The Power of Teamwork! Read online

  As we parked our bikes, Jason whispered to me, “Do these guys know that you’re Super Teen?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I have no idea.”

  A driverless red golf cart rolled up to us and a computerized voice said, “Greetings, Lia and Jason. I am the Machine Automatic Communication System, MACS for short.”

  “Hi, MACS,” I said.

  “Nice to meet you,” Jason said.

  “Your father is quite anxious to see you both!” MACS continued. He beeped happily. “Now please enjoy the ride.”

  We sat down in the back seat. MACS pulled out. Both of the back seats had a little information screen in front of them.

  “We are ten minutes away from your father’s office space. Do you wish to watch anything? Would you like me to play some music? I am also capable of telling jokes….”

  Two glasses of water popped out from under the back seat. “I have estimated you must be thirsty after your bike ride.”

  Jason and I both took our waters. “Thanks!” Jason grinned.

  He sat back in his seat. “I could get used to this!”

  “I have a massage setting for both the seats if you wish,” MACS said.

  “Sure,” Jason laughed. “And tell us a joke….please…”

  “My pleasure, Jason. Why is seven the scariest number?”

  “No idea,” Jason replied.

  “Ms. Strong?” MACS prompted me.

  “I don’t know either,” I grinned.

  “Because seven eight nine,” MACS responded in his robotic voice. He added a ba bump, bump drum sound.

  “Funny!” I said, with a smile towards Jason.

  “Now what type of music choices do you have?” Jason asked, clearly getting into this.

  “I have all the music from Bach, as that music has been known to stimulate the brain,” MACS answered.

  “Fine, hit us,” Jason said.

  “Mr. Jason when you are in control of a car, hitting things is not an option,” MACS replied.

  “Just play the music…”

  Music started to play. It sounded better than I thought. I couldn’t help but be impressed, not only by MACS but by how the BM Science facility had grown in just a few months. There were even taller, shinier buildings than before and each of the building had more floors than I remembered. The grounds were perfectly manicured. Of course, the most interesting part was that robots of all sizes wandered around interacting with the human workers. The humans acted like this was perfectly normal. I guess for them it was. Could this be the future?

  We drove through the large compound until we reached a tall round shiny glass building. MACS pulled up to the double doors of the building. “Your father is on the 20th floor….”

  Looking up at the shimmering tower Jason gulped, “Wow!”

  What MACS didn’t tell us was that my dad’s office took up the ENTIRE 20th floor of the building. The room was large enough for us to have a LAX game and maybe even two, side by side. As I exited the high-speed elevator, I could barely see my dad’s desk across the room.

  “Wow,” Jason gulped again as we walked in. “I really want to be a scientist when I get older!”

  Another red cart zoomed up. “Hello again,” MACS voice said from the cart. “Would you like a ride to your father’s thinking area?”

  I shook my head. “No thanks, we’ll walk.”

  “Yes, soak it all in!” MACS said.

  After a bit of walking, we got close enough to dad’s desk to see him clearly without using super-vision. He had been sitting there talking to a person I can only describe as the best looking woman or person I had ever seen. The woman had long blond hair that danced down her shoulders, big blue eyes, and a perfect porcelain complexion. She had the tall slim build of a master ballerina.

  “Wow, your dad’s assistant is beautiful!” Jason said, far louder than he should have.

  The sound of Jason’s voice was heard by Dad and his stunning assistant and they both looked at us.

  “Thank you, Jason,” the beautiful woman said.

  Dad smiled. He pointed to the woman, “Lia, Jason I’d like you to meet Hana.”

  We reached Dad’s large desk. Hana held out a hand to each of us. “Lia, Jason, I’ve heard and read so much about you two.”

  We each shook her hand. Her grip felt much more powerful than I would have guessed. Yeah, she had to be some kind of athlete.

  “The pleasure is mine,” Jason said unable to take his eyes off Hana.

  “Nice to meet you, Hana,” I said. I raised an eyebrow. “I’ve heard nothing about you.”

  Hana smiled and released our hands. “Your father is a man of many secrets. He doesn’t believe in revealing them until the right moment. And then he likes to be dramatic!”

  “You seem to know him well. How long have you been working with my dad?” I prompted.

  Hana smiled. “Oh, for as long as I can remember.”

  I shot Dad a look. Not sure why. He and Mom hadn’t been together for a LONG time but I still felt weird that he hadn’t told us his assistant happened to be the most beautiful woman in the world.

  Hana noticed my look. Dad either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

  “I’ll go prepare the meal!” Hana said walking away.

  Dad pointed to a couple of chairs across from his desk. “Come and sit!” he smiled. “I’m so glad you are here!”

  “The place is amazing!” Jason said. “And so is Hana!”

  “Thanks!” Dad smiled. “Now that I am mega senior VP of science and research I have some perks!”

  “So I noticed,” I said, a bit of contempt in my voice.

  Dad looked at me, his eyes wide open. “Honey, why the attitude?”

  If he didn’t know, I wasn’t going to tell him. “Nothing,” I sighed.

  The force of my breath knocked him over in his chair.

  I shot up from my seat. “Dad sorry,” I said leaning over his desk. “Sometimes I still forget how strong I am!”

  He laughed as he stood back up. “No problem honey! I know it can’t be easy being super. That’s why I want to help.”

  “Help?” I looked over my shoulder. “Oh no, you’re not going to attack me with another robot. Are you?” I looked back at him. “Really dad, that gets old fast!”

  Dad laughed again. “No, you’ve passed all those tests with flying colors.”

  “Is this about aliens?” I asked. “You mentioned aliens before.”

  Dad’s face became serious. “Yes, honey, I believe we are not alone in this wide universe. Heck, there may be many universes. The odds of us being the only intelligent beings is….” Dad raised his eyes to the ceiling as he did some calculations in his head.

  “Very small,” Jason said.

  “Exactly!” Dad smiled. “I think I can safely say, we are not alone. In fact, aliens may be watching us. I’d be shocked if they weren’t interested in Super Teen. You and other super beings may be the next evolution of man.”

  “Wow!” Jason said.

  Now, that was a lot to take in.

  Dad shrugged. “Then again, you might not be. You just might be genetic freak accidents that mean nothing to the course of human evolution.”

  “Gee thanks, Dad!”

  Dad grinned. “Just stating a possibility. The thing is, no matter what, you are important to the here and now. That’s why I am here to help.”

  “How so?”

  Dad stood up. “Honey, I’ve built you a new uniform!”

  Dear Diary: My dad may be a bit crazy, but he’s still my dad and I love him. Could I be the next step in evolution? Nah! He just said that to toss me off guard so I wouldn’t question him having such a beautiful assistant.

  Uniform 2.0…

  “Dad you don’t build a uniform!” I told him.

  “I do!” he said proudly, probably more proudly than he should have. Especially coming from a guy who seemed only comfortable in a lab coat or sweatpants.

  Dad pushed a button on his des
k. A table popped up next to the desk. On that table, I saw a white bodysuit, a pair of plain looking shoes, two clip-on earrings and a watch. The watch looked cool. But definitely nothing else.

  “Tada!” Dad said, once again sounding much more proud than I thought he should.

  “So mega cool!” Jason was clearly impressed.

  I got up and walked towards the table. I picked up the plain white body suit. It seemed to be made of many little balls. The shoes also appeared to be made of the same substance. I showed them to Dad. “You gotta be kidding! I can’t wear this in public!”

  Dad’s eyes popped open again. In fact, one of them began to twitch. “You don’t understand. This is the latest in NACT: Nano Adaptive Clothing Technology.”

  I looked at it again. “It looks weird and high tech. I’ll give you that. But I can’t wear this under my clothing or out in public!”

  Dad shook his head. “Yes, this can be worn under your outfit if you wish, but it’s also perfectly capable of being the only outfit you need. It has self-cleaning nano-bots so you can wear it continuously for at least 24 hours without having to worry about pit stains or odor…”

  “Oh, gross Dad!”

  Dad nodded. “A normal human could wear it for weeks without the nano-bots needing to recharge. But in your case, thanks to your powerful sweat…24 hours should be the max. Then take it off so it can recharge.”

  “Gee, thanks, Dad!”

  “Honey, I’m just stating facts.”

  I showed him the suit. “But this thing is ugly as anything!”

  Dad turned to Jason. “Do you want to tell her? After all, this was your idea.”

  “What?” I asked, turning to Jason.

  “Jase has been emailing me his ideas. They’re great!” Dad smiled.

  Nice to know my dad talked more with my BFF than he did with me. But I let that go for now. If Jason had thought of this, there had to be more to it. I showed the outfit to Jason. “What am I missing here?”

  Dad pushed another button on his desk. A screen started lowering itself from the ceiling.

  “What the?”

  “Just put it on!” Dad said.

  The screen landed between myself and dad and Jason, giving me some privacy. I looked at the white outfit made of balls. I stuck out my tongue. Since Dad and Jason couldn’t see me I made a loud “Blah” sound.

  “Just put it on!” Jason shouted.

  I kicked my shoes off. I kind of hoped my feet stank just to teach them a lesson. Sadly, for once they didn’t. I sighed and put on the suit and the shoes.

  “Don’t forget the watch and the earrings!” Dad shouted over the screen.

  “Watches are so 1990s!” I called back.

  “Retro is cool!” Jason yelled.

  I slipped the watch on over my wrist. It sealed itself automatically. A smile appeared on the watch face. “Hello again!” MACS voice said from the watch.

  “MACS?”

  “Yes, Ms. Lia, I am the interface for this suit and earrings. Please put on the earrings. Accessories are so important!”

  I popped on the earrings. They were little studs that sat on my earlobes. I finally had an idea where this was going.

  “Okay, raise the screen!” I called to Dad.

  The screen started back up towards the ceiling. Did Dad have the screen installed on his ceiling just for this? Okay, Lia, think big picture here, I thought to myself. I turned my attention to Dad and Jason, who were smiling at me like I was the coolest Christmas present in the world. “You guys going to tell me how this works?” I asked.

  “This will allow you to switch instantly from your regular clothes to your choice of uniform and back to your normal clothes again,” Dad said.

  “No need to carry your disguise around!” Jason added.

  “I can’t go around in public in this, and with no mask!”

  Dad and Jason just smiled at each other. “MACS uniform style one.”

  My suit of white balls instantly turned into a pretty pink top that buttoned down the front, and a fitted black skirt. The earrings projected a black mask over my eyes. “Okay, wow!” I said, jumping up and down in excitement. “What else can it do?”

  “Touch the screen or ask MACS?” Dad replied. “He’ll tell you anything you want to know. He makes Siri look like sad…” Dad smiled.

  “Good one, Doc!” Jason told Dad.

  I groaned. Dad jokes are the worst, especially when they come from your own dad.

  “MACS show Lia her options….”

  “Please look at my screen,” MACS instructed me. “I can scroll through outfits on a timer or you can flick left or right. To select an outfit just tap it.”

  A really cool red outfit appeared on the screen. “I can also modify any colors choices you want,” MACS explained.

  I flipped through one, then another, then another. A super adorable yellow dress with little shoulder straps popped up on the screen. I smiled. I tapped the screen. Next thing I knew I had that outfit on.

  “This would be perfect in light blue,” I said.

  The outfit instantly changed to a light blue color. “I’d like the shoes to be dark blue,” I said.

  My shoes became the exact shade I wanted. “How about some heels?” I asked.

  “Sorry, don’t do heels,” MACS said.

  Dad laughed. “Yeah, your mom would clobber me!”

  I looked at dad and Jason. “You guys did good!”

  “Oh great! She likes the NACT!” Hana said, walking back into the room, pushing a cart. The cart had BBQ chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs on it. Plus, there was fresh corn on the cob, a huge bowl of French fries and a platter of salad. To drink, we had lemonade.

  “I have prepared the lunch!” Hana said proudly.

  A picnic table popped up from the floor. Jason raced over to the table. “I’m famished!” Jason said.

  “What a surprise!” I laughed.

  Dad walked over and joined us as Hana began to prepare plates. Hana handed me a plate loaded with chicken, corn, and salad.

  “Thanks!” I said.

  “My pleasure!” Hana told me.

  Suddenly it hit me. I sniffed Hana. “You don’t have a scent!” I told her.

  Hana smiled. “I will take that as a compliment!”

  “Here’s the thing. Every person I know has a scent!” I exclaimed.

  Hana shrugged. “Perhaps they need to shower more?”

  “I’m not saying they smell. Well some of them do. But my super smelling power can smell the differences from person to person…”

  “Good for you!” Hana said, patting me on the shoulder.

  I sniffed her. “You’re a robot!” I said.

  Hana grinned. “Actually the proper term is android…”

  Dear Diary: So…instead of hiring the most beautiful woman in the world to be his assistant, dad built her. I’m not sure that’s better! But at least she isn’t beautiful and human. Wow, my dad is so smart…and weird…

  A Bit of Business…

  I shot Dad a look. “You built an android that looks like the perfect woman!”

  Dad munched on a chicken leg. He looked at me. “Yes, yes I did,” he smirked.

  Jason stood up and walked towards Hana. “You look so amazingly lifelike.”

  Hana nodded. “I am alive. Just in a different way than you are.”

  Dad popped a French fry into his mouth. “We at BM Science, are very proud of Hana. After all, she was a team project. In fact, she helped us build her.”

  “Ah, come again?” I asked.

  “They built my brain and interface system first. That enabled me to consult on the rest of my specs!” Hana said proudly.

  “Best billion dollars this company has ever spent!” Dad said, drinking some lemonade. He spilled some on his lab coat but didn’t seem to mind. Yes, even in Dad’s big fancy office, he still wore his lab coat. I could see why now.

  Hana looked at my dad. “You were right about Lia. It’s amazing how quickly she ded
uced I was not human.”

  “That’s my daughter!” Dad said trying to clean the spill off his lab coat. Of course, he just made it worse.

  Hana looked me in the eyes. Her eyes seemed incredibly human at first glance, but when I peered deeper, something was missing. I just couldn’t be sure what. Maybe it was my brain playing tricks with me now.

  “I’d love to spar with you sometime,” Hana told me.

  “Ah, sure,” I said slowly, not quite sure how to respond.

  “Man, I’d pay to see that!” Jason said.

  I shot Jason an unimpressed look. He turned back to his seat, sat down and started to eat. “Great chicken!” he told my dad, a little awkwardly.

  I turned my focus back to Hana. “Sure, some other time. Today I have LAX coaching with my team.”

  Hana nodded, “Yes I know. I put it on your father’s calendar.” She paused. “I look forward to a stimulating sparring session with you.”

  I looked at Dad. “Any other surprises for me today?”

  Dad popped some lettuce into his mouth. “Actually there is one more….”

  Of course, there was. It wouldn’t be Dad if he didn’t keep popping out surprises.

  He took another bite of lettuce. “Yum, I love this dressing!”

  “Dad, what’s the other surprise?” I shouted.

  The force of my voice knocked both dad and Jason backward. A few strands of Hana’s hair flew out of place. She shook her head and the hairs dropped back into place.

  “Remember that gorilla you fought?” Dad asked.

  “You mean the one I fought a few hours ago?” I asked.

  Dad nodded. “Yep.”

  “Hard to forget a super strong, intelligent bionic gorilla,” I noted. “Especially when the fight was like I said, literally this morning!”

  “Actually it’s not bionic it’s cybernetic,” Dad corrected.

  “I knew that,” I said. “Bionic just seemed more dramatic.”

  Dad laughed. “Do you really need more drama in your life?”

  “Good point,” I sighed. “Dad, where are you going with this?”