Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor (Frank Einstein series #1)
Frank screws the piece into place He lays the SmartBot in a rusty red wagon bed roped into a har ness looped over a pulley and wired into the motor of the garage door opener He stands back and gives his work one last look A robot that will be able to think learn and become smarter and smarter It just needs this lightning power to come alive Frank punches the garage door opener button Hmmmmmmmm The motor hums The rope tight ens The SmartBot rises up to the garage roof on Frank's old wagon operating table as the skylight opens Yes says Frank Einstein with a crazy laugh His hair and lab coat whip around in the sudden gust of wind blowing into the lab He grabs his barbecue fork switch to transfer O power to the SmartBot just as the lightning strikes Ready Watson yells Frank Watson tightens the strap on his safety goggles and unconsciously shakes his head no But he gives Frank a floppy yellow thumbs up yes anyway A wild wind swirls through the
QOO U o OO e 1 On O asuring
The operating table rises up toward the lightning charged sky Frank counts One Two Then suddenly bzzzzzt The garage lights blink flicker The lab goes black Frank hears Watson yell Oh no The powerless garage door motor releases the wagon rope And the wagon falls hitting the concrete floor with a terrible metal clang crash Flash Boom The lightning and thunder explode at exactly the same time directly overhead A blue white charge of electrical energy that was supposed to bring the SmartBot to life crackles down the lightning rod and harmlessly through the ground wire and into the earth In the storm's strobing light Frank and Watson see a series of snapshot images the SmartBot flying out of the wagon the SmartBot's toaster head spinning one direc tion the SmartBot’s vacuum cleaner body spinning the other Then darkness Bruuuuum brrrummmmm The thunder from the storm rumbles away Frank calls a voice from the kitchen
You guys OK in there Grampa Al s face lit by the candle he holds pokes into Frank's laboratory What happened asks Watson Nice gloves says Grampa Al Must be a power outage Though it's somehow just in this building Grampa Al's candle casts a yellow circle of light that falls on the broken parts of what was Frank's SmartBot What s all this Oh just something I was goofing around with for the Science Prize this weekend says Frank It didn’t get messed up did it Just a little says Frank not wanting to worry his grampa Frank gathers up the lifeless SmartBot head and body parts and places them gently on the workbench T1 fix it in the morning Watson peels off his rubber gloves pats the body less toaster head then slings his backpack over his shoulder A robot that can teach itself stuff is still a great idea Frank picks up the sheet of paper he has covered with robot brain plans and sketches of atoms He wads the paper into a ball and tosses it onto the workbench with all the repair parts and broken junk Frank nods Thanks Watson See you
