B. E. V. (8 page)

 

 

When we arrived at the lab, I understood what Kat meant by, "They stripped whatever they wanted." The soldiers blasted the front door open, the unbreakable windows were shattered, and papers littered the front lawn.

The outbuilding housing the freight elevator wasn't in much better shape, anything of possible use to an army was missing. Scratches on the panel of the lift showed where someone tried using a crowbar to pry them open without success.

Doc was busy in his workshop, painting his creatures their natural color when we entered. He said eagerly to Kat, "Did you fetch more peaches?"

Kat shook her head. "Sorry, the scavengers took all the fruit and vegetables – they grabbed everything." I frowned at her, mystified. She whispered to me, "I promised I'd try to find more salad stuff to eat."

Doc scowled and cupped his head in his hands, contemplating his workbench, woebegone. With a sigh, he picked up the mouse he was decorating and started painting again. "I should have known," he mumbled, "I predicted this years ago."

I knew Doctor Krumboton was smart, but no one could figure out a warlord would march by and destroy Paradise Cove. "Come on, Doc, Black Morgan didn't even command an army ten years ago." I scoffed. "Nobody knows the future, and the last time you talked to anyone we still had a government."

Doctor Krumboton glanced back up from his painting (he'd switched over to a rat) with raised eyebrows.

"It is not hard to predict the future, simple really, young man, if you understand history and geography." Doc eased back in his chair with a grimace, and gazed at me with mild interest. "All the major cities of the world were along the coast. When the oceans started to rise, we had a dislocation of billions of people, right?"

I didn't see what he was driving at, but I nodded.

"Millions more died, fostering civil unrest, which accelerated the breakdown of government control, hence roving bands of people stealing peaches and tomatoes." He nodded curtly and returned to the rat. "Thank goodness the Greys attacked," he added to himself.

Kat and I did a double take, aghast. "What?" I sputtered, "They destroyed what little else was left!"

The doctor released a deep sigh and put down his paint, this time staring at us with annoyance, as if he was talking to three-year-olds who kept asking how high was up. "Sooner or later someone would acquire our weapons of mass destruction and use them, as this Morgan fellow you keep speaking about," he said. "The Greys eliminated the capability." He waved toward the ceiling, "and those who construct the bombs."

"But –"

"Not pretty, I know," Doctor Krumboton gave me a gentle nod, "but instead of us sending the human race back three thousand years, the Greys, by destroying our weapons and research facilities, perhaps set us back three hundred." He hunched over to work on the rat, putting the final touches on the tail, and placed it aside to dry. "There." He beamed at the bot with pride.

The philosophy of what the human race might or might not have done didn't matter much to me. All I knew was we must save Pop and Mr. Brennan, and see who else we could rescue.

"Doc, we need your help."

His eyes widened in surprise. "Really? Whatever for?" He gestured down at his floating chair. "I am not equipped to climb peach –"

"We need to borrow Bev," Kat spoke up, "plus whatever else you can spare." She pointed to the tiny machines creeping on the floor. "Maybe some of these? We must get our parents back."

"Did you lose them?" he asked, concerned.

"No, we think Morgan's army captured both of our dads, but we're not sure."

"Hmm . . ." He inspected the rats, mice, squirrels and birds cluttering his lab. "I have always wanted to field test my creations," he whispered confidentially, "It was part of my contract, you know, with the government, but no one ever asked, so –"

"Great!"

"And Bev?" I said. "We need Bev, too."

"Well, the B.E.V. is another matter," the doctor replied, swinging his chair to face Bev's garage. "You will have to ask her."

Kat and I peered in the room. From inside we heard Bev singing,
"Gonna have a sleepover – Yeah – Yeah – Yeah!"

"Can't you order her to?" I moaned and covered my eyes. Kat held her hand over her mouth, trying hard not to laugh, "Or reprogram her?"

"I could," Doc replied reasonably, "but it would not be fair to B.E.V., would it?"

Kat giggled wildly as she took my hand and jerked me toward the garage. "Come on, it'll be fun. Girl's night out."

I groaned.

As we entered, Bev exclaimed, "Let the party
begin!
" Her door swished opened.

Kat and I entered and perched on the edge of Bev's couch. Kat still snickered as I fidgeted.

"Bev," I started, "I need to ask you a favor. We have to –"

"Sure – Sure. Later dude. What do we want to do first? Magazines? Makeovers? Truth or Dare?"

I rolled my eyes in defeat and muttered to Kat, "What do you do at a sleepover?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I've never gone to a slumber party, and the only one who's ever slept over my house is you." She drummed her finger on her lip. "Talk about boys? Eat junk food?"

I got a horrid picture of Bev and Kat chatting about me in giggles. "Well, I don't need you two discussing me and my habits, especially while I'm sitting in the same room, and Bev doesn't eat."

We settled on magazines first (of which Bev possessed none), so she flashed twenty-year-old fashion plates on her screen from her memory chips. I had no opinion, Kat made comments about the hairstyles, while Bev kept up a running commentary naming styles and clothing designers.

I thought the night couldn't become worse when Bev announced, "Makeover time." Her voice shifted next to me, and she said in a hopeful whisper, "Hunter, do you want your toe-nails painted?"

"NO."

A crafty expression passed over Kat's face. "Wait." She dashed out of Bev and into Doc's lab. She returned with two small bottles of paint, red and blue, and a brush. Before I knew what was happening, Kat had me sitting with my shoes and socks off and my feet up on a cushion.

"Wait," Bev said. "We have to keep his toes apart otherwise his nails will stick together."

"I don't want my nails –"

"Right, stay here, Hunter." Kat strolled to the bathroom and ran back with a roll of toilet paper, which she proceeded to twist into little balls and shove between my toes. She patted me on the cheek and exclaimed, "Now you're all set."

Kat painted each of my toenails red to squeals of joy from Bev and jokes from both of them. Even worse, she proceeded to draw blue happy faces on each nail as the paint dried.

For the next twenty minutes, I walked around duck-footed.

"Now me! Now me!" shouted Bev.

I studied the small jars of paint Kat held. "There's not much –"

"Hold these." Kat shoved the bottles into my hand and dashed out again. A few minutes later I heard her call from outside, "Hunter, give me a hand, will ya?"

Kat lugged two large wooden crates from the doctor's lab. "Help me open these."

I discovered a crowbar in the corner of the room and attacked the tops. In five minutes the lids popped off and we pulled can after can of purple and pink day-glow paint out.

"Hey Bev," Kat called, "ready to get pretty?"

"Bring it on, sister!" Bev chortled. "Do me!"

We started at her rear and worked forward with swirls and stripes, stars and circles, and ended at the front with a pink blotch on one side, and a corresponding purple blob on the other. When we finished Kat and I stood back and admired our handiwork.

"What do you think?" Kat called out.

"Am I pretty?" Bev asked anxiously. "Am I
beautiful
?"

"You're something else all right," I replied. "I've never seen anything this different before."

"I think it's time we all got some sleep," Kat stated. "We'll have a busy next few days – we have to find our dads. Bev, you want to come along and help?"

She issued an enthusiastic buzz. "Oh, yeah. I need the whole world to bask in my beauty." Bev paused. "No pillow fight, girl talk?"

"It's late, honey," said Kat, stretching and covering her mouth.

"Aw, let's steal a bottle of wine and get giddy," she complained. "Who wants to do a chug-a-lug with me?"

"Not tonight, Bev," I replied, "Besides, you wouldn't enjoy people seeing you hung-over, would you?"

"Oh, all right." If a computer could yawn, I'd swear she did too. "Come on in and settle down. I'll see ya in the morning."

I woke the next day with a shiny yellow duckling perched on my chest staring at me. Doctor Krumboton was herding a troop of his mechanical toys through Bev's open lock. Kat was in the other pilot's couch, lying prone, her eyes wide open, with two green snakes crawling over her chest and neck. A few rats sniffed at her feet.

"Doc – what are you doing?" I stood, rubbed sleep out of my eyes, as the duckling fell with a clatter. "What is all of this?" I scooted the reptiles off Kat so she could sit up.

Doctor Krumboton stared at me in surprise and waved his hand at the critters scurrying on the floor. "You said you wanted help. Well –" three mice ran over my feet "—here is help. I even took the time to redesign them." He sounded upset.

"It will be fine," Kat replied and punched my arm.

"What's the matter, handsome, don't you want my relatives?"

"Okay, I'm sorry." Jeesh, everyone was jumping on my case.

Doc's flying ball zipped through Bev's hatch and started a flight path up and down the length of her interior.

"My eye!"

"What did you say?"

"You found my eye," Bev replied. She addressed the flying orb in a vexed voice, "You naughty little brat. Where have you been?"

"She was out with Doc," I replied, confused.

Bev's voice hovered next to my ear. "She's my little sister, and a bother, but I'm supposed to watch her."

I gave up. "Uh – breakfast?" I said to Doctor Krumboton.

"Come right along." The doctor trooped out of Bev, Kat and I trailed slower, tiptoeing through little bot thingies.

"Powdered eggs, powdered milk and powdered orange juice," exclaimed Doc, waving his hand at the workbench where bowls and cups were set up along with spoons and forks. A jar of instant coffee teetered on the edge of the table with a sugar bowl flanking it. Miscellaneous bits and pieces of bot scattered in a pile leaving enough room for three cans and two pitchers of water, one with steam rising from the interior, the other with beads of moisture dripping down the sides. "Make your own."

Kat squatted on a stool and started mixing. I made myself some eggs and sniffed. "Yum."

"I have reprogrammed my robots to take commands from B.E.V.," the doctor said as he made himself coffee. "Instruct her on what you need them to do, and leave the rest to her."

"We may not be back for a couple of days," cautioned Kat. She made a face at her eggs and stuck a spoonful in her mouth.

"Not to worry," exclaimed the doctor. "I have plenty to keep me busy. There must be a way to grow my own peaches." He studied Kat's face with concern. "What is the matter, something wrong with the eggs?"

"Oh no," Kat exclaimed, and took a big spoonful and slurped. "Wonderful."

I seized the jar of coffee crystals and made myself a tepid cup, hoping it would brighten my day. I was wrong.

Kat scowled at her eggs and pushed the plate away. I took another sip of the coffee and did the same.

"Well, Doctor Krumboton," I stuck my hand out, "Thanks. We'll be back as fast as possible."

Doc reached out a gnarled hand and took mine. "Good luck," he said. "I hope everything works out all right for both of you."

I could find no place for Doc's bots, so Kat and I managed to push the whole bunch far back into the bay, but they kept creeping forward. Kat and I finally constructed a barrier using the cushions from the spare chairs to act as a playpen.

"I think we're all set here," I said at last, catching a snake making a slithering escape toward the control board.

Kat's face was bright red from bot chasing and her hair popped out in all directions. She tied it back with a rubber band and said, "We better start before these things escape again." She kept one eye on the bots to make sure we had no more jailbreaks. "I feel as if I'm riding herd on a bunch of bunnies."

We strapped ourselves down. I said aloud, "Ready here, Bev – let's go."

"Aye-aye, chief!" came her clipped reply. "We're off and running."

Once we were out in the open Kat asked, "Which way, do you think?"

"What did you say?" Between the squeaking and the chirping of the bots, I couldn't hear myself think.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"BEV!" I swung around. The bots had breached our barricade and swarmed over the floor of the cargo hold. "Can't you shut those things off? What is this, Noah's Ark or something?"

"Yes, sir." One by one, the bots fell quiet and wound down to a halt.

Silence.

The flying ball continued to zip around our heads, a happy bird on a holiday.

"Bev, can your eye, or sister, whatever it is . . . ." I complained. Kat tried shooing it away toward the cargo bay. The ball twisted, evaded her hand, and hovered behind me, nudging the back of my head. "Ouch, you hurt!" I swatted at the little menace. The ball ducked out of reach and bobbed up and down as if it was laughing at me.

"Sorry, she doesn't want to turn off."

"I'll settle this." Kat fixed her gaze on the orb and marched to the cargo bay, opening one of the storage closets. "You, in!" she commanded the sphere with a wave of her hand, pointing.
"Now."

The orb hesitated and then entered the closet, settling to the bottom. Kat slammed the door. "Okay?" she asked me with a sweet smirk.

"Better," I agreed. "I think the first thing we should do is swing by my place and yours on the chance our dads are waiting for us, agreed?"

Kat nodded. Bev said, "You're taking me home to meet your
parents
? Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous. I didn't know we were getting serious!"