The Light Brigade - Chapter 14
You can do this, he thought. All you need to do is tell the truth. Just not the whole truth.
This is an installment of my new serialized middle grade novel - The Light Brigade. When new kid in town Will finds himself in the midst of a sea of brainwashed middle schoolers, he has to join the Light Brigade, an unlikely group of heroes, to save them. Can he trust the Man Upstairs who guides them with fortune cookie directions? Will he find his place in the Brigade? Will he be able to stop the shadowy New Moon Group from forcing his classmates to collect acorns for a cartoon squirrel until they all collapse? Subscribed? Get caught up here.
Moments later, the towering Dr. Stoneman strode into the room, sporting a genial smile, close-cropped hair, a neat beard, and the green polo shirt worn by all the New Moon Group office workers. He was clearly trying to befriend, or at least not scare, Will; he was not succeeding. With a start, Will realized this was the same man that had been in the school office. This is the man behind this whole thing, Will thought.
“Hello, Will,” he said, his eyes betraying not a sign of mischief or malevolence. Yet, he laid Will’s book on the table with a horrible finality.
Will just stared. How did he know who he was? Then, he remembered he was still wearing the visitor’s badge emblazoned with his name. Wow, I really am bad at this stealth stuff, he thought bemusedly.
After staring at each other for a few moments, Dr. Stoneman’s face tightened. Taking Will’s silence as defiance, he demanded, “What are you doing here? Are you alone?”
Will took a deep breath. Now face to face with the enemy, he wasn’t sure that he had the nerve to do what needed to be done. You can do this, he thought. All you need to do is tell the truth. Just not the whole truth. “I’m sorry,” he stammered, “I was just here visiting my dad.”
“Yes, we are aware you were here with your father,” Dr. Stoneman growled, “We also know that he works in the other section of the building. So, I ask you again, what are you doing here?”
Will gulped. “I was leaving my dad’s office and heading back to the elevators when I took a wrong turn. I think I must have walked right past. Then, suddenly, I found myself in front of the R&D department and didn’t know how to get back.”
“But why would you go inside? What were you looking for?”
“Sydney, my friend, she’s sick. Her mom works in R&D. I know them from church,” he said, blinking far, far more than he should. His heart was thundering like it would break out of his chest. Was it possible for a 12-year-old to have a heart attack? But it wasn’t a lie, he reassured himself, it just wasn’t answering the question.
For the first time, Dr. Stoneman betrayed the slightest hint of surprise. “Of course, we all heard about her unfortunate sickness. You were hoping to find her mom?”
Choosing his words with utmost care, Will said, “I’m just so worried about Sydney. I’m sure her mom would be able to tell me how she is. When I saw the guard, I got scared. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be in there, so I ran away.” There, that was the worst of it. He hoped that it would be smooth sailing from here.
Dr. Stoneman’s stare tried to bore through Will, to read his inmost thoughts. Will was just glad that he didn’t need to play it cool but could act just as nervous as he felt. After what felt like an eternity, Dr. Stoneman broke his gaze and headed toward the door, “Well, I hope that you have learned a lesson about poking around in places that you shouldn’t. These gentlemen will escort you out of the building so you don’t have any more...mishaps,” he said, gesturing to the three guards that now clustered around the door. “I’m sure we all hope for a speedy recovery of your friend.”
Will popped out of his chair like it was suddenly red hot, grabbing his book from the table. He was certainly eager to finally be able to leave. He didn’t even mind when two of the guards grabbed onto his elbows to steer him toward the elevators.
It wasn’t until he had finally made it into the quickly falling twilight that his heart rate really began to slow. He took his time unlocking his bike, relishing his freedom and the chilly evening air. The final glimmer of sunset reflected brilliantly off the river as he turned the corner back towards the center of town.
As he rode, his mind continued to race with the events of the day. He was in complete disbelief that he had snuck into the top secret research department of a nefarious corporation and escaped unscathed. How was that possible? The answer to that was obvious to Will: the Man Upstairs. Without the message that Gabriella had brought, he would never have been able to save his own skin. Yet with their help, he had been able to save not only himself but also protect the Light Brigade. How does he always know just the right solution, he marveled, and why does he still want my help?
Will walked his bike through the gate of the Queen Anne, finding that there was a bike rack near the porch shaped like an octopus. As Will leaned his bike against it, the tentacles came to life, causing Will to jump back in surprise. Two of them wrapped themselves around the bike frame and a square on the head lit up green. “Place your thumb on the pad for identification,” said the same cool female voice of the door scanner. Will did as he was told, and the square turned golden with a gleeful chirp. Will hoped thumbing the pad again would free his bike, but he figured Mr. Turner would help him if it didn’t.
Before heading inside, he texted his dad, letting him know where he was. He still wouldn’t be home for a couple more hours. Will sincerely hoped that Dr. Stoneman wouldn’t tell his dad about his little misadventure. Then, taking a deep breath, he headed inside.
He found everyone gathered in the kitchen as usual. He paused outside the door, dreading to enter. He could hear them all inside, chatting happily over what smelled like pizza. Despite his nerves, Will couldn’t help smiling to himself as he heard Austin complaining loudly that they should go ahead and have their s’mores since Will was taking so long.
With a deep breath, he pushed the door open and was met by squeals from the girls. He was soon swallowed up in a bear hug from Gabriella accompanied by hard pats on the shoulder from Mr. Turner. Once Will had extricated himself from his exuberant greeting, Lily handed him a plate piled high with pizza and bread sticks. He accepted it gratefully; he hadn’t realized that he was starving. Will grabbed a stool and started right in.
Beaming, Mr. Turner said, “Well, Will is the last one here again, so now we can begin!” Will laughed along with the rest, relishing in the release of the stress of the day. Before Mr. Turner could go on, though, he shot his hand up. “What is it, my boy?” boomed Mr. Turner.
“I just have something to say, first,” said Will, a tight knot of anxiety forming in his chest. “I’m sorry for how I acted earlier. I shouldn’t have lost my temper and yelled at you. And, uh, thanks for coming to help me. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”
Will wasn’t sure what kind of reaction to expect, but even he was shocked when he saw every head in the room shaking. For a moment, he thought that they wouldn’t forgive him, that the warm welcome meant nothing. Then Tamara spoke up, “It’s not us you should thank. We’re a team, but none of us would be able to do what we do without the Man Upstairs.”
“So...you forgive me?” asked Will.
Gabriella reached over and mussed his hair, “Of course! We’re friends aren’t we? Also, I move that we start up the S’mores Scorpion before me we get started.”
And with that, everything was back to normal; well, as normal as it ever was at the Queen Anne. Mr. Turner brought out a shiny scorpion robot whose extendable pincer claws could hold marshmallows at the optimal distance from its flaming tail for melty marshmallow perfection.
As Will sent his marshmallow up in flames for that totally charred effect he loved so much, he told the others what had happened to him. Everyone seemed to agree that it was not the wisest choice in the world, but they couldn’t deny his daring; even Austin seemed impressed.
“Also,” Will said, “I saw in the R&D department that they stacks of folders all labeled ‘Operation Squirrel’ with a number. These were inside of them.” He pulled out his phone and showed the graphs to Mr. Turner who looked over them carefully. “There were also these reports,” he continued, flipping through his pictures, “Sorry the quality is so bad….”
“Not to worry, my boy!” said Mr. Turner, “I think these clear up a question that had been bothering me: why are they doing this? I think, now, that they are trying to harness the students’ brain power through the game, like a living computer. I can’t imagine what they would need so much computing capabilities for, but I am sure that it can’t be good. Great work, my boy! Can you send those to me so I can take a closer look? Then, we can get started on our plans in earnest.”
The kids sat around planning and munching on leftover pizza and treats well into the evening. There was much heated discussion and diagramming and programming and building, but also much laughing and chatting and camaraderie. It was going to be a treacherous day in the morning, but for now the friends were at peace.