was then that he realized he could hear the machine. It made a subtle but audible hum. It was getting closer and would be on him in no time. He had to do something—and fast. It was then he recalled an old saying often used in his PeeWee football league: “Distraction wins games.” He leaped to his feet, snatched one of the trays from the ground, and tossed it to his right. He heard the sphere dart after the tray, so he dashed in the opposite direction. He was safely behind another table before the floating ball could react.
“Stupid machine.” Jackson chuckled.
“Hey, Jackson,” Duncan shouted. He was walking along the wall.
“I’m beating your ball,” Jackson shouted back.
“I forgot to tell you something,” he said. “The sphere can replicate itself.” “It can do what?”
“It can make copies of itself!” the nerd shouted.
Suddenly, the humming grew louder and louder. Jackson looked up. Ten tetherballs hovered over his head, and moments later, the lasers fired.
RESULTS: FAILURE
Jackson met Flinch in the parking lot of the school. The nerd’s face was covered in caramel, and there were a dozen or so candy bar wrappers lying at his feet. He had a cup of convenience store soda in his hand that was bigger than his own head. He was also trembling with caffeinated joy.
“So, I suppose you’re going to beat me up too,” Jackson said. He could still feel the burning laser stings on his behind, the bruises from the back scratcher, and the place where the kindergartener’s lunch box had hit him in the skull.
Flinch shook his head wildly. It seemed everything he did was over the top. “No way! We’re going to play a game of catch, bro.”
“Catch? OK, that’s something I’m very good at,” Jackson said.
“But you’re going to use your superbraces to do it,” Flinch said. “All that technology in your mouth is awesome! We have to teach you how to use it. Luckily, a lot of it is responsive to what’s going on around you. Here, I’ll show you.”
Jackson watched Flinch step over to a teacher’s car. He turned the dial on his harness and then, in one swift motion, leaned down and picked the car up off the ground. He held it over his head like it was a feather pillow. Then he tossed it at Jackson.
Jackson screamed and instinctively ducked, though he knew it wouldn’t do much to prevent his impending death. What he couldn’t have imagined was the braces in his mouth springing to life. They forced his mouth open and several strands of metal caught the car in midair.
“Hombre, that is awesome,” Flinch shouted. “Throw it back.”
Jackson didn’t have time to think before the braces hefted the car back at the little boy. Flinch snatched it out of the air and set it back down in its parking space.
“You just threw a car at me!” Jackson yelled.
“Fun, isn’t it?” Flinch shouted as he shoved a peanut butter cup into his mouth.
“Fun is not the word I would use to describe it,” Jackson replied.
“Heads up!” Flinch shouted as he tossed another of the teachers’ cars at him. This time the braces seemed ready and stopped it long before it closed in on his head. Still, the experience was heart-attack inducing. Jackson set the car down just in time to spot another sailing through the air at him.
“Cut it out!” Jackson shouted as he caught it and set it back on its four wheels.
“I’m strong like bull!” Flinch shouted, oblivious to Jackson’s complaints. “Let’s make this interesting.”
He snatched a car, tossed it, then snatched another, then tossed it, and on and on and on. The cars sailed through the air fast and furious. Jackson’s braces spun around in his mouth like a blender as they attempted to catch them all, but there were too many. The best he could do was try to swat them away. His efforts did little, and soon one of the cars crashed to the ground next to him. Then another landed right behind. Soon the cars were piling up around him, locking him inside an automotive pyramid. He was safe and unharmed, but he was trapped.
“You are supposed to catch them,” Flinch shouted. Jackson stewed with anger. “Get me out of here, you freak!”
RESULTS: FAILURE
Flinch pulled Jackson out of the car pyramid and told him to go back inside. As painful, humiliating, and downright scary as his experiences had been that day, they faded in comparison to the nerve-racking tension of meeting Ruby Peet. Pufferfish hadn’t exactly hidden the fact that she hated him.
Much to Jackson’s surprise, the only things in the room in which he found her were a small black box with several suction cups attached to it, a desk, and two chairs.
“Why don’t you have a seat?” she said.
“So, what’s all this?” he said apprehensively.
Ruby smiled and attached the little suction cups to Jackson’s temples. “Nothing to worry about. I know the others have been a little rough on you, but I can assure you that nothing in this room will hurt you.”
“Good.”
“Unless you tell a lie,” Ruby said.
“Oh, is this one of those lie detectors?” Jackson said, eyeing the little black box once more. He noticed it was plugged into the electrical socket on the wall.
“No, I’m the lie detector. I’m allergic to lying,” Ruby said.
Jackson giggled. “Allergic to lying. That’s hilarious.”
Ruby smiled. “The point of this exercise is to train you to stay calm under pressure and teach you how to tell a lie effectively. A good spy is called upon to lie from time to time. If you have valuable information, you will need to convince our enemies that you don’t know anything. You may have to lie to save a life. You may have to lie to save the world. Lying is a skill that takes a lot of practice. This machine will help you hone this talent.”
“How?”