I’m committed now. I promised Porter. Closing my eyes, I fling myself into the room.
Albert Einstein! I was right. I’m on the spy side of a two-way mirror. Next to the glass are two wooden, fold-up chairs. One is still warm. My eyes lock on to the device in the far corner of the room pointing directly at the chair I was sitting in only minutes ago. I approach it slowly, reaching out to touch the turquoise plastic to convince myself it’s real.
CLUE 28
LOSERS have created a life-size model of the brain ray!
It matches our design in almost every way. The only differences are:
1. The disgusting turquoise colour.
2. The +/-dial on the side. That wasn’t part of our design. Positive and negative what?
I jump as something beeps behind me, then laugh shakily when I see it’s just the computer I spotted from the other side of the glass. I must have nudged the monitor and brought it to life.
On the screen is a list of folders, filed alphabetically:
• West, Alexander
• Winston, Robert
• Wittgenstein, Ludwig
• Wright, Wilbur & Orville
• Xenocrates
• Young, Grace Chisholm
The names in regular font are famous scientists and mathematicians. I click on Robert Winston and find his folder full of speeches he’s made and articles he’s written. One of the italic names is familiar too. Alexander West is a fellow Remarkable Student. Maybe we all have student folders. Curious, I hit the arrow key and scroll up to “H”.
• Galileo
• Gold, Gemma
• Grimm, Porter
• Hawking, Stephen
• Hawkins, Brian
• Hawkins, Madeleine
• Hawkins, Noelle
There I am. I insert my memory stick and copy the file.
I recognise Gemma Gold’s name too – the girl who forgot her comfort blanket.
It’s not a big surprise to find Dad on the list. He’s a well-known figure – the wacky scientist TV people call when they want to make their programme more controversial. But then I register the name between Dad’s and mine – “Hawkins, Madeleine”.
Mum?
Mum has never written a book or appeared in a television documentary. Mum’s not a scientist. This makes no sense.
CLUE 29
LOSERS are interested in my mum.
I try to stop my hand shaking so I can select Mum’s folder, but just as I’m about to copy it I glance at the two-way mirror and see the door to the Mental Conditioning Room swing open.
Isaac Newton! Ms Grimm is back!
I check the clock at the bottom of the computer screen. Seven minutes have passed. Porter kept his side of the bargain. I’m the one who messed up. And Ms Grimm is going to mentally condition me to death as a result.
I whip out the memory stick without following the proper ejection procedures and run as fast as my PE-hating legs will carry me. Halfway down the corridor, I see Short Trousers Jangly Keys Guy heading my way and dart into the girls’ toilets.
Toilets! Brilliant! The perfect excuse for not being in the Mental Conditioning Room. Everyone has to wee. After washing my hands to support my story, I leave the loo and head back towards Ms Grimm.
Perhaps today isn’t my day to die. Hey, maybe that counts as a positive thought.
I seem to have got away with it. Ms Grimm only stays in the Mental Conditioning Room long enough to tell me she can’t stay in the Mental Conditioning Room.
“I need to deal with Porter,” she snaps. “Wait here until the bell rings for Science Hour.”
I want to find Porter and help him. It’s partly my fault he’s in trouble. But I’m convinced Short Trousers Jangly Keys Guy is on the other side of the mirror, so I flick through the science journals, giving the odd fake laugh as if I’ve spotted a particularly funny scientific anecdote, until the bell finally rings.
After that, I race to the Science Lab. Porter’s not there either. Where is he? What’s the Grimm Reaper doing to him?
I set up my combustion experiment and picture myself pointing the Bunsen burner at Mr Kazinsky, forcing him to reveal Porter’s whereabouts. In my enthusiasm, I accidentally burn a hole in the workbench.
Mr Kazinsky confiscates the Bunsen burner, gazing into the flame with a strange, absorbed expression before handing me an electromagnetism worksheet. Considering I’ve only been at LOSERS for two days, I’ve spent a lot of time completing electromagnetism worksheets. Is this another coincidence?
The design sketches for the brain ray included notes on using electromagnetic energy to increase intelligence. Dad said we were on the verge of a huge discovery. And then he disappeared.
Did LOSERS build their brain ray using the plans Fake Insurance Man stole? Or have they tortured the details out of Dad?
I pick up the pen to fill in the electromagnetism worksheet. My hand shakes as I remember how I was tricked into calculating how to blow up a portaloo-sized box. Just because I can work out how to do something, that doesn’t necessarily mean I should. I put the lid back on my pen and refuse to complete the worksheet.
But it may be too late. What if Ms Grimm has already figured out how to use electromagnetic waves to alter IQ levels?