BACK INVENT9 9' An inventor's daughter uses his inventions Michaela was sitting at her desk at school when she heard a familiar sound. Tommy shouted, "Here comes that black helicopter again!" The whole class ran to the windows to see it land. But Michaela, knowing why the helicopter had come, packed up her things in her backpack. "May I please be excused, Miss Logan?" asked Michaela. "Yes, of course!" replied her teacher, "Your country needs you!" Michaela ran out to meet the helicopter as it landed on the front lawn of the school. When the helicopter door slid open, her dad reached for her and shouted, "Hello, punkin!" "Daddy!" shouted Michaela as she climbed in, "I thought those enemy agents kidnapped you again." "No," replied her dad as he slid the door closed behind Michaela, "This time we're going to try to prevent a kidnapping." "Who?" asked Michaela. "The daughter of the prime minister of Canada." replied her dad, "The Canadians have been listening in on enemy telephone calls and they heard about a plot to kidnapped the Prime Minister's daughter and ask for a ransom of twenty million dollars." "The Canadians have their own army." said Michaela, "Why do they need us?" "Two things," relied her dad, "First, they heard about how you used my inventions in other kidnappings. They liked the idea that you got me back without shooting a gun. Second, the prime minister's daughter looks like you. We thought we would have you pretend to be the daughter. Just in case we can't prevent the kidnapping, you'll be able to use the inventions to escape -- maybe even capture the kidnappers." "Sounds like fun!" said Michaela, "What do you want me to do?" "First," replied her dad, "the prime minister's daughter will get into the limousine and ride over to the hotel for the party. But YOU will get out of the limousine dressed in HER dress, with a wig on so you'll look just like her." "Then, we've got problems!" said Michaela, "I can't go into a party wearing a party dress with that baseball hat!" "I know," replied her dad, "I've been working on a couple of new inventions that should be perfect for this operation." "What inventions?" asked Michaela. Dad replied, as he handed Michaela what looked like a charm bracelet, "All the things your hat can do, this can do." Michaela examined the bracelet and pointed. "Here's a tiny squirt gun with a telescope on top. And here's a tiny garage door opener. And here's a regular size dime. And a teeny tiny camera. And here's a little tiny glove. Do all these things work?" "Yes, of course," replied her dad. "But where's the television screen?" asked Michaela. Her dad opened a tiny box and replied, "These two contact lenses will fit right against your eyes. What you look at is where the other inventions will aim." Michaela put the lenses in her eyes and practiced with the lenses and the new inventions during the two hour flight to Canada. When she stepped out of the limousine at the hotel wearing the party dress and the wig, even the people who knew the prime minister's daughter didn't know it was Michaela. She shook hands with the adults and did everything expected of her. Noone, not even the kidnappers knew that they were about to kidnap the wrong girl. Suddenly there was an explosion! All the lights in the hotel went off. The room was completely dark. Michaela heard scuffling and wrestling in the dark but she couldn't see a thing. She felt a blanket surround her, then someone with strong arms lifted her up and carried her out of the hotel to a waiting truck. She heard men's voices in the truck but because of the blanket, she couldn't see a thing. As soon as the man sat her on the floor of the truck, Michaela felt for the triangle charm on the charm bracelet that turned the whole thing on and she squeezed it. She heard a beep from the earrings she was wearing telling her that the inventions were all working normally. A few seconds later, she heard her dad's voice in her ear, "Michaela, can you hear me?" Michaela had to whisper, "Yes, Daddy, I hear you just fine. Is the tracker working?" "Yes," replied her dad, "The tracker shows that the truck you are in is heading toward the harbor. It looks like the kidnappers are going to try to get you out of the country by boat. Don't try to get away before you get onboard the boat. We want to capture all the kidnappers and they won't all be together until you get to the boat. Understood?" "Understood." replied Michaela. When the truck began to slow down, her dad reported, "Michaela, the police and army are just two minutes behind you. As soon as you get onto the boat, they'll move in and capture the kidnappers. Understood?" "Understood." replied Michaela. But when the truck stopped at the harbor, the kidnappers didn't get on a boat. The kidnappers were very clever. They carried Michaela, still wrapped in a blanket, onto a helicopter and took off. Michaela whispered, "Daddy, the kidnappers are leaving by helicopter." "Oh, dear!" replied dad, "That means we'll be even farther behind you. They'll probably land the helicopter a the deck of a big ship out at sea. That will make the rescue a little more difficult." Michaela whispered, "It's okay, Daddy. I can handle it." A few minutes later, the helicopter touched down, one of the men lifted Michaela and carried her down some stairs and laid her on the cold steel floor. She could tell by the steel and by the engine noise that she was on a big ship at sea. As soon as Michaela heard the man walk out of the room and close the big steel door, she threw off the blanket and looked around. She was in the engine room. There was noone else around, so she stood up and looked for a way out of the room. But both steel doors were locked. So, Michaela found the charm on the charm bracelet that looked like a dime and squeezed it. She shrank to the size of a dime and walked under the door. Then she looked around to make sure noone could see and she squeezed the dime again and grew back to normal size. She walked down the hall toward the stairway, but one of the kidnappers came running down the stairs. She squeezed the tiny garage door opener charm and disappeared. She pressed her back against the wall until the guard ran by. Then she let go of the charm and reappeared as she scrambled up the stairs as the kidnapper went into the engine room. Suddenly, Michaela heard some shouting, then red lights and sirens went on and off all over the ship. The kidnappers had now discovered that she had escaped from the engine room. He came running down the hallway and reached the stairs before Michaela reached the top. She turned and squeezed the gloved charm on the charm bracelet. A red "X" appeared over her left eye. She looked at the gun in the kidnapper's hand and shouted "Pull!". The gun came flying out of his hand. Then Michaela immediately shouted "Push!" Before the gun got to Michaela's hand, it flew back toward the kidnapper, hitting him in the head and knocking him backward down the stairs and knocking him out. There was a door at the top of the stairs. Michaela squeezed the tiny camera charm on the charm bracelet. The contact lens over her left eye showed a television picture of what was on the other side of the door. It was a guard standing with his back to the door with a gun in his hand. Michaela slowly and quietly tried the door knob. It wasn't locked. So, she turned the knob with one hand and squeezed the tiny glove charm with the other hand. The television picture on the lens changed to normal vision with a red "X". Michaela pointed the "X" at the door with her eye and shouted "PUSH!". The door opened fast, hitting the guard in the back, knocking him off his feet. He dropped his gun. Michaela picked up the gun. The guard said, "Oh oh!". He jump to his feet and ran down the corridor and out of sight. Michaela dropped the gun in a waste basket as she made her way up to the top deck as she heard the sound of helicopters and boats in the distance. But before she could get to the top deck, the guard returned with two more guards and three guns. Michaela immediately squeezed the new tiny fish charm on the charm bracelet. She aimed the red "X" at the man in the middle and shouted "Fishing net". The necklace around her neck leaped off and transformed into a fishing net and entangled the men. They fell in a heap and their guns were useless. Then she made her way toward the top deck. "Michaela are you there?" came her dad's voice. "Yes, Daddy. I'm almost at the top deck." replied Michaela. Dad replied, "Michaela, a man is shooting at us from the top deck. We can't land until you get rid of him." "Understood." replied Michaela. When she got to the top of the last stairway, she saw a man shooting a big gun at the helicopters. The gun was attached to the deck of the boat, so the glove charm on the bracelet couldn't work. So, Michaela squeezed the tiny new helicopter charm on the charm bracelet. Immediately, she felt motors on the bottoms of her patent leather party shoes roar into action. They lifted her off the ground. Wherever she looked, the helicopter shoes flew her. So, she flew over the gunman's head, kicking him as she flew over and knocking him in the water. She turned back to land on the deck again, but the three gunmen had cut themselves loose from the fishing net, so Michaela turned and flew toward her dad's helicopter. As she approached, her dad slid the big door open and caught her in his arms. "Nice work, Punkin!" he shouted. They turned and looked down at the kidnappers ship. Six soldiers slid down ropes from another helicopter to the ship's deck as police and soldiers jumped from boats onto the lower decks of the ship. The kidnappers all put down their guns and raised their hands. A voice shouted from the radio in the helicopter, "The kidnappers surrendered! We got them all! Thank you, Michaela for a job well done!" ©2008 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties. Do not sell this story or rewrite it. You may reproduce and distribute this story freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org/kid email: bob@bobsnook.org BACK |